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The Serial Universe 1938 J W Dunne 9781162736563 Books

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The Serial Universe 1938 J W Dunne 9781162736563 Books

Dunne developed his notion of serial time which is basically the idea that our notion of passage of time leads to infinite temporal regress. In other words, in trying to capture the notion of an observer who is experiencing or "measuring" the physical world through a series of a-temporal "nows" we need to create a four-dimensional passage of time where past, present and future are all part of the same "block reality." However, in doing this we have paradoxically lost the notion of time we were trying to capture. Hence, we now try to add another temporal dimension only to have the same paradox present itself again and so on ad infinitum as we add more and more temporal dimensions to capture our knowledge of the world. In the book, Dunne argues that Einstein Relativity which unifies time with space thanks to the speed of light constant does not detract from his notion of serial time with the same recursive time dimensions occurring as we unify space with time. Dunne then goes to argue that the recursive nature of a temporal observer is also manifest in quantum theory which is predicated on the notion of the Heinsenberg Uncertainty Principle. The Uncertainty Principle states that we can never know with certainty all the observable states of a quantum physical system but only particular observables due to the complementary nature of quantum observables eg. having complete knowledge of one observable creates complete ignorance of another observable. The Uncertainty Principle exists because in an observers attempt to measure a quantum system the physical measuring instrument disturbs the dynamical trajectory of the system and therefore alters it. Dunne argues that world is therefore deterministic until an observer and their measuring apparatus alter it by interacting with the world. We can try to overcome the uncertainty created by the measuring apparatus disturbing the world we want to measure by including the measuring apparatus as part of the world but now the uncertainty is created not between the measuring apparatus and the world but between the observer and the world which now includes the measuring apparatus. Yet again we get an infinite regress and Dunne relates this infinite regress to our trying capture the temporal nature of the observer. Although a brief book, Dunne's book is a little abstruse and hard to follow even if his arguments are mostly aimed at being clear enough for the lay person to follow. Unfortunately, I think Dunne's theory about time will remain largely ignored, if not forgotten, because any theory which makes reference to infinity, not to mention infinite regressions, tends to be unpopular with most scientists and philosophers. After all, infinite regressions are mostly seen as signs of a problem to be solved and not the explanation of a problem. It was argued at the time that Dunne wrote his books that he was providing a proof of immortality, however, this is a metaphysical assumption that can't be made simply by suggesting that we are immortal because in attempting to include the observer in our map of the world we paradoxically leave the observer out. The observation of an absence is not the absence of observation and yet by wrongly equating the two I think Dunne wrongly came to the conclusion that the observer must be immortal. In other words I believe Dunne reasoned and concluded as such: the observer exists but is never present when I look for an observer in the world. Any attempt to include the observer in the world leads to infinite regression. This infinite regression is real. Therefore the observer must be immortal. Now this assumption rests on the notion that the observer is fundamentally a transcendental subject and not reducible to an physical object in the world, such as a brain, and here we enter metaphysical arguments for which there are no proofs to be had either way. I do recommend people who are interested in the nature of time and consciousness to read this book.

Product details Paperback 238 pages Publisher Kessinger Publishing, LLC (September 10, 2010) Language English ISBN-10 1162736569

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The Serial Universe 1938 J W Dunne 9781162736563 Books Reviews

The Serial Universe 1938. The book as supplied is not the latest edition of this book. A later edition includes revisions and an index but the same number of pages. The new revised edition dated January MCMXLVIII (1948) includes a number of footnotes, where the author has given additional explanations of his concept. J. W. Dunne wrote two additional books expounding on his theories "The New Immortality" and "Nothing Dies", which he refers to in the preface to the second edition, where he describes the revisions that he intended to make. The three stars relates to the fact that it is not the latest edition of the book and not to the content of the book.
Dunne's books will open your mind to a world that is often overlooked these days outside the realm of religion. Who are we as a species and what are we doing here (in reality). Serial Universe is a great introduction to the ideas that surround serialism and the basic theories on life and time from a very accomplished inventor/thinker of the early 20th century. I started off with his first book, entitled "An Experiment with Time", and after a few readings felt as though it were time to move on. If you enjoy reading non-fiction and are interested in the nature of time, consciousness, and reality, then this is a great book to hunker down with over the course of a few months. Of course you can read it faster than that, but more than likely it will take a few readings to really understand...in fact, you might never truly understand unless you can toss aside some of today's basic notions about the subjects Mr. Dunne approaches.
The Serial Universe by J.W. Dunne, Kessinger (originally, The Macmillan Company, 1938), 244 ff.

