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To: ThePythonicCow
Found this highly critical article on the net.

Am endlessly fascinated with the philosophical implications of quantum mechanics, though unfortunately I lack the training to comprehend original research and must make do with popular science articles and books.

It seems that the infuriating paradoxes and mysteries associated with QM drive many people to reject it out of hand, but what they come up with in its place is not necessarily as good.

My personal hunch: the mystery of non-locality, if it is ever resolved, hides some very unsettling news for us about the nature of free will; we may not be able to handle the truth. Yes, I am only talking through my hat :-)

3 posted on 06/16/2003 2:51:25 AM PDT by tictoc (On FreeRepublic, discussion is a contact sport.)
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To: tictoc; Smokin' Joe; ThePythonicCow
My personal hunch: the mystery of non-locality, if it is ever resolved, hides some very unsettling news for us about the nature of free will
Have you caught the recent book,
The Mind and the Brain?
The author attempts to use quantum theory, with its wierd results such as the idea that things don't exist until observed, to rescue free will from what he takes to be essentially naive Newtonian reductionism.

And that is a long way from the entireity of the book's fascination; author talks a lot about the "plasticity" of even the adult brain, indicating that the "map" of the parts of the brain "dedicated" to particular functions is far less ironclad than had been assumed.

The author's name, best I can now recall it, is Jeffrey (or Jeremy?) Schwartz. Something of that sort, if you see it you will I hope recognize it. Book was co-authored by a (female, as I recall) Wall Street Journal writer. Your self-description strongly suggests to me that you may like it.


9 posted on 06/16/2003 4:07:36 AM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion
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To: tictoc
Nice find - thanks!

I doubt that will be a problem. Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle was purported to have the same devastating affect on our ability to know anything with certainty.

There are many layers of structure and order in our universe. The principles that apply at one layer, such as Quantum Mechanics, are not useful to our efforts to understand another layers, such as may involve Free Will, God, religion, ...

24 posted on 06/16/2003 12:30:25 PM PDT by ThePythonicCow (Mooo !!!!)
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