Other than Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking may be the best known physicist in the world today. This is because of his notable professional accomplishments, of course, but also his popular, illustrated books on physics and the universe--and his much-publicized, extreme physical disability from Lou Gehrig's Disease. So, when he makes a public stand in the area of space exploration policy, he more likely finds recognition and an attentive audience.
Hawking believes it is important that we again make manned space travel a policy priority in the US and around the world. And in a Cosmos magazine article, "The Final Frontier," he makes all the arguments for the proven importance of expanding space exploration and renewing our commitment to manned space travel, including the always-titillating possibility of finding extra-terrestrial life. But he adds another which could be a little unnerving:
The human race has existed as a separate species for about two million years. Civilisation began about 10,000 years ago, and the rate of development has been steadily increasing. But, if the human race is to continue for another million years, we will have to boldly go where no one has gone before.
But as Hawking looks outward across the universe for greater knowledge and a better perspective of life on earth, many of his cousin quantum physicists peer into the physical world of the very smallest things, the world of subatomic particles. Colliding subatomic particles--protons, for example--fired at each other near the speed of light through miles-long "accelerators" have intrigued physicists and provided new insights and understandings about the world of quantum mechanics for many decades. And for some time now, the European nuclear research organization CERN has been about building the largest of all accelerators, the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland. And after getting past some concern that theoretically, at least, a small "black hole" could be created, the physicists of the world appear unabashedly giddy about the prospect that sometime in 2009, we may have a much better understanding of the conditions in the universe less than a second after the Big Bang, the beginning of everything as we understand it. A CNN.com article, among many others, and Wikipedia chronicle the background of the collider and the possibilities for the work that will soon be done there.
After the plain language explanations of process, purpose, and possibilities, however, I am quickly lost in the arcane scientific jargon and mathematics. Perhaps that is your experience, too. But some things, at least, seem clear to me. The more we know, and the greater the perspective we gain on the reality of the larger worlds that extend infinitely outward and the smaller world that extends indefinitely inward, the more we should feel compelled to understand and address the realities and limitations of this very small earth-world we live on. The more commonly shared these understandings, the more common ground may be found for coordinated action with the collection of nations and peoples who share this little globe with us. Together, then, standing at the crossroads of understanding the greatest and smallest things--miraculously, wonderfully evolved and reasoning creatures that we are--aren't we more likely to meet our collective responsibilities in managing our place and future together?
And more, can't we better test and assess how well our various religious, philosophical, or day-to-day experiential perspectives serve humanity and God--or the truth, purpose and potential of creation and existence, however understood? Faced with the advancing scope of these unfolding realities and implications, shouldn't there be a greater sense of humility and transcendence of place occasioned by our search for meaningful identity, and recognition of our fragile existence in this much greater scheme of things?
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/2209/full
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/09/10/lhc.collider/
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