Geeking Out Again

More from that "Big Bang Acoustics" slide show linked below. Here he's talking about the CMB, the Cosmic Microwave Background. The CMB is the light that's coming at us from the beginning of the universe.

Although our eyes can't see them, there are as many microwave photons falling from the sky as there are photons of light falling from a full moon. With microwave-sensitive eyes, at night we could see our surroundings and shadows cast by the light of creation.

As you look further away into the depths of the universe, with more powerful telescopes, eventually you would see nothing but the bright light of the beginning of the universe. You would see this no matter what direction you looked, because the universe expands in all directions. Everything is getting further away from everything else. I know, it's weird and kinda tricky to visualize. My favourite trick is this: imagine a polka-dot balloon. As you inflate the balloon, all the dots move away from each other. Same deal with the universe.

Everything Was Light, Once
...including you and me.

Reading a wicked presentation on the sounds that were present in the early universe, came across this mind blowing statement:

Go to a time 100,000 years after the Big Bang ... imagine a sky with not just one noon-day sun, but fully convered in suns ... everywhere shines with the Sun's brilliance.

Awesome, no?

I mean, the Big Bang theory is common knowledge, but the *implications* are seldom considered, or even comprehensible. Everything that exists, used to be One. There's an argument to be made that everything still is One (a reasonably straightforward, scientifically rigorous argument). We are not from (ie, separate from) the universe, we are an inextricable part of it. We are just a temporary reconfiguration, soon to return to the Great Cosmic Lego Box. I am not sure why we so often feel so separate from it, though. Maybe that's just one of the many annoying features of being a conscious being.

I seem to have drifted off-message. A sky fully covered in Suns! Neat-O!

Damage Control

Ok, so my blogging has reached an all-new low. Apologies to those of you who are in fact checking this page for something interesting.

Here's a looong, interesting conversation about the Singularity that I've been reading. I love the Singularity, and I hope it comes soon. This world needs a good, swift kick.

I have also been reading The Psychedelic Experience, which is the Tibetan Book of the Dead remixed by Timothy Leary. The TBotD is a book about dying, but also living, and rebirth, and how to do all of these things as well as possible. Leary uses it as a guide to, you guessed it, psychedelic trips. It seems to translate well to that use, based on my limited experience (with all of the above). It's a dense read, and may require several suspensions of disbelief, depending on your particular beliefs. (btw, I am not too proud to admit that I had no idea what esoteric and exoteric meant. Type "define: esoteric" in your Google search bar to find out, if you're in the same boat.)