Saturday, January 03, 2004
Phlogiston anyone?
According to the December 2003 Discover magazine, the universe is made up of only about 4% matter as we know it; 23% is supposedly invisible stuff called "dark matter," and the other 73% is the equally-invisible "dark energy." Say WHAT?!! Does anyone else find this to be a somewhat extreme explanation for some of the data the astronomers have been churning out? How about the idea that some of their theories are just WRONG, and that's why so much of what they are seeing doesn't match what their theories predict?
They've already discovered that the laws of physics don't apply at the quantum level, that Newton's 3rd law does NOT actually describe how gravity works (it just gives an answer correct to several decimal places under some circumstances), AND that objects, such as our own probes, that exit our solar system stop following the laws of physics as currently accepted... do you think at some point they'll admit that they're WRONG about some of this stuff and start from scratch to find the TRUTH?
Do you know what their "evidence" of the existence of dark matter is? I'll quote from Discover: "Observations of the way galaxies move and rotate show that they seem to be surrounded by a vast amount of unseen matter." Oh, it couldn't be that the mathematical model they're using is WRONG, could it? These bozos are no better than their predecessors in the world of science who thought that anything that was flammable contained a substance called "phlogiston" that was released when it burned.
Their "evidence" for dark energy boils down to "we don't know why the universe is expanding, but something in Einstein's theory says it could be caused by this unknown form of energy," backed up by their interpretations of "microwaves left over from the early universe."
Being a reasonable person with GREAT respect for science, I'll admit they MIGHT be right, but, to quote Discover again, "The universe is not just strange but truly weird-weirder than even the boldest theorists would have guessed less than a decade ago"... in other words, much that they were CERTAIN about less than TEN years ago has been turned on its ear!! As scientists so often are, they are sure that what they believe rightthismoment is the REAL truth, but the statistical likelihood is that less than a decade from NOW, I'll be reading in Discover how wildly different they say the universe is than they're claiming it is TODAY. Wanna lay a bet on that?
When it comes to the very small (quantum physics) and the very large (astrophysics), we have alot of data but few (if any) solid, logical theories to cover and explain it; this is scary in a way, but also VERY exciting, because it means that we're getting sophisticated enough to start seeing some of the "magic" in the universe, and that is the first step to REALLY seeing the truth.
They've already discovered that the laws of physics don't apply at the quantum level, that Newton's 3rd law does NOT actually describe how gravity works (it just gives an answer correct to several decimal places under some circumstances), AND that objects, such as our own probes, that exit our solar system stop following the laws of physics as currently accepted... do you think at some point they'll admit that they're WRONG about some of this stuff and start from scratch to find the TRUTH?
Do you know what their "evidence" of the existence of dark matter is? I'll quote from Discover: "Observations of the way galaxies move and rotate show that they seem to be surrounded by a vast amount of unseen matter." Oh, it couldn't be that the mathematical model they're using is WRONG, could it? These bozos are no better than their predecessors in the world of science who thought that anything that was flammable contained a substance called "phlogiston" that was released when it burned.
Their "evidence" for dark energy boils down to "we don't know why the universe is expanding, but something in Einstein's theory says it could be caused by this unknown form of energy," backed up by their interpretations of "microwaves left over from the early universe."
Being a reasonable person with GREAT respect for science, I'll admit they MIGHT be right, but, to quote Discover again, "The universe is not just strange but truly weird-weirder than even the boldest theorists would have guessed less than a decade ago"... in other words, much that they were CERTAIN about less than TEN years ago has been turned on its ear!! As scientists so often are, they are sure that what they believe rightthismoment is the REAL truth, but the statistical likelihood is that less than a decade from NOW, I'll be reading in Discover how wildly different they say the universe is than they're claiming it is TODAY. Wanna lay a bet on that?
When it comes to the very small (quantum physics) and the very large (astrophysics), we have alot of data but few (if any) solid, logical theories to cover and explain it; this is scary in a way, but also VERY exciting, because it means that we're getting sophisticated enough to start seeing some of the "magic" in the universe, and that is the first step to REALLY seeing the truth.
Friday, January 02, 2004
What are little ghosts made of?
To prevent confusion in this and my future posts on this topic, let me make clear: when I say "spirit," "ghost" or "soul," I mean "a part of a living being other than the physical body, that survives when the body is dead." There are religious details about souls in many people's minds, some believe in the existence of things called spirits that are demons rather than any part of a human, and some only see visible apparitions as ghosts, rather than looking at all departed souls that way, but *I* will ignore those shadings of meaning, as they have no meaning in MY frame of reference, and so will use these words interchangeably.
I sometimes wonder how I would analyze the issue of the existence of spirits if I hadn't had experiences with them myself; I suppose I'd sum it up as something like "people want to believe that their loved ones aren't really gone when they're dead, and don't want to just fade to black when THEY die, so they see what they want to see and believe what they want to believe... and include the idea of an afterlife and/or reincarnation in their religious doctrines for good measure."
However, having seen and heard spirits, and observed them acting upon physical objects (with other witnesses in several cases, just FYI), there can be no doubt for me that they DO exist... but what are they "made of"? They'd need to be some sort of energy, but what sort of energy can be seen, make sounds, and act upon objects? Heck, there isn't even a scientifically-detected form of energy that can move objects around, much less one that can also be seen and heard, so we're talking about at LEAST one unknown form of energy, and still need to explain how sound waves appear without a physical generator, how light collects itself to form visible figures (in the absence of holodeck technology), and how light is somehow canceled out when spirits appear as shadow-type forms.
No currently-known form of energy can do so many different things, so we're either looking at several unknown forms of energy at work, or one unknown form of energy that is VERY different from the energies we're familiar with, and thus able to create sights and sounds AND act on physical objects.
How is all this energy controlled? There is no physical brain for a spirit, no place for the electro-chemical magic that stores memories, thinks, feels, and controls the functions of the body for living people to take place, and yet somehow they DO have memory, understanding, knowledge, and a host of abilities, so... some part of "ghostly anatomy" must be dedicated to being something like a brain.
It's tempting to try to invent possible ways that this could all work, but I resist because I want my mind to remain open to any eventual evidence that might appear about the "physics of ghosts," including the possible connections between ghosts and other areas of "the unknown."
I sometimes wonder how I would analyze the issue of the existence of spirits if I hadn't had experiences with them myself; I suppose I'd sum it up as something like "people want to believe that their loved ones aren't really gone when they're dead, and don't want to just fade to black when THEY die, so they see what they want to see and believe what they want to believe... and include the idea of an afterlife and/or reincarnation in their religious doctrines for good measure."
However, having seen and heard spirits, and observed them acting upon physical objects (with other witnesses in several cases, just FYI), there can be no doubt for me that they DO exist... but what are they "made of"? They'd need to be some sort of energy, but what sort of energy can be seen, make sounds, and act upon objects? Heck, there isn't even a scientifically-detected form of energy that can move objects around, much less one that can also be seen and heard, so we're talking about at LEAST one unknown form of energy, and still need to explain how sound waves appear without a physical generator, how light collects itself to form visible figures (in the absence of holodeck technology), and how light is somehow canceled out when spirits appear as shadow-type forms.
No currently-known form of energy can do so many different things, so we're either looking at several unknown forms of energy at work, or one unknown form of energy that is VERY different from the energies we're familiar with, and thus able to create sights and sounds AND act on physical objects.
How is all this energy controlled? There is no physical brain for a spirit, no place for the electro-chemical magic that stores memories, thinks, feels, and controls the functions of the body for living people to take place, and yet somehow they DO have memory, understanding, knowledge, and a host of abilities, so... some part of "ghostly anatomy" must be dedicated to being something like a brain.
It's tempting to try to invent possible ways that this could all work, but I resist because I want my mind to remain open to any eventual evidence that might appear about the "physics of ghosts," including the possible connections between ghosts and other areas of "the unknown."
Thursday, January 01, 2004
IS there an omniverse?
Technically, since "omniverse" means "all the universes," even if there's only one universe there IS an omniverse, made up of that one universe. (Whew, try saying THAT 10 times fast!!)
Technicalities aside, is there an omniverse in the way it's meant to mean, multiple universes? Well...
There's some mathematical gobbledygook dealing with dimensions beyond 3 that supposedly means that multiple universes are possible, or likely, or even certain, depending on who's talking about it.
There are some quantum physics oddities that seem, at least to my non-physicist mind, to make more sense if there are other universes; for example, the unexplained ability of certain sorts of particles to pop in and out of existence would seem less crazy if the particles were going into another universe and back, rather than just going to NOWHERE and coming back.
I've seen spirits, and have to wonder where they exist when not visible to humans; are they floating invisibly all around us in this universe, or are they primarily in "some other plane of existence"? One or more universes for them to exist in seems entirely possible; they've gotta be SOMEWHERE, and if they're all around us but undetectable by our senses or science, that opens just as big of a can of worms as the idea of other dimensions.
I don't consider this question provable at this time, but every day science shows us that our reality is more complex and weird than previously dreamed of, so, if I had to cast a vote on this issue, I'd say, yes, there ARE other dimensions/universes/planes of existence.
Technicalities aside, is there an omniverse in the way it's meant to mean, multiple universes? Well...
There's some mathematical gobbledygook dealing with dimensions beyond 3 that supposedly means that multiple universes are possible, or likely, or even certain, depending on who's talking about it.
There are some quantum physics oddities that seem, at least to my non-physicist mind, to make more sense if there are other universes; for example, the unexplained ability of certain sorts of particles to pop in and out of existence would seem less crazy if the particles were going into another universe and back, rather than just going to NOWHERE and coming back.
I've seen spirits, and have to wonder where they exist when not visible to humans; are they floating invisibly all around us in this universe, or are they primarily in "some other plane of existence"? One or more universes for them to exist in seems entirely possible; they've gotta be SOMEWHERE, and if they're all around us but undetectable by our senses or science, that opens just as big of a can of worms as the idea of other dimensions.
I don't consider this question provable at this time, but every day science shows us that our reality is more complex and weird than previously dreamed of, so, if I had to cast a vote on this issue, I'd say, yes, there ARE other dimensions/universes/planes of existence.
Hello, and welcome to my personal corner of the omniverse!! :-)
In case you were wondering, "omniverse" is a term used by some scifi/fantasy geeks to mean "all of the universes" (I first saw it in a Heinlein book, I think). I've adopted it as the URL for my blog to signify the wide range of my intended topics, and as a "warning" that some of what you'll see here will look like something out of speculative fiction (it will certainly be speculative, but it will NOT be fiction-it'll be my attempt to explain aspects of reality).
If you are offended by reading anything that differs from what your religious/spiritual viewpoint tells you is true, or about alternative lifestyles, differing political philosophies, or blunt criticism of other things you hold dear, this is NOT the blog for you; please just move along, rather than reading further and getting offended. If your mind is open, and you'd like to see what another open, and somewhat hyperactive, mind is churning out, read on; I hope you'll enjoy your time here.
If you are offended by reading anything that differs from what your religious/spiritual viewpoint tells you is true, or about alternative lifestyles, differing political philosophies, or blunt criticism of other things you hold dear, this is NOT the blog for you; please just move along, rather than reading further and getting offended. If your mind is open, and you'd like to see what another open, and somewhat hyperactive, mind is churning out, read on; I hope you'll enjoy your time here.
