Monday, May 14, 2012

Thomas Campbell's Big TOE

I have just spent the last four or so hours going over You Tube Videos (link below) of the above after some cajoling by a colleague.

I am disappointed.
Thomas Campbell's Big TOE is his theory that there is a subjective part of reality that is consciousness that is a fundamental part of physical reality. He builds this 'model' around scientific terms derived from quantum mechanics and thermodynamics among others. The bottom line is that if consciousness is included as part of the equation, that will explain everything.

First of all, This is not a TOE (Theory of Everything) - it is Tom's own (woefully incomplete) perspective of reality. I say it is not TOE because he doesn't talk much about gravity. To be clear, the primary problem in producing a TOE is that general relativity (with gravity at the center) and quantum mechanics (with 'weak' forces and subatomic particles) are hard to unify. This is one of the unsolved problems in physics and a TOE is meant to explain 'everything'.
What Tom does is he takes the wave-particle duality problem in QM and uses that problem to posit some assumptions and erect what he sees as a model of reality that he markets as 'wider' and broader than conventional Physics. He calls modern science 'small' TOE and his theory a 'big' TOE. His is 'big' because it encompasses 'subjective' reality aka consciousness.
So, problem number one is that this is not a TOE. It is his own interpretation of consciousness. Yes, QM has problems explaining the observers place in the universe but that is not TOE. Even in Physics, we have Copenhagen interpretation, Many Worlds interpretation and so on and nobody claims they are TOE. Saying 'consciousness does it!' is not TOE. Its just lame.

Secondly, the worst part of it is that he works 'alone' - just him and his buddy. This itself is a red flag. Scientists dont work in isolation. This is how crack-pottery works when its pursuing loony theories. They (Physicists) were taught for three years by a mystic about OBE (Out of Body Experience)? Get outta here!

Thirdly, his 'experiments' (these are essentially surrounding OBE garbage), how they were conducted and their findings are not published or shared by him. This means that there is no evidence that he conducted any experiments.

Fourth, there is no mathematics. Where is the math? Where are the formalized equations of his so-called digital or virtual reality? This is not physics, this is metaphysics and philosophy. So Why the F is he going on and on about Einstein and Everett and QM? To hoodwink buyers that they are dealing with something 'scientific.' Which brings me to the next point.

Fifth, he has written a three part potboiler trilogy. This means you have to read all the three part series to understand his entire theory. So this is a money-making scheme. In his presentations, he basically says: 'Physics cant explain this because Physics has refused to accept subjective reality. I have explained how subjective reality fits into virtual models in my books. These virtual digital models can help us understand reality. Just read my books and you will see.' Now, this is just crap.

Mainstream science holds that evolution has no goal. He says Evolution has a goal, that evolution encourages development to greater states of being - profitable states. For consciousness, that goal of evolution is entropy(disorder) reduction. Now, this is just so value-laden and so unscientific that it doesn't need to be dignified with a response.

One more high-sounding garbage dressed in scientific terms that I have had to evaluate and dispense with. Five hours, gone.
A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxECb7zcQhQ&feature=relmfu

No comments: