perception – Harmonia Philosophica

Rough.

Most natural and artificial surfaces are rough: metals and even glasses that appear smooth to the naked eye can look like jagged mountain ranges under the microscope. There is currently no uniform theory about the origin of this roughness despite it being observed on all scales, from the atomic to the tectonic. Scientists suspect that the rough surface is formed by irreversible plastic deformation that occurs in many processes of mechanical machining of components such as milling. (1)

In a rough cosmos we try to build mirrors.

In an ever changing universe we try to see patterns.

In a living cosmos we try to analyze death.

Staring on the calm lake.

Feeling good that we see out self.

Oh, happy man.

I know you would cry if you knew there is nothing to see.

Dichotomies…

In a study published in Nature Astronomy, researchers from the United States and Japan unveiled the possible origins of our cosmic neighborhood’s “Great Divide”. A well-known schism which resulted to have on the one side the “terrestrial” planets, such as Earth and Mars and on the other side the more distant planets such as Jupiter and Saturn, with different composition than the first ones.

“How do you create this compositional dichotomy?” said lead author Ramon Brasser.

Brasser and coauthor Stephen Mojzsis, a professor in CU Boulder’s Department of Geological Sciences, suggested that the early solar system was partitioned into at least two regions by a ring-like structure that formed a disk around the young sun. This disk might have held major implications for the evolution of planets and asteroids, and even the history of life on Earth. (1)

A world organized in patterns.

A world split.

A world united under our eye.

Constantly moving. Constantly changing. And yet, staying the same. Ancient Greeks watching at the night sky. Modern people measuring distances. Kids playing. Drawing lines on the dirt. Separating the solar system into pieces. Forming the cosmos in laughter.

Is the cosmos the creation of a wise God?

Or the result of a kid’s play?

Look at the kids playing.

Watch those wise men laugh.

I feel safe looking at differences.

Too scared to think that…

Those two options are not really that different…

Measuring… (What?)

A new optical atomic clock makes ultra-precise time measurements. (1)

Measuring time.

Even though we are not certain what time is.

You see, not knowing something does not hinder you from handling it.

But this goes even further than that.

Not knowing something is the sole pre-requisite of handling it.

Because if you knew it, there would be nothing to handle.

For in a cosmos where you know what time it…

You just stand by the river.

Without putting your feet in.

For there is no river…

For you have no feet…

For there is nothing flowing…

Just you.

Out of time.

Thinking.

Making the cosmos go around.

Can you feel time?

Can time feel you?

Growing in darkness…

New research reveals how a week in the dark rewires brain cell networks and changes hearing sensitivity in adult mice long after the optimal window for auditory learning has passed. With further study, cross-modal learning — the manipulation of one sense to induce change in another sense — could be used to help people with disabilities. For example, temporary sight deprivation might be used to help deaf and hearing-impaired people adapt to cochlear implants and hearing aids. (1)

Spend a week in darkness. And you will hearing will improve.

Spend a week in total silence. And your eyes will sharpen.

Spend a week in total lack of touch stimuli. And you will reach out to the cosmos.

Spend a week dead. And you will for the first time know what life is…

Review our original premises.

And through the lens of craziness, you may discover logic.

Yes, you can sense the cosmos.

But take a good look.

A lifeless telescope can sense much more than you…

Elusive motion… Only if still moving…

In temperatures millions of times colder than interstellar space, researchers have performed the coldest reaction in the known universe. But that’s not all. In such intense cold, their molecules slowed to such glacial speeds, they could see something no one has been able to see before: the moment when two molecules meet to form two new molecules. In essence, they captured a chemical reaction in its most critical and elusive act. (1)

And so we captured motion.

So slow that it is barely visible.

And yet, still visible.

Could we slow down that motion even more?

Up to the point of having no motion at all?

Up to the point of having everything standing still?

Watch out for Achilles.

What you are really watching?

Flip the cosmos upside down.

And you will see it upside down!

A cosmos standing still.

A cosmos moving fast.

A cosmos warming up.

A cosmos moving faster.

The more it moves, the better you can see it moving.

Don’t you see?

Everything is more evident when it is more evident.

What if it stands still?

Can you see what you cannot see?