tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43983136584578130362024-02-21T08:42:40.068-08:00fletchblog42Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398313658457813036.post-53659052829870056412017-01-19T07:22:00.000-08:002017-01-19T07:22:20.382-08:00Not Your Grandmother's Evolution<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michael Skinner. Not Mule Skinner.<br />
Pay attention.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I changed my mind.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I just found another bit on evolution and epigenetics from Michael Skinner in <i>Aeon.co</i>, who's getting to be my fave. My BSF. That's Best Scientist Forever.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The link is at the end.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">And here're the best bits:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>The unifying theme for much of modern biology is based on </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHkUk2Aj81DY8O0Gf-XCGDG53FNdy6Yqv_O1duFeET_Q7WyfzYLVRMU9skBrbdlY1pFCqopbsfUbeNY3WHW1q3wxPx93109acocezXbox1k2xXXsDrF2AR2jnpya66WFenwDx5BePTBMk/s1600/evolution-humor-cartoon.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHkUk2Aj81DY8O0Gf-XCGDG53FNdy6Yqv_O1duFeET_Q7WyfzYLVRMU9skBrbdlY1pFCqopbsfUbeNY3WHW1q3wxPx93109acocezXbox1k2xXXsDrF2AR2jnpya66WFenwDx5BePTBMk/s320/evolution-humor-cartoon.gif" width="320" /></a></i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, the process of natural selection by which nature selects the fittest, best-adapted organisms to reproduce, multiply and survive. <br /><br />The process is also called adaptation, and traits most likely to help an individual survive are considered adaptive. As organisms change and new variants thrive, species emerge and evolve.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtw7LWbnB1f-ngCvYhl7o7UeviNy8Jgf8IEDUqA7mxSrHsWCzN5_6xLcMYxSlsRlFuls-cLdqeNiuIpu53nPS3ehp1OFgUhBU4IOI6hn0LNcAreRhOnHJzf59_eaJIkrqa_CuyD8pNRcY/s1600/evolutionVader.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtw7LWbnB1f-ngCvYhl7o7UeviNy8Jgf8IEDUqA7mxSrHsWCzN5_6xLcMYxSlsRlFuls-cLdqeNiuIpu53nPS3ehp1OFgUhBU4IOI6hn0LNcAreRhOnHJzf59_eaJIkrqa_CuyD8pNRcY/s320/evolutionVader.jpg" width="320" /></a></i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>But this explanation for evolution turns out to be incomplete, suggesting that other molecular mechanisms also play a role in how species evolve.<br /><br />Part of the explanation can be found in some concepts that Jean-Baptiste Lamarck proposed 50 years before Darwin published his work. Lamarck’s theory, long relegated to the dustbin of science, held, among other things, ‘that the environment can directly alter traits, which are then inherited by generations to come’. <br /><br />Lamarck, a professor of invertebrate zoology at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, studied many organisms including insects and worms in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He introduced the words ‘biology’ and ‘invertebrate’ into the scientific lexicon, and wrote books on biology, invertebrates and evolution. Despite this significant academic career, Lamarck antagonised many of his contemporaries and 200 years of scientists with his blasphemous evolutionary ideas.<br /><br />At the start, Lamarck might have been pilloried as a religious </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFXtVHrcJFzyFyiLdgxMuk7SkiW2Qst1xEMJ9bZfQFibCFSn8grJhb4VBScvGxL787Xf10fpB-G7KFbcwF6kLxH3HlLP9a5gcudLOLzcPSPoxwZ3TsDJ84u01VaOIp6czWMGRlU8FzSjc/s1600/homeroevolucion.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFXtVHrcJFzyFyiLdgxMuk7SkiW2Qst1xEMJ9bZfQFibCFSn8grJhb4VBScvGxL787Xf10fpB-G7KFbcwF6kLxH3HlLP9a5gcudLOLzcPSPoxwZ3TsDJ84u01VaOIp6czWMGRlU8FzSjc/s320/homeroevolucion.png" width="320" /></a></i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>
heretic, but in modern times, it is the orthodoxy of science – and especially Darwin’s untouchable theory of evolution – that has caused his name to be treated as a joke. Yet by the end of his career, Darwin himself had come around; even without the benefit of molecular biology, he could see that random changes were not fast enough to support his theory in full.<br /><br />(Here) is the precise definition of epigenetics: the molecular factors that regulate how DNA functions and what genes are turned on or off, independent of the DNA sequence itself. Epigenetics involves a number of molecular processes that can dramatically influence the activity of the genome without altering the sequence of DNA in the genes themselves.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /><i>Environmentally induced epigenetic transgenerational inheritance </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibGTV45Dxii6F5bZpBPWYhN0CysfEZHUaheQKY3qvv3VCxSQiIik3hj_lNdedhtw2DTg5hIKmGclhyakEAD8bZi5G7LhjTmPkHuYZe2GY0jHpE2o1bdhJ0AtQSBVqrQY3r0Up0WZCfxps/s1600/evolution_of_bugs_bunny_1939___2010_by_stranglynormal-d8qjmu6.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibGTV45Dxii6F5bZpBPWYhN0CysfEZHUaheQKY3qvv3VCxSQiIik3hj_lNdedhtw2DTg5hIKmGclhyakEAD8bZi5G7LhjTmPkHuYZe2GY0jHpE2o1bdhJ0AtQSBVqrQY3r0Up0WZCfxps/s400/evolution_of_bugs_bunny_1939___2010_by_stranglynormal-d8qjmu6.png" width="400" /></a></i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>has now been observed in plants, insects, fish, birds, rodents, pigs and humans. The epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of phenotypic trait variation and disease has been shown to occur across a span of at least 10 generations in most organisms, with the most extensive studies done in plants for hundreds of generations. </i><br /><br /><i>One example in plants, a heat-induced flowering trait first observed by Carl Linnaeus in the 18th century, was later found to be due to a DNA methylation modification that occurred in the initial plant, and has been maintained for 100 generations. </i><br /><br /><i>In worms, traits altered by changes in nutrition have been shown to </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_VLazyJGBCFlIcSAECT6Jh89a1aDeeX7viwvYBXukXR0Pv8v8ypJhSumC1TWqQHVzIM389SsubMBGeKkMo4kcWa4G1hYYsUGXEFjqmvS4O7cMx7WzPsgYCNQIooOOSZa5QbiWK0zZ0KI/s1600/evolution-of-man.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_VLazyJGBCFlIcSAECT6Jh89a1aDeeX7viwvYBXukXR0Pv8v8ypJhSumC1TWqQHVzIM389SsubMBGeKkMo4kcWa4G1hYYsUGXEFjqmvS4O7cMx7WzPsgYCNQIooOOSZa5QbiWK0zZ0KI/s200/evolution-of-man.gif" width="200" /></a></i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>
propagate over 50 generations. In mammals with longer generation times, we have found toxicant-induced abnormal traits propagated for nearly 10 generations. In most of these studies, the transgenerational traits do not degenerate but continue.</i><br /><br /><i>Much as Lamarck suggested, changes in the environment literally alter our biology. And even in the absence of continued exposure, the altered biology, expressed as traits or in the form of disease, is transmitted from one generation to the next.</i><br /><br />Here's what evolutionary folks did. They used Randomness in evolution to get rid of the need for God.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here's what religious folks did. They missed that entirely mostly and decided that the earth and the universe were only 6000 or so years old and everything happened instantaneously, more or less, spread out over six days.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here's where we get to meet in the middle. Evolution is a thing, but</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAZJ24d55I4uIRs2hD8S0FQ5EOl_YObcRMybvfnPjtqHGMF6RhbNQNcIrPSTyKWP6U-PGuYksPTtWGUqAMhfY-6MXYnheI-cz_2Fv8595TNeHtmSAuXYVkx635wgUYb-s0b3MHPLO3DBs/s1600/evolution-.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAZJ24d55I4uIRs2hD8S0FQ5EOl_YObcRMybvfnPjtqHGMF6RhbNQNcIrPSTyKWP6U-PGuYksPTtWGUqAMhfY-6MXYnheI-cz_2Fv8595TNeHtmSAuXYVkx635wgUYb-s0b3MHPLO3DBs/s320/evolution-.gif" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"> it is not a random thing. Things self-organize to solve problems of survival with intent and specificity. It's an intelligent process of reacting to the environment quickly and deliberately, not over long periods of time gradually and randomly.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It happens in ONE generation. And can persist for A HUNDRED generations.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Not gradually over long periods of time. Not randomly in any sense.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">So since Randomness has gone away,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">God is back.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here's the link: </span><a href="https://aeon.co/essays/on-epigenetics-we-need-both-darwin-s-and-lamarck-s-theories?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=17a198ea34-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_11_09&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-17a198ea34-68940989" style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;">https://aeon.co/essays/on-epigenetics-we-need-both-darwin-s-and-lamarck-s-theories?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=17a198ea34-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_11_09&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-17a198ea34-68940989</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">You should go read it right now.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now. You might be saying, what a minute! Just because Randomness is gone doesn't mean God is back! WTH!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Well. Yes, it does. If they used Randomness to get rid of the need for God, then logically if Randomness is no longer Randomness, then it's pretty reasonable to say that God is needed. That's just logic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But. Maybe you need a bit more than that. OK.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Evolution as a theory doesn't get rid of God. Just like the good ol' </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPPOxHoCyM0CW6JOvbk64VTkmWF-s679QWVosFqGgaN9wv9-9tn4PzaVnyz1AVgUA1baBe4gx27_JbMRGW3dOVdVdNs3PFmtMnxQKCf31dklPdSDKeBte_8sqzBz24dwieX-FiYDIc6ns/s1600/hipster-evolution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPPOxHoCyM0CW6JOvbk64VTkmWF-s679QWVosFqGgaN9wv9-9tn4PzaVnyz1AVgUA1baBe4gx27_JbMRGW3dOVdVdNs3PFmtMnxQKCf31dklPdSDKeBte_8sqzBz24dwieX-FiYDIc6ns/s320/hipster-evolution.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">laws of nature, if the universe has a starting point, then the question, where do the laws come from, has as a possible and reasonable answer, God made the laws.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It's not the only reasonable answer, but, well, there are no other answers to the question, so you've got that or nothing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">You could then say, well, that's just God-of-the-Gaps all over again. Don't know the answer, so just blame it on God.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The problem with that is that God-of-the-Gaps is an inside-the-universe thing. Not an outside-the-universe thing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Everything inside the universe can be explained (eventually probably) by the laws of physics.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But the laws of physics only exist inside the universe. Including, as far as we know, evolution. Which is really a process more than a law.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The universe produced the laws of physics, and evolution is </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHv1gpKxFEXCCqaYOWuMwkl19ah6FWUeTrQ5Ral4U9W0RLxAPJUitdyGEuXG_vsfko47DzEjsTNziLW636twv2sEi9rgHDsS27bjiFww2ArWX1d0IVdFXgyyOiQwuXyNyt8r3OPQwHi6c/s1600/evolution_stop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHv1gpKxFEXCCqaYOWuMwkl19ah6FWUeTrQ5Ral4U9W0RLxAPJUitdyGEuXG_vsfko47DzEjsTNziLW636twv2sEi9rgHDsS27bjiFww2ArWX1d0IVdFXgyyOiQwuXyNyt8r3OPQwHi6c/s200/evolution_stop.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">apparently derived from those, and all of that happened because of Big Bang creating the universe itself, and so we have no laws to cause Big Bang and we've no real idea at all why there are laws and particles and forces and all of that. Why there is something rather than nothing, that is.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The laws of physics are intelligent and ordered and extraordinarily calibrated to the finest of fine-tunings, and if there is only one universe (which is all we will ever ever ever have evidence for), then, well, somebody smart set it all up. Even if there are many universes, there still could be somebody smart out there in the Nothing setting it all up.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And an evolutionary process that is non-random is clearly the product of a smart somebody out there somewhere.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">For lack of a better word, we'll call that God.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So here's what we're saying. If things happen in life, the universe </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNiCZVeYqO-HLwnATDneTwg1-CFrQyC7EY_RGmHkFRYNZEpUheCJoWy7Bhrn9nuc3nBoiRPplMNKHihsLFhZI2lD9ZICdo9SIgA-nLr62wJCa6Sfwe48D4FcmsEEtMSIoZWcegqh1CYvc/s1600/evolution-of-God.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNiCZVeYqO-HLwnATDneTwg1-CFrQyC7EY_RGmHkFRYNZEpUheCJoWy7Bhrn9nuc3nBoiRPplMNKHihsLFhZI2lD9ZICdo9SIgA-nLr62wJCa6Sfwe48D4FcmsEEtMSIoZWcegqh1CYvc/s400/evolution-of-God.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">and everything (Nice phrase, that. I should remember it.) with clear and unmistakeable signs of an intelligence, one that empowered the universe with the laws of physics and with the amazing power of epigenetically driven evolution driving things so that intelligent observers would arrive in the universe and cause REALITY ITSELF to come into being, then, well,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">that intelligence, that organizing observing intelligence outside of time and space that observed the universe into being and imbued it with organizing laws and rules so that</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">first there was the language of the universe (mathematics) and second there was physics and third there was physical chemistry (inside of stars) and fourth there was then chemistry (the table of elements) and fifth there was biochemistry (life itself) and sixth there were eventually observers and seventh there was Reality, then</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">you don't have to call it the God of Christianity or Judaism or Islam or the gods of Hinduism or the pantheonic gods of Rome or Greece,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">but whatever. It's a lot like whatever God would be if God were.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And what we've already seen in previous posts is that the universe is apparently defined by </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Interactions. <i>Relata. </i>Relationships.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Which means that this God is likely to be an interactional, </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW4_cM4zcVjdvDcTHWttaQ4WZRqbEJODF8fJry8QQwtdVb8CvqWhmjWI6NryK6mwsktuxyyvvzih3PSrXHReld8cI_WlnAOhm-Rd-JkiMjHMcZ4EJb9Sol47bqlOqg8aFTx91RartBXpw/s1600/devolution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW4_cM4zcVjdvDcTHWttaQ4WZRqbEJODF8fJry8QQwtdVb8CvqWhmjWI6NryK6mwsktuxyyvvzih3PSrXHReld8cI_WlnAOhm-Rd-JkiMjHMcZ4EJb9Sol47bqlOqg8aFTx91RartBXpw/s320/devolution.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">relational God, and thus it is entirely reasonable to suggest that this God</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">is all about relationships.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Perhaps even and especially</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">with us.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Dang. That's some sweet logic.</span></div>
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Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398313658457813036.post-40163756195290055292017-01-11T09:42:00.000-08:002017-01-11T09:42:35.183-08:00Evolving Evolution<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now there's a boatload of negativity about all of this. That's because there's been so much hostility about evolution that some folks are afraid to question it at all, and other folks are afraid that it'll turn out to be true, only in a different way than everyone thinks, OR, and this is true on both sides of the argument, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">they're just not paying attention.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Both sides are stuck in arguing about Old Evolution, and they're not even aware that New Evolution is not only out of diapers, it's about ready to go to high school.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1qCMi0urt6IvFFL6fQIA50h1eGOSZbm_qgt3B2b6Iy8p_sl3GOp_ZLOWQQl0kEnYfytqqHReExOtx-mvmJlhLw7-DsiqIK_ToeyEOdm340nKfqlV3cnM5t2YwAItGUcuo1t10HvcdTEA/s1600/negativity-at-work-810x380.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1qCMi0urt6IvFFL6fQIA50h1eGOSZbm_qgt3B2b6Iy8p_sl3GOp_ZLOWQQl0kEnYfytqqHReExOtx-mvmJlhLw7-DsiqIK_ToeyEOdm340nKfqlV3cnM5t2YwAItGUcuo1t10HvcdTEA/s320/negativity-at-work-810x380.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Neither side is ready for the argument to change in a dramatic, paradigm-shattered sort of way.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Curious, that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Anyway.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Remarkably, the place where Lamarck was wrong was in the timing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">He thought (like Darwin) that changes in response to environment would take place over many thousands or millions of years.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Turns out, those changes can happen in one generation.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">One.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Mother to child. And hence to grandchildren. Whether or not it continues further remains to be seen. And since we don't really know what's going on yet, well, it remains to be seen.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Old School Traditionalists are all about "Gradualism", which is that things evolve gradually over enooooormous amounts of time. Sloooowly. Tiny little random mutations that add up to big changes but it takes a looooong time.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So that's Darwin and Larmarck and Richard Dawkins (who is reputedly still alive) and all the high school and college and university textbooks. Mostly.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Then there's the slightly Newer School guys like Stephen Jay Gould (who is sadly no longer alive. I mean, sadly for his friends and family. Hard to know how he feels about it.) who had </span><span style="font-size: large;">enooooormous fights with Dawkins about Gradualism, because Gould Didn't Think So.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">He said that things went along pretty much as they were for </span><span style="font-size: large;">looooong periods of time, and then kinda all at once, evolution happened in a much much shorter amount of time. Fast.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">He called it "punctuated equilibrium", which is a fancy scientific way of saying that nothing happened for a </span><span style="font-size: large;">looooong time until it was punctuated by big changes in a much much shorter amount of time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">He and Dawkins had big fights. Then Gould died. Then everybody sort of decided that the fossil record was much more about punctuated equilibrium and Gould was right after all.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Dawkins moped about and complained, but he was wrong and Gould was right.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now, nobody had much of an explanation as to how things which were supposed to happen s</span><span style="font-size: large;">loooowly didn't. Happen s</span><span style="font-size: large;">loooowly, that is.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But now we kinda do. To review:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>As well as being able to respond in specific ways to particular conditions, organisms seem to have evolved the ability to respond flexibly to whatever conditions they experience... <br /><br />This allows systems such as the immune system, nervous system and behavioural systems (through learning) to adjust to meet whatever environment the individual faces.<br /><br />And finally: ... developmental bias directs evolution ...</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So NOW there's developmental bias and epigenetics and symbiosis and Complexity Theory.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Complexity Theory probably says it best. It says that using self-organization and spontaneous emergence, organisms and systems of organisms solve problems of survival with intent and specificity.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Not randomly. Not accidentally. Not always even genetically. In fact, it could be even mostly not always genetically.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Deliberately and on-purpose.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">The universe organizes itself spontaneously.<br /><br />That is, emergent self-organization is at the root of existence.<br /><br />What emerges is not only more than, but vastly different from just the parts.<br /><br />Self-organization results in higher forms of order.<br /><br />But the process is unpredictable – you don’t know what you’ll get until you get it.<br /><br />And problems are solved with intent and specificity.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><style type="text/css">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here's an example. It's about locusts, from LiveScience.com in about 2006.<br /><br /><i>Scientists have finally figured out the exact moment when a jumbled swarm of creatures becomes an organized, unified, and sometimes terrifying, mass. <br /><br />Examining a group of desert locusts, researchers found that at low densities, the insects were unorganized and went their separate ways. But when the group's density increased, the bugs fell into an orderly line and began to follow the same direction.<br /><br />When there were a few of them together, they did not coalesce. As the group grew to 10 to 25 members, the locusts got closer to each other, but still did not move in unison. <br /><br />It was only when the researchers placed about 30 locusts in the arena that the insects fell into a line and started moving in the same direction. <br /><br />The march of the locusts is a bit of a mystery since they have no leader and each one can only communicate with close neighbors.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When the locusts reached a certain density, a "tipping point", then the self-organization emerged from that density. Not before. Individual locusts don't do this. It's not a genetic thing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">And what we found was something much more than just the sum of the parts, something dramatically different from the parts, almost like a super-organism, one massive locust monster from the deep.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The last sentence in the article is key. It's <i>a bit of a mystery</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We don't know yet how it all happens.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We should probably find some more examples. What a fine idea.</span></div>
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Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398313658457813036.post-45380543826125072042016-12-23T10:12:00.000-08:002016-12-23T10:12:34.715-08:00Now we're talking about evolution. Not a great move, frankly, blog popularity-wise.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Yeah, writing about evolution in a blog is a great way to 1) attract trolls and 2) flamings and 3) fire- and brimstoning.<br /><br /> Because if you don't write exactly and precisely what everyone wants to read, then they'll come after you with frontal lobotomies and exorcisms and excommunications and really bad language. And they'll say you're stupid. All of them will say that.<br /><br /> Like, it's either TOTALLY RIGHT or it's TOTALLY WRONG.<br /><br /> There are no other options.<br /><br /> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">
So just for fun, let's agree with the article we talked about last time from NewScientist magazine that evolution is in deep need of a fixin'. It has a problem. An issue. It needs to talk to someone about it.<br /><br /> The problem (spoiler alert!) is <br /><br /> Randomness.<br /><br />Let's just also say that there's evidence for evolutionary change to be found. Lots. Tons.<br /><br /> But let's also say that the assumption that random mutation is 1) the only thing making it happen and is 2) truly random, is 3) just an assumption that we've made up all the way along the way.<br /><br /> It was not Darwin's assumption. He came up with Natural Selection, but not Random Mutation. They didn't have genes then (everybody wore khakis)(sorry, bad joke). Genes were later. Mutation was later. Randomness was later.<br /><br /> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Random mutation and natural selection are the way that neo-Darwinian evolution is thought to have always worked. Genetic mutation is random. Natural selection is not.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And OH. BTW. Remember how the thinkers got rid of God (and free will) by using an infinite universe? Which turned out not to be true?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Randomness in Evolution is how the thinkers get rid of God all over again.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That is, if everything is random and nothing happens on purpose and evolution is not heading anywhere ever, especially not towards humans, then</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Religion is just wrong to think that man is special. Because humankind, just like everything else, is just a big biological accident.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So. If Randomness is wrong (or mostly or partly or sometimes or frequently wrong), then humans may not be an accident and evolution was indeed heading somewhere and humans may be the where. Maybe. Along with free will. Maybe. And God might exist and might have structured the evolutionary imperatives as, well, imperatives.<br /><br /> You might go back and read the previous post again. So that you'll know where we're going.<br /><br /> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGtP-Fa_0sHaLzBZkiFP0S2WUno5iePHu6ndwGye1YqKvuMWr-C2MIdhsHPo1-CZg0cT2ipew_zsiOpfI1kt6mqSbWCMQ4O_EmsPeRZEGbFCQNE3zeDz2Wap66f-6d_KurUWisWPva46k/s1600/epigenetics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGtP-Fa_0sHaLzBZkiFP0S2WUno5iePHu6ndwGye1YqKvuMWr-C2MIdhsHPo1-CZg0cT2ipew_zsiOpfI1kt6mqSbWCMQ4O_EmsPeRZEGbFCQNE3zeDz2Wap66f-6d_KurUWisWPva46k/s320/epigenetics.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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Here's a hint: <i>We now know that things other than genes are transmitted from parents to offspring...<br /><br /> That means that something other than random mutation and natural selection is going on.<br /><br /> That, frankly, is earth-shattering news.</i><br /><br /> Here's another bit: <i>As well as being able to respond in specific ways to particular conditions, organisms seem to have evolved the ability to respond flexibly to whatever conditions they experience... <br /><br />This allows systems such as the immune system, nervous system </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidvWBwL3Kq5xr3c26Grk94C9i6PBsug9rcJw_Y8CVZdvFexrfNFyBSlCJhX_qybzlsBU1O2hdsIKz0uBshnRGa9HjR0bklWtqLb2_IKEjzY6KF5CXXcEWuzZ7N30KupGPTICNvJslUPkg/s1600/epigenetics2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidvWBwL3Kq5xr3c26Grk94C9i6PBsug9rcJw_Y8CVZdvFexrfNFyBSlCJhX_qybzlsBU1O2hdsIKz0uBshnRGa9HjR0bklWtqLb2_IKEjzY6KF5CXXcEWuzZ7N30KupGPTICNvJslUPkg/s320/epigenetics2.jpg" width="320" /></a></i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>
and behavioural systems (through learning) to adjust to meet whatever environment the individual faces.</i><br /><br /> And finally: <i>... developmental bias directs evolution ...</i><br /><br /> So here's what it's saying.<br /><br /> It's saying that rather than, or maybe in addition to random mutation, organisms change deliberately and intentionally to things going on around them.<br /><br /> !!!!!!!<br /><br /> So evolutionary change is not always, and maybe never is or was random.<br /><br /> It may be sometimes, maybe most times, maybe all times intentional and organized. Specific. As though the organisms responded with deliberate intelligence to figure out what was going on and what they should do about it so that they don't die.<br /><br /> For the religious among the readers, let me tell what this is not. It is not intelligent design. It is not all-at-once miraculous creation. If there is anything intelligent design-y or miraculous-y about it, it is that organisms seem to have an innate, unexpected, surprising, and on the face of it miraculous ability to look around, see what's going on, and do something creative and amazing and generally entirely unexpected and unpredictable to fix it.<br /><br /> For the irreligious, areligious, atheist agnostic skeptical Newtonian readers out there, it is not random and it is not completely or maybe even mostly genetic. It is that via epigenetics, developmental bias, symbiotics, and/or spontaneous emergent self-organization, organisms seem to have an innate, unexpected, surprising, and on the face of it miraculous ability to look around, see what's going on, and do something creative and amazing and generally entirely unexpected and unpredictable to fix it.<br /><br /> It seems positively 1) neo-Larmarckian and 2) heretical.<br /><br /> Lamarck was the guy who suggested that organisms did this kind of thing.<br /><br /> All the trolls of his time made fun of him. Then he died. Not because of </span><span style="font-size: large;">everybody making fun of him, but still, he's not around to get to say "I told you so." Bummer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Because Lamarck is kinda back.<br /><br /> Evidence would be good. <br /><br /> Here's some, from www.evolutionnews.org :<br /><br /><i>Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) was an early evolutionist who proposed that life forms could acquire information from their environment and pass it on in their genes. He was dismissed, when not ridiculed, by Darwinists for many decades (though not, as it happens, by Darwin). But the basic thrust of his idea has recently resurfaced in epigenetics.<br /><br />Epigenetics is the study of the systems and processes by which<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIRCAx6K4QGhb_5ONfoFUebwcPiW73IrbF3a0VCk8St8tuNF-JbpFH3crXRz9yNz7Z6o9APurFO171USF6NZd0JYD_sOO8g2M9kf-0o512FyMR_lu_Gba4M30s9i1ids3_QEdHRR3kmfM/s1600/muscles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIRCAx6K4QGhb_5ONfoFUebwcPiW73IrbF3a0VCk8St8tuNF-JbpFH3crXRz9yNz7Z6o9APurFO171USF6NZd0JYD_sOO8g2M9kf-0o512FyMR_lu_Gba4M30s9i1ids3_QEdHRR3kmfM/s320/muscles.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Turns out, he wasn't completely wrong at all.</td></tr>
