Ponder These 10 Mind Bending Questions and Facts During Your Next Smoke Session (3)

3.) Do We Live In a Multiverse?

The idea of a multiverse isn’t a theory per say, it is simply a possibility brought about by our current understanding of the universe. It is widely accepted by physicists that our early universe underwent a period of expansion known as inflation. A consequence of this idea is that there must be areas of our universe, unseen to us, that are eternally inflating; these areas could potentially become new universes. Physicists have been looking into ways to test whether or not we do indeed live in a multiverse, and new discoveries, such as the detection of gravitational waves, definitely add fuel to the fire.

2.) How Did ISIS Evolve So Quickly?

At this point, everybody has heard of ISIS, but how in the world did the group become so powerful so quickly? The issue is far too complex to have just one answer, but there are many theories circulating that are worth a mention.

Presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley, have both cited climate change as playing a major role in the rise of ISIS. According to a 2015 study the drought that occurred in Syria between 2007-2010 was indeed exacerbated by climate change, and contributed in a major way to the crisis in Syria. Food prices became unreasonably high, disease spread was rampant, and 1.5 million refugees were driven into Syrian cities already crowded with over 1 million Iraqi refugees, that were displaced by the Iraq war. This, of course, had a negative effect on employment and exacerbated the political unrest the area was already facing, leading to an all out civil war.

Last month, at Jeb Bush’s town hall meeting in Reno, a college student accused George Bush of inadvertently causing the formation of ISIS. It sounds like conspiracy theory nonsense at first glance, but according to this article from the New Yorker, there is actually a lot of merit to her theory. In 2003, the US invaded Iraq and quickly threw out Saddam’s government and decreed the dissolution of the Iraqi Army. This left close to 150, 000 soldiers without jobs. This formed the basis for the insurgency. At the time the most powerful group within the insurgency was Al Qaeda, whereas the Islamic State of Iraq was all but defeated. After the crisis in Syria mentioned above began Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, sent groups of soldiers to the affected area. Within a few months they had gained an army of followers, and changed their name to the Islamic State of Iraq in Syria (ISIS.)

From there, ISIS was able to thrive and net huge sums of money from a variety of sources including ransom payments and the oil trade. ISIS produces an estimated 44,000 barrels of oil a day and trades it on the black market, well below market value. It is also important to note that a number of countries, including the US, have been accused of indirectly helping ISIS by arming and funding Anti-Assad militant groups within Syria.

1. Where Do We Come From?

Are we the product of the Big Bang, or were we created by a divine source? This argument will likely wage on well after me and you are dead, and I will not even begin to pretend I have the answer. Due to what is called a confirmation bias, most of us will find evidence to support whichever side we believe the most when we research the issue anyway. Whether or not you believe we came from a random cosmic happening or an old guy in the sky, something came from nothing, whether it was us or God….and that will likely confuse humanity for a very very long time.

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