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Things We Don't Know About The Universe by docmoses(m): 9:58am On Sep 21, 2016 |
In recent days I’ve had some
interesting conversations.
There’s a giddiness going
around, related to an
outpouring of science love – the
kind you get from President
Obama introducing TV science
shows, the kind that has
wonderful visuals, but is, well, a
wee bit simplistic (a sin that
none of us could ever, ever be accused of, naturally). It's all
very positive, commendable,
and perfectly reasonable. But it
leaves me feeling a little askew.
You see, the thing is, it's
relatively easy to focus on what
we know, yet to me the wonder
of the cosmos, the
awesomeness, is never greater than when we contemplate all
that we don't know.
It's true that when we take note
of the impossibly brief sliver of
time that our entire species has
inhabited compared to the
billions of years before, and the
untold billions ahead, one can
feel refreshingly small. Or, if we
contemplate the billions of
trillions of other worlds that
must exist across the
observable universe, we can
grasp momentarily at just how
tiny our daily existence is. But
for me nothing compares to
the perspective, the shock, or
the excitement, of being
reminded of what we don't know. |
Re: Things We Don't Know About The Universe by docmoses(m): 10:10am On Sep 21, 2016 |
1.We don't know why the
universe exists: This is really
quite unfair, and could be
grounds for doubting that the
cosmos knows what its doing.
But in terms of physics,
although there are some really
very appealing, very promising,
theoretical frameworks that
begin to answer the question,the simple truth is that we're
not sure which might be right.
It may be that the universe
springs from an inherently
unstable 'nothingness'. The
most void-like void, prone to
spontaneous generation of
matter and energy in
proportions that always
balance out to zero (yep, really,
read Lawrence Krauss's great
book on this). Furthermore, this
may not be the only universe (a
terrible linguistic fail, I know),
but rather one of a vast array,
part of a multiverse of more
than 10 to the power of 10 to
the power of 16 distinguishable
realities. But a big piece of the problem is that we're still
waiting for the next generation
of cosmic measurements to
chip away at the models, and
we're still waiting for theories that provide more readily
testable hypotheses, not just
mathematical elegance. So we
don't know why the heck all of this exists. Sorry. |
Re: Things We Don't Know About The Universe by docmoses(m): 10:21am On Sep 21, 2016 |
2.We don't know what dark matter, or dark energy,is:Big problem, honking big problem. Normal matter, the stuff of you, the stuff of me, planets, stars, and cheese sandwiches,amounts to only about 4.9% of the total matter and energy content of the universe. 26.8% of matter is 'dark', we know it's there because on large, faster than it should and because the way that galaxies strew themselves across space is consistent with the existence of vast amounts of slow-moving gravitating 'stuff' that never turns into stars or planets or anything, just stays as diffuse, invisible, incredibly antisocial particles. Except we really have no idea what these particles truly are - a situation beautifully summarized recently by Mario Livio and Joe silk.That's nasty, but perhaps nastier is dark energy. Something is causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate. It didn't used to. Until about 5 or 6 billion years ago the stretching of space following the Big Bang was in decline, but then something started to counter that, another unseen component, perhaps a type of vacuum energy density that fills up space as space itself grows. What exactly is it? We do not know. We have lots of ideas though, which is great, always good to have ideas about 68.3% of the universe. |
Re: Things We Don't Know About The Universe by docmoses(m): 10:40am On Sep 21, 2016 |
3.We don't know whether life
exists anywhere else: This
one is close to my heart. Here
we are, sentient beings on a
planet seething with life
(although perhaps not as
seething as it could be) that's
been busy sculpting and re-
sculpting the physical and and
chemical environment for
much of the past 5 billion
years. And now we're confident
that there are lots of planets
out there, and that many of
them could have an equal shot
at playing host to life. But we still don't know whether or not
we're alone. No clue. That's
quite a problem. Don't get me
wrong, it's a good problem, a
juicy problem, one of the best.
But even when the President of
the United States introduces a
lovely glossy TV series all about
science, science that addresses
the question of life in the
universe, that doesn't mean
that governments or industry
give a fig about paying to solve
the problem. As Lee Billings
writes in his recent, wonderful,
book, the lack of a sense of
urgency is a little bewildering.
So we continue to bumble
along in splendid isolation, with
only our towels for comfort. |
Re: Things We Don't Know About The Universe by docmoses(m): 10:47am On Sep 21, 2016 |
4.We probably haven't really
figured out the quantum
world: What!? While it's true
that our present mathematical
framework of quantum
mechanics can do wonders,
from describing atoms and
molecules to the bizarre nature of entanglement and qubits,
that doesn't mean that we've
nailed the case shut. Quite the
contrary. One need only cast a
look over the literature to see
that the most fundamental aspects of the quantum nature
of the universe are still causing
headaches and disagreements.
People are still reformulating
the ways in which we cope with
the quantum nature of reality
(yes, they are) so it's clearly too
soon to call this fully
understood. Not only that, but
the possibility of pure quantum
effects reaching into the realm
of soft, wet, and warm biology
has also raised its head
(although admittedly it
depends on who's talking) - a
rather unnerving notion. . Oh,
and don't get me started on black holes and quantum
firewalls |
Re: Things We Don't Know About The Universe by docmoses(m): 11:00am On Sep 21, 2016 |
Lala abeg na move am to the PROMISE LAND |
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