George Staniforth Coyne

George Staniforth Coyne
Born	(1952-10-02) October 2, 1952
Residence	North Delta, BC, Canada
Nationality	Canadian
Known for	Notfinity Process, the notfinity concept, consciousness as an abstraction
Scientific career
Fields	Cosmology, Theoretical physics, Philosophy of mind
Institutions	Progressive Science Institute (Vancouver office), John Chappell Natural Philosophy Society

George Staniforth Coyne (born 2 October 1952) is a Canadian philosopher, science communicator and counsellor, best known for his book Notfinity Process and for the term it takes its name from.

Notfinity is Coyne's proposed replacement for "infinity". His argument is that infinity cannot be conceptualised — no one can hold an actually infinite quantity in mind — whereas its negation can be stated without difficulty. Notfinity is simply negated finity: the denial that the universe has a boundary, a beginning, a smallest constituent or a largest container. Nothing positive need be imagined; one need only decline to impose a limit. He pairs it with two further terms drawn from univironmental determinism: microcosms, meaning all things and portions of the cosmos, and process, meaning microcosms in motion. Hence the book's title and subtitles — Notfinity Process: Microcosms-in-Motion and Matter-in-Motion.

The resulting worldview is univironmental, deterministic, and built from classical mechanics and systems philosophy. In it Coyne critiques relativity theory, the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics and Big Bang cosmology, and sets out alternatives he holds to be free of paradox and contradiction. He also proposes a treatment of consciousness requiring nothing beyond brain function.

He is a board member of the John Chappell Natural Philosophy Society, a scientific society for the philosophical study of nature and the physical universe. He is also the Director of the Vancouver office of the Progressive Science Institute. Coyne agrees with philosopher Nicholas Maxwell's argument that science and philosophy need to be reunited into a modern version of natural philosophy.

Steven Bryant, computer scientist and author of Disruptive: Rewriting the Rules of Physics reviewed Notfinity Process by stating: “On the forefront of the next scientific revolution, George is amongst the first to embrace theories like Modern Mechanics, which outperforms Einstein’s theory of relativity. George moves beyond the question of whether Einstein is right and instead begins answering: Where do we go from here? He challenges the scientific worldview by introducing his own ideas while synthesizing thought, theories, and ideas of 21st-century physics.”

Early Life

George Coyne grew up in the Metro Toronto area. His interest in science began at about 5 years of age when he first attempted to conceive of the Earth in the universe. Since his youth, he has been exploring the wonders of the ways that we connect to our environment which led to his interests in philosophy, cosmology, and theoretical physics. At age 11 he began wondering about the concept of “time” and began questioning conventional assumptions about it. By age 15 he no longer accepted that time was a flowing thing. Five years later he was sure that accepted definitions for a time were invalid. He next began seeking definitions for matter, energy, and space but was unable to find any that made sense. It appeared that scientists had no idea about how these concepts represented any particular thing or occurrence in the universe. To Coyne, they appeared to be using their professional power to validate their views on these topics. Just prior to his 20th birthday he moved to Vancouver B.C on his own.

At age 21 he began work in youth counseling, with very troubled clients. His first client was a 16-year-old boy, addicted to heroin and diagnosed as psychotic, who often stole purses for drug money. While walking in a park with Coyne, the boy threatened him with a knife and demanded his wallet. To create as much fear as possible, he pointed out that he was "crazy" so Coyne better cooperate. Coyne remained completely calm and told the boy that the staff in the receiving and diagnostic home he was residing in were much more mentally disturbed than he was. This seemed to be very true for the boy. He must have appreciated the fact that an adult had made a connection to his reality, and he put away the knife and was friendly toward Coyne from that moment on. In later years Coyne continued to develop this approach in which one is viewed as an ally by others as a form of nonviolent self-defense. Coyne also sees violent behavior as containing an urgent message. When the message can be received, accepted, and understood before the violent behavior occurs, it removes the incentive to use violence. He used this understanding at age 25 to save his life when a group of men began to hit him and threatened to kill him.

Involvement in Science

In his early 20s, Coyne began studying quantum mechanics and relativity physics. Many of the quantum mechanics books were about the Copenhagen interpretation, which appeared absurd. One of the biggest disagreements with this view concerned the concept that the universe cannot exist unless an observation occurs, or one makes a measurement.

