Lowering the noise level in our lives...

When I was a child the concept of there being any other planets besides the ones contained in our own solar system was a theme left to science fiction. In fact, I remember reading books that described our universe with the content of a single galaxy, ours, the Milky Way. All the other specks of light in the sky were considered to be either contained within our own galaxy, or being part of strange formations called nebula. The current description in present time of our universe contains hundreds of other planets orbiting other stars, and our galaxy is only one of billions that in themselves contain hundreds of billions of stars and most likely planets too. How we see ourselves now compared to how we saw ourselves less than 40 years ago is so different that science textbooks have been rewritten over and over again in this short amount of time to correct for what we now know about our universe.

Here is a brief description of what we think we know now about the universe in which we exits. Scientist have found methods to estimate the age or our universe by measuring the distance to very remote stars and the amount of time that it has taken their light to arrive at our planet. In other words, if they calculate that the light of a star or cluster of stars that is reaching us right now departed 14.5 billion years ago, then they conclude that the universe must be at least that old. The farther away the star, the older the universe has to be to account for its existence. The current estimate of how long ago our universe came into existence is estimated to be somewhere between 14 and 15 billion years of ago. Our own planet Earth and our solar system is only approximately 4.5 billion years of age, which means that it has only existed for the last third or so of the total existence of the universe. The oldest modern human remains were discovered by scientists in Ethiopia in 2005 and are nearly 200 thousand years old. You must admit that we are basically in diapers when this cosmic time scale is applied to our existence. So it is no surprise that only now we are starting to understand what this magnificent place in which we live is made of, and how it all works.

I've always wondered that if we have only occupied our place in the universe for such a short amount of time and yet we have evolved into intelligent sentient beings, what are the chances that somewhere else in the universe some other type of sentient beings might have evolved a lot longer ago than us and could be significantly more advanced? There are all kinds of theories that keep changing year after year as to what are the probabilities of the above question being true. Maybe one of these days we won't have to keep guessing if contact is ever made with any type of intelligent life outside of our planet. I for one do not believe in little green men (now days, little gray men) flying around our planet performing experiments on animals or humans in remote countryside locations. However, I do believe that the chances that we are alone in this immense place called the universe is very remote. Why would humans be so conceited to think that we are unique in the universe and all alone? The fact that we have not been contacted by any alien species is probably a sign of our already mentioned infancy status in cosmological time and our limited technology to understand how to make this happen. Tell me, when was the last time you sat down to talk to a pile of ants? 200,000 years in a 14.5 billion year old universe probably makes us the ants in the playground.

All of the above is not to say that we are not important or that our existence is not significant within it all. Not at all, in fact I believe that us humans have shown an amazing ability to advance, evolve, and grow within our planet. If we ever find a way to merge our civilization into a single purpose towards progress, I am sure we will grow by leaps and bounds in no time at all. The trick is probably to do this before we annihilate ourselves with our current focus on wars and cultural differences. Once man discovers that the only way out of hunger, poverty, and sickness is by uniting to eradicate these challenges from our planet, we will most likely become beacons of hope in the universe for any other worlds that might also be getting ready to stand up on their own too.

Now this whole topic of science, humanity, and progress brings me to what I really wanted to write about in the first place. I believe that where we are technologically is due to some very special minds. In the past these confused children found answers in science in the same way that Mozart found it in music. It is not about below, or above average intelligence. It is about seeing the world in a different way. To many a falling apple meant nothing more than a falling apple. To Issac Newton it meant that something was pulling it down towards the earth instead of up into the sky. He was not content with only knowing the action, he also needed to know why the action happened. Most of us will learn to play an instrument and maybe become good enough to play beautiful music, but how many of us will be able compose melodies that will convert generations by their sounds? Writers, poets, dancers, composers, inventors, painters, designers, engineers, architects, and so many more are some of the creators of what makes humanity special. Without them our existence would be bland, boring, and you could even say flat and without much dimension. However, not every writer creates a masterpiece, not every inventor changes the way we cook, or transport ourselves around the planet. In every generation there are a special few that with their minds amaze us into submission and admittance of how powerful the human race can be when they do their thing.

