Particles, perceptions, passions, perspectives (A mad world)

by dhw, Tuesday, August 23, 2016, 15:38 (3013 days ago)

QUOTE (under “Lights Frozen”: “There may be no objective reality at all.” (Researchers at Princeton University)-DAVID: (under “Lights Frozen”): Reality is behind the quantum wall of probability.-Comment 11 from a website: (under “Before the Big Bang? Addendum”): “'What these null results — these non-discoveries — are telling us is something phenomenal and profound: that physics isn't over and done, but rather that the hints of what comes next REQUIRES LOOKING FAR, FAR DEEPER than we're presently looking. That means higher energies, LARGER TELESCOPES, MORE PARTICLE COLLISIONS, MORE SENSITIVE DETECTORS… and quite likely better, newer ideas than the ones we've been pursuing fruitlessly for so long.”
"In other words, when you spend a lot of time and money finding nothing, you have the perfect justification for asking for MORE TIME and MONEY to (maybe) find something.-My conscience is troubling me. As I have made clear elsewhere, while I accept that our perception of reality is subjective, I vehemently disagree that there may be no objective reality at all, and that our reality may be less real than quantum reality. I remain full of admiration for that aspect of the human spirit which makes us constantly seek the “truth”, whatever it may be, and so in principle I am in favour of spending billions of dollars hunting for particles that may not exist, and testing theories that may not be true. But I am full of shame when I (subjectively) observe the callousness of the human spirit that ignores and all too frequently causes the sufferings not only of our fellow creatures but also of our fellow humans. If we are discussing “reality”, I feel obliged to point out that the subjectivity of perception, which is also an act of selection, is a major factor in the human ability to destroy everything we ought (in my subjective opinion) to hold most precious. And if humans can get passionate about particles and the quantum wall of probability, why are they not a thousand times more passionate for instance about the people suffering, starving and dying in refugee camps all over the world? You may notice that I am putting this post under the section called “A Mad World”.