CHAPTER 4 - SUPERSTRINGSThe
advances of
Science in the 20th century have been phenomenal.
In physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy,
engineering, medicine,
and computers - just to name some of the areas - the advances in basic
understanding and new technological tools have been astounding. For
example,
physicists have built enormous 'atom smashers' that use electromagnets
to speed
up elementary particles almost to the speed of light and have them
collide with
each other. Using
computer analysis of
the debris, theoretical physicists have come up with elaborate theories
explaining the building blocks of matter. In
biology, scientists
have been able to explain in great detail the genetic material from
which all
living things spin themselves into beings.
In addition, they have been able to perform 'genetic
engineering' to
transplant genes of different organisms into each other so that, for
example,
bacteria can produce human insulin. From
skyscrapers to
microcomputers to heart transplants to jets, the fruits of science
surround us
and contribute to our lives significantly.
But
Science has not
solved all the problems that it has investigated, and there are many
areas that
remain to be conquered and need to be understood with greater clarity. One of the great hallmarks
of Science is
that it relishes exploring the unknown, and so often
investigating the shadowy areas has resulted in the
greatest
light of new understanding. We
will
mention two of these areas. Unified
Field Theory The
great
breakthroughs in physics have come about when scientists devise
mathematical
formulas that explain and predict physical reality.
The language of physics is mathematics, and when
scientists can
plug in concrete values into the X's and Y's and other symbols of
mathematical
formulas and see that it all adds up correctly, physicists say their
formulas
form an accurate model of reality.
We
described how Sir
Isaac Newton used the differential calculus that he invented to explain
gravity,
using the same formulas to describe apples falling to the earth and the
movement of the heavenly spheres.
In
the 19th century James Clark Maxwell crafted formulas that describe
electricity
and magnetism, and showed how they are really one force called
'electromagnetism'. At
the start of the
20th century Albert Einstein shocked the world of physics by coming up
with a
set of formulas called the Theory of Relativity that explained gravity
and the
dance of the stars and planets far better than Newton's formulas. To give a taste of his
revolutionary ideas,
Einstein said that time and space form a four dimensional space time
continuum,
and that matter inside this 'space-time' causes it to 'bend', and this
bending
is what we perceive as gravity. It's
hard
to visualize Einstein's model of the universe, but his formulas were so
much
more accurate than Newton's that they have been since been established
as
'laws', supplanting Newton's formulas. By
the 1920's, physics
had established that there are four forces in the universe: gravity,
electromagnetism, and two forces that operate within the atom called
the strong
force and the weak force. The
strong
force holds the nucleus of the atom together, and the weak force is
involved
with certain types of radioactive decay.
Using mathematical formulas, physics could show with
great accuracy how
each of these forces worked. Mathematicians
and physicists working together were able to come us with
one set of formulas that described the three forces that worked in the
small
spaces of the atom: electromagnetism, and the strong and weak forces. But
for some
inexplicable reason, no one was able to bring the force of gravity into
this
set of formulas, and it remained outside, using the Einstein formulas
of
Relativity. The
holy grail of physics
since that time has been to come up with a 'unified field theory', that
would
describe all four forces of the universe with one set of formulas. This is the project that
Albert Einstein worked
on for the last 30 years of his life, but to no avail.
One of the great mysteries of modern physics
has been why the mathematics that describes gravity and the large
scales of the
universe is different than the formulas that describe the forces at the
atomic
level. Why
is it so important
to have one set of formulas, rather than two, that describe all four
forces in
the universe? The
answer is that
physicists want to model 'reality', and it is assumed that there is one
reality, not two. Therefore,
having two
separate sets of formulas indicates that the underlying reality has not
yet
been understood mathematically, and that it should be describable with
one set
of formulas that includes both gravity on the large scale and
electromagnetism
(and the strong and weak force) on the small scale. There
is another
related question that modern physics has not been able to answer. Physics has formulas that
describes time,
space, and the hundreds of sub-atomic particles that matter consists of. But what is time and space
and the subatomic
particles themselves made up
of? Is there a
basic building block, a
'smallest thing that can exist', that the universe of time, space, and
matter
is built from? The
greatest minds of
modern physics have tried to tackle this question and have come up
empty
handed. The
Mind Another
significant
area that science does not yet understand well is the mind. Perhaps this is because
the mind is not
'physical' enough to enable science to probe and examine it the way it
has
plumbed the intricacies of physics and chemistry.
We all think and are conscious, but science has only
a dim grasp
of how thinking and consciousness works. It has found areas of the
brain
related in some way to memory and various mental functioning, but how
the firing
of the synapses of billions of nerve cells adds up to consciousness is
not yet understood. This
lack of
understanding applies to many aspects of the mind.
Science hasn't really explained how or why we sleep
or dream, or
the exact nature of emotions or feelings such as love, hate, anger, or
happiness. Science
has not yet written
the mathematical equation that explains sensation, pleasure, and pain. We obviously know that a
flame on our finger
hurts, but we don't really understand what it means for us to be
conscious of
that pain. The multiple kinds of relationships we form that spring from
our
needs, feelings, and dispositions are more the subject matter of soap
operas
and religious sermons than scientific textbooks.
Why people have certain tastes in other people or
specific kinds
of music is not well understood scientifically. Throughout
the day we
are involved with thoughts and feelings, and it is a great challenge to
science
to determine where in the brain the thoughts and feelings reside, and
how they
are created and change. Descartes
made
his famous pronouncement, "I think therefore I am", but he didn't
explain what thinking is or how it works.
Freud published many important theories about the
mind, including one
that describes an ego, superego, and id that is similar to the three
philosophies
of Science, Religion, and the Barbarian.
But science has never been able to prove Freud's
hypotheses, or point to
where - for example - the ego exists. In
fact, it is even
somewhat a mystery why the mind
has
remained an almost unfathomable and ever distant frontier, and why the
nature
of the mind and consciousness seems almost as inscrutable today as it
did
thousands of years ago. What
are the
mechanisms of consciousness? Where
do
thoughts and feelings reside and how do they work?
Science does not yet have the answers to these
questions. We
will now describe a
recent breakthrough in theoretical physics that may touch on several
issues
we've discussed so far. Superstrings In
1979 two physicists
met while working at the giant atom smasher called CERN in Switzerland. They were John Schwartz
from the California
Institute of Technology and Michael Green from Queen Mary College at
the
University of London. Both
had been
working independently on the grand problem of theoretical physics, a
unified
field theory that would put gravity and electromagnetism under the
rubric of a
single mathematical model. They
found that their
ideas, methods, and goals were somewhat similar so they agreed to meet
every
summer to work together on the problem.
They made progress each year, and in the summer of
1984, while working
together at the Center for Physics in Aspen, Colorado, they made a
tremendous
breakthrough. They
devised one set of
mathematical formulas that explained all four forces in the universe,
including
gravity and electromagnetism. They
had
found the holy grail of modern physics, that had eluded Albert Einstein
and
countless other brilliant physicists and mathematicians. They
announced their
findings to their colleagues, and in just a few weeks the news had
spread like
wildfire to the worldwide scientific community.
Journals quickly hailed the discovery as one of the
greatest
discoveries in science, and called it the 'Theory of Everything'
because it explained
so much. The
journal Science said it
was "no less profound than the transition from real numbers to complex
numbers in mathematics." What
was this new
theory? Schwartz
and Green found that
they could make all their mathematical formulas work when they posited
the
existence of an extremely small entity from which all matter, space,
and time
was constructed. This
elemental
building block they called a 'superstring'.
It is a tiny vibrating string that twists and
combines with other
superstrings. They
were able to explain
the behavior of all known forces and subatomic particles by describing
how
these superstrings combine and vibrate.
In
addition, they were
only able to achieve their breakthrough and make all their formulas
work when
they posited that this superstring exists in 10 dimensions. With these tiny vibrating
strings of 10
dimensions, Schwartz and Green were able to explain mathematically all
known
phenomena, both on the very large and very small scale.
