Book Description
A world-renowned astrophysicist and a science philosopher present a new, scientifically supported understanding of the universe, one that will forever change our personal relationship with the cosmos.
For four hundred years, since early scientists discovered that the universe did not revolve around the earth, people have felt cut off-adrift in a meaningless cosmos. That is about to change.
In their groundbreaking new book, The View from the Center of the Universe, Joel R. Primack, Ph.D., one of the world's leading cosmologists, and Nancy Ellen Abrams, a philosopher and writer, use recent advances in astronomy,physics, and cosmology to frame a compelling new theory of how to understand the universe and our role in it.
While most of us think of the universe as empty space peppered with stars separated by vast distances, the truth, the authors argue, is far richer and more meaningful. For the first time in history, we know that the universe is more coherent and spiritually significant than anyone ever imagined and that our place in it is actually central to the expanding universe in important ways.
According to Primack and Abrams, this new cosmology clarifies how the universe operates, what it's made of, how it may have originated, and how it is evolving. Even more surprising, these startling ideas spring from both cutting-edge science and the metaphors of ancient symbols. The result is a very human book that satisfies our fundamental need for order and meaning in our world and in our lives.
Customer Reviews:
It's Just Different........2007-10-06
I took the couples class at UCSC. And boy was it a little weird and interesting... luckily their book was slightly less weird. It's def a different read with many mini history lessons on the cosmos.
Complicated But Informative Book On The Universe.......2007-10-02
This is a very informative book. It talks about the history of what humans used to believe about the universe and the most recent discoveries of our day. It can get complicated and at times tedious to read but I would suggest it to anyone interested in the universe's workings and in science.
Important cosmic perspective.......2007-09-17
Humans are in the very rare position within the whole Universe of being aware of our fortunate evolutionary history, as well as the history of the Universe. The authors argue that a thoughtful realization of that new cosmological perspective should lead us to develop new ways of viewing ourselves and the rest of the Universe.
Everybody on Earth Should Read this book!.......2007-09-03
This is a wonderful book. I am not going to reveiw it here. I think every human now on Earth should read this book. I would like to send copies to Mr. Bush and Mr. Ahmadinejad. It is not a diatribe against religion but rather a scientific romance with ourselves and the story of our incredible journey through the vastness of time and space. When we hear someone say that God created the universe what are they actually saying? Saying that God created the universe tells me nothing. How we got here through aeons of time and the immensity of space is quite a story. A story that we should all know.
From the book:
"Cosmology is a branch of Astronomy and astrophysics that studies the origin and nature of the universe, and it is in the midst of a scientific revolution that is establishing its lasting foundations. What is emerging is humanity's first picture of the universe as a whole that might actually be true. There have been countless myths of the origin of the universe, but this is the first one that no storyteller made up--we are all witnesses on the edges of our seats."
The authors do argue that we are part of a kind of cosmic lottery with life emerging by chance. They remind us that we have hit the jackpot really and are in some sense fundamental to the meaning of the universe. It is up to us to give it meaning. I do not fully agree with the random jackpot explanation. Paul Davies the rather emininent cosmologist from Arizona State university also posits the idea of a cosmic jackpot but he adds a thought that I think is important to make. Human life, as such, may not have been 'planned' but the life principle itself was etched within the physical laws of the universe. Perhaps this explains why the universe is so vast and the time scales for human evolution are so great. The appearance of life is so unlikely that it needs vast time scales and vast spaces through which to roll the dice. Life is achingly rare and precious.
One thing is clear...we are all children of the Big Bang. Time to end all the religous angst and hatred. Science tells the true story of who we are and where we came from. It is time to enfold our ancient mythologies into the emerging story of mankind.
unusual approach to cosmology.......2007-06-01
This book attempts to place current advances in cosmology into a modern mythology that would restore the central importance to human beings in the scientific view of the world. Many readers will find this a little flakey, particularly where the argument is thin (Kabbala). But I found it thought provoking and very well written. Even if you are a hard core science buff you might find this worth your time because the author studied with Marcea Eliade at Chicago. Very original and very thoughtful in my opinion.There is nothing like it on the market that I know of worth reading. I think it may find a solid readership in time.
In addition, this book benefits from having been written for a humanities course given at Santa Cruz. This may be the best introduction to modern cosmology in that it takes the time to clarify fundamental points about dark energy and matter and aspects of inflation that are often bungled in better known and more sophisticated texts. It is clear that the authors have spent a lot of time answering questions from confused students. The care is appreciated; I wish more of these texts were so well edited. An excellent place to start. It comes with a strong recommendation from Paul Davies whose recent Cosmic Jackpot is also excellent.
Book Description
"The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible." - Albert Einstein In a series of remarkable developments in the 20th century and continuing into the 21st, elementary particle physicists, astronomers, and cosmologists have removed much of the mystery that surrounds our understanding of the physical universe. We now have mathematical models that are consistent with all observational data, including measurements of incredible precision, and we have a good understanding of why those models take the form they do. Although current theories will probably be superseded by better, more detailed theories as science continues to advance, the great success of contemporary models makes it likely that scientists are on the right track. In short, the cosmos is undoubtedly comprehensible.
But the question arises: Where do the "laws" revealed by the mathematical models come from? Some conjecture that they represent a set of restraints on the behavior of matter that are built into the structure of the universe, either by God or some other ubiquitous governing principle. In this challenging, stimulating discussion of physics and its implications, physicist Victor Stenger disputes this notion. Instead, he argues that physical laws are simply restrictions on the ways physicists may draw the models they use to represent the behavior of matter if they wish to do so objectively. Since mathematical descriptions of data must be independent of any specific point of view, that is, they must possess "point-of-view invariance" (maximum objectivity), they naturally conform to certain fundamental laws that insure that objectivity, such as the great conservation principles of energy and momentum. The laws of physics, however, are not simply an arbitrary set of rules since the observed data beautifully demonstrate their accuracy.
