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|work=Frank J. Tipler's Tulane University website
|work=Frank J. Tipler's Tulane University website
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Tipler has authored books and papers on the Omega Point which he claims is mechanism for the resurrection. It has been labelled as pseudoscience by skeptics.


==Life==
==Life==
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|isbn=0787611832
|isbn=0787611832
|page=407
|page=407
}}</ref> Tipler attended the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] from 1965 through 1969, and he completed his [[bachelor of science]] degree in physics in 1969.<ref name="TiplerBiography"/> Tipler entered [[graduate school]]. In 1976 he earned his [[doctor of philosophy]] (Ph.D.) degree from the [[University of Maryland, College Park|University of Maryland]].<ref>
}}</ref> Tipler attended the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] from 1965 through 1969, and he completed his [[bachelor of science]] degree in physics in 1969.<ref name="TiplerBiography"/> Tipler entered [[graduate school]], and in 1976 he earned his [[doctor of philosophy]] (Ph.D.) degree from the [[University of Maryland, College Park|University of Maryland]].<ref>
{{Cite book
{{Cite book
|author=Frank J. Tipler
|author=Frank J. Tipler
Line 80: Line 79:
|issue=06
|issue=06
|page=B2923
|page=B2923
}}</ref> Tipler was next hired to a sequence of [[postdoctoral researcher]] positions in physics at three universities, with the final one being at the [[University of Texas]], where he worked under [[John Archibald Wheeler]], [[Abraham Haskel Taub|Abraham Taub]], [[Rainer Kurt Sachs|Rainer Sachs]], and [[Dennis William Sciama|Dennis Sciama]].<ref name="TiplerBiography"/> Tipler became a faculty member in [[mathematical physics]] in 1981 at Tulane University, where he has been a faculty member ever since.<ref name="TiplerBiography"/>
}}</ref> Tipler was next hired to a sequence of [[postdoctoral researcher]] positions at in physics at three universities, with the final one being at the [[University of Texas]], where he worked under [[John Archibald Wheeler]], [[Abraham Haskel Taub|Abraham Taub]], [[Rainer Kurt Sachs|Rainer Sachs]], and [[Dennis William Sciama|Dennis Sciama]].<ref name="TiplerBiography"/> Tipler became a faculty member in [[mathematical physics]] in 1981 at Tulane University, where he has been a faculty member ever since.<ref name="TiplerBiography"/>


==Publications==
==Work on the Omega Point==
===The Omega Point hypothesis===
===The Omega Point===
The [[Omega Point (Tipler)|Omega Point]] is a term Tipler used to describe a hypothesis{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}} regarding what he maintains is a necessary [[physical cosmology|cosmological]] state in the distant future of the [[universe]] as defined by the current [[Laws of Physics]]. Tipler (1994) has summarized his theory as follows:{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}}
Frank Tipler uses the term ''Omega Point'' to describe what he maintains is the [[ultimate fate of the universe]] required by the [[laws of physics]]. Tipler (1994) has summarized his theory as follows:
* The universe has finite spatial size and the [[topology]] of a [[three-sphere]];
* The universe has finite spatial size and the [[topology]] of a [[three-sphere]];
* if there are no [[event horizon]]s, then the future [[c-boundary]] is a point, called the Omega Point;
* There are no [[event horizon]]s, implying the future [[c-boundary]] is a point, called the Omega Point;
* [[Sentience|Sentient life]] must eventually engulf the entire universe and control it;
* The amount of [[information]] processed between now and the Omega Point is infinite;
* The amount of [[information]] processed between now and the Omega Point is infinite;
* The amount of information stored in the universe asymptotically goes to infinity as the Omega Point is approached.
* The amount of information stored in the universe asymptotically goes to infinity as the Omega Point is approached.<ref>Tipler (1994), p.</ref>

Tipler has published his Omega Point Theory in some peer-reviewed scientific journals since 1986.<ref name="Tipler1992">Frank J. Tipler, [http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TVN-46YD4D5-12T&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=41358cdcea2b6a49f87ce3f8c2667600 "The ultimate fate of life in universes which undergo inflation"], ''[[Physics Letters]] B'', Vol. 286, Issues 1-2 (July 23, 1992), pp. 36-43, {{doi|10.1016/0370-2693(92)90155-W}}, {{bibcode|1992PhLB..286...36T}}.</ref><ref name="Tipler2005">F. J. Tipler, [http://math.tulane.edu/~tipler/theoryofeverything.pdf "The structure of the world from pure numbers"], ''[[Reports on Progress in Physics]]'', Vol. 68, No. 4 (April 2005), pp. 897-964, {{doi|10.1088/0034-4885/68/4/R04}}, {{bibcode|2005RPPh...68..897T}}. [http://www.webcitation.org/5nx3CxKm0 Mirror link]. Also released as [http://arxiv.org/abs/0704.3276 "Feynman-Weinberg Quantum Gravity and the Extended Standard Model as a Theory of Everything"], {{arxiv|0704.3276}}, April 24, 2007.</ref><ref name="Tipler2007">Frank J. Tipler, Jessica Graber, Matthew McGinley, Joshua Nichols-Barrer and Christopher Staecker, [http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0003082 "Closed Universes With Black Holes But No Event Horizons As a Solution to the Black Hole Information Problem"], March 20, 2000. Published in ''[[Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society]]'', Vol. 379, Issue 2 (August 2007), pp. 629-640, {{doi|10.1111/j.1365-2966.2007.11895.x}}, {{bibcode|2007MNRAS.379..629T}}.</ref>

