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{{Infobox Person {{Infobox Person
|name = Frank Jennings Tipler III |name = Frank Jennings Tipler III
|image = |image =
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|birth_date = {{Birth date|1947|02|01}} |birth_date = {{Birth date|1947|2|1}}
|birth_place = ], ] |birth_place = ], ]
|death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|1947|02|01}} --> |death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|1947|02|01}} -->
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|nationality = ] |nationality = <!-- ] -->
|ethnicity = ] |ethnicity = ]
|citizenship = ] |citizenship = ]
|other_names = |other_names =
|known_for = purported physical proof of the ] and the ] ] (TOE)
|known_for = ]<br>
|education = Ph.D. in physics
]
|alma_mater = ]; ]
|education = PhD (Physics)
|employer = ]
|alma_mater = ]; ]
|occupation = ]
|employer = ]
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|parents = <!-- Frank Jennings Tipler, Jr. (father), Anne Tipler (mother) -->
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}} }}


'''Frank Jennings Tipler III''' (born ], ] in ]<ref name="Rooney1997"/>) is a ] and ], holding a joint appointment in the Departments of ] and ] at ].<ref name="TiplerBiography"> '''Frank Jennings Tipler III'''<ref name="Rooney1997">Terrie M. Rooney (editor), ''Contemporary Authors'', Vol. 157 (Farmington Hills, Michigan: Thomson Gale, 1997), ISBN 0787611832, pg. 407.</ref><ref name="Webb2002">Stephen Webb, ''If the Universe is Teeming with Aliens ... Where is Everybody?: Fifty Solutions to the Fermi Paradox and the Problem of Extraterrestrial Life'' (New York: Springer, 2002), ISBN 0387955011, pg. 245.</ref> (born ], ] in ]<ref name="Rooney1997"/>) is a ] and a professor in the departments of ] and ] (joint appointment) at ] in ].<ref name="TiplerBiography"> Frank J. Tipler's Tulane University website.</ref>
{{cite web
|author=Frank J. Tipler
|year=2007
|url=http://math.tulane.edu/~tipler/biography.htm
|title=Biography
|work=Frank J. Tipler's Tulane University website
}}</ref>


==Life== ==Life==


Tipler is the son of Frank Jennings Tipler Jr., a lawyer, and Anne Tipler, a homemaker.<ref name="Rooney1997"> Prof. Tipler is the son of Frank Jennings Tipler, Jr., a lawyer, and Anne Tipler, a homemaker.<ref name="Rooney1997"/>

{{cite book
Tipler received his ] degree in physics in 1969 at the ] (attending from 1965-1969).<ref name="TiplerBiography"/> In 1976 Tipler obtained his ] from the ] (attending from 1969-1976) in the field of global ] for his proof, using the techniques of ] and ], that if a time machine could be created its use would necessarily result in the formation of singularities.<ref>Frank Jennings Tipler, Ph.D. thesis at the University of Maryland, College Park (1976). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Vol. 37-06, Section B, pg. 2923. Also available as Dissertation 76-29,018 from Xerox University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, MI.</ref> Tipler went on to be hired as a ] by physicists ], ], ] and ].<ref name="TiplerBiography"/>
|author=Terrie M. Rooney (editor)

|year=1997
Tipler became Professor of Mathematical Physics in 1981 at Tulane University, where he has taught since.<ref name="TiplerBiography"/>
|title=Contemporary Authors
|volume=157
|publisher=]
|location=Farmington Hills (MI)
|isbn=0787611832
|page=407
}}</ref> He received his ] degree in physics in 1969 at the ] (attending from 1965-1969).<ref name="TiplerBiography"/> In 1976, Tipler obtained his ] from the ] in the field of global ] for his proof that if a time machine could be created its use would necessarily result in the formation of singularities, using the techniques of ] and ].<ref>
{{citation
|author=Frank J. Tipler
|year=1976
|title=Causality Violation in General Relativity (PhD thesis)
|publisher=University of Maryland
|bibcode=1976PhDT........61T
}}<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Source:
{{citation
|title=Dissertation Abstracts International
|volume=37
|issue=06
|page=B2923
}}</ref> Tipler went on to be hired as a ] by physicists ], ], ] and ].<ref name="TiplerBiography"/> He eventually became a professor of ] in 1981 at Tulane University, where he has taught since.<ref name="TiplerBiography"/>


