PhotosI arrived at Orlando, Florida and my first stop was at JW Marriott where my husband had been staying for the past four days. Rana’s university sent him there to attend the 26th Army Science Conference focusing on technology that will transform army. I had arrived on the last day of the conference and just in time for the conference closing banquet and awards presentation. The hotel was magnificent as any hotel of such grandeur is expected to be. The banquet room was breath-taking and magnificent with a large, round, sophisticatedly-set dining banquet tables strewed back as far as the eye can see. At the front is a large stage with podiums and flags, and five large projection screens hung throughout the hall. At first, I thought the topic of the evening would be over my head as I overheard conversations around our table about their RFID tag research or the type of personal body-pack battery their companies developed, and etc.
The MC (master of ceremonies) began with welcoming remarks and assured us this evening would be a fun filled one or in his own words, “I saw Lieutenant-Commander [So-n-So] wear his bright parrot lapel pin on his jacket, so you can see we’ll be having quite a time here tonight.” To add to the evening’s fun he concluded his speech with a joke… a psychology joke. He is allowed that because he’s certified to do so, after all he does have a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology.
“How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb?”
“One, but the light bulb has to want to change.”
Great, I thought.
However, the MC was not too far off, as one of the guests commented “this is just like being in a French restaurant”. The manager and his assistant came to each table personally welcoming us to his hotel and announced the evening’s menu. The army orchestra strolled among the diners as they played familiar classic American tunes. After dessert the keynote speakers were up next. Dr. Joel Primack and Nancy Ellen Abrams, authors of The View form the Center of the Universe: Discovering Our extraordinary Place in the Cosmos.
From the Center of the UniverseTo my surprise the keynote presentation was incredibly fascinating. The two professors, instrumental contributors in theoretical cosmic research and philosophical science, developed the double dark theory. Double dark which involves dark energy and dark matter are the essence and substance of the universe beyond the visible universe. They described the universe that we see and know as beacon lights on top of the sail masts of a large ship on a dark moonless night where the ship and the endless sea are completely hidden from our sight.
The center of the universe, or the center of the conscious visible universe, is no other place but Earth. It’s the most logical place to start, don’t you think? There were many things they said that was very enlightening (no pun intended) but there were some key items that stuck out in my mind.
“The Present is the Past”When you look up into the night sky, you are actually looking back in time. The universe as you see it now is actually what the universe was. As you may already know, the light travels at a constant speed of 186,000 miles per second in vacuum. Therefore, lights from a star 10 billion light-years away is actually 10 billion years older now than when the light left the star and most likely does not look like what you are presently witnessing. The horizon, or the furthest point, of the observable universe is 56 billion light-years away when interestingly; the universe itself is only 14 billion years old. Just pick up any basic book on cosmology for the explanation on how this is possible.
Why does the universe matter?With all the problems here on Earth, why should we care about anything beyond the atmosphere of our planet? The Orubus chart, a circular chart represented by a snake swallowing its own tail, was used during the presentation to demonstrate how everything is connected to each other. The existence of everything is broken down into 3 categories. The macro category, represented as the snake’s head, the biggest part of the snake, consists of galaxies, super novas and planets held together by black matter, the Mid-dar category, the snake’s belly, encompasses everything visible to the naked eye from fleas to human beings. Going further into the atomic world of molecules and atoms, is the micro category, shown as the snake’s tail, the smallest part of the snake on the Orobus chart. There are six fundamental forces that govern all the levels of existence. (1) Gravity controls the macro-world, (2) energy and (3) electromagnetisms govern our level of existence. (4) Strong and (5) weak forces govern the micro-world. As we look deeper into the micro-level, into the particles, we’ll find the basic building blocks and governing force of the electrons, protons, and neutrons, (6) dark matter. As you may recall dark matter, what atoms are made of, is also the same element which holds the universe together. Hence, brings us back to a full circle from micro into the macro. The fundamental forces are represented on the Orobus chart where the tail meets the head, known as the Grand Unified Theory, or otherwise known as GUT. To summarize, we need to understand the universe in order to help us understand ourselves and our world.
We are the center of our universe. This makes us, as humans, very important due to the fact that we are the only ones of our kind. Our planet is also one of its kind in the universe that we know of, being more the reason to maintain and preserve it. Because we are unique in the universe; we are obligated to explore and ensure a peaceful and sustainable future of the planet and ourselves. We must consider environmental issues to ensure the planet’s continued health and existence. Just the fact of being unique in the universe, we must act, not only to consider our own interests, but to consider interests of all humans on Earth.
Often times, when we look up into the stars and ponder the greatness and wonders of the universe, we often feel small and insignificant among all existence. We are reminded that we are one-of-a-kind, thus reinforcing the fact that our presence in the universe
is significant and our continued existence
is imperative. The presentation concluded with a reminder to us, to:
“Think Cosmologically,
Act Globally, and
Eat Locally”
