RE: quantum physics and Buddhism

Something I posted some time ago. Moorad
 
From: Alexanian, Moorad <alexanian@uncw.edu <mailto:alexanian@uncw.edu?Subject=RE:%20ID%20at%20NRO> >
Date: Tue Feb 15 2005 - 11:23:04 EST

There is a feature of the Minkowski 4-dimensional spacetime that is
queer, which is a feature of special relativity. When using such
diagrams to describe the world curve of anything that exists, one must
drawn a complete curve, from beginning to end. Therefore, the whole
history of that particular entity is known, so to speak, from birth to
death. One is so used to time proceeding moment by moment and viewing
spacetime in the Minkowski way seems to put us in the position of God,
where the whole of time is an eternal now. Of course, if we think of God
as sustaining the creation, then He may be creating all that there is
instant by instant. In physics we deal with events as points in
spacetime, I am not sure how to visualize humans embedded in a Minkowski
spacetime.

Moorad

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From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu on behalf of Glenn Morton
Sent: Sun 6/19/2005 5:48 PM
To: SteamDoc@aol.com; asa@calvin.edu
Subject: RE: quantum physics and Buddhism

I am right now preparing a philosophical argument which involves looking at the world-lines through the manifold conceived by General Relativity. While what I am putting together is a bit more subtle than this, Brian Green states:

"If you were having a great time at the stroke of midnight on New year's Eve, 1999, you still are, since that is just one immutable location in spacetime." Brian Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004), p. 139

"If you think of the universe as one four-dimensional entity with world lines winding through it like so many garden hoses, it is clear why. This four-dimensional entity does not change-it is like an intricate, fixed sculpture. If you want to know what it is like to experience living in that universe, you must look along the world line of a particular person from beginning to end."

Richard Gott, Time Travel in Einstein's Universe, (New York: Houghton Mifflin Co, 2001), p. 17 (my bolding)

Such a view would imply that the past is not gone, which has certain implications to theology.

Would not such a view lead to a hyper-Calvinism? More later when I finish and am ready to have my ideas critiqued.

________________________________

From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On Behalf Of SteamDoc@aol.com
Sent: Sunday, June 19, 2005 3:36 PM
To: asa@calvin.edu
Subject: Re: quantum physics and Buddhism

Randy reported how determinism is an essential part of Buddhism (at least according to the Dalai Lama) and the resulting tension with quantum physics.

Lest we think our own house is in order, we should remember that there are also Christians who present absolute determinism of cause and effect as essential. A fringe-ish example of that (they also dislike relativity and much other modern science) is found in a group called Common Sense Science (see www.commonsensescience.org, if you have a strong stomach).

But such a view is also found in more respectable circles, such as R.C. Sproul in his book "Not a Chance!" that came out a few years ago. I have not read this book, but apparently he makes strong statements like "If chance is, God is not." I don't know whether Sproul is driven to this by a desire to retain the cosmological argument in apologetics, or by his strong Calvinism (which some would call Hypercalvinism), or what. But the role of chance in quantum physics seems to present a problem for some expressions of Christian theology as well.

Allan

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Dr. Allan H. Harvey, Boulder, Colorado | SteamDoc@aol.com
"Any opinions expressed here are mine, and should not be
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Received on Sun Jun 19 18:37:43 2005