Kermit arrived this Sunday afternoon asking "Why are you all here?" What a Deep and Meaningful philosophical, theological, scientific question! How could one possibly begin to answer it?
"A. We are here because...
- 13.8 billion years ago a primal singularity of infinite density and pressure suddenly expanded at an exponential rate, creating time and space, and allowing for the temperature to drop sufficiently for the four fundamental forces of nature to separate;
- in the first tiny fraction of a second a tiny surplus of matter over anti-matter meant not all matter was instantaneously annihilated, and the surplus was able to go on to form all the stars and galaxies of the universe;
- in an incredibly unlikely way, our universe was formed with a "Goldilocks" set of physical constants which meant it persisted in a stable state, unlike an infinite set of other possible universes;
- 4.6 billion years ago a star formed in an outer arm of the Milky Way galaxy, gathering in its accretion disk some heavier elements built in an earlier generation of stars;
- this star, the sun, was of the right size to persist for a long time - not too large or too small;
- a rocky planet formed around this star in its "Goldilocks" zone, where water could exist in a liquid state and allow life to begin;
- early in its history, earth was hit by an object so large that the ejecta from the impact formed a moon of the right size to stabilize conditions so that complex multicellar organisms could evolve;
- 250 million years ago our ancestors survived the Permian extinction event that wiped out 95% of life on earth;
- 66 million years ago the Yucatan asteroid impact wiped out the dinosaurs and allowed mammals to expand into new niches and new forms;
- changing environmental conditions favoured the development of bipedalism and large brains in the genus Homo, while a change in the structure of the throat allowed for language and hence the transmission of a complex culture;
- throughout all of history, all of our ancestors survived long enough to produce a new generation;
- no butterfly flapped its wings in the Amazon in such a way that it produced major storms in Samford on Sunday afternoon, as chaos theory predicts it might...and so on, and so on...."
Or perhaps Kermit's question was a more mundane psychological one, and we could answer it thus:
"A. We are here because...
- We're a bunch of Sad Acts who have nothing better to do on New Year's Day than to meet up with a bunch of other No-Hopers to distract ourselves from the prospect of our own mortality...and so on, and so on...."
Anyhow, whatever the answer to Kermit's question, 13.8 billion years of events and non-events culminated in 19 of us meeting up in John Scott Park on New Year's Day for a very pleasant walk and run in lovely weather - and for an excellent Potluck banquet. We welcomed two visitors all the way from rainy California. The walkers completed the usual Samford circuit, while the runners took on the Burton Lane to Bygott's Road loop through the forest. It was absolutely the best meet of the year so far....
Raring to go - onwards and upwards into 2023:
A couple of Snappy's shots of the walk:
Back home at J.S. Park for the first feast of the year:
Next run/walk details
When: Sunday 8th January, 5 pm
Where: Surrey Farm Park, Bergin Creek Road, Bunya Downs. A map!
Hares: Jamesbondage and Redbreast
We strongly suggest you bring chairs.
On, on!
