Showing posts with label nature of reality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nature of reality. Show all posts
Sunday, July 7, 2024
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
"Ichi go ichi e" leads to "mono no aware"
Two Japanese phrases compliment each other: Ichi go ichi e leads to mono no aware.
Monday, June 22, 2020
Saturday, May 23, 2020
"The Flow" by Markos Kay
Markos Kay is a digital artist who has created the generative short film "The Flow." This astonishing short film tracks the building blocks of our reality from M-branes to Quarks, Quarks to Hadrons, Hadrons to Nucleus, Atoms to Molecules, and finally Biomolecules to Organelles. Although the film tracks concepts in quantum physics and quantum mechanics, you don't necessarily have to understand the concepts in order to appreciate the unimaginable, staggeringly small nature of everything we are seeing. We currently do not possess any ways of seeing things this small and such ideas are based on mathematic models of reality.
"The evolutionary play of quarks and electrons resulted in nuclei and atoms. The computational outburst of atoms resulted into molecules and star systems. The intricate relationships between molecules created the fascinating entities of DNA, proteins and membranes. The interplay of which created the many species of cells, which through an inherent need to reduce their entropy and ensure their propagation would congregate into organs and advanced interacting organisms. These organisms would grow interfaces that would mirror their predecessors, and in a game of survival of the fittest would evolve complex processing capabilities creating virtual worlds, artifacts and cultural codes.
The Flow looks at the supervening layers of reality that we can observe, from quarks to nucleons to atoms and beyond. The deeper we go into the foundations of reality the more it loses its form, eventually becoming a pure mathematical conception. The Flow visually imagines physical processes that we are unable to directly observe with any imaginable medium, while referring to modern physical theories and scientific visualisation processes. It alludes to ideas of digital physics, complexity and information theories as well as the concepts of universal Darwinism, emergence and supervenience. The Flow is Bohm’s holomovement, the universal flux.
These visualisations are not based on actual scientific data, but are visual representations of scientific theory. The aim is to challenge current scientific iconography by presenting a more complete picture of physical processes, based on current theory. The form and movement of these visualisations is generated by 3D computer simulations of particle systems, fluid/soft body dynamics and spherical harmonics. These simulations create an unpredictable dynamic motion that is recorded by a virtual camera, that refers back to the stochastic processes that drive complexity theory.
Using biomorphism to evoke a sense of life, the microscopic-biological visual language portrays these invisible entities as active organisms, as embryonic processes of reality and life. They are presented as a seamless stream of interacting information, each layer building the next in a continuous everchanging state of flux. We ourselves are made out of these interweaving layers of reality, which makes us informational entity complexes.
The Flow proposes a paradigm shift, from a fragmented understanding of reality to a conceptually unified viewpoint of the inner workings of the universe. Through this new viewpoint one can discover patterns within the stream of reality but also raise the question of whether reality stems from a single unified field, like the implicate order or a holographic projection. This viewpoint also allows us to postulate how this flow unfolds into increasingly complex levels of interaction and how it gives rise not only to genetic information but also to entire cellular systems, consciousness and culture."
http://www.mrkism.com/flow/
"The evolutionary play of quarks and electrons resulted in nuclei and atoms. The computational outburst of atoms resulted into molecules and star systems. The intricate relationships between molecules created the fascinating entities of DNA, proteins and membranes. The interplay of which created the many species of cells, which through an inherent need to reduce their entropy and ensure their propagation would congregate into organs and advanced interacting organisms. These organisms would grow interfaces that would mirror their predecessors, and in a game of survival of the fittest would evolve complex processing capabilities creating virtual worlds, artifacts and cultural codes.
The Flow looks at the supervening layers of reality that we can observe, from quarks to nucleons to atoms and beyond. The deeper we go into the foundations of reality the more it loses its form, eventually becoming a pure mathematical conception. The Flow visually imagines physical processes that we are unable to directly observe with any imaginable medium, while referring to modern physical theories and scientific visualisation processes. It alludes to ideas of digital physics, complexity and information theories as well as the concepts of universal Darwinism, emergence and supervenience. The Flow is Bohm’s holomovement, the universal flux.
