Wednesday, May 23, 2012

The Grand Design

... common sense is based upon everyday experience, not upon the universe as it is revealed through the marvels of technologies such as those that allow us to gaze deep into the atom or back to the early universe. 

In the history of science, we have discovered a sequence of better and better theories and models, from Plato to the classical theory of Newton to modern quantum theories. It is natural to ask: Will this sequence eventually reach an end point, an ultimate theory of the universe… or will we continue forever finding better theories…? We do not yet have a definitive answer to this question, but we now have a candidate for the ultimate theory of everything… called M-theory.

M-theory is not a theory in the usual sense. It is a whole family of different theories, each of which is a good description of observations only in some range of physical observations. 

The different theories in the M-theory family may look very different, but they can all be regarded as aspects the same underlying theory. They are versions of the theory that are applicable only in limited ranges. 

The quantum model of nature encompasses principles that contradict not only our everyday experience but our intuitive concept of reality. Those who find those principles weird or difficult to believe are in good company, the company of great physicists such as Einstein and Feynman… In fact, Feynman once wrote, “I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics.”

Regarding the laws that govern the universe, what we can say is this: There seems to be no single model or theory that can describe every aspect of the universe. 

From "The Grand Design" by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow


Physicists can‘t accept the idea that there is also a spiritual dimension, so they leave out this aspect from their theory constructions. They ignore this piece of the puzzle. I think that this is a shortcoming. There is a spiritual dimension and this dimension has nothing to do with religion.

The best evidence I know of, that a spiritual dimension actually exist, that it is not just a fantasy, is the strange phenomenon called synchronicity.

I think I can safely say that nobody understands life.

See “On meaningful coincidences” August 3 2008 in this blogg.