It was hailed as a mathematical miracle. Schwartz
and Green
also knew how small the superstring is, because it was only with one
size that
all the equations worked out. The
superstring is 10-33 centimeters
long. To picture
how small that is, a
superstring is to an atom as a piece of dust is to the entire solar
system. Put another
way, if we reduced
ourselves to the size of an atom, we would have to reduce ourselves an
equivalent amount to get to the size of a superstring. For
decades,
physicists had seen the hundreds of kinds of subatomic particles that
could be
produced by smashing particles together in the cyclotrons and other
atom
smashers. These
particles had been
given exotic names such as mu-mesons, neutrinos, fermions, hyperons,
and so
on. Schwartz and
Green were able to use
superstring theory to explain how these particles are created and
change in
terms of the different ways that superstrings combine and vibrate. In a way that is hard for
us to visualize,
they also said that space and time themselves are made up of
superstrings. In
other words, everything - matter, space,
time, and energy - is made up of only superstrings. Ten
Dimensions When
the excitement
and congratulations quieted down back in 1984, the physicists and
others asked
themselves a question about the nature of the 10 dimensions that
allowed the mathematics
of superstring theory to work out.
It
is easy enough in mathematics to posit a world with ten dimensions. But what, they asked, does
this mean in
terms of the real world? Einstein
had
shown that our physical world consists of a four dimensional space time
continuum, consisting of height, width, depth, and time. Superstring
theory did
not dispute this. According
to
superstring theory, therefore, our world has four physical
dimensions and 6 non-physical dimensions. Superstring theory
posits that these 6 non-physical dimensions exist because only with 10
dimensions in total do the mathematical formulas work out. But what does it mean for
there to be 6
non-physical dimensions in addition to the 4 physical ones we are
familiar
with? The answer
was a resounding: 'We
don't know'. But
the mathematics tells
us the 6 non-physical dimensions are there. By
definition we can't
measure and detect these 6 non-physical dimensions in the laboratory
because
they are not physical, and the scientific experiments of physics, at
least up
until now, is able only to measure the physical world.
But what are these 6 non-physical dimensions
that the mathematics of superstring theory says exist?
This question has remained a puzzle.
It is still very much open to speculation
and investigation. But
puzzling though it
may be, we are left with the fact that the breakthrough in physics that
was
sought after for at least half a century, that explains all forces and
all
phenomena with one set of mathematical formulas, posits that everything
is
composed of tiny superstrings that vibrate in 10 dimensions, with 6 of
the
dimensions being not physical. New
Thinking At
this point, it may
be useful for the scientists among us to be ready for some creative
thinking. This may
be necessitated by
the nature of the puzzle we are confronted with.
Namely, that superstring theory - the 'mathematical
miracle'
called the 'theory of everything' - posits that there are 6
non-physical
dimensions, certainly an unconventional idea. Since by definition we
won't find
these 6 dimensions in the laboratory or see them under a microscope -
because
they are not physical - perhaps we should be ready for some fresh
thinking. For
example, there is
a book that has been claimed by many to deal with aspects of a
non-physical
world, and it is called the Bible.
We
can look in the Bible to see if there is anything that hints at some of
the
conclusions of superstring theory, such as the existence of 6
non-physical dimensions. To
our amazement, we can find some
interesting topics, that we will now discuss. The
Talis When
a religious Jew
prays, he covers his shoulders with a prayer shawl called a 'talis'. This practice is rooted in
a commandment in
the Bible: "Bid
them that
they make throughout their generations fringes in the corners of their
garments, and that they put with the fringes of each corner a thread of
blue. And it shall
be unto you for a
fringe, and you may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of
the
Lord, and do them, and that you go not about after your own heart and
your own
eyes, after which you use to go astray, that you may remember and do
all my
commandments and be holy unto your God." (Numbers 5:38) There
are two parts of
the talis. First
there is the four
corner garment itself. The
Talmud makes
it clear that it must have exactly four corners, and when a person dons
the
talis, he says a blessing that refers to the four corners of the world
and
touches the four corners of the talis. The
second part of the
talis are the fringes that are attached to each of its four corners.
