{"id":44820,"date":"2015-06-20T09:41:11","date_gmt":"2015-06-20T15:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=44820"},"modified":"2015-06-20T02:22:48","modified_gmt":"2015-06-20T09:22:48","slug":"the-buddhist-view-of-the-external-world-the-chulla-haththi-padopama-sutta-and-quantum-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/06\/20\/the-buddhist-view-of-the-external-world-the-chulla-haththi-padopama-sutta-and-quantum-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"The Buddhist view of the external world, the\u00a0 Chulla-Haththi-Padopama sutta and\u00a0 Quantum Reality."},"content":{"rendered":"

By Bodhi Dhanapala, Quebec, Canada.<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

One or two of the 40 topics covered by\u00a0 Dr. Nalin de Silva in just 180 lines-II<\/em>
\nWe have heard of a Jules Verne tale about\u00a0 Round the world in 80 days\u201d. But treating 40\u00a0 arcane topics\u00a0 in 180 lines was a fete achieved by Dr. Nalin de Silva (NS) in a Vidusara article on 4-June-2015.\u00a0 He claims that Bodhi Dhanapala’s problem is that he cannot digest \u2013 i.e., understand \u2013 what he reads …\u00a0 \u0db6\u0ddd\u0db0\u0dd2 \u0db0\u0db1\u0db4\u0dcf\u0dbd \u0db8\u0dc4\u0dad\u0dcf\u0d9c\u0dda \u0db4\u0dca\u200d\u0dbb\u0dc1\u0dca\u0db1\u0dba \u0d94\u0dc4\u0dd4\u0da7 \u0dad\u0db8\u0dcf \u0d9a\u0dd2\u0dba\u0dc0\u0dcf \u0d87\u0dad\u0dd2 \u0daf\u0dda \u0daf\u0dd2\u0dbb\u0dc0\u0dcf \u0d9c\u0dd0\u0db1\u0dd3\u0db8\u0da7 \u0db1\u0ddc\u0dc4\u0dd0\u0d9a\u0dd2 \u0dc0\u0dd3\u0db8\u00a0 \u2026), without realizing\u00a0 that an incoherent melange\u00a0\u00a0 (\u0db8\u0dd0\u0dbd\u0dca\u0dbd\u0dd4\u0db8\u0d9a\u0dca) of 40 leaves, roots and barks produces an indigestible salad\u00a0 which reflects the cook’s\u00a0 inabilities.<\/p>\n

We look at Dr. Silva’s theories where he claims that the external world does not exist unless it is being perceived by a mind (a solipsist view). Dr. Silva’s solipsist view is also\u00a0 the view of John Wheeler. Prof. Wheeler\u00a0 introduced the idea of delayed choice\u201d where the past can be retroactively changed by actions of the present (which are merely mental actions for a solipsist). However, Dr Silva says that he does not accept that the past can be modified by actions of the present\u00a0 \u0db0\u0db1\u0db4\u0dcf\u0dbd \u0db8\u0dc4\u0dad\u0dcf … \u0d9a\u0dd2\u0dba\u0db1\u0dca\u0db1\u0dda \u0db8\u0da7 \u0d85\u0db1\u0dd4\u0dc0 \u0dc0\u0dbb\u0dca\u0dad\u0db8\u0dcf\u0db1\u0dba \u0dc0\u0dd2\u0dc3\u0dd2\u0db1\u0dca \u0d85\u0dad\u0dd3\u0dad\u0dba \u0db1\u0dd2\u0dbb\u0dca\u0dab\u0dba \u0d9a\u0dd9\u0dbb\u0dd9\u0db1 \u0db6\u0dc0 \u0dba.\u00a0 … \u0db8\u0dcf \u0d9a\u0ddc\u0dc4\u0dda\u0dc0\u0dad\u0dca \u0d91\u0dc0\u0dd0\u0db1\u0dca\u0db1\u0d9a\u0dca \u0d9a\u0dd2\u0dba\u0dcf \u0db1\u0dd0\u0dad.\u00a0 But Dr. Silva has mis-understood what he has picked up, and erroneously claims that Wheeler did not accept his own\u00a0 theory\u00a0 of delayed choice\u00a0 \u0db4\u0dca\u200d\u0dbb\u0db8\u0dcf\u0daf \u0dad\u0dda\u0dbb\u0dd3\u0db8\u0da7 \u0d85\u0db1\u0dd4\u0dc0 \u0dc0\u0dbb\u0dca\u0dad\u0db8\u0dcf\u0db1\u0dba \u0dc0\u0dd2\u0dc3\u0dd2\u0db1\u0dca \u0d85\u0dad\u0dd3\u0dad\u0dba \u0dad\u0dd3\u0dbb\u0dab\u0dba \u0d9a\u0dd9\u0dbb\u0dd9\u0db1\u0dca\u0db1\u0dda \u0dba\u0dd0\u0dba\u0dd2 \u0d9a\u0dd2\u0dba\u0dd0\u0dc0\u0dd9\u0db1 \u0db6\u0dc0 \u0dba. \u2026. \u0dc0\u0dd3\u0dbd\u0dbb\u0dca \u0d92 \u0d85\u0dbb\u0dca\u0dae\u0d9a\u0dae\u0db1\u0dba\u0da7 \u0dc0\u0dd2\u0dbb\u0dd4\u0daf\u0dca\u0db0 \u0dc0\u0dd2\u0dba. \u0db0\u0db1\u0db4\u0dcf\u0dbd \u0db8\u0dc4\u0dad\u0dcf \u0d92 \u0db6\u0dc0 \u0db1\u0ddc\u0daf\u0dd0\u0db1…. We should hope\u00a0 that Dr. Silva would read up\u00a0 before he rushes to print in the Vidusara.\u00a0 Giving a false date to the Schrodinger Equation, or\u00a0 mis-pronouncing\u00a0 the name of de Broglie\u201d, or\u00a0 mis-representing how\u00a0 two photon beams scatter from each other,\u00a0 and many other physics errors could have been avoided by\u00a0 Dr. Silva by least looking up the Wikipedia or checking\u00a0 with a colleague.<\/p>\n

