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I’m going to find some time to watch all of the above YT vids.
You'd better stay perfectly still then. Or go really really fast. I can't decide which one gets you all that time.
That seems like a bit of a ‘it just is’ answer though.
A small number of things about the universe are intrinsic to it. They just are, in the same way that the universe just is. Because if it weren't, we wouldn't be here to think about it.
I think this is the singularity where Physics, Theology and Philosophy combine into one 🙂
I think this is the singularity where Physics, Theology and Philosophy combine into one 🙂
Yup. I have often wondered about the mindbending question of whether the universe would exist if we weren't here to observe it. By that I mean our observation and understanding of the universe is simply the result of processed signals from our senses, so how can we know if any of it is actually real? I guess it's a fundamental question about the nature of information and intelligence. Trouble is there's not a lot of accessible info out there before you collide with daft hippy shit and stuff like simulation theory. 😀
Another one I struggle with is Quantum Field Theory. The idea that fundamental particles are really only fluctuations in interacting quantum fields (which is my no doubt incorrect limited understanding of it). It essentially boils the whole universerve down to insanely complex mathematical interactions, but doesn't really answer the question of what 'stuff' actually is? And don't get me started on stuff like quantum entanglement. Basically despite all our ridiculously detailed knowledge, it feels like there's much more that we don't know than we do.
I think of it like this: Particles are just probabilities - the closer you are to a point in space the more chance there is of finding an interaction. It's like when you try to push two magnets together at the same pole - you can feel a force pushing them apart. Now imagine that the magnet wasn't there, just the field, and your fingers were the other magnet. You'd be able to feel a squishiness in space. That's what particles are a bit like.
None of it makes any intuitive sense, but it's not meant to. That's not how physicists work. Your intuition about the physical world is the wrong language - the right language is maths. It all makes sense if you speak maths.
Actually, it's more like the language is the formulae, the maths itself is more like your mouth and vocal chords.
Basically despite all our ridiculously detailed knowledge, it feels like there’s much more that we don’t know than we do.
All we do is describe what we see and try to model it so we can predict it.