Hazards of the Job From Industrial Disease to Environmental Health Science Book

According to Gerald L. Schroeder, “The renowned former president of the American Physical Society and professor of physics at Princeton University, recipient of the Einstein Award and member of the National Academy of Sciences, John Archibald Wheeler, likened what underlies all existence to an idea, the ‘bit’ (the binary digit) of information that gives rise to the ‘it,’ the substance of matter. If we can discover that underlying idea, we will have ascertained not only the basis for the unity that underlies all existence, but most important, the source of that unity. We will have encountered the hidden face of God.” (8-9)

Schroeder later states, “Wisdom, information, an idea, is the link between the metaphysical Creator and the physical creation. It is the hidden face of God.” (49)

At the end of his exploration, Schroeder leaves the reader with, “Even in the closest of encounters, the face of God remains hidden.” (187) Does that mean his entire book is not worth reading?

Perhaps, the “face of god” is the thirst for knowledge and understanding and creating conscious personal electric connections and signals within our own brains, or something like that. Information is like, wicked important dude.

“Call it wisdom or an idea, information. The Hebrew word integrating all these would be emet, reality.” (38)

Schroeder later defines wisdom as, “the building block, the substrate, from which all the time and space and matter of the universe were created. Wisdom is the interface between the physics of the world and the metaphysics of creation.” (93)

My late professor, Dr. Elie Wiesel (also a Jew), defined wisdom as, “the soul of knowledge” in our class, “Memories, Madness, and Desire” in 2008.

Schroeder was living in Jerusalem with his wife and five children at the time of this publication (2001), but laments, “I personally do not think that the complexity of life proves the existence of the Divine.” (93) later adding, “Faith backed by knowledge is much stronger than faith based on an emotionally driven gossamer hope, whether that faith be secular or religious.” (93-94)

I believe in Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, and the Patriot Way. Is there a face morph image of Bill and Tom? There’s tons of empirical evidence to back it all up too! The TB12 Method may or may not be pseudoscience, but Schroeder argues, “The wisdom of biology doesn’t try to beat the rules of nature. It outsmarts them.” (102) Maybe people from New England are wicked smaht too? “We’re not used to icy sidewalks in Jerusalem.” (175) Native Massholes certainly are.

There are three distinct personal connections I made to Wallacean (is that even word?) literature during The Hidden Face of God.

1. Chapter 7 opens describing the brain as an antenna: “If the universe is indeed the expression of an idea, the brain may be the sole antenna with circuitry turned to pick up the signal of that idea.” (105) Schroeder earned his Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In DFW’s opus, Infinite Jest, the MIT radio station is shaped like a brain.

2. Discussing female and male brain differences as demonstrated through standardized testing, Schroeder summarizes, “In standardized tests of skills, women in general do better at matching items having common characteristics. Men excel at rotating three-dimensional objects.” (144) Yang in Saint Dave’s Brief Interviews With Hideous Men tells Ndiawar, “Look, man. I rotate three-dimensional objects. Mentally.”

3. Is non-fiction more of your forte’? Perhaps consider this one: “Neural cells getting information from the white lines alone are inhibited from only two sides. Nothing other than surgery, which I am not suggesting, will remove the effect. It’s built from birth. Lobsters have the same problem!” (163)

4. Bonus points:
A. “And the brain is the top-of-the-line example of this successful struggle against oblivion.” (133)
B. “Destroy the cortex and you destroy consciousness. Destroy the brain and the palpable mind goes with it into oblivion.” (152)

!!!*“Is a joke truly funny when we laugh at it, or is it merely some aberration of our frontal lobe?” (143)*!!!

If I could date anyone, I’d date Gravity because, “Gravity is always attractive.” (32-33)

“In other words don’t expect to philosophize in the morning if you orgy in the evening.” (161)

I rate this book four stars.