I would categorise myself as a creative thinker in the fields of science, philosophy, software design and music composition. I am not affiliated to any particular body and remain a confirmed atheist until any evidence persuades me to the contrary.
Currently I am researching and writing a book with a rather broad subject matter under the working title:
"The truth about life, the universe and everything".
The objective is to examine the assumptions upon which our current understanding of the universe are founded. What might be the implications if any of the assumptions are wrong? Has human reasoning evolved sufficiently to comprehend the universe and the life within it?
Question: Are there any absolute facts in the universe?
Answer: Tricky… I need to do some more research
Question: What have you come up with so far then?
Answer: Well, scientists seem to think we’re very close to understanding everything there is to know about the universe. Apparently time itself started with a big bang some 14 billion years ago and we’ll know soon enough how it’s all going to end. It seems that everything out there can be explained by mathematical equations. You just plug in the variables and hit the calculate button.
Me though, I’m not so sure (especially the bit about maths). The universe is filled with matter, energy, forces and space but as far as I know nobody really knows what any of these things really are. I’ve tried a few experiments of my own. Here’s one to think about:
If 10 apples weighs 1 Kilogram, how much does 1 apple weigh? The maths is easy you just divide 1 Kilogram by 10 and you get 100 grams per apple. The trouble is when you actually buy a kilo of apples you get different numbers of apples and each apple has a different weight. I didn’t really expect the apples to have identical weights but that’s because I’ve seen them in the shops and they all look a bit different.
Now you might be thinking that this is a silly example that doesn’t prove there’s anything wrong with relying on maths to understand the universe. That’s why I tried the experiment again with some more suitable subjects like golf balls and drawing pins that all look exactly the same. It turns out that no matter how similar any 2 objects look they are never quite the same. Even the smallest particles of matter are not identical and what’s more they are liable to change into something new at a moment’s notice which plays havoc with your measurements.
Time is an interesting thing. What is it? You can’t see it or touch it and yet we all live by it. There is no direct evidence that time is actually part of the fabric of the universe. It is probable that human beings dreamt up the notion of time as a convenient way of 2 or more people being in the same location to share a task. For example an agreement for 2 people to meet for a hunt at sunrise on the bank of a river next to a large rock is in effect a synchronisation of the event of sunrise with 2 people and a unique geographical point on the planet. The human notion of time serves the purpose of accurately synchronising events for a species that owes much of its success to organised cooperative behaviour.
If time is not part of the fabric of the universe then much of what has been predicted and observed as consequences of Einstein’s theory of Special relativity needs to be revised.
Question: So if that’s true what’s your explanation?
Answer: Tricky… I have some ideas on this as well as many more ideas on other such vexing questions.
Question: Such as?
Answer: What is life? Is there a fundamental difference between living things and inanimate matter? In my quest for the answers to the big challenging questions I ask you to set aside all your preconceptions and beliefs. Imagine that you are a superlatively intelligent computer that has just been switched on. You have no emotional circuits and your disk drive is empty of data. Your pre-programmed function is to observe the universe and use reasoning alone to determine what it is.
Question: Can you tell me more?
Answer: I’m busy researching all of this now, but it would be nice to know how many people would be interested to read further.