I don’t have much to say about this book. Deutsch writes of the Copenhagen Interpretation that “It’s disparagement of plain criticism and reason as being ‘classical’ and therefore illegitimate, has given endless comfort to those who want to defy reason and embrace any number of rational modes of thought. Thus quantum theory – the deepest discovery of the physical sciences – has acquired a reputation for endorsing every mystical and occult doctrine ever proposed.”
You’ll find many of those mystical and occult doctrines championed by the heroes of How the Hippies Saved Physics. Sure, quantum encryption is pretty cool, and it was because the “hippies” of the title got it so wrong that others got it right. In my mind, that’s not a ringing endorsement of their methods. I would have liked the author to point out that things like ESP, clairvoyance, and telekinesis actually don’t work. One would think, given null result after null result, that the physicists profiled in this book would have eventually gotten the idea. But many of them are still championing the same flapdoodle even today.
Quantum mechanics is amazing enough without having to add mysticism and nonexistent forces to it. Don’t waste your time with this book.
3 comments
Comments feed for this article
February 5, 2012 at 1:33 pm
Beto Pimentel
It is curious how I almost bought this book after attending to the author’s presentation in a session at the meeting of the History of Science Society in Nov. 2010 in Montreal. The author was a very cool (and persuasive) presenter. His focus, though, wasn’t at all in any sort of mystic approach, but on the sociology of science and specifically of science teaching in the 60s and 70s, which was actually quite interesting. I wonder how come this does not spring out of the book as clearly.
February 6, 2012 at 1:37 am
stephenwhitt
Hi Beto,
Sorry if my review sounded harsh. Looking back, I think I’m oversensitive to the linking of quantum physics to pseudoscience. The What the Bleep movie was pretty popular around here a few years ago, and I had to work hard to dispel the silliness. I would have liked the author to be a little more forceful in saying that parapsychology is fraught with null results and even fraud.
Certainly the physicists profiled in the Hippy book did some good work, but there are a lot of silly ideas out there and a lot of inexperienced people who’ve been taken in by them. I think people like Fred Alan Wolf are at the forefront of spreading the silliness.
February 7, 2012 at 1:39 am
Beto Pimentel
Hi Stephen,
Your review may have sounded harsh, but I did not really mean to criticize it at all (after all, I have never read the book itself). I was only mentioning my half-surprise by the contrast between your impression of the book and my impression of the author’s presentation about the book in a congress.
As any other physicist or physics teacher, I too have to live in a world where people make the most bizarre associations between Quantum Mechanics and any sort of stuff – and it is always us who they come to and ask us to “explain” Quantum Mechanics so they can try and make some sense out of the senseless stuff they came up with in the first place. It is some sort of “mal du siècle”, I guess.
I tend to find it more boring than actually annoying or revolting, but I see your point.
Cheers,
Beto