Re: [asa] Loop quantum gravity

In addition to the book that George cited, Lee Smolin wrote a good summary article of loop quantum gravity in the January 2004 issue of Scientific American. Recently there was a special issue of Sci Am in April 2006 on the topic of time in which Smolin had another article. http://www.sciam.com/special/toc.cfm?issueid=40&sc=rt_nav_list In that issue is another intriguing article that I haven't read yet. The index states: "The Myth of the Beginning of Time" by Gabriele Veneziano. "String theory suggests that the big bang was not the origin of the universe but simply the outcome of a preexisting state."

I would tend to agree with all the comments made so far but would also add that any contribution to metaphysical concepts (theism is too strong) would come primarily from its replacement of string theory. That is, the buzz in the science community is all about string theory, supersymmetry, M theory, multiverses, branes, and all those multi-dimensional perspectives that lead some folks to make metaphysical extrapolations. Loop quantum gravity is the alternative to string theory. If it is true, it would undo much of that speculation.

I'm a long way from understanding this theory and the oversimplified way in which I can begin to grasp it is that it starts from the assumption that space and time are quantized. In a simple-minded way, it seems to be "quantization of space and time" vs "dimensions beyond 3+1 space+time".

Randy

  David Opderbeck wrote:

> Is anyone familiar with this theory? What implications does it have
> for theism?

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Received on Thu Nov 9 22:00:43 2006