What are your most existential questions?

[pianowolfi]

And how do you cope with them?

 

[bench warmer]

Wasn't even thinking about this 'til you asked the question.


The Instantaneous communication between quantum particles:

How one quantum particle of a coupled set (like photons & electrons) which is separated immense distances (on the order of trillions of miles or light-years) can INSTANTLY change it's spin (and/or Polarization, etc) to counteract it's partner's change so that the total spin of the system is always zero?

...and since all particles were created in the BigBang, it seems all particles are coupled.

The physicist Richard Feynman said, "If you are not confused by Quantum Mechanics, then you don't understand it."
 
Coping Mechanism:
I'll usually open a bottle of Sangiovese or Chianti and forget all about it.
 

[pianowolfi]

Lol My coping mechanism is *very* similar. I have no clue of quantum physics yet, but it seems quite interesting and VERY "borderline-experience"- like. I would love to be able to understand it better, and never came that far...

[thalbergmad]

Try reading Schroedingers Cat old chap, followed by Schroedingers Kittens.

Sort of Quantam for the layman, like

Thal

[elspeth]

While I was studying physics at uni, I tended to find the level of confusion in QM was ok as you were expected to be confused, but I really struggled with some of the notions involved in electromagnetic theory. To do it you have to just accept that some particles are negatively charged and some positively... but I could never see why they should be and I could never get past that hurdle to be proficient at the theory.  A surprising amount fo high-level science boils down to 'it's like this because its the only currenly sensible explanation, but we still don't understand why' - ideas of informed faith, which is in part why a lot of scientists are religious in some form.

[pianowolfi]

While I was studying physics at uni, I tended to find the level of confusion in QM was ok as you were expected to be confused

True genius but I sense the seriousness behind it

 but I really struggled with some of the notions involved in electromagnetic theory. To do it you have to just accept that some particles are negatively charged and some positively... but I could never see why they should be and I could never get past that hurdle to be proficient at the theory.

I tend to understand this very much, I have no clue why it should be positive or negative, but I think that's a question of how it's defined. It doesn't matter how you call something. If there are two different kind of particles you could name them Hugo and Cecilia if you like . where it gets a bit unclear to me is when there are thousands of more particles like quarks etc. but of course this is my laymen's understanding. Yep, got it, Thal

  A surprising amount fo high-level science boils down to 'it's like this because its the only currenly sensible explanation, but we still don't understand why' - ideas of informed faith, which is in part why a lot of scientists are religious in some form.

Yes ,what would our world be without open questions and an infinite amount of mysteries. So many scientists agree on this, I think.

Anyway, existential questions Right in front of your daily life Everyday experience confronted with the "irrational"?
Any more opinions and experiences?

[quantum]

What is existance?  How did we develop the ability to question what we are?  Will we be ever able to understand the "big picutre" of the universe?  If we are a microcosm of something, what is that something?

Coping method:  I don't think the mental institution knows what to do with me.  Good thing I don't drink much.

Alternate coping method: Improvise and record, and try not to theorize too much about it.

[m1469]

In line with a few ideas that I have been considering with regard to "progress," and the proof/belief that progress for many living organisms is often made with the help of pressure/heat -- and the fact that it seems extreme circumstances seem to work wonders in pulling mankind together -- I wonder :

What kind of worldwide atrocity/calamity is it going to take to be able to personally effect the hearts of each individual, therefore bringing us together and having us work toward one goal ?

Do we have a choice or does it have to come to this ?

Is there more than one kind of pressure/heat ?

If so, what are the affects of each one ? 

Is one more productive than another ?

What does the future hold ?

What is the future ?

What is the substance of life ?




Coping mechanism : Live

[Bob]

Who am I?  Why am I here?   :p  How did I get here?  Why am I not somewhere else?

How can I get the most out of my life?

What happens when you die?


Those are too big for everyday life and I doubt I'll ever have an answer.  So, basically I cope by not worrying about it, kind of ignoring it.  No matter how much thought goes into it, you'll never get an answer.

[pianistimo]

i agree withm1469- that the most existential questions are usually asked when you come to a crisis.  humanity cannot solve everything.  even some small problems.  maybe a pressing personal one.  that's how i see it.  i just pray - 'God, this is really a small problem - that's why you can solve it so fast.' 

maybe a question for God 'why pain.  and, why are some people in life given so much of it - and others relatively little' -  and 'why did one of my grandma's need four hip operations and get so terribly bedridden at the end?' 

[Bob]

I suppose another one is... what are the next big questions once you know the answers to these questions?  So you find out where you came from -- Where did all that come from?  And the things before that then?

[thalberg]

Why can't we change the past?  We get one shot at a decision and if we hate the outcome we can't change it.  Those years are gone.

And why must we make decisions not knowing how they'll turn out?  We make all our decisions based on seriously limited information then we're stuck with the results.

And....once we screw up our life, how do we get it back on track?  Are we always stuck in plan B forever?

What should I do next?  How can I live my life so that at the end of it I don't regret it?  (not accomplishing that one so far)

Method of coping: sleeping a lot more than I should.

[Bob]

First Plan B.... then on to C,  then D....

[thalberg]

First Plan B.... then on to C,  then D....

HAHA.....LOL

[fiddes]

my question - is space really infinite because the only infite thing i can think of is a circle - you can follow the line forever without finding an end - however a circle is 2d so you would have to make it a sphere??? well i think so

easy enough a sphere is in all terms infinte cos you can follow any number of lines around in circles and never leave unless u bring the 4d into it and realise that although u can travel inside the sphere you can travel outside so how is it infite if there is an area outside the sphere without space?

i tend not to deal with it, its driving me crazy

[fiddes]

baring in mind im not a scientist or anything so 4d is prob meant ofr something else and writing it through has given me an answer, i think space is in a shape of a sphere and when you go through the walls you enter in a different dimension

or it could be that outside of the universe is a big plastic ball designed to make us think that there is no end to space?

[dnephi]

Am I hungry?

[pianistimo]

did you have a recent stomach bypass?  everyone knows when they're hungry.  don't they?  existential question.

[pianowolfi]

Am I hungry?

Yes you are. Existential answer.

[alwaystheangel]

wow I got a completely different idea from this question...

I mean along the lines of Albert Camus and Sartre... so I mean the essential Existentialist question is "what is point? Why bother living when everything is random, you have complete control of you destiny, but that is not a gift like Rousseau believed, but a terrible, terrible burden"  Which I tend to agree with.  I hate making decisions. lol

but in all seriousness, my biggest question is "what is my purpose?" and I know the answer and that is "I don't have one" coping:" apathetic acceptance that I am no more significant than a mosquito.  However, that said, I may not have a purpose, but I can fool myself into thinking I do have one, it may be my job, or college, or my boyfriend, or helping an old lady across the street, those give me a purpose, at least something that ressembles a purpose for a short moment in time.

[quasimodo]

Why should I have any existential question ?