"How the Hippies Saved Physics" took me back to my undergraduate days, by first two courses in Quantum Mechanics. Like the protagonists of Kaiser's bo"How the Hippies Saved Physics" took me back to my undergraduate days, by first two courses in Quantum Mechanics. Like the protagonists of Kaiser's book, I wanted to understand quantum mechanics. But the profs had their line that always closed off any inquiry ---"Shut up and calculate!" The maths works, the theory works --- why are you wasting your time in trying to figure out the Schrodinger wave function, wave particle duality, which slit an electron passes through in Young's double-slit experiment? An exasperated prof finally told me, "Then why are you unhappy?" as if the problem was with ME instead of the physics. A physics that no one really understood. Physicists were happy to "shut up and calculate". And so I switched majors and took up Astronomy. At least astronomers struck me as honest about what they didn't understand.
And so I was thrilled to find a group of physicists who were also not content to "shut up and calculate". Dissatisfied with the current climate in physics, they set out to figure things out. Their searches took them into the heart of "non-local" effects, a study of consciousness and yes --- paranormal phenomena. Sometimes I wonder whether the "shut up and calculate" mantra, adopted by most physicists is their way of keeping their distance from those fringe subjects that make them uncomfortable.Which is why an inordinate amount of effort is spent in debunking them.
No, the Hippies didn't save physics. That claim is an exaggeration. However their efforts led them into new territory in understanding the nature of non-local effects, subtle features of the quantum theory that prevent all proposed forms of super-luminal communication. The role of consciousness in quantum effects and its possible connection to non-local effects remains a promising avenue for future research. Interestingly, recent experiments by Dean Radin suggest that the mind can influence the behavior of photons.We can't even use paranormal abilities to nail down the position of a photon!...more
Are You an Illusion? How does that question make you feel? Mary Midgley poses the question both whimsically and seriously. Given that a vast corpus ofAre You an Illusion? How does that question make you feel? Mary Midgley poses the question both whimsically and seriously. Given that a vast corpus of contemporary neuroscience and psychology today questions the existence of “free-will”, and asserts that consciousness is no more than a by-product of neurons firing off in the brain or other unspecified bio-chemical processes, the conclusion of such studies is that the sense of a self is an illusion. Mary Midgley not only argues that the conclusion is nonsensical but that the scientists themselves probably don’t believe it either. At least with regard to themselves.
Mary Midgley is no anti-science nut. A respected philosopher who has produced a large corpus of books on moral philosophy and the philosophy of science, she is grounded solidly in Darwinian Evolution. She deserves a serious hearing, even if her views challenge prevailing scientific views.
How did we come to accept as scientific facts concepts that in her view clearly don’t make sense: that we don’t have free will, that our self doesn’t exist, that animals have no emotions, that nature and evolution have no purpose. She concedes that many scientific findings are “counter-intuitive”. Example: the Earth moves at 30km/second through space but we are not aware of it. However, the findings of science have to make sense. Our subjective experience of a self, of free-will and of consciousness cannot be swept under the carpet because our materialistic prejudice makes them inconvenient. The conflict, she perceives, is between empirical science and scientism about which she says,
"Scientism exalts the idea of science on its own, causing people to become fixated on the assumptions that seemed scientific to them during their formative years. This prevents them from seeing contrary facts however glaring they may be…"
How did “scientism’s assumptions come to be accepted as dogma? Mary Midgley offers answers that while disturbing do need to be looked at seriously. The banishing of “the self”, at the start of the 20th century was the foundation of the behaviouristic psychology. Behaviour was seen as measurable, a scientific quantity, while the psyche was an unscientific construct. It might feel perfectly real but it was still viewed as an illusion. She suggests that this choice was made because scientists were uncomfortable with the psyche, in particular with the unconscious; a fundamentally non-rational entity whose exploration was seen as too threatening. What you found there could up-end your rational world view. Anyone who has undergone psychoanalysis will tell you that it is not for the fainthearted. Coming face to face with your demons takes a lot of guts.
