Amanda,

I like learning about the nature and history of the universe because I see this universe in ourselves everyday. We aren't just casually involved. We are a product, prehaps one of the more important products, of this amazing process, and in that, we embody it. Looking at theories of the beginning of the universe and its current state is like looking deeply into ourselves, for the same laws that govern the galaxies govern our own neurochemistry. In being a student of human nature, I have to also be a student of the nature of the universe, for the Big Bang and the laws and patterns that continue to guide it led to the complex self-aware situation that is the human being. I have to learn and know about these laws because it enhances my understanding of, and confirms my suspicion of, patterns in human behavior and psychology. I like to see how my need for chocolate cake (or for social assimilation) mimics an atom's need for an extra electron (or for the company of another atom.) Since our needs and our thoughts boil down to processes in our biochemistry, I don't see how we can understand ourselves deeply without looking into the nature of the elements and forces that make up and govern the universe of which we were born.

Maya Lessov
Vancouver

On Mon, 3 Apr 2000, Duncan, Amanda wrote:
> Hi, everybody.
>
> After Friday night's lecture, I'd like to hear people's ideas about why
> knowledge of the Big Bang is important to them. Thinking about the great
> distance and time scales that are involved in the story of the history of
> the universe makes many people feel small and insignificant. I find that
> it adds to my sense of significance to realize that we are part of this
> grand process that extends so far beyond ourselves. Knowledge of the
> history of the universe connects us to things almost unimaginably far away
> and long ago. The part of space that we occupy now was once close to
> everything else in the universe. We can see into the distant past by
> looking at far away objects today. How strange and wonderful!
>
> What do other people think?
>