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genes' expression can be altered, not randomly as in Darwinism, but by specific, predictable, repeatable, and researchable events -- and then inherited in the altered state.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br />Here's another: </span><span style="font-size: large;"><i><u>Science Magazin</u>e called Michael Skinner "the epigenetics heretic" for maintaining that chemicals can cause changes in gene expression in mice that persist across generations. Notice who ... had the biggest knee-jerk reaction of all:<br /><br />Michael Skinner is gleefully listing the disciplines that he's ruffled with his contention that, without altering the sequence of DNA, certain chemicals can cause harmful health effects that pass down generations. Toxicologists are so outraged that they have tried to block his funding, he says. Geneticists resist having their decades-old understanding of inheritance overturned. Then there are the evolutionary biologists, who have "the biggest knee-jerk reaction of all."<br /><br />Skepticism is to be expected, Skinner acknowledges: "This is probably going to be the <b>biggest paradigm shift in science in recent history</b>," he declares. (Emphasis added.)</i><br /><br />And that's just epigenetics. Wait till we get to Complexity Theory.<br /><br />And finally, from MIT. MIT. The real MIT. The IT that's in M. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; position: relative; top: -6pt;"></span><!--EndFragment--><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /><i>The effects of an animal’s environment during adolescence can be passed down to future offspring, according to two new studies. If applicable to humans, the research, done on rodents, suggests that the impact of both childhood education and early abuse could span generations. The findings provide support for a 200-year-old theory of evolution that has been largely dismissed: Lamarckian evolution, which states that acquired characteristics can be passed on to offspring.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i>If you're religious, you need to keep reading. If you're not, you need to keep reading.</span><br />
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Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398313658457813036.post-64074724296230597662016-12-13T06:54:00.000-08:002016-12-13T06:54:05.921-08:00Something Else Going On.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Having now pissed off all the religious people and all the Harley guys (and the latter is probably safer, since they'll just beat me to death with the Harley tool of choice, whereas the religious folk tend to have all sorts of interesting solutions to the problem of what they might define as heresy.) and probably the atheists and agnostics, too (do they have a plan for dealing with, um, what we might call anti-heresy? a-heresy? a-heretics?) ...</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUNn_NxTgQlZB_ERsGQ6yfsSpc9lGVP4YoNQdsIRBbsV_of08_LU4FEitpZ9AxgEll9ytXu60HJdr7WaYHugGDHeFXOSC8I5JZCdCCZV18pYpIVApXiuLK7wU215G4vGJgslHqelNwrDM/s1600/angry-scientist-beaker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUNn_NxTgQlZB_ERsGQ6yfsSpc9lGVP4YoNQdsIRBbsV_of08_LU4FEitpZ9AxgEll9ytXu60HJdr7WaYHugGDHeFXOSC8I5JZCdCCZV18pYpIVApXiuLK7wU215G4vGJgslHqelNwrDM/s320/angry-scientist-beaker.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Anyway. Let's piss off the scientists.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Some of them, anyway. The old school traditionalists.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Here we go.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Several blogs ago (you should go look - it's the Free Will - Get Over It. Or not. blog), there were some articles.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The first one said that free will, just like everything else, has to have evolutionary origins and therefore is just a genetic byproduct, just the DNA that each one of us inherited from all of our ancestors. Everything biological is a product of evolution, and that's true for the brain, and that's where free will would be, and so all of our decisions are predetermined by our genetics, and so we don't have free will.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmi5jMeMHmT-lddU5DF_ZX2NLWgwzU8SPsZVlDgngqNo1eMVGXKcWYtsEy5c1AQK_eniLeTIDkHKnfa1vxbWFUg8PxeEySxqJvYub2pt8j6tp6lfkisSe94R2ldjjZKLJqMo_HKgns3Sg/s1600/genetic-jail-sentence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmi5jMeMHmT-lddU5DF_ZX2NLWgwzU8SPsZVlDgngqNo1eMVGXKcWYtsEy5c1AQK_eniLeTIDkHKnfa1vxbWFUg8PxeEySxqJvYub2pt8j6tp6lfkisSe94R2ldjjZKLJqMo_HKgns3Sg/s320/genetic-jail-sentence.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And there were all these experiments that seem to say that we don't have free will.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Until in the second article, there was an even better experiment</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">using an MRI</span><span style="font-size: large;"> that actually observed free will apparently happening in the brain.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">And then, of course, in the final article, there is the reality that we'll never really understand the brain, anyway. So we're never really going to know whether or not we have free will based on any kind of scientific evidence.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnxBuS2y17xzHtoVWuW0xjZIdGUe7BSK9amkY8aM7MNCNRJV_oNBhCRDJ9r0X6yQOIWnenUYEVo8YU6ZlaoBqFcTPX4lYj5hl8cyTIUbPAfHNtu8-u64biAsN2BCwakeCTE8Kd_HFnTM8/s1600/BrainHomer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnxBuS2y17xzHtoVWuW0xjZIdGUe7BSK9amkY8aM7MNCNRJV_oNBhCRDJ9r0X6yQOIWnenUYEVo8YU6ZlaoBqFcTPX4lYj5hl8cyTIUbPAfHNtu8-u64biAsN2BCwakeCTE8Kd_HFnTM8/s320/BrainHomer.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">I read something else about that the other day - someone said that if the brain were simple enough for us to understand it, we'd be too simple to understand it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Zing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Let's assume for a minute that the absolutely positively latest and best experiment, the one that says we have free will based on the MRI evidence, let's assume that one is correct.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Let's assume that we have free will.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Standard Darwinian evolutionary theory says we can't have free will. Neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory says we can't have free will.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But, today at least, we do.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Hmmm. That is a conundrum.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So either evolutionary theory the way that we understand it is generally wrong, or specifically wrong.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Let's assume that it's generally right, but specifically wrong. Like, in this case.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So what does that mean?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Well. Regular old evolutionary theory says that random mutation provides a gene by complete accident that happens at a certain moment in time and space to provide for better survivability, and that gene is then selected for, and so it goes.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhca0dY6rCFPbV7x-Zi36HQO9DQyTsXnUaatQZqHmSm5iHgW7cc56wDezqb-J4jRgj64ghbzn5Xeww2eQNx07i0vBf1t4QkJ6DLjn99pZ_uL5jXhRddPUXn0IpiA_Y8EkVf40OgRpXldFE/s1600/penrose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhca0dY6rCFPbV7x-Zi36HQO9DQyTsXnUaatQZqHmSm5iHgW7cc56wDezqb-J4jRgj64ghbzn5Xeww2eQNx07i0vBf1t4QkJ6DLjn99pZ_uL5jXhRddPUXn0IpiA_Y8EkVf40OgRpXldFE/s400/penrose.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">What if there's something else going on?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">You should keep reading now even if you're upset.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Well. Here's part of an article from NewScientist for you to read and consider:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br />In recent years, our understanding of biology has taken huge strides. Advances in genetics, epigenetics and developmental biology challenge us to think anew about the relationship between genes, organisms and the environment, with implications for the origins of diversity and the direction and speed of evolution. <br /><br />In particular, new findings undermine the idea, encapsulated by the<br />“selfish gene” metaphor, that genes are in the driving seat. Instead, they suggest that organisms play active, constructive roles in their own development and that of their descendants, so that they impose direction on evolution.<br /><br />Some biologists are trying to shoehorn the new knowledge into </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1gMQ3LG7fgf1_QyemnShPtpP9tT2nynl0uEcaqR3P6rdqzxL1_Vv2ECDbgXuso62ribyITZ6xbc5e6eFU_NYczMyeLbCnihea8n6r7_qxxaHMGYMU1p1pijHYDqBqBG1M_y_K0FnFfR4/s1600/epigenetics-4-728.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1gMQ3LG7fgf1_QyemnShPtpP9tT2nynl0uEcaqR3P6rdqzxL1_Vv2ECDbgXuso62ribyITZ6xbc5e6eFU_NYczMyeLbCnihea8n6r7_qxxaHMGYMU1p1pijHYDqBqBG1M_y_K0FnFfR4/s320/epigenetics-4-728.jpg" width="320" /></a></i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>
traditional evolutionary thinking. Others, myself included, believe a more radical approach may be required. We don’t deny the roles of genetic inheritance and natural selection, but think we should look at evolution in a markedly different way. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>It is time for the theory of evolution to evolve.<br /><br />We now know that things other than genes are transmitted from parents to offspring...<br /><br />These and many other findings suggest that the current focus on genetic mutations only captures part of the story of adaptive evolution – the slowly changing part. The broader view shows there are other ways to generate heritable variety.<br /><br />And that’s not all. We now also know that a given set of genes has the potential to produce a variety of phenotypes, depending on the environment in which the organism develops. <br /><br />This ability, called developmental plasticity, used to be dismissed as </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4nbUt2S8c4GINclsS21ySv5ed_blla_A0W4sIKqjm_JSesRyWCHQe8IeG-xCc5eQ0O_d7PLN960r-GSNaMxVF9nREtQXFaxpv9rhJ-zUXSLXiSdFyGam1s_wkuUsxGREcmyAyR34_yaY/s1600/epigenetics3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4nbUt2S8c4GINclsS21ySv5ed_blla_A0W4sIKqjm_JSesRyWCHQe8IeG-xCc5eQ0O_d7PLN960r-GSNaMxVF9nREtQXFaxpv9rhJ-zUXSLXiSdFyGam1s_wkuUsxGREcmyAyR34_yaY/s400/epigenetics3.png" width="400" /></a></i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>
“noise” or mere “fine-tuning”, but recent research suggests it may play a far more active role in the evolutionary process. As well as being able to respond in specific ways to particular conditions, organisms seem to have evolved the ability to respond flexibly to whatever conditions they experience... <br /><br />This allows systems such as the immune system, nervous system and behavioural systems (through learning) to adjust to meet whatever environment the individual faces.<br /><br />Perhaps, rather than merely setting limits on what forms are available for selection, developmental bias directs evolution by generating the tramlines along which the engine of selection can proceed.</i><br /><br />The article goes on. You can read it here - https://www.facebook.com/www.lifeuniverseverything.org/posts/10154012596767428 <br /><br />or if you have a subscription, at NewScientist.com.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">So. Here's what we're suggesting.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />Free will is not a product of random mutation and natural selection.<br /><br />It's a product of directed evolution.<br /><br />Now that is really gonna make absolutely everybody upset.<br /><br />You need to remember, though, that if there is no free will, then you can't be upset at me because my DNA made me do it.<br /><br />And if there is free will, then you can't be upset at me because, heck, there is free will.<br /><br />Trapped like rats. Don't you hate that?</span></div>
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Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398313658457813036.post-12692586373534003832016-11-30T08:15:00.000-08:002016-11-30T08:15:36.578-08:00Living within the Clumps<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Life is clumpy.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyYmSyHDzSjCzh94Htk749bVmP7qkF1VKNURucd2gbS2KQZBmC2jHu0lCVJcuO-9gxHSeEZQJVCEA5v1u51gOAS3-J966ioWRJRGK6yTPr5VHJ7bphPW4ubxQlMA1mOJotcaj2iITM1to/s1600/clumpy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyYmSyHDzSjCzh94Htk749bVmP7qkF1VKNURucd2gbS2KQZBmC2jHu0lCVJcuO-9gxHSeEZQJVCEA5v1u51gOAS3-J966ioWRJRGK6yTPr5VHJ7bphPW4ubxQlMA1mOJotcaj2iITM1to/s200/clumpy.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Get over it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Not helpful.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Really. I mean, how are we supposed to live with unpredictability?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Well. Pretty much the way you've been living so far.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">This shouldn't be a big surprise to you. That life is unpredictable, I mean.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Because, you know. Look around. See?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTkiRvXLQqNs-SeuOc1aQujt8ylLFEqzoD5oym7ixTFHmE8jJ0bjshi6Zs-2x5Zyt222IykIYASkmWgRMRk_1WxUf2QKmGdS8aeKd7liy08JZVjvwf5HtR6u7W8cm27kiWkN89zLJDHK8/s1600/closed-doors.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTkiRvXLQqNs-SeuOc1aQujt8ylLFEqzoD5oym7ixTFHmE8jJ0bjshi6Zs-2x5Zyt222IykIYASkmWgRMRk_1WxUf2QKmGdS8aeKd7liy08JZVjvwf5HtR6u7W8cm27kiWkN89zLJDHK8/s320/closed-doors.jpeg" width="213" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">We really really want life to be predictable, so we say things like when a door closes a window opens and there's a reason for everything, but in fact,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">that's just not true.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Here's what is true.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">First. When a door closes, you can't go that way anymore.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So you've got to find another way.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Chances are good you'll find one. There are lots of options. Sometimes you need to be creative and work hard and be patient. It would have been good for you to get ready for a clump of bad things to come along, so, you know, having some extra money in the bank is a fine idea. For example.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">If you know that bad clumps are always out there lurking, then heck. Get ready for them.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">And everything doesn't happen for a reason, but lots and lots of things that happen come with a life lesson wrapped up inside, something to learn, something to remember for next time.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_LLejLqLCZmq41TNuD0D6lmWCta7FAnNxBiMFiAOIN0-z_iteHnJOVhZUEfYnaPU3aqvx2MoFxusGs7sofh8Vebq9fLlnHgTye5Hy4Orx9r-5e-hSlcrz2afgWTc4Ai2OMONJDs6-2j0/s1600/keep-calm-and-flush-twice-12.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_LLejLqLCZmq41TNuD0D6lmWCta7FAnNxBiMFiAOIN0-z_iteHnJOVhZUEfYnaPU3aqvx2MoFxusGs7sofh8Vebq9fLlnHgTye5Hy4Orx9r-5e-hSlcrz2afgWTc4Ai2OMONJDs6-2j0/s200/keep-calm-and-flush-twice-12.png" width="188" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Like, wear a seatbelt. Flush twice. All smells are particulate. OK, that last one is not useful to remember at all. It's just disgusting.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">However. There are some things that happen that are so terrible, horrific, and monstrous, that not only did they not happen for a reason, but they didn't happen so as to provide you with a neat little lesson to learn from.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">They happened because the quality of bad things is clumpy, too. Many bad things are just kinda bad, maybe most bad things. But some are much, much worse. Some are beyond imagining. Some are the stuff of nightmares that are not supposed to transition into daytime and reality. But they do.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Some you just have to survive as best you can. And maybe find people who have already survived as best they could. And then maybe become one of those people, so that you can be one of them when it happens to someone else.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Could be that there is a reason, after all.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhggBiEtDB-3wMLJZm9XJB7ULTj4WBoUbMMQLf98Imsdd3YLeMkqeObHMNj81yzLbYxhZ8w_smv3c5XCo6LaPRKJxCoSDhoCdiIvCzXbIUwpV2CoviiBzVMVNihyphenhyphenh1LJ1yAXVc40aeqkdA/s1600/keep-calm-and-come-together.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhggBiEtDB-3wMLJZm9XJB7ULTj4WBoUbMMQLf98Imsdd3YLeMkqeObHMNj81yzLbYxhZ8w_smv3c5XCo6LaPRKJxCoSDhoCdiIvCzXbIUwpV2CoviiBzVMVNihyphenhyphenh1LJ1yAXVc40aeqkdA/s200/keep-calm-and-come-together.png" width="171" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">We are supposed to help each other. And sometimes it helps to have been there for people who are now there.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Community is the thing. Coming together. Sharing lives and pains and joys and struggles and clumps.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Oh. And sometimes bad things happen because you did something stupid.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Let's not rule that out.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Because that's when everything does happen for a reason, and the reason is, you were an idiot.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now. If God exists (always an option), then how does he fit into all of this?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Well. His main job is not to keep you safe from bad things. If it is, then he's doing a really crappy job of it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And we're going to assume that God never does a crappy job on anything.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfbMfI8Ubsr-vKoPuRo6Xi3WV-ZSwPZ_k9aApJ6NnW4Hj0aUUsQhlyatqNE0HFDdTT_-VZiVQKKWmHEyWFg13e13UxhPCsdcI87-VFPYGU3-TH-mxZBVTmhgR-fqNoZ_1xypKsxWKTl2o/s1600/keep-calm-and-don-t-be-an-idiot-2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfbMfI8Ubsr-vKoPuRo6Xi3WV-ZSwPZ_k9aApJ6NnW4Hj0aUUsQhlyatqNE0HFDdTT_-VZiVQKKWmHEyWFg13e13UxhPCsdcI87-VFPYGU3-TH-mxZBVTmhgR-fqNoZ_1xypKsxWKTl2o/s200/keep-calm-and-don-t-be-an-idiot-2.png" width="171" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">His main job is not to provide you with object lessons to learn from. With an exception for the stupid things you do. Those, you're supposed to learn from, whether God exists or not. Here's the lesson: That thing you just did? That's what idiots do. Don't be an idiot.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">See how easy it is?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now, as far as all the other bad things, especially the really bad things that happen, that's an interesting question.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Clearly if God exists, he could stop bad things from happening.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And clearly, he doesn't always do that. He might do it sometimes, but, well, you never really know. 'Cause they didn't happen.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So why doesn't he just stop all the bad things and </span><span style="font-size: large;">keep only the good things?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Huh. Good question.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Let's give it a shot.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">First. If there were no bad things, then we would never have any reason to look to God for help. Or to each other, for that matter.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiS11lxS-XSEU_o2dDku6gu5YyfQBaMu5cT8blKq9K2RCxfuimtNntJ4jMgE3ZU4_RqikLiEogESIaZ7I2t-G-hQRf4-KsA3Ot6YC79G5FfZXhDqJGr_1iDkO4q8Wb3p-GBXlsHhkrzFE/s1600/fish-with-a-selfie-stick-selfish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiS11lxS-XSEU_o2dDku6gu5YyfQBaMu5cT8blKq9K2RCxfuimtNntJ4jMgE3ZU4_RqikLiEogESIaZ7I2t-G-hQRf4-KsA3Ot6YC79G5FfZXhDqJGr_1iDkO4q8Wb3p-GBXlsHhkrzFE/s200/fish-with-a-selfie-stick-selfish.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">We might even just start to think about only ourselves all the time, and never about anybody else.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Eventually, that would cause bad things. Maybe it does already. I'm gonna bet on that one.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Second. if there were no bad things, then there would be different levels of good things. And we'd start to rank them so that some of them would start to seem bad to us, and then we'd complain about it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So even if there were no bad things, we'd come up with some. Maybe we already do that. I'm gonna bet on that one, too.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Third. There are only good and bad things if there is some sort of God around to call them good and bad. Even Richard Dawkins says that. "No design, no purpose, no good and no evil, nothing but pointless indifference."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That's a universe without God.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So even if we're not totally crazy about all the bad things,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">they are only bad if God exists.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So you just have to live with that. And you kinda have to live with whatever he calls good and/or bad. You don't get to get to define good and bad for yourself.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaubrnAesbAxTUSnZuVavp6PgyO7ra8d3MIw1m_r6I2Efy47612ClO2Mb4psq73H3tv0E7ucz54MpZMu66jUITcXM1Y6letayE_ObOyXvbS0l8S6JfwzqfTuk4ZFPhQndDJZgu1CkwEV4/s1600/jerk.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaubrnAesbAxTUSnZuVavp6PgyO7ra8d3MIw1m_r6I2Efy47612ClO2Mb4psq73H3tv0E7ucz54MpZMu66jUITcXM1Y6letayE_ObOyXvbS0l8S6JfwzqfTuk4ZFPhQndDJZgu1CkwEV4/s200/jerk.png" width="150" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Because often something that is good for you, is bad for someone else. One of you is being a jerk.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">And we can't really let nations or cultures define what is good and bad, because they are full of people, and people are often not the best judges of that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Because, well, the Holocaust. For example. There might be others. Ha. Not funny.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Fourth. If there were no bad things, then we'd never do anything at all.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Because some of the bad things are like, um, being hungry. Thirsty. Tired. Dirty. Naked. Walking instead of driving. Or floating. Or flying. Being sick. Or lonely. Or bored.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">All of those needs give us something to do. For ourselves. For each other. If we had no needs, we wouldn't do anything. We wouldn't need to. And we wouldn't need each other. Or God.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And we wouldn't have dark chocolate. Or ice cream. Cookies. Hamburgers. Pizza. Fondue. Ceviche. Curry. Sushi. Burritos.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Or cars or movies or jeans or books or bikes or skiis or games or TV or music or scuba diving or dancing or theater or pyramids or great walls or tall buildings or short buildings or buildings or</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">anything. At all. Like friends. Lovers. Children.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7yS2W6qrqNANYlIq5lBLa5LnrxQNXLWJCYSHCotL8-ciPYNdSyoR0o-Pk9L7AUrpbbfWV_m_jIf0-8V-tsS04B0t-lp111YN_vtsUMssu7URhBjRNt50OEagZQ9yJImOrTVDEbD2g7AI/s1600/getoverit.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7yS2W6qrqNANYlIq5lBLa5LnrxQNXLWJCYSHCotL8-ciPYNdSyoR0o-Pk9L7AUrpbbfWV_m_jIf0-8V-tsS04B0t-lp111YN_vtsUMssu7URhBjRNt50OEagZQ9yJImOrTVDEbD2g7AI/s200/getoverit.png" width="150" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Bottom line. Life is clumpy. So we need each other. And we need God.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Get over it.</span></div>
Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398313658457813036.post-91247740373583068272016-11-16T06:48:00.001-08:002016-11-16T06:59:15.600-08:00Life is Chaotic. Then you die.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;">And when we say Chaotic, we don't mean messy (though life is certainly sometimes messy) but unpredictable. That's what Chaos Theory is all about. Unpredictability.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Life is unpredictable. And then, yes, well, it just so happens that at the end, dying cease to be an option and becomes an imperative.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That might be the only predictable thing about life, in fact. Taxes too, I suppose. Unless you're able to figure out how to not pay them. As some have been known to do.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But just because life's unpredictable doesn't mean it's random.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Nor does it mean that there is no meaning or purpose to existence.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMG4lTZVsWjuESE9AwJ7EJLyJ_ZLMBL_UIkL_Xw0Zcufh-MUyV_f5FhTlf2bYc_bWQVrYousIvQhfiWFwxCzUBhFb7r1g4nz67n_yRrwA8IlFn0WZ_NFQdZo8gDeYsRPiEYCVTOn5euZs/s1600/Tailtale.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="126" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMG4lTZVsWjuESE9AwJ7EJLyJ_ZLMBL_UIkL_Xw0Zcufh-MUyV_f5FhTlf2bYc_bWQVrYousIvQhfiWFwxCzUBhFb7r1g4nz67n_yRrwA8IlFn0WZ_NFQdZo8gDeYsRPiEYCVTOn5euZs/s400/Tailtale.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Or that there is no good or evil.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Richard Dawkins and his buds have mistaken unpredictability for randomness.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So the way that life works lies somewhere between randomness and predictability.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So when we say things like God has a wonderful plan for your life or when a door closes a window opens or everything happens for a reason or ask questions like why do bad things happen to good people or most importantly why do bad things happen to ME?, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">we are acting like life is predictable. That there's a reason for everything.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That somebody is in charge and making all the decisions and pulling all the strings and making everything happen according to some grand plan.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTmVFnhA-VR0SvTHJme1ku5X_etB9gz73-_f21HQ11EgCMDdRnmKUc4LT0EDiBXVJaiM_27HaCc6EaBFNXVaYTCdx8DU_zbgxJnfi0xV3cTMz25_bg1SK7yJ1WqrDBDZAaK1EBwDbOxQg/s1600/flyingspagmonster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTmVFnhA-VR0SvTHJme1ku5X_etB9gz73-_f21HQ11EgCMDdRnmKUc4LT0EDiBXVJaiM_27HaCc6EaBFNXVaYTCdx8DU_zbgxJnfi0xV3cTMz25_bg1SK7yJ1WqrDBDZAaK1EBwDbOxQg/s320/flyingspagmonster.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">God. Or if you don't like God, the Flying Spaghetti Monster or Pay No Attention to that Man Behind the Curtain or Fate or Destiny or Karma or Aliens or the Buddha or the Military-Industrial Complex or the Illuminati.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We're gonna go with God. Short, sweet, simple.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now the Richard Dawkinses of the world don't wanna go with God or anything resembling God, so they swing all the way to the other end of the bell curve to randomness.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Frankly, that just shows a lack of imagination.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Let's just use some. Imagination, I mean.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFojRtYfR4FoThBQJrG2G_06Fh6bwDNMKNPtnUiyES4KHQDTA-0r-LIYnaw2pNVIn1EEiyfVPugNc6VEy81hX8gyFTmj8sCORj0R5bLx5G3B7QRVnlmbfgw5LhYS5_kKpth643o-hL984/s1600/twain.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFojRtYfR4FoThBQJrG2G_06Fh6bwDNMKNPtnUiyES4KHQDTA-0r-LIYnaw2pNVIn1EEiyfVPugNc6VEy81hX8gyFTmj8sCORj0R5bLx5G3B7QRVnlmbfgw5LhYS5_kKpth643o-hL984/s320/twain.png" width="226" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">So. Let's just say that life will have good things and bad things in it. Also lots of things that are neither good nor bad but are just ... things.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now. Everybody is going to get some good things and some bad things.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That seems fair.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So when something bad happens to us, here's what we say - why me?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Yeah, we never say that when good things happen.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We kinda assume that good things are normal and bad things are not normal.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">For those who believe in God, sometimes we think that God's main job is to protect us from bad things and make sure we only get good things.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That's just silly.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAToS2-3MKpgn7pemdIrNr9aIG5soV5rZ4yFoBmhPROcSl6aoOufkdf0s8_f-PLvWiHrowQhctZLkelhUzEA2aOzey-0z4Y51OaYdRvIH4g66POmbmszLLpaxeXG2R1-mfHHqsPv9MRGc/s1600/curtain.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAToS2-3MKpgn7pemdIrNr9aIG5soV5rZ4yFoBmhPROcSl6aoOufkdf0s8_f-PLvWiHrowQhctZLkelhUzEA2aOzey-0z4Y51OaYdRvIH4g66POmbmszLLpaxeXG2R1-mfHHqsPv9MRGc/s200/curtain.png" width="171" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">For those who don't believe in God or </span><span style="font-size: large;">the Flying Spaghetti Monster or Pay No Attention to that Man Behind the Curtain or Fate or Destiny or Karma or Aliens or the Buddha or the Military-Industrial Complex or the Illuminati, bad things are just baaaad things dammit, and good things are great, unless you are Richard Dawkins pretending for a brief moment that there are no bad or good things, there are just things, in which case, a bad thing is just a thing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Yeah, he never does that. If he ever did, he'd stop saying that religion was bad. For example. He's a total hypocrite. Sorry, Dicky. And he never ever ever ever says that a bad thing that happens to him is not a bad thing it's just a thing. Never ever ever. Nobody does, not even Dr. Dicky Dawkins.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So really, life is going to have good things and bad things in it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now. Here's a math question for you. Or two. Several.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVymzSrmYH9ZfwiJTqLElworFl9R2FaAJ-loA_ldh3EqXbqLXjY9zDbvuyUsh93tYaPLTNqxaP2ivUpipj98dyxqihkS67CwPeSRMe_RUc5H9e3ttWZV3Wj_NoaqrLZn-6Ik-NP0L9mxg/s1600/karma.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVymzSrmYH9ZfwiJTqLElworFl9R2FaAJ-loA_ldh3EqXbqLXjY9zDbvuyUsh93tYaPLTNqxaP2ivUpipj98dyxqihkS67CwPeSRMe_RUc5H9e3ttWZV3Wj_NoaqrLZn-6Ik-NP0L9mxg/s200/karma.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Are the good and bad things going to be equally divided in your life? Just exactly the same number of good things as bad things?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And are they going to be equally divided between humans? That is, will every human get exactly the same number of good and bad things as every other human?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And will the good things and bad things happen at regular intervals so that we will know they are coming and 1) bake a cake (in case it's a good thing or 2) run and hide (in case, well, you know)?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And since Death is like the ultimate Bad Thing, is everybody going to die at the same age?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Whether you believe in God or not, the answer to all those questions is the same:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">No. That's ridiculous.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLXwTeGgMa0PFNeNk2ASV3dh-PUP7rFow7Ve0e1XROZgbZC0JGjBSNe-hruL1qhbsd66z9TrmYcbTPe1bClM2luuSzN6j0ferFscdeMLSkt2UetNVEtZ01MESDbmO6WYynuHLi1iayyxE/s1600/good-and-bad-news.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLXwTeGgMa0PFNeNk2ASV3dh-PUP7rFow7Ve0e1XROZgbZC0JGjBSNe-hruL1qhbsd66z9TrmYcbTPe1bClM2luuSzN6j0ferFscdeMLSkt2UetNVEtZ01MESDbmO6WYynuHLi1iayyxE/s400/good-and-bad-news.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So here's what that means. It means that you will have an unequal number of good and bad things happen to you in your life.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Some of you will get way more good things, and others will get way more bad things. Some won't suffer much. Others will suffer a crapload.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes in life you'll get a crapload of bad things all at once, and then there might be a loooong pause where nothing bad really happens. Sometimes a ton of good stuff will happen all at once.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And since we're all going to die at different times in different ways, some of us will die before we are born, some when we are born, some when we are babies or toddlers or pre-schoolers or schoolers or teenagers or collegians or young adults or middle adults or old adults, and some will die quickly and painlessly and others will not be that lucky.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And some things will happen for a</span><span style="font-size: large;"> reason, and others will not.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvbFu4Epr5Y8nHnzpN66hItof2RJm23az-RBQb_oeDQjTlUtEwEGgHqyws-rVKgFz8iIwGeSdX7XYxjgxOXw25D8QX3iVgPHGvFyUHo8wiOuAyO1-K5irM3dvgmrozt5ylkdr7Ywd2yQE/s1600/When-a-door-closes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvbFu4Epr5Y8nHnzpN66hItof2RJm23az-RBQb_oeDQjTlUtEwEGgHqyws-rVKgFz8iIwGeSdX7XYxjgxOXw25D8QX3iVgPHGvFyUHo8wiOuAyO1-K5irM3dvgmrozt5ylkdr7Ywd2yQE/s320/When-a-door-closes.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">And sometimes doors just close and windows don't open. Sometimes they'll both open.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It's not random. It's unpredictable.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Your life is not paint-by-numbers. It's not fill-in-the-blank. It's not a crossword puzzle.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It's a blank canvas with dangers and joys lurking in the paint, the brush, in your fingers and brain, in the fabric of time and space and in the interactions that are your emerging life.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And every interaction is the artist of your life.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So here's what Chaos tells us - life is clumpy. Life comes in clumps. Clumps of good things. Clumps of bad things. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And when you get a clump of bad things that happen to you, you wonder, why do bad things happen to good people, but of course, what you really mean is, why do bad things happen to ME?! ALL THE DAMN TIME!?!?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And the answer is (envelope, please), why not?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Bad things happen to everyone eventually. Sometimes terrible things.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But not equally. Some people have lots of terrible things happen to them. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And others ... don't.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Because the universe is clumpy.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">In scientific terms, the universe started out not clumpy at all, and then got clumpier as time went on. So after 13.8 billion years, there's a crapload of clumpiness out there.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So just about the only other predictable thing about the universe is that it will be unpredictably clumpy.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Live accordingly.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">OK, that is not helpful advice.</span></div>
Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398313658457813036.post-70841919271902386232016-11-09T07:49:00.000-08:002016-11-09T07:49:48.468-08:00Why bad things happen to good people, or Chaos Theory Explained<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidWd2flq7g9mCc_oII60rLpiOK97u7ucqcCP_NJMQ_sKOwnH8nPo7tHS1t4I5a8rgUYrlT9qn8-sRf_RHkvYW1Ldd6AHNiFt4O5j4VnM_unXJ3-S3dT4hZtm_emsH-WNt6VR6ANh4NbGQ/s1600/CBwhyamIhere.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidWd2flq7g9mCc_oII60rLpiOK97u7ucqcCP_NJMQ_sKOwnH8nPo7tHS1t4I5a8rgUYrlT9qn8-sRf_RHkvYW1Ldd6AHNiFt4O5j4VnM_unXJ3-S3dT4hZtm_emsH-WNt6VR6ANh4NbGQ/s320/CBwhyamIhere.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Here are some things folks worry about.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Like, why bad things happen to good people.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And, why good things happen to bad people.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Also, does everything really happen for a reason?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Plus, if a door closes, does a window open?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And most importantly, why do bad things happen to ME? Or in your case, YOU?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now the reasons that we wonder about these things are curious.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgMNvD1dy48qSg-cEG1DOrXd5GZWwwK2-UbvzcqWmGQCblVWGDT60m8aM9SQPUqFw1-IrB7ibY6oGmra8mfWEPmYllSCO6lppbblGRSEs1tU1ZH6bDxtAJpzFE1XPi8aoYi-01ysFk8Jc/s1600/snoopymeaningoflife.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgMNvD1dy48qSg-cEG1DOrXd5GZWwwK2-UbvzcqWmGQCblVWGDT60m8aM9SQPUqFw1-IrB7ibY6oGmra8mfWEPmYllSCO6lppbblGRSEs1tU1ZH6bDxtAJpzFE1XPi8aoYi-01ysFk8Jc/s320/snoopymeaningoflife.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">It's because there's a certain ... tension ... in our thinking.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Science tells us that there's no reason or purpose for anything.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Not for the universe. Not for the earth. Not for humans.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Not for you. Not for me.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Everything is meaningless. That's what they tell us.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">What? You don't believe me?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Well. Since science is all about evidence, here's some. Evidence, I mean.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Richard Dawkins, Oxford zoologist …<br /><i>…the universe "has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but pointless indifference"…human beings are "machines for propagating DNA”.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i>Jacques Monod, Nobel Prize winner, physiology/medicine<br /><i>"The ancient covenant is in pieces. Man knows at last that he is alone in the universe’s unfeeling immensity, out of which he emerged only by chance."</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i>Carl Sagan – Pale Blue Dot<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcGWzm_5jF8vfDv7mzwEkeWqmoFUj2GuET85mgxoQUPzZJ-E5OvAOeYsYUhzuCrjctPHYPlPQwe2mOzfo_lA7oZ9We6ZlabFmLut04tcYg_uscTloxeYwqg0MwUYS1VY-mRndPIbKq1sA/s1600/Pale_Blue_Dot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcGWzm_5jF8vfDv7mzwEkeWqmoFUj2GuET85mgxoQUPzZJ-E5OvAOeYsYUhzuCrjctPHYPlPQwe2mOzfo_lA7oZ9We6ZlabFmLut04tcYg_uscTloxeYwqg0MwUYS1VY-mRndPIbKq1sA/s320/Pale_Blue_Dot.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You are there. Along with all the rest of us.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><i>"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves."</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i>Steven Weinberg, Nobel Prize winner, physics</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>"Though aware that there is nothing in the universe that suggests any purpose for humanity, one way that we can find a purpose is to study the universe by the methods of science, without consoling ourselves with fairy tales about its future, or about our own."</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i>Bertrand Russell<br /><i>"That man is the product of causes …; <br />that his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental (collections) of atoms; <br />that no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave;</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheoxHGvmW0Iys1T8rgZKFy1C7vM_KmNCwJcvM6CS4NlOid2seCIst1Dv7XKAnBfGQprvDktn6e7FT0TGaAn4WKlfO23MkU0TLC0TuOuj2tcrywxCdpanNvFWVJTNH2Cw3_CEo46aorjl0/s1600/CBgonewrong.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheoxHGvmW0Iys1T8rgZKFy1C7vM_KmNCwJcvM6CS4NlOid2seCIst1Dv7XKAnBfGQprvDktn6e7FT0TGaAn4WKlfO23MkU0TLC0TuOuj2tcrywxCdpanNvFWVJTNH2Cw3_CEo46aorjl0/s320/CBgonewrong.jpg" width="320" /></a></i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>
that all the labors of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, <br />and that the whole temple of man’s achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins;<br />all these things, if not quite beyond dispute, are yet so nearly certain, that no philosophy which rejects them can hope to stand. <br />Only within the scaffolding of these truths, only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair, can the soul’s habitation henceforth be safely built."</i></span><style type="text/css">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Stanley Kubrick: "<i>The very meaninglessness of life forces man to create his own meaning."</i><br /><br />Joseph Conrad: <i>Life is "that mysterious arrangement of merciless logic for a futile purpose."</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkeXu7ZyaNrcLuWYjY6mJvVIve71fnD5DE5CIkCayG7Yh_tzu5-NZThlwds3U0etfsPba7_VJW4elJsVAEsnYmyX-uipsz9Je8qz5lTt5gDF-DVxGxVZgZpjEK_R8nSqq7Eb0t_zYBP_I/s1600/snoopynopurpose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkeXu7ZyaNrcLuWYjY6mJvVIve71fnD5DE5CIkCayG7Yh_tzu5-NZThlwds3U0etfsPba7_VJW4elJsVAEsnYmyX-uipsz9Je8qz5lTt5gDF-DVxGxVZgZpjEK_R8nSqq7Eb0t_zYBP_I/s320/snoopynopurpose.jpg" width="320" /></a></i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>
</i><br />Jean Paul Sartre: "<i>It is meaningless that we are born. It is meaningless that we die." </i><br /><br />Sartre: "<i>Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness, and dies by chance."</i><br /><br />Sartre: "<i>Everything has been figured out, except how to live."</i><br /><br />Clarence Darrow: <i>Life is a ship that is "tossed by every wave and by every wind; a ship heading to no port and no harbor with no rudder, no compass, no pilot, simply floating for a time, then lost in the waves."</i></span><style type="text/css">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The catch, of course, is that nobody lives like that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">We, and by "we" I mean "everybody", live like there's a reason for us to be here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And thus, there's a reason why things happen. Bad things. Good things.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And there's supposed to be some sort of ... balance to the universe. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Justice.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUB1x2epyorcLBeiyJ7sC8cqnU1iS2CsDIxafGehurqH2ySEzoEaRYwkLGLd6ByuS18eKQKzX9_GvmdBAMEAcasBHcDAW_C_vGtm744_XLICz54ULcaoiDlFbmxDo0XwHUxu7diiaZ8f8/s1600/sallywhyme.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUB1x2epyorcLBeiyJ7sC8cqnU1iS2CsDIxafGehurqH2ySEzoEaRYwkLGLd6ByuS18eKQKzX9_GvmdBAMEAcasBHcDAW_C_vGtm744_XLICz54ULcaoiDlFbmxDo0XwHUxu7diiaZ8f8/s640/sallywhyme.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Like, if you are bad, then bad things are what you get.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And if you are good, then you get good things.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">The universe is supposed to be sort of like Santa Claus. There's a list. All of our names are on it. And good and bad things get divided up perfectly and justly and fairly between good and bad people.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now, if there's no meaning to the universe, all of that is just </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMEEZXbuZmr6uEJXYwRnl70ulxEsjp_qTTVFEBM4yy_A1i6nX9wya6muPSZOPjqEN-WJekgBOjxCYoXNCTyzNIwlP0OI5W1qfKNMvKm9yx6N2NXr01hklyDyoCWOZ0zGh2AO4aSQTKg5c/s1600/choice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMEEZXbuZmr6uEJXYwRnl70ulxEsjp_qTTVFEBM4yy_A1i6nX9wya6muPSZOPjqEN-WJekgBOjxCYoXNCTyzNIwlP0OI5W1qfKNMvKm9yx6N2NXr01hklyDyoCWOZ0zGh2AO4aSQTKg5c/s320/choice.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">ridiculous. Things just happen randomly without meaning or purpose, so when a bad or a good thing happens to you or me, well, tough luck or wasn't that nice?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">So bad things will happen to good people and good things will happen to bad people randomly and without rhyme or reason, and good things will happen to good people and bad things will happen to bad people randomly and without rhyme or reason.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">And sometimes more good things will happen to bad people and sometimes more bad things will happen to good people, because it's all random.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Nothing happens for a reason. Things just happen to people because things just happen and people are always getting in the way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When a door closes, a door closes. Windows opening are entirely </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc4EKFqkE-BrWjXXDkhINa7OqQF14vzc9pkKxf9-q_IRBqriPHpjPT7JfOfRBH0VptE4QvIzO2pyrpX5Cpcmn7UCCZjDq96S5JWr6s-7DlCa6ZrMJnbQ787dKMxy8A4czHFQ-jaaFc-5U/s1600/doorcloses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc4EKFqkE-BrWjXXDkhINa7OqQF14vzc9pkKxf9-q_IRBqriPHpjPT7JfOfRBH0VptE4QvIzO2pyrpX5Cpcmn7UCCZjDq96S5JWr6s-7DlCa6ZrMJnbQ787dKMxy8A4czHFQ-jaaFc-5U/s200/doorcloses.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">unrelated and random. Sometimes windows don't open when doors close.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">In fact, if we really paid attention to Richard Dawkins up there, there are no good things or bad things, because there is no good or bad. There are just things.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">"Good" and "bad" are just levels of comfort and inconvenience that</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1iyQIjAZRnApZbDFV5IQgsjZE0J_QXeqGhQB7HOidL7a0Tm_Liku3HHYIvF4Vyz33K6Fj5iUnSaesR3z7Ga8DljX4RSZGLgiBb17NNU4RPiIk07A_6LLM4AL44gXtK99P6iZQjrNFh2Y/s1600/goodbad.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1iyQIjAZRnApZbDFV5IQgsjZE0J_QXeqGhQB7HOidL7a0Tm_Liku3HHYIvF4Vyz33K6Fj5iUnSaesR3z7Ga8DljX4RSZGLgiBb17NNU4RPiIk07A_6LLM4AL44gXtK99P6iZQjrNFh2Y/s1600/goodbad.jpeg" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"> we make up out of nothing. Because we persist in thinking that we matter. That we are here for a reason. That there is meaning and purpose to our lives.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Silly us.</span><br />
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<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Perhaps, though, we might be wrong. In part, at least.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">That would be ... intriguing.</span></div>
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Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398313658457813036.post-20354207156089167462016-10-26T08:28:00.000-07:002016-10-26T08:28:20.289-07:00God Does Not Have a Wonderful Plan for Your Life. Sorry.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">A lot of well-meaning but sadly confused religious folk have been walking around thinking this:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">God has a wonderful plan for your life.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And our cartoonist from the last blog post has been suckered in by this, as follows:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Our lives are predetermined, so it's not our fault if we do crappy things to each other, and so hell isn't really fair.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHBVOvDBYaNFgZkfakTAr-VkENPA4Aq6X3CZbLV8971Xx23QDXXIgA5chEYRkWx_zvx9vppuNIW3hc0RNZE9yhkjtH_HIbIixKZJC08taWSBthZOUMfnh4m3JJZy6m6_hJ0E0kGfydudA/s1600/godfreewill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="343" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHBVOvDBYaNFgZkfakTAr-VkENPA4Aq6X3CZbLV8971Xx23QDXXIgA5chEYRkWx_zvx9vppuNIW3hc0RNZE9yhkjtH_HIbIixKZJC08taWSBthZOUMfnh4m3JJZy6m6_hJ0E0kGfydudA/s400/godfreewill.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">That is, God has this wonderful plan, but we, um, aren't interested since sex, drugs and rock&roll are so much more fun (or partying or getting drunk or being a hedgefund manager or a dictator or a serial killer or a rapist or a drug dealer or just your garden variety very nice kind to others giving and generous atheist), so we miss the plan and go to hell. Dang. Doesn't seem right. The last one, I mean.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But our religious folk are confused.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">God does not have a wonderful plan for your life.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Your life is not predetermined by God.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Nobody's is.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtCoobUe9wy7H_Z3_invbbBPVIRCrc4uJrmuhEyZZaiSXHDE2mjNwQj359knBeu4V5FifD82Mb0PtdpTu6b7_wuNM8elDTzQuCphufz4OFwUccXfsS2mPO2ZAabOEzsSEkGPfNfeXp2Ug/s1600/newgirl.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtCoobUe9wy7H_Z3_invbbBPVIRCrc4uJrmuhEyZZaiSXHDE2mjNwQj359knBeu4V5FifD82Mb0PtdpTu6b7_wuNM8elDTzQuCphufz4OFwUccXfsS2mPO2ZAabOEzsSEkGPfNfeXp2Ug/s320/newgirl.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">You get to make decisions. And the decisions add up to being the life you create.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">You can make God-ish decisions. Feed the hungry. Care for the homeless. Fight injustice and oppression. Don't be a jerk.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Or you can make not-God-ish decisions. Pretty much the opposite of all of those. Basically, be a jerk.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOkMDChc3_I0WPDILhFhNCpxljS6HHyUeGodnYRu-CTCzwEUvf1Z7PWRwatdHbW7uHibxTKbTIUCA8J_uE_dCydCMOobBjKKP8JPxEfQ7AGZyFT8pjdfYwsGgvIaNnpKQdgVapQJ9WOns/s1600/rachel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOkMDChc3_I0WPDILhFhNCpxljS6HHyUeGodnYRu-CTCzwEUvf1Z7PWRwatdHbW7uHibxTKbTIUCA8J_uE_dCydCMOobBjKKP8JPxEfQ7AGZyFT8pjdfYwsGgvIaNnpKQdgVapQJ9WOns/s320/rachel.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Religious folks somehow got the idea somewhere along the way that God had everyone's life entirely planned out, start to finish, and you just had to figure out what his plan for you was, and then all would be peachy.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Only he doesn't tell you what the plan is.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Which is kinda nasty.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So you have to guess a lot and hope for the best. And pray. There's lots of praying.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So, the assumption goes, every minute is planned out. And you have to guess right. And he's not telling.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqeIOqSOcGl8V8MSZrXKVcy3NaslBSS_EoCe46JPl17pljj4y8EbrogPtZv5uMRUqCtAnIbgEwdhAW8W-VCM8LgHvTeCOw1msxBr8f0h5stgugUo_l6suZbCFRkpkWRm2FGjRFjc1HTbk/s1600/elevator.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqeIOqSOcGl8V8MSZrXKVcy3NaslBSS_EoCe46JPl17pljj4y8EbrogPtZv5uMRUqCtAnIbgEwdhAW8W-VCM8LgHvTeCOw1msxBr8f0h5stgugUo_l6suZbCFRkpkWRm2FGjRFjc1HTbk/s1600/elevator.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">That's not the way it works. Nothing is predetermined. Nothing is planned out. Things might go well. They might go really really badly.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But. Regardless of what choices you make in your life, you're supposed to do the same thing all along the way.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Don't be a jerk. Love God. Love your neighbor. Be nice.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now. Since God is God (if he exists) and can do anything he wants, he surely might have a plan for someone every now and then. There are examples.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But for most of us, and when I say most, I mean statistically pretty close to all of us, there's one plan.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Live your life. Make good choices. Do the right thing. Don't be a jerk.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That's free will. Take whatever job you want. Marry whomever you want. Live wherever you want. Do whatever you want to do. </span><span style="font-size: large;">Live your life. Make good choices. Do the right thing. Don't be a jerk.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMmgMDNt2R9ZS6v9JwzyE8k0vHMU9pFfVn8CdyrZTTmvVPaPChNBj_qJhouYrzVE48nVIPvOlg10BL2klfBk7PC2p05IIxsN58fXHIm1b0C5px5hDTEq5Y2bKUyKvu-K_hFGQdqIfOlX4/s1600/secret-of-success.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMmgMDNt2R9ZS6v9JwzyE8k0vHMU9pFfVn8CdyrZTTmvVPaPChNBj_qJhouYrzVE48nVIPvOlg10BL2klfBk7PC2p05IIxsN58fXHIm1b0C5px5hDTEq5Y2bKUyKvu-K_hFGQdqIfOlX4/s320/secret-of-success.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Here's what I'm telling you. God doesn't have a job, a spouse, a house, or anything else planned out for you. I'm not saying he doesn't care, but it's not planned and waiting for you.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">You get to choose. It's a free will thing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">If you assume that God has planned it all out, and all you have to do is figure it out via prayer and fasting, then there would be, it seems to me, only two types of decisions.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Perfect ones.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Crappy ones.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That's it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But life doesn't work that way.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Because there are no perfect choices.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Jobs - every job is going to be crappy at some point or another.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Spouses - every spouse is imperfect, and that includes both sides of the spouse coin.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj04CL4dswF2nYClAFXi-ScFw9vkcK_FWSs9ljA1mN2zYk3Ed2Sl90rZN9p_qvv0fdEo3wV-iet30equf01SMCSPCJrkvEPt6tQD2JeYu7wI6dEVrJEY55V31_K9rqvzWN4eoNlAntFgw/s1600/shoes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj04CL4dswF2nYClAFXi-ScFw9vkcK_FWSs9ljA1mN2zYk3Ed2Sl90rZN9p_qvv0fdEo3wV-iet30equf01SMCSPCJrkvEPt6tQD2JeYu7wI6dEVrJEY55V31_K9rqvzWN4eoNlAntFgw/s320/shoes.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Living here, living there - there are no perfect places to live, and I'm a good source, because I've lived in Zurich, Geneva, Pebble Beach, Monterey, and Colorado, which are pretty danged spectacular places to live.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But not perfect. Spectacularly not perfect, in fact.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Maybe you think God wants you to go to Africa or the inner city or China.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It would surely be fine for you to go there and do whatever it is you think that you are supposed to do.</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaxnja_wU6ujy1i2bSNPOJJNpctSvbZcNygCLv3rl8lMFpc_7OwuzujmpAjohNajMZHzYNn2EUoVKqsmRMYp7dBKPkKUnVXTYNQ2KIwhJ5rZu-UNrG8Gi7hTng8hmWorPxWHn1WCxqcc4/s1600/baddecisions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaxnja_wU6ujy1i2bSNPOJJNpctSvbZcNygCLv3rl8lMFpc_7OwuzujmpAjohNajMZHzYNn2EUoVKqsmRMYp7dBKPkKUnVXTYNQ2KIwhJ5rZu-UNrG8Gi7hTng8hmWorPxWHn1WCxqcc4/s200/baddecisions.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No offense.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But there stands an excellent chance that it will surely not be perfect when you get there.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">You'll be lonely. Bored. Lusty. Frustrated. Scared. You'll hate the locals and the local culture at some point, maybe at all points.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And if you think that you might not have done better to have stayed where you were, well, you easily might have.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Going, staying. Either is fine. Either is a good decision. Both come with good, bad and ugly parts.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwTNxzdOboMXf0ZF4oYxOXLgVmuyvGOe4JEbbtcUJ6kDyTEWNOeYC7kw_tAmu9pnflXq6mexTEB62bAmUoYUy7geWR7FKCFXnUvBhs74mZZijydWchswQ-MzDgNUOb0_GUi2gHUSNGYvU/s1600/2b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwTNxzdOboMXf0ZF4oYxOXLgVmuyvGOe4JEbbtcUJ6kDyTEWNOeYC7kw_tAmu9pnflXq6mexTEB62bAmUoYUy7geWR7FKCFXnUvBhs74mZZijydWchswQ-MzDgNUOb0_GUi2gHUSNGYvU/s1600/2b.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">It may be that the only real free will decision you get to make is kind of Hamlet-y. To be a jerk or not to be a jerk. Wherever you are and whatever you do.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That's worth thinking about.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">BTW, I think it's useful to make the more challenging choice sometimes. Pain and suffering are good for you. Up to a point.</span></div>
Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398313658457813036.post-23131204358153097882016-10-11T15:09:00.000-07:002016-10-12T07:54:06.134-07:00Now It Gets Confusing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">So. Here's what we are saying.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4WbJjNHGagWddXBPrEtBWy4ERjAKdAWkFOrHKdBNs7Y4dioPsobW0tCx-FEDj6ZbY_bjvDiUcxkyzGIRoU83bs7fR4m5eU3yB6aiq1Aaq4WwMMxF_6kzJRjx92_WYptGse2zz64conJc/s1600/butterfly2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4WbJjNHGagWddXBPrEtBWy4ERjAKdAWkFOrHKdBNs7Y4dioPsobW0tCx-FEDj6ZbY_bjvDiUcxkyzGIRoU83bs7fR4m5eU3yB6aiq1Aaq4WwMMxF_6kzJRjx92_WYptGse2zz64conJc/s400/butterfly2.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">In a universe with a starting point where things are not always predetermined (because of quantum uncertainty) or predictable (because of Chaos Theory and the Butterfly Effect), then it is possible that both God and Free Will exist.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That's because thinking types back in the 18th Century said that if the universe is predetermined by the laws of physics and totally predictable and infinitely old, then </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">1) you don't need God to do anything and </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">2) you can't have free will. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The laws of physics make everything happen, they've always been there, nobody made them, nobody made anything, and they make you do everything you do.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But since the universe is not infinitely old and the laws have not always been there because they came into existence with Big Bang, and quantum uncertainty is the Way Things Work, then </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">1) you might need God to make everything happen and </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">2) you might have free will.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Nice. God and Free Will got thrown out together, so they get to come back together. Sweet.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">However. There are some skeptical types who say things like this:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgao-dDxM-sl5FJlMn520e-SCnEeIsOuk-FxnpDIY8ngBpeEbxLKvuflNBMHnJQwMmWzYM_HoLa4PR89mvvDkgZW1X1ldlminG7-UBCSjFQkK2ne_W9h5tmRan6vzAhENEBSB7F2IS24wQ/s1600/FreeWill.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgao-dDxM-sl5FJlMn520e-SCnEeIsOuk-FxnpDIY8ngBpeEbxLKvuflNBMHnJQwMmWzYM_HoLa4PR89mvvDkgZW1X1ldlminG7-UBCSjFQkK2ne_W9h5tmRan6vzAhENEBSB7F2IS24wQ/s400/FreeWill.gif" width="302" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">If God already knows everything that's going to happen, then you can't have free will, since he already knows what you are going to do.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That is...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">if God exists, then free will can't.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Or, if God exists, then HE predetermines everything, not the laws of physics.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Hm. That <i>is</i> a problem.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Because now we're in a place where free will only exists if God exists, but if God exists, then free will can't.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That cartoon right there says it just like some folks want it to be said.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So what you gotta do is look at assumptions and conclusions and see if they are good physics. Since if God exists, he made physics that way that it is.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Here we go.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>"If God knows the future"</i></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmNyMuqsXOJ09Ks2aKKokPkn2sZgB8FssglWL4bj3DVXRzaJ0rZJMp2h2JoLc5gs4mWDNfpySnWXlaRRqxBX4WCkMkY3144zv0odhWITE3YzM2VUgqZeb1stwHbjq-BIYe4J1cU7eh7Sk/s1600/the-future-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmNyMuqsXOJ09Ks2aKKokPkn2sZgB8FssglWL4bj3DVXRzaJ0rZJMp2h2JoLc5gs4mWDNfpySnWXlaRRqxBX4WCkMkY3144zv0odhWITE3YzM2VUgqZeb1stwHbjq-BIYe4J1cU7eh7Sk/s320/the-future-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">OK, that works. If God exists, he made space and time (which bounced into existence with Big Bang, so that's good physics). If he made space and time, then wherever or whenever he exists, it's not in space and time. He's outside of space and time. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">(Make sure you get this part. God doesn't exist in a where or a when. He does not occupy a point in space and/or time.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">(That's the way we [who exist in points in space and time until we don't exist anymore] understand existence.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">(So if someone asks the question, does God exist?, the answer is, what do you mean by existence?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">(If he exists, he does not exist in the same way that we do. He created the way that we exist.)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Anyway.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Since he's God (if he exists), then, well, he's God, and he can see all of space and time together. Now since to a photon traveling at the speed of light, all of space and time are one point, then clearly God is at least as cool as a photon, so since he can see all of space and time, then he knows the past, the present and the future all at once. He sees it all. But not like a movie that he has already watched. Everything is a point to God, so he sees it all at once.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That's just physics.