Tag: Mukul Sharma

Why is it all so big?

When knowledge is imperfect, vision funnelled through a tunnel, and grander possibilities exist only in the realm of philosophy or religion, any scientific change can come as a deluge drowning out the belief systems of an already abiding humanity.That’s exactly what happened in the western world when Copernicus whisked away a notional rug from under our feet that had long meant we — meaning our world in all its astronomical definitions and other senses — were the centre of the universe, read, creation. Suddenly all the observable heavenly bodies in the firmament were no longer seen to be orbiting the Earth as their magisterial focus; rather a heliocentric alternative was offered with empirical evidence which proclaimed that the Sun instead held the planets in its gravitational thrall. Geocentrism was dead forever. Soon tiny Earth would also be dwarfed by other gassy giant planets in its own backyard.

The post Why is it all so big? appeared first on The Sangai Express.

When knowledge is imperfect, vision funnelled through a tunnel, and grander possibilities exist only in the realm of philosophy or religion, any scientific change can come as a deluge drowning out the belief systems of an already abiding humanity.That’s exactly what happened in the western world when Copernicus whisked away a notional rug from under our feet that had long meant we — meaning our world in all its astronomical definitions and other senses — were the centre of the universe, read, creation. Suddenly all the observable heavenly bodies in the firmament were no longer seen to be orbiting the Earth as their magisterial focus; rather a heliocentric alternative was offered with empirical evidence which proclaimed that the Sun instead held the planets in its gravitational thrall. Geocentrism was dead forever. Soon tiny Earth would also be dwarfed by other gassy giant planets in its own backyard.

The post Why is it all so big? appeared first on The Sangai Express.

Read more / Original news source: http://www.thesangaiexpress.com/why-is-it-all-so-big/

When god does not interfere

Deism is a tricky belief system. Basically, it’s a philosophical position which maintains that God doesn’t interfere, or even interact directly, with the world. Meaning, He may have made the universe and everything in it but, thereafter, has stuck to a strictly hands-off policy for reasons we can never know or fathom.

The post When god does not interfere appeared first on The Sangai Express.

Deism is a tricky belief system. Basically, it’s a philosophical position which maintains that God doesn’t interfere, or even interact directly, with the world. Meaning, He may have made the universe and everything in it but, thereafter, has stuck to a strictly hands-off policy for reasons we can never know or fathom.

The post When god does not interfere appeared first on The Sangai Express.

Read more / Original news source: http://www.thesangaiexpress.com/god-not-interfere/

Miracle of Math

The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences is the title of an article published in 1960 by the physicist Eugene Wigner. In it, Wigner observed that the mathematical structure of a physical theory often points the way to further advances in that theory and even to other predictions. It also led him to believe in the ‘miracle’ of mathematics. In fact, he went so far as to say “the enormous usefulness of mathematics in the natural sciences is something bordering on the mysterious with no rational explanation for it.” More than half a century later, MIT professor Max Tegmark has taken the notion a step forward in the direction of a solution to the mystery. In Our Mathematical Universe, published in 2014, he explores the possibility that mathematics may not just describe the universe, but actually make the universe.

The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences is the title of an article published in 1960 by the physicist Eugene Wigner. In it, Wigner observed that the mathematical structure of a physical theory often points the way to further advances in that theory and even to other predictions. It also led him to believe in the ‘miracle’ of mathematics. In fact, he went so far as to say “the enormous usefulness of mathematics in the natural sciences is something bordering on the mysterious with no rational explanation for it.” More than half a century later, MIT professor Max Tegmark has taken the notion a step forward in the direction of a solution to the mystery. In Our Mathematical Universe, published in 2014, he explores the possibility that mathematics may not just describe the universe, but actually make the universe.

Read more / Original news source: http://www.thesangaiexpress.com/miracle-of-math/