Science tells us that the ultimate reality of the universe is bound by the laws of physics. Of course, most definitely. No contention. Some scientists go further to tell us that all conceptions that fall outside of the laws of physics are basically unreal; they are inventions. The influential and impressive Sean Carroll, cosmologist and professor of physics at Caltech in the U.S., is a public intellectual par excellence.
The Large Hadron Collider in Geneva is one of those technological marvels, right on the cutting edge of human intellect, as avant garde as it can get. 9 billion dollars, 20,000 scientists, 17 miles of underground tunnels with super-cooled magnets and one expected outcome – the Higgs Boson. That elusive ‘mass’ providing particle.
Scientists are befuddled by a strange new development in almost every field of study. Almost simultaneously, an elaborate degree of complexity is being encountered everywhere. ‘Fundamental stuff’ which was supposed to be getting simpler and simpler with division, is behaving in unexpected, freaky ways.
We are logical, rational beings. At least most among us are. We crave structure. We crave for ideas that satisfy our intuitions. We test