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>"The future must already be determined, and if the future is already determined, we have no control over our future actions."</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOO1xWwaKpX3p4hVWRWRUZ1rfLN9qc6n1-MTfAzrjMUuwWW0cY8YCHm_DfX1iDilOchlefD_TgmOSTs66jJ_0SZGf3-9goSt4m5QrURq1DdLYu0GA32ZSUgRSda4cpNFZcHf5taUyD-O4/s1600/Toe+Tapping+Raptors.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOO1xWwaKpX3p4hVWRWRUZ1rfLN9qc6n1-MTfAzrjMUuwWW0cY8YCHm_DfX1iDilOchlefD_TgmOSTs66jJ_0SZGf3-9goSt4m5QrURq1DdLYu0GA32ZSUgRSda4cpNFZcHf5taUyD-O4/s400/Toe+Tapping+Raptors.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">You wanna take a shot at this one? Go ahead. I'll wait.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">(clock ticking. background humming. toe tapping. very large claw tapping.)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Time's up. Let's see how you did.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Problem the first: our cartoonist, and all the thinkers and philosophers who derived their thinking and philosophy from this cartoon (or maybe vice versa), is/are fooled by time. S/he isn't thinking about God outside of time, but God inside of time, as though the place God hangs out is just like the time and place we hang out, and, well,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">it isn't.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We don't know what it is, but it's not time and space the way that we experience it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So trying to catch God in a space-time trap isn't gonna work.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Problem the second: our cartoonist <i>et al</i> is blissfully unaware that this universe, the universe that if God exists and created it, is quantum. And it's chaotic.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_DOdorYZUDt4mmeP0rQlsX7Xeq8LXq1Bckn8o2OKObiWiTTp6c2gEnuM8yufrj7r5QFuTnbroe-CIOBMAL2B9z7maKhkRBAmkzmsXYswi3jkYH-WNVIC6Z09gDMIkynp0yaceggP4g-w/s1600/pavlov.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_DOdorYZUDt4mmeP0rQlsX7Xeq8LXq1Bckn8o2OKObiWiTTp6c2gEnuM8yufrj7r5QFuTnbroe-CIOBMAL2B9z7maKhkRBAmkzmsXYswi3jkYH-WNVIC6Z09gDMIkynp0yaceggP4g-w/s320/pavlov.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And thus, nothing is predetermined. None of our lives, our decisions, our actions, anything we do is predetermined by anything except maybe behavioral conditioning, and we don't know where that starts and stops.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And that's the way God made it, because 1) if he exists 2) he made it and 3) intended for us to find it 4) the way that it is.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now you might say, as my atheist friend Trevor once said, well, just because <i>we</i> can't know all of the forces that cause things to happen chaotically, doesn't mean that they can't be known by <i>someone</i> (in a God-like sort of way). And thus, things <i>are</i> predictable.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">To which I responded, those forces might be capable of being known, but they get smaller and smaller until they become quantum, and then</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">they cannot be known anymore, because at the quantum level, nothing is predetermined. Ultimately, everything is quantum, and nothing is predetermined.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9YVfP6R6er8eIYYm9v7m46fEzmMC_kw5ocorYg-QSXNZZ_SCUXQWGvUSKGKdNoCDu2bMlmhibdXfltLBmita2EFCNncS_qtenmUAC2WJD4z9kU7lJrsudbOPF1azs7sm9s5ITJLV49jI/s1600/I_Know_What_You_Did.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9YVfP6R6er8eIYYm9v7m46fEzmMC_kw5ocorYg-QSXNZZ_SCUXQWGvUSKGKdNoCDu2bMlmhibdXfltLBmita2EFCNncS_qtenmUAC2WJD4z9kU7lJrsudbOPF1azs7sm9s5ITJLV49jI/s200/I_Know_What_You_Did.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">So here's the answer. God knows what you are going to do. No, that's not right. God knows what you did, what all of us did, because he sees all of time at once. But what you are going to do is not predetermined and is up to you. He sees the beginning and the middle and end game all at once. But you get to ride the ride and make the decisions yourself.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">If you like, it's a quantum thing. He both knows and does not know, depending upon how he is looking. It's all in the observation. And you, as the observer yourself, have a choice to do, or not to do.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Time is not seen by God as a movie. It is a photo. Even though you, and I, and everybody else lives it as a movie.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">At least, that's what the physics of the universe tells us.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Problem the third: S/he (the cartoonist) has been fooled by an unfortunate misunderstanding of God's interaction with humans, created by well-meaning but sadly confused religious folk.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We'll talk about that next.</span></div>
Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398313658457813036.post-2756929452772348222016-09-28T07:02:00.000-07:002016-09-28T07:02:42.303-07:00Free Will - Get Over It. Or not.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDtWh9K84DlbvFs2Ld_brabT8WZc4o5m0qY_RNmWfsytcvudkEjGIhyphenhyphenO3MiemW-MzbhxSJ5LHl9zb9Soxak4NrQKCsTIWKsDrwZ6IBNSCvU7GLcNDGLGtlRX-2Cu4J8W7sMQjtcE0opkI/s1600/nofreewill.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDtWh9K84DlbvFs2Ld_brabT8WZc4o5m0qY_RNmWfsytcvudkEjGIhyphenhyphenO3MiemW-MzbhxSJ5LHl9zb9Soxak4NrQKCsTIWKsDrwZ6IBNSCvU7GLcNDGLGtlRX-2Cu4J8W7sMQjtcE0opkI/s400/nofreewill.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">So. Do we have free will or not? We (really really)(are totally compelled by the lack of free will to really really) want to know.<br /><br />We should maybe read all of the very latest highly intelligent totally informed scientifically science stuff about it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br />Here you go, then. From the Atlantic Monthly, June 2016:<br /><br /><i>There’s No Such Thing as Free Will <br /><br />The sciences have grown steadily bolder in their claim that all human behavior can be explained through the clockwork laws of cause and effect. This shift in perception is the continuation of an intellectual revolution that began about 150 years ago, when Charles Darwin first published On the Origin of Species.<br /> <br /> Shortly after Darwin put forth his theory of evolution, his cousin </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsmqkUdy8ja3AJPHir3VS45U-xTYmm9iZuzYVjcxLQVGsvdrS6vo1HXn93qTtyKTymDypxgJw7kt6ompmOQ7Uv-EJMpMWXPSdxlCtp8s7POD-lB099kowjVKDdJUP2SZbb_k3kbLDpV9s/s1600/free-will-DNA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsmqkUdy8ja3AJPHir3VS45U-xTYmm9iZuzYVjcxLQVGsvdrS6vo1HXn93qTtyKTymDypxgJw7kt6ompmOQ7Uv-EJMpMWXPSdxlCtp8s7POD-lB099kowjVKDdJUP2SZbb_k3kbLDpV9s/s320/free-will-DNA.jpg" width="320" /></a></i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Sir Francis Galton began to draw out the implications: If we have evolved, then mental faculties like intelligence must be hereditary. But we use those faculties—which some people have to a greater degree than others—to make decisions. <br /><br />So our ability to choose our fate is not free, but depends on our biological inheritance.<br /><br /> Galton launched a debate that raged throughout the 20th century over nature versus nurture. Are our actions the unfolding effect of our genetics? Or the outcome of what has been imprinted on us by the environment? Impressive evidence accumulated for the importance of each factor. Whether scientists supported one, the other, or a mix of both, they increasingly assumed that our deeds must be determined by something.<br /> <br /> In recent decades, research on the inner workings of the brain has helped to resolve the nature-nurture debate—and has dealt a further blow to the idea of free will. Brain scanners have enabled us to peer inside a living person’s skull, revealing intricate networks of neurons and allowing scientists to reach broad agreement that these networks are shaped by both genes and environment. <br /><br />But there is also agreement in the scientific community that the firing of neurons determines not just some or most but all of our thoughts, hopes, memories, and dreams.</i><br /><br /><i> We know that changes to brain chemistry can alter behavior—otherwise neither alcohol nor antipsychotics would have their</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh55Rw46PuTej5glXrOpKhfVySghLpqVTvBqKFD0Lu37tbsqE5lxRKod66wwGvlpE707IZISBPioxH8bxoSpFS4wTpvgtONZflNQKioY0ZTP40gwPfb4Eig6JsUCqTdgEGsyqW5nBKuz9s/s1600/calvin-and-hobbes-on-predestination.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh55Rw46PuTej5glXrOpKhfVySghLpqVTvBqKFD0Lu37tbsqE5lxRKod66wwGvlpE707IZISBPioxH8bxoSpFS4wTpvgtONZflNQKioY0ZTP40gwPfb4Eig6JsUCqTdgEGsyqW5nBKuz9s/s640/calvin-and-hobbes-on-predestination.jpg" width="640" /></a></i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>desired effects. The same holds true for brain structure: Cases of ordinary adults becoming murderers or pedophiles after developing a brain tumor demonstrate how dependent we are on the physical properties of our gray stuff.<br /><br /> Many scientists say that the American physiologist Benjamin Libet demonstrated in the 1980s that we have no free will. It was already known that electrical activity builds up in a person’s brain before she, for example, moves her hand; Libet showed that this buildup occurs before the person consciously makes a decision to move. The conscious experience of deciding to act, which we usually associate with free will, appears to be an add-on, a post hoc reconstruction of events that occurs after the brain has already set the act in motion.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /> The 20th-century nature-nurture debate prepared us to think of </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>
ourselves as shaped by influences beyond our control. But it left some room, at least in the popular imagination, for the possibility that we could overcome our circumstances or our genes to become the author of our own destiny. The challenge posed by neuroscience is more radical: It describes the brain as a physical system like any other, and suggests that we no more will it to operate in a particular way than we will our heart to beat. The contemporary scientific image of human behavior is one of neurons firing, causing other neurons to fire, causing our thoughts and deeds, in an unbroken chain that stretches back to our birth and beyond. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br />In principle, we are therefore completely predictable. <br /><br />If we could understand any individual’s brain architecture and chemistry well enough, we could, in theory, predict that individual’s response to any given stimulus with 100 percent accuracy.</i><br /><br />So there you go. No free will.<br /><br />Except. But. There's always a but. From NewScientist, 6 August 2012:<br /><br /><i>Brain might not stand in the way of free will</i><br /><br /><i>Advocates of free will can rest easy, for now. A 30-year-old classic </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>
experiment that is often used to argue against free will might have been misinterpreted ... So what does this say about free will? <br /><br />“If we are correct, then the Libet experiment does not count as evidence against the possibility of conscious will”...</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i>Now, you might say, looking carefully at the dates, that one is 4 years before the other one. So doesn't that mess it all up?<br /><br />No, it means that the Atlantic writer wasn't paying attention in 2012.<br /><br />Science is so complicated.<br /><br />And lo and behold. Check this out from ScienceDaily.com in July 2016:<br /><br /><i>Johns Hopkins University researchers are the first to glimpse the human brain making a purely voluntary decision to act. <br /><br />Unlike most brain studies where scientists watch as people respond</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN5s9VTUccAOoJnQDIozK8opeXVxNT5PRkr89wHwktQcdTg8KGA62cm6BDz98Z3cjodt3sEYdrAL1iFAg1w-7_64jY914DNXzF_et6_bhN_wUVUW_qPVvlptEaiCAj3_SlHmdP8qwxbQ0/s1600/Your+eyes+say+free+will.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><i><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN5s9VTUccAOoJnQDIozK8opeXVxNT5PRkr89wHwktQcdTg8KGA62cm6BDz98Z3cjodt3sEYdrAL1iFAg1w-7_64jY914DNXzF_et6_bhN_wUVUW_qPVvlptEaiCAj3_SlHmdP8qwxbQ0/s320/Your+eyes+say+free+will.gif" width="320" /></i></a></span></div>
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<i> to cues or commands, Johns Hopkins researchers found a way to observe people's brain activity as they made choices entirely on their own.<br /><br />For the first time, researchers were able to see both what happens in a human brain the moment a free choice is made, and what happens during the lead-up to that decision -- how the brain behaves during the deliberation over whether to act.<br /><br />The actual switching of attention from one side to the other was closely linked to activity in the parietal lobe, near the back of the brain. The activity leading up to the choice -- that is, the period of deliberation -- occurred in the frontal cortex, in areas involved in reasoning and movement, and in the basal ganglia, regions deep within the brain that are responsible for a variety of motor control functions including the ability to start an action. The frontal-lobe activity began earlier than it would have if participants had been told to shift attention, clearly demonstrating that the brain was preparing a purely voluntary action rather than merely following an order.<br /><br />Together, the two brain regions make up the core components underlying the will to act, the authors concluded.<br /><br />"What's truly remarkable about this project," said Leon Gmeindl, a research scientist at Johns Hopkins and lead author of the study, "is that by devising a way to detect brain events that are otherwise invisible -- that is, a kind of high-tech 'mind reading' -- we uncovered important information about what may be the neural underpinnings of volition, or free will."</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i><br />So once again, free will is back. Last month. Next month? Who can tell?<br /><br /> And finally, from the smartest man alive, physicist Ed Witten:<br /><br /><i>I think consciousness will remain a mystery. Yes, that's what I tend to believe. <br /><br /> I tend to think that the workings of the conscious brain will be elucidated to a large extent. <br /><br /> Biologists and perhaps physicists will understand much better how the brain works. <br /><br /> But why something that we call consciousness goes with those workings, I think that will remain mysterious. <br /><br /> I have a much easier time imagining how we understand the Big Bang than I have imagining how we can understand consciousness... </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br />The brain, apparently the seat of free will, may forever remain a mystery. Or at least until everyone's forgotten about my having said so.</i><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE3UcXO5u62NVBOLCg2cV1t1E0zllyiRPlXLAMsT1KFgQUIEfwBxn64eJwb6PaJMw6Xi0yT5ugTBeEOYrqD0fwggLNi-g8LuYpSHjN-f5cADigDISOYli2-2VcL82rk3sTJRj2LXVi5Jw/s1600/godeep.gif"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE3UcXO5u62NVBOLCg2cV1t1E0zllyiRPlXLAMsT1KFgQUIEfwBxn64eJwb6PaJMw6Xi0yT5ugTBeEOYrqD0fwggLNi-g8LuYpSHjN-f5cADigDISOYli2-2VcL82rk3sTJRj2LXVi5Jw/s640/godeep.gif" /></a></span><br />
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Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398313658457813036.post-18098683797348215422016-09-14T10:41:00.000-07:002016-09-14T10:41:40.008-07:00Free Will and Harley Guys<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGv6mWN5tGKvm7xnPzxJWROE6JtRpDM2MlkCICO7CyvedVFLm9_Zx8SvLq3F3J2YkhS-Lz1SVE2YV5wuqnrm6Ke4jizLf0lBoLe6zMBlSL5IqzDC6ZSkeADuGDisTc-8YnBKGu2r8v_AE/s1600/harley6.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGv6mWN5tGKvm7xnPzxJWROE6JtRpDM2MlkCICO7CyvedVFLm9_Zx8SvLq3F3J2YkhS-Lz1SVE2YV5wuqnrm6Ke4jizLf0lBoLe6zMBlSL5IqzDC6ZSkeADuGDisTc-8YnBKGu2r8v_AE/s400/harley6.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">It would not be wise to piss off Harley guys.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">However. If any happen to be reading this, they'll be the ones with a sense of humor.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We're counting on that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Harley guys ride Harley Davidson bikes. Harleys (as in, the bikes) are all pretty different. You can get them built to your own specs. So that, you know, it's not like all the other Harleys.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And then you get dressed to ride your Harley. Then you ride off to meet with all the other Harley guys.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Might be your own little group from the local Harley hood. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Might be Sturgis. Which is the annual mating grounds of Harley guys. Don't Google Sturgis. Disturbing pics.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Harley guys are fiercely individualistic. They set themselves apart from regular guys. They are fiercely different. They are not like anyone else. They stand alone. Fiercely.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGN0Mgq9jUQiYOzYsD_XhjpV5KJqhWd4Gjd1hG5d3teKOdqigO6iKBzqFqpVPWfptwFS5n3q5ILxJv4l_LulG8h8AFGA41lzMcxgUSRpcmBuW397ritC0CsbS_uJCgP86JibRpcTSL2TQ/s1600/harleys4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGN0Mgq9jUQiYOzYsD_XhjpV5KJqhWd4Gjd1hG5d3teKOdqigO6iKBzqFqpVPWfptwFS5n3q5ILxJv4l_LulG8h8AFGA41lzMcxgUSRpcmBuW397ritC0CsbS_uJCgP86JibRpcTSL2TQ/s1600/harleys4.jpeg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Except.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">They all kinda </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">look alike.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So do their bikes.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">They fiercely want to look different from all the other guys.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But not that different from, well,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Each other.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Because they want to belong to that group. They want to be a Harley guy. So they gotta ride a Harley and dress like a Harley guy.</span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxjocIEFZpPPUeS3gLgvSeqnBTjtJv2PHSaXZjecjAXeeObRoclEIns1B0BJpJq0brpseVoH2uKxcBSyO97499PsYY1X71P220OgkfpzfLdoQv-XQS2uM8YPr4GyALhsAqmy9i_OVpzQw/s1600/bikerchick.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxjocIEFZpPPUeS3gLgvSeqnBTjtJv2PHSaXZjecjAXeeObRoclEIns1B0BJpJq0brpseVoH2uKxcBSyO97499PsYY1X71P220OgkfpzfLdoQv-XQS2uM8YPr4GyALhsAqmy9i_OVpzQw/s320/bikerchick.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Totally naked Harley chick.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Even gotta have a Harley chick on the back. And she's gotta dress (or not) like a Harley chick.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So here's a subculture that fiercely values free will. Individualism. Freedom. Liberty. The Right To Be Your Own Person.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">As much or much more maybe than any other subculture in the world.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But that's gotta be balanced with the even more fierce desire to belong, to fit in, to look right, act right, dress right.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">So. Are Harley guys fiercely acting out of free will, or are they just one more version of </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Pavlov's Dogs?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I'm gonna say this cuz I think it's pretty much true: the only people who are truly different from everyone else</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">tend to be certifiably nuts.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKa-pIJy7mh1JZD2GIbecrlAfVrEFdAZdsVaLmjmUOjBfpABrULuwaYd3zhzp0Y3jBUtv_Q9zpfsh6Mv2QsOU9sxkVlhp-2dRniJLSwbzfkWmVrIvpf9p2CBMLdGC7CPM5wGscee8kPHs/s1600/bikedork.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKa-pIJy7mh1JZD2GIbecrlAfVrEFdAZdsVaLmjmUOjBfpABrULuwaYd3zhzp0Y3jBUtv_Q9zpfsh6Mv2QsOU9sxkVlhp-2dRniJLSwbzfkWmVrIvpf9p2CBMLdGC7CPM5wGscee8kPHs/s320/bikedork.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Because if <i>normal</i> people show up to their group of buds and they don't look like the rest of the buds, then the social pressure (as in, making serious fun of the idiotic way they look) is <i>huge</i> and they tend to show up next time fitting into the norms.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Even if they are all Harley guys.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Because. We all want to belong. To fit in. To be like the people we want to be like.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">There are (I propose) two things in life that motivate us.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">One. To belong. To be loved. To be a part of something that is greater than ourselves.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Two. To matter. To make a difference. To leave a mark. To leave the world a different (presumably better) place than it was. We want our lives to have a meaning and purpose.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And we will largely do whatever it takes to get those two things done.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Pavlov. Those are our stimuli. To be loved. To matter. And we will slobber with all the dogs to be loved and to matter.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">There may be no free will about it. OK, maybe we choose which groups we want to be a part of, but I'm thinking that we are (mostly?)(completely?) influenced in that decision by the experiences we have.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">For example. I have no desire to be a Harley guy or for my wife to be a Harley babe.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibdyfUWV-04hhkAqirbhW9DbTkhMnfTaw7fRL3XcxKtfQfe5XJWla36-uRkIf8RNmuqO8ExEmKbIyDR9yY5LlVzKviqCXukMSYMdS7FMAzYFlFqn9tS2cjRZFs8gAeBhHXMNmFtClPVio/s1600/uglyskier.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibdyfUWV-04hhkAqirbhW9DbTkhMnfTaw7fRL3XcxKtfQfe5XJWla36-uRkIf8RNmuqO8ExEmKbIyDR9yY5LlVzKviqCXukMSYMdS7FMAzYFlFqn9tS2cjRZFs8gAeBhHXMNmFtClPVio/s320/uglyskier.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not cool. Totally not cool.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">But I love to ski. I'm really good. So I want to look like a really good skier. I want to dress like one. I want to have skiis and boots and even poles that really good skiers might have. I want to have a fine-looking ski jacket, and fine- looking goggles, and a cool helmet, and cool gloves, and even (this is true) cool skier long-underwear.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now. If I have all of this cool gear and then I ski like a dork, well, that's not cool. Then I'm pretending to belong when I don't.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But I don't ski like a dork. So I get to belong. And my wife is a fine skier. So I have a beautiful ski wife. Awesome. It's the whole package. If I call her a beautiful ski babe or ski chick, I'm going to find one of my ski poles lodged in an uncomfortable place. So I'm not going to do that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So here's the question. If life pulled a Tom Hanks "Cast Away" trick on me and I ended up alone with a volleyball in a deserted ski resort, would I still ski? Am I making a free will decision to ski, or am I doing it because I want to belong to cool skiers?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Aye. That's a good question.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Because the reasons that I am a skier are 1) my parents took me skiing in Colorado, and then 2) we moved to Switzerland when I was in high school, and 3) skiing was The Thing To Do in Winter in Switzerland, and we had a ski team and I was on it (briefly) and so 4) skiing is totally cool. To me, anyway.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPbwNZjaDSBoTQA1pFA8eUz4Gr0koJn4h-5j_ubASlvlIKPVxG3nqbz1E8oBGwhO47CFigYYVrmxiLd1SNxOd_JfONuAfs0-ZqhwUqF6HiMUrGHrC1KXq3iv1A2GRniLbgtUmWQv8_d8g/s1600/curling-fans_1584814i.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPbwNZjaDSBoTQA1pFA8eUz4Gr0koJn4h-5j_ubASlvlIKPVxG3nqbz1E8oBGwhO47CFigYYVrmxiLd1SNxOd_JfONuAfs0-ZqhwUqF6HiMUrGHrC1KXq3iv1A2GRniLbgtUmWQv8_d8g/s320/curling-fans_1584814i.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Curling groupies. Clearly nobody would look like this<br />
by making a free will decision to do so.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">Curling to me is not cool. It's ridiculous. But to curlers, curling is awesome. There might even be curling groupies. Of course there are curling groupies. Clearly not a free will decision to be a curling groupie.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I'm fully convinced that curling was invented by drunk "people" (meaning drunk "guys") in the Far North who said to themselves one night, what can we do with ice, a big rock, and some brooms? And can we wear ridiculous pants, too? Awesome!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSGZImJcLAeqa98bEwxI34UGPfQICub68B75NYKxQPz1ktFH5QCI4Pf-YSuUJat1a0U41sMUhi9g-zf5XJHUxlePmdB7-TYiZe4MuQhakP6Rx3Xt_K4Qg7orvJqPWxERPh_yIIcomcIJQ/s1600/Mens_Curling_22353.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSGZImJcLAeqa98bEwxI34UGPfQICub68B75NYKxQPz1ktFH5QCI4Pf-YSuUJat1a0U41sMUhi9g-zf5XJHUxlePmdB7-TYiZe4MuQhakP6Rx3Xt_K4Qg7orvJqPWxERPh_yIIcomcIJQ/s320/Mens_Curling_22353.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Anyway. So the question is, are ALL of our decisions caused by influences outside of ourselves, or just MOST of them? And if it's MOST, then where does free will actually start?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And the answer is...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Nobody really knows. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So everybody just makes stuff up.</span><br />
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Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398313658457813036.post-50393955550045162162016-08-31T09:38:00.000-07:002016-08-31T09:38:22.103-07:00Free Will and Butterflies<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd-Ep4QvQpucBaRFlaSq5k8FtEXiAV86Ng8ioLt5Li0i0UuDS5ivNXYkG0fwq7bZMIBTcIwCFEkLq0SS895CuJmFY7XyVZVXHKePx4eIdlqTIRhZb6BVs2hS4cW6VWZXAU7clVzRtAJu8/s1600/homerclock.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd-Ep4QvQpucBaRFlaSq5k8FtEXiAV86Ng8ioLt5Li0i0UuDS5ivNXYkG0fwq7bZMIBTcIwCFEkLq0SS895CuJmFY7XyVZVXHKePx4eIdlqTIRhZb6BVs2hS4cW6VWZXAU7clVzRtAJu8/s200/homerclock.gif" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">The problem is, the universe is still pretty predictable. Like, clockwork.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And so are you.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We can predict lots of things the universe is going to do. Sunrises. Sunsets. Eclipses. Rainbows. Lots of things.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We can predict lots of things you're going to do. Given enough information. You'll eat. Sleep. Poop. Grow. Learn things.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3yBEyOI5IpojsPPM4gFDZVjkveGhVC5Gu5Y6WXFwFfMvoYOT9dYfzS_QTu3EDXnrbXkbG-IpbnPKK1GhM9qbVyF36FbyeX-fyTDYCQzI4CptmCAlpO0DHF3pO2cIn0ezoX9Rw1xCRh7Q/s1600/eatsleeppoop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3yBEyOI5IpojsPPM4gFDZVjkveGhVC5Gu5Y6WXFwFfMvoYOT9dYfzS_QTu3EDXnrbXkbG-IpbnPKK1GhM9qbVyF36FbyeX-fyTDYCQzI4CptmCAlpO0DHF3pO2cIn0ezoX9Rw1xCRh7Q/s320/eatsleeppoop.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">But the other problem is, we can't predict everything. Most things. Lots of things. But not everything.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So we don't really know if you have a little bit of free will, or a lot, or almost none.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It's hard to tell.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">There's this thing called Chaos Theory. It says that although the universe and nature and stuff are MOSTLY predictable, every now and then, things get really really unpredictable.</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzMZ2OHokpyNCmtAGfym0HPUcbzgkSymJ0y8WU4t8aHct_UVqK8_HbQ2yl_XdGZeaF_WdHpXvC0jdOJWFU2eLBSzX3hspYQtWYFlstf2Hpv2DZ_1wOGumQUSsSDP8xLvac_lW3QcvMLnM/s1600/butterflyeffect.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzMZ2OHokpyNCmtAGfym0HPUcbzgkSymJ0y8WU4t8aHct_UVqK8_HbQ2yl_XdGZeaF_WdHpXvC0jdOJWFU2eLBSzX3hspYQtWYFlstf2Hpv2DZ_1wOGumQUSsSDP8xLvac_lW3QcvMLnM/s320/butterflyeffect.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Butterflies. Trying to destroy the world.<br />
