Tom Campbell's University of Calgary Lectures from September 2011 at Alberta, Canada, appear to be a nice background for Thuban OmniScience.
I have not watched all of this yet, but share it here for reference purposes. Thank you Brook for sharing your links about those lectures on your forum on the Mists of Avalon.
Tonyblue
Reviews of My Big TOE by Thomas Campbell
A new review based on extensive study.
When I first became aware of Thomas Campbell and his trilogy of books, My Big TOE, I had already spent my life with the constant underlying purpose of learning to understand the nature of reality which in my view includes God. Not however the personal God described at your local religious institution. I had already published the results of my studies on the internet at www.active-mysticism.com. As a technical professional (Ph. D. – Mechanical Engineering) with a lot of computer modeling experience, I appreciated the technical approach taken by MBT and had a sufficient background to understand the models development. The brief information available (at www.mybigtoe.com) made me believe that I would learn from these books in the fields of my interest and the different point of view I expected to find promised to be even more enlightening. The results far exceeded my expectations. I was able to enlarge the bounds of my understanding of reality and to see how to fit things I had already become acquainted with into this larger context. The things to which I refer are described on my web site and my original understanding of reality is available there. After a very rewarding experience reading My Big TOE, I became able to expand my understanding of reality in a version 2 which is available starting here. I can best describe this experience as having my mind “catalyzed” to permit a rapid expansion of my understanding. My point of view is different from Thomas Campbell but I owe him a great debt of thanks for the value of the information he provided in his trilogy.
When I first reviewed Thomas Campbell’s My Big TOE, I was still working on my understanding of it. Having had some time since to digest and reflect on what I have read and learned in some part, I feel that I can give a different review now that attempts to give a direct overview of the contents and their significance rather than just an indirect recommendation. I am still in agreement with my previous review but perhaps this will provide more information to someone attempting to decide whether to invest the necessary time and a few dollars into reading this trilogy. I am still not going to attempt a review in detail of the contents, but rather to put the main contents, the importance of these works and what you might learn from them into a perspective that is perhaps comprehensive enough to be called a world view in light of these books.
As humanity and human society has developed from before recorded history, one of our continuing traits as humans is to attempt to understand the reality we perceive around us and our place in it. The trilogy My Big TOE by Thomas Campbell is a significant continuation of that quest for understanding. At present in human society this understanding is provided in general on a religious basis or on a scientific basis. Religions typically assume a prime being, God(s), who causes the balance of reality to come into existence. The nature of this prime being and its relationship to its creations has been studied by theologians who seek to analyze and theorize and in general integrate (mold) this being into their religious structure. It has also been studied by mystics who seek direct contact and understanding and are not necessarily concerned about whether the results fit a religion or not. A major departure by a mystic was made by a man who became known as the Buddha who brought an all encompassing Mind to the forefront of causation instead of a creator being.
Science as an institution makes no assumptions about God and leaves prime beings out of the story. Science as an activity pursued by human beings contains many aspects of creationism and religion as introduced by practitioners based on their own biases and predilections. Historical development and the obvious “physical” aspects of the world that we see and touch around us has led science to postulate a causeless explosion, the “big bang”, as the source of all that is observable and that consciousness arises from the observed physical reality in a way that science cannot yet explain. There have also been those scientists, including many of the greatest, who were inclined to apply mysticism to understanding and describing reality. This has also included the concept that the observable physical reality arises from some form of universal consciousness or mind. Science has attempted in recent times to seek a depth of understanding sufficient that the rules that describe the way reality functions can be expressed by such a powerful basic core of equations that all phenomena of reality can be deduced from these roots. This formulation is presently referred to as a Theory of Everything or TOE. And here, finally we reach the point where we are talking about Thomas Campbell’s creation, My Big TOE.
Thomas Campbell’s trilogy of books not only develop a Theory Of Everything but do so starting from what is arguably the most advanced concept of modern physics, a universal consciousness which generates everything else but not in the sense of God creating a separate physical reality of which we are a part. Rather as a consciousness that is native to a media that is the most basic “thing” existing, a field of “reality cells” in which the interactions between adjacent cells permit and form the basis of the functions of consciousness and allow anything that might be done as a computation in a digital computer to occur. Thomas Campbell describes the development of this state and this consciousness in a logical sequence based on a simple but powerful conceptualization of evolution. He does this as a scientist describing his researches rather than as a religionist or mystic. Within his logical development, this consciousness becomes universal and it is within this consciousness that we and all other existing conscious beings have our existence and interact in extensive, highly advanced societies. This is a reality composed of information being developed within a self programming digital consciousness. Within this consciousness are also many simulated realities of which our home earth and its surrounding universe is one. While earth and many other of these realities are simulations of physical realities, many are simulations of non-physical realities where conditions and the laws of (local) physics are much different from here.
