Talk:Quarantine (Egan novel)

message: The Bubble permits no light to enter the solar system
I've been thinking about this. In the novel, Egan states that the bubble does let through 'background radiation', as a concession perhaps to the second law of thermodynamics causing the internals of the bubble to freeze. Light is merely a form of radiation that falls into the spectrum we can observe with our biological optical equipment. Many of the interesting things we have detected outside of the galaxy have been detected using radiation from other spectra using artificial equipment.
I think that (within the constraints of the interpretation of QM in the novel) detecting an object outside the solar system, even using artificial equipment and radiation we cannot detect naturally, would fix it's position and collapse the states that contradict with that information, just as observing the light from a star with the naked eye would. Thus, the bubble must exclude any information from any body outside the solar system in any of the (remaining) possible eigenstates that define the position.
Now since we don't really understand background radiation (in lieu of the horizon problem) I am descending into pure, unadulterated speculation. Assuming that BG radiation is generated by some form of object or objects that we do not understand, but may understand one day, then the BG radiation could allow us to collapse eigenstates on those objects as above. Therefore, the bubble must do one of two things
# artificially generate background radiation (rather than let it pass-through as the novel states)
# the bubble is imperfect- humanity could gain an understanding of the objects that emitt the BG radiation and collapse their states accordingly
Regarding point two: maybe this is related to the bubble-makers intentions for humanity to one day understand the bubble, why it's there, etc... and gaining control over the observer's eigenstate collapsing is a prerequisite for understanding the BG radiation?
Jon Dowland 13:50, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Um.  Egan says that the Bubble emits nothing but "a featureless trickle of thermal radiation", which is far colder than the cosmic microwave background (whose signals no longer reach the Earth).  This is consistent with the Bubble being an "inside-out" version of a black hole, a spherically symmetric event horizon whose outside is the solar system and whose inside is everything else.  According to the bloke in the wheelchair, black holes emit Hawking radiation—an natural consequence of combining quantum mechanics with general relativity.  The Bubble emits Hawking radiation.  Whether or not this conveys any information about the uncollapsed world "outside" (really, one should say "inside"). . . well, that's a question modern physics hasn't really gotten around to answering yet.  It's equivalent to asking what happens to the information which falls into a regular black hole, and that question is still, shall we say, not definitely collapsed.  Anville 19:42, 24 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Light

message: :an impenetrable shield (constructed by either aliens or extra-solar humans)
I don't recall extra-solar humans ever posited. I thought it was pretty clearly aliens. 212.9.19.72 (talk) 21:14, 8 November 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: This theory that humans from outside the solar system might be responsible seems like a strange concession indeed, no matter if you look at it with the knowledge of the quantum cosmology the book posits or as a mere teaser text. It's never mentioned in the book, nor even implied. Early on in the novel the likely assumption that the builders are aliens is explored and the Bubble is not seen as something directly connected to the main plot. After the true nature of the Bubble is revealed, it is explicitly stated by one character that these "aliens" are "smeared" humans (or human equivalents) from uncollapsed superspace quarantining the wave-functioning-collapsing versions of Earth. So it would be more accurate to say "extra-dimensional humans" or even re-word the whole part to reflect the revelation in the book. --Azmodes (talk) 16:15, 27 December 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  extra-solar humans?