We’ve all seen them, those helium-filled balloons drifting skyward either on purpose or by accident, the latter circumstance involving little fingers letting go—who knows? On purpose? But then, to what end?
We don’t, after the Hindenburg, put hydrogen in such containers; it’s much too dangerous as that “Oh! the Humanity” tragedy so many years ago demonstrated. But one wonders, what if, somewhere some alien races of intelligent life decided to celebrate on a galactic scale, releasing untold numbers of hydrogen-filled balloons spaceward, all puffy mylar bags drifting out of the galaxy, there to burst and free the hydrogen?
Well, that’s probably not the explanation for a ring of neutral hydrogen gas that the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope operators found encircling AGC 203001, a very large galaxy 260 million LY away.* In fact, astronomers are at this time a bit perplexed by the ring of mostly hydrogen that is apparently devoid of stars. The only other such ring, found in the Leo Group of galaxies, appears to have been the result of galactic collisions that expelled hydrogen and helium, making a ring some 650,000 LY in diameter. Strange, but demonstrable of our still rather elementary knowledge of all that is “out there.”
So, like trying to come up with the explanation about why a little kid releases a balloon—consider the possibilities mentioned above, including: Accident, inattention, and a variety of purposeful acts like “I did it because I could” (a Raskolnikov-like explanation at once arrogant and defiant), “I wanted God to have it” (an altruistic act), “I was mad” (the product of uncontrolled emotions), “I was curious about what would happen” (well, curiosity, of course), and “I got tired of holding it and my lollipop, so something had to go” (a choice of the better of two evils)—the astronomers suggest whatever they can to hypothesize the ring’s starless formation.
Oh! How humanity loves to hypothesize. We still don’t truly know what caused the Hindenburg to burst into fatal flames, but we can jointly guess as we have done so in articles, books, and films. We can suggest one cause or another. We can hypothesize individually or cooperatively in search of answers to mysteries old and new. We just want to know; we are driven by knowledge for knowledge’s sake. As David Berlinski writes in A Tour of the Calculus, “We are a hopelessly inquisitive species…” (63).** If we don’t know something or understand it, we believe that persistent probing will reveal what we want to know because we just have to know.
And we apply that inquisitiveness to people both near and far. It’s not just why a child might have released a helium-filled balloon that intrigues us; it’s why anyone did or does anything. “Why’d ya do that?” we ask. We ask it over the backyard fence, on public transportation, and especially in courts. It’s not that we just need to know. We are driven to know. At least, many are so driven, and those motivated to discover are befuddled and frustrated by those who are not. In fact, the curious are curious about why some people aren’t curious. “How could you NOT want to know?” they ask others. And they query themselves, “How is anyone content?”
Some might suggest that knowing how the hydrogen ring formed around AGC 203001 might not change anything. But really? Berlinski also says, “No doubt the urge to hoard facts is stapled to our genes.” Given our penchant for discovery, it seems there will never be a time when we will run out of facts to hoard, such as the one about a distant galaxy encircled (mostly) by inexplicable hydrogen. You now know that fact. You can try to do something with it as I have here (however insignificantly or uninterestingly), or you can shelve it in some engrams, putting it in storage until some unforeseen need asks for its recall. And then, that long-hoarded fact might spring to mind in the midst of a conversation or meditation, enliven an exchange, and make not only your life, but also another life all the more exciting.
Those who don’t wish to know everything or anything live in the temporary bliss of ignorance, making those who wish to know everything or anything exclaim, “Oh, the Humanity!” as they watch in horror the tragic end to what might have been an otherwise delightful trip.
*de Lazaro, Enrico, Enormous ring of Neutral Hydrogen Found around Distant Massive Galaxy. SciNews. 3 Jan 2020. http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/ring-neutral-hydrogen-massive-galaxy-07977.html Accessed January 8, 2020.
**1995. Random House and in 1997 Vintage Books
We don’t, after the Hindenburg, put hydrogen in such containers; it’s much too dangerous as that “Oh! the Humanity” tragedy so many years ago demonstrated. But one wonders, what if, somewhere some alien races of intelligent life decided to celebrate on a galactic scale, releasing untold numbers of hydrogen-filled balloons spaceward, all puffy mylar bags drifting out of the galaxy, there to burst and free the hydrogen?
Well, that’s probably not the explanation for a ring of neutral hydrogen gas that the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope operators found encircling AGC 203001, a very large galaxy 260 million LY away.* In fact, astronomers are at this time a bit perplexed by the ring of mostly hydrogen that is apparently devoid of stars. The only other such ring, found in the Leo Group of galaxies, appears to have been the result of galactic collisions that expelled hydrogen and helium, making a ring some 650,000 LY in diameter. Strange, but demonstrable of our still rather elementary knowledge of all that is “out there.”
So, like trying to come up with the explanation about why a little kid releases a balloon—consider the possibilities mentioned above, including: Accident, inattention, and a variety of purposeful acts like “I did it because I could” (a Raskolnikov-like explanation at once arrogant and defiant), “I wanted God to have it” (an altruistic act), “I was mad” (the product of uncontrolled emotions), “I was curious about what would happen” (well, curiosity, of course), and “I got tired of holding it and my lollipop, so something had to go” (a choice of the better of two evils)—the astronomers suggest whatever they can to hypothesize the ring’s starless formation.
Oh! How humanity loves to hypothesize. We still don’t truly know what caused the Hindenburg to burst into fatal flames, but we can jointly guess as we have done so in articles, books, and films. We can suggest one cause or another. We can hypothesize individually or cooperatively in search of answers to mysteries old and new. We just want to know; we are driven by knowledge for knowledge’s sake. As David Berlinski writes in A Tour of the Calculus, “We are a hopelessly inquisitive species…” (63).** If we don’t know something or understand it, we believe that persistent probing will reveal what we want to know because we just have to know.
And we apply that inquisitiveness to people both near and far. It’s not just why a child might have released a helium-filled balloon that intrigues us; it’s why anyone did or does anything. “Why’d ya do that?” we ask. We ask it over the backyard fence, on public transportation, and especially in courts. It’s not that we just need to know. We are driven to know. At least, many are so driven, and those motivated to discover are befuddled and frustrated by those who are not. In fact, the curious are curious about why some people aren’t curious. “How could you NOT want to know?” they ask others. And they query themselves, “How is anyone content?”
Some might suggest that knowing how the hydrogen ring formed around AGC 203001 might not change anything. But really? Berlinski also says, “No doubt the urge to hoard facts is stapled to our genes.” Given our penchant for discovery, it seems there will never be a time when we will run out of facts to hoard, such as the one about a distant galaxy encircled (mostly) by inexplicable hydrogen. You now know that fact. You can try to do something with it as I have here (however insignificantly or uninterestingly), or you can shelve it in some engrams, putting it in storage until some unforeseen need asks for its recall. And then, that long-hoarded fact might spring to mind in the midst of a conversation or meditation, enliven an exchange, and make not only your life, but also another life all the more exciting.
Those who don’t wish to know everything or anything live in the temporary bliss of ignorance, making those who wish to know everything or anything exclaim, “Oh, the Humanity!” as they watch in horror the tragic end to what might have been an otherwise delightful trip.
*de Lazaro, Enrico, Enormous ring of Neutral Hydrogen Found around Distant Massive Galaxy. SciNews. 3 Jan 2020. http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/ring-neutral-hydrogen-massive-galaxy-07977.html Accessed January 8, 2020.
**1995. Random House and in 1997 Vintage Books
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