Everything Is Snow

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is a philosopher of nature who writes popular scientific articles, particularly in “Tygodnik Powszechny”. He’s specifically trained in astrophysics and cosmology, but fortunately he sometimes comes down to Earth.

Do you know how to get to a place where cosmic rain falls from the skies? You have to climb the ladder of abstraction.

There are, of course, many reasons to love the world and the science that describes it so beautifully. One of these is the phenomenon called ‘universality’. This educated term in fact represents a simple concept: that ‘the same’ can happen in various incarnations, and that different actors can play out the same scenario. The search for hidden similarities in different events is a favourite pastime for the human mind, seeking the general and the abstract. What else illustrates this better than snow?

The young guys and the old man

Before we jump into the subject of sleet, let’s discuss the actual method. The key word for today is ‘abstraction’. Abstraction is fundamentally about losing the details in order to arrive at something general. My unrequited love for Marysia and Jacek’s for Basia are obviously two completely different stories. And, sitting with Jacek over a beer, I will wait impatiently for my turn to confess; because what has Jacek’s problem got to do with mine? True? But an old man, sipping his Jägermeister, barks to the barman about how many times he’s heard such stories from dozens of young bucks. And that time is the best medicine. The old man isn’t interested in the fact that Marysia isn’t Basia and that I am not Jacek. He abstracts from these details, moving away from two, specific, broken hearts to reach the abstract concept of ‘unrequited love’.

Abstraction is a dangerous and

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Łukasz Lamża:

is a philosopher of nature who writes popular scientific articles, particularly in “Tygodnik Powszechny”. He’s specifically trained in astrophysics and cosmology, but fortunately he sometimes comes down to Earth.

Translation: Annie Krasińska

Publish date: 06.12.2019

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When the Babalskis’ fields are covered by a featherbed of snow, and the land underneath it is hard as rock, the life of the soil sleeps, and can rest easy until spring. But recently the winters have been warmer and warmer. And the soil really doesn’t like that.

“The balance gets disturbed,” Farmer Mieczysław explains to me. “I remember how we used to get two to three metres of snow and Pokrzydowo was completely buried. Fortunately everybody had horses, and we’d get around on sleighs. But since the end of the 80s, the winters have been getting milder. Now it can even happen that the ground doesn’t freeze. The weeds germinate, in the spring there’s more diseases, pests; there’s no frost to regulate it. The vegetation is disturbed. That’s the same reason why you can’t touch the soil in the winter. There’s a saying: ‘Who the earth in winter tears, his ground will be ill for seven years.’ Tear it, meaning ploughing it.”

The young guys and the old man

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