~Explosions
and other types of Humans~
Written By: 戴梦 Martina
They say to write well you have to write what you know. And after reading A Brief History of Time by Steven Hawking, I’m not sure I know anything really. Determined to read the entire thing, I slaved through it, a vast explanation of mathematical predictions from general relativity, quantum mechanics and the laws that govern gravity.
And maybe the specifics are a little blurry to me, like imagining a four-dimensional space, light cones, and infinity strings. But the main idea came through loud and clear: it doesn’t fit. What we know of the Universe, all its parts and all its edges, can’t be squished into one unifying theory, the holy grail of Academia. As soon as one theory picks up popularity, someone discovers a flaw. Then that flaw spurs a new theory, which has new flaws which spurs new theories.
And in the end Hawking can introduce new ideas, ground breaking no doubt, but he can’t change the world by telling us about Black holes. In fact, he answers most of the universe’s questions by applying the anthropic principle, which tells us that we find what we find simply because it’s us finding it; we observe what we observe because we’re there to observe it. At the end of his book he writes, rather eloquently,
Even if there is only one possible unified theory, it is just a set of rules and equations. What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes the universe for them to describe? The usual approach of science of constructing a mathematical model cannot answer the questions of why there should be a universe for the model to describe. Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?
A problem. And Einstein once said that we can’t solve our problems with the same thinking we used when creating them. Maybe the question isn’t why but why not?
Whoa. On to something big here I can feel it.
Why not? We’re formed from star dust. We’re the result of collisions and fusion, maybe a big bang, maybe a big clap from a god, who knows. And why would it be any different? When bad things happen, when things just inexplicably ARE, when only the anthropic principle can explain our position in the universe and in life, why do we compare our reality to a clear, neat and nicely tucked-in ideal? Why can’t things be easier? Why can’t things be clearer? Why can’t the String theory predict the future accurately? Why do the natural laws of physics break down in a black hole?
And I think the answer really is this:
because why not?
And now that you know that answer, what will you do with it? A couple options really….
Lessons from the Stars
*) Float on. Like a black dwarf. Black dwarf stars are the frozen lumps of carbon floating through space, the leftover core after the burn out of a Main Sequence Star.
*) Be hopeful, hold on to that feeling, don’t stop believing. Like a white dwarf. White dwarfs are really precursors to humans, I may have misread an article or two, but they’re made entirely of pure carbon. Almost completely burnt out, they still got some fire burning.
*)Be different. Like a brown dwarf. Often called, ‘failed stars’ because they’re not massive enough to burn hydrogen into helium, these stars sit as a collection of gases. Unlike all those normal stars creating their own elements, brown dwarfs can’t make new elements. BUT only brown dwarfs have speculated Iron rain storms.
*) Dissociate. Like a Nebula. Nebulae result when the star shrinks and the outward pressure on the core cannot be maintained, causing the star’s layers to be cast off as a gaseous shell. People who are like nebulae like not knowing, they like not being defined, and you can’t pin them down. They might know all the answers but those answers are scattered, an untamed and vast nebula in their brains.
*)Distract yourself. Like Binary stars, forever falling into one another, orbiting around their centre of mass. Maybe you’ve found someone or something that keeps you busy for now, maybe forever.
*) Introvert yourself. Like red giants. Red giants are cooling on the outside, but on the inside they’re just getting hot enough to fuse helium into heavier elements. Reading new books? Starting yoga? This is you.
*) Be Dramatic. Like a supergiant. Supergiants are too big for their own good, past the limit for a Main Sequence pattern. Having a mass three times that of our sun or more, they cannot maintain the long-term balance between outward pressure and gravity pushing in, resulting in their quicker collapse.
*) Be explosive. Like a supernova. Once supergiants collapse, they produce a giant explosion that outshines all the other stars in its galaxy. If you’re the only one burping at the table, this is you. Or maybe you’re super passionate and you want to change the world, then this is you too. After the explosion, a left over nebula marks its spot, not so easily forgotten.
Which star stage are you at? Whoever you are, wherever you are in life’s stages, I hope at least once in your burning you can answer #supernova
#supernova
#supernova
#supernova
So whenever you’re asking why and the universe isn’t reflecting any of the answers you’re looking for, remember:
You’re part animal, part Facebook and part star. And stars can be anything.
Till next time, live happily ever after!!!!
FindingFelicity 