THE EMINENCE OF PRACTICALITY:
A SCIENTIFIC EXPLICATION

by Ian Haight

“We will not establish self-sustaining colonies in space for at least
the next hundred years, so we have to be very careful in this period.”
—Stephen Hawking

 

First begin with Asimov saying
science has given humanity visions

of the universe exceeding
all the beauty and majesty artists

ever made—and all the imaginings
of mythologists. Isn’t it true?

Gorgeous scientific pictures of nebulae
are available if one bothers

to explore and look; it’s easier
than the practice for any “mystical

vision.” On grounds of morality, we must
always remember that science never

dropped an atomic bomb, or released nerve
gas. Pure objective science needs no

credibility of compassion.
But in point of fact, its polio

cure is a marvelous vaccine. Mystery
can’t be found in the arrangement

of Japanese temple garden
rocks. Medial transformation

shows the Ryoanji Garden’s implicit
rock pattern to be a branching tree. 

Certainly, it could not be a flanged straw-
broom, a sprig on a stem of Queen Anne’s

lace, or a long-stemmed mushroom. Artists
only dream of how old the cosmos

is. But an atomic clock keeps time
to within one minute over

10 billion years. Each isolated
atom is in every aspect

completely the same as any
other isolated atom,

and an element’s ions predictably
move. This renders them mini-timepieces. 

Putting it simply, as an example,
oscillation makes the universe

one big clock. Particles
constantly colliding slightly alter atoms,

driving every clock to run slow over
time. This is why what science values

most is knowing the universe
is perpetually falling

into smithereens. The answer
is to create a field of complete force

that surrounds atoms, providing
softer interatomic bounces.

Finally, the pursuit of knowledge
is like a vote. To precisely

determine which vote is best to cast,
one must measure each vote’s potential

economic return. The method
for deciding what knowledge is most useful

is the same. In game theory, when every
human cooperates in a system,

they all receive benefits. But because
humans are individualistic,

they will not pursue the same goals. 
Science, through its objectivity, is immune

to the mundanes of humanity; it exists
solely for the most eminently

practical pursuits.

 

 

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