CONCERNING CAUSES AND QUESTIONS Who am I? Why am I here? Why would somebody spend his time writing a philosophy paper that no one will ever read? These are the types of questions that people ask, presuming that there are answers. The questions generally lead to more questions, and the issue very quickly becomes complex. Why are people breaking out in horrible sores and dying? Why do some things burn and others not? Why is the sky blue? These are questions that have, in time, been answered, and in the answers to these questions we see a pattern of cause and effect. We then presume that everything has a cause and effect, and presume further that all questions can eventually be answered.
Unfortunately, this is not always possible. Some causes become so complex that we can barely imagine them, much less pinpoint them. Take for instance the case of a jellyfish. I see the Jellyfish in the sea, and I say, “floatation is groovy”. Then I become curious and serious. How does the jellyfish know how, or even what, to hunt? It is instinct would be the most common response, and, in general, a satisfactory one. The question, however, can be taken much farther and next becomes, what is instinct? This leads to other questions: where does instinct come from, is there more to the mind than just the rational consciousness, does that mean the metaphysical exists, is there a super-perceptual force that motivates and teaches life to live? These are a lot of questions indeed, ones that have only more questions entwined with their solutions.
To find the cause of instinct we must first understand how DNA, presumably- but not surely- this is the source of instinct within our bodies, communicates with the body, how it is formed, how the mutations that change it take place, and what causes those changing forces. We must trace the entire history of the species and its genes back to the first formation of life to understand how and why it added each feature to its body and why it evolved to do what it does. This, as you can see, becomes a complex issue very quickly, and still we will be tracing causes upon causes further back until our information is to obscure too draw any reasonable conclusions from. It seems that, when looking for causes, we only find that our subject matter increases exponentially.
This presents the same problem as did instinct. Once DNA is understood completely, we would ask, what caused the matter that makes up these elements to come into being in the first place. This cycle apparently never ends and that is where speculation, as all theologies- which have been discredited to the point that they no longer speculate on the physical world- and pseudo-sciences are, takes the torch of human belief.
CONCERNING THEOLOGY Theologies and pseudo-sciences are intended to address the mysteries of life. They attempt to explain, through speculation, that which cannot be understood through observation. Going one large step farther than pseudo-sciences, theologies try to answer the question, “why does anything exist”, which inevitably must be answered before one can discuss why anything is the way it is. Any theory that is put forward to answer these questions must always start with that which we can perceive of the world around us and go on to deduce the solutions to life’s mysteries from those perceptions. This is because one cannot make an argument using reason if one does not begin with at least one fact. Throughout history these hypothesis’ have been given overwhelming importance and used to extrapolate value systems, usually called religions, and rules that people could, and were sometimes forced to, live their lives by.
One of these theories states that, because of the laws of inertia (natural phenomena first described by Isaac Newton as; objects in motion tend to stay in motion, objects at rest tend to stay at rest), which implies that anything in motion must have been acted upon by a force of some kind. It goes on to claim that because the universe is in constant motion, something, God in this particular conclusion, must have started the universe moving.
This idea of the mover creating the universe and its motion can be used to justify any belief in the metaphysical, be it Christianity, Paganism or astrology. Again, however, more questions that must be addressed, such as “What started the mover moving?” before the idea can be understood or accepted. One must decide alone how much weight to give this idea of the unseen mover. Is this enough evidence to believe that a God exists?
As time goes by and these ideas are discredited or become obsolete, new explanations that best fit the array of scientific facts compiled by humans are forwarded and naively presumed to be accurate. As science makes progress, of course, these explanations must be adjusted to fit that which we have newly found to be true.
Let us start with my first question, “who am I?” Let us also start with that which we know to be true now, without delving into the past, or time at all for that matter. I will not deal with the cosmos either because I do not feel confident in my, or anyone else’s, scientific knowledge of the complex history of the universe.
Who am I? I, if my senses do not deceive me, am a consciousness (this word even is hard to pin a definition on because it includes instinct, memory, subconscious, etc.) that controls, at least in part, a body constructed of matter. That is a vague description, which only works because I ignore all the questions that come up and other definitions that need clarifying, but, if you will bear with me, I will eventually account for all involved questions.
Why am I here? Well, I cannot explain the history of life without straying into pure theory, much less the history of the universe that may or may not be infinite. This, of course, opens another, even larger can of worms. What is the universe and why is it here becomes the next question that must be answered to answer the first.
