MODERN TIMES
Art Hobson
ahobson@uark.edu
NWA Times 22 July
2006
OUR PLACE IN THE
UNIVERSE
We aren't sure how it all started. Call it a quantum fluctuation in vacuum, call it God—does the name really make so much difference? We do know that it happened 13.7 billion years ago, when a tiny separate fragment of space and time measuring a billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a centimeter across gathered enough energy within itself to unleash new forces and started a universe rolling toward an unpredictable future.
That energy was not as large as you might suppose, about the energy in a typical automobile tank of gasoline. Not much to start a universe. But when packed into a single fragment of space and time, it was enough. This much energy in such a confined space was enough to heat the fragment—the ÒseedÓ of the present universe-- to a million trillion trillion degrees, causing the seed to expand in an astonishing process called Òcosmic inflation.Ó Inflation accelerated the seedÕs expansion to far faster than lightspeed and, within a tiny fraction of one second, expanded our universe to the relatively enormous size of about one millimeter.
Although inflation had ceased, the universe was by then embarked on an evitable and continuing expansion that would create the glorious array that we see around us today. Was it a natural process? I would say yes, it was entirely natural. Was it a miraculous process? I would say yes, when you take time to think about the details, everything that happens in nature is miraculous.
The observationally verified details of the big bang are about as astounding as anything I've come across in the annals of science, science fiction, or religion. The power and the glory of the evidence gathered by such instruments as the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite that first observed the subtle details of the cosmic background radiation from the big bang itself (COBE team leader George Smoot said "if you are religious, it's like looking at the face of God") is enough to make one fall to oneÕs knees in wonder.
Are humans, on this relatively tiny planet in a vast universe, significant in the big, cosmological scheme of things? There is a strong argument that we have in fact a cosmically primary role. Although I've held this view for decades, itÕs been bolstered by the new observations beginning with COBE in 1992. An excellent new book titled "The View from the Center of the Universe" by cosmologist Joel Primack and writer Nancy Ellen Abrams has clarified my thinking recently.
Just since 1992, observations with the HST, COBE, and other instruments have demonstrated that the universe is structured quite differently than we had imagined. It's made primarily of a still-mysterious "dark energy" that appears to be entirely non-material—not made of tiny particles like the atoms that matter is made of. The other major constituent of the universe is "dark matter," a mysterious material made of tiny particles that cannot emit light and so cannot be seen, and in fact have not yet been directly detected in laboratories even though these particles are all around us. It's been detected only by its gravitational effects on visible stars.
Observations show that dark energy comprises about 70 percent of the universe, and dark matter comprises 25 percent. Another 4 percent is made of cold and non-glowing hydrogen and helium gas spread out across the vast reaches between stars and galaxies. The glowing hydrogen and helium gases within visible stars such as our sun constitute nearly all of the remaining one percent.
You can't make life with any of this. For life, you need the special mix of heavy atoms, especially carbon, that is found only on planets around stars—planets, that is, such as Earth. This planetary material comprises only a small fraction of one percent of the universe. We've now discovered over 150 such planets orbiting other stars than the sun. Searches for life out there have been unsuccessful so far, but thereÕs good reason to think that it exists on many planets. Most of it is expected to be simple microbes, similar to algae and bacteria. Complex life is likely to be far more rare.
So life is special, and intelligent life is far more special. And yet only such life is capable of observing this glorious universe, capable of reflecting on the fact that it is indeed alive, and capable of experiencing the joy of this incredible fact. We are the eyes, ears, and awareness of the universe, we are the universe beginning to understand itself.
Humankind is perhaps defined by its pervasive use of symbols. Science, religion, and language itself, are examples. Would you like a symbol for the significance of complex life and intelligence in the universe? Look at the back side of a dollar bill, at the pyramid with the glowing eye on top. Imagine that the lower part of the pyramid is that 99-plus percent of the universe that cannot possibly be alive. A small fraction of the remaining material is alive, and a small fraction of that fraction is intelligent. That part is the eye at the top of the pyramid. We are part of that eye.
And, just now, it is your time and my time in the light of the sun on Earth. Life is a rare gift, my friend. For any one of us, it doesnÔt last long, but it is very special in the big scheme of things. Please go thoughtfully, go reverently, as you travel this moment, this life, and this lovely planet.