Oppenheimer, Einstein, the Atom bomb, Hiroshima, time, death, and the Bhagavad Gita
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Sino-Platonic Papers is pleased to announce the publication of its three-hundred-and-seventy-fifth issue:
“How Oppenheimer Mistook Time for Death at Trinity (the A-bomb Test Site) and How the Bhagavad Gītā, Read Properly, Resonates with the Block Universe of Einstein,” by Conal Boyce.
ABSTRACT
In Part One of the essay, we review chapter 11 of the Bhagavad‑Gītā and discuss its resonance with the block universe. The block universe is an interpretation of the cosmos that is inherent in the space‑time continuum, where we find that else‑when is no more fleeting and ephemeral than else‑where. However, since the block universe is only a metaphysical interpretation of physics, and since it denies free will outright, it happens that most physicists eschew it. In contrast, Hossenfelder (2022) is happy to explain its features and philosophical significance to a general audience. As for free will, with patience and delicacy she devotes nearly twenty pages to that thorny topic as well.
In Part Two, we elaborate on Rabi’s many‑bright‑splinters view of Oppenheimer, and the concomitant folly of either criticizing or praising “him” as if he were an integrated whole. In that context, we revisit the famed utterance “Now I am become Death” and trace it back to the Sanskrit original which says: “Time I am.” The likely source of this Time/Death discrepancy is found to be a translation of the Gītā by A. Ryder. Ryder’s transmutation of the classic into a lullaby of rhyme and alliteration prevents all readers, even perspicacious RO, from seeing the block universe aspect of verses 11.32–11.33, as explored in Part One. A pity.
In Part Three, we go beyond the cartoon notion of a “tutor” upon whose desk Oppenheimer placed a poisoned apple in 1925 to reveal said tutor as the first ever to (accurately) identify proton tracks in a cloud chamber, likewise in 1925: P.M.S. Blackett. Finally, we ask: Was the point of Hiroshima to save lives by taking lives — a practicality? Was it an act of hot‑blooded retribution — a War Crime? Or, following Blackett, was it a “diplomatic message”? That of a giggly old man (President Truman) delivered in cold blood: “Know ye Soviets that never shall a Communist North Japan sully my game board.” The latter scenario would make Hiroshima a Crime Against Humanity.
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All issues of Sino-Platonic Papers are available in full for no charge.
To view our catalog, visit http://www.sino-platonic.org/
Selected readings
- "Neutrino Evidence Revisited (AI Debates)' | Is Mozart's K297b authentic?" (11/13/24)
- "Anti-collision particle physics" (3/6/23)
- "'These can be aptly compared with the challenges, problems, and insights of particle physics'" (6/24/08)
- "'High-energy linguistics'?" (8/29/22)
- "Neutral Xi_b^star, Xi(b)^{*0}, Ξb*0, whatever" (4/28/12)
- "ChatGPT: Theme and Variations" (2/21/23)
- "From wraith to smoking duck" (7/5/12)
- — and many other posts, which all go to prove that "particle physics" has a special flavor
Robot Therapist said,
January 4, 2026 @ 4:52 am
I guess I too am "a Sanskrit dilettante, a poseur" so it's interesting to read this. I never tire of telling friends that RO got it wrong, "it's kalo 'smi".
M. Paul Shore said,
January 4, 2026 @ 2:09 pm
Sounds quite interesting; but Truman a “giggly old man”? For one thing, he was only 61! And if he was giggly, presumably in private (a characteristic I’ve never heard claimed about him before), I’m not aware that it interfered with his public look and manner of great midcentury Midwestern respectability—a look and manner I’m inclined to have a certain fondness for, since my maternal grandfather, a school superintendent originally from northwestern Ohio, also had them, to a Trumanesque degree in fact.