“Whose idea was it?” he asks.
“Idea about what?” she asks in return.
“Putting a net in the middle of a tennis court. The game would be easier without it.”
“But what would be the challenge? What would be the game?” She then goes on to say, “Games require challenges of some kind. In the case of tennis, there’s the triple challenge of net, boundary lines, and opponent. Games mean taking some kind of space, virtual or real, and imposing some laws, again, virtual or real. Games can also incorporate obstacles: Hurdles in track, for example, sand traps, hills, and trees in golf, fences in baseball, confining squares in checkers, chess, and Scrabble, and nets in tennis. In a lumpy universe, I’ve learned to accept nets in the middle of courts.”
“What?”
“Well, think about it. You’ve seen images of the universe made from the data acquired by the COBE satellite and the WMAP sensor. Those images reveal that three hundred thousand years after the Big Bang, the universe was not uniform. The microwave background, or the Echo of the Big Bang, was uneven from the get-go. The universe was lumpy from the start. If it had been uniform, you couldn’t exist. Think clear broth vs. vegetable soup. You live in the latter; nothing individual would be distinguishable in a universe of broth. You are a matter lump in a lumpy universe that includes lumps of solar systems, galaxies, and groups of galaxies, and, of course, nets in the middle of otherwise smooth tennis courts.
“I guess what I’m trying to say is that uniformity is impossible in the universe as it is. Obstacles abound; inviolable boundaries exist; rules apply. Winners and losers are the stuff of the lumpy universe. Why expect a tennis court with no obstacle and no restrictive boundaries when the entire universe encompasses boundaries and obstacles of one kind or another.
“Realistic expectations derive from realizing that we live amidst lumps and that the universe is at best uneven. Smoothness anywhere is a local phenomenon. Uninterrupted space is impossible over any distance or time. All of us will encounter some lump or obstacle through, over, or around which is our only option if we want to advance or project something. And the physical lumpiness of the universe appears to have its analog in our intellectual and emotional journeys. There’s always a net or an obstacle of some kind in the middle of every apparently smooth surface,” she declares.
“Idea about what?” she asks in return.
“Putting a net in the middle of a tennis court. The game would be easier without it.”
“But what would be the challenge? What would be the game?” She then goes on to say, “Games require challenges of some kind. In the case of tennis, there’s the triple challenge of net, boundary lines, and opponent. Games mean taking some kind of space, virtual or real, and imposing some laws, again, virtual or real. Games can also incorporate obstacles: Hurdles in track, for example, sand traps, hills, and trees in golf, fences in baseball, confining squares in checkers, chess, and Scrabble, and nets in tennis. In a lumpy universe, I’ve learned to accept nets in the middle of courts.”
“What?”
“Well, think about it. You’ve seen images of the universe made from the data acquired by the COBE satellite and the WMAP sensor. Those images reveal that three hundred thousand years after the Big Bang, the universe was not uniform. The microwave background, or the Echo of the Big Bang, was uneven from the get-go. The universe was lumpy from the start. If it had been uniform, you couldn’t exist. Think clear broth vs. vegetable soup. You live in the latter; nothing individual would be distinguishable in a universe of broth. You are a matter lump in a lumpy universe that includes lumps of solar systems, galaxies, and groups of galaxies, and, of course, nets in the middle of otherwise smooth tennis courts.
“I guess what I’m trying to say is that uniformity is impossible in the universe as it is. Obstacles abound; inviolable boundaries exist; rules apply. Winners and losers are the stuff of the lumpy universe. Why expect a tennis court with no obstacle and no restrictive boundaries when the entire universe encompasses boundaries and obstacles of one kind or another.
“Realistic expectations derive from realizing that we live amidst lumps and that the universe is at best uneven. Smoothness anywhere is a local phenomenon. Uninterrupted space is impossible over any distance or time. All of us will encounter some lump or obstacle through, over, or around which is our only option if we want to advance or project something. And the physical lumpiness of the universe appears to have its analog in our intellectual and emotional journeys. There’s always a net or an obstacle of some kind in the middle of every apparently smooth surface,” she declares.
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