On an elegant parallel between the physical and the philosophical:
Atoms are the fundamental, particulate building blocks of matter, but they also have the capacity to destroy entire cities – a word that refers to something so small, yet simultaneously so impressive.
I am reminded of a fact of life as we know it: the four most abundant chemically reactive elements of the universe (hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen) just so happen to be the four most common elements found inside of a human.
Quite literally, we are all a part of the universe, but the universe is also in us.
In a similar way, you are only one in 7.9 billion, but you are one in 7.9 billion! Now, you can hardly say you aren’t unique.
Moreover, if we consider life in the absolute sense and scale the age of the universe onto a
24-hour clock, then your life would make up less than 0.000617 seconds. Really puts into perspective those road trip complaints, no? Sobering, potentially, but invigorating too. That, despite the small, fleeting slice of time we each have, us homo sapiens have the potential for so much, to shape the lives of so many.
And, like considering many things worth doing, they start with something small. But as you zoom out, let things aggregate, and give it some patience, something great tends to materialize.
But first, it starts at the level of the atom.
Credits:
Brucker, Elizabeth, Honors Chemistry, Semester 1, Naperville North High School
Neil deGrasse Tyson, author of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
James Clear, author of Atomic Habits
Google Calculator
This is deeply philosophical and a very interesting read. I think it’s incredible that we are such complex beings and the world is such a complex place. I think this also puts into perspective the concept of string theory and other candidates for a “Theory of Everything.” It explains how difficult such a mission truly is, and possibly why we have made such meager success.
The world is exceedingly complex, and yet we want to find simplicity in it. This simplicity goes below the level of the atom, which in the eyes of modern physics, is a rather elementary idea that is great for high school chemistry, but just doesn’t tell us enough. We want to understand, find the unifying threads of physics that explain how the world works. Physics has already been very successful at this: in many ways explaining the laws of nature. But we’ve seen time and again that the simplicity is entirely artificial. Theories have been broken again and again by new exceptions: quantum mechanics, string theory, etc. Can we sweep all our questions under the rug, and for once, find a theory that would end all exceptions? Is this even possible, or is our world non-deterministic? Your blog post touches the surface of very interesting and deep questions of science and philosophy.
The style in which you wrote your blog is really compelling. I just wanted to read more! The use of numbers and comparison really allows us as readers to reflect on our own lives and the value it holds.
Something further that would be interesting to expand upon would be a timeline of everything that has happened in time as we know it. While humanity has only been around for about a second in the grand 24hour clock of the word. We have done so much in that second. We have left our planet, created almost instant communications across the world. Discovered many founding principles that define our world.
One last thing would be the perspective of time. Does time go by faster for things that live to be 3000 years old? Do flies see time go by slower. Is time just a relative concept of how long it takes our mind to process something?
Just fun things to think about
Ah yes, 2am thoughts are the best kind of thoughts.
Kevin,
This is such a beautiful piece! It’s fascinating how thinking of yourself from a worldy or universal perspective can both make you feel extremely unimportant and yet at the same time, amazingly unique. I love that you chose to share these 2 am thoughts with us. 🙂