My Life On Earth: An Exploration into Personal Philosophies
My project for this project involved 3D printing a lithophane of the Cassini image sometimes called The Day the Earth Smiled. This image was taken during a solar eclipse where Saturn blocks the sun from Cassini’s perspective. This allows the inner rocky planets to be seen because they are no longer washed out by the light from the sun. The Earth can be seen in the lithophane if the observer looks carefully. This image highlights the complete insignificance of the human experience from the perspective of the cosmos. Humans see themselves as the center of everything, while science constantly pushes this perspective to obscurity. The image also pushes the issue of free will in the human experience. When we are such minuscule specks in the enveloping cosmic dark, what makes us think we are special enough to influence the laws of physics in our heads in order to make spontaneous decisions?
Over the course of this project I have fleshed out my ideological perspective in a way I hadn’t before. I have found that I identify best with a kind of ‘physics-induced existentialism.’ Most existentialist viewpoints are born from a complete and debilitating amount of freedom and free will. Being able to make one’s own decisions in such a huge and uncaring cosmic arena leads to the realization that one’s actions do not affect the greater universe and thus don’t matter. My existentialism comes from a complete lack of free will. Because physics governs the laws of everything, including the few cubic centimeters inside our heads, we cannot have free will because to do so would mean we are influencing the motions of particles spontaneously in our brains which leads to a nearly inevitable breaking of conservation of momentum, energy, charge, etc. This means that our actions do not matter because they are not novel and are instead predetermined.
This perspective can lead to depression reletively easily. I don’t matter. Nothing matters. What I do will never have a significant influence on anything. We are all part of a great cosmic clockwork that is the physics of the universe. Does this mean that I can’t go have fun? No. Does this mean I can’t study things that fascinate me? No. My not having free will does not change my experience. I feel like I have free will. And that is enough because one cannot tell the difference anyway. If one could, there would be no debate.
These topics are explored to a further extent in my honors essay which is posted below.
Over the course of this project I have fleshed out my ideological perspective in a way I hadn’t before. I have found that I identify best with a kind of ‘physics-induced existentialism.’ Most existentialist viewpoints are born from a complete and debilitating amount of freedom and free will. Being able to make one’s own decisions in such a huge and uncaring cosmic arena leads to the realization that one’s actions do not affect the greater universe and thus don’t matter. My existentialism comes from a complete lack of free will. Because physics governs the laws of everything, including the few cubic centimeters inside our heads, we cannot have free will because to do so would mean we are influencing the motions of particles spontaneously in our brains which leads to a nearly inevitable breaking of conservation of momentum, energy, charge, etc. This means that our actions do not matter because they are not novel and are instead predetermined.
This perspective can lead to depression reletively easily. I don’t matter. Nothing matters. What I do will never have a significant influence on anything. We are all part of a great cosmic clockwork that is the physics of the universe. Does this mean that I can’t go have fun? No. Does this mean I can’t study things that fascinate me? No. My not having free will does not change my experience. I feel like I have free will. And that is enough because one cannot tell the difference anyway. If one could, there would be no debate.
These topics are explored to a further extent in my honors essay which is posted below.