Not that I'm hoping this happens any time in the next 50-60 years, but just in case, this is what I want said should my bungee line break...
I
want a physicist to speak at my funeral. I want the physicist to talk to my grieving
family about the conservation of energy, so they will understand that my energy
has not died. I want the physicist to remind my sobbing mother about the first
law of thermodynamics; that no energy gets created in the universe, and none is
destroyed. I want my mother to know that all my energy, every vibration, every
Btu of heat, every wave of every particle that was her beloved child remains
with her in this world. I want the physicist to tell my weeping father that
amid energies of the cosmos, I gave as good as I got.
And at one point I'd hope that the physicist would step down from the pulpit and walk to my brokenhearted spouse there in the pew and tell him that all the photons that ever bounced off my face, all the particles whose paths were interrupted by my smile, by the touch of my hair, hundreds of trillions of particles, have raced off like children, their ways forever changed by me. And as my child rocks in the arms of a loving family member, may the physicist let her know that all the photons that bounced from me were gathered in the particle detectors that are her eyes, that those photons created within her constellations of electromagnetically charged neurons whose energy will go on forever.
And the physicist will remind the congregation of how much of all our energy is given off as heat. There may be a few fanning themselves with their programs as he says it. And he will tell them that the warmth that flowed through me in life is still here, still part of all that we are, even as we who mourn continue the heat of our own lives.
And I'll want the physicist to explain to those who loved me that they need not have faith; indeed, they should not have faith. Let them know that they can measure, that scientists have measured precisely the conservation of energy and found it accurate, verifiable and consistent across space and time. I can hope my family will examine the evidence and satisfy themselves that the science is sound and that they'll be comforted to know my energy's still around. According to the law of the conservation of energy, not a bit of me is gone; I'm just less orderly. Amen.
-(Paraphrased a bit from Aaron Freeman)
And at one point I'd hope that the physicist would step down from the pulpit and walk to my brokenhearted spouse there in the pew and tell him that all the photons that ever bounced off my face, all the particles whose paths were interrupted by my smile, by the touch of my hair, hundreds of trillions of particles, have raced off like children, their ways forever changed by me. And as my child rocks in the arms of a loving family member, may the physicist let her know that all the photons that bounced from me were gathered in the particle detectors that are her eyes, that those photons created within her constellations of electromagnetically charged neurons whose energy will go on forever.
And the physicist will remind the congregation of how much of all our energy is given off as heat. There may be a few fanning themselves with their programs as he says it. And he will tell them that the warmth that flowed through me in life is still here, still part of all that we are, even as we who mourn continue the heat of our own lives.
And I'll want the physicist to explain to those who loved me that they need not have faith; indeed, they should not have faith. Let them know that they can measure, that scientists have measured precisely the conservation of energy and found it accurate, verifiable and consistent across space and time. I can hope my family will examine the evidence and satisfy themselves that the science is sound and that they'll be comforted to know my energy's still around. According to the law of the conservation of energy, not a bit of me is gone; I'm just less orderly. Amen.
-(Paraphrased a bit from Aaron Freeman)
