Ziman John
Department of Physics, HH Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TL, UK.
Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci. 2003 Aug 15;361(1809):1617-33. doi: 10.1098/rsta.2003.1233.
The idea of a 'theory of everything' is inconsistent with a natural feature of biological evolution: the spontaneous emergence of composite entities with completely new properties. At successively higher levels of complexity, from elementary particles and chemical molecules, through unicellular and multicellular organisms, to self-aware human beings and their cultural institutions, we find systems obeying entirely novel principles. The behaviour of such systems is not predictable from the properties of their constituents, so distinct 'languages' are required to describe them scientifically. The plurality of our sciences is thus an irreducible feature of the universe we live in. In particular, the reversible time coordinate of mathematical physics cannot cope with the natural 'path dependence' of biology. In the human sciences this extends into the imagined future as well as the remembered past. Furthermore, science nowadays usually arises in localized social contexts, where the 'logic of the situation' is continually being transformed by the emergence of cultural novelties such as unpredictable technological innovations. Thus, scientific knowledge cannot be restricted to generalized synchronic models, but involves historical narratives of specific events and unforeseen circumstances.
“万物理论”的观点与生物进化的一个自然特征相悖：具有全新属性的复合实体的自发出现。从基本粒子和化学分子，到单细胞和多细胞生物，再到有自我意识的人类及其文化机构，在不断增加的复杂程度层面上，我们发现系统遵循着全新的原则。此类系统的行为无法根据其组成部分的属性预测，因此需要不同的“语言”来对其进行科学描述。所以，我们众多的科学学科是我们所生活宇宙的一个不可简化的特征。特别地，数学物理中可逆的时间坐标无法应对生物学中自然的“路径依赖”。在人文科学中，这种情况延伸到了想象中的未来以及记忆中的过去。此外，如今的科学通常产生于局部的社会背景中，在这种背景下，诸如不可预测的技术创新等文化新奇事物的出现不断改变着“情境逻辑”。因此，科学知识不能局限于广义的共时模型，而是涉及特定事件和意外情况的历史叙述。