Scientism also allows us to exploit the Earth’s resources and to exploit animals without any regard to how those animals feel. Its philosophy makes it a perfect companion for free-market capitalism. The notion that nature is there to be subdued, and that man (the masculine gender) is made to exploit nature (generally regarded as feminine) is a dogma of our times. It has allowed us to build our technological world, to pillage the natural world and drive species to extinction without any pangs of conscience. It’s no coincidence that the rise of “The Selfish Gene” evolutionary theory ran parallel with rise of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, both champions of Ayn Rand’s Virtue of Selfishness.
At the age of 94 Mary Midgley has put forward a strong case for reviewing our materialistic assumptions about nature. Would that we all have the mental clarity and verve to write such a book when we’re in our nineties.
This is a fabulous story set in Northern Ireland in the days of the potato famine. You get an inside look at a family,the struggles, the woman who witThis is a fabulous story set in Northern Ireland in the days of the potato famine. You get an inside look at a family,the struggles, the woman who with her quiet wisdom holds the family and the community together...more
This book is not only for Dante scholars, but bit is rather an exposition of Williams' theology. It helps if you know a little about Charles WilliamsThis book is not only for Dante scholars, but bit is rather an exposition of Williams' theology. It helps if you know a little about Charles Williams (one of the Inklings. The early chapters are particularly interesting where he lays out his view of what actually happened between Dante and Beatrice, how Beatrice transformed Dante's life. Also, how for a man, a woman can carry a high spiritual vision. Readers of Carl Jung will recognize the "anima projection", how the woman within us can have a trans-formative effect on the human psyche. ...more
It's rare for me to take to a book so that I'm unable to put it down, stay up at night reading it. Yes, I did see the movie first and it really got unIt's rare for me to take to a book so that I'm unable to put it down, stay up at night reading it. Yes, I did see the movie first and it really got under my skin. Unsurprisingly the book is better still, more mutidimensional. The characters are easier to understand because so much more story is there. Or should I say stories? Are we dealing with one character's lives over several hundred years? The author has you step back from your present life and look at it as a fragment of a much vaster panorama. On the final page he comes clean --- we have a choice in what sort of world we want to create, a dystopian nightmare or a better world. We may feel we are no more than a drop in an ocean, but what is an ocean but a multitude of drops? ...more
This is a very provocative book that is bound to create controversy, discussion and to polarize opinions. Massimo Citro, a medical doctor and researchThis is a very provocative book that is bound to create controversy, discussion and to polarize opinions. Massimo Citro, a medical doctor and researcher in healing through the use of electromagnetic radiation (here begins the controversy), presents an overview of the latest studies, experiments and ideas of how science may explain diverse phenomena such as homeopathy, the structure of water, morphogenetic fields (as in Sheldrake), human fields, and the placebo effect. I was familiar with many of the same ideas developed by researchers back in the 1950s-60s, and was pleased to see that those same ideas are being discussed, now in terms of newer discoveries in quantum physics. I have no doubt that phenomena such as homeopathy and the structure of water are real. If so, how on Earth do you explain them?
Citro is not a physicist, and his explanations are qualitative rather than quantitative. However he refers to physicists who have published reasonable theories, such as Giuliano Preparata, Luc Montagnier and Ervin Laszlo to explain for example how water might have a “structure”. He devotes much of the book to describing TFF (Transfer Pharmacological Frequency), a healing technique he developed that involves amplifying the natural electromagnetic waves created by a substance dissolved in water, and either applying those waves to a patient, or imprinting them homeopathically on a water sample. He presents many case histories that suggest that there is a phenomenon there to explain. That molecules dissolved in water behave like harmonic oscillators and generate electromagnetic radiation, is not controversial. How coherent that radiation is, is another matter.
As well as presenting some of the latest research, Citro refers to early twentieth century work on the human fields, research by Yale biologist Harold Burr and Alexander Gurswitch. Back then, a field explanation for the development of biological forms seemed to many biologists a reasonable theory. It fell into disfavour mostly as a result of discoveries of DNA coding. In the tug of war between biologists and biochemists, biochemistry gained the upper hand.
