Physics of the Ancient Greek Era 27
witnesses than ears. Eyes and ears are bad witnesses to men
having barbarian souls. Men who love wisdom should acquaint
themselves with a great many particulars. Seekers after gold
dig up much earth and find little.For Heraclitus the primary material of the universe is fire but his
emphasis was more on fire as a process rather than as a substance. In
reading his fragments if one thinks of fire as representative of energy
then the overlap of Heraclitus’ thinking and our own ideas regarding
conservation of energy is amazing. He writes:
This universe, which is the same for all, has not been made by
any god or man, but it always has been, is, and will be — an
ever kindling fire, kindling itself by regular measures and
going out by regular measures. There is exchange of all things
for fire and of fire for all things, as there is of wares for gold
and gold for wares.The ideas contained in these two aphorisms almost completely
parallel my personal belief that from conservation of energy and the
equivalence of mass and energy generally expressed as E = mc^2 , one is
forced to conclude that the universe always was and always will be since
the creation or destruction of the universe would involve the most
colossal violation of energy conservation imaginable. I have underlined
my belief because there are many physicists who believe in the big bang
theory that the universe began some 15 billions years ago, but once again
we are getting ahead of our story. More of this later.
The idea that the universe is represented by fire in the sense of
process rather than substance is substantiated by the following
fragments:
The phases of fire are craving and satiety. It throws apart, then
brings together again; it advances and retires. Everything
follows and nothing abides; everything gives way and nothing
stays fixed. You cannot step twice into the same river, for
other waters and yet others go ever flowing on. Cool things
become warm, the warm grows cool, the moist dries and the
parched becomes moist. It is in changing that things find
repose. It should be understood that war is the common
condition, that strife is justice, and that all things come to pass