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The Quantum Universe (And Why Anything That Can Happen Does)
Abstract
This article reviews The Quantum Universe (And Why Anything That Can Happen Does) by Brian Cox, Jeff Forshaw 263 pp. Da Capo Press, Perseus Books Group, Philadelphia, PA, 2011. Price: $25.00 (hardcover) ISBN 978-0-306-81964-3.
... The detailed calculations underpinning Chandrasekhar's original work are complex and usually first encountered in advanced undergraduate or postgraduate degree courses. There have been several excellent articles and books written at an introductory level that aim to make the work of Chandrasekhar accessible to a wider audience [2][3][4]. The goal of the current article is to outline a simplified approach to approximating the Chandrasekhar mass that only requires knowledge of high school calculus and introductorylevel quantum mechanics. ...
... We see that if the size of the box, L, is made smaller, then the energy of all the possible states increases. We can easily generalise this result to three dimensions by confining the electron to a three dimensional box of volume V = L 3 . In this case the electron wavelength is constrained in each of the three coordinate directions and the energy becomes: ...
... where dr represents the increase in radius resulting from the additional mass that has been added to the star 3 . If we substitute (13) into (12) and write m in terms of ρ and r we find: ...
This article outlines a simplified approach to approximating the Chandrasekhar limit for white dwarf stars at a level appropriate for advanced high school students, beginning undergraduate students, and high school teachers. Using a combination of introductory quantum mechanics and Einstein’s theory of special relativity, the electron degeneracy pressure is calculated in the non-relativistic and ultra-relativistic limits. By combining the electron degeneracy energy with the gravitational energy for a constant density star, an approximation to the Chandrasekhar mass is derived.
... It is simple enough to be explained using illustrations drawn on the back of an envelope, or on a napkin at the local coffee shop (cf. Cox & Forshaw's, 2012, discussion of quantum theory). The algorithmic operation of the theory generates Darwinian variation and selection of behavior. ...
... Functional equivalence is well known in science. In particle physics, for example, Heisenberg's matrix mechanics, Schrödinger's wave mechanics, and the Dirac-Feynman path integral formalism are functionally equivalent theories of quantum phenomena (Cox & Forshaw, 2012). Although the three theories are implemented in very different ways, they give the same answers, all of which agree in detail with experimental measurements. ...
... Note also that the physical world is not likely to work in three different ways, corresponding to the three theories. In fact, the physical world is not likely to work according to any one of the theories (Cox & Forshaw, 2012;Lewis, 2016;McDowell, 2013d). Hence, as McDowell (2013d) pointed out, the operations of the three theories, plus the operations of the physical world (whatever they may be), are all functionally equivalent. ...
The evolutionary theory of behavior dynamics is a complexity theory that instantiates the Darwinian principles of selection, reproduction, and mutation in a genetic algorithm. The algorithm is used to animate artificial organisms that behave continuously in time and can be placed in any experimental environment. The present paper is an update on the status of the theory. It includes a summary of the evidence supporting the theory, a list of the theory's untested predictions, and a discussion of how the algorithmic operations of the theory may correspond to material reality. Based on the evidence reviewed here, the evolutionary theory appears to be a strong candidate for a comprehensive theory of adaptive behavior.
... It turns out that Heisenberg was right. Max Born later showed that Schrö dinger's wave equation could not be related to the distribution of electric charge in the atom, but instead had to be interpreted as a probabilistic representation of the location of a quantum of electric charge (Cox & Forshaw, 2012). With the demise of Schrö dinger's Anschaulichkeit, quantum physics was left with two different theories that dealt with the same phenomena, and no Anschaulichkeit. ...
... It is not a question of whether a theory is philosophically delightful … or perfectly reasonable from the point of view of common sense. The [Indeed, physicists have settled on the Bohr-Heisenberg-Feynman perspective , having come to terms with the Schrö dinger-Einstein discontent regarding the absence of Anschaulichkeit (Cox & Forshaw, 2012). And interestingly, there are three good theories of quantum phenomena, all without Anschaulichkeit. ...
In science we study processes in the material world. The way these processes operate can be discovered by conducting experiments that activate them, and findings from such experiments can lead to functional complexity theories of how the material processes work. The results of a good functional theory will agree with experimental measurements, but the theory may not incorporate in its algorithmic workings a representation of the material processes themselves. Nevertheless, the algorithmic operation of a good functional theory may be said to make contact with material reality by incorporating the emergent computations the material processes carry out. These points are illustrated in the experimental analysis of behavior by considering an evolutionary theory of behavior dynamics, the algorithmic operation of which does not correspond to material features of the physical world, but the functional output of which agrees quantitatively and qualitatively with findings from a large body of research with live organisms.
... Erwin Schrödinger found the absence of Anschaulichkeit disturbing, as did Albert Einstein. Schrödinger tried to remedy this problem in his wave theory, but did not ultimately succeed (Cox & Forshaw, 2012). Unlike Schrödinger and Einstein, some physicists were prepared to accept the lack of Anschaulichkeit in quantum theory. ...
The evolutionary theory of behavior dynamics (ETBD) is a complexity theory, which means that it is stated in the form of simple low-level rules, the repeated operation of which generates high-level outcomes that can be compared to data. The low-level rules of the theory implement Darwinian processes of selection, reproduction, and mutation. This tutorial is an introduction to the ETBD for a general audience, and illustrates how the theory is used to animate artificial organisms that can behave continuously in any experimental environment. Extensive research has shown that the theory generates behavior in artificial organisms that is indistinguishable in qualitative and quantitative detail from the behavior of live organisms in a wide variety of experimental environments. An overview and summary of this supporting evidence is provided. The theory may be understood to be computationally equivalent to the biological nervous system, which means that the algorithmic operation of the theory and the material operation of the nervous system give the same answers. The applied relevance of the theory is also discussed, including the creation of artificial organisms with various forms of psychopathology that can be used to study clinical problems and their treatment. Finally, possible future directions are discussed, such as the extension of the theory to behavior in a two-dimensional grid world.
