SCIENCE & RELIGION the gravitational field proposed centuries before by Newton, Quantum exhibited a holistic character that fit in well with spiritual ideas. Matter was particulate, occurring in lumps, and analyzed by the dis- Spirituality tasteful methods of reductionism in which objects are reduced to the sum of their parts. Fields, on the Victor J. Stenger other hand, were continuous— holistic—occurring everywhere in space, connecting everything to n his talk at a recent confer- PHYSICS AND SPIRIT everything else, and analyzable ence, Antony Flew defined only in the whole. Even today, spirit as "incorporeal sub- The idea of spirit as a substantial occultists confuse natural electro- stance." As a physicist, I can component of the universe is of magnetic effects with "auras" sur- relate to that. If such a thing as course an ancient one, funda- rounding living things. spirit exists, then I have no prob- mental to the traditional dualistic Although the atomic theory of lem with it being incorporeal. It view most humans hold of the matter was well developed by the does not have to be made of mat- universe and themselves as part late nineteenth century, it had not ter as long as it has "substance." of that universe. In this view, yet been convincingly verified at I interpret this to mean that, planets, rock, trees, and the that time. Many chemists, and a although spirit may not be com- human body are made of matter, few physicists like Lodge, still posed of quarks and electrons or but matter is not everything. held open the possibility that mat- other known constituents of mat- Beyond matter exists mind, soul, ter might be continuous. The ter, it still may be a meaningful or spirit, an ethereal substance mathematics of fields had been concept, amenable to empirical that may even be more "real" successfully applied to solids and testing or other rational analysis. than matter—the very quintes- fluids, which appear continuous One test for whether a concept sence of being. and wavy on the everyday scale. has "substance" is to use In the mid-nineteenth century, These scientists suggested that Occam's razor to excise it from many scientists thought that the continuity, not atomism, consti- all discourse. If the essential con- marvelous new discoveries of sci- tuted the prime unifying principle tent of discourse remains un- ence, and the methods of science, for describing the universe of both changed, then I would say the could be applied to the world of matter, light, and perhaps spirit. concept has no substance. Of the spirit as well as to the world This comforting notion was course, like most scientific tests, of matter. For example, Sir Oliver shattered as the twentieth century this can only be used to falsify Lodge, a physicist who had got underway. First, the aether the concept, not verify it. helped demonstrate the reality of was found not to exist. Second, the electromagnetic waves, argued atomic theory was confirmed. Victor J. Stenger is Professor of that, if wireless telegraphy was Third, light was found to be a Physics and Astronomy at the possible, then so was wireless component of matter, composed of University of Hawaii and the telepathy. Lodge, like most others particles we now call photons. author of Not By Design: The of the period, believed that elec- And so, discreteness, rather than Origin of the Universe (Pro- tromagnetic waves, including continuity, became the unifying metheus Books, 1988) and light, were vibrations of a fric- principle of physics, with the uni- Physics and Psychics: The tionless medium, the aether, that verse composed solely of particu- Search for a World Beyond the pervaded the universe. It seemed late matter. Quantum mechanics Senses (Prometheus Books, plausible that this medium might was developed to describe mater- 1990). This article is based on also be responsible for the trans- ial phenomena in all their various, his latest book, The Unconscious mission of thoughts, that it was discrete forms. Quantum: Metaphysics in the long-sought substance of However, the situation was not Modern Physics and Cosmology mind and spirit. quite so tidy as this short and (Prometheus Books, 1995). The electromagnetic field, like simplified review may imply. The 57 WINTER 1997/98 SCIENCE & RELIGION phenomena that originally led space and time. vided a new model for the notion people to postulate its wave Quantum phenomena seem to of spirit. They have been wit- nature of light did not go away. be very mysterious, and where tingly and unwittingly encour- Those observations were correct. mysteries are imagined, the aged by various statements made Furthermore, other forms of supernatural cannot be far by physicists, some of consider- matter were shown to also exhibit behind. However, despite these able distinction. wave properties. Electrons were misgivings, quantum mechanics Eugene Wigner is widely found to diffract through small developed as a quantitative phys- quoted in the new literature of openings in exactly the same way ical theory that has