Quantum Theorics

Quantum Theorics is a branch of Theorics (abstract theoretical study) that treats quantum-level phenomena and how to model and use them.

Context and Teaching

Among the avout (cloistered scholars), instruction to fids (novice students) commonly uses a traditional vocabulary: systems are described as existing in superpositions, and observation is said to collapse a wavefunction to a definite outcome. Speakers also note that some orders of Theors (scholar-mathematicians) prefer a polycosmic (many-cosmos) interpretation; in that account, multiple cosmi (parallel universes) coexist prior to a measurement, interfere with one another, and thereafter evolve independently once the result has had effects.

Sources attribute the origins of quantum theorics to work by theors in the era of the Harbingers (ancient crises). It is also said that, before the Second Sack (historic purge), forerunners of present groups collaborated on devices that exploited these principles.

Devices and Example Problems

Speakers describe “Saunt Grod’s Machines,” syntactic devices attributed to Saunt Grod (Saunt: venerated scholar) that make use of quantum theorics. Such a machine can be configured as a generalized model of a scenario so that it, in effect, examines many possibilities at once (e.g., the “Lazy Peregrin,” a route-finding puzzle about visiting several destinations during a Peregrin (sanctioned journey)). When an observation is made, the device yields a single answer—the “output,” in the jargon favored by the Ita (technical order).

Interpretations in Use

• Fid-taught framing: superposition of many states until an observation collapses the wavefunction to one outcome.
• Polycosmic framing (reported as preferred by some theors): many cosmi exist prior to observation; limited interference (“crosstalk”) ends when the result takes effect, after which the cosmi diverge.

Proposed Role in Thought (attributed)

Participants in recent dialogs propose that thinking can feel like a sudden collapse from many vague possibilities to a clear result, and argue by analogy that brains might harness quantum effects. In one account, a brain carries a generalized model of the local cosmos that can occupy many possible states and, at times, yields a definite answer. In the polycosmic restatement, many versions of a brain exist across cosmi and are lightly coupled by interference; consciousness is suggested to span those versions. These claims are presented as speculative theorics by the speakers, not as established fact.

Notes

• Terminology varies by tradition; some listeners are accustomed to the fid vocabulary, while others translate it into polycosmic terms.
• Historical references (Harbingers; Second Sack) are included here as the attributions given by the speakers, without further detail.