The Universe Is Black And Empty

It’s well known that most of matter is empty space. Between the nucleus of an atom and it’s electron shell is a vast void. Even most of the electron shell is empty most of the time. The only reason anything seems solid is because the electrons at the edge of your skin repel the electrons at the edge of what you “touch”. From a subatomic perspective, nothing ever touches anything.

Transcript

It's well known that most of matter is empty space.

Between the nucleus of an atom and its electron shell is a vast void.

Even most of the electron shell is empty most of the time.

The only reason anything seems solid is that the electrons at the edge of your skin repel against the electrons in whatever it is that you're touching.

From a subatomic perspective,

Nothing ever actually touches anything,

With the exception of nuclear fusion.

It's like two magnets repelling against each other.

Think about this the next time you walk across the floor.

Your feet are never actually touching the ground.

You're hovering.

Likewise with light.

Most of space is a black void,

With photons occasionally flowing through it.

It doesn't appear this way because your nervous system did not evolve to present the world as it actually is.

It evolved in a way to represent it in a way that is useful.

Those are two different things.

The nervous system fills in the gaps.

Everything that you experience is an illusion that the brain constructs.

Not to represent the world accurately,

But to represent it usefully.

It doesn't matter if we are talking about an experience of a predator,

A food,

A god.

These are all internally generated experiences,

Extrapolated from some,

Although not much,

External sense data.

So I like to say the universe is black and empty.

It's a reminder that my experience is not reality.

Reviews

Holy wow! I wasn’t expecting such a mind-expanding, 1 minute talk, I love it!

Wow. I never thought about reality in this way. Very inspiring. Thank you.