Within these realities, the conscious beings including ourselves live interactive lives that are recorded for our edification. We undergo a sequence of lives in a continuing effort to “get it right”. We thereby enhance our own personal evolution as well as contribute to the evolution of the whole. These simulated physical lives are separated by periods in a simulated non-physical life during which we rest and recuperate and study to determine our mistakes and evaluate our progress. Actually, we split our consciousness and a part of it is always active in the non-physical life. The simple bottom line is that the purpose of these realities and lives is educational and developmental (i.e. spiritual) and we are in one of the lower grades in a rough part of town. These are not the only aspects of this reality that are described in this TOE but just from these few you can see that we have explained what happens after we “die”, reincarnation, past lives, life in the “spirit world” after death, are we the center of reality (and that’s a big NO), do other intelligent species exist, what is our purpose for existing and more. All presented as a scientist teaching a scientific theory and its applications, repeatedly at different levels and from different viewpoints for the edification of those out of their field or unused to science. Not as a new age practitioner, religionist or mystic espousing an opinion but as a qualified physicist.
Yes, you are right that this does not sound like “science” as you are used to it and that “science” would probably balk at talking about other intelligent beings, “simulated” realities, physical or otherwise and civilizations existing in other places to which we have no access. So how does Thomas Campbell know? You cannot study consciousness from the outside or with instrumentation. There we start to push the boundaries of being a main stream scientist as he has literally “been there and done that”. He explains his pertinent background both extensively and shallowly, omitting what he considers to be of entertainment value only. He experienced extensive out of body experiences (OOBE’s) as a child that he only remembered later as an adult. He was a member of Robert Monroe’s (www.MonroeInstitute.org) original team investigating OOBE’s. He has made his living in a career as a main stream physicist. Throughout his “normal” life he has developed his ability to bring information from his non-physical life into consciousness in this earth life and basically to experience himself as one consciousness experiencing two simultaneous simulated lives. So what he is telling us about is a logical development based on (powered by) his learning and experiences in the other physical and non-physical realities that we can access if we learn how. As he says, he keeps his eyes and ears open and learns all he can about the realities he experiences. And he does not invite you to believe him but to learn to participate yourself and evaluate what he has to say directly, based on your own experience. You are invited to participate in the exploration of reality and expansion of our understanding of it, complete with beginning instructions of how to do so.
This review is very limited in what can be covered in a reasonable space but I hope that I have provided an overview that shows where Thomas Campbell’s trilogy My Big TOE fits into the greater scheme of things: where science is going in the human quest to understand the reality we inhabit or rather of which we are a part. I have also tried to show you that Thomas Campbell is a uniquely qualified person to be offering this information to us. Also that this is information that is not obtainable elsewhere and that can provide you with insights into all aspects of reality. It can greatly improve the quality of your life through understanding if you are prepared to invest some time in its study.
~My original review written shortly after first reading, My Big TOE.
Who should read these books?
Anyone who desires to advance to adult level in this children's world in which we presently live should go to the trouble of working their way through this trilogy of books, whatever the cost in effort determined by the level at which you choose to learn.
Anyone who already functions as an adult should read this trilogy in order to complete your understanding of the Reality in which you must function and of which you are an integral part.
What can you expect to learn or achieve?
Almost everything that you need to know that is not, of necessity, "do it yourself" only! The author has specifically written the My Big TOE trilogy for reading on several levels with corresponding levels of effort required. Please understand that my comments are intended to encourage you to read, not to discourage you from reading, these books. My intent is to show you why you should read these books at no matter what cost in effort you choose to expend. First, you will find out how much you need to unlearn. Then you will find out how much you do not understand of what is being said and what is going on around you. If however you already possess a high level of such knowledge, you can expect to have a great deal clarified. This trilogy of books constitutes what in the field of physics is called a "theory of everything", thus the acronym TOE. You will see that this is literally true of these books.
To come close to fully understanding My Big TOE requires a high entry threshold, a wide range of knowledge. The author has tried to offset this by reiterating his message from different viewpoints in order to aid your understanding. As he also points out, much of the detail can be skipped as useful to advanced specialists and the main points still be comprehended. He has also tried to relieve the intensity with humorous comments. Not everyone will be able to appreciate the humor however, which the author recognizes, and it is also optional. If you have been to graduate school in the sciences, you will recognize the author as a kindred spirit. He worked as a physicist in industry and collaborated with Robert Monroe of Out of Body fame in his early research.
The main points will provide you with an understanding of the Reality of which you are a part. How it originated, the few characteristics and principles from which it began and by which it developed, including that small part of the greater reality that we experience in our day to day lives. You will be surprised that these principles are things which you probably already know about, just not their full significance in the greater reality. You will also be given a general description of that part of the greater reality which we do not normally experience but which you can if you so desire. This will be developed logically and a reference is given in which a detailed description of our every day "physical" reality, including its physics as understood by present day science and beyond, is developed from the same set of beginning principles as given in My Big TOE. These principles are applicable to the present reality in which you live. Knowing what they are will tell you a lot about what to expect from life, how to deal with it and what is the best way to interact with others for your maximum spiritual advancement during your passage through it.