==Academic work== ==Academic work==

===The Omega Point=== ===The Omega Point===


{{main|Omega Point (Tipler)}} {{main|Omega Point (Tipler)}}


In his controversial<ref>''New Scientist'', 4 February 1995, p. 41; ''Nature'' 371 : 115; ''Science'' 267 : 1042-43</ref> 1994 book '']'', Tipler claims to provide a mechanism for ] and the ] of the dead consistent with the known laws of physics, provided by a computer intelligence he terms the ] and which he identifies with ]. The line of argument is that the evolution of intelligent species will enable scientific progress to grow exponentially, eventually enabling control over the ] 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 the 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 ] emulation is what Tipler means by "the resurrection of the dead."
In his controversial 1994 book '']'',<ref>
{{cite journal
|author=John Polkinghorne
|title=I am the Alpha and the Omega Point
|url=http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14519634.400-i-am-the-alpha-and-the-omega-point.html
|journal=]
|year=1995
|volume= |issue=1963 |page=41
}}</ref><ref name="ellis1994"/><ref>
{{cite journal
|title=Fossils Worth Studying
|author=Richard G. Baker
|url=http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/sci;267/5200/1043?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&volume=267&firstpage=1043&resourcetype=HWCIT.pdf
|journal=]
|year=1995
|volume=267 |issue= |pages=1043–1044
|doi=10.1126/science.267.5200.1043
|pmid=17811443
}}</ref> Tipler claims to provide a mechanism for ] and the ] consistent with the known laws of physics, provided by a computer intelligence he terms the ] and which he identifies with ]. The line of argument is that the evolution of intelligent species will enable scientific progress to grow exponentially, eventually enabling control over the ] 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 the 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 ] emulation is what Tipler means by "the resurrection of the dead." In more recent works, Tipler says that the existence of the ] is required to avoid the violation of the known laws of physics.


According to ]'s review of Tipler's book in the journal '']'', Tipler's book on the ] is "a masterpiece of ] ... the product of a fertile and creative imagination unhampered by the normal constraints of scientific and philosophical discipline",<ref name="ellis1994"> In more recent works, Tipler says that the existence of the ] is required to avoid the violation of the known laws of physics.
{{cite journal
|author=]
|title=Review of The Physics of Immortality
|journal=]
|year=1994
|pages=115
|volume=371
|issue=
|url=http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v371/n6493/pdf/371115a0.pdf
|doi=10.1038/371115a0
}}</ref> and ] devoted a chapter of '']'' to enumerating flaws in Tipler's thesis.<ref name="shermer1997">
{{cite book
|author=]
|title=]
|publisher=]
|year=1997
|isbn=0-7167-3090-1
}}</ref> On the other hand, ] (who pioneered the field of ]s), confirms that Tipler's basic concept of the physics of an ] is correct.{{Fact|date=November 2008}} However, while in his 1997 book '']'', Deutsch incorporates the concept of Tipler's ] as a central feature of the fourth strand of his "four strands" Theory of Everything,<ref name="Deutsch1997">
{{cite book
|author=David Deutsch
|year=1997
|title=The Fabric of Reality: The Science of Parallel Universes—and Its Implications
|chapter=The Ends of the Universe
|chapterurl=http://www.geocities.com/theophysics/deutsch-ends-of-the-universe.html
|location=London
|publisher=]
|isbn=0713990619
}}</ref> he doesn't therein support Tipler's identification of the Omega Point with God. However, Deutsch does agree that the society near the Omega Point would have unlimited computational resources available to them (i.e., finite at any given time, with additional resources continuously coming online) and would hence be able to perfectly emulate any environment, including the ability to resurrect life.


