Magic God And Quantum Physics
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MASKS OF THE UNIVERSE By Edward Harrison. Illustrated. 306 pp. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. $18.95.
WE should get one thing straight at the beginning – although this book is written by a respected member of the scientific community, it is not a book about science. It is about those aspects of philosophy and theology that border on the scientific enterprise, which is quite a different thing. The book’s title derives from Edward Harrison’s central thesis – that there is a distinction between the Universe and various universes. The Universe is the real thing – everything that exists. It is also, according to Mr. Harrison, forever unknown and unknowable. A universe, on the other hand, is the conception people have of the makeup of the Universe at any given time -what most scientists would call a model of the Universe. It is this distinction between the Universe and our ideas about it that occupies the first section of the book. Mr. Harrison, who is a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Massachusetts, sees human history as a long succession of universes, each representing a different mask behind which the true Universe hides.
From Corporate Culture To Social Justice To Self
Quantum physics is also popular among New Age philosophers, who have begun to use the term quantum thinking as a catch-all term for a certain self-help philosophy. In some definitions, the term emphasizes the human minds ability to imagine multiple futures and innovative ways of solving problems. Others use quantum physics to argue that the mind is instrumental in shaping reality, and that we can literally alter the world by manifesting, or envisioning, a new one.
Does Quantum Physics Lead To Atheism
Introduction
Does Quantum physics lead to atheism?
Let us discuss this question today.Quantum Physics is one of the most successful theories of science. In every thing in the world, success depends on practical results. Quantum Mechanics is regarded as a highly successful theory because it has spectacular practical results.
There are many quantum physicists we can talk about but I would like to use the life of Paul Dirac as a reference point in this discussion. Take Diracs equation for example. It predicted the existence of antiparticle to electron and the discovery of antielectron or positron is one of the greatest achievements in science. You might ask, so what? Diracs quantum theory led to the discovery of positron, how does that help? The discovery of positron has produced astronomical benefits to human society. Let me give you a few examples: Positron Emission Tomography Scan was invented based on Diracs theory. PET scans are now diagnosing diseases at cellular level.
Nanotechnology: manipulates matter at the level of atoms and molecules. Nanotechnology gives ability to see and to control individual atoms and molecules. Instruments like Scanning Tunneling Microscope and the Atomic Force Microscope are the products of nanotechnology. Promising technologies like delivering chemotherapy to individual cancer cells are emerging due to advances in the nanotechnology.
Dirac tried to connect the existence of God with the question of origin of life. Let me quote his words,
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Levels Of Consciousness And Reality And The Processing Of Information
Consciousness can be explained not so much in ontological terms , but in terms of what it does. I shall claim that consciousness processes information, and it processes information in non-algorithmic ways. Processing information is an act, and action, an experience a process.
Strikingly but meaningfully, the human mind can understand what cannot be done algorithmically. Moreover, the mind is ultimately not algorithmic . Complexity in biological and physical systems: bifurcations, solitons and fractals. London: IntechOpen, 2017. p. 83-93.). Yet, vice versa, the universe, nature or the world are constantly looking about itself and its environment if one considers the responsive nature of Earths environment .). The difference between consciousness and the universe is a difference of time scales whence the differences between the types of information processing.
The universe can be considered a living being in this case, nature is alive. This means that there is no life in nature, as if nature was a container of living beings. This is the crux of the argument. The argument that supports the life of nature can be traced back to geomorphology , geochemistry .), and the Earths physiology .). However, within the framework of quantum science a clear support can be found in Kauffman ______. Humanity in a creative universe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016..
Metaphysical Approaches Using Quantum Physics To Prove God’s Existence
There are several metaphysical approaches using quantum physics to try to “prove” the existence of God within the current framework of physical knowledge and, of them, this is one which seems among the most intriguing and most difficult to shake because it’s got a lot of compelling components to it. Basically, this takes some valid insights into how the Copenhagen interpretation works, some knowledge of the Participatory Anthropic Principle , and finds a way to insert God into the universe as a necessary component to the universe.
The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics suggests that as a system unfolds, its physical state is defined by its quantum wavefunction. This quantum wavefunction describes the probabilities of all possible configurations of the system. At the point when a measurement is made, the wavefunction at that point collapses into a single state . This is best exemplified in the thought experiment and paradox of Schroedinger’s Cat, which is both alive and dead at the same time until an observation is made.
Even if we allow that the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics is completely correct, there are two significant reasons that might explain why this argument doesn’t work.