... The many worlds interpretation was originally devised by the physicist Hugh Everett in the 1950's and implies there may be an infinite number of universes, where every possible outcome is realised. Everett's vision is that there is only a single wave function for the whole universe, and when one event happens in our world the other possibilities of the wave function continue in new worlds where each probability becomes a reality: (Carroll 2019) The theory is perhaps best summed up by the title of the book co-authored by Professor Brian Cox and Professor Jeffrey Forshaw, of Manchester University, 'The Quantum Universe: Everything that can happen does happen': (Cox and Forshaw 2012) Every electron in the universe knows about the state of every other electron, every proton knows about every other proton, every neutron knows about every other neutron, and there is an intimacy between the particles that make up our universe that extends across the entire universe: (Cox & Forshaw, 2012, pp. 139-140) The electron remains a single particle composed of the quasiparticle of a spinion (spin), orbiton (orbit), and holon (charge), which may separate and move separately: (Paul Scherrer Institute 2012) (Merali 2012) (Freulon et al. 2015) The latest progress appears to have been made in 2019 when scientists discovered information in old black holes may be accessible via wormholes within spacetime: (Musser 2020) (Penington et al. 2020) (Almheiri et al. 2020) Purpose of Life A person is a diminutive, ephemeral thing, standing smaller in comparison with the universe than a single atom stands in comparison with the Earth: (Carroll, 2017, p. 2). ...
A Brief History of Life: From The Origin of Life To The End Of The Universe explores every aspect of life and death.
"So broad in scope, everything from the big bang to the afterlife!" (Professor Gerald Joyce, co-author of the NASA definition of life).
Quantum physics tells us the building blocks from which all living things are made are the same building blocks from which all non-living things are made.
Taking the NASA definition of life as his starting point, the author searches for the vital ingredient that differentiates living and none-living things.
His search takes him from the start of the universe to its very end, and along the way he offers a tantalizing glimps of the scientific evidence in support of a personal afterlife.
232 notes, 168 references in bibliography, and comprehensively indexed.
... Nature and Universe are two different entities. Cox and Forshaw [1] called our Universe as "Quantum Universe". Further, it is described that everything that can happen in our universe does happen. ...
Quantum is a discrete quantity of energy as proposed by Planck. This paper reveals this fact and that the quantization effect is due to the presence of order and disorder characteristics in matter and radiation. Such a scenario gives birth to the Law of the Universe. Actually, the quantum is the minimum amount of any physical entity and the quantization of energy is an action process. Indeterminacy and determinism phenomena are based on some quantum rules. That is why Heisenberg and de Broglie observed them due to the presence of the Planck constant 'h'. Gravity is a quantum characteristic provided by Nature through the Sun. The quantum particle Lifton provides consciousness to every cell and organ in the human body. Life-soul complex energy (bio-electromagnetic radiation-cosmic) forms the human body-a quantized system. Positive thoughts develop the spirituality state-an ordered state. Pure universal consciousness is a complete form of that quantum-God. Order-Disorder Transformations have given fruitful results in the application to different systems as well as reproduced the results obtained earlier by pioneers such as Planck, Einstein, Heisenberg, de Broglie, and Niels Bohr. This itself justifies the validity of the theory and fulfils the pioneer's dreams and, in doing so, may be called a 'Quantum Theory of Everything'.
... Nature and Universe are two different entities. Cox and Forshaw [1] called our Universe as "Quantum Universe". Further, it is described that everything that can happen in our universe does happen. ...
Quantum is a discrete quantity of energy as proposed by Planck. This paper reveals this fact and that the quantization effect is due to the presence of order and disorder characteristics in matter and radiation. Such a scenario gives birth to the Law of the Universe. Actually, the quantum is the minimum amount of any physical entity and the quantization of energy is an action process. Indeterminacy and determinism phenomena are based on some quantum rules. That is why Heisenberg and de Broglie observed them due to the presence of the Planck constant 'h'. Gravity is a quantum characteristic provided by Nature through the Sun. The quantum particle Lifton provides consciousness to every cell and organ in the human body. Life-soul complex energy (bio-electromagnetic radiation-cosmic) forms the human body-a quantized system. Positive thoughts develop the spirituality state-an ordered state. Pure universal consciousness is a complete form of that quantum-God. Order-Disorder Transformations have given fruitful results in the application to different systems as well as reproduced the results obtained earlier by pioneers such as Planck, Einstein, Heisenberg, de Broglie, and Niels Bohr. This itself justifies the validity of the theory and fulfils the pioneer's dreams and, in doing so, may be called a 'Quantum Theory of Everything'.
... Nature and Universe are two different entities. Cox and Forshaw [1] called our Universe as "Quantum Universe". Further, it is described that everything that can happen in our universe does happen. ...
NEW UNIFIED SCIENTIFIC THEORY
AND BIOTHERMAL WAVE MOTION
IN THE HUMAN BODY SYSTEM
S. K. Srivastava
ABSTRACT
A new Unified Scientific Theory based on the order-disorder concepts of the author has been employed
in order to study thermal aspects of the quantized energy particle Lifton of bio-radiation. The present
study concerns the motion of thermal waves generated by Lifton in the human body system. Two sets
of homogeneous second-order differential equations based on (i) the variation of the Lifton wave
function ΨL(t, T) with respect to parameters t and T and (ii) the variation of Lifton temperature T with
respect to time t have been developed. The first set of equations provide frequencies ω = (2π EL / t)
and ωp = (2π EL / T) which correspond to bio-radiation damping and plasma frequency respectively.
