Reading Recommendation: The May 28th issue of Newsweek's cover story is "New Secrets of the Universe" by Brian Green. For a couple of years I have been seeing speculative references in science digests to the possibility, some would say likelihood, that we will soon be thinking in terms of multiverse as well as universe. You know, of course, that our little planet, which makes our existence possible, is a tiny speck in a minor solar system consisting of a relatively small sun and several other planets and their satellite moons. Our solar system is one of billions (the estimate ranges up to 200 billion) in The Milky Way galaxy. Our closest neighbor galaxy, Andromeda, is around two and a half million light years away and is estimated to have at least twice the number of stars as our own galaxy. Besides The Milky and Andromeda, our universe is made of around 200 billion other galaxies. I don't pretend that I can get my mind around any of these statistics... or the news that our universe may not be the only one is an incomprehensibly larger cosmos. the number of possible universes is incomprehensibly large. If other universes exist, observable evidence to prove their existence is not possible; so scientists speculate and build theories on what they know about our own universe... black holes, for instance... and microwave background radiation and dark energy.
One phrase that got my attention in the Newsweek piece was, "across the landscape of reality." The Landscape of my reality is exactly what this BLOG explores. There is nothing, no idea whatsoever, that I am willing to dismiss without at least giving it further thought. I like what Albert Einstein said when he was asked whether our universe is the only possible universe. In his characteristically poetic way, he said, "What really interests me is whether God had any choice in creating the world." Rather than rushing to a matter-of-fact statement of believe about the possibility of a multiverse, Einstein settled for affirming only his own curiosity. I like that.
1 comment:
That comment by A. Einstein is so profound, I am almost unable to handle it! The whole universe/infinity thing is simply beyond my brain, yet Albert could contemplate both and still come up with such a simple, human take on it. Amazing! You've given me something to ponder that is far less scary -- thank you!
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