Quantum Wormholes
2 min readJul 28, 2021

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The ordered state of the pack of cards has a special meaning to us, but it is equally likely than any other state after shuffling.

We label one particular configuration of cards as an "ordered" pack, and see the rest as equivalent or "disordered" ones. But in fact, any other configuration is equally unique and different from the rest in its own way. It's just that those other states have no special meaning to us. The ordered state has meaning because we have a simple rule to identify it, but there's no simple rule to describe the others.

After shuffling, there would be some configurations that could be described as "mostly ordered", and some others as "highly disordered", but this description will always refer to the special state that we consider to be "perfectly ordered".

It happens the same with the universe: Is the actual state of the universe more probable than the Big Bang? No. Any possible state is equally probable and unique. So the Big Bang, as a state, is as valid as our present moment, where there is a little blue ball wandering through space, with sentient beings wondering what this is all about.

BUT, what would be much, MUCH more unlikely is the Big Bang taking place right now, or our current setting taking place right after the Big Bang. To get out of one state and into another, the universe has to actively work towards that setting. It has to "shuffle".

The point is that we see the Big Bang as a "special" state because it is an arrangement so far removed from our own experience that it seems highly unlikely to us. And it is true that it is highly unlikely at this point, but it was not unlikely when it happened. It is no more or less improbable than our actual setting taking place right now. If you could ask the Big Bang about our current configuration, it would say that it is something completely wonderful and unthinkable to happen at that time.

So the Big Bang had no idea about our current setting, just like the ordered pack of cards knows nothing about the other unordered configurations. It is all in the shuffling.

The difference between the Big Bang and the current setting of the universe depends on the amount of shuffling, not on the particular initial or final states. You can get from any state to any other with a different amount of shuffling, but no configuration is special, not even the "highly ordered" one.

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Quantum Wormholes
Quantum Wormholes

Written by Quantum Wormholes

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