These visualisations are not based on actual scientific data, but are visual representations of scientific theory. The aim is to challenge current scientific iconography by presenting a more complete picture of physical processes, based on current theory. The form and movement of these visualisations is generated by 3D computer simulations of particle systems, fluid/soft body dynamics and spherical harmonics. These simulations create an unpredictable dynamic motion that is recorded by a virtual camera, that refers back to the stochastic processes that drive complexity theory.
Using biomorphism to evoke a sense of life, the microscopic-biological visual language portrays these invisible entities as active organisms, as embryonic processes of reality and life. They are presented as a seamless stream of interacting information, each layer building the next in a continuous everchanging state of flux. We ourselves are made out of these interweaving layers of reality, which makes us informational entity complexes.
The Flow proposes a paradigm shift, from a fragmented understanding of reality to a conceptually unified viewpoint of the inner workings of the universe. Through this new viewpoint one can discover patterns within the stream of reality but also raise the question of whether reality stems from a single unified field, like the implicate order or a holographic projection. This viewpoint also allows us to postulate how this flow unfolds into increasingly complex levels of interaction and how it gives rise not only to genetic information but also to entire cellular systems, consciousness and culture."
http://www.mrkism.com/flow/
Monday, September 25, 2017
Sunday, September 18, 2016
Saturday, October 10, 2015
If Time Isn't Real
“If time is not real, then the dividing line between this world and eternity, between suffering and bliss, between good and evil, is also an illusion.”
--Herman Hesse
Monday, March 3, 2014
Thursday, January 30, 2014
What word expresses...
Welcome to my world.
In his paper Japanese Aesthetics, Graham Parkes speaks about this concept:
"And here is [twelfth-century Buddhist monk Yoshida] KenkÅ on the link between impermanence and beauty: 'If man were never to fade away like the dews of Adashino, never to vanish like the smoke over Toribeyama, how things would lose their power to move us! The most precious thing in life is its uncertainty' (Keene, 7). The acceptance and celebration of impermanence goes beyond all morbidity, and enables full enjoyment of life.
Insofar as we don't rejoice in life we fail to appreciate the pathos of the things with which we share our lives. For most of us, some of these things, impermanent as they are, will outlast us—and especially if they have been loved they will become sad things: 'It is sad to think that a man's familiar possessions, indifferent to his death, should remain long after he is gone' (Keene, 30)."
(Yugen, previously here.)
Friday, August 9, 2013
Your Nothings ARE Something
“Even as a child I could never understand why certain things that were important to me appeared to older people to be nothing. What I ‘made up’ to delight or terrify myself was nothing. Certain queer feelings, coming out of the blue, were nothing. I can remember, though it must be all of ____ years ago, sitting in the sun on a tiny hillock at the back of our house, and feeling, not lightly, but to the very depths of my being, that I was close to some secret about a wonderful treasure which had no size, no shape, no substance, but all the same, was somewhere just behind the sunlight and the buttercups and daisies and the grass and the warm earth. And this too, it seems, was nothing. I was surrounded, and often enchanted, it appears, by nothing…Then I was taught to look at life properly and become a level headed fellow…This looking at life properly, with no nonsense about you, and becoming a level headed fellow might be compared to attendance at a rather strange movie theater. In there you are told to concentrate entirely upon the images shown on the screen. These are your world, your life. What is not shown on the screen is nothing. But you cannot help feeling that there is something else, not on the screen. Perhaps you hear a voice that is not coming from there, and is much closer to your ear. You seem to catch a glimpse of a face that is not a screen image. There are whispers and movements in the dark. Apparently, there is a life all around you, not like the clear and ordered imagery of the screen—a life fragmentary, mysterious, only to be guessed at, but somehow suggesting a fullness and richness of living not to be found in the existence of the lighted images.
Indeed, this screen existence is beginning to seem repetitive and tedious; but one of it’s hollow brass voices, probably coming from a machine, tells you not to be impatient, says that you have only to wait, taking care not to addle your wits with nothings, and soon what the screen will show you will be wonderful. But if you listen hard, another voice, low-pitched, quiet, so close that it might be inside your head, whispers that what you are being told with such authority and complacency is nonsense, that the life around you in front of the screen is real and enduring, and that your nothings have always been something.”
--from MAN & TIME by J.B. Priestley
http://www.jbpriestleysociety.com/
Indeed, this screen existence is beginning to seem repetitive and tedious; but one of it’s hollow brass voices, probably coming from a machine, tells you not to be impatient, says that you have only to wait, taking care not to addle your wits with nothings, and soon what the screen will show you will be wonderful. But if you listen hard, another voice, low-pitched, quiet, so close that it might be inside your head, whispers that what you are being told with such authority and complacency is nonsense, that the life around you in front of the screen is real and enduring, and that your nothings have always been something.”
--from MAN & TIME by J.B. Priestley
http://www.jbpriestleysociety.com/
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Ideas, Awe, and Euphoria
By Jason Silva for CNN
Can ideas get you high?
My approach to creating content is focused on pulling people out of their intellectual comfort zones. I'm interested in presenting ideas in unique ways that challenge people to question their assumptions.
My mode of presentation is short-form video -- basically I create fast cut, impassioned "idea explainers" that explode with enthusiasm and intensity as they distill how technology is expanding our sphere of possibility.
I want big ideas to have aesthetic relevance. I want to tickle people's intellectual sensibilities and instill a sense of wonder. I think big ideas should get people high!
My short videos, which I call shots of philosophical espresso, are trailers for these ideas. They are not a substitute for a book or academic paper -- they are instigators. My work is simply another way for wider audiences to engage with these ideas.
My goal is for those who might not be inclined toward heady discourse to find a way still to connect to these ideas.
Psychologist Nicholas Humphrey coined the term "the biological advantage of being awestruck" to describe his theory on why our unique ability to be enthralled was, somehow, biologically selected for in a Darwinian sense. He believes this quirk of our consciousness imbues our lives with a sense of cosmic significance that over the course of history has resulted in a species that works harder not just to survive but to flourish and thrive. To "awe" gives us a "raison d'etre." A reason for being. You can learn more about Humphrey's idea in my video "A Movie Trailer for Awe."
Humphrey says being enchanted by the magic of experience, rather than being just an aid to survival, provides an essential incentive to survive.
"We relish just being here," he says. "We feel the yen to confirm and renew, in small ways or large, our own occupancy of the present moment, to go deeper, to extend it, to revel in being there, and when we have the skill, to celebrate it in words. ..."
As pop philosopher Alain De Botton wrote in "The Art of Travel," "There is an urge to say: I was here, I felt this, and it matters!"
And this sense of cosmic awe continues to manifest itself in the age of technology, as Erik Davis wrote in his book "TechGnosis":
"Collectively, Human societies can no more dodge sublime imaginings or spiritual yearnings than they can transcend the tidal pulls of Eros. ...
"We are beset with a thirst for meaning and connection that centuries of skeptical philosophy, hardheaded materialism cannot eliminate. ... Today we turn to the cosmic awe conjured by science fiction, or the outer-space snapshots of the Hubble telescope as it calls forth our ever-deeper, ever-brighter possible selves."
Terence McKenna, in his book "Food of the Gods," wrote about the origins of human language: this unique, often ecstatic expression of consciousness that bursts forth as morsels of meaning encoded as vocal patterns.
He believes the origins of language stem from our early use of psychedelic compounds, which caused a sort of "ontological awakening" of our species and thus acted as an early catalyst for religion, cosmic feelings of awe and a desire for transcendent experiences.
These experiences, to borrow the words of Tim Doody, re-contextualize oneself as a marvelous conduit in a timeless whole, through which molecules and meaning flow, from nebulae to neurons and back again. Early shamans, Davis wrote in "TechGnosis," became ecstatic technicians of the sacred.
