String Theory...Buddhism & Science

UnderTree

There were some very interesting posts on the after death thread, good ideas considered. Am not sure why it closed down. Were all the questions answered?

There were questions at the end of the thread about String Theory that appeared to go unanswered. String Theory is a set of theories (the latest called M theory) which attempt to integrate GR (general relativity) and QT (quantum theory). GR falls apart at the level of the very small; the math essentially goes haywire as one scales down to zero. QT deals with the very small, but also appears incomplete.

Thus, there is an attempt to arrive at a new theory that integrates both into one -- string theory is a candidate. (Brian Greene writes very cogently about this work in The Elegant Universe and The Fabric of the Cosmos.)

There are other theoretical candidates, such as quantum loop gravity, that aim for the same end. (Three Roads to Quantum Gravity by Smolin is an excellent read.)

One of the most interesting attempts, from a Buddhist viewpoint, is made by Julian Barbour in The End of Time. Though, ultimately, he takes a wrong turn, the work on understanding time provokes some worthwhile thought.

Alan Wallace edited a book, Buddhism and Science, which is also well worth reading. The Dalai Lama co-authored Destructive Emotions which captures some of the latest from the Mind & Life conferences he has held with scientists. Alan Wallace, previously mentioned, has written on those meetings.

In all cases, contemporary scientists run into some major roadblocks as they use the wrong paradigm. Unfortunately, Buddhism itself, as it becomes popular with such scientists, becomes contaminated with the incorrect paradigm; that, too, will pass. :winkc:

federica

I have no doubt, and every confidence that it will.

Brigid

UnderTree,

Great post. I'm ordering some books from Amazon soon and I will use your recommendations. I especially can't wait to read "The Fabric of the Cosmos"!

Brigid

UnderTree

Brigid wrote:

UnderTree,

Great post. I'm ordering some books from Amazon soon and I will use your recommendations. I especially can't wait to read "The Fabric of the Cosmos"!

Brigid

Brian Greene is an excellent writer. Having met him personally, I can attest that he cares deeply about teaching science and making it accessible. A genuinely nice person.

Palzang

I don't need string theory - I leave my shoes tied! Anyway, if you're into that kind of thing, you might also like a book called The Holographic Universe. Don't reckamember the author at the moment.

Palzang

Brigid

Thanks, Palzang!
I shall look it up and give it a shot. I really do love this sort of thing. I don't spend a lot of time reading physics but if it's made comprehensible to the average layman I'll always give it a try. I'm curious, what can I say. But for entertainment purposes only.

Brigid

Xrayman

Try A Brief History of Time-Steven Hawking.

A physicist friend of mine-yes he was a physicist!, got to page 22 and he lost all understanding of it (it is supposed to be written for the layperson). I got as far as pg. 15 and gave up!

perhaps you may have better luck!

Satori

Xrayman wrote:

Try A Brief History of Time-Steven Hawking.

A physicist friend of mine-yes he was a physicist!, got to page 22 and he lost all understanding of it (it is supposed to be written for the layperson). I got as far as pg. 15 and gave up!

perhaps you may have better luck!

I loved that book, and I also loved the movie version by the same title. Brian Greene's Elegant Universe is also excellent. :thumbsup:

Satori

Palzang wrote:

I don't need string theory - I leave my shoes tied! Anyway, if you're into that kind of thing, you might also like a book called The Holographic Universe. Don't reckamember the author at the moment.

Palzang

I don't know about a book by that title, but I have read the info. about it online:

http://www.crystalinks.com/holographic.html

http://www.crystalinks.com/holographic2.html

It's absolutely fascinating. I especially loved this part:

But the most mind-boggling aspect of Pribram's holographic model of the brain is what happens when it is put together with Bohm's theory. For if the concreteness of the world is but a secondary reality and what is "there" is actually a holographic blur of frequencies, and if the brain is also a hologram and only selects some of the frequencies out of this blur and mathematically transforms them into sensory perceptions, what becomes of objective reality?