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Not Something From Nothing
The major intuitive support behind P1 is that something cant come from nothing without a supernatural cause. The case of virtual particles popping into existence does not overturn this intuition because these entities do not emerge from nothing. They instead emerge from the quantum vacuum, or a field with a very low energy level. Columbia University Philosopher and theoretical physicist David Albert writes:
acuum states no less than giraffes or refrigerators or solar systemsare particular arrangements of elementary physical stuff…the fact that particles can pop in and out of existence, over time, as those fields rearrange themselves, is not a whit more mysterious than the fact that fists can pop in and out of existence, over time, as my fingers rearrange themselves. And none of these poppingsif you look at them arightamount to anything even remotely in the neighborhood of a creation from nothing.”
Alberts reasoning also applies to alpha or beta particles that emerge from a decaying atomic nucleus, an event that is also not a case of something coming from nothing. Since the quantum physics objection does not invalidate the broader intuition something cant come from nothing that undergirds P1 , then we could reformulate the KCA and just rely on this uncontested foundational intuition:
Does Mystery Of Quantum Physics Prove God Exists
Posted by Philip Raymond in categories: cosmology, general relativity, particle physics, philosophy, quantum physics, science
Ironically, my more popular posts are ones furthest from my passion and core interests. They are larksnever intended to go viral. This is about one of them
Apart from family, I typically steer clear of religious topics. I identify with a mainstream religion, but it is completely beside the purpose of Lifeboat Foundation, and it is a personal affair.
Yet, here we discuss a religious topic, after all. Lets get started
Question
Do atheists agree that the fact that we cant understand quantum physics is at least somewhat evidence of Allah?
An Objective Answer
Do you assert that a failure to understand something is evidence of God?
I dont fully understand a triple-Lutz or the Jessica stitch and I certainly dont get why an electric dryer leaves moisture on light weight linens, when a gas dryer gets them bone-dry before the plush towels.
Is my inability to solve these mysteries evidence of Allah ? Of course, not! It has nothing to do with God or religion. The fact that I dont quite grasp every complex task or unexplained science is not evidence of God, it is evidence of my own ignorance.
On the other hand, I am fortunate to understand quantum physicsboth academically and from an innate perspective. That is, behavior of waves and matter on a subatomic scale make perfect sense to me.
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Who Was The Founder Of Quantum Theory
Niels Bohr and Max Planck, two of the founding fathers of Quantum Theory, each received a Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on quanta. Einstein is considered the third founder of Quantum Theory because he described light as quanta in his theory of the Photoelectric Effect, for which he won the 1921 Nobel Prize.
What Is Quantum Physics
In essence, quantum physics is the study of matter and energy at very small, nanoscopic levels, beginning within nuclei, atoms and molecules. Modern science declares that “quanta particles” form atoms. These atoms form molecules and molecules form objectseverything that we can see is made up of these quanta particles. What makes these quanta particles so special is that they do not behave in ways according to known laws of physics, thus making them more of a series of probabilities, rather than something we can scientifically define and observe. Everything that we can see is made up of things that we cannot seeunseen particles. It is in this unexplained, fundamental discovery in science that we find our first Biblical evidence of this phenomenon in Hebrews 11:3 “By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at Gods command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.”
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What Is Quantum Physics In Simple Terms
Quantum physics is the study of matter and energy at the most fundamental level. It aims to uncover the properties and behaviors of the very building blocks of nature. While many quantum experiments examine very small objects, such as electrons and photons, quantum phenomena are all around us, acting on every scale.
Getting Closer To God With Quantum Faith
So what does this all have to do with faith and religion?
Religion and science have always seemed incompatible . But when you look at the relationship between science and faith, you begin to see that the two may be far more similar to each other than we ever dreamed. Could quantum physics be the bridge weve been searching for?
Many scientists believe that all quantum mysticism is pure quackery, which may be so. Still, its fascinating to at least entertain the similarities in the language used by religious leaders and that used by modern scientists.
Its up to you to decide what to believe. Just remember, quantum physics tells us that by making a decision, you might be creating your answer, and if you had made another decision or used another method, the truth you settled on might have ended up looking very different.
To learn more about the arguments between scientists and religious leaders, view theMagellanTV documentary Science Vs God:
One essential principle in Mahayana Buddhism is the concept of emptiness, which means that nothing has inherent existence. If you look at your hand, you see that its made up of fingers and flesh and bones, and that it doesnt exist separately from the rest of your body. A hand only exists because you observe and name it.
