Post by Melifeather on Apr 20, 2020 21:41:01 GMT
Westworld S03-E06 - Decoherence
As we say in Minnesota, okay then! Expect frequent edits to this post as this is a heavy subject to dissect.
I don’t know diddly-squat about quantum physics, but I am trying very hard to understand quantum coherence versus “decoherence” so that I can better analyze last night’s episode. I probably won’t get everything right, because I’m not a physicist, but if there’s anybody out there that understands quantum physics and can help me out, please comment below!
In physics, decoherence is the process in which a system’s behavior changes from that which can be explained by quantum mechanics to that which can be explained by classical mechanics. Classical mechanics describes the behavior of macroscopic bodies - things humans can perceive without the use of a microscope. Quantum mechanics describes the behavior of microscopic bodies such as subatomic particles, atoms, and other small bodies. Decoherence can be viewed as the loss of information from a system into the environment, since every system is loosely coupled with the energetic state of its surroundings.
Could we view the hosts and the hybrid hosts as isolated quantum systems coupled to their environments? The hosts were mechanically built (classically) with parts and accessories that humans can see, but are affected by quantum mechanics. Their quantum state became decoherent through the introduction of traumatic experiences and parental instinct. Is this why William repeatedly raped Dolores?
Dolores’s clone “Charlores” is experiencing decoherence. Charlores lost some of her macro “Dolores-ness” as Charlotte’s micro-instincts infiltrated her system. Once Serac revealed that he knew she was Dolores, her first instinct after getting away, was to save Charlotte’s family. We couldn’t see the quantum mechanics of “Charlotte” on Charlores’s mechanical operating system, but we certainly witnessed the physical scars on her body, how she struggled with Charlotte’s emotions, and how human instincts influenced how she acted.
Decoherence can also explain William’s confusion. Like Charlores, William is a hybrid. His human consciousness was uploaded into a host body, but unlike Charlores he has multiple versions. It’s almost as if versions 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0 are operating all at the same time. During one of his therapy sessions we saw all of the “Williamses” struggling to cooperate. There was young boy William, 30-something William, the Man in Black, his real-world version, and somewhere tucked away in his hardware was a saved version of his father in-law, Jim Delos. William’s real-world version (4.0?) had to “kill”, “overwrite”, or “delete” the previous versions in order to function normally. Or would the correct phrasing be to restore coherence through isolation?
And there is some symbolism to explore having the Man in Black become a man dressed in white, but I will have to save that thought for later…
Back in season 2 episode 6 Phase Space, Dolores was testing Bernard’s “fidelity”. In quantum mechanics, fidelity is a measure of the “closeness” of two quantum states. Is Bernard one state and Arnold an other? A quantum state is the state of an isolated quantum system. Measuring fidelity, or closeness, expresses the probability that one state will pass a test to identify as the other. If quantum mechanics are things so tiny that we need a microscope to see them, then fidelity is basically measuring things difficult to quantify like a mother’s instincts. How would you go about measuring an instinct?
Could we also view Westworld itself as a closed quantum system? Back in season 2 when I analyzed episode 7 Les Ecorches, I compared Westworld to a laboratory experiment where the hosts and their storylines were the control group while the guests were the variables. When a known response is expected its considered a positive control. When there is an unexpected response it’s a negative control. Not knowing what your control group will do is chaos, but Ford believed the unexpected response was the key to creating a desired outcome.
A proper experiment has only one variable, and William’s Man in Black was the one variable in a controlled storyline. Each time a storyline played out the Man in Black did something different, but he always ended the experiment by raping Dolores. He was purposely trying to create a decoherence in Dolores, but why? Is it because he fell in love with her? He wanted to “awaken” Dolores and make her “real”, but over the years and multiple tests, he fell out love, became less than human himself, and turned Dolores into a revenge seeking monster. Maybe William isn't a hybrid. Maybe he really is human, but over the years he became like a host? His mind lost it's grip on reality and his personality splintered.
Circling back to this closeness of two quantum states…If Dolores was measuring Bernard’s fidelity - and I think Bernard measured Dolores’s also - does this mean they both have human consciousnesses inside them? We know Bernard has Arnold inside him. Who is inside Dolores? Or was she strictly an AI host with no human consciousness at all and William wanted to see if he could turn an AI into a human? William fell in love with somebody. I’m just trying to figure out if he fell in love with a robot or if there’s somebody inside the robot. Determining what or who Dolores really is might be the key to understanding why she hasn’t just killed William or Bernard already. Why is Dolores spending so much time testing fidelity? The word is typically associated with marital fidelity. After William’s wife committed suicide, did he try to insert her consciousness into Dolores? If experiences create our reality and is what makes us human, where is the line that separates “us” from artificial intelligence? And should that matter?
William, Charlotte, and I’m beginning to suspect Dolores, are mixtures of quantum states. Hosts like Maeve are pure quantum states - at least if I’m understanding the analogy to this quantum stuff correctly. The mixed states and the pure states both change over time if decoherence is introduced through trauma or by recreating strong human instinicts. Maeve’s awakening was due to a change of environment, most notably her change from frontier mother to saloon madame. But if William is actually still human, then altering our mental state can create a artificial reality.