You will be told the veritable meaning of life and your place in it. It is more explicitly stated than you will find in most other places. It will probably be a great surprise to you and you may not find it to be comforting. Note that I mentioned that we live in a children's world and much that you and everyone else have been taught is intended for comfort, not reality and literal truth. Keep in mind at all times while you read and study My Big TOE that you in your true being are a native and at home in this reality and that you have been dealing with it reasonably successfully through many previous periods of "physical" life when you did not have this information. Now you will have the true story. This information is almost never available while incarnated, other than in very diluted and culturally distorted form. It will be a lot like when you first found out where babies came from. Learning about the pleasure possible, the responsibilities and difficulties involved in the greater process are a matter for you to experience and thus learn for yourself. From these 3 books you will have the information necessary to literally take your first step as a conscious adult while still involved in a "physical" life into the greater reality of which you are a resident part and that is your true home.
Will these books change your life?
Only to the degree to which you are willing and prepared to change. Over time, the degree of change could be very profound if you choose to expend the effort to make it so.
Will you be sorry that you read them?
Only to the extent and in the sense that it is an end of innocence. You will be made aware of laws of being of which ignorance is no excuse. Since you will be judged based on things that you are presently ignorant of with that ignorance not accepted as an excuse, best to lose such innocence. And no problems with apples, snakes and "original sin" this time!
Reviewed by Ted Vollers.
Copyright 2002,3,4 by Ted Vollers. All Rights Reserved.
Permission is hereby granted by Ted Vollers for these reviews to be copied and disseminated or linked to, not for profit, in any appropriate manner to increase the public knowledge of "My Big TOE" by Thomas Campbell.
Please advise Ted Vollers at: ted@active-mysticism.com
Please advise Thomas Campbell at: twcjr@comcast.net
as we would both like to know of any such listing.
Return to Previous Page and Location with Back Button on Browser.
Or return to Table of Contents.
The one irritating and at first glance a little unfortunate aspect of Thomas Campbell's presentation is his choice of labeling his work under the title of: "My Big Toe".
This is ambiguous, as it renders many casual observers; including me, when I was first introduced to this work by Owlsden and then by Brook; as less than impressed with yet another self-aggrandizing and egocentric attempt of someone attempting to cocreate a new cosmology, often abandoning the history of what has come before in the construction of the cultural edifices and parameters utilized.
Thomas Campbell actually promotes the converse; in calling his work: "My Big TOE!", he in fact does not refer to "His Big TOE", but to "Everyone's Big TOE" in an attempt to individualise the underpinning New OmniScience, based on the nature of consciousness as the fundamental building block or unit and synergizing the 'Physics of the Measurements' via the 'Scientific Method of Reproducibility' and the 'Objectification of all Reality' with the 'Metaphysics of Subjectivity of Individual Experiences'.
And this 'personification' of the Ontology or Origins of the Physics in a Metaphysics, using the Physics of Consciousness to itself evolve and form multiverses from a seedling protoverse and so construct many phaseshifted individualised cosmologies from a common cosmogony is surely brilliant in allowing the uniqueness of the separation to become unified in a oneness of the cosmogenetic origins for all data collectors, data interpreters and information decoders and consciousness units of the 'Many in One and the One in the Many' as a heartthought and mindfelt invitation from Thomas Campbell.
I highly recommend viewing those videos, especially the first two for a grounding in the premises of contemporary terrestrial sciences and how the old paradigm of a fixed measurable physical realism of objectification and disallowing the metaphysics of the subjective experience of the individual cosmic selfhood, must now move aside as a subset of a grander and more encompassing new paradigm or worldview, which has recognised the basic statistical nature of the microcosm and the macrocosm as being quantum relative and quantum mechanical in their nature, evolution and self expression and as an 'a priori' consequence and causality of a physicalised consciousness in the discretisized quantum of creation, also known as the 'Quantum of Cosmic Love'!.
Tonyblue
Regarding the 'Collapse of the Wavefunction' in video #1, here is the Dragon Science to elucidate on the 'measurement-consciousness' problem of the 'Double-Slit' experiment and the Duality and Complementarity of the 'Copenhagen Interpretation' of the quantum entanglement.
The Dawn of Space and Time in a Selfconscious Quantum Universe
The Solution to Schrödinger's Cat Paradox
The Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics concentrates on a 'classical treatment' of the observer and the observed; leading to a 'collapse of the wavefunction' upon the act of the observation.
This has little to do with the 'quantum phenomenon of entanglement' as is indicated in the Weinberg critique of Copenhagen below.
Summararily, Schrödinger was right in the first instance; BUT this does NOT require a Copenhagen observer.
