65 million years ago, three velociraptors were standing in a forest clearing when suddenly two more raptors burst in. A human observer would have said of the scene, “there are now five dinosaurs”, but since there wasn’t any mathematics invented at the time, the dinos had no idea how many they were. Or did they?
It would seem that maths and physics totally predate human existence and thinking. The world, the solar system, the universe and all the mathematical and physical laws existed way before life in any form existed. As life evolved, sentient creatures came into being. Sentient is defined as being self-aware. I think the three Raptors would have known that they were now five of them, even if they didn’t quite express it the way we do. Life doesn’t need a college education to know 🙂
As humankind evolved over the millennia, its outstanding feature was an incredible curiosity about the world and universe we live in. It’s what makes us distinct from all other living creatures. Why are we here? What role do we play? Why are things the way they are? Where are we headed? These questions have been the basis of our existence and the bedrock of our science, religions and philosophies.
We’ve used our superior intellect to figure out a lot of stuff. We can peer into the distant universe and are startled to discover that it doesn’t revolve around us, stretches infinitely in every direction and is still expanding. We can peer into the sub-atomic world and are even more startled to find unpredictability in the very fabric and structure of everything. We have a sophisticated world view on God and on concepts of good and evil. But between measuring distance in light years, trying to comprehend multiple futures & histories of quantum particles and seeking answers in philosophy, religious or otherwise, we are still nowhere closer to the answer of the question – Why are we here?
Two ideas further compound our difficulties – relativity and serendipity.
Rock solid scientific observation is now affected by relativity. What is ‘real’ depends on the relative position of the observer. This theoretically creates 6 billion slightly different realities or perspectives of every single moment of our lives. We see it in our everyday life all the time. It’s best expressed by the person who bursts out laughing at the man who slips on a banana peel with the comment “I can understand why you’re not laughing, but it’s funny from where I’m standing”.
The question is – if reality is affected by relativity, and by the observer, who can participate and hence cause change in the unfolding future, then the idea of a definite reality becomes vague and that of variable futures becomes very real. Every single action or inaction can result in a different outcome and set off a chain reaction of events that end with a different future.
And that brings us to serendipity… It turns out that if we alter the laws of physics ever so slightly, change any of the numerous constants that define physics by even a tiny percentage, life as we know it, us included, would not exist. The laws of physics, it appears, are specifically designed to allow the rise of intelligent creatures like us who then proceed to wonder ‘why is the world the way it is, and why are we here?’ What an incredible coincidence! How did that happen? The obvious answer to our deep ponder that ‘it’s just plain chance’ is just too depressing. 😦
There must be another reason.
We know the laws of physics existed even before we became aware of them. But now that we are aware, we also find that our involvement and participation in them causes slight deviations in the way things play out. We are actors on the stage, even as we write the lines of the script as we go along. So what is the real deal – the stage, the actors or the lines we write up, all of it, none of it?
6 billion individuals, and growing, with independent thoughts can result in a meaningless mass of nothing. That is why we’ve grouped ourselves into larger, homogenous units. Religion, nationality, demographic, language, profession, gender, age…these units tend to have similar urges that can result in broadly similar outcomes.
Is this then our purpose? To bring order to the chaos that is the natural universe’s chosen state? It appears to be. The universe is governed by the second law of thermodynamics that states entropy increases over time even when acted upon by an external force. Human beings have this uncontrollable urge to fix things, to prevent entropy. We can’t let things be. We must clear jungles, build roads and cities, extract oil, make nuclear weapons, find cures for cancer and even go to the Moon. We must. This is who we are.
We will go on searching, exploring and inventing till we find the answer we’re looking for. This implies that nothing need be impossible. Parallel universes, time travel, astral projection, warp-speed travel, quantum entanglement, galactic conquest, even life after death… It could happen. It is a quantum possibility and hence a possible future.
Sounds like science fiction, but that’s reality for you!
SAMEER NAIR 