3 in Science

One fine day something happened out of nowhere. 

That something created everything, it is the reason why we exist. 

I am talking about the big bang.

Was there space before the big bang? Or the big bang created the space? 

What exactly is space? Why is it there? What is the shape of the universe? 

Did it exist at one point in time and then something went wrong, everything collapsed and then the big bang happened again?

Are there multiple universes? And why not, if it could happen here then it might have happened somewhere else.

What if none of this had happened or existed ever? How does it make a difference because there is something? What is the purpose of existence?

It is frustrating as humans have the so-called 'intelligence' factor, so they want to have a purpose for everything. It is beyond us why would there be something without any goal, aim, purpose, or ambition. Also, it bothers us that there is a creation that has no creator, so we want to believe in a creator. Well, that fixes us in an endless loop of what created a creator with consciousness?

Would there ever be a time when scientists get closer to the answers? Maybe a billion years from now? Would humans even live that long to find out?

Reading books related to the science genre doesn't answer many of the questions that I have, in fact, many times it leads to having more questions than before. 

But I would rather die happily with unanswered questions than living a life with no questions or wonder or curiosity about existence. 

I would also rather read science to gain answers to my questions rather than visiting self-proclaimed enlightened masters who say they know the cosmic truth. 

Whatever that means. 

It will take me another post if I start talking about them so I will stick to the topic which is the top 3 books that I highly recommend in the science genre.

1. The Sun’s Heartbeat Bob Berman

The Sun will die one day, just like all the other stars do. Ever wonder what will happen when our Sun dies killing everything surrounding it and leaving the beautiful intelligent life that resides in this galaxy go extinct? Would the future 'aliens' ever know that there once lived a Sun that gave birth to such stupendous life forms who invented such extraordinary things like the social media :-) Or the knowledge of all our inventions will die with us?

Our hearts beat because the Sun's heartbeat is still intact. Maybe we will die before the Sun does, because of global warming, wars, population, pollution, maybe an asteroid hits the Earth or maybe we will kill each other before the Sun does in a dispute over the name of 'The Creator', in that case, we can't blame it on the Sun.

The book is about everything one would want to know about our life-giver and the Author's sense of humor makes it an excellent read.

2. A short history of nearly everything - by Bill Bryson

While reading each and every chapter I felt as if I am actually witnessing it. For example, while reading the first chapter I thought I am actually watching the birth of the universe, and then in the next chapter I was sitting on Pluto and watching everything in the universe pass by…

The book is fast-paced. It covers everything from the universe, cells, chemistry, dinosaurs, birds, evolution, volcanoes, and a lot more...

3. Physics of the impossible

Adjoining is a picture taken by the Hubble telescope. It shows thousands of galaxies that surround us. Each one having millions of stars and planets. There is a high probability that there is life somewhere in those 100+ billion galaxies. Is there anyone living far away who evolved as we did? Since Earth is a newborn compared to other galaxies is it possible that the life existing there is much more advanced and have also figured out the radio frequencies, space travel, and what not?
Would it ever be possible to contact them?

There were so many things tagged as impossible a century ago, such as man on the moon. There are many we still tag as impossible such as space travel and tele-transportation.
Ironically the word impossible itself says I am possible ;-).

The famous theoretical physicist Michio Kaku talks about these impossible things and how far scientists are in cracking the code in his book 'Physics of the impossible'.

Do you think a billion years from now humans will be hopping from planet to planet, populating (and polluting) everywhere around? One can only wonder or then read what these brilliant minds have to say!

Hatred

(There are many forms of hatred... some leading up to criminal activities... and obviously, I am not talking about such in this post, I only talk about things that are derived from my own life).

Have you ever heard anyone say "I hate Shahrukh Khan"?.

People who say that are.... very 'lucky'. Why? Because hate is a very strong feeling and only people who haven't experienced hate can use it so casually.

So what exactly is hate? Is it extreme dislike/ disrespect/ anger/rage - yes all of these are a part of hate but then we always have an option to avoid things that make us upset/ angry/ uncomfortable/ or feel negative, how in the world do we reach that extreme state of hatred? 

