Customer Reviews

The Universe - Solved!

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Many" of us have pondered by now whether we might be living in a virtual reality. But few people take this option seriously. Jim Elvidge does, and so do I. His book is the first ever, I think, devoted solely to this topic--one that has preoccupied me for most of my life. I read it in one sitting. It's an excellent start.
His arguments are roughly as follows. 1)Virtual reality simulations are technically feasible. 2) Virtual reality fits well with physical observations of our reality (e.g. the discontinuous nature of space and time) 3) Virtual reality would explain some knotty problems associated with our reality (the paradoxes of quantum mechanics, fine tuning, and the big bang among others) 4) V. R. also explains a variety of "anomalies" in our lives . These include things paranormal, out of body and near death experiences, UFO's , altered mind states, and unbelievable coincidences. Elvidge devotes a lot of space to this area and has come up with some good examples but these rarely experienced and poorly documented events, which I have never encountered personally, do not work for me.
The beauty and the problem with virtual reality is that it explains almost anything - from the cosmic to the trivial -quantum entanglement at a distance, Elvis sightings, cornflakes that look like Jesus, Jesus. Invoking V.R. to solve the universe is akin to a novelist extracting his hero from an impossible pickle by having him wake from a dream.
We really need stronger evidence. Our unlikely place in civilization's time line is one item that Elvidge gives some attention. But what else? A student probably spoke for the masses when she observed that if she is living in a virtual reality "the graphics are great, but the plot sucks." In comparison to what is possible I suspect that even the graphics are only so so . But what about the plot? Why do so many bad things happen to good people and vice versa? Who would do this to us and why? Elvidge just barely touches on this in his last chapter. And the rest of the evidence? It's out there, but not in this book.

The Universe - Solved!
FINALLY, a book that will do more than just pose questions and present hypotheses! All that is needed to digest this fine melange of the scientific and metaphysical is an open mind. Elvidge presents his own mix in grand style building upon and crumbling to pieces the time-worn yawns of "why are we here" and "is there more than this". He draws from every angle of the the "known"- from Hollywood and dreams to particle physics and nanotechnology to the cosmos; all laid upon a finely diced bed of humor and pop-culture reference- for a mind-expanding, door-opening, myth-blasting journey that puts words to that "niggling sensation" of our own concepts of reality. Some if it may be a bit disconcerting or just a bit humbling but this book is sure to make a huge impact on many fronts. It is a must-read for anyone who has ever posed the question of existence.

Elvidge knows his stuff- behind the droll humor is good pure science and research. To imagine is to create- and whose creations are we? And in which game are we the players? Our consciousness, our being, our "stuff" and our perceptions are all put into another perspective, layer upon layer.
This book is guaranteed to make you think outside of any box that you could ever imagine!

I liked this book. The author is particularly adept at taking complex ideas such as quantum mechanics and holography and distilling them into language a non-mathematician can understand. When he deals with contemporary science, Ray Kurzweil-style singularity issues and programming concepts he is really good. But when he ventures into relatively unknown territory such as the paranormal and UFOs, he obviously is not quite as familiar with those fields and seems unaware of the serious controversies surrounding some of his chosen examples, which are anecdotal and sound somewaht like the pages of Fortean Times. His 'synthesis' chapter seven seeks to pull this all together, but here he makes some serious stretches and leaps of faith. The Universe is granular, he says, therefore this suggests a computer which deals in bits and bytes and may not have quite enough memory. He also makes great use of the Anthropic Principle, i.e.: The Universe is the way it is because we are here to see it and manages to turn that into Intelligent Design, with the designer being a programmer. Chapter Seven, then, sounds like an introductory chapter or preface, to be followed by an in-depth analysis of these ideas. Perhaps it will be in a subsequent book, but it's not here. I would give this 4 stars, but knocked one off because of the numerous grammar errors (or, as he says, 'grammer') making one wish for a proofreader who had gone beyond 'Grammar' School.

