Laszlo and McTaggart – in the
Light of this Thing called Physics
|
||||
Abstract This paper was jointly written with Professor Chris Clarke (to whom many thanks), and was a response to reservations we both had about the claims for Zero Point Energy put forward by Ervin Laszlo and Lynne McTaggart. It was published in the Scientific and Medical Network Review, No. 92, Winter 2006, ISSN 1362-1211. |
Introduction
Success has partly been
purchased by the modesty of its ambitions. Only a limited range of questions
are addressed, relying on a correspondingly limited technique of inquiry,
dependent upon the possibility of the manipulation of impersonal reality
and reliant on the marvellously powerful but specialised language of
mathematics.
[4]
This ‘modesty of ambition’
was set out initially by Galileo when he made the distinction between
primary and secondary qualities: for example mass, length and shape
are primary, but taste and colour are secondary, as they are subjective
experiences in consciousness. Descartes made a similar distinction when
he proposed that science was a matter of res
extensans, or extended stuff. ‘Mind’ stuff, as non-extended, non-localised,
was not the subject of scientific enquiry. However much we have moved
on since Galileo and Descartes, physics sticks to the primary qualities
of extended stuff, and its very success depends on that. While theory provides a system
of general metaphors, what gives it weight is the precision of its fit
with the details of the phenomena. It is this that we mean when we talk
of ‘good’ science: science that has been tested to destruction by comparison
with an increasingly wide range of phenomena, and whose domain of applicability
has thereby been determined. Most physics starts with metaphors that
are often born of the emotional prejudices of the physicist. Physics,
however,
can only emerge through the most sensitive examination of the phenomena,
with a view that remains unflinching even when, especially when, the
phenomena go against expectations. Writers who offer wishful metaphors
alone may make a contribution towards understanding, but they cannot
claim the authority of the process of physics. Physics is a self-correcting
discipline which eventually roots out all theories that contradict the
evidence, and the human ambition of one scientist pitted against another
ensures that nothing remains unchallenged. But above all, as John Polkinghorne
says of the whole of science, it is an enquiry into what
is. Physics is a very specific and subtle mode of enquiry, and its
profound lesson is to take what you get, whether you like it or not. What is this Thing Called Quantum Physics? Quantum physics is one area
of the wave of new physics that developed through the 20th century,
and it is usually contrasted with the ‘classical physics’ that preceded
it. Classical and quantum physics have very different characters. The
former has settled into a form that is almost universally accepted,
with all the layers of theory well established. Quantum physics, on
the other hand, has been in a state of constant flux as its practitioners
have grappled with a spate of new phenomena. Thus quantum physics exhibits
a plurality of many conceptual frameworks and many alternative methods
of calculation. It remains, nonetheless, a single discipline because
these many theoretical ingredients relate to overlapping parts of the
same body of phenomena and, where they overlap, they agree in their
numerical predictions. This plurality of theory within a fixed domain
of phenomena will be crucial to understanding the origin of the notion
of the Zero Point Field. Unfortunately, plurality of
theory makes it difficult to state just what quantum physics is. It
will be sufficient, however, to distinguish quantum theory from classical
theory very roughly as follows. In classical physics the theoretical
constructs are usually visualisable in terms of the observable phenomena.
