The Human Condition VI



Comparative sizes of various 'Suns' - click to enlarge



 A friend sent me some awesome pictures illustrating the size of the Universe and concluded that in comparison to the Universe, the little things that happen to us in our small daily lives could be considered insignificant.

Well - I don't agree!



If you ignore the considerable direct impact of our solar system on the life processes on Earth - processes upon which you have absolutely no influence - and perhaps also ignore the gravity impact of our galaxy (another process over which you have no control) - - then there is only one series of processes that matter to us 'ants': what is happening to you here with your feet firmly planted on mother Earth.

Do we care that E=mc2 is actually completely flawed on a cosmic quantum level?

No - for whatever we may need this field equation for, it works for us on Earth - bomb making or rocket construction.

Do we care that the speed of light (and other electromagnetic waves) are anything but constant, exhibiting big variation as time is dilated close to heavy gravitational fields and 'speeded up' in free space?

No - because it works for us as a constant on Earth.

Do we care that time itself can be dilated or contracted under the influence of gravity (can be measured simply with atomic clocks)?

No - because we still have to meet when the boss tells us.

Do we care that gravity is an instantly distributed quantum wave, i.e. with instant propagation across the Universe, that originates as a result of time-dilation/contraction and Universal mass/ energy ?

No - just ask our athletes attempting a 2.10m high jump.

Do we care that the Big Bang theory, the expansion of the Universe as measured by the red-shift Doppler effect and other present (but antique) theories seem flawed? - And if it really happened 13.7 Bill years ago, that the universe's most remote corners must be less than billions of light years away, as expansion is unlikely to have happened at the speed of light?



An enlarged image of an area that appeared totally empty
 in the Hubble telescope. Each spot is an entire galaxy!! 



I am totally in agreement that all these issues can make your head spin and let you drop the jaw in awe. These images truly humble you - but - -

It is the problems on Earth that I care about:

Can I pay my mortgage? Does my tooth ache? What do we eat tonight? Have I been a good boy today (important for my social life)? Can I get a finger up the nose of the banks, the phone companies, the politicians and other  Kafka-esque public institutions when they harass us?

Our inability to look at things in perspective is a tribal defect in the human species - and this happens mainly when one of the 80 major religions take over possession of the rational brain.

We should concentrate on living together in harmony and in support of each other, with respect for the nature that produced us from humble bacterial beginnings 3 bill years ago.

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