In August 2003, I attended a conference in Oxford, England, at which the eminent physics professor, Dr. Michio Kaku, was speaking. I had previously read a paper by Dr. Nick Bostrom who had recently migrated from the U.S. to teach at Oxford. The paper, entitled "Are You Living In a Computer Simulation", appeared in May 2001 when Bostrom was still in the Philosophy Department at Yale.

Before leaving the States, I set up a lunch between these two academicians, because I wanted Dr. Kaku to be exposed to Dr. Bostrom's thinking. It worked out well, and I treated Kaku, his wife, and Bostrom to lunch at a small restaurant across the street from the Oxford Union. I was pretty sure Kaku had not read Bostrom's paper, and I was right.

Midway through the first course, I asked Dr. Bostrom to briefly explain to Dr. Kaku what he had written. He did, and, by the middle of the main course, I asked Kaku what he thought of the possibility of Bostrom's theory "holding water." He politely gave his reasons why he didn't think it was possible, stressing the improbability of being able to program all of history as we know it. The amount of variables, he said, would be so large the chances were almost zero.

We went back and forth, Bostrom repeating his thesis, I trying to convince Kaku that it could be true. Both "stuck to their guns."

Finally, during dessert, I said, "You know, it might be like the series of movies called The Matrix." Dr. Kaku was silent for a minute and then said he'd have to think more about it. And that's where the conversation ended.

In January of 2005, Michio Kaku's book Parallel Worlds - A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos appeared. In it were two pages devoted to The Matrix at the beginning of a section called "Is the Universe a Computer Program?"

He stated in a brief conclusion, "...it is exceedingly difficult for a Newtonian world to be reduced to a computer program, since there are too many variables.... But in the quantum world, strange things happen." I felt vindicated, but while I knew in my gut there was some truth to the idea, the details of such speculation remained up in the air for me.

On the evening of November 29, 2010, Jim Elvidge appeared as a guest on the international radio program Coast to Coast AM. I hadn't listened to the show in some time, but decided to stream it on my computer the next morning.

Lo and behold, Elvidge had written the book The Universe - Solved published in 2007 in which he asks the question, "Are we living in a programmed reality?" Bostrom and Kaku are both mentioned in the book. HOW DID I MISS IT?!

Well, I've got to tell you, it puts the story together in a very understandable way. Elvidge, trained as an electrical engineer, spends most of the book leading up to his conclusion in Chapter 7, but it's well worth the wait.

By explaining up front the latest expert thinking about such things as quantum entanglement, parallel universes, living in a hologram, alternate realities, computer coding, and virtual reality, he gives the reader the necessary background to understand the premise of his argument. And he treats these most complex subjects in such a way that even the least technical of minds should be able to understand them.

The book is loaded with simple but meaningful illustrations, charts, and quotes from others that add to its being "reader friendly".

I found it refreshing, for instance, to be given very concise but easily comprehensible descriptions of string theory and M-theory, quantum foam, multiple dimensions, the possibilities of teleportation, nanotechnology, altered states of consciousness, simulators and games, the big bang theory and the fine tuning of our universe.

With examples of anomalies like UFO's, "little green men", synchronistic coincidences, cases of cryptozoology, the 100th Monkey theory, and our "seemingly" endless supply of oil, we know Elvidge is leading up to the reason all these strange occurances might be possible.

He even references our increasing fascination with movies like The Truman Show to illustrate his point. And, he does this with a good sense of humor that makes for light reading....something necessary when treating these most complex of issues.

So, with all this background, his leap in Chapter 7, entitled "Are we Living in a Programmed Reality?", very well accounts for the anomalies and theories of physics into which he has given us such a clear insight in the previous chapters.

