Horizon: The Universe

In the Beginning there was Nothing and Nothing was in the Beginning. Then, in one Cosmic Explosion Everything was Created and in a Big Bang the Universe came into Existence. Energy became Matter and out of Darkness came Light. And when Darkness was Night and Light was Day, so there was Time. Then Stars moved across the Universe, and so there was Space. This is the Creation Myth of Modern Science. Is it wrong? Doesn’t it sound frightfully familiar? Is Everything We Know About the Universe Wrong? That’s the question the most recent installment of my favorite program BBC Horizon asks. First of all, this Creation Myth cannot explain the origin of Time and Space; it leaves open the question what came Before and what is Beyond. A while ago we spoke about the Inflation Theory of the Universe, which implies that there are an infinite number of universes infinitely expanding. This theory helps to explain why temperature remains constant throughout the universe, which shouldn’t be the result of a giant explosion, but could be due to inflation.

Another problem is that galaxies do not behave according to the laws of gravity: they move like a disc, with all the stars within a galaxy going at the same speed, rather than going faster the closer they get to the gravitational center. So another theory was proposed to account for this behavior. Can you guess what they called the theory? “Dark Matter”! Ooh, how sinister! Recent observations, moreover, appear to have discovered a motion of galactic clusters in the same direction (i.e., rather than outward), which has been dubbed “Dark Flow.” Evil, dark flow! Even more recent observations have lead to the conclusion that the universe isn’t just expanding infinitely, but is in fact expanding at an accelerated rate. This can only mean that there is some mysterious increase of cosmic energy, which – as you can guess by now – has been dubbed “Dark Energy”... A cosmic big bang, invisible dark matter, evil dark flow, omnipresent dark energy... It does make you wonder... we must be missing something, because this can’t be how the universe operates. There are too many exceptions and additional explanations required to make the theory work. Perhaps one day our children or our children’s children will learn an entirely new Creation Myth in school!

Horizon: The Human Mind

Let’s probe again into the human mind, with a recent installment of BBC Horizon, asking the question “What Makes a Genius?” Can science explain Shakespeare, Newton, Mozart, Einstein, Kasparov, The Beatles? Let’s pop open a cool brewsky and get some chips, this is going to be interesting! I thought that maybe we ought to start with defining what exactly a genius is, otherwise, you know, you’ll end up arguing over semantics... But the program failed in that respect. They use synonyms, such as “extreme talent,” “incredible intelligence,” and “uninhibited imagination.” Mostly, the program discusses intelligence, particularly with respect to mathematics. So there’s a lot of talk about how to measure intelligence, whether intelligence is genetically acquired, whether it depends on brain structure and/or brain patterns, or if it can be learned by anyone. Although interesting, ultimately much remains vague.

From watching mice in cages with manipulated genes we learn that the process of learning depends on the ability of making neurological connections that allow us to remember our experiences and implement the lesson in similar future events. Of course we all know about those ridiculous IQ tests kids have to go through these days – and how much they actually fail to predict anything. Patterns in our brain activity, however, seem to indicate a predisposition to certain talents. And then there are all those silly “Mozart for Baby Genius” CDs... That leads to unanswered questions about the importance of nurture, upbringing, the environment in which you grow up. And it’s only toward the end that we get a fascinating bit about creativity. Here we hear about our brain’s inhibitory and excitatory urges that help us include or exclude external stimuli, meaning that with a lower inhibitory and higher excitatory urge our brain processes more external stimuli which in turn increases our creativity. The show makes no mention of drugs, but I thought that’s exactly why many artists take drugs. I don’t know, should I complain? I’m a big fan of this program, but I feel that this installment was quite a disappointment.

Horizon: Infinity

Infinity: Does it exist? Mathematically, naturally: in theory you can always continue counting – forever. You can always add one to any number, indefinitely, or multiply it by any number. To express large numbers, we can say ten raised to the power of nine for one billion (one followed by nine zeros); ten raised to the power of one hundred is called a googol (one followed by one hundred zeros), and ten raised to the power of a googol is called a googolplex (a number so large it cannot be written down). But a recent BBC Horizon installment goes beyond the possibility of numerical infinity. Its actual existence, its reality beyond mathematics. A mind boggling matter. Is infinity an invention of the human mind? Abstract nonsense, if you will. Philosophically, infinity is close to divinity. God cannot be finite, cannot be proven to exist. It’s a matter of faith. You have to believe in divinity. But does it enhance your life to believe infinity is real?

If infinity is possible, then anything is possible – even as unlikely as a monkey typing the complete works of Shakespeare. “My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite.” (Romeo & Juliette II:2, 133-135) How unlikely is it? It’s one in 10 with nine million zeros!

Is the universe infinite, and if so, are there an infinite number of parallel universes, too? Is time eternal? Is it cosmologically possible for the universe to be infinite and eternal? Or, to put it differently, if space and time were finite, what’s beyond? If the universe is infinite, there would be an infinite number of planets like earth, with an infinite number of individuals just like you and me. How insignificant does that make us? And the nearest exact copy of us is only two to the power of ten to the power of 118 meters away... Naturally, when speaking about the cosmos, we end up talking about the Big Bang, about the inflation theory of the universe, and before we know it, we hear about the logical conclusion that there are infinitely many infinite universes, infinitely expanding... I hope that, like me, you feel that this isn’t making any intuitive sense. It’s baffling, but infinitely fascinating!

Horizon: Robots

Dude, where’s my robot? That’s what I wanna know! And it happens to be a question an older installment of BBC Horizon tried to answer. We all have been raised on promises of a future in which every home had a robot performing menial tasks, errands and chores around the house. So, the question seems to have some validity, no? First we visit the artificial intelligence (A.I.) lab at Stanford University to witness the very sharpest bit of the cutting edge of robot design in America – a desk on wheels with an arm sticking out... sigh ... boring! We then travel to Tokyo to see the most advanced walking android ... only to be asked to leave the lab after super robot HRP3 falls over... ouch ... painful! So, next we listen to Nobel-prize winning immunologist and neuroscientist Gerald Edelman explain how incredibly complicated performing a simple task (like getting him a cup of coffee) actually is, and that the difficulties for A.I. start with perception. That leads to issues how our brain recognizes objects and conditions around us – something scientists are only just about starting to teach computers. The problem seems to be that we tend to think of the brain as some kind of super computer, but it’s not. At least, it’s not digital, and it doesn’t run on programs. In other words, we’re probably still very far from the day that every home is supplied with a humanoid robot...

BBC Horizon: Your Self

BBC’s popular science series Horizon is asking the probing psychological question: Who Are You? or, How Do You Know Who You Are? Jeez, man, that’s deep... Well, let’s start at the beginning with the time we first become aware of ourselves... Babies looking at themselves in the mirror seem to posses no sense of self-awareness whatsoever, but somewhere between eighteen and twenty-four months of age, children develop this recognition – and apparently only the great apes reach this level of consciousness. But there’s a price to pay: self-awareness also comes with the understanding of mortality, the awareness of your own death... This one researcher has even proven conscious brain activity (i.e., awareness of the outside world) in a comatose patient! Ultimately, of course, you’ll end up asking questions about the nature (and existence) of the soul, its relation to our body and its possible disembodied state... Maybe you’re thinking, “Oh, Plato” and his theory of psychosomatic dualism ... I was for sure, but Horizon is only going back as far as Descartes ... and is crediting him with the separation of mind and matter, the spiritual and material ... cogito ergo sum (“I think, therefore I am”). You still with me? We then get talk about anesthesia and brain structure, as well as neuronal activity and trans-cranial magnetic stimulation in order to discover the source or essence of cognitive consciousness. Nor would this show be complete without at least a brief discussion of Free Will... Whether we call it our identity or consciousness, our thought process or free will, even our soul, we probably ought to conclude it is constituted by neurons sending electric shockwaves through your brain. Excellent show, this!