Regardless of whether you buy McKenna's theory, he does provide a compelling case for the relationship between "cosmic, out-of-body euphoria" and the cognitive leaps to which it can give rise.
Some of our greatest poets, scientists and other thinkers have attributed some of their greatest inspiration to the use of these psychedelic chemicals and their resulting out-of-context perspectives.
But it's not necessarily the chemicals themselves I'm interested in, but rather what they do to our sense of perspective and our reference points. My focus is the subjective experiences they seem "to occasion."
Tom Robbins explains:
"The plant genies don't manufacture imagination, nor do they market wonder and beauty -- but they force us out of context so dramatically and so meditatively that we gawk in amazement at the ubiquitous everyday wonders that we are culturally disposed to overlook, and they teach us invaluable lessons about fluidity, relativity, flexibility and paradox. Such an increase in awareness, if skillfully applied, can lift a disciplined, adventurous artist permanently out of reach of the faded jaws of mediocrity."
In my mind the key idea here is that of being forced out of context. We don't necessarily require psychedelics for this, although they might offer a shortcut.
What we require is a bold new attitude and a sense of humility that accepts the ambiguity of many of our so-called truths, habitual thought patterns and cultural reality tunnels. By accepting the need to constantly de-condition our thinking to approach the world with new eyes, we can reconnect with our sense of awe and wonder.
As Michael Pollan wrote, "In order to see things as if for the first time, we must remember to forget." Bucky Fuller used to say "dare to be naive." Oftentimes, our sense of what we think we know is precisely what prevents us from approaching situations free of prejudice.
"Banality is a defense against being overwhelmed," Pollan wrote in his book "The Botany of Desire."
This makes perfect sense to me: In a world where disruption is the new normal, and technological change is happening at an exponential rate; a world where we are bombarded with media messages, and where "attention" is the new limited resource, it seems easier to recoil away from all the mindblowingness going on, and instead look for reasons to be bored. The mundane can be quite comforting for those terrified of leaving their comfort zone.
And this where I think my work serves the purpose of infecting people with wonderment. My short videos are "digital psychedelics" meant to "de-center" the self, dwindle the broadcast of the ego and provide people with a long view, "big picture" perspective on humanity, technology and how their symbiosis might make a dent in the cosmos.
As Alan Harrington wrote in "The Immortalist": "We must never forget we are cosmic revolutionaries."
Original article on CNN.com here.
http://thisisjasonsilva.com/
Do yourself a favor and watch these very short, very inspirational films. Silva talks fast, but stay with him... or just let it wash over you and feel it. His excitement is contagious.
Can ideas get you high?
My approach to creating content is focused on pulling people out of their intellectual comfort zones. I'm interested in presenting ideas in unique ways that challenge people to question their assumptions.
My mode of presentation is short-form video -- basically I create fast cut, impassioned "idea explainers" that explode with enthusiasm and intensity as they distill how technology is expanding our sphere of possibility.
I want big ideas to have aesthetic relevance. I want to tickle people's intellectual sensibilities and instill a sense of wonder. I think big ideas should get people high!
My short videos, which I call shots of philosophical espresso, are trailers for these ideas. They are not a substitute for a book or academic paper -- they are instigators. My work is simply another way for wider audiences to engage with these ideas.
My goal is for those who might not be inclined toward heady discourse to find a way still to connect to these ideas.
Psychologist Nicholas Humphrey coined the term "the biological advantage of being awestruck" to describe his theory on why our unique ability to be enthralled was, somehow, biologically selected for in a Darwinian sense. He believes this quirk of our consciousness imbues our lives with a sense of cosmic significance that over the course of history has resulted in a species that works harder not just to survive but to flourish and thrive. To "awe" gives us a "raison d'etre." A reason for being. You can learn more about Humphrey's idea in my video "A Movie Trailer for Awe."
