By Larry Oscar
With the recent decline in the
United States as a world and economic power, it should be no surprise that many of our citizens are turning to weird philosophies and religions for guidance in their lives. So it isn’t too surprising when we have a lot of interest in science these days. And that is a good thing. Science makes people think, and that is something a lot of people don’t do very often today.
Instead they let someone else or some group do the thinking for them. I was discussing this over lunch one day with some friends when it dawned on us that most of the problems people seem to have coping with life are a result of letting someone else do your thinking. This behavior results in low self esteem. After all, when you are letting others do your thinking, then you have no sense of accomplishment; mainly because anything you achieve in life is a result of following some else’s advise and not your own idea.
You do however, get to blame everyone else for your problems because the mess you find yourself in is a result of taking someone else’s advise. The only problem with this is you will find yourself in hopeless situations. You can’t get out of it because the very people telling you what to do are the ones who got you in the mess in the first place.
No wonder so many young people want to commit suicide and take the people they blame for their misery with them. Science doesn’t have all the answers either, and the one thing that science has proven is …. “The more we know, the more we know we don’t know.” Sort of like a dog chasing his tail. We do have some bright spots in science now and then.
One recent bright spot has been the Large Hadron Collider built by Cern from 1998-2008. It is located on the Swiss/France border just outside Geneva, Switzerland. It is the largest particle collider ever built, and it was built by people who definitely think for themselves. This is the biggest leap into scientific discovery that the human race has ever done.
The LHC can accelerate protons to just slightly less than 10 miles per hour of the speed of light. That’s 186,000 miles/second. At those energy levels the protons collide and break apart into the fundamental particles that make up everything in the universe. That includes you and me. The LHC has already discovered what is believed to be the particle that is responsible for gravity, the “God Particle” or Higgs boson. By understanding what all matter is made of we can
This is done to have a better understanding of our universe and what makes time and space exist. Space-Time, as we know it, is rather strange. In 1929 Edwin Hubble observed that the universe was expanding at an ever increasing rate. This was contrary to what Einstein had postulated, and Hubble’s observations have since been confirmed. The universe is indeed expanding, and space is expanding. Something we don’t understand.
The expansion of space and space-time is a very big deal. After discussing this with a friend, over some beers of course, it was pointed out that this increase in the expansion of space-time could be the reason for the increase in the size of the average American today. Come to think of it, it may just be that the expansion of space-time has caused the increase in the obesity of many Americans. It may not be the huge consumption of food substances after all. It may be the expansion of space that is causing the increase in the size of the average American.
In fact, we may have a non-linear space time expansion. That would account for the fact that some are getting bigger while others stay the same size. Now see what thinking for yourself accomplishes. Will someone please tell New York’s Michael Bloomberg, quick, before he tries to outlaw hot dogs or Big Macs?
Larry Oscar is a graduate from the University of Tulsa and holds a degree in electrical engineering. He is retired and lives with his wife on a lake in Oklahoma where he brews his own beer, sails, and is a member of numerous clubs and organizations.