Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Symmetry and Archetypes: Its a Small Universe !

Carl Sagan said that "there's something terribly beautiful, austere, glorious, majestic about the fact that the same laws apply everywhere". This is called Symmetry - a property of our universe where the laws of nature are the same in all parts of the cosmos (except inside the singularity, perhaps).
This post mainly shows the connection between the laws of nature and universal concepts. The Laws of Nature include the laws of physics, atomic laws, chemical laws, and so on. And the universal concepts are the archetypes.
Cosmic Laws and Universal Concepts are linked via Emergence. Let us follow the chain of emergence: The laws that govern the most basic elementary 'particles' give way to the behavior of atoms which follow atomic laws, producing molecules that follow chemical laws, which made possible the emergence of biological life, animals and ecosystems, which supported the evolution of conscious beings - able to perceive and ponder itself via concepts and paradigms. These concepts and archetypes are very similar to Plato's Forms, and they will be perceived by any intelligent and sentient being in another part of the universe, by way of symmetry.
There will be a difference in language, of course, but nevertheless, these Archetypes or Platonic "Forms" will be understood, in one way or another. Like Mathematics, there will be a common ground between us and sentient beings that live thousands of light-years away in another galaxy. If its just distance that separates us from extra-terrestrials, but they are only a "thought" away, then it means that Symmetry makes the universe seem smaller. Its a small world universe after all. :)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Symmetry equals beauty. It is so important to me that I have chosen to paint mathematical symmetries on canvas. When I look at the final product I am relaxed and calm. Symmetry is power.