Bouncing around...

BOUNCING AROUND

Of the three articles we were assigned to read, bouncing around the world through the eyes of a carbon atom was my favorite journey.  Presenting the carbon atom as a sentient entity was, in my humble opinion, brilliant.  Rather than bore the reader with dull explanations of a carbon atom’s abilities and its electrons’ habits, we were treated with an exciting around the world tour monologue of the atom’s adventures.  After class discussions in the ORIGINS seminar last semester, I especially appreciated the perspective of an atom who was “alive.”    During the course of the seminar, I read Dr. Seth Lloyd’s     Programming the Universe and watched his segment on the science program Through the Wormhole, in which he posits that the universe itself is alive and thinking.  I see you rolling your eyes…. but, Dr. Lloyd is no crack pot --- he is the MIT professor who invented quantum computers.   

Intuitively, I have always felt that the Universe was a living super organism.  In the same manner, the Earth is also a super organism and humanity is a deadly virus infecting the planet (with our current selfish mindset). And, in the future, when we kill our host, we will be considered an unsuccessful virus.  It never made sense to me that humans are created out of particles and atoms that are not considered alive.  Yet, according to main stream science, at some point, these “not alive” atoms come together and “poof” they magically become a living entity.   When is that point?  I am made out of atoms, just like water, rocks and stars are.  What determines which combinations are alive and which are not?  It’s all definitions, but I think there may be something to the ancients who believed that All is One and it is all alive.   Because I’ve pondered all of these bizarre ideas, this excerpt from Primo Levi’s The Periodic Table resonated with me.

The minute by minute accounting of what happens as a human falls from 35,000 feet was certainly the most interesting piece I have ever read concerning the physics of gravity.  Dan Koeppel definitely includes the human element in this “oh, shit, I hope I never need this knowledge” article.  I stayed engaged throughout the entire article, laughing nervously when he ineffectively tries to reassure the reader.  Sure, commercial airline accidents are rare, but survival is even rarer, right?

I read Alan Lightman’s Einstein’s Dreams  in Texts and Critics my freshman year.  Although the concept of time intrigues me, I found myself quickly bored with the text, which surprised me.  With his article, “Our Place in the Universe,” I realized that I began skimming the article after the first page.  Again, I find the subject interesting but was not captivated by the article.  To be fair, I read it last and that may be the reason I felt it read like a science research paper – interesting, but presented a bit blandly in comparison to the other two articles. 

All three articles were successful in pricking my curiosity as well as expanding my scientific knowledge.  An hour well spent!

Picture credits in order:                                

redcarbon400.com
astrobob.com
skydivaz.com
nasa.gov
2.bp.blogspot.com