Let's say, you work under a manager who micromanages/ checks/ controls every single thing that you do, who demeans/ belittles/ disrespects and gossips about you. Have you ever reported to any such manager? No? Lucky Bastard! Because I have! He was beyond crazy... I had an instant dislike towards him and so did the other team members. My rage reached hatred only because... he held the power. I felt helpless/ powerless and I feared losing my job (and my visa) if I rebelled.

Only helplessness, powerlessness, and fear can cause hatred - which is an extreme emotion that can cause immense rage, anger, abhorrence, abomination, mental trauma, and intense levels of stress. I have experienced hatred a couple of times, I am not ashamed to admit it because hate is a justified reaction for a person tormenting us in the present, either physically or mentally, a person we are at the mercy of and either cannot free ourselves of, or at least believe that we cannot. As long as we are in such a state of dependency, or think we are, then hatred is the inevitable outcome. Hatred is a feeling, albeit a very strong and assertive one, I must tell you that it is the WORST feeling that I have experienced so far. I do not want to experience hate again...ever in my life.

From my experience hate is far stronger than love, it occupies your entire headspace, it affects your sleep, health, mood, and everything in a bad way. People are wrong when they say love and hate are the sides of the same coin... they are not... they are different coins altogether.  I might have parted ways with people I loved but I have never hated them... not even in my wildest dreams... love stays intact. I have only hated things that I disliked, to begin with... but had no option to free myself from... or so I thought.

So how does one get rid of hatred... well, the feeling fades away with time... but how does one deal with it when one is actually subjected to it?

Hatred is a logical consequence of what happened to us... it tries to tell us something about the injuries we have been subjected to, and also about ourselves, our values, our specific sensitivity. We must learn to pay heed to it and understand the message it conveys. If we can do that, we no longer need to fear hatred. I feel it is important to ask yourself whom your hatred is directed at, and recognize why it is in fact justified? Then we have a chance of living responsibly with our feelings.

If we hate some characteristics... let's say...hypocrisy, insincerity, male chauvinism, mendacity, micromanagement, or anything for that matter, then we grant ourselves the right to fight them wherever we can, or to withdraw from people who show those traits. But if we pretend that we are impervious to these things, then we are betraying ourselves. Just so you know I HAD NO COMPULSION TO HARM, ANYONE, BECAUSE OF MY FEELINGS OF HATRED, but there are people who do...

So step number one is to accept that what you are experiencing is hatred. Then you will get to hear that Rasika, try to be compassionate Maybe they were brought up in conventional/ orthodox/ cruel situations surrounded by male chauvinist pigs and so they are treating others the same way. hatred is a dangerous curse, it can poison an organism and we need to free ourselves of it as quickly as we can, forgive the tormentor, have some compassion, think about where does his behavior arise from....' Heard that before? Great speech! But it is...bullshit. 

Really, I don't care what circumstances people are brought up in, it can not be an excuse to treat people cruelly... Hell, I have no compassion for people who torment others...

And step number two is to take action, confront the tormentor. What kind of person would I be if I could not react, temporarily at least, to injustice, presumption, evil, or arrogant idiocy with feelings of anger or rage? Would that not be an amputation of my emotional life? I have learned to understand my feelings rather than condemn them, to regard them as friends and protectors instead of fearing them as something alien that needs to be fought against.

In all my hatred scenarios the person did not hold any power over me, but I thought they did, it was all in my head... so what if I hated my manager?  I could have changed jobs any day and in other cases, I had the option to burn the bridges and move on but I lingered on trying to save relationships, and trying to save people around me from being hurt and all that crap. I no longer do that. If I ever feel suffocated with a person/ place/ object I confront and move away from it. Nothing holds power over me anymore... no relationship or nothing for that matter is worth going through hatred.

One always has options. You are helpless only if you believe you are...you are powerless - only if you think you are. And yes it takes courage to fight the cause of our hate, our tormentor. It many times requires breaking relationships, hurting people around you, sometimes going against the tide. Confrontations are not a pleasant scene, at least not for me. There are many stages in my life that I consider as 'growing up' experiences, but every time I had to fight the cause of hate... head-on ...are what I consider my metamorphosis...

