Thursday, May 25, 2006
(9:15 PM) | Adam Kotsko:
Quantum Physics
I was deeply satisfied to find the post The Universe is structured like a language in my Technorati results. In it, our narrator, Sean Carroll of Cosmic Variance, reports that he went to see the Zizek movie and found the opening monologue on quantum physics particularly interesting:I naturally cringed a little at the mention of quantum mechanics, but his description ultimately got it right. Our universe probably did originate as a quantum fluctuation, either “from nothing” or within a pre-existing background spacetime. Mostly, to be honest, I was just jealous. As a philosopher and cultural critic, Žižek gets not only to bandy about bits of quantum cosmology, but is permitted (even encouraged) to connect them to questions of love and meaning and so on. As professional physicists, we’re not allowed to talk about those questions — referees at the Physical Review would not approve. But it’s worth interrogating this intellectual leap, from the accidental birth of the universe to the richness of meaning we see around us. How did we get there from here, and why?Through an account of another scientists' ideas, he arrives at the statement in the title of his post. In summary:
- An actual scientist listened to Zizek talk about quantum physics and connect it to broader questions.
- He thought Zizek got it basically right.
- He was jealous that Zizek got to apply scientific ideas to broader questions of human meaning and took Zizek's ideas as an opportunity to try his hand at doing so himself.
Anyway, yeah, it's an interesting post, and not just because it delivers a crushing blow to my enemies.
(Who are also my friends. At least some of them are.)
