What the Bleep Was That all About?

Quantum physics critique

I just got in from watching “What the Bleep Do We Know?” at my friend’s place. While it’s a pretty cool movie graphically (especially the neural transmitters graphics that make it much clearer than old Mr. Erickson ever did way back in Grade 11 Biology), it’s seriously lacking in some key metaphysical concepts.

First of all, the “creating your day” thing is totally megalomanic, but beyond that, it’s interesting to note the conclusions quantum physicists have made about the macro world because of the contradictions they see in the micro one. Just because an electron changes its position when a scientist looks at it or light can be both a particle and a wave depending on the way in which someone views it is no reason to suggest that the same thing happens in the world we can physically see. I mean, if you pass me on the street on Tuesday, I’m going to look pretty much the same as I did a week ago. Or a year ago. Or even ten years ago, for that matter. There’s no reason to suspect that gravity is suddenly going to reverse its direction from one moment to the next. The reality we have around us is NOT contingent on our input, as many quantum physicists would have us believe.

Now, of course, I’m simplifying considerably here, but the simplification contains a truth as well. And there’s something here quantum physicists need to consider deeper. And thanks to the extraordinary work of Dr. Norberto Keppe, we have the science to challenge their conclusions. Here’s a show that starts the process of doing that.

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Darwin's Folly

In 1831, a young man with a weak stomach set off for 5 years as an unpaid naturalist onboard the HMS Beagle. The conclusions he reached on this momentous voyage changed how we saw the world and our place in it. There was only one problem: Charles Robert Darwin was wrong.

Today on Thinking with Somebody Else’s Head, we’ll examine one of the most influential ideas in science over the past 200 years – the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. Charles Darwin’s much touted theories have been enthusiastically, even religiously, embraced by science, and questioning them invites scorn on a level normally reserved for members of the flat earth society. Still, it has to be said: Darwin made some great and essential errors. Let's have a deeper look.

Today on Thinking With Somebody Else’ Head, Darwin’s Folly.

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The Nature of Good and Evil

Many times in my English classes here in São Paulo, a student will make a comment that seems to me to strike right at the heart of a fundamental misunderstanding. The comment will go something like, “But who’s to say what’s right and wrong? What’s bad for you might be good for me. Everyone has their truth, after all.”

This is the essence of relativism, isn’t it? Right and wrong? Well, that depends on your point of view ...

These types of comments sound scholarly and learned. After all, we must learn to appreciate all points of view in our increasingly globalized world. In Canada, where I’m from, we’ve taken this on as a national initiative, making a great effort to absorb all differences into our malleable and ever expanding national heritage.

But philosophical relativity is deeply flawed. In actual fact, we don’t live our lives by it either. If someone tells you a lie, you don’t say, “Well, maybe he needed to sleep with that other woman and not tell me about it.”

Further, we can say unequivocally that slavery is ALWAYS wrong, lies are never welcomed, goodness is better than evil. We may have opinions about these truths; those can be relative. But the absolutes are … well, absolute.

With all that in mind, let's explore it a little further.

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Blog and podcast overview

I moved from New York City to São Paulo in the summer of 2001 with a six-month return ticket. I'm still here. Best laid plans and all that ...

Why I'm still here is what this blog and podcast is all about.

All of my work here emerges from my study at Dr. Norberto Keppe's Institute of Integral Psychoanalysis in São Paulo.

The title, Thinking With Somebody Else's Head, derives from a conversation with my good friend, Cesar Soós. We were discussing how we human beings base our lives on opinions and points of view we seldom question. A lot of this comes from the heads of people who’ve been dead for awhile. And what's worse is ... we don't even realize it.

This podcast wants to change all that. Thanks to Keppe, we can finally understand what was going on in those long-dead heads. And what their ideas have done to our understanding of reality. Come on along for the ride. What have you got to lose? For sure, you'll never get anywhere thinking with somebody else's head.