PSYCHOSCAPES: Science first made us arrogant, now it humbles us

This photo shows a 4-hour sequence of star trails captured from the Nature Park

of Noudar in Portugal's Dark Sky Alqueva Reserve.(Image: © Miguel Claro)

Science first made us arrogant,

now it humbles us

For most of human evolution, the cosmic forces of the universe were magical, beyond our feeble understanding. We were humble and kept our heads down, acutely aware that we were the lowest denominator in a vast galactic mystery.

But as of late, over the last few hundred years, we have become smug and arrogant, coming to believe, because of our rudimentary knowledge of science, that we know everything – or soon will.

We are like the three blind men, in the ancient Indian parable, exploring an elephant, each absolutely sure he ts right. The first feels the trunk and declares the elephant is a snake, the second feels an ear and claims it is a fan, and the third feels a leg and says it a tree trunk.

Like the three blind men, the conclusions scientists draw are only valid within their particular focus, not necessarily reflecting larger reality.

Forever, we thought the earth was flat until Galilei proved it was round. Since then, we have become to rely more and more on science, discarding all the ancient ways of knowing.

After Galileo came classical physics, pioneered by Newton, who was able to plot the clock-like orbits of all the planets. This breakthrough was momentous, changing the way we thought about ourselves. It gave us big heads: After all, if the universe was like a giant clock, then we could figure it out and unravel all the secrets of life. God and mystery flew out the window.

While classical physics works perfectly for large objects, it does not work with extremely small particles, like electrons, moving at high speeds. To make sense of these subatomic particles, a new theory, quantum mechanics was developed with the help of Einstein.

In the quantum world, events are unpredictable: small particles do not make predictable transitions like large objects: instead, they jump from one state to another in a seemingly random manner, called quantum leaps. This leads to spooky behavior.

Examples include counter-intuitive phenomena that defy common sense: like light which can be either a wave or a particle; particles that can exist – or not exist – at the same time; and quantum laboratory experiments, where what the scientist is thinking affects the physical outcome.

Such weirdness has caused many people to consider quantum physics to be pure science fiction or too abstract to be practical.. But they would be wrong. Without advances made possible by quantum physics, we would not have computers. lasers, MRIs, cellphones, or many other accoutrements of modern life.

This leads us to something really weird: quantum entanglement, perhaps, the strangest and most unbelievable aspect of this young science. According to this theory, once two particles, such as electrons, interact with one another, they will forever be entangled: Continuing to act in unison, even if, in the future, they separated by vast distances.

But guess what: spooky as it is, now there is proof! According to a recent article in the journal Nature, scientists in China were able to send messages between a satellite and two ground stations using quantum entanglement.

As the NYT describes it: Tickle one particle here, by measuring one of its properties — its position, momentum or “spin” — and its partner should dance, instantaneously, no matter how far away the second particle has traveled.^⁠1

No longer a bizarre theory, it’s fast becoming fact.

How far out is that! And, in my opinion, invigorating, helping to restore mystery to our lives by challenging our know-it-all attitude. Even with all we’ve learned, we are still in the stone age: still, small bits of protoplasm totally enmeshed within a glorious universe that defies human understanding.

But wait! There’s more: String theory, developed to reconcile classical physics with quantum physics, hypothesizes that what we think of as one universe is actually very small strings that vibrate in 10 dimensions. In other words, we may be living simultaneously in up to 10 parallel worlds, 9 of which we can’t see.

Ain’t life grand!

xxx