Day 111 - Questions

 QUESTIONS

Prompt - Questions : Write about questions you have for the universe.  Optional : Include an answer key.

Dear Universe,

What kind of fool am I?

Was the great Douglas right all along?  Is the answer forty two?  And if it is, what the hell was the question?

OK, I'll stop messing about and try to be serious.  You deserve that respect.  

I can handle the concept of infinity of space and time.  I say handle rather than comprehend, for that is too much to ask, but I have reached an acceptance with the basic concept.  There no boundaries to the entirety of the universe as a three dimensional entity, nor to the fourth dimension of time.  Beginning and ending have no meaning at that level, only transition.  Even matter and energy have no finite limitations.  

But that's only dealing with four dimensions.  The ones we can understand from our everyday existence.  Science plays about with mathematical concepts of further dimensions, but those are too abstract a notion for anyone not deeply steeped in pure maths and quantum physics. So my questions have to be prosaic, for that is the limit of my understanding.

How many dimensions are there?  How many can the human mind perceive in real life, outside of the laboratory?  And does the answer mean anything for the possibilities of interstellar travel?  Are there sentient minds elsewhere in this galaxy or beyond, in any period of time, who have, had, or will have that ability?

Our current technology is opening up exciting discoveries about another planet, Mars.  In earthbound terms it is a vast distance away from our home planet.  In universal terms it is right next door.  Our science tells us that it would be physically impossible to travel faster than the speed of light.  Even if, or when, we develop the technology to bring us close to that velocity, it would still take a ship five years to reach the nearest star system.  Deeper explorations of our own galaxy would take decades, centuries.  

Science Fiction writers get around this physical limitation by various means.  Hyperspace is a term used by several, a dimension,or multi dimensions, beyond our conventional quartet, where 'real' distance disappears and a form of remote displacement takes place.  (Different writers have their own takes on the theme, with various degrees of science behind their explanations, but in the end it's all speculation, essential for fiction to be able to employ the beloved idea of an interstellar empire of some sort.)  Is there any real possibility of discovering such a thing, or at least some means of deep space travel that wouldn't involve the people involved having to be put into a state of suspended animation for considerable periods of time?

Has any species managed to travel between the stars?  Of course there may have been times in the past, or in the future, where the question itself is meaningless.  If there was a Big Bang then when stars did come into existence in a recognisable solar form, they would not have been in the same locations they are now.  But, in those earlier days, life would not have evolved.  Science now says the universe is expanding.  But I think what that means is that all matter, including the stars around which planetary systems revolve, are in constant motion.  The universe can't 'expand' because it has no limits (see infinity above...), but all of it's matter has movement, realigning itself all the time.

If there was a Big Bang what came before that?  How did all that matter come together?  What 'shape' was it before that happened?  And before that, and before that....  Infinity of time and space also means that there are an infinite number of questions!

In the end there are no answers, not at that level.  The scientists postulate from the observable information they can gather.  The SF writers speculate based on what is known and the power of their imaginations.  It is to their benefit, and to those of us who consume their ideas, that the answers aren't known.  Speculation offers more fun that reality.  The Universe is gradually giving up the odd secret now and then, but there is so much for it to hold back, more than humanity has time for.

(And yes, we may not get to know many more answers, for our species has various means of ending their own survival, not linked to the eventual burn out and emise of our central provider of light and warmth and energy.  In my youth is was nuclear armageddon that seemed the most likely.  To which we can now add the increasingly imminent likelihood of global warming making the planet largely uninhabitable, and a far more dealy and irreversible viral pandemic doing the job.)

None of which will stop us from keeping on asking, for as long as we are able...

Are there really any answers?  We will find ourselves getting closer and closer to that, if we survive.  But the one thing we do know is that we can never ever know everything.  We can't even ask all the right questions.

FOOTNOTE : I'm disappointed with myself that I didn't make the time or effort to make some reference to questions about the idea of parallel universes!  Maybe there are other universes to ask questions of?