Our Existence in the Universe |
| Posted by The Masked Crusader (cschalk) on Feb 04 2010 |
This topic as promised has proven to be bigger than I expected, so it'll be broken up into two parts. First, I'll discuss our existence in the universe and the science behind life. Then, in the next post, I'll talk about terrestrial life vs. extra-terrestrial life.
How do we exist in the Universe? Any elementary student can tell you that we live on Earth. It is true, we live on the planet called Earth that orbits a star called Sol. Our planet is the third planet in an entire system of planets called the Solar System. Our solar system consists of one star, eight planets, and seemingly numberless other object that all orbit or coexist with our star. Our solar system is in the Milky Way galaxy, an average spiral galaxy with about 400 billion stars. The Milky Way galaxy is only one of approximately 125 Billion other galaxies that exist in the universe that we see. Could there be fewer or more galaxies? sure! it's hard to say. In my previous post, I had a video by the American Museum of Natural History on the nature of the universe. In that video, you'll notice the conical areas of matter and the expanses of darkness between them. This darkness is the empty area we have yet to map. It is caused by interference from our own Galaxy, providing a medium too dense for us to see through.
It's important to note here a few things about this description: First, The names given to the celestial objects are given by the creatures living on the reference planet, this case being humans on Earth. Any intelligent creatures living on another planet may have different names for the aforementioned objects. Not too far distant, at approximately 2.5 million light years from our galaxy, is another galaxy we call Andromeda. This other galaxy is very similar to our own galaxy and I'll suggest that they are close enough to be identical for this discussion. It, too, has approximately 400 billion stars. So, there is one lucky star in the Andromeda galaxy around which a planet orbits that has an intelligent life form upon it. They look at both their galaxy as well as our galaxy and have different names for them, most likely in a different language since English is probably not spoken on every planet in existence.
Second, the vast distances between planets, galaxies and such make it impossible to know how many of each exist this very instant. For example, the light from Supernova 1987a, which existed in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy that orbits the Milky Way, reached Earth in February of 1987. The star was measured to be about 168,000 light years away, meaning that the actual explosion of the star happened approximately 168,000 years ago. This means that on January 1, 1987, before we witnessed the supernova of the star, it had already been gone for almost 168,000 years even though we could still see it as if it still existed. I use this example to illustrate that what we see in the cosmos may not still be in existence today. It, being any arbitrary object, has most definitely moved and might even cease to exist. Other objects which we cannot see yet may also exist.
Wait, what - did he just suggest that there is intelligent life elsewhere in the cosmos? Yes, but we'll talk about the justification of intelligent life in the next post. For now, let us discuss how life exists at the elementary level. Everything that exists is made up of Atoms, the legos of the cosmos. Even life relies on these tiny building blocks. When atoms are organized in certain configurations, life can exist. Therefore, we must look at what causes atoms to exist to find out, ultimately, why life exists.
There are four fundamental forces that exist within any atom. For atoms to exist, the forces must be precise and constant. The force names are Strong, Weak, Electromagnetic and Gravitational. These forces have very well defined values and attributes. For instance, the nucleus of an atom is made up of neutrons (which have a neutral charge) and protons (which have a positive charge). If you have ever held the positive ends of two magnets together, you've noticed that they repel each other, sometimes with a lot of force. If the positive ends of a magnet repel each other in this matter, how can two positive protons coexist together within the nucleus of a Helium atom without repelling each other? The answer: Strong force.
Imagine, if you will, that there is an ultimate control board for each and everything in the world. Every force has a dial and those dials are set to specific values. Now imagine that we are able to turn those dials to increase or decrease the strength of those forces. If we turn down the Strong force dial, making the strong force weaker, even just a little less than it currently is, then the particles inside the nucleus are no longer bonded together and fly apart, either by motion or by repulsion, causing the nucleus to disintegrates and the atom becomes a disorganized mess of subatomic particles. The same thing happens if you mess with any of the dials, atoms cease to exist. Let's increase the strong force by turning the dial the other direction and see what happens. Now the force reaches beyond the nucleus and affects the cloud of electrons circling the nucleus. They now fall toward the nucleus and atomic motion either slows or completely stops, causing the everything to become very still. Again, the atoms are now compacted balls of particles whose previous motion was necessary to exist. If the motion ceases to exist, so does the atom.
Taking a step back up the chain, if life requires atoms to exist, and atoms now don't exist because we messed with the strength of the Strong force, then life ceases to exist since matter ceases to be organized.
This suggests that the laws of physics were organized and set to specific values, perhaps by a god. Stephen Hawking trod down this path once in a book. Here is an interview in which Professor Hawking addresses the concept of God and the laws of the Universe.
Steven Hawking on God: "The question of whether God is bound by the laws of science is a bit like the question 'Can God make a stone that is so heavy that he cannot lift it?' I don't think it is very useful to speculate on what God might, or might not, be able to do. Rather, we should examine what He actually does with the universe we live in. All our observation suggest that it operates according to well defined laws. These laws may have been ordained by God, but it seems that He does not intervene in the universe to break the laws, at least not when He had set the universe going."
I'll discuss the impact of Laws and how they are used by a God in another post, but I think it's very interesting the language that Professor Hawking chose when discussing God. He said, "These laws may have been ordained by God." According to this Astrophysicist, the thought that God exists is plausible.
So, if these laws were ordained by God, and the universe set in motion at or slightly before the Big Bang, and the science provides that life can exist, then there must be a purpose to the universe. Again, in the video above, Stephen Hawking postulated that once we know the entire set of laws by which the universe is governed, we'll then be able to think about why we or the universe exists, not how it started and keeps going. This why is only answered by theology and religion. a large population of scientists refer to religion as a myth and that there cannot be any truth to it because they lack faith. I think that we can intertwine religion and science to better understand why God has given us the universe.
So, what of life, intelligent or otherwise? What of evolution? In my next post, I'll discuss life and how evolution works according to my beliefs. We'll discuss the possibility of life beyond the reaches of Earth; not as aliens as popularized in movies, but as humanoid-looking creatures who look and act like us.
Last changed: Apr 27 2010 at 11:44 AM
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