Random Musings

The Sphinx

Until recently, the Sphinx wasn’t considered much of a mystery. There it sat, right by the Great Pyramid, a large but ordinary-looking sculpture located close to one of the most mysterious structures ever built. Sure, the Sphinx might have a hidden chamber or two, but mostly it was just this big statue carved out of the rock, no more mysterious than Mt. Rushmore.

Over the years, I’ve been told over and over again that we only use 10% of our brains – and how wonderful it would be if we could learn to use the other 90%. Sometimes the numbers vary – down to 7%, as much as 20% – but there was always the idea that we could multiply our mind power 5 to 10 times. Imagine how powerful we’d be then.

“I don’t know.” Three of the hardest words to say – except maybe for:

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Many of us – probably most of us – seem to approach admitting ignorance with the same enthusiasm we approach a root canal. It is as though we are afraid to confess that we don’t know something, as though it were a moral deficiency or a crime.

In 1989, chemists Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann reported that they had achieved cold fusion. “Cold fusion” refers to a type of nuclear reaction that takes place at temperatures far below the several million degrees that are usually required for the reaction. It’s not known whether cold fusion is possible. When the report came out it garnered enormous media attention. Fusion would be a source of cheap and relatively safe energy. Any process that could generate fusion energy – cold or otherwise – is big news.

Pyramids – What were we thinking?

The pyramids of Egypt – and in particular, the Great Pyramid of Giza – are among the most puzzling and contentious productions of human endeavor. In fact, one argument is whether the pyramids were built by humans or by aliens. The reasoning seems to go: “I don’t know how they could have built the pyramids. Therefore, it must have been aliens.” Such reasoning is wearisome; I’m going with “forgotten technology.”

Most of us admit that we don’t know everything. However, we usually feel certain about some of our facts. We may think they’re obviously true, or that they’re so certain that everyone accepts them. I want to challenge this assumption.