Sections
Magazine
Latest Issue

Why we need to reform the Crown, the rich history of Chinese people in the UK, why governments can’t just keep borrowing and a profile of Cressida Dick. Plus Edward Said’s confusion, how to fix government sleaze and we ask whether meritocracy has had its day.

Read Now Or Checkout the archive
Previous
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
January/February 2021
Events
Next Event

Rule of Law 3: Managing global supply chains in a post-Covid world—current challenge or future opportunity?

Previous
What next for pensions? Why the 2020s are the crunch decade—discussion 2
Watch: How do we stop a generation from sleepwalking into retirement?
Watch: Homes for all—what new social and affordable housing can do for Britain
To the archive
Podcast
Latest Episode

The Prospect Interview #178: Governing in the age of populism

Previous
The Prospect Interview #177: The trials of Narendra Modi
The Prospect Interview #176: The battle for the Arctic
The Prospect Interview #175: The literary afterlives of Philip Roth
To the archive
Columns Magazine

Out of mind

I call it "Broks's paradox": the condition of believing that the mind is separate from the body, even though you know this belief to be untrue

By Paul Broks  
April 17, 2005
April 2005

I’ve been browsing the “World Question Centre” at edge.org, the website for thinking folk with time on their hands. The 2005 Edge question is a good one: “What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?”

Alexander Vilenkin, a physicist, believes that our universe is just one of an infinite number of similar regions. But “it follows from quantum mechanics” that the number of histories that can be played out in them is finite. The upshot of this crossplay of finitudes and infinities is that every possible history will play out in an infinite number of regions,…

Register today to continue reading

You’ve hit your limit of three articles in the last 30 days. To get seven more, simply enter your email address below.

You’ll also receive our free e-book Prospect’s Top Thinkers 2020 and our newsletter with the best new writing on politics, economics, literature and the arts.

Prospect may process your personal information for our legitimate business purposes, to provide you with newsletters, subscription offers and other relevant information.

Click here to learn more about these purposes and how we use your data. You will be able to opt-out of further contact on the next page and in all our communications.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to letters@prospect-magazine.co.uk

Paul Broks

Paul Broks is a neuropsychologist and author of Into the Silent Land (Atlantic)

More stories by Paul Broks

More From Prospect