Light in a box

 Light in a box


After Niels Bohr died, it was noted that there was a drawing of a box on a high corner of his blackboard, which was otherwise filled with equations. This reflected the long series of discussions he and Albert Einstein had had for many years, and the foundation of quantum mechanics. Einstein had died a few years before. The box represented Einstein’s box of light analogy at the core of their very enlightened agreements and disagreements.


When I learned of this, I thought it would be nice to send somebody a gift, a box of light. I thought that I would fill it in a very bright room, and then close the lid quickly. I would have to do so in slight excess of the speed of light. As the weight of the lid would become infinitesimal, this would be a mission impossible. The alternative would be to capture a star in a very big box, which would be unwieldy, to say the least. The gamma rays would destroy the container anyway.


Upon further reflection, I realized that the light in the box is the human brain in its container, our craniums, a nice word for skulls. And we are capable of modulating the input and output of this light in a myriad of ways. 


And so, to paraphrase the poet, Emily Dickinson, the brain is wider than the sky, and can contain a universe.


All we need to do to deliver a box of light is to communicate, a domain which incorporates, but is by no means limited to, language.


Aubrey Lieberman

2/15/24


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