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UnificationinPhysicsandPhilosophyInternationalWorkshopinHelsinkionMay11th2019

Theworkshopisdevotedtodealingwithproblemsinphysicsandphilosophybyunification.Thebasicideaisthataminimalontologicalcoreofpostulatesorhypotheticallawsofnaturecouldprovidenaturalresolutionstolong-standingproblemsthatarecausedbydisunification,andthatcannotbeproperlyresolvedbyfocusingonlyondetailsofisolatedtopics.Unificationisurgentlyneeded,forinneitherdisciplinedowefindacommonlyacceptedontologicalcoreorworld-viewthatcouldfunctionasaunifyingbase.Ineffect,thegreatmajorityofphysicistsandphilosophersfocusonspecializedproblemsinisolatedresearchareas.

Physicsismainlypracticedbydevelopingmathematicaldescriptionsforeachisolatedareawiththehelpofheterogeneouspostulates.Onaunifyingapproach,mathematicsshouldbecoupledwithhypotheticallawsofnatureinaunifiedcore,whichsufficefordifferentresearchareasorscalesofphenomena.Similarly,inphilosophythereisatendencytospecialiseinproblemsofaparticulardomain,say,whatistime,whatispersistence,whatiscausation,ratherthantodevelopunifiedviewsofinterrelateddomains.Furthermore,attemptstoaddressinterrelationsbetweenphysicsandphilosophyarerare,andwhenitisdonethefocusisagainwithinparticulardomains.

Thepurposeofthisworkshopistobringtogetherscholarswithamutualinterestinaunifiedapproachofthiskind,inordertodiscussparticularunifyingresolutionsandmoregenerallywhataunifiedapproachshouldlooklike.Thequestionstobediscussedinclude(butarenotrestrictedto):Whatarethecentralproblemsinphysicsandscientificallyorientedphilosophy?Canweidentifypostulatesofaprovisionalscientificallyandphilosophicallysoundunifiedontology?Howdospecificprovisionalpostulatesunifydomainsofinquirythatarecurrentlyseparateandhowdotheyresolvetheircentralproblems?Whatarethecriteriabywhichonetheoryistobepreferredoveranother?Howdidthehistoricaldevelopmentresultinthecurrentsituationinphysicsandphilosophy?

UnificationinPhysicsandPhilosophyInternationalWorkshopinHelsinkionMay11th2019

Program

09.00-10.00CoffeeandRegistration10.00-10.30Welcomingwords.CeciliaafForselles,NationalLibrarian,VicePresidentofTheFederationofFinnishLearnedSocieties,ChairforTheFinnishSocietyfortheHistoryofScienceandLearning.

Morningsession10.00-13.0010.30-11.00Introductoryspeech.Ph.DAvrilStyrman:Unification,EvaluationandDevelopmentofTheories.

11.00-11.30Ph.DLingJunWang(USA):Physics Needs Nothing Less Than a Renaissance – On the Relation Between Physics and Philosophy.

11.30-12.00Ph.DC.S.Unnikrishnan(IN):ANewGravitationalParadigmforRelativity,Dynamics,andtheirPhilosophicalBasis.12.00-12.30Ph.DHeikkiSipilä:IstheSolarSystemExpanding?12.30-13.00Ph.DTuomoSuntola:UnificationofTheoriesRequiresaPostulateBasisinCommon.13.00-14.00Lunch

Afternoonsession14.00-19.0014.00-14.30Ph.DRögnvaldurIngthorsson(SWE):OntologicalandMethodologicalReflectionsontheVirtuesofUnification.14.30-15.00Ph.DLaurenceGould(USA):QuantumOntologyofdeBroglieandBohmwithReflectionsontheMeaningofProbability.15.00-15.30Coffee15.30-16.00Ph.DTapioAla-Nissilä:QuantumMechanicsinAction:aWorkingPhysicist'sPointofView.16.00-16.30Ph.DTarjaKallio-Tamminen:DynamicUniverse–NaturalScienceandPhilosophyinUnison.16.30-19.00PanelDiscussion

UnificationinPhysicsandPhilosophyInternationalWorkshopinHelsinkionMay11th2019

Abstracts

AvrilStyrman,Ph.DChair,TheFinnishSocietyforNaturalPhilosophy

Unification,EvaluationandDevelopmentofTheories.

