Science and Spirituality

[Guest guest]

Further to Anurag's posting to the Ramakrishna List

Anurag Goel <anurag

<snip>

>The phase of talk was in EPR ( Einstein, I don't remember names

>of the two Russian scientists ) paradox and the famous debate between

>Einstein and Bohr on " Relativity and Quantum Mechanics " which resulted

>in to EPR Paradox.

 

>The paradox got resolved when an great experiment was done in all

>sophistication. And it was found that information does travel at speed

>greater than that of light.

 

>The final conclusion was that if a electron changes it's spin then some

>other electron which can be anywhere in the universe instantaneously

>changes its spin violating the limit of speed of light as if the electrons

>are conscious of each other.

Anurag Goel <anurag

-------------------

 

Response from Jay

 

Swami Vivekananda had said something like:-

At some stage science and spirituality have to meet.

They cannot continue to exist independently of each other. There has to be

a link, else we will have two exclusive disciplines - that state of affairs

cannot be maintained - there has to be a link even if it is purely

anthropomorphic (us).

 

What we are finding out with the present Science is this meeting of diverse

disciplines. The Scientist is true to his subject and will not tolerate

'spirituality' into his realm. That is fine. He continues to develop his

subject under strict scientific disciplines. The greatest challenge science

faces is trying to come to grips with ideas of quantum mechanics. Quantum

mechanics is the very basis of all of modern science. QM - forms the basis

of explaining say the DNA molecule, the computer chip, all elementary

particle behaviour, nuclear physics etc. QM permeates all aspects of modern

science. The atom would collapse without QM. But QM defies 'classical

physical understanding' that formed the basis of science so far. The

philosophy of the Greeks which founded 'classical physics' is unable to

handle this new phenomenon. There is no parallel in Greek thoughts which can

handle QM. Let me give you an example.

 

The experiment that Anurag mentioned is called the Aspect experiment that

was carried out to show that there 'seems' to be an instantaneous link

between say two electrons (or to photons). The key word here is

'instantaneous -- there is a link that cannot be explained by classical

ideas. This is unusual as it is difficult to explain how two material things

like the electrons are linked to each other. 'They seem to be aware of each

other' - This does not seem like the language of science anymore, does it?

This is where we are at the moment. I suspect that we are in for a great

deal of 'fun and games' when these two major disciplines are forced

together! We wait and watch.

 

regards

jay