|
|
The Lepton
The birth of everything was spectacular. Space, time and energy suddenly burst from nothing and within a second, elementary particles spread like balls on a pool table after the blow of a stick.
One, an electron, immediately started interacting with its 1080 elementary particle cousins. Pushing and pulling, they were matter in motion and every move they made was governed by laws of physics. Thus every configuration they would ever form had already been determined by the strength and direction of the initial blow, for this was an orderly universe which could be described with mathematics and simulated in computers.
The configurations which the electron participated in were numerous. First, it became part of hydrogen. Some time later it became part of a star and when the star died, producing heavier atoms in the process, the electron became part of carbon.
Presently, the electron was part of a protein in a man’s brain, a college professor in theoretical physics. The protein moved from one brain cell to another, immediately changing form at its destination due to biochemical reactions governed by the laws of physics.
This particular movement contributed to changing the pressure in the immediate surrounding ever so slightly, moving the tongue which shaped particles in the air into waves pushing billions of other particles into configurations that finally hit particles in the students’ ears, in turn triggering changes in the configuration of their brains as ions, chemicals and proteins moved between brain cells. All according to the laws of physics.
“Thus, science can explain everything.”
It had taken the universe 13.85 billion years to reach this specific configuration. But like balls on a pool table, the configuration of the universe at this point could have been no other because none of the particles had ever violated the laws of physics. For the same reason, all future configurations would be equally determined by the configuration immediately preceding them.
“In an orderly universe acting according to laws of physics which can never be violated, matter in motion can be mathematically described and simulated in computers. Thus, science can explain everything.”
The electron which had just been part of this conclusion was already interacting with other particles in its vicinity according to the laws of physics, destined for other purposeless physical processes. For surely 1080 elementary particles acting solely according to the laws of physics have no purpose.
2014 © PC Haaland
|
