{"id":2071,"date":"2014-08-11T09:54:26","date_gmt":"2014-08-11T13:54:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/intentchopra\/?p=2071"},"modified":"2014-08-11T09:54:26","modified_gmt":"2014-08-11T13:54:26","slug":"naive-realism-or-the-strange-case-of-physics-and-fake-philosophers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/intentchopra\/2014\/08\/naive-realism-or-the-strange-case-of-physics-and-fake-philosophers.html","title":{"rendered":"Na\u00efve Realism, Or the Strange Case of Physics and Fake Philosophers"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a most unexpected way, physics has started to criticize its own sense of reality. Noted figures are speaking out against other noted figures, and heads are being knocked. A prime example: In the blog section of Scientific American<\/em><\/a>, the highly respected South African physicist and cosmologist George Ellis says, quite bluntly, \u201cThe belief that all of reality can be fully comprehended in terms of physics and the equations of physics is a fantasy.\u201d In the same vein, the esteemed British physicist Sir Martin Rees made a headline in 2010 that read \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t attach any weight to what Hawking says about God<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Stephen Hawking has been quoted around the world for saying that God isn\u2019t necessary to our understanding of creation. Lord Rees, former president of the Royal Society and sometimes labeled \u201cBritain\u2019s greatest scientist,\u201d expressed himself pointedly: \u201cI know Stephen Hawking well enough to know that he has read very little philosophy and even less theology, so I don’t think we should attach any weight to his views on this topic.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But physics has long disdained philosophy. The prominent PBS personality, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, recently called philosophy useless, asserting, as countless scientists do, the superiority of science in answering the big questions about existence. Richard Dawkins feels qualified to show the falseness of all theological ideas back to the beginning, ridiculing them without actually examining them. Ellis singles out a staunch Dawkins ally, physicist Lawrence Krauss, for making statements about the source of the universe without benefit of experiments or data. In other words, Krauss feels free to foist off his own philosophical baggage under the guise of being scientific.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He\u2019s hardly alone in this. Ellis is one of the few famous physicists with a strong background in philosophy, and he shakes his head over scientists like Krauss who are faking their way through the field of great ideas: \u201cIt\u2019s very ironic when he says philosophy is bunk and then himself engages in this kind of attempt at philosophy. It seems that science education should include some basic modules on Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Hume, and the other great philosophers\u2026\u201d DeGrasse Tyson wouldn\u2019t be on board with this suggestion, since he calls philosophical questioning \u201ca pointless delay in our progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Behind the physics versus philosophy debate lie some crucial issues that impinge on everyone\u2019s life. The discussion can become very arcane, but the questions being tackled aren\u2019t: What is the nature of reality? Where did the universe come from? What place do humans have in the cosmos?<\/em> It\u2019s probably safe to say that 90% of people look to science to answer these questions, yet if science itself is feeling wobbly about finding the answers, that\u2019s an important shift, perhaps a seismic one.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So let\u2019s examine the wobbliest issue of all: What is reality?\u00a0 If you toss out thousands of years of philosophy, what you\u2019re left with is what you see with your own eyes: a world of physical objects. These objects\u2014trees, mountains, houses, cats– look real. In everyday life we move through the world on the assumption that the five senses are delivering reality to us. The fact that this assumption, known as na\u00efve realism, is completely false is what modern physics is all about, from Einstein\u2019s proof that time and space are relative to quantum mechanics\u2019 proof that physical objects are essentially clouds of energy, and this energy emerges from a \u201cbubbling vacuum.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If it\u2019s ironic that some overly cocky physicists practice fake philosophy (an accusation that most people outside the field would shrug off as in-fighting), the double irony is that so many prominent physicists practice na\u00efve realism. Their graduate-school training dismantled any faith they might have had in the five senses, yet their notions about reality stubbornly adhere to such faith, in subtle ways.