For those fascinated by how physics explains the universe and affects philosophy, Stenger's in-depth presentation, complete with an appendix of mathematical formulas, makes accessible to lay readers findings normally available only to professional scientists.
Customer Reviews:
Succinct overview but title is misleading........2007-04-02
This is quite a nifty, compendium like summary of laws pertaining to cosmology/particle physics (I refer here to author's clear and mellifluous writing). However if you read his previous books ("Timeless Reality" and "Has Science Found God" in particular) be aware of repetitions. Be alerted as well: this book is neither a typical popular science nor text book. Mathematical supplements take 130 pages out of the total 320 pages!! These math offals/short-cuts are often indigestible even for people familiar with vector calculus. I always have a problem with such books (Penrose's "The Road to Reality" being even more apparent example); whom these books are targeted for - students, scientists or average (though educated) laymen? Another problem with this book - author states with respect to the title: "..the laws of physics are the way they are because they have been defined to be that way (?!).....The viewpoint I present will be that of a strict empiricist who knows of no way to obtain knowledge of the world other than by OBSERVATION and experimentation". This is an honest statement but does not answer a bit the title's question "Where.. from?". Do not hope to become clear on that after reading "The Comprehensible Cosmos". Observing a stray dog on a street does not solve the enigma of "where does he come from" (IMO).
Many a professor will wish to use it as a foundation for classroom discussion.......2007-03-05
Professor Victor J. Stenger provides a fine survey of the status and science of physics in THE COMPREHENSIBLE COSMOS: WHERE DO THE LAWS OF PHYSICS COME FROM? Where exactly do the 'laws' revealed by math come from, and do they represent religious constraints on behavior built in by God or a governing body? These and other intriguing questions provide students of physics with challenging food for thought in a survey essential to college-level collections. Many a professor will wish to use it as a foundation for classroom discussion and debate extending the realm of scientific observation and discovery into the world of philosophical meaning.
Comprehensible Cosmos, Stenger.......2007-02-06
Two parts. The first two thirds of the book is in general terms, and very interesting. The remaining third is mathematical appendices, accounts of the maths behind the first part. It seemed to me that the details of this mathematical presentation were flakey ( though of course the results are well established ).
The Power of P.O.V.I........2007-01-25
Review of Victor Stenger's Comprehensible Cosmos
January 24, 2007
Where do the laws of physics come from? The Power of P.O.V.I.
In this admirable new book, physics professor Victor Stenger once again exhibits his notable ability to convey complex ideas of physics with simplicity and elegance, while not sacrificing mathematical rigor and detail. Moreover, the book offers a "big-picture" perspective that will appeal to both physicists and non-physicists. However, although not required, a basic familiarity with physics and a mathematical background will greatly enhance readers' appreciation and comprehension of the book, particularly concerning the helpful mathematical supplements provided at the end.
Here Stenger takes on "ultimate" questions, such as, Where do the laws of physics come from? and Why is there something rather than nothing?- answers to which are commonly believed to be found exclusively within the province of theological and philosophical discourse and to be inherently beyond the reach of empirical and theoretical science. Stenger argues that the extraordinary empirical success of our current models of physics, though still incomplete and provisional, gives us good grounds to assume that they are on the right track: the cosmos is indeed comprehensible, and our current physical models provide a description of nature that is likely to faithfully reflect aspects of a reality that exists independently of our thoughts and particular physical models.
Stenger argues that, contrary to some popular views, the so-called "laws of physics", such as the great conservations laws, are not restrictions on the behavior of matter imposed by an external agent or by a world of abstract Platonic mathematical forms. Rather they arise from the self-imposed requirement that physicists' descriptions of nature be independent of the particular point-of-view of observers- that they be point-of-view invariant. In order to ensure universal applicability and to describe reality as objectively as possible, physicists aim to construct mathematical models that describe nature in such a way that these descriptions do not depend on the particular point of view or reference frame of observers. For instance, the law of conservation of energy is a manifestation of time-translation invariance. A description of nature that does not depend upon the absolute time at which observations are made will automatically entail the conservation of a quantity called `energy'. Similarly, the law of conservation of momentum naturally arises from the requirement that physicists' descriptions of nature are space-translation invariant- that they do not depend upon any particular point in space.
Stenger's account builds upon the work of mathematician Emmy Noether, who proved that certain mathematical quantities called the generators of continuous space-time transformations are conserved when those transformations leave the system unchanged. Hence, the great conservation laws are consequences of point-of-view invariance and thus are reflections of the symmetries of space and time. As Stenger puts it: "If you wish to build a model using space and time as a framework, and you formulate that model so as to be space-time symmetric, then that model will automatically contain what are usually regarded as the three most important "laws" of physics, the three conservation principles". Stenger further demonstrates how Newtonian mechanics, quantum mechanics, and special and general relativity also arise naturally from the point-of-view invariance and symmetries of our physical models.
