The Two Cultures: Shared Problems PDF
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The Two Cultures: Shared Problems Ernesto Carafoli · Gian Antonio Danieli Giuseppe O. Longo Editors The Two Cultures: Shared Problems 123 ErnestoCarafoli GiuseppeO.Longo DipartimentodiChimicaBiologica, DipartimentodiElettrotecnica, UniversitàdegliStudidiPadova ElettronicaeInformatica IstitutoVenetodiMedicinaMolecolare UniversitàdegliStudidiTrieste Padova,Italy Italy GianAntonioDanieli DipartimentodiBiologia UniversitàdegliStudidiPadova Italy ISBN 978-88-470-0868-7 e-ISBN 978-88-470-0869-4 DOI 10.1007/978-88-470-0869-4 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2008943321 ©2009Springer-VerlagItalia This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illus- trations,recitation,broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmorinanyotherway,andstoragein- databanks.Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is only permitted under the pro- visionsoftheItalianCopyrightLawinitscurrentversion,andpermissionforusemustal- waysbeobtainedfromSpringer-Verlag.ViolationsareliableforprosecutionundertheItalian CopyrightLaw. Coverconcept:SimonaColombo,Milano Coverfigure:ArrigoMarcolini Typesetting:le-texpublishingservicesoHG,Leipzig,Germany Printingandbinding:PrinterTrento,Trento Printedonacid-freepaper Springer-VerlagItalia–ViaDecembrio28–20137Milano springer.com Preface Thephrase“TheTwoCultures”wasusedbyCharlesPercySnowinthetitleofhis 1959 Rede Lecture at the University of Cambridge:although he had already used it in an article he had published three years earlier in The New Statesman, it was theRedeLecturethatattractedtoitimmediateandverywideattention.IntheLec- ture,Snowhadactuallyonlyspokenofscientificasopposedtoliterarycultureand had notdiscussed artistic culturein general.He hadpolemicallyequatedthe liter- arycultureofhistimewiththetraditionalculture,whichwastotally,andsomewhat evenproudly,ignorantofscience.Predictably,theliteraryintellectualsreactedfuri- ously,andafewyearslaterinasecondpublicationSnowthustalkedoptimistically ofaThirdCulturethatwouldfosterthedialoguebetweenscientistsandliteraryin- tellectuals.Theextensionoftheliteraryculturetothefullpanoramaofarts,which hadnotbeenmadebySnow,emergedgraduallyand,inhindsight,logically.Now, 50yearsaftertheRedeLecture,theexpression“TwoCultures”isnormallyusedto definebroadlythescientificandtheartisticcultures,notonlythescientificandthe literarycultures.And ithasgraduallybecomeacknowledgedthatthe two cultures havebasicdifferences:thescientificculturebeingobjectiveandinneedofverifica- tion, the artistic culture,and that would of course includeSnow’s originalliterary culture, being instead subjective and in no need of verification. However, even if intrinsicallydifferent,bothculturesareconcernedwiththebigproblemsthathave troubledhumankindsinceitstartedtothink:exceptthattheyhavetackled,andstill tacklethem,fromanglesthataresometimessodifferentthattheymakethedialogue all butimpossible.Yet, in line with Snow’soptimistic conceptof a ThirdCulture, such a dialogue, no matter how difficult, is necessary. This book is the result of a Symposium that had attempted to foster it. It has done so by identifyingimpor- tant problemsthat are commonto the two cultures, andby confrontingthem with thespecificintellectualtoolstheynormallyuse.Theyarethelargestproblemsthat confronthumankind,from that of time and its meaning,to that of infinity, to that of nothingness, to the “number one” problem, which was defined as the “Grund- frage”byGermanphilosophers,synthesizedbythefamousrhetoricalquestionfirst clearlyaskedbyLeibnizmorethan300yearsago:whyistheresomethinginsteadof v vi Preface nothing?TheGrundfrageactuallydefinesinastrikingmannerafundamentalprob- lemthetwocultureshavetackledinverydifferentways.Thegreatphilosophersof EuropeanChristianityhavetraditionallydiscusseditwithreferencetoGod.Some- how, from Leibniz, to Kant, to Schelling, science was never a significant partner in the discussion. It was only in the last century that Western philosophybecame attentivetosciencewhenconsideringthisfundamentalproblem.Perhapsthemost notable exampleof this enlargementof perspectivewas the famousOpeningLec- turebyMartinHeideggerin1929:“WasistMetaphysik?”Afterthat,answerstothe Grundfragewererationallyattemptedwiththecontributionofthescientificculture, withoutnecessarilyescapingintometaphysics. One last point could be mentioned, because it emphasizes the striking differ- enceinthewaysofthinkingbetweenEuropeanChristianity,fromAugustineallthe waytoHeidegger,theearlyGreeksand,especially,Orientals.Three-thousandyears beforeLeibniz,thefamouslybeautifulHymnoftheCreationinthephilosophical- mythologicaltextof the