The Buddha was a realist and not a solipsist.
\nThe idea\u00a0 that there is no real world, and that what\u00a0 seems to exist is a creation of\u00a0 the mind
\nis sometimes\u00a0 presented\u00a0 as the Buddhist view (“\u0db8\u0da7 \u0db8\u0db1\u0dc3\u0dd2\u0db1\u0dca \u0dad\u0ddc\u0dbb \u0dbd\u0ddd\u0d9a\u0dba\u0d9a\u0dca \u0db1\u0dd0\u0dad\u0dca\u0dad\u0dda \u0db8\u0d9c\u0dda \u0dbd\u0ddd\u0d9a\u0dba \u0db8\u0d9c\u0dda \u0db8\u0db1\u0dc3\u0dd9\u0dc4\u0dd2 \u0db1\u0dd2\u0dbb\u0dca\u0db8\u0dcf\u0dab\u0dba\u0d9a\u0dca \u0dc0\u0db1 \u0db6\u0dd0\u0dc0\u0dd2\u0db1\u0dd2\u201d,\u00a0 Vidusara, 29-04-2015).\u00a0 It\u00a0 is\u00a0 really a Judo-Christian idealistic view; the world exists in God’s mind, and we are merely his thoughts. God’s act of creation was to just think about\u00a0 the world. The Judaic nd\u00a0 Hellenic worlds, as well as proto-Indian and Chinese civilizations all had such Creators with different names ( Yeheva, Brahma, Shangdi, Tian, etc). By about the 5-6th century before CE, many thinkers challenged this. The\u00a0 Buddha was a foremost agnostic thinker in India and opposed\u00a0 the Brahminic-Judo-Christian Idealist\u00a0 approach presented by Dr. NS and others. Indeed, Dr. NS,\u00a0 and Basil Mendis, the flat-earth Catholic philosopher, are kindred solipsists. Having rejected evidence-based truth, they can only resort to revealed truth, from God, or from Gods like Natha or Vishnu. In saying \u0d85\u0db4\u0dd2 \u0db4\u0dda\u0db1 \u0d85\u0dc3\u0db8\u0dd4, \u0d9a\u0dda\u0db1\u0dca\u0daf\u0dbb \u0db6\u0dbd\u0db8\u0dd4, \u0db4\u0d82\u0da0\u0dd9\u0db1\u0dca\u0daf\u0dca\u200d\u0dbb\u0dd2\u0dba \u0d9c\u0ddd\u0da0\u0dbb \u0db1\u0ddc\u0dc0\u0db1 \u0da2\u0dd3\u0dc0\u0dd3\u0db1\u0dca \u0dc4\u0dcf \u0dc0\u0dc3\u0dca\u0dad\u0dd4 \u0d9c\u0dd0\u0db1 \u0dc0\u0dd2\u0dc1\u0dca\u0dc0\u0dcf\u0dc3 \u0d9a\u0dbb\u0db8\u0dd4, Dr. Silva pushes out\u00a0\u00a0 the Brahmajala sutta to\u00a0 the back burner.\u00a0 While Dr. Basil Mendis was true to his Catholicism, Dr. Silva’s\u00a0 implicit\u00a0 Judo-Christian thinking\u00a0\u00a0 re-interprets\u00a0 Buddhist Suttas to fit\u00a0 his solipsist approach.<\/p>\n

