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Sleepless in the Physics Lab
By: Regis Nicoll|Published: October 27, 2009 1:04 PM
Topics: Health & Science, Religion & Society


According to NewScientist, physicists -– those crumple-jacketed folks on the cutting edge of knowledge –- are being afflicted with a serious case of insomnia. It seems they have been losing sleep over seven vexing questions…

1.      Why this universe? (As opposed to the one in which apples fall up.)

2.      What is everything made of? (Hint: it is not what you learned in earth science class.)

3.      How does complexity happen? (Or, how did matter “go live”?)

4.      Will string theory ever be proved correct? (As a Theory of Everything, that is)

5.      What is the singularity? (That is, what “banged” in the Big Bang?)

6.      What is reality really? (I recall that Parmenides and Heraclitus were asking the same thing over 2500 years ago. Funny, today’s thinkers are no closer to an answer.)

7.      How far can physics take us? (Hmm, I suspect this is the real sleep snatcher!)

Notice that nearly every question hinges on the ultimate question of what is Prime Reality -– the thing that is self-existent and non-contingent, preceding all that exists. Prime Reality is the starting point from which all knowledge originates but which itself cannot be deductively proven or empirically verified. As such, it is beyond the reach of experimental science, whether that involves the light spectra of supernovae, the exotic particles from the Large Hadron Collider, or the chemical sequences of DNA.

No wonder the mandarins of science are having trouble sleeping. So the next time you see a physicist roaming the halls with bloodshot eyes, have some compassion and offer him some Nytol.


Comments:

Where is the line (or the maybe blurred demilitarized zone) where one crosses from the physical world---physics, etc. to metaphysics...? Some scientists (like Dawkins) will deny any world beyond the physical, tho Dawkins seems to be building an "out" using the possibility of aliens who may have appeard "godlike" to us. Would love to hear more of physicists talking about what might be beyond...(and hopefully with translators for nonscientists like myself). How about talks between physicists (both Christian and not) and theologians?
Posted By: vikingmother on October 29, 2009 4:11 PM
Ben, isn't the NewScientist article saying (in #2) that leptons, quarks etc. (normal matter/the stuff of atoms) only account for 4% of what's out there? i.e. Dark Matter, Dark Energy... are they known to be made of the same stuff? /// Fascinating quote: ""Maybe the real breakthrough will come when we start to realise the connections between reality, knowledge and our actions," he says. The concept is mind-bending, but it is well established in practice. Zeilinger and others have shown that particles that are widely separated can somehow have quantum states that are linked, so that observing one affects the outcome of the other. No one has yet fathomed how the universe seems to know when it is being watched."
Posted By: Steve (SBK) on October 28, 2009 5:10 PM
That's fine Ben, but why haven't physicists gotten to work building a Glorious Intersteller Civilization yet?
Posted By: jason taylor on October 28, 2009 2:30 AM
Hmm. Thought physicists had pretty much worked out #2 - everything is made of leptons, quarks, and gluon - I guess you could say there's questions about string theory, but we haven't observed any phenomena that contradicts the current model, yet. I think they'd say that #3 is sufficiently worked out, too (complexity follows from #2 and the laws that guide them). Abiogenesis is another matter; I don't think we'll ever *know*.
Posted By: Ben W on October 28, 2009 1:15 AM
My question is, why haven't we founded a Glorious Intersteller Civilization yet?
Posted By: jason taylor on October 27, 2009 10:48 PM
In college physics class we learned that physics is the study of "weightless elephants on frictionless planes". I always remember that when dealing with their latest pronouncements. Also, saw a good bumper sticker the other day. Something like, "Big Bang Theory proved. God spoke and Bang! it happened!"
Posted By: becky on October 27, 2009 10:42 PM
Reg! Physicists have far too much time on their hands!
Posted By: Stuart McKelvie on October 27, 2009 9:30 PM

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