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"Everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler", Albert Einstein
Browsing All Posts filed under »philosophy«
The Existence of Nothing
2013 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate The concept of nothing is as old as zero itself. How do we grapple with the concept of nothing? From the best laboratory vacuums on Earth to the vacuum of space to what lies beyond, the idea of nothing continues to intrigue professionals and the public alike. Join moderator and […]
The Doomsday Argument in Many Worlds
September 28, 2012
You and I are highly unlikely to exist in a civilization that has produced only 70 billion people, yet we find ourselves in just such a civilization. Our circumstance, which seems difficult to explain, is easily accounted for if (1) many other civilizations exist and if (2) nearly all of these civilizations (including our own) […]
Brian Greene: Welcome to the Multiverse
May 23, 2012
The latest developments in cosmology point toward the possibility that our universe is merely one of billions. “What really interests me is whether God had any choice in creating the world.” That’s how Albert Einstein, in his characteristically poetic way, asked whether our universe is the only possible universe. The reference to God is easily […]
Has Physics Made Philosophy and Religion Obsolete?
April 24, 2012
“I think at some point you need to provoke people. Science is meant to make people uncomfortable.” It is hard to know how our future descendants will regard the little sliver of history that we live in. It is hard to know what events will seem important to them, what the narrative of now will […]
Video: The Most Astounding Fact
March 6, 2012
Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked by a reader of TIME magazine, “What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?” This is his answer. (subtitles: click CC) http://youtu.be/9D05ej8u-gU
The Relativity of Existence
February 24, 2012
Despite the success of physics in formulating mathematical theories that can predict the outcome of experiments, we have made remarkably little progress towards answering some of the most basic questions about our existence, such as: why does the universe exist? Why is the universe apparently fine-tuned to be able to support life? Why are the […]
The Creation of the World – According to Science
February 6, 2012
Ram Brustein, Judy Kupferman How was the world created? People have asked this ever since they could ask anything, and answers have come from all sides: from religion, tradition, philosophy, mysticism… and science. While this does not seem like a problem amenable to scientific measurement, it has led scientists to come up with fascinating ideas […]
The Fabric of the Cosmos: The Illusion of Time
November 14, 2011
Time. We waste it, save it, kill it, make it. The world runs on it. Yet ask physicists what time actually is, and the answer might shock you: They have no idea. Even more surprising, the deep sense we have of time passing from present to past may be nothing more than an illusion. How […]
Anthropic decision theory
November 1, 2011
Stuart Armstrong This paper sets out to solve the Sleeping Beauty problem and various related anthropic problems, not through the calculation of anthropic probabilities, but through finding the correct decision to make. Given certain simple assumptions, it turns out to be possible to do so without knowing the underlying anthropic probabilities. Most common anthropic problems […]
How Quantum Theory Helps us Explain
November 1, 2011
Richard Healey I offer an account of how the quantum theory we have helps us explain so much. The account depends on a pragmatist interpretation of the theory: This takes a quantum state to serve solely as a source of sound advice to physically situated agents on the content and appropriate degree of belief about […]
Conceptual Problems in Cosmology
October 27, 2011
F. J. Amaral Vieira In this essay a critical review of present conceptual problems in current cosmology is provided from a more philosophical point of view. In essence, a digression on how could philosophy help cosmologists in what is strictly their fundamental endeavor is presented. We start by recalling some examples of enduring confrontations among […]
KNOCKING ON HEAVEN’S DOOR
September 20, 2011
Knocking on Heaven’s Door: From Lisa Randall (Theoretical Physics/Harvard Univ.; Warped Passages: Unraveling the Universe’s Hidden Dimensions, 2006), a whip-smart inquiry into the scientific work being conducted in particle physics. The author examines some fairly recondite material—the philosophical and methodological underpinnings of the study of elementary particles (with a brief foray into cosmology)—and renders it comprehensible […]
Neuroscience vs philosophy: Taking aim at free will
September 1, 2011
Scientists think they can prove that free will is an illusion. Philosophers are urging them to think again. Read more: http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110831/full/477023a.html
Why Philosophers Should Care About Computational Complexity
August 9, 2011
Scott Aaronson One might think that, once we know something is computable, how efficiently it can be computed is a practical question with little further philosophical importance. In this essay, I offer a detailed case that one would be wrong. In particular, I argue that computational complexity theory—the field that studies the resources (such as […]
Why is the universe just right for us?
July 29, 2011
by Marcus Chown IT HAS been called the Goldilocks paradox. If the strong nuclear force which glues atomic nuclei together were only a few per cent stronger than it is, stars like the sun would exhaust their hydrogen fuel in less than a second. Our sun would have exploded long ago and there would be […]
Are quarks real? A philosphical Interlude.
June 17, 2011
The reality of things is a serious matter. But not too serious, says Michael Krämer The Nobel-Prizewinning physicist and sometime bongo-player Richard Feynman famously said “Philosophy of science is about as useful to scientists as ornithology is to birds”. I have actually always liked philosophy. As a physics undergraduate I regularly attended philosophy seminars and […]
March 23, 2013
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