A magnetic field, for example, is quite well represented by the pattern
made when iron filings are sprinkled over a piece of paper covering
a magnet. By contrast, in quantum theory the theoretical constructs
have, metaphorically speaking, an extra ‘dimension’
[5]
that is not visualisable and is only indirectly
and mathematically linked with the phenomena. We will use here the standard
term for these constructs, namely ‘quantum observables’, despite the
fact that, as explained, they are far less ‘observable’ than their classical
relatives. The core of quantum physics is a body of procedures for finding
theories that correspond to each branch of classical theory (such as
electromagnetism, electrodynamics, gravity and so on). The aim is to
ensure that the quantum version reproduces the classical phenomena,
but in addition adds refinements that match phenomena exhibited at very
small length scales, which the classical theory is unable to account
for. A quantum theory will contain a quantum observable corresponding
to each construct of the classical theory: a quantum analogue of energy,
of momentum, of position ... and so on. The fact that quantum theory
is the physics of the very small is a vital point, and it is in this
domain of the atomic and sub-atomic that results have emerged which
are at odds with our human-scale experience. In particular we can cite
the uncertainty principle, which put an end to the Laplacian view of
a deterministic universe, and issues of entanglement which put an end
to the idea of completely isolatable systems. A vast body of thought
has gathered around the metaphysical implications of quantum theory,
including the works of Laszlo and McTaggart. But as physicists we are
wary of the entire edifice, or to put it another way, of the dazzling
new counter-orthodoxy. The Nobel physicist Murray Gell-Mann, responsible
for the discovery and naming of the quark, cautions us against what
he calls ‘flap-doodle’ in respect of quantum mechanics.
[6]
While Gell-Mann may have no sympathy for the esoteric,
metaphysical and mystical, we should respect his knowledge of the physics.
Even more sobering is the view put forward by Ken Wilber in his 1985
book Quantum Questions that even the great quantum scientists who were
inclined to the mystical drew no support for it from the facts of physics. Physics, Philosophy and Emotion
1. It was argued that, in calculating
the total zero point energy, one should not include arbitrarily high
frequencies of oscillation, because at a certain point these frequencies
would cause the spontaneous creation of particles, and at even higher
frequencies would cause the breakdown of space-time itself. The effect
of this would be to introduce a ‘cut-off’ in the allowed frequencies,
resulting in a large but finite zero point energy.
[11]
2. In 1950 G C Wick
[12]
noted that there were different possible choices
for the quantum observable corresponding to energy, which meant that
there were different possible values for the zero point energy. One
choice regarded by many as the most natural gave rise to a zero point
energy of zero, thus entirely
removing the problem. These choices were equivalent as far as experimental
phenomena were concerned. 3. When the quantum theory of
electromagnetism was extended by adding an interaction with charged
particles, several other quantities in addition to the zero point energy
became formally infinite. This produced a crisis in the theory, since
it was impossible to produce meaningful values for observable quantities
such as how much electromagnetic radiation of a given frequency was
scattered by an electron.
[13]
The solution to this crisis was the procedure called
renormalisation (for which Sinitiro Tomonaga, Julian Schwinger and Richard
Feynman won a joint Nobel prize in 1965), which showed that the presence
of electromagnetic interactions resulted in an observed energy which
was quite different from the quantum energy on which the theory was
based.
[14]
Elementary calculations of the zero point energy
were thereby rendered untrustworthy. 4. An alternative possibility
to 2 and 3 was to take the original version of the zero point energy,
with the cut-off given by 1, at face value and use it for calculational
purposes. This proved very successful in some areas, and provides the
basis for zero point field ideas. This approach was first tried before
the advent of renormalisation theory (3 above), which, it could be argued,
vitiates this procedure. It is this approach, however, which forms the
basis of zero point field ideas. As physicists we are faced
here with explaining to the lay person why there should be a multiplicity
of theories, and why in particular renormalisation – appearing to be
just a mathematical trick – should have been the most common approach
adopted for the last forty years. There is no easy route to understanding
this, apart perhaps from pointing out that the inconceivably small world
of quantum phenomena is approached by experimental methods that are
very remote compared to those used in investigating human-scale objects
and behaviour. There is a long chain of hypothesis and inference from
the observed data, through multiple possible mathematical routes, to
the concepts that we try and understand them by. SMN member Alan Wallace
most usefully discusses the question of renormalisation in his book
on quantum physics and Buddhism (Choosing
Reality: A Buddhist View of Physics and Mind), placing due emphasis
on the fact that what little laboratory evidence we have for zero point
energy can lead to the conclusion that it is either zero or infinite.