According to ]'s review of Tipler's book in the journal '']'', Tipler's book on the ] is "a masterpiece of ] ... the product of a fertile and creative imagination unhampered by the normal constraints of scientific and philosophical discipline,"<ref name="ellis1994">{{cite journal| author = ]| title = Review of ''The Physics of Immortality''| journal = ]| year = 1994| pages = 115| volume = 37| issue = 6493| url = http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v371/n6493/pdf/371115a0.pdf}}</ref> and ] devoted a chapter of '']'' to enumerating perceived flaws in Tipler's thesis.<ref name="shermer1997">{{cite book| author = ]| title = ]| publisher = W.H. Freeman and Company| year = 1997| id = ISBN 0-7167-3090-1}}</ref> On the other hand, Oxford physics professor ] (who pioneered the field of ]s by being the first person to formulate an algorithm specific to quantum computation in 1985<ref name="Deutsch1985">D. Deutsch, ''Proceedings of the Royal Society of London; Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences'', Vol. 400, No. 1818 (July 1985), pp. 97-117. Also available See also </ref>), endorses the physics of Tipler's ] as being correct.<ref name="Deutsch1997">David Deutsch, ''The Fabric of Reality: The Science of Parallel Universes—and Its Implications'' (London: Allen Lane The Penguin Press, 1997), ISBN 0713990619. Extracts from with additional comments by Frank J. Tipler; also available and </ref> However, while in his 1997 book '']'' Deutsch incorporates Tipler's ] as a central feature of the fourth strand of his "four strands" concept of fundamental reality,<ref name="Deutsch1997"/> he doesn't therein support Tipler's identification of the Omega Point with God. Although Prof. Deutsch does agree that the society near the Omega Point would have unlimited computational resources available to them (i.e., finite at any given time, with additional resources continuously coming online and diverging to infinity), and hence would be able to perfectly emulate any environment which does not involve a logical contradiction (e.g., such as rendering a circle that's at the same time also a triangle), which would allow the society near the Omega Point to be able to resurrect us, and all possible variations of us.<ref name="Deutsch1997"/>
His 1986 book, ''The Anthropic Cosmological Principle'' (with ]) reviews the intellectual history of ], the large number of physical coincidences which allow sapient life to exist (see ]), and then investigates the ]. This was the first book to describe the Omega Point Theory.


His earlier book, 1986's ''The Anthropic Cosmological Principle'' with ], reviews the intellectual history of ], the large number of physical coincidences which allow sapient life to exist (i.e., the ]), and then investigates the ]. This was the first book to describe the Omega Point Theory.
Tipler's 2007 book ''The Physics of Christianity'' analyzes the Omega Point Theory's pertinence to ].<ref name="Tipler2007a">{{cite book

|author=Frank J. Tipler
Prof. Tipler's 2007 book ''The Physics of Christianity'' analyzes the Omega Point Theory's pertinence to ].<ref name="Tipler2007b">Frank J. Tipler, ''The Physics of Christianity'' (New York: Doubleday, 2007), ISBN 0385514247. Chapter I also available </ref> In the book Tipler identifies the Omega Point as being the ] ], particularly as described by ] theological tradition. In this book Tipler also analyzes how ] could have performed the miracles attributed to him in the ] 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 ] (in the case that we did, then according to Tipler such miracles would be trivially easy to perform for the society which was running the simulation, even though it would seem amazing from our perspective).
|title=The Physics of Christianity

|chapter=Christianity as Physics
Over the years, Tipler has had fruitful interactions with the theologian ].<ref>See '']'', June 1, 2001, wherein Pannenberg refers to Tipler as "my friend" and expresses general admiration of Tipler's "daring proposition concerning the future of the universe as a beginning of the dialogue between scientists and theologians about the future of the universe." Also available as ''Global Spiral'' (]), May 21, 2001.</ref>
|chapterurl=http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780385514248&view=excerpt
|location=New York
|publisher=]
|year=2007
|isbn=0385514247
}}</ref> In the book, Tipler identifies the Omega Point as being the ] ], particularly as described by ] theological tradition. In this book Tipler also analyzes how ] could have performed the miracles attributed to him in the ] 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 ] (in the case that we did, then according to Tipler such miracles would be trivially easy to perform for the society which was running the simulation, even though it would seem amazing from our perspective).


Tipler's writings on scientific ] have been cited by ] as forming the basis of the process for review in the intelligent design journal ''Progress in Complexity, Information and Design'' of the ], where both Tipler and Dembski serve as fellows. Tipler's writings on scientific ] have been cited by ] as forming the basis of the process for review in the intelligent design journal ''Progress in Complexity, Information and Design'' of the ], where both Tipler and Dembski serve as fellows.
Line 159: Line 82:
{{main|Omega Point (Tipler)#The Omega Point and the quantum gravity Theory of Everything}} {{main|Omega Point (Tipler)#The Omega Point and the quantum gravity Theory of Everything}}


