fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Manage HV1 Account
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

Cosmically speaking, it’ll do no harm if you sleep in tomorrow

by Bob Berman
April 1, 2016
in Columns, Nature
0
Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer

Between global warming and fracking, we often hear the word energy. In Woodstock many believe that “Everything is energy.” Of course, whenever you say “Everything is X” (mind, God, energy, consciousness, whatever), you’re actually saying “All is one.” No matter; everything really is energy anyway.

Physicists used to believe in many types of energy: chemical, electric, magnetic, radiant and so on. Nowadays science says it’s all kinetic energy – the energy of motion. Consider heat: Is this a separate kind of energy? It certainly has power: Heat raises gas pressure that can drive pistons. But in truth, heat is merely the motion of atoms. The faster atoms move, the more energy is exhibited; so once again, it’s all kinetic energy.

Whether the universe is finite or infinite, it has all the energy that it’s ever going to have. This energy never decreases in the least. This seems counterintuitive only because we seem to observe energy being depleted. The gasoline in our car is converted to power that turns the wheels, and eventually the fuel is gone. In reality, in addition to supplying motion, some of this energy goes out the tailpipe and is dissipated from the hot engine block to warm Earth’s atmosphere a little. None of it is gone.

Moreover, there seems to exist an unimaginably vast underlying energy field, sometimes called vacuum energy or zero-point energy, and this pervades the cosmos. Finally, even inert solids like rocks are actually immense energy clumps, since matter and energy are equivalent. Thus, once again, it’s all energy.

All this energy unfolds spontaneously. Planets orbiting stars, mutating thunderstorm clouds, scurrying mice all effortlessly exhibit this endless energy. In actuality, there are no separate events.

Most people labor under the illusion that they must perform their lives as if they were sources of energy separate from the universe. Arthur Schopenhauer, the 19th-century philosopher who deeply influenced Einstein, liked to say that a man can act as he wills, but he cannot will as he wills. He argued against the widespread illusion of personal power.

For what it’s worth, physics does indeed join Eastern thought in rebutting the notion that each of us is a separate island of effort and energy isolated from the rest of the universe. When Einstein repeatedly averred that free will is an illusion, he did not consider this a bleak outlook. Rather, he found the revelation freeing, and said that it helped him forgive people of their apparent faults.

Most readers would provide various reasons why they think that they do actually have free will. I’d probably reply, “You can’t help thinking and saying that” – which wouldn’t win any friends.

Anyway, just thought that I’d throw this out as we gaze up during these enchanted August nights, to the accompaniment of fireflies and crickets.

Thank you for reading Hudson Valley One. We rely on your support to continue providing local, substantive news. Please check out our subscription options to keep local journalism alive in the Hudson Valley.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher
Previous Post

Chodikee Lake area has storied, colorful history

Next Post

Hugh Reynolds: The irony of Tax-Free New York

Bob Berman

Bob Berman, Ulster Publishing’s Night Sky columnist since 1974, is the world’s most widely read astronomer. Since the mid-1990s, his celebrated "Strange Universe" feature has appeared monthly in Astronomy magazine, the largest circulation periodical on the subject. Berman is also the long-time astronomy editor of the Old Farmer’s Almanac. He was Discover magazine’s monthly columnist from 1989-2006. He has authored more than a thousand published mass-market articles and been a guest on such TV shows as Today and Late Night with David Letterman. Berman is director of two Ulster County observatories and the Storm King Observatory at Cornwall. He was adjunct professor of astronomy and physics at Marymount college from 1995-2000.

Related Posts

Waghkonk Notes: Glorious day
Columns

Waghkonk Notes: Glorious day

May 12, 2022
What the newspapers said 100 years ago
Columns

What the newspapers said 100 years ago

May 10, 2022
Night Sky: This week’s total lunar eclipse
Columns

Night Sky: This week’s total lunar eclipse

May 10, 2022
Susan Slotnick: And they wound up here 
Columns

Susan Slotnick: And they wound up here 

May 9, 2022
Night Sky: A great eclipse coming up
Columns

Night Sky: A great eclipse coming up

May 6, 2022
Peak time for birders
Nature

Peak time for birders

May 1, 2022
Next Post

Hugh Reynolds: The irony of Tax-Free New York

Trending News

  • Bubbe’s Deli opens in Gardiner’s former Mountain Harbor 1.6k views
  • Woodstock Library bond passes 1.1k views
  • Saugertes man faces multiple charges after domestic disturbance 1k views
  • The moon is down in Central Hudson 679 views
  • D&H Canal Museum in High Falls poised for June 18 Grand Opening 443 views







Latest HV1 Podcast

Weather

Kingston
◉
63°
Fair
5:32am8:12pm EDT
Feels like: 63°F
Wind: 8mph WNW
Humidity: 43%
Pressure: 29.81"Hg
UV index: 0
WedThuFri
72/52°F
70/52°F
84/63°F
Weather forecast Kingston, New York ▸

Ulster County COVID-19 Active Cases

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Manage HV1 Account

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In

© 2022 Ulster Publishing