Indoariancivilization,the Rig Veda, sungthe problemof nothingness and the story of the beginning without claiming the intervention of Divinity:fromthedarkwaterychaostheworldemergedbythepowerofheat:de- sire, the first seed of thought, linked the nonexistent to the existent. Importantly, the Hymn explicitly declares that the Gods only came later, and ends by saying thatnobody,perhapsnotevenHe,whositsupthere,knowshowitallcameabout. Essentially,thecomingintobeingofthecreationthusremainscloudedinmystery Whoknows,really?Whowilldeclare,here, Whenceitwasproduced,whencethiscreation? TheGodscameafterwards,withthecreationofthisuniverse. Who,then,knowswhenceithascomeintobeing? Whencethiscreationhasarisen –perhapsitformeditself,orperhapsitdidnot– He,upthere,onlyHeknows. OrperhapsHeknowsnot. Ofcoursethesefundamentalproblems,ofwhichthatsungintheHymnoftheCre- ation is themostchallenging,onlyhavemeaningbecausethe humanmindis able tothinkthem.Thus,thesecondpartofthebookconvergesintoadiscussionofthe structure of the creativity process, analyzing the mechanism by which the human mind creates, irrespective of whether the productof this creativity ends up in the scientific orartisticculture.Conceptsofobviousinteresttobothcultureswillalso be discussed in detail, like symmetry and beauty itself. It will appear that the tra- ditionaldichotomybetweentruthandbeauty,whichareoftenandsosimplistically proclaimed to be the separate goals of the scientific and artistic cultures, is an in- sufficientapproximation.Theaimofbothculturesindeedisthequestforbothtruth andbeauty. December2008 TheEditors Acknowledgements WearegratefultoDr.LauraFedrizziandDr.SebastianoPedroccofortheirpre- ciouscooperation.WewouldalsoliketothankArrigoMarcoliniforprovidingthecoverfigure. ListofContributors LucianoBoi ÉcoledesHautesÉtudesenSciencesSociales,CentredeMathématiques Laboratoiredel’UniversetsesThéories(LUTH),ObservatoiredeParis-Meudon, EHESS-CAMS,Paris,France MarioBotta UniversitàdellaSvizzeraItaliana Studioarch.MarioBotta,Lugano,Switzerland DmitriBougakov 3/5West57thStreet,NewYork,USA ErnestoCarafoli UniversitàdegliStudidiPadova, DipartimentodiChimicaBiologica, IstitutoVenetodiMedicinaMolecolare,Padova,Italy RuthDurrer DépartementdePhysiqueThéorique,UniversitédeGenève,Switzerland MaurizioFerraris DipartimentodiFilosofia,UniversitàdegliStudidiTorino,Italy ElkhononGoldberg DepartmentofNeurology,NewYorkUniversitySchoolofMedicine, NewYork,NY,USA vii viii ListofContributors GiuseppeO.Longo DipartimentodiElettrotecnica,ElettronicaeInformatica, UniversitàdegliStudidiTrieste,Italy EugenioMazzarella DipartimentodiFilosofia, UniversitàdegliStudidiNapoli“FedericoII”,Italy J.J.A.Mooij RijksuniversitatGroningen, FacultyofMedicalSciences,TheNetherlands PiergiorgioOdifreddi DipartimentodiMatematica,UniversitàdegliStudidiTorino,Italy MichelangeloPistoletto Cittadellarte–FondazionePistoletto,Biella,Italy JoergRasche C.G.JungInstitutBerlin,Germany MarcusduSautoy NewcollegeOxford,MathematicalInstitute,UniversityofOxford,UK GiancarloSetti DipartimentodiAstronomia,UniversitàdegliStudidiBologna,Italy GiorgioVallortigara CentreforMind/BrainSciences,UniversitàdegliStudidiTrento,Italy GabrieleVeneziano TheoryDivision,CERN,Geneva,Switzerland CollègedeFrance,Paris,France Contents Preface.......................................................... v Listofcontributors............................................... vii Section1 Time,Infinity,Cosmology 1 DidTimeHaveaBeginning?AMeetingPointforScience andPhilosophy .............................................. 3 GabrieleVeneziano 1.1 Introduction............................................ 3 1.2 TimeinClassicalPhysics ................................ 4 1.3 GeneralRelativityandtheBeginning-of-TimeMyth .......... 5 1.4 TheBeginningofTime:aNecessityoraMyth?.............. 6 1.5 StringTheory:What’sThat? .............................. 7 1.6 String-InspiredCosmologies:aLongerHistoryofTime? ...... 8 References................................................... 10 Discussion ................................................... 11 2 TheFlowandtheMap:OntheDynamicandStaticViewsofTime. 13 J.J.A.Mooij 2.1 ThreeKeyEventsintheModernPhilosophyofTime ......... 13 2.2 TheTwoViewsofTime.................................. 15 2.3 TheTwoViewsandtheTwoCultures ...................... 19 References................................................... 23 Discussion ................................................... 24 3 TheEvolutionoftheUniverse ................................. 27 RuthDurrer 3.1 FromMythsto“RationalExplanations”ofPhenomena........ 27 3.1.1 TheChineseMythofPhanKu..................... 27 ix x Contents 3.1.2 ThePythagoreans ............................... 