M Theory
I am watching a TV documentary about M theory, the lastest incarnation of string theory. I am surprised at how much it bothers me that it falls short of offering any answers, and instead introduces yet more complications to an already complicated universe. Until now, the philosopher in me had to deal with the idea of a big bang. With M theory, big bangs could be happening all the time not just in other parallel universes, but also in our own, every time a neighboring brane collides with ours.
I have no doubt there may be interesting solutions to various unsolved problems in M theory, but do we really need to complicate the (multi?)verse further? What is the point of this? Stephen Hawking noted once that he is not interested in the events before the big bang because our laws of physics, our time and space, did not exist prior to it. Thus higher dimensions are outside of our reach.
M theory also postulates that it may be possible to communicate with other universes located on parallel branes by using gravity waves, which apparently can escape any single brane and travel to a neighboring one. If such an exotic concept ever becomes reality, would we be able to communicate with itelligent species in other universes? If the laws of physics are radically different there, would communication be possible at all? Common reference points would be inexistent. How would we establish common language?
This line of thought brought me to our brains. It's amazing how we evolved to the point of reflectling about our own universe and our place in the greater scope of things. The way David Darling puts it, the universe is reflecting on itself through us. The fact that us, with our insignifficant life spans and abilities, are pondering these questions is mind boggling. Ultimately though, what good is it? Our civilization will eventually come to an end. It has to, it is only a matter of time, even if that is a very long time. How many more intelligences like ours have evolved before and vanished? How many more similar questions were asked, answered, and then forgotten forever?
I have no doubt there may be interesting solutions to various unsolved problems in M theory, but do we really need to complicate the (multi?)verse further? What is the point of this? Stephen Hawking noted once that he is not interested in the events before the big bang because our laws of physics, our time and space, did not exist prior to it. Thus higher dimensions are outside of our reach.
M theory also postulates that it may be possible to communicate with other universes located on parallel branes by using gravity waves, which apparently can escape any single brane and travel to a neighboring one. If such an exotic concept ever becomes reality, would we be able to communicate with itelligent species in other universes? If the laws of physics are radically different there, would communication be possible at all? Common reference points would be inexistent. How would we establish common language?
This line of thought brought me to our brains. It's amazing how we evolved to the point of reflectling about our own universe and our place in the greater scope of things. The way David Darling puts it, the universe is reflecting on itself through us. The fact that us, with our insignifficant life spans and abilities, are pondering these questions is mind boggling. Ultimately though, what good is it? Our civilization will eventually come to an end. It has to, it is only a matter of time, even if that is a very long time. How many more intelligences like ours have evolved before and vanished? How many more similar questions were asked, answered, and then forgotten forever?
posted at 2:03 PM
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