In addition to showing the intimate connection between the laws of physics and the symmetries of space and time, Stenger argues that features of our complex lower energy universe may be accounted for by the spontaneous breaking of symmetries that were present during the higher energy state of the big bang. Our universe is akin to a less symmetric snowflake that froze out of a more symmetric sphere of water vapor. Stenger discusses the possibility that our universe arose via a well-understood process of quantum tunneling from a highly symmetric void, empty of energy, particles, space, and time- a featureless state essentially equivalent to `nothing' . Since the void also exhibits space-time symmetries, the laws of physics are ultimately derived from the symmetries of the void. Indeed, Stenger argues that the laws of physics are not really laws at all, in the usual sense of the term. On the contrary, they are reflections of the absence of laws- they are what Stenger refers to as "lawless laws". Other aspects of nature, such as the apparent indeterminism of quantum mechanics can be accounted for by an element of randomness in the universe (which, Stenger notes, is itself a manifestation of invariance). Ultimately then, symmetry and randomness lie at the bedrock of reality. Hence, the universe is not only comprehensible, but may have arisen in the simplest way possible: randomly and spontaneously from a highly symmetric void, that is, from a state essentially indistinguishable from `nothing'. But then why is there something rather than nothing? Indeed, if the universe came from a void, then why did it not remain as a void? The answer Stenger offers, and which gains support from the work of other physicists, is that a symmetric void is unstable- hence there had to be something. Our universe is simply a different phase of `nothing', just as ice and steam are different phases of water.
There are plenty more topics discussed in this original and insightful book, including particle physics, cosmology, and thermodynamics, which are beyond the scope of this review. Perhaps some readers might complain that Stenger is too cautious in his lack of commitment to particular physical models of reality. At times he suggests that "scientific criteria cannot distinguish between viable metaphysical schemes" and that space and time are useful inventions that cannot be proven to exist. While this may be the case, this suggestion may be seen to weaken his thesis that the cosmos is comprehensible and that physics is not just another cultural narrative. On the other hand, Stenger emphasizes throughout that our physical models ultimately must be constrained by and consistent with empirical observations. Indeed, the relentless testing of the observational consequences of our physical models is what distinguishes physics from fiction. Thus, our physical models, while human inventions, are not just arbitrary cultural constructs. To the extent that they succeed in describing nature and surviving risky empirical tests, they likely represent aspects of an underlying reality independent of our specific models. Moreover, Stenger comments on how a particulate model of reality characterized by "atoms and void", which he explicitly favors, displays some virtues over a model characterized by waves, fields, and other "Platonic" mathematical constructs. If indeed physics does have implications for metaphysics, then physics might someday provide compelling empirical or theoretical reasons to prefer one hitherto observationally equivalent metaphysical model over another. In any case, readers will appreciate the elegance and simplicity of Stenger's expository style, which are paralleled by the elegant simplicity of the scenario he has described for the origin of the universe and of the laws of physics.
Yonatan Fishman, PhD
Department of Neurology
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Physics Demystified .......2006-12-23
Professor Stenger's book draws a map for the non-scientist through the otherwise intimidating terrain of physics. His survey bypasses the winding streets and cul-de-sacs that bewilder strangers, thus emphasizing the major avenues and boulevards that carry visitors from Democritus past Galilei, Newton, Einstein, Feynman, Hawking, and other physics landmarks. These luminaries light Professor Stenger's path from the nothing that preceded everything to the universes on each side of the first moment. "Nothing" includes neither matter nor energy. He walks us from that nothing void to the everything that includes us, everything from the tiniest strange quark to the greatest discernable distance. He does this by introducing the idea of point of view invariance, the idea that the laws of physics should apply in all reference frames. That simplest of keys opens the way for comprehending the cosmos, even for us who once knew but no longer remember much of calculus and trigonometry. He writes simply and clearly, without requiring the reader to re-read sentences over and over to glean an arcane point. Finally, for those who want meatier explanations in the language of mathematics, he includes several addenda in which he derives with undergraduate mathematics the points he makes earlier in simpler English.
Book Description
Why is the future so different from the past? Why does the past affect the future and not the other way around? What does quantum mechanics really tell us about the world? In this important and accessible book, Huw Price throws fascinating new light on some of the great mysteries of modern physics, and connects them in a wholly original way. Price begins with the mystery of the arrow of time. Why, for example, does disorder always increase, as required by the second law of thermodynamics? Price shows that, for over a century, most physicists have thought about these problems the wrong way. Misled by the human perspective from within time, which distorts and exaggerates the differences between past and future, they have fallen victim to what Price calls the "double standard fallacy": proposed explanations of the difference between the past and the future turn out to rely on a difference which has been slipped in at the beginning, when the physicists themselves treat the past and future in different ways. To avoid this fallacy, Price argues, we need to overcome our natural tendency to think about the past and the future differently. We need to imagine a point outside time -- an Archimedean "view from nowhen" -- from which to observe time in an unbiased way. Offering a lively criticism of many major modern physicists, including Richard Feynman and Stephen Hawking, Price shows that this fallacy remains common in physics today -- for example, when contemporary cosmologists theorize about the eventual fate of the universe. The "big bang" theory normally assumes that the beginning and end of the universe will be very different. But if we are to avoid the double standard fallacy, we need to consider time symmetrically, and take seriously the possibility that the arrow of time may reverse when the universe recollapses into a "big crunch." Price then turns to the greatest mystery of modern physics, the meaning of quantum theory. He argues that in missing the Archimedean viewpoint, modern physics has missed a radical and attractive solution to many of the apparent paradoxes of quantum physics. Many consequences of quantum theory appear counterintuitive, such as Schrodinger's Cat, whose condition seems undetermined until observed, and Bell's Theorem, which suggests a spooky "nonlocality," where events happening simultaneously in different places seem to affect each other directly. Price shows that these paradoxes can be avoided by allowing that at the quantum level the future does, indeed, affect the past. This demystifies nonlocality, and supports Einstein's unpopular intuition that quantum theory describes an objective world, existing independently of human observers: the Cat is alive or dead, even when nobody looks. So interpreted, Price argues, quantum mechanics is simply the kind of theory we ought to have expected in microphysics -- from the symmetric standpoint. Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point presents an innovative and controversial view of time and contemporary physics. In this exciting book, Price urges physicists, philosophers, and anyone who has ever pondered the mysteries of time to look at the world from the fresh perspective of Archimedes' Point and gain a deeper understanding of ourselves, the universe around us, and our own place in time.
