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If you are a physics junkie and have not read Paul
Davies’ GOD AND THE NEW PHYSICS, you
should. Published by Simon & Schuster Paperbacks and copyrighted by
Davies in 1983, the book is the quintessential introduction to quantum
physics. There are better offerings out there introducing quantum
theory. There are better books available examining the origin of
“things”. But Davies does such an exemplary job of setting up the
equation of God on one side and science on the other that he
inadvertently nullifies the existence of both. It is an extraordinary
feat and highly provocative.
Okay, to be fair, it is only possible to appreciate
the futility and utter boredom stemming from arguments over the
existence of God versus the inviolability of science if one also admits
to having the most fundamental level of ignorance. This type of
ignorance should not be confused with humility. Nor should the type of
ignorance discussed here be confused with having an “open mind”. The
type of ignorance you must have to appreciate the pointlessness of
God-versus-science arguments is encapsulated in a quote Paul Davies uses
form Woody Allen: “My one regret in life is that I’m not someone
else.” In this one statement, every conceivable question we have about
God, science, time, space, and our own existence is reduced to the
purest of forms. (Makes you want to grab Allen, who is really a
multi-person, by his pointy little head and scream, “Think, Woody,
think. You are someone else!”)
What pulls GOD AND THE NEW
PHYSICS out of the mundane God-science argument is Davies’
treatment of the physics. He writes on page 163:
“It will be evident that there is a strong
holistic flavour to the quantum aspects of the nature of matter:
interlocking levels of description with everything somehow made up of
everything else and yet still displaying a hierarchy of structure.”
Kind of a scary statement from someone who
distinguishes science from religion as the difference between truth and
dogma. How does the ignorant mind fill-in that “everything somehow made
up of everything else” with anything but dogma? The truth. The truth
is that physics does not know the somehow of “everything” and the
“everything” of something else. Is religion any better?
Mercifully, no.
Quantum physics can take us to within a
thousand-billion-billionth of a second after the so call “big bang”.
Before that, as Davies explores rather well, we are scratching the
cosmos for such things as alternate universes arising out of black
holes. We are pondering the existence of expanding and contracting
realities harnessed to the whimsical energies of infinitesimal
particles. Davies covers this ground in clear and entertaining prose.
Of course others have also sought to bring the
un-initiated into the knowledge realm of quantum physics. (Brian
Greene’s THE FABRIC OF THE COSMOS, TG
review in May 2004 and THE FIELD, by
Lynne McTaggart, TG review in March 2004, for example). But
Davies digs deeper and truly attempts to raise the quantum physics above
science. He fails. Mercifully. But the service he renders to the
ignorant of mind is invaluable.
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