Register | Sign In


Understanding through Discussion


EvC Forum active members: 60 (9209 total)
5 online now:
Newest Member: Skylink
Post Volume: Total: 919,456 Year: 6,713/9,624 Month: 53/238 Week: 53/22 Day: 8/12 Hour: 2/0


Thread  Details

Email This Thread
Newer Topic | Older Topic
  
Author Topic:   Studying the supernatural
Taq
Member
Posts: 10298
Joined: 03-06-2009
Member Rating: 7.3


Message 172 of 207 (636191)
10-04-2011 3:51 PM
Reply to: Message 171 by GDR
10-04-2011 1:50 PM


Re: Are we part of a greater reality?
I am not offering this up as any proof but Wheeler’s ideas are also consistent with the concept of our world being part of a greater reality which is roughly the same as what the Christian view has always been.
I see it a bit differently. I will say that I have always found the Many Worlds hypothesis to be the ugliest and worst idea in physics to date, so my descriptions may be colored by this "bias".
I don't see any room in Wheeler's ideas for a "greater reality". There is only one reality, the one we live in. There may be other dimensions, but they too are a part of this reality even if they are hard to reach. To use an example, North America was not part of a greater reality in 1,000 AD Europe just because it was hard to reach or separate from their culture. It was part of their reality, their planet.
One of the things that has always struck me about Kaku's writings is that physics is not mysticism. Rather, there are many exciting things that are at first counter-intuitive, but slowly become part of our understanding of the universe. If we were able to travel back in time 10,000 years our description of the universe would probably sound as outrageous to people of that time as their pagan creation stories sound to us now.
At best, the supernatural is simply our description of our ignorance. Always has been. Each time we push our investigations into new areas we are sure that God will be there waiting for us. He never is. Instead, we find our ignorance and replace it with knowledge. Each time we find a universe that is explanable without needing to reference the whims of a supernatural deity.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 171 by GDR, posted 10-04-2011 1:50 PM GDR has not replied

  
Newer Topic | Older Topic
Jump to:


Copyright 2001-2023 by EvC Forum, All Rights Reserved

™ Version 4.2
Innovative software from Qwixotic © 2024