The motions of the three black and the three white rings around the centre of Adinkrahene represent the configurations, the forces and processes, through which the universe is brought into being and sustained[1].
These configurations are embodied by six numbers. These numbers are represented by the six circles of Adinkrahene.
Two of these numbers relate to the basic forces; two fix the size and overall ‘texture’ of our universe and determine whether it will continue for ever; and two more fix the properties of space itself[2].
The central circle is Q, which determines the fabric of the universe. It represents the ratio of two fundamental energies and is about 1/1000,000 in value. If Q were even smaller, the universe would be inert and structureless; if Q were much larger, it would be a violent place, in which no stars or solar systems could survive, dominated by vast black holes.
The second circle is N, which makes possible the vastness of the cosmos. It measures the strength of the electrical forces that hold atoms together, divided by the force of gravity between them. N is equal to 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.If N had a few less zeros, only a short lived miniature universe could exist: no creatures could grow larger than insects, and there would be no time for evolution.
The fifth circle is ε , whose value is 0.007, defines how firmly atomic nuclei bind together and how all the atoms on Earth were made. Its value controls the power from the Sun and, more sensitively, how stars transmute hydrogen into all the atoms on the periodic table. Carbon and hydrogen are common, whereas gold and uranium are rare, because of what happens in the stars. If E were 0.006 or 0.008, we could not exist.
The third circle is Ω , the cosmic number(omega),which measures the amount of material in our universe-galaxies, diffuse gas, and ‘dark matter.’ Ω tells us the relative importance of gravity and expansion energy in the universe. If this ratio were too high relative to a particular ‘critical’ value, the universe would have collapsed long ago; had it been too low, no galaxies or stars would have formed. The initial expansion speed seems to have been finely tuned.
The fourth circle is λ , (lambda),which represents a cosmic ‘antigravity’ that controls the expansion of the universe-even though it has no discernible effect on scales less than a billion light-years. It is destined to become ever more dominant over gravity and other forces as our universe becomes ever darker and emptier. Fortunately, λ is very small. Otherwise its effects would have stopped galaxies and stars from forming, and cosmic evolution would have been stifled before it could even begin.
The sixth, outermost circle is D, which represents the number of spatial dimensions in our world. D equals three. Life couldn’t exist if D were two or four. Time is a fourth dimension, but distinctively different from the others in that it has an inbuilt arrow-we ‘move’ only towards the future. Near black holes, space is so warped that light moves in circles, and time can stand still. Furthermore, close to the time of the Big Bang, and also on microscopic scales, space may reveal its deepest underlying structure of all; the vibrations and harmonies of objects called ‘superstrings’, in a ten-dimensional arena.
These six numbers play a crucial and distinctive role in our universe, and together they determine how the universe evolves and what its internal potentialities are. We could only have emerged in a universe with the ‘right’ combination. It is astonishing that an expanding universe, whose starting point is so ‘simple’ that it can be specified by just a few numbers, can evolve, with the suitable tuning of these numbers, into our intricately structured cosmos.
[1] Adaptation of Martin Rees’s Just Six Numbers.
[2] The immediately preceding paragraph, the descriptions of the six numbers and the summative paragraph on their significance at the end of their descriptions are adapted practically verbatim from Martin Rees’s Just Six Numbers. This book is wonderful in demonstrating both the sense of insight of a magus and the wonder of a child.
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