Kalyee Srithnam on The Beauty Of The Universe — And How It Fits Together
There is a majestic beauty to the Universe. It’s amazing to think about how it all fits together, and the order that exists in it. People may find it difficult to see the beauty in something as large and complex as the Universe, but when you take the time to look closely, it’s hard not to be amazed.
One of the things that makes the Universe so beautiful is its vastness. Looking into the night sky, one can see an immense tapestry of beauty and order. The stars seem to be arranged in a certain way for a certain purpose, and their soft light creates a sense of peace and wonder.
With just a small telescope, we can see that the Universe is filled with billions of galaxies, each containing hundreds of billions of stars. Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, contains about 400 billion stars.
Children of the Stars
Scientists have been able to measure the distances to many stars and galaxies and have even begun to map the shape and structure of the Universe. They have found that it is expanding uniformly in all directions, and they have determined that it is finite in size. Still, as Joel R. Primack, one of the creators of the theory of cold dark matter, tells us, what astronomers can see — everything, including all the stars, planets and clouds of luminous gas in our galaxy and in all distant galaxies — is less than half of 1% of the contents of our Universe.
It’s mind-boggling to think about all the stars and planets out there, and how many have yet to be discovered. We’ve moved forward 13.8 billion years, and a Universe of billions of galaxies, and trillions of stars and planets is anything but simple. Yet despite its size, the Universe seems to be perfectly ordered. Everything fits together in a way that is both surprising and mysterious.
Rather than being stunned by the Universe, I think one of the most profound experiences a scientist can have — almost approaching a religious awakening — is the realization that we are children of the stars and that our minds can understand the Universal laws to which we are subject.
Stars, planets, galaxies, and even the energy that makes them move: we’re not just trying to make room, we’re trying to do everything in the Universe. In our rules, there is only space, in the sense that everything in our Universe must be “made of space.”
Science Can Unite the Human Race
Breakthroughs in modern science provide new foundations for people to unite; the more we learn about science and its understanding of the Universe, the more clearly we will recognize how each component of the Universe relates to each other and to our inner being. Such is the beauty of “mathematics” written in capital letters; an ongoing dialogue with the Universe reveals more than we expected. I’m referring to reality in the complete scientific picture of our double dark Universe, Earth, our biology, and our moment in history. We cannot otherwise fully understand ourselves.
Today, astronomers around the world accept the double dark theory of the Universe, and there are at least two potentially testable theories that plausibly claim that the Universe — and therefore Time — existed long before the Big Bang. In the early Universe, a sort of cosmic condensing agent or coagulant helped melt the diffuse gas released by the Big Bang into the massive clouds that formed galaxies, stars, planets and, ultimately, us.
On at least one planet, a life form has emerged that can understand both the complexity of our Universe and the mysteries of its simple origins. Of course, if you’re thinking about modeling the entire Universe and everything in it, then this is ultimately an unreasonable way of thinking. Because an “observer” is inevitably part of the Universe, and therefore must be modeled in the same way as everything in it. For observers like us, it’s natural to just say, “In our Universe, one set of things happens, then another, and so on.”
Or, to put it another way, it’s the same hypergraph that gives us the fabric of space and everything in the Universe. In our fundamental system, everything in the Universe — space, matter, whatever — must be represented by the characteristics of our evolving hypergraph.
In recent years, scientists have been able to simulate the evolution of the entire Universe, from the Big Bang to the expansion and cooling of space-time. In fact, the history of physics is a marvel of complex laws that use simple principles to build a remarkably simple Universe. This has given us a much better understanding of how the Universe works, and it’s always interesting to see how everything is interconnected.
I also saw, and it seemed very clear to me, that this energy is an intellectual energy; that is, that the physical phenomena of the Universe are intellectually interconnected. However, no physicist I know would say that to understand the laws of nature, thinking is enough.
A Universe in Motion
If you look far enough in any direction, you will see a galaxy or star cluster; and all these distant objects are moving, ever so slowly, away from us. For example, recent studies have shown that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating due to dark energy, something that was not even known about until the late 1990s.The Universe is both vast and intricate, and it is a privilege to be alive and able to appreciate its beauty. It’s amazing to think about all the different phenomena in the cosmos, from supermassive black holes that gobble up stars to baby galaxies that formed in the early Universe. And it’s wonderful to know that we have the power to understand these things; science is constantly discovering new secrets about our world and the Universe around us. Every day, we learn something new about how things work, and this increases our sense of wonder.
The expansion of the Universe is just one example of how the cosmos fits together in an astonishingly beautiful way. Scientists have found that the laws of physics are the same everywhere in the Universe, wherever you look. This means that the behavior of particles and forces is governed by the same set of rules, no matter where you are. It is as if the Universe were one giant puzzle in which all the pieces fit together exactly. The more we learn about the Universe, the more it seems that everything is interconnected.
While scientists have discovered that different aspects of the cosmos are governed by different fundamental principles — the physical laws that apply to stars and galaxies do not apply to atoms and molecules, and the laws of motion and energy differ from the laws of gravity —nevertheless, despite these differences, everything still follows the same basic rules.
Order In Chaos
All of this is to say that the Universe is orderly, despite our seemingly chaotic lives. There is a certain wonder in thinking about the way things fit together, from the largest structures in the cosmos down to the subatomic particles that make up everything. This is one of the most amazing things about the Universe — its internal coherence. The laws of physics are like a “golden thread” that runs through it, connecting its parts. This is what makes science possible; by understanding the laws that govern the natural world, we can draw conclusions and predict its behavior.
The order and beauty of the Universe never ceases to amaze me. It’s a wonderful feeling to know that we live in a place where the rules are so precise and consistent, and that everything fits together in such an amazing way. To understand the Universe at this level inspires a sense of wonder and awe, and I never tire of exploring it.
Thank you, Universe, for being so amazing!
What do you think? Let us know, in the comments below! Until next time….
Xoxo,
Kalyee
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Kalyee Srithnam is a 24-year-old writer, columnist, sometime-model and erudite chocolate fiend, who loves unicorns and writing content that helps people feel seen. Her column appears each Monday and Thursday.
Image model: Kalyee Srithnam
