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On the other, particle end of the scale, quantum formalism is based on a very different vision of physics: the wave function of a system. This combines several terms, in this case the position probability and the probability of finding the system in a particular energetic state.” The peculiarity is that we can measure only one or the other. The actual measuring of one of these terms cancels out the knowledge of the other, the so-called reduction of the wave packet. While the particle wave function is dramatically changed by the act of being measured, it allows us to calculate only the probability that a certain value is picked prior to measuring. The wave function is assigned by the aforemen- tioned Schrédinger wave equation. However, it remains valid at veloc- ities that are low compared to light speed! This function has the same characteristics as Newtonian dynamics: it is reversible and deterministic. However, while the equation is neu- tral, the measuring, i.e., the relation established between the measured aad : cut system and the macroscopic system of the measuring instrument annuls this temporal reversibility by intervening in the measured sys- tem. The measuring therefore creates a temporal irreversibility ignored by the Schrédinger equation. I must admit that this singular time arrow is generated spontaneously, because it did not exist before meas- uring. Many physicists even think that time becomes irreversible sim- ply because we see things! In other words, if there were not any observers, past, present and future would not exist, and neither would phenomena. Mystics therefore say that consciousness is the eye of God that makes things manifest. This peculiarity has inspired scientists to take an interest in the concept of symmetry. 132 The Science of Extraterrestrials: UFOs Explained at Last * Eric Julien