The key evidence cited
by all the writers on this subject is the Casimir Effect. The Casimir Effect Casimir was investigating
more complex versions of this, involving dynamically oscillating charge
distributions and quantum corrections, and had started with the simpler
case of a single molecule adjacent to a conducting plate. For such problems,
it is easy to show that the size of the force can be derived from the
energy in the electromagnetic field.
[17]
When Casimir discussed with Bohr the idea of using
this field energy for the even simpler case of two parallel conducting
plates, Bohr pointed out that in the quantum case the relevant energy
needed in order to arrive at the force on the plates was the difference
between the energy of the vacuum state of the electromagnetic field
between the two plates and the energy of the vacuum state of this region
in free space. Casimir performed this calculation using the formally
infinite expression which was accepted at the time. The idea of the
ZPF rests on this result. The following lessons can
be drawn from this history: 1. The Casimir effect does not
involve a new ‘vacuum field’ but is a consequence of the electromagnetic
field treated quantum mechanically. 2. The effect does not derive
from the total energy of the field, but from a difference in energy
between two fields (confirming that it is only differences in energy
that are measurable, as noted above). In fact the same result is obtained
for the alternative version of quantum theory that uses a finite (indeed
zero) total energy for the vacuum field. 3. The Casimir force, like all
van der Waals forces, is an electrodynamic effect, involving interactions
between the electrons in the conductor, and is not an effect purely
of the vacuum itself. This is indicated by the dependence of the force,
in its exact version, on the charge and mass of the electron; indeed,
the quantum mechanical force can be derived purely by considering the
interaction of charges without any reference to the ZPE. While some physicists may
prefer to tackle certain types of problems using the ZPF as a conceptual
tool, others, such as R. L. Jaffe at the Centre for Theoretical Physics
at MIT, have taken the trouble to show in great detail how the Casimir
effect can be accounted for without any reference to the ZPF.
[18]
Alan Wallace also takes pains to point
this out: ‘the experimental confirmation of the Casimir effect has been
presented as evidence for two mutually incompatible conclusions: an
energy of the vacuum that is said to be both infinite and zero.’
[19]
However Wallace goes on to generalise that multiple
theories in physics exist for all physical data, which is for practical
purposes
[20]
only true for quantum mechanics. He uses this generalisation
to argue for a middle ground between two philosophical positions on
physics, between the ‘realist’ and ‘instrumentalist’ views. Our purpose
here is not to digress into such a philosophical discussion, fascinating
as it is, but to give a sober account of the evidence from physics for
and against the ZPF. What Wallace’s treatment demonstrates is the importance
of putting forward the genuine contradictions that lie within physics,
and not choosing one or the other option based on an emotional preference.
We can give an example with light: in the 18th century The ZPE treated classically From ZPE to ZPF We have seen that Zero Point
Energy is a contested term in physics, because it may refer to a quantity
that is infinite or zero, depending on what mathematical approach is
taken. To extend speculation from this uncertain energy to a Zero Point
Energy Field is a strategy that can solve some limited problems in physics,
but it creates far more problems than it solves. In particular it creates
the illusion that there is a new field with exciting new properties,
or even worse, that infinite free energy can be extracted from it. This
is a useful moment to pin down what ‘energy’ means in physics
[26]
. It is defined simply as the capacity to do work,
and to put it the other way round, work is done when energy changes
form in a system. A hydroelectric power station produced electrical
energy, the capacity to do work in our various gadgets such as washing
machines and vacuum cleaners, through the change of gravitational potential
energy in the dammed up water. The oceans, chock full of tantalisingly
large amounts of water, are no use for hydroelectric schemes, because
there is no lower place for the water to flow to – it is already at
sea level. Zero point energy – if it really exists – is like water at
its resting place: there can be no further change in that energy which
might do useful work for human beings. The Casimir plates are attracted
to each other, like water is to the Earth, but the energy that could
be extracted (a) comes from the electromagnetic field, and (b) the plates
would have to be pulled apart again to continue the process. It would
be like pumping water up the mountain again in order to create hydroelectric
energy: overall there would be a net loss
of useful work. As we pointed out earlier, running towards palatable
ideas in haste can lead to as much bad science as running away from
unpalatable ideas. And nothing is more palatable to us than the idea
of powering our washing machines and vacuum cleaners from a source of
free, unpolluting energy. Laszlo and McTaggart The Akashic Record: Science and Spirituality The point here is that
all fields are inherently fluid. Any disturbance to the field spreads
out in accordance with the equations governing the field in question,
and mingles with disturbances coming from other places. The information
contained becomes progressively degraded as the disturbance interacts
with matter en route, until it becomes lost among the general noise.
