The Fabric of Reality: The Science of Parallel Universes--and Its Implications [Paperback]

Some of the outlandish claims that Deutsch makes in this book are the following: the mind-body problem is solved; P=NP is solved (it's false); the Church-Turing Thesis is a fact; everything that Deutsch dislikes is a form of solipsism. Of course, no details are given to the solutions, as these are just trivial facts, I guess, according to Deutsch.

But after reading the book, probably the one claim that I abhorred the most was never explicitly stated, but a simple corrollary are statements that he makes again and again: every human endeavour is just quantum physics. The reason for this is because human beings are (at the base level) just quantum-mechanical things, everything we do is a result of physics, and therefore while mathematicians (I happen to be a PhD student in mathematics, set-theory in particular) may think that they are dealing with abstract concepts, they are actually dealing with nothing more that quantum effects in their brains (which Deutsch equates with minds). A simple extension of this principle tells us that philosophy is just a quantum-mechanical process, ditto with art, politics, friendships, love, etc.

Of course, something that is hidden in the above idea is a reductionist claim --- that everything can be reduced to quantum effects. Not surprisingly, it turns out that Deutsch thinks that reductionism is wrong. There are several places in the text where Deutsch ends up contradicting himself, or appeals to claims that he thinks are incorrect. (He grants that criticism of scientific theories does not rest on experimental evidence alone, but while claiming that in fact experimental evidence is very low on the scale, for the most part the only criticisms he ends up making are through experimental evidence.)

My advice for anyone interested in the metaphysical or epistemological issues raised in this book --- read the works of a meta-physicist, not a quantum-physicist.

I actually slogged my way all the way through this EXCEPTIONALLY BADLY written book, because of my large interest in the subject matter. David Deutsch should have used a ghost writer for this, as he obviously was not up to the task. He is in love with page long paragraphs, as this book is filled with them. This, of course, reduces readability and comprehension. He couldn't write a clearly written sentence, if his life depended on it.

He also (out of 3,000+ books I have read) is the most arrogant writer I have ever read. He dismisses, cavalierly, and without much explanation, ANYONE who doesn't agree with him, and, though not saying this directly, certainly hinting strongly that he thinks that anyone disagreeing with him is an idiot. I found this attitude repulsive.

I expected to see a lot of experimental research to be quoted in this book, but it is almost totally lacking in any. He wanders around in this book, in bizarre philosophical mumbo-jumbo, that I don't think that he really understands properly, acting as if this proves some cosmic points.

The few facts that he actually provides in this book, are better described in any number of other books. If I had not read previously on related topics, his writing is so bad, that this book would have been incomprehensible to me.

To sum up in a much clearer way, than Deutsch could ever manage, the main point of his book, he basically says that a finite (but very large), number of parallel universes exist, that cover everything that every could, or might have happened; and that this in essence, happened at the moment of the big bang, or within 10 to the -43 seconds after. Time is discrete, not continuous (like a string of pearls looks continuous, but if you break the thread, it is actually shown to be discrete).

Time doesn't "flow", but our conciousnesses are only aware of one discrete moment of time, at a time. (Think, motion picture here. There are 30 static, non-moving picture frames per second, but your mind "fuses" them, into an apparent continuous whole, of an illusion of motion. This is how Deutsch views the universe. ALL the "movies" (universes), that can, could, or might, ever exist; and all possible events of "time", were created simultaneously at the moment of the big bang. Our conciousness, though, is only aware of one, discrete, "movie frame" (discrete bit of time), at a time, within only one "movie" (universe). So, continuous time DOESN'T really exist. It just appears that way because of limitations in our conciousness. Another way to think of it, is that the multiverse is like a video tape store. Each video tape, represents a different universe. Each static frame on the video tape, represents a discrete moment of time. Though all video tapes (universes), and all static frames (discrete moments of time), exist simultaneously, your consciousness can only derive meaning from it, from experiencing the frames sequencially, NOT simultaneously. So, only discret time exists, not continuous time.)

There, now you don't have to bother buying this book. Since he gives almost NO experimental evidence for this point of view, anyway, you don't need to worry about the fact that I didn't offer "proof", either!

For those people whose reviews I read, that seem to think that this book was a stunning revelation; I can only conclude that you haven't read much about this topic, before. Stuff along these lines, existed in science fiction probably since the thirties, and in hard science, for decades.

Whether or not some of what Deutsch believes, is ultimately proven to be correct or not, I don't know. For people in the field pushing parallel universes, though, it might have been better if this book had never been written, as it was such a HUGE turn-off for me.

My 2 cents worth.

Karl