Interesting results have been found. Whereas damping is along longitudinal lines, the effects of plasma
are transverse. The possibility of liquid plasma is also discussed. The second set of differential equations
is concerned with body to free vibration with damping. Here the damping vibration frequency is
ω = 1 / t at which human elastic structure systems tend to oscillate. This is the case of underdamped,
i.e., the variation of temperature T with respect to time t is oscillatory and not periodic.
An equation λL = (ЄT / pL) QF describes the relationship between the Lifton wavelength λL and linear
momentum pL. This is Lifton’s duality; a relationship between the quantized wave nature and particle
nature of Lifton. This equation is very similar to the de Broglie duality relationship of photons:
λph = h / p, where h is Planck’s constant.
The motion of thermal waves in the human body controls the ageing process of life. Equation
T = exp [log (1 / t)] is concerned with the ageing of the human life-death system, which describes
that the body temperature T decays exponentially as ageing occurs. That is why low blood temperature
affects the blood circulation in old age. Equation T = (π Eth t)-1 is associated with the end-point
of ageing when the human body system attains death (an ordered state). The Quantum vibration of
Lifton generates thermal current in the human body system.
__________________________________________________________________
... There are many examples of computational equivalence between theories and material reality in science and mathematics. A variety of them can be found in particle physics (Cox & Forshaw, 2012;McDowell, 2013c). Another, particularly instructive, example is provided by the class of finite state machines known as cellular automata (McDowell & Popa, 2009). ...
... The quantum explanation cannot be discarded too quickly because, of course, at some level, tunneling, superposition, entanglement must be happening, and even potentially on all scales. Once we perceive the universe as a quantum one, then "Everything that Can Happen Does Happen" [Cox, Forshaw 2012]. The question is, to what extent (how much on average, and how often)? ...
... We call our system MULTIVERSE, since it conservatively assumes that any instruction path that "can happen, does happen"[13]. ...
Static binary rewriting is a core technology for many systems and security applications, including profiling, optimization, and software fault isolation. While many static binary rewriters have been developed over the past few decades, most make various assumptions about the binary, such as requiring correct disassembly, cooperation from compilers, or access to debugging symbols or relocation entries. This paper presents Multiverse, a new binary rewriter that is able to rewrite Intel CISC binaries without these assumptions. Two fundamental techniques are developed to achieve this: (1) a superset disassembly that completely disassembles the binary code into a superset of instructions in which all legal instructions fall, and 92) an instruction rewriter that is able to relocate all instructions to any other location by mediating all indirect control flow transfers and redirecting them to the correct new addresses. A prototype implementation of Multiverse and evaluation on SPECint 2006 benchmarks shows that Multiverse is able to rewrite all of the testing binaries with a reasonable overhead for the new rewritten binaries. Simple static instrumentation using Multiverse and its comparison with dynamic instrumentation shows that the approach achieves better average performance. Finally, the security applications of Multiverse are exhibited by using it to implement a shadow stack.
... We call our system MULTIVERSE, since it conservatively assumes that any instruction path that "can happen, does happen"[13]. ...
... Twentiethcentury physics saw the death of this merely mechanical picture through the discovery of intrinsic un-predictabilities found in quantum theory. Quantum mechanics provides a concrete model of nature that is comparable in its essence to Newton's laws of motion, Maxwell's theory of electricity and magnetism, and Einstein's theory of relativity 69 . ...
Both classical physics and quantum mechanics may be operational in cell communication. Living cells seem to ‘talk’ to each other with incredible precision and accuracy to maintain synchrony, unity of purpose and health. Gurwitsch called emissions from living cells ‘mitogenic rays’. Kaznacheyev demonstrated optical coupling between two separated cell cultures. Popp termed the communicating coherent rays, bio-photons, which concentrated in the cell nucleus. Albrecht-Buehler suggested that cells exhibited intelligence. Communication (abscopal, bystander, bio-photon, teleportation) between cells or animals seems to rely on frequency-specific transmission from DNA. Garjajev found that DNA not used for protein synthesis was instead used for hyper-communication as an optical biochip. Mothersill found abundant evidence for bystander data transfer from irradiated to nonirradiated cells, tissues or animals. Communication appears unbelievably coordinated and coherent possibly utilizing bio-photon and/or quantum mediated transfer of information.
... For example, behaviors do not reproduce or undergo mutation. Like the standard model of the atom (Cox & Forshaw, 2012;McDowell, 2013c), the evolutionary theory is a functional theory; it is not a theory of material mechanisms. However, the operation of the evolutionary theory likely makes contact with material reality at the level of neural computation (McDowell, 2013c). ...
... The second approach is quantum mechanics which is a fundamental branch of physics and deals with physical phenomena at nanoscopic scales. Quantum mechanics can show behavior of atoms during chemical bonding, so is significantly important in the development of modern technologies [46]. ...
... Moreover, the Penrose view that consciousness is a result of quantum-mechanical processes in the brain is grounded on the current quantum theory-based mathematical approach to theoretical physics and cosmology (see e.g. Cox and Forshaw (2011) for a readable contemporary account). This scholastic approach to natural science is currently under serious philosophical attack; see Unger and Smolin (2015) and Appleyard (2015) for a review. ...