So bite your tongue next time when you say I hate Shahrukh Khan because you are not at a gunpoint to watch his movies...

Hatred is a nasty feeling and nothing in the world is worth going through it...don't fight the feeling but do fight the cause of it... 

Dawkins

Since I was little I asked many questions like why is there any existence, you know life, stars, planets, universe. What is the purpose of existence? Is there even a purpose? And How does it make a difference because there is something, what if there was nothing?

Why do people worship these idols? How come a figure with a human body and an elephant head is a known god in the East and the West has no idea about it, if they are gods then how come they didn’t make themselves known throughout the universe?

When I asked people 'if God made us then what made god', they looked at me as if I was an idiot. They told me that the creator created itself. And I wondered If something can create itself out of nothing then maybe there is a possibility that the universe could have created itself out of nothing, it is its own creator.

In my teenage years, I felt a disconnect with the world. Temples, churches, mosques, god, rituals, religions, prayers... 

I did not understand its necessity. And to be honest with you I felt inferior.  I felt as if I am one of these lowly creatures as I lacked the most important thing that drives the world - faith. 

I lacked faith and I still do. 

While believing strongly, without evidence, is considered a mark of madness or stupidity in any other area of our lives, faith in God still holds immense prestige in our society. 

Religion is the one area of our discourse where it is considered noble to pretend to be certain about things no human being could possibly be certain about.

(before I continue here is the definition of faith - Any belief that is devoid of logic, reason, rational, evidence or witness - is called faith.)

My teenage years were a frustrating phase for me as I was forced to take part in rituals and customs that I didn’t believe in and sadly I had no courage to speak about my lack of faith.

When I was around 19-20 one of my older brother introduced me to books by Richard Dawkins, When I read them it dawned on me that I wasn’t abnormal, but it is quite normal to wonder and ponder over the various aspects of existence and moreover to question the thousands of years old belief system. 

Then there was no looking back for me, I read all his books, and by many other scientists. Even though we learn science in school/ college I feel I started learning science and became interested in science in its true sense when I started reading books by Dawkins. reading books related to science (and not just textbooks) makes one realize the pettiness of religions, gods, wars and all that crap.

Yes, I am an atheist, I have no religion. Did Dawkins turn me into an atheist? No! I always was a non-believer. The only difference is now I admit it openly. And I feel atheism is a person’s default state. 

Every single person is born an atheist, every baby you meet is a non-believer, it has no clue whatsoever about the concept of god, if it is born in Arkansas then it is taught or pressurized to believe in one thing and if it is born in Kabul then it is taught or pressurized to believe in another thing.

Humans are the only animals with imagination, on planet Earth and the godly figures were born thousands of years ago through people’s imagination, through the stories that they told. I do not think that God created man but I believe that it is the man who created God.

So there is a possibility that thousands of years from now people might think that Harry Potter really happened. Maybe they will build temples of Harry Potter and burn Voldemort's effigy once every year like they currently do with Ravana.

I feel in awe of this technologically advanced world. There is so much intelligence around, I feel honored to even have coexisted the Earth with people like Dawkins and Hawking, but then I also see these overzealous, religious people who believe, follow and fight over thousands of years old traditions/scriptures/customs/rituals/gods and superstitions… 

Thousands of years ago humans were so primitive… all they could do was imagine and tell stories. and it really is perplexing for me to see that we still follow the customs/ rituals/ scriptures/ traditions/ superstitions/religions and gods created by these primitive people.

Don’t get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for people who are religious and so-called spiritual and in spite of that they are good humans.

I do believe that science will one day conquer all the ignorance in the world. It might not happen in our lifetime but all gods will die off one by one as their relevance outlives our evolving intellect.

I am sure I wasn’t the only kid who went through a frustrating phase, there are many more out there. All I can say is Encourage your kids to ask why, let them follow logic over thousands of years old beliefs, rather than trying to mold them let them just blossom, and make them learn science in its true sense.

And here are some great books by Richard Dawkins that I highly recommend.

The Selfish Gene, The God Delusion, The Blind Watchmaker, The Greatest Show on Earth, Ancestor's Tale and one of my favorite is 'the magic of reality'.