Relativity of the Modern Age

These flashcards cover key concepts from the lecture on the relativity of the modern age, including scientific theories, philosophical ideas, and historical transformations.

Relativity

The concept that knowledge and truth are not absolute but depend on the perspectives of individuals influenced by various factors.

Universal Laws

Beliefs that govern nature and society in a fixed manner.

Natural Selection

A process by which organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring.

Secularism

The principle of separating religion from political, social, and educational institutions.

Freud's Unconscious Mind

The theory that much of human behavior is influenced by unconscious motives and desires.

Agricultural Revolution

Major transformations in agriculture, including the shift from foraging to farming and the domestication of plants and animals.

Mechanized Farming

The use of machinery in agriculture to enhance productivity and efficiency.

Bureaucracy

A system of government or management characterized by hierarchical structure and strict rules.

Grand Narrative

An overarching story or belief system that explains and gives significance to life and history.

Existentialism

A philosophical movement focusing on individual freedom, choice, and the creation of meaning in a seemingly meaningless world.

Spacetime

A four-dimensional continuum combining the three dimensions of space and the dimension of time.

General Theory of Relativity

Einstein's theory describing gravity as a curvature in spacetime caused by mass.

Newtonian Gravity

The classical theory of gravity describing it as a force that pulls objects together.

Curvature

A measure of how much a shape bends compared to a flat surface.

Human Exceptionalism

The belief that humans are unique and separate from the natural world.

Light Cone

A visual representation of the path that light, emanating from a single point in spacetime, can take.

Gravitational Lensing

The bending of light caused by gravity from a massive object, serving as evidence for the theory of relativity.

Dark Matter

A hypothetical form of matter that does not emit light or energy, making up a significant portion of the universe.

Dark Energy

An unknown form of energy causing the acceleration of the universe's expansion.

Simultaneity in Relativity

The concept that simultaneous events may appear different depending on the observer's frame of reference.

Epistemology

The study of knowledge, its nature, and the means of acquiring it.

Nuclear Weapons

Explosive devices that derive their destructive power from nuclear reactions.

Urbanization

The process by which more of a population comes to live in urban areas, often linked with industrialization.

Philosophical Questions

Deep inquiries regarding existence, meaning, ethics, and human purpose.

Population Growth

An increase in the number of individuals in a population, often impacted by agrarian societies and industrialization.

Mechanism of Evolution

The process by which evolutionary changes occur in populations over time, driven by natural selection.

Ethics

The moral principles that govern individuals' behavior and actions.

Einstein's Speed of Light

The maximum speed at which all energy, matter, and information in the universe can travel, denoted by 'c'.

Absolute Speed

A speed that does not change regardless of an observer's state of motion.

Transformation

A marked change in form, nature, or appearance often associated with societal shifts.

Postulate

A statement assumed to be true without proof, serving as a foundation for further reasoning.

Cultural Beliefs

Shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterize a group of people.

Human Agency

The capacity of individuals to act independently and make their own free choices.

Bureaucratic Management

An organization system that relies on a defined hierarchy and a set of fixed rules.

Purpose

The reason for which something exists or is done.

Time-space Continuum

The interwoven nature of time and three-dimensional space.

Modern Industrial Society

A society characterized by mechanization, factory production, and urban growth.

Psyche

The totality of the human mind, conscious and unconscious.

Theory of Evolution

A scientific explanation for the diversity of life on Earth, suggesting that species evolve over time through genetic variation.

Scientific Framework

An organized structure of scientific concepts and methods used to understand phenomena.

Mental Constructs

The ideas and concepts formed in the mind, shaping knowledge and beliefs.

Atomism

The belief that everything is composed of small indivisible particles known as atoms.

Cosmic Address

The location of Earth within the vast universe.

Philosophical Inquiry

An investigation into the fundamental questions about existence, knowledge, values, and reason.

Scientific Authority

The credibility or reliability attributed to scientific knowledge and its progenitors.

Impact of Technology

The influence and changes brought about by advancements in technology on society and culture.

Expansion of the Universe

The observation that the universe is continuously growing larger over time.

Supercluster

A large group of galaxies held together by gravity, representing one of the largest structures in the universe.

Observable Universe

The portion of the universe that can be observed from Earth, limited by the speed of light.

Gravitational Force

The attraction between masses that brings objects together in space.

Cosmology

The scientific study of the large scale properties and structure of the universe as a whole.

Quantum Theory

A fundamental theory in physics describing the properties and behavior of matter and energy at atomic and subatomic levels.

Photons

Elementary particles that carry electromagnetic force and are the quanta of light.

Astrophysics

The branch of astronomy concerned with the physical nature of celestial bodies and the universe.