- Joined
- Sep 28, 2011
- Messages
- 28,400
- Reaction score
- 0
... We destroyed this planet??
*looks around*
I think you're thinking of some movie.
The attempt to understand the basic "building blocks" of nature, of why particles have mass and don't all zip along at the speed of light (like the photon) is, if there's any reason, why we are here.
As far as Hawking and his more "out there" theorizing, well, theoretical physics requires a big imagination. Some of what he likes to babble about is science fiction, that he himself would categorize as such.
Why do we want to "understand" it? So we can use it. What are we gonna do if we find other planets and life? Use them. As Francis Bacon said, we have to obey nature to command it.
Why are we so interested in these big projects? They all eventually are applied to war. We have guided bombs and misguided men. Like MLK said, we worship at the altar of science because science creates anxieties and dangers that science can never solve.