Modern Superstition How Modern Physics is (Ab)used to Promote Crackpottery

Sadri Hassani, Professor Emeritus, Physics Department, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790 sadri.d.hassani@gmail.com

It From Bit

Deepak Chopra is the master of how to use the unanswered questions of science to justify his claptrap! His message: “Since physics cannot explain dark matter and dark energy, mystic theosophy is right and mind (consciousness) creates the universe!” In the mid 1980s, Deepak Chopra, on the advice (or edict) of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, set out to find a “scientific” explanation of the traditional Indian medicine, Ayurveda. For a start, he wrote the book depicted above, in which he has made some “discoveries” such as: •  waves are nonmaterial particle are material; •  wave-particle duality is nonmaterial-material

duality; i.e., nothingness can create matter; •  therefore, mind creates reality; •  DNA is “smart” because molecules that make it up

are smart; •  we are smart because all atoms in our body are

smart; •  hence, chemicals manufactured by our body are

intelligent while those made in labs are not. Such nonsense, which Chopra unabashedly attributes to famous physicists, has attracted intellectuals in the press, media, entertainment, and even technology: •  Time Magazine heralded Chopra as one of the top

100 heroes and icons of the century; •  Chopra regularly gives talks on PBS and NPR; •  At $25,000/lecture, he is in high demand as the

keynote speaker on technology conferences; •  His lush 400-acre center in Southern California is

visited religiously by celebrities. Typical registration fee is about $3000!

Go to http://skepticaleducator.org/deepak-chopra/ to see how Chopra’s reasoning can make a sneeze cause an earthquake!

Fritjof Capra is one of the (if not the) first physicists to “discover” a parallel between modern physics and Eastern mysticism. Having a background in high energy physics, he had a good grasp of the inner workings of the fundamentals of physics, and craftily used it to fool his readers. Among his contribution to crackpottery: •  There is a 3rd stage for physics methodology beyond

observation and theory: physicists must communicate their findings to the public. Since they can’t - and mystics also can’t (are not allowed to) communicate their experience - physics is the same as mysticism!

•  Introduces the defunct bootstrap hypothesis - according to which particles are both elementary and composite - as the fundamental theory of elementary particles.

•  Modern physics experiments are the same as mystics’ experiences!

•  Since quarks are building blocks of protons and neutrons and building blocks of any sort contradict Eastern mysticism, quarks cannot exist.

•  Electroweak theory, whose discoverers won the 1979 Nobel Prize, is wrong because it is a theory of quarks and leptons!

•  Quantum chromodynamics – the theory of strong nuclear force – whose discoverers won the 2004 Nobel Prize, is wrong because it is a theory of quarks and gluons!

Go to http://skepticaleducator.org/fritjof-capra to see how Capra’s reasoning can make a dog a mystic/modern physicist!

Gary Zukav has appeared 34 times on The Oprah Winfrey Show and one of his books was the #1 New York Times bestseller 31 times and remained on the list of bestsellers for three years. Zukav had no connection with the scientific community until one of his friends invited him to a conference held in Berkeley, CA. “To my great surprise, I discovered that … I understood everything that they said.” Who attended this conference, which a layman like Zukav could understand “everything that they said?” •  Jack Sarfatti who was (is?) working on finding

practical ways of creating spaceships capable of maneuvers similar to those reported in UFO sightings.

•  Brian Josephson, Nobel Laureate, who wrote “... developments [in quantum theory and theories of information and computation] may lead to an explanation of … telepathy.”

•  Elizabeth Rauscher, who gave a talk at the IRVA 2001 Conference entitled “The Speed of Thought: Investigation of a Complex Space-Time Metric to Describe Psychic Phenomena.”

•  Fred Alan Wolf (aka Dr. Quantum), who spends his time writing popular books on, the Yoga of time travel, alchemy of science and spirit, the unity of psyche and physics, and shamanism and physics.

•  Fritjof Capra, whom you have met on the left. Zukav, like many other people (including physicists) ignores the probabilistic nature of the quantum theory and concludes that in the double-slit experiment, photons going through a slit “know if the other slit is open or not!” Therefore, photons are conscious! Go to http://skepticaleducator.org/gary-zukav/ to see how Zukav’s reasoning can make a coin conscious!

Eastern Theosophy

(1)   Paralleling laws of physics with non-material phenomena such as Eastern theosophy.

(2)   Replacing reality (the “It”) with some kind of computer codes or programs (the “Bit”). Thus the very heart of Western technology allies itself with Eastern theosophy against science!

(3)   Exploiting territories of knowledge for which science has no answers … yet.

(4)   Ignoring the probabilistic nature of quantum physics.

(5)   Replacing the study of fundamental building blocks of various forms of matter with their investigation as a whole (holistic approach or emergence).

Modern Superstition is more dangerous than its traditional counterpart because some scientists promote it to the vulnerable intellectual segment of the public!

Some Sources of Modern Superstition

John Wheeler has famously said, “ ‘It from bit’ symbolizes the idea that every item of the physical world [the It] has at bottom - a very deep bottom, in most instances - an immaterial source and explanation [a computer code … the Bit].” No one has taken this quote more seriously than Stephen Wolfram of Mathematica fame. Once he became sufficiently wealthy, Wolfram went into a self-imposed 10-year seclusion to write a 1200-page book and publish it at Wolfram Media. The premise of the book is that when the picture of a physical entity can be produced on the desktop of a computer using cellular automata, then the picture becomes that entity! He has called this desktop universe the Numerical Universe. •  Wolfram vigorously uses his fame, his lectures, and

internet to convert people to his “kind of science.” •  He proposes that mathematics be replaced by cellular

automata for physics. •  Aside from pictures wrapped with text, 300 full pages

of the book are covered entirely with pictures! •  Since biology has a lot of pictures, he devotes most of

his book to biology. The “goal” of evolution becomes adaptation and adaptation is achieved by … you guessed it, patterns and pigmentation (which are easily reproducible on a desktop).

•  If the real world disagrees with his pictures, he concludes that the real world is wrong: •  Motion is absolute because the only way to

describe it on the desktop universe is by the shift in the “sampling of the underlying space!”

•  The second law of thermodynamics “is an important and quite general principle – but it is not universally valid” because Wolfram’s cellular automaton rule 37R does not allow randomness!

•  Natural selection is wrong because it cannot explain the complex growth of parts of an organism as cellular automata can explain their pictures!

•  Quantum mechanics cannot be tested because, in the desktop universe, we are part of the spacetime cellular automata network and “there is no way that we can look at the network from the outside!”

Go to http://skepticaleducator.org/stephen-wolfram/ to see Wolfram’s blunders/swindles!