12 Issues for the Future
261
In this book, we have adopted a scientific approach, since it is the only
one which seems to us to have the potential of being truly universal, in
contrast with the multiplicity of faiths and metaphysics, despite the continual
disputes amongst scientists themselves. Actually, this bickering among peers
can be regarded as beneficial, or even vital, to the progress of knowledge.
However, we must acknowledge that we are still very far from any meaningful
conclusions, and the plethora of Chekhov guns spread around our stage is
confronting.
A subsidiary but still extremely important goal remains the quest for a
Theory of Everything (TOE), capable of including all physical laws without
any inconsistencies. Two opposite outcomes are possible:
1. No such theory will ever be found. As we have seen in this book, at
least three times in the history of science, following Aristotle, Maxwell and
Gellman (with the Standard Model of Fundamental Particles) it was thought
the goal had been reached, or at least that we were close to it, and each time a
multiplicity of exciting new physics was discovered. Perhaps we should learn
from history, rather than being led astray by delusional hopes, and reconcile ourselves that a world, whose secrets we have been able to completely
decipher, might seem "smaller" to many of us, and far less interesting.
2. With all the work going on in so many excellent research centres around
the globe, perhaps we shall one day finally discover a deus ex machina to cast
all of Chekhov’s guns into oblivion, and reveal the answers to our questions
with a compelling clarity. With Quantum Computing, and its incredible
power, already coming into being, maybe we are nearer to this goal than we
think.
Unfortunately, at the present time, observation and experiment are impractical in Fundamental Particle Physics at the energies necessary to test many
theories, and in Cosmology for the earliest moments of the universe. This
leaves us to rely on more tenuous and subjective qualities, such as beauty,
to decide between competing ideas. This subjectivity leads to disagreement.
We appear to be close, if not at, the limits of physics. To go further we risk
passing into metaphysics, or religion.
With these words it is time to end our discussion. We began this book
with the story of a robot, RT118/17, searching for an answer to the ultimate
question of life, the universe and everything. It is therefore appropriate to
conclude our book with the results of his journey, and the realisation that
our own quest for knowledge will continue as long as curiosity remains a
fundamental characteristic of the human condition.
261
In this book, we have adopted a scientific approach, since it is the only
one which seems to us to have the potential of being truly universal, in
contrast with the multiplicity of faiths and metaphysics, despite the continual
disputes amongst scientists themselves. Actually, this bickering among peers
can be regarded as beneficial, or even vital, to the progress of knowledge.
However, we must acknowledge that we are still very far from any meaningful
conclusions, and the plethora of Chekhov guns spread around our stage is
confronting.
A subsidiary but still extremely important goal remains the quest for a
Theory of Everything (TOE), capable of including all physical laws without
any inconsistencies. Two opposite outcomes are possible:
1. No such theory will ever be found. As we have seen in this book, at
least three times in the history of science, following Aristotle, Maxwell and
Gellman (with the Standard Model of Fundamental Particles) it was thought
the goal had been reached, or at least that we were close to it, and each time a
multiplicity of exciting new physics was discovered. Perhaps we should learn
from history, rather than being led astray by delusional hopes, and reconcile ourselves that a world, whose secrets we have been able to completely
decipher, might seem "smaller" to many of us, and far less interesting.
2. With all the work going on in so many excellent research centres around
the globe, perhaps we shall one day finally discover a deus ex machina to cast
all of Chekhov’s guns into oblivion, and reveal the answers to our questions
with a compelling clarity. With Quantum Computing, and its incredible
power, already coming into being, maybe we are nearer to this goal than we
think.
Unfortunately, at the present time, observation and experiment are impractical in Fundamental Particle Physics at the energies necessary to test many
theories, and in Cosmology for the earliest moments of the universe. This
leaves us to rely on more tenuous and subjective qualities, such as beauty,
to decide between competing ideas. This subjectivity leads to disagreement.
We appear to be close, if not at, the limits of physics. To go further we risk
passing into metaphysics, or religion.
With these words it is time to end our discussion. We began this book
with the story of a robot, RT118/17, searching for an answer to the ultimate
question of life, the universe and everything. It is therefore appropriate to
conclude our book with the results of his journey, and the realisation that
our own quest for knowledge will continue as long as curiosity remains a
fundamental characteristic of the human condition.