Our New Universe

While browsing around Ted Talks ( Tedtalks.ted.com) I stumbled upon a video of a conference in which they show the current view scientists have of the universe. It is certainly a great departure of what I was shown as a kid and even in early post secondary education.

Basically the video shows how small we really are in comparison to the vastness of the known universe and how beautifully arranged or "designed" it is. Instead of the traditional view of planets and stars scattered  randomly through the cosmos modern science has shown that the universe itself has a well organized structure. Gravity creates a sort of web structure of filaments formed by billions of stars and planets that orbit near each other with empty gaps  around them.  Scientists were able to model the universe based on countless images  that were catalogued and analyzed to create a three dimensional model.  They were also able to create a computer simulation of the big bang that following very simple rules of physics displayed a strickingly similar final structure as our current universe does. The two strongest determining variables for the model are gravity and something scientists call Dark Matter. This  term is used to describe matter that is invisible, which is incredibly abstract and hasn't completely been proven yet. 
It is amazing to see how much more humans known about the universe and how much more there is still to discover. We may never get to fully understand our universe but we are certainly inching towards it.
TedTalks - Video 

It is amazing how much science can reveal as time goes by.

My Opinion On Language

* This is just my own opinion on the issue there is very little to back this up *

Well, I think language is one of the roots of all evil that affects man kind in conjunction to culture. And I am not alone on this one. Francis Fukayama and Samuel P. Huntington have both writen best sellers on the subject. Called "The Clash Of Civilizations" Huntington argues that in the post cold war world conflicts will be mainly due to culture and religion which is an expansion on the theory posed by Fukayama on an earlier book. I want to take one step further and point the finger at language as well for a few simple reasons.

Language is unfortunately the only way human beings can communicate. We already have trouble communicating with people in our own culture or even with our loved ones. Its not hard to see that we would have even more trouble with cross cultural communication. In these instances language could easily generate a conflict due to misunderstanding.'

Most conflicts involve countries that speak different languages and therefoe belong to different cultures since both are so intertwined. But none of this should be a surprise at all.

The last reason is the treatment POW and combatants receive from their enemies. If they do not share a language atrocious acts and war crimes are more likely to happen. Because of a lack of clear communication it is easier to dehumanize captives and therefore easier to torture them.



Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clash_of_civilization
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_History_and_the_Last_Man

A new Era Begins

In the spirit of clogging up the internet with more useless information, Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat will bring you general information and opinions on a variety of subjects. This blog will strive to bring you the best the internet has to offer infused with commentary and personal opinion. After all, is there any other type of opinion that matters?

This blog will feature mainly stories related to:

-Technology
-Scientific advancements
-th3 1nt3rw3bs
-Politics
-Local Opinions


Keep an eye on this post and lets bring down the internet with more useless traffic!


- Picture By Arcipello - Deviantart.com