Physics Education, 1987

... Physics and spirituality: ... namely that the successful applications of a particular principle are emphasised, while the situa-tions where the principle cannot be successfully applied or where there are some difficulties with the standard view are ignored or overlooked, creating thus ...

arXiv: History and Philosophy of Physics, 2019

The concept of "reality" is often raised in the context of philosophical foundations of physics or interpretations of quantum mechanics. When this term is so raised, it is a warning to me that I am about to be led down a rabbit hole. Such diversions usually lead nowhere unless you consider endless discussions of Schrodinger's cat, wave function collapse, quantum non-locality, and parallel universes to be useful. A prime example is the famous Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen paper wherein they concluded that the quantum wave function cannot provide a complete description of physical reality. In this essay I suggest that, in physics discourse, the term "reality" should be avoided at all costs.

Science inherited many of the values, notions, and purposes of post-medieval Christian culture. Its first exponents were literally creationists. Modern science propounds a new creation story, a new means of salvation, a new priesthood, and a new scholasticism. Theoretical aspects of modern physics, as opposed to empirical, continue subtly to express a theological worldview and stance toward the natural world. As in religion, fundamentalism in physics insists unduly upon simple ultimate truths in a unified vision.

A brief discussion of the nature of reality through the development of physics and its alleged accuracy.

Theoretical Physics is in a state of crisis. There are far too many magazine articles and even peer reviewed research papers describing fantasy physics and not enough papers focused on experimental evidence and realistic finite physics willing to break the mold that current Quantum Field Theory mathematics and General Relativity mathematics has led us into. A recent rash of magazine publishing of quantum state teleportation [Ralls, 30 Dec 2024] is a prime example of the lack of knowledge of the magazine writer and the lack of evidence of the researchers describing quantum state mathematics (composite illusions and dualities) as real, and finite, quantized particle physics. We are captives of our choice of analysis and mathematics, and not brave enough to upset the status quo for fear of criticism, cynicism, and attack by hard core believers. Breakthroughs never happen when scientists follow the crowd and beg for consensus and approval, never risking reputation or credibility. This paper urges real physicists to adopt a different reference frame when explaining modern physics to always explain and separate concepts of real physics, duality physics, real but unknowable physics, and fantasy physics in their published papers and magazine articles. Rely heavily on experimental evidence and describe mathematical models of particle-based physics closer to the simplicity and reality of real, finite, particle-based physics. To understand the reality of the universe we must do theoretical physics in isolation of human observers and human ego, then find evidence to support the simplicity of the basic processes of nature and universal truth. We start with creating axioms, identify dualities, seek truth in obvious finite limits of reality, prohibit fantasies of infinities, singularities, statistics, zero points, and prohibit perspectives of God-like predictions to seek the true nature of physical behaviors, interactions, and Planck scale realties.

2006

1987

Tihe problem of whether the cultural and social environ­ ment of natural sciences, physics in particular, can influ­ ence the structure of their theories is considered. It is ar­ gued that the structure of particular theories is often in­ fluenced by the environment however not in a direct way but through the scientific community itself in the process of its struggle to gain autonomy and respectability with; -> the outer environment. In particular, such an influence occurs whenever rival theories, empirically indistiguishable at a given time, are formulated, without regard as to whether v the scientific field in question is in a Kuhnian »crisis« or not. The mechanism whereby the scientific community homogenizes itself against the outer environment, by mak­ ing a utilitarian and pragmatistic selection among the rival theories is elaborated. The process is illustrated by the example of the wave-particle duality of light and matter.

There are signs that something is seriously wrong with the picture we currently hold of our world. In an effort to uncover the problems, I begin in Part I with our cultural and personal beliefs along with a brief history of how we got them. I then resort to philosophy to show that we can know nothing for sure. In Part II, I outline some of the problems with physics as it is currently understood and why we need a new paradigm. In Part III I offer some ideas about how we might begin with a new paradigm. I hope you enjoy this journey.

2017.10.18 Delusional ideas of modern physics., 2017

The main doubtful scientific ideas that today exist as completely reliable theories are listed. Even awarded scientific prizes. The reasons for the appearance and confirmation of questionable scientific ideas are analyzed.