Because this line of questioning becomes so unmanageable, I will leave the reader to decide why for themselves and focus on a smaller issue. One, in fact, so small that it seems to almost be and maybe is nothing. That issue is my body, but on a smaller- or larger- scale, it is matter itself.
What is my body? It is first of all an object given life by the merging of DNA strands from two different bodies. This object, body, grows to become the shape dictated by the makeup of the DNA that gave it life. It is composed of organs, which are made of tissues. Those tissues are made of cells, but this is the point at which the solidity of our bodies and our perception fails us.
If one looks closely at the human body, they will see tiny portions of empty space; there are, as there must be when one considers their structure, gaps between the blood cells that flow through our veins for example. Furthermore, as is generally scientifically accepted (which will be the case with all information I present as fact), the molecules that join together to form cells contain much more empty space than exists between cells. Molecules, though they seem solid, are made of atoms. The atoms bond together in a sort of framework, which contains empty space much more voluminous than that taken up by the atoms themselves. Atoms, which also seem solid, are made of electrons, which circle and are separated from the nucleus by a space relatively much bigger than the nucleus. The nuclei of atoms are composed of protons and neutrons. Protons and neutrons also are made of much empty space and quarks, which are made up of and held together by W+, W-, and Z particles. These particles are so small that science is only now proving their existence and knows nothing of their makeup.
My body, just as the universe, is a construction of empty space and very little matter. Why then can’t I pass through a wall? I am solid because all of these different particles are held together by electromagnetic forces, which are not easily broken. They are so strong in fact that a breakdown of a small number of atoms can produce a force great enough to level a city, as is seen in any number of nuclear weapons tests. These forces form energy webs, if you will, that hold solid objects together.
The first and weakest of these electromagnetic forces is Gravity. Masses containing electromagnetic energy are pulled together by a force that varies inversely to distance. The greater the distance between, then the lesser the force between.
The second strongest type electromagnetic forces are usually referred to as atomic and molecular bonds. These are created by electrical charge, or more specifically the attraction between molecules and atoms that have opposite charges. These forces hold molecules and elements that exist in multiple numbers together in the forms that we observe them.
The third strongest force is called the Weak Force. This force is responsible for holding leptons, a name used for electrons- protons and neutrons as a group, together. This force, in other words, is responsible for the structure of atoms.
The fourth and strongest known electromagnetic force is called, for obvious reasons, the Strong Force. This force holds Quarks, which group together in threes to form protons and neutrons, together. This force is so strong that only a particle accelerator can provide enough energy to break quarks apart.
“How does this apply to the question of who I am?” you might ask. Well, now that I have reached the end of my scientific rope, I can begin to speculate on the nature of things.
We see, in all this scientific evidence, a pattern of smaller and smaller bits of matter being held together by increasingly powerful forces. I would expect that we will discover other smaller particles, which make up Z particles and others that make up the particles that make up Z particles. This pattern could be the basis of many conclusions.
For example, it could be an infinite pattern of particles that become infinitesimally small, while the forces that hold them together become exponentially strong. This idea of the infinite could be taken in the other direction as well. Maybe the universe is simply a particle in another kind of atom.
Another line of reasoning could take us to a conclusion of the absolute. Particles become increasingly small while forces become increasingly strong until matter becomes pure force. This pure force could be thought of as the soul and be credited with the physical manifestation of the body, instinct, memory, the subconscious and even untapped telepathic or magical abilities. Also from this one could conclude that all matter is the result of the will, or soul of God, and that the universe itself is God.
One could equally conclude that life is the natural result and projection of the nearly perfect symmetry of the inanimate, which is itself a mere projection of the perfection of energy. Further our senses, instinct and intelligence are simply more stable forms of life created randomly in the same fashion that unstable elements combine to form more stable ones.
It seems that inevitably we will have new information but the same mystery. I will not be so arrogant as to presume my guess is any better than anyone else’s. Instead I will not follow the pattern of previous theologians but leave it up to you to decide which of your beliefs you will burn and how you will behave.
you are well on your way to true wisdom as this 83 years young retired scientist sees it ---just keep on keeping on about the real world out there as carefully imagined "in here" ---you may be interested in my new theory paper at this link http://wwww.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hall/2638/1MrMorganNewPhysics.doc