You would think that with human population doubling at the current rate of approximately every 40 years, we should be experiencing at least twice the amount of these special children of our species. Are we? Mathematics are more advanced than ever. Technology has grown in leaps and bounds. The opportunities to expose to the world amazing talents and abilities could not be more available with modern media if it wanted to. Are we seeing, experiencing, benefiting from all of the above? I want to say yes, but in reality I am not completely sure this is true. It took 27 years but by the year 2008 the estimated number of personal computers being used in the world was an astonishing 1 billion. If you think that was a lot, consider that in only seven more years since then the estimated number of computers being used in the world by the year 2015 will be 2 billion.

I contend that the rate of technological advance dissemination to the masses does not correlate in any way with our ability to bring more brilliant minds into the forefront of our humanitarian needs. Opportunities are more abound than ever, yet these same opportunities somehow have eroded some of the key elements that seem to be essential to foster and feed those special minds that are needed to take us to a higher level of existence. Take for example the brilliant physicist Richard Feynman, who as a child spent hours figuring out how to take apart radios and repair them for his neighbors. Without this process of dismantling and fixing the technological marvels of his time, would he have ever developed to be a Nobel Prize winner? It sounds mundane, but I am not sure if we take away that part of his childhood if he would of turned out to contribute as much as an adult to the world of physics. So what can the special minds of our time dismantle? What is it that they can learn of if technology is so advanced that the way it all works is hidden beneath microscopic layers of silicon and so much is at the atomic level?

I am not saying that the special minds of our present time will not sooner or later reveal themselves to us in their own way. What I am simply trying to project is how technological progress is not necessarily a great influence for those minds. I am under the personal opinion that somehow we should stop being so greedy with respect to what all of these technological marvels are doing for us, and take a small step back and consider what they might be taking away from us too. At some point we are going to have to take responsibility for allowing the financial markets to rule what is more popular on TV, in game stores, on our iPods, and everywhere else, and then decide if what we are saturating the minds of our children with is truly of benefit to our future. After all, are they not our future?

I for one would love to turn down the technological advancement's noise level. I see my children saturated with what to me is too much of everything. How can I compete with all of the advertisement that flows through their TVs and computers alone? My youngest child is in a constant mode of discovering what is the newest video game, to the point that he even has his own blog with reviews, comments, and videos. Typically it is no more than a week after he has purchased what was at the moment the hottest and greatest, when he is already scheming on how to get more money to buy something else. My oldest son has trouble fitting into a 160 Gigabytes of memory on his iPod all of the music that he wants to listen to. That is a capacity to hold 40,000 songs. Do you know how long it would take you to listen to 40,000 songs without repeating a single one? According to my calculations if you listened 24 hours a day without pausing, you would be able to go for four months straight. Better yet, if you listened for at least 8 hours a day, not a single song would repeat itself for an entire year. If this is not too much, what is?

Yes, I can turn off the TV, unplug the computers, and turn down the technological advancement noise level a bit. This is what I do when I demand we eat at the table together. This is what I am attempting when I lower the volume to have a conversation with my children. Taking a hike up a short mountain, going to the beach, visiting a museum or a park. We talk about a good story we have read, or something we recently learned. We share information about our relatives. We get into the jacuzzi at nights to just talk and look up into the sky and see the stars. Sometimes we cook together, sing together, and just simply joke around and are silly together. Some of these and a few more are the things that take time but are so important and definitely worth while. If you still have a chance to do these things, I highly recommend them. Lowering the noise level that surrounds us allows us to think, to process, to learn, and to become aware of what truly matters in life. Finding opportunities to do this is the challenge. The older are children, the less accessible they become to us in order to be of influence or impact in their lives. I encourage you to take advantage if they are young and plant the seed in their minds as early as possible of your desire to have these special moments. If not with your children, then with your grandchildren, or nieces and nephews. Don't allow them to get completely sucked into the technological vortex that turns them into zombies day and night. After all, you could be raising Einstein, Newton, Galileo, Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss, DaVinci, Picasso, Dali, Cervantes, Shakespeare, or any of the most amazing minds of our time in your home. Don't let them go to waste, we truly need them.

Dad