Lo! A light shines in the darkness!
Lo! A light shines in the darkness!
Photons stream outwards, out into the universe: some will be absorbed, becoming part of greater things; some will interact with other things, and be the thing that we perceive as light and warmth; most will carry on, out into infinity.
Out they go, on they go, ever more distant from their sister photons: each will disappear beyond the limit of the light cone; gone forever, for this is the boundary of the universe: too far for light and energy - let alone the laggard particles of matter - and nothing comes from beyond it for there's no 'beyond', no way for information to return, no 'real', no 'known', nothing save the bounded universe that we are in.
That is physics and the truth: that which has no information and cannot be known is not real; the universe is that which *is*; all else that we put into words and claim is 'real' is angels dancing upon pins, no more than fleeting patterns of electrochemistry within a water bath of brain cells; and that which is imaginary or unknowable is not a thing at all.
Onward, outward, each photon is increasingly alone: the universe expanding equally in all directions, until everything - all light, all matter all energy, all information passes out beyond the limit of its light cone.
The photon will be utterly alone, nothing but itself and the vector of its history, out into the darkness where there is no knowledge - nothing that can interact and be a 'bit' of information - nothing that can interact and be the thing that we perceive as 'light'.
A light shone out into the darkness and the photons are alone, alone, alone in darkness in the final end of all things.
Meanwhile, we are here and there are mince pies and affection: be generous with them both, be the photons that become a part of greater things; be the light and warmth!
Remember that this matters, for most of the matter that is you will one day be a stream of photons running out into the darkness and, one day, they will be utterly and finally alone.
Most of the matter, most of the photons: but not all. Remember that: it matters.
This is a copy of my post here, on Dreamwidth, which has
comments. OpenID will allow you to comment there from your LiveJournal session: contact me if you have problems.
Photons stream outwards, out into the universe: some will be absorbed, becoming part of greater things; some will interact with other things, and be the thing that we perceive as light and warmth; most will carry on, out into infinity.
Out they go, on they go, ever more distant from their sister photons: each will disappear beyond the limit of the light cone; gone forever, for this is the boundary of the universe: too far for light and energy - let alone the laggard particles of matter - and nothing comes from beyond it for there's no 'beyond', no way for information to return, no 'real', no 'known', nothing save the bounded universe that we are in.
That is physics and the truth: that which has no information and cannot be known is not real; the universe is that which *is*; all else that we put into words and claim is 'real' is angels dancing upon pins, no more than fleeting patterns of electrochemistry within a water bath of brain cells; and that which is imaginary or unknowable is not a thing at all.
Onward, outward, each photon is increasingly alone: the universe expanding equally in all directions, until everything - all light, all matter all energy, all information passes out beyond the limit of its light cone.
The photon will be utterly alone, nothing but itself and the vector of its history, out into the darkness where there is no knowledge - nothing that can interact and be a 'bit' of information - nothing that can interact and be the thing that we perceive as 'light'.
A light shone out into the darkness and the photons are alone, alone, alone in darkness in the final end of all things.
Meanwhile, we are here and there are mince pies and affection: be generous with them both, be the photons that become a part of greater things; be the light and warmth!
Remember that this matters, for most of the matter that is you will one day be a stream of photons running out into the darkness and, one day, they will be utterly and finally alone.
Most of the matter, most of the photons: but not all. Remember that: it matters.
This is a copy of my post here, on Dreamwidth, which has
comments. OpenID will allow you to comment there from your LiveJournal session: contact me if you have problems.