MARC Record from Library of Congress

LEADER: 02579cam a2200265 a 4500
001 2008054567
003 DLC
005 20100407183848.0
008 081223s2009 nyua b 001 0 eng
010 $a 2008054567
020 $a9781591027133 (cloth : alk. paper)
020 $a1591027136 (cloth : alk. paper)
035 $a(OCoLC)ocn262889496
040 $aDLC$cDLC$dBTCTA$dYDXCP$dC#P$dBWX$dVP@$dGDC$dDLC
050 00 $aBL265.P4$bS74 2009
082 00 $a215$222
100 1 $aStenger, Victor J.,$d1935-
245 10 $aQuantum gods :$bcreation, chaos, and the search for cosmic consciousness /$cVictor J. Stenger.
260 $aAmherst, N.Y. :$bPrometheus Books,$c2009.
300 $a292 p. :$bill. ;$c24 cm.
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. 265-275) and index.
505 0 $aBelief and nonbelief in America -- What the bleep is the secret? -- Pursuing the Tao -- The guru of GUTs -- Space, time, and matter -- The great paradigm shift -- Deism and Darwinism -- The spooky quantum -- The elements of matter -- Chaos, complexity, and emergence -- Return to reduction -- Ghost busting the quantum -- Quantum philosophy -- Where can God act? -- The God who plays dice -- Nothingism.
520 $aDoes quantum mechanics show a connection between the human mind and the cosmos? Are our brains tuned into a "cosmic consciousness" that pervades the universe enabling us to make our own reality? Do quantum mechanics and chaos theory provide a place for God to act in the world without violating natural laws? Many popular books make such claims and argue that key developments in twentieth-century physics, such as the uncertainty principle and the butterfly effect, support the notion that God or a universal mind acts upon material reality. The author here examines these contentions in a carefully reasoned analysis of popular theories that seek to link spirituality to physics. Throughout the book, the author alternates his discussions of popular spirituality with a survey of what the findings of twentieth-century physics actually mean. Thus he offers the reader a useful synopsis of contemporary religious ideas as well as basic but sophisticated physics presented in layperson's terms (without equations). Of particular interest in this book is the author's discussion of a new kind of deism, which proposes a God who creates a universe with many possible pathways determined by chance, but otherwise does not interfere with the physical world or the lives of humans.
650 0 $aQuantum theory$xReligious aspects.
650 0 $aConsciousness$xReligious aspects.