New Thinking Allowed with Jeffrey Mishlove • Jan 1, 2025 Saul-Paul Sirag is author of ADEX Theory: How the ADE Coxeter Graphs Unify Mathematics and Physics. He is also author of an Appendix titled “Consciousness: A Hyperspace View” that was published in the 1993 edition of Jeffrey Mishlove’s book, The Roots of Consciousness. In this interview, rebooted from 2018, he points out that the original founders of quantum theory in physics generally believed that consciousness literally causes the collapse of the wave function. This is the standard, Copenhagen interpretation. He goes on to explore the Einstein Podolsky Rosen paradox, and Einstein’s objection to quantum theory, as well as Bell’s Theorem. Subsequent experiments by John Clauser and others proved Einstein to be wrong. Sirag’s own work relates to hyperspace and the mathematical underpinnings of string theory. New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in “parapsychology” ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). He is also the Grand Prize winner of the 2021 Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding the best evidence for survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death. He is Co-Director of Parapsychology Education at the California Institute for Human Science. (Recorded on September 14, 2018)
How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival
David Kaiser
The surprising story of eccentric young scientists who stood up to convention-and changed the face of modern physics.
Today, quantum information theory is among the most exciting scientific frontiers, attracting billions of dollars in funding and thousands of talented researchers. But as MIT physicist and historian David Kaiser reveals, this cutting-edge field has a surprisingly psychedelic past. How the Hippies Saved Physics introduces us to a band of freewheeling physicists who defied the imperative to “shut up and calculate” and helped to rejuvenate modern physics.
For physicists, the 1970s were a time of stagnation. Jobs became scarce, and conformity was encouraged, sometimes stifling exploration of the mysteries of the physical world. Dissatisfied, underemployed, and eternally curious, an eccentric group of physicists in Berkeley, California, banded together to throw off the constraints of the physics mainstream and explore the wilder side of science. Dubbing themselves the “Fundamental Fysiks Group,” they pursued an audacious, speculative approach to physics. They studied quantum entanglement and Bell’s Theorem through the lens of Eastern mysticism and psychic mind-reading, discussing the latest research while lounging in hot tubs. Some even dabbled with LSD to enhance their creativity. Unlikely as it may seem, these iconoclasts spun modern physics in a new direction, forcing mainstream physicists to pay attention to the strange but exciting underpinnings of quantum theory.
A lively, entertaining story that illuminates the relationship between creativity and scientific progress, How the Hippies Saved Physics takes us to a time when only the unlikeliest heroes could break the science world out of its rut.
About the author
David Kaiser
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
David Kaiser is an associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he teaches in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society and the Department of Physics. He and his family live in Natick, Massachusetts.
(Goodreads.com)