The Non-Local Universe: The New Physics and Matters of the Mind - Hardcover

Nadeau, Robert; Kafatos, Menas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195132564 ISBN 13: 9780195132564

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1999

Synopsis

Classical physics states that physical reality is local--a point in space cannot influence another point beyond a relatively short distance. However, In 1997, experiments were conducted in which light particles (photons) originated under certain conditions and traveled in opposite directions to detectors located about seven miles apart. The amazing results indicated that the photons "interacted" or "communicated" with one another instantly or "in no time." Since a distance of seven miles is quite vast in quantum physics, this led physicists to an extraordinary conclusion--even if experiments could somehow be conducted in which the distance between the detectors was half-way across the known universe, the results would indicate that interaction or communication between the photons would be instantaneous. What was revealed in these little-known experiments in 1997 is that physical reality is non-local--a discovery that Robert Nadeau and Menas Kafatos view as "the most momentous in the history of science."
In The Non-Local Universe, Nadeau and Kafatos offer a revolutionary look at the breathtaking implications of non-locality. They argue that since every particle in the universe has been "entangled" with other particles like the two photons in the 1997 experiments, physical reality on the most basic level is an undivided wholeness. In addition to demonstrating that physical processes are vastly interdependent and interactive, they also show that more complex systems in both physics and biology display emergent properties and/or behaviors that cannot be explained in the terms of the sum of parts. One of the most startling implications of non-locality in human terms, claim the authors, is that there is no longer any basis for believing in the stark division between mind and world that has preoccupied much of western thought since the seventeenth century. And they also make a convincing case that human consciousness can now be viewed as emergent from and seamlessly connected with the entire cosmos.
In pursuing this groundbreaking argument, the authors not only provide a fascinating history of developments that led to the discovery of non-locality and the sometimes heated debate between the great scientists responsible for these discoveries. They also argue that advances in scientific knowledge have further eroded the boundaries between physics and biology, and that recent studies on the evolution of the human brain suggest that the logical foundations of mathematics and ordinary language are much more similar than we previously imagined. What this new knowledge reveals, the authors conclude, is that the connection between mind and nature is far more intimate than we previously dared to imagine. What they offer is a revolutionary look at the implications of non-locality, implications that reach deep into that most intimate aspect of humanity--consciousness.

About this title

About the Author

Robert Nadeau, a historian of science, has written seven books on the implications of advances in science and technology. Menas Kafatos, a physicist, has published numerous books and articles on computational science, astrophysics, earth systems science, general relativity and the foundations of quantum theory. They are both professors at George Mason University, in Fairfax, Virginia.

Reviews

The latest of many attempts to link subatomic physics to broader human concerns, this brisk, uneven volume splits neatly in two: the first half explains key ideas in quantum physics, and the second makes grand claims about their worth for other fields. Classical physics rules out "action at a distance." (You can't move a billiard ball unless something--a pool cue, an air jet, lightning--contacts it.) But quantum physics permits "non-local" action, and recent experiments prove it: do certain things to one photon, and you'll affect another faster than light can travel between the two. Hence, "all of physical reality is a single quantum system that responds together to further interactions," say the authors. Nadeau (a historian of science) and Kafatos (a physicist), both professors at George Mason University, move from these cogent, compact exegeses of quantum non-locality to its purported meanings for biology, philosophy and even economics. Non-locality, Nadeau and Kafatos contend--with its attendant "complementarity" between parts and wholes--helps explain the origins of life, speaks to the evolution of consciousness, solves the dilemmas of recent social and literary thought and bridges for good the divides between mind and matter, arts and sciences. The authors bring up, but don't always keep in mind, the difference between explanation and analogy. Some arguments "prove" truths most potential readers already know (e.g., we ought to work to save the rain forests); others (about evolution and about French theory) seem facile. Nonetheless, Nadeau and Kafatos supply plenty of food for thought: the apparently recondite concept of non-locality, they suggest, has consequences everywhere. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195132564
• ISBN 13: 9780195132564
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256