Recently a reader, having read my post about why the speed of light seems so fast, sent me two questions that highlight important cosmic issues.
- Is there in fact anything within physics as it’s presently understood that indeed prevents […] there existing something other than atoms as some basic “unit”?
- I’ve long wondered why it is that despite the seeming brilliance of humans at building such complex understanding, we are still pushing at such limits as the time it would take to fly a space ship to another galaxy. Is it really true that nothing could ever exceed ‘c’ and thus we are indeed doomed to take lifetimes to travel beyond our solar system? Or is it because we have not yet discovered something much more fundamental about the universe, such as an ‘alternative to’ the atom?
These deep questions are examples of an even broader pair of questions about reality.
- Which aspects of the cosmos are contingent?—in that one could easily imagine a similar universe in which these details are thoroughly altered.
- Which aspects of the cosmos appear rock solid?—in that they are so deeply integrated into the universe that it is difficult to imagine changing them without ruining everything.
