326 The Poetry of Physics and The Physics of Poetry
Dirac’s relativistic quatum mechanics, Feynman diagrams and
electrodynamics, Gell Mann’s quarks, quantum chromodynamics, the
Big Bang theory, dark matter and energy and the idea of the multiverse.
- Discuss the philosophical implications of some aspect of physics.
Examples: Newtonian causality, the breakdown of causality in quantum
mechanics, the idea of action at a distance, the concept of entropy, the
quantization of energy, the relationship of causality and free will, the
expanding universe and the Big Bang, the existence of dark matter and
energy. Can all phenomena be reduced to basic physics or is the notion
of strong emergence a more appropriate approach to understanding other
sciences such as biology?
- Discuss how science affected the arts, technology, politics, economics
or social life or vice-versa how these areas affected science.
Examples: The camera obscura and perspective in Renaissance painting;
optics, colour theory and Impressionist painting; photography and
modern art; Newtonian mechanics and the Industrial Revolution; the
printing press and the Science Revolution; the telescope and the Science
Revolution. Examine the moral implications of the development of the
atomic bomb. Consider this question in light of Michael Frayn’s play
Copenhagen. Is there a relationship between modern art and relativity
and quantum mechanics? Are anarchy and entropy in any way related?
- Compare a scientific idea or system with the world view or
philosophical system of any of the following: a non-scientific culture, a
non-Western society, one or several of the major world religions.
Examples: Compare Newtonian physics with ancient Chinese, Egyptian,
Mesopotamian and Greek physics.
Compare modern cosmology with the Copernican universe or the
creation myths of an oral culture.
What are the parallels of modern science and any of the religious texts
such as the Bible, the Koran, or the Bhagavad-Gita?
Discuss the implications for religion of the anthropic principle which
holds that the constants of nature are not accidental but are fine tuned to
make human life possible.