Customer Reviews:
What if?.......2007-05-15
"What if" is perhaps the most significant of all scientific questions because the speculation it causes can lead to remarkable insights.
Likewise, "what if" can also be the inspiration for great fiction as here where the author takes us on many a wild goose chase. While the goose chases aren't necessarily a waste of time, readers should be aware of them nonetheless.
First things first: to understand the physical basis for the arrow of time, we need to understand the basis of reality in which the arrow of time is housed. As currently understood, reality is a confluence of four physical forces:
1) Gravity -- exerted at the macroscopic level and greater consistent with the increasing size of the object in question;
2) Electromagnatism -- exerted macroscopically, it concerns the relationship between electricity and magnatism;
3) The srong nuclear force -- exerted microscopically at the subatomic level, it concerns the relationship between the constituent particles of the nucleus;
SO FAR ALL THE FORCES DESCRIBED ARE TIME SYMMETRICAL, IN OTHER WORDS, THEY OPERATE THE SAME WAY WHETHER ONE IS SEEKING TO UNDERSTAND THE NORMAL SEQUENTIAL PASSAGE OF TIME -- SO CALLED RETARDED TIME -- OR REVERSED TIME SO CALLED ADVANCED TIME.
4) The fourth currently understood fundamental force of nature -- the weak nuclear force -- which also operates microscopically at the subatomic level but relates to proton decay. Since 1957, we have been aware that this force is time asymmetric in that so called K particle decay (so called because the decay pattern in a bubble chamber resembles the letter K) operates in a fashion consistent with retarded time.
While one might think that a fundamental force of nature showing a selective prejudice for the type of time that we physically observe might merit some serious reflection, Price's response is to simply disregard the matter as being physically insignificant because the interactions happen on such a minute scale (viz. the subatomic realm).
In other words, by Price's reasoning the fact that after the Big Bang, matter only outnumbered antimatter by a measure of one billion and one particles to one billion would enable him to say that we live in an antimatter universe because the enumerated differences between the number of particles was so small.
While his discussion of quantum entanglement is fascinating, his insights invariably serve as yet another wild goose chase. Disdained by Albert Einstein as "spooky action at a distance" quantum entanglement is the phenomenon that exists wherein two particles become entangled with a similar subatomic signature. Amazingly, research has shown that regardless of the seeming physical distance between the particles, a change in the signature to one of them can cause a similtaneous change in the signature of the other.
While fascinating, follow up research has failed to show that any useful information can be communicated through this immediate process and therefore -- though interesting -- it doesn't defeat Einsteinian causality.
Indeed, properly understood, it best inspires us to better understand what locality really is when we discuss the quantum level...a discussion not significantly fostered by Price's speculations.
Probabaly a better -- though harder -- read on this topic is Deiter Zeh's Physical Basis for the Direction of Time.
Groundbreaking Evidence for Bicausality.......2006-09-06
TIME'S ARROW is a remarkably well-conceived exploration of the matter of bicausality. Author Huw Price applies a philosopher's logical approach to the physics of time, as he builds such a solid case for reverse time causality that he is influencing many of today's top physicists with his lucid exploration of the subject. TIME'S ARROW methodically presents information about time in a manner that will delight mathematicians, philosophers and physicists alike, in a book that is best read sequentially from beginning to end, in order to ensure full comprehension. This book is obligatory reading for anyone fascinated by time, or who is intrigued to discover what inspired Stephen Hawking in 2006 to write a physics paper on the subject of top-down cosmology... with the notion that the present is affecting the past.
On Price's "Time's Arrow and the Archimededs' Point".......2003-12-20
On page 13 of "Time's Arrow and the Archimededs' Point", Huw Price writes:
".... If time flowed - then as with any flow - it would only make sense to assign that flow a direction with respect to a CHOICE (my emphasis) as to what is to count as the positive direction of time. .... The problem is that until we have such an objective basis we don't have an objective sense in which time is flowing one way rather than the other. In other words, not only does it not seem to make sense to speak of an objective rate of flow of time; it also doesn't make sense to speak of an objective rate of time; it also doesn't make sense to speak of an objective direction of time."
There are a number of ways that the world we inhabit seems asymmetric in time. Price believes that these perceptions of asymmetry are due to way we see reality, and less how reality actually is. He reminds the reader of how humanity has struggled before with anthropocentrism. Seeing the second law of thermodynamics as an EXPLANATION of time's arrow is just another anthropocentrism.
On page 17, Price writes:
".... The leading candidate for the position (the master arrow) has been the so-called arrow of thermodynamics. This is the asymmetry embodied in the second law of thermodynamics, which says roughly that the entropy of an isolated physical system never decreases.... There is nothing to stop us taking the positive axis to lie in the opposite direction, however, in which case the second law would need to be started as the principle that entropy of an isolated system never increases.... It is not an objective matter whether the gradients really go up or down, for this simply depends on an arbitrary choice of temporal orientation."
On page 20, Price writes:
"... We unwittingly project onto the world some of the idiosyncrasies of our own makeup, seeing the world in the colors of the in-built glass through which we view it. But the distinction between these sources is not always a sharp one, because our constitution is adapted to the peculiarities of our region.... It challenges the image physics holds of itself as an objective enterprise, an enterprise concerned with not with how things seem but with how they actually are. It is always painful for an academic enterprise to have to acknowledge that it might not have been living up to its own professed standards!"
On page 39, Price writes:
"... It seems to me that the problem of explaining why entropy increases has been vastly overrated. The statistical considerations suggest that a future in which entropy reaches its maximum is not in need of explanation; and yet that future, taken together with the low-entropy past, accounts for the general gradient... The puzzle is not about how the universe reaches a state of high entropy, but about how it comes to be starting from a low one. It is not about what appears in our time sense to be the destination of the greater journey on which matter is engaged, but about the point from which - again in our time sense - that journey seems to start."
