Contents

27.1: Freedom as the foundation for politics

In his Herbert Spencer Lecture in 1933, Einstein stated his objection to quantum theory. Instead of describing the physical nature of particles in real four dimensional spacetime it derives statistical distributions in an abstract infinite dimensional complex space. Although the actual events are described with eigenvalues (specific numbers) of great precision, their distribution is probabilistic, described by their distance apart expressed by the Born rule described in Chapter 20: Measurement—the interface between Hilbert and Minkowski spaces. Elsewhere he expressed his dissatisfaction with this statistical interpretation of quantum mechanics with the famous statement : I, at any rate, am convinced that [God] does not throw dice. Albert Einstein (1926): God does not play dice

The theory of probability is built on the notion of independent events. Although there is no communication between events in the theory they are confined so that the sum of their probabilities is 1. They form a complete set, guaranteeing that each trial just one of these events must happen. Andrey Kolmogorov (1956): Foundations of the Theory of Probability

Carl Friedrich Gauss, studying errors in astronomical observation discovered the normal or Gaussian distribution of a random variable. This distribution shows that combinations of random events have a certain probability structure. Those at the centre or norm of the distribution have the highest probability that rapidly falls as we move away from the norm. When we toss two fair coins, the event HT (which is identical to TH) is twice as probable as either HH or TT. Normal distribution - Wikipedia

A tossed coin has two possibilities. We may imagine that an abstract human individual being living on the Earth has a transfinite spectrum of possibilities. This becomes something like a normal distribution when we consider groups of people acting independently of each other, as we assume in the coin tossing example.

We may think of this condition something like Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s primordial state of pure nature, people living unconstrained by a social environment. As soon as we begin to communicate with one another, however, a form of social selection enters the picture. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (2002): The Social Contract and The First and Second Discourses

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27.2: Natural selection, divine providence communication and power

The assumption at the foundation of this book which unites physics and theology is that the initial singularity is structureless (and therefore completely ignorant), eternal (since nothing comes from nothing), omnipotent (since it is the source of the Universe) and logically bound or confined by the notion that impossible (self contradictory) structures cannot exist.

My conclusion from this set of conditions is that the Universe of our experience is created within the initial singularity by a process of natural selection. The first pages of this site are my dreams about how this may have happened beginning with the emergence of Hilbert space in the initial singularity.

Darwin realized that evolution proceeds by variation and selection. The essential feature of variation is that it is random. The essential feature of selection is that it depends on history, on the state of the environment into which the new creature is born. In the beginning, when there was no history, selection must also have been purely random. As the the Universe stumbled on structures that could reproduce themselves, selection became subject to some control.

This story contrasts with the traditional Roman Catholic story of creation which assumes a divinity which is omniscient as well as omnipotent, with the power to control every detail of the world at every moment. The Papacy and absolute monarchies in general prefer this picture, since it provides them with grounds for claiming infallible authority derived by direct communication with their God. Aquinas, Summa, I, 22, 3: Does God have immediate providence over everything?

Since they consider their God (and themselves) as benevolent beings with everybody’s best interests at heart, it is necessary for them to imagine a cause of evil opposed to God, the devil or Satan. Here we see the key to the selection of a particular form of life is its ability to reproduce itself. This opens two courses of action. For my own offspring, nurturing care, for resources to support this care; for other creatures, predation. These need not be conscious decisions, since they can be induced in generations of creatures by the mere fact of survival. Satan - Wikipedia

We assume that a divine Universe is a closed completely self sufficient system, but this cannot be the case for its subsystems. All of us creations of the Universe depend on the initial singularity for the resources of life. Survival requires that we have the power to deal with our environments to obtain the necessary resources, at least in favourable circumstances.

27.3: The body politic

Fundamental particles and spacetime may have appeared very quickly after the initial singularity became active and the physical evolution of the Universe began. About nine billion years were required, with the formation of stars, galaxies, supernovas and planets, to create the chemical and physical conditions for life to begin on Earth. History of the Earth - Wikipedia

Earth was still quite inhospitable when life began and may have been a few false starts before our last universal common ancestor became established. Since then there have been many local and global environmental changes that led to the extinction of many species and the evolution of new ones. Late Heavy Bombardment - Wikipedia

At some stage single celled organisms became multicellular. This required adaptations in reproduction, the differentiation of tissues, a comprehensive immune system and many other features which are now in our own and other complex bodies. Multicellular organism - Wikipedia

Our bodies have evolved to solve all the social and political problem faced long ago by single cells which we now face as multicellular Homo sapiens: how do functioning communities of disparate individuals maintain their integrity?

I am a cooperative activity of a large number of cells united by sharing the same genome but differentiated into many different tissues and roles. The data need for this differentiation is all contained in the genome. Cells respond to signals from their environment to decode different genes at different times and places in the body. Overall we are looking at a comprehensive orchestration of about 30 trillion cells to create a suitable environment to feed, protect and replace themselves while the whole organism navigates a complex and dangerous environment and deals with the need to reproduce itself as it ages.

