The Mind and the Universe: A New Perspective on Reality, Schemi e mappe concettuali di cosmetologia

Scarica The Mind and the Universe: A New Perspective on Reality e più Schemi e mappe concettuali in PDF di cosmetologia solo su Docsity! INATURE|Vol 436|7 July 2005 ESSAY The mental Universe The only reality ismind and observations, but observations are not of things. Toseethe Universe ast really is, we must abandon our tendency to conceptualize observations asthings. Richard ConnHenty Historically, we have looked to our reli- gious leaders to understand the meaning ofour lives; the nature ofour world. With Galileo Galilei, this changed. n establish- ing that the Earth goes around the Sun, Galileo not only succeeded in believing the unbelievable himself, but also con- vinced almost everyone else to do the same. This was a stunning accomplish- ment in ‘physics outreach' and, with the subsequent work.ofTsaac Newton, physics joined religion in seeking to explain our place in the Universe, ‘The more recent physics revolution of the past 80 years has yet to transform general public understanding in a similar way And yeta correct understanding of Michael Frayn gives these word to Niels Bohr: “we discover that... the Universe exists... only through the understanding lodged inside the human head” Bohrs wife replies, “this man you've put at the centre ofthe Universe — is it you, orisit Heisenberg?” This is what sticks in the craw of Eddington's “matter-of-fact” physicista Discussing the play, John H. Marburger III, President George W. Bushîs science adviser, observes that “in the Copenhagen interpretation of microscopic nature, there are neither waves nor particles”, but then frames his remarks in terms.ofa non-exis- tent “underlying stuff”. He points out that it is not true that matter “sometimes physics was accessible even to Pythagoras. According to Pythagoras “number is all things”, and numbers are men- tal, not mechanical. Likewise, Newton called light “particles” knowing the concept to be an ‘effective theory — useful, not true. As noted by Newtons Physicists shy from the truth because thetruth is so alien to everyday physics. A common way to evade the mental Uni- verse is to invoke ‘dlecoherence’ — the notion that ‘the physical environment’ is sufficient to create reality, independent of the human mind. Yet the idea that any irreversible act of amplification is neces- sary to collapse the wave function is known to be wrong: in ‘Renninger-type' experiments, the wave function is col- lapsed simply by your human mind seeing nothing. The Universe is entirely mental. In the tenth century, Ibn al-Haytham ini- tiated the view that light proceeds from a source, enters the eye, and is perceived. This picture is incorrect but is still what most people think.occurs, induding, unless pressed, most physicists. To come to terms with the Universe, we must abandon | suchviews.Thewozldisquan- 1 tam mechanical we must learn 1 toperceiveitassuch. Î One benefit of switching i —humanitytoa correct percep- tionofthe world isthe resulting joy of discovering the mental nature ofthe Universe. We have biographer Richard Westfall: “The ultimate cause ofatheism, Newton asserted, is this notion of bodies having, as it were, a complete, absolute and independent real- ity in themselves!” Newton knew ofNew- ton's rings and was untroubled by whatis shallowly called ‘wave/particle duality! The 1925 discovery of quantum mechanics solved the problem of the Uni- verses nature. Bright physicists were again ledtobelieve the unbelievable — this time, that the Universe is mental. According to SirJames Jeans: “the stream ofknowledge isheadingtowards a non-mechanical real- ity; the Universe begins to look morelike a great thought than like a great machine. Mind no longer appears to be an acciden- tal intruder into the realm of matter... we ought rather hail it as the creator and gov- ernorof the realm of matter” But physi- cists have not yet followed Galileo example, and convinced everyone of the wonders of quantum mechanics. As Sîr Arthur Eddington explained: “It is diffi- cult for the matter-of-fact physicist to accept the view that the substratum of everythingis ofmental character” In his play Copenhagen, which brings quantum mechanics to a wider audience, Proof without words: Pythagoras explained fhings using numbers. behaves like a wave and sometimes like a partide... The wave is notin the underly- ingstuf itisin the spatial pattern ofdetec- torclicks.. We cannot help but think ofthe dicks as caused by little localized pieces of stuff that we might as well call particles. This is where the particle language comes from. It does not come from the underly- ing stuff, but from our psychological predisposition to associate localized phe- nomena with particles” Inplace of“underlying stufl” there have been serious attempts to preserve a mater- ial world — but they produce no new physics, and serve onlyto preserve an illu- sion. Scientists have sadly left it to non- physicist Frayn to note the Emperor's lack of clothes: “it seems to me that the view which [Murray] Gell-Mann favours, and which involves what he calls alternative ‘histories’ or ‘narratives! is precisely as anthropocentric as Bohr", since histories and narratives are not freestanding ele- ments of the Universe, but human con- structs, as subjective and as restricted in their viewpoint as the actof observation” ©2005 Nature Publishing Group noidea whatthis mental nature implies, but — the greatthingis — its true. Beyond the acquisi- tion of this perception, physics can no longer help. You may descend into solipsism, expand to deism, orsomething else if you can justify it — just don't ask physics for help. There is another benefit of seeing the world as quantum mechanical: someone who has learned to accept that nothing exists but observations is far ahead of peers who stumble through physics hop- ingto find out ‘what things are! If we can ‘pull Galileo) and get people believingthe truth, they will find physics a breeze. The Universe is immaterial — mental and spiritual. Live, and enjoy: n Richard Conn Henry is a Professorin the HenryA. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Mardiand 21218, USA. FURTHER READING Marburges L OntheCopenhagen Interpretationof Queniim Mechenies wrrecostpgov/himi/Copenhagentalik pdf (2002). Henm,R.C. Am. LPhys. 58, 1087-1100 (1950). Steiner, M. The Appiicabilitvof Mathematias a FhilasophicalProblem{Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, MA 1998).