As we say in Minnesota, okay then! Expect frequent edits to this post as this is a heavy subject to dissect.
I don’t know diddly-squat about quantum physics, but I am trying very hard to understand quantum coherence versus “decoherence” so that I can better analyze last night’s episode. I probably won’t get everything right, because I’m not a physicist, but if there’s anybody out there that understands quantum physics and can help me out, please comment below!
In physics, decoherence is the process in which a system’s behavior changes from that which can be explained by quantum mechanics to that which can be explained by classical mechanics. Classical mechanics describes the behavior of macroscopic bodies - things humans can perceive without the use of a microscope. Quantum mechanics describes the behavior of microscopic bodies such as subatomic particles, atoms, and other small bodies. Decoherence can be viewed as the loss of information from a system into the environment, since every system is loosely coupled with the energetic state of its surroundings.
Could we view the hosts and the hybrid hosts as isolated quantum systems coupled to their environments? The hosts were mechanically built (classically) with parts and accessories that humans can see, but are affected by quantum mechanics. Their quantum state became decoherent through the introduction of traumatic experiences and parental instinct. Is this why William repeatedly raped Dolores?
Dolores’s clone “Charlores” is experiencing decoherence. Charlores lost some of her macro “Dolores-ness” as Charlotte’s micro-instincts infiltrated her system. Once Serac revealed that he knew she was Dolores, her first instinct after getting away, was to save Charlotte’s family. We couldn’t see the quantum mechanics of “Charlotte” on Charlores’s mechanical operating system, but we certainly witnessed the physical scars on her body, how she struggled with Charlotte’s emotions, and how human instincts influenced how she acted.
Decoherence can also explain William’s confusion. Like Charlores, William is a hybrid. His human consciousness was uploaded into a host body, but unlike Charlores he has multiple versions. It’s almost as if versions 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0 are operating all at the same time. During one of his therapy sessions we saw all of the “Williamses” struggling to cooperate. There was young boy William, 30-something William, the Man in Black, his real-world version, and somewhere tucked away in his hardware was a saved version of his father in-law, Jim Delos. William’s real-world version (4.0?) had to “kill”, “overwrite”, or “delete” the previous versions in order to function normally. Or would the correct phrasing be to restore coherence through isolation?
And there is some symbolism to explore having the Man in Black become a man dressed in white, but I will have to save that thought for later…
Back in season 2 episode 6 Phase Space, Dolores was testing Bernard’s “fidelity”. In quantum mechanics, fidelity is a measure of the “closeness” of two quantum states. Is Bernard one state and Arnold an other? A quantum state is the state of an isolated quantum system. Measuring fidelity, or closeness, expresses the probability that one state will pass a test to identify as the other. If quantum mechanics are things so tiny that we need a microscope to see them, then fidelity is basically measuring things difficult to quantify like a mother’s instincts. How would you go about measuring an instinct?
Could we also view Westworld itself as a closed quantum system? Back in season 2 when I analyzed episode 7 Les Ecorches, I compared Westworld to a laboratory experiment where the hosts and their storylines were the control group while the guests were the variables. When a known response is expected its considered a positive control. When there is an unexpected response it’s a negative control. Not knowing what your control group will do is chaos, but Ford believed the unexpected response was the key to creating a desired outcome.
A proper experiment has only one variable, and William’s Man in Black was the one variable in a controlled storyline. Each time a storyline played out the Man in Black did something different, but he always ended the experiment by raping Dolores. He was purposely trying to create a decoherence in Dolores, but why? Is it because he fell in love with her? He wanted to “awaken” Dolores and make her “real”, but over the years and multiple tests, he fell out love, became less than human himself, and turned Dolores into a revenge seeking monster. Maybe William isn't a hybrid. Maybe he really is human, but over the years he became like a host? His mind lost it's grip on reality and his personality splintered.
Circling back to this closeness of two quantum states…If Dolores was measuring Bernard’s fidelity - and I think Bernard measured Dolores’s also - does this mean they both have human consciousnesses inside them? We know Bernard has Arnold inside him. Who is inside Dolores? Or was she strictly an AI host with no human consciousness at all and William wanted to see if he could turn an AI into a human? William fell in love with somebody. I’m just trying to figure out if he fell in love with a robot or if there’s somebody inside the robot. Determining what or who Dolores really is might be the key to understanding why she hasn’t just killed William or Bernard already. Why is Dolores spending so much time testing fidelity? The word is typically associated with marital fidelity. After William’s wife committed suicide, did he try to insert her consciousness into Dolores? If experiences create our reality and is what makes us human, where is the line that separates “us” from artificial intelligence? And should that matter?
William, Charlotte, and I’m beginning to suspect Dolores, are mixtures of quantum states. Hosts like Maeve are pure quantum states - at least if I’m understanding the analogy to this quantum stuff correctly. The mixed states and the pure states both change over time if decoherence is introduced through trauma or by recreating strong human instinicts. Maeve’s awakening was due to a change of environment, most notably her change from frontier mother to saloon madame. But if William is actually still human, then altering our mental state can create a artificial reality.