In 1981 Coyne became interested in David Bohm's interpretation of quantum mechanics because it did not contain impossible concepts, contradictions, or paradoxes, such as duality. However, he did not agree with Bohm's contention that one could alternate between holding deterministic and indeterministic worldviews depending on the situation.

On August 1, 2014, Coyne started corresponding with Bohm's friend and associate, the late quantum physicist F. David Peat, director of the Pari Center for New Learning. Coyne treasured his friendship with Peat, who encouraged him to expand on his blog on consciousness, which Peat read at The Scientific Worldview. Coyne began writing guest blogs for The Scientific Worldview website in August 2015, including one co-written with Glenn Borchardt Ph.D. Coyne also contributes comments about blogs on that website.

Later in August 2014, Coyne initiated a series of email exchanges with theoretical physicist Dr. Basil Hiley, who co-wrote “The Undivided Universe” with David Bohm and won The Majorana Prize for Best person in physics in 2012. Coyne is grateful for Hiley taking the time to clarify one of his concepts, which appears verbatim with permission in Notfinity Process. In February 2016 Coyne accepted an offer to head the Vancouver office of the Progressive Science Institute.

On July 22, 2017, Coyne presented a paper titled Brain, Mind, Self, and Consciousness to scientists at the John Chappell Natural Philosophy Society international conference at the University of British Columbia. This paper's explanation of consciousness had great interest from physicists, computer scientists, and other scientists in attendance. As of January 2022, it has over 3,100 views on a Facebook page where most research paper presenters usually have fewer than 50 views. Soon after the convention, Coyne was invited to join the Board of Directors of the John Chappell Natural Philosophy Society. Its website provides the following statement: “CNPS provides an open forum for the study, debate, and presentation of serious scientific ideas, theories, philosophies, and experiments that are not commonly accepted in mainstream science. The CNPS uses the term Natural Philosophy in its broader sense which includes physics, cosmology, mathematics, and the philosophy of science. Our goal is to return to the basics where things went wrong and start anew.”

Coyne contends that there are problems with Einstein’s relativity, the standard interpretation of quantum mechanics, and the Big Bang theory. Additionally, he questions the idea of the psychological self as an entity. He proposes that it is merely a program in the brain. In Coyne’s view when a theory relies on invalid abstractions, he is willing to challenge its proponents regardless of how esteemed and powerful they may appear. If a theory has contradictions, then it cannot be valid. Coyne refuses to become emotionally invested in any theory, including his own. For him, the search for truth is all that matters.

Although not a presenter, Coyne was an invited participant to the Emergent Quantum Mechanics David Bohm Centennial Symposium from October 26th to 28th, 2017 in London England. Presenters included many of the world’s 37 leading physicists and philosophers, including the winner of half the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics, Sir Roger Penrose, Basil Hiley, Max Tegmark, Paavo Pylkkänen, and and mathematical physicist Maurice A. de Gosson. Coyne had an opportunity to confer with these researchers and many of the other speakers, participants, and attendees.

Main Published Work

Notfinity Process: Microcosms-in-Motion, which critiques the Big Bang Theory, quantum mechanics and relativity theory was published on September 21, 2017. In the category of new releases of physics systems titles, his book was number one in the United States and Canada from the day it was published on September 21st and fluctuated in and out of the number one spot for its category for the first month. On September 22, 2017, Coyne had a lively and fascinating interview about Notfinity Process with Florida computer scientist David de Hilster. In November 2017 Coyne canceled his agreement with the publisher, so the first edition is no longer available.

The 2nd edition of Notfinity Process: Matter-in-Motion was published as a paperback by the John Chappell Natural Philosophy Society on June 15, 2021.

Position and influences

Coyne's framework is closely aligned with the neomechanics and univironmental determinism of Glenn Borchardt, whose Vancouver office he heads, and Notfinity Process surveys and builds on several frameworks documented on this wiki — Borchardt's Infinite Universe Theory, Universal Cycle Theory and the Neomechanical Gravitation Theory developed with Stephen J Puetz, and Steven Bryant's Modern Mechanics — together with Duncan W Shaw's account of entanglement and aether gravity.

