Tuesday, March 3, 2015

The multiverses inside us

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The multiverses inside us

“Knowledge can either only be limited hypothetically, or by practicalities.”

Human knowledge is not just a factor of scientific discovery alone, but is also a vector whose direction is generally determined by the philosophical basis that initiates a research. Thus both philosophy and science play an equally important role in its development. Theoretically there is no limit to the knowledge humanity can imbibe, ingest or discover. But in real life two very distinct factors break the stride without fail; the limits of human imagination, and the practical abilities to research. Through this topic, in conjunction with what I have already written in one of my previous articles titled “Is our Universe an electron”, I intend to take humanity to edge of philosophical limits. I call this the edge, for beyond this edge, humanity will never have the practical expertise to discover anything, or imagination to answer. And the reason for such an assertion is self explanatory in the light of what I am going to write in this article.

In my article “Is our Universe an electron”, I have explained the concept of “True Nothing”. That article explains the limits beyond which we humans will never be able to hypothesis, for our limit to imagination is a three dimensional space. For us “Nothing” never existed, which means there always was “Everything”. Neither science, nor any religion, and nor any philosophical thought will ever be able to tell humanity what “True nothing” is. Nor will we ever be able to find out what makes up the outer most creation.

Now let us come to this article. In this article I will take you towards the other edge of our existence, the one that we didn’t visit in my previous article; what exists inside us.

Before I even start explaining what I want to, I want you to understand the practical limits that will always exist on our abilities. And those practical limits are the smallest building blocks of all matter that we find in our universe; the sub-atomic particles. The biggest limit is; the best instruments that humanity will ever be able to utilize would still be only as fine as the smallest particle that can exist independently in our universe; an electron. I am deliberately skipping “quarks” in the present discussion, as quarks do not exist in nature individually, but bind together to form various sub-atomic particles. Even so, if we hypothesize that one day we will have our instrumental abilities stretched beyond quarks, we will only be going as far as our instrumental abilities will take us.

Now let us discuss two more factors that will affect our abilities; length (or distance) and time.

The International System of Units defines meter as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum in 1/299792458 of a second. While a second is defined as the duration of 9192631770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the Cesium 133 atom.

Cutting the crap out; there is a limit to the distance we will ever be able to measure with the best of our technology. Time, we will come back to later.

Now just because we cannot identify matter smaller than quarks, which themselves have only be identified by indirect means rather than direct observations, does not mean nothing smaller exists. Let us first analyze what would constitute a theoretical or practical limit to our knowledge of “what exists inside us”. I will provide the answer that would probably constitute the limit of human hypothetical knowledge about the subject, at the end of this piece.

Theoretically we can add any number of zeroes beyond a decimal point, and extend the series to infinity, and then finally add the integer “1” at the end. This would still constitute a valid fraction of a meter. Theoretically we would still be able to add another zero before the final integer “1” and it would still constitute a valid fraction. But practically, can any of these lengths be actually measured, leave alone actually seen by humans? Even if we manage to develop a technology to measure such a minute fraction, and even observe it physically, the theoretical limits are still extendable. But just because we don’t have the technology to measure such small things, does not mean such a fraction does not exist. Just like in the article “Is our Universe an electron” where I said we will never be able to find the outermost space, for there will always be another one outside it, we will never be able to get to the innermost level, for there will always be something smaller inside.

Our limits to observe will keep extending as far as we can extend our technology, but we will never get the answer as to what the smallest thing would ever be.

Now that brings me to the question about time. In my article “Is our Universe an electron” I mentioned how there might possibly be something so huge outside our space that our universe might just be an electron for it. Now think of the how we measure time. Our time measurement is based on matter that we find in our Universe. For an entity that exists beyond our universe, for which our Universe might just be an electron, the unit of time would be different. Possibly our entire lifetimes might not be worth even a second for such an entity. The same would apply in analogy to whatever exists beyond the opposite end of our limits; the sub-atomic particles. The time for the creation inside the creation that we are a part of, would possibly not even be worth a fraction of a second for us. So time will have a different value if we try to venture inside into the creation that we exist in.