[32]
We can see this with the electromagnetic field, manifested
as light and radio waves (recalling that the ZPE is just a particular
quantum state of the electromagnetic field). We can extract information
from this either by using the direction in which waves are propagating
(vision) or by using the special contrivance of broadcasting on specific
frequencies; but in all cases the quality and precision of the information
degrades steadily with distance. Laszlo states that the A-field is a
‘scalar’ field, meaning that it is specified at each point by a single
number, as compared to the three numbers
[33]
required to specify the free electromagnetic field,
so it has even less scope for holding information. Storing information
in a field is like making patterns by dribbling cream into a cup of
coffee while stirring it: we are faced with the job of unstirring it
in order to get the information out again. One underlying metaphor
for modern versions of the Akashic field is that of the hologram which
stores information about the whole in every part. But a hologram can
only be made on the solid structure of the photographic plate (or credit
card) which holds the image stable, particularly at very small length
scales – the opposite of the fluidity of a field. Writers such as Lazlo
may postulate a sort of ether that acts as a universal photographic
plate for a hologram, but there is no good scientific evidence for such
an idea. Laszlo
suggests that the ZPF is like a superconductor, in which current can
flow without dissipation. But this does not get round the objection
raised above, that the information cannot be read out without interaction
with matter in which the pattern is disturbed. Laszlo’s proposal poses
so many fundamental questions in physics that it moves more into the
domain of science fiction than physics. But there is another
issue here: the misleading notion that the Akashic Record is a venerable
Indian idea with its source in the Vedas. As far as we can tell it is
only the much more recent invention of Western esotericists like the
Theosophists, Rudolf Steiner and Edgar Cayce. ‘Akasha’ in the Indian
system means space or void, and is equivalent perhaps to the Western
notion of the fifth element, the quintessence, that in which all things
rest. But the Indian mind was never interested in factual records of
events, and would find the A-Field a quite foreign Western idea. Indeed
the Buddha’s core preoccupation was that suffering came from clinging
to what was impermanent, and all of human experience as impermanent.
It is true that he could recall past life details for himself and others,
and we can say that this was a consulting of the Akashic Record; why
not? But his core message was to let go of the past, not to attempt
to hold onto it for perpetuity. We can conclude by saying
that it is natural for people to look into the rich and complex discipline
of physics, and be tempted to pick out just the bits that fit their
concepts. Perhaps the lesson of what we have presented is that one should
not jump hastily to appealing conclusions, but rather allow the enquiries
of physics and spirituality to remain open, and live with contradictions.
Maslow thought that this ability to live with contradiction a mark of
the self-actualiser; the Buddha too called his monks ‘enquirers’ and
called on them not to cling to fixed ideas or the past. We suggest that
a balanced view of both physics and spirituality must take into account
their open and paradoxical nature. Where quantum mechanics is concerned
one needs to acknowledge the multiplicity of theory for the known data,
while in the case of spirituality there is a multiplicity of phenomena
(which, according to the work of Jorge Ferrer
[34]
, is irreducible). Perhaps the most telling
remark, this time by McTaggart on one of her conference flyers, is that
the ZPF ‘has given thousands of people “permission” to hold spiritual
beliefs.’ It is indeed probably the case that many people
have been deterred from pursuing the spirituality that is right for
them (which today is increasingly a holistic spirituality) by the influence
of a prevailing world-view that is still influenced by Newtonian physics.