In his 2005 paper<ref name="Tipler2005">F. J. Tipler, ''Reports on Progress in Physics'', Vol. 68, No. 4 (April 2005), pp. 897-964. See also Also released as arXiv:0704.3276, April 24, 2007.</ref> in the journal '']'', Prof. Tipler maintains that the correct ] theory has existed since 1962, first discovered by ] in that year,<ref>Richard P. Feynman, edited by Brian Hatfield, notes taken by Fernando B. Morinigo and William G. Wagner, (Reading, M.A.: Addison-Wesley, 1995).</ref> and independently discovered by ] and ], among others. But, according to Tipler, because these physicists were looking for equations with a finite number of terms (i.e., derivatives no higher than second order), they abandoned this qualitatively unique quantum gravity theory since in order for it to be consistent it requires an arbitrarily higher number of terms.<ref name="Tipler2007b3">Frank J. Tipler, ''The Physics of Christianity'' (New York: Doubleday, 2007), ISBN 0385514247, pp. 34-35. Chapter I also available </ref> "They also did not realize that the correct quantum gravity theory is consistent only if a certain set of boundary conditions are imposed ...," writes Tipler (which includes the initial ], and the final ], cosmological ]).<ref name="Tipler2005"/> Tipler says that the equations for this theory of quantum gravity are term-by-term finite, but the same mechanism that forces each term in the series to be finite also forces the entire series to be infinite (i.e., infinities that would otherwise occur in ], consequently destabilizing it, are transferred to the cosmological singularities, thereby preventing the universe from immediately collapsing into nonexistence). Tipler writes that "It is a fundamental mathematical fact that this is the best that we can do. ... This is somewhat analogous to ] in ], which says that all analytic functions other than constants have singularities either a finite distance from the origin of coordinates or at infinity."<ref name="Tipler2007b4">Frank J. Tipler, ''The Physics of Christianity'' (New York: Doubleday, 2007), ISBN 0385514247, pp. 49 and 279. Chapter I also available </ref>
In his 2005 paper in the journal '']'',<ref name="Tipler2005">
{{cite journal
|author=Frank J. Tipler
|url=http://math.tulane.edu/~tipler/theoryofeverything.pdf
|title=The structure of the world from pure numbers
|journal=Reports on Progress in Physics
|volume=68
|issue=4
|year=2005
|pages=897–964
|doi=10.1088/0034-4885/68/4/R04
}}</ref> Tipler maintains that the correct ] theory has existed since 1962, first discovered by ] in that year,<ref>
{{cite book
|author=Richard P. Feynman, Fernando B. Morinigo, William G. Wagner, David Pines
|title=The Feynman Lectures on Gravitation
|edition=1st
|publisher=]
|year=1995
|isbn=0201627345
}}</ref> and independently discovered by ] and ], among others. But, according to Tipler, because these physicists were looking for equations with a finite number of terms (i.e., derivatives no higher than second order), they abandoned this qualitatively unique quantum gravity theory since in order for it to be consistent it requires an arbitrarily higher number of terms.<ref name="Tipler2007b">
{{cite book
|author=Frank J. Tipler
|title=The Physics of Christianity
|location=New York
|publisher=]
|year=2007
|isbn=0385514247
|pages=34–35
}}</ref> Tipler writes "They also did not realize that the correct quantum gravity theory is consistent only if a certain set of boundary conditions are imposed ...", which includes the initial ], and the final ], cosmological ].<ref name="Tipler2005"/> Tipler says that the equations for this theory of quantum gravity are term-by-term finite, but the same mechanism that forces each term in the series to be finite also forces the entire series to be infinite (i.e., infinities that would otherwise occur in ], consequently destabilizing it, are transferred to the cosmological singularities, thereby preventing the universe from immediately collapsing into nonexistence). Tipler writes that "It is a fundamental mathematical fact that this is the best that we can do. ... This is somewhat analogous to ] in ], which says that all analytic functions other than constants have singularities either a finite distance from the origin of coordinates or at infinity."<ref name="Tipler2007c">
{{cite book
|author=Frank J. Tipler
|title=The Physics of Christianity
|location=New York
|publisher=]
|year=2007
|isbn=0385514247
|pages=49, 279
}}</ref>