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The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will make you an atheist but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting. Warner Heisenberg
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Quantum God: The Logical Implications Of Quantum Physics And The Existence Of God
Abstract
One of the most appealing physical sciences bringing forth light to unknown phenomena is Quantum Mechanics. This research will attempt to examine how scientific discoveries in Quantum Mechanics and Cosmology have in fact been bringing unto light evidence that describes and defines the necessity for God or the supernatural as described in Christianity. This presentation will examine and compare this evidential necessity in light of the impossibility to explain with a degree of logic the origin of the Universe by natural means. It will explore discoveries as the Uncertainty Principle, Quantum Infinities, and the Big Bang to demonstrate the argument and how these contemporary inescapable scientific realities point at scientific logic and reason, demanding the implication of God as the source of origin of the Cosmos.
Does Quantum Physics Make It Easier To Believe In God
The Author: Stephen M. Barr, a professor of physics at the University of Delaware who specializes in theoretical particle physics.
The Gist: Quantum physics provides an argument against the philosophy called materialism -the primary intellectual opponent of belief in God in the modern world.
The Excerpt:
Materialism is an atheistic philosophy that says that all of reality is reducible to matter and its interactions. It has gained ground because many people think that its supported by science. They think that physics has shown the material world to be a closed system of cause and effect, sealed off from the influence of any non-physical realities- if any there be. Since our minds and thoughts obviously do affect the physical world, it would follow that they are themselves merely physical phenomena. No room for a spiritual soul or free will: for materialists we are just machines made of meat.
The Bottom Line: As Barr explains, the probabilities in quantum mechanics refer to definite events that definitively do or do not happen. The probability of the event, therefore, must shift either to 0% or 100% . However, the mathematics that describe physical processes shows that there is no shift to either 0% or 100%. The probabilities stay somewhere in between, they never resolve into definite outcomes. But an observer can know the outcome so, as Barr says, something must be involved when knowledge changes besides physical processes.
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Quantum Science And Immanence
Observation both creates and modifies reality. This is the famous problem of measurement in quantum physics. Such a problem was mathematically formalized as quantum mechanics. The trouble, though, is that along history, numerous interpretations of that mathematical formalism have arisen.
Indeed, quantum mechanics allows for over fifteen different interpretations many of them totally incongruent with the others . The many interpretations of quantum mechanism are to be seen a sign of the importance and vitality of the core questions implicated therein. Due to reasons of space, I shall omit discussion of the panorama of the different interpretations. Not all concern themselves with the role of consciousness or conscious observation in quantum phenomena however, they all are intrinsically pervaded by the role of consciousness and life vis-à-vis the economy of the universe, so to speak. The crux of the matter is conscious observation.
Transcendence or transcendentalism is likely the wrong way to explain quantum quandaries, even though, as religion, it has been the dominant worldview in the history of the western world. Quantum physics hints at the opposite approach to the issue, namely immanence, i.e. the universe itself is mindful.
Surprisingly, immanence has been a minor perspective in the history of science, philosophy and culture it can be stated also as an alternative worldview. Table 2 presents some of the most important authors that have defended immanence.
Table 2
If Two Particles Are Entangled You Automatically Manipulate Its Partner When You Manipulate It
This is all very hypothetical, and one of the biggest criticisms of theories of the multiverse is that because there seem to have been no interactions between our Universe and other universes, then the notion of the multiverse cannot be directly tested.
Quantum weirdness
Now let’s consider whether God can be in more than one place at the same time. Much of the science and technology we use in space science is based on the counter-intuitive theory of the tiny world of atoms and particles known as quantum mechanics.
The theory enables something called quantum entanglement: spookily connected particles. If two particles are entangled, you automatically manipulate its partner when you manipulate it, even if they are very far apart and without the two interacting. There are better descriptions of entanglement than the one I give here but this is simple enough that I can follow it.
Imagine a particle that decays into two sub-particles, A and B. The properties of the sub-particles must add up to the properties of the original particle this is the principle of conservation. For example, all particles have a quantum property called “spin” roughly, they move as if they were tiny compass needles. If the original particle has a “spin” of zero, one of the two sub-particles must have a positive spin and the other a negative spin, which means that each of A and B has a 50% chance of having a positive or a negative spin.
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Life Before Quantum Physics
Science and religion have been at divisive odds during Earths entire existenceuntil recently, that is. The scientific phenomenon known as Quantum Physics has been discovered and is being widely embraced by many scientific leaders. The more that is learned about quantum physics, the more we discover its Biblical basis and its proof of Gods perfect design. At the turn of the 20th century, scientists assumed they had uncovered all the basic fundamental laws and rules that governed our existence. It wasnt until physicists like Max Planck, Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein began to study particles using newer technologies, that they discovered a whole sub-layer of physics that involved the very small, mysterious units of matter and energy. This new discovery left them bewildered and unable to fully explain the phenomena they witnessed before their eyes. Thus, the birth of this strange and mysterious truth of science.