A little study of the physical universe can be a great thing — particularly when it helps us jump out of the ordinary perspectives of life and see things from radical new angles. In particular, relativity (the examination of matter and space, and of how things change when moving near the speed of light) and quantum mechanics (the examination of particles and fields on tiny time and length scales) are mind-broadening subjects to ponder. We soon find that time and space are more complex, subtle entities than they naively seem.
The ideas of modern physics help us see that our daily lives only sample an infinitesimal corner of the vast universe, and that our prejudices — built from experience with largish objects moving at slow speeds in weak gravitational fields — are not good indications of what is possible. Thinking about how little we know of the physical world, perhaps, can lead us also to think about how limited our experience is with kinds of minds, and relationships among minds. How little do we really know about life?
Sunday, May 02, 1999 at 21:43:45 (EDT) = 1999-05-02
(correlates: MandatoryInversion, LeverAge, TiffinWallah, ...)