I'm finished

My Cosmology course is over. I am pleased to say I learned a lot. I am also pleased to say it is over. From my paper:

"With all of the data we gather with the current technologies, one may ask, “So what?” The answer to this question is that it is imperative to our future. When one looks at the vast amount of knowledge and information we have gathered over the last 100 years, we can see that we have so many important new technologies and so many new discoveries.

The big question this opens up is how different will we understand the universe in the year 2047, considering the vast difference we see from 1932 to 1970. We must remember that the information we see on our graphics is not the edge of the universe; it is the edge of the data we are able to gather.

In addition to needing to understand the universe for the sake of the future, we also need to understand the universe because it potentially has a direct impact on the amount of available energy. We know that supernovae are brighter than a billion suns (Silk, 2006). A supernova is an exploding star that sometimes brings white dwarfs, or dead stars back to life. It is important to us to understand this as they consume energy, rather than produce energy (R. Kron, personal communication, April 14, 2007). The consumption of energy in the universe could have a negative impact to future generations.

Ultimately, what businesses and politics understand most clearly is money. Quantum mechanics are responsible for one third of our Gross Domestic Product (M. Turner, personal communication, May 5, 2007). It accounts for our world of technology. Without data storage, data transmission, tools to visualize findings, and technology to create and support business across the world, we would crumble as a society. Robert Wilson said it powerfully when he was testifying before a Senate panel prior to Fermi Lab funding. He was asked if the project would help defend our country. He replied that the project would not defend our country but would rather “. . . make our country more worth defending” (Peterson, 1994, p. 972). As the world looks to find the site to build the International Linear Collider, we remember those important words of Dr. Wilson."

The End (until next spring when I take Darwinian Medicine!)