[lit-ideas] Re: [lit-ideas] Le Pesa nteur et la Gr âce
- From: Michael Chase <goya@xxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 10:49:24 -0700
Le 7 ao=FBt 04, =E0 11:41, Paul Stone a =E9crit :
> <snip>
>
> I think it was Feynman who said "anyone who says he understands =
Quantum
> Physics, doesn't." The whole "eastern mysticism" link to what is now=20=
> known
> as physics was probably initially popularized by Fritjof Capra's "Tao=20=
> of
> Physics" and a lot of other guys who ran with THAT ball ("Dancing Wu =
Li
> Masters" by Gary Zukav and most recently Brian Greene's "Elegant=20
> Universe"
> and "The Fabric of the Cosmos" come to mind).
M.C. Interesting to see Brian Greene ranged among P. Stone's list of=20
scientific ignoramuses. That would be the Brian Greene, the Rhodes=20
scholar who got his PhD at Oxford, became Full Professor at Cornell,=20
then became Professor of Physics and Mathematics at Columbia=20
university, and who, according to MathSciNet, is the author of over 75=20=
publications in such artsy-fartsy journals as Nuclear Physics. B,=20
Studies in Advanced Mathematics=A0; International Journal of Modern=20
Physics A. Particles and Fields. Gravitation. Cosmology=A0; Journal of=20=
Mathematical Physics=A0; Nuclear Physics and the Proceedings of the=20
Spring School on Nonperturbative Aspects of String Theory and=20
Supersymmetric Gauge Theories and the Conference on Super-five-branes=20
and Physics in $5+1$ Dimensions held in Trieste, March 23--31 and April=20=
1--3, 1998, etc., etc.
On the face of it, one might have assumed that Professor Greene =
know=20
*almost* as much about science as P. Stone, and just possibly a teensy=20=
bit more.
Oh, and by the the way, there is not one word about Eastern =
mysticism=20
in The Elegant Universe, which is about string theory. You might try=20
reading it.
> But this attempted bridging
> of the gap between Western Philsophy and Eastern Mysticism has=20
> basically
> proven exactly the opposite of what Julie said "Because it turns=20
> ontology
> and epistemology on their ears." If'n it's right in any way! Anyone =
can
> make up a theory that is controversial and ground-breaking and stands=20=
> stuff
> on its head, but unless it has any semblance of truth in reality,
M.C. Problem is, not everybody agrees with *your* conception of=20
reality. What you're saying is equivalent to =93I'm willing to entertain=20=
any scientific theory, as long as it corresponds to my basic=20
assumptions about the nature of reality". It follows from this that -=20
since one's notion of "proof" is a function of one's notion of=20
"reality", no theories that challenge P. Stone's conception of=20
"reality" can possibly be "proved", because proof *just is*=20
correspondence with the views he already holds. People like P. Stone=20
have thus very effectively eliminated even the theoretical possibility=20=
that they might ever have to change their views=A0; perhaps this is the=20=
sense in which it's said that ignorance is bliss.
Once again, Kuhn's theory is confirmed : the way that scientific=20=
paradigms change is that the believers in the old paradigm eventually=20
die off. Kind of like the dinosaurs.
<snip>
>
> The problem is that there is absolutely no proof at all for any of =
this
> 'nonsense' (not my words) and many "real" [traditional, maybe even=20
> stodgy,
> blinkered philistines -- for Mike] scientists call it what it is:=20
> fluff.
M.C. Yeah,, right. Even though quantum physics is, together with=20
general relativity, the best-confirmed theory *ever produced* - it=20
contains, for instance, effects which can be computed to be accurate to=20=
about one part in 10 to the 11th power (Penrose et al., The Large, the=20=
small, and the human mind, Cambridge 1997, p. 51) it's probably just=20
fluff. Why? Because P. Stone says so, along with "many "real"=20
[...scientists]". Who are these scientists, by the way? Can you name=20
just one?
Michael Chase
(goya@xxxxxxxxxxx)
CNRS UPR 76
7, rue Guy Moquet
Villejuif 94801
France
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
- » [lit-ideas] Re: [lit-ideas] Le Pesa nteur et la Gr âce
