Integral Science

In the second programme of his two-part series "The Secrets of Quantum Physics" on  BBC 4, Jim Al-Khalili dealt with several interesting examples from biology, showing how modern interpretations have become intrinsically based on principles from quantum mechanics. For example he explained how the navigation of the robin is seemingly based on the quantum entanglement, or what Einstein famously referred to as "spooky action at a distance". This enables the robin to detect minute changes with respect to the Earth's magnetic field associated with distinctive types of quantum entanglement associated with paired electrons. He then went on to explain how the modern explanation of smell relates - in a manner akin to sound - to the vibrations of the chemical bonds holding molecules together. The previous explanation based on the structure of component molecules neatly locking into appropriate sense receptor molecules (associated with a characteristic scent) could not...

I enjoyed watching Professor Jim Al-Khalili's account of the development of quantum physics "The Secrets of Quantum Physics"with the first episode "Einstein's Nightmare" shown last night on BBC 4. Though I had both read about and listened to the discussion of these ideas many times before, I always welcome a new imaginative way of presentation, which can lead one to seeing the issues involved in a new light. What was discussed last night culminated with the Einstein-Podolsky Paradox, which though formulated in 1935 could only be satisfactorily tested much later (largely due to the original theoretical contribution of John Bell). As we know, Einstein was deeply unhappy with the philosophical implications of quantum mechanics, where sub-atomic events seemingly were based on chance and probability. He believed that acceptance of non-local causation would imply communication between particles faster than the speed of light, which thereby would violate a ke...

I was struck by this following quotation when looking through once more Marcus du Sautoy's very readable "Music of the Primes". "When we observe an event in the quantum world, it is though we are not seeing the event itself in its natural domain, but a shadow of the event projected into our 'real world' of ordinary numbers." From a Jungian perspective this lends itself to a direct complementary comparison with the nature of unconscious experience from a psychological perspective. In other words we cannot observe what pertains to the unconscious mind directly. Rather when we observe an event in the unconscious world, it is as though we are not seeing the event in its natural (i.e. unconscious domain) but a shadow of the event projected into our 'real world' of conscious experience. The implications here are highly important as it entails that we cannot hope to understand the sub-atomic quantum nature of reality within the current scientifi...

This latest contribution in many ways entails a summary of the points that I have made in recent blog entries and in discussion with Anthony Judge in relation to “Transforming the Art of Conversation - conversing as the transformative science of development” at his hugely impressive “Laetus in Praesens” site. I have been long fascinated by the fact that the two binary digits (1 and 0) when used in a quantitative manner can potentially encode all information processes. I am therefore of the opinion that the same two digits when used in an appropriate qualitative manner can likewise potentially encode all transformation processes. So transformation itself (in all its manifestations) is basically encoded in number when appreciated in a qualitative manner. Now as geometrical symbols, 1 can be identified with the straight line and 0 with a circular circumference. So the relationship of 1 and 0 in qualitative terms implies the relationship between (rational) linear and (intuitive) ...

I have always felt a special affinity to Taoism where the basic nature of reality is explained in a manner that readily lends itself to holistic mathematical understanding. So the Tao represents the ineffable undivided unity (which equally is a nothingness in phenomenal terms). Then phenomenal reality arises from the splitting of this unity into polar opposites that are understood as separate from each other. However a deeper understanding of the nature of these opposites leads to the realisation that they are complementary (and ultimately identical in nondual terms) as yin and yang. So it is this latter realisation that enables the process of harmonising phenomenal reality with the original absolute nature of Tao. Last night I was briefly reading the section on Taoism in that wonderful little book on "Mysticism" by F.C. Happold. There, I saw the seeds of an even closer relationship in its thought to my recent notions expressed in these blogs on the all important role o...

We have to be careful here. It is very hard in practice to distinguish numbers from the symbols used for their representation. And the very nature of such representation is that we thereby give a distinct phenomenal identity to number (as represented by its symbol). So when I use the symbol "1" to represent the notion of one, it thereby assumes this phenomenal identity. Furthermore, because understanding of number in our culture is dominated by its quantitative aspect, numbers thereby become misleadingly identified as abstract phenomenal objects (with an absolute identity). However in truth the meaning of number is much more elusive. As I have been at pains to illustrate, every number has both a qualitative as well as recognised quantitative aspect. Basically, the quantitative aspect relates to the notion of number as independent (i.e. where phenomenal poles such as external and internal are separated). The corresponding qualitative aspect relates to the correspond...

We are already well aware of the great significance of number from the conventional quantitative perspective. However what we have not yet recognised yet is the equal significance of number from the greatly neglected qualitative dimensional perspective. And when we combine these two aspects of number in interactive terms, then it is but a short leap to the recognition that - at its most fundamental - phenomenal reality is but the dynamic representation of number configurations (in both quantitative and qualitative terms). Now a widespread view in contemporary physics is that reality is fundamentally composed of tiny 1-dimensional strings, the unique vibrations of which give rise to all the particles from which more conventional material forms are composed. However the notion of "physical strings" in any meaningful philosophical sense is but a fiction arising from the reductionist quantitative viewpoint that matter must ultimately be composed of smaller constituent par...