In contrast to Nalin de Silva’s solipsism, the Buddha in the Chulla-Haththi-padopama sutta\u00a0 exhorts the people to go to the elephant to observe the creature; an evidence-based approach. Buddha doesn’t ask them, to visualize it in your mind\u201d, as Dr. Silva says,\u00a0 regarding a straight line (\u0dc3\u0dbb\u0dbd \u0dbb\u0dda\u0d9b\u0dcf\u0dc0\u0d9a\u0dca \u0d85\u0db3\u0dd2\u0db1\u0dd4 \u0dad\u0db6\u0dcf \u0dc3\u0dd2\u0dad\u0dd9\u0db1\u0dca \u0db8\u0dc0\u0dcf\u0d9c\u0dd0\u0db1\u0dd3\u0db8\u0da7\u0dc0\u0dad\u0dca \u0db1\u0ddc\u0dc4\u0dd0\u0d9a\u0dd2 \u0db6\u0dc0 \u0dba. 29-04-2015) or the gravitational force.\u00a0 ANYONE\u00a0 can observe the Elephant, a fact of the external world.\u00a0 However, Dr. NS says that there are a few people who have seen this God (Natha) and other spirits\u00a0 \u0db8\u0dda \u0daf\u0dd9\u0dc0\u0dd2\u0dba\u0db1\u0dca \u0db7\u0dd6\u0dad\u0dba\u0db1\u0dca \u0d86\u0daf\u0dd3\u0db1\u0dca \u0daf\u0dd0\u0d9a\u0d9c\u0dad\u0dca \u0d9a\u0dd2\u0dc4\u0dd2\u0db4 \u0daf\u0dd9\u0db1\u0dd9\u0d9a\u0dca \u0db1\u0db8\u0dd4\u0dad\u0dca \u0dbd\u0ddd\u0d9a\u0dba\u0dda \u0dc3\u0dd2\u0da7\u0dd2\u0dad\u0dd2\u201d. So he has not gone and seen them by himself, as demanded by the Buddha. Indeed, the Loch Ness monster,\u00a0 the Abominable Snowman, God Natha\u00a0 and aliens in flying saucers have also been seen by a few select people!!!!!<\/p>\n

We dare not\u00a0 remind Dr. Silva of the Kalama sutta but Carlo Fonseka and Tchirbatsky do. The Buddha’s strongly empirical approach is\u00a0 discussed in detail by Tchirbatsky in his book on Buddhist logic (esp., Vol. I), where many examples from Buddhist texts are given. These make sense only in an objective world which exists external to our minds. Tchirbatsky\u00a0 refers to a Sutta where the Buddha brings up the analogy of the goldsmith who tests various metals to determine if they are base or noble metals\u201d. This testing is done using the touch stone and other methods known to the goldsmith \u2013\u00a0 i.e., empirical methods rejected by Dr. de Silva. In the same empirical methodology, the Buddha exhorts you to test out the Four Noble truths via your own experience.<\/p>\n

When we observe the elephant, we only observe the consequences of an elephant being within our ambit. It occupies space and is heavy to push. He can be seen, and the light reflected onto a camera or a retina,\u00a0 digitized and recorded show that we are not drunk or merely raving when we saw an elephant and not God Natha. We can record te animal’s skeleton using\u00a0 X-rays, though not seen by the five senses. Its DNA\u00a0 confirms it as an elephant and not\u00a0 a mammoth. All these methods were not available in Buddha’s days, and he did not speak of them. The existence of the elephant is recorded on various instruments as a set of pointer readings accessible to anybody.<\/p>\n

