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| Stephon Alexander Dartmouth University |
Spergel's primary interests are the search for planets around other stars, dark matter, how galaxies form and the shape of the universe. Two of his papers are the most referred to in all of physics and space science, an indicator of how important and useful his work is to other scientists. He and Stephon have co-authored a paper which should be published soon.
Stephon, who got his Ph.D. from Brown University, received tenure at Harverford College, and is now going to Dartmouth University, has won the National Science Foundation Career Award, and was elected a National Geographic Emerging Explorer.
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| Will Calhoun |
Stephon has been in the popular Discovery channel series, "Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman.", appearing in the third season episode entitled "Is the Universe Alive?". This series examines controversial topics in science through the work of top contemporary scientists. Other topics were "What Makes Us Who We Are?", "What is Nothing?", "Did We Invent God?", "Are We alone?", "Is There an Edge to the Universe?", etc. The times given below are for the youTube video of "Is The Universe Alive?".
Another leading scientist in this "Is the Universe Alive?" episode included Lee Smolin of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Canada, who Stephon considers his mentor. Smolin is focused now most heavily on theoretical biology, quantum mechanics and cosmology.
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| Lee Smolin Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics |
Smolin's segment (16:35 to 24:00) focused on the concept of "cosmological natural selection", the "biological evolution" of the universe. His work is investigating the possibility that the universe evolved "Darwinianly" by natural selection to what it is now. Smolin's work shows that black holes, regions of such massive gravity that not even light can escape (hence the name) are responsible for creating new universes from what is at the "bottom" of the black hole.
These universes have varying physical laws, some of which survive and others which don't depending on whether those laws are "successful" as a template for a universe in that environment. As universes age, they evolve or die out, depending on whether they are evolutionarily successful. It follows in Smolin's work that the most successful universes will be those reproduce most successfully, i.e. those that create the most black holes, as they will be the ones who produce the most subsequent universes. Smolin's theory goes on to say that our universe, arising from the interactions of carbon and oxygen and the creation of carbon monoxide, had a set of physical laws that was suited for carbon-based lifeforms.
Another leading scientist in the episode was Geoffrey West of the Santa Fe Institute, where he is a distinguished professor and former president. Geoffrey's specialty, featured in "Is the Universe Alive?", is the scientific modelling of cities and the metabolic theory of ecology.
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| Geoffrey West Santa Fe Institute |
Geoffrey's segment (5:15 to 9:58) deals with whether our cities are living entities. His work shows that how many heart beats are required per period of time can be calculated if one knows the size of the entity. A whale's heart beats once every seven seconds while a mouse's beats 600 beats per minute.
Geoffrey's contention is that a large city's heart beats twice/day, in the morning and evening. He compares the buildings of the city to the heart, and the highways to its arteries. His calculation based on the size of Los Angeles, perhaps surprisingly, gives the 2X/day number.
Stephon's segment (9:58 to 16:35) focused on the "Big Bounce" model of the universe, contrasted to the more popular "Big Bang" model. The Big Bounce model fits well with Smolin's work as it is a cyclic or oscillatory model of creation of universes. If universes rebound/bounce after they reach a certain degree of collapse, they can emerge after each bounce with different physical constants and laws, which would allow for different evolutionary survival characteristics to emerge, some successful, some "not so much".
What does "alive" mean? Turns out it's not so simple as it depends on which language you are using and which culture you are in. However, a common answer is that it
a) reproduces,
b) grows and
c) responds to its environment.
Given what we have discussed above, it is clear from Smolin's and Alexander's work, if they are correct, that the Universe clearly reproduces as it creates new universes from/with its black holes. Stephon Alexander's work with the "Big Bounce" model makes it possible for individual universes to not only reproduce, but generate new copies with modified characteristics subject to evolutionary selection. After the "Big Bounces" occur, there is certainly growth and expansion until the next cycle of gravitational contraction and a subsequent bounce. Geoffrey West's work reinforces this w/his work showing that since cities are "alive", the universe would be alive as well, beating with a heart rate of the contraction/expansion/contraction of the Big Bounce. The conclusion would be that, yes, the universe is alive.
The next segment of the video (24:30 to 31:00) moves into "does the universe think?" to give another twist on whether it is alive or not. The scientist here is Seth Lloyd of MIT, a quantum computer expert, whose book "Programming The Universe" argues that the universe is one big quantum computer producing what we see around us and ourselves as it runs a cosmic program.
Lloyd maintains that our brain is capable of performing 10 to the 16th power, or 10 million billion computations per second. He also calculates that the universe would be capable of 10 to the 106th power computations/second. (No, i'm not able to do the calculation.) The argument goes, that if the Universe is processing that much information, it must be "thinking". Lloyd says the Universe is "more than alive" and that "the Universe is impossibly smarter, and capable of more complex behavior and functions than we can ever imagine, or likely comprehend... The Universe could be the ultimate intelligent organism."
The final segment (37:00 - ) is from Robert Lanza, the contemporary driver behind "biocentrism", the "new/old" idea that the Universe, and everything in it, is a product of our own consciousness. The Universe is alive, but it is an active process involving our consciousness. It is all in the mind of the observer. Lanza draws his arguments from quantum mechanics, and the work of Heisenberg and many others. It is a restatement of the classical view of nonduality.
As Ramana Maharshi said:
If...you withdraw your mind completely from the world and turn it within and abide there, that is, if you keep awake always to the Self which is the substratum of all experiences, you will find the world of which you are now aware is just as unreal as the world in which you lived your dream.
Geoffrey's contention is that a large city's heart beats twice/day, in the morning and evening. He compares the buildings of the city to the heart, and the highways to its arteries. His calculation based on the size of Los Angeles, perhaps surprisingly, gives the 2X/day number.
Stephon's segment (9:58 to 16:35) focused on the "Big Bounce" model of the universe, contrasted to the more popular "Big Bang" model. The Big Bounce model fits well with Smolin's work as it is a cyclic or oscillatory model of creation of universes. If universes rebound/bounce after they reach a certain degree of collapse, they can emerge after each bounce with different physical constants and laws, which would allow for different evolutionary survival characteristics to emerge, some successful, some "not so much".
What does "alive" mean? Turns out it's not so simple as it depends on which language you are using and which culture you are in. However, a common answer is that it
a) reproduces,
b) grows and
c) responds to its environment.
Given what we have discussed above, it is clear from Smolin's and Alexander's work, if they are correct, that the Universe clearly reproduces as it creates new universes from/with its black holes. Stephon Alexander's work with the "Big Bounce" model makes it possible for individual universes to not only reproduce, but generate new copies with modified characteristics subject to evolutionary selection. After the "Big Bounces" occur, there is certainly growth and expansion until the next cycle of gravitational contraction and a subsequent bounce. Geoffrey West's work reinforces this w/his work showing that since cities are "alive", the universe would be alive as well, beating with a heart rate of the contraction/expansion/contraction of the Big Bounce. The conclusion would be that, yes, the universe is alive.
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| Seth Lloyd MIT |
Lloyd maintains that our brain is capable of performing 10 to the 16th power, or 10 million billion computations per second. He also calculates that the universe would be capable of 10 to the 106th power computations/second. (No, i'm not able to do the calculation.) The argument goes, that if the Universe is processing that much information, it must be "thinking". Lloyd says the Universe is "more than alive" and that "the Universe is impossibly smarter, and capable of more complex behavior and functions than we can ever imagine, or likely comprehend... The Universe could be the ultimate intelligent organism."
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| Ramana Maharshi |
As Ramana Maharshi said:
If...you withdraw your mind completely from the world and turn it within and abide there, that is, if you keep awake always to the Self which is the substratum of all experiences, you will find the world of which you are now aware is just as unreal as the world in which you lived your dream.
I know I'm not the only one to look at recent depictions of the dark matter filament network and think, "ah, big neurons!"
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