Put quite simply, it ceases to exist. As the religions of the East have long upheld, the material world is Maya, an illusion, and although we may think we are physical beings moving through a physical world, this too is an illusion.

We are really "receivers" floating through a kaleidoscopic sea of frequency, and what we extract from this sea and transmogrify into physical reality is but one channel from many extracted out of the superhologram.

This striking new picture of reality, the synthesis of Bohm and Pribram's views, has come to be called the holographic paradigm, and although many scientists have greeted it with skepticism, it has galvanized others. A small but growing group of researchers believe it may be the most accurate model of reality science has arrived at thus far. More than that, some believe it may solve some mysteries that have never before been explainable by science and even establish the paranormal as a part of nature.

And this ...

Such a turnabout in the way we view biological structures has caused researchers to point out that medicine and our understanding of the healing process could also be transformed by the holographic paradigm. If the apparent physical structure of the body is but a holographic projection of consciousness, it becomes clear that each of us is much more responsible for our health than current medical wisdom allows. What we now view as miraculous remissions of disease may actually be due to changes in consciousness which in turn effect changes in the hologram of the body.

Similarly, controversial new healing techniques such as visualization may work so well because in the holographic domain of thought images are ultimately as real as "reality".

Even visions and experiences involving "non-ordinary" reality become explainable under the holographic paradigm. In his book "Gifts of Unknown Things," biologist Lyall Watson discribes his encounter with an Indonesian shaman woman who, by performing a ritual dance, was able to make an entire grove of trees instantly vanish into thin air. Watson relates that as he and another astonished onlooker continued to watch the woman, she caused the trees to reappear, then "click" off again and on again several times in succession.

Although current scientific understanding is incapable of explaining such events, experiences like this become more tenable if "hard" reality is only a holographic projection.

Satori

This thread in the Lotus Lounge also has some good information in it on string theory:

http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1148

Brigid

OOOHHHHH!!!!
This is GREAT, Satori. SO cool!

UnderTree

Palzang wrote:

I don't need string theory - I leave my shoes tied! Anyway, if you're into that kind of thing, you might also like a book called The Holographic Universe. Don't reckamember the author at the moment.

Palzang

Yes, "Holographic" was a good book by the late Michael Talbot. Good book from which to start the search. The recent movie "What the bleep..." was, in some senses, in a similar genre, though I did not particularly like the film.

UnderTree

Bohm's work, which is the core of The Holographic Universe, can also be found in The Undivided Universe published posthumously. However, a "math warning" is issued along with the recommendation. The key idea is that there is a "pilot wave" that acts as an information carrier (think of a radio signal directing a huge tanker) that underlies the quantum level. More or less a sub quantum reality. This is directly on the money as far as Buddhism is concerned. Bohm studied eastern religions, but then had a falling out with his teacher. I believe it was Khrisnamurti. (?)

ajani_mgo

Actually String Theory is interesting in the fact that it allows us to very easily break free of our 3D view of the world and instead build up the world from nothing but strings. Personally I think that every thing from solid, liquid, gas to sound, grey matter, cow dung is all just a vibration of "strings". But it'd be quite wrong to say everything is "virtual" or non-existent literally based on the fact that everything is simply frequencies. We'd might as well say light, sound and all the other things on our tangible Electromagnetic Spectrum be illusions. :rockon:

Also I believe that the smallest anything can be is the chronon unit. The universe may be lik an "analogue picture" as compared to the "pixelised picture" of our computer screens - but a smallest unit has to exist, or everything would simply disintegrate. (Using reverse logic here, don't mistake it as naive science I'm preaching)

Anyone knows about the Electrodynamics Theory or something? The one about light particles (photons I think) taking the shortest path in between two points. About how the particles "know" the shortest path. I wish I could understand that.

Another thing. I'm a litle pseudoscience. I've a 5D Brain Theory which I use to account for cognitive abilities and quantum physics. It's weird and unendorsed by any saner person. SO don't cry when I say something crappy.

For everyone who has difficulty with such higher sciences... I always find that they assume solid is one continuous mass... I think the Standard Atomic Model should be studied by anyone prior to studying such sciences.