Science

One subject that I find truly inspires me is the cosmos, the universe and our place in it. When it comes to physics, astronomy, cosmology, I find these subjects truly intriguing. But more than just the physical laws and boundaries we are discovering, is the philosophical questions that come with it. Society used to be completely dominated by the church. The presence of God made all other questions not worth asking, for God simply did as He did, and God is mysterious. With advances in science however, we cannot simply fall back on the answers of scriptures and long held beliefs about what holy books tell us about who or what we are. Perhaps science cannot answer those questions either, but we certainly can gain a new perspective and understanding through science about the world and universe that we live in. I feel that we are at a turning point, if viewed historically, in human culture and awareness. While I respect those who may be religious, I however favor science and philosophy, science which favors evidence and facts and philosophy which favor open mindedness and rational argument. 

Since the fall of church control that has bound us for hundreds of years, current society has an engrained cynical view of any truths we are told to believe, which to me is why scientific method has become so popular. It does not require belief, since its predictions can be tested and proven, in laboratories, and in nature. Science is also open to falsification, if new evidence if presented. We are a civilization coming to grips with the fact that we have been mostly lied to, and that we know precious nothing about what is really going on around us. For the first time, we have the tools at our disposal to change the face of our understanding of the world around us, the history of the planet, our solar system, and the universe itself. We might even discover fundamental concepts about why life began here on earth, and where it might exist elsewhere in the cosmos. Advances in particle and quantum physics can show us a new picture of the underlying forces that hold the world together, the forces that ultimately created and shape the universe as we know it, giving rise to new ideas such as the multiverse, time travel, extra dimensions, and worm holes.

More than ever, people are reaching out for understanding, and becoming aware of how little we do in fact know about what makes life exist in the first place. Even on our own planet, we have made startling discoveries about nature, the formation of landmasses, the timescale of our planet and how it formed in our solar system, and how long organisms have likely been around and where they else they might exist. Life on earth is a very precious thing, in terms of our understanding of the universe. But we truly know so little. Through science, even theories as ground breaking and accepted as the big bang can one day be disproven, or proven, through observation, measurement, and analysis. Science does not ask us to believe blindly in anything, but does theorize based on observations and calculations made from data collected through various sources, such as experiments, telescopes, radio wave dishes, satellites, and the study of particle physics and the interactions of physical forces. What was once accepted as truth may one day be cast aside as new truths are revealed. I am excited to be alive at a time when these questions about where and what we are have come to the forefront of human consciousness, and more and more likeminded people are joining in on the search for real answers.