THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 27, 1994 TAG: 9411220580
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Book Review
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
THE PHYSICS OF IMMORTALITY
Modern Cosmology, God and the Resurrection of the Dead
FRANK J. TIPLER
Doubleday. 528 pp. $24.95.
FINALLY: There is proof of God and of immortality. We shall all be resurrected and live eternally as perfected beings cleansed of the blemishes that now mar our all-too-human souls.
That's according to physicist Frank J. Tipler who, in his new book, The Physics of Immortality, takes on God, the universe and nearly every related thing. ``This is intended to be a popular book,'' Tipler announces early on. ``However, I shall attempt in it to solve the most important problems of human existence. . . ''
That's a tall order for 500-some pages, even given Tipler's impressive pedigree in physics, mathematics and computer science.
To bolster his contentions, and to make his book more readable for civilians, Tipler has included, but cloistered in the back of his book, a 119-page ``Appendix For Scientists.'' Therein he elaborates on what he terms ``messy technicalities,'' the scientific theorems behind his arguments and the formulae that he uses to ``prove'' them.
Despite efforts to make this work accessible and compelling, readers will find it a hard slog. In the main narrative remain a number of physics- and mathematics-choked passages that tend to dam up what little flow Tipler sometimes achieves. His tone is didactic and stuffy, his style leaden. Basically, Tipler writes poorly.
This would have been a far better book if 119 pages had been spent outlining Tipler's basic premises and the rest in detailing the scientific minutiae. But give him credit for trying to, as he puts it, ``make Heaven as real as an electron.'' Tipler's premise - of marrying science to religion - is noble and provocative enough. It's just that he can't execute it.
The nub of his argument is this: Life is destined to expand throughout the universe and will eventually achieve omniscience and omnipotence at the ultimate stage of evolution, which Tipler describes as the Omega Point. Because past, present and future at the Omega Point are one, life essentially already has become God.
And because God can do pretty much what God wants, Tipler is convinced an infinitely loving God will choose (has chosen?) to resurrect the creatures It cherishes. Us, in other words. Plus pets. But not other animals because they probably aren't sufficiently complex computing machines.
Which brings us to one of Tipler's most nettlesome assertions, that humans and the universe are really nothing more than elaborate computer systems and computer programming. Given the complexity and little-understood interdependence of biological systems, Tipler's assertions about the functioning of a computerlike universe seem the smug musings of someone in love with his own intelligence. I am reminded of some 19th century scientists who became convinced they had learned all there was to know and, therefore, were themselves evolution's end point.
Tipler is at pains to address the afterlife's details, one of which concerns the fulfillment of human sexual appetites. The good news is that, in heaven, each one of us will find the perfect love and become, in our lover's eyes, literally beautiful. And we will be able to, er, romance one another to our heart's content - forever.
``Yes,'' Tipler asserts, ``sex will be available to those who wish it. . . are due to the fact that the sex/marriage market is a barter market, characterized by long search times and high transaction costs.''
Well, gee, now that you mention it, eternity might be kinda fun after all.
Throughout the book, Tipler takes the occasional detour that, if followed and enlarged - such as musing on the possible buddhahood of robots - could have captivated. He squanders such opportunities, though, opting instead for a approach more characteristic of a textbook writer (which Tipler has been) than of an essayist (which he should try to become).
The genuine glory and beauty of the universe resonate only faintly in The Physics of Immortality. The irony here is that Tipler, in trying to prove the joys of heaven, has produced a dispiriting and artless book. MEMO: James Schultz is a staff science and technology writer. ILLUSTRATION: Photo of book jacket
by CNB