The theory of everything...maybe

I read this in the International Herald Tribune this morning:

"A concatenation of puzzling results from an alphabet soup of satellites and experiments has led a growing number of astronomers and physicists to suspect that they are getting signals from a shadow universe of dark matter that makes up a quarter of creation but has eluded direct detection until now.

Maybe."

Wow...

I have been wondering lately what makes scientists of every generation think that they will find the meaning of "it all"? When history shows that as we learn more we also learn that we were wrong before. From Galileo to Einstein we have found theories and predictions that have been debunked over time as we have new technologies to find smaller and more distant things in ourselves or our universe.

As I have blogged previously of the CERN Hadron Collider and its use to find the tiniest matter particles or dark matter, did this same concept of science take place 300 odd years ago as well, albiet in a more rudimentary means of technological practice to find the same type of results? Are we not always on that quest to find the ultimate meaning of it all?

I feel that the ultimate truth is evasive and perhaps non existent. But trying to wrap one's mind around that option is quite difficult.

IHT: "On Thursday, a team of astrophysicists working on one of the experiments reported in the journal Nature that a cosmic ray detector onboard a balloon flying around the South Pole had recorded an excess number of high-energy electrons and their antimatter opposites, positrons, sailing through local space.

The particles, they conceded, could have been created by a previously undiscovered pulsar, the magnetized spinning remnant of a supernova explosion, blasting nearby space with electric and magnetic fields. But, they say, a better and more enticing explanation for the excess is that the particles are being spit out of the fireballs created by dark matter particles colliding and annihilating one another in space."

Quite. As they said, "it is a more enticing explanation..." Are we are always looking for the romance in science. That incredible find that will drastically change our lives as we know it for another 100 years. Or are these types of findings coming at us more frequently now with the advances in technology. Won't the discoveries continually be there despite technological advances. I mean, the universe will continue to morph and change and amaze as technology does to continually amaze the scientists.

I cannot believe that we are alone in this universe. With that said, there are other specie or entities well more advance and others that are less advanced throughout the universe. If the more advanced species out there are astounded with what they find why is it that our scientists feel that they are close to finding the answers. Galileo thought the same thing...

IHT: "The new theory called supersymmetry, which unifies three of the four known forces of nature mathematically posits the existence of a realm of as-yet-undiscovered particles. They would be so-called wimps — weakly interacting massive particles — which feel gravity and little else, and could drift through the Earth like wind through a screen door. Such particles left over from the Big Bang could form a shadow universe clumping together into dark clouds that then attract ordinary matter."

This theory goes beyond Einstein and gravity. We are beginning to augment Einstein's theories of relativity. Will there come a day to which his ideas become antiquated. Will there come a day when we find that, as we found we no longer are the center of the universe, we also know nothing of what we thought we knew? Can what we know be turned upside down once the proof of multidimensions is discovered?
That would throw everything into a loop!

IHT: "The discovery of a supersymmetric particle would also be a boost for string theory, the controversial "theory of everything," and would explicate the nature of a quarter of the universe. But until now, the dark matter particles have mostly eluded direct detection in the laboratory, the exception being a controversial underground experiment called Dama/Libra, for Dark Matter/Large Sodium Iodide Bulk for Rare Processes, under the Italian Alps, where scientists claimed in April to have seen a seasonal effect of a "dark matter wind" as the Earth goes around its orbit."

I enjoy learning and reading string theory, but there will come a day that we find this is not the theory of everything. Once the multidimensions come into the frey we will need to start all over again with different rules for each dimension!?

IHT: "The Nature paper includes data from the first two balloon flights. It shows a bump, over theoretical calculations of cosmic ray intensities, at energies of 500 billion to 800 billion electron volts, a measure of both energy and mass in physics. One way to explain that energy bump would be by the disintegration or annihilation of a very massive dark particle. A proton by comparison is about one billion electron volts."

I am not discounting any of this science. I enjoy reading anything from Brian Greene. It intrigues me to the core, however, the notion that we are close to finding the "theory of everything" is as arrogant as saying we are alone or the most intelligent beings in the universe.

IHT: "Such particles are called Kaluza-Klein particles, after Theodor Kaluza and Oscar Klein, theorists who suggested such an extra-dimensional framework in the 1920s to unify Einstein's general theory of relativity and electromagnetism."

Okay, in the 1920's we began to discuss extra dimension framework. With the advent of string theory that discussion became much of the background behind the work.

IHT: "Wefel's particle would have a mass of around 620 billion electron volts. 'That's the one that seems to fit the best,' he said in an interview. The emergence of a sharp edge in the data, he said, 'would be a smoking gun' for such a strange particle.