The title of this book is of course a play on the title of Hans Christian Anderson's fascinating tale of the confluence of outrageous con artistry with political correctness, The Emperor's New Clothes. In the view of the authors of The Bankers' New Clothes, the collective response to the (ostensibly) banking-induced financial crisis has the same features. This is neatly expressed by the following quotation from the preface of their book, written in October 2012. … we were shocked to see press reports and policy recommendations with misleading uses of words, flawed understanding of basic principles, fallacious and misleading arguments, and inadequate uses of mathematical models. Banking experts, including many academics, seemed to believe that banks are so different from all other businesses that the basic principles of economics and finance do not apply to them. We were not surprised that bankers lobbied in their own interest and said whatever might serve their needs; often their paychecks and bonuses were at stake, and the status quo worked for them. But we were dismayed – and increasingly alarmed – to see that flawed narratives and invalid arguments were not challenged but instead seemed to be winning the debate on both sides of the Atlantic.
... Moreover, the Penrose view that consciousness is a result of quantum-mechanical processes in the brain is grounded on the current quantum theory-based mathematical approach to theoretical physics and cosmology (see e.g. Cox and Forshaw (2011) for a readable contemporary account). This scholastic approach to natural science is currently under serious philosophical attack; see Unger and Smolin (2015) and Appleyard (2015) for a review. ...
... Indeed, perhaps theoretical attempts to pin down the notion of uncertainty in projects are ultimately doomed. Rather like the fascinating yet esoteric world of quantum physics, the more precisely we try to define uncertainty, the less certain we can be that we have captured its many nuances and facets (Cox & Forshaw, 2011). ...
Increasing attention in the project management literature is being paid to the theme of uncertainty: its origins and how it impacts projects (Atkinson, Crawford, & Ward, 2006; Perminova, Gustafsson, & Wikstrom, 2008). The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the determinants and impacts of project uncertainty in the context of safety-critical industries in the United Kingdom. Seven current projects across two such safety-critical industries, civil nuclear and aerospace, were studied by means of in-depth interviews with senior project managers. The authors posit a framework, incorporating four determinants of uncertainty that are prevalent in large-scale projects in these sectors. The framework comprises project content, context, organisational capability, and culture. We then explain how these four determinants of uncertainty may impact on the delivery of project outcomes. Future work is now required to test the validity of these preliminary conclusions against a larger sample size, and to compare the determinants and impacts of uncertainty on safety-critical projects in the context of locations other than the United Kingdom.
... The algorithmic operation of the theory is simple enough to illustrate with a few diagrams that might be drawn on the back of an envelope (cf. Cox and Forshaw, 2012), as shown in Fig. 1. Behaviors in the population of potential behaviors are represented by integer phenotypes (e.g., 603, shown on the top right of the figure) and their binary genotypes (1001011011 is the binary representation of 603). ...
... In the literature, chaos theory has been used to examine a range of general educational issues (Cronbach, 1988;Cziko, 1989) and specific themes in the professional development of teachers (Cvetek, 2008;Glickman, Gordon, & Ross-Gordon, 2010) and curriculum and instruction (Goff, 1998;Iannone, 1995;Macpherson, 1995). Chaos theory, despite its name, seeks to map chaotic behaviour in ways that find underpinnings of order-as illustrated in such popularised works as The Quantum Universe: Everything That Can Happen Does Happen (Cox & Forshaw, 2011). It can also be used to examine educational change. ...
This article reports the development of integrated arts curriculum in two Hong Kong secondary schools over a 9-year period. Initial findings display a range of individual responses to educational change that are both non-predictable and non-linear. Chaos theory is used to explain these varied responses in terms of bifurcations. The findings of this study are presented as a narrative that posits a developmental model comprising personal and external domains being informed by contextual feedback. Personal domains refer to the teachers' education, their teaching experience and their motivational energies to improve their professional status quo. External domains refer to such contextual influences as educational policies, students, colleagues and school administration. Bifurcation explains why integrated arts curriculums impact different schools and individuals in different ways. Four factors are identified to have contributed to the failure or success of integrated arts curriculum: (1) school management support, (2) individual teachers' specialized knowledge, (3) feedback that regenerates and redefines curriculum design, and (4) teacher autonomy and professional growth. A conclusion is drawn that questions the final form of Hong Kong integrated arts curriculum which retains the non-integrated features of subject specialisation and individual teaching rather than co-teaching.
... This third chapter is followed by one on the 'Sublime', an overview of the 19th and 20th century development of modern physics and its creators in which 'One cannot escape the feeling that these mathematical formulae have an independent existence and an intelligence of their own'. A reader interested in more detail at a similar level might look at Cox and Forshaw (2011). ...
... Wave functions are a familiar feature of quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics tells us that if something is possible, it will have some probability of being observed.[2] Existence is the observer here. ...
This paper demonstrates that ontology and the study of consciousness, long thought by physicists to be unapproachable metaphysical subjects, can indeed be studied as physics, leading to testable predictions about the physical universe. The paper presents a model of the physical universe that is based on a nonphysical independent reality: consciousness. The model is unique in that it not only provides a precise model of consciousness, but also connects consciousness with the rest of reality. The universe is shown to be a natural consequence of consciousness, beginning with a "big bang." Consciousness is identified with existence, and the relation between existence and the self is explored using concepts of quantum mechanics. Where did the universe come from? Why does it seem so regular, so intelligently designed? Is there an independent reality or a God that is responsible for the regularities observable in the universe? If there is such an independent reality, what is its nature, and how did it create the universe? What is consciousness, and what is its role in the universe? Is there free will? These questions have puzzled philosophers, theologians, and scientists throughout history. This paper and a companion paper[1] present, respectively, the metaphysics and physics of a model of the universe that gives answers to these and many more of nature's puzzles. The model is based on a nonphysical independent reality: consciousness. This reality can be described precisely and the universe can be shown to be a natural consequence of it, beginning with a "big bang." As a result, metaphysical concepts long thought by physicists to be inaccessible to them become part of physics, continuing the historical trend of physics expanding its envelope, gradually taking over areas that were previously the exclusive territory of religion and philosophy.