Dr Silva asks but a gravitational attraction exists although it cannot be observed by the five senses?\u00a0 \u0d91\u0dc4\u0dd9\u0dad\u0dca \u0db4\u0d82\u0da0\u0dd9\u0db1\u0dca\u0daf\u0dca\u200d\u0dbb\u0dd2\u0dba \u0d9c\u0ddd\u0da0\u0dbb \u0db1\u0ddc\u0dc0\u0db1 \u0d9c\u0dd4\u0dbb\u0dd4\u0dad\u0dca\u0dc0\u0dcf\u0d9a\u0dbb\u0dca\u0dc2\u0dab\u0dba \u0d87\u0dad\u201d?\u00a0 Gravity IS accessible to the five senses and Dr. Silva gets his physics wrong, as usual.\u00a0 Just as the existence of the elephant is observed\u00a0 as a set of digital data or pointer readings visible to anyone,\u00a0 the\u00a0 existence of the gravitational field can observed\u00a0 by anyone as a set of pointer readings.\u00a0 Since Dr. Silva says \u0db8\u0da7 \u0d9c\u0dd4\u0dbb\u0dd4\u0dad\u0dca\u0dc0\u0dcf\u0d9a\u0dbb\u0dca\u0dc2\u0dab\u0dba \u0db4\u0d82\u0da0\u0dd9\u0db1\u0dca\u0daf\u0dca\u200d\u0dbb\u0dd2\u0dba \u0d9c\u0ddd\u0da0\u0dbb \u0db6\u0dc0 \u0db4\u0dd9\u0db1\u0dca\u0dc0\u0dd2\u0dba \u0dc4\u0dd0\u0d9a\u0dd2 \u0db6\u0da7\u0dc4\u0dd2\u0dbb \u0dc0\u0dd2\u0daf\u0dca\u200d\u0dba\u0dcf\u0da5\u0dba\u0d9a\u0dd4 \u0d87\u0dad\u0dca\u0db1\u0db8\u0dca \u0db8\u0db8 \u0d94\u0dc4\u0dd4\u0da7 \u0db1\u0dcf\u0dae \u0daf\u0dd9\u0dc0\u0dd2\u0dba\u0db1\u0dca \u0db4\u0dd9\u0db1\u0dca\u0dc0\u0db8\u0dd2, can he show the pointer readings corresponding to God Natha that can be seen by anyone?<\/p>\n

In reporting the pointer readings, you can state that there is a gravitational force, or that there is an observable\u00a0 curvature in spacetime, or that there is a flux of gravitons which are massless bosons carrying a spin of two. One can show that these different reports are all equivalent, up to the accuracy of the experiment. That is, these theories yield the same pointer readings.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Dr. Silva\u00a0 knows little about the history or the socio-biology\u00a0 of God Natha.\u00a0 So\u00a0 he says\u00a0 (you deny)\u00a0 god Natha because he is ours, while accept gravity because the white people say so \u0d92 \u0db1\u0dcf\u0dae \u0daf\u0dd9\u0dc0\u0dd2\u0dba\u0db1\u0dca \u0db1\u0db8\u0dd2\u0db1\u0dca \u0dc4\u0dd0\u0db3\u0dd2\u0db1\u0dca\u0dc0\u0dd9\u0db1 \u0db4\u0dca\u200d\u0dbb\u0dcf\u0dab\u0dd2\u0dba\u0dcf \u0d85\u0db4\u0dda \u0db1\u0dd2\u0dc3\u0dcf \u0daf? \u0d9c\u0dd4\u0dbb\u0dd4\u0dad\u0dca\u0dc0\u0dcf\u0d9a\u0dbb\u0dca\u0dc2\u0dab\u0dba \u0d9c\u0dd0\u0db1 \u0d9a\u0dd2\u0dba\u0db1\u0dca\u0db1\u0dda \u0dc3\u0dd4\u0daf\u0dca\u0daf\u0db1\u0dca \u0db1\u0dd2\u0dc3\u0dcf \u0daf? The God Natha\u00a0 was the God of the Nagas. He\u00a0 is really an apotheosis of snake worship. The tradition may appear\u00a0 Indo-Asian . However, the great zoologist and socio-biologist E. O. Wilson and others\u00a0 present evidence\u00a0 that\u00a0 Respect for Snakes\u201d is ingrained even in our DNA. So Natha is universally deified or feared\u00a0 in human and even in Simian\u00a0 cultures.<\/p>\n

