God and the New Physics

God and the New Physics PDF Author: P. C. W. Davies
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0671528068
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
Argues that the discoveries of twentieth-century physics--relativity and the quantum theory--demand a radical reformulation of the fundamentals of reality and a way of thinking, that is closer to mysticism than materialism.

God and the New Physics

God and the New Physics PDF Author: P. C. W. Davies
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0671528068
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
Argues that the discoveries of twentieth-century physics--relativity and the quantum theory--demand a radical reformulation of the fundamentals of reality and a way of thinking, that is closer to mysticism than materialism.

The New Physics

The New Physics PDF Author: Gordon Fraser
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781139855396
Category : Cosmology
Languages : en
Pages : 558

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Book Description
A guide to the hottest topics in physics for both scientists and general readers, written by leading international experts.

Quantum Reality

Quantum Reality PDF Author: Nick Herbert
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 030780674X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
This clearly explained layman's introduction to quantum physics is an accessible excursion into metaphysics and the meaning of reality. Herbert exposes the quantum world and the scientific and philosophical controversy about its interpretation.

The New Physics and Cosmology

The New Physics and Cosmology PDF Author: Arthur Zajonc
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780195347821
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
What happens when the Dalai Lama meets with leading physicists and a historian? This book is the carefully edited record of the fascinating discussions at a Mind and Life conference in which five leading physicists and a historian (David Finkelstein, George Greenstein, Piet Hut, Arthur Zajonc, Anton Zeilinger, and Tu Weiming) discussed with the Dalai Lama current thought in theoretical quantum physics, in the context of Buddhist philosophy. A contribution to the science-religion interface, and a useful explanation of our basic understanding of quantum reality, couched at a level that intelligent readers without a deep involvement in science can grasp. In the tradition of other popular books on resonances between modern quantum physics and Zen or Buddhist mystical traditions--notably The Dancing Wu Li Masters and The Tao of Physics, this book gives a clear and useful update of the genuine correspondences between these two rather disparate approaches to understanding the nature of reality.

The New York Times Book of Physics and Astronomy

The New York Times Book of Physics and Astronomy PDF Author: Cornelia Dean
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781402793202
Category : American newspapers
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A treasury of 125 archival articles covers more than a century of scientific breakthroughs, setbacks and mysteries and includes pieces by Pulitzer Prize-winning writers, includes Malcolm W. Browne on antimatter, James Glanz on string theory and George Johnson on quantum physics.

Fashion, Faith, and Fantasy in the New Physics of the Universe

Fashion, Faith, and Fantasy in the New Physics of the Universe PDF Author: Roger Penrose
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691264317
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 536

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Book Description
Nobel Prize–winning physicist Roger Penrose questions some of the most fashionable ideas in physics today, including string theory What can fashionable ideas, blind faith, or pure fantasy possibly have to do with the scientific quest to understand the universe? Surely, theoretical physicists are immune to mere trends, dogmatic beliefs, or flights of fancy? In fact, acclaimed physicist and bestselling author Roger Penrose argues that researchers working at the extreme frontiers of physics are just as susceptible to these forces as anyone else. In this provocative book, he argues that fashion, faith, and fantasy, while sometimes productive and even essential in physics, may be leading today's researchers astray in three of the field's most important areas—string theory, quantum mechanics, and cosmology. Arguing that string theory has veered away from physical reality by positing six extra hidden dimensions, Penrose cautions that the fashionable nature of a theory can cloud our judgment of its plausibility. In the case of quantum mechanics, its stunning success in explaining the atomic universe has led to an uncritical faith that it must also apply to reasonably massive objects, and Penrose responds by suggesting possible changes in quantum theory. Turning to cosmology, he argues that most of the current fantastical ideas about the origins of the universe cannot be true, but that an even wilder reality may lie behind them. Finally, Penrose describes how fashion, faith, and fantasy have ironically also shaped his own work, from twistor theory, a possible alternative to string theory that is beginning to acquire a fashionable status, to "conformal cyclic cosmology," an idea so fantastic that it could be called "conformal crazy cosmology." The result is an important critique of some of the most significant developments in physics today from one of its most eminent figures.

The World According to Physics

The World According to Physics PDF Author: Jim Al-Khalili
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691182302
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
Scale -- Space and time -- Energy and matter -- The quantum world -- Thermodynamics and the arrow of time -- Unification -- The future of physics -- The usefulness of physics -- Thinking like a physicist.

Quantum Reality

Quantum Reality PDF Author: Jim Baggott
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198830157
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
Quantum mechanics is an extraordinarily successful scientific theory. It is also completely mad. Although the theory quite obviously works, it leaves us chasing ghosts and phantoms; particles that are waves and waves that are particles; cats that are at once both alive and dead; and lots of seemingly spooky goings-on. But if we're prepared to be a little more specific about what we mean when we talk about 'reality' and a little more circumspect in the way we think a scientific theory might represent such a reality, then all the mystery goes away. This shows that the choice we face is actually a philosophical one. Here, Jim Baggott provides a quick but comprehensive introduction to quantum mechanics for the general reader, and explains what makes this theory so very different from the rest. He also explores the processes involved in developing scientific theories and explains how these lead to different philosophical positions, essential if we are to understand the nature of the great debate between Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein. Moving forwards, Baggott then provides a comprehensive guide to attempts to determine what the theory actually means, from the Copenhagen interpretation to many worlds and the multiverse. Richard Feynman once declared that 'nobody understands quantum mechanics'. This book will tell you why.

Mysticism and the New Physics

Mysticism and the New Physics PDF Author: Michael Talbot
Publisher: Penguin Books
ISBN: 9780140193282
Category : Cosmology
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
An account of how quantum physics is putting forward ideas that confirm the perceived beliefs of mystics who think the world is an illusion

At the Edge of Time

At the Edge of Time PDF Author: Dan Hooper
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691197008
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
A new look at the first few seconds after the Big Bang—and how research into these moments continues to revolutionize our understanding of our universe Scientists in the past few decades have made crucial discoveries about how our cosmos evolved over the past 13.8 billion years. But there remains a critical gap in our knowledge: we still know very little about what happened in the first seconds after the Big Bang. At the Edge of Time focuses on what we have recently learned and are still striving to understand about this most essential and mysterious period of time at the beginning of cosmic history. Delving into the remarkable science of cosmology, Dan Hooper describes many of the extraordinary and perplexing questions that scientists are asking about the origin and nature of our world. Hooper examines how we are using the Large Hadron Collider and other experiments to re-create the conditions of the Big Bang and test promising theories for how and why our universe came to contain so much matter and so little antimatter. We may be poised to finally discover how dark matter was formed during our universe’s first moments, and, with new telescopes, we are also lifting the veil on the era of cosmic inflation, which led to the creation of our world as we know it. Wrestling with the mysteries surrounding the initial moments that followed the Big Bang, At the Edge of Time presents an accessible investigation of our universe and its origin.