What Price is describing above is what has been referred to as the ready-state paradox (see Chapter 6 of David Albert's book "Time and Chance"). And Price is right in pointing out that many of our "explanations" seems to fall to our anthropocentrism, given that we start out by assuming what it is that we seek to prove by introducing a time asymmetric ASSUMPTION.
Our low entropy birth at the big bang is a boundary condition, and one does not use statistics and determinism to explain such a boundary condition. Boundary conditions are more generally brute force realizations that are beyond explanation. So if you think that the second law of thermodynamics can explain cosmic evolution, and perhaps even the evolution of life, then think again. Or you may go on a meaningless journey to find the first ready-state.
It is quite plausibly that the early boundary conditions are determined by the present, given that time flowing backward is as plausible as time flowing forward. This brings up the possibility of backward causation, something that Price writes much on. But boundary conditions relate to collective properties, something going against the trend of reductionism. And so backward causation may better apply from the whole to its parts, which mirrors reductionism as forward causation generally goes from parts to whole.
Price writes much on Gold's big bang and big crunch model of the universe, and he writes on alternative views too. Having navigated safely from the time-flow anthropocentrism, Price seems to have gotten himself snagged on a second anthropocentrism that we are isolated from everything else. It is true we may see ourselves as all knowing creatures that are competing for our survival in a lifeless pool of chaos we call our universe. But there is no objective basis for this belief (see Thomas Nagel's "The View from Nowhere"). It is just a possible that we are the forgetful universe reflecting hopelessly into the many egocentric bodies that are said to be all knowing. Are we the inside system or the outside system? The question is symmetrical, and cannot be answered. Then why do we answer it by projecting a Gold's universe onto reality by demanding a separate big crunch future that is just as likely as our big bang past?
A two aspect view of reality does not carry this unwanted anthropocentrism. It is that reality has an all knowing aspect that is perceived to be following the thermodynamic arrow, and the SAME reality holds a sublime shadow aspect where time is reversed from the present. In the sublime aspect the many celebrate as one, whereas in the forward aspect the one fragments into many.
The zone where the two aspects connect is the inexpressible core, where symmetries are broken and manifestation unfolds. It is the core where choices are made, and where creative tensions are released. I believe this two aspect model of the universe provides that best model that answers Price's concerns, and yet it does not demand that the future is locked into a big crunch as the evidence now suggests.
This two-aspect capacity to one reality is consistent with panpsychism, but Price does not mention this either. I mention it in my book, "Trinity":
Trinity: The Scientific Basis of Vitalism and Transcendentalism
OK but not the best.........2003-06-13
The author seems to go out-of-his-way to make this tome more obtuse and forbidding than it needs to be in order to present his theories.
The book is a decent supplement to other books on space/time theory but is indeed a very tedious read, and is more for the serious student than the casual reader who merely enjoys sampling divergent views on cosmologic concepts.
I certainly do not agree with the author on a number of points, but the publication is worth your while if you have the patience to slog through it, and it surely does afford some new perspective on the subject.
Philosopher sets the Physicists Straight on Time.......2001-08-24
In this book, Huw Price uses his advantage as a philosopher to show physicists where they're going all wrong on the big "what is time?" issue. I'm teasing, but while making some excellent points, Price does sound a little condescending sometimes. I wondered, while I read, if a physicist would find it merely amusing, or would be growling a bit. This book requires concentration just because he lays out intricate step-by-step explanations and arguments. Because the arguments are built logically, you can't afford to nap. He does indicate several times the chapters that could be skipped without losing his general points. The gist of his argument is this: We exist inside the system (that is, within the space-time continuum),we are deceived by that position into wrong conclusions. The solution he advocates is "Archimedes'point," that is, we should hypothesize a position outside the system,the "view from nowhere," and from there will come up with more accurate explanations of what's going on, in his opinion, that time really is non-directional. He makes some excellent points along the way, and certainly just the exercise of working through his arguments is good for the ol' brain, but some of his arguments and conclusions are invalid. The chief problem I see is; this time-space system has produced directional time perceiving agents like us. (It has produced really cumbersome directional arguments like his!) While our perspective is limited, I don't believe that it can be dismissed. It is a very big deal that beings like us exist in this universe. We can't pretend that the universe exists merely of little bits of matter knocking around. Theoretical physics does drift near the edge of the religious question, and I would have expected a philosopher to at least acknowledge that, while the "God question" is not subject to analysis, physics does at times seem to be working overtime simply to avoid a "prime mover."
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Spatio-Temporal Pattern Formation: With Examples from Physics, Chemistry, and Materials Science (Partially Ordered Systems)
Daniel Walgraef
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ASIN: 0387948570 |
Book Description
This book provides an interdisciplinary presentation of the current knowledge of pattern formation in complex system, with sufficiently many details, tools, and concrete examples to be useful for the graduate student or scientist entering this area of research.
Book Description
Why do women stabilize our societies? Why can we enjoy and understand Shakespeare? Why are fruitflies uniform? Why do omnivorous eating habits aid our survival? Why is Mona Lisa’s smile beautiful? – Is there any answer to these questions? This book shows that the statement: "weak links stabilize complex systems" holds the answers to all of the surprising questions above. The author (recipient of several distinguished science communication prizes) uses weak (low affinity, low probability) interactions as a thread to introduce a vast variety of networks from proteins to ecosystems. Many people, from Nobel Laureates to high-school students have helped to make the book understandable to all interested readers. This unique book and the ideas it develops will have a significant impact on many, seemingly diverse, fields of study.
