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Paradox is not a Disproof</title><link rel="stylesheet"
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content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body>Aspaqlaria has posted a new
item, '<a href="https://www.aishdas.org/asp/open-q-science-mashal">When a
Paradox is not a Disproof</a>'<br>
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<p>The GPS is an amazing thing.</p>
<p>The chips in it work because of <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiconductor#Energy_bands_and_electrical_conduction"
target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the physics of semiconductors</a>,
and the fact that the energy the electrons can absorb or emit come in fixed
quantities. All of which is literally applied Quantum Mechanics.</p>
<p>The calculations those chips perform involve calculating the distance to
multiple satellites by comparing the timestamp the satellites sent against the
time they arrived. And then <a
href="http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast162/Unit5/gps.html"
target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">adjusting for General Relativistic
effects</a> caused by the satellite being in motion relative to the earth and
the effects of the satellite being further from the earth’s gravity
well. Then use the speed of light to convert travel time to a distance.</p>
<p>Using Quantum Mechanics to solve a General Relativity problem. </p>
<p>Here is why that is strange:</p>
<p>Quantum Mechanics (QM) which was born in the head of Max Planck and
developed by numerous other people. Including Albert Einstein. It works well
for the very small, atoms, molecules, subatomic particles, and the like.
Relativity (which has two parts: Special and General Relativity) was pretty
much entirely Einstein’s. It deals with the very large — planets,
stars, black holes, where gravity dominates. (In between, Newton’s old
system is a good enough approximation and people don’t bother with such
things.)</p>
<p>But these theories are based on contradictory assumptions. For example,
Relativity is “Background Independent.” This means it
isn’t about things that happen within space and time, but the nature of
space and time is itself part of the theory. This is not true of Quantum
Mechanics, which is about how particles and waves (more accurately: particles
which are waves) move about and evolve in a background of space and time.
Figuring out Quantum Gravity — a theory of gravity that fits both QM and
Relativity, is a challenge. Filling this challenge are things like the various
attempts to find String and Membrane Theories, Loop Quantum Gravity, and other
proposals.</p>
<p>Because Quantum Mechanics and Relativity each work <strong>so</strong> well
<strong>so</strong> often in ways they was not originally designed for, that
the typical physicist is sure some resolution of the two that will preserve
nearly all of both theories is out there, waiting discovery. After all, our
GPS devices do work. So, even though the two theories are built on
contradictory assumptions, scientists place trust (<em>bitachon</em>) in them.
They have faith (<em>emunah</em>) that each will have to be tweaked only
minorly to get them to fit, not a major overhaul.</p>
<p>For similar reasons, science vs <em>Bereishis</em> questions don’t
really bother me. Neither is really <strong>about</strong> what happened in
the past. The central theme of religion is whether the values, ritual, and
system of thought work. The issues of genesis, the flood, or the tower of
Babel are tangential, and out the outskirts of the Torah as a “theory” of
meaning and purpose in life.</p>
<p>Scientific theories make claims about the past to explain what we observe
astronomically and archeologically. The Torah tells us about our past to help
us work toward our future. These areas of conflict really are side-topics in
each discipline. Like bringing in Quantum Machanics to explain the
Relativistic effects of Black Holes.</p>
<p>It might even be that the reason our generation finds these topics so
pressing is a flaw in today’s <em>zeitgeist</em>. Science and technology
have brought us so much since the Industrial Revolution that we perhaps forget
that it’s not the only venue. As Rabbi Soloveitchik would put it,
Cognitive Man is so successful “fill[ing] the earth and subdu[ing]
it”, as per Hashem’s blessing of Adam in Bereishis 1, that we
forget the Lonely Man of Faith. We feel a pressure to get our religion to play
ball on science’s court, when in reality we are looking at the fringes
of what religion is for.</p>
<p>Truth must be consistent, but these problems of origins are not pressing
ones.</p>
<p>Each “theory” works so well so consistently in their own
domains, I presume that some resolution will someday be found — much
like a quantum mechanical understanding of gravity, an understanding of the
small-scale workings of a phenomenon only significant in the large scale. One
cannot ignore science in the pursuit of the Divine, but neither can one ignore
the Torah; nothing is gained by wallpapering over one source of truth in favor
of the other.</p>
<p>And in the meantime, I can use Torah and science simultaneously to find my
way in the world. No less so than my GPS.</p>
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You may view the latest post at<br>
<a
href="https://www.aishdas.org/asp/open-q-science-mashal">https://www.aishdas.org/asp/open-q-science-mashal</a><br>
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micha<br>
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