and time reversal, 189
unified field theory, 122–24, 166
See also dark energy; dark matter; general relativity; gravitons
Gross, David, 112–13
Gulliver’s Travels (Swift), 60
Guth, Alan, 156
gyros, 74–75
hadrons, 112, 118, 190
heat death (of the universe), 165
Heisenberg, Werner, 100, 210, 211
helium, 135, 155
Hertz, Heinrich, 98–99
Higgs, Peter, 173–74
Higgs condensate, 123, 173–75
Higgs particle (Higgs boson), 57, 175–78, 234–35, 236
Hipparcos space mission, 24, 26
Hodgkin, Dorothy Crowfoot, 34
holes, 87–88
hot-air balloons, 213–14
Hubble, Edwin, 28–29, 145–46, 148, 153
human activities and purposes
energy needs and supplies for, 126–30, 140–41, 165–66
future of, 137–41
historical productivity growth, 3
human behavior, predicting, 215, 217–18
human biology
atoms in the human body, 14–15, 131
complexity of brain processes, 129, 134–35, 138
DNA sequences, 131–32
energy consumption, 126–27
environmental conditions required for life, 137
and human knowledge, 205
lifespan, 60
sensory perception, 129, 169, 170–71, 205
vision, xiv–xv, xvii, 24, 34–35, 53, 170–71, 205
See also human cognition
human cognition
vs. artificial intelligence, 54, 204, 220–22
biology of, 53, 58, 129, 134–35, 225–26
complexity of, 134–35, 138
infants’ cognitive development, xv–xvi, 1–2, 226
potential of, 205, 225–26
self-perception, xvii–xviii, 185–86, 225–27
and time, 52–54, 58–60
human development, xv–xvi, 1–2, 34–35, 46, 66, 226
human mind
complementarity as mind expanding, 206–7, 218–19
mind/matter relationship, 64, 69, 187, 225–27
See also human cognition
human origins and history, 3, 50, 52
Hume, David, 219
humility/self-respect complementarity, 221–22
Huygens, Christian, 55
Hyades star cluster, 26
hydrogen, 135, 136, 155
imagination, 58, 207, 218–19, 224
imaging techniques, 31–37, 56
induction, law of, 95–96, 97
inertia and inertial mass, 35, 74, 115, 198, 231, 232
infant development, xv–xvi, 1–2, 34–35, 46, 66, 226
inflation concept, 156–57, 162, 189
information flows and processing, 52–54, 137
digital information processing, 54, 58, 138–39
for Higgs particle detection, 176–77
human cognition, 52–54, 58–60, 129, 134–35, 138, 185–86
quantum computing, 89–90, 139, 165–66, 185
supercomputers, 120, 176, 204, 220, 221
See also dynamic complexity
infrared radiation, 98, 171
instability/disequilibrium
gravitational instability, 149–51, 156, 161–62, 164, 189
See also provisional stability
intelligence, 206
See also artificial intelligence; human cognition; knowledge
interaction, observation or measurement as, 210–11
interactions, vs. forces, 104
See also fundamental forces; specific forces
interpretive ladders, 33, 34, 37
jets, 238–40
Kepler, Johannes, xiii, 7, 8, 146–47, 196
Keynes, John Maynard, 41
Kierkegaard, Søren, 207
K mesons, 190
knowledge, xiii, 204–5
See also artificial intelligence; human cognition; scientific knowledge and understanding
Kobayashi, Makoto, 191
Large Hadron Collider (LHC), 176
Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) observations, 58–59, 179–82
Lasker, Emanuel, 204
Laughlin, Robert, 89
laws. See fundamental laws; specific laws
learning. See human cognition; knowledge; perception
Leavitt, Henrietta, 27
Leinaas, Jon Magne, 89
Lemaître, Georges, 29
Le Verrier, Urbain, 194–95
Lewis, Gilbert, 82
LHC (Large Hadron Collider), 176
light, 82
bending of (gravitational lensing), 196–97
as electromagnetic disturbance, 98, 100
light-quanta hypothesis, 82–83, 99, 100–101, 107
light speed, 23, 30–31, 179, 182, 200
and microscopy, 31, 32
star brightness and cosmic distance measurements, 25–27
visible to humans, 170–71
See also photons
light-years, 23–24, 25, 27, 30–31
LIGO observations, 58–59, 179–82
Linde, Andrei, 157
locality, 63–64, 65, 66–67, 68–69, 96, 102, 191
“Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The” (Eliot), 53–54
lunar cycles, 44, 45
Magellanic Clouds, 27
magnetic force and field, 80, 81, 95–98, 99–100
See also electromagnetic force and field
magnetic monopoles, 166
Making of the Atomic Bomb, The (Rhodes), 110
mantis shrimps, 171
Marsden, Ernest, 35–37, 56
Maskawa, Toshihide, 191
mass
of atomic nuclei, 36, 78–79
and energy, 85, 113–14, 232
as fundamental property, 73, 74, 77, 231–32
and gravity, 115, 117, 231