proven itself quantum mysticism. He once as light. capable of making calculations said: "The laws of quantum The fact that particles some- and predictions to a high level of mechanics itself cannot be for- times behaved as waves and accuracy. After 70 years of mulated ... without recourse to waves as particles was called the exhaustive testing, no observation the concept of consciousness."' "wave-particle duality." Although has been found to be inconsistent Physicist Amit Goswami sees a matter was sufficient to encom- with quantum mechanics as a "self-aware universe," with quantum mechanics providing Quantum phenomena seem to be very mys- support for claims of paranormal phenomena. He says: "... psy- terious, and where mysteries are imagined, chic phenomena, such as distant the supernatural cannot be far behind. viewing and out-of-body experi- ences, are examples of the nonlo- pass all known physical phenom- formal, mathematical theory. cal operation of consciousness. "2 ena, the apparent twofold nature Quantum mechanics dealt In the United States today, of matter gave diehard dualists early with the problem of the alternative healing is all the rage. some comfort. Some associated wave nature of matter by intro- Traditional folk-healing tech- waves with mind. But waves and ducing a mathematical quantity niques are touted as holistic, in particles were not two separate called the "wave function." contrast to the reductionistic elementary substances but char- Schrödinger's equation was used methods of modern Western acteristics of the same substance. to calculate how the wave func- medicine. Again, quantum Whether a physical entity was a tion evolved with time; the mechanics provides a source of wave or a particle seemed to absolute square of the wave func- inspiration. Two recent best- depend on what you measured. tion gave the probability that a sellers by Deepak Chopra contain Measure its position, and you con- body would be found at a partic- the word quantum in their titles: cluded that the entity is a material ular position. Quantum Healing: Exploring the body. Measure its wavelength, and In 1927, Einstein initiated a Frontiers of Mind/Body Medicine you concluded that the entity is debate on quantum mechanics and Ageless Body, Timeless Mind: some type of continuous field. with Niels Bohr that continues The Quantum Alternative to Furthermore, you can imagine today, long after their deaths, as Growing Old.3 deciding which quantity to mea- others have taken up the argu- sure at the last instant, long after ments of one side or the other. the entity had been emitted from Initially Einstein objected to the HIDDEN VARIABLES its source, which might be a dis- picture, retained today in most Despite the claims made in many tant galaxy. textbooks, in which the wave books, neither psychic phenom- function instantaneously "col- ena4 nor the vast array of alter- lapses" upon measurement. He nate healing methods5 are sup- QUANTUM MYSTICISM called this a "spooky action at a ported by controlled, replicable Some have inferred from this puz- distance" because it implied that laboratory studies. The research zle that the very nature of the uni- signals must travel at infinite cannot be used as evidence for verse is not objective, but depends speeds across the wave front to mind-over-matter. Nor can on the consciousness of the tell the wave function to go to quantum mechanics be used to observer. This latest wrinkle on zero in the places where nothing make these claims more credible. ancient idealism implies that the is detected. As we will now see, the mys- universe exists only within some To modern dualists, the holis- teries and apparent paradoxes of cosmic, quantum field of mind, tic quantum wave function, with quantum mechanics arise only with the human mind part of that its instantaneous collapse upon when we try to cast the theory in field and existing throughout all the act of observation, has pro- words instead of equations, FREE INQUIRY 58 SCIENCE & RELIGION applying the language of every- lowers have yet produced a mech- universe of the mystic's fondest day human experience to a phys- anism for generating a priori the desires. The problem of nonlocal- ical realm where that experience quantum potential. ity is dismissed by claiming that may not be relevant. The hidden-variables ap- no communication of signals The words used to describe proach is based on the notion, faster than light takes place. quant um mechanics in conven- which Einstein always believed, This conclusion can be proven tional physics textbooks were that quantum mechanics is fine to be a general property of quan- gleaned from the writings of as far as it goes, as a statistical tum theory,t 0 and will be true for Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, and theory, but that some determinis- Bohm's theory as long as Bohm's Max Born, the primary authors of tic subquantum theory that lies theory is consistent with quan- what is called the "Copenhagen behind physical events remains to tum mechanics.