Customer Reviews:
Primer on real-life networks with a theme .......2007-02-02
If you ever needed another good reason to value your grandmother even more, you'll find the answer in "Weak links".
Structurally, his book starts with an exposition on network theory and
terminology, then the application and discussion of these concepts to
real-life complex systems on many scales and applied to many domains (physical, natural, technological, social). His main point is, as the reviewer noted above, that 'weak' links (weak: additional/removal does not statistically affect the average of some metric) stabilize systems.
The book has thorough footnotes, one can delve as deep as one would like
into the professional papers. In addition, Csermely is an honest scholar - he shows his hands when there is mere speculation (you have to see the book's unique pictograms to appreciate the effects)
After pouring through several alternatives, I have adopted this book as a
textbook for my Science of Networks class (I'm CS fac at an elite US liberal arts school), and I recommend it to anyone without hesitation for a readable, and learned exposition.
I only have two or three caveats from a specialist's point of view: The
phenomenological discovery of power laws in complex systems is not unusual
and may not be evidence of any SF properties. Scale-free is an abused
term, and I wish the controversy about it were explained a bit more. Also, from a modelling point of view, I wish Doyle and Carlson's work on HOT systems were discussed in more depth.
But these are minor points, relatively speaking. This is a gem of a book:
erudite, humane, funny, accessible and thoroughly fascinating. On every
page, there are delights that lead down new intellectual paths.
Csermely did a great service to pedagogy and to this budding science with
this magisterial survey. Outstanding in its ease of access for intelligent
undergraduates and commendable for intellectual honesty - I wish more
books (textbooks and otherwise) were written this way.
Weak Links Stabilize Complex Systems.......2006-05-13
It is an intriguing concept.
Weak links, invisible in many networks, are critical to its stability. In this book, Peter Csermely shows that all networks, from the universe to molecules are governed by the same principles. Regardless of the system -- atoms, cells, companies, web pages or countries -- surprisingly, the weak links stabilize each.
Csermely, a professor at Semmelweis University in Budapest, a former Fogarty Fellow at Harvard University, is a molecular chaperones specialist. In 2003, he became fascinated by the concept of affinity -- a network's stabilizing components of must have weak links to the other components. These weak links act as hubs. Attack the hubs; disrupt the network.
Csermely demonstrates the concept hold true in field after field. The professor begins his study with a discussion of the Granovetter study of a job search and then proceeds to describe network dynamics. By chapter four, the reader is ready to be introduced to the concept of weak links as universal stabilizers. Then, the professor conducts a network tour ranging from macromolecules to the planet earth. Finally he ends with a discussion of weak links, stability landscapes and game theory.
Surprisingly, his book is understandable, even to non-academics. It is loaded with gems that can be applied to the reader's networks and relationships.
This is not a book I would have ever picked up on my own. Thankfully, Professor Csermely sent me an advanced copy. It is a unique book that takes a thorough look at an intriguing concept.
Average customer rating:
- The Speakable and Unspeakable
- Bohm
- One of the most significant physics books for magicians
- Science That Doesn't Avoid Ultimate Questions
- From Atomistic, Relativity and Quantum to Implicate Order
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Wholeness and the Implicate Order (Routledge Classics)
David Bohm
Manufacturer: Routledge
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ASIN: 0415289793 |
Book Description
In this classic work David Bohm, writing clearly and without technical jargon, develops a theory of quantum physics which treats the totality of existence as an unbroken whole.
Customer Reviews:
The Speakable and Unspeakable.......2007-07-31
David Bohm tried to speak what many would call "unspeakable". In that respect, his philosophy had a clear correlation with Taoism and it's various offshoots.
Please do not read this book if you are not well versed in Physics and Quantum "mechanics". This is not for intellectual dilettantes.
Bohm.......2007-05-13
Bohm's works are very helpful for me to stay out of what I call "reality 1" and connect to my potential.
One of the most significant physics books for magicians.......2006-12-01
This anthology of essays includes David Bohm's theories of how the natural world of human awareness unfolds from a basic source that encompasses the totality of reality and possibility. The vocabulary developed by Bohm can be useful to any magician in understanding magical phenomena and transcendent experiences. For the first time, modern science is united with ancient magick in a single, coherent theory or reality.
Science That Doesn't Avoid Ultimate Questions.......2006-06-04
First off, David Bohm's interpretation of Quantum Mechanics and the Stochastic Ensemble interpretation are very different (unlike some reviews might have you believe). Bohm's interpretation is, by necessity, nonlocal, where as the other is explicitly local. Saying they are the same theory is like saying that changing the channel of a television by getting up and pressing a button is the same as sitting in a chair and using a remote. One person can change the channel from across the room and the other has to get up and walk over to the television. For further differences between the two I suggest The Physics of Consciousness by Evan Harris Walker.
Second, there's nothing "childish" about beliefs that have survived 50,000 years of human history. Just because someone doesn't agree with a certain set of beliefs doesn't make it right to ridicule those beliefs without sufficient reasons why those beliefs can't be true. Pseudoskeptics who dismiss the evidence for paranormal phenomena a priori are committing a heinous crime against the scientific method. The truth is there are loads of evidence for certain paranormal phenomena and the pseudoskeptics simply ignore it or misinterpret it; they are willing to sacrifice part or all of the scientific method just to protect their own beliefs. In effect they are being just as irrational as the people they are criticizing. Double and triple blind studies are conducted at majour universities around the world, with the results being reproduced thousands of times, showing definitively that things like remote viewing, telepathy, psychokinesis, and survival of consciousness after physical death are very real. No pseudoskeptic, materialist, or debunker has refuted the evidence (though they may have refuted misinterpretations of the evidence), and furthermore, none has ever given even one single datum for the validity of philosophical materialism.