Schrödinger's Cat is BOTH ALIVE and DEAD as the superposition of quantum selfstates and INDEPENDENT on any classical observer (looking at the cat).
The superposition is the entanglement of the collapsed and the escaped quantum eigenstates.
The cat is a living Particle-Entity with 'consciousness/soul/god' INSIDE as a collapsed wave.
And the cat is a dead Wave-Entity with a 'consciousness/soul/god' OUTSIDE as an escaped wave.
These two eigenstates define QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT of the SIMULTANEOUS CAT, being BOTH a living body and a dead nonbody at the same time.
Why does the human mind find that this is so hard to understand?
Many physicists and philosophers have objected to the Copenhagen interpretation, both on the grounds that it is non-deterministic and that it includes an undefined measurement process that converts probability functions into non-probabilistic measurements. Einstein's comments "I, at any rate, am convinced that He (God) does not throw dice."[14] and "Do you really think the moon isn't there if you aren't looking at it?"[15] exemplify this. Bohr, in response, said "Einstein, don't tell God what to do".
Steven Weinberg in "Einstein's Mistakes", Physics Today, November 2005, page 31, said:
The problem of thinking in terms of classical measurements of a quantum system becomes particularly acute in the field of quantum cosmology, where the quantum system is the universe.[16]
[MIKE] Certainly Schrödinger's thought problem was originally proposed to show the problems with the Copenhagen interpretation, but even today you get the Cat in the box and a few seconds later you read about collapse of the wave function. It still has not really been resolved. As Gribbon said in one of his books is that the problem with QM is that it is too democratic everyone has an opinion on what it means. All of the interpretations you listed above give the same results they just use differing explanations as to what it means, the philosophy as Mac puts it. Feynman had two one was a sum over histories and the other was an electron going forward and back in time to interfere with itself. As Gribbon also wrote no one knows what QM means. We use it like a cookbook knowing if we do this we get that but we have no idea why the ingredients do what they do to get the result.
BTW. It does not get much press, but Eugene Wigner's adaptation to Schrödinger's Cat is much more easily understood. The thought problem is called Wigner's Friend. Substitute a human volunteer for the cat. Do the same experiment. At the conclusion, open the door. If the volunteer is still alive, ie the radioactive particle did not decay and release the poison, ask him to describe the transitional states he was theoretically supposed to experience.
Mike, here is the solution without any OBSERVED COLLAPSE of any wavefunction.
Schrödinger's Cat is BOTH ALIVE and DEAD as the superposition of quantum selfstates and INDEPENDENT on any classical observer (looking at
the cat).
The superposition is the entanglement of the collapsed and the escaped quantum eigenstates.
The cat is a living Particle-Entity with 'consciousness/soul/god' INSIDE as a collapsed wave.
And the cat is a dead Wave-Entity with a 'consciousness/soul/god' OUTSIDE as an escaped wave.
These two eigenstates define QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT of the Cat in simultaneity, being BOTH a living body and a dead nonbody at the same time.
Why does the human mind find that this is so hard to understand?
[MIKE] Think about Wigner's friend and you should have your answer.
There is more to it Mike. I didn't ask a question, but stated the superposition as quantum fact and thoroughly without any Many-Worlds of splitting universes.
Wigner's argument engages Consciousness and in that aspect he has hit the 'occuli tauri'; but the basis is that this consciousness itself is superposed.
Below is 'my accomplice' in Roger Penrose.
Consciousness and measurement
Wigner designed the experiment to illustrate his belief that consciousness is necessary to the quantum mechanical measurement process. If a material device is substituted for the conscious friend, the linearity of the wave function implies that the state of the system is in a linear sum of possible states. It is simply a larger indeterminate system.
However, a conscious observer (according to his reasoning) must be in either one state or the other, hence conscious observations are different, hence consciousness is material. Wigner discusses this scenario in "Remarks on the mind-body question", one in his collection of essays, Symmetries and Reflections, 1967. The idea has become known as the consciousness causes collapse interpretation.
Consciousness and Superposition
A counterargument is that the superimposition of two conscious states is not paradoxical - just as there is no interaction between the multiple quantum states of a particle, so the superimposed consciousnesses need not be aware of each other.[1]
I have not watched all of this yet, but share it here for reference purposes. Thank you Brook for sharing your links about those lectures on your forum on the Mists of Avalon.
Tonyblue
Reviews of My Big TOE by Thomas Campbell
A new review based on extensive study.
