This is from the introduction to Decoding the Universe by Charles Seife:
Thanks for the quotes.
I strongly disagree with Seife. I think his view is based on a seriously mistaken way of looking at the world.
As to the connection between the physical and the metaphysical - in my opinion the metaphysical is a figment of our imagination that comes from the same kind of mistaken outlook. We have to live in the world that we observe, so there is no need to trouble ourselves about a mythical metaphysical.