Theessentialsofunificationandtheoryevaluationareexplained,andthedevelopmentoftheoriesinphysicsisanalyzed.ThedevelopmentofphysicssinceNewtonistypicallypicturedasanunbrokensuccessstorywherelegendaryscientistsdevelopedRelativisticphysicsandquantummechanics.However,thesituationappearsverydifferentwhenwelooknotonlyataccuraciesofpredictionsofthesetheories,butalsomeasuretheirmetaphysicalweightandunderstandability,interalia.Inthispicture,althoughphysicistshavedevelopedmathematicsthatgivesincrediblyaccuratepredictions,theNewtonianbasewherethepredictionsareembeddedhasbeencomplementedbyadditionalparameterseversincetheearly20thcentury,andaunifiedandunderstandablescientificword-viewisnowhereinsight.IntheKuhnianmodeloftheprogressofscience,suchdevelopmentleadsintoaparadigmshift.Thus,ifwetakethehistoricaldevelopmentoftheoriesintoaccount,andweevaluatetheoriesobjectively,thestandardviewofhowphysicswillbedevelopedbecomesquestionable.Inthestandardview,itisonlyamatteroftimewhenquantummechanicsandRelativisticphysicswillbefusedtogetherintoaGrandUnifiedTheory,andcurrentlytheunifyingbasisissoughtfromStringTheoryandotheradditionaltheories.However,ifwelookatthedevelopmentofRelativisticphysics,andbelievethatitsignalsabecomingparadigmshift,thesituationlooksentirelydifferent.Inthispicture,therealquestionisnothowquantummechanicsandRelativisticphysicscanbeunified,forunificationcannotbeachievedbyaddingevenmorenewpostulatestotheNewtonian-Relativisticbase.Instead,themainquestionishowtoreplacetheNewtonian-Relativisticbasebyanotherbasethatsufficesforquantummechanics,managestoexplainallphenomenathatRelativisticphysicsexplains,andmanagestoembedatleastasaccuratepredictionsofthesephenomena.

UnificationinPhysicsandPhilosophyInternationalWorkshopinHelsinkionMay11th2019

LingJunWang,Ph.DProfessor,DepartmentofChemistryandPhysics,UniversityofTennessee,ChattanoogaPhysicsNeedsNothingLessThanaRenaissance– OntheRelationBetweenPhysicsandPhilosophy

Recently,wehavedevelopedaclassicaltheoryofunificationofgravitationalandelectromagneticforces1.AnimportantdiscoveryfromourunificationtheoryisWang’sLawwhichsaysthatthetotallinearmomentumofthegravitationalfieldtransmittedintothespaceisconserved.Thepropagationofthegravitationalwaveoffersasimpleanswertothehistoricalquestionofaction-at-distance.Moreover,ourunificationtheoryhasrevealedthattheinverse-squarelawistheresultoftheconservationofthetotalstaticanddynamicfluxesaccordingtoGauss’lawandWang’slaw.Ourunificationtheoryshowsthatthegravitationpropagateswiththespeedoflight. Theimpactofourclassicalunificationtheoryontheoreticalphysicsisfarreaching.Foroverahundredyears,thephysicscommunityhasbeeneducatedtobelievethatanyeffortofunifyinggravitywithotherforceshavetobebuiltongeneralrelativityandquantumfieldtheory.Thecenturylongsearchforaunificationtheory,startingfromEinsteintoHawking,alongtheapproachofgeneralrelativityandquantumfieldtheoryprovedatotalfailure.Ourunificationtheoryshowsthattheunificationofgravitationalandelectromagneticforcescouldbebeautifullydonewithintheclassicalframework.Thesimplicity,rigorousnessandcompletenessofourunificationtheoryleavesnodoubtonthecorrectnessoftheclassicalapproach.Itwillshaketheconfidenceofphysicscommunityintheparadigmoftheoreticalphysicsofthe20thcentury.Wecanasklegitimatequestions:Arethescientificlogic,philosophyandmethodologyoftheclassicalphysicsallobsolete?Whyaretheresomanyfundamentalinconsistenciesintheoreticalphysics?Whyismoderntheoreticalphysicsrunningintoadeadend?Ascrutinyoftheedificeofmoderntheoreticalphysicsrevilesthattheultimatereasonforthemultitudeofunsolvablefundamentalinconsistenciesofthetheoreticalphysicsof20thcenturyistheshiftofphilosophy.Itisashiftfromscientificphilosophyandmethodologytomythologicalandtheologicalphilosophyandmethodology. ScienceisnotaboutbuildingaTowerofBabelthathasnothingtodowiththesocietyexceptprovidingpsychologicalsatisfactiontoanisolatedcluboftheoristspursuinga“theoryofeverything”.Sciencehasitsnoblemission–toadvancehumancivilization.PhysicalscienceneedsnothinglessthanaRenaissance.Thesuccessofourunificationtheoryisatestimony. Keywords:unificationofgravitationalandelectromagneticforces,naturalphilosophy,scienceandsociety.PACScode:04.50.kd;05.50.-z;04.20.cvREFERENCES:1.Wang,L.J.,UnificationofGravitationalandElectromagneticfields,PhysicsEssays,31,No.1,2018.

