HISC 186: Quantum Physics&Philos

University of California, Santa Cruz

A single book—Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter & Meaning, written by the professor of this course, a physicist and philosopher—serves as our laboratory for exploring questions of the nature of time, history, memory, free will, agency, and change, among others. In unpacking this book, we take up questions relevant to pressing issues such as: Given that social and political factors influence the making of facts is there any meaningful way to understand truth and objectivity? What is the nature of reality and how do our investigations of it matter?