I wondered:
Why are some people great while others are not?
Why is it so that some people lead while others follow?
Why is it so that so many people just follow fashions?
Why? Why is it so indeed?
Those who follow that part of themselves that is great
Become great men
Those who follow that part of themselves that is small
Become small men
[Menzius]
But why is it so that some people achieve while
others remain dreaming?
Why?
Whatever you can do
Or dream you can
Begin it
[W. Goethe]
But what if I have so many dreams? Which one to follow?
Every man has his own vocation. The talent is the call. There is one
direction in which all space is open to him. He has faculties silently
inviting him thither to endless exertion.
He is like a ship in a river; he runs against obstructions on every side
but one; on that side all obstruction is taken away, and he sweeps serenely
over God's depths into an infinite sea.
This talent and this call depend on his organisation, or the mode in which
a general soul incarnates in him. He inclines to do something which is
easy to him, and good when it is done, but which no other man can do. He
has no rival. For the more truly he consults his own powers, the more difference
will his work exhibit from the work of any other. When he is true and faithful,
his ambition is exactly proportional to his powers.
By doing his work he makes the need felt which he can supply.
[Emerson]
Never do as others do. Either do nothing, just go to school, or do
something no one else does.
[Gurdjieff]
But that is not all.
Why is it so that some people succeed while others are doomed to fail?
Why do some start with good intentions, but meet insurmountable obstacles
on their way?
While others make easy progress?
Why is it so?
Oh, yes. There are reasons for that too. This is the greatest of all
secrets. But it can be revealed.
I am a theoretical physicist fascinated by the problems of the
Foundations of Quantum Theory, and its relation to Philosophy
of Science, Theory of Knowledge, Consciousness, and Mind.
In the past I worked on
algebraic methods of quantum theory
differential geometric methods of field theory,
theories of gravitation
Kaluza-Klein theories of hidden dimensions
supersymmetry, non-commutative geometry
Around 1990 I decided enough is enough - I want to follow what always
fascinated me most: more esoteric and more difficult ideas. Those that
demand going beyond the established boundaries of Physics. I am
aware that trespassing into alien territories brings danger. Therefore
going there I want to keep with me:
my only food - repeatable facts
my only arms - mathematical equations
my only bullets - numbers
my only shield - common sense.
I do not know how far I will go and how much of the uncharted land will
be revealed to me. Other travelers have crossed these territories many
times - but often with different goals in their minds.
I believe that Mathematics and Physics are our best tools for
conquering the Unknown.
I am not saying they are "the only tools". I am saying they
are "the best" ones that we know.
We should aim at converting "unspeakable" into "speakable,"
and then the speakable into logic and mathematics.
Next, we must reshape and extend the "real world" around us.
I believe that this is our lot. Running away from this lot is weakness.
Running away from reality makes sense only if, at the final instant, it
brings "progress in science." Here I mean "progress"
in its ordinary, naive, sense: progress in understanding, progress in theory,
progress in technology. I am well aware of the dangerous aspects of any
"progress," but we have no other choice.
We must do all we can, and we must try even more to avoid these dangers
- but we must not cease in our efforts to make the next step, and then
the next. At the same time we must not cease to make continuously all efforts
that we can to understand better
why we are here?
We must convert this understanding into our everyday language that we
talk to our children.
The best way to reach me is by sending me e-mail.
My further data are on my Data page. If you
have pages of your own that you want me to visit, or if you have a comment
that can help me to make my pages better - whoever you are - please e-mail
me. Or make Your entry to my guestbook. I am always
glad to listen to other people's opinions, always happy to enrich my own
restricted views, and always ready to answer doubts or questions.
This name came to my mind
in Florence on a
sunny Saturday of June 9, 1990, while walking along Viale Niccolo Machiavelli
up to Piazza Michelangelo. Together with the name,
Quantum Future, there came a feeling of weight and of urgency. I decided
that I should not waste my time any more doing what others consider important.
I felt that certain ideas that were waiting some place in my mind for so
many years must not be postponed. That there is nothing more important
than them. And so I decided to venture a new project. I knew from the very
beginning that such an excursion into unknown territories is better undertaken
in a company rather than alone. And I remembered discussions that I had
with Philippe
Blanchard a few years ago in Bielefeld.
I wrote to him, and my proposal was met with a most friendly response.
The project has started.
It is about Quantum and about Future. It is about Potential
and about Actual.It is about Space and about Time.
I want it to be also about Knowledge and about Mind, about
Determinism and about Free Will. And about knowing and understanding
of ourselves together with the outside world. I have chosen the
picture by Rene Magritte to symbolize the project. There is an ocean, and
over the ocean and under the sky, there is floating a granite rock that
carries a castle on its top. The rock seems weightless. Or better: it is
heavy, but gravity does not apply. I wish that one day the project will
bring us closer to an understanding of our hidden
powers that can make rocks float in mid-air.
If you want to know more about QF project, I invite you to visit my
Quantum Future page. If you are interested in physics,
you may want to see the list of papers that have been written so far on
this subject - please have a look at my QF Papers.
I also have a page with extracts from QF papers.
I tried to make them representative, and selected only those that express
ideas - no equations. There is also a separate Metaphysics.
There I want to tell more about my reasons for believing that physics must
be extended rather than declared unsuitable to help us understand mind
and consciousness.
![Photo [3KB]](ajadmin.gif){kind=link}
My current
research project is ... I call it ![[Chateau des Pyrenees by Rene Magritte: 19KB]](pyrenees.gif)
