The Great Divide or The Great Confluence?. Review on Shortcut Through Time, A - George Johnson

Let us talk about something totally different today. Mother Earth has done many a revolution around the sun from the time Bhagawad Gita was recited to Arjuna, the warrior. From the times when spirituality was seen as means to reach the truth, we have come to the days of  LASERS and computers and stem cell breakthroughs. We have come to times when Science is looked up to, for getting us all the answers.

The two protagonists - Science and Spirituality have always been in conflict. Rather let us put it this way that both have had their means to seek the truth. My search for truth has still been incomplete. So today let us talk about this incompleteness.

Please be a little prepared for a dose of science first and then for a dose on spirituality. But do believe me, in the end you will not be disappointed(or so I hope).

Quantum Physics is one phenomenal step in getting to know the truth behind subatomic world. Neils Bohr(who laid the founding stone for Quantum Physics) once said "Those who are not shocked by Quantum Physics have not understood it". True indeed given that a lot of theories of this subject defy plain logic blatantly. Strange that many a time, we also do not want to read stuff on spirituality because of the same reasons. Doesn't this strike as the first step towards establishing commonality between the two?

And yes it was Einstein who went - "God does not play dice" when he failed in theorizing the logic behind evolution of human mind in terms of quantum theory.

I guess by now you are beginning to get a picture of where I am taking this review. Yes, I am trying to give my 2 cents worth on the connection between Science and Spirituality!

George Johnson's book attempts to simplify a lot many lesser understood phenomena of Quantum Physics. For once I got hold of a book on this subject which does not burden your brains with equations. It has a simple language and provides explanations in terms of real world examples.

The book takes an interesting turn towards an area still in its infancy - Quantum Computing. Digital computer that we know of and work on today are fast hitting their limits. At their base(in simple layman terms) are lots and lots of basic electronic transistors doing all the number crunching for us to give us data/ information. This book simplifies a lot of lesser understood concepts of quantum realm.

It explains beautifully the concepts behind cryptography(the art of encoding and decoding some secret message) over a computer. It is this cryptographic principle which gets applied whenever we log on into any online banking website. Today's cryptographic algorithms are supposedly extremely safe and cannot easily be cracked on the fastest of super computers. With quantum computing, the speed of computers will become a non-issue. And hence the biggest vulnerability will be felt by all these so called secure applications.

The book also talks about quantum teleportation based on implementations of EPR effect. Yes the same thing that they showed in TV Serial - Star Trek, wherein people could just get'transmitted' to other place at the click of a button.

There are other brilliant ideas presented in the book such as time travel and how it would be possible with quantum theory. This is not just an excellent book for any person with a scientific bent of mind, but also for someone who wishes to move from darkness to light!

So, we began by saying that this word incompleteness has a lot more to say. Can we ever know enough? And what is it that we ordinary people ever need answers for anyway?

We do keep hearing about great breakthroughs and ignore it until we ourselves are touched by that discovery or invention in our personal lives as well. It is then that we marvel at the possibilities that we are offered with. I'd say there are 2 ways to look at things. One is to wait for things to happen, wait for someone or something to show you the way. Second is to seek answers, seek explanations and seek the light!

So if you are the seeker kinds, then this book is for you.

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EPILOGUE*

Quantum Physics hypothecates that there are 12 particles of matter. You may want to remember that this entire Universe is composed of only 2 things - matter and radiation(pure energy). For these 12 particles we have 12 anti-particles. So all in all we have 24(12+ 12) elementary particles of matter. When a particle encounters its anti-particle, both annihilate to release pure energy(radiation) as per famous Einstein equation E= mc^2

Here goes a classic message from one of the translations of Bhagwad Gita(no not from the book on Gita that I reviewed) -

"The phenomenal world or material world is also complete in itself because the 24 elements of which this material universe is a temporary manifestation are completely adjusted to produce complete resources which are necessary for the maintenance and subsistence of this universe. There is nothing extraneous, nor is there anything needed. This manifestation has its own time fixed by the energy of the supreme whole, and when its time is complete, these temporary manifestations will beannihilated by the complete arrangement of the complete. There is complete facility for the small complete units, namely the living entities, to realize the complete, and all sorts of incompleteness are experienced due to incomplete knowledge of the complete."

But why should both Gita and Quantum Physics both point to 24(and no more or less) elementary particles of matter is something I do not know. As I said earlier, my search for truth has been incomplete.

If I were to give 2 more cents of worth in drawing my conclusion, then I would say that all this is not pointing to a great divide. These are the signs of great confluence of spirituality and science.

One alone may not answer all questions, but the confluence of these 2 great streams will.