What do
the fringes look like? The
Talmud says
4 strings are threaded through a hole in each corner of the talis, and
then
doubled over to make 8 strings. Two
of
the 8 strings are blue to remind us of heaven and the commandments the
Almighty
wishes us to do. And
this leaves 6
white strings. For
thousands of
years, Jews donned the talis with its attached strings because the
Bible told
them to, with little concern for its symbolism.
We can now see it as a perfect symbol for the
picture of reality
presented to us by superstring theory.
The four corned talis, that the Talmud says
represents the 4 corners of
the world, represents the 4 physical dimensions of the world, physical
reality. And
what is coming out
of the corners of the talis? Strings! Two of them are blue to
remind us of the
Almighty, and that leaves 6 strings that represent our spiritual
responsibilities. These
6 strings
represent the 6 non-physical dimensions of superstring theory. This might have something
to do with what
Religion refers to as spiritual reality.
If one would attempt to create a physical model of
superstring theory to
show in front of a classroom, it would be hard to come up with a better
model
than a talis described by the Bible over 3000 years ago. The four cornered garment
represents the 4
physical dimensions, and the 6 flowing white strings coming out of each
corner
represents the 6 non-physical dimensions. The
Temple After
the Jews escaped
from Egyptian bondage, they lived in the Sinai wilderness for 40 years. One of the many
commandments that God gave
them was to build a movable Temple in which to worship God, both in
Sinai and
afterwards when they would enter the land of Israel.
The Book of Exodus, the second book of the Bible,
describes three
times in great detail how this Temple should be constructed. Five hundred years later
King Solomon built
a much larger Temple in Jerusalem that had the same basic design. One
of the principles
behind the design of the Temple was that it had several levels of
holiness, and
as one got closer to the center of the Temple, the level of holiness
increased. In the
center of the Temple,
in the 'inner sanctum', was a mini building called the 'haichel'. At the very center of the
haichel was the
'holy of holies', a room that contained the holy ark containing the
tablets of
the law that Moses had taken down from Mount Sinai.
This room was entered only by the high priest on the
holiest day
of the year. The
other part of the
haichel was a room just outside the holy of holies, and just slightly
less in
holiness. This room
contained three
objects. At the
center was a small
golden altar where incense was burned.
We will focus our discussion on the other two
objects in this room. To
the left of the
altar was a rectangular table on which was placed twelve loaves of
bread every
Friday. The Talmud
describes how one of
the miracles of the Temple was that these loaves stayed fresh all week
long. In
fact, the priests, before they would eat the bread after it was lying
on the
table all week, would
lift the table up
and show it to the watching crowds as evidence that God grants us
plenty and
protection in this world. The
table
represents God's blessing in the physical world. To
the right of the
altar was a golden candelabra called the 'menorah'.
The menorah consisted of a central vertical shaft,
out of which
curved six arms. At
the end of each arm
was a cup that was filled with oil and kept eternally lit. The holiday of Chanukah
commemorates the
kindling of the lights of this menorah after it was snuffed out by the
Greeks.
The Talmud says that when God described to Moses how to build the
menorah, he
felt it was so other worldly that he had to be taken to Heaven to see
how it
should be made. If
we examine the
table and the menorah, we see that they represent the same two
components as in
the talis. The
table is a four cornered
rectangle, just like the cloth of the talis, and it too represents the
physical
world and its four dimensions. The
menorah, on the other hand, with its 6 curving arms culminating in a
flame
represents the non-physical spiritual world.
Its 6 arms represent the 6 non-physical dimensions,
similar to the 6
white strings that emanate from the corners of the talis. Therefore
we see that
two of the central symbols of the Bible - the talis and the table and
menorah
in the Temple, both represent a division of the world into a 4 cornered
object
representing the physical world, and a six string-like component
representing
the non physical world. This
perfectly
matches the distinction of the world in superstring theory, dividing
the world
into 4 physical dimensions and 6 non-physical dimensions. Three
More Symbols The
talis and the
menorah are clear 'models' delineating the distinction between a
rectangle
representing the 4 physical dimensions and 6 strings representing the 6
non-physical dimensions, just as proposed by the mathematics of
superstring
theory. We know
that the 4 physical
dimensions are height, width, depth, and time, but as to what the 6
non-physical dimensions are, we can, as yet, only surmise. In the next chapter we
will suggest some
possibilities. In
addition to the
talis and the menorah, however, we can find in the Bible other symbols
that
make the distinction between a physical world and strings that refer to
a
spiritual, non-physical aspect of reality, echoing the symbolism of the
talis
and menorah. We
will mention three such
symbols. The
Bible says that
when a farmer harvests his field, he must not harvest the wheat from the corners of the
field. He must
leave this wheat standing for the
poor, who will come and harvest what is left in the corners for
themselves. This is
called 'peyah', the Hebrew word for
'corner'. This in
effect tells the farmer
that at the very moment he feels the strongest and most satisfied when
he
harvests his crops, he should remember his spiritual responsibilities
to his
fellow man. There
is hardly anything
more physical than a field that grows the food we eat, and the wheat
left
standing in the corners, that looks like strings, represents our
spiritual
responsibilities. In
fact, the field
with the string-like wheat coming out of its corners looks very much
like a
talis. Referring
to a second
symbol, the Bible says that when a person shaves, he should not shave
the
corners of his face. The
Hebrew word
used here is also 'peyas', or 'corners', and can sometimes be seen as
curls
growing from above the ears in religious Jews.
Here too the peyas are strings that are to remind us
of our obligations
to obey the Almighty, in contrast to the face that is our physical
visage. In
describing the
third symbol, the Bible says that after the harvest people should live
for a
week in a 4 cornered temporary dwelling called a 'succah'. On the top of the succah
is put twigs, and
the Talmud emphasizes that looking up at the twigs is to remind us of
God and
the spiritual aspects of life. The
succah itself is a 4 cornered object that we physically dwell in, and
the twigs
above are string-like objects that is to remind us of the world's
spiritual
dimensions. Review We
began this chapter
by discussing Science's search for a unified field theory, for a
mathematical
model that encompasses all 4 forces in the Universe, including
electromagnetism
and gravity. We
then described the
breakthrough of superstring theory that says the basic building block
of the
universe is a tiny vibrating string with 10 dimensions, 4 of them
physical and
6 non-physical. We
then mentioned that
scientists have been scratching their heads, wondering what it means
for there
to be 6 non-physical dimensions. We
then showed that it
is precisely this distinction between a physical and non-physical
aspect of
reality that is one of the foundation stones of religion, with religion
referring to the non-physical aspects of reality as 'spiritual'. We described several
symbols in the first 5
books of the Bible, that religious people claim was authored by God
over 3000
years ago, that embody this distinction between physical and spiritual. They are: physical
spiritual 4
cornered garment
(talis)
6 white strings
coming from each corner 4
cornered table
inside haichel
menorah next to
it with 6 arms harvested
field
wheat left
standing in its corners for the poor human
face
hair
left growing in its corners 4
cornered dwelling
after harvest
twigs
on top to
remind us of spiritual responsibilities In
each of these
symbols, there is an object, usually with 4 corners, that represents
the
physical world, and a string-like component, reminiscent of the
superstrings
themselves, that represents the spiritual aspects of reality. The 6 white strings
flowing from each corner
of the talis, and the 6 curving arms of the menorah,
most closely match the 6 non-physical dimensions of
superstring
theory. We
can remind
ourselves that starting with David Hume, much of modern philosophy
scoffed at
religion precisely because it was unable to demonstrate the existence
of a
spiritual, non-physical world that is one of the axioms of the
religious
mind. We have
described how Science's
skepticism about religion has been one factor in opening the door for
the
Barbarian's greater influence in the 20th century. And
now, out of the
blue, a great advance in Science - superstring theory - implies the
existence
of 6 non-physical dimensions that bears a startling resemblance to the
talis
and menorah in the Bible. Certainly
scientists, who maintain they have an open mind and have been unable to
explain
superstring's 6 non-physical dimensions, can take notice. For
hundreds of years
scientists have said to religion 'we have no choice but to discount
you, because
we see no indication of a spiritual reality that religion refers to.' Now a breakthrough in
science hints at an
aspect of reality that bears an uncanny similarity to what religion
refers to
as the spiritual world. |