In the Rearview
This great hall I enter,
Where all great minds gather…
I am here to receive,
As well as deliver…
The Cat-in-the-Box…Part 2Now Pandora sat down
As Uncle Albert protested,
This Cat-in-the-Box,
Must be contested!
As scientists we must put more thought into this,
In fact let’s think twice…
For this universe was not created,
By God throwing dice?
Indeed, replied Heisenberg,
Not just dice but roulette,
And if you think us mad,
I surmise you forget…
It was only a generation ago,
We thinkers and experimental tinkerers
Thought this universe like a clock,
A mere machine, you know what I mean…
Then you yourself esteemed Dr. Einstein,
Came along,
And said to the thinkers,
You’ve got it all wrong.
Time and space,
They’re relative you see,
And what you observe,
Is where you happen to be.
That was your wrench number one,
In the gears of the clock, Dr Einstein,
And if that didn’t do,
You tossed-in wrench number two.
Matter and energy, you said
Are in fact the same thing,
As your equation clearly shows,
With the speed of light factored in.
Isn’t it curious
How it all comes together,
As we unify the forces
Of which we measure…
Now hold it right there,
Said good Doctor Bohr,
When we get to the quantum,
We cannot say more…
For that is God’s threshold
Of which we can’t cross…
And to probe any further,
Objective science is lost.
Damn objective science!
Alfred North Whitehead shouted boo,
Ours is to explore…
And participate too…
And if we turn mystics
To enter this realm,
Then let us be humbled
By the avatars of sound!
Offered and answered,
A cosmic prayer chanted OM,
David faced Goliath
As the wise Professor Bohm.
Let us consider, he said,
This secret realm forbidden.
For I think in there lies,
An order that is hidden.
Now banish me from the fellowship of science if you must…
I’ve seen worse...condemned a communist,
I got booted from the Land of the Free…
You see, living with paradox is nothing new to me.
But you cannot ban science’s foremost task,
Limit the questions of which it can ask…
For in the heart curiosity does burn,
From the quantum to the cosmos, there’s Infinity to learn.
I like your spirit!
Yelled Zeno of Elea,
And he nearly lost his toga
As he raised his arms with glee.
For the problem of my arrow you will recall,
Is to show the paradox of it all…
Where infinity hides in the stride of a tortoise,
Just as it stretches to the edge of the heavens.
Then there was heard some mumbling among the mechanists…
And the positivists squirmed in their seats…
Hume grumbled and skeptics nodded as somebody countered,
This paradox nonsense of which you speak
It's not logical and rational...too simplistic an answer
For minds that fail to understand that…
But before he could finish his say,
William of Ockham entered the fray.
Too simplistic you say,
But that is our Creator’s way…
The dance of dark and light,
On a razor’s edge, is the path of life…
Then he stood and raised his hand, the wise guru,
And the great hall fell deathly silent,
For the ever clever words of the venerable Lao Tzu…
Now you men of science are beginning to speak my language.
And at that there erupted uproarious laughing,
Amidst the thunderous applause,
Of one hand clapping.
Click below to read
Cat-in-the-Box Part 1