But Arkani-Hamed said that Kaluza-Klein particles would not annihilate one another at a fast enough rate to explain the strength of the ATIC signal, nor other anomalies like the microwave haze. He and his colleagues, including Weiner, Finkbeiner and Tracy Slatyer, also of Harvard, drawing on work by Matthew Strassler of Rutgers, have tried to connect all the dots with a new brand of dark matter, in which there are not only dark particles but also a 'dark force' between them.

That theory was called 'a delightful castle in the sky' by Kane, who said he was glad it kept Arkani-Hamed and his colleagues busy and diverted them from competing with him. Kane and his colleagues favor a 200 billion-electron-volt supersymmetric particle known as a wino as the dark matter culprit, in which case the Pamela bump would not extend to higher energies.

Ok. We are close to the theory of everything...now what?



This, the 204th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!


(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs

I'm conCERNed about religious dogma...

Let me get back to the running banter, again. Another thought was...

...with this CERN concept, that I've been discussing this past week, was to create a background to show that our scientists have enlightened us throughout history of some of the ridiculous concepts and ideas that no or un-education will do to a society. Religious dogma dominated, and in some ways continues to dominate, the free thought processes of our specie. It is like a negative political advertising campaign or a fear based political administration. By breeding religious doctrines and beliefs as truth, it begins to gestate within that dogmatic audience until it becomes dangerous. There is a saying, "it matters not", to which shows that whether the doctrine is true or not, if there is enough mis or dis information that can help to create the belief structure of the doctrine, the people can be led into or to do anything. This is exemplified through Hitler and numerous others over the history of our society.

Now, don't get all up in a bundle. I'm not comparing Hitler to any religious leader. But the point is that the following of any leader must be based on fact. When one is following any administration, doctrine or theory that is based on fact all of those beliefs pertaining to those beliefs can be substantiated and proven hereby allowing the freedom to think and act clearly to those belief structures.

This is not to say that doctrine or religion should not be followed unless there is definable proof. Religion is doctrine that has no proof. All religion is based on belief of doctrine. It is when the doctrine becomes dogma and gets in the way of people being able to think and act clearly as to their belief structure. Then what happens is that people begin to rely on that belief structure as truth, when it is not. People then begin to push their belief structure or their doctrine on to others and use the dogma as their defiant means of truth. This is where the danger lies.

This seems to me to be becoming more dynamic in our system of government, when our founding fathers distinctly stated that there would be a freedom of religion. They did not state that there would be a freedom of God. But the dangerous dogmatic leaders use that to help to substantiate a cause that is not or cannot be delivered as truth. Therein leading people by misinformation.

CERN, and its new massive Hadron Collider, is not only about the splitting atoms or finding the essence of the Big Bang, but it is the continuation of educating the specie to becoming more aware of the truths to our lives, our history and of our future.

Through the scientists desire for proof and truth to their theories and proclamations, they ended up creating new sciences that are the defining cutting edge to what we as a specie know and are able to prove. This has given way to seeing beyond the capacities of what we have previously known or thought possible. This has happened many times in our history. From many others we have experienced profound new ways of looking at our lives based on proof of thoughts that have become substantiated.

In 1633 Galileo was taken to Rome to stand trial before the Inquisition (Catholic Church) for heresy. The church did not want their power diminished by the truths that Galileo was professing. It shook the dogmatic mis and dis information that the church was delivering to uneducated people of the world. The church, or the power holder and administrations of the time believed that, if the people knew more of and began to believe the truth of science to their lives and the world around them, it would begin the demise of the church as an institution.

What CERN today is delivering to people all over the world is finding new questions to answers that already exist. There will be new truths substantiated which will raise more questions as well. But, CERN has delivered a new messenger to the people for their doctrines that they will be teaching. The Internet is an unbiased messenger that has no dogmatic preconceptions as to the content it is sending to educate the global populace. The science, thoughts, discoveries of any person is now being sent instantly for the world to see, process, and rethink for themselves. It allows the commoner or the butcher, baker, or cabinetmaker the opportunity to find the proof to their thoughts rather than taking the word of an administration or dogmatic structure as rote.

When Adam Smith describes the sovereign and the trader we can see that he is discussing the rich and powerful and the poor and uneducated. The sovereign need to make sure the uneducated do not have the answers so that the dominion can remain. The Catholic Church needed to make sure that the commoners wouldn't think further so they imprisoned Galileo and made him denounce his findings that the earth is not the center of our universe or that the earth travels around the sun, and that the sun is the center of our universe.

Due to Galileo and his quest for truth we know that the sun is the center of our galaxy and not even the center of our universe. It took hundreds of more years for the people as a masses to be able to enjoy that information. Today, we are able to research information instantly and disseminate information instantly and substantiate information instantly more that we ever have before.

I will end for the day...but there is so much more to say!


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(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs