Universe, Human Species, Reality: A Physicalist Approach describes the functioning of the material universe with the use of intermediate mathematical language. The book uses a physicalist approach in the sense that it is based entirely on physical phenomena and on reality, and does not use philosophical or theological argumentation based on abstract reasoning not anchored in physical observations. Using these observations, the book develops the argument that the principle of least action plays the most important role in the functioning of the universe and that, if we extend our study, our work on Lagrangians could provide an answer to our search of the nature of the interactions that seem to take place in the physics involved in the unanswered questions regarding the nature of the intellect, the intellect–brain gap, and the nature of mathematics. This book is of interest to undergraduate physics and biology students and the interested general reader.

Key Features

• Addresses our understanding of the complete basic physics of the universe.
• Uses a physicalist approach, rather than a philosophical and theological approach, in studying the nature of the universe.
• Gives a rather unique conclusion relative to the functioning of the universe including Homo sapiens.

Jacques Vanier is retired from the National Research Council of Canada and as adjunct professor in the Physics Department at the University of Montreal, Canada. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the American Physical Society, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. He has written more than 120 journal articles and proceedings papers and is the author of several books on masers, lasers, and atomic clocks, addressing the physics involved in the functioning of that type of instrumentation. His main research work is oriented toward the understanding and physical application of quantum electronics phenomena.