Some day we'll understand the whole thing as one single marvelous vision that will seem so
overwhelmingly simple and beautiful that we may say to each other; 'Oh, how could we have been so stupid for so long? How could it have been otherwise?!'
J. A. Wheeler, physicist
8 comments:
I love how physicists have so much wonderment. It's a beautiful thang! :)
Oh, doh, that reminds me of that site you mentioned that I put in my bookmarks. Must go and read :)
I hope you don't lose yourself in that site, Sue. It's really addictive:)
I was going to read maths and physics at university aeons ago. It didn't work out, but wonder at simply existing has never left, indeed, it's deeper than ever. Now that I see how it all ties together with the very core of true religion, it just makes me weep for joy some days. I want to take this silly world by the scruff of the neck and show it that there's no need for all this mayhem. Humanity is great beyond measure, but it is terrified of its greatness. Or rather the mind is:)
I am a little stuck at one of the very first pages:
"It is well known that there is a particle-wave duality for light and matter. Given this most simple science theory is founded on One substance, Space, we must consider the Properties of Space, thus we cannot add 'parts / particles' to Space. So we are left only with waves.
Thus there is only one solution - Space must exist with the Properties of a Wave Medium, and matter is formed from wave motions of Space.
So Aristotle and Leibniz were largely correct, they just did not realize that matter's activity / motion really came from the wave motion of Space (vibrating Space is a simple way to imagine it)."
So they are saying that the common conception in physics that matter behaves in two separate ways is not true? Help me out ...
Maths and physics at university would have been fantastic. It's taken me the longest time to realise that if I had approached them both as poetry I would have understood them easier.
You're right, Sue. What he's saying here, in his idiosyncratic style, is that there is only one substance existing, call it Space, Vacuum, whatever. This substance is infinite, eternal, and it vibrates in a particular way, very fast, giving rise to the appearance of matter and time, and so what we call events and experiences. That is all that is going on, and it is very wonderful and simple.
The very basic message he's trying to convey on this site is that all the mayhem we see around us is due to the false paradigm of separate 'particles' moving in space-time, connected by what we've called 'fields' (although no mechanism has ever been proposed for how particles produce fields - but I digress:)). If we simply change that paradigm to one of a totally unified reality, based on the one substance vibrating, then everything falls into place. All the equations of modern physics just drop out of this idea, from Newton to Einstein and beyond, using algebra which any bright student can grasp.
From believing in 'separation' as a basic principle to seeing the essential unity of reality is a simple but most profound shift, which if embraced by humanity will change everything. Everything.
That's my short answer. Hope it helped:)
And yes, I see it all as totally wordless poetry now, although I struggled greatly when trying to grasp it only with the mind. When the mind knows its place, things work much better!
Okay. Now, bear with me, 'cause I'm a bit thick sometimes.
Where does it come in that scientists observe matter behaving either in waves or particles? Is that simply that one substance behaving in a multitude of ways (as is evidenced by the variety around us), or does that observation come out of a misunderstanding?
You're far from thick, Sue. You ask questions that need asking, and I'll do my best to answer this one.
If you delve a little deeper, you'll see that the 'particle' business is just a misinterpretation of observations. When the maths is worked through - and I don't pretend to fully understand the process, but I'm getting there:) - we see that space, whatever, vibrates in two ways.
The basic premise is that very high frequency infinite plane - flat - waves flow though the fabric of space in (nearly) all directions. These of course alternately cancel and reinforce each other, and the net result is that spherical standing waves are formed, with a high density wave centre. It's that centre which we've mistaken for a 'particle', connected to others by what we've called 'fields', whereas the reality is that it's all one undivided, infinite, eternal substance, vibrating very fast. If we treat it as such, all of physical reality makes sense and can be readily understood.
It's all a case of a few folks looking at the same reality, yet seeing what no-one else has seen. Basically, physicists are still in love with Newton's ideas, while their new love beckons to them with every glance. All the facts of modern physics point to the truth of what I've said, but folks are blind to that, due to the enormous inertia involved in changing the direction of thought (not to mention huge financial inertia!). All the visionaries have encountered this - new ways of seeing don't really take hold until those holding to the old ways die!
Again, I hope this helps. These are radically simple, revolutionary ideas, which have the potential to change the whole ball game called humanity.
It does help, Harry, thanks!
... well, as far as any of this stuff helps. I always feel like I'm getting it but sort of barely, or in outline form, or if I turn away and think about something else it'll all collapse down in my mind and I will have to come back and read this again :)
But then again, maybe not. After all, it's pretty ... simple! :P
Glad it helped, Sue. Just remember this very simple summary - infinite, continuous, eternal space is vibrating, giving rise to matter and time. And that is all we need to know, really, unless we're theoretical physicists, and like losing ourselves in equations;)
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