In the same aforestated journal article, Tipler combines the above theory of quantum gravity with an extended ] in order to form what he maintains is the correct ] (TOE) describing and unifying all the ]s in physics.<ref name="Tipler2005"/> In the same aforestated journal article, Prof. Tipler combines the above theory of quantum gravity with an extended ] in order to form what he maintains is the correct ] (TOE) describing and unifying all the ]s in physics.<ref name="Tipler2005"/><ref name="Tipler2007b"/>


Out of 50 articles, Tipler's said paper was selected as " the very best articles published in '']'' in 2005. Articles were selected for their outstanding reviews of the field. They all received the highest praise from our international referees and a high number of downloads from the journal Website."<ref name="Palmer"> Out of 50 articles, Prof. Tipler's said paper<ref name="Tipler2005"/> was selected as one of 12 for the "Highlights of 2005" accolade as "the very best articles published in '']'' in 2005 . Articles were selected by the Editorial Board for their outstanding reviews of the field. They all received the highest praise from our international referees and a high number of downloads from the journal Website."<ref name="Palmer">Richard Palmer, Publisher, ''Reports on Progress in Physics''. See also ''Reports on Progress in Physics''.</ref> ''Reports on Progress in Physics'' is the leading journal of the ] (based on its ], according to '']''<ref name="JCR"> September, 2007.</ref>), Britain's main professional body for physicists.
{{cite journal
|author=Richard Palmer
|year=2006
|url=http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/-page=extra.highlights/0034-4885
|title=Highlights of 2005
|journal=Reports on Progress in Physics
}}</ref>


==Writings== ==Writings==

===Books=== ===Books===
* {{cite book
|author=Frank J. Tipler
|year=2007
|title=The Physics of Christianity
|location=New York
|publisher=]
|isbn=0385514247
}}
* {{cite book
|author=Frank J. Tipler
|year=1994
|title=The Physics of Immortality: Modern Cosmology, God and the Resurrection of the Dead
|location=New York
|publisher=]
|isbn=0198519494
}}
* {{cite book
|author=Frank J. Tipler
|coauthors=]
|year=1986
|title=The Anthropic Cosmological Principle
|publisher=]
|isbn=0198519494
}}


* Frank J. Tipler, ''The Physics of Christianity'' (New York: Doubleday, 2007), ISBN 0385514247. Chapter I also available
===Articles===
* Frank J. Tipler, ''The Physics of Immortality: Modern Cosmology, God and the Resurrection of the Dead'' (New York: Doubleday, 1994), ISBN 0198519494. 56-page excerpt available
* {{cite journal
* ] and Frank J. Tipler, Foreword by ], ''The Anthropic Cosmological Principle'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986), ISBN 0198519494.
|author=Frank J. Tipler

|year=2007
===Selected Articles===
|url=http://ssrn.com/abstract=959855

|title=The Value/Fact Distinction: Coase's Theorem Unifies Normative and Positive Economics
* Smithsonian/NASA ] (ADS) University of Nottingham
|journal=]
* ] xxx.lanl.gov
}}
* ''Theophysics''.
* {{cite arXiv
* F. J. Tipler, ''Observatory'', Vol. 125 (June 2005), pp. 168-174. Also available
|author=Frank J. Tipler
* F. J. Tipler, ''Reports on Progress in Physics'', Vol. 68, No. 4 (April 2005), pp. 897-964. See also Also released as arXiv:0704.3276, April 24, 2007.
|year=2007
* Frank Tipler, ''Gamma'', Vol. 10, No. 2 (April 2003), pp. 14-23; note that the foregoing version corrects character formatting errors of the versions available and For the version in Dutch, see ''Gamma'', Jrg. 10, Nr. 2 (April 2003), pp. 14-23; also available
|eprint=0704.3276
* Frank J. Tipler, ''International Journal of Astrobiology'', Vol. 2, Issue 2 (April 2003), pp. 141-148; also available See also Also at
|title=Feynman-Weinberg Quantum Gravity and the Extended Standard Model as a Theory of Everything
* Frank J. Tipler, '']'' (''SSRN''), January 15, 2007.
|class=hep-th
* Frank J. Tipler, ''Progress in Complexity, Information, and Design'' (''PCID''), Vols. 2.1 and 2.2 (January-June 2003). See also and Also published as Chapter 7 in edited by William A. Dembski, Foreword by John Wilson (Wilmington, Delaware: ISI Books, 2004), ISBN 1932236309.
}}
* {{cite journal
|author=Frank J. Tipler
|year=2005
|url=http://math.tulane.edu/~tipler/starofbethlehem.pdf
|title=The Star of Bethlehem: A Type Ia/Ic Supernova in the Andromeda Galaxy?
|journal=]
|volume=125
|pages=168–74
}}
* {{cite journal
|author=Frank J. Tipler
|year=2005
|url=http://math.tulane.edu/~tipler/theoryofeverything.pdf
|title=The structure of the world from pure numbers
|journal=]
|volume=68
|issue=4
|pages=897–964
|doi=10.1088/0034-4885/68/4/R04
}}
* {{cite journal
|author=Frank J. Tipler
|year=2003
|url=http://math.tulane.edu/~tipler/intelligentlife.pdf
|title=Intelligent life in cosmology
|journal=]
|volume=2
|issue=2
|pages=141–48
|doi=10.1017/S1473550403001526
}}
* {{cite journal
|author=Frank J. Tipler
|year=2003
|url=http://www.iscid.org/papers/Tipler_PeerReview_070103.pdf
|title= Refereed Journals: Do They Insure Quality or Enforce Orthodoxy?
|journal=]
|volume=2
|issue=1,2
}}
* {{cite journal
|author=Frank J. Tipler
|year=2003
|url=http://www.geocities.com/theophysics/tipler-omega-point-and-christianity.html
|title=The Omega Point and Christianity
|journal=]
|volume=10
|issue=2
|pages=14–23
}}


