All Rights Reserved to Benjamin Gal-Or, 1968, 1972, 1981, 1983, 1987, 2007, 2008
Gal-Or's remarkable book [Parts A & B] sees and seizes the world whole. He emphasizes that all scientists operate under some set of philosophical prejudices, and that failure to acknowledge this is selfdelusion. Furthermore, he argues that a failure to attend to the philosophical base of physics leads to an empty scientism. His work is challenging on many levels, constituting a review 'with derivations' of general relativity 'as applied to cosmology', thermodynamics, the current state of theoretical particle physics, astrophysics, as well as a summary history of western philosophy, 'especially the philosophies of time and mind' and critiques of western society, the intelligentsia and the relationship between academic science and government. One 'and perhaps the central' theme explored, is that of the interplay between symmetry and asymmetry. His primary interest is not in the recent progress in the unification of forces in gauge theory, although he finds support in it for his Einsteinian outlook, but is rather time, time's arrow, and the asymmetry between past and future. Around time are accumulated discussions, both mathematical and philosophical, of thermodynamic reversibility, time reversibility, the nature of causality, and the use of advanced and retarded solutions to wave equations. The second major theme is that of gravity and its overwhelming domination of the actual form of the universe, at all scales. The combination of these themes is not accidental; they are point and counterpoint to his thesis that the time asymmetries are connectable to and perhaps even determined by the master asymmetry given by the gravity of general relativity: the remorseless cosmological expansion. He argues that only the expansion can provide the unification of time asymmetries. The expansion provides, among other things, an for radiation, which, in turn, permits the establishment UNSATURABLE SINK of gradients in temperature and density, which provide the basis for the physical process that leads to life. He also criticizes the sloppy and improper use of the concepts of entropy 'and the related notions in information theory' and quantum indeterminism, especially as covers for an inadequate understanding of temporal asymmetries. Taking an Einsteinian position on the interpretation of quantum mechanics, he looks forward to revitalization of Einstein's quest for a deterministic interpretation of quantum events. The value of this book lies in the challenging combination of ideas which Gal-Or presents, which goes far beyond what can be sensibly described in a review. [This] work may be too large to digest as a text in these days of the decline of academic institutions "as GalOr describes them", but that will be the loss of both the faculty and the students. AMERICAL JOURNAL OF PHYSICS
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