Tuesday, December 14, 2010

The Universe

We cannot even begin to fathom our insignificance amongst the size of the universe. We are tiny, minuscule, and even that is an exaggeration, making us think we are larger than we are. There are so many things, so many, which happen and cannot be explained, discoveries which turn accepted theories of science on their heads. Everything we thought we knew could be wrong; perhaps logic is pointing us in the way that our imaginations took a long time ago.

It's almost troubling that there are theories that black holes are doorways to other universes, because it means that perhaps our imaginations had led us to something we already knew, but had forgotten because it didn't seem reasonable. New discoveries, new theories, all challenge the boundaries of knowledge we have acquired about the universe; what we see is not only the tip of the iceberg, but what we know might not even be a fraction of the whole truth. It is awe inspiring to think that our universe only exists through a twist in chance, which did not result in total annihilation, as could have happened because of the universe's supposed original, equal proportions of matter and antimatter. It takes your breath away to know that if it had been slightly different, nothing would exist. Absolutely nothing.

However, science is fallible and often incorrect. We can only hope that sometimes we come across something that is actually right, that actually explains something about the universe. Only then can we stop calling them "theories" and start calling them "facts". But we should not be so lucky. Perhaps we aren't supposed to know everything about the universe, but simply accept that it is what it is.

2 comments:

  1. you are a borderline physicist!!

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  2. I spent too much time reading the space related things on the National Geographic website :P
    Man, is that stuff interesting, even if I barely understand half of it. Seriously, check it out, it's fascinating!

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