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Legendary Thinker, Physicist
Evan H. Walker, Remembered this Weekend
The
American intellectual, physicist and artist, author of The Physics of Consciousness, Dr. Evan Harris Walker of
The
Friend
and Aberdeen Proving Grounds colleague Robert Paul describes him as “an
intellectual rouge of the first magnitude” of outstanding teaching ability, and
a creative genius whose stories he still delights to tell. “During these years I came to recognize his
passionate beliefs and considerations of the most serious matters. He spent many lunches in his religious
studies group and engaged anyone in deep philosophical discussions about
religion, politics, and philosophy.”
Having
just finished a new book, exhibited his art in
Many
who have had Near Death Experiences report a sort of life review; as in end of
the movie American Beauty, a collage
of a myriad of important or emotional moments in one’s life. If the late American physicist Evan Harris
Walker had this experience last August 17, when he departed, what memories
might have he revisited? Certainly, priceless moments with his wife, his brother,
and other family members; perhaps, he smiled at what had appeared to have been
intractable disagreements, insurmountable obstacles, and bitter
disappointments.
Surely,
he would revisit that fateful stroll through the
In The Physics of Consciousness, he
summarizes his work. “One of the central features of the controversy has been
the argument that characteristics of QM [Quantum Mechanics] imply that an
observer's thoughts can affect an objective apparatus directly, which in turn
implies the reality not only of consciousness but of psi phenomena. I have
written several papers saying that such a feature of QM is not a fault, but
rather represents a solution to problems that go beyond the usual purview of
physics. Thus, I have developed a theory of consciousness and psi phenomena
that arises directly from these bizarre findings in QM.”
Although
others had suggested a possible connection between consciousness and quantum
mechanics,
An
endless fountain of creativity, Dr. Walker could be found ideating on
outrageous inventions and purely theoretical arguments. However, Evan Walker
did not stop at theory. He was among a
minority of scientists who openly admitted to witnessing and producing
so-called anomalous or paranormal phenomena on numerous occasions. Despite that, he was not militant in a field
that is highly divided. On citing
Near-Death Experiences and other phenomena, a minority contends that
consciousness survives death and is extra-biological while the majority of
scientists defend that consciousness is nothing but illusory epiphenomena
produced by the brain and that paranormal phenomena either do not exist or are
caused by physical processes.
“Instead
of arguing endlessly about which metaphysical bias has more merit, Dr. Walker
realized that, either way, consciousness and the brain are, at least while we
live physically, inextricably connected.” International Academy of
Consciousness out-of-body experience junior researcher Nelson Abreu first met
Dr. Walker at the biennial Toward a Science of Consciousness conference in
Does
consciousness survive biological death? No one was more fascinated with this
enigma than Dr. Walker, and friends kid that he is
fully expected to report on his findings – somehow. At about the time of this death on August 17,
the son of his nephew Michael P. Walker happened to see Dr. Walker on TV on the
PBS documentary Einstein’s Wife, explaining
why he thought Mileva Maric collaborated in Einstein’s seminal
achievements. “`Uncle Bookie’ used to
have a game where he would ask you to come up with a word and see if it came up
on radio or TV within the next few minutes.”
“I
recently asked him how we would know if someone ever actually changed history
retroactively, as that new history would be all we remember,” says Michael
Walker. “He said there would be some subtle indicator or something that looked
like a coincidence. He told me that, one might notice the cars in a parking lot
were arranged in such a way as to spell out a name or, someone or something
might appear in an unexpected place as in Woody Allen’s movie, Zelig or
Forest Gump standing next to the President on TV. After all, who could resist a
little time traveler’s ‘graffiti’?” The magic of Evan Walker at its finest.
How
would Dr. Walker feel about his life? Dr. Walker would relish being right that
we are more than a chance and a purposeless result of physics. He would be joyful that he had the insight
and the courage to pioneer the field of Consciousness Physics.
He
would brim with satisfaction for having written not only the well-known book The Physics of Consciousness but even
more so for leaving behind a magnificent manuscript for Magic of Mind. Tired of
appealing mainly to the brain-based crowd, Dr. Walker’s last tome pulls all the
stops and rushes forward with all his artistry, intuition, and scientific
insight. From his highly enjoyable
historical reviews and analytical, scientific thought to his stimulating
technical speculation and unstoppable creativity, the fullness of Dr. Walker’s
jolly and irreverent personality comes through like never before.
Just three weeks before the mini-stroke that foreshadowed his death, Dr. Walker was in Montreal presenting a solo exhibition of some of the earliest digital art at the Galerie Gora. Using the computer as a tool to extract the elements of Reductionist art, Dr. Walker created “Postmodern Ana,” a new synthesis of artistic expression. Continuing from the work of Mondrian and Pollack, Dr. Walker devised a way to construct new realities of vast complexity or simplicity, of order or pandemonium.
Although physics was at the base of everything for Evan, his genius did not stop there. He would always seek for an ultimate beauty in balance. This is embodied in his canvases, both in the recent Synthesism paintings and also in earlier Realism work, with women as his subject: refined, polished and elegant. Dr. Walker was a man capable of finding beauty in all facets of life, a true da Vincian polymath. A student
from
By Nelson Abreu (Miami); contributions by