These days, the buzzword is "Quantum Physics." As popular among researchers as it is among suburban soccer moms, it is important to have a grasp of the basics. Most important is the Schroedinger's Cat thought experiment. So Schroedinger sits around with his buddies and says, "The cat shredded the drapes again. What if I put that thing in a box...no no, let me finish...and rigged it up with some poison gas?" Then his scientific mind started working. "Oh, but then I wouldn't know if the cat had died until I opened the box. Before I observe the cat, it would be 50% alive and 50% dead. I think I'll call this notion quantum indeterminacy: because poison doesn't kill cats, conscious observation does."

"Whenever I hear about Schroedinger's Cat," physicist Stephen Hawking once said, "I reach for my gun." The Schroedinger's Cat thought experiment is one of the underpinnings of quantum physics, and, ridiculous as it sounds, the concept is an intriguing one. Its conclusion is: consciously chosen observation has the power to change your world. How can this be?

We Are All Made Up Of Energy

We all know Einstein's infamous equation E=MC2, and some of us know that it proves the correlative nature of matter and energy. Matter becomes energy and vice versa - this is the engine of the universe. The smallest particles in quantum physics are quanta - tiny bits of energy. Therefore, all the matter that comprises our bodies consists of quanta, which follow the rules of quantum physics.

Look through that guy at the cocktail party. He is just a collection of elementary particles of energy. As you will soon see, thinking of the world as energy leads to some very interesting consequences. Matter seems so immutable, but energy, with energy we can have fun.

We Predict the Path Energy Takes

Through observation, you create reality. It's a very useful tool; pay attention to that physics hot-shot at the party, then turn your back and move out of earshot. Poof! Completely unobserved, his quanta no longer exists. So convenient! You don't even need your gun.

This is supported by the ground-breaking Two-Slit experiment. A fixed electron gun fires electrons through a wall with two slits at another wall behind. The particles go through the slits, but then land willy-nilly all over the back wall, as if they were waves of light. Only when photons are shot at the electrons, illuminating them, do they behave like particles should. This proves that electron guns don't kill people; it's the act of using them in ridiculous experiments to prove confusing hypotheses that does.

We Are Always Observing Ourselves and the World

The Heisenberg Uncertainty principle states that when we observe an object's speed, we can't know its position. We can only observe one thing at a time. To put it another way, when we're worrying about how much work we've been assigned, we can't pay attention to our boss putting the moves on a potential significant other a few cubicles over. The world is one big quantum indeterminate state; what we choose to observe determines what is. This is because everything is energy; thoughts are also energy, therefore thoughts control everything.

I am no scientist. I am a business owner and a writer, but quantum physics, both in its popular interpretation and in its deeper scientific implications, is somewhat beyond me. But hey, it's not about me. Quantum physics is about you, and what you take from the ideas involved. Now you know enough about it so that at the next party, you can be that guy or girl talking quantum physics. You too can experience the feeling of having your quanta erased from existence by the disgruntled party guest that you once were when that person turns his or her back on you, effectively taking charge of reality in order to make out with your significant other.