Nov 21 2009
Looking Farther (62) – Holes in the Cosmos and in Our Thinking
This NASA photo looks like a hole in the cosmos. Actually, it is of the Ring Nebula. (A nebula is a “A diffuse mass of interstellar dust or gas or both, visible as luminous patches or areas of darkness depending on the way the mass absorbs or reflects incident radiation.” [source]) The colors are the result of different wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation striking the instrument of observation here on Earth. If the Ring Nebula is a hole, that hole could be said to consist of a circular and semi-symmetrical discontinuity in received wavelengths of radiation. So no, don’t expect that you could fly through it as if traversing a portal into another realm.
The human mind comes primed to perceive the world in potentially helpful ways. But some of those ways may actually impede a more advanced understanding of the nature of the universe.
Consider this thought experiment: You witness a physics demonstration. First you observe a single diamond in an otherwise empty room. And by empty I mean no atmosphere: a complete vacuum. There is a count down and then an incredibly bright flash — despite the fact your are watching from behind a Fort-Knox grade wall with protective viewing screen. Where there once was a diamond there is now nothing. Absolutely nothing. No dust, no ash, no residue. The diamond has completely vanished.
In the least, our “knowledge” of object permanence has been violated. Wait, something can’t come from nothing or become nothing. But actually, it can, if we consider something to be mass and ignore the pure energy it has been converted into.
While my intellectual predispositions can go a long way in helping me to understand the universe, there may be times they actually get in the way.
