This is a fascinating talk from David Kaiser on the the history of the counter-culture’s involvement with the ‘new physics’ during the 1970s:
MIT Professor David Kaiser describes the field of physic’s bumpy transition from New Age to cutting edge.
In recent years, the field of quantum information science has catapulted to the cutting edge of physics. Long before the big budgets and dedicated teams, however, the field smoldered on the scientific sidelines within the hazy, bong-filled excesses of the 1970s New Age movement. Many of the ideas that now occupy the core of quantum information science once found their home amid an anything-goes counterculture frenzy, a mishmash of spoon-bending psychics, Eastern mysticism, LSD trips, CIA spooks chasing mind-reading dreams, and comparable “Age of Aquarius” enthusiasts.
Kaiser’s book How the Hippies Saved Physics is available from Amazon US and Amazon UK, sounds like it would be a great read and touch on many areas that we discuss here at TDG.