Now all this philosophical nonsense raises a very serious question; how do the three dimensions that would thus exist within every electron or subatomic particle, interact with the three dimensions that we are a part of?

Well, think about it! How many atoms make up our single skin cell? Now think of all the creation that extends beyond that skin cell and up to the limits of our Universe. There are countless three dimensions within our bodies, within the three dimensions that we know. And there will be countless three dimensions within those three dimensions. All these together make up the three dimensions that we know.

What exists inside us will never have a hypothetical answer, for just like how we cannot figure out what would lie outside the last space, we will never be able to answer what lies inside the last level of existence that we manage to break into.

Fatal Urge Carefree Kiss “Amanpreet Singh Rai”

P.S.: No I am not a western scholar, scientist or philosopher. But how does that matter?


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Monday, March 2, 2015

Pseudo Penta-tonic Scale

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Pseudo Penta-tonic Scale

“An artist has the same expression as anyone else. He just views things differently.”

As an active music producer who has been writing poetry since he was barely out of senior school, I’ve had my fair share of enlightening movements during the course of my learning life so far. This article sums up one such moment which many others must have noticed before me, but not expressed it in the way that I am.

People often ask me; what’s the difference between Indian classical music, and western music? I am not competent enough to answer this question, primarily because my learning of Indian classical music is almost non-existent. All I have learnt so far is western music. But from what I know about Indian classical music and the Ragas, that make its’ backbone, I always tell people; they are both the same at the soul level. This is not because both music styles have a similar seven note pattern (twelve if you include accidentals; sharps and flats), but it is more because the notes, even though used in a dissimilar manner, are used so for similar reasons and effects.

What are Ragas? Each Raga is made up of a particular sequence of notes, and songs can be written based on those note patterns. What is a scale? A scale is a particular pattern of notes, and songs can be written based on those notes. Yes, Ragas are really complex; but so are scales. If there are Ragas for different times of the day, the scales have different moods. If there are Ragas for morning and evening, and each Raga can have a different Ras (or mood), like veer ras (bravado feeling); a major scale has a happy and vibrant mood, while a pure minor scale has a dark tone. Add harmonic minor and melodic minor scales into the mix, and the moods get complex. A Raga may not use all the seven notes found in the basic Sargam (the seven notes family), but may use accidental variations of those that it does use. But so is the case of scales. Each note and its’ sharp or flat variant can have any of the four scale variants of its’ own. Like each Raga has a distinct tone, each note’s various scales will have their own distinct sound, each being pitched at a different level. And no, a scale in Western music need not have all the seven notes of the basic scale either. For example, a Penta-tonic Scale.

What is a Penta-tonic Scale? Simply stated; a scale made up of five different notes. So what is this Pseudo Penta-tonic Scale that I am talking about?

Working on my current project, which happens to be in the scale of G# Major, I noticed a strange pattern of notes. The scale still contains eight notes like any other western scale; G#, A#, C, C#, D#, F, G and G#. And I know, I could have written the scale as AƄ, BƄ, C, DƄ, EƄ, F, G and AƄ and called it an AƄ Major scale. In this latter case it would have all the seven notes of the basic scale present in some form. But then that is how any person would look at the scale and exclaim. However I am an artist. For me the note that has the value of G# or AƄ, has a sound that develops, on both the sounds of the note G, and the note A. It can be linked to either of the two without any prejudice.

So let’s look at the G# Major scale again. G#, A#, C, C#, D#, F, G and G#. It is a pseudo Penta-tonic Scale. It only has five basic notes and their variations, and thus it has to be called a Penta-tonic Scale. But it has the same number of notes making it up, as a regular seven note scale. Thus it has to be a Pseudo Penta-tonic Scale.

I rest my case.

Fatal Urge Carefree Kiss “Amanpreet Singh Rai”


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