Dark Matter

This week on Hardtalk Extra, Gavin Esler interviewed Michio Kaku, a string theorist who discussed the theory of the Multiverse and how our present universe is expanding too rapidly and will one day freeze over. No worries, there is a chance that we could make our escape through a wormhole into a baby universe if we could just figure how to get through a black hole without being reduced to a singularity.

As it turns out, there are likely universes which share our time and space but which occupy other facets of the 11 dimensions (of which I'm only aware of 4) and this could explain the origin of the dark matter which accounts for about 90% of the gravitation in the universe.

In an effort to explain how the human race needs to pull up its sock to achieve this feet, Kaku described 3 categories of advanced intelligence

1. those with planetary control - ie control over their own planet's power system: waves, wind, geothermal, etc.
2. those with stellar mastery ie can somehow capture or manipulate the power of stars
3. those with galactic mastery... well you can see were we're going with this. Picture something from The Spacing Guild, Dune.

The human race doesn't even rate and is presently category zero. Now clearly if we're going to make our escape from this universe a few billion years down the road when it starts getting frosty, we're going to have to make some advancements.

It was at this point I figured ol' Michio was smoking something pretty good. Humans survive a billion years?! Are you kidding?

But he did go on to point out that it's possible the reason that SETI has not heard from ET, even though we're pretty sure there must be SOME intelligence out there, is perhaps because so many end up blowing themselves up or destroying their environment... as this may a likely risk of the genetics that comes with surviving the harsh complexities of evolution.

Kaku acknowledged that getting through the next billion years will be pretty difficult if we don't get through the next 100 years... a period he believes is critical because at present there are (I paraphrase) "Strong forces trying to take us into the future opposed by others that would have us regress by a thousand years." I read this as a criticism of religious extremists everywhere (including certain Muslim fanatics and President Bush) but then I would. It could have equally meant that we might still blow ourselves back into the dark ages.

Kaku touched on the religious implications of the universe coming to an end and the existence of the multiverse. Apparently some people think life might not be worth living if we're all going to die in a billion years... that it somehow disproves the existence of God. Huh? News flash: we all ARE going to die. Why should the end of the species have more religious significance than a single life? Anyway what about the revelations?

As for the multiverse, apparently some people want to know whether that implies there's more than one Jesus Christ. [ expletives have been deleted here ] The lack of imagination about our "anthropomorphic god" is mind boggling. Anyone who is worried that the multiverse might somehow affect the Pope's dominion over lost souls (or is that Satin's job?) is NOT invited when we make the jump to the next dimension! You can stay and watch hell freeze over.

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Labels: science