What aspect of science interests you the most? String theory? Quantum Physics? And why?

Question

I can't stand the inane questions about "How badly do you want Jesus to spank you at the Great White Throne Judgement" anymore. Can we talk about positive things?

Answer 1

The main area of my amatuer research has been to read the articles in Discover magazine about Psychology and about Evolutionary science, I find this fascinating because I believe an explanation for much of human behavior is our caveman instincts, that how we are is hard wired so to speak.

So reading about the biology of Australopithecus for example, I find that fascinating, or about how chimpanzees act in the wild, I find that fascinating.

Someone answered my question yesterday wanting to know about if a chimpanzee ever used a tool, and there is much research that shows this happens in the wild, where they use sticks to get ants or use sticks to kill one another with.

I kinda like knowing that the human being kills one another, that this is something that we have inside us, that this isn't something like a satan tempting us or demons driveing us, but is something that is natural.

Now, in saying that its natural, that doesn't mean I think its right to kill one another.

Quite the opposite. I think the fact that we have evolved a brain means we should use it. The idea that because something occurs in nature does not mean it is right for human beings to do it.

The truth of the matter is we as a society believe killing to be wrong. We make it illegal and we prosecute this crime.

But more importantly, I think it important to understand the root causes.

In human societies where population density is high, the murder rate is high. Where density is low (all hands on deck situations) the murder rate is low.

I also believe that religion to be an invention of man, and that it was originally used for a purpose of controlling the labor of farming, and so that the land owner could have workers work and have more free time to do as the land owner wanted, and in bringing in a high priest on the deal they invented primitive religions.

Because of farming there was population density, and just as we see in the wild when chimpanzees try and wrestly control from other chimpanzees, and fights ensue, rarely going all the way to the death in those societies but they sometimes do, the law of the jungle so to speak, in high population density areas you see.

So I find that fascinating.

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It has been raised that this question does not belong in this category.

I find this offensive for a few reasons. One haven't we learned already that this category has become a group of friends. Aren't people who say this belongs in another category just sorta jealous of this friendship??

Haven't we invited everyone in?

Hell you look at my 360 theres pagans there wiccans spirtualist muslims christians,

pretty much the regulars from this category. Creationists not just evolutionists. Why do you think that is?

Cause friendship isn't about religion.

Anyhow.

The second reason this offends me is because I think science is not seperate from religion, cause I think both are unified sides of the same coin of cosmology. Essential to understanding who we are as people is not only biology and studying DNA and chimps, but also, understanding the human soul.


I thank you for reading my answer.

Answer 2

Quantum physics, because of the fact that it shows that the universe is on some level receptive to human consciousness. Interesting stuff.

Also human physiology, because the human body is such a complex place. It's almost like a city, with veins as roads, and the liver as a massive factory.

A sound knowledge of evolutionary science is also very useful, especially when you have creationists bandying around their pseudoscience.

Personally, though, I'm more of a humanities person. I'm interested in the histories of Mesopotamian and Hellenic civilisations in particular, and Presocratic philosophy.

Answer 3

Quantum Physics.

Answer 4

I've read several books on Quantum Theory, Relativity and String Theory. Currently I'm trying to work my way through "The Fabric of the Cosmos" by Brian Greene. (but like the Gumby's in Monty Python, I often find myself saying "my brain hurts") It's hard to read much of it at one sitting, and its' harder to pick it up again where you left off.

Quantum Theory, and all its inherent strangeness is interesting. Unfortunately, a lot of that terminology has been hijacked by the New Age movement, the Deepak Chopra crowd who sometimes almost make Christians look rational. (I said almost)

I find String Theory fascinating, but at the same time, it is all mathematics and thought experiments. They haven't really been able to come up with a way to test the theories, which kind of makes it non-scientific. It is more in the hypothesis stage than truly a scientific theory at this point, but scientists are sometimes just as bad with the use of "theory" as creationists are.

Answer 5

The whole process of complexity coming from simple beginnings is fascinating. Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos by M. Mitchell Waldrop highlights some interesting forays into the field, especially those being done at the Santa Fe Institute.

Answer 6

I go nuts for stuff like Bell's Theorem, and various experiments that make you question Relativity. Like that one where a beryllium cloud was saturated with photons and then hit with a pulse of laser light, which then appeared on the far side of the cloud in less time than it would have taken light to cover the same distance (ie the researchers caused light to exceed the speed of light).

The whole realm of theoretical physics just demonstrates that sometimes science is just as wacky as religion. So who needs an ancient religious tome full of mysterious supernatural phenomena, when my sophomore physics textbook can achieve the same level of intellectual constipation?

Answer 7

The M theory, the latest version of string theory.

We may be part of a HUGE membrane along with many, many others.

Also the size of the universe and the vast void where there is no universe.

What's a trillion light years away from here ? 2 trillion? a million trillion ?

Answer 8

Cosmology at one end of the scale, and quantum physics at the other, but they overlap and tie in.
A favourite but now dated book "The Cartoon History of Time" Charlesworth/Gribbin
I also have and have enjoyed Werner Heisenberg's "Physics and Philosophy".

Latest conundrum: dissecting out the real implications of quantum entanglement from new-age aficionados using it to claim "See! Everything IS connected, we are all one!"

And why is this part of religion and spirituality?
Because I believe I should believe in what is, not what isn't.

Answer 9

I'm not smart enough for quantum physics or string theory, although I like to follow them as a bystander.

My field is computers, but I'm doing grad work in environmental/civil engineering.

Answer 10

Spankings aren't "positive"? Hmmm...

Any scientific issue is fascinating to me, from Chaos to Quantum Physics, to the new studies of the mind that are being bobbled back and forth across the science/religion "net". I'm a huge fan of B. Alan Wallace for this very reason. I enjoy studying anything I can get my hands on.

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