Why? – the toughest question both for us and the universe
What do you think when you see the term “universe” in a website name? It only deals with astronomy or space, right? Wrong.
This site addresses things here on earth as well as in the universe. Earthly matters actually dominate the site. They are the closest and most meaningful things to us in our present environment.
But we ultimately have to place ourselves in a universal perspective.
As a species, we’ve learned a great deal about ourselves and the universe. But a great deal of ignorance still exists among us, even among those who think or believe they are knowledgeable and educated.
People have misperceptions or misunderstandings. These range from concepts of the whole universe to our small part of it here on earth. What people think they know can be wrong.
A 2014 National Science Foundation (NSF) survey illustrates this combination of ignorance, misperception, or misunderstanding. This survey revealed that about 1 in 4 Americans thought that the sun goes around the earth. This false belief was supposedly put to bed in the 1500s by Copernicus.
Why do some people still hold to it?
Because that’s the way it appears to the ignorant and uneducated who don’t understand the overall picture?
If you think that’s an unusual or obscure belief, consider one that’s more down to earth. Almost half the US population believes that antibiotics kill both bacteria and viruses. Antibiotics kill bacteria, not viruses – and now not all bacteria.
Maybe not everything is really the way it appears to current human perceptions and beliefs?
Past scientists mistakenly claimed that rocks didn’t fall from the sky. It would be nice to think that all scientists, philosophers, and other supposedly learned people had moved beyond false or limited beliefs and knowledge. But some haven’t.
We humans may have a fair understanding of the “classical” universe. Classical or Newtonian physics was good enough to explain the basic world in the past. But that leaves a lot of room for some very interesting phenomena or events to be discovered.
There are mysteries – things we don’t understand. Studying them is where major breakthroughs in knowledge and understanding are more likely to come.
Why do we have the perceptions and beliefs we do?
At least a few reasons.
1 – We see something and believe what our senses register is correct. This involves both perception and memory. More on this later.
2 – The media or other sources present distorted or biased information.
3 – Our pre-existing individual biases and experiences cause our brains to modify our memory of an event over time to match what we want to believe.
4 – and more
So why this site?
– To raise and discuss issues you won’t necessarily see or hear on the standard news or other media.
– To grow the public’s knowledge, understanding, and truth by stimulating controversy and maybe having some fun along the way.
– To try to bring people together in a common basic understanding of ourselves and the universe.