David Bohm believed in an ultimate reality beyond the reaches of our current science. His theory stated that the material universe was a projection of a subtler, immaterial implicate order. Anyone who reads this book should see that. Bohm was not a materialist and used real science to explain why materialism doesn't work. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in holomovement and other theories that challenge the scientific status quo, which has failed to answer the ultimate questions. I also recommend Talbot's Holographic Universe as a sort of sequel to this book (a 600 page combined volume would be too large for the average reader and the message would be lost).
From Atomistic, Relativity and Quantum to Implicate Order.......2005-02-15
A deep and enlightening book that ventures beyond the mechanistic paradigm of classical physics. I am not a physicist and as a layman, I found this book overall understandable, except the mathematical equations Bohm employs in areas of relativity, quantum computations and other physic equations of algebraic and geometric means. It really is a brilliant piece of work and not easy book to explain, but I can say as a novice, this is a superior work.
Bohm starts out with our Western fragmented view of reality, failing to see wholeness, thinking through our lenses of space, time, matter, mechanics, causality, contingency and so forth, as Kant pointed out how we categorize our perceptions. The notion we view in fragment is our illusion which cause confusion. It is our measuring net over reality that fragments it. While the Newtonian works for much it is also the fragmentation of our cultures, cities, religions political systems, etc. Our mechanics look for absolutes and any theory of absolute truths results in fragmentation, thus the differences between the atomic theory, the theory of relativity and the quantum theory into a form of reality that is moving, resulting in what he calls a undivided wholeness in flowing movement.
Bohm describes a language he calls the Rheomode. Basically it is the opposite of our views where language describes a noun in action. The Rheomode. describes the verb center of action. Rather than the order of "I" am typing, it would be, there is typing being done. Beyond all of the sequential order expressed in terms of our divisional language their is the movement of attention. Evidently, by our ability to perceive and understand is limited by the freedom with which the ordering of attention can change, so as to fit the order that is to be observed. There is allot more to this, apparently this changes our atomistic view, changes our world views of self and truth, by taking away the importance from our world views, removing the fragmentary breaks we project.
Bohm describes reality and knowledge considered as a process. There is something above memory and the mechanical process to reason in what Bohm calls intelligence. One might suggest that in intelligent perception, the brain and nervous system respond directly to an order in the universal and unknown flux that cannot be reduced to anything that could be denied in theories of knowable structure. There's an intense outlay between thought and non=thought, knowledge considered as a process, a free movement of the mind needed for clarity of perception, which contributes to a pervasive distortion and confusion of every experience.
Bohm believes there are hidden variables in the quantum theory, despite its indeterminism of the Heisenberg principle and Von Neumanns arguments and the paradox of Einstein, Rosen and Podolsky. In this he attempts to resolve, it gets a little heavy here for the layman in treatment of the quantum fluctuations.
It is here where the quantum theory is seen as an indication of a new order. While the theory of relativity recognizes continuity and strict causality and locality, a singular overall pattern of curvular continuous connection, the quantum recognizes an order measured in non locality in autonomous groups but not continuously connected, an undivided wholeness with separate groupings, the observer and observed become one, while separate, a holomovement where each part contains the whole in some way, a relative autonomy, different closed circuits of particles of autonomous groups.
The enfolding and unfolding universe and consciousness completely removes the Cartesian grid. It is the idea of a projected hologram from a non locality that enfolds into itself. From a void that contains all, a movement which unfolds in explicate order which enfolds in implicate order back unto itself. The electrons enter a different kind of state, in which they are no longer relatively independent. Rather, each electron acts as a projection share a non-local, non-causal correlation, which is such that they go round obstacles co-operatively without being scattered or diffused, without resistance, all so into a multidimensional reality There are infinite relatively independent sub-totalities which are abstracted, explicated as autonomous.
Book Description
In 1932, Wolfgang Pauli was a world-renowned physicist and had already done the work that would win him the 1945 Nobel Prize. He was also in pain. His mother had poisoned herself after his father's involvement in an affair. Emerging from a brief marriage with a cabaret performer, Pauli drank heavily, quarreled frequently and sometimes publicly, and was disturbed by powerful dreams. He turned for help to C. G. Jung, setting a standing appointment for Mondays at noon. Thus bloomed an extraordinary intellectual conjunction not just between a physicist and a psychologist but between physics and psychology. Eighty letters, written over twenty-six years, record that friendship. This artful translation presents them in English for the first time.
Though Jung never analyzed Pauli formally, he interpreted more than 400 of his dreams--work that bore fruit later in Psychology and Alchemy and The Analysis of Dreams. As their acquaintance developed, Jung and Pauli exchanged views on the content of their work and the ideas of the day. They discussed the nature of dreams and their relation to reality, finding surprising common ground between depth psychology and quantum physics. Their collaboration resulted in the combined publication of Jung's treatise on synchronicity and Pauli's essay on archetypal ideas influencing Kepler's writings in The Interpretation of Nature and the Psyche. Over time, their correspondence shaped and reshaped their understanding of the principle they called synchronicity, a term Jung had suggested earlier.
Through the association of these two pioneering thinkers, developments in physics profoundly influenced the evolution of Jungian psychology. And many of Jung's abiding themes shaped how Pauli--and, through him, other physicists--understood the physical world. Of clear appeal to historians of science and anyone investigating the life and work of Pauli or Jung, this portrait of an incredible friendship will also draw readers interested in human creativity as well as those who merely like to be present when great minds meet.
Amazon.com
Information, for most of us, is an airy, abstract thing--the stuff of ideas, images, and symbols. But for Tom Siegfried and the scientists he writes about in The Bit and the Pendulum: How the New Physics of Information Is Revolutionizing Science, information has become something much more fundamental to the workings of the world. "Information is real," Siegfried explains. "Information is physical." What that means depends somewhat on the discipline it's applied to (cosmology, particle physics, computer science, cognitive theory, and molecular biology are among the fields examined here), but in general it comes down to the radically simple notion that the universe, at its deepest levels, is made not of matter and energy but of bits. Information is real, yes. But more to the point: reality, in some increasingly meaningful sense, is information.
