Riddle of the Sphinx: Honing in on the Biggest Secret of All
In the mission statement for this blog I mention that it is not just about magic, but how magic relates to the real world. As stated in the Michael Powers section, magicians were involved in some of the earliest forays in movie making. Magicians tend to present themselves as entertainers (perhaps David Blaine, Kreskin, and Uri Geller are exceptions, in different ways and with different levels of propriety). But the theory of magic stretches far beyond making coins disappear or ladies in glitter costumes float in mid air. A winner of the Nobel Prize, physicist Sheldon Glashow, has argued that for scientists the entire universe is a magic show--and that the object is not just to take it all in and be entertained, but to figure it out. Look at this list and see if you can figure out what it is.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
The Great Pyramid of Giza
The Colossus of Rhodes
The Lighthouse of Alexandria
If you guessed "The Seven Wonders of the World," you are correct. But notice everthing on this list is a thing. And, although some try to argue that the Pyramids required the building skills of ancient astronauts, everything on this list can be explained as the result of architecture and hard work (with slave labor). But science investigates mysteries that are more difficult to explain. Perhaps none of these is greater than the secret of life: why does it behave as it does? Specifically, why does it become more complex while most things tend to (according to the second law of thermodynamics) become less organized over time. Life itself seems like a magic trick in a world of inanimate matter. It is so amazing, so statistically unlikely, that it suggests to many (not necessarily scientists or intellectual detectives) that life requires a miraculous explanation.
In fact there is a new answer to this ancient question of why life exists, or life's purpose. It has to do with energy and, while scientific, it does not take away the possibility for spirituality. While great architecture represented the wonders of the ancient world, then as now no mystery is greater than that of life. What is its purpose? I think you will find the answer, proferred here intriguing. In my mind it qualifies as a possible eighth wonder of the world--a wonder based on revealing the workings (which go beyond genetics) of life as a complex process, rather than, as in the case of the seven earlier wonders, based on the observation of a magnificent thing.
As Madame Curie, one of the first scientists to work with radioactivity said, "Nothing in life is to be feared, only understood."
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
The Great Pyramid of Giza
The Colossus of Rhodes
The Lighthouse of Alexandria
If you guessed "The Seven Wonders of the World," you are correct. But notice everthing on this list is a thing. And, although some try to argue that the Pyramids required the building skills of ancient astronauts, everything on this list can be explained as the result of architecture and hard work (with slave labor). But science investigates mysteries that are more difficult to explain. Perhaps none of these is greater than the secret of life: why does it behave as it does? Specifically, why does it become more complex while most things tend to (according to the second law of thermodynamics) become less organized over time. Life itself seems like a magic trick in a world of inanimate matter. It is so amazing, so statistically unlikely, that it suggests to many (not necessarily scientists or intellectual detectives) that life requires a miraculous explanation.
In fact there is a new answer to this ancient question of why life exists, or life's purpose. It has to do with energy and, while scientific, it does not take away the possibility for spirituality. While great architecture represented the wonders of the ancient world, then as now no mystery is greater than that of life. What is its purpose? I think you will find the answer, proferred here intriguing. In my mind it qualifies as a possible eighth wonder of the world--a wonder based on revealing the workings (which go beyond genetics) of life as a complex process, rather than, as in the case of the seven earlier wonders, based on the observation of a magnificent thing.
As Madame Curie, one of the first scientists to work with radioactivity said, "Nothing in life is to be feared, only understood."
posted by Dorion Sagan at 1:22 PM
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