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= Quantum mysticism = From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigationJump to search Quantum mysticism is a set of metaphysical beliefs and associated practices that seek to relate consciousness, intelligence, spirituality, or mystical worldviews to the ideas of quantum mechanics and its interpretations. Quantum mysticism is considered by most scientists and philosophers to be pseudoscience or quackery.

Contents

 * 1Early controversy and resolution
 * 2Wigner
 * 3Appropriation by New Age thought
 * 4Modern usage and examples
 * 5See also
 * 6Notes
 * 7Further reading
 * 8External links

Early controversy and resolution[edit]
Olav Hammer stated that Werner Heisenberg was so interested in India that he got the nickname "The Buddha". "However," states Hammer, "in Heisenberg's Physics and Philosophy (1959) there is no substantial trace of quantum mysticism;" and adds "In fact, Heisenberg discusses at length and endorses the decidedly non-mystical Copenhagen interpretation." Hammer also states "Schrödinger’s studies of Hindu mysticism never compelled him to pursue the same course as quantum metaphysicists such as David Bohm or Fritjof Capra." Hammer quotes Schrödinger's biographer, Walter J. Moore, according to whom these two interests (quantum physics and Hindu mysticism) were "strangely dissociated".

Wigner[edit]
In 1961 Eugene Wigner wrote a paper, titled "Remarks on the mind–body question", suggesting that a conscious observer played a fundamental role in quantum mechanics, a part of the von Neumann–Wigner interpretation. While his paper would serve as inspiration for later mystical works by others, Wigner's ideas were primarily philosophical and are not considered "in the same ballpark" as the mysticism that would follow.

Appropriation by New Age thought[edit]
In the early 1970s New Age culture began to incorporate ideas from quantum physics, beginning with books by Arthur Koestler, Lawrence LeShan, and others which suggested purported parapsychological phenomena could be explained by quantum mechanics. In this decade the Fundamental Fysiks Group emerged, a group of physicists who embraced quantum mysticism while engaging in parapsychology, Transcendental Meditation, and various New Age and Eastern mystical practices. Inspired in part by Wigner, Fritjof Capra, a member of the Fundamental Fysiks Group, wrote The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism (1975), a book espousing New Age quantum physics that gained popularity among the non-scientific public. In 1979 came the publication of The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav, a non-scientist and "the most successful of Capra's followers". The Fundamental Fysiks Group is said to be one of the agents responsible for the "huge amount of pseudoscientific nonsense" surrounding interpretations of quantum mechanics.

Modern usage and examples[edit]
In contrast to the mysticism of the early twentieth century, today quantum mysticism typically refers to its New Age incarnation that claims to combine ancient mysticism with quantum mechanics. Called a pseudoscience and a "hijacking" of quantum physics, it draws upon "coincidental similarities of language rather than genuine connections" to quantum mechanics. Physicist Murray Gell-Mann coined the phrase "quantum flapdoodle" to refer to the misuse and misapplication of quantum physics to other topics.

An example of such misuse is New Age guru Deepak Chopra's "quantum theory" that aging is caused by the mind, expounded in his books Quantum Healing (1989) and Ageless Body, Timeless Mind (1993). In 1998, Chopra was awarded the parody Ig Nobel Prize in the physics category for "his unique interpretation of quantum physics as it applies to life, liberty, and the pursuit of economic happiness".

The 2004 film What the Bleep Do We Know!? dealt with a range of New Age ideas in relation to physics. It was produced by the Ramtha School of Enlightenment which was founded by J.Z. Knight, a channeler who said that her teachings were based on a discourse with a 35,000-year-old disembodied entity named Ramtha. Featuring Fundamental Fysiks Group member Fred Alan Wolf, the film misused some aspects of quantum mechanics—including the Heisenberg uncertainty principle and the observer effect—as well as biology and medicine. Numerous critics dismissed the film for its use of pseudoscience. I love that in quantum physics for some reason it's become an excuse to mock all of science. See it's nothing real, nothing true and whatever you think, that's how the world is. So if you think positively you remake the world positively according to this pseudo scientist explanation.

