Chapter Notes
167
argues that objectivity in the sciences consists of a kind of disembodied examination of objects from no particular perspective, or in her words, a “gaze from
nowhere”.
8. You cannot define a straight line to be the “shortest distance between any
two of its points” on pain of circularity: Straight lines are necessary in the
definition of distance, and distance is needed in the definition of straight line.
7. The Universe Observed and Unobserved
1. For a live demonstration, see Wikipedia, “Conway’s Game of Life”.
2. A beautifully clear account of the early universe is to be found in the book
The First Three Minutes by the Nobelist Steven Weinberg.
3. Nobody has ever written more lucidly about the theory of relativity than
Albert Einstein himself. Einstein’s account is available in his book Relativity:
the Special and General Theory, first published in 1920.
4. Even Albert Einstein, throughout his career as the most innovative physicist
of his time, continued to believe that physics must respect our intuitive notions
of causality and determinism. In his work he advocated a position called local
realism, which now appears to be superseded by a new view of time and space.
Local realism has two strands: First, locality, which states that faraway events
can’t influence each other faster than the speed of light. Next, realism, which
asserts that properties of physical entities are the same whether we measure
them or not, that is, whether anybody is aware of them or not.
5. A great deal of research is currently devoted to the theory of predictive
processing in perception. A very clear exposition of the ideas is given in Jakob
Hohwy’s The Predictive Mind. An entertaining in-depth review is given by
Andy Clark in his recent book Surfing Uncertainty.
6. Karl Popper is regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of science of
the present time. His views on the validity of the experimental method are
outlined in two of his books: The Logic of Scientific Discovery and Conjectures
and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge.
7. According to quantum Bayesianism, what traditional physicists got wrong
was the naïve belief that there is a fixed, “true” external reality that we perceive
“correctly”. Quantum Bayesianism claims that instead, the scientific observer
sees the readings on his instrument and understands that they bring him new
information pertaining to his mental model of reality. He has abandoned the
belief that he is seeing the real world “as it truly is”. A new book which explains
the ideas in non-technical terms is QBism: The Future of Quantum Physics by
Hans Christian von Baeyer.
8. Mind, Life and the Universe
1. Maurice Merleau-Ponty was a French philosopher of the second half of
the 20th Century. His most important work is to be found in his book The
167
argues that objectivity in the sciences consists of a kind of disembodied examination of objects from no particular perspective, or in her words, a “gaze from
nowhere”.
8. You cannot define a straight line to be the “shortest distance between any
two of its points” on pain of circularity: Straight lines are necessary in the
definition of distance, and distance is needed in the definition of straight line.
7. The Universe Observed and Unobserved
1. For a live demonstration, see Wikipedia, “Conway’s Game of Life”.
2. A beautifully clear account of the early universe is to be found in the book
The First Three Minutes by the Nobelist Steven Weinberg.
3. Nobody has ever written more lucidly about the theory of relativity than
Albert Einstein himself. Einstein’s account is available in his book Relativity:
the Special and General Theory, first published in 1920.
4. Even Albert Einstein, throughout his career as the most innovative physicist
of his time, continued to believe that physics must respect our intuitive notions
of causality and determinism. In his work he advocated a position called local
realism, which now appears to be superseded by a new view of time and space.
Local realism has two strands: First, locality, which states that faraway events
can’t influence each other faster than the speed of light. Next, realism, which
asserts that properties of physical entities are the same whether we measure
them or not, that is, whether anybody is aware of them or not.
5. A great deal of research is currently devoted to the theory of predictive
processing in perception. A very clear exposition of the ideas is given in Jakob
Hohwy’s The Predictive Mind. An entertaining in-depth review is given by
Andy Clark in his recent book Surfing Uncertainty.
6. Karl Popper is regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of science of
the present time. His views on the validity of the experimental method are
outlined in two of his books: The Logic of Scientific Discovery and Conjectures
and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge.
7. According to quantum Bayesianism, what traditional physicists got wrong
was the naïve belief that there is a fixed, “true” external reality that we perceive
“correctly”. Quantum Bayesianism claims that instead, the scientific observer
sees the readings on his instrument and understands that they bring him new
information pertaining to his mental model of reality. He has abandoned the
belief that he is seeing the real world “as it truly is”. A new book which explains
the ideas in non-technical terms is QBism: The Future of Quantum Physics by
Hans Christian von Baeyer.
8. Mind, Life and the Universe
1. Maurice Merleau-Ponty was a French philosopher of the second half of
the 20th Century. His most important work is to be found in his book The