For long I was of the opinion that symmetry is one of the important properties of the universe. Granted, not everything we see around us today is symmetric, but a shocking number of naturally occurring things do exhibit symmetry. The human body, leaves, flowers, galaxies, the earth, planets (really any rock that is spinning that fast around itself will be round and hence, symmetric). It would be a staggering coincidence for all the symmetry in the universe to have just happened by chance. After all, it takes effort to create something symmetric; asymmetry is so much easier to create and therefore, I figured, probable. And yet we see symmetry.
***
I can’t talk of symmetry without mentioning an Israeli guy, Ori, I met last year in Ecuador. As an aside, the meaning of Ori in Hebrew is close to what my name means in Sanskrit.
Ori was convinced that symmetry is something we ought to strive towards. He had stopped doing activities that were asymmetric, physically (tennis, for instance), and learnt hobbies that were symmetric, atleast in the bigger picture (swimming, free diving, etc.). To him it was wrong, almost unnatural, to be doing asymmetric activities with the body we have.
What about writing, I asked? He had trained himself to be ambidextrous in as many ways as possible.
It seemed like a noble thought and something nice to experiment with. I never gave it serious thought since then. But whenever I hear about symmetry, that exchange I had with him comes back flashing.
***
Speaking of symmetric activities, yoga is one that rigorously strives for symmetry as a first principle: every movement is balanced by an opposite movement. A left with a right; a clockwise with a counter-clockwise. At times while doing yoga I get smug thoughts that it’s still not technically symmetric if the opposite movements are done at different points in time. However that’s the best we can do without twisting ourselves into awkward positions.
***
I recently came across this podcast that made me rethink the concept of symmetry in the universe: Desperately Seeking Symmetry. Do listen to it.
It still left one question lingering: If asymmetry is so innate in the universe we inhabit, why does symmetry feel so good?
8 comments
Comments feed for this article
December 4, 2012 at 1:36 am
siddhya
It is not easy for a left-hand person to play the violin. Right-handed people hold the bow quite comfortably. At such times you realize how frustratingly un-dexterous your weak hand is. I have been brushing my teeth with the other hand for a month now, slower developing some motor skills in it
December 5, 2012 at 7:16 pm
Deepak
I’m guessing there are left-handed violins just as there are left-handed guitars.
The more we use our dominant arm, the weaker the other arm gets in comparison. To me it manifests in unlikely things, such as paragliding, where I can only do certain operations with the right arm.
December 4, 2012 at 2:18 am
arunaerande
does the belief that there is an anti-world having exact replica of everything on earth come under this idea of symmetry?
December 5, 2012 at 7:26 pm
Deepak
There is indeed a theory that there exists another universe made of antimatter. However, it won’t be an exact replica of our universe. By their nature, mirror image chemical compositions are wildly different from their original ones. To take a simple example, if I were made of the mirror image atoms and molecules, the decisions I make would be different.
There are other such examples in the podcast.
December 5, 2012 at 6:58 pm
Aquatic Static
…just spitballing…maybe because it’s the closest some of us will ever come to experiencing a kind of nothing?…This is a cool question.
December 5, 2012 at 7:27 pm
Deepak
You can’t say something that abstract and run away. Explain yourself, young lady!
December 6, 2012 at 1:15 am
Aquatic Static
Ok so: the feel-good, aspirational quality of symmetry is attractive to me because (as your podcast says) there’s annhilation when two mirror images come together (at least in particle physics).
I don’t know…that just seems comforting.
There’s no ‘fight’ anymore, no striving, no effort, no need to *do*, understand, adjust, achieve etc. etc. etc.
Maybe the yumminess of symmetry (or the high we get from experiencing objects of beauty) stems from a deep seated need to be assured there’s an end to all this effort? (i.e.: there is no hunt for ‘meaning’ but just for stopping.)
As Liz Lemon would say: Blergh.
)
(Also: I’m new to this whole idea of ‘we are children of asymmetry’ business and am still a little bit resentful about it all
December 6, 2012 at 10:36 am
Deepak
Hmm .. I only marginally understand what you’re saying.
I gave it some thought as well, and I think when we see something asymmetric, we find it incomplete. We want to find it’s other half and reunite them in a sense. When we see something symmetric, it is already complete. It is perfect.
But now the question is why do we want to complete everything.
The introduction in that podcast implies something similar. And it was so stunning.