Quantum mysticism

Quantum mysticism is a set of metaphysical beliefs and associated practices that seek to relate consciousness, intelligence, spirituality, or mystical world-views to the ideas of quantum mechanics and its interpretations.[1][2][3][4][5][6] Quantum mysticism is considered by many scientists and philosophers to be pseudoscience[7][8][9] or "quackery".[10]

Early controversy and resolution

Quantum mysticism first appeared in Germany during the 1920s when some of the leading quantum physicists, such as Erwin Schrödinger and Werner Heisenberg, had leaned toward mystical interpretations of their theories. Others, such as Albert Einstein and Max Planck, objected to such interpretations. Despite the accusation of mysticism from Einstein, Niels Bohr denied the charge, attributing it to misunderstandings. By the second half of the twentieth century, the controversy had run its course—Schrödinger's 1958 lectures are said to "mark the last of a generation that lived with the mysticism controversy"—and today most physicists are realists who do not believe that quantum theory is involved with consciousness.[11]

Wigner

In 1961 Eugene Wigner wrote a paper suggesting that a conscious observer played a fundamental role in quantum mechanics.[11][12]:93 While his paper would serve as inspiration for later mystical works by others,[11] Wigner's ideas were primarily philosophical in nature and are not considered "in the same ballpark" as the mysticism that would follow.[13]

Appropriation by New Age thought

In the early 1970s New Age culture began to incorporate ideas from quantum physics, beginning with books by Arthur Koestler, Lawrence LeShan and others which suggested that purported parapsychological phenomena could be explained by quantum mechanics.[12]:32 In this decade the Fundamental Fysiks Group emerged, a group of physicists who embraced quantum mysticism while engaging in parapsychology, Transcendental Meditation, and various New Age and Eastern mystical practices.[14] Inspired in part by Wigner,[11] Fritjof Capra, a member of the Fundamental Fysiks Group,[14] wrote The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism (1975),[15] a book espousing New Age quantum physics that gained popularity among the non-scientific public.[12]:32 In 1979 came the publication of The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav,[16] a non-scientist and "the most successful of Capra's followers".[12]:32

The Fundamental Fysiks Group is said to be one of the agents responsible for the "huge amount of pseudoscientific nonsense" surrounding interpretations of quantum mechanics.[17] Physicist Murray Gell-Mann coined the phrase "quantum flapdoodle" to refer to the misuse and misapplication of quantum physics to other topics.[18]

An example of such misuse is New Age guru Deepak Chopra's "quantum theory" that aging is caused by the mind, expounded in his books Quantum Healing (1989) and Ageless Body, Timeless Mind (1993).[18] In 1998 Chopra was awarded the parody Ig Nobel Prize in the physics category for "his unique interpretation of quantum physics as it applies to life, liberty, and the pursuit of economic happiness".[19]

The 2004 film What the Bleep Do We Know!? dealt with a range of New Age ideas in relation to physics. It was produced by the Ramtha School of Enlightenment which was founded by J.Z. Knight, a channeler who said that her teachings were based on a discourse with a 35,000-year-old disembodied entity named Ramtha.[20] Featuring Fundamental Fysiks Group member Fred Alan Wolf,[17] the film misused some aspects of quantum mechanics—including the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle and the observer effect—as well as biology and medicine.[21] Numerous critics dismissed the film for its use of pseudoscience.[22][23]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Athearn, D. (1994). Scientific Nihilism: On the Loss and Recovery of Physical Explanation (S U N Y Series in Philosophy). Albany, New York: State University Of New York Press.
  2. ↑ Edis, T. (2005). Science and Nonbelief (Greenwood Guides to Science and Religion). New York: Greenwood Press.
  3. ↑ Stenger, Victor (2003), Has Science Found God? The Latest Results in the Search for Purpose in the Universe, Prometheus Books, p. 373, ISBN 978-1-59102-018-9
  4. ↑ Edis, T. (2002). The Ghost in the Universe: God in Light of Modern Science. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books.
  5. ↑ Crease, R. P. (1993). The Play of Nature (Indiana Series in the Philosophy of Technology). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
  6. ↑ Seager, W. (1999). Theories of Consciousness: An Introduction (Philosophical Issues in Science). New York: Routledge.
  7. ↑ Grim, Patrick (1982). Philosophy of Science and the Occult. SUNY Press. pp. 87–. ISBN 9781438404981. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  8. ↑ Collins, Tim (2010-03-02). Behind the Lost Symbol. Penguin Group US. pp. 87–. ISBN 9781101197615. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  9. ↑ Udemans, Fuad (2013-09). The Golden Thread: Escaping Socio-Economic Subjugation: An Experiment in Applied Complexity Science. Author House. pp. 388–. ISBN 9781491879337. Retrieved 22 July 2014. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ↑ Pigliucci, Massimo (2010-05-15). Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226667874. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Zyga, Lisa (8 June 2009). "Quantum Mysticism: Gone but Not Forgotten". Phys.org.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Leane, Elizabeth (2007). Reading Popular Physics: Disciplinary Skirmishes and Textual Strategies. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
  13. ↑ Schweber, Silvan (September 2011). "How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival". Physics Today.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Kaiser, David (2011). How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival. W. W. Norton & Company.
  15. ↑ Capra, Fritjof (1975). The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism. Boston: Shambhala Publications.
  16. ↑ Zukav, Gary (1979). The Dancing Wu Li Masters. New York: William Morrow And Company, Inc.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Woit, Peter (July–August 2011). "Fun with Fysiks". American Scientist.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Stenger, Victor J. (2009). Quantum Gods: Creation, Chaos and the Search for Cosmic Consciousness. Prometheus Books. p. 8.
  19. ↑ The 1998 Ig Nobel Prize Winners
  20. ↑ Gorenfeld, John (16 September 2004). ""Bleep" of faith". Salon.
  21. ↑ Hobbs, Bernie (30 June 2005). "What the bleep are they on about?". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  22. ↑ Wilson, Elizabeth (2005-01-13). "What the Bleep Do We Know?!". American Chemical Society. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
  23. ↑ "Britain's best scientific brains give us their verdicts on a film about quantum physics". theguardian.com. 16 May 2005. Retrieved 12 August 2014.

Further reading

Publications relating to quantum mysticism
Criticism of quantum mysticism