The intersection of history, physics and philosophy...

[brian64]

...for those interested in such topics, I thought I'd share this recent commentary by Dr. Joseph Farrell (Oxford scholar, and one of my favorite authors). Dr. Farrell is commenting on the "Higgs boson" announcement from CERN, and has some very significant things to say, IMO.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=crenZAmjAww
Link to Dr. Farrell's site:
http://gizadeathstar.com/

 

[barkar]

Very interesting. What surprised me most was the very things he is pointing out that cannot be proven through modern physics but do exist are some of the same things C.S.Lewis talks about in his book "Mere Christianity". These things, feelings, knowledge that humans have that is not learned ie: a natural sense of right and wrong.

Sorry for going on, I think about things like this often. Usually while smoking my pipe.

 

[brian64]

Very interesting. What surprised me most was the very things he is pointing out that cannot be proven through modern physics but do exist are some of the same things C.S.Lewis talks about in his book "Mere Christianity". These things, feelings, knowledge that humans have that is not learned ie: a natural sense of right and wrong.

Sorry for going on, I think about things like this often. Usually while smoking my pipe.

Great comments barkar...perhaps the connection with Lewis has something to do with Oxford...Tolkien comes to mind as well.

 

[ohin3]

Excellent point of view. Lots of points that I have pondered myself about consciousness. Thanks for the link. An interesting guy that I will pay a bit more attention to.

 

[brian64]

Excellent point of view. Lots of points that I have pondered myself about consciousness. Thanks for the link. An interesting guy that I will pay a bit more attention to.

Glad you enjoyed it ohin3. He is a very prolific author...and his books definitely challenge the prevailing paradigm...in many different areas.

 

[tjameson]

I have "Mere Christianity" on my shelf right now. Think I'll pick it up tonight...it's my wife's book and I haven't read it yet.

 

[topd]

Dr. Farrell is an interesting character, but speaks as if his ideas are facts. Physicists have their hands full as it is without trying to figure in consciousness, religion and philosophy to eventually find a unified theory. I wish I understood the math, but I don't. But I do have a layman's understanding of whats involved here. His reference to what the ancients knew seems out of place when considering relativity and particle physics. The ancients (the writers of the Bible) had no conception of these sciences.

 

[pipeinhand]

It is interesting but, as he is a Theologian and Apologetics expert, I find views on pure science dubious. I, do not think the Higgs boson is the end all of creation and that there is more in the consciousness of the universe that made the universe but, stating fact, as he does (the clocks analogy) is hard to justify when you are not accredited in the field in which you are speaking on. IMHO

 

[bentmike]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqdGRFkHgaI
Sorry brian, I couldn't resist. :D

 

[mluyckx]

I have "Mere Christianity" on my shelf right now. Think I'll pick it up tonight

It's a good read.

 

[puffy]

It's interesting to me that a great many folks who are doing this reserch are finding things far more complicated than they expected.Yet they propose that all of this just happened by it's self rather than being created.

 

[cortezattic]

Popular physics is one of my pastimes, and "Dr." Farrell sounds more like a New Age mystic than a scientist. ...Just my 2ȼ ::

 

[pipeinhand]

@cortezattic, let me mail you this piece of string. I couldn't resist.

 

[dburrows]

...but, stating fact, as he does (the clocks analogy) is hard to justify when you are not accredited in the field in which you are speaking on.

That doesn't follow. Just because someone may not be an expert in a particular field doesn't mean they can't comment on it. Of course, you said it's hard to justify, which may be correct but it's the arguments that matter in the end, not the persons accreditation.
Thought I'd post some more discussion of the topic, this one from Dr. Bill Craig: The God Particle
Also, Mere Christianity is indeed a great read but even more a great introduction to philosophy. Some think it's daunting but don't let that stop you.

 

[dburrows]

Physicists have their hands full as it is without trying to figure in consciousness, religion and philosophy to eventually find a unified theory.

I see this type of thinking all the time but find it misses the point. To state that physicists are too busy to worry about philosophy is as good as saying we shouldn't worry about whether our findings are logically valid. If that's the case then how could we know anything at all?
Stephen Hawking recently wrote that philosophy was dead but that's self-defeating since the statement, in and of itself, is philosophical.

His reference to what the ancients knew seems out of place when considering relativity and particle physics. The ancients (the writers of the Bible) had no conception of these sciences.

While it is true in the sense that the ancients didn't have a concept of particle physics in the way we do today, I don't think that's what Dr. Farrell has in mind. When he states they explained the beginning with a sound (word/grammar) he's referring to an external mind (logic) that holds it all together and is the only reason we can even make sense of anything. There's lots of overlap in these ideas but he mentioned the Bible so I gather he has Genesis 1:1-2 and John 1:1-3 in mind.

 

[brian64]

Thanks everyone for the interesting comments. Just thought I should clarify something: Dr. Farrell's research is very much outside of the scientific mainstream, so most people are not going to put much stock in it. I believe, as does Dr. Farrell and many others, that the Great Pyramid at Giza is far older than mainstream science suggests, and that it was not a tomb, but a machine of some type, built by a highly advanced culture that inhabited the planet at the time. The physics involved was very close to what scientists such as Tesla were developing. This physics, based on the idea that "space" is not a vacuum, but is filled with a subatomic substrate (used to be called the "ether") degenerated into myth...and is encoded in various ancient myths of subsequent legacy cultures.
One of the things Farrell and others point out is that Maxwell's original equations were altered, which led modern physics down a very different path (at least the public version of modern physics). Another PhD who has deeply researched along similar lines is Paul La Violette:
http://www.etheric.com/
Again, for anyone who adheres completely to the mainstream scientific paradigm, Farrell and others like him will just seem nuts...but if you're open to questioning the prevailing dogmas of science and history, you may find his research compelling.