|
Classical physics states that physical reality
is local -- a point in space cannot influence another point
beyond a relatively short distance. However, 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 halfway 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 was 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 nonlocality. 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 terms of the sum of the parts. One of the most startling
implications of nonlocality 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 provide a fascinating history of developments
that led to the discovery of nonlocality and the sometimes
heated debates among the great scientists responsible for
these discoveries. They also argue that advanced 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 nonlocality, implications that reach deep
into that most intimate aspect of humanity -- consciousness.
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.
|
