Dad, I’ve got a few questions about string theory…

On a spring day in 2008, my daughter came to my wife and I, and asked “Mom, Dad, why doesn’t the universe have any corners?” A deep question from a 6 year old.

We told her, we couldn’t answer her question, but that we would go to the library and try to find an answer there. I took my daughter to the Whitemud Crossing library where we found some childrens’ books on space. My daughter also found a DVD called The Elegant Universe (highly recommended).

We came home and I left my daughter with her books and her new DVD. I proceeded to fall asleep on the couch, patting myself on the back for being such a great dad.

My daughter woke me an hour later giggling and excited. She said “Dad you could take a wormhole to work and be there instantly!” I asked her if I should do that and she replied “Dad! Don’t be silly! We’d have to get dark matter to make a wormhole and the scientists can’t find it in this part of the universe yet.” Oh.

If parenting is done correctly, the children should one day surpass the parents. I’m a good parent. My daughter surpassed me on this day when she asked: “Dad, I’ve got a few questions about string theory…” When I was her age, I was too busy chewing on pieces of lego to think about theoretical physics.

All I could think was “Damn, she’s already smarter than me”.

Questions for Aliens

Navier-Stokes Equation

In the book A Demon Haunted World,by Carl Sagan, Sagan states he often received correspondence from people who claimed they were in contact with aliens. These people invited Sagan to ask the aliens questions. Sagan, the consummate scientist, always had some questions prepared.

If there are aliens among us, it is reasonable to assume they’re from a more advanced civilization from ours. Assuming this, it is also reasonable to assume they would have the answers to questions that have stumped humans for years. Questions asked of aliens should be problems unsolved by humans, but where we would immediately recognize the answer as correct, or the answer could be proved. Asking “Is there a God” yields an answer that may not be recognized as correct by some people, and an answer that cannot be verified by scientific means. Unsolved mathematical problems would be excellent questions to ask of an advanced civilization.

Here are a few questions I would ask of aliens:

1. Please (it doesn’t hurt to be polite) solve Goldbach’s Conjecture. This is one of the oldest problems relating to prime numbers. Prime numbers are used in cryptography and internet security.
2. Design an experiment to prove or disprove the existance of higher dimensions. Humans can see three spatial dimensions, and we move forward through the fourth dimension of time, but there are theories that include 11 dimensions.
3. Why is gravity such a weak force when compared to electromagnetic, strong nuclear and weak nuclear forces? Provide an explanation that can be proved experimentally.
4. Prove solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations including smoothness solutions. I went through 4 years of mechanical engineering and I just barely understand this. If you can explain this to me, leave it in the comment box.
5. Please (again, it doesn’t hurt to be polite with a potentially superior life-form) give the composition and production methods to make a high temperature superconductor. I would hope the aliens would provide me with a superconducting material that would function at temperatures greater than 293°K (20°C) which is room temperature.

These are the questions that interest me. A civilization that can travel vast distances though space in their UFOs should be sufficiently advanced to answer these questions. Next time you have contact with an alien, ask some questions and see what they come up with. If you get answers to questions that have remained unsolved by humans for hundreds or thousands of years, then maybe you’re corresponding with a real extra-terrestrial.