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Examples abound: There is the na\u00efve belief that the brain, a solid, tangible object, produces the mind. To believe anything else would place mind or consciousness squarely at the heart of creation, which is anathema to the vast majority of scientists. Second, there\u2019s the belief that cosmologists and high-speed particle physicists will discover what came before the Big Bang. \u00a0Ellis is quick to puncture this fantasy: \u201cHow indeed can you test what existed before the universe existed? You can\u2019t.\u201d\u00a0 Third, there\u2019s the belief that with enough time and thought, a model of the universe will be completed, the famed Theory of Everything.\u00a0 Such a belief crashes when you realize that \u201ceverything\u201d includes subjective experience, love, God, the soul, the purpose of existence, meaning, and the behavior of consciousness\u2014none of these things, grappled with by philosophy for centuries, can be understood through physics.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(For background, see the three-part post co-authored by the eminent physicist Henry Stapp that precisely describes why the universe behaves more like an idea than like anything purely physical. Part 1<\/a>, part 2<\/a>, part 3<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The danger here is that we, meaning all of us, will get backed into a corner. With philosophy dismissed as useless, and science promising to answer questions that it is actually incapable of answering, what happens to reality?\u00a0 It will remain a mystery smothered by pseudo answers, until one day more people wake up to realize that Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and so on were wrestling with the meaning of human existence, and that\u2019s very, very important.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At the level of educated popular culture (i.e., people who watch science programming on PBs or the BBC), na\u00efve realism, backed by casual atheism and unspoken scorn for metaphysics, is the order of the day. Appealing presenters like deGrasse Tyson and Brian Cox in Britain smile their way through issues that have challenged the world\u2019s wisdom traditions, as if a dose of basic science mixed with good old-fashioned rationality will tell us everything we need to know.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But in the background there is an acknowledgment, not only that na\u00efve realism is false but that nobody can agree on a viable alternative.\u00a0 A single example will show what\u2019s at stake: Imagine that you are looking at a chair. Apparently one physical object\u2014the brain\u2014is taking in true knowledge about another physical object, the chair. But that\u2019s impossible. Both objects are made up of atoms that aren\u2019t objects at all, according to quantum theory, but a set of invisible waves whose position can be known only as a smear of probabilities. As the chair vanishes into the quantum vacuum, so does the brain.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is a devastating challenge to na\u00efve realism, the belief that what you see is real. In fact, what you see is an image of your brain\u2019s perceptual mechanism. Such images are severely limited, since your brain operates in linear time and perceives actions as cause and effect. In the quantum domain, time isn\u2019t linear and cause and effect dissolves. Since we have no scientific explanation for perceptual experience it is unscientific to assume that what we perceive is real. Gazing out at the world, you are actually gazing at your brain\u2019s imaging capacity.\u00a0 It may turn out, as the ancient Vedic sages held, that what the brain reports is a kind of neurological dream that we all inhabit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The comfy certainty of Cox and deGrasse Tyson, like the skeptical hectoring of Dawkins and Krauss, gives a false sense of \u201ceverything\u2019s okay, we\u2019ll have all the answers shortly.\u201d In fact, reality has become more mysterious than ever, and yet there is a viable alternative to na\u00efve realism after all, as we\u2019ll explore in the next post. Here\u2019s a preview: Metaphysics counts, and it counts a great deal.<\/p>\n

(To be cont.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Deepak Chopra, MD is the author of more than 80 books with twenty-two New York Times bestsellers including Super Brain, co-authored with Rudi Tanzi, PhD. He serves as the founder of The Chopra Foundation and co-founder of The Chopra Center for Wellbeing. Join him at The Chopra Foundation Sages and Scientists Symposium 2014.www.choprafoundation.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Take a moment to check out ‘Self Directed Biological Transformation Initiative – SBTI’ on Indiegogo<\/a> and share it with your friends. Get perks, make a\u00a0\u00a0contribution, or simply follow updates. If enough of us get behind it, we can make ‘Self Directed Biological Transformation Initiative – SBTI’\u00a0happen!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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