⚫
[[David Deutsch]] incorporates the concept of Tipler's Omega Point as a central feature of the fourth strand of his "four strands" concept of fundamental reality and identifies some aspects of Tipler's physics as being correct <ref name="Deutsch1997">
⚫
{{cite book
⚫
|author=David Deutsch
⚫
|year=1997
⚫
|title=The Fabric of Reality: The Science of Parallel Universes—and Its Implications
⚫
|location=London
⚫
|publisher=[[Penguin Press]]
⚫
|isbn=0713990619
⚫
|chapter=The Ends of the Universe}}</ref> although Deutsch is highly critical of Tipler's Christian-compatible conclusions<ref name="Mackey">{{cite book|last=Mackey|first=James Patrick|title=The critique of theological reason |url=http://books.google.com/?id=jNZy1docFVsC&pg=PA128&lpg=PA128&dq=david+deutsch+tipler&q=david%20deutsch%20tipler|year=2000|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521772938}}</ref> and exaggerated claims, which, according to Deutsch, have caused most scientists and philosophers to reject his theory out of hand.<ref name="Shermer2">{{cite book|last=Shermer|first=Michael |title=How we believe: science, skepticism, and the search for God |url=http://books.google.com/?id=Im4Yl8qVuQEC&pg=PA107&dq=deutsch+tipler&q=according%20deutsch%20tipler|year=2003|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=9780805074796}}</ref>

⚫
Researcher [[Anders Sandberg]] pointed out that he believes the Omega Point Theory has many flaws, including missing proofs. <ref name="Anders">Anders Sandberg, [http://www.aleph.se/Trans/Global/Omega/tipler_page.html "My Thoughts and Comments on the Omega Point Theory of Frank J. Tipler"]</ref>

⚫
=== Quantum gravity and the Theory of Everything ===

⚫
In a 2005 ''[[Reports on Progress in Physics]]'' paper that was included as one of 12 papers in the journal's "Highlights of 2005",<ref name="Palmer">Richard Palmer, Publisher, [http://www.webcitation.org/5o9VkK3eE "Highlights of 2005"], ''[[Reports on Progress in Physics]]''; [http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/-page=extra.highlights/0034-4885 original URL, now dead].</ref> Tipler combines the Omega Point as a boundary condition with a version of the [[Richard Feynman|Feynman]]–[[Steven Weinberg|Weinberg]]–[[Bryce DeWitt|DeWitt]] theory of quantum gravity along with an extended [[Standard Model]] of [[subatomic particle]]s in order to form what he maintained is the correct [[theory of everything|Theory of Everything]] (TOE) describing and unifying all the [[force]]s in physics.<ref name="Tipler2005"/>

⚫
== Linking Omega point with Christianity ==
⚫
<!--- overweight, non notable material from Heaven article moved here, link here left there, someone with better knowledge of the subject feel free to edit or delete -->

Tipler has identified this final [[gravitational singularity|singularity]] and its state of infinite [[information processing]] capacity with [[God]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}}

⚫
The process is dependent not just on physical theory, but on intelligent life being able and desiring to control the collapse of the universe in a certain way.

⚫
According to Tipler's ''Omega Point Theory'', as the universe comes to an end at a [[gravitational singularity|singularity]] in a particular form of the [[Big Crunch]], the [[computation]]al capacity of the universe would [[acceleration|accelerate]] [[exponential growth|faster and faster]]. In principle, then, a program run on this [[Zeno machine|universal computer]] could continue [[eternity|forever]] in its own terms, even though the universe would last only a finite amount of [[proper time]].<ref>Tipler, ''The Physics of Immortality: Modern Cosmology, God and the Resurrection of the Dead'' (New York: Doubleday, 1994), ISBN 0-19-851949-4. 56-page excerpt available [http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780385467995 here.]</ref>

In his 1986 book, ''The Anthropic Cosmological Principle'' (with [[John D. Barrow]]) reviews the intellectual history of [[teleology]], the large number of physical coincidences which allow sapient life to exist (see [[anthropic principle]]), and then investigates the [[ultimate fate of the universe]]. This was the first book to describe the Omega Point Theory. {{Citation needed|date=March 2011}}


