Time Warp

While the rest of us are worrying about the fate of Brad and Jen, the world's greatest physicists and mathematicians continue the quest to harmonize notions of quantum mechanics and gravity. Problem is: the more these braniacs discover, the wackier things get. In fact, according to the latest research none of us may exist at all (Brad and Jen excepted of course). I find this quite annoying.

String theory, teleporting random particles, vibrating twisted time/space foam... I have a hard enough time following directions to a local restaurant let alone internalizing the idea that our perception of physical existence and consciousness is a cosmic parlor trick. This is a notion that goes far beyond the idea of a random circumstantial existence. Suddenly existentialsm (the ultimate sad-sack philosophy) is the optimistic big brother. The new kid in town, nexistentialism, says not only doesn't tbis life add up to a hill of beans, but the damn hill isn't even there.

At least with the non-quantum side of things, one can at least grasp what the heck is going on, kinda sorta. For instance the idea that time is relative to the observer and a clock will move slower at high speed in relation to a clock at rest on Earth: well, lo and behold, we can actually test that. A Russian Cosmonaut has aged a 50th of a second slower, for instance, on a recent jaunt into space. That means that someday, one can envision terminally ill people deciding to take a trip into space that to them feels like a month, but when they return they can meet their grown children.