John William Dunne was an Anglo-Irish aeronautical engineer and philosopher. He had a lifelong interest in science and particularly in what is now called parapsychology. Several of his books deal with the issue of `time' with suggestions as to how past, present and future can all be experienced by mediums. He distinguishes, like Locke and Kant, between the world of appearances and the world of underlying fundamental realities. Of the latter, we can say nothing (or, at least, we could say very little in the 1930s when this book was written). When we come to explore the material world in ever increasing detail, we are left with what appears to be an infinite regress into smaller and smaller particles until we are left with nothing but non-material waves of energy.

Dunne discusses how the world described by science `now' is different from that described `in the past' or that to be described `in the future'. What gives the observations `now' any privileged authority? All measurements must be made relative to some designated system and Dunne goes on to discuss relativity and the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle - that absolute knowledge of properties of subatomic particles regarding position and momentum are impossible - or, at least, subject to a certain margin of error or probability. The book is easy to read physically because of the large print, but the arguments are rather convoluted and I didn't find them at all easy to follow. It's not the sort of book that needs an Index, so there isn't one.
Dunne developed his notion of serial time which is basically the idea that our notion of passage of time leads to infinite temporal regress. In other words, in trying to capture the notion of an observer who is experiencing or "measuring" the physical world through a series of a-temporal "nows" we need to create a four-dimensional passage of time where past, present and future are all part of the same "block reality." However, in doing this we have paradoxically lost the notion of time we were trying to capture. Hence, we now try to add another temporal dimension only to have the same paradox present itself again and so on ad infinitum as we add more and more temporal dimensions to capture our knowledge of the world. In the book, Dunne argues that Einstein Relativity which unifies time with space thanks to the speed of light constant does not detract from his notion of serial time with the same recursive time dimensions occurring as we unify space with time. Dunne then goes to argue that the recursive nature of a temporal observer is also manifest in quantum theory which is predicated on the notion of the Heinsenberg Uncertainty Principle. The Uncertainty Principle states that we can never know with certainty all the observable states of a quantum physical system but only particular observables due to the complementary nature of quantum observables eg. having complete knowledge of one observable creates complete ignorance of another observable. The Uncertainty Principle exists because in an observers attempt to measure a quantum system the physical measuring instrument disturbs the dynamical trajectory of the system and therefore alters it. Dunne argues that world is therefore deterministic until an observer and their measuring apparatus alter it by interacting with the world. We can try to overcome the uncertainty created by the measuring apparatus disturbing the world we want to measure by including the measuring apparatus as part of the world but now the uncertainty is created not between the measuring apparatus and the world but between the observer and the world which now includes the measuring apparatus. Yet again we get an infinite regress and Dunne relates this infinite regress to our trying capture the temporal nature of the observer. Although a brief book, Dunne's book is a little abstruse and hard to follow even if his arguments are mostly aimed at being clear enough for the lay person to follow. Unfortunately, I think Dunne's theory about time will remain largely ignored, if not forgotten, because any theory which makes reference to infinity, not to mention infinite regressions, tends to be unpopular with most scientists and philosophers. After all, infinite regressions are mostly seen as signs of a problem to be solved and not the explanation of a problem. It was argued at the time that Dunne wrote his books that he was providing a proof of immortality, however, this is a metaphysical assumption that can't be made simply by suggesting that we are immortal because in attempting to include the observer in our map of the world we paradoxically leave the observer out. The observation of an absence is not the absence of observation and yet by wrongly equating the two I think Dunne wrongly came to the conclusion that the observer must be immortal. In other words I believe Dunne reasoned and concluded as such the observer exists but is never present when I look for an observer in the world. Any attempt to include the observer in the world leads to infinite regression. This infinite regression is real. Therefore the observer must be immortal. Now this assumption rests on the notion that the observer is fundamentally a transcendental subject and not reducible to an physical object in the world, such as a brain, and here we enter metaphysical arguments for which there are no proofs to be had either way. I do recommend people who are interested in the nature of time and consciousness to read this book.