==See also== ==See also==


* ]
* ] * ]
* ] * ]
* '']'' (a book by David Deutsch) ** '']'', a book by David Deutsch.
* ] * ]
* ] (GUT) * ] (GUT)
* '']'', (a 1956 fictional story by ]) * "]," a 1956 fictional story by ] bearing resemblance to some aspects of Prof. Tipler's ].
* '']'' * ]
* ] * ]
* ] * ]
* ] (TOE) * ] (TOE)
* ] * ]
* ] * ]


==References== ==References==
Line 323: Line 128:


==External links== ==External links==
* ()
* ()
*
*
* Videos of a lecture on the Omega Point theory by Tipler. Given at the , ''Terasem Movement'' (2005).
:*
:*
:*
:* of the topics of discussion
*
:*
* ] videos featuring Tipler:
:* " in ]. .
:* " in ]. .
:* " in ]. .

{{Persondata<!-- Metadata: see ] -->
|NAME=Tipler, Frank J.
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
|SHORT DESCRIPTION= American Physicist
|DATE OF BIRTH=1947-02-01
|PLACE OF BIRTH= ], ]
|DATE OF DEATH=
|PLACE OF DEATH=
}}


*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tipler, Frank J.}}
* A website with information on Prof. Frank J. Tipler's Omega Point Theory.
* Video of a lecture by Prof. Frank J. Tipler on the Omega Point Theory, ''Terasem Movement,'' July 20, 2005: and ] Also available
* Jason Rennie (interviewer), ''The Sci Phi Show'', posted May 27, 2007. Also available and Prof. Tipler discusses the Omega Point Theory and his book ''The Physics of Christianity''.
* '']'' (] ) shows featuring Prof. Tipler, hosted by ]:
** show 105, first aired June 2000. ]
** show 213, first aired December 2000. ]
** show 214, first aired December 2000. ]


{{Lifetime|1947||Tipler, Frank J.}} {{Lifetime|1947||Tipler, Frank J.}}

Revision as of 11:26, 18 March 2009

Frank Jennings Tipler III
Born(1947-02-01)February 1, 1947
Andalusia, Alabama, United States
CitizenshipUnited States
EducationPh.D. in physics
Alma materMassachusetts Institute of Technology; University of Maryland, College Park
Occupationmathematical physicist
EmployerTulane University
Known forpurported physical proof of the existence of God and the quantum gravity Theory of Everything (TOE)
Websitehttp://math.tulane.edu/~tipler/

Frank Jennings Tipler III (born February 1, 1947 in Andalusia, Alabama) is a mathematical physicist and a professor in the departments of Mathematics and Physics (joint appointment) at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Life

Prof. Tipler is the son of Frank Jennings Tipler, Jr., a lawyer, and Anne Tipler, a homemaker.

