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Helgoland: making sense of the quantum revolution. Carlo Rovelli. Penguin. Pages 175. Rs 759 (Kindle).
The “new physics”, the emergence of which dates back almost a century, is one of the finest achievements of the human mind. It has fundamentally changed the way we see reality. There have been countless books explaining to non-physicists what “new” physics is. From this masterpiece, The Universe and Dr. Einstein by Lincoln Barnett in 1948 to God’s equation by Michio Kaku in 2021, the need to communicate the exotic reality that the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics unveiled, spawned the best in the genre of popular science writing.
Likewise, quantum mechanics (QM) has also sparked intense philosophical debates. From the outset, parallels were drawn between the worldview revealed by QM and that spoken of in Hindu-Buddhist-Taoist mystical traditions. Niels Bohr, Heisenberg, and John Wheeler had spoken openly about their engagement with Eastern mystical philosophies.
Fritjof Capra not only made this connection popular, but also extended the concepts of interconnection and holism, which are favored by QM, to other fields such as biology and ecology. The conversations between physicist David Bohm and J. Krishnamurthi are still seen as an important step in this direction.
However, QM in popular culture has also become a staple of New Age cultists and earthquake gurus. The abuse of the Q word in the new age market and corporate guru has in fact left many researchers silent in exploring and using parallels between Eastern philosophical traditions and the view of reality proposed by QM.
In this context, Helgoland: making sense of the quantum revolution, written by theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli, comes across as a breath of fresh air.
Helgoland is the small island where in 1925, 23-year-old Heisenberg developed what would be one of the foundations of the quantum revolution. From the start, Rovelli impresses the reader:
The author informs that the book is written ‘for those who are not familiar with quantum physics and are interested in trying to figure it out, as far as each of us can, ‘and is also written’thinking of my scientific and philosophical colleagues, who, the more they delve into the theory, the more they are perplexed… ‘. It’s a tough endeavor – but for those reading the book, the flow is so natural and captivating that you forget the difficulty of the feat this book has accomplished.
QM has always excited physicists and philosophers. However, physicists have always hated that philosophers try to come up with a single, complete picture of QM – as in the case of David Bohm’s “hidden variables”.
Just see how clearly Rovelli presents it to readers:
This passage is cited in general to show how Rovelli explains difficult concepts to his readers. It’s done in a way that anyone interested in QM can understand without diluting the topic.
Rovelli’s preferred view of QM is what is called relational interpretation. According to this, the interactions and relationships between matter form what we experience as reality, from quarks to galaxies. It resonates with the legendary Indra’s fillet in a way – popularized in the context of modern science, albeit in a different but related field, by Douglas Hofstadter in his classic Ever Green Godel, Escher, Bach: an eternal golden braid (1979).
Rovelli points out that when he talks about quanta in lectures, people invariably ask him about the 3rd Buddhist philosopher of the century, Nagarjuna. Here’s how Rovelli describes Nagarjuna’s ideas:
After that, the entire chapter becomes a poetic reverie, intertwined with QM’s relational interpretation. Perhaps the UGC should consider including excerpts from this chapter in our students’ curricula, be it science, business, art or humanities.
Rovelli also extends his approach to the subject of consciousness and tries to tackle David Chalmers’ “difficult problem”. Here, Rovelli presents a rather fascinating sight. Is consciousness or the “I” an epiphenomenon of matter? He thinks that “I” and “matter” are “confused and misleading” concepts.
The anatmavada of Buddhism could not have been expressed in more precise terms to the modern mind. But there are problems. Often the Hindu-Buddhist dialogue of Atmavadin-anatmavadin is cropped in the Western mind as corresponding to Cartesian substance. Naturally, in this context, the Western mind turns to the Buddhist position.
That said, the book leaves a deep feeling of having embarked on a pilgrimage.
This is a must-read book for the current generation of college students, regardless of their chosen field of study. It also makes realize a significant gap in popular science writing in India. She is struck either by the glorification of the past or by the condescending cultivation of the “scientific temperament”. Both distance the general population from modern science. This gives way to quackery, pseudo-science and the politicization of science.
Think about it. After Helgoland, there was Santiniketan. Fritjof Capra records:
It is certainly self-congratulation. But we have to go beyond this comfort zone. This culture has fluidity in its outlook on existence. Looking at a Bowl who comes back every morning. What is Bowl but the interconnections between the points? What better tool to communicate the wonder of all this existence resulting from relationships and interconnections than a Bowl? We wonder how much could have been written, bringing the wonders of QM to our society using our own cultural traditions. I’m not saying “we knew everything” but that we can understand it better and internalize it more effectively.
Atmanirbhar Bharat needs his own Rovelli.
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