Humphrey says being enchanted by the magic of experience, rather than being just an aid to survival, provides an essential incentive to survive.
"We relish just being here," he says. "We feel the yen to confirm and renew, in small ways or large, our own occupancy of the present moment, to go deeper, to extend it, to revel in being there, and when we have the skill, to celebrate it in words. ..."
As pop philosopher Alain De Botton wrote in "The Art of Travel," "There is an urge to say: I was here, I felt this, and it matters!"
And this sense of cosmic awe continues to manifest itself in the age of technology, as Erik Davis wrote in his book "TechGnosis":
"Collectively, Human societies can no more dodge sublime imaginings or spiritual yearnings than they can transcend the tidal pulls of Eros. ...
"We are beset with a thirst for meaning and connection that centuries of skeptical philosophy, hardheaded materialism cannot eliminate. ... Today we turn to the cosmic awe conjured by science fiction, or the outer-space snapshots of the Hubble telescope as it calls forth our ever-deeper, ever-brighter possible selves."
Terence McKenna, in his book "Food of the Gods," wrote about the origins of human language: this unique, often ecstatic expression of consciousness that bursts forth as morsels of meaning encoded as vocal patterns.
He believes the origins of language stem from our early use of psychedelic compounds, which caused a sort of "ontological awakening" of our species and thus acted as an early catalyst for religion, cosmic feelings of awe and a desire for transcendent experiences.
These experiences, to borrow the words of Tim Doody, re-contextualize oneself as a marvelous conduit in a timeless whole, through which molecules and meaning flow, from nebulae to neurons and back again. Early shamans, Davis wrote in "TechGnosis," became ecstatic technicians of the sacred.
Regardless of whether you buy McKenna's theory, he does provide a compelling case for the relationship between "cosmic, out-of-body euphoria" and the cognitive leaps to which it can give rise.
Some of our greatest poets, scientists and other thinkers have attributed some of their greatest inspiration to the use of these psychedelic chemicals and their resulting out-of-context perspectives.
But it's not necessarily the chemicals themselves I'm interested in, but rather what they do to our sense of perspective and our reference points. My focus is the subjective experiences they seem "to occasion."
Tom Robbins explains:
"The plant genies don't manufacture imagination, nor do they market wonder and beauty -- but they force us out of context so dramatically and so meditatively that we gawk in amazement at the ubiquitous everyday wonders that we are culturally disposed to overlook, and they teach us invaluable lessons about fluidity, relativity, flexibility and paradox. Such an increase in awareness, if skillfully applied, can lift a disciplined, adventurous artist permanently out of reach of the faded jaws of mediocrity."
In my mind the key idea here is that of being forced out of context. We don't necessarily require psychedelics for this, although they might offer a shortcut.
What we require is a bold new attitude and a sense of humility that accepts the ambiguity of many of our so-called truths, habitual thought patterns and cultural reality tunnels. By accepting the need to constantly de-condition our thinking to approach the world with new eyes, we can reconnect with our sense of awe and wonder.
As Michael Pollan wrote, "In order to see things as if for the first time, we must remember to forget." Bucky Fuller used to say "dare to be naive." Oftentimes, our sense of what we think we know is precisely what prevents us from approaching situations free of prejudice.
"Banality is a defense against being overwhelmed," Pollan wrote in his book "The Botany of Desire."
This makes perfect sense to me: In a world where disruption is the new normal, and technological change is happening at an exponential rate; a world where we are bombarded with media messages, and where "attention" is the new limited resource, it seems easier to recoil away from all the mindblowingness going on, and instead look for reasons to be bored. The mundane can be quite comforting for those terrified of leaving their comfort zone.
And this where I think my work serves the purpose of infecting people with wonderment. My short videos are "digital psychedelics" meant to "de-center" the self, dwindle the broadcast of the ego and provide people with a long view, "big picture" perspective on humanity, technology and how their symbiosis might make a dent in the cosmos.
As Alan Harrington wrote in "The Immortalist": "We must never forget we are cosmic revolutionaries."