In his controversial 1994 book ''The Physics of Immortality'',<ref>
In his controversial 1994 book ''The Physics of Immortality'',<ref>
Line 138: Line 109:
|pmid=17811443
|pmid=17811443
}}</ref> Tipler claims to provide a mechanism for [[immortality]] and the [[resurrection of the dead]] consistent with the known laws of physics via the use of computers which use the entire universe to compute on and which diverge to a state of infinite computational resources that Tipler terms the [[Omega Point]] and which he identifies with [[God]]. The line of argument is that the evolution of intelligent species will enable scientific progress to grow exponentially, eventually enabling control over the [[universe]] even on the largest possible scale. Tipler predicts that this process will culminate with an all-powerful intelligence whose computing speed and information storage will grow exponentially at a rate exceeding that of a proposed collapse of the universe, thus providing infinite "experiential time" which will be used to run computer simulations of all intelligent life that has ever lived in the history of our universe. This [[virtual reality]] emulation is what Tipler means by "the resurrection of the dead." In more recent works, Tipler says that the existence of the Omega Point is required to avoid the violation of the known laws of physics.
}}</ref> Tipler claims to provide a mechanism for [[immortality]] and the [[resurrection of the dead]] consistent with the known laws of physics via the use of computers which use the entire universe to compute on and which diverge to a state of infinite computational resources that Tipler terms the [[Omega Point]] and which he identifies with [[God]]. The line of argument is that the evolution of intelligent species will enable scientific progress to grow exponentially, eventually enabling control over the [[universe]] even on the largest possible scale. Tipler predicts that this process will culminate with an all-powerful intelligence whose computing speed and information storage will grow exponentially at a rate exceeding that of a proposed collapse of the universe, thus providing infinite "experiential time" which will be used to run computer simulations of all intelligent life that has ever lived in the history of our universe. This [[virtual reality]] emulation is what Tipler means by "the resurrection of the dead." In more recent works, Tipler says that the existence of the Omega Point is required to avoid the violation of the known laws of physics.

His 1986 book, ''The Anthropic Cosmological Principle'' (with [[John D. Barrow]]) reviews the intellectual history of [[teleology]], the large number of physical coincidences which allow sapient life to exist (see [[anthropic principle]]), and then investigates the [[ultimate fate of the universe]]. This was the first book to describe the Omega Point Theory. Tipler has also published his Omega Point Theory in a number of peer-reviewed scientific journals and proceedings since 1986.<ref name="Tipler1986">Frank J. Tipler, [http://www.springerlink.com/content/vlj3180664373268/ "Cosmological Limits on Computation"], ''[[International Journal of Theoretical Physics]]'', Vol. 25, No. 6 (June 1986), pp. 617-661, {{doi|10.1007/BF00670475}}, {{bibcode|1986IJTP...25..617T}}. (First paper on the Omega Point Theory.)</ref><ref name="Tipler1988">Frank J. Tipler, [http://www.jstor.org/stable/192869 "The Anthropic Principle: A Primer for Philosophers"], ''PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association'', Vol. 1988, Volume Two: Symposia and Invited Papers (1988), pp. 27-48; published by [[University of Chicago Press]] on behalf of the [[Philosophy of Science Association]].</ref><ref name="Tipler1989">Frank J. Tipler, "The Omega Point as ''Eschaton'': Answers to Pannenberg's Questions for Scientists", ''[[Zygon: Journal of Religion & Science]]'', Vol. 24, Issue 2 (June 1989), pp. 217-253, {{doi|10.1111/j.1467-9744.1989.tb01112.x}}. [http://www.webcitation.org/5nY0aytpz Mirror link]. Republished as Chapter 7: "The Omega Point as ''Eschaton'': Answers to Pannenberg's Questions to Scientists" in Carol Rausch Albright and Joel Haugen (editors), ''Beginning with the End: God, Science, and Wolfhart Pannenberg'' (Chicago, Ill.: [[Open Court Publishing Company]], 1997), pp. 156-194, ISBN 0-8126-9325-6, {{lccn|97||000114}}.</ref><ref name="Tipler1992">Frank J. Tipler, [http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TVN-46YD4D5-12T&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=41358cdcea2b6a49f87ce3f8c2667600 "The ultimate fate of life in universes which undergo inflation"], ''[[Physics Letters]] B'', Vol. 286, Issues 1-2 (July 23, 1992), pp. 36-43, {{doi|10.1016/0370-2693(92)90155-W}}, {{bibcode|1992PhLB..286...36T}}.</ref><ref name="Tipler1993">Frank J. Tipler, "A New Condition Implying the Existence of a Constant Mean Curvature Foliation", {{bibcode|1993dgr2.conf..306T}}, in B. L. Hu and [[Theodore Jacobson|T. A. Jacobson]] (editors), ''Directions in General Relativity: Proceedings of the 1993 International Symposium, Maryland, Volume 2: Papers in Honor of Dieter Brill'' (Cambridge: [[Cambridge University Press]], 1993), pp. 306-315, ISBN 0-521-45267-8, {{bibcode|1993dgr2.conf.....H}}.</ref><ref name="Tipler1998">Frank J. Tipler, "Ultrarelativistic Rockets and the Ultimate Future of the Universe", [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19990023204_1999021520.pdf ''NASA Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Workshop Proceedings''], [[NASA|National Aeronautics and Space Administration]], January 1999, pp. 111-119 ([http://www.webcitation.org/5nY13xRip mirror link]); an invited paper in the proceedings of a conference held at and sponsored by [[Glenn Research Center|NASA Lewis Research Center]], Cleveland, Ohio, August 12–14, 1998; {{doi|2060/19990023204}}. [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?Ntk=DocumentID&Ntt=19990023204 Document ID: 19990023204]. Report Number: E-11429; NAS 1.55:208694; NASA/CP-1999-208694. [http://www.webcitation.org/5nwu4fT31 Mirror link].</ref><ref name="Tipler2001">Frank J. Tipler, [http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0104011 "The Ultimate Future of the Universe, Black Hole Event Horizon Topologies, Holography, and the Value of the Cosmological Constant"], {{arxiv|astro-ph|0104011}}, April 1, 2001. Published in J. Craig Wheeler and Hugo Martel (editors), [http://scitation.aip.org/dbt/dbt.jsp?KEY=APCPCS&Volume=586&Issue=1 ''Relativistic Astrophysics: 20th Texas Symposium, Austin, TX, 10-15 December 2000''] (Melville, N.Y.: [[American Institute of Physics]], 2001), pp. 769-772, ISBN 0-7354-0026-1, {{lccn|2001||094694}}, which is [http://link.aip.org/link/?APCPCS/586/769/1 ''AIP Conference Proceedings'', Vol. 586 (October 15, 2001)], {{doi|10.1063/1.1419654}}, {{bibcode|2001AIPC..586.....W}}.</ref><ref name="Tipler2003">Frank J. Tipler, "Intelligent life in cosmology", ''[[International Journal of Astrobiology]]'', Vol. 2, Issue 2 (April 2003), pp. 141-148, {{doi|10.1017/S1473550403001526}}, {{bibcode|2003IJAsB...2..141T}}; available [http://math.tulane.edu/~tipler/intelligentlife.pdf here] and at {{arxiv|0704.0058}}, March 31, 2007.</ref><ref name="Tipler2005">F. J. Tipler, [http://math.tulane.edu/~tipler/theoryofeverything.pdf "The structure of the world from pure numbers"], ''[[Reports on Progress in Physics]]'', Vol. 68, No. 4 (April 2005), pp. 897-964, {{doi|10.1088/0034-4885/68/4/R04}}, {{bibcode|2005RPPh...68..897T}}. [http://www.webcitation.org/5nx3CxKm0 Mirror link]. Also released as [http://arxiv.org/abs/0704.3276 "Feynman-Weinberg Quantum Gravity and the Extended Standard Model as a Theory of Everything"], {{arxiv|0704.3276}}, April 24, 2007.</ref><ref name="Tipler2007">Frank J. Tipler, Jessica Graber, Matthew McGinley, Joshua Nichols-Barrer and Christopher Staecker, [http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0003082 "Closed Universes With Black Holes But No Event Horizons As a Solution to the Black Hole Information Problem"], March 20, 2000. Published in ''[[Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society]]'', Vol. 379, Issue 2 (August 2007), pp. 629-640, {{doi|10.1111/j.1365-2966.2007.11895.x}}, {{bibcode|2007MNRAS.379..629T}}.</ref>

