A reader writes:
DEAR SIR GREAT ARTICLE…………I AM NOT A SCIENTIST……..I WANTED TO SHARE SOME IDEAS…..IF THE UNIVERSE IS INFINITE THEN MATTER AND ENERGY…MUST ALSO BE INFINITE( NO BEGINNING OR END IT CTS BOTH WAYS)… …..SO THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS NOTHING NESS A VACUM -- A STRANGE THING ON A PROGRAM FROM THE B.B.C. STEPHEN HAWKINS SAID///// THE UNIVERSE ROSE SPONTANEOUSLY OUT OF NOTHING….. INFINITY LIKE GOD CANNOT BE COCEPTUALIZED---- OR UNDERSTOOD WITH OUR BRAIN……..WE JUST THINK A LONG TIME…… NOW THERE ARE THEORIES ABOUT MULTIPLE BIG BANGS--------- BUT IF THIS IS TRUE THERE HAD TO BE A FIRST ONE,,,,,,,,AND USING LOGIC IF THERE WAS A FIRST ONE THERE MUST BE A LAST ONE……..SO REALLY WE ARE SAYING INFINITE OR FINITE UNIVERSE…….IF FINITE SOMETHING EXISTED.. PRIOR TO BIG BANG HAWKINGS SAYS NOTHING..EXISTED AND MYSTERIOUSLY SOMETHING POPPED OUT…… IF THE UNIVERSE IS INFINITE….IS THERE SOME HIDDEN INTELLIGENCE SOMETHING OTHER THAN ENERGY OR MATTER………..IF NOT HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN CAUSALITY………WHAT CAUSES ENERGY TO CHANGE INTO MATTER AND VICEVERSA -------------AND HOW DO WE DEAL WITH CONSCIOUSNESS……….ARE ENERGY AND MATTER CONSCIOUS-------- ARE THEY AWARE OF THEIR EXISTENCE,,,,, ?????,,,,,,,,I THREW THESE IDEAS OUT WOULD APPRECIATE YOUR COMMENTS BRENT MAC
Brent:
Great questions for a “non-scientist.” I like to think of the infinite universe as matter in motion (because energy has been used in both senses). Each portion of the universe moves with respect to all other portions of the universe. Nothingness, like pure empty space, is an idea, just like solid matter is an idea. In actuality, all real things exist between these two extremes. No space is completely empty, just as no matter is completely without “empty space.” The idea of the Big Bang theorists that the universe could explode out of nothing is absurd and a drastic violation of the First Law of Thermodynamics, CONSERVATION (Matter and the motion of matter neither can be created nor destroyed). The Big Bang Theory is based on religious assumptions, as I show in “The Scientific Worldview.”
There is no hidden intelligence, only matter in motion in its infinite variety. Causality is defined as the interaction (contact) of at least two portions of the universe in which one mass is accelerated by another (F=ma). Matter really cannot be converted into energy. What really happens with the E=mc2 equation is the transformation of internal matter in motion into external matter in motion (of the ether). Einstein’s rejection of the ether lead to the idea that matter could disappear by being converted to energy construed as matterless motion. Most people believe in matterless motion in the form of spirits, souls, etc., so this interpretation was immediately and widely accepted.
Matter in motion generally is not conscious until it appears in an environment in which consciousness is the only possibility (e.g., invertebrate brains). Throughout the universe, you will observe that matter in motion only does that which is possible. There are an infinite number of possibilities, but not a single impossibility. Although infinitely complicated, brains do the same thing and are not removed from the strictures of determinism, making “free will” likewise impossible.
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2 comments:
Glenn,
The assumptions of Materialism and Conservation of Matter are not made by all scientists. Materialism is not an assumption of Special Relativity (see Wikibook on Special Relativity http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Special_Relativity/Introduction#Historical_Development ). Conservation of relativistic energy-momentum is also a long way from the idea of the simple conservation of matter.
Thoughts:
You are 100% correct. Materialism states that the universe consists of matter. Mechanism states that all matter is in constant motion with respect to all other matter. The Fourth Assumption of Science (see TSW) is INSEPARABILITY (Just as there is no motion without matter, so there is no matter without motion). This is why I have stated the Fifth Assumption (CONSERVATION) as this: Matter and the motion of matter neither can be created nor destroyed.
Since the late 19th Century, however, the concept of energy has replaced matter in the First Law of Thermodynamics. Experiments clearly showed that the conservation of matter was not enough; motion had to be conserved as well, as I have assumed above. Einstein’s erroneous view that matter could be turned into energy was an over simplification. As I have mentioned, E=mc2 simply is a way of relating the transformation of one kind of matter in motion or one kind of the motion of matter into another kind. Einstein left us with the conversion of matter into matterless motion, which makes him the most important immaterialist of the 20th Century. It was the completion of the program outlined by Ostwald who sought to overthrow “villainous matter” and replace it with “angelic energy.” Indeterminists, who are the dominant influence in physics and religion, appear to be quite satisfied with that.
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