This 4-part series I have entitled "The World" was inspired by the movie Mindwalk.
Many scientists today give serious consideration to the idea that the Earth is a single living organism. But the conventional thinking, a sort of 19th century worldview we still cling to, that actually began a few hundred years earlier, sees the world as a clock that you can take apart, understand the pieces, and put back together. We have not yet reached that tipping point in our zeitgeist (collective spirit of the times) that moves away from seeing the world as a structure with removable parts, and towards a view that sees the world as a single living system, with the individuality of all things being only apparent.
When something is discovered and proven in the sciences, becoming a new fact, it still may take years, decades, or even centuries before the world at large accepts it as everyday reality. For example, in the third century BC, the Greek scientist Eratosthenes proved that the earth was a sphere through a simple, logical geometric proof. But for a thousand years following, people still held the earth to be flat, and sailors feared falling off the edge if they sailed too far across the oceans.
Another example would be the discovery in the 15th century by Copernicus that the earth was not the center of the universe (solar system), but rather the sun, which was confirmed by Galileo’s astronomical observations of planet orbits. This conflicted with Church doctrine and it took another century before the Church and people at large accepted the idea.
Our most current example of scientific observation and proof, which still has not been fully accepted by mass consciousness, is the group of discoveries made by 20th century quantum physicists with regard to matter. They determined that there are no final particles or basic stuff called matter at the sub-atomic level, and that our Newtonian or Cartesian view of matter is completely inadequate. They uncovered that matter is made up of spinning shells of energy that have varying degrees of stability. These whirling energy shells surround an atom’s nucleus—itself no solid particle—and in between are vast regions of empty space, so empty that it is hard to imagine.
For example, if you wanted to see the individual atoms in an orange, you would have to blow the orange up to the size of the earth. Then the atoms would be the size of cherries compared to the earth. And to see inside one atom, to see its nucleus and surrounding electron shells, you would have to blow the cherry size atom up to the size of a football stadium, and in that case the nucleus would be the size of a small pebble in the middle of the field, and the electrons would be the size of grains of sand on the perimeter of the stadium.
Part 2 that follows in the next Post describes the scientific struggle to find a new set of metaphors, a new language, to describe the bizzare quantum world.
Many scientists today give serious consideration to the idea that the Earth is a single living organism. But the conventional thinking, a sort of 19th century worldview we still cling to, that actually began a few hundred years earlier, sees the world as a clock that you can take apart, understand the pieces, and put back together. We have not yet reached that tipping point in our zeitgeist (collective spirit of the times) that moves away from seeing the world as a structure with removable parts, and towards a view that sees the world as a single living system, with the individuality of all things being only apparent.
When something is discovered and proven in the sciences, becoming a new fact, it still may take years, decades, or even centuries before the world at large accepts it as everyday reality. For example, in the third century BC, the Greek scientist Eratosthenes proved that the earth was a sphere through a simple, logical geometric proof. But for a thousand years following, people still held the earth to be flat, and sailors feared falling off the edge if they sailed too far across the oceans.
Another example would be the discovery in the 15th century by Copernicus that the earth was not the center of the universe (solar system), but rather the sun, which was confirmed by Galileo’s astronomical observations of planet orbits. This conflicted with Church doctrine and it took another century before the Church and people at large accepted the idea.
Our most current example of scientific observation and proof, which still has not been fully accepted by mass consciousness, is the group of discoveries made by 20th century quantum physicists with regard to matter. They determined that there are no final particles or basic stuff called matter at the sub-atomic level, and that our Newtonian or Cartesian view of matter is completely inadequate. They uncovered that matter is made up of spinning shells of energy that have varying degrees of stability. These whirling energy shells surround an atom’s nucleus—itself no solid particle—and in between are vast regions of empty space, so empty that it is hard to imagine.
For example, if you wanted to see the individual atoms in an orange, you would have to blow the orange up to the size of the earth. Then the atoms would be the size of cherries compared to the earth. And to see inside one atom, to see its nucleus and surrounding electron shells, you would have to blow the cherry size atom up to the size of a football stadium, and in that case the nucleus would be the size of a small pebble in the middle of the field, and the electrons would be the size of grains of sand on the perimeter of the stadium.
Part 2 that follows in the next Post describes the scientific struggle to find a new set of metaphors, a new language, to describe the bizzare quantum world.
Posts
I love that movie "Mind Walk" I even planned a whole day at Mont St. MIchelle just to absorb the memory of that movie.....Unfortunately I choose to read "Atlas Shrugged' while there so it was kind of a mind run around the block 50 times without stopping......LOL. We don't seem to look "up" or "outside" enough anymore.....it is a good practice.
ReplyDeleteDon't know too many folks who have actually been to Mont St. Michele. Thanks for sharing. Yes it was a great 'conversation' film...the poet, the politician, the quantum physicist.
ReplyDelete