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See also[edit]

 * Arthur Zajonc
 * Buddhism and science
 * Fundamental Fysiks Group
 * Interpretations of quantum mechanics
 * Metaphysics
 * Quantum evolution (alternative)
 * Quantum immortality
 * Quantum pseudo-telepathy
 * Parapsychology
 * Psi (parapsychology)
 * Schrödinger's cat in popular culture
 * Stuart Wilde
 * Subhash Kak

Notes[edit]

 * 1) ^ Athearn, D. (1994). Scientific Nihilism: On the Loss and Recovery of Physical Explanation(S U N Y Series in Philosophy). Albany, New York: State University Of New York Press.
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 * 4) ^ Edis, T. (2002). The Ghost in the Universe: God in Light of Modern Science. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books.
 * 5) ^ Crease, R. P. (1993). The Play of Nature (Indiana Series in the Philosophy of Technology). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
 * 6) ^ Seager, W. (1999). Theories of Consciousness: An Introduction (Philosophical Issues in Science). New York: Routledge.
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 * 8) ^ Jump up to:a b
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 * 14) ^ Jump up to:a b c d
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 * 19) ^ Jump up to:a b
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 * 21) ^ The 1998 Ig Nobel Prize Winners
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 * 26) ^ Ehrenreich, Barbara (2010). "Smile or Die". Royal Society of Arts. Retrieved April 20, 2018.

Further reading[edit]

 * Publications relating to quantum mysticism


 * Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism, Shambhala Publications, 1975
 * Deepak Chopra, Quantum Healing: Exploring the Frontiers of Mind/Body Medicine, ISBN 0-553-34869-8
 * Rolf Froboese [de], The Secret Physics of Coincidence: Quantum phenomena and fate – Can quantum physics explain paranormal phenomena?, ISBN 978-3-84823-445-5
 * Patrick Grim, Philosophy of science and the occult, ISBN 978-0-7914-0204-7
 * Lawrence LeShan, The Medium, the Mystic, and the Physicist: Toward a General Theory of the Paranormal, 2003, Helios Press, ISBN 978-1-58115-273-9
 * Jack Sarfatti, 1975, Space-Time and Beyond, with Fred Alan Wolf and Bob Toben, E. P. Dutton. ISBN 0-525-47399-8
 * Michael Talbot, The Holographic Universe, ISBN 0-06-092258-3
 * Michael Talbot, Mysticism And The New Physics, ISBN 0-14-019328-6
 * Michael Talbot, Beyond The Quantum, ISBN 0-553-34480-3
 * Evan Harris Walker, The Physics of Consciousness: The Quantum Mind and the Meaning of Life, ISBN 0-7382-0436-6
 * Ken Wilber, Quantum Questions: Mystical Writings of the World's Great Physicists (editor), 1984, rev. ed. 2001: ISBN 1-57062-768-1
 * Gary Zukav, The Dancing Wu Li Masters, 1980, ISBN 0-553-26382-X-
 * Alexander Zelitchenko,The scientist's Conversations with the Teacher. Science and Esoterics. "Conversation No.9. Resolving the scientist's Doubts, Which Resulted in a Sketch of The Physics of Subtle Matter", pp. 47ff, 2001, ISBN 0-595-19412-5


 * Criticism of quantum mysticism


 * Richard H. Jones, Piercing the Veil: Comparing Science and Mysticism as Ways of Knowing Reality. Jackson Square Books, 2014. ISBN 9781439266823 -- criticism from both scientific and mystical point of view
 * Eric R. Scerri (1989). "Eastern Mysticism and the Alleged Parallels with Physics". American Journal of Physics. 57 (8): 687–692. Bibcode:1989AmJPh..57..687S. doi:10.1119/1.15921.
 * Michael Shermer, "Quantum Quackery", Scientific American, January 2005 [1]
 * Victor J. Stenger, The Unconscious Quantum: Metaphysics in Modern Physics and Cosmology. Prometheus Books, 1995. ISBN 978-1-57392-022-3 Archived 12 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine -- an anti-mystical point-of-view
 * Victor J. Stenger, "Quantum quackery", Skeptical Inquirer, Vol. 21. No. 1, January/February 1997, pp. 37ff, criticism of the book The Self-Aware Universe by Amit Goswami [pt]