When I first became aware of Thomas Campbell and his trilogy of books, My Big TOE, I had already spent my life with the constant underlying purpose of learning to understand the nature of reality which in my view includes God. Not however the personal God described at your local religious institution. I had already published the results of my studies on the internet at www.active-mysticism.com. As a technical professional (Ph. D. – Mechanical Engineering) with a lot of computer modeling experience, I appreciated the technical approach taken by MBT and had a sufficient background to understand the models development. The brief information available (at www.mybigtoe.com) made me believe that I would learn from these books in the fields of my interest and the different point of view I expected to find promised to be even more enlightening. The results far exceeded my expectations. I was able to enlarge the bounds of my understanding of reality and to see how to fit things I had already become acquainted with into this larger context. The things to which I refer are described on my web site and my original understanding of reality is available there. After a very rewarding experience reading My Big TOE, I became able to expand my understanding of reality in a version 2 which is available starting here. I can best describe this experience as having my mind “catalyzed” to permit a rapid expansion of my understanding. My point of view is different from Thomas Campbell but I owe him a great debt of thanks for the value of the information he provided in his trilogy.
When I first reviewed Thomas Campbell’s My Big TOE, I was still working on my understanding of it. Having had some time since to digest and reflect on what I have read and learned in some part, I feel that I can give a different review now that attempts to give a direct overview of the contents and their significance rather than just an indirect recommendation. I am still in agreement with my previous review but perhaps this will provide more information to someone attempting to decide whether to invest the necessary time and a few dollars into reading this trilogy. I am still not going to attempt a review in detail of the contents, but rather to put the main contents, the importance of these works and what you might learn from them into a perspective that is perhaps comprehensive enough to be called a world view in light of these books.
As humanity and human society has developed from before recorded history, one of our continuing traits as humans is to attempt to understand the reality we perceive around us and our place in it. The trilogy My Big TOE by Thomas Campbell is a significant continuation of that quest for understanding. At present in human society this understanding is provided in general on a religious basis or on a scientific basis. Religions typically assume a prime being, God(s), who causes the balance of reality to come into existence. The nature of this prime being and its relationship to its creations has been studied by theologians who seek to analyze and theorize and in general integrate (mold) this being into their religious structure. It has also been studied by mystics who seek direct contact and understanding and are not necessarily concerned about whether the results fit a religion or not. A major departure by a mystic was made by a man who became known as the Buddha who brought an all encompassing Mind to the forefront of causation instead of a creator being.
Science as an institution makes no assumptions about God and leaves prime beings out of the story. Science as an activity pursued by human beings contains many aspects of creationism and religion as introduced by practitioners based on their own biases and predilections. Historical development and the obvious “physical” aspects of the world that we see and touch around us has led science to postulate a causeless explosion, the “big bang”, as the source of all that is observable and that consciousness arises from the observed physical reality in a way that science cannot yet explain. There have also been those scientists, including many of the greatest, who were inclined to apply mysticism to understanding and describing reality. This has also included the concept that the observable physical reality arises from some form of universal consciousness or mind. Science has attempted in recent times to seek a depth of understanding sufficient that the rules that describe the way reality functions can be expressed by such a powerful basic core of equations that all phenomena of reality can be deduced from these roots. This formulation is presently referred to as a Theory of Everything or TOE. And here, finally we reach the point where we are talking about Thomas Campbell’s creation, My Big TOE.
Thomas Campbell’s trilogy of books not only develop a Theory Of Everything but do so starting from what is arguably the most advanced concept of modern physics, a universal consciousness which generates everything else but not in the sense of God creating a separate physical reality of which we are a part. Rather as a consciousness that is native to a media that is the most basic “thing” existing, a field of “reality cells” in which the interactions between adjacent cells permit and form the basis of the functions of consciousness and allow anything that might be done as a computation in a digital computer to occur. Thomas Campbell describes the development of this state and this consciousness in a logical sequence based on a simple but powerful conceptualization of evolution. He does this as a scientist describing his researches rather than as a religionist or mystic. Within his logical development, this consciousness becomes universal and it is within this consciousness that we and all other existing conscious beings have our existence and interact in extensive, highly advanced societies. This is a reality composed of information being developed within a self programming digital consciousness. Within this consciousness are also many simulated realities of which our home earth and its surrounding universe is one. While earth and many other of these realities are simulations of physical realities, many are simulations of non-physical realities where conditions and the laws of (local) physics are much different from here.
Within these realities, the conscious beings including ourselves live interactive lives that are recorded for our edification. We undergo a sequence of lives in a continuing effort to “get it right”. We thereby enhance our own personal evolution as well as contribute to the evolution of the whole. These simulated physical lives are separated by periods in a simulated non-physical life during which we rest and recuperate and study to determine our mistakes and evaluate our progress. Actually, we split our consciousness and a part of it is always active in the non-physical life. The simple bottom line is that the purpose of these realities and lives is educational and developmental (i.e. spiritual) and we are in one of the lower grades in a rough part of town. These are not the only aspects of this reality that are described in this TOE but just from these few you can see that we have explained what happens after we “die”, reincarnation, past lives, life in the “spirit world” after death, are we the center of reality (and that’s a big NO), do other intelligent species exist, what is our purpose for existing and more. All presented as a scientist teaching a scientific theory and its applications, repeatedly at different levels and from different viewpoints for the edification of those out of their field or unused to science. Not as a new age practitioner, religionist or mystic espousing an opinion but as a qualified physicist.
