Rebooted By Nothing

And so I reboot this blog after attending some conferences held by The World Science Festival. First was "Nothing: The Subtle Science of Emptiness."
Paul Davies, one of my favorite authors was one of the panelists, as well as John Barrow.
Of course, the question of "Why is there something instead of nothing?" inevitably came up. Paul Davies shared his answer which rather stuck to my mind. He said that Nothing has only one way, while Something has a lot of ways to come about. So that is why there is something!
I like the last "what if" question of the moderator, where he followed up a question from the audience about the role of consciousness in all there is. What if--he asks while gesturing an inifinitely-scaled universe where the gradient will never be resolved--everything is just a reflection of humanity's yearnings?
I came home in a blank pith of "nothing" for I had a nagging question along the way: When a person dies, does he return to nothingness? Or does he return to Infinity?
It's best, I reckoned to myself--to keep it unanswered. That'll keep me yearning.


Links:
My Flickr Photo Set of the Event

Knowing Self

I can't sleep.
Might as well blog.

More massive than previously known.
That's the latest finding about our very own Milky Way.
How much detail can we find out about our own galaxy?
There is a limit.
Why?
Because we live in it.
Can we truly know ourselves with our own efforts?
I think not.
I remember: The very act of observing changes that which is being observed.
The uncertainty is always there, no matter how much detail you gain from observing your own brain.
Do we need someone to tell us about that which we cannot truly know?
Yes? No?
Do we need to get out of the system to see things better from a "bird's eyeview"?
Yes? No?
Certainly someone from outside our galaxy can tell us more details about our Milky way.
Certainly some astronomer from Andromeda can tell us better how many arms our Milky Way has.
Who then can tell us better about our self?
Advanced beings?
God?
What is the only way for man to truly know himself? To "get out of the system", to die?
They say the universe is starting to become aware of itself.
I say the universe can never truly know itself.
Because the universe is itself.

I'm now sleepy.