Ci-après un projet de texte qui traine depuis des années sur le «bureau » de mon ordinateur. Je l’ai modifié ou complété de temps en temps, sans jamais avoir l’intention de le publier, tout au plus de le partager, un jour peut-être, avec un ami.

Exprimer par écrit mes réflexions est devenu pour moi une habitude. Cela me permet d’en détecter des incohérences, des contradictions. Cela remplace aussi, en quelque sorte, les discussions avec des « âmes-sœurs » que je pouvais avoir dans le passé et qui ne sont plus guère possibles, la presque totalité de mes amis ayant disparue : la conséquence d’un âge avancé.

J’ai décidé de le publier maintenant dans mon blog, question de ne pas le laisser tomber dans un oubli définitif.

Le texte est en anglais, j’ignore pourquoi.

Son destinataire initialement prévu fut peut-être anglophone. Vu le cercle restreint des lecteurs de mon blog, forcément tous multilingues, je n’ai pas cru nécessaire de le traduire.

L’un ou l’autre y trouvera peut  être un intérêt, on ne le sait jamais.

JH, le 15.09.2023

Our Universe,

a layman’s view.

 Our solar system is part of a galaxy, the Milky Way comprising billions of solar systems, hence also billions of planets. Its diameter is said to be about 50 000 light years. Given these numbers, one must suppose that some of these billions of planets have, shall have or had characteristics similar to Earth, hence where the interaction of atoms, during millions of years, can have resulted in the appearance of a molecule able to reproduce itself and, eventually, to mute: this is indeed said to have been the beginning of life on Earth and thus of an evolution that led to the enormous variety of todays living beings.

One has therefore to deem it probable that amongst the billions of planets in the Milky Way, life exists, has existed or shall exist, some of it possibly more intelligent than us humans.

But: if so, why have we never had evidence of life existing elsewhere?

Given the distance separating Earth from such hypothetical beings and the time it takes by their potential signs of existence to arrive and be perceived on Earth, intercommunication is practically impossible: the lapse of time during which such a distant civilization was technically able to send signals is, in cosmic time, extremely short, a blimp in an eternity of darkness. And when such a signal reaches Earth, this has to happen during the equally short time humans are able to take notice. For the two glimpses of time to coincide is highly improbable, almost impossible. And if it ever happens, the emitting civilization might have disappeared.

No wonder therefore that in spite of all our endeavors, no signal of an alien civilization has ever been detected and hence the conviction of undersigned: intelligent life elsewhere in and beyond our galaxy is very probable but no contact should be expected.

There is another fact to consider: all of the above applies to the perceivable Universe. But investigating it in all directions has revealed up to now no limit: we thus ignore the size of the Universe and also our location there-in or the location of the center of its center where, presumably, Big Bang occurred. Further more, recent exploration has led to the discovery on the edge of the up to now discovered Universe huge formations of energy and matter which should eventually lead to galaxies, i.e., stars and planets.

For a layman a surprising discovery difficult to reconcile with the theory of a singular Big Bang.

Mentioning Big Bang: when it occurred the energy and matter created must have departed in all directions with the speed of light, creating sort of a balloon, its cover prefigurating the Universe, its interior presumably remaining empty. As we have not detected any limit of the thickness of this cover, imagining its total size is mind boggling.

For undersigned there is yet another fact he does not understand:

We are shown pictures of the Universe shortly after the Big Bang. How are these photos possible?  When the pictured event occurred, its image must have been dispersed with the speed of light and disappeared forever. This surprisingly seems not to have been the case.

Consulting AI has not helped.

And finally, sort of a cherry on the cake: visible matter is only a fraction of the Universe, dark matter and energy making up its bulk.

All this raises questions such as: what or who created the Universe, “God”? If so and given the likelihood of many kinds of intelligent life in the Universe and the resulting enormous number of individuals, deceased, living or be born, why should “God” take an interest in their individual behavior?

And if it was not “God” who created our Universe, how was it created and are there other Universes?

The answers to such questions are a matter of belief, not of knowledge. Some believe that God exists and that every human has an immaterial and eternal soul. Others believe that there is no such thing as a soul and that death is the final end of any life.

A conclusion: beliefs, including religious ones, are a personal matter not to be imposed onto others.

J.H.