Not very good at it yet.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It's called the Butterfly Effect. It says that sometimes, something as small as the flapping of a butterfly wing can set off a series of events that cause something HUGE to happen. Like a hurricane or a tornado.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Every now and then.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So mostly you are predictable (you and the universe), but every now and then,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">You are really really unpredictable.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Does that mean you have free will?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Ah. No. Not completely.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It says that just because we didn't know what made you do whatever weird, bizarre, possibly illegal and immoral thing that you did, there could have been something that made you do it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So although it's possible for you to have free will, we still don't know if you actually have it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">What there is, is the possibility for free will to exist.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Because the universe is not completely deterministic, thanks to quantum things and chaotic things, it's possible for you to have free will.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It's clearly not predetermined that you have free will.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Ouch. That's confusing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Because here's the thing. Most of the time, we act like we have free will, but whether or not we are actually making free will decisions is hard to say.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Mostly, we don't.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4iDM1UyOKwCvQM1ePl1hCLOBWsXVKw9RlcDaaObrlCzHzcFKIk5w6vsTGeMCiMgUqPwE-dUuyViEDmOPDP3_tWhY2-Gu5G8FJnFU3Ev9ChqC-_oKWUE12MXN37VKBxIeyjwwMtIeVOkE/s1600/Pavlovs-dogs.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4iDM1UyOKwCvQM1ePl1hCLOBWsXVKw9RlcDaaObrlCzHzcFKIk5w6vsTGeMCiMgUqPwE-dUuyViEDmOPDP3_tWhY2-Gu5G8FJnFU3Ev9ChqC-_oKWUE12MXN37VKBxIeyjwwMtIeVOkE/s320/Pavlovs-dogs.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">That is, we are little puppies slobbering when the bell rings.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">You know. Pavlov's Dogs. All of that. That's when this guy named Pavlov (great name for a Star Trek character) trained a bunch of dogs to salivate when they heard a bell ring by ringing a bell and feeding them doggy vittles.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">After awhile, all he had to do was ring the bell, and looky there! Doggy slobber. Even without vittles. After another while, eventually one would guess that the doggies would figure out that they weren't getting any snacks and stop slobbering.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We're like the dogs. We are (largely?)(totally?)(that's the problem - don't really know) influenced by cultural bells.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We are </span><span style="font-size: large;">(largely?)(totally?) </span><span style="font-size: large;">influenced by our culture. By our friends. Magazines. Movies. TV shows. Celebrities. Families.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We dress the way we dress, cut our hair, decorate our homes, buy the things we buy, read the things we read, listen to and watch what we listen to and watch because of the little bubbles that we live in.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Our hearts also beat and our lungs breathe and our entire bodies work constantly without us making any decisions about any of it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That's a good thing. If we had to constantly think about keeping our hearts beating and our lungs breathing and our spleens spleening, we'd die at night.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">A lot of the things we do when we're awake and asleep, we do on autopilot. We don't think much about it. We have trained ourselves to walk, talk, drive, run, jump, eat, and do all the things we do without thinking about them very much.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And that's a good thing.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHnC4QJaMJRQkjnw0pDNFV_j97mSt-P9iGdZmQsuErAvafXCtVFtCzzzA2WaO631y67hhCcg4ciwnBvxnF19WllTd30INzEVr5XA2idWUwipDWALri5UEV2JybuyOwbZaU36Mf8wpVSro/s1600/why-would-you-do-that-friends-gif.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHnC4QJaMJRQkjnw0pDNFV_j97mSt-P9iGdZmQsuErAvafXCtVFtCzzzA2WaO631y67hhCcg4ciwnBvxnF19WllTd30INzEVr5XA2idWUwipDWALri5UEV2JybuyOwbZaU36Mf8wpVSro/s320/why-would-you-do-that-friends-gif.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But the question is, are we </span><span style="font-size: large;">(largely?)(totally?) controlled by our autopilots? What are the decisions that we make? Are (none?)(some?)(any?)(all?) of them free will decisions?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Turns out, it's really hard to tell.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Behavioralist BF Skinner said that none of them are. He called it "conditioned responses". Everything we do, we do because we have been trained or conditioned to do so. Even, apparently, become famous behavioralists.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I think that's a bit of a stretch.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRr_H8EHAVkCPRt6EI0dsg2dQvtgGJZs2a_btdPhHe3JeGf0_0hFv-JwUZo7jkihVU2KhorPucEvi7MHWgz5EBwkfQi8p_bfEFOAXzHGrjJg9JEEuyvcPyYCy5PH2vEiulV33TQ_6O06o/s1600/Pavlov2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRr_H8EHAVkCPRt6EI0dsg2dQvtgGJZs2a_btdPhHe3JeGf0_0hFv-JwUZo7jkihVU2KhorPucEvi7MHWgz5EBwkfQi8p_bfEFOAXzHGrjJg9JEEuyvcPyYCy5PH2vEiulV33TQ_6O06o/s1600/Pavlov2.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">But it's really hard to tell where free will actually starts, since we are so heavily (completely?) influenced by outside factors, outside of our ability even to be aware that it's happening. We are truly conditioned to do most things.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The question is, are there things that we do outside of conditioning? As free will decisions?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And the answer is ...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">You have the <i>potential</i> to do things that you are not conditioned to do.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Whether or not you actually ever do that, is the question.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And the answer is, maybe, every now and then. Like a hostile butterfly. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Maybe, every now and then, we do something unpredictable. We make a free will decision. Maybe.</span></div>
Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398313658457813036.post-38869370623030911942016-08-17T07:37:00.000-07:002016-08-17T07:37:57.430-07:00Free Will is Back. Sort of.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgedz1YqAShNaG1OqtQt1-8ftRYiZtabfXxMKIWwhoi-5eTC52oF4KauEHE3egMMu7rznekm2H-ORrOdgm1fU7XDUIXSz4ryMkfBkt_VBcr6mgGdyBl-hxcinOZMjuGnq5e0xJvKiB_2CE/s1600/home+alone+i+don%2527t+think+so.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgedz1YqAShNaG1OqtQt1-8ftRYiZtabfXxMKIWwhoi-5eTC52oF4KauEHE3egMMu7rznekm2H-ORrOdgm1fU7XDUIXSz4ryMkfBkt_VBcr6mgGdyBl-hxcinOZMjuGnq5e0xJvKiB_2CE/s400/home+alone+i+don%2527t+think+so.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">So. Do we have free will, and does God exist?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Well, if you're going to get rid of them again, you're gonna have to have a darn good reason. Better than, I DON'T THINK SO! That's so lame.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Let's talk about it for a minute.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">If you are someone who doesn't believe in free will (and feel free, btw), then you could be accused of not thinking clearly about it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Because if you are also (as there is an excellent chance) a person who detests religion and all this God talk, then you are not making any sense.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjwlc-1mfyTW9rAjoPG3iyq0O8ufi6EZkXPo3-GBkHtw2mArjbuaS7-eAGbPs0Ly7b-EquL2KnCbkEFuYxw2CVocQcjTHYr4ZRGAEPM-uqN4HDHOjjR8pNUkf6aTYKEXP_aYi0RLV9SZY/s1600/dontlikethat.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjwlc-1mfyTW9rAjoPG3iyq0O8ufi6EZkXPo3-GBkHtw2mArjbuaS7-eAGbPs0Ly7b-EquL2KnCbkEFuYxw2CVocQcjTHYr4ZRGAEPM-uqN4HDHOjjR8pNUkf6aTYKEXP_aYi0RLV9SZY/s320/dontlikethat.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Because (you know where this is going, don't you?) if there's no free will, then all of the religious people have no choice but to be religious. All caps warning. It's not their fault. I changed my mind about the all caps. You gotta lay off. Stop hassling them. The particles made them religious, ultimately.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And you, btw, are irreligious, atheist, agnostic, and/or skeptical not because you are so smart. You have no choice. The particles made you that way. Lucky you.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBoe6p6rgGEsVV0h4umBGqLybtkX02xJXpRl6XStjuW9gtnzvKnMHVIsiZJOyDhHJLg-e7KzN2W6BkvI-F3ZGJFJ0a-lcmhsPmIUi6veeqoGc95BI0MDmKwn8_89GvzYLIgtmN0vMG-OY/s1600/awesomeminion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBoe6p6rgGEsVV0h4umBGqLybtkX02xJXpRl6XStjuW9gtnzvKnMHVIsiZJOyDhHJLg-e7KzN2W6BkvI-F3ZGJFJ0a-lcmhsPmIUi6veeqoGc95BI0MDmKwn8_89GvzYLIgtmN0vMG-OY/s200/awesomeminion.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">None of us get to claim any credit or take any blame for our looks, brains, success, talent, skills, experience, hard work, money, possessions, achievements, or anything. For our failures, shortcomings, flaws, zits, flatulence, body odor, obesity, baldness, bad posture, terrible grades, lousiness at sports, friendlessness, ugliness, or anything.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So if you or anyone are taking any credit or blame for anything and if you don't believe in free will, then you are no less an idiot than religious people.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Actually, to be totally precise, none of you are idiots. If free will does not exist. You only have the capacity to be an idiot if free will exists.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1I4i9WO_N-kFzXS952ajqIP9lmD6DhuA9iSFTKXVtw6feAOdJFM905MTKgFlf1q5MRsaPG0LLbrfxLSWRBgkUXkLoEDbGh2QwJHErh6DTGzVhEFIUem1w5PNHu51rNTC4426gMCsh-fk/s1600/notanidiot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1I4i9WO_N-kFzXS952ajqIP9lmD6DhuA9iSFTKXVtw6feAOdJFM905MTKgFlf1q5MRsaPG0LLbrfxLSWRBgkUXkLoEDbGh2QwJHErh6DTGzVhEFIUem1w5PNHu51rNTC4426gMCsh-fk/s200/notanidiot.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">So if you think religious people are idiots, or if you think atheists are idiots, or if you think anybody anywhere for any reason at any time is an idiot, then, really, the only way for that to be true is if</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">(you know where this is going, don't you?)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Free will exists. And by extension, God might also exist.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">WTH?, you might exclaim with some heat and passion. H, to remind you, is Heck, because crapload is our swearing limit. It's like a law of physics.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Newton. Not Newman. Pay attention.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">Because, we reiterate, the smart guys used the deterministic infinite universe to get rid of both Free Will and God. And the most recent group of smart guys have not been able (or motivated) to update that. Atheists are Newtonians all. I'm so embarrassed for them. You. Whatever. You're still using a Newtonian universe to get rid of God, unbeknownst to you. You also think that God doesn't exist because religious people are idiots, which, I remind you, is only true if Free Will exists, and if Free Will exists, then so does God. It's like Catch-22, which I should not admit is my favorite book of all time.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Major </span><span style="font-size: large;">Major </span><span style="font-size: large;">Major </span><span style="font-size: large;">Major. I just had to say that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">You should be nicer to idiots, btw. If free will doesn't exist. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">If it does, then, well, they're idiots. Still. Better to be nice. There's that naughtiness thing lurking out there somewhere. Plus, we are each an idiot about something. Einstein said that. Paraphrased.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFAa-LQ6f1FVhC3JoP0_xBH3lVlLOWSmCtkDukdH5idTYWyWflxl2kVdgmi4yFwma30eJzoe1FoS3j2lm8azn6pLmbMrNiMeW73-YRuELpxB-u0uQBvxfTPrkmO4piCb-cqnnnkyKe67w/s1600/symmetry-hero.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFAa-LQ6f1FVhC3JoP0_xBH3lVlLOWSmCtkDukdH5idTYWyWflxl2kVdgmi4yFwma30eJzoe1FoS3j2lm8azn6pLmbMrNiMeW73-YRuELpxB-u0uQBvxfTPrkmO4piCb-cqnnnkyKe67w/s320/symmetry-hero.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Symmetry. By Da Vinci as a child.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Summing up. The only way that religious people are idiots is if free will exists, and if free will exists, then (it is highly likely) God exists.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So summing up again. The only way that religious people are idiots is if God exists.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That's some nice symmetry.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So if free will does not exist, then you can't be an idiot (nobody can) and nothing is your fault and making fun of </span><span style="font-size: large;">idiots or </span><span style="font-size: large;">someone else's beliefs is not a fully informed thing to do. Though, of course, if there is no free will, then making fun of others is not your fault.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Yeah. See. Nobody lives like that.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlEhVHyRXmmljHPscJr6f7C5XAROvNW3mk5nHLDnXv1kS7PrxmbdBwNDS9RzYBhFLordAl2T2VuWcmsXzLdtJvTIH3TE3JInb5dsKQskOYEaE0hHFiM8JdwFGoidaWp7MZ0wbI3u_96m8/s1600/notmyfault.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlEhVHyRXmmljHPscJr6f7C5XAROvNW3mk5nHLDnXv1kS7PrxmbdBwNDS9RzYBhFLordAl2T2VuWcmsXzLdtJvTIH3TE3JInb5dsKQskOYEaE0hHFiM8JdwFGoidaWp7MZ0wbI3u_96m8/s1600/notmyfault.gif" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">We completely and totally act like people actually are idiots and things are someone's fault, otherwise nobody could ever go to jail for doing anything wrong or evil, and in fact, evil would not exist. Good, neither. There would be no good or evil, because for you to do something evil or something good would take a free will decision on your part, which you could not do if free will doesn't exist. The particles made you do it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">So we all spend all of our time acting like we all have free will. Even the scientists who think we don't have free will, act like they have free will.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Weird.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Free Will. Not Free Willy.<br />
Pay attention.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">That doesn't mean we have free will, though.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">There's this Newtonian concept called Determinism, and another one called Mechanism. They are the problem.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Determinism says that everything is predetermined by things that happened already. Again, it's all about the particles.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Mechanism says that, because of the laws of physics, everything acts like a machine, and what a machine is, is predictable. Everything happens the same way that it has always happened, so we can predict what's going to happen.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">So the laws tell the particles what to do, whether they are single particles or a galaxy made of particles, and the particles do just that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">And since you are made of particles, theoretically we can look at the way you have ever done anything and predict what you will do next.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">There you go. No free will. Even in a universe with a starting point.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Since we still have to answer the question of where the laws and the universe came from, God is still theoretically around even if free will is not.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">But.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">This is all Newtonian. That's not the universe we live in. Well, it is, in part, but only the dull and boring and predictable parts.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">It's really a Quantum thing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">It's pretty simple.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">The Newtonian thing says, if you know everything about the particles (where they are, how fast they're going, stuff like that), then you can predict where they will go and what happens when they get there.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">And you lose your free will. Because you are made of particles.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">But the Quantum thing says (wait for it), </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">you cannot know everything about the particles. Any particle. Not even one.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">It's called Quantum Uncertainty. You can't know where they are, or if they are, or where they're going, or if they're going.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">And since we can't predict what the particles are going to do, and you are made of particles, then theoretically we can't predict what you are going to do.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwj305ZetJKomqkeMeqD2Z5Y7tquCWJ4tLq-M-5DbdSG4Y_Wi1a5UHgmOSiN3U-AX-6IJaXe5yRy2wsO9qocDMJlSA7OtAso4aiv4tL_fTmnQzt2gl5kda0msZeRadABuYObUEllxz6TE/s1600/uncertainty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwj305ZetJKomqkeMeqD2Z5Y7tquCWJ4tLq-M-5DbdSG4Y_Wi1a5UHgmOSiN3U-AX-6IJaXe5yRy2wsO9qocDMJlSA7OtAso4aiv4tL_fTmnQzt2gl5kda0msZeRadABuYObUEllxz6TE/s640/uncertainty.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">And now. Theoretically. You get your free will back.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">We're not really sure what that means, of course.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">That's the problem.</span></div>
Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398313658457813036.post-23092976045103753752016-08-03T07:13:00.000-07:002016-08-03T07:13:23.791-07:00A Brief History of Free Will<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbcMitk1yGNUMugezOma6wOXt55F8Mp_ezG2bJFmRF3yC38UovpCm49j1bmgXFIvGA_Z0onS2NINcVUXuAqNh5AIWEzUp8DuTLv8AKX0OYVR4D3YYn2-fE_yVoBr90lo5wvUjCdERHT54/s1600/were-making-it-up-tom-robbins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbcMitk1yGNUMugezOma6wOXt55F8Mp_ezG2bJFmRF3yC38UovpCm49j1bmgXFIvGA_Z0onS2NINcVUXuAqNh5AIWEzUp8DuTLv8AKX0OYVR4D3YYn2-fE_yVoBr90lo5wvUjCdERHT54/s320/were-making-it-up-tom-robbins.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And punctuation mistakes. Making that up, too.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Rather than doing actual research, I'm just going to make this up.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">If free will exists, then I get to do that. Make this up, that is.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">If free will does not exist, then I apparently have no choice but to just make it up.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So. It always felt a lot like we had free will when we still thought we had free will. I mean, there was no question. Right or left. Up or down. Do a bad thing, don't do a bad thing. Or a good thing. Eat this, don't eat that. Go here, go there. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">My brain (speaking metaphorically about all brains) felt very much as though it was faced with decisions all the time and got to make up its own mind, since it was, in fact, a mind.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But then Newton came along and discovered that the universe worked according to laws and rules and regulations. All the time. Never stopped. Never took time off for a vacay. No coffee breaks or weekends at the beach.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And this meant that everything worked according to the laws. All the time.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And the laws had always been there. Since the universe was infinitely old and large and all of that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">You and me and everything and everyone are made of tiny little particles that work according to the laws. All the time.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Pretty soon, some smart guys said to themselves, huh. THAT'S interesting.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Because what that means is that since our brains are made of little particles that work according to the rules all the time, then ...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz53ry4zH7TZcqRba3nNDaCQqJuw39QUUXfHzzyMM4xDo2aZaf8KukoDrMGtBNh2vAeKeg4nksBQfKTuYEcRR0sq-ekCb2RIcCdk-eNkLp4pGlpb69qXI_3Xojbt1owH0hK7NNxxXqsTY/s1600/brain_magic_pybop2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz53ry4zH7TZcqRba3nNDaCQqJuw39QUUXfHzzyMM4xDo2aZaf8KukoDrMGtBNh2vAeKeg4nksBQfKTuYEcRR0sq-ekCb2RIcCdk-eNkLp4pGlpb69qXI_3Xojbt1owH0hK7NNxxXqsTY/s320/brain_magic_pybop2.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">What we THINK is a free will decision is actually just something that the particles did. The laws had been working forever, making all the particles in the universe do stuff, and eventually, some of the particles ended up in my brain making me say something stupid to this really hot girl in high school instead of something smooth and smart and urbane and debonair which would have in turn made all of her brain particles want to run off with me and pursue connubial bliss and live happily ever after.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZrTP19LaI3FfPsbZISNfviOB5WHTJZnVpcdT4TTcZAHIdhwrCmaYTHndMNGzu1tGz8w_iL9N-jnQZoBSb_ZLWNb8X27ERcjhuCLSdo9i0ucSbWVpxU8wZrZsI2YBOq6IZXkChq2g64c4/s1600/CalvinFault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZrTP19LaI3FfPsbZISNfviOB5WHTJZnVpcdT4TTcZAHIdhwrCmaYTHndMNGzu1tGz8w_iL9N-jnQZoBSb_ZLWNb8X27ERcjhuCLSdo9i0ucSbWVpxU8wZrZsI2YBOq6IZXkChq2g64c4/s1600/CalvinFault.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So. All caps coming.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">IT'S NOT MY FAULT!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Good to know. Sort of.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">To review. Since the universe has always been there and the laws have always been there, then there's no free will. Ever. Never. Not possible. Not gonna happen.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And oh btw, we also don't need God to explain how things work, since the laws make everything work and the laws had always been there so we didn't need God to start the game, get the ball rolling, blow the whistle, wave the flag. The game was eternal, had always been the game.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So the smart guys said to themselves, huh. Sweet. No God. So we can do whatever we want. And no free will. So it's not our fault. The particles made me do it. Niiiiice.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">There was one tiny little teensy weensy hardly-worth-mentioning problem.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEHn1T5Ekl1CCojFT5hxArju4ZvmYcUvhQJdpc27LfIb-6udi5gSk5K4c9jMXRVq0dB5pn1U2Zin02pAte2vrdvKMsXKSqGPtmszit8PKuVyCRMynSwNBGAlzlIEWgX5TR1IadKYi9VhA/s1600/start-wallpaper5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEHn1T5Ekl1CCojFT5hxArju4ZvmYcUvhQJdpc27LfIb-6udi5gSk5K4c9jMXRVq0dB5pn1U2Zin02pAte2vrdvKMsXKSqGPtmszit8PKuVyCRMynSwNBGAlzlIEWgX5TR1IadKYi9VhA/s320/start-wallpaper5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Ahem. The universe had not always been there. Neither had the laws. Everything had a starting point.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Damn.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Here's where we are, then.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">We THOUGHT we didn't have free will because the universe was infinitely large and old and the laws had always been there making us do things that we THOUGHT was free will but wasn't and history was an infinitely long string of laws making particles do stuff that included all the stuff that we were each doing that we THOUGHT was stuff we decided to do but didn't really.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">But this was entirely totally absolutely dependent on the universe and the laws being infinitely old.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">But. They aren't.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Which means that the universe and the laws used to not be here. At all.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8H9E5mbpeh8MtVrsosfzAemvW0cMNZ4Zvqp_e4G2tM5qTDvpUWh0KepmStBBG3gF83qYrNx7xM4EuRiNmRoySoDtqkv1kBrvJMuFEUix4BhwWcNSFQ0-p1y8Jhq-t4S92MtAwu3mG8bU/s1600/godisback1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8H9E5mbpeh8MtVrsosfzAemvW0cMNZ4Zvqp_e4G2tM5qTDvpUWh0KepmStBBG3gF83qYrNx7xM4EuRiNmRoySoDtqkv1kBrvJMuFEUix4BhwWcNSFQ0-p1y8Jhq-t4S92MtAwu3mG8bU/s320/godisback1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">So since we used the infinite universe to get rid of both God and free will, then since the universe isn't infinite, then the possibility that both God and free will exist, um, exists. It's possible. Not definite. But definitely possible.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">You probably didn't know that's how we got rid of both God and free will. 'Tis, though. We sorta forgot that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Then when Big Bang showed up (thanks, Albert), all of sudden things got complicated. Science didn't even like Big Bang (Albert didn't even like Big Bang) because it meant that we would have to start talking about God and religion and going to church or temple or mosque or Mecca or Jerusalem or Rome or Tokyo (Tokyo?) and cleaning up our acts naughtiness-wise and</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">nobody really wanted to do that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">But it all worked out because religious people didn't like Big Bang either because (science was right) they're idiots. With apologies to religious people. OK, not really.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVOQJqNcSYfQn_678gvuKTdnX1sHnVtGGQEIsdio-P3m2fbz4uPr54NF_iht44hwOop3P0Z8YGAhyl3V47vCf0MYbKreVeMFWH3LBibOQev1ZiY3ds8iXLYGZoHN6yY9KHZlKdaREH6Jw/s1600/bbtnot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVOQJqNcSYfQn_678gvuKTdnX1sHnVtGGQEIsdio-P3m2fbz4uPr54NF_iht44hwOop3P0Z8YGAhyl3V47vCf0MYbKreVeMFWH3LBibOQev1ZiY3ds8iXLYGZoHN6yY9KHZlKdaREH6Jw/s320/bbtnot.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">In fairness to religious people, we should probably mention why they didn't like Big Bang. They believe that God instantaneously created the universe out of nothing, but Big Bang Theory says that the universe suddenly popped into being out of nothing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">You can see the problem.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Yeah, me neither. I just don't get it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Anyway. So. Free will might be back. That's not the movie about the whale, btw. Which, btw, my British friends think the title of which is hysterical.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">To sum up. Free will (and God) went away because of the infinite universe, and they came back maybe because it's not infinite. Time-wise, that is. Space-wise, we'll never know.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And I'm out of time. But not space. Ha. Hysterical.</span></div>
Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398313658457813036.post-33162910428828332212016-07-20T07:49:00.000-07:002016-07-20T07:49:16.378-07:00Free Will or Free Won't<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">Let's us talk about free will for just a bit. And we'll start off being a little irritating and obnoxious, as is our wont.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMTvI0isUa17WXSdPjJXJuGkUI5jQ3O1uKuJwzI1zFqZM0M_8vbRa8yG-duYMMO8qIGgiwT1ZindH3emvaL_Mhm3bD9fCwgra_xMj-v8yMIhLzPkHOrcaU-GwWBKJHd9DSBq0PXjXt7Bs/s1600/freewill1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMTvI0isUa17WXSdPjJXJuGkUI5jQ3O1uKuJwzI1zFqZM0M_8vbRa8yG-duYMMO8qIGgiwT1ZindH3emvaL_Mhm3bD9fCwgra_xMj-v8yMIhLzPkHOrcaU-GwWBKJHd9DSBq0PXjXt7Bs/s320/freewill1.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">1, 2, 3 go:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Your opinion about free will is entirely irrelevant.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Sound familiar?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Free will either exists, or it does not.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">What you <i>believe </i>about free will is immaterial.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Your belief in free will does not cause it to exist, nor does your disbelief cause it not to exist.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Nor is pretty much anything that science has to say about it very informative.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I posted two articles in the same week back in spring on FB, one which said free will exists, one of which said that it did not.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkGnZdGBKNaKpjO3hjUv3dDH2d5pPSZ6RGZSsXfkPPhW6pzJOSH7HY_M3Py9Tj3hunpMpj3YCHcraVGeO9ulrzNhpKbZEiVIP5xaPyLT-8NDOIgaI6z_WMAomXsRquZchlicd4G4KGUlY/s1600/free-will2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkGnZdGBKNaKpjO3hjUv3dDH2d5pPSZ6RGZSsXfkPPhW6pzJOSH7HY_M3Py9Tj3hunpMpj3YCHcraVGeO9ulrzNhpKbZEiVIP5xaPyLT-8NDOIgaI6z_WMAomXsRquZchlicd4G4KGUlY/s320/free-will2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">There will be a study that suggests that it does not, and some time later, another study poking holes in the first study. I've been watching this thing for 25 years, so trust me on this.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That's the way science works, of course, and that's a good thing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But the way the human mind works is to pay very close attention to the study that we like, and not so much to the one we don't like.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Plus, the way things get reported is that first study gets large print on the front page (FREE WILL DOESN'T EXIST! PROOF AT LAST!) and the second study somewhere else in tiny tiny print (</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Free Will Might Exist. We were wrong. This time. But you just wait. One of these days...</span><span style="font-size: large;">).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The problem with figuring out free will is that it's not just or even mainly a philosophical or theological question,</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1yY92qpBbeQ8swbtWxVsxetIGKoPJNdpfFPsXMflY9jIwLHJj1SqS1vUzZW17jDsauvd8v3lW129Z9Z_j1sT-vJ1AzSfeYunrvxq5jCBwDXPtd9WoLAXNsKDznVJZQG732DBEWvcuynI/s1600/BrainHomer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1yY92qpBbeQ8swbtWxVsxetIGKoPJNdpfFPsXMflY9jIwLHJj1SqS1vUzZW17jDsauvd8v3lW129Z9Z_j1sT-vJ1AzSfeYunrvxq5jCBwDXPtd9WoLAXNsKDznVJZQG732DBEWvcuynI/s320/BrainHomer.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">It's a brain question.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And here's what we do not understand at all.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The brain.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Here's a bit from an article in Wired Magazine, the world's greatest magazine ever:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"Studying the brain now is like trying to navigate a vast city without any driving instructions. You don't know where you are, and you have no idea how to find what you're looking for.</i></span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"Every brain is profoundly unique, a landscape of cells that has never existed before and never will again. </i></span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"The same gene that will be highly expressed in some subjects will be completely absent in others. </i></span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"This variation is even visible at a gross anatomical level - different people have differently shaped cortices, with different boundaries between anatomical regions. </i></span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiswutXVNKWOqbaYRojLdM68Zr7EDl_nigLrBJv4mLBzNPGuXjC5ZIQiOFEFY2n2XgN0TjMPPtwlOFj7nnR8eWxpM0uq82-dMEz1nxqrritLr3XHfJg2YG0WFct7NOwv0-fCsw78lE_kaY/s1600/BrainPuzzle.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiswutXVNKWOqbaYRojLdM68Zr7EDl_nigLrBJv4mLBzNPGuXjC5ZIQiOFEFY2n2XgN0TjMPPtwlOFj7nnR8eWxpM0uq82-dMEz1nxqrritLr3XHfJg2YG0WFct7NOwv0-fCsw78lE_kaY/s320/BrainPuzzle.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"If the human atlas is like Google Maps, then every mind is its own city.</i></span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"Scientists assumed for decades that most cortical circuits were essentially the same - the brain was supposed to rely on a standard set of microchips, like a typical supercomputer. </i></span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><br />"But the atlas has revealed a startling genetic diversity; different slabs of cortex are defined by entirely different sets of genes. </i></span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>
