The quantum labyrinth : how Richard Feynman and John Wheeler revolutionized time and reality

312 Pages·2017·9.3 MB·English

by  Paul Halpern

Copyright
Copyright © 2017 by Paul Halpern
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First Edition: October 2017
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Halpern, Paul,
1961–author.
Title: The quantum labyrinth : how Richard Feynman and John Wheeler
revolutionized time and reality / by Paul Halpern, PhD.
revolutionized time and reality / by Paul Halpern, PhD.
Description: New York : Basic Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, LLC, a
subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc., [2017] | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017013259 (print) | LCCN 2017017848 (ebook) | ISBN
9780465097593 (ebook) | ISBN 9780465097586 (hardcover) | ISBN
0465097588 (hardcover) |
ISBN 0465097596 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Quantum theory. | Time. | Space and time. | Reality. |
Feynman, Richard P. (Richard Phillips), 1918–1988. | Wheeler, John Archibald,
1911–2008.
Classification: LCC QC174.12 (ebook) | LCC QC174.12 .H347 2017 (print) |
DDC
530.12--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017013259
E3-20170912-JV-PC
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
INTRODUCTION A Revolution in Time
CHAPTER ONE Wheeler’s Watch
CHAPTER TWO The Only Particle in the Universe
CHAPTER THREE All the Roads Not to Paradise
CHAPTER FOUR The Hidden Paths of Ghosts
CHAPTER FIVE The Island and the Mountains: Mapping the
Particle Landscape
CHAPTER SIX Life as an Amoeba in the Foamy Sea of
Possibilities
CHAPTER SEVEN Time’s Arrow and the Mysterious Mr. X
CHAPTER EIGHT Minds, Machines, and the Cosmos
CONCLUSION The Way of the Labyrinth
EPILOGUE Encounters with Wheeler
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Paul Halpern
Further Reading
Notes
Index
Dedicated to my brothers, Rich, Alan, and Ken
How come time? It is not enough to joke that “Time is nature’s way to
keep everything from happening all at once.”
—John A. Wheeler, Time Today
I thought of a labyrinth of labyrinths, of one sinuous spreading labyrinth
that would encompass the past and the future and in some way involve the
stars.
—Jorge Luis Borges, “The Garden of Forking Paths”