Tipler received his Bachelor of Science degree in physics in 1969 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (attending from 1965-1969). In 1976 Tipler obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park (attending from 1969-1976) in the field of global general relativity for his proof, using the techniques of Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose, that if a time machine could be created its use would necessarily result in the formation of singularities. Tipler went on to be hired as a postdoctoral researcher by physicists John A. Wheeler, Abraham Taub, Rainer Sachs and Dennis Sciama.

Tipler became Professor of Mathematical Physics in 1981 at Tulane University, where he has taught since.

Academic work

The Omega Point

Main article: Omega Point (Tipler)

In his controversial 1994 book The Physics of Immortality, Tipler claims to provide a mechanism for immortality and the resurrection of the dead consistent with the known laws of physics, provided by a computer intelligence he 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 the 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.

According to George Ellis's review of Tipler's book in the journal Nature, Tipler's book on the Omega Point is "a masterpiece of pseudoscience ... the product of a fertile and creative imagination unhampered by the normal constraints of scientific and philosophical discipline," and Michael Shermer devoted a chapter of Why People Believe Weird Things to enumerating perceived flaws in Tipler's thesis. On the other hand, Oxford physics professor David Deutsch (who pioneered the field of quantum computers by being the first person to formulate an algorithm specific to quantum computation in 1985), endorses the physics of Tipler's Omega Point Theory as being correct. However, while in his 1997 book The Fabric of Reality Deutsch incorporates Tipler's Omega Point Theory as a central feature of the fourth strand of his "four strands" concept of fundamental reality, he doesn't therein support Tipler's identification of the Omega Point with God. Although Prof. Deutsch does agree that the society near the Omega Point would have unlimited computational resources available to them (i.e., finite at any given time, with additional resources continuously coming online and diverging to infinity), and hence would be able to perfectly emulate any environment which does not involve a logical contradiction (e.g., such as rendering a circle that's at the same time also a triangle), which would allow the society near the Omega Point to be able to resurrect us, and all possible variations of us.

His earlier book, 1986's 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 (i.e., the anthropic principle), and then investigates the ultimate fate of the universe. This was the first book to describe the Omega Point Theory.

Prof. Tipler's 2007 book The Physics of Christianity analyzes the Omega Point Theory's pertinence to Christian theology. 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 according to Tipler such miracles would be trivially easy to perform for the society which was running the simulation, even though it would seem amazing from our perspective).

Over the years, Tipler has had fruitful interactions with the theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg.

Tipler's writings on scientific peer review have been cited by William A. Dembski as forming the basis of the process for review in the intelligent design journal Progress in Complexity, Information and Design of the International Society for Complexity, Information and Design, where both Tipler and Dembski serve as fellows.

The quantum gravity Theory of Everything

Main article: Omega Point (Tipler) § The Omega Point and the quantum gravity Theory of Everything

In his 2005 paper in the journal Reports on Progress in Physics, Prof. Tipler maintains that the correct quantum gravity theory has existed since 1962, first discovered by Richard Feynman in that year, and independently discovered by Steven Weinberg and Bryce DeWitt, among others. But, according to Tipler, because these physicists were looking for equations with a finite number of terms (i.e., derivatives no higher than second order), they abandoned this qualitatively unique quantum gravity theory since in order for it to be consistent it requires an arbitrarily higher number of terms. "They also did not realize that the correct quantum gravity theory is consistent only if a certain set of boundary conditions are imposed ...," writes Tipler (which includes the initial Big Bang, and the final Omega Point, cosmological singularities). Tipler says that the equations for this theory of quantum gravity are term-by-term finite, but the same mechanism that forces each term in the series to be finite also forces the entire series to be infinite (i.e., infinities that would otherwise occur in spacetime, consequently destabilizing it, are transferred to the cosmological singularities, thereby preventing the universe from immediately collapsing into nonexistence). Tipler writes that "It is a fundamental mathematical fact that this is the best that we can do. ... This is somewhat analogous to Liouville's theorem in complex analysis, which says that all analytic functions other than constants have singularities either a finite distance from the origin of coordinates or at infinity."

In the same aforestated journal article, Prof. Tipler combines the above theory of quantum gravity with an extended Standard Model in order to form what he maintains is the correct Theory of Everything (TOE) describing and unifying all the forces in physics.

