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Ebook Download Fashion, Faith, and Fantasy in the New Physics of The FASHION, FAITH, AND FANTASY IN THE NEW PHYSICS OF THE UNIVERSE PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Roger Penrose | 520 pages | 13 Sep 2016 | Princeton University Press | 9780691119793 | English | New Jersey, United States Fashion, Faith, and Fantasy in the New Physics of the Universe PDF Book Although Penrose admires the theory, he worries that some of his colleagues misuse it by applying it beyond its originally intended domain. Moreover, one would think, to be a proper mathematical theory it surely ought to make mathematical sense — which means, in effect, that it ought to be mathematically consistent. Chapter - Other. We have come across many examples in physics where beautiful mathematical ideas have turned out to underlie fundamental advances in understanding. It will be interesting to see how this series of p An alert up front: this book is extremely heavy going, and the assignment of much of the mathematics to appendices is somewhat of a relief, with emphasis on "somewhat. Readers also enjoyed. He's made considerable progress over the last decade and eagerly tells you about it in his well-constructed sentences and trademark diagrams. Supersymmetry between Fermions and Bosons cuts down the dimensions of string theory to a more manageable 10, but makes it necessary to believe in the existence of a whole lot of particles we will never observe 3. The reason is that the mathematics of quantum physics has two parts. As mentioned in the preface, the issues discussed in this book were developed from three lectures given, by invitation of the Princeton University Press, at Princeton University in October Moreover, much of this extraordinary precision is already in Newton's gravitational theory. Elements of fashion can often assume unreasonable proportions when it comes to aesthetic judgements — in the world of theoretical physics, just as in the case of art or the design of clothing. Dec 02, Sherrie rated it liked it Shelves: first-reads-winners. Very few string specialists agree with him, but he is not one to be intimidated by an overwhelming majority, no matter how illustrious and vocal it is. What can fashionable ideas, blind faith, or pure fantasy possibly have to do with the scientific quest to understand the universe? Penrose thinks there is a threshold mass at which gravity spacetime curvature destroys the quantum phenomenon. Roger Penrose. But he has since become increasingly mistrustful of the way his peers have applied relativity and quantum theory to the cosmos. What can fashionable ideas, blind faith, or pure fantasy possibly have to do with the scientific quest to understand the universe? Penrose's books are always worthwhile no matter how you slice or dice it! Just a warning. Oct 16, Peter Pete Mcloughlin rated it really liked it Shelves: good-things , , to , to , american-history , asian-history , astronomy , complexity , european- history , general-history. Flowing text, Original pages. Penrose would say fashionable. Of course, it might be the case that we are entering a new phase of basic research into fundamental physics, where requirements of mathematical consistency become paramount, and in those situations where such requirements together with a coherence with previously established principles prove insufficient, additional criteria of mathematical elegance and simplicity must be invoked. Aug 14, Kent J. Published on. Illustration Package. I did kind of take in how phenomenally precise the calculations are that we can perform surrounding the Big Bang and CMB, there is a tremendous lesson that explains how life on earth is due to the low entropy energy we get from the sun rather than its heat and I also got a feel for how our universe will end one day: electromagnetism will live forever, but anything with gravity will be gone. In each, he takes a significant modern physical theory the "fashion" of string theory, the "faith" of quantum mechanics, and the "fantasy" of cosmological inflation and both explains it and deconstructs why it may not be as believable as the broader community thinks it is. The author is exceptionally wordy. Basically, we have reached a point where new data is not coming in fast enough separate candidate models for Quantum Gravity and Cosmology. To get the two to agree one may have to make modifications to both theories. They claim that their theory has mathematical beauty and it has the ability to include the classical theory of gravity and it is the only theory of everything. Different people have very different aesthetic judgments. Prof Penrose has worked for 40 years on his twistor theory without getting any traction from the physics community to use it as a fundamental theory. Other Editions In the case of quantum mechanics, its stunning success in explaining the atomic universe has led to an uncritical faith that it must also apply to reasonably