and inertia, 231
origins of, 113–14
provided by dark matter and dark energy, 197, 199
of specific particle types, 78, 79, 84–85, 86, 231–32, 235, 236–37
and superconductivity, 88
See also dark energy; dark matter; matter
material abundance, xiv, 21–22, 38, 149–51, 156, 161–62
future of, 137–41
material complexity. See complexity
material science, future of, 90–92, 120–21
mathematics
combinatorial explosion, 131–32
and complementarity, 209
for expression of basic laws and forces, 64, 93–94, 104–5, 120
Maxwell’s equations, 97–98, 99–100, 178, 189, 234
of quantum theory, 100, 108, 121, 209, 211
Ramsey theory, 41
See also Euclidean geometry
Mather, John, 162
matter
general principles governing behavior of, 63–72
humans as, 226–27
identifying the building blocks of, 62–63
microscopy techniques for investigating, 31–37
mind/matter relationship, 64, 69, 187, 225–27
ordinary matter defined, 78
origins of, 152
primary properties of, 72–77, 86, 231–34
space as, 39, 40, 90
space-time as, 40, 57, 178
See also atoms; dark energy; dark matter; elementary particles; fields; mass; mate
rial abundance
Matthew effect, 161
Maxwell, James Clerk, xiii, 52, 95, 96–99, 105, 178, 189, 234
measurements
of cosmic distances, 23–28, 30–31, 198–99
physical influence of measurement/observation, 210–11
position/velocity measurement complementarity, 208–13, 214
and time, 20
of time, 45, 47–52, 55–57
See also distances and distance measurement
memory, 58, 60, 89–90
Mercury, 194–95, 196
metamaterials, 90
microscopy, 31–37, 56
microwaves/microwave radiation, 98, 154
cosmic microwave background, 154–55, 157, 162, 163, 200–201
Milky Way, size of, 27
Millikan, Robert, 83
mind, human. See human cognition; human mind
molecules and molecular processes, 131–34
momentum, 212, 238–39
angular momenta, 74–76
See also position/velocity measurement complementarity
moons, 22
morality, and scientific understanding, 227–28
motion, 66–67, 115–16
galactic motion and the universe’s expansion, 28–31, 145–46, 149–50, 153–54, 165
human, 129
position/velocity measurement complementarity, 208–13, 214
of satellites, 18
of space, 40
See also acceleration; inertia and inertial mass; planetary motion and arrangements; velocity
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 52
multiverse, 38–39
muons, 237
music, 46, 108, 147, 209, 216–17
Myrheim, Jan, 89
mysteries, 187–205
axions, 122, 159, 166, 201–2
the dark matter problem, 193–97
the future of mystery itself, 203–5
how they end, 203
time reversal, 148–49, 188–92, 203
See also dark energy; dark matter
Neptune, 194, 196
neurons, xiv, 53, 54, 134–35, 221
neutrinos, 118, 151, 157–58, 235–36
neutrons, 62, 79
neutron decay, 118–19, 135
neutron stars, 180, 182
Newton, Isaac, xiii, 7–8, 9, 18, 66–67
Newtonian mechanics. See classical mechanics
Nobel Prizes, 113, 162, 180
nuclear chemistry, 59
See also atomic nuclei
nuclear energy, 120, 141, 235
nuclear burning in stars, 113, 135–36, 163, 165, 166, 235
nuclear physics, 110
See also atomic nuclei
nuclear weapons, 141, 235
Odd John (Stapledon), 222
Omar Khayyam, 173
“On the Shortness of Life” (Seneca), 43–44
parallax, 24, 27
particle accelerators, 57, 175–76, 190, 191, 234–35, 236
Particle Data Group website, 238
particles, 67
and fields, 99, 100–102
scattering experiments, 35–37, 56, 110–11
See also elementary particles; quasiparticles; specific particle types
Pascal, Blaise, 14, 15, 43
Pascual-Leone, Alvaro, xvii–xviii
Paul, Saint, 168
Pauli, Wolfgang, 235–36
Peccei, Roberto, 192, 201
Penzias, Arno, 154
perception
human self-perception, xviii, 185–86, 225–27
human vision, xiv–xv, xvii, 24, 34–35, 53, 170–71, 205
and physical properties, 72–74
sensory perception in humans and animals, 129, 169–71, 205
perception, expanded, xv–xviii, 168–86
future potential for, 182–86
gravitational wave discovery/detection, 178–82
Higgs particle discovery/detection, 172–78
technologies for, 4, 171, 179
phantom hand illusion, 183
photography, digital, 138
photon field, 106
See also electromagnetic force and field
photons, 62
behavior and properties of, 78, 83, 84, 85, 88, 232
and the big bang, 152, 154–55, 163
early work predicting existence of, 82–83, 99, 100–101
interchangeability as evidence of fields, 101–2
