A Preordained Universe Implied by Quantum Theory

Was there ever any choice in the Universe being as it is? Albert Einstein could have been wondering about this when he remarked to mathematician Ernst Strauss: “What I’m really interested in is whether God could have made the world in a different way; that is, whether the necessity of logical simplicity leaves any freedom at all.”

US physicist James Hartle, who died earlier this year aged 83, made seminal contributions to this continuing debate. Early in the twentieth century, the advent of quantum theory seemed to have blown out of the water ideas from classical physics that the evolution of the Universe is ‘deterministic’.

Hartle contributed to a remarkable proposal that, if correct, completely reverses a conventional story about determinism’s rise with classical physics, and its subsequent fall with quantum theory. A quantum Universe might, in fact, be more deterministic than a classical one — and for all its apparent uncertainties, quantum theory might better explain why the Universe is the one it is, and not some other version.     READ MORE...

Uniting Gravity, Spacetime, and Quantum Theory

In a groundbreaking announcement, physicists from University College London (UCL) have presented a radical theory that unifies the realms of gravity and quantum mechanics while preserving the classical concept of spacetime, as outlined by Einstein.

This innovative approach, detailed in two simultaneously published papers, challenges over a century of scientific consensus and proposes a revolutionary perspective on the fundamental nature of our universe.

Dichotomy in modern physics
Modern physics rests on two contradictory pillars: quantum theory, which rules the microscopic world, and Einstein’s theory of general relativity, explaining gravity through spacetime curvature. These theories, despite their individual successes, have remained irreconcilable, creating a significant rift in our understanding of the universe.  READ MORE...