Ironically, there are many areas of physics – notably those concerned
with non-locality – that lend support to a world view that is much more
harmonious with holistic spirituality, which could in turn foster a
more humane society. But we don’t believe that spiritual beliefs should
be founded on a casual, selective reading of the physics.
Its real, hard lesson, as in the spiritual life, is to take what you
get from an honest open enquiry, rather than what you would like. References
[1]
Laszlo, Ervin, Science
and the Akashic Field – an Integral Theory of Everything,
[2]
McTaggart, Lynne, The
Field, [3] We would qualify the realist implications of the word ‘fact’, adding that a fact is always relative to a particular area of discourse. For example, the conservation of energy is a fact provided that the region of space involved is not so large that the concept of energy looses its meaning.
[4]
Polkinghorne, John, Reason
and Reality - The Relationship between Science and Theology, [5] We refer here to the systematic replacement of the real numbers, which in classical physics represent observable quantities, by operators which are literally of higher dimension that real numbers. These operators encode all possible values of the observable quantity concerned, rather than representing a single one of them as happens in classical physics.
[6]
Gell-Mann,
[7]
Popper, Karl, The
Logic of Scientific Discovery,
[8]
Rorty, Richard, Philosophy
and the Mirror of Nature, [9] The only exception to the principle that only changes in energy (arising from a change in the form of the energy from one system to another) are observable, is the fact that energy is the source of gravitational attraction. But if this is applied to the vacuum the result is a resounding defeat for ZPE: the gravitating energy of the vacuum is the famous ‘dark energy’ whose magnitude has now been measured experimentally, and it comes out to be some 30 orders of magnitude smaller than the claimed ZPE. [10] Modern mathematics distinguishes between infinite numbers, which have been introduced into many areas of pure mathematics, and speculatively into some versions of quantum theory, and calculational techniques that “diverge to infinity” in the sense of failing to produce any final answer. Examples of infinite numbers are infinite cardinal numbers, such as the total number of real numbers between 0 and 1; or special extensions of the real numbers which introduce infinitesimal numbers greater than 0 and less than any positive real number, whose inverses are infinite numbers. Divergent expressions are those such as “1 + 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/4 + ...” (written ∑n=1∞ 1/n) which are instructions to compute a quantity that actually grows indefinitely without bound as the calculation proceeds. Such a quantity can, however, properly be used as part of a larger calculation. For example the expression ∫ x=1∞ (1/x)dx - ∑n=1∞ 1/n can be reinterpreted as ∫ x=1∞ (1/x – 1/é xù ) dx, which is a perfectly calculable expression, one which in fact occurs in the traditional calculation of the Casimir force [11] Taking the electron-creating cutoff gives an energy density of about 1024 J/m3. An alternative cutoff set by general relativity effects gives a much higher density. [12] Wick proposed the alternative way of ordering the terms in the definition of the Hamiltonian which is now known as normal ordering (Wick, G C, 1950, Phys. Rev. 80. 268). [13] We refer here to a fully quantum mechanical treatment of the Compton effect. Elementary treatments contain a standard and well tested calculation that mixes classical and quantum ideas. [14] Renormalisation theory makes a distinction between quantities such as mass and charge which entered directly into the theory (so called “bare” quantities), and observed masses and charges which differ from these because of the influence of the electromagnetic field. Factors needed to be introduced in order to allow for this that related the bare quantities to the observed quantities, including an added quantity (the energy counterterm) to relate the bare energy to the observed energy, which would then produce a reasonable result. Unfortunately, a more comprehensive theory is still needed in order to produce a value for the zero point energy. [15] E.g. Weinberg, S (1989), Rev. Mod. Phys. 61, 1 (cited by Jaffe, note 18 ) writes of “the demonstration in the Casimir effect of the reality of zero-point energies” [16] Though predicted by Casimir in 1948, the first conclusive experimental verification of the effect was by Steve K Lamoreaux in 1996. [17] The force on a particle containing electrical charges can be calculated by evaluating the work that must be done in order to assemble the charge distribution involved. From conservation of energy, this work is stored in the energy of the electromagnetic field, so that evaluating that energy provides a way of calculating the forces. [18] Jaffe, R L (2005), Phys.Rev. D72, 021301
[19]
Wallace, B. Alan, Choosing Reality – A Buddhist
View of Physics and the Mind, [20] The philosophers Quine and Duhem have made the correct point that every theoretical statement is only valid relative to a wider overarching context, and therefore that an alternative theory can always be obtained by altering this context. But within science as it has actually developed there are no examples of this that have the forcefulness of the example of Quantum Theory. [21] The structure of this classical field is a direct imitation of the quantum version: its spectrum has the same formally divergent energy that characterises the original version of the vacuum state, and its magnitude is dependent on Planck’s constant h which defines the size of quantum effects. A derivation of the Casimir effect using this device is given in Milonni, P W, Cook, R J, & Goggin, M E (1988), Phys. Rev. A38 1621. [22] Haisch, B H, Rueda, A & Puthoff, H E (1994), Phys. Rev. A49 678 [23] A good review with references is in Haisch et al. (Note 22 ). Derivations of the quantum results for spontaneous emission of radiation (including cascades), the black body spectrum and van der Waals forces are contained in Milonni, P W (1976), Phys. Rep. 25, 1 [24] The wave-function associated with a quantum field is a function on the space of all distributional classical fields: see Reed, M & Simon, B (1980) Methods of Modern Mathematical Physics, Vol. 1: Functional Analysis, Academic Press; Revised &Enlarged edition. [25] There is a separate vacuum state for each quantum field (electroweak, lepton, hadron and so on). If we put them together – as would be done in trying to formulate a unified theory, then “the” vacuum will be the product of the vacua of all the constituent fields. [26] A further remark that can be made is that energy is not a “stuff” in the sense that water is. One can never (with the exception mentioned in footnote 9 ) measure a total quantity of energy, but only changes in energy, between one state and another. A charged battery has a well defined difference in energy from a flat battery, but it does not usually make much sense to ask what the total energy of a flat battery is: how much energy we can get out of it depends on our ingenuity. We pay the electricity company not for supplying bucketfuls of stuff, but for making a measurable change in the energy available to us.
[27]
Laszlo, Ervin, Science
and the Akashic Field – an Integral Theory of Everything,
[28]
Laszlo, Ervin, Science
and the Akashic Field – an Integral Theory of Everything,
[29]
Laszlo, Ervin, Science
and the Akashic Field – an Integral Theory of Everything,
[30]
Laszlo, Ervin, Science
and the Akashic Field – an Integral Theory of Everything,
[31]
McTaggart, Lynne, The
Field, [32] Most fields get attenuated with distance as well, which makes this process even more effective, though an exception is David Bohm's “quantum information” which is not attenuated. [33] The electric and magnetic fields are each vectors, having direction as well as magnitude, and so being specified by three numbers (the components of a vector) each. But they are related to each other by Maxwell's equations, which easily shows that they can both be obtained from a single four-dimensional vector field, called the vector potential. This in turn is subject to a symmetry in which there is a 1-parameter set of transformations relating vector potentials that actually give rise to the same electric and magnetic fields; so finally there are only three independent components of the electromagnetic field.
[34]
Ferrer, Jorge N., Revisioning
Transpersonal Theory – A Participatory Vision of Human Spirituality,
|