“It’s very easy in science to become completely absorbed in what we’re doing.”
Frederic Chaffee, Director WM Keck Observatory
Can one get a more holistic view than to model the entire universe as one system?
Astronomy seeks to model the universe from the Big Bang Theory, to the life cycle of stars and solar systems. Astrophysics is often presented as being the most general body of physics as the discipline requires mastery of everything from quantum mechanics (the study of really tiny stuff) to Thermo Dynamics and Entropy, to basic kinematics (the study of big moving things). While the study of the entire universe encompasses all of life as we know it and indeed begins with the actual start of “time,” it is lacking something, namely, Humanity!
The focused, topical approach of Western science once again opposes the Native holistic approach to viewing the world. Where the world’s astronomical body sees a new potential lens through which to view the universe, the people of Hawaii see the most sacred and significant geological formation of their islands. Human culture is important and an integral part of the Native Ways of Knowing. On the cosmological time scale, the entire existence of our solar system is only about 25% of all time. (4x10^9y out of 14x10^9years) The existence of Homo sapiens is but 2x10^5 years, or .0014% of all time. (Math: 2x10^5 / 14x10^9 = 1.4x10^-5) This is approximately the equivalent of 1.2 seconds of out of one day. (Math: 1.4x10^-5 * (24*3600) = 1.23s) Insignificant! That is about one third the time it takes me to yawn as I get up in the morning. Scientific models ignore the insignificant. Therefore, science may ignore the entire existence of humanity when one is on the geological or astronomical time scales.
Here is a TD link to explore the past and future of our universe as currently modeled by cosmologists:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/universe/historywave.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/universe/historywave.html
This Wikipedia timeline shows the timeline of the universe alongside the timeline of the Earth. This helps to visualize insignificance of life on our planet in the Universal time line:
Interestingly, on the astronomical time scale, the age of the Hawaiian Islands is insignificant. (Just a few million years vs. a few billion!) They can be ignored entirely. No wonder astronomers didn’t think that mountain was important!
Interestingly again: The Big Bang theory gets down to the first billionths of one second. How such little pieces of time be so important in the beginning if such big pieces of time are insignificant at the present?
If one compares the existence of complex lifeforms to the existence of the Earth, it is easy to see that life is still new on our planet. See this timeline from a geology class at the Indiana University. (The photo links to the source page.)
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