Dr. Silva implies that whites have told us about gravity. However, any physics student, brown or not, can determine the gravitational constant G occurring in Newton’s equation.\u00a0 They will get the same value for G, whether having a Portuguese name or not,\u00a0 although Dr. Silva thinks that\u00a0 all this is cultural, and not applicable to brown-skinned people\u00a0 (“\u0db0\u0db1\u0db4\u0dcf\u0dbd \u0db8\u0dc4\u0dad\u0dcf \u0db1\u0dd2\u0dbb\u0dca\u0db8\u0dcf\u0dab\u0dcf\u0dad\u0dca\u0db8\u0d9a \u0dc3\u0dcf\u0db4\u0dda\u0d9a\u0dca\u200d\u0dc2\u0dad\u0dcf\u0dc0\u0dcf\u0daf\u0dba \u0d9c\u0dd0\u0db1 \u0d9a\u0dd2\u0dc3\u0dd2\u0dc0\u0d9a\u0dca \u0db1\u0ddc\u0daf\u0db1\u0dca\u0db1\u0dcf \u0db6\u0dc0 \u0db4\u0dd0\u0dc4\u0dd0\u0daf\u0dd2\u0dbd\u0dd2 \u0dba. \u0d91\u0d9a\u0dca \u0dc3\u0d82\u0dc3\u0dca\u0d9a\u0dd8\u0dad\u0dd2\u0dba\u0d9a \u0dc0\u0dbd\u0d82\u0d9c\u0dd4 \u0d91\u0dc4\u0dd9\u0dad\u0dca \u0dc0\u0dd9\u0db1\u0dad\u0dca \u0dc3\u0d82\u0dc3\u0dca\u0d9a\u0dd8\u0dad\u0dd2\u0dba\u0d9a \u0dc0\u0dbd\u0d82\u0d9c\u0dd4 \u0db1\u0ddc\u0dc0\u0db1 \u0dc0\u0dd2\u0daf\u0dca\u200d\u0dba\u0dcf\u0dad\u0dca\u0db8\u0d9a \u0dc3\u0dad\u0dca\u200d\u0dba\u0dba\u0d9a\u0dca \u0dad\u0dd2\u0db6\u0dda \u0daf\u0dd0\u0dba\u0dd2 …, Vidusara 17-06-2015)..\u00a0 His excuse is that these are useful and consistent\u00a0 lies. So,\u00a0 the science behind computers and moon landings is a useful lie independent of all cultures.\u00a0 Clearly, we have to replace the word Lie\u201d in Dr. Silva’s\u00a0 dictionary with Truth\u201d,\u00a0 and vice versa, and nothing will change!<\/p>\n

Dr. Silva studied mathematics up to the B.Sc and one and a half years of post-graduate mathematics.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The principle of impermanence tells you that nothing is permanent, since each event changes to another. But\u00a0 there is a definite function of time f(t) of events, produced by the process of\u00a0 the patticcha Samuthpada.\u00a0\u00a0 An event is a nama-rupa entity. These change\u00a0 but there is a sequence of\u00a0 such nama-rupa, viz.,\u00a0\u00a0 f(t), tb.<t<td\u00a0 with well-defined boundary condition for birth b and death d, that we identify as Dr. NS or Dutugamunu etc. In fact, Buddhists identify the Buddha even in his past lives, where as Dr NS rejects even the notion of DutuGemunu.?<\/p>\n

Wheeler’s Delayed Choice\u201d concept and quantum reality.<\/p>\n

But Dr. Silva’s solipsism is unbounded. He has recently pulled out a maverick view expressed by Dr. John Archibold Wheeler (a student of Einstein)\u00a0 known as the delayed choice principle\u201d where it is claimed that a person can change the past retroactively by an act ion carried out at the present moment. However, for a solipsist, an action is really an act of the mind. The delayed choice\u201d\u00a0 is claimed as a quantum property of the world.<\/p>\n

