Fascination

      I've decided to give a bit of a follow up to last week's post, though with any luck it will be less rubbish. When I start going on about quantum physics (which, though often, is not as often as I would like) people often ask me why anyone would care. Or they look at me blankly. Or start throwing things at me, yelling "We don't give a damn, you horrible person! How did you even get into this funeral?". But let's focus on the first response, where they can't see why I would care. This is a question I also get asked when talking about maths, philosophy or whatever else I happen to be boring people with. But the thing is that not only do I care about what I'm talking about, I can't not care. Questions about reality gnaw away at me. I sometimes can't sleep because I'm wondering what the nature of consciousness is. And it's not just a desire to learn, though that obviously comes into it, it's also a need to understand that which can't be understood. We are in a universe where we understand how planets are formed, how the weather works and how we evolved, but we still fail to understand some of the oldest questions about the universe. I can give a basic introduction to quantum physics and then you can go to a lecturer and learn more. But although the lecturer will know a lot more about the subject, they will only understand it slightly more. The thing is there are many things that we know happen but can't really explain why, or understand how. Consciousness is another example, everyone knows they can experience the universe, but no one is really sure why.
      I guess my point is that while some people just want to know all that is known, I can't stop thinking about all that is unknown. That came out a lot more pretentious than I had planned, but hopefully you got my point, even if I can't remember it.