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We know what you did last summer

When I say ‘we know what you did last summer’ the reference is to cosmic time and not a particular summer. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) recently relayed images of the early universe of galaxies born billions of years ago. The visual capture was possible because the ancient images are carried forward by ancient light that takes ages to get closer to the line of vision of our ever-evolving tech-enabled ‘eyes in the sky’.


Cosmic memory takes us back billions of years so close to the beginning of creation, the Big Bang, and all that followed thereafter. I get goose bumps just at the thought of witnessing the immediate aftermath of the birthing of the universe (‘immediate’ in the cosmic context). Of the two galaxies revealed, one is dated to about 350 million and the other, 450 million years after the Big Bang that happened some 13.8 billion years ago.

Can anything remain a secret in the universe? Unlikely. Alexandra Witze in Nature magazine quotes the authors of the report on the new findings by the JWST, “While it is early days with JWST, results provide an enthralling glimpse of the potential secrets of the early universe – which is being unlocked” (by our telescopic cameras and scientist-observers).

Let’s stretch this scenario to cyberspace. We have heard it being said that whatever we put out there in cyberspace, stays there forever – that is, nothing ever gets deleted even if you deleted it from your database. A scary thought, because hackers may misuse your information for nefarious purposes. Also, your dark secrets, if any, may get exposed. But your information is accessible not just to hackers, it is available to all the service providers you use, and whose terms and conditions you agree to by ticking that little box, without ever really reading their long, wordy terms and conditions that may include the right to save and use all your information.

What does all this really mean? Why extrapolate cosmic happenings and memories with cyber information and data sharing? Actually, the picture will be less hazy if we further contextualize these matters to philosophy and the law of karma. ‘What you do, is what you get’ is definitely an over-simplification of a seriously complex issue but for convenience, it works. Which is why the wise advise us to think, feel and say positive rather than negative things, because everything is swirling out there, like swarms of starlings or bats, and you never know when you will be part of a swirl that will either carry you upward and forward to higher dimensions and potential ecstasy or downward and backward to perhaps a morass of suffering and remorse. The oft-repeated spiel about the power of thought may have something in its favour.

Wait – aren’t we told that nothing in life is permanent, for everything, whether the universe, atoms, humans, cats and dogs, data and information, are here today, gone tomorrow? Well, yes and no. That the universe may one day ‘disappear’ in a Big Crunch, is a theory that also tells us that post the Crunch and dissolution of matter and life comes the revival and reoccurrence of the Big Bang, primordial soup and all. There is then the regurgitation of everything, maybe even your thoughts and your data, warts and all. The cycle continues.

ganeshnarayani@yahoo.com

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