photon pairs as product of Higgs particle decays, 177
See also spectra and spectroscopy
Picasso, Pablo, 217
Pierce, John R., 9, 223
Planck, Max, 82, 99, 107
Planck length, 40
Planck’s constant and the Planck-Einstein relation, 100–101, 107, 108
planetary motion and arrangements, 5–8, 24, 44, 45, 146–47, 193–97
planets
formation and ages of, 52
mass of, 22
See also planetary motion; specific planets
planned discovery, 172
plate tectonics, 113, 235
Plato, 168–69, 219
plenty. See energy abundance; material abundance; spatial abundance; time
Politzer, David, 113
Pöllänen, Minna, 216–17
polyphonic music, 216–17
position/velocity measurement complementarity, 208–13, 214
precision, of basic laws, 64, 65
Principia (Newton), 94
properties of matter
emergent properties, 214–15
fundamental properties, 72–77, 86, 231–34
protons, 62
behavior and properties of, 79, 83, 84, 85, 110
as products of neutron decay, 118, 119
proton decay, 123, 166
proton interiors, 110–13, 114
in the solar nuclear burning process, 135–36, 163
provisional stability, 131, 132–34
psychology and psychological processes
human self-perception, xvii–xviii, 185–86, 225–27
humility/self-respect complementarity, 221–22
psychological models of human behavior, 215, 217–18
and time, 58–60
See also human cognition
Ptolemy’s synthesis, 6–7
QCD (quantum chromodynamics), 103, 123, 203, 234
basics of, 109–14
and dynamic complexity, 136
jets, 238–40
supercomputers for QCD calculations, 204, 220–21
unified field theory, 122–24, 166
QED (quantum electrodynamics), 100, 103, 119–20, 234
basics of, 105–9
and dynamic complexity, 136
unified field theory, 122–24, 166
quanta, xvii, 74–75, 87, 201
See also elementary particles; specific particle types
quantum chromodynamics. See QCD
quantum computing, 89–90, 139, 165–66, 185
quantum conditions, 100, 108, 121
quantum electrodynamics. See QED
quantum perception, 184–85
quantum theory and mechanics, 184, 191
and angular momenta, 74–76
emergence of quantum theory, 108, 207–8
features/properties of, xvii, 74–75, 184–85
mathematics of, 100, 108, 121, 209, 211
quantum complementarity, 208–13
quantum fields and Peccei-Quinn theory, 99–102, 121, 192, 201
quantum perception/self-perception, 184–86
and subatomic distance measurements, 39–40
wave functions and complexity, 167
quarks, 62, 121, 151
behavior and properties of, 75, 78, 83–85, 112–13, 114, 238–40
bonus particles, 191, 236–37
discovery/detection of, 111–12
jets as avatars of, 238–40
and QCD, 112–13, 204
and weak force processes, 118, 119
quasiparticles, 87–88, 89–90
Quinn, Helen, 192
Rabi, I. I., 236
radiation, 98, 99, 171
afterglows of the big bang, 152, 154–55, 157–59, 163, 200, 202
cosmic background radiation, 152, 154–55, 157, 162, 163, 200–201
Radical Conservatism, 4–5, 8, 21, 105, 224–26
radioactivity, 103–4, 113
radioactive dating, 47–51, 154
Ramsey, Frank, 41–43
redshifts, 28–29, 153, 154, 198
reference frames, 17
relativity, 191
See also general relativity; gravity; special relativity
religion, xiii, 219, 224
reptiles, 171
Rhodes, Richard, 110
robotics, 183–84
Rogers-Ramachandran, Diane, 183
Rogers-Ramachandran, Vilayanur, 183
Rutherford, Ernest, 35–37
satellites. See GPS
scanning microscopy, 35
Schrieffer, J. Robert, 89
Schubert, Franz, 52
science fiction, 43, 59, 70, 222
scientific knowledge and understanding, xii, xiii, 119–22, 223–28
Core concept, 121–25
potential dangers of, 139–41
scientific method and discovery, 4–5, 19–20
and complementarity, 210–11, 215–16, 217–19
and the four basic principles, 64–66, 68–69
interpretive ladders, 33, 34, 37
physical influence of observation/measurement, 210–11
Scientific Revolution, 4–9, 65
seasonal cycles, 45
self-perception, xvii–xviii, 185–86, 225–27
self-reproduction, 91–92
self-respect/humility complementarity, 221–22
Seneca, 43–44
sensory perception. See perception
simplicity, 64, 73, 226
complexity within, 160, 166–67, 189
size and scale
of the cosmos, 13–14, 23–28
and the human perspective, 42–43
See also distances and distance measurement; measurements
smart materials, 90–91
Smoot, George, 162
Socrates, 168–69
solar energy, 127–28, 135–36, 163
capture and use of, 90, 140
and dynamic complexity, 127–28, 133–34, 135–36, 163