So goes the argument anyway. And Siegfried, science editor of the Dallas Morning News, does a pretty good job of presenting it. His prose, admittedly, puts the flat in flat-footed, and his explanations of the relevant scientific phenomena (which include cool stuff like teleportation and quantum-mechanical computing) are sometimes murkier than they ought to be. But his knowledge of the last 10 years of theoretical research is sweeping, and he's especially deft with the tricky philosophy-of-science issues that pervade his topic. Have scientists really discovered, in information, the world's true foundation? Or have they simply found a handy new metaphor with which to think about the world? Siegfried wisely comes down on neither side of the question. For him, the power of metaphor is inseparable from the quest for scientific truth. And his book convincingly suggests that information, as a concept, will be generating deep scientific truths for years to come. --Julian Dibbell
Book Description
"Funny, clear, deep, and right on target. [Siegfried] lets us get a handle on ideas that are essential for understanding the evolving world."
-K. C. Cole, author of The Universe and the Teacup
"An eager, ambitious book. A stimulating, accessible introduction to scientific theory."
-Dallas Morning News
An award-winning journalist surveys the horizon of a new revolution in science
Everything in the universe, from the molecules in our bodies to the heart of a black hole, is made up of bits of information. This is the radical idea at the center of the new physics of information, and it is leading to exciting breakthroughs in a vast range of science, including the invention of a new kind of quantum computer, millions of times faster than any computer today. Acclaimed science writer Tom Siegfried offers a lively introduction to the leading scientists and ideas responsible for this exciting new scientific paradigm.
Customer Reviews:
Absence of Content.......2003-01-13
It is rare to see an author tackle such a rich and interesting subject, and write a book so vapid and lacking in content. The material is "explained" in terms of inept metaphors and vague hand-waving assertions. After devoting several hours to studying the book, the reader has the feeling that he's "been had", since he has acquired nothing in return for his effort. In fact, the author appears to have no more than the faintest grasp of the subject he is writing about.
Poorly written and vague.......2002-10-29
I bought this book on the strength of the reviews here, which as it turns out are extremely misleading. Yes, this is a very interesting topic and I did learn a few things from the book. But I personally found this one of the most poorly written, vacuous books I have ever read. Siegfried has done a broad survey of how scientists have found it useful in various fields to conceive of things in terms of information. It is a promising project; the problem is that he has very little idea of how all this is connected. Worse, he barely explains any of the science. He doesn't even seem to understand it himself--at least when he discusses the areas I am familiar with his explanations are clearly off the mark--but assures us that it is all very important and technical. In lieu of explanation, he drops names, telling the reader over and over and over how he personally talked to so-and-so and they assured him something-or-other was true. In one particularly embarrassing moment, Siegfried actually prints a full page interview in which he asks one scientist several incoherent questions, to which the scientist replies (I'm not kidding), "I don't know how to answer that," suggests the questions are outside of his field, and says Siegfried has gotten his meaning wrong. There's not even enough in this passage to take notes on, yet Siegfried prints it verbatim. I don't mean to bash him--and I'm glad someone is taking an interest in this important topic--but I don't want others to be mislead by these other reviews.
Excellent Introduction to Information Theory.......2002-02-22
If you are looking for a very readable book on the hot topic of information theory I would strongly recommend this book. Tom Siegfried is a gifted journalist that nurtures strong personal relationships with the leading theatrical physicists in the world. He uses these relationships to get insight into creating a clear layman's explanation for a variety of topics from the nature of computing, the brain, consciousness, quantum mechanics, quantum computing, relativity, string theory and black holes. He has numerous insights from his interviews with great physicists like John Wheeler who coined the term "It from Bits". Siegfried also introduces us to some lesser know information theorist that deserve recognition for their insights into information theory. Siegfried is one of a rare group of people that cares deeply about creating a clear layman's (non-mathematical) explanation of important topics to people that are interested in science and the nature of the world around us. I would rank this book with Ray Kurzweil's book "The Age of Spiritual Machines" as highly recommended for people interested in information theory and the future of computing.
And the title is pretty darn clever too.......2001-05-17
Don't know much about algorithmic complexity, but I do know that a scientist could never explain current scientific thought the way this book does. It takes a skilled science journalist to find a common thread in many very different fields and tie it all up so a mere mortal can understand. Some of it may be tough going for some readers, but just skip those parts. The big picture is the important thing here.
And the title is pretty darn clever too.......2001-05-16
Don't know much about algorithmic complexity, but I do know that this book explains current scientific thought more clearly than a scientist ever could. It takes a skilled science journalist to meaningfully connect all the fields this book explores. Some of the details may be a bit tough for some readers, but just skim those parts. The big picture is the important thing.
Customer Reviews:
Mach's Principle Conference.......2007-02-11
I'm hopeful that we will be hearing more about Mach's Principle in the future. Modern Physics may provide the theoretical underpinings that eluded Mach and his contemporaries. It was fascinating to learn just how sketchy Mach's contribution's were- and that the development of a theory of inertia were instead made by Mach's colleges. My only regrets were that the work of Dennis Sciama and Roger Penrose were not included. This book illuminates a topic in physics that is controversial, problematic, and very interesting.
Informative and Entertaining.......2001-12-16
If you are interested in Mach's Principle, you will like this book . Experts discuss what Mach really intended when he formulated his principle. The book provides english translations of some classic articles on Mach's Principle, and it discusses some of the lastest research and thinking on the topic. I recommend it very highly.
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