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Our egos and the universe
karasti
BreathingMinnesota Moderator
I just had to share a story. Today, my oldest son (15) and I spent the day at the Soudan Underground Mine State Park, which is near our home. My son is very interested in physics and really wanted to see the high energy neutrino physics lab that operates at the mine. It's really quite fascinating. I'm not a science-brained person, but it's pretty neat that some place in Illinois at a particle accelerator sends energy 7000 feet below the earth's surface through the rock, 500 miles away to the underground mine in Soudan for them to attempt to catch a neutrino latching onto to the nucleus of an atom. Pretty darn neat.
The part I found to be astounding, was when the tour guide explained "there are 3 theories as far as the universe goes. 1. that the universe has been expanding since the big bang and the energy will just keep going forever. 2. That eventually that force will lose energy and just stop, and 3. that the universe will expand and then snap back on itself, like an overstretched rubberband. The work done here is important so that we can understand and try to prove which theory is right, and if the universe is going to "snap back" what we can do about it."
Really? Do scientists on earth really think we are great and smart enough to be able to stop the universe from folding back in on itself!? I was just speechless hearing that. Perhaps our tour guide (who was not a scientist of any sort, just a general public guy who gives the tours) just explained it badly.
Being a half mile under the surface of the earth and thinking of your position is kind of an odd thing. Thinking about the universe on such a level of neutrinos shooting through the rocks every 2.5 seconds while you sit listening to the guy talk. It was just kind of a mind blowing experience, and it wore me out, lol. Fascinating.
The part I found to be astounding, was when the tour guide explained "there are 3 theories as far as the universe goes. 1. that the universe has been expanding since the big bang and the energy will just keep going forever. 2. That eventually that force will lose energy and just stop, and 3. that the universe will expand and then snap back on itself, like an overstretched rubberband. The work done here is important so that we can understand and try to prove which theory is right, and if the universe is going to "snap back" what we can do about it."
Really? Do scientists on earth really think we are great and smart enough to be able to stop the universe from folding back in on itself!? I was just speechless hearing that. Perhaps our tour guide (who was not a scientist of any sort, just a general public guy who gives the tours) just explained it badly.
Being a half mile under the surface of the earth and thinking of your position is kind of an odd thing. Thinking about the universe on such a level of neutrinos shooting through the rocks every 2.5 seconds while you sit listening to the guy talk. It was just kind of a mind blowing experience, and it wore me out, lol. Fascinating.
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