The existence of the Planck length and time, the absolutely smallest quantities of measurement according to physics, means that physical reality is not continuous. It is quantized into very, very small parts. This, then, challenges Kaku's argument that the number of variables would be too vast to make possible Bostrom's computer simulated universe. Provided there was a computer powerful enough to deal with a very large but less than infinite amount of variables, simulated reality is certainly a possibility.

Chapters 8 and 9 then go on to clarify Elvidge's thinking in dealing with how to physically program a reality. The only thing I found lacking was an index at the end of the book, which should be added if it's ever reprinted.

This, folks, is exciting, leading edge thinking, and I highly recommend you go to Elvidge's website, [...], for more information and to order the book. If you want a glimpse of what might actually be going on in our so-called "reality", you can't do any better. I think it will, to say the least, astound you as it did me, and open your mind to a whole new insight worthy of your further investigation.

Do you believe in God? Are you an agnostic? Are you an athiest?
This book doesn't give you the answers despite its' title. Well, okay, it propounds one possible answer. But its' value is in the fact that it provides the reader with the tools to understand the possibilities and the ability to come to your own conclusions.
Regardless of your belief system, this book will give you food for thought. Amazingly, it may even provide the universal truth that incorporates all belief systems. Reading this book will inspire you by enabeling you to realize that your intuitive hunches about the meaning of life were probably not so far off the mark and, at the same time, humble you by making you realize how limited our comprehension is in understanding the inexplicable meaning of our existence.

The author delved into many of the answers that most people need to hear to grasp the thinking of modern physicists and the new concepts in physics. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to jettison herself from the shackles of classical physics and our rudimentary understanding of this world, and move up by very many notches in her understanding of nature.

Excellent read. Great gift for those who like to think that there is more beyond what we see (or think we see). Mr. Elvidge is great at taking information from many disciplines and triangulating it against possibilities to give you something to _really_ think about. The writing style makes it an easy read - highly recommended.

This book has some interesting content and does present some unique ideas.

However, I found it extremely off-putting that the book has clearly not been properly proofread before it went to print. Just because the publisher is small is no excuse for inferior product creation. In fact each book created by Alternative Theories Press should be better quality considering they have less titles to focus on.

The book contains spelling mistakes and grammatical errors that are so obvious they are annoying! It makes you think, "if they let this go unchecked then how do I know the references have been checked?"

If I was Jim Elvidge I would be outraged that a review on Amazon is centered on the lack of professionalism by the publisher rather than the content of the book he put so much thought and work into.

This book is worth a read due to its innovative approach to TOE but not worth the price due to its inferior printing.

The author is clearly well-read (Cliffs-Notes?) and versed in many schools of thought and utilizes them all to make his point in this book, but has completely failed to convince me of anything other than that I am glad I'm done with this one. He presents his arguments masquerading as scientific method and logical derivatives of fact, but really it comes across more as the thought process of a teenage boy sitting in mom's basement smoking weed and playing too many video games! There are far too many dramatic leaps of faith presented as foregone conclusions or natural results of logical reduction. Just when I would feel relieved and think that there might be something interesting or sensible in the book it would make another wild leap and I would be, once again, left wondering what happened to the scientific process that seems to get left behind whenever convenient. Hiring a proofreader and an Editor would lend credibility too, albeit not much.
All in all, I'm just glad to be done with this one.

I give this book four stars after reading the Amazon introduction sample pages only.

After ordering and reading the actual book, I am convinced that it will get 5 of my valuable stars.

People who understand and meditate on how the universal cosmic mind fools us into the experience of, and the belief in, an external physical world will be quite at home with the ideas laid out in this book even though the author is not coming from any mystical or metaphysical angle.

I can't wait to get my copy.

Added November 2009:
I have since read the book, and yes it deserves 5 stars.

Though not a science book, it is a whole new look at what is means to think outside the box.

The author presents a daring speculation on what our universe might actually be.

He postulates that it might actually be some type of a computer simulated hologram.

This idea is quite revolutionary and might sound farfetched, but at least it explains the entanglement principle of quantum physics.