Quote from Yannis:
Here are some tidbits from my dissertation:
Did you know that at very high energies (momentum of particle >> rest mass) the probability of two particles colliding and then breaking up is equal to the probability that they spontaneously break up and then (their projected centers of mass) collide? In other words, at high energies (our best means to study the very nature of this universe) causality breaks down and gives way to a deeper reality and set of laws that we understand very little at this point.
Did you know that the parts of such colliding particles (eg, quarks) interact in timespans of less than 10 raised to -50 power? But because those interactions are not dominated by the laws of causality, as stated above, we cannot speak of those elements of whatever aligns those collisions as "time"... Therefore, one is led to understand that time, and basic logic as we know it out here in the "very low energy universe", break down at those levels of magnification, in favor of aligning principles that we can't even fathom at this point...
We have just begun to scratch the surface of these fundamental laws of matter/energy/space/time/existence and the results are more surprising than one would have thought. And, speaking of that, what is thought and how does it travel? Is "intuition" totally out of the question or can it make sense to us? How about a "thoughton"? What principles lie underneath such basic concept as causality? Can you EVER get to the bottom of anything or is the heart of the universe and its laws just designed to be an endless loop, a "grand uncertainty principle" domain waiting for those of us who are arrogant enough to think that they can? etc etc.
That's one of the reasons why I said before that, as a good scientist, I'm a very religious man.