UnificationinPhysicsandPhilosophyInternationalWorkshopinHelsinkionMay11th2019

C.S.Unnikrishnan,Ph.DProfessor,DepartmentofPhysics,TIFR,Mumbai,India

ANewGravitationalParadigmforRelativity,Dynamics,andtheirPhilosophicalBasisThepresentviewsofdynamicsandrelativityarebasedonEinstein'sspecialandgeneraltheoriesofrelativity.However,theemptyfeaturelessspaceanditstimethatareassumedinconstructingthesetheoriesareinconflictwiththerealityofthevastuniversewithenormousquantityofmatter-energy,anditsgravity.Afterprovingtheneedforanewparadigmofrelativityanddynamicsbasedonthecosmicgravity,Iwilloutlinethecompletetheoryanditscrucialexperimentalsupport.ThegravitationalparadigmcalledCosmicRelativityisGalileanandMachian,withtheuniverseasthedeterminingmasterframeandauniversaltime.ThesedevelopmentsinphysicsenableustocompleteandclarifyHenriBergson'sprograminphilosophy,withitsnotionsofuniversaltimeandabsolutesimultaneity.

HeikkiSipilä,Ph.DAMETEKFinlandOyBoardmember,PhysicsFoundationsSociety

IstheSolarSystemExpanding?

Accordingstandardphysics,gravitationallyboundedsystemsdonotexpandalongwiththeexpansionofspace.Thisisreferredtoastheno-expansionhypothesis.Observationsunderminetheno-expansionhypothesis,andsupportthehypothesisthattheSolarSystemdoesexpand,proportionallytotheexpansionofspace.Thisisreferredtoastheexpansionhypothesis.Theno-expansionhypothesishasdifficultiesinexplainingtheFaintSunParadox,i.e.,whytherehasbeenoceansonMarsandwhytheEarthhasbeenwarm3.5billionsofyearago,whenluminosityoftheSunwas25%smallerthantoday,whereastheexpansionhypothesishasnotdifficultiesinexplainingthis.Theno-expansionhypothesisdoesnotmatchdatagatheredfromsandstonelayers,whereastheexpansionhypothesesmatchesitperfectly.Thesetwoexamplesstronglyindicatethatsolarsystemisexpandingalongwiththeexpansionofspace.