Este trabajo realiza un estudio metafísico sobre la noción de contacto en términos de límites a partir de una ontología de objetos materiales. Dos cosas están en contacto cuando sus límites (o partes de ellos) se topan espacialmente. Las tesis relacionista y la substantivista sobre la naturaleza del espacio son evaluadas en sus compromisos respecto a la idea de contacto. Sin embargo, puesto que considerando algunos descubrimientos de la física cuántica es posible descartar la idea de contacto físico, la discusión requiere ser trasladada a un espacio topológicamente continuo. Aquí la idea de contacto requiere solucionar la compatibilidad entre la existencia de un espacio continuo y la existencia de límites como un tipo de discontinuidad. Cuatro tesis son evaluadas: clásica, superposición, brecha, y coincidencia. Esta última es defendida puesto que, a diferencia de las otras, no renuncia a características ontológicas fundamentales de un límite y es la menos arbitraria sobre su pertenencia.
Nothing is wrong with economics. Sometimes, economics is better than its reputation, and in several case it has a lot to offer. What is, however, wrong, is mainstream economists’ ideological, liberalist abuse of economics. Simultaneously, economic speculation is being extended to still broader fields, where economists have no insight except an airy “economic way of thinking”. For decades we have known that the challenges of our time, global environment and global distribution, desperately require collective action, and also that this is precisely what market governance can not deliver. How market ideology could invade our collective mind so forcefully during these same decades remains a mystery.KeywordsTopics for economicsMarket governanceMarket failureTheory and realityPlanning
This article discusses ecotherapy practice using literature, practice, and activity outside as well as inside transactional analysis (TA). Drawing on a survey of mental health professionals regarding their use of nature in therapy sessions, and the first author’s own interpretive review of the literature, the article discusses five identified obstacles to ecotherapy and offers some solutions to those. The authors contextualize their position and experiences (as an ecotherapist and activist and as an activist scholar, respectively) and in relation to indigenous traditions and struggles in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The article aims to encourage and support transactional analysts to integrate the environment and nature into their practice and, more fundamentally, to understand their practice in the context of the environment.
This paper explores the role of the dynamics and principles of quantum physics in the transformation of consciousness. Quantum entanglement, momentum, the uncertainty principle, Dirac’s creation and destruction operators, and the role of opposites are discussed in the contexts of the implied directive, group theory, and the transformation of resistance with individuals, couples, and organizations. The appreciation of novelty, the role of focusing attention, and the needs for depth and containment are explored in the context of recent developments of neuroscience. These developments are explored in the context of applications from set and group theory. Erickson’s resistance protocol is utilized as both a template and metaphor for the role of the consciousness of the professional and the integration of quantum principles and dynamics in the transformation of consciousness.
The search for the origin of life has so far been unproductive, with the RNA world, metabolism first, and cell first hypotheses all failing to provide conclusive answers. This paper presents the hypothesis that the universe itself may be alive. The nature of matter that we describe as living and inanimate is identical on a quantum level, with no discernable difference between the quarks and electrons. Quantum entanglement also makes no distinction as to whether particles belong to something alive or dead. Consciousness cannot be explained by a single neuron, but only, if at all, by many neurons. Similarly, life cannot be explained in terms of what we would see as a single lifeform, but only in wider terms. Distinction between what is alive and what is dead is not clear cut. We are totally dependent upon the existence of other living and non-living things, and due to the constant breakdown and re-constitution of cells within our bodies we never completely comprise of living components. A thought experiment in which a single proton is alive in its own world reveals a world that is not too dissimilar to our own, with similar horizons, and with little awareness of its place in the larger universe. This paper suggests we are part of a larger whole, with a connection between us and our universe which commenced at the Big Bang. Some interpretations of what existed before the Big Bang suggest the universe is capable of self-replication and Darwinian evolution, and able to both sense and respond to its environment. The paper describes how a previously existing high entropy universe could give birth to a new low entropy one, and concludes with a thought experiment in which we are placed within Schrödinger's box to ascertain what we our understanding would be about the universe outside it.
One route through which the possibility of lawlessness has entered scientific and philosophical discourse about laws of nature is Wheeler’s celebrated vision of “law without law.” I leave Wheeler’s question about the origin of laws in general unanswered, but examine three more limited kinds of lawlessness. The first is Feynman’s derivation of the principle of least action from an underlying quantum level which, on his account, is (nearly) lawless. The second stems from Davidson’s anomalous monism—the thesis that the mental is lawless and irreducible to fundamental physics—and pursues applications of this thesis both within and outside of physics. The third kind of lawlessness derives from the algorithmic notion of randomness and its compatibility with determinism.
Un objeto simple es un átomo mereológico, es decir, un objeto sin partes. Markosian (1998) postula lo que él llama the simple question: ¿bajo qué circunstancias es verdadero para un objeto que no posea partes? Este artículo analiza, primero, las respuestas a esa pregunta y, segundo, la tesis del nihilismo mereológico sobre composición material. Según esta última, en el mundo solo existen objetos simples que nunca componen nada. Esta tesis evita la vaguedad composicional al no existir límites espaciales indeterminados para un objeto sin partes, pero no elimina, considerando los descubrimientos de la física cuántica, la vaguedad modal en su localización.
Experiential operational descriptors
Engagement with indwelling intelligence through nature
Engagement with indwelling intelligence through buildings and artefacts
Indwelling intelligence of the human body
Indwelling intelligence in personal life experience
Indwelling intelligence through encounter with an "other"
Indwelling intelligence within collectives and communities
Indwelling intelligence within systems of belief
Branding barrier, semiotic barrier and status barrier
"Universal" intelligence from an "unconditioned" perspective?
