[Intro: High Pitch Vocal Sample – Loop] (The nature of things... The nature of things...) As we see them at the present time (Fundamental ideas...) Yeah. [Verse 1: Steady, calm flow – clear enunciation] In this chapter, we shall examine the most fundamental ideas That we have about physics— The nature of things as we see them at the present time. We shall not discuss the history Of how we know that all these ideas are true; You will learn these details in due time. The things with which we concern ourselves in science Appear in myriad forms, And with a multitude of attributes. [Pre-Chorus: Building slightly] For example... If we stand on the shore and look at the sea, We see the water, the waves breaking, the foam, The sloshing motion of the water, the sound, the air, The winds and the clouds, the sun and the blue sky, and light. [Chorus: Melodic Soul Hook] [Warm chords, heavy bass] There is sand and there are rocks (Nature, nature) Permanence, color and texture. There are animals and seaweed, hunger and disease, And the observer on the beach. It is always as complicated as that, No matter where it is. [Verse 2: Drum break – Bass and Drums only] Curiosity demands that we ask questions, That we try to put things together And try to understand this multitude of aspects As perhaps resulting from the action Of a relatively small number of elemental things And forces acting in an infinite variety of combinations. [Bridge: Spoken Word / Pause in the beat] For example: Is the sand other than the rocks? That is... is the sand perhaps nothing but a great number of very tiny stones? Is the moon a great rock? If we understood rocks, would we also understand the sand and the moon? [Verse 3: Beat returns full force] Is the wind a sloshing of the air Analogous to the sloshing motion of the water in the sea? What common features do different movements have? What is common to different kinds of sound? How many different colors are there? And so on. In this way we try gradually to analyze all things, To put together things which at first sight look different, With the hope that we may be able to reduce The number of different things and thereby understand them better. [Outro: Beat fades, soulful ad-libs] A few hundred years ago, a method was devised To find partial answers to such questions. Observation... Reason... and Experiment... Make up what we call the scientific method. (Fundamental physics.) (As we see them at the present time.) [Fade out]