</i></span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"The supercomputer analogy needs to be permanently retired.</i></span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCTMLAcUV-akUudKevBPMDcGfaZHe0v3SkOmCkfiv7zbX_ola_5tngunBGLj7Wg3oMxLM6RJXa4U17QYtfMTu0WUAFL3B_yRDM4gdb4zG4kfZMcX1i-CsiHRNskgZEkl_LsS2FlVYM0uQ/s1600/quantumbrain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCTMLAcUV-akUudKevBPMDcGfaZHe0v3SkOmCkfiv7zbX_ola_5tngunBGLj7Wg3oMxLM6RJXa4U17QYtfMTu0WUAFL3B_yRDM4gdb4zG4kfZMcX1i-CsiHRNskgZEkl_LsS2FlVYM0uQ/s320/quantumbrain.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"Scientists are just starting to grapple with the seemingly infinite regress of the brain, in which every new level of detail reveals yet another level.</i></span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"The problem with this data is that it's like grinding up the paint on a Monet canvas and then thinking you understand the painting.</i></span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"You can't help but be intimidated by the complexity of it all. Just when you think you're getting a handle on it, you realize that you haven't even scratched the surface.</i></span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>
</i></span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"What you mostly discover is that the mind remains an immense mystery. We don't even know what we don't know."</i></span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">So when some guy in a lab is trying to figure out whether or not there is free will, he has to test living human brains in living human heads, brains that he might even assume that he understands,</span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">But he doesn't. Or she. They. All of them.</span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">And when you or he or she or they or all them read some article about some other scientist(s) claiming they have figured out something about the way the brain works, the truth is, they've made assumptions about the way the brain works that don't seem to be at all, um, assumable. </span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">So if our first guy or whoever is trying to figure out if there's free will, he/she/it/or they is doing a free will test on something (a brain) he/she/it or they have no understanding of.</span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">So really. It's just not going to work.</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLqyLZ90QYMdIw1bsd9HMXiOcR1ncBg_74_S_O6DlZQBwRH2YqGliAl307DjQKBuB_kc_X-Y5U-f4R-vxXDBSsRFMz6RyIQyyuKGHd-vNHGaLP6XHdumRfCHNeJ0Geey7XDi2LPZdgFZk/s1600/doitmyself.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLqyLZ90QYMdIw1bsd9HMXiOcR1ncBg_74_S_O6DlZQBwRH2YqGliAl307DjQKBuB_kc_X-Y5U-f4R-vxXDBSsRFMz6RyIQyyuKGHd-vNHGaLP6XHdumRfCHNeJ0Geey7XDi2LPZdgFZk/s320/doitmyself.jpg" width="242" /></a></div>
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">The interesting thing is how badly we seem to want free will not to exist.</span></span><br />
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Someone's gonna have to explain that one to me.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Oh, never mind. I'll just do it myself.</span></div>
</div>
Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398313658457813036.post-7233961138654567992016-07-13T07:51:00.000-07:002016-07-13T07:51:09.660-07:00Gaps are back<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">Now, what happens to science when the gaps come back?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Remember the God of the Gaps problem? </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIJv3sNdR2ChqYDIzbaORRXgelLFlE4b3FuW1mdazWik_N7rHDJSubZmEXzfGtY1B9S5Z7b5v7O_aSVARvyK1cz7n6thB39uHp7xMumsQuqxvU8c-8bbdx936ckOKqSLOJUBDSQGMDios/s1600/Poseidon_Neptune.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIJv3sNdR2ChqYDIzbaORRXgelLFlE4b3FuW1mdazWik_N7rHDJSubZmEXzfGtY1B9S5Z7b5v7O_aSVARvyK1cz7n6thB39uHp7xMumsQuqxvU8c-8bbdx936ckOKqSLOJUBDSQGMDios/s320/Poseidon_Neptune.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Religion said, we got earthquakes and volcanoes and plagues and floods and fires and all sorts of horrible things plus Kardashians because the gods are all pissed off at us. Also, rainbows and butterflies and waterfalls and suns and moons and stars and sunsets all come from the gods. So throw some virgins into the volcanoes and we'll get rainbows and sunsets all over again. The gods love it when we throw virgins into volcanoes. Those crazy gods.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiYQXjWFY0hjy_syKvQd-Vhx3AE2fJVRhthnG9rr4a7gZwy60WS9uQaiGHPZ4-ErnOwAk7MKw2nq_jzSquhLkfGu_P4qnLLK_WsccLh3UardGYuLmweMtLICR7vGPrp709tmk8S-J_9zc/s1600/you-guys-are-idiots.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiYQXjWFY0hjy_syKvQd-Vhx3AE2fJVRhthnG9rr4a7gZwy60WS9uQaiGHPZ4-ErnOwAk7MKw2nq_jzSquhLkfGu_P4qnLLK_WsccLh3UardGYuLmweMtLICR7vGPrp709tmk8S-J_9zc/s1600/you-guys-are-idiots.gif" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">So science, all Newtonian about it, says, hah! you guys are idiots. Everything happens because the laws of physics make everything happen. Gods!?!? Seriously!?!? You guys are idiots.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And we were, kinda.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">'Cause the laws of physics DO cause everything to happen.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">If we had not been idiots, we might have said, um, so, where do the laws of physics come from?</span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMIn_4cldZsQzGIq-jp_rpfGhpGESkvWEUI_FreBbbRLk_VZNwo_JvTJOUOsz97B0wz38j7adh1-z29Ha9-Z7G7qWsE66-LS1zbLQEpiGy2n3jKzzXrV9tiLCI0BA3BMFu3DSWyOl-1qA/s1600/oops.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMIn_4cldZsQzGIq-jp_rpfGhpGESkvWEUI_FreBbbRLk_VZNwo_JvTJOUOsz97B0wz38j7adh1-z29Ha9-Z7G7qWsE66-LS1zbLQEpiGy2n3jKzzXrV9tiLCI0BA3BMFu3DSWyOl-1qA/s1600/oops.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oops.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And THEY would said, hah! you guys are idiots. The laws of physics have always been here. Just like the universe has always been here. ("Oops" is what they said about that later.)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">How many laws of physics are there, actually? we could have politely asked.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">One, they would have said. Gravity. Everything else comes from that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Then after awhile, they would have said, Two. Gravity and Electromagnetism. Everything else comes from those.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And then the 20th century rolled into view, and all of sudden, things got messy.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">First, there was Quantum Theory.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Then, there was Relativity.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Then, there was Big Bang.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Then, the universe hadn't always been there.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Then, the laws of physics hadn't always been there, either. Because nothing had always been there.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Plus, then there were two more laws. The Strong and Weak Interactions. That's what they call them.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGIxcbBCpWBT5g2LpBRtnL5_6SsmxIKODAsV0-wnhyphenhyphenbjOmhwhes8777GEwLIwGCo0g3nncNQAl8RFVjzsTln6eGuptxXv9SSZSbKjlW_504GP3NnbToPZsgHqabq6xtktdAAEobFJYQvA/s1600/mind-the-gap.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGIxcbBCpWBT5g2LpBRtnL5_6SsmxIKODAsV0-wnhyphenhyphenbjOmhwhes8777GEwLIwGCo0g3nncNQAl8RFVjzsTln6eGuptxXv9SSZSbKjlW_504GP3NnbToPZsgHqabq6xtktdAAEobFJYQvA/s320/mind-the-gap.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">And all of a sudden, there were more Gaps that needed to be filled with science.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And the actual science that filled the Gaps just gave us even more Gaps. Gaps upon Gaps.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Fortunately for science, religious people didn't like Big Bang, so it turned out not to be much of a problem, because then they didn't know about the new Gaps.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But it should have been.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Because science had filled all of the OLD gaps with Newtonian science, which doesn't work at all well at filling the NEW gaps.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And we have all of the NEW gaps because of the NEW science. Relativistic, quantum science. Which created the gaps.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It's a problem. Because the new gaps look like this:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Where did all the science come from? Laws of physics-wise, I mean.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Where did the universe come from? Since there were no laws of physics to make it come from anywhere, and since there was no where there for it to have come here from there from.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And what the heck is this whole quantum thing, anyway?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZSBdP1Ccji-QXiMd3LspDdP3wcrZFH7dH4WTcrvKd18dAVYNa7alZ3tvx9j4jvl4vMHQveb4yIf1lZ92ohof6a-k5Ymlr579oyw5C4s3kckC7T7d9nF9nNmZ1ceMP9jqo2Ry2VmrNZoY/s1600/BloomCountyDarkMatter1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZSBdP1Ccji-QXiMd3LspDdP3wcrZFH7dH4WTcrvKd18dAVYNa7alZ3tvx9j4jvl4vMHQveb4yIf1lZ92ohof6a-k5Ymlr579oyw5C4s3kckC7T7d9nF9nNmZ1ceMP9jqo2Ry2VmrNZoY/s640/BloomCountyDarkMatter1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So now we've got quantum weirdness and space-time weirdness and Dark Energy and Dark Matter and Strings and Loops and Holographic and/or Computer Simulated Universe options and Biocentric Universe options and 41 (or more) interacting universes options and Multiverses options and Higgses and Cosmological Constants and Inflationary options and there's hardly anything we know about a lot of them that might be true and a lot that we know that is true that is totally bizarre and NOT Newtonian.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And frankly, there's a lot more gaps than not gaps these days, cosmology-wise.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNfNWJFtMoYqlDEwSKrEXmVT3_p7NP4GZ9-r_o4QTfPJ6AYgl7vGMSUWvqzJA9038Q8OAdhxf06C6aFS6zbBElcBgUNCNd_3omY_HA3tXT0CkWE2UOvqfnbUOy3EfrIIRAKqzpmjRWjFI/s1600/BloomCountyDarkMatter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNfNWJFtMoYqlDEwSKrEXmVT3_p7NP4GZ9-r_o4QTfPJ6AYgl7vGMSUWvqzJA9038Q8OAdhxf06C6aFS6zbBElcBgUNCNd_3omY_HA3tXT0CkWE2UOvqfnbUOy3EfrIIRAKqzpmjRWjFI/s640/BloomCountyDarkMatter.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And God has become a reasonable answer, unless </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">you think that God will never ever be any kind of reasonable answer because</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Gaps.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But, here's a thought.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Just because God was a lame answer for some problems we had in understanding nature doesn't mean</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That he might not be a really fine answer for other problems we have in understanding nature.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS2HQESI31tCKbNLjGUwYeq90Gwvz9haAOBIdk7mYYg9KB5iW6s5Uglza5hpMKfTNuN_Nyn4KWBDsArgIJKtPNEf5AlWb3g3qSZY2UoahwLJG1rzbSzDlSBMOg8_-lhhmF4wJmzS7OpcE/s1600/HObbesQuark.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS2HQESI31tCKbNLjGUwYeq90Gwvz9haAOBIdk7mYYg9KB5iW6s5Uglza5hpMKfTNuN_Nyn4KWBDsArgIJKtPNEf5AlWb3g3qSZY2UoahwLJG1rzbSzDlSBMOg8_-lhhmF4wJmzS7OpcE/s640/HObbesQuark.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Maybe we just need to ask better questions. And maybe we need to be ready for our understanding of God to be too small.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Which only makes sense, since our understanding of the universe has clearly been too small.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">'Cause here again is what science did. It assumed that the God it <i>didn't</i> believe in was exactly like the God that religious people <i>did</i> believe in. That since we knew that volcanoes weren't actually the gods blowing off angry steam, that there was a nice neat scientific explanation for volcanoes, then THAT God or THOSE gods did not exist.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And indeed, they did not.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But a much better conclusion would have been,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Maybe God is a bit more complicated, complex, and interesting than the pissed off gods of yore. And maybe rejecting the existence of God today by assuming that God is the same God or gods that the modern religions accept today is no more insightful or imaginative.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj56qpD7svocWaC4ALk6VJROzLRF3w038ZB6oM-k2FU1EoNIXqfdtNFDmwkc6Vy5MOso7KVpDQhEQQdIfZ0iEBzq_JwS39KPsh75QSiZ287u3-lVSO8sSIl9ozhbokvxtKYmqxMsbHqSi4/s1600/ratnonidiocy.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj56qpD7svocWaC4ALk6VJROzLRF3w038ZB6oM-k2FU1EoNIXqfdtNFDmwkc6Vy5MOso7KVpDQhEQQdIfZ0iEBzq_JwS39KPsh75QSiZ287u3-lVSO8sSIl9ozhbokvxtKYmqxMsbHqSi4/s320/ratnonidiocy.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That is, to say that the God of the Old Testament or the Torah or the Koran is harsh and brutal and therefore God does not exist, is the province of small minds.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And maybe assuming that God is constantly in a state of being constantly pissed off is a bad assumption.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The volcano virgins of the world like where this is going.</span></div>
Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398313658457813036.post-7819747318510607202016-07-05T22:47:00.000-07:002016-07-05T22:47:22.528-07:00Gaps<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;">I find this to be a curious thing.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivxU-6fdYPnEH5qoDNArBlMwhnmtzQdmfzIYTfEWRmr2vWff-0p5qaLaIQW03jA4UFzoFulk0RqAr22puv7hyphenhyphenhJ2yl9xihE1Xks5NQuAthYcU10LQqjEHaikkPWmlI0RKhYoD7OkFQqVk/s1600/christmas-miracle.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivxU-6fdYPnEH5qoDNArBlMwhnmtzQdmfzIYTfEWRmr2vWff-0p5qaLaIQW03jA4UFzoFulk0RqAr22puv7hyphenhyphenhJ2yl9xihE1Xks5NQuAthYcU10LQqjEHaikkPWmlI0RKhYoD7OkFQqVk/s320/christmas-miracle.jpeg" width="212" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Atheists think that religious people are idiots for believing in miracles. </span><span style="font-size: large;">Atheists also tend to be mad at the God they don't believe in for allowing evil things to happen.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">That is, for not doing miracles. To stop the evil things from happening. Of course, if he did stop some, they'd never know.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And, as it turns out, they are desperate for God to stop things like </span><span style="font-size: large;">tsunamis or genocides or earthquakes or tornadoes or serial killers or the Kardashians, but not the evil things that they themselves do.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihOqq_lDEis_Pge0mU1LrQGWcU22oBvcEW5AA0MuqXjj9iBA7c-vAS93bb13IxHtEg0iFM303GOSRfoFzfq6aCLPYK03xAeH9ZA-dW6egcfvT5cZ2CrHD7MKxwps24Z4tqyNH0-xKqiAg/s1600/bill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihOqq_lDEis_Pge0mU1LrQGWcU22oBvcEW5AA0MuqXjj9iBA7c-vAS93bb13IxHtEg0iFM303GOSRfoFzfq6aCLPYK03xAeH9ZA-dW6egcfvT5cZ2CrHD7MKxwps24Z4tqyNH0-xKqiAg/s200/bill.jpg" width="193" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">And then religious people, for whom finding a good parking spot is a miraculous Act of God, somehow don't notice when God doesn't do things like stop tsunamis or genocides or earthquakes or tornadoes or serial killers or the Kardashians.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We are a confusing species. So let's try to figure it out.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">There are always things humans do not understand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As religious people (and humans have always been
religious), when we met things we did not understand, we would ascribe those
things to God, or the gods.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Volcanoes, earthquakes, sun, moon, stars, cats,
mysteries of all shapes and sizes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUY-mPB8fyqqXvStTSHeDDWexJtsW7_mWsGbzdWH-Xo1FSxC1dXVpst12HQqhBZc4W0Bzpp-A2ZO4HZ3mXT2pRAiEnUT0mY8XSwixXUsoeG8r984cKYZX_0xCczE__tl7aJki8snLntTk/s1600/Miracles-happen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUY-mPB8fyqqXvStTSHeDDWexJtsW7_mWsGbzdWH-Xo1FSxC1dXVpst12HQqhBZc4W0Bzpp-A2ZO4HZ3mXT2pRAiEnUT0mY8XSwixXUsoeG8r984cKYZX_0xCczE__tl7aJki8snLntTk/s320/Miracles-happen.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Any gap we found in our ability to explain
the universe, we filled with gods.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Later on, science would call this the “God of the
gaps” and use it to dismiss religion entirely. This they did from the entirely
reasonable perspective that science had explained most of the things we didn’t
understand and had blamed on God, or the gods. And they felt pretty good about
being able to explain all the things they hadn’t been able to explain yet. They
had a good track record.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzLQh3itklzZgqlhkQHEG0pm1G5zBNYfxxX_RzzJFZWpmeHQev9SJhlOEHlGRl5wJ_DwDAq3DA-yjRpWfhST9O0Zjd80IGTxfMyaIg9D2Dcvsj4DTZq7wdNMriIGMUd83SQ4RqHn_1ZIc/s1600/Volcano+Cartoon.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzLQh3itklzZgqlhkQHEG0pm1G5zBNYfxxX_RzzJFZWpmeHQev9SJhlOEHlGRl5wJ_DwDAq3DA-yjRpWfhST9O0Zjd80IGTxfMyaIg9D2Dcvsj4DTZq7wdNMriIGMUd83SQ4RqHn_1ZIc/s400/Volcano+Cartoon.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">They have a point. And we haven’t learned the lesson
yet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It’s pretty simple. Bad things would happen. You know,
volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, famines, plagues, fires, landslides,
cats. Terrible things. The Kardashians. Teeeerrible things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Since it didn’t make sense to us that bad things just
happen sometimes, we would figure that the gods were angry about something we
did and were doing these bad things to us as punishment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Since we didn’t know what we had done, and the gods
weren’t letting us know, weren’t giving us any hints, we would make stuff up. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMiOPy8HWEPkrYRyv_xHZjJriXtSmSm91O4BCN1TlAgVwEPVIPWPKQa3bBtpCs-4emnjkUFFf3mlHWPrquifOWMhAJF1Ucrwhu2z-V0z8sngakDEpNY7IXW6fUq9akw-2q5LORrhCoAiE/s1600/virginair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMiOPy8HWEPkrYRyv_xHZjJriXtSmSm91O4BCN1TlAgVwEPVIPWPKQa3bBtpCs-4emnjkUFFf3mlHWPrquifOWMhAJF1Ucrwhu2z-V0z8sngakDEpNY7IXW6fUq9akw-2q5LORrhCoAiE/s320/virginair.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">And
then we’d try to fix it by doing, I don’t know, whatever. Sacrifice some
virgins. Cut out some hearts with black obsidian knives. Shrink some heads. Eat
some enemies. Whatever seemed right at the time. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The gods were fairly
irrational about doing bad things to us, so we were pretty irrational about
trying to keep them happy and off our case.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Kk_LYCX3a3yOJ4E72Xc9BRBAvwFBKzUdcjbMpDBY82UlgV1ozqBFIIwL6qo2NrBL-kp9xRjG-K-ovTxS0-0Tvv8NHYxnnxM-HURiIUzZQ4JlV-JttMzOKaVXKWZD2LAS9QyPRoTm364/s1600/volcano.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Kk_LYCX3a3yOJ4E72Xc9BRBAvwFBKzUdcjbMpDBY82UlgV1ozqBFIIwL6qo2NrBL-kp9xRjG-K-ovTxS0-0Tvv8NHYxnnxM-HURiIUzZQ4JlV-JttMzOKaVXKWZD2LAS9QyPRoTm364/s320/volcano.jpg" width="268" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">There was this sense that we had to sacrifice stuff to the gods to </span><span style="font-size: large;">keep them off our backs. Gods - very demanding, very much like little babies, teenagers, bad bosses, mother-in-laws, and Kardashians. It's always totally about them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Greeks spent a lot of time and energy trying to
keep the gods happy. The Romans, with pretty much the same gods, did the same
thing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Even in our more modern, educated, sophisticated
times, religious people do the same thing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Hindus have some 350 million gods
they have to keep happy by following their dharma to build up good karma so
that reincarnation can happen at a higher level next time around. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Buddhists, at
least in its purer, Buddhist form, have to avoid developing fond attachments
for the things of the world, including friendships and family relationships. In
its more western, less Buddhist form, there are chantings and incenses and good
feelings and thoughts. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Jews have something over 600 laws they have to follow to
keep God happy. </span><span style="font-size: large;">They have each their rabbinical interpretations of how much to carry and how far to walk and who gets to wear what when and why. It's not really a growth religion because, well, circumcision.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTmY57PAMhqBrhMWpKjqPTyXCipIbzTBfsaRdgIg4SgWtdNrN2g8Vc9i8FFNgTA9HKrzT9G3qC1Vw9NaEQ0m66nK2Uo4orS9ZvdAnjlbbgdzDXwJLN4MnWt7QWgku-Fqy7vYHr2SaOBOQ/s1600/Calvin-gets-existential.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTmY57PAMhqBrhMWpKjqPTyXCipIbzTBfsaRdgIg4SgWtdNrN2g8Vc9i8FFNgTA9HKrzT9G3qC1Vw9NaEQ0m66nK2Uo4orS9ZvdAnjlbbgdzDXwJLN4MnWt7QWgku-Fqy7vYHr2SaOBOQ/s640/Calvin-gets-existential.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Muslims, luckier than the Jews, have about five laws, but there
are myriad interpretations of how to follow those laws. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Outside of
the mainstream religions and denominations, cults are defined by the weird,
cultish things they demand of their followers to keep the gods happy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And Christians spend a lot of time and energy trying
to keep God happy, trying, as it were, to stay saved.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">They mostly try to do this like everyone else does it - by trying to follow laws and rules and regulations, even though they know better.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Because Christians and Jews and Muslims and Buddhists and Confucians and Shintos and Jains and Hindus and everybody in every faith and religion and belief system EVER thinks that what God is all about is </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">1) being pissed off all the time because apparently none of you IDIOTS can </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">2) follow all the rules.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">God doesn't need to use all-caps, btw, but, well, you know.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7o2BqVPgyOAgHWZDQlHv6cW2ZXWFqH9Vb8ZWVbVZqmobilqGiQJYDSkZWMdj_stuNidD7iP5c01mcZ11bgkpAwbcmunZqvZCLGKmMxvis0lrufYSIAiFjrOvVIPT8TLwlImqiHhY9iao/s1600/godjerk2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7o2BqVPgyOAgHWZDQlHv6cW2ZXWFqH9Vb8ZWVbVZqmobilqGiQJYDSkZWMdj_stuNidD7iP5c01mcZ11bgkpAwbcmunZqvZCLGKmMxvis0lrufYSIAiFjrOvVIPT8TLwlImqiHhY9iao/s400/godjerk2.jpg" width="343" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And atheists and scientists very rightly think to the themselves, God is an idiot, because all he does is demand that people follow of bunch of mostly stupid rules. And he's mean and nasty, besides. If he exists at all, that is.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So the atheists and scientists reject the existence of <i>this</i> God. This mean, nasty, petty, tyrannical, cruel, heartless, arbitrary God who clearly and easily could have created a universe that didn't have evil and suffering in it and should fix it anyway, although that would take miracles, which they don't believe in, because those would be supernatural, and they don't believe in supernatural stuff.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now. Just suppose. Maybe that's the wrong God entirely to believe in, or to reject. Maybe most of us, believers and non- alike, have God got mostly wrong.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Maybe he is not a God of rules and regulations. Maybe he is a God of interactions and relationships. Maybe he is a God of love.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPrHY_Dwup5HgA-bvxpU1JKVEGOmNVA9RErCh36GLn6i83MtVl3jF2v4isPCfuK45P4rdyWf1RthfBg-c52cP-XwzCtkhlOesw63c_6f6mdKPRmAGlSQtyhO3a2ucMpobuzbtdioT1BKY/s1600/bug.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPrHY_Dwup5HgA-bvxpU1JKVEGOmNVA9RErCh36GLn6i83MtVl3jF2v4isPCfuK45P4rdyWf1RthfBg-c52cP-XwzCtkhlOesw63c_6f6mdKPRmAGlSQtyhO3a2ucMpobuzbtdioT1BKY/s200/bug.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Humans get it backwards. We traditionally have thought that if we follow all the rules and regulations, then God will love us and will not squash us like a bug. If you want an equation, it might look like this:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Rules => Love. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Or like this: Obedience => Love. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">And like this: Disobedience => Getting Squashed Like a Bug.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqLt1jYrnKj-NxBevj1MRW5QXHH4zvY23zOtfo_Y1DPRRG57t4pRbKDclcWvMk7hJ1qaoycOpidPCnGpB-VqVHKyvAiTPVOJgiIXiiNMUEx1iniNLf_yEdLmRVu27jDZhcgrbOyy7DIZI/s1600/Bugs-Bunny1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="110" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqLt1jYrnKj-NxBevj1MRW5QXHH4zvY23zOtfo_Y1DPRRG57t4pRbKDclcWvMk7hJ1qaoycOpidPCnGpB-VqVHKyvAiTPVOJgiIXiiNMUEx1iniNLf_yEdLmRVu27jDZhcgrbOyy7DIZI/s200/Bugs-Bunny1.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bug. Not Bugs. Pay attention.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Instead, maybe it looks like this:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Love => Interaction => Rules.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So instead of Acting Right so That God Will Love You, maybe it's</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">God loves you already, and wants you to love each other, and here's how you might do that. You interact with each other, and out of the interactions come the standards of behavior.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Culture emerges from relationship. The interaction between me and thee.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Just like, gravity emerges from relationship. The interaction between space-time and matter. Matter emerges as an interaction, energy becoming matter becoming energy becoming matter. And so on.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The universe arrived with four, maybe five rules in place, and the rules are all about interaction. Gravity. Strong force. Weak force. Electromagnetism. Quantum Mechanics, whatever the heck that is.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgihmRxfMXorDFdio7KoqJbRqzrlHEdI28ajiZVG50cpDANPIqreGxRtO3YEef2ush3DAsxOiu4a1JVRm2JO2bDeGoZhOglIeUvTHGHwHBc8sfmEGOV95Ri_Tc4kR9XjPwpJ0yEWZ1sGw/s1600/dumbanimals.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgihmRxfMXorDFdio7KoqJbRqzrlHEdI28ajiZVG50cpDANPIqreGxRtO3YEef2ush3DAsxOiu4a1JVRm2JO2bDeGoZhOglIeUvTHGHwHBc8sfmEGOV95Ri_Tc4kR9XjPwpJ0yEWZ1sGw/s640/dumbanimals.jpg" width="242" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">QM might just be the miracle juice we need to make everything happen.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And all the rest of the laws of nature emerge from that starting point as a direct by-product of interactions.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Four rules. Four types of interactions. And the supernatural, the magic, the mystery, the wonder of the quantum universe that gives us something from nothing and a universe that is nothing but connected interactivity between forces and particles.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">What the universe does emerges from the interactions. The culture of the universe emerges from the interactions.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">How and why what it does, and how and why what we do as humans, as life-forms, as the aliens' aliens, emerges from our interactions.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">If we start our interactions with an intention to have that interaction be sort of, you know, nice, um, loving and kind and good and thoughtful and sacrificial and caring and all of that, then </span><span style="font-size: large;">what emerges is highly likely, statistically, probabilistically, scientifically, experimentally verifiably, to be, you know, kinda</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">good.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1cDbdXPlXXe5rmAktjVHDU8rio1ZA9G8t3TvmEPQcOyQt29fM93bp2LuxU5h3Aaq9KfudcM1cS1QnBsbZxjjC4ooa6afPoSYvfIqd98QxIw6ldTAeH6C_qZF99QzB9nZ6W1JCDumOsqs/s1600/jerk.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1cDbdXPlXXe5rmAktjVHDU8rio1ZA9G8t3TvmEPQcOyQt29fM93bp2LuxU5h3Aaq9KfudcM1cS1QnBsbZxjjC4ooa6afPoSYvfIqd98QxIw6ldTAeH6C_qZF99QzB9nZ6W1JCDumOsqs/s320/jerk.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">On average. Over time. Generally. Usually. Interactions are complicated things, which makes it all just that much more interesting and sometimes messy and fascinatingly unpredictable and all butterfly-effecty and emergent and stuff.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">But still. Worth a shot.</span></div>
<!--EndFragment--></div>
Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398313658457813036.post-11397686799931428272016-06-29T11:12:00.000-07:002016-06-29T13:44:23.807-07:00There's Something There - Part 7<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">There was this very nice British teacher at an international school I worked at once near Geneva where he taught a class called Theory of Knowledge (TOK) - I spend most of my lecturing time in TOK settings all over the planet - and he was talking about faith one day.</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOZvIaO4U3BKXcWcskx_gr53ZjssO6DBwj3sST1QXnB9THuIY5z7kYINvaPM65IfNrOlfG3hiWkjfRy0RYF6_L2XTlej3w3UHEiHe3jakJbHlwPn_4ekXQxwMln90IjNGtsCtOe7JzRlA/s1600/little-green-men.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOZvIaO4U3BKXcWcskx_gr53ZjssO6DBwj3sST1QXnB9THuIY5z7kYINvaPM65IfNrOlfG3hiWkjfRy0RYF6_L2XTlej3w3UHEiHe3jakJbHlwPn_4ekXQxwMln90IjNGtsCtOe7JzRlA/s1600/little-green-men.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Little green men?! Flying?!<br />
Where?!"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">He said that faith was like this: you could believe in little green men flying around the room, or anything at all, really, and that would take faith, but clearly zero intelligence, so faith was believing in ridiculous things and was clearly for stupid people.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">In the nicest possible way.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">And, he said, since you can't offer him any tangible evidence that there in fact might be little green men flying around the room (apparently desperately looking for little green flying women)(I added that part just now.), then he is under no obligation or compulsion to believe anything except that you are a raving lunatic.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">And so, faith is ridiculous. And for stupid and/or crazy people. Faith is just a short hop from insanity. I added that last part, too. But it's true. And thus religion is ridiculous, since there's nothing that is actually true about it, and if you are religious, then you are ridiculous.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXRmqb-wL4UdTjopJoQrD6lp_R3c8nm-jjkgBaYVjRqzah9nt9E9_LgycITQnCuSkDn2urCwiPkCm_G8SJVvQNcGvOibiGA6QlY4U1F43SGtk2HexaibE1L_s42QcpW08AyOaABXoGLWA/s1600/alienstea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXRmqb-wL4UdTjopJoQrD6lp_R3c8nm-jjkgBaYVjRqzah9nt9E9_LgycITQnCuSkDn2urCwiPkCm_G8SJVvQNcGvOibiGA6QlY4U1F43SGtk2HexaibE1L_s42QcpW08AyOaABXoGLWA/s320/alienstea.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aliens having tea. Or maybe coffee. With aliens,<br />
