Conversations Beyond Science and Religion - Spooky Action at a Distance

One of the most peculiar features of our modern scientific worldview is that forces act across distances, at times faster than the speed of light. This simple sentence violates two rock-solid underpinnings to the scientific worldview: first, the notion that nothing exists but particles in motion, and second, that nothing moves faster than the speed of light. Take gravity: what exactly holds planets in their orbits around the sun, the solar system in its orbit within the Milky Way, and the galaxies in their orbits around each other? How does this force act across distances to attract other bodies? With the horizon problem, scientists ponder how regions of space at opposite ends of the universe remain in virtual thermal equilibrium, even though no known mechanism, including light itself, could have caused the two separated regions to communicate. In his new book, Spooky Action at a Distance, this week’s guest, George Musser, contributing editor for Scientific American magazine, presents an absorbing and thought-provoking examination of scientific phenomena that drives toward only one conclusion: underneath the physical world of separate objects there might well be some underlying reality connecting thing together. Listen in as Philip and George Musser explore a topic that is just now getting the attention it deserves.

Conversations Beyond Science and Religion – Spooky Action at a Distance