His route in was through Bohmian mechanics rather than through the Newtonian tradition, and that remains a distinguishing feature. He was drawn to David Bohm's interpretation of quantum mechanics in 1981 because it avoided duality and paradox, while dissenting from Bohm's willingness to alternate between deterministic and indeterministic worldviews as the situation required — determinism, for Coyne, is not a stance to be adopted selectively. Notfinity Process includes correspondence from the Bohmian physicists Basil Hiley and F. David Peat, reproduced with permission.

Against orthodox physics his objections are chiefly to what he regards as invalid abstractions treated as though they were things: matterless motion, wave-particle duality, light waves in a void, negative mass, superposition and probability waves, cosmological expansion, inflation, and a cosmos requiring an observer in order to exist. His stated method is to test a theory for internal contradiction first — a theory containing contradictions cannot be valid, whatever its standing — and he has written that he refuses to become emotionally invested in any theory, including his own.

His treatment of consciousness applies the same reasoning to the mind. He holds that consciousness is an abstraction for cognitive processes rather than an entity, that the psychological self is a program in the brain rather than a thing, and that the "hard problem" of subjective experience is not genuine. His 2017 paper on the subject, presented at the John Chappell Natural Philosophy Society conference at the University of British Columbia, drew unusual attention within the society.

Other Work

In March 2019 Coyne became an editor and writer for Beyond Mainstream Science, an online science magazine. His first article for it, "Big Problems with the Big Bang Theory", appeared on 1 May 2019 in the premier issue.

Coyne has been asked to design and teach an undergraduate course—where students will learn about the latest research on mind and consciousness—at the soon-to-be-opened Chappell University, which will be offering online courses for credit. Coyne has not yet committed himself to teaching this.

Education

1991 Counsellor Training Institute, Vancouver, B.C. Completed Professional Counselling qualifying exam.

1992 University of Waterloo: Social Development Studies.

Personal Life

Coyne resides in North Delta, a suburb of Vancouver, B.C. In his leisure time, he enjoys reading and writing on theoretical physics and discussing his physics, cosmology, and consciousness theories with others. He enjoys regular dialogues on an aether model of gravity, quantum mechanics, and entanglement during walks with his close friend, Duncan W Shaw, whose intriguing papers on these and other topics appear in the peer-reviewed journal "Physics Essays."

Coyne is a proponent of whole foods and an organic vegan diet.

CNPS talks

He has presented in the CNPS online seminar and livestream series:

• "Webb Telescope Images VS Big Bang — Expert Panel Discussion with Dr. Borchardt & George Coyne" (13 August 2022)
• "The Universe is NOT Expanding" (12 February 2022)
• "Big Problems with the Big Bang" (10 July 2021)
• "On Consciousness with George Coyne" (26 September 2020)

Books

• 2021 - "Notfinity Process: Matter-in-Motion" (2nd edition; John Chappell Natural Philosophy Society, 408 pp., ISBN 978-1-7751588-0-6)
• 2017 - "Notfinity Process: Microcosms-in-Motion" (1st edition; withdrawn November 2017)

Magazine articles

May 2019 Big Problem with the Big Bang Theory at https://beyondmainstream.org/big-problems-with-the-big-bang/

Media

July 2017 Brain, Mind Self, and Consciousness https://www.facebook.com/chappellnaturalphilosophy/videos/1924915001087542

Sept 2017 George Coyne interviewed by David de Hilster on Notfinity Process https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdjWL1PhACk

Sept 26, 2020. George Coyne on Consciousness interview by David de Hilster. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLPpeCyNkEU

July 10, 2021. George Coyne on Big Problems with the Big Bang Theory. Interview by David de Hilster on the Big Bang chapter from Notfinity Process: Matter-In-Motion (2021). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWPuVO5vIiQ

Feb 12, 2022. George Coyne on The Universe is Not Expanding. Interviewed by David de Hilster. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=535RTO-483Q

August 13, 2022.Webb Telescope Images Vs Big Bang - Expert Panel Discussion with Dr. Borchardt & George Coyne. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2101d32FZDU

February 25, 2023. Commenting on Glenn Borchardt's Lifetime Achievement Award. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvK6vH0N66U

See also

• Notfinity Process: Matter-in-Motion
• Glenn Borchardt and Neomechanics
• Univironmental determinism
• Infinite Universe Theory
• John Chappell Natural Philosophy Society