Yes, you are right that this does not sound like “science” as you are used to it and that “science” would probably balk at talking about other intelligent beings, “simulated” realities, physical or otherwise and civilizations existing in other places to which we have no access. So how does Thomas Campbell know? You cannot study consciousness from the outside or with instrumentation. There we start to push the boundaries of being a main stream scientist as he has literally “been there and done that”. He explains his pertinent background both extensively and shallowly, omitting what he considers to be of entertainment value only. He experienced extensive out of body experiences (OOBE’s) as a child that he only remembered later as an adult. He was a member of Robert Monroe’s (www.MonroeInstitute.org) original team investigating OOBE’s. He has made his living in a career as a main stream physicist. Throughout his “normal” life he has developed his ability to bring information from his non-physical life into consciousness in this earth life and basically to experience himself as one consciousness experiencing two simultaneous simulated lives. So what he is telling us about is a logical development based on (powered by) his learning and experiences in the other physical and non-physical realities that we can access if we learn how. As he says, he keeps his eyes and ears open and learns all he can about the realities he experiences. And he does not invite you to believe him but to learn to participate yourself and evaluate what he has to say directly, based on your own experience. You are invited to participate in the exploration of reality and expansion of our understanding of it, complete with beginning instructions of how to do so.
This review is very limited in what can be covered in a reasonable space but I hope that I have provided an overview that shows where Thomas Campbell’s trilogy My Big TOE fits into the greater scheme of things: where science is going in the human quest to understand the reality we inhabit or rather of which we are a part. I have also tried to show you that Thomas Campbell is a uniquely qualified person to be offering this information to us. Also that this is information that is not obtainable elsewhere and that can provide you with insights into all aspects of reality. It can greatly improve the quality of your life through understanding if you are prepared to invest some time in its study.
~My original review written shortly after first reading, My Big TOE.
Who should read these books?
Anyone who desires to advance to adult level in this children's world in which we presently live should go to the trouble of working their way through this trilogy of books, whatever the cost in effort determined by the level at which you choose to learn.
Anyone who already functions as an adult should read this trilogy in order to complete your understanding of the Reality in which you must function and of which you are an integral part.
What can you expect to learn or achieve?
Almost everything that you need to know that is not, of necessity, "do it yourself" only! The author has specifically written the My Big TOE trilogy for reading on several levels with corresponding levels of effort required. Please understand that my comments are intended to encourage you to read, not to discourage you from reading, these books. My intent is to show you why you should read these books at no matter what cost in effort you choose to expend. First, you will find out how much you need to unlearn. Then you will find out how much you do not understand of what is being said and what is going on around you. If however you already possess a high level of such knowledge, you can expect to have a great deal clarified. This trilogy of books constitutes what in the field of physics is called a "theory of everything", thus the acronym TOE. You will see that this is literally true of these books.
To come close to fully understanding My Big TOE requires a high entry threshold, a wide range of knowledge. The author has tried to offset this by reiterating his message from different viewpoints in order to aid your understanding. As he also points out, much of the detail can be skipped as useful to advanced specialists and the main points still be comprehended. He has also tried to relieve the intensity with humorous comments. Not everyone will be able to appreciate the humor however, which the author recognizes, and it is also optional. If you have been to graduate school in the sciences, you will recognize the author as a kindred spirit. He worked as a physicist in industry and collaborated with Robert Monroe of Out of Body fame in his early research.
The main points will provide you with an understanding of the Reality of which you are a part. How it originated, the few characteristics and principles from which it began and by which it developed, including that small part of the greater reality that we experience in our day to day lives. You will be surprised that these principles are things which you probably already know about, just not their full significance in the greater reality. You will also be given a general description of that part of the greater reality which we do not normally experience but which you can if you so desire. This will be developed logically and a reference is given in which a detailed description of our every day "physical" reality, including its physics as understood by present day science and beyond, is developed from the same set of beginning principles as given in My Big TOE. These principles are applicable to the present reality in which you live. Knowing what they are will tell you a lot about what to expect from life, how to deal with it and what is the best way to interact with others for your maximum spiritual advancement during your passage through it.
You will be told the veritable meaning of life and your place in it. It is more explicitly stated than you will find in most other places. It will probably be a great surprise to you and you may not find it to be comforting. Note that I mentioned that we live in a children's world and much that you and everyone else have been taught is intended for comfort, not reality and literal truth. Keep in mind at all times while you read and study My Big TOE that you in your true being are a native and at home in this reality and that you have been dealing with it reasonably successfully through many previous periods of "physical" life when you did not have this information. Now you will have the true story. This information is almost never available while incarnated, other than in very diluted and culturally distorted form. It will be a lot like when you first found out where babies came from. Learning about the pleasure possible, the responsibilities and difficulties involved in the greater process are a matter for you to experience and thus learn for yourself. From these 3 books you will have the information necessary to literally take your first step as a conscious adult while still involved in a "physical" life into the greater reality of which you are a resident part and that is your true home.
