Let's Think About the Ultimate "Why"
2007.07.12
The Okashira's Diary
Let's Think About the Ultimate "Why"
Masaru Tomita
Dean, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies
"Why do we go to college in the first place?" "Why are we alive in the first place?" "What is life in the first place?"... When you keep pursuing these "in the first place" questions, you arrive at the "ultimate why."
"Why does this world (the universe) exist in the first place?"
The universe is said to have been born from the Big Bang some tens of billions of years ago, but what was the universe like before the Big Bang? In the first place, who caused the Big Bang, how, and for what purpose?
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When I was a student, I once had fun creating my own program that set up multiple "artificial life" forms on a computer, made them compete with each other, and had them evolve through mutation and natural selection. I would watch, wine glass in hand, as they engaged in a fierce struggle for survival on the screen, evolving intellectually to increase their offspring, and repeating a spectacular battle of life and death. The rules of competition were something I had decided on rather arbitrarily, but they followed those rules faithfully, desperately trying to survive without any question as to why they were doing it. And for them, the computer's memory space is their "universe."
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If these artificial life forms were to evolve sufficiently and gain intelligence, would they ask the same question?
"Who created us, and for what purpose in the first place?"
And would they eventually become aware of my existence? They would probably call me the "Creator of the Great Universe." As I was imagining such amusing things, I got sleepy and turned off my computer. That casual act of mine was, for them, yes, the "end of the great universe."
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I am now preparing for my class, "The Creation of Environment and Information Studies." This week's theme (the final class) is "the universe." Although it may not be useful in our daily lives, I believe it is important to think about the great universe at least once, as it might just change your perspective on life.
(Date of publication: 2007/07/12)