⚫
[[David Deutsch]] incorporates the concept of Tipler's Omega Point as a central feature of the fourth strand of his "four strands" concept of fundamental reality and identifies some aspects of Tipler's physics as being correct <ref name="Deutsch1997">
⚫
{{cite book
⚫
|author=David Deutsch
⚫
|year=1997
⚫
|title=The Fabric of Reality: The Science of Parallel Universes—and Its Implications
⚫
|location=London
⚫
|publisher=[[Penguin Press]]
⚫
|isbn=0713990619
⚫
|chapter=The Ends of the Universe}}</ref> although Deutsch is highly critical of Tipler's Christian-compatible conclusions<ref name="Mackey">{{cite book|last=Mackey|first=James Patrick|title=The critique of theological reason |url=http://books.google.com/?id=jNZy1docFVsC&pg=PA128&lpg=PA128&dq=david+deutsch+tipler&q=david%20deutsch%20tipler|year=2000|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521772938}}</ref> and exaggerated claims, which, according to Deutsch, have caused most scientists and philosophers to reject his theory out of hand.<ref name="Shermer2">{{cite book|last=Shermer|first=Michael |title=How we believe: science, skepticism, and the search for God |url=http://books.google.com/?id=Im4Yl8qVuQEC&pg=PA107&dq=deutsch+tipler&q=according%20deutsch%20tipler|year=2003|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=9780805074796}}</ref>