Will these books change your life?
Only to the degree to which you are willing and prepared to change. Over time, the degree of change could be very profound if you choose to expend the effort to make it so.
Will you be sorry that you read them?
Only to the extent and in the sense that it is an end of innocence. You will be made aware of laws of being of which ignorance is no excuse. Since you will be judged based on things that you are presently ignorant of with that ignorance not accepted as an excuse, best to lose such innocence. And no problems with apples, snakes and "original sin" this time!
Reviewed by Ted Vollers.
Copyright 2002,3,4 by Ted Vollers. All Rights Reserved.
Permission is hereby granted by Ted Vollers for these reviews to be copied and disseminated or linked to, not for profit, in any appropriate manner to increase the public knowledge of "My Big TOE" by Thomas Campbell.
Please advise Ted Vollers at: ted@active-mysticism.com
Please advise Thomas Campbell at: twcjr@comcast.net
as we would both like to know of any such listing.
Return to Previous Page and Location with Back Button on Browser.
Or return to Table of Contents.
The one irritating and at first glance a little unfortunate aspect of Thomas Campbell's presentation is his choice of labeling his work under the title of: "My Big Toe".
This is ambiguous, as it renders many casual observers; including me, when I was first introduced to this work by Owlsden and then by Brook; as less than impressed with yet another self-aggrandizing and egocentric attempt of someone attempting to cocreate a new cosmology, often abandoning the history of what has come before in the construction of the cultural edifices and parameters utilized.
Thomas Campbell actually promotes the converse; in calling his work: "My Big TOE!", he in fact does not refer to "His Big TOE", but to "Everyone's Big TOE" in an attempt to individualise the underpinning New OmniScience, based on the nature of consciousness as the fundamental building block or unit and synergizing the 'Physics of the Measurements' via the 'Scientific Method of Reproducibility' and the 'Objectification of all Reality' with the 'Metaphysics of Subjectivity of Individual Experiences'.
And this 'personification' of the Ontology or Origins of the Physics in a Metaphysics, using the Physics of Consciousness to itself evolve and form multiverses from a seedling protoverse and so construct many phaseshifted individualised cosmologies from a common cosmogony is surely brilliant in allowing the uniqueness of the separation to become unified in a oneness of the cosmogenetic origins for all data collectors, data interpreters and information decoders and consciousness units of the 'Many in One and the One in the Many' as a heartthought and mindfelt invitation from Thomas Campbell.
I highly recommend viewing those videos, especially the first two for a grounding in the premises of contemporary terrestrial sciences and how the old paradigm of a fixed measurable physical realism of objectification and disallowing the metaphysics of the subjective experience of the individual cosmic selfhood, must now move aside as a subset of a grander and more encompassing new paradigm or worldview, which has recognised the basic statistical nature of the microcosm and the macrocosm as being quantum relative and quantum mechanical in their nature, evolution and self expression and as an 'a priori' consequence and causality of a physicalised consciousness in the discretisized quantum of creation, also known as the 'Quantum of Cosmic Love'!.
Tonyblue
Regarding the 'Collapse of the Wavefunction' in video #1, here is the Dragon Science to elucidate on the 'measurement-consciousness' problem of the 'Double-Slit' experiment and the Duality and Complementarity of the 'Copenhagen Interpretation' of the quantum entanglement.
The Dawn of Space and Time in a Selfconscious Quantum Universe
The Solution to Schrödinger's Cat Paradox
The Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics concentrates on a 'classical treatment' of the observer and the observed; leading to a 'collapse of the wavefunction' upon the act of the observation.
This has little to do with the 'quantum phenomenon of entanglement' as is indicated in the Weinberg critique of Copenhagen below.
Summararily, Schrödinger was right in the first instance; BUT this does NOT require a Copenhagen observer.
Schrödinger's Cat is BOTH ALIVE and DEAD as the superposition of quantum selfstates and INDEPENDENT on any classical observer (looking at the cat).
The superposition is the entanglement of the collapsed and the escaped quantum eigenstates.
The cat is a living Particle-Entity with 'consciousness/soul/god' INSIDE as a collapsed wave.
And the cat is a dead Wave-Entity with a 'consciousness/soul/god' OUTSIDE as an escaped wave.
These two eigenstates define QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT of the SIMULTANEOUS CAT, being BOTH a living body and a dead nonbody at the same time.
Why does the human mind find that this is so hard to understand?
Many physicists and philosophers have objected to the Copenhagen interpretation, both on the grounds that it is non-deterministic and that it includes an undefined measurement process that converts probability functions into non-probabilistic measurements. Einstein's comments "I, at any rate, am convinced that He (God) does not throw dice."[14] and "Do you really think the moon isn't there if you aren't looking at it?"[15] exemplify this. Bohr, in response, said "Einstein, don't tell God what to do".