Indwelling intelligence from an extraterrestrial perspective
Intraterrestrials? Outdwelling intelligence? Cyclic intelligence? Mirror awareness?
Periodic possibility: an alternative presentation
Intelligence and Ignorance: a necessary complementarity?
Dynamic of indwelling intelligence: questioning learning
Engendering global confidence through sustaining an indwelling question
Insights from the crisis of science and belief
Questionably exclusive framing of multiverse by science
Imaginative engagement with multiverse through poetry
Poetic insights into becoming a poem and being one
Transcending both scientific and poetic comprehension of multiverse
Explanation vs. Inplanation: multiversal embodiment through the Ouroboros
Engendering a multiverse through imagining
In tune with the infinite?
Our bodies are scanned, probed, imaged, sampled, and transformed into data by clinicians and technologists. In this book, Silvia Casini reveals the affective relations and materiality that turn data into image—and in so doing, gives bodies back to data. Opening the black box of MRI technology, Casini examines the bodily, situated aspects of visualization practices around the development of this technology. Reframing existing narratives of biomedical innovation, she emphasizes the important but often overlooked roles played by aesthetics, affectivity, and craft practice in medical visualization.
Combining history, theory, laboratory ethnography, archival research, and collaborative art–science, Casini retrieves the multiple presences and agencies of bodies in data visualization, mapping the traces of scientists' body work and embodied imagination. She presents an in-depth ethnographic study of MRI development at the University of Aberdeen's biomedical physics laboratory, from the construction of the first whole-body scanner for clinical purposes through the evolution of the FFC-MRI. Going beyond her original focus on MRI, she analyzes a selection of neuroscience- or biomedicine-inspired interventions by artists in media ranging from sculpture to virtual reality. Finally, she presents a methodology for designing and carrying out small-scale art–science projects, describing a collaboration that she herself arranged, highlighting the relational and aesthetic-laden character of data that are the product of craftsmanship and affective labor at the laboratory bench.
The article presents an attempt to use the logical theory of Dignāga (480?–540?) to address the critique leveled against the treatment of “truth” as an unattainable ideal in postmodern/poststructuralist philosophy. Dignāga has famously endorsed the Buddhist critique of language as an imperfect tool to articulate valid statements about reality, but he has also shown how double negation can be used to make limited positive statements by denying their opposites. In practice, this method can be used for the development of ethical concepts that can be shared between parties who would not agree, for example, on a positive definition of “justice,” but would nonetheless all consent to characterize certain practices as unjust.
This research report provides the effects of the various interpretations of quantum mechanics on the broad philosophies of physics. By implementing the broad philosophical aspects in order to make sense of quantum mechanics, and consequently how these aspects may violate our logic. The results are various and counter-intuitive set of interpretations that attempt to make quantum mechanics more logical. The report will explain the foundations of quantum mechanics starting from the history and ending in the interactions of other theories with quantum mechanics, the entanglement between the profound philosophies and the interpretations of quantum mechanics, and finally how the different interpretations of quantum mechanics are compared with each other with an explanation of the standards based on them. (Plagiarism 0%) ii
The development of the new logic of partitions (= equivalence relations) dual to the usual Boolean logic of subsets, and its quantitative version as the new logical theory of information provide the basic mathematical concepts to describe distinctions/indistinctions, definite-ness/indefiniteness, and distinguishability/indistinguishability. They throw some new light on the objective indefiniteness or literal interpretation of quantum mechanics (QM) advocated by Abner Shimony. This paper shows how the mathematics of QM is the math of indefiniteness and thus, literally and realistically interpreted, it describes an objectively indefinite reality at the quantum level. In particular, the mathematics of wave propagation is shown to also be the math of the evolution of indefinite states that do not change the degree of indistinctness between states. This corrects the historical wrong turn of seeing QM as "wave mechanics" rather than the mechanics of particles with indefinite/definite properties. For example, the so-called "wave-particle duality' for particles is the juxtaposition of the evolution of a particle having an indefinite position ("wave-like" behavior) with a particle having a definite position (particle-like behavior).
In 1922, Einstein was speaking to young Esther Salaman during a long walk; she wastalking of her dreams and goals and he was sharing some of his thoughts. Among thoughts oftravel, he described his core guiding intellectual principle when he said, "I want to knowhow God created this world [wie sich Gott die Welt beschaffen]. I'm notinterested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want toknow His thoughts; the rest are just details."
Henri Poincaré, one of the pioneers of relativity theory predicted that, for the sake of simplicity, physicists would never abandon Euclidean geometry. It is argued here that chemical theory has stagnated for the same reason. It is pointed out how a fresh approach in four-dimensional non-Euclidean space-time could eliminate most of the conceptual stumbling blocks that inhibit the growth of a non-classical theory for chemistry. Immediately foreseen benefits include an understanding of four-dimensional action, recognized as the spin function, to replace the unrealistic concept of orbital angular momentum associated with standing electron waves. The controversial issues of non-local interaction and the discrepancy with relativity resolve themselves, giving new meaning to the concept of quantum potential energy. Without the debilitating assumption of point particles problematical issues such as the exclusion principle, wave-particle duality, quantum probability, the measurement problem, uncertainty principle, molecular shape and the mysterious fine-structure constant, also disappear. An alternative wave model is introduced and shown to be consistent with elemental periodicity as it occurs in projective space-time, which is briefly discussed.
The theory of chemistry is the theory of matter—how it is constituted and how it behaves in interaction. Theories to address these issues emerged early in the previous century. Their impact on chemical thinking is discussed in this chapter. The theory of relativity that explains the origin of matter in the geometry of four-dimensional space-time has been completely ignored. Quantum theory in the form of Schrödinger’s three-dimensional wave equation is claimed as fundamental to the computational scheme, widely known as quantum chemistry, considered to represent the “highest level” of chemical theory. It relies on the ubiquitous linear combination of real atomic orbitals, in direct conflict with the complex functions of wave mechanics. The flawed models of chemical bonding, periodicity, molecular structure, stereochemistry, point particles, molecular modelling and reaction mechanism, formulated in terms of this approach, are critically analyzed. All of these urgently need serious reconsideration.
Dialogic: Education for the Internet Age argues that despite rapid advances in communications technology, most teaching still relies on traditional approaches to education, built upon the logic of print, and dependent on the notion that there is a single true representation of reality. In practice, the use of the Internet disrupts this traditional logic of education by offering an experience of knowledge as participatory and multiple. This new logic of education is dialogic and characterises education as learning to learn, think and thrive in the context of working with multiple perspectives and ultimate uncertainty. The book builds upon the simple contrast between observing dialogue from an outside point of view, and participating in a dialogue from the inside, before pinpointing an essential feature of dialogic: the gap or difference between voices in dialogue which is understood as an irreducible source of meaning. Each chapter of the book applies this dialogic thinking to a specific challenge facing education, re-thinking the challenge and revealing a new theory of education. Areas covered in the book include: • dialogical learning and cognition. • dialogical learning and emotional intelligence. • educational technology, dialogic 'spaces' and consciousness. • global dialogue and global citizenship. • dialogic theories of science and maths education. The challenge identified in Wegerif's text is the growing need to develop a new understanding of education that holds the potential to transform educational policy and pedagogy in order to meet the realities of the digital age. Dialogic: Education for the Internet Age draws upon the latest research in dialogic theory, creativity and technology, and is essential reading for advanced students and researchers in educational psychology, technology and policy.
The central contention of this essay is that the quantum world is not only a scientific site of complex experiments conducted by specialists expressed in mathematical formulae, but also a rich territory of imagination. Exploring the quantum world of infinite possibilities, a world of entangled agencies, and meaningful symmetries between modern science and the humanities, the essay focuses on how literature and quantum physics intersect in the interpretation of a physical reality whose essential ontology remains elusive. Since both the physicists and the literary scholars ask the same question of how to make this ontology meaningful for the general cultural imaginary, and since they both rely on metaphoric perception and hermeneutic processes in their accounts, I argue that the borders that separate the two disciplines are more porous than vigorous. The complementarity of these "two cultures", in other words, offers a viable framework for meeting the universe halfway.
Foundational attitudes towards quantum theory have recently thrown off much of the old philosophical baggage largely associated with Niels Bohr to which Einstein famously objected, including the central ‘collapse of the wavefunction’ concept. A ‘neo-Copenhagen’ interpretation, it is suggested, has arisen. This development is placed in its historical context and contrasted to philosophical allegations of anti-realism. The neo-Copenhagen interpretation remains wedded to Heisenberg’s uncertainty and observer-dependent values of particles. However a discussion of Nick Herbert’s ‘rainbow analogy’ suggests that subatomic particles are emergent from a ‘nonlocal’ level of reality outside the domain of space and time. Critical realism recognizes that emergent systems have an irreducibly ontologically character, and in its combination of epistemological relativism and ontological realism, provides a basis for the proposition that realists who support Einstein’s objections must now recognize that their realism must be redefined.
Whilst it is true that a great deal of the details of the experimental science which is presented in programmes presented by Cox, Al-Khalili and others is correct, the overall metaphysical perspective within which these details are presented is for the most part appallingly incorrect because they do not accord with the details of modern physics, quantum physics in particular. The metaphysical framework which underpins the general worldview of the programmes presented by both Cox and Al-Khalili largely corresponds to what Stapp refers to as a 'known-to-be-false' materialist perspective. The inappropriate materialist metaphysical dogmatism which underlies such programmes leads to some silly nonsense being presented without any challenge. This article cuts through the metaphysical madness.
Information is considered as a fundamental building block of reality, along with matter and energy. Yet the word information is often employed as a container term that represents many different modalities ranging from information constituting a physical parameter to the daily transmission of the news in human culture. Information is particularly known from the description of nature at its micro-level and from computer science (bits an qbits), but also is essential in understanding the evolution of macrostructures in the Universe. The interactions of subatomic waves/particles subsequent to the Big Bang, guided by feedback loops and backward causation, created a dynamic network of quantum information, that finally enabled the formation of highly complex macromolecular structures and first life. Parallel innovations in biophysical complexity occurred, expressed in quantum states that can be brought in superposition, after an “intelligent” search and selection process in nature, aiming at a future path. Therefore, both the becoming and future of the Universe can be viewed as an unfolding as well as a continuous measurement and creation of basic information. A collective memory of nature or a universal consciousness is considered as a prerequisite for the origin of life and further evolution of intelligence.
Current information theory implies that information can both be described as a physical entity, bearing an entropic element, in which the impact of information is inversely related to the probability that it will occur (Type 1 information), versus the concept that information reflects the certainty of a message and is directly related to its probability and meaning (Type 2 information). This dual aspect of information reflects the perspectives of sender and receiver in the transmission process and resembles wave/particle duality in which (proto)-consciousness can be instrumental in transition of the Type 1 to the Type 2 information aspects. It is shown that basic information is largely hidden from us, due to observation-induced perturbation of this intrinsic information.
