I’m not sure why, but I’ve been wanting to have some very basic understanding of string theory, even though I realize I cannot possibly grasp more than the very simplest of its concept. It’s just one of those things that I’ve been noticing comes up now and then. So when PBS had a special on the other night, This Elegant Universe, I eagerly settled in to watch, knowing that visuals can help clarify or illuminate what gets bogged down in verbalized or textbook explanation that’s clearly over my head. Unfortunately, I missed quite a bit of the show because once again my sleep patterns are sadly out of their mosaical format and I have little control over when I’m going to zonk out or blink alert in the middle of the night.
One of the amazing things to me is not just a new concept, but the thought process behind it and more, the proving or disproving of its validity. And too, the reason for the passion of the scientific mind is intrigueing as well since it often comes from the oddest of seeds.
For many years I was fascinated by the idea of psychic abilities, and in my usual manner, read more with the idea of changing my skepticism. In attempting to come up with some rationalization other than a pure belief or disbelief, I hooked onto the idea of light and sound traveling in waves. It didn’t seem too far a leap, knowing about the electrical impulses of the brain, to imagine learning how to "read" these possible emissions in each other. So, while it had some feasibility perhaps in telepathy, it still doesn’t measure up in ways of knowing the past (although string theory may in some way figure into the space/time elements) and certainly, would have no grounds in revealing any sort of ability to know the future.
The problem with the unscientific manner of knowing our world is that you really, no matter how much you trust or love a person, will ever trust his experience without a bit, and usually a whole lot, of doubt. You have to experience it yourself, and even then, without some background of possible explanation, you may not even fully accept your own thinking. So I think that even a little bit of knowledge is not always dangerous, but helpful and especially so in opening up the mind to possibilities beyond.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology