Welcome!

As I am sure that many of you are aware, some of the greatest minds of theoretical physics continue on a quest for what has been referred to as "the Holy Grail" of science: to discover and describe what is called, the Theory of Everything (or TOE for short).

Now, this is, apparently, more complicated that you might think. You see, in order to come up with an "ultimate" theory that explains all the physical aspects of the universe, physicists have to reconcile two already-big theories that seem to be ultimately contradictory. In one corner, we have General Relativity (thank you, Albert), which focuses on the force of gravity to explain the really big stuff: stars, galaxies, the national debt, etc. I’ve read a lot of explanations of this theory, but I can still only picture what it means, kind of vaguely, in a kind of metaphorical sense. (If you can explain it, please send it to me and I’ll print it here.)

In the other corner, we’ve got what’s known as Quantum Field Theory, which I don’t pretend to understand at all. But what I do know (or at least I have read) is that this theory uses three non-gravitational forces - weak, strong, and electromagnetic - to explain the really small stuff: molecules, atoms and sub-atomic particles, etc.

The problem is, it seems, that these two big theories just don’t fit together. As a matter of fact, they seem to mutually exclude one another. So basically, when you want to explain part of the universe, you can use GR, or you can use QFT, but you can’t use both. (Don’t ask me why.)

Naturally, this really pisses scientists off. So a lot of them are off on this grand quest to uncover some sort of larger underlying theory that could unite all these forces together into one big super-theory that would satisfactorily explain pretty much everything.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I hope they eventually do it. Some great theoretical physicists (like Stephen Hawking, for instance) say they have their doubts. Others are looking for possible answers in something called "string theory." (This sounds to me suspiciously like Frank Zappa’s theory that the universe was really "one note" and that "atoms are really vibrations," which always sounded to me like as good an explanation as any.) And if somebody does actually work this thing out, I really hope that there’s somebody else who can explain it to ordinary folks like me. (I know that’s really asking a lot.)

I want them to be able to explain the entire physical universe through some kind of model or another. I think that would be really neat. And maybe they can, and maybe they can’t. The thing I object to is the notion that if they actually did this, then they really would have explained everything.

To which I say: bullshit. You still haven’t explained Macbeth, for example. Or Mozart’s string quartets. You haven’t explained love. You haven’t explained why poetry can get you laid.You haven’t explained why the dog likes my daughter better than he likes me. And you certainly haven’t explained why Guinness Stout on tap is unquestionably the greatest beer in the universe.

For the answer to these, and similar questions, you’re going to have to come here!

See, I have all these little ideas about everything else, and I spend a lot of my time reading and writing about them. So the thought occurred to me suddenly one day: Why not put them all together somewhere on the Internet where everybody could see my ponderings and be enlightened by them?

Then I suddenly realized that I’m really not that clever, really, and since nobody seems to care what I have to say, why would they want to read it, which would only take up only more of their valuable time, which they could use to post dirty jokes and pictures of their cats on Facebook?

Then it hit me: what if I let any and everybody out there write about anything they want, and put their musings and cogitations out there along with mine? They might not want to read me, but surely they’d like to read themselves. And maybe even some of their friends. Hell, who knows how many opinionated cranks are out there in cyberspace? (We know there’s a lot!) There may be literally thousands of folks out there just dying to have their grand observations and pet theories published, somewhere, but they don’t know where to go to get it done.

Well hell, I’ll do it. I’ll publish what you think. I won’t pay you for it, but wisdom is its own reward, right?

And not only that, but we can all make comments and even conduct debates (in a smart, grown-up manner) on all sorts of topics. Heck, we might even form an online community.

Hey, it’s worth a try. At least I have a bunch of crap that I’m going to stick out here. You can read it, ignore it, comment on it, call me an asshole, whatever. If you want to join the party, you’re more than welcome. And if you don’t, well at least I will be able to maintain the illusion that I am actually contributing something of substance to the "international debate." (Or maybe me and some other guy in Croatia, perhaps?)

But of course you all want to contribute to this, don’t you? Yes, you do. It’ll be fun. It’ll be just like writing a term paper, but you won’t be getting a grade. (Now you’re getting excited!)

But, Pete, you may be asking, what’ll I write about? Hell, anything - that’s up to you. But to help everybody out and get this project going, I’ve come up with a list of a dozen topics that should get everybody’s juices flowing. Hows this for starters:


1. Literature

2. Music

3. Cinema

4. Theater

5. Art

6. Philosophy

7. Religion/Mythology

8. History

9. Politics

10. Psychology

11. Science

12. Sociology/Economy
And there’s no need to stop there. Come up with your own topic, like "Food and Sex," or "Stupid People and How to Ignore Them." I don’t care.

I’ll go ahead and get the ball rolling by putting up the first few articles under several of these topics above, and as I said, I’ll welcome any comments. I’ll keep on doing it, too, even if nobody else does.

Just pick a topic - any topic, write an article, and email it to:




peteywest@yahoo.com

I’ll post it on here (unless it’s some stupid racist harangue or something) and everybody can see it and comment!

I’ll start!