Tipler's Omega Point theories have received criticism by physicists and skeptics.<ref name="CSI">{{cite web|url=http://www.csicop.org/si/show/the_strange_case_of_frank_jennings_tipler|title=The Strange Case of Frank Jennings Tipler|last=Gardner|first=Martin|date=March / April 2008|work=Book Review, "The Physics of Christianity"|publisher=The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry|accessdate=29 June 2010}}</ref> [[George Ellis]], writing in the journal ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'', described Tipler's book on the Omega Point as "a masterpiece of [[pseudoscience]] ... the product of a fertile and creative imagination unhampered by the normal constraints of scientific and philosophical discipline",<ref name="ellis1994">
Tipler's Omega Point theories have received criticism by physicists and skeptics.<ref name="CSI">{{cite web|url=http://www.csicop.org/si/show/the_strange_case_of_frank_jennings_tipler|title=The Strange Case of Frank Jennings Tipler|last=Gardner|first=Martin|date=March / April 2008|work=Book Review, "The Physics of Christianity"|publisher=The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry|accessdate=29 June 2010}}</ref> [[George Ellis]], writing in the journal ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'', described Tipler's book on the Omega Point as "a masterpiece of [[pseudoscience]] ... the product of a fertile and creative imagination unhampered by the normal constraints of scientific and philosophical discipline",<ref name="ellis1994">
Line 152: Line 135:
}}</ref> and [[Michael Shermer]] devoted a chapter of ''[[Why People Believe Weird Things]]'' to enumerating what he thought to be flaws in Tipler's thesis.<ref name="Shermer">{{cite book|last=Shermer|first=Michael|title=Why People Believe Weird Things |date=1997 |publisher=W.H. Freeman |isbn=0-7167-3090-1}}</ref>
}}</ref> and [[Michael Shermer]] devoted a chapter of ''[[Why People Believe Weird Things]]'' to enumerating what he thought to be flaws in Tipler's thesis.<ref name="Shermer">{{cite book|last=Shermer|first=Michael|title=Why People Believe Weird Things |date=1997 |publisher=W.H. Freeman |isbn=0-7167-3090-1}}</ref>


Tipler's 2007 book ''The Physics of Christianity'' analyzes the Omega Point Theory's pertinence to [[Christian theology]].<ref name="Tipler2007a">{{cite book
Anders Sandberg<ref>[http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/cv.html Curriculum Vitae of Anders Sandberg]</ref> has stated his view of this theory as: "Tipler claims that Omega will resurrect everyone into an immortal life in what could only be called paradise."
|author=Frank J. Tipler
<ref name="Anders"/>
|title=The Physics of Christianity
|chapter=Christianity as Physics
|chapterurl=http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780385514248&view=excerpt
|location=New York
|publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]]
|year=2007
|isbn=0385514247
}}</ref> In the book, Tipler identifies the Omega Point as being the [[Judeo-Christian]] God, particularly as described by [[Christianity|Christian]] theological tradition. In this book Tipler also analyzes how [[Jesus|Jesus Christ]] could have performed the miracles attributed to him in the [[New Testament]] without violating any known laws of physics, even if one were to assume that we currently don't exist on a level of implementation in a [[simulated reality|computer simulation]] (in the case that we did then, obviously and as noted by Tipler, such miracles would be trivially easy to perform for the society which was running the simulation whilst it would still seem amazing from our perspective).

⚫
Tipler's writings on scientific [[peer review]] have been cited by [[William A. Dembski]] as having formed the basis of the process for "peer review" in the so-called [[intelligent design]] journal ''Progress in Complexity, Information and Design'' of the [[International Society for Complexity, Information and Design]] (now defunct), where both Tipler and Dembski served as fellows.

⚫
=== Quantum gravity and the Theory of Everything ===

⚫
In a 2005 ''[[Reports on Progress in Physics]]'' paper that was included as one of 12 papers in the journal's "Highlights of 2005",<ref name="Palmer">Richard Palmer, Publisher, [http://www.webcitation.org/5o9VkK3eE "Highlights of 2005"], ''[[Reports on Progress in Physics]]''; [http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/-page=extra.highlights/0034-4885 original URL, now dead].</ref> Tipler combines the Omega Point as a boundary condition with a version of the [[Richard Feynman|Feynman]]–[[Steven Weinberg|Weinberg]]–[[Bryce DeWitt|DeWitt]] theory of quantum gravity along with an extended [[Standard Model]] of [[subatomic particle]]s in order to form what he maintained is the correct [[theory of everything|Theory of Everything]] (TOE) describing and unifying all the [[force]]s in physics.<ref name="Tipler2005"/>

⚫
=== The Omega point and heaven ===
⚫
<!--- overweight, non notable material from Heaven article moved here, link here left there, someone with better knowledge of the subject feel free to edit or delete -->
The [[Omega Point (Tipler)|Omega Point]] is a term Tipler used to describe a [[scientific theory]] regarding what he maintains is a necessary [[physical cosmology|cosmological]] state in the distant future of the [[universe]].

Tipler has identified this final [[gravitational singularity|singularity]] and its state of infinite [[information processing]] capacity with [[God]]. The implication of this theory for people today is, basically, their [[resurrection of the dead|resurrection]]. It would be brought about by an ultimate cosmic computer running computer simulations of all intelligent life that had ever lived (by re-creating simulations of all possible [[quantum]] brain states within the master simulation).