it's hard to know.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">In the nicest possible way. Because he was British and very nice about it all. Then we had tea.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Actually, because he was very nice, he then let me talk about faith to his 3 classes. And, because he was very nice and kinda impressed, he invited me back thrice annually for the next thrice years. The Brits say "thrice" a lot. I don't know why.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Here's what I said.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuJkC71z0cTRjdKHjaFkKPLKBcLVBx2JpkXuFrcDf5OhVrvFn6Z6Cqa7LM1FR-_TP9KXRoupRlHCiNoli_8IGv3bJlK3S9bh7t7lJ87w10QpQTuypRWvUU0toDRWJyC4dfoVZbljHTYBA/s1600/Mike-Wazowski-sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuJkC71z0cTRjdKHjaFkKPLKBcLVBx2JpkXuFrcDf5OhVrvFn6Z6Cqa7LM1FR-_TP9KXRoupRlHCiNoli_8IGv3bJlK3S9bh7t7lJ87w10QpQTuypRWvUU0toDRWJyC4dfoVZbljHTYBA/s1600/Mike-Wazowski-sm.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"No little green droppings here.<br />
What, I'm some kind of slob?!"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">First, believing in little green men, or in anything, would be crazy without at least some evidence. Something that is true. A fact or two. Little green droppings scattered around the room, for example.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">I'm not even going to mention that a lot of very smart, generally skeptical-about-religion-and-a-lot-of-them-actual-atheists scientists believe wholeheartedly in the Multiverse and/or String Theory and/or Loop Quantum Gravity and that the universe might be a hologram and/or a computer simulation and that there really really just have to be aliens out there somewhere, and a bunch of other sciency sounding things ...</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy6LwmCkvaJfnQ_Ixr72V8fsg1JIW3lvBii1u1AlZvSd7LjW_fO7VUA-W10fZdRreE6KzoBsjQAWYWTw8qB0fgw5Oo2KDhQ5lMgteINsmI2vBmSGxdkWROUXZgv3YgIgh9kBWt3rclmQg/s1600/Toy-Story-3-Aliens.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy6LwmCkvaJfnQ_Ixr72V8fsg1JIW3lvBii1u1AlZvSd7LjW_fO7VUA-W10fZdRreE6KzoBsjQAWYWTw8qB0fgw5Oo2KDhQ5lMgteINsmI2vBmSGxdkWROUXZgv3YgIgh9kBWt3rclmQg/s320/Toy-Story-3-Aliens.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Without any evidence whatsoever. No evidence. Not a single dingle fact. Little green men. That's what we're talking about. Little green men. And women, too, I suppose. Without any facts, you can believe in whatever you want. Right?</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Anyway. Sorry for the tangent. Pay no attention to the tangent.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">So. If you're gonna have faith in something, there needs to be a fact or two.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">And so, there are some actual facts. Buddha lived, was a real person. Confucius, too. Mohammed. And his wife. Wives. Moses, real guy. David. And his wife. Wives. Jesus. Peter, Paul and Mary. The Bible ones, not the folk singers. OK, the folk singers were real, too.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">All of these folks lived, did things, had lives, left records (with apologies to Peter, Paul and Mary), are part of history.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">So for example, let's take the one that is common to many faiths, including Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. And Hinduism. LDS. JWs. Not Scientology. That's whackiness without facts, little-green-men-ism, bonkers, nutso. Christian Scientism, though. Some others.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik4zIVGe4tFKBaDFyf5i3Pa8mNjSP5s8sTnsQqvL16ntQYSUdZclh9DDN1PqCCmP_2Kb0dEjGhEgjhIGJz2JTB2VNDd79DXVlThEPRov_Uwf0BtvrExbn0bKPFQa2HgxtXXYTSW77DlJ4/s1600/yadda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik4zIVGe4tFKBaDFyf5i3Pa8mNjSP5s8sTnsQqvL16ntQYSUdZclh9DDN1PqCCmP_2Kb0dEjGhEgjhIGJz2JTB2VNDd79DXVlThEPRov_Uwf0BtvrExbn0bKPFQa2HgxtXXYTSW77DlJ4/s320/yadda.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">So for example, let's, in what is an obvious attempt by me to take the conversation in the way I'd like it to go, take Isa. Yeshua. Joshua. Jesus. A rose by any other name yadda yadda yadda.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">So here's the thing. Isa/Yeshua/Jesus was a real guy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW6_BC34k6R5jllmgrm-_mwz-wyEaPgMfWk7QBaOumpiUEuKpVfQXjypvVYQr5pQGLQX1RumW9XRpDqaF4QtqpbbeAdEpET_5CiPkScSgyQtQ1D4WK1OWqVseKHLZiVpGzZ9dcK0izS9U/s1600/cult.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW6_BC34k6R5jllmgrm-_mwz-wyEaPgMfWk7QBaOumpiUEuKpVfQXjypvVYQr5pQGLQX1RumW9XRpDqaF4QtqpbbeAdEpET_5CiPkScSgyQtQ1D4WK1OWqVseKHLZiVpGzZ9dcK0izS9U/s320/cult.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clearly a bizarre cult of epic weirdness.<br />
Or a sorority. Hard to tell.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">Born. Raised. Lived. Said stuff. Did stuff. Had a big impact. Had to have, since Islam, Judaism, and Christianity (and its denominations and occasionally weird off-shoots and strange detours and often cultic bizarrenesses and not nearly rare enough white supremicists) all have had to deal with him, each in their own way, each different from the others. But believe him or not, none are saying he was just a myth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">That's just history. That's not religion. He was a real guy with a real history. You don't need faith for that. That's just a fact.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">He also died. Everybody did, so that's not unusual.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Before that, history tells us that he was arrested as a rabble-rouser (governments hate rabble-rousers), tried, convicted, executed, entombed.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">That's history. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And his body was never found.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">That's history.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">What happened to it, is where faith begins. Where religion starts.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">So faith is about facts, about evidence, but necessarily incomplete evidence. And the faith parts tend to be what science would call "supernatural", that is, not part of nature, outside of the laws of science.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now there's evidence about what happened after the body disappeared, but it's evidence just from Christians. So it's biased. It was a supernatural event for which Christians claim to have real evidence from real people.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">And you get to believe it, or not. That's faith.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Do you get the whole story? Hardly ever.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But that's also true in science.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For example. How many stars do you suppose are in the galaxy?</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2i8Nd2iYYnclPQ0qEP8vys65cv-jAMFwJ-QZq3FaxTPmFfCl0AAlhURPnDYBJEtBozTV8EaW2y5ZleyPLfX-fecbUJIvY4-dNd7OTiroXXN_J-7VLXGvUTYBWf9lfsqQ5Q7KV4-R5REM/s1600/howmanystars.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2i8Nd2iYYnclPQ0qEP8vys65cv-jAMFwJ-QZq3FaxTPmFfCl0AAlhURPnDYBJEtBozTV8EaW2y5ZleyPLfX-fecbUJIvY4-dNd7OTiroXXN_J-7VLXGvUTYBWf9lfsqQ5Q7KV4-R5REM/s640/howmanystars.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Maybe you've been told. It's somewhere between one hundred and three hundred billion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">How many stars can you actually you yourself with your eyes see at night, if you could count all the ones that are visible by the naked eye from earth on a really dark night?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here's the number. 9110. Nine thousand one hundred and ten stars.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Not 9111. Just 9110.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">In 1888, we thought there were just 6188 stars. So we're getting closer.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now I've never counted stars at all, so I'm taking both numbers on faith in the people who tell me things about stars. The funny thing is, we don't really know how many stars are in the Milky Way, but we do know how many we can actually see at night. 9110. We know there are craploads more stars than that in the Milky Way, but not how many more.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And that's just our galaxy. Wanna know how many galaxies there are?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Somewhere between 100 billion and a trillion. So that's plus or minus 900 billion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Wanna know how much bigger the actual universe is than the part that we can see with our actual eyes? OK, that's not right. We can only see 9110 stars with our actual eyes, and no galaxies, not really.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">So we can't even see the part of the universe that we think we know about, much less the part that we will never be able to see and will never have any idea how big it is.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Scientists tell us that their experiments tell them that we'll never know. And they tell us things that their experiments tell them we do know.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZptXg4vJ8NeHpaQdCsm6MPSv8pNa62cNi-8V13i5EtQBapIHplZ2FDoP3jkdV_SDyV3hZN0smGGPCsA8pmJyVJpxU6trYrpx6qfqhHt5LaKgiqHmPc7hYu9C-by3X1cxHvuYLAh_9iVM/s1600/miracle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZptXg4vJ8NeHpaQdCsm6MPSv8pNa62cNi-8V13i5EtQBapIHplZ2FDoP3jkdV_SDyV3hZN0smGGPCsA8pmJyVJpxU6trYrpx6qfqhHt5LaKgiqHmPc7hYu9C-by3X1cxHvuYLAh_9iVM/s320/miracle.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's a miracle.<br />
Plus, bacon is a sign that God exists and loves us madly.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">And we take it on faith.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />And then when they discover that, oops, they didn't quite get that right, but this time we've done a much better job, we take that on faith.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Lots of it doesn't make any sense really to us or to them. Space-time bending and warping. Particles everywhere all at once. Black Holes. Big Bang. Quantum Entanglement. Quantum Tunneling. Quantum Everything. None of it makes sense, it all seems quite miraculous, the math works, the experiments work, but it's all so so so so weird!</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">But they have faith in the math and the experiments. Ultimately, they have faith that the universe makes sense, that they can figure out a lot of things, that there is order and structure and math that describes it all.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">They even talk about math being a kind of miracle.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">So the universe as it actually is is weird, bizarre, counter-intuitive, almost nonsensical. But our evidence plus our experience plus our faith tells us that it's ok to believe in science and nature and the universe, even though it's not really here at all, except for maybe ...</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiwhVOQxl6mP5uGUelCGrafoYEzZNJItmrtirtpB_tjiaCcFADzrJc-xeNS4isCzlDKn6uwjX9-o-kvzfozJayzCHaO_1Cv9QKVeRFTzGD6rrN9m1wlYqENCkpA5VRPIW-gb4qAZu3-Cw/s1600/Thor%252Bis%252Ba%252Bjerk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiwhVOQxl6mP5uGUelCGrafoYEzZNJItmrtirtpB_tjiaCcFADzrJc-xeNS4isCzlDKn6uwjX9-o-kvzfozJayzCHaO_1Cv9QKVeRFTzGD6rrN9m1wlYqENCkpA5VRPIW-gb4qAZu3-Cw/s320/Thor%252Bis%252Ba%252Bjerk.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Interactions.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now, where scientists and skeptics and atheists take religious folk to task is over things like miracles and supernatural stuff. And honestly, religious folk are prone to seeing miracles in every parking space. Every time something good happens, whee! It's a miracle!</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">'Course, for the non-believers, every time something bad happens, it's God-is-a-total-jerk time. Or he would be, if he existed.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So we should talk about that.</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398313658457813036.post-39410482237709631012016-06-22T09:27:00.000-07:002016-06-22T09:27:12.042-07:00There's Something There - Part 6<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">Evidence plus experience plus faith plus revelation equals something that might be a lot like God.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We talked about evidence. We talked about revelation.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Experience.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Oh, btw, I should mention in passing that <i>you</i> get to decide which way the evidence points (as we have said) and <i>you</i> get to decide whether or not any particular revelation is in fact a revelation, and which one you like and which ones you don't like.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOF11xIS-siWxeQZzF4gxrPPdYqXQRgFW_tyKJ1WrpSjMXKkbKA4bNsNnRaJEgnCGOcv-dhOEihsUA8dWXknCkPSpbAWQso7dkCo6TtRd_FXAu7JAG6FlZzeD1iZZrLRJNLE5h2AIIcs/s1600/free-will.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOF11xIS-siWxeQZzF4gxrPPdYqXQRgFW_tyKJ1WrpSjMXKkbKA4bNsNnRaJEgnCGOcv-dhOEihsUA8dWXknCkPSpbAWQso7dkCo6TtRd_FXAu7JAG6FlZzeD1iZZrLRJNLE5h2AIIcs/s400/free-will.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">That seems to be built into the system. You get to decide. Now, whether or not that's a Free Will thing is something else you get to decide, unless you don't believe in Free Will, in which case, well, you don't have a choice about anything. Not only is the universe and everything in it an elaborate illusion, so is Free Will.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYQfgVmGAyf7CVnxLB20SrqxN-cb9yo3MRROclmzgI72XQzcDLx4dBgvxeuJpC0THGGj-oTkPQvQKDNpiPBdJ6N4L7OsxGqeRz4oFhrDrkAC_u0sK4oQ453mrMHWUTipijyY0iL_DGBvE/s1600/free-will-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYQfgVmGAyf7CVnxLB20SrqxN-cb9yo3MRROclmzgI72XQzcDLx4dBgvxeuJpC0THGGj-oTkPQvQKDNpiPBdJ6N4L7OsxGqeRz4oFhrDrkAC_u0sK4oQ453mrMHWUTipijyY0iL_DGBvE/s640/free-will-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">What THAT means is that you probably shouldn't feel too cocky about what you believe. Don't get the Big Head. If there's no Free Will, then really, getting all impressed with yourself is just silly.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Of course, if there is Free Will, then chances are good that's evidence that the Big Guy really exists.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">In which case, getting all impressed with yourself is also just silly, since the Big Guy is, um, a lot Bigger a Guy than you are. Just sayin'.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5nLWowImfkQsWJ7qULBAF-gmQEjSV3PN7ISSG7NL49c3d1w26rSRs5WrZgs52mxzvI43ihPyR7ikdypMAGV4INautchWBETjcWP8afwQ_CmzIzLluDsS6dAMyLQu7kiBoncRQHO7JNhw/s1600/against_free_will_god_angel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5nLWowImfkQsWJ7qULBAF-gmQEjSV3PN7ISSG7NL49c3d1w26rSRs5WrZgs52mxzvI43ihPyR7ikdypMAGV4INautchWBETjcWP8afwQ_CmzIzLluDsS6dAMyLQu7kiBoncRQHO7JNhw/s320/against_free_will_god_angel.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">It's also possible that the Big Guy exists even if Free Will does not.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Of course, if Free Will does not exist, then neither does love, and we're kinda bettin' on love.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">(I should say that this week, science doesn't believe in Free Will. But it kinda goes back and forth on that.)(Evidence keeps changing.)(Darn that evidence.)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And btw, if you perchance don't believe in free will or gods or God, and you think religious people are idiots, well, frankly,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">THAT makes no sense at all. More on that later.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And now we're back to talking about experience.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Let's go back to revelation for a minute.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKPx4NP-E5W791nJ6JTymcWimo8GYeOAniynIpOPM4TGe3xgnHNsBWK1_yvoNEcd_ca9xIWicNIzSsxnB0hneGzTIos5XzafEn6m9Ij9U9LPi8eKZcuqoxEXlRXlBUw-tLVcuvxwy5s7A/s1600/scientology_main_photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKPx4NP-E5W791nJ6JTymcWimo8GYeOAniynIpOPM4TGe3xgnHNsBWK1_yvoNEcd_ca9xIWicNIzSsxnB0hneGzTIos5XzafEn6m9Ij9U9LPi8eKZcuqoxEXlRXlBUw-tLVcuvxwy5s7A/s320/scientology_main_photo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">There are lots of potential revelations in history to consider. Every religion seems to have one or two or several.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Islam's got one. Judaism's got a baker's dozen (I didn't actually count, so we're just approximating on that one.) Christianity has all of those plus, you know, the whole Jesus thing. The Latter Day Saints got one, in addition to whatever they pick and choose from other places. JWs got some, but they mostly overlap with Judaism and Christianity. Nearly everyone with a substance abuse issue has got a few. All the cults do. Without a revelation, well, what a crappy cult.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So how are you supposed to figure out 1) which one is the real one? and/or 2) are ANY of them a real one?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Yeah. That's a good question.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkxeLQELAO5OUgAnzQlMmJmdhpfkO2VM790ZW8EvgmL8f0hgyPY1MS8qFxUI8UFD8g8SPYKQIL5Hfeff-hpq3qXxlevCJwEGh2ScIBgdKL6wjdBjE6zCMvy7AXaYTPuKJVqrMIdKcEnlM/s1600/x-Free+Will.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkxeLQELAO5OUgAnzQlMmJmdhpfkO2VM790ZW8EvgmL8f0hgyPY1MS8qFxUI8UFD8g8SPYKQIL5Hfeff-hpq3qXxlevCJwEGh2ScIBgdKL6wjdBjE6zCMvy7AXaYTPuKJVqrMIdKcEnlM/s320/x-Free+Will.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I have a close friend named Josie who if she's reading this right now is going WTH?! but I won't use her last name, so only I and she and all of our mutual friends will know. (BTW, in WTH, the H is Heck.)(It's a concession.)(Remember, "crapload" is our official limit.)(If you want to put a different, alternative letter of your own creative choosing in there, well, if there's Free Will, go right ahead, and if there's not, then you can't help it anyway, so go right ahead.)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Anyway. Short version. In high school (a very long time ago) she fell in love with another friend named Jeff (who's right now going WTH?! Sorry, dude. It was some significant fraction of a century ago, and it was kinda sweet.)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Josie was, and remains as far as I know, an atheist.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But she told me at the time that the love she felt for Jeff caused her to say, this is so powerful and incredible and uncontrollable that she could understand how God might exist.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I think she got over it. Sorry, Jeff.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But 1) since the universe is only and always formed of interactions and 2) the highest form of interaction is (we are saying) love, then 3) the experience of love might be that experience, the revelation that aims us in the direction of God.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVpKM7kQ4jqU_3MaUVeM_FVPU3ZrrvkHNfkYeVg4AW4JrUQJf9CZwWomkttrxm-xdh1gM3PLRvgY-sKgGDGNnpQHavggBF_h8Q1YuxkW7vv-VqWIoQJF5VsB9R0N8gpdnnNHA8Ipimi2U/s1600/calvinlove.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVpKM7kQ4jqU_3MaUVeM_FVPU3ZrrvkHNfkYeVg4AW4JrUQJf9CZwWomkttrxm-xdh1gM3PLRvgY-sKgGDGNnpQHavggBF_h8Q1YuxkW7vv-VqWIoQJF5VsB9R0N8gpdnnNHA8Ipimi2U/s400/calvinlove.jpg" width="309" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now love might just be biochemical and a evolutionary response to the need to procreate and keep the species going and Free Will might not exist and it's not really love it's just urges, but</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I don't think so.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Those things might be true, but to say that's all that love is ... reductive.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It might be instinctive (whatever THAT means) and evolutionarily derivative and all of that, but </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It's more.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">You know it and I know it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Yes, love is biochemical. So what? So are we all.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But Complexity Theory tells us that there's a tipping point (derived from Chaos Theory) wherein something ...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Happens ...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And something magical emerges from the mix that is far more than just biochemistry.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Yes, procreation, yes, keeping the species going, sure.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But love is vastly more than just biochemistry or an evolutionary imperative.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNBQbKvcoZ9WJG-Ips17lFeqOFiSJslFhZH4SQp_Y3njG320pzM9eU_V7aykzzjNTzDFUFhOTV8-UqSKpSjAw03mK2cGp9UG7ARoTtmYSlwX-6RDoFYhryDNyemiMaztVyT3XEdONYZGA/s1600/CRParrots.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNBQbKvcoZ9WJG-Ips17lFeqOFiSJslFhZH4SQp_Y3njG320pzM9eU_V7aykzzjNTzDFUFhOTV8-UqSKpSjAw03mK2cGp9UG7ARoTtmYSlwX-6RDoFYhryDNyemiMaztVyT3XEdONYZGA/s320/CRParrots.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Love is profoundly, magically, mysteriously, wondrously built into the fabric of existence, the ultimate form of interaction in a universe that is defined from smallest to largest, from the least to the greatest, from the most transient to the most persistent, from the quantum smallness to the relativistic vastness of time and space, from the relationship between particle and observer to the </span><span style="font-size: large;">relationship</span><span style="font-size: large;"> between space-time and matter by</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Interaction.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Ultimately, interaction is experience. Everything that interacts enters into an experience with the focus of the interaction, and reality emerges and is defined by that experience. It is Quantum and Relativistic and Newtonian. It is transcendent.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Wow. That was a bit much. Let's rephrase that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It takes two to tango.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5n1inZUyVtRa2oS4EUKSt6H3kAMrSNO9oGAH5i_5Z1v7_j1Z4R87wLQG01IDxTfNJS_WVRxNwLHEe-yklWhS5jztHbfjIP_vjs2MrOqRTf1ZO7_Zgad4KA6J2-cAeh_C6kpCgHQX74vc/s1600/tango.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5n1inZUyVtRa2oS4EUKSt6H3kAMrSNO9oGAH5i_5Z1v7_j1Z4R87wLQG01IDxTfNJS_WVRxNwLHEe-yklWhS5jztHbfjIP_vjs2MrOqRTf1ZO7_Zgad4KA6J2-cAeh_C6kpCgHQX74vc/s320/tango.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">That is, it is the interaction between two dancers that creates the dance. Without the interaction, no tango. Without two dancers, no tango. Without the tango, no dancing, no dancers.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And no experience.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">If God does not exist, then there's no interaction, no experience. Just delusion. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But if God exists, and if he is interacting with the universe, and if he is a God of love, then it is possible to interact with that God and experience love.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It may inevitable.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And it will be different for everyone, unique to each person, but somehow universal all at the same time.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Unique. And universal.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That's what love is.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ7I3HgReUBnfIu35Yz-cJ6CNZocTUs2utNe1UHSu_lmfym_vNoySEmtu3wmcu8MeMRif-CoUJc7SZLkMQcb9IjNTVSaGXfeiknQzXILJWDLI1inNP_qI7l8fRKtyUnLhCKLoroKFScIA/s1600/catlove.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ7I3HgReUBnfIu35Yz-cJ6CNZocTUs2utNe1UHSu_lmfym_vNoySEmtu3wmcu8MeMRif-CoUJc7SZLkMQcb9IjNTVSaGXfeiknQzXILJWDLI1inNP_qI7l8fRKtyUnLhCKLoroKFScIA/s200/catlove.gif" width="180" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">And the love that we all feel for, I don't know, cat videos on YouTube, or, more seriously, the people whom we each love, just might be that space-time-centric, Newtonian, Quantum, Relativistic, Chaotic and Complex interaction that points us to, I don't know,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The actual real moment when the 5th dimension (or whatever) touched the 4 dimensions that we inhabit and </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Divine love became tangible.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But that would take some faith. So maybe we should talk about it.</span></div>
Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398313658457813036.post-48748434295272268652016-06-15T09:07:00.001-07:002016-06-15T09:07:54.212-07:00There's Something There - Part 5<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">Now when religious folk start going on and on about revelations, the revelations always seem to come with rules.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">And those rules seem to be weirdly focused on what women are supposed to wear.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje7W_eWNVZxffTzTxULuQvVPli7UojI03mswLrVtwIbr4JjI5V2fBgrJmD3AI5ejhUUtw7ENdHlq6L8O8dAs-mzz24UhuKhwVXQUfMwBjby2K5A0VNbOrNtStCvuCDufCI1dhJcFQeDO4/s1600/clothing2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje7W_eWNVZxffTzTxULuQvVPli7UojI03mswLrVtwIbr4JjI5V2fBgrJmD3AI5ejhUUtw7ENdHlq6L8O8dAs-mzz24UhuKhwVXQUfMwBjby2K5A0VNbOrNtStCvuCDufCI1dhJcFQeDO4/s320/clothing2.jpg" width="296" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Seriously. Don't wear this.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Plus, what we are or are not supposed to eat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And a lot of other stuff that seems to be about what to do and when to do it, or what not to do and when not to do it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And then we use these rules to make up other rules about who's in, and who's out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Who belongs to our little group, and who does not.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlC7x_TiyqlOnk4v9wcMx_FflemTfCPM7laYlpYlRXAtesZiliBXF_OGyrKJJOhdTaHNzuFL8bxULwZvHDm5mt1zctpPwh1Ue6KlZkDS_LvnWiNi10P8toYYJnNvF7mEAQ92tjoi2PdoM/s1600/unicorn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlC7x_TiyqlOnk4v9wcMx_FflemTfCPM7laYlpYlRXAtesZiliBXF_OGyrKJJOhdTaHNzuFL8bxULwZvHDm5mt1zctpPwh1Ue6KlZkDS_LvnWiNi10P8toYYJnNvF7mEAQ92tjoi2PdoM/s1600/unicorn.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">And don't eat unicorns.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As though the God of the universe is sitting up there in his 5th dimensional whatever it is spending all of his time being really irritated about us not wearing the right clothing or not getting the right haircuts or not eating food that has been prepared in the exact and precise way that for some reason he made up for no reason at all (eat cows! and chickens! don't eat pigs! or goats! or lobsters! and what the heck is kale?!?! I didn't make that! It's not for <i>eating</i>! Where did that awful stuff come from?!?!) and playing Game of Thrones with us (OK, Protestants and Catholics - 1, 2, 3, kill each other!)(OK, Sunnis and Shiites - 1, 2, 3, kill each other! And when you finish that, kill all the Jews, even though I like them a lot! And</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> all the westerners. I'm not sure why, but what the heck!), and then sending down songs that all kinda sound alike, and then giving all <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrN4ghZTTPP77TXl7-OyXuBxSXYLZKObsPrBGCqfNmmE_9a1jBzqiYxZatGKOivRoxXlaU08Adrl2pbvWttSIGsEHHMyKep6908gllsV8YtxvazShLGo9rh59oltG4pUEC4YCU47jobnI/s1600/snake.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrN4ghZTTPP77TXl7-OyXuBxSXYLZKObsPrBGCqfNmmE_9a1jBzqiYxZatGKOivRoxXlaU08Adrl2pbvWttSIGsEHHMyKep6908gllsV8YtxvazShLGo9rh59oltG4pUEC4YCU47jobnI/s320/snake.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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kinds of strange stage directions (You people, raise your hands and sway back and forth and close your eyes and make weird noises! And play with snakes! (Really? Snakes?) And you guys, pray the same prayer five times a day forever and smack your heads on the ground and NO WOMEN cause they can be distracting sorry about the all-caps. And you, over there, I never ever ever want to see the bottoms of your feet, because have you seen what's all over the ground? Gross! And you other guys never cut your hair, and you other other guys cut all your hair off. And <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNWp09jNCAUKLk7bHIRWScTMy5EOM4AERv_t4uMOedc9s6XIqfpNOxzCwxluA-aOU3fAFAaY0bus2zYXb3CWIXgxEp1vQKTqbQA5HRRZ8zGjQ2pq9Xs1snbOCxOZauHg0wmgtuSiCGsmE/s1600/woman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNWp09jNCAUKLk7bHIRWScTMy5EOM4AERv_t4uMOedc9s6XIqfpNOxzCwxluA-aOU3fAFAaY0bus2zYXb3CWIXgxEp1vQKTqbQA5HRRZ8zGjQ2pq9Xs1snbOCxOZauHg0wmgtuSiCGsmE/s200/woman.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">See. Distracting.</span></td></tr>
