Developments

Daniel J Boorstin: "The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance -- it is the illusion of knowledge."

I can't tell you how many times I've been thinking about this quote and how many times someone can use it. It's amazing. Physics is amazing as well. Doing rotational motion at the moment with our new perma-substitute-teacher who's actually so damn smart, but sometimes doesn't understand our questions. Although, it's not that bad.

In the movie "The Elegant Universe" by Nova, those PBS people, there was something I remember about the universe and how fine-tuned it is.

"You see, our universe is kind of like a finely-tuned machine. Scientists have found that there are twenty numbers. Twenty fundamental constants of nature which give the universe the characteristics we see today. These are numbers like how much an electron weighs, the strength of gravity, the electromagnetic force, and the strong and weak forces. Now, as long as we set the dials on our universe machine to precisely the right values for each of these twenty numbers the machine produces the universe as we know and love. But if we change the numbers by adjusting the settings on this machine even a little bit the consequences are dramatic. For example, if I increase the strength of the Electromagnetic force atoms repel one another more strongly so the nuclear furnaces that make stars shine break down. The stars, including our sun, fizzle out. And the universe as we know it disappears. So, what exactly in nature sets the values of these twenty constants so precisely?..." Then he goes on to say it could be the extra dimensions in string theory. That goes into Quantum Physics and is just a big doozie on most people's minds.

I suppose you could mention God into all of this because I guess it only makes sense. But if you don't believe in Him, whatever, that's fine too I don't mind. To me, it's too obvious. For you, I don't know... Maybe I can refer to that quote in the beginning of this blog since it too fits in this case. All I can say is "amazing," because the universe really is.

This post inspired by Stephen Hawking.

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