At larger scales, similar problems are faced and solved with different degrees of success. At our human scale language and culture mimic the role of genetics. Although we are all members of the same species, we have a tendency, reflected in our very long history of slavery and war, to turn our predatory instincts against one another, rather like an auto-immune disease. Apart from being an enormous waste of resources this behaviour is morally reprehensible. It is also blinding us to the bigger problems arising from our enormous reproductive success and massive consumption of the resources that the planet needs to keep iself habitable. Katharine Richardson & Xuemei Bal: What are ‘planetary boundaries’ and why should we care?

Since we emerged our population has increased from millions to billions. Our average per capita consumption has multiplied by about 100, heavily biased between the majority who walk everywhere and those whose super yachts and jet planes consume hundreds of tons of fuel.

It is becoming quite clear to those who have the courage to look that our combined load on Earth is compromising its ability to support us, leading to environment changes like increased atmospheric turbulence, fires, floods, sea level rise, and increasing temperature. Many of the wealthy don’t see a problem or are digging in to hide when the catastrophe comes. Mythological theologies see disaster pointing to an apocalyptic transformation into a new paradise.

People concerned with communal welfare want to solve our problems by global cooperation. Clearly extinction will be painful. Hopefully it is avoidable. We can look forward to another 5 billion years of healthy sunlight if we could creatively organize ourselves as effectively as the cells in our own bodies have done.

Does the story told in this book have anything to offer? I think so. The unity of our bodies depends on all our cells sharing the same genome. At the heart of a global community of cooperating individuals we expect to find a shared comprehensive theory of everything derived from a study of how our Universe came to be, a scientific theory of everything, a shared theology.

27.4: Gravitation and banking

Somewhere in my body there is a system that tells me I am hungry and I had better get something to eat. The results of this meal will be shared with every cell in my body through a distribution mechanism that digests the food, picks out the good stuff and transforms some of the excess into products that are in short supply.

In traditional quantum field theory we have a sets of fields which carry the formal specifications for particles, and every now and then one of these specifications picks up some energy from the vacuum and a real particle is created.

In this story the Hilbert space plays the role of the field and quantum mechanics picks out stationary points which are endowed with energy from the bank of gravitation. A debt (potential) is created in gravitation and the cash is given to make the formal eigenvector created by quantum mechanics into a real particle. From a social point of view, gravitation is the source of a universal basic income for the Universe. The cells in my body are also on a universal basic income as long as I live, working together to get food for all of me. If I fail to get food they all starve equally until I am nothing but skin and bone. In other words, my personal universe implements the parable of the good Samaritan.

27.5: An essay on the divinity of money

A universal basic income in human society is a great idea. It would take the sting out of predation, a necessary evil in the evolutionary picture, and encourage us all to become real Christians, treating one another as the good Samaritan treated the victim of vicious assault. The principal perpetrators of this everyday assault all over the world are wealthy insecure warriors who see the need to destroy others, often motivated by religions bent on bringing their message of salvation to unbelievers and pagans. Jeffrey Nicholls (1992): An essay on the divinity of money, Universal basic income - Wikipedia

With seven billion people at a thousand a week, we need seven trillion per week, 350 trillion a year to share around. Where can all this money come from? Where does money come from anyway? We go back to the zero energy Universe. From this point of view, the real dynamic Universe owes an enormous debt to gravitation. We could pay it off by annihilating the Universe, leaving just a structureless initial singularity nowhere. In the local near term, life on Earth owes it existence to the Sun, itself a product of gravitation. World population - Wikipedia

The technology of money is well understood. Most of it rests “at call” in banks, rather like the potential energy in gravitation. For most of us, money is an incompressible fluid and we must balance our books, which is why we have an incentive to steal. Banks make their money by charging interest on the money they lend and they can create more if the rules will let them. This encourages them to overextend themselves and fail. The ultimate foundation of the monetary system, which is basically just a convention, is the ability of governments to back their money supply with taxation. Money - Wikipedia

One theological foundation of a just and peaceful world is a universal basic income backed by coherent and transparent monetary system backed by coherent and transparent taxation. Fragments of this ideal already exist locally. I am an old age pensioner trying to write a best seller to pay back the people who have supported me for so long. The complete system may be long way off, but it seems to be a necessary foundation for a peaceful world. The principal theoretical prerequisite is a scientific theology which overrides all the mythological ideologies currently dividing the world. Jeffrey Nicholls (1992): An essay on the divinity of money

The scientific community has gradually tied ancient fiat units of measurement like elbows and thumbnails back to features of the Universe itself, like the quantum of action and the speed of light. We might look forward to a similar grounding of our religious, social and moral behaviour in the enormously complex structures that have been decveloped by a blind omnipotent agent in fourteen billion years of steady creation.