Dr. Silva has tried to change the history of the quantum theory in several Vidusara articles, stating\u00a0 that Schrodinger heard of de Broglie’s theory of the wave-particle duality in 1927 at the Solvay conference. Dr. NS claims that no one had even a hint of it till then, and that Solvay inspired him to discover\u00a0 the famous Schrodinger equation. However, de Broglie’s theory was publicized in 1924.\u00a0 Apparently Dr. Silva\u00a0 copied\u00a0 these errors\u00a0 from Jim Baggot’s book. Dr. Silva does not seem to know that Schrodinger’s equation was presented\u00a0 in1925 and published in 1926, before Solvay.\u00a0 As Dr. Silva says, imitator intellectuals (\u0d85\u0db1\u0dd4\u0d9a\u0dcf\u0dbb\u0d9a \u0d8b\u0d9c\u0dad\u0dca\u0dad\u0dd4) copy\u00a0 mindlessly, without correction ” \u0d85\u0db1\u0dd4\u0d9a\u0dbb\u0dab\u0dba \u0dba\u0db1\u0dd4 \u0dba\u0db8\u0d9a\u0dca \u0dc3\u0d82\u0dc1\u0ddd\u0db0\u0db1\u0dba \u0db1\u0ddc\u0d9a\u0dbb,\u00a0 \u0d92 \u0d86\u0d9a\u0dcf\u0dbb\u0dba\u0dd9\u0db1\u0dca \u0db8 \u0dbd\u0db6\u0dcf \u0d9c\u0dd0\u0db1\u0dd3\u0db8 \u0dba. However, both Baggot and Dr. Silva might be correct if\u00a0 the effect (Schrodinger’s equation) came before the cause, as in delayed choice\u201d?<\/p>\n

Dr. Silva is a great\u00a0 imitator intellectual and mindlessly copies stuff not only from Baggot, but from others like\u00a0 Archibold Wheeler.\u00a0 Being taught by the\u00a0 British, Dr. Silva pronounces the name correctly, without making it Achibola Veelaara\u00a0 \u0d86\u0da0\u0dd2\u0db6\u0ddd\u0dbd \u0dc0\u0dd3\u0dbd\u0dcf\u0dbb or some such thing,\u00a0 as happened with de Broolie.\u00a0 When I mentioned the name Gregory and the form Girigoris a month ago, he did not affirm it, but now, in June he says that he is indeed using a Sinhaliazed form\u201d for de Broglie, instead of the correct de Broy\u201d.<\/p>\n

Another imitator action is where Dr. Silva copied an exercise from Wheeler and Taylor to inappropriately apply\u00a0 to the collision of two photons. As one of his students (Dr. Wansapura) pointed out,\u00a0 since\u00a0 photons are quantum particles,\u00a0 copying from Wheeler and applying it to photons is wrong physics. Wrong physics is Dr. Silva’s fort\u00e9. He claims that very high energy photons will show their mass and interact. However, instead of showing mass, they will annihilate\u00a0 into electron-positron pairs, with the excess momentum going to a near by nucleus, and NOT to another photon as the photon-photon interaction occurs only in higher order than the photon-matter interaction. Since photons travel at the maximum speed, there is always some matter nearby\u201d to preserve momentum conservation. But not understanding this,\u00a0 Dr. NS say “when I said that two high energy photons will interact instead of passing through each other, Dhanapala says that those photons will annihilate\u00a0 – isn’t\u00a0 that an interaction? \u0d89\u0dad\u0dcf \u0d85\u0db0\u0dd2\u0d9a \u0dc1\u0d9a\u0dca\u0dad\u0dd2\u0dba \u0d87\u0dad\u0dd2 \u0dc6\u0ddd\u0da7\u0ddd\u0db1 \u0daf\u0dd9\u0d9a\u0d9a\u0dca \u0d91\u0d9a\u0dd2\u0db1\u0dd9\u0d9a \u0db4\u0dc3\u0dcf\u0dbb\u0dd4 \u0d9a\u0dbb \u0db1\u0ddc\u0d9c\u0ddc\u0dc3\u0dca \u0d85\u0db1\u0dca\u0dad\u0dbb\u0dca\u0d9a\u0dca\u200d\u0dbb\u0dd2\u0dba\u0dcf\u0dc0\u0d9a \u0dba\u0dd9\u0daf\u0dd9\u0db1 \u0db6\u0dc0 \u0db8\u0dcf \u0d9a\u0dd3 \u0dc0\u0dd2\u0da7 \u2026 \u0db0\u0db1\u0db4\u0dcf\u0dbd\u00a0 … \u0d92 \u0dc6\u0ddd\u0da7\u0ddd\u0db1 \u0d8b\u0da0\u0dca\u0da1\u0dd9\u0daf\u0db1\u0dba \u0d9a\u0dbb\u0db1 \u0db6\u0dc0 \u0dba! \u0d91\u0dba \u0d85\u0db1\u0dca\u0dad\u0dbb\u0dca\u0d9a\u0dca\u200d\u0dbb\u0dd2\u0dba\u0dcf\u0dc0\u0d9a\u0dca \u0db1\u0ddc \u0dc0\u0dda \u0daf? (I have deleted Dr. Silva’s habitual insults to those who attempt to help him out from his muddle).<\/p>\n

