posted on Jul, 14 2009 @ 10:15 PM
We all know that energy can't be created or destroyed, but where does it all come from? Is there an finite or infinite amount? As usual, my answer
is "both".
The beginning of the universe is commonly known as the big bang, where everything started from a single very small point and the universe has been
expanding ever since. Well sure this is true, from a human perspective.
Now I want you to imagine things from the universe's perspective for a moment. People always talk about the universe expanding, but from the
universe's perspective it's not really expanding at all. This is because it has nothing to expand in relation to. Remember it's all
relative, and the universe is just the sum of it's parts. From the universe's perspective, the parts within it are contracting, including
us!
What this means is that as long as we keep contracting relative to the whole, we'll continue using smaller and smaller amounts of energy. If the
universe never stops doing this (and there's clear signs of this process speeding up), we'll have a potentially infinite supply of available energy
to use, whether it's from the sun, natural resources, or other as of yet undiscovered sources. So there IS a finite supply, but that supply always
appears to be growing.
Expansion, contraction... it's all the same mathematically. The only difference is perspective.
The catch, at least for now... is that we're stuck on planet earth. Eventually I imagine we'll need to start taking resources from other planets in
our solar system. Later on we'll branch out further into space as the need arises. But as long as the universe expands faster than we do, we'll
never run out.
Not to say that we should waste resources, I still think efficiency should be one of our main priorities. After all, if we don't use our resources
for evolutionary growth, we won't make it off this rock in time. And this is important, for our evolution is very much in our (collective) hands
now. No longer is our fate left solely to nature or chance (not that it ever was, but we're realizing this more now than ever).