SEEING DOUBLE: Shared Identities in Physics, Philosophy, and Literature

In this suggestive but almost terse volume, Pesic, a musician-physicist at St. John's College, probes the mysteries of individuality and identity in light of quantum theory. For Pesic, quantum theory poses a paradox: electrons and other elementary particles exhibit no individuality, yet we who are composed of these particles believe we are individuals. Every electron is so devoid of distinguishing features that one cannot even mark a particular electron to trace its history; they are perfectly identical instances of their species, a property Pesic christens "identicality." To explore the implications of identicality, Pesic looks not only to science but also to literature and philosophy. He considers Penelope's recognition of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey, the ship of Theseus, Democritus, Leibniz, Kant, Martin Guerre, Conrad and Kafka, and hopscotches through the history of physics from Newton and Maxwell to Planck and the articulation of quantum theory in the 1920s. Pesic argues that the admittedly strange quantum realm becomes more intelligible if one treats the loss of individuality as a fundamental postulate rather than a peripheral consequence of scaling down the physical world. He concludes by suggesting how identicality may point to novel ways of viewing ourselves, perhaps as modes of a single field, existing through participation. The prose style is clear and accessible, the treatment concise and admirably suited for the author's goal of beginning "a thoughtful conversation among many people," including nonspecialists. But the issues are so large and compelling that the book's brevity is at times frustrating, particularly in its most crucial sections on quantum theory and its implications. Still, the book does a respectable job of opening the conversation it seeks. (Mar.)