Guest blog today courtesy of Molly Hoolahan
In a speech to dozens of acclaimed physicists, Brian Cox explains the exclusion principal, noting that every atom in the entire universe must sit in a precisely different energy level. When you heat a simple diamond (for example) some of the electrons begin to shift to different energy levels.
This is where things get strange. In order to respect the physical properties of the exclusion principal, this means that when one diamond (or any other object for that matter) experiences a shift in energy levels of electrons (for example, by being heated), every single electron surrounding every single atom in the entire universe, must also change its energy level.
Why is this important? At the very fundamental, atomic level of existence, everything is connected to everything.
One of Einstein’s most profound discoveries in the nature of reality is highlighted in his discovery of a phenomenon that he referred to as Spooky Action at a Distance, what we now know as Quantum Entanglement. According to this principal, once two atoms have physically collided, they remain forever interconnected—no matter how far a part in space and time they may later exist after being carefully separated. In the simplest terms possible, each atom then develops properties that reflect the behavior of the other atom.
If you put Einstein’s discovery in to perspective of the Big Bang, when all matter in the entire universe was condensed in to one single atom before it exploded infinitely across space and time—you can begin to see that everyone or everything (literally) is therefore electromagnetically interconnected. After all, what are we but a collection of clever cells in big communion?
Along these lines, it is no surprise that manmade structures (both concrete and abstract) resemble basic patterns of nature. Examine closely, and notice how information sharing systems that comprise the internet resemble simulations of antimatter in deep space. Or how cars traveling along interstates resemble neurons traveling across synapses of the brain. How streets and alleyways comprising the typography of our cities mirror veins and capillaries comprising the biology of our physical anatomies.
In order to understand this notion of interconnectivity, we must also understand the patterns on and connections that make our universe—and more importantly our individual and collective realities—possible. In exploring these patterns we can begin to see that everything is a part of one ultimate phenomenon, one whole; and we cannot understand the parts until we acknowledge this whole.
Along these lines, the most important element in a field of research is not merely what that study indicates about the topic alone (for example, linguistics for the sake of linguistics), but rather how the patterns that we perceive across the given topic or study are intertwined and connected to other scales of reality.
In this sense, linguistics does not merely describe a system of sounds and syllables. It examines how our species has evolved a systematic process by which humans can outsource their cognition, bringing their internal realities in to the external world. It allows for a mental connection between people, or a taking a part of me, and placing it inside of you—expanding our spheres of communication and interconnectivity.
Ultimately, reality is a matrix of the mind, and language helps us to make that reality more concrete, solidifying it in to form. Language; therefore, can be used to reconcile our differences (politically, ideologically etc), and to communicate ideas for change and solution. The answer to the question is therefore yes, the study of linguistics is justified.
Lastly, it should be noted that there is a fundamental importance in finding solutions to problems that we have created and fell victim to in this world. However, on the opposite side of the spectrum, there is also an inherent passion to explore the mysteries of the existence with which we are a part. Neither of these explorations of solutions or answers should be neglected for the sake of the other. Rather, each investigation should be continued for the sake of the other, and for the sake of the whole.