Original article on CNN.com here.
http://thisisjasonsilva.com/
Do yourself a favor and watch these very short, very inspirational films. Silva talks fast, but stay with him... or just let it wash over you and feel it. His excitement is contagious.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Proof Of Dark Matter!
This has been an amazing week for science! A new particle was announced, and now we have proof of dark matter!
Reported by Rachel Bayliss at COSMOS on-line:
LONDON: The fundamental ‘cosmic web’ of dark matter throughout the universe has finally been observed from Earth, confirming theories of how the universe was shaped.
“This result is a resounding confirmation of a key prediction of structure formation in the universe,” said Jörg Dietrich from University Observatory Munich, Germany, and lead author of the study published in Nature today.
“Not only did we for the first time see a dark matter filament directly, we also confirmed that it’s total mass [dark matter plus normal matter] and the amount of hot gas are in agreement with predictions.”
DARK MATTER
Large cosmic structures, such as galaxies, exhibit gravitational affects that cannot be justified by the amount of normal matter present in the universe. A principle exists to describe this behavior and is known as the cold-dark-matter model, and it is the foundation of modern cosmology.
Within the model, vast quantities of dark matter, moving much slower than the speed of light (cold), must exist to explain the gravitational affects seen on normal matter.
As the name implies, dark matter cannot be observed in the traditional sense as it does not emit or absorb light at any significant level. However, its presence can be detected.
GRAVITATIONAL LENSING
“The technique we used is gravitational lensing,” said Dietrich. This is where light from, for example, a distant galaxy, is deflected and bent by huge gravitational fields generated by other similarly large objects. “It was widely believed that with current telescopes we would not be able to image dark matter filament with gravitational lensing.”
Dietrich and his team devised a method to boost the lensing signal sufficiently so that the dark matter filament between two clusters of galaxies could be observed with an 8m ground-based telescope.
“The key ingredient that made this result possible, is that we decided to study a very peculiar system of two massive galaxy clusters,” he said. These are called Abell 222 and Abell 223.
“Gravitational lensing is now allowing us to see parts of the universe that were previously invisible,” said astrophysicist Joanna Dunkley, from the University of Oxford, England, who was not involved in the study. “We already have plenty of indirect evidence that galaxy clusters trace a cosmic web of dark matter, but seeing this directly is an important step forward.”
THE COSMIC WEB
She added: “Our standard picture of cosmology tells us that filaments of invisible matter thread through the universe, and this bridge of dark matter connecting two clusters is exactly what we would expect.”
The research confirms that galaxy clusters form at the intersections of these vast filaments of dark matter.
Keen to develop this ground-breaking research further, Dietrich said, “We now want to study the interplay of dark matter density and galaxy population to get a better understanding of the mechanism that transforms galaxies from blue, star-forming spiral galaxies – which are the most common galaxies in filament – to red elliptical galaxies, which are the majority of galaxies in galaxy clusters.”
“The dark matter web makes up about a quarter of the universe,” Dunkley explained. “Being able to measure its morphology should help tell us more about how galaxies and clusters were formed, and may even give us a clue about what the dark matter itself is.” This in itself is a question that has been fascinating scientists for decades.
This research states that the underlying dark matter structure of the universe could comprise over half of all matter in existence. So developing it further is a must if scientists are to understand the elementary nature of the universe.
“We need to observe the lensing signal of more filaments to understand how special the one we found is,” Dietrich said. This will involve both in-depth statistical analysis of thousands of galaxy clusters, and a satellite mission to increase the possibilities of directly observing dark matter filaments.
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/5765/scientists-shine-light-dark-matter
Reported by Rachel Bayliss at COSMOS on-line:
LONDON: The fundamental ‘cosmic web’ of dark matter throughout the universe has finally been observed from Earth, confirming theories of how the universe was shaped.
“This result is a resounding confirmation of a key prediction of structure formation in the universe,” said Jörg Dietrich from University Observatory Munich, Germany, and lead author of the study published in Nature today.
“Not only did we for the first time see a dark matter filament directly, we also confirmed that it’s total mass [dark matter plus normal matter] and the amount of hot gas are in agreement with predictions.”
Galaxy clusters Abell 222 and Abell 223 connected by dark matter filament.
Yellow contours and blue shading are indicative of matter density.
Credit: Jörg Dietrich, University of Michigan/University Observatory Munich
DARK MATTER
Large cosmic structures, such as galaxies, exhibit gravitational affects that cannot be justified by the amount of normal matter present in the universe. A principle exists to describe this behavior and is known as the cold-dark-matter model, and it is the foundation of modern cosmology.
Within the model, vast quantities of dark matter, moving much slower than the speed of light (cold), must exist to explain the gravitational affects seen on normal matter.
As the name implies, dark matter cannot be observed in the traditional sense as it does not emit or absorb light at any significant level. However, its presence can be detected.
GRAVITATIONAL LENSING
“The technique we used is gravitational lensing,” said Dietrich. This is where light from, for example, a distant galaxy, is deflected and bent by huge gravitational fields generated by other similarly large objects. “It was widely believed that with current telescopes we would not be able to image dark matter filament with gravitational lensing.”
Dietrich and his team devised a method to boost the lensing signal sufficiently so that the dark matter filament between two clusters of galaxies could be observed with an 8m ground-based telescope.
“The key ingredient that made this result possible, is that we decided to study a very peculiar system of two massive galaxy clusters,” he said. These are called Abell 222 and Abell 223.
“Gravitational lensing is now allowing us to see parts of the universe that were previously invisible,” said astrophysicist Joanna Dunkley, from the University of Oxford, England, who was not involved in the study. “We already have plenty of indirect evidence that galaxy clusters trace a cosmic web of dark matter, but seeing this directly is an important step forward.”
THE COSMIC WEB
She added: “Our standard picture of cosmology tells us that filaments of invisible matter thread through the universe, and this bridge of dark matter connecting two clusters is exactly what we would expect.”
The research confirms that galaxy clusters form at the intersections of these vast filaments of dark matter.
Keen to develop this ground-breaking research further, Dietrich said, “We now want to study the interplay of dark matter density and galaxy population to get a better understanding of the mechanism that transforms galaxies from blue, star-forming spiral galaxies – which are the most common galaxies in filament – to red elliptical galaxies, which are the majority of galaxies in galaxy clusters.”
“The dark matter web makes up about a quarter of the universe,” Dunkley explained. “Being able to measure its morphology should help tell us more about how galaxies and clusters were formed, and may even give us a clue about what the dark matter itself is.” This in itself is a question that has been fascinating scientists for decades.
This research states that the underlying dark matter structure of the universe could comprise over half of all matter in existence. So developing it further is a must if scientists are to understand the elementary nature of the universe.
“We need to observe the lensing signal of more filaments to understand how special the one we found is,” Dietrich said. This will involve both in-depth statistical analysis of thousands of galaxy clusters, and a satellite mission to increase the possibilities of directly observing dark matter filaments.
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/5765/scientists-shine-light-dark-matter
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Congratulations! It's A Boson!
By Chris Wickham and Robert Evans
GENEVA | Wed Jul 4, 2012 4:40pm EDT
From REUTERS
Scientists at Europe's CERN research center have found a new subatomic particle, a basic building block of the universe, which appears to be the boson imagined and named half a century ago by theoretical physicist Peter Higgs.
"We have reached a milestone in our understanding of nature," CERN director general Rolf Heuer told a gathering of scientists and the world's media near Geneva on Wednesday.
"The discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson opens the way to more detailed studies, requiring larger statistics, which will pin down the new particle's properties, and is likely to shed light on other mysteries of our universe."
Two independent studies of data produced by smashing proton particles together at CERN's Large Hadron Collider produced a convergent near-certainty on the existence of the new particle.
It is unclear that it is exactly the boson Higgs foresaw, which by bestowing mass on other matter helps explain the way the universe was ordered after the chaos of Big Bang.
