Questions, questions and more questions…

There are many unanswered questions in the world from questions about the tiniest of particles such as quarks and Bosons particles, to questions about our galaxy and the universe. While such questions increase our understanding the world around us, and our relations to it; there are those that are more mundane, and yet just as puzzling, in our everyday life. Questions such as why do buses come in threes? Is it better to run or walk when it’s raining? Why is it that sometimes when the more you try to achieve something, the less likely it becomes to actually achieving it?

Just yesterday I saw three buses going together, and judging by the number of people at the bus stop I can say that there hasn’t been a bus for a while. The reasons are not to do with inconsistent planning; even if all the buses left the depot at the right time, there are various factors that would stop it from reaching its destination on time. The amount of traffic, the number of passengers at each bus stop, and the bus driver’s style and personality, all to some extent affect the journey of the bus. Passengers arrive at bus stops at random, but sometimes there are bursts of passengers, plus the fact that some passengers have to pay, mean that the bus will be held at the stop for longer. This will cause more passengers to accumulate at the next stop, and delay the bus even more, while the bus behind now has fewer passengers to pick up and thus is able to catch up. Although three buses bunching up is unlikely, it’s more likely to happen if the route of the bus is very long, and towards the end of such a route.

So why do buses come in threes? Maybe it is just an act of chance. Life is too chaotic, that one small change in one thing can lead to a much greater impact hundreds of miles away, known as the “butterfly effect”. Maybe buses come in threes when a police stops a car on the road in Manchester, miles away, and as a result of the ‘butterfly effect’ we have 3 buses in a row in London. Why is it called the butterfly effect? Well, because in theory one beating of a butterfly’s wings can cause a tornado thousands of miles away. So many different factors need to be perfect that it can almost be perceived as random. In fact some scientists argue that that is no such thing as chance, only chaos, which is aptly called the chaos theory. Interestingly there’s no way of proving it in real life by using tangible things that you can see, or feel. Then, there’s the Pauli’s Exclusion Principle, which suggests that every single particle in the world is linked; that two electron particles in the world cannot exist in the same energy state; that a change in the energy state of one particle in my tea as it heats up leads to the change in the state of other particles millions of light years away, to ensure they are not the same.

Part of this knowledge and understanding is due to our curious nature, as human beings. We are always curious to push the boundaries a little further and see what happens. It is the reason why if we are told not to open a box, the first thing we do is open the box. It is why in a medical trial we always increase the dose of a drug until we see its side effects. It is why we open a door not knowing what devilry lies behind it. Our curiosity often gets the better of us, and sometimes it leads to detrimental outcomes. I have always found that things that are dangerous are usually of more curiosity. A few weeks ago I was charging my car battery from the main, with live wires that were exposed, and I could not help but wonder what would happen if I was to touch it, knowing full well that it would probably be the last thing I do in life. I had to prise myself away from the scene. But our curiosity is also the reason why our understanding of the world is better than ever before.

If there is one thing we, humans, can’t stop doing – it is asking questions. It would probably take thousands of years to answer all the questions we can ask; in fact I think we can continue asking questions for much longer. Even when an answer is given, we are not always happy with the answer. A superficial answer is not usually enough for our hungry minds. I seem to always ask a ‘why’ or a ‘how’ question to even the most detailed of explanations. Many of the things that we have started to learn about our universe, and how our own body works, is just scratching the surface; and if that has taken us thousands of years how much longer, then, to understand the more difficult stuff.

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Tagged: answer, butterfly effect, chaos, curiosity, life questions, quantum theory, question, random

Posted in: General Posts