In the past I have said 'everything is connected' and I think I have been misconstrued. Chaos theory originally stated that the butterfly flapping its wings in New York caused tsunamis in Beijing or something like. Apparently the proponents of chaos theory have walked this back some because butterflies flap their wings all the time and don't cause tsunamis anywhere.
I am always surprised no one tries to walk back this parallel universe theory and I am always aghast when people take it seriously. After all we are constantly making decisions, do I watch another episode of the x-files or do I go to bed? and we are constantly making such decisions all day long. If each decision indeed spawned another universe then where would they all go - after all, dogs and cats and other animals too are also making decisions - is a separate universe spawned for all my decisions, all your decisions and every other being on the planet? So every moment a new universe is spawned for every living creature on earth - or in the universe - every single moment of time. so even if we are talking about seconds - but decisions are quicker than seconds - so we are talking about the size of the universe x the living beings x instances of time. where are these universes stored and this is densely populated. It is born of male solipsism no doubt. It is seriously an embarrassing idea- yet people seem to believe it.
In a classical Newtonian world we live in a universe where everything is abstracted and things aren't connected. This is a frictionless world were experiments happen in isolation from everything else that is happening in the universe. And we have to admire Newton for being able to imagine a world without friction, because here on earth we live in friction world. Friction allows us to walk for example and the air we breathe protects us from cosmic radiation and a lot of space debris.
But we also live in a quantum world where everything has a de Broglie wavelength, even you and I. So while the impact of your radiation may be insignificant at a distance, I am still impacted however insignificantly.
While you might think this is a bit weaselly to say that all things are connected in quantum mechanics when applying it to the world we live in, but the reality it is.
if we can learn, then the universe can learn because we are fundamentally connected to the universe. IE if the universe didn't exist then we wouldn't exist (in this universe). Also we are a product of this universe and we evolved, which is a process we know is fundamental to the universe - because we know the universe evolved, galaxies evolved, stars evolve... we evolved. is there anything - seriously - that did not evolve? we even evolve technology. And we evolve in so so many ways. socially, intellectually, our understanding of the universe... we are not distinct from the universe. indeed, i have not read the article, but i'd say that the way the universe learns is by evolving.
No one builds anything by themselves. A society is only as good as how the least of us is treated. When each of has enough then all of us are better off because, simply, I don't have to worry about my neighbors trying to break into my house to steal my stuff if they already have enough. The single mother who doesn't have to work 3 jobs to feed her family is able to care for her kids herself rather than hope someone else is taking care of them instead.
The pollution in the river is eventually going to make it into the water supply and while the owner of the business polluting the river may be able to afford bottled water, can the employees? can their kids?
Everything is connected.
I am always surprised no one tries to walk back this parallel universe theory and I am always aghast when people take it seriously. After all we are constantly making decisions, do I watch another episode of the x-files or do I go to bed? and we are constantly making such decisions all day long. If each decision indeed spawned another universe then where would they all go - after all, dogs and cats and other animals too are also making decisions - is a separate universe spawned for all my decisions, all your decisions and every other being on the planet? So every moment a new universe is spawned for every living creature on earth - or in the universe - every single moment of time. so even if we are talking about seconds - but decisions are quicker than seconds - so we are talking about the size of the universe x the living beings x instances of time. where are these universes stored and this is densely populated. It is born of male solipsism no doubt. It is seriously an embarrassing idea- yet people seem to believe it.
In a classical Newtonian world we live in a universe where everything is abstracted and things aren't connected. This is a frictionless world were experiments happen in isolation from everything else that is happening in the universe. And we have to admire Newton for being able to imagine a world without friction, because here on earth we live in friction world. Friction allows us to walk for example and the air we breathe protects us from cosmic radiation and a lot of space debris.
But we also live in a quantum world where everything has a de Broglie wavelength, even you and I. So while the impact of your radiation may be insignificant at a distance, I am still impacted however insignificantly.
While you might think this is a bit weaselly to say that all things are connected in quantum mechanics when applying it to the world we live in, but the reality it is.
if we can learn, then the universe can learn because we are fundamentally connected to the universe. IE if the universe didn't exist then we wouldn't exist (in this universe). Also we are a product of this universe and we evolved, which is a process we know is fundamental to the universe - because we know the universe evolved, galaxies evolved, stars evolve... we evolved. is there anything - seriously - that did not evolve? we even evolve technology. And we evolve in so so many ways. socially, intellectually, our understanding of the universe... we are not distinct from the universe. indeed, i have not read the article, but i'd say that the way the universe learns is by evolving.
No one builds anything by themselves. A society is only as good as how the least of us is treated. When each of has enough then all of us are better off because, simply, I don't have to worry about my neighbors trying to break into my house to steal my stuff if they already have enough. The single mother who doesn't have to work 3 jobs to feed her family is able to care for her kids herself rather than hope someone else is taking care of them instead.
The pollution in the river is eventually going to make it into the water supply and while the owner of the business polluting the river may be able to afford bottled water, can the employees? can their kids?
Everything is connected.
RSS Feed
