The revelation of the quantum nature of physical reality is consistent with the understanding that information may be more fundamental than matter and energy.
Tag: Marcelo Gleiser
At Big Think: Why the Multiverse is a “God-of-the-gaps” theory
Marcelo Gleiser writes: “The Multiverse has been proposed as an answer to the question, “Why does our Universe exist?”
Its proponents believe the Multiverse can explain our origins without having to reference God. But the Multiverse is in no way falsifiable, and the arguments in its support are nearly identical to the arguments for God.”
At Mind Matters News: Dartmouth physicist slams the Matrix idea that life is an aliens’ sim
Marcelo Gleiser dismisses the notion for physics reasons but he also objects to the way it casts doubt on free will, which we need to tackle our problems.
At Big Think: The simulation hypothesis is a dangerous illusion
“The simulation argument messes with our self-esteem. It concludes that we have no free will, that we are just puppets fooled into thinking we are free to make choices.”
At Big Think: How the Multiverse could break the scientific method
Theoretical physicist Marcelo Gleiser raises the issue that the multiverse hypothesis suffers from the unscientific property of non-falsifiability. Embedded in his article is a solid acknowledgement of the fine-tuning of physical parameters for life to exist in our universe.
At Mind Matters News: A purpose must underlie the universe if intelligent beings exist
His reasons would suggest that human intelligence cannot simply be a product of evolution, whether he realizes that or not.
At Mind Matters News: A physicist defends imperfection in our universe: It’s essential
Great physicist Paul Dirac discovered antimatter by assuming symmetry (a quality of perfection). But in the details, the wheels came off.
Isaac Newton’s whole career, we are told, was a pursuit of the divine
Remember this when someone tells you that science and religion don’t mix.
At Mind Matters News: Physicist: Why extraterrestrials couldn’t look much like us
Marcelo Gleiser explains, there is a “staggering diversity of worlds” out there and that diversity would shape life forms in many different ways.
Mixing science with politics is like mixing mustard and ice cream
So far so good, Marcelo Gleiser, until we got to the part about “often giving equal weight to the opinion of the vast majority of scientists and to the opinion of a small contrarian group,” … There’s actually nothing unusual about the “small contrarian group” being right.
At Mind Matters News: Physicist: Science, by nature, can’t have a theory of everything
As Marcelo Gleiser puts it, “The very process of discovery leads to more unknowns.” And they may be smaller or larger than our current knowns.
At Mind Matters News: Can quantum physics, neuroscience merge as quantum consciousness?
The problem is, if we assume that “the mind is nothing more than the brain,” there may be nothing we can discover about how it works. Gleiser wishes we could prove that that’s wrong but he can’t.
At Mind Matters News: Does science disprove free will? A physicist says no
Apart from simple laws governing neurons, we have no clue what laws the mind follows, though it does show complex nonlinear dynamics.
At Mind Matters News: Astronomer: We can’t just assume countless Earths out there
Marcelo Gleiser notes that the starting point of the Mediocrity Principle assumes countless Earths. That’s not a conclusion from evidence. It’s bad logic.
Physicist Marcelo Gleiser: Beauty in the universe is an “illusory consequence of our human mathematics”
So what, exactly, is this “false and illusory” view of our universe? Is this short essay another veiled “correct” assault on the fact of the fine-tuning of the universe for life? There seems to be a lot of that out there these days. Orthodox science is now in a deadly conflict with facts… There can only be one outcome.