Edge 2005 Annual Question
Thursday, January 6, 2005, 06:20 PM - Ideas
Some of the responses I particularly enjoyed from the edge.com 2005 Annual Question "What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?":CARLO ROVELLI
I am convinced, but cannot prove, that time does not exist. I mean that I am convinced that there is a consistent way of thinking about nature, that makes no use of the notions of space and time at the fundamental level. And that this way of thinking will turn out to be the useful and convincing one.RUPERT SHELDRAKE
I believe, but cannot prove, that memory is inherent in nature. Most of the so-called laws of nature are more like habits.DONALD HOFFMAN
I believe that consciousness and its contents are all that exists. Spacetime, matter and fields never were the fundamental denizens of the universe but have always been, from their beginning, among the humbler contents of consciousness, dependent on it for their very being.LEE SMOLIN
I am convinced that quantum mechanics is not a final theory. I believe this because I have never encountered an interpretation of the present formulation of quantum mechanics that makes sense to me. I have studied most of them in depth and thought hard about them, and in the end I still can't make real sense of quantum theory as it stands. Among other issues, the measurement problem seems impossible to resolve without changing the physical theory.JUDITH RICH HARRIS
I believe, though I cannot prove it, that three—not two—selection processes were involved in human evolution. The first two are familiar: natural selection, which selects for fitness, and sexual selection, which selects for sexiness. The third process selects for beauty, but not sexual beauty—not adult beauty. The ones doing the selecting weren't potential mates: they were parents. Parental selection, I call it.