There is more imitator intellectualism\u00a0 to come.\u00a0 Dr. Silva claims that\u00a0 Dr. Archibold Wheeler did NOT accept that there is a possibility of delayed choice\u201d, i.e., a possibility of retroactively changing the past by an action in the present, and Dr. Silva claims that he too does not believe that an action in the present can change the past. Dr. Silva has not given the reasons WHY he rejects Wheeler’s delayed choice. Is he just imitating Wheeler in his mistaken belief that Wheeler did not support his own theory of Delayed choice?<\/p>\n

If Dr. Silva had read Wheeler’s publications with understanding, an encyclopedia or any books discussing Wheeler’s delayed choice\u201d he would have seen Wheeler’s oft quoted sayings like “no phenomenon is a phenomenon until it is an observed phenomenon”, which is a very radical position. Wheeler famously said that the “past has no existence except as recorded in the present”, and that the Universe does not “exist, out there independent of all acts of observation”. Unlike Wheeler, Einstein believed in an external reality, and\u00a0 invented paradoxes to find loop holes in the Copenhagen version of the quantum theory.\u00a0 All these paradoxes are discussed in detail in Prof. Dharmawardana’s book A Physicist’s view of Matter and Mind\u201d(2013). Wheeler’s radical views can be read in his 1978 writings or from\u00a0 his discussion in The\u00a0 Quantum Theory and Measurement, edited by J.A. Wheeler and W.H. Zurek (1983).<\/p>\n

What is wrong with Wheeler’s delayed choice? I asked Prof. Dharmawardana via an e-mail for a simple explanation. He says that most of these paradoxical statements (as\u00a0 in the Delayed choice\u201d, or the two-slit experiment) arise\u00a0 from the assumption that a quantum particle passes through both slits and not just one slit\u201d when both choices are available,\u00a0 where as what\u00a0 is observed depends on the experimental set up right-now. In Bohm’s Quantum Mechanics\u00a0 there is a well-posed real world;\u00a0 the electrons or photons pass through one or the other of the slits just like classical particles, and if you take a sufficiently large number of them, and only then, that an interference pattern arises. The past exists, but if the experimental set up is changed part-way through\u00a0 the motion of the electron (after having gone through one or the other slit)\u00a0 at some moment Tx, then the electron simply takes a new path consistent with the new set up. The cause always precedes the effect.\u00a0 This is also clear from the very detailed discussion given by Hiley and Callagan ( http:\/\/www.bbk.ac.uk\/tpru\/BasilHiley\/DelayedChoice.pdf<\/a> ) using Bohm’s Method as well as the more traditional quantum mechanics (where the past, prior to any observation is unknown due to the collapse of the wavefunction\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is interesting to note that Dr. Silva has given a discussion of the two-slit experiment (deposited in a pre-print archive, and not published in a peer-reviewed international journal).\u00a0 He also makes the assumption that any given photon or electron passes through both slits. Thus it seems that although Dr. Silva says that he rejects the Delayed Choice concept\u201d, his two-slit theory will land him directly into the solipsist position taken by Wheeler.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bodhi Dhanapala, Quebec, Canada. One or two of the 40 topics covered by\u00a0 Dr. Nalin de Silva in just 180 lines-II We have heard of a Jules Verne tale about\u00a0 Round the world in 80 days\u201d. But treating 40\u00a0 arcane topics\u00a0 in 180 lines was a fete achieved by Dr. Nalin de Silva (NS) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44820\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}