The Weird World of Physics
Sunday August 27, 2006
The world of theoretical physics is far stranger than the world we experience on a daily basis. Quantum wavefunctions transform probability into discrete reality, which may or may not be shaped by trans-dimensional strings or loops of spacetime. We observe strange relativistic behaviors, including the conclusion that our universe is expanding. The universe is made up mostly of matter that cannot be seen, and in fact all of it may hinge upon consciousness or the existence of life, which goes completely against our skeptical scientific intuitions.
To begin an exploration of the strange world of theoretical modern physics, check out our list of the 10 "weirdest" physical theories.
Comments
Hi,
Thanks for the provocative list. I thought your readers might be interested to know that recent developments directly impact a number of items on the list, viz., (1) Schrodinger’s equation, (2) Heisenberg’s UP, (3) string theory and (4)consciousness and quantum theory.
Recently published works by Smolin, Hartle, ‘t Hooft, Holland and Peres have revived the “hidden variables” (HV) interpretation of quantum mechanics (QM), which directly and fundamentally alters our understanding of 1, 2 & 3.
HV theories posit the existence of additional “elements of reality,” which, according to the famous paper known as EPR, would “complete” QM and give us a better-than-statistical picture of QM processes.
This development concerns #3 because HVs might just be the additional spatial dimensions posited by string/M-theory.
Concerning #4, recently translated — and hitherto largely unknown — letters between Wolfgang Pauli and Carl Jung have come to light, wherein we have Pauli arguing for a unitary description of mind and matter, informed by QM. Pauli is a household name in physics, known for his eponymous “exclusion principle” and spin matrices.
(This is all welcome news to me, as I have long argued for a unitary description of mind & matter, informed by QM — as completed by HVs.)