UnificationinPhysicsandPhilosophyInternationalWorkshopinHelsinkionMay11th2019

TuomoSuntola,Ph.DChair,PhysicsFoundationsSociety

UnificationofTheoriesRequiresaPostulateBasisinCommon

Aprimarychallengeofnaturalsciencesinthenewmillenniumistocurethegapbetweenmetaphysicsandempiricism–andpuzzleouttheobstaclestoaunifiedtheoryandanunderstandablepictureofreality.Antiquescienceflourishedviaitsstrongphilosophicalimpactbutfadedawayduetothelackofsupportingempiricalscience.Thefastdevelopmentofmathematicalphysicshasledtotheotheropposite;theoriesarediversified,theyaremorelikemathematicaldescriptionsofobservations;theyprovideprecisepredictionsbutlackasolidmetaphysicalbasisandanunderstandablepictureofreality.Anyway,modernsciencehasincreasedourunderstandingofphysicsfromelementaryparticlestocosmologicalstructuresandproducedinformationthatallowsre-evaluationofthebasis.Inthepresentation,weshowthatbyswitchingfromanobserver-orientedperspectivetoasystemperspective,anylocalenergyobjectisrelatedtotherestofspaceandrelativityappearsasadirectconsequenceoftheconservationoftotalenergyinthesystem–withoutscarifyingtheabsolutetimeanddistanceessentialforhumancomprehension.SuchaholisticapproachhasledtotheDynamicUniverse(DU)theory.Aftermaturingforthelasttwentyyears,DUproducesprecise,well-testedpredictionsforlocalandcosmologicalobservablesandanuncontradictorylinkagetoquantummechanics.

UnificationinPhysicsandPhilosophyInternationalWorkshopinHelsinkionMay11th2019

RögnvaldurIngthorsson,PhDResearcher,DepartmentofPhilosophy,LundUniversity,Sweden

OntologicalandMethodologicalReflectionsontheVirtuesofUnification.

Thisworkshoprevolvesaroundtheideathatthereisaneedtostriveforunificationoffieldsandtheories—withinandacrossdisciplines—tocounteracttheincreasingfragmentationanddisunificationofscienceandphilosophy.Buthowshouldwethinkofunificationandwhatareitsmethodologicalvirtues?StyrmanandSuntolastresstheneedtodevelopacommonunifiedontologythatisempiricallysufficient,metaphysicallyminimal,andgenerallyconstitutesavirtuousbeliefsystemforhumanbeings.Theprincipleofeconomyistobeusedtodecidebetweenalternatives.Theirhypothesisisthatanontologyofthatkindcanprovideresolutionstolong-standingproblemsthatcannotberesolvedonlywithinaanisolatedtopic.Iagreetoallthat,butwanttoincorporateintotheunificationistmanifestosomeideasfromthehistoryofphilosophythatIthinksupporttheideathataunifyingbigpictureapproachcouldsucceedwheremorespecializedapproachesfail.First,aunifyingapproachisappropriateifwearerighttosupposethatrealitysurelymustmakeupadeterminateandunifiedwhole;ergo,weshouldexpectourunderstandingofthatwholetoalsomakeupaunifiedwhole.Fragmentationanddisunityarethensignsofaninadequateunderstandingoftheworld.Ifweassumetothecontrarythatrealityisfragmentedandindeterminate,itseemstofollownotonlythatourknowledgeshouldbeequallyfragmentedanduncertain,butalsothatwestandlittlechanceofeverbeingabletounderstandit;theworldshouldstrikeusasbeingnon-uniformandlargelyunintelligible.Second,theunifyingbigpictureapproachismethodologicallyvirtuousinmuchthesamewaymethodologicaltriangulationisvirtuous.Wecansuspectthateachparticularmethodofmeasurementistosomedegreefallible,andsoweseektovalidateitbycomparisontoothermethods.Ifdifferentmethodscometosameconclusion,theysupporteachother.Similarly,ifasolutiontooneparticularproblemsitswellwithasolutiontootherproblems,thiscanbetakenassupportofthevalidityofthesolution.Basically,iftheworldisadeterminateandunifiedwhole,systembuildingisouronlyhopeofunderstandingit.Third,thevirtuousbeliefsystemweultimatelyshouldwantisoneinwhichincludesthemindanditscontentsasphenomenathatweneedtoconsider.Intryingtounderstandtheworldwemusttrytounderstandthemindanditsplaceinnaturetoo.Whatistheworldlikesuchthatitcancontainmindswhosethoughtsandwordsrelatetosubjectmattersdistinctfromthosethoughtsandwords.Infact,ithasbeenplausiblyarguedthatsubjectiveexperiencemaycontainanimportantcriterionofsuccessforanyobjectivetheoryabouttheworld,evenifweacceptthatsubjectiveexperienceprovidesapoorbasisforknowledgeabouttheworld.

