Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
[T. S. Eliot in The Choruses]
In astronomy, dark matter is a type of matter hypothesized to account for a large part of the total mass in the universe. Dark matter cannot be seen directly with telescopes; evidently it neither emits nor absorbs light or other electromagnetic radiation at any significant level. Instead, its existence and properties are inferred from its gravitational effects on visible matter, radiation, and the large-scale structure of the universe. Dark matter is estimated to constitute 83% of the universe, whereas ordinary matter makes up only 17%.
Since many years I have had the impression that although mankind exists since roughly one million years and man lives in so called civilizations for some thousand years, much that needs to be taught in society's educational bodies is actually not, and much that should be known is neither. It seems that we are fed with visible ordinary matter, but all the dark matter stays in the dark.
I always had these questions that neither I could answer myself nor could I find others' satisfactory answers. why are we? [the most intriguing answer so far: 42. found in Douglas Adam's A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy] and if given the fact that we are, how to make the best of our existence? what are the rules that should guide our life? where and whom can we learn them from? do they come from within? or does society have to instill them into us? is there a middle path, like the Buddhists claim, that leads to liberation? or is life just non-sense? if it is not, what matters and what doesn't? what makes some people succeed in life but others not? what is success? how can it be measured? why are success and happiness quite often different things? what are the ingredients for a blooming society? a strong state or a strong citizen or both?
on this site I collect some dark matter that matters to me; this site is about dark matter the way I see it. Hence, this site is written in the form of an essay. the word essay derives from the French infinitive essayer, "to try" or "to attempt". In English essay first meant "a trial" or "an attempt", and this is still an alternative meaning. Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) was the first author to describe his work as essays; he used the term to characterize these as "attempts" to put his thoughts into writing.
Since many years I have had the impression that although mankind exists since roughly one million years and man lives in so called civilizations for some thousand years, much that needs to be taught in society's educational bodies is actually not, and much that should be known is neither. It seems that we are fed with visible ordinary matter, but all the dark matter stays in the dark.
I always had these questions that neither I could answer myself nor could I find others' satisfactory answers. why are we? [the most intriguing answer so far: 42. found in Douglas Adam's A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy] and if given the fact that we are, how to make the best of our existence? what are the rules that should guide our life? where and whom can we learn them from? do they come from within? or does society have to instill them into us? is there a middle path, like the Buddhists claim, that leads to liberation? or is life just non-sense? if it is not, what matters and what doesn't? what makes some people succeed in life but others not? what is success? how can it be measured? why are success and happiness quite often different things? what are the ingredients for a blooming society? a strong state or a strong citizen or both?
on this site I collect some dark matter that matters to me; this site is about dark matter the way I see it. Hence, this site is written in the form of an essay. the word essay derives from the French infinitive essayer, "to try" or "to attempt". In English essay first meant "a trial" or "an attempt", and this is still an alternative meaning. Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) was the first author to describe his work as essays; he used the term to characterize these as "attempts" to put his thoughts into writing.