On the negative side, Citro presents a smorgasbord of many theories, often too uncritically. All of them cannot be equally valid and some, such as the work and ideas of Pier Ighina stretch one’s credulity. The reader must make up his/her opinion on which theory merits attention, with little guidance from the author.
This book is unlikely to interest or satisfy the skeptic who is more at home in a positivistic approach. Citro is not out to convince anyone, least of all the skeptic. He does however give an interesting account of what ideas are being discussed on the edges of accepted science, the evidence and the possibilities. ...more
As a new beekeeper, I welcome this thorough account of the problems that bees are facing today, their population decline, the specter of their extinctAs a new beekeeper, I welcome this thorough account of the problems that bees are facing today, their population decline, the specter of their extinction. Not least, the consequences for biodiversity and the food chain. While this is not an academic text, there's a great deal of information here, apparently very well-researched. My one criticism is that while I learned much about the US bee problems, industrial pollination and issues related to long distance trucking, the issues pertaining to the UK and to Europe were less thoroughly explored. Yes, Scotland for example, is suffering a major bee population decline, with almost no feral colonies left, other colonies decimated. Large tracts of the country are bee-less. Admittedly our recent harsh winters and cold summers have been a major challenge.
I would welcome an update of this book (now 4 years old) with more specifically on the UK....more
After reading Anastasia --- the first book in the Ringing Cedars series by Vladimir Megre, I surprised myself by trying another. Like the first book,After reading Anastasia --- the first book in the Ringing Cedars series by Vladimir Megre, I surprised myself by trying another. Like the first book, the Space of Love oscillates between being inspiring and maddening. In the first book the author meets Anastasia, a Siberian recluse, spends three days with her in the Taiga during which he falls in love with her and impregnates her. He realizes that she is no ordinary woman but endowed with super-human abilities, and a person of great wisdom. She asks him to return to the world and write a book about their meeting. She tells him that the book will be a best seller that will inspire millions. That astonishing prophecy came true. The books have sold over 10 million copies and are translated into 20 languages. In Russia they also inspired a vast outpouring of poetry, painting and music. Now we have the Anastasia Foundation, and various eco-communities. It's a remarkable feat for a businessman who had never written a book in his life, self-published the first one and did very little marketing.
The Space of Love describes his second visit to the forest glade where Anastasia lives. He meets his baby son, who is being cared for not only by Anastasia but by forest animals. They clean him, wash him, feed him. An eagle takes the baby for an aerial flight. Seriously? You can get angry and throw the book away, or read on.
Megre struggles to understand his role as a father. He had brought toys, games for intellectual stimulation, even nappies only to discover that in the Taiga, they’re all redundant. He wants to bring the child back to civilization but Anastasia insists that he is where he belongs – in her space, the Space of Love.
He asks, “What can I give my son?”
She replies, “The links of the continuum have been violated in many people’s lives. But the strand is not broken. The strand that ties humanity as a whole and every creature in particular to the Creator needs to be comprehended and felt by each, and then to each may be extended light and might. Vladimir, expand the Space of Love. Right there in the world where you live, create a Space of Love. For the sake of our son, for all the children of the Earth, make the whole Earth into a Space of Love.”
“I don’t understand. What do you want from me? To change the whole Earth?”
“That is exactly what I want.”
Change begins with correct education of children --- hardly a novel concept. But what she proposes is revolutionary, along the lines Tekos school, in the Caucasian forest. A school built by the children, it’s where they learn together with very little adult input, using only thought, observation, feeling and intuition. The school may have commonalities with schools founded by the philosopher J. Krishnamurti, where freedom of thought and exploration are encouraged over conformity and conditioning. Where inner exploration of oneself is as important as the outer.
Despite impossible odds, such as would strain the credulity of every reader, Anastasia is not deterred. She denounces Nostradamus and other prophets of doom as liars, and asserts that she the pristine Man is stronger than they. She will defeat them. The End of the World is cancelled, not postponed. The dark prophecies will not come to pass but The Good will prevail.
It’s an astonishing message of hope, one that in this time of despondency and alienation needs to be heard. After finishing the book, you'll want to believe her....more