Out of 50 articles, Prof. Tipler's said paper was selected as one of 12 for the "Highlights of 2005" accolade as "the very best articles published in Reports on Progress in Physics in 2005 . Articles were selected by the Editorial Board for their outstanding reviews of the field. They all received the highest praise from our international referees and a high number of downloads from the journal Website." Reports on Progress in Physics is the leading journal of the Institute of Physics (based on its impact factor, according to Journal Citation Reports), Britain's main professional body for physicists.

Writings

Books

  • Frank J. Tipler, The Physics of Christianity (New York: Doubleday, 2007), ISBN 0385514247. Chapter I and excerpt from Chapter II. Chapter I also available here.
  • Frank J. Tipler, The Physics of Immortality: Modern Cosmology, God and the Resurrection of the Dead (New York: Doubleday, 1994), ISBN 0198519494. 56-page excerpt available here.
  • John D. Barrow and Frank J. Tipler, Foreword by John A. Wheeler, The Anthropic Cosmological Principle (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986), ISBN 0198519494. Excerpt from Chapter 1.

Selected Articles

See also

References

  1. ^ Terrie M. Rooney (editor), Contemporary Authors, Vol. 157 (Farmington Hills, Michigan: Thomson Gale, 1997), ISBN 0787611832, pg. 407.
  2. Stephen Webb, If the Universe is Teeming with Aliens ... Where is Everybody?: Fifty Solutions to the Fermi Paradox and the Problem of Extraterrestrial Life (New York: Springer, 2002), ISBN 0387955011, pg. 245.
  3. ^ "Biography," Frank J. Tipler's Tulane University website.
  4. Frank Jennings Tipler, Causality Violation in General Relativity, Ph.D. thesis at the University of Maryland, College Park (1976). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Vol. 37-06, Section B, pg. 2923. Also available as Dissertation 76-29,018 from Xerox University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, MI.
  5. New Scientist, 4 February 1995, p. 41; Nature 371 : 115; Science 267 : 1042-43
  6. Ellis, George (1994). "Review of The Physics of Immortality" (PDF). Nature. 37 (6493): 115.
  7. Shermer, Michael (1997). Why People Believe Weird Things. W.H. Freeman and Company. ISBN 0-7167-3090-1.
  8. D. Deutsch, "Quantum theory, the Church-Turing principle and the universal quantum computer," Proceedings of the Royal Society of London; Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Vol. 400, No. 1818 (July 1985), pp. 97-117. Also available here. See also here.
  9. ^ David Deutsch, The Fabric of Reality: The Science of Parallel Universes—and Its Implications (London: Allen Lane The Penguin Press, 1997), ISBN 0713990619. Extracts from Chapter 14: "The Ends of the Universe," with additional comments by Frank J. Tipler; also available here and here.
  10. ^ Frank J. Tipler, The Physics of Christianity (New York: Doubleday, 2007), ISBN 0385514247. Chapter I and excerpt from Chapter II. Chapter I also available here.
  11. See Science & Theology News, June 1, 2001, wherein Pannenberg refers to Tipler as "my friend" and expresses general admiration of Tipler's "daring proposition concerning the future of the universe as a beginning of the dialogue between scientists and theologians about the future of the universe." Also available as "Confessions of a Trinitarian evolutionist: Thomas Jay Oord's interview of Wolfhart Pannenberg—Part Two," Global Spiral (Metanexus Institute), May 21, 2001.
  12. ^ 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. See also here. Also released as "Feynman-Weinberg Quantum Gravity and the Extended Standard Model as a Theory of Everything," arXiv:0704.3276, April 24, 2007.
  13. Richard P. Feynman, edited by Brian Hatfield, notes taken by Fernando B. Morinigo and William G. Wagner, The Feynman Lectures on Gravitation (Reading, M.A.: Addison-Wesley, 1995).
  14. Frank J. Tipler, The Physics of Christianity (New York: Doubleday, 2007), ISBN 0385514247, pp. 34-35. Chapter I and excerpt from Chapter II. Chapter I also available here.
  15. Frank J. Tipler, The Physics of Christianity (New York: Doubleday, 2007), ISBN 0385514247, pp. 49 and 279. Chapter I and excerpt from Chapter II. Chapter I also available here.
  16. Richard Palmer, Publisher, "Highlights of 2005," Reports on Progress in Physics. See also "Editorial board," Reports on Progress in Physics.
  17. "Journal Citation Reports (JCR) Year 2006—Science Edition," September, 2007.

External links

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