Why should I start with Why?
You may have heard the above term before. Maybe in a success manual. Maybe in a TEDx talk. Maybe from some of your teachers. I can assure you it works. Asking the question why, will take you to a deeper understanding of any subject. Have you ever wondered why it works? If you haven't this is an attempt on answering the question, and reasons beyond reasons.
I can remember reading a short story, a long time ago. It was a story about a toddler and his mom. If you have ever spoken to a toddler, you would know that there comes an age that they learn the word 'why'. And more importantly they learn that they can ask this question at anything and get surprising answers to unknown. Soon, they will start to ask the question, to each answer and sometimes as adults we get stuck. The story was about one such conversation between mother and her little boy. I will try and summaries their conversation so you can get a better idea, as it is a good example to see reasons beyond reasons.
A short summary of a short story.
The boy and the mother are at a riverbank, and he observes some floating flowers on the river. And he asks his mom.
Boy: Mother, where do these flowers come from?
Mom: They come from upstream.
Boy: Why I cannot see where do they come from?
Mom: It's because these flowers bloom far away in the mountains, when they fall into the water, water carries them here.
Boy: Mother, in that case I will walk upstream to see one day, where do they come from.
Mom: No, son you cannot go upstream alone.
Boy: Why I cannot go alone.
Mom: Because you are not big enough. When you are big enough, you can go there yourself and see.
Mom: Why am I not big enough? I eat every day!
I will stop there, although that is not the exact conversation, you would understand the fact, the why often quickly leads to unknown territories of our knowledge. As science basically try to understand cause and effects, (by examining relationships between several parameters - scientific method) Asking the question why, is directly linked with science. But when science cannot answer some problems, we use religion, our believes and imagination to formulate new hypothesis, until they are tested. Hence philosophy and religion still prevail. But the exact reason to write this article is not to show you how to learn but to show you restrictions of our approach and show our boundaries to know what is beyond.
Reasons beyond reasons
So, I invite you to be a kid and ask a stupid question. Let's do that.
Why is the sky blue? (I really did not know the answer, so I asked Copilot AI and copy pasted the answer)
The sky appears blue due to a phenomenon called scattering. When sunlight reaches Earth’s atmosphere, it interacts with tiny air molecules. Blue light, with its shorter wavelengths, scatters more than other colors, creating the blue hue we see. Closer to the horizon, the sky fades to a lighter blue or white. Interestingly, on Mars, the thin carbon dioxide atmosphere results in a different sky color.
So, some factors are necessary for the sky to be blue.
Sunlight, earth's atmosphere with its unique properties, and some living observer to see the blue color.
Why there is sunlight?
Why there is atmosphere?
Why does our eye see the color blue, when we are living, is it also blue when we are dead?
We will expand on one question.
Why there is sunlight?
Copilot answer - Sunlight is essential for life on Earth! It originates from our Sun, a massive ball of hot, glowing gas. The Sun’s nuclear fusion reactions release energy in the form of light and heat. This energy travels through space as sunlight. When it reaches Earth, it provides warmth, fuels photosynthesis in plants, and allows us to see our surroundings.
Why the sun is a giant hot ball of glowing gas?
Why there is nuclear reaction in the sun?
Why does this reaction releases energy in the form of light and heat?
Why it travels through atmosphere?
Let's expand on one question again..
Why the sun is a giant hot ball of glowing gas?
Copilot answer..
The Sun’s fiery nature results from a delicate balance of forces within its core. Here’s a brief overview:
Nuclear Fusion: Deep within the Sun, intense heat and pressure cause hydrogen atoms to collide and fuse into helium. This process, called nuclear fusion, releases an enormous amount of energy.
Gravity: The Sun’s immense mass (about 333,000 times that of Earth) creates intense gravitational forces. These forces compress the core, raising temperatures to millions of degrees Celsius.
Plasma State: The core becomes a seething, superhot plasma—a state of matter where electrons are stripped from atoms. This plasma emits light across the electromagnetic spectrum.
Radiation Zone: Energy generated in the core gradually moves outward through the radiation zone. Photons (light particles) bounce around, taking thousands of years to reach the surface.
Photosphere: The visible surface we see—the photosphere—is cooler (around 5,500°C) but still incredibly hot. It emits sunlight, which travels 8 minutes to reach Earth.
Chromosphere and Corona: Above the photosphere lie the chromosphere (reddish layer) and the corona (outermost halo). These layers are even hotter, with temperatures in the millions of degrees.
In summary, the Sun’s brilliance arises from nuclear fusion, gravity, and the release of energy as light. It’s our cosmic furnace, sustaining life and shaping our world!
Analysis and discussion
As you can see it quickly escalates. Often, we stop at couple of answers and stop asking questions beyond that. Unless someone like me forces you to do it. Now, we will stop there and analyze.
Our initial question was why the sky is blue? And the answer is because of the scatter of the sunlight on earth's atmosphere and the living observer (Never forget the observer please). But after going through this painstaking task of reasoning, if I told you the Gravity of the sun is also a reason for the sky to be blue, you would agree. Otherwise, the nuclear reaction on the sun would not be big enough to create the sunlight in the first place. And If I told you there is nothing in between the sun and earth, is also a reason for the sky to be blue, you would agree otherwise sunlight would not reach the earth. And If I told you your ability to identify blue color is also a reason for the sky to be blue, you would have to agree.
So, for the simple question like, why the sky is blue, there are thousands and thousands of reasons. And if even one of these unlimited reasons were not there the sky would not be blue. Do you think we can ever gain control of these thousands of reasons. It is impossible even to think about.
So, that is our limit, that is limit of science, and that is one illustration to show you that 'we' are not in control of anything. Not to dishearten you, but to enlighten you about truths that nature hide from us.
Another important message is that everything is as only as we exist. As existence of 'you' is essentially a reason for anything observable to exist. World and we are like two sides of the same coin. Although it appears as two, what if it's only a single entity?
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