Event #3 Santiago Torres: We Are All Made of Stardust



The third and last event that I attended was "We Are All Made of Stardust," hosted by Santiago Torres. In this event, Torres delves into the topic of our galaxy and universe. This memorable and fascinating event allowed me to see the connection between art, science, and our universe in a different aspect. Torres starts his presentation by introducing the audience to the immense size of the galaxy. However, we are not isolated; we are together in many ways. In fact, we are all made of stardust and from the same matter (Torres). 


Figure 1


A mind-blowing fact that I learned during the talk was that scientists are able to take past information and compare it to science, physics, and mathematics to calculate what will happen in the future. However, the predictions may not be very accurate. A professor at the University of Connecticut, Turchin, is the driving force behind a field called "cliodynamics," where scientists and mathematicians analyze history to find patterns they can use to predict the future (Finley). This eventually opens up the question of whether time travel is possible. As physicist Stephen Hawking pointed out in his book Black Holes and Baby Universes, "The best evidence we have that time travel is not possible, and never will be, is that we have not been invaded by hordes of tourists from the future" (Stein and Harvey). 


Figure 2


In the movie Interstellar, when the protagonist travels into the 'hypercube,' a four-dimensional version of a cube, we are given a glimpse of how time might be navigated as a physical dimension. This concept of time as a dimension, alongside space, is a central tenet of Einstein's theory of general relativity, where the passage of time is relatively different in regions that experience different gravitational fields (Lealos and Sharma). This challenges our conventional understanding of time as a linear progression from past to present to future. Instead, it suggests that all moments exist simultaneously. The hypercube, or tesseract, in Interstellar, symbolizes this particular idea, depicting how time could potentially be manipulated if we had the means to navigate through higher dimensions. 


Overall, "We Are All Made of Stardust" was an enlightening event that seamlessly blended scientific knowledge with philosophical inquiry and artistic expression. I would highly recommend others attend to discover or learn more about the mysteries of our universe. 




Proof of Attendance: 



Work Cited: 

Finley, Klint. “Mathematicians Predict the Future With Data From the Past.” WIRED, 10 April 2013, https://www.wired.com/2013/04/cliodynamics-peter-turchin/.

Lealos, Shawn S., and Dhruv Sharma. “Interstellar's Time Dilation Explained: Why Time Moves Slower On Miller's Planet.” Screen Rant, 25 February 2024, https://screenrant.com/interstellar-time-dilation-miller-planed-explained/.

Stein, Vicky, and Ailsa Harvey. “Time travel — Is it possible.” Space.com, 24 February 2024, https://www.space.com/21675-time-travel.html.

Torres, Santiago. “We Are All Made of Stardust.” Zoom, 22 May 2024, https://ucla.zoom.us/w/97475593298?tk=UEPYSbNRQ7exzin7Vpede7nSPP4iB0w1-gTxVKIDO1k.DQYAAAAWsf-EUhZ0enFVNDAyNlI5LWxCLW1EeGVpMGd3AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.


Image Cited:

"Figure 1." Nan Chen, 2024. Screenshot.

"Figure 2." Nan Chen, 2024. Screenshot.

Zhang, Michael. “The Tesseract Scene in Interstellar was Shot Using a Physical Set.” PetaPixel, 15 June 2015, https://petapixel.com/2015/06/15/the-tesseract-scene-in-interstellar-was-shot-using-a-physical-set/.

 

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