⚫
The process is dependent not just on physical theory, but on intelligent life being able and desiring to control the collapse of the universe in a certain way.

⚫
According to Tipler's ''Omega Point Theory'', as the universe comes to an end at a [[gravitational singularity|singularity]] in a particular form of the [[Big Crunch]], the [[computation]]al capacity of the universe would [[acceleration|accelerate]] [[exponential growth|faster and faster]]. In principle, then, a program run on this [[Zeno machine|universal computer]] could continue [[eternity|forever]] in its own terms, even though the universe would last only a finite amount of [[proper time]].<ref>Tipler, ''The Physics of Immortality: Modern Cosmology, God and the Resurrection of the Dead'' (New York: Doubleday, 1994), ISBN 0-19-851949-4. 56-page excerpt available [http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780385467995 here.]</ref>


⚫
Researcher Anders Sandberg<ref>[http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/cv.html Curriculum Vitae of Anders Sandberg]</ref> has stated his view of this theory as: "Tipler claims that Omega will resurrect everyone into an immortal life in what could only be called paradise."<ref>Anders Sandberg, [http://www.aleph.se/Trans/Global/Omega/tipler_page.html "My Thoughts and Comments on the Omega Point Theory of Frank J. Tipler"]</ref>
== Intelligent Design ==
⚫
Tipler's writings on scientific [[peer review]] have been cited by [[William A. Dembski]] as having formed the basis of the process for "peer review" in the so-called [[intelligent design]] journal ''Progress in Complexity, Information and Design'' of the [[International Society for Complexity, Information and Design]] (now defunct), where both Tipler and Dembski served as fellows. {{Citation needed|date=March 2011}}


==Selected writings==
==Selected writings==

Revision as of 18:11, 13 March 2011

Frank Jennings Tipler III
Born (1947-02-01) February 1, 1947 (age 77)
Andalusia, Alabama, United States
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipUnited States
EducationPhD (Physics)
Alma materMassachusetts Institute of Technology; University of Maryland, College Park
OccupationMathematical Physicist
EmployerTulane University
Known forOmega Point Theory
The Physics of Immortality
Websitehttp://math.tulane.edu/~tipler/

Frank Jennings Tipler III (born February 1, 1947 in Andalusia, Alabama[1]) is a mathematical physicist and cosmologist, holding a joint appointment in the Departments of Mathematics and Physics at Tulane University.[2]

Life

Tipler is the son of Frank Jennings Tipler Jr., a lawyer, and Anne Tipler, a homemaker.[1] Tipler attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1965 through 1969, and he completed his bachelor of science degree in physics in 1969.[2] Tipler entered graduate school, and in 1976 he earned his doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) degree from the University of Maryland.[3] Tipler was next hired to a sequence of postdoctoral researcher positions at in physics at three universities, with the final one being at the University of Texas, where he worked under John Archibald Wheeler, Abraham Taub, Rainer Sachs, and Dennis Sciama.[2] Tipler became a faculty member in mathematical physics in 1981 at Tulane University, where he has been a faculty member ever since.[2]

Publications

The Omega Point

Frank Tipler uses the term Omega Point to describe what he maintains is the ultimate fate of the universe required by the laws of physics. Tipler (1994) has summarized his theory as follows:

  • The universe has finite spatial size and the topology of a three-sphere;
  • There are no event horizons, implying the future c-boundary is a point, called the Omega Point;
  • Sentient life must eventually engulf the entire universe and control it;
  • The amount of information processed between now and the Omega Point is infinite;
  • The amount of information stored in the universe asymptotically goes to infinity as the Omega Point is approached.[4]

In his controversial 1994 book The Physics of Immortality,[5][6][7] Tipler claims to provide a mechanism for immortality and the resurrection of the dead consistent with the known laws of physics via the use of computers which use the entire universe to compute on and which diverge to a state of infinite computational resources that Tipler terms the Omega Point and which he identifies with God. The line of argument is that the evolution of intelligent species will enable scientific progress to grow exponentially, eventually enabling control over the universe even on the largest possible scale. Tipler predicts that this process will culminate with an all-powerful intelligence whose computing speed and information storage will grow exponentially at a rate exceeding that of a proposed collapse of the universe, thus providing infinite "experiential time" which will be used to run computer simulations of all intelligent life that has ever lived in the history of our universe. This virtual reality emulation is what Tipler means by "the resurrection of the dead." In more recent works, Tipler says that the existence of the Omega Point is required to avoid the violation of the known laws of physics.

His 1986 book, The Anthropic Cosmological Principle (with John D. Barrow) reviews the intellectual history of teleology, the large number of physical coincidences which allow sapient life to exist (see anthropic principle), and then investigates the ultimate fate of the universe. This was the first book to describe the Omega Point Theory. Tipler has also published his Omega Point Theory in a number of peer-reviewed scientific journals and proceedings since 1986.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]

David Deutsch incorporates the concept of Tipler's Omega Point as a central feature of the fourth strand of his "four strands" concept of fundamental reality and identifies some aspects of Tipler's physics as being correct [18] although Deutsch is highly critical of Tipler's Christian-compatible conclusions[19] and exaggerated claims, which, according to Deutsch, have caused most scientists and philosophers to reject his theory out of hand.[20]

Tipler's Omega Point theories have received criticism by physicists and skeptics.[21] George Ellis, writing in the journal Nature, described Tipler's book on the Omega Point as "a masterpiece of pseudoscience ... the product of a fertile and creative imagination unhampered by the normal constraints of scientific and philosophical discipline",[6] and Michael Shermer devoted a chapter of Why People Believe Weird Things to enumerating what he thought to be flaws in Tipler's thesis.[22]

Tipler's 2007 book The Physics of Christianity analyzes the Omega Point Theory's pertinence to Christian theology.[23] In the book, Tipler identifies the Omega Point as being the Judeo-Christian God, particularly as described by Christian theological tradition. In this book Tipler also analyzes how Jesus Christ could have performed the miracles attributed to him in the New Testament without violating any known laws of physics, even if one were to assume that we currently don't exist on a level of implementation in a computer simulation (in the case that we did then, obviously and as noted by Tipler, such miracles would be trivially easy to perform for the society which was running the simulation whilst it would still seem amazing from our perspective).

Tipler's writings on scientific peer review have been cited by William A. Dembski as having formed the basis of the process for "peer review" in the so-called intelligent design journal Progress in Complexity, Information and Design of the International Society for Complexity, Information and Design (now defunct), where both Tipler and Dembski served as fellows.

Quantum gravity and the Theory of Everything

In a 2005 Reports on Progress in Physics paper that was included as one of 12 papers in the journal's "Highlights of 2005",[24] Tipler combines the Omega Point as a boundary condition with a version of the Feynman–Weinberg–DeWitt theory of quantum gravity along with an extended Standard Model of subatomic particles in order to form what he maintained is the correct Theory of Everything (TOE) describing and unifying all the forces in physics.[16]

The Omega point and heaven

The Omega Point is a term Tipler used to describe a scientific theory regarding what he maintains is a necessary cosmological state in the distant future of the universe.

Tipler has identified this final singularity and its state of infinite information processing capacity with God. The implication of this theory for people today is, basically, their resurrection. It would be brought about by an ultimate cosmic computer running computer simulations of all intelligent life that had ever lived (by re-creating simulations of all possible quantum brain states within the master simulation).

The process is dependent not just on physical theory, but on intelligent life being able and desiring to control the collapse of the universe in a certain way.

According to Tipler's Omega Point Theory, as the universe comes to an end at a singularity in a particular form of the Big Crunch, the computational capacity of the universe would accelerate faster and faster. In principle, then, a program run on this universal computer could continue forever in its own terms, even though the universe would last only a finite amount of proper time.[25]

Researcher Anders Sandberg[26] has stated his view of this theory as: "Tipler claims that Omega will resurrect everyone into an immortal life in what could only be called paradise."[27]

Selected writings

Books

  • Frank J. Tipler (2007). The Physics of Christianity. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0385514247.
  • Frank J. Tipler (1994). The Physics of Immortality: Modern Cosmology, God and the Resurrection of the Dead. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0198519494.
  • Frank J. Tipler (1986). The Anthropic Cosmological Principle. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198519494. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

Articles

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Terrie M. Rooney (editor) (1997). Contemporary Authors. Vol. 157. Farmington Hills (MI): Thomson Gale. p. 407. ISBN 0787611832. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  2. ^ a b c d Frank J. Tipler (2007). "Biography". Frank J. Tipler's Tulane University website.
  3. ^ Frank J. Tipler (1976). Causality Violation in General Relativity (PhD thesis). University of Maryland. Bibcode:1976PhDT........61T.
       Source: "Dissertation Abstracts International". 37 (06): B2923. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ Tipler (1994), p.
  5. ^ John Polkinghorne (1995). "I am the Alpha and the Omega Point". New Scientist (1963): 41.
  6. ^ a b George Ellis (1994). "Review of The Physics of Immortality" (PDF). Nature. 371: 115. doi:10.1038/371115a0.
  7. ^ Richard G. Baker (1995). "Fossils Worth Studying" (PDF). Science. 267 (5200): 1043–1044. doi:10.1126/science.267.5200.1043. PMID 17811443.
  8. ^ Frank J. Tipler, "Cosmological Limits on Computation", International Journal of Theoretical Physics, Vol. 25, No. 6 (June 1986), pp. 617-661, doi:10.1007/BF00670475, Bibcode:1986IJTP...25..617T. (First paper on the Omega Point Theory.)
  9. ^ Frank J. Tipler, "The Anthropic Principle: A Primer for Philosophers", PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, Vol. 1988, Volume Two: Symposia and Invited Papers (1988), pp. 27-48; published by University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Philosophy of Science Association.
  10. ^ Frank J. Tipler, "The Omega Point as Eschaton: Answers to Pannenberg's Questions for Scientists", Zygon: Journal of Religion & Science, Vol. 24, Issue 2 (June 1989), pp. 217-253, doi:10.1111/j.1467-9744.1989.tb01112.x. Mirror link. Republished as Chapter 7: "The Omega Point as Eschaton: Answers to Pannenberg's Questions to Scientists" in Carol Rausch Albright and Joel Haugen (editors), Beginning with the End: God, Science, and Wolfhart Pannenberg (Chicago, Ill.: Open Court Publishing Company, 1997), pp. 156-194, ISBN 0-8126-9325-6, LCCN 97-0.
  11. ^ Frank J. Tipler, "The ultimate fate of life in universes which undergo inflation", Physics Letters B, Vol. 286, Issues 1-2 (July 23, 1992), pp. 36-43, doi:10.1016/0370-2693(92)90155-W, Bibcode:1992PhLB..286...36T.
  12. ^ Frank J. Tipler, "A New Condition Implying the Existence of a Constant Mean Curvature Foliation", Bibcode:1993dgr2.conf..306T, in B. L. Hu and T. A. Jacobson (editors), Directions in General Relativity: Proceedings of the 1993 International Symposium, Maryland, Volume 2: Papers in Honor of Dieter Brill (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), pp. 306-315, ISBN 0-521-45267-8, Bibcode:1993dgr2.conf.....H.
  13. ^ Frank J. Tipler, "Ultrarelativistic Rockets and the Ultimate Future of the Universe", NASA Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Workshop Proceedings, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, January 1999, pp. 111-119 (mirror link); an invited paper in the proceedings of a conference held at and sponsored by NASA Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio, August 12–14, 1998; Error: Bad DOI specified!. Document ID: 19990023204. Report Number: E-11429; NAS 1.55:208694; NASA/CP-1999-208694. Mirror link.
  14. ^ Frank J. Tipler, "The Ultimate Future of the Universe, Black Hole Event Horizon Topologies, Holography, and the Value of the Cosmological Constant", arXiv:astro-ph/0104011, April 1, 2001. Published in J. Craig Wheeler and Hugo Martel (editors), Relativistic Astrophysics: 20th Texas Symposium, Austin, TX, 10-15 December 2000 (Melville, N.Y.: American Institute of Physics, 2001), pp. 769-772, ISBN 0-7354-0026-1, LCCN 20-1, which is AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 586 (October 15, 2001), doi:10.1063/1.1419654, Bibcode:2001AIPC..586.....W.
  15. ^ Frank J. Tipler, "Intelligent life in cosmology", International Journal of Astrobiology, Vol. 2, Issue 2 (April 2003), pp. 141-148, doi:10.1017/S1473550403001526, Bibcode:2003IJAsB...2..141T; available here and at arXiv:0704.0058, March 31, 2007.
  16. ^ a b F. J. Tipler, "The structure of the world from pure numbers", Reports on Progress in Physics, Vol. 68, No. 4 (April 2005), pp. 897-964, doi:10.1088/0034-4885/68/4/R04, Bibcode:2005RPPh...68..897T. Mirror link. Also released as "Feynman-Weinberg Quantum Gravity and the Extended Standard Model as a Theory of Everything", arXiv:0704.3276, April 24, 2007.
  17. ^ Frank J. Tipler, Jessica Graber, Matthew McGinley, Joshua Nichols-Barrer and Christopher Staecker, "Closed Universes With Black Holes But No Event Horizons As a Solution to the Black Hole Information Problem", March 20, 2000. Published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 379, Issue 2 (August 2007), pp. 629-640, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2007.11895.x, Bibcode:2007MNRAS.379..629T.
  18. ^ David Deutsch (1997). "The Ends of the Universe". The Fabric of Reality: The Science of Parallel Universes—and Its Implications. London: Penguin Press. ISBN 0713990619.
  19. ^ Mackey, James Patrick (2000). The critique of theological reason. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521772938.
  20. ^ Shermer, Michael (2003). How we believe: science, skepticism, and the search for God. Macmillan. ISBN 9780805074796.
  21. ^ Gardner, Martin (March / April 2008). "The Strange Case of Frank Jennings Tipler". Book Review, "The Physics of Christianity". The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved 29 June 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. ^ Shermer, Michael (1997). Why People Believe Weird Things. W.H. Freeman. ISBN 0-7167-3090-1.
  23. ^ Frank J. Tipler (2007). "Christianity as Physics". The Physics of Christianity. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0385514247. {{cite book}}: External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
  24. ^ Richard Palmer, Publisher, "Highlights of 2005", Reports on Progress in Physics; original URL, now dead.
  25. ^ Tipler, The Physics of Immortality: Modern Cosmology, God and the Resurrection of the Dead (New York: Doubleday, 1994), ISBN 0-19-851949-4. 56-page excerpt available here.
  26. ^ Curriculum Vitae of Anders Sandberg
  27. ^ Anders Sandberg, "My Thoughts and Comments on the Omega Point Theory of Frank J. Tipler"

External links

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