Information may be transmitted in very different ways and at very different levels. In the living cell this may constitute chemical and electrical signals, but also specific spatial perturbations, for instance, in the 3-dimensional structure of proteins. At the level of human communication, vibration patterns can be expressed in electromagnetic waves in the form of light, sound, music, as well as in images and stories (transmitted by radio, telephone, internet and TV, for example). Such information is transferred to the brain through specifically tailored sensory organs that accommodate complex patterns of wave activity, that subsequently are converted to neural activities in a cyclic workspace of the nervous system. The emergence of human information, knowledge and understanding, in itself, can be seen as a creative force in the physical universe, which can influence the generation of complexity of Nature in all domains. A new information paradigm has been proposed that represents a new integral science of information, on a physical and metaphysical basis: it seems easier to describe matter and energy in terms of information than vice versa. Consequently, information can be used as a common language across scientific disciplines.
There are many good reasons to ask basic questions on the construction of reality. These questions not only concern the structure of the world we live in and how we perceive it, but also the mysteries of how our Universe was born and how it will evolve in the far future. This article aims to highlight the prominent role of information in the manifestations of matter and discusses current materialistic paradigms, versus the concept that not matter but information is primary in the evolution of our Universe. Reconciliation of these opposing views is sought in hypothesizing that matter in its various modalities intrinsically contains proto-mental (informational) aspects and/or that matter and mind are complementary aspects of a total reality. Information is treated as a multi-layered phenomenon and is differentiated in intrinsic (elementary), observed (scientific), cultural (in the sense of meaning) and numinous (mostly non-conscious) information. Reality is pictured as a four-dimensional domain (block universe), in which all time (past, present and future) is laid-out, along with space, housing a flow of information. It is postulated that basic information for creation of the Universe was provided, either through backward causation from the far future, or has originated from a preceding version of our Universe. Individual consciousness is considered as an expression of an underlying non-local quantum field, which exhibits holographic properties. It is postulated that the human brain is interfacing this universal information field, to our individual consciousness. This universal information domain is physically identified as the zero-point-energy field, also related to a time-reversed flow of anti-matter. Consciousness is hypothesized as arising from an inter-neuronal flow of information, perturbing local quantum gravity, that is seen as instrumental in the reduction of coherent quantum states to experience. The interfacing brain may also explain the phenomena of binding, qualia, intuition, serendipity, extra-sensory perception and some well established Psi-phenomena. It is stipulated that universal consciousness did contain the recipe for biological evolution and that it was instrumental in the evolutionary creation of conscious observers. Finally, a comprehensive scheme is presented, in which mind/matter is treated as a complementary unity and the abovementioned cosmological and evolutionary aspects are combined into a tentative picture for the construction of reality.
Whilst it is true that a great deal of the details of the experimental science which is presented in programmes presented by Cox, Al-Khalili and others is correct, the overall metaphysical perspective within which these details are presented is for the most part appallingly incorrect because they do not accord with the details of modern physics, quantum physics in particular. The metaphysical framework which underpins the general worldview of the programmes presented by both Cox and Al-Khalili largely corresponds to what Stapp refers to as a 'known-to-be-false' materialist perspective. The inappropriate materialist metaphysical dogmatism which underlies such programmes leads to some silly nonsense being presented without any challenge. This article cuts through the metaphysical madness.
The use of quantum concepts and formalisms in the information sciences is assessed through an analysis of published literature. Five categories are identified: use of loose analogies and metaphors between concepts in quantum physics and library/information science; use of quantum concepts and formalisms in information retrieval; use of quantum concepts and formalisms in studying meaning and concepts; quantum social science, in areas adjacent to information science; and the qualitative application of quantum concepts in the information disciplines. Quantum issues have led to demonstrable progress in information retrieval and semantic modelling, with less clear-cut progress elsewhere. Whether there may be a future “quantum turn” in the information sciences is debated, the implications of such a turn are considered, and a research agenda outlined.
936 (2012); 10.1119/1.4730935 Quantum Physics: A Fundamental Approach to Modern Physics Am); 10.1119/1.2432131 This article is copyrighted as indicated in the article. Reuse of AAPT content is subject to the terms at
- D G Blair
The Infinity Puzzle: Quantum Field Theory and the Hunt for an Orderly Universe Am. J. Phys. 80, 936 (2012); 10.1119/1.4730935 Quantum Physics: A Fundamental Approach to Modern Physics Am. J. Phys. 79, 143 (2011); 10.1119/1.3491172 Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness.. Am. J. Phys. 75, 287 (2007); 10.1119/1.2432131 This article is copyrighted as indicated in the article. Reuse of AAPT content is subject to the terms at: http://scitation.aip.org/termsconditions. Downloaded to IP: 155.33.16.124 On: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 03:20:38 BOOKS RECEIVED Advanced Gravitational Wave Detectors. D. G. Blair, E. J.
The Incompatibility of Sci-ence and Religion. Victor J. Stenger. 408 pp. Prometheus Books
- God
God and the Folly of Faith: The Incompatibility of Sci-ence and Religion. Victor J. Stenger. 408 pp. Prometheus Books, Amherst, NY, 2012. Price $20.00 (paper) ISBN 978-1-61614-599-6.
The Science Behind the JFK Assassination. G. Paul Chambers. 264 pp. Prometheus Books
- Head Shot
Head Shot: The Science Behind the JFK Assassination. G. Paul Chambers. 264 pp. Prometheus Books, Amherst, NY, 2012. Price $18.00 (paper) ISBN 978-1-61614-561-3.
461 Computing in Science & Engineering
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INDEX TO ADVERTISERS J. microTechnology................................ Cover 2 WebAssign.......................................... 461 Computing in Science & Engineering..................... 463 AAPT 2012 Summer Meeting........................... 464 AAPT Awards Nomination.......................... Cover 3 556 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 80, No. 6, June 2012 Book Reviews 556 This article is copyrighted as indicated in the article. Reuse of AAPT content is subject to the terms at: http://scitation.aip.org/termsconditions. Downloaded to IP: 155.33.16.124 On: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 03:20:38