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ladies, frankly, you are totally distracting all the time, what was I thinking? </span><span style="font-size: large;">and you folks, if I catch you celebrating birthdays or anything else, for that matter, it’s all over for you, and you other folks, happy happy happy and no medicine or doctors or pain meds or stitches or nothing)</span><span style="font-size: large;">, and on and on and on ...</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Seriously? That's what God does? No wonder science thinks religious folk are idiots. They kinda are.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But it's kinda science's fault. Because science told us that in order to be smart, we had to have rules. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">So we still think it's all about the rules.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">OK, that's not really fair for science.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmLUQhQdiEKGONgcQdlFG9pf0tcb5l8CqR93S13Z7J5Zb9QLgatyBmgAFqFgURpPe7OQBU4xKPbGmqswSvV2z-T_juoPzbWr8bh1s0frokxZbx1gX7g4I_QcNfB9a7BHqgVB1abGDK3Og/s1600/rules.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmLUQhQdiEKGONgcQdlFG9pf0tcb5l8CqR93S13Z7J5Zb9QLgatyBmgAFqFgURpPe7OQBU4xKPbGmqswSvV2z-T_juoPzbWr8bh1s0frokxZbx1gX7g4I_QcNfB9a7BHqgVB1abGDK3Og/s200/rules.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Humans seem to have this compulsion to come up with rules. Always have.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But it's really about the Interaction.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The rules come from the interaction.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Because the interaction is about relationships.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And good relationships need good rules.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Just like a working universe needs good rules.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Not to restrict the universe from doing things.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But to cause, to allow, to enable the universe to interact well.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyNNJurX2c7K_3iIku439lzpW-sqMB6e_egG0KqIp_0CruEVse65liYn-LYyO4lfOfX79Dx-iby2inWj6ucEqOUR7-aMltOcM9GcmgGJBFvel8u6f3xRFUvjwP-Q_MM-VooV-Tmmq39-c/s1600/Its-all-about-relationships.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyNNJurX2c7K_3iIku439lzpW-sqMB6e_egG0KqIp_0CruEVse65liYn-LYyO4lfOfX79Dx-iby2inWj6ucEqOUR7-aMltOcM9GcmgGJBFvel8u6f3xRFUvjwP-Q_MM-VooV-Tmmq39-c/s320/Its-all-about-relationships.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">So if there was going to be a real revelation from the real God, then that revelation was really going to be about relationships.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Because that's how we interact.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">First, an interaction between God and humans.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And second, an interaction between humans and, uh, other humans.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now watch this. It's going to get dangerous.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It's also going to be some math.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Interaction = relationship. That's first. That's from science.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKRSiFm0jJb0rS3jqH635TcMWm39O-7b2jX3Yj-4O_2hmzVw3EgwzvW6OSwXIm_c3WkXxAK6N5YjsjCboKvCOZnM8I3_QDZCFdEpRaf8tCya-vEIeZOQHtUDdQSfuOSGkh5BFj3xZ40jo/s1600/All-you-need-is-maths-love.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKRSiFm0jJb0rS3jqH635TcMWm39O-7b2jX3Yj-4O_2hmzVw3EgwzvW6OSwXIm_c3WkXxAK6N5YjsjCboKvCOZnM8I3_QDZCFdEpRaf8tCya-vEIeZOQHtUDdQSfuOSGkh5BFj3xZ40jo/s320/All-you-need-is-maths-love.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Second. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The highest form of relationship = love.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I just made that up, but I think it works.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Interaction, as I ponder it, has two forms.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Attractive and repulsive. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Gravity is an attractive interaction, where by the warping of space-time, objects in a gravitational field (which has infinite reach, btw) seem to be attracted to the center of the field, the center of the massive object. Dark Energy seems to be repulsive - massive objects are repelled from each other. Dark Matter, like regular matter, is attractive via gravity. The Strong Force creates a field via the gluon that attracts quarks together, and protons and neutrons together. Electro-magnetism is both attractive and repulsive. The Weak Force binds subatomic particles together into more complex elements under tremendous heat and pressure (which sounds like love to me).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Quantum mechanics by its very nature is interaction between particles, communicating, changing each other in instantaneous and seemingly magical but ultimately entirely natural ways. </span><span style="font-size: large;">But because it's Quantum and has to make life difficult, it's neither attractive nor repulsive. It is, however, purely interactive. </span><span style="font-size: large;">Again, the poetry of QM is like a love song. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">That might be a stretch. But really, the quantum world needs us as observers, and we need it because we are made of it. It is as interactive as interactive gets in a seriously interactive sort of way.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTdloTDANYnQi1ynd-ghj-c9hWcIp58Li5EL8IfcX_tJQIImYcqq9c1xWNw853gjFGWW8_zFjqRH-sb50uRykRL9k3MzHCCpRwgr89j9s5OWl6sulM_7u4aI56Y6eTN3oIn-a7uF99JC4/s1600/i_love_hate_you_by_stephen0493.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTdloTDANYnQi1ynd-ghj-c9hWcIp58Li5EL8IfcX_tJQIImYcqq9c1xWNw853gjFGWW8_zFjqRH-sb50uRykRL9k3MzHCCpRwgr89j9s5OWl6sulM_7u4aI56Y6eTN3oIn-a7uF99JC4/s200/i_love_hate_you_by_stephen0493.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Human relationships are attractive and repulsive. We like each other, we dislike each other. We are attracted to or repelled by each other.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There is love, and there is hate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">So I will arbitrarily and randomly assigned values to those. Hate is generally the worst.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Love is usually the best.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And love, at its purest, is sacrificial. Parent for child. Lover for beloved. Patriots for country. Superhero for humanity and the earth. Lassie for Timmy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyEnCNow5Hy8kyl1jHqpUXy-19OX1Di9fr7b_OD1ZPSWK6lxiBI01uWgBo84s86L-JkZ9ZeGeLQwW1qD8gNm3XZHhurtrclIHzA95XOwlGT7J4p4AKeJnJIlr3OUqy_VxlESUmF4sxVV4/s1600/lassie_Dudley_forWeb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyEnCNow5Hy8kyl1jHqpUXy-19OX1Di9fr7b_OD1ZPSWK6lxiBI01uWgBo84s86L-JkZ9ZeGeLQwW1qD8gNm3XZHhurtrclIHzA95XOwlGT7J4p4AKeJnJIlr3OUqy_VxlESUmF4sxVV4/s320/lassie_Dudley_forWeb.jpg" width="298" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We are told that there is no greater love than for one human to give his or her life for another.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If you have ever truly loved, then you know the rich profundity of sacrificial love.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And thus, the interactional God who created the universe, who for some bizarre and inexplicable reason seeks an interaction with his creation, with his pathetic little otherwise pointless humans, and wants somehow to interact with us in a way that feels very much like love.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">So third, highest form of love = sacrifice of life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now, go find a revelation that looks like that.</span></div>
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Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398313658457813036.post-77417240328487245862016-06-08T08:13:00.000-07:002016-06-08T08:13:30.509-07:00There's Something There - Part 4<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHpDTXuPuG1R9djYPldiGYiJEDFAqNTlELHZOcxH6KQJ-CGeWx3hLGe6wEu1TS6C9_w1Qep1neakH5fQNZJrnY4kfuDls7FRHH3ErmnW-GU0ZnIxcZG8nB_eu59OVS8v40zk9Rj8h9Xjc/s1600/followtherulesilly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHpDTXuPuG1R9djYPldiGYiJEDFAqNTlELHZOcxH6KQJ-CGeWx3hLGe6wEu1TS6C9_w1Qep1neakH5fQNZJrnY4kfuDls7FRHH3ErmnW-GU0ZnIxcZG8nB_eu59OVS8v40zk9Rj8h9Xjc/s320/followtherulesilly.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">So we think that science is all about the rules, and we think that religion is all about the rules, but</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Science is turning out to be all about the interactions, and so</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Religion might be all about the interactions, too.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Not the rules.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb951IrKTqVzvVJQfVDnC1otl2j9A1UUuTRJ8QaHJltcJkMF1ec_C0f8iz7H-3FQUEEkTAO0g0R5T9s1mKthKX8A_ocCtm_lQgxWpsJZzxhiaN-QkQRbc6yNPtaGX0v4WG_JZY4SH-tg8/s1600/maketherules.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb951IrKTqVzvVJQfVDnC1otl2j9A1UUuTRJ8QaHJltcJkMF1ec_C0f8iz7H-3FQUEEkTAO0g0R5T9s1mKthKX8A_ocCtm_lQgxWpsJZzxhiaN-QkQRbc6yNPtaGX0v4WG_JZY4SH-tg8/s320/maketherules.jpg" width="179" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Here's what the rules do in science. Oddly enough, they inhibit understanding.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Well, for the most part, they help us understand, but there're those critical places where they don't help anymore.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Quantum places. The places where folks like the eminent John Wheeler says, if you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don't understand quantum mechanics. And the </span><span style="font-size: large;">even eminenter </span><span style="font-size: large;">Richard Feynman, who said that nobody understands quantum mechanics.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdTCrcHnvQ7b4X97Q8km-UmgVvrWN0PTiQJMrGSdhTLkUHreIkV4wnMPazDJ7U7j9wqrm_zTEzg2AOTcIPtD-mbx48QYmowUVtP_y4o64OtIVFi7kE_invFQxlVL_7Obmosoym8HRQA1I/s1600/breaktherules.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdTCrcHnvQ7b4X97Q8km-UmgVvrWN0PTiQJMrGSdhTLkUHreIkV4wnMPazDJ7U7j9wqrm_zTEzg2AOTcIPtD-mbx48QYmowUVtP_y4o64OtIVFi7kE_invFQxlVL_7Obmosoym8HRQA1I/s320/breaktherules.jpg" width="179" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">We can do the math and make the predictions and they always come out right and they're never wrong, but</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We don't understand anything about it at all.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Frankly, even relativity doesn't lend itself to understanding, either. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here's a bit from Roger Penrose:</span></div>
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<i style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></i>
<i><span style="font-size: large;">"Quantum reality is strange in many ways. Individual quantum particles can, at one time, be in two different places - or three, or four, or spread out throughout some region, perhaps wiggling around like a wave. </span></i></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br />"Indeed, the 'reality' that quantum theory seems to be telling us to</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPeqCPrIcvRxe28ZTeoFg5jIpFXiEaGVxMnAQCu1Vh7r39pE49T6kIz3f-QSPHgGqFW4i2KykgRA2D7BP4AcWb5rci3LX-OLOxclJMSWdZYZ30hLG_2D01WZkVg2vOlLFqVF6Ghtbo_GM/s1600/reaityyy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPeqCPrIcvRxe28ZTeoFg5jIpFXiEaGVxMnAQCu1Vh7r39pE49T6kIz3f-QSPHgGqFW4i2KykgRA2D7BP4AcWb5rci3LX-OLOxclJMSWdZYZ30hLG_2D01WZkVg2vOlLFqVF6Ghtbo_GM/s400/reaityyy.jpg" width="400" /></a></i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i> believe in is so far removed from what we are used to that many quantum theorists would tell us to abandon the very notion of reality when considering phenomena at the scale of particles, atoms or even molecules.<br /><br />"This seems rather hard to take, especially when we are also told that quantum behaviour rules all phenomena, and that even large-scale objects, being built from quantum ingredients, are themselves subject to the same quantum rules. <br /><br />"Where does quantum non-reality leave off and the physical reality that we actually seem to experience begin to take over? <br /><br />"Present-day quantum theory has no satisfactory answer to this question. <br /><br />"My own viewpoint concerning this - and there are many other viewpoints - is that present-day quantum theory is not quite right, and that as the objects under consideration get more massive then the principles of Einstein's general relativity begin to clash with those of quantum mechanics, and a notion of reality that is more in accordance with our experiences will begin to emerge. <br /><br />"The reader should be warned, however: quantum mechanics as it stands has no accepted observational evidence against it, and all such modifications remain speculative. <br /><br />"Moreover, even general relativity, involving as it does the idea of a curved space-time, itself diverges from the notions of reality we are used to.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZtMIj8v511BSwc4MpFHGoyJ9IkTh4BwmSeKzOrNuun_5F-_u6F_BIcSynfaDXFn8oCPr12BDssO8cxuxPOtxQgcrps4HHEr1q4MkWEGcED5IQCT0bRPq8aXdr99ExxgQLzgdUAvWC60w/s1600/qmechanics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZtMIj8v511BSwc4MpFHGoyJ9IkTh4BwmSeKzOrNuun_5F-_u6F_BIcSynfaDXFn8oCPr12BDssO8cxuxPOtxQgcrps4HHEr1q4MkWEGcED5IQCT0bRPq8aXdr99ExxgQLzgdUAvWC60w/s320/qmechanics.jpg" width="320" /></a></i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>"Whether we look at the universe at the quantum scale or across the vast distances over which the effects of general relativity become clear, then, the common-sense reality of chairs, tables and other material things would seem to dissolve away, to be replaced by a deeper reality inhabiting the world of mathematics."</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Reality as science has discovered it is really nothing like the reality that we really think reality really is. Really.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And it gets worse, of course. From <i>Quanta Magazine:</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>On the other side are quantum physicists, marveling at the strange fact that quantum systems don’t seem to be definite objects localized in space until we come along to observe them — whether we are conscious humans or inanimate measuring devices. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Experiment after experiment has shown — defying common sense — that if we assume that the particles that make up ordinary objects have an objective, observer-independent existence, we get the wrong answers. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>The central lesson of quantum physics is clear: There are no public objects sitting out there in some preexisting space. As the physicist John Wheeler put it, “Useful as it is under ordinary circumstances to say that the world exists ‘out there’ independent of us, that view can no longer be upheld.”</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">And now you want to complain about God. That is, God the way that you think you understand God.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And you don't even understand chairs. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFjlYnIpD60-A9V_z0JZXnX0vnH0Nh45YjdHvrNAty-PHiwqq1PiMegJ3hWLkX9o7k9fggjNyfxO2ir6VdyB4AXMKodqkvvPDSuR6FJkq4g_mAMCmoFt7AWopI2z1_BQYZuWQ0nmPpNI4/s1600/creative-unusual-chairs-15-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFjlYnIpD60-A9V_z0JZXnX0vnH0Nh45YjdHvrNAty-PHiwqq1PiMegJ3hWLkX9o7k9fggjNyfxO2ir6VdyB4AXMKodqkvvPDSuR6FJkq4g_mAMCmoFt7AWopI2z1_BQYZuWQ0nmPpNI4/s320/creative-unusual-chairs-15-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Which aren't there, anyway, unless you are there to sit on them. Apparently, and not quite completely metaphorically.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">So you might say, evidence for God has to look like the kind of evidence that you're used to seeing. You want <i>real</i> evidence, not quantum relativistic evidence.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Of course, the only real evidence is </span><span style="font-size: large;">quantum relativistic evidence, and the "real" evidence that you want is, from your perspective, delusional. That is, Newtonian and "real" only as a tiny splinter bit of the illusion created by </span><span style="font-size: large;">quantum relativistic evidence.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But, OK. </span><span style="font-size: large;">Let's play that game.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbMOasipPKxGaW-E2g7QT8wGt1XopdPbSk4O-fE_eBMQeiPQdpXtnBVvJiT2G2LxXPjjrW6_l1hUZTjCoIUkrX-U3zJFhHcBv1YnGtOLM0bQ7Tj9JTb0MUKGbMSncZmU9Fw4itMWAP1vY/s1600/godgame.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbMOasipPKxGaW-E2g7QT8wGt1XopdPbSk4O-fE_eBMQeiPQdpXtnBVvJiT2G2LxXPjjrW6_l1hUZTjCoIUkrX-U3zJFhHcBv1YnGtOLM0bQ7Tj9JTb0MUKGbMSncZmU9Fw4itMWAP1vY/s320/godgame.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">If science is ultimately and finally and completely about the interactions (which is our theory at this point),</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">And if God exists (which is our theory at this point) ...</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">then God, who clearly put the whole science schtick together (that's just if a=b and b=c, then a=c) ...</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">might have a certain commitment to and/or interest in and/or a participatory role to play in ...</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Interactions.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Since there doesn't seem to be anything at all but interactions in the universe.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguOCVDvcarLz0Xu-VGh5cQQkqd8vrCYTjle4UlrQp9ICd6tKtUb2nNKbQQGXwyoTm-cZgvoVXzC27PMEmeY4PGmioNJZwOrnCHDjYmFCyjtulR7erbMvuu6D6pVsKjbJvHDdybn-cZJ-0/s1600/Revelation_Revolution_%252769.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguOCVDvcarLz0Xu-VGh5cQQkqd8vrCYTjle4UlrQp9ICd6tKtUb2nNKbQQGXwyoTm-cZgvoVXzC27PMEmeY4PGmioNJZwOrnCHDjYmFCyjtulR7erbMvuu6D6pVsKjbJvHDdybn-cZJ-0/s320/Revelation_Revolution_%252769.jpg" width="318" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When you're naked and running away from a lion,<br />
catching up with the lion seems like a bad idea.<br />
Unless you're running away from whatever the lion is running<br />
away from. In which case ... run faster.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">And thus, a revelation seems to be in order.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Because a revelation is an interaction, and interactions are all that there are.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So that would be ... evidence. If there was in fact an interaction that we might say could possibly be in some sense maybe perhaps a revelation.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But you don't want a quantum revelation, like, say, the need for an observer outside of space and time to make an observation and collapse the wave function of the Singularity into Big Bang and hence into the universe itself.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And you may want proof. I should write that as "proof". You are tempted to demand "proof".</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">If you'll review previous posts, you might find somewhere that you never ever in science (or religion or on TV crime shows) get "proof". </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">You get "evidence". "Proof" does not exist. Anywhere at any time. Ever. The only way you can actually use the word "proof" in a sentence is to say you never get any.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Everything that we think might be proven might be unproven when new evidence comes along.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">As new evidence tends to do.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifFXFN3QBQpiAulL8AScNKcZq6gRARud724mO7vms_9v-8ATGmRufxOzAJfzs9WCbedzp0bJbBqbO6IpeSwOtFXlMfQX_3bkL-4U8g5hUJ7DUkv27PiKzq4dbWid0tenTLzxRh1cooJ2M/s1600/noBB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifFXFN3QBQpiAulL8AScNKcZq6gRARud724mO7vms_9v-8ATGmRufxOzAJfzs9WCbedzp0bJbBqbO6IpeSwOtFXlMfQX_3bkL-4U8g5hUJ7DUkv27PiKzq4dbWid0tenTLzxRh1cooJ2M/s320/noBB.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In fact, you can get something from nothing.<br />
Sorry, Big Bang haters. It's a Quantum thing.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">So there is no proof of Big Bang. There is only evidence. It's pretty impressive evidence, but you never know. Science didn't use to believe in Big Bang because how ridiculous is THAT! The universe had a starting point. That's absurd. Everybody knows it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">There you go. Everybody, which is to say, everybody in science, and I mean <b style="font-style: italic;">everybody</b>, <i><b>all</b></i> the scientists were wrong.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And so there never will be any proof that God does or does not exist. Evidence, maybe. Proof? Never.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Unless he, like, shows up. That would do it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But since he has not, then clearly 1) he does not exist at all or 2) he's got another idea.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And that plan might be all about evidence, and experience, and revelation, and finally, faith.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The plan might be all about faith.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Maybe. If there is a God. And a plan.</span></div>
</div>
Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398313658457813036.post-45580173974650498772016-06-01T05:58:00.000-07:002016-06-01T05:58:36.649-07:00There's Something There - Part 3<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsqhYJwKLMq-QvezK7SCPZtARs8V5bWECbqZr2Lql38xJE0Ikmj1a8YZxztGSEF0il-AgpzZIMHnhYCzob940tMEYSss62DkpC23t9NzztnktbrjAKRUIOEhOkwAtIlG-oMoJonAH_PCE/s1600/brain%2526hand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsqhYJwKLMq-QvezK7SCPZtARs8V5bWECbqZr2Lql38xJE0Ikmj1a8YZxztGSEF0il-AgpzZIMHnhYCzob940tMEYSss62DkpC23t9NzztnktbrjAKRUIOEhOkwAtIlG-oMoJonAH_PCE/s320/brain%2526hand.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Interaction.<br /><br />That is, the only way for you to find God is ...<br /><br />For God to find you.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And how, do you suppose, would he do that?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">By <i>interacting</i> with the universe.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYABJxhp9BApZIazfcpFPr6pPZs4iF__v39A8UolDePEydfHMEADpq8OcuJMDa_bGkaTDMH-SMT-j5MDkuL452zewV4lYe3rw6jO8Cpab5e6BmwMvX31T880SYRZxiLgHeC7WZ7M-ZUP8/s1600/BrainHomer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYABJxhp9BApZIazfcpFPr6pPZs4iF__v39A8UolDePEydfHMEADpq8OcuJMDa_bGkaTDMH-SMT-j5MDkuL452zewV4lYe3rw6jO8Cpab5e6BmwMvX31T880SYRZxiLgHeC7WZ7M-ZUP8/s200/BrainHomer.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />Didn't see that coming, didja?<br /><br />I just read this amaaaazing article on the brain on Aeon.com, so here's some bits of it:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0pnKnvuNSIgnfro8gNrIUyok7BTpshkncXO05iihVPw2v52b_Ygux_ScYMaS9IQhXz92NpKY8qSHfAr9kf3X_ItsI6xYyXyG6WYqFDV60DXeP2fRUzj0AhDqG0zNfIAv1TAyYmuOvOnc/s1600/Creativity6_440w.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0pnKnvuNSIgnfro8gNrIUyok7BTpshkncXO05iihVPw2v52b_Ygux_ScYMaS9IQhXz92NpKY8qSHfAr9kf3X_ItsI6xYyXyG6WYqFDV60DXeP2fRUzj0AhDqG0zNfIAv1TAyYmuOvOnc/s200/Creativity6_440w.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">"A few cognitive scientists – notably Anthony Chemero of the University of Cincinnati, the author of Radical Embodied Cognitive Science (2009) – now completely reject the view that the human brain works like a computer. <br /><br />"The mainstream view is that we, like computers, make sense of the world by performing computations on mental representations of it, but Chemero and others describe another way of understanding intelligent behaviour – as a <i>direct interaction</i> between organisms and their world.</span></div>
<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSYrw4dwVeYUo7Lusg-vtlkaaNEXtwOt91VFPCZtIumrouuZ3ZGhm_N83upVyxEaExjwcBP0QT1Uxbb7CF61xdBdqy2piyvyzC6tPF9v3JJtVdbImbLdHev1GXDAjBbJSQBgB6xxBi850/s1600/wiredbrain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSYrw4dwVeYUo7Lusg-vtlkaaNEXtwOt91VFPCZtIumrouuZ3ZGhm_N83upVyxEaExjwcBP0QT1Uxbb7CF61xdBdqy2piyvyzC6tPF9v3JJtVdbImbLdHev1GXDAjBbJSQBgB6xxBi850/s320/wiredbrain.jpg" width="249" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">"... if we had the ability to take a snapshot of all of the brain’s 86 billion neurons and then to simulate the state of those neurons in a computer, that vast pattern would mean nothing outside the body of the brain that produced it ... Whereas computers do store exact copies of data – copies that can persist unchanged for long periods of time, even if the power has been turned off – the brain maintains our intellect only as long as it remains alive. There is no on-off switch. Either the brain keeps functioning, or we disappear. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">"What’s more, as the neurobiologist Steven Rose pointed out in The Future of the Brain (2005), a snapshot of the brain’s current state might also be meaningless unless we knew the </span><i style="font-size: x-large;">entire life history</i><span style="font-size: large;"> of that brain’s owner – perhaps even about the </span><i style="font-size: x-large;">social context</i><span style="font-size: large;"> in which he or she was raised."</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2w9v8vqCm4eytqn0NMwOkpfQWuk2n-Cz-hgD7PbtfyEmDzC7amc_CYFsNaYHqFYygq4Lo7Wivb6V1v4Wjp-e4S0v9or8aaYWwMVKGNAANE7vEtXda77YrEQimCLNo_EsPYsHpIyjRWqk/s1600/fuzzybrain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2w9v8vqCm4eytqn0NMwOkpfQWuk2n-Cz-hgD7PbtfyEmDzC7amc_CYFsNaYHqFYygq4Lo7Wivb6V1v4Wjp-e4S0v9or8aaYWwMVKGNAANE7vEtXda77YrEQimCLNo_EsPYsHpIyjRWqk/s400/fuzzybrain.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Which is to say (I'm back, btw. This is me now.) that each of our brains exists as a <i>direct interaction</i> with the life we have each lived, each brain unique as each life is unique.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Pardon me for a second. I'm going to make that really really large so that you don't miss it.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Direct interaction</span></b></i></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Here's what humans do that is so cute. We look for the rules and regulations that make everything happen, and say to ourselves, wow, that's why everything happens.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Rules. Regulations. Laws of physics.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Here's what's curious about that. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Science has decided that religion is ridiculous.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">But both science and religion make the same mistake.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Religion ... looks for rules for behavior. Human behavior.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Science ... looks for rules of behavior. Human behavior, ultimately, along with the behavior of everything else in the universe.</span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh98-N_TA2HC3NfuzVdbQfWakIw9xdDqMJJcHtN42XHdrbnTkz2Gxfm5Zu9MYkCfAUz69uVQB43pCCe9-hvnoXcuGgJcBzr5c-GdT5HNSiQ1lbl4p-y7vwQFsLJOYLFRdzVSMHN2wLW-Cg/s1600/brainneuralcircuits.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh98-N_TA2HC3NfuzVdbQfWakIw9xdDqMJJcHtN42XHdrbnTkz2Gxfm5Zu9MYkCfAUz69uVQB43pCCe9-hvnoXcuGgJcBzr5c-GdT5HNSiQ1lbl4p-y7vwQFsLJOYLFRdzVSMHN2wLW-Cg/s320/brainneuralcircuits.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Neural circuits in the brain. Looks very much like a fractal.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">Science finds its rules in the patterns of mathematics, and then in the patterns of everything. Or vice versa. Sometimes the math tells us what is happening (the Special and General Theories, Quantum Mechanics), sometimes we figure out the math so we can describe what is happening (Newton's Calculus).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">But once we had the rules figured out, well, dang it, they stopped making sense about 116 years ago, in 1900, when Quantum Mechanics came on the scene, and then again in 1905 and 1915 when Special and General Relativity arrived, and then in 1961 Chaos Theory didn't help at all, and when Complexity Theory started to mess with Evolution later in the 1960s, well, that was not a happy moment.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd3nN31TlR298_E-8ECLKu9khIV0z_MSRdbTVQ8xhhYIvn7CMlUT6RXEjFq2TWLbZw4edV_aCiChL4lu20y2SQpHEWWvZYBJp3FLKC9r3TQSTSTkTd8xDZil3Nlvo3VaFd46HPpUXbHCY/s1600/religion-vs-sciences.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd3nN31TlR298_E-8ECLKu9khIV0z_MSRdbTVQ8xhhYIvn7CMlUT6RXEjFq2TWLbZw4edV_aCiChL4lu20y2SQpHEWWvZYBJp3FLKC9r3TQSTSTkTd8xDZil3Nlvo3VaFd46HPpUXbHCY/s320/religion-vs-sciences.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">The Rules, the Laws of Physics, sort of stopped helping us understand the way things worked. Instead, they didn't help at all.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Religion kinda has the same problem.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />But it's kinda the same problem because it's kinda the same source.<br /><br />Humans.<br /><br />We want things to make sense.<br /><br />So. Let's say some guy comes along. Let's call him Isa. Or Joshua. Or Yeshua. Pick your language base.<br /><br />And he says, alright, jerks, stop being jerks. Start being nice.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb0g-06Ats5EW3TiLJzFQw3-vvg_IV65GcBgn-pBGY40EeKTPV3kxh3Zzsc-Zfpn87L31EGrv3aPYkzUURAnQptOHnTZp-vOhNOzcmPR_DgJbVLzUaAdxU1IIOGyUs8Tz5Q1qFfL37bVk/s1600/dont-be-a-jerk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb0g-06Ats5EW3TiLJzFQw3-vvg_IV65GcBgn-pBGY40EeKTPV3kxh3Zzsc-Zfpn87L31EGrv3aPYkzUURAnQptOHnTZp-vOhNOzcmPR_DgJbVLzUaAdxU1IIOGyUs8Tz5Q1qFfL37bVk/s320/dont-be-a-jerk.jpg" width="269" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">And the whole God thing? You really should pay attention.<br /><br />So what do religious people do?<br /><br />Instead of just, you know, being nice, they ask, what does it really <i>mean</i> to be nice? I mean, do we have to be nice to <i>everybody</i>? Or can we pick and choose?<br /><br />And what does being nice really <i>mean</i>?<br /><br />So then they made up some rules.<br /><br />And before long, the religions all became to be about following the rules instead of, you know, being nice.<br /><br />Buddhism does this. So does Hinduism. Judaism. Shintoism. Jainism. Islam. Paganism. Satanism. Witchcraft. Animism. All the -isms do it.<br /><br />Christianity, too.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi02wT3tvpCeZslFdhHIei0c-BSpz2YJTb_nrz09FXInq5cvDw_ZkDoZL4mWWtoJLXrZD5BdT9z2jnSxb6vCERSVKrwOi63Y65xJ46OzStBPQmf7Eizi6_9yq2r2BmDNxHnyjZLYvwajy0/s1600/jc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi02wT3tvpCeZslFdhHIei0c-BSpz2YJTb_nrz09FXInq5cvDw_ZkDoZL4mWWtoJLXrZD5BdT9z2jnSxb6vCERSVKrwOi63Y65xJ46OzStBPQmf7Eizi6_9yq2r2BmDNxHnyjZLYvwajy0/s200/jc.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Not an -ism grammatically, but still an -ism. And it does it, too.<br /><br />Somehow they all start with the interaction between God (or gods)(or no gods)(depending) and humans, and then, somehow, along the way,</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />They all become about the rules.<br /><br />And here is what science is telling religion.<br /><br />It's not about the rules. <br /><br />It's about the interaction.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">If the universe is all about interaction,</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Then reality is all about interaction,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And the rules of nature come from interaction between particles and forces, and energy and mass and space-time, and observation and reality,</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Then, well, religion ...</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXxc5g39BwBfUQhObBfaUEufnw6-fBvX2cQaIZslSO7TJNyhAx5VRrwkyFDcRnyE7B8jSg0R4z5DHNZWqCcNpy-i_E-q8cZy6agyN_sewvHZNGB2fiWgowS19tBSxbkTvRp6jrMP-9uug/s1600/brain2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXxc5g39BwBfUQhObBfaUEufnw6-fBvX2cQaIZslSO7TJNyhAx5VRrwkyFDcRnyE7B8jSg0R4z5DHNZWqCcNpy-i_E-q8cZy6agyN_sewvHZNGB2fiWgowS19tBSxbkTvRp6jrMP-9uug/s320/brain2.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Is all about interaction. The interaction between us, and God.</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">So now we gotta figure out what the heck <i>that</i> means.</span></div>
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Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398313658457813036.post-48897651751441963812016-05-25T08:22:00.001-07:002016-05-25T08:22:26.022-07:00There's Something There - Part 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIgYxER7ehW9101gms7pwgS2N1_ywGPIYApxVB4UlC4odwIvzUAvRT5hhSvXDZlLRliwDpJo2CglaZ7HioSHqTