It’s incredible how things have changed in the last couple of hundred years, or so. Up until that time, mankind thought that it was the crown of creation, the sole purpose for the existence of the Universe. Then came the realization that mother earth is not the center of the solar system and that things don’t literally revolve around us. Oh well, we were still pretty important. Then came the insight that we humans are just the most recent link in the chain of Primate Evolution and that in fact Primates themselves evolved from little rodents, etc. But the least we could do is name our biological order Primates, meaning “First Rank”. This propped up our bruised ego somewhat. Evolution by natural selection is still unacceptable to some of us, those whose egos outweigh their ability to reason.
Then came the insight that the Universe is HUGE, so big in fact that we can not really comprehend it’s size. All that we know, Earth and even our Solar System are infinitesimal specs whose existence or non-existence play no role when the size of the universe is considered. Then came the insight that our own solar system is NOT located anywhere close to the center of our galaxy but in a far off region in one of the outer arms. By this time most of us had given up the ancient we-are-the-center-of-the-universe line of thinking and were just lying or our backs, completely humbled, awaiting further insults. Then came the discovery, that most of the elements that make up our bodies and our environment (Oxygen, Carbon, Silicate Rocks, Metals, etc.) were created, as if by chance, during the first generation of supernovae explosions of massive stars in the early universe. We, and everything around us, are in a sense the ashes of previously existing nuclear furnaces. WTF?
NOW we find out that the stuff we are made of, Protons and Neutrons that form the nuclei that make up you and me, the Sun’s Hydrogen atoms, all the stuff that Physicists call “baryonic matter”, all this makes up only about 5% of the mass/energy of the universe. The majority of energy in the Universe, called dark energy, is of unknown origin. The second largest energy component, also of unknown origin, is called dark matter. Dark matter is not comprised of normal protons and neutrons, but clumps together just like normal matter. So, even the stuff that we are made of is only a residual trace component of what makes up the universe. How the mighty have fallen: From thinking of themselves as the crown of creating to an insignificant residual trace component.
The Dark Energy hypothesis is consistent with this recent discovery of a giant, far-away cluster of galaxies. Today, such large gravitationally bound structures would not be able to form because of the repulsive nature of the Dark Energy. But 8 Billion years ago the rate of expansion of space was less than it is today, allowing for such giant gravitationally bound assemblies of galaxies.
So what’s the meaning of all this? In my opinion there are several lessons:
One: No woman or man should have any kind of ego problem and assume that she/he is in any way significant on a large scale of things. We need to be humble in our approach to nature and, by extension, in how we treat one another.
Two: We are completely clueless as to what is really going on as far as the big picture is concerned. Why is there something instead of nothing? And if there has to be something, why is this the way things are, as compared to some other possible reality?
