How Things Work: A Brief History of Reality
BOOK II: The Power of Three (#51. "A Brief History of the Microscope" – Part One)
Be A Part of the Conversation!
Tuesday, October 4, 2022
“By the help of microscopes, there is nothing so small, as to escape our inquiry; hence there is a new visible world discovered to the understanding.”
– Robert Hooke
CONSIDERATION #51 – “A Brief History of the Microscope” Part One
PREFACE
Welcome Everybody!
The microscope encapsulates the history of modern science in three specific ways. It represents one of the first modern technological tools that expands the natural perception of human beings. It directly accesses new empirical worlds of reality previously unknown through the unassisted five senses. And it opens the door for rational abstraction that is completely supported by other rational abstraction.
“Science began to recognize that there were things that existed beyond the five senses that were actually ‘real.’”
The first microscope required only three critical factors: a physical lens, a light source, and an observer. The light source was used to illuminate what you wanted to see into the lens, which would “magnify” it so you could perceive it with the naked eye. Everything was real, objective, and empirical. The only “unknown” factor in the process involved what was being looked at under the microscope; that’s where the mystery resided. This simple tool revealed an unseen microscopic world living within our own perceivable world. Science began to recognize that there were things that existed beyond the five senses that were actually “real.” We just needed a little technological help to perceive them.
“The microscope became so powerful it could render the reality of things so small they could not even be proven to exist.”
Eventually, the simple optical microscope evolved into a technology capable of translating data and information far beyond any possibility of human perception into an expression of reality that could be rationally, and to some degree empirically, understood. The microscope became so powerful it could render the reality of objects so small they could not even be proven to exist. Today’s microscopes show us things we would never, and could never, see without them. Today’s microscopes make the quantum world perceivable.
We begin with a warning about trying to explain the nature of Quantum Reality in words.
CONSIDERATION #51 – A Brief History of the Microscope – Part One
Now that we have a basic understanding of what Einstein called a photon, we are entering an entirely new consideration of what science is that must be understood before continuing; the microscope serves as the perfect example to exemplify that new consideration.
“The rock-solid certainty of classical science was beginning to transcend into the more theoretical abstractions of the quantum world.”
At this point in the discussion, almost anything I say can be considered true or not true at the same time, depending on alternative views and perspectives. Truth becomes more dependent on context than on certainty. The rock-solid certainty of classical science was beginning to transcend into the more theoretical abstractions of the quantum world. In the quantum world, abstractions, such as mathematics, were used to explain and prove other abstractions, such as newly proposed quantum theories.
“…even the very idea of subatomic particles being measurable at all in any ‘real’ sense is uncertain.”
The quantum experience is one of complete theoretical abstraction from start to finish. So, the argument over whether a photon is “bigger” than an electron, or atom, can be argued either way through various considerations, and even the very idea of subatomic particles being measurable at all in any “real” sense is uncertain. When using words, as opposed to mathematics, the truth about the quantum world can be somewhat relative.
However, in the context of how microscopes work, the idea of size is related to wavelength, as opposed to, let’s say mass, as an example. Therefore, in the context of a practical discussion related to how microscopes work and altered scientific research and discovery, the concept of a photon being bigger, or larger, than an atom or electron is related to its wavelength and not to other factors that we might ordinarily associate with size.
“It is important to remember and understand that theoretical physics can only be explained and understood through mathematics; once we start to explain it using words it is like trying to explain any other theoretical entity, such as God.”
So, as we will consider in more detail shortly, if you accelerate a beam of electrons to very high energies their wavelengths actually become shorter, or smaller, than a photon’s. It is important to remember and understand that theoretical physics can only be explained and understood through mathematics; once we start to explain it using words it is like trying to explain any other theoretical entity, such as God. Attempting to explain certain quantum concepts always leads to some kind of paradox. This often reflects the nature of language, as much as the nature of quantum mechanics.
“Microscopes revealed the evil spirits and demons supposedly responsible for our worst plagues to be only small living creatures we now know as bacteria and viruses.”
Microscopes were one of the first, and most important, tools developed from, and for, the scientific method. To a very large degree, they helped move philosophic and scientific theory into the “real” world. Microscopes revealed the evil spirits and demons supposedly responsible for our worst plagues to be only small living creatures we now know as bacteria and viruses. They brought a long series of ever smaller worlds into ours, expanding our entire concept and experience of reality. A microscope is a relatively simple tool that enables us to see things that are ordinarily too small for us to see with only our eyes. Here’s how they work.
POSTSCRIPT
This caution regarding the “accuracy” of attempting to describe quantum concepts in words pertains to more than just microscopes. At this point science becomes less and less empirical and more and more rational. Any real certainty about the nature of the universe disappears. The microscope transcends its empirical roots to become a rational tool designed and built to understand and explain a completely abstract Reality.
Next week we follow the arch of the microscope from being an empirical tool to becoming a new form of rational abstraction.
Expand the Conversation by Upgrading to “Reality by a Thread!”
Excerpt from Untangling the Knots of Reality – Podcast #17: “Untangling the Sacred and the Secular – Aristotle & Aquinas." UPGRADE TODAY!
This Week on “The Thread”:
•Untangling the Knots of Reality Podcast: “Untangling the Sacred and the Secular – Aristotle & Aquinas” (“Aquinas saw the Catholic Church, and its theology, as a combination of both Natural and Divine Reason; working together in combination to uncover and investigate the sacred and secular mysteries and realities of God…” )
•Reality by a Thread (Discussion Thread): Preview of Book V – “Understanding the Arch of Being and Awareness: “Beyond Self-Awareness” (“Generally, animals are an example of life that is self-aware. They recognize themselves as distinct beings in the physical world of Reality. They interact with Reality by interacting with other physical beings. Animals have moved beyond the stimulus-response awareness of reality to an instinct based awareness of reality. Instinct is a kind of simple “a priori” knowledge that has developed through a long process of stimulus-response awareness...”)
•FREE PDF Download of Book IV: “The Cosmic Symphony – Overtones of String Theory” plus other discounts and benefits.
UPGRADE NOW!
FREE PREVIEWS of “Untangling the Knots of Reality!” Part of the “Reality by a Thread” Upgrade – CLICK IMAGE to learn more!
“COSMIC SYMPHONY” NOW AVAILABLE! 20% OFF FOR “HOW THINGS WORK” SUBSCRIBERS!!! (PDF Download)
(FREE For Paid Subscribers!)
20% OFF PDF PROMO-CODE FOR FREE SUBSCRIBERS: (HTW-CS20)
CLICK Image to Learn More!
USE PROMO-CODE HTW-CS20 TO GET 20% OFF PDF AT CHECKOUT!
Print Editions Also Available!! (No Discount Codes)