Dreams of Earth and Sky by Freeman Dyson

Author:Freeman Dyson [Dyson, Freeman J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-59017-855-3
Publisher: New York Review Books
Published: 2015-04-20T16:00:00+00:00

I find it ironic that Weinberg, after declaring so vehemently his hostility to religious beliefs, emerges in his writing about science as a man of faith. He believes passionately in the possibility of a final theory. He wrote a book with the title Dreams of a Final Theory† in which the notion of a final theory permeates his thinking. A final theory means a set of mathematical rules that describe with complete generality and complete precision the way the physical universe behaves. Complete generality means that the rules are obeyed everywhere and at all times. Complete precision means that any discrepancies between the rules and the results of experimental measurements will be due to the limited accuracy of the measurements.

For Weinberg, the final theory is not merely a dream to inspire his brilliant work as a mathematical physicist exploring the universe. For him it is an already existing reality that we humans will soon discover. It is a real presence, hidden in the motions of atoms and galaxies, waiting for us to find it. The faith that a final theory exists, ruling over the operations of nature, strongly influences his thinking about history and ethics as well as his thinking about science.

I have profound respect for Weinberg as a scientist. I also have profound respect for his faith, although I do not share it. I accept the possibility that he may be right and I may be wrong. I do not forget the disagreement we had forty-four years ago about a hypothetical particle called the W. In chapter 21 I tell the story of this disagreement. The letter W does not stand for Weinberg, but it was Weinberg who imagined it before it was discovered. Weinberg believed that the W particle must exist, because he needed it as an essential component of the theory with which he unified the weak forces in nature. I believed that the W particle could not exist because its existence would contradict a mathematical argument that I held dear. His belief was based on physical intuition, mine on mathematical calculation. A few years later the W particle was directly observed. My mathematical argument turned out to be irrelevant. I was happy to celebrate Weinberg’s triumph, and consoled myself with a quotation from my favorite poet, William Blake: “To be an Error and to be Cast Out is a Part of God’s Design.” Blake had another piece of wisdom, “Opposition is true Friendship,” which made it easy for us to remain friends. As members of the scientific community, we can disagree passionately about facts and theories and still be friends.

Since Weinberg was right about the W particle, why do I not believe that he is right about the final theory? I distrust his judgment about philosophical questions because I think he overrates the capacity of the human mind to comprehend the totality of nature. He has spent his professional life within the discipline of mathematical physics, a narrow area of science that has been uniquely successful. In this narrow area, our theories describe a small part of nature with astonishing clarity.

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