What's it all made of?

TheCrownedOne

TheCrownedOne

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Thank God for General Chat because this is so unrelated to bodybuilding.
I’ve been very interested in science since I was old enough to understand any of it. In some ways, that love is what led me to heavily study nutrition and exercise science. Anyway, none of my college professors have ever been able to give me a satisfactory answer to the following question:


What is the smallest thing?


No matter what answer you can come up with, it eventually leads to: Well what is that made of? It seems like our understanding of the substance of the temporal world is flawed because the way we define things, everything has to be made of something, like it continues forever. This is impossible of course. The only way I’ve been able to reason it is that eventually it just ends in God. What do you guys think?
 

size

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It is difficult to answer a question if no one knows the answer. :)
 
TheCrownedOne

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This is true, size, disappointing but true.
 

Matthew D

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I don't think that we will ever discover the answer to this on our own..
 
hypo

hypo

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it is equally mind boggling to think about the opposite: a universe of infinite space? What is beyond "the edge?" Infinity is a pretty big number.

We will no doubt find the answers to some of these questions eventually- but each answer will only unlock more questions!

BTW- I remember the howstuffworks.com forums used to be a great place to chat about this kind of philosophical stuff- they had a section devoted to it. They are now unfortunately closed down :( Anyone know a good substitute?
 
Beowulf

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I would think the smallest thing would be some quantum particle, but this is really outside my knowledge base. Let me know when you figure it out :D
 
TheCrownedOne

TheCrownedOne

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Hopefully here in a few weeks my bodyfat will be the smallest thing :icon_lol:

"We are unique in that we forge our bodies in the fire of our will." - General Han, Enter the Dragon

Stoke the flames!
 
CDB

CDB

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It's a flaw in our thinking. Not everything needs to be made of something. When you look at a table technically it's mostly made of empty space. Doesn't look it or feel it though. Right now I think the smallest units considered are strings made of pure energy. I think quantum loop gravity suggests instead of strings the smallest units are actually small bits of space-time itself about the size of the plank (sp?) length.

I honestly think the true nature of the universe is beyond the ability of most if not all people to comprehend. We're too locked into unconscious analogies using our limited senses to define what goes beyond anything we're capable of experiencing subjectively. The stuff is interesting, but mind bending.
 
TheCrownedOne

TheCrownedOne

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You sound like a man after my own heart CDB. It's just hard to look beyond the nature of everything being comprised of something else. I mean, energy is made of something and that has to be made of something right? It seems like it can never end. You're probably right though; perhaps such a thing is beyond our mind's ability to comprehend (like eternity is impossible to grasp). Our view of everything is based on our relationship to reality. Everything has to begin somewhere and as such must end, for as the Oracle told us in the Matrix Revolutions: "Everything that has a beginning has an end, Neo." I think this is a good explanation for why good will always win over evil. Goodness/holiness never had a beginning; God is eternal - without beginning and, as such is without end. Evil began with Lucifer; he was created (started existing somewhere) and he started evil, and evil will end with him. Well, sort-of because he will never end just like God. He'll "live" eternity in the lake of fire.
 
B5150

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perhaps such a thing is beyond our mind's ability to comprehend (like eternity is impossible to grasp). Our view of everything is based on our relationship to reality.
1Cor 13:12
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.
 
TheCrownedOne

TheCrownedOne

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Ole B5150! Glad to see you join in :wave:
 

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