Marcelo Gleiser - The Island of Knowledge: The Limits of Science and the Search for Meaning

THE ISLAND OF KNOWLEDGE

ALSO BY MARCELO GLEISER

A Tear at the Edge of Creation

The Prophet and the Astronomer

The Dancing Universe

Copyright 2014 by Marcelo Gleiser

Published by Basic Books,

A Member of the Perseus Books Group

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Book design by Cynthia Young

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gleiser, Marcelo, author.

The island of knowledge : the limits of science and the search for meaning / Marcelo Gleiser.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-465-08073-1 (e-book) 1. SciencePhilosophy. 2. Meaning (Philosophy)

I. Title.

Q175.32.M43G57 2014

501dc23

2013046890

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

TO ANDREW, ERIC, TALI, LUCIAN, AND GABRIEL;

the lights that brighten my path

Contents

(Wherein we explore the role of belief and extrapolation in religion and in scientific creativity)

(Wherein we explore how different religions have faced the question of the origin of all things)

(Wherein we encounter the first philosophers of ancient Greece and delve into their remarkable notions about the meaning of reality)

(Wherein we explore how Plato and Aristotle dealt with the question of the First Cause and with the limits of knowledge)

(Wherein we describe how three remarkable gentlemen, with access to new observational tools and endowed with remarkable creativity, transformed our worldview)

(Wherein we explore the genius of Isaac Newton and why his physics became a beacon of the human intellect)

(Wherein we argue that science is a human construction powerful in its range and its openness to change)

(Wherein we explore Einsteins special and general theories of relativity and their implication for our understanding of space and time)

(Wherein we explore the expansion of the Universe and the appearance of a singularity at the origin of time)

(Wherein we argue that the notion of now is a cognitive fabrication)

(Wherein we explore the concept of cosmic horizons and how it limits what we can know of the Universe)

(Wherein we begin to explore the notion of the infinite, and how it translates into cosmology)

(Wherein we explain the notion of false vacuum energy, how it relates to the famous Higgs boson, and how it may fuel an accelerated cosmic expansion)

(Wherein the concept of the multiverse is introduced and its physical and metaphysical implications explored)

(Wherein the notion of the string landscape is discussed, together with its anthropic motivation)

(Wherein we explore whether the multiverse is a proper physical theory or mere speculation)

(Wherein we explore the Greek notion of Atomism)

(Wherein we visit the world of alchemy, an exploration of powers hidden in matter through method and spiritual discipline)

(Wherein we explore phlogiston and caloric, the strange substances proposed to explain the nature of heat, and how such substances were later discarded as explanations)

(Wherein we explore how lights mysterious properties spawned the twin scientific revolutions of the early twentieth century)

(Wherein we begin our exploration of quantum physics and how it imposes limits on what we can know of the world)

(Wherein an allegory explores the role of the observer in quantum physics and how measurements interfere with what is measured)

(Wherein we explore Max Borns bizarre interpretation of quantum mechanics and how it complicates our notion of physical reality)

(Wherein we explore the implications of quantum physics for our understanding of reality)

(Wherein we revisit what so bothered Einstein about quantum physics and what it tells us about the world)

(Wherein we discuss Bells theorem and how its experimental implementation shows how reality is stranger than fiction)

(Wherein we discuss the role consciousness might play in the quantum realm)

(Wherein we attempt to make sense of what the quantum enigma is telling us)

(Wherein we discuss whether mathematics is an invention or a discovery and why it matters)

(Wherein we briefly visit and explore Gdels and Turings disconcerting but all-important findings)

(Wherein we examine whether the world is information, the nature of consciousness, and whether reality is a simulation)

(Wherein we reflect upon the urge to know and why it matters)

What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of humility.

ALBERT EINSTEIN

What we observe is not Nature itself but Nature exposed to our method of questioning.

WERNER HEISENBERG

H ow much can we know of the world? Can we know everything? Or are there fundamental limits to how much science can explain? If there are limits, to what extent can we understand the nature of physical reality? These questions and their surprising consequences are the focus of this book, an exploration of how we make sense of the Universe and of ourselves.