massive objects, and Penrose responds by suggesting possible changes in quantum theory. I actually have a degree in physics and still found this book technically overwhelming. This particular book covers some familiar ground for anyone who has read any of Penrose's other works, but it still stands alone as a book that integrates his criticism of modern theories of string theory, quantum mechanics and cosmology whilst arguing some optional view points from his own theories and those of others. The ideas for this book was developed from these lectures. The second is as an introduction to these more modern theories, such as string theory. Fashion, Faith, and Fantasy in the New Physics of the Universe Writer I recommend readers to skip the part of the book that is too intense but focus on main arguments of the book. So the last chapter is dedicated to theories closer to his heart regarding the creation of the universe, or rather its history and its future, and, as far as I can discern they largely are rather fantastical indeed, if not as fantastical as the currently fashionable theories. Return to Book Page. Twistors are complex objects in the mathematical sense that provide a background space for 4 dimensional Minkowski space-time. The second is as an introduction to these more modern theories, such as string theory. In fact, acclaimed physicist and bestselling author Roger Penrose argues that researchers working at the extreme frontiers of physics are just as susceptible to these forces as anyone else. Related Articles. Two theories—quantum mechanics and general relativity—are widely believed to be true. No doubt wanting to end on a positive note, Penrose concludes with several constructive suggestions for the way forward. But some of the concepts explored and, in the particular case of string theory, debunked were mind-bending at times. Yet, it seemed to me, I should not allow myself to be too daunted by this shortcoming, for if only the insiders are considered competent to make critical comments about the subject, then the criticisms are likely to be limited to relatively technical issues, some of the broader aspects of criticism being, no doubt, significantly neglected. Welcome back. That these theories are cavalier about some obvious problems around entropy, and like string theory they are tweaked and special-cased to achieve closer matches to observation. Often some strong elements of physical judgement must be invoked in order that the theory can be appropriately applied in an unambiguous way. I won't throw it totally under the bus, though. Quantum mechanics fares better due to its grand precision in quantum field theory, but he still critiques its connection general relativity. Penrose suggests that that the fundamental principles of quantum physics have not yet been found. It will be interesting to see how this series of provocative essays is received by experts in the theoretical physics world, but if you can withstand the ride to the end the sheer breadth of argument and thought is stunning, and the formal writing style edging on poetic in places. Oct 15, Sheppard rated it it was amazing Shelves: cosmology-quanta. For mathematicians the introductory concepts are exquisite and appealing: strings, branes and curled dimensions in Lorentz spaces. However, what I glimpsed of the ideas was cool. Illustration Package. Jan 24, Ryan Young rated it really liked it Shelves: physics. Let me first make what surely ought to be a general and perhaps obvious point. Also similar to String theory is the fashionable aspect of Inflation, for example Brain Cox in his otherwise wonderful "Wonders of the Universe" TV series stated as irrefutable fact that, post-Big Bang, the universe has been involved in a process of "Eternal Inflation". He speculates that in space-time regions of extremely high curvature, Quantum Theory may no longer be a linear theory. It was a long read, trying to pay attention to everything that was being said. Dec 02, Sherrie rated it liked it Shelves: first-reads-winners. He ventures here some novel ways in which the two theories might be reconciled. Warning: Climbing to the top of the Empire State Building gets you closer to the moon than understanding the Mathematical Appendix gets you to the stuff Roger Penrose discusses here. Fashion, Faith, and Fantasy in the New Physics of the Universe Reviews What can fashionable ideas, blind faith, or pure fantasy possibly have to do with the scientific quest to understand the universe? Then by means of a contraction and a tracereversal we find how to construct the Einstein tensor G. Readers who are allergic to mathematical symbols and equations might need a stiff drink to tackle this, though it is clear that Penrose does not expect us to follow the technical details — it is possible to glide past the hieroglyphics and still learn enough about parts of modern fundamental physics to qualify as one of its better-informed refuseniks.
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