I forgot this! The key notion that allowed these complexity theory ideas to generate correlates to Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu (and, i suspect, other) metaphysics is the idea of the Quantum Foam, that at the very smallest scales of existence, the smallest elements of the universe - much, much, much, MUCH smaller than atoms - come and go out of existence. Brian Greene's book, The Elegant Universe, describes this really beautifully. The TV version of the book doesn't use the phrase, but speaks of the violent "quantum jitters" as these smallest particles (or strings, according to String Theory) come and go.
This 3 hour miniseries can be watched here. The jitters of space-time are described in the second episode, though if you've no background in physics I would suggest watching the show from the beginning.
The book is wonderful, but not for the science averse. The TV show should have been that wonderful, if not more so! But I'm afraid Greene is just a bit too much like an overly enthusiastic puppy and it sort of grates a bit... The show, however, is on the short side... ;-)
I was just talking to Roshi about "The Teaching Company's" "Einstein's Relativity and the Quantum Revolution. It's a 4 DVD set that walks 'us pedestrians' through macro(relativity)/micro(quantum) physics, making it very comprehensible.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to your presentation!