The church of fundamental quantum thingies

[BANHAMMERED!]

I just watched a PBS special about the nature of space hosted by noted author, physicist Brian Greene. When it was over, I was struck by the thought that the mysterious dark energy that fills the universe might be what human beings have been praying to for thousands of years. I mean, think about it. What if prayer and meditation are natural, evolutionary pathways to connect to Einstein's cosmological constant, Buddha's nirvana and Jesus's dad? According to physicists, this dark energy is both infinite in extent and the prime mover for an expanding universe. Kinda fits the bill, right? Let's take it a step further. What if gravity, the mysterious force pulling the cosmos inward, is what our feeble frontal lobes perceive as evil? And finally, what if the two forces in balance are what allow for the whole shebang to exist in the first place? We label them good and bad. Love and hate. Life and death. But at the end of the day, all we have are two fundamental quantum thingies that can be directly experienced. Hmm... not sure what to do with this revelation. It's kind of a coin flip between starting a new religion - you know, going full frontal L. Ron Hubbard - and applying for a federal tax exemption - or just making a nice donor pledge to PBS.

[Nintendo Phillip]

Was the special based on any of his books? The Fabric of the Cosmos, The Elegant Universe, and The Hidden Reality.

Anyway, dark energy is most likely the reason why the Universe is expanding at an ever-accelerating rate. The question of whether or not dark energy is infinite in extent won't be answered until we know both what dark energy actually is, and if the Universe itself is or is not infinite in spatial expanse - a question that is difficult to answer, to say the very least.

We won't really know the true nature of gravity at the quantum level until we develop a working theory of quantum gravity. Right now, the leading candidate for that is string theory. We do know that, compared to the other three fundamental forces of the Universe, gravity is extraordinarily weak. But that doesn't really take into account gravity at the quantum level, because we really can't do that yet.

[BANHAMMERED!]

"What if prayer and meditation are natural, evolutionary pathways to connect to Einstein's cosmological constant, Buddha's nirvana and Jesus's dad?"

What do you think, Phil?

[Nintendo Phillip]

I think that equating dark energy with both nirvana and Jesus' daddy is intellectually dishonest. We don't know what dark energy is, and assuming it is God or whatever is basically an argument from ignorance. The same goes for saying prayer and meditation are at all ways to "connect" with dark energy - whatever that means.

[BANHAMMERED!]

Thats fair. 

Also that's one of the endcards from Big Bang Theory by Chuck Lorre.

I love them.

[Nintendo Phillip]

Yeah, TBBT is awesome. As are the endcards. I got the fourth season yesterday.

[loller]

You guys gotta be kidding me...

[BANHAMMERED!]

Pourquois?

[Hitman]

I think dark energy is directly related to mastrobation