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"Will
unification ever come to a stop?"
Unification of opposites is an underlying theme in the development
of humanity. Newton showed us that the same laws govern the motion of
heavenly bodies and apples falling on Earth. Darwin unified the concept
of being a human with that of being another living organism. There have
been numerous other unifications in the history of mankind. So, how
will it go on? Which notions appearing to us as very distinct today
will turn out to be the same for future generations? Will there ever
be a limit to unification? Will we in the end be able to show that everything
just stems from one single fundamental idea? Or two? Or many? Or infinitely
many?
A more practical and immedite question is where the next step will lead
us to? Which is the next unification of seemingly opposite and distinct
concepts. Maybe we should look at the real big questions loom today
and take them as hints for the next unifications. So, very specifically,
which of the questions raised in the Edge World Question drive
points towards the next unification?
Anton
Zeilinger
is a Professor of Physics at the University of Vienna whose work in
quantum teleportation has received worldwide attention.
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