But addressing scientists assembled in the CERN auditorium, Heuer posed them a question: "As a layman, I would say I think we have it. Would you agree?" A roar of applause said they did.
For some, there was no doubt the Higgs boson is found: "It's the Higgs," said Jim Al-Khalili of Surrey University, a British physicist and popular broadcaster. "The announcement from CERN is even more definitive and clear-cut than most of us expected.
"Nobel prizes all round."
Higgs, now 83, from Edinburgh University was among six theorists who in the early 1960s proposed the existence of a mechanism by which matter in the universe gained mass. Higgs himself argued that if there were an invisible field responsible for the process, it must be made up of particles.
He and some of the others were at CERN to welcome news of what, to the embarrassment of many scientists, some commentators have labelled the "God particle", for its role in turning the Big Bang into an ordered universe. Clearly overwhelmed, his eyes welling up, Higgs told the symposium of fellow researchers: "It is an incredible thing that it has happened in my lifetime."
Scientists see confirmation of his theory as accelerating investigations into the still unexplained "dark matter" they believe pervades the universe and into the possibility of a fourth or more dimensions, or of parallel universes. It may help in resolving contradictions between their model of how the world works at the subatomic level and Einstein's theory of gravity.
Read the entire Reuters article here.
GENEVA | Wed Jul 4, 2012 4:40pm EDT
From REUTERS
Scientists at Europe's CERN research center have found a new subatomic particle, a basic building block of the universe, which appears to be the boson imagined and named half a century ago by theoretical physicist Peter Higgs.
"We have reached a milestone in our understanding of nature," CERN director general Rolf Heuer told a gathering of scientists and the world's media near Geneva on Wednesday.
 |
| The British physicist Peter Higgs arrived at CERN's headquarters on Wednesday. Photo by Denis Balibousse |
"The discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson opens the way to more detailed studies, requiring larger statistics, which will pin down the new particle's properties, and is likely to shed light on other mysteries of our universe."
Two independent studies of data produced by smashing proton particles together at CERN's Large Hadron Collider produced a convergent near-certainty on the existence of the new particle.
It is unclear that it is exactly the boson Higgs foresaw, which by bestowing mass on other matter helps explain the way the universe was ordered after the chaos of Big Bang.
But addressing scientists assembled in the CERN auditorium, Heuer posed them a question: "As a layman, I would say I think we have it. Would you agree?" A roar of applause said they did.
For some, there was no doubt the Higgs boson is found: "It's the Higgs," said Jim Al-Khalili of Surrey University, a British physicist and popular broadcaster. "The announcement from CERN is even more definitive and clear-cut than most of us expected.
"Nobel prizes all round."
Higgs, now 83, from Edinburgh University was among six theorists who in the early 1960s proposed the existence of a mechanism by which matter in the universe gained mass. Higgs himself argued that if there were an invisible field responsible for the process, it must be made up of particles.
He and some of the others were at CERN to welcome news of what, to the embarrassment of many scientists, some commentators have labelled the "God particle", for its role in turning the Big Bang into an ordered universe. Clearly overwhelmed, his eyes welling up, Higgs told the symposium of fellow researchers: "It is an incredible thing that it has happened in my lifetime."
Scientists see confirmation of his theory as accelerating investigations into the still unexplained "dark matter" they believe pervades the universe and into the possibility of a fourth or more dimensions, or of parallel universes. It may help in resolving contradictions between their model of how the world works at the subatomic level and Einstein's theory of gravity.
Read the entire Reuters article here.
Monday, April 23, 2012
...because in the end, it's all the same thing...
“Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.”
--Alan Watts
“There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness.”
--Alexandre Dumas, from THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO
“The aim is to balance the terror of being alive with the wonder of being alive.”
--Carlos Castaneda
--Alan Watts
“There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness.”
--Alexandre Dumas, from THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO
“The aim is to balance the terror of being alive with the wonder of being alive.”
--Carlos Castaneda
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