Why?

Why?


The origin of the universe is unknown. The space that you are in was once a small dot, a singularity what we humans theorize as the big bang. You are not even a fraction of the universe. What is the purpose of our species or life on earth in general if we cannot even compare the size of humanity and the universe? Do your life and consciousness really matter? All the actions you do, all the things you think, everything you mess up, all that you argue, everyone you love, and the life that we all have do not exactly impact the universe. People do believe that your life will stay, and your spirit will remain; which of connects to the belief of religion. If you live in such a small lifespan compared to the ostensibly infinite life of the universe, do you really matter? When we say, “you can change the world,” does that mean you can change the universe and the spacetime that it holds? In the end, humanity and life on earth will be long gone, after all the stars die out and even the blackest things in the cosmos radiate to its fullest point until it explodes in a ‘blackhole-nova’. Maybe by then, the human intelligence might conquer its fullest type civilization, past type III on the Kardashev scale. We might be living along a spaceship, with nothing surrounding. But humanity, at some point, must end (unless we have acquired immortality). But of course, by then you and I would be long dead. There is a very, very slim chance that I would be remembered for all the actions I did. However, once life, in general, has fully extinguished, nothing will be remembered (unless we talk religion). Eventually, the universe would have expanded so much, to the quantum level, until spacetime rips and everything within would be gone. Until the cosmic horizon would be smaller than atoms itself. This is a theory of which we call the Big Rip. The closer you come to the ‘end’ of the universe, the more black and nothingness it gets. All human lives would be gone, and everything we have discovered, everything we have learned, all scientific advances we make, will be gone with the wind, as life has departed from this universe.

However, there is hope. As Hawking says where there is life. But there is even hope without life. Before life on earth, there was nothing. The formation of life on earth might have been some abstract chemical reaction, an asteroid with cells crashing on earth, or really anything. So we know that there might be a chance if life started somewhere else in the universe if it started on earth (maybe). In string theory – a theory that joins the physics of the large and the small: quantum mechanics and general relativity, and ultimately a ‘theory of everything’ – there are parallel universes, other universes that might exist other than ours. Once our universe has deceased (or ripped), other universes might still live on which means that there might be a planet suitable for life – or rather there is a huge chance of a planet having a luxury for life. This means that life can continue to thrive in our universe – or other. Of course, this is just a slim theory, and there are many other ones that are scarier, or more satisfying.

What is the purpose of our lives? Or life? Or the universe? We cannot say. In physics, we make predictions. That’s a lot of what physics is all about. We know how fast a rocket has to move in order to leave the earth; that’s physics. We know that we have to set the timing of a satellite differently than earth because of special relativity; that’s physics. We know how far a ball will go if we throw it at this velocity, this angle, with this amount of gravitational pull, and other factors; that’s physics. We know what will happen if we shine light through a prism, and the beauty that it makes, and we know of the missing parts of a spectrum; that’s physics. The more we discover, the more we predict. With physics, we can figure out new types of energy we can use that cannot harm animals, the atmosphere, or anything else. We can use quantum cryptography to encrypt more efficiently and more safely. We can make quantum computers that might be able to find proteins that can cure numerous diseases. We can understand microbiology more with physics and many others. We can predict things that can save the earth with physics. We even might be able to predict things that we do not know of or even of things that we do not think to predict. Physics is the building blocks of nature and it describes how things behave. Ultimately, we try to use physics to know why stuff functions as it does. Physics may answer the purpose of the universe.

Why should you care about life then if it will end and eventually all will be lost? That’s because you can. Humans take advantage in life in a good way. Their wanting to discover is why we now live in the way we do. We have electricity, computers, games, cars, planes, machines, and more. Every human is capable of anything. It’s just you wanting to or not. You can literally do whatever you want for your own good. But don’t think about yourself only. Think of the consequences that can impact other people when you say something or do something. Humankind can care for the earth, as that’s all we have (for now). Even if not, there is always hope.

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