Gravity And The Forces Of Nature

The most fundamental aspects of nature stay the same.

For example, Einstein's papers on relativity show that the relationship between energy and mass is invariant, even though energy and mass can take on many different forms.

Even though matter produces energy, the energy-matter content of the universe never changes. Matter and energy are less fundamental than the underlying relationship between them.

We often think of things as the heart of reality. But most often the relationship is more important, not the stuff.

We may think "stuff" like space and time are unchangeable aspects of nature. In reality, the relationship between space and time stays the same.

According to physicist Albert Einstein, time is not a constant phenomenon as it appears, but is an illusion, and can vary from different vantage points.

Space is three-dimensional, and Time, according to the famous physicist, is the fourth dimension. It also speeds up or slows down, so is actually subjective, as stated in his Theory Of Special Relativity.

Einstein's theory of general relativity says that Time can be bent, stretched and squeezed, and the four-dimensional fabric with a huge mass creates a dimple, or bending of Space-Time, causing gravity.

This effect of time dilation is proven using GPS satellite technology in space, making astronauts not only travel space but in a slightly different time than the earthlings.

"Mysterian" thinkers give an important role to biological arguments and analogies.

Late philosopher Jerry Fodor argued that there are bound to be thoughts we are unable to think. Similarly, philosopher Colin McGinn claimed that all minds suffer from "cognitive closure" about particular problems. Just as animals will never understand prime numbers, so human brains are unable to consider some of the world's wonders.

Mysterians present the question of cognitive limits in fixed terms: either we can solve a problem, or we will never be able to.

A possibility that eludes mysterians is one of slowly diminishing returns. We keep slowing down, even as we exert more effort, and there is no point where progress becomes impossible.

Recently, scientists were able to "teleport" photons to a satellite 300 miles away, using "quantum entanglement." This is where a pair of photons are able to simultaneously share the same state, even when separated by distance. Change the state of one particle, and the other changes too.

Teleportation can have big implications for a new “quantum internet.” It will be faster, more powerful, unhackable. 

Scientists are still working out how to teleport photons. Assuming they figure out how to teleport atoms, then molecules, the amount of bits to record and transmit, is unthinkable.

A person is made of an estimated 32 trillion cells. They would require a huge bandwidth and roughly 10th gigawatt-hours of power. Teleporting one person would require using the entire UK power supply for more than a million years and take 4.8 million million years to transfer - that is if you survive the transfer. It would be quicker to walk.

The problems of consciousness straddle the border between science and philosophy.

• Some argue that conscious sensations, such as pain, don't really exist, others, that plants and trees must also be conscious.
• A handful of neuroscientists have come to believe that the problem is about to be solved if we are willing to accept the conclusion that computers or the internet might soon become conscious too.

Science has been trying to ignore the problem of consciousness for a long time.

• In the 1600s, René Descartes declared that nothing is more obvious and undeniable than the fact that we are conscious. Your consciousness can't be a fantasy. At the same time, your consciousness does not obey any of the usual rules of science. It doesn't seem to be physical. It can't be observed or really described. Descartes concluded that it had been bequeathed to us by God.
• This Cartesian dualism remained the assumption into the 18th century. But it was unacceptable to the secular scientist that took the position that only physical things exist.
• As late as 1989, the British psychologist Stuart Sutherland declared that it is impossible to specify what consciousness is, what it does, or why it evolved.
• In 1990 Francis Crick and Christof Kock mentioned in a paper that most of the work in both cognitive and neurosciences makes no reference to consciousness because most don't know of a useful way of approaching the problem.

We tend to assume that our perceptions of sights, sounds, textures, and tastes are an accurate portrayal of the real world. But when we find ourselves fooled by a perceptual illusion, we realize that what we perceive, is our brain's best guess at what that world is like.

No-one will ever view us as we view ourselves.

We should consider if we are entitled to be seen by others the way we see ourselves.

A paradigm shift occurs when one paradigm theory is replaced by another:

• Ptolemy's astronomy giving way to Copernican astronomy.
• Newtonian physics (time and space are the same everywhere for everyone) replaced by Einsteinian physics. (time and space are relative to the observer's frame of reference.)

The term "paradigm shift" was coined by the American philosopher Thomas Kuhn (1922-1996). He argued that science couldn't advance until most people working within a field agree upon a paradigm. Before the agreement, collaboration and teamwork are restricted.

Once a paradigm theory is established, those working within it can start doing normal science. But now and then, normal science reveals anomalies that can't be explained within the dominant paradigm. When the inexplicable results start piling up, it eventually leads to a "crisis."

Modern science is hesitant to talk about consciousness due to it opening a pandora’s box, putting their previously ‘bulletproof’ theories under suspicion.

Quantum Theory had a similar ‘uh oh’ moment when it was found that the behaviour of atomic level particles changes when we (a conscious observer) are looking at it, or not. This is known as the Observer Effect.

Physicists argue that objectivity might as well be an illusion, and consciousness has to be put in the picture of its worldview.

The two puzzles of Science, Consciousness and Quantum Mechanics, might as well be closely related, with one arising because of the other.