28 3.1.3 Ptolemy’sEpicycles ............................. 29 3.1.4 HeliocentricModel .............................. 30 3.1.5 Galileo’sPrincipleofRelativity.................... 31 3.2 TheEvolutionoftheUniverse............................. 31 3.3 Conclusions............................................ 35 References................................................... 36 Discussion ................................................... 37 4 AndtheEternalZenoSpringstoMind ......................... 39 PiergiorgioOdifreddi 4.1 Introduction............................................ 39 4.2 APerpetualRace ....................................... 39 4.3 ACompleteAutobiography............................... 40 4.4 EndoftheRace......................................... 41 4.5 APerfectMap.......................................... 42 4.6 KafkaesqueSituations ................................... 43 4.7 Borges’Inventions ...................................... 43 References................................................... 44 Discussion ................................................... 45 5 CreatingthePhysicalWorldexnihilo? OntheQuantumVacuumandItsFluctuations .................. 51 LucianoBoi 5.1 Introduction:TheVacuumasaPhilosophical andScientificConcept ................................... 51 5.2 TheDiracIdeaofVacuumasa“ParticleSea”: WaveFunction,DiracEquationandNegativeEnergy ......... 53 5.3 TheRoleofVacuuminModernPhysics: FromtheUniversetotheQuantumWorld ................... 55 5.4 The Problem of the Vacuum and the ConceptualConflict BetweenGRTandQM................................... 58 5.5 TopologyandCurvatureasaSourceofVacuumFields ........ 63 5.6 TheDirac“Full-ParticlesSea”IdeaandtheVacuum inQuantumFieldTheory................................. 64 5.7 HoleTheory,NegativeEnergySolutions, andVacuumFluctuations................................. 70 5.8 FurtherTheoreticalRemarkson the VacuumFluctuations: PoincaréConformalInvarianceandSpontaneousSymmetry BreakingSymmetry(SSB) ............................... 73 5.9 CreationofUniversesfromNothing........................ 77 5.10 StringLandscapeandVacuumEnergy:TheEmergence ofaMultidimensionalWorldfromGeometricalPossibilities ... 81 5.11 ConcludingRemarks .................................... 84 References................................................... 87 Discussion ................................................... 90 Contents xi 6 WorldlyNihilismandTheologicalNihilism–APossibleDefinition. 99 EugenioMazzarella 6.1 WhatNihilismIs........................................ 99 6.2 SubmissiontoExteriorityastheWorkofReason............. 104 6.3 WhatOvercomingNihilismIs............................. 111 References................................................... 112 Discussion ................................................... 112 7 GeneralDiscussionontheThemesoftheFirstSection............ 115 Section2 IntelligenceandEmotions 8 OriginalKnowledgeandtheTwoCultures ...................... 125 GiorgioVallortigara 8.1 Introduction............................................ 125 8.2 TheChickandtheBaby.................................. 126 8.3 AnimatedandNon-AnimatedObjects ...................... 131 8.4 Number ............................................... 137 8.5 Space ................................................. 139 8.6 Conclusions............................................ 142 References................................................... 143 Discussion ................................................... 144 9 TheManyFacesofIntelligence ................................ 147 ElkhononGoldbergandDmitriBougakov References................................................... 161 Discussion ................................................... 162 10 CyclesofRe-Creation–APsychoanalyticalApproachtoMusic ... 165 JoergRasche 10.1 Introduction............................................ 165 10.2 Chopin,Fantaisie-Impromptuop.66 ....................... 168 10.3 AbouttheInnerRe-CreationofOurWorld .................. 170 10.4 Schumann,Kreislerianaop.16 ............................ 171 10.4.1 The“InvisibleGirl”.............................. 172 10.4.2 TheSecondMovement........................... 173 10.4.3 TheGirl’sMelody............................... 173 10.4.4 PerturbationsandRe-Consolidations ............... 174 10.4.5 Introversion .................................... 175 10.4.6 ReappearanceoftheGirl’sMelody................. 175 10.4.7 TheHeartbreakingMoment....................... 177 Supplements ................................................. 178 References................................................... 180 Discussion ................................................... 180
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