UnificationinPhysicsandPhilosophyInternationalWorkshopinHelsinkionMay11th2019

LaurenceGould,Ph.DProfessor,DepartmentofPhysics,UniversityofHartford,USA

QuantumOntologyofdeBroglieandBohmwithReflectionsontheMeaningofProbability.AlthoughtheCopenhagenInterpretationofSchroedinger'squantumtheorypredominates,therearealternatives.Oneofthose,calledtheOntologicalInterpretation,hasbecomemoreprominentovertheyears;primarilyduetotheworkofphysicistDavidBohm.Inthisinterpretationthewavefunctionhas*real*aspectstoit(intheontologicalsense,notinthemathematicalfunctions-of-a-complex-variablesense).Acertainfunctionofthe"amplitude"ofthewavefunction(roughlycorrespondingtohowlikelyistheoccurrenceofanevent)determinestheexistenceofa"quantumpotential"thatcanbeanimportantfactoringoverningthemannerinwhichparticlesmove.Inthisinterpretationparticleshavedefinitevaluesofpositionandmomentumateachinstantoftime.Anunusualaspectofthequantumpotentialisthatitis"nonlocal"inthesensethatsomeentitiescanhaveastronginfluenceonotherentitieswhicharefarawayfromthem.Thispresentationwillexploresomeoftheontologicalinterpretation'shistoricaldevelopment,startingwithLouisdeBroglie'sapproachofthe1920'sandendingwiththecontemporarycontributionsofBohm.

TapioAla-Nissilä,Ph.DProfessor,AaltoandLoughboroughUniversity

QuantumMechanicsinAction:aWorkingPhysicist'sPointofView

Rapiddevelopmentonnanotechnologyandrelatedexperimentaltechniqueshavealloweddetailedexperimentaltestsonthebasicfeaturesofquantummechanics.TheseincludesomeofthemostcounterintuitiveaspectsofQMsuchasnonlocalityandsuperposition.InthistalkIwillreviewrecentprogressinthisfieldanditssignificancetophilosophical,theoreticalandtechnologicaldevelopmentsinQM.

UnificationinPhysicsandPhilosophyInternationalWorkshopinHelsinkionMay11th2019

TarjaKallio-Tamminen,Ph.D

Physics Foundations Society

Dynamic Universe – Natural Science and Philosophy in Unison.

Inacoherentconceptionofrealityphysicsandmetaphysicsshouldbothcometogethertocreateacomprehensibleworldview.ThiswasthecaseintheNewtonianpictureofrealitywhichmodernphysicsprovedlimitedinthebeginningof20thcentury.Thequestforanewsynthesis,amorereliablepictureofrealityincorporatingcurrenttheoriesandobservations,hasnotbeenfulfilledinspiteofahundredyearsofinterpretativediscussions.TheclaimofthispaperisthatthemissedunisonoccursinTuomoSuntola’sDynamicUniverse(DU)whichinanaturalmannercoversthedomainsoftheoryofrelativityandquantumphenomena.DUisstudiedfromtheperspectiveofnaturalphilosophyconcentratingonthebasicprinciplesofthetheory,theprominentmetaphysicalfeaturesthatinadditiontothemathematicalstructureshouldbecontainedinadecentphysicaltheory.TherecipeforsuccessinDUisasphericallyclosedmetricspacein4dimensionsandthezero-energyprinciplewhicharebothreliableandwellknownprinciplesinphysics.Thefreshmetaphysicalcontextpermitsthemathematicalabundancetypicalforpresenttheoriesbereducedtotakeinmorephysics.Timeandlenghtsareallowedtomaintaintheirshapeandbodiescanbeconstructedoutofwaves.Inadditiontoitsimportanceforphysics,theseamlessconnectiondisclosedbetweenmass,space,motionandenergyprovidesunprecedentedsolutionstomanyage-oldquestionsinnaturalphilosophy-themostbasicquestionsponderedbygiantslikeDemocritos,Plato,Aristotle,Descartes,LeibnizandNewton.