The Big questions in Science:

[beecee]

Just found a list....

• 1 What is the universe made of? ...
• 2 How did life begin? ...
• 3 Are we alone in the universe? ...
• 4 What makes us human? ...
• 5 What is consciousness? ...
• 6 Why do we dream..
• 7 Why is there stuff? ...
• 8 Are there other universes?

My attempts to answer them.

[1] The elements, [Baryonic matter] Dark matter, dark energy, space and time. [DM and DE are place mats for we don't know and make up around 95% of what is there]

[2] There is really only one scientific answer to that....Abiogenesis, although we do lack the detail.

[3]Most probably not, although as yet we do not have any validated evidence of any life off the Earth.

[4]Biological evolution.

[5]Awareness of existence.

[6]The brain being in an active mode?

[7] Uncertainty principal? evolution of space and time, and false vacuums and phase transitions?

[8]We don't know.

What do others reckon about my answers? Any errors, alterations or corrections? Some I'm confident with, others not so much.

 

Edited August 25, 2021 by beecee

[CharonY]

!

Moderator Note

Does not seem like it is news and seems more conducive to a discussion in the Lobby section.

 

[beecee]

43 minutes ago, CharonY said:

!

Moderator Note

Does not seem like it is news and seems more conducive to a discussion in the Lobby section.

 

Apologies.

Edited August 25, 2021 by beecee

[Intoscience]

I pretty much share the same understanding as your answers so can't really add anything to them.

Each one however could be subject to many lengthy discussions, ideas and hypothesis outside of the mainstream view. Some more philosophical in nature, others more scientific. 

I personally have my favourite questions which I'd really like to see answered, with some certainty, within my own lifetime. Q3, Are we alone?  being my favourite of the bunch. 

I have heard mentioned, regarding Q7 Why is there stuff? That the reason there's stuff is because "nothing" is unstable.  

 

Edited August 25, 2021 by Intoscience

[beecee]

1 hour ago, Intoscience said:

I pretty much share the same understanding as your answers so can't really add anything to them.

Each one however could be subject to many lengthy discussions, ideas and hypothesis outside of the mainstream view. Some more philosophical in nature, others more scientific. 

Yep, of course.

1 hour ago, Intoscience said:

I personally have my favourite questions which I'd really like to see answered, with some certainty, within my own lifetime. Q3, Are we alone?  being my favourite of the bunch. 

Bingo! While I accept that we have no good evidence of any life existing off the earth, I'm pretty confident that it does...a near infinte universe in extent and content, along with the stuff of life being everywhere we look, nearly guarantees that.

[Intoscience]

Yeah, I'm of a stance that life is likely to be abundant throughout the universe, though technological capable intelligence to be rare. The problems with distance and time increases the likelihood that communication between any interstellar species is going to be extremely difficult if not near on impossible. 

So the combination of rare intelligence along with distance and time means that even if we are not alone then we just might as well be anyway. 

So for me, advancements in scientific knowledge, especially around the fundamental laws & QM, that might improve the odds is exciting to learn. 

[TheVat]

While I could play with the Drake equation all day, regarding the incidence of tech civilizations, my gut tells me that the intersection of intelligence, manipulating appendages, metal-rich planetary crust where the metals are accessible to fledgling techies, a planetary chemistry and atmosphere that allows combustion to occur and be controlled, varying weather conditions (e.g. seasons) that stimulate inventiveness and proficiency in fabrication, food consumption that is amenable to agriculture (so not everyone has to expend a lot of energy on just getting fed)....the intersection of all those might be pretty rare. 

But we don't have to find techie civilizations in order to not be alone.  We could maybe develop some practical method of interstellar travel and go to planets where we learn to communicate with intelligent jellyfish-whales or tentacled creatures that communicate in a chromo-language, and have fascinating insights into life, the universe, and everything. 

My guess is that this question of other life, and the nature of abiogenesis, might be the two easiest to answer.  But I can't rule out that consciousness is also easy to explain and I'm just not taking the right drugs...

[beecee]

11 hours ago, Intoscience said:

 The problems with distance and time increases the likelihood that communication between any interstellar species is going to be extremely difficult if not near on impossible. 

So the combination of rare intelligence along with distance and time means that even if we are not alone then we just might as well be anyway. 

Time and distance, the two great barriers to interstellar/galactic contact.

11 hours ago, Intoscience said:

So for me, advancements in scientific knowledge, especially around the fundamental laws & QM, that might improve the odds is exciting to learn. 

I often find myself wondering about how things were technologically speaking, when I was a kid, to how things are now. How powerful and wonderful is the Internet!

How things might be when our grandkids are our age, leads to even greater wonderment.

[Intoscience]

Yeah there has definitely been an explosion of technological advancement, especially since the evolution of computers etc... I wonder how far can this go and will it slow down eventually due to limits of what is possible?