Steven Weinberg in "Einstein's Mistakes", Physics Today, November 2005, page 31, said:
All this familiar story is true, but it leaves out an irony. Bohr's version of quantum mechanics was deeply flawed, but not for the reason Einstein thought. The Copenhagen interpretation describes what happens when an observer makes a measurement, but the observer and the act of measurement are themselves treated classically. This is surely wrong: Physicists and their apparatus must be governed by the same quantum mechanical rules that govern everything else in the universe. But these rules are expressed in terms of a wave function (or, more precisely, a state vector) that evolves in a perfectly deterministic way. So where do the probabilistic rules of the Copenhagen interpretation come from?
Considerable progress has been made in recent years toward the resolution of the problem, which I cannot go into here. It is enough to say that neither Bohr nor Einstein had focused on the real problem with quantum mechanics. The Copenhagen rules clearly work, so they have to be accepted. But this leaves the task of explaining them by applying the deterministic equation for the evolution of the wave function, the Schrödinger equation, to observers and their apparatus.
The problem of thinking in terms of classical measurements of a quantum system becomes particularly acute in the field of quantum cosmology, where the quantum system is the universe.[16]
[MIKE] Certainly Schrödinger's thought problem was originally proposed to show the problems with the Copenhagen interpretation, but even today you get the Cat in the box and a few seconds later you read about collapse of the wave function. It still has not really been resolved. As Gribbon said in one of his books is that the problem with QM is that it is too democratic everyone has an opinion on what it means. All of the interpretations you listed above give the same results they just use differing explanations as to what it means, the philosophy as Mac puts it. Feynman had two one was a sum over histories and the other was an electron going forward and back in time to interfere with itself. As Gribbon also wrote no one knows what QM means. We use it like a cookbook knowing if we do this we get that but we have no idea why the ingredients do what they do to get the result.
BTW. It does not get much press, but Eugene Wigner's adaptation to Schrödinger's Cat is much more easily understood. The thought problem is called Wigner's Friend. Substitute a human volunteer for the cat. Do the same experiment. At the conclusion, open the door. If the volunteer is still alive, ie the radioactive particle did not decay and release the poison, ask him to describe the transitional states he was theoretically supposed to experience.
Mike, here is the solution without any OBSERVED COLLAPSE of any wavefunction.
Schrödinger's Cat is BOTH ALIVE and DEAD as the superposition of quantum selfstates and INDEPENDENT on any classical observer (looking at
the cat).
The superposition is the entanglement of the collapsed and the escaped quantum eigenstates.
The cat is a living Particle-Entity with 'consciousness/soul/god' INSIDE as a collapsed wave.
And the cat is a dead Wave-Entity with a 'consciousness/soul/god' OUTSIDE as an escaped wave.
These two eigenstates define QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT of the Cat in simultaneity, being BOTH a living body and a dead nonbody at the same time.
Why does the human mind find that this is so hard to understand?
[MIKE] Think about Wigner's friend and you should have your answer.
There is more to it Mike. I didn't ask a question, but stated the superposition as quantum fact and thoroughly without any Many-Worlds of splitting universes.
Wigner's argument engages Consciousness and in that aspect he has hit the 'occuli tauri'; but the basis is that this consciousness itself is superposed.
Below is 'my accomplice' in Roger Penrose.
Consciousness and measurement
Wigner designed the experiment to illustrate his belief that consciousness is necessary to the quantum mechanical measurement process. If a material device is substituted for the conscious friend, the linearity of the wave function implies that the state of the system is in a linear sum of possible states. It is simply a larger indeterminate system.
However, a conscious observer (according to his reasoning) must be in either one state or the other, hence conscious observations are different, hence consciousness is material. Wigner discusses this scenario in "Remarks on the mind-body question", one in his collection of essays, Symmetries and Reflections, 1967. The idea has become known as the consciousness causes collapse interpretation.
Consciousness and Superposition
A counterargument is that the superimposition of two conscious states is not paradoxical - just as there is no interaction between the multiple quantum states of a particle, so the superimposed consciousnesses need not be aware of each other.[1]
The state of the observer's perception is considered to be entangled with the state of the cat. The perception state 'I perceive a live cat' accompanies the 'live-cat' state and the perception state 'I perceive a dead cat' accompanies the 'dead-cat' state. [..] It is then assumed that a perceiving being always finds his/her perception state to be in one of these two; accordingly, the cat is, in the perceived world, either alive or dead.[..] I wish to make clear that, as it stands, this is far from a resolution of the cat paradox. For there is nothing in the formalism of quantum mechanics that demands that a state of consciousness cannot involve the simultaneous perception of a live and a dead cat.
- Roger Penrose
Last edited by Didymos on Mon Feb 06, 2012 5:20 am; edited 5 times in total