Two sides of a same coin

I GOT A NEW LAPTOP. Which is ENTIRELY mine. LONG LIVE BLACK FRIDAY!

Anyways, I can bore you with the specification of  my laptop, but I am feeling merciful today,so NO. 

But I had a very interesting conversation with my uncle on the way back home from Best Buy. He asked me about what is my major of choice when I go to college. And me being me, obviously said Astronomy. Because let's face it guys, ASTRONOMY IS AWESOME. Prior to this, we were talking about books, especially fiction books. My uncle being the college professor he is, asked me, "Given your love for fiction and writing, and also something so structured like Astronomy, I don't understand how your brain actually work. Have you ever thought about it?" And I was bewildered for a second. I have never given this much thought. I love Science and Math and I also love fiction and stuff like that. My uncle's point is, Science and Math are structured, in these subjects, something IS or IS NOT. But fiction,well,everything IS and IS NOT at the same time. They are very opposite indeed. So how do I love both of these concept? And where did Astronomy come from?

So I started to think (Oh Mourin). The fact is, I love Science and Math, I love the fact that it is structured, everything has an answer (Other than what happens if you divide something with 0) and it is oddly comforting. It makes me feel safe, somehow. There is so many questions in life that is unanswered, I don't want anymore weird unanswerable questions. They make me feel incapable and useless. I love the power Science and Math gives me, the power to answer.The power of knowing.

And then there is fiction. I know I am going to utterly contradict myself, but I love fiction. I rarely read real life books, because I don't need anymore normal stuff. I mean, normal is boring. I think fiction widens your vision, makes you think the unthinkable, question the unanswerable. And most importantly, it makes you imagine. I think we all agree upon the fact that imagination is beautiful. The early science and mythology was based on the imagination of fertile brains. Without imagination, we would never have Science. And sometimes, you just need fiction. I can't help but quote Rainbow Rowell here.

"Why do we write fiction?"

"To disappear." 

I can't agree with this statement more. Sometimes the real world becomes too much to handle, too real to take in. And you just need to disappear for a while. What can be better than getting lost in a world which could have been, if things turned out differently? What better way to get lost than pick up a book and just jump in a different world? It's like going to a different universe through wormholes. And that's where Astronomy comes in.

If you think about it, Astronomy is the best of both worlds.It has both Science and imagination. You don't know what happens at the other side of a black hole, you don't know what singularity is, you don't know what was there before big bang. There are so many unanswered questions which are related to our very existence. And you can't JUST use science to answer them, you need imagination as well. You have to let your imagination run wild, then use science to prove your point. Giordano Bruno only imagined that we are not in the center of universe, he did not have any scientific proof. But his imagination turned out to be true. It is fascinating, really. How Astronomy combines fiction and science, the two opposites. It is like the two face of a same coin again, just in this case the coin is like soooooooooooooooooooooo huge,it's crazy.

-Mourin