Friday, October 9, 2009

Why I Stare At My Clock


The world we live in today is one of massive amounts of information and comprehension awareness. Between the powers of Google, Wikipedia, and the Wolfram | Alpha Computational Knowledge Engine there are few mysteries left in the world.


Once, there was a time when we did not understand why apples seem to gravitate towards the ground. Before that, we thought the Atlantic Ocean was endless and unconquerable. Earlier still, fire was a mythical demon of ultimate destructive power that we did not know how to harness. Today, any sixth grader can break down any of those earthly phenomenon.

Simple-minded folk have always suggested that since we do not understand (insert current crazy theory that will eventually become commonplace), it must not be possible. I say that half-jokingly, but to further strengthen the suggested position that there will always be naysayers in the world around us who take the world for what it is instead of what it could be, I turn to the wisdom of Men in Black:
"Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow."
The idea of Time Travel, closely related to the limits and dimensions of space, is one of the concepts among us that we cannot define with any scientific accuracy or understanding. Earth's leading minds, both scientific and creative, have no definitive understanding of Time Travel. Sure, there are theories, but that's all. No one on Earth, now or ever in the past, has traveled through time.

Maybe it's a little bit of the knack in me that makes me yearn for understanding about anything and everything, but whatever it is, I cannot overcome wondering about something that has yet to be figured out. There's something romantic in daydreaming about something that no one truly understands. Time Travel is a whimsical, enormous, and universal mystery.

That is why I lay awake staring at my clock night after night after night.

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