The double look on complex dimension
From the Casimir effect and other properties of the quantum vacuum, Vlatko Vedral shows that everything that exists comes from this vacuum, from a Nothing that is Everything, with infinite energy. What I see as a great illustration of the T<>D principle and double look: From the point of view of an individual (Vlatko), Everything … Read more
Philippe Ratte explains in ‘Tintin or access to the self’ that Hergé’s comics hero appeared out of nowhere, suddenly, in 1929, in ‘Tintin in the Land of the Soviets’. No past, no family, not even from an egg. Hergé is his father but has not put a single sperm in it. Tintin is the epitome … Read more
‘Nothing’ is an oxymoron Let us return to the metaphysical questions mentioned at the beginning of the previous article. What is the relationship between the real per se and the mental image we construct of it? Why is there something rather than nothing? Do we have free will? Are mathematical objects invented or discovered? These … Read more
This is the question posed by physicist Vlatko Vedral on his excellent blog ‘Musings on Quantum Mechanics‘. During the pre-publication of an article, he and his referee discuss the primary object of quantum physics. Is it the elementary quantum field, as Vlatko argues, or the click of the detector registering a particle, as the referee … Read more
Abstract: The incommensurable strangeness of the origin forces us to create commensurables to dress this ultimate shamelessness. What separates the true from the imaginary? The ability to “listen to oneself think” tends to make us project thought out of reality. There is a ‘material’ world and another ‘virtual’ one, which each of us invents for … Read more
Vlatko Vedral, a physicist at Oxford, argues that reality is made only of waves and that the obsolete wave-particle dualism must be completely abandoned. This position is eliminatory reductionism. It denigrates the existence of the complex dimension of reality. I will show how it reintroduces a dualism, that of reality and spirit. The reductionist discourse … Read more
What is real? What are our representations about it worth? Philosophy carefully scrutinizes these representations by its various metaphysical branches, but it knows nothing about their overall authenticity. These models could be congratulating each other and seriously mistaken on the reality itself. Is the powerlessness to explain a riddle such as consciousness an indication of … Read more
Two criticisms Ambitious, the previous article? After showing how thorny the problem of time is, it claims to solve it in a few paragraphs. Philosophical references but no equations. How can science and phenomenon converge under these conditions? This is the first criticism to be made of this article. The second criticism is that it … Read more
Two schools? No time… Time is one of our most enigmatic root concepts. The difficulty of grasping it has created two clearly divided schools of thought. The first sees time as a simple order of succession. No reference to the present or to an observer. One event is limited to being anterior or subsequent to … Read more
Strong-Low-Electromagnetic-Gravitational “Four fundamental forces govern the Universe,” you read fluently in articles popularizing physics. Where does this pantheon come from? Are physicists the prophets of modern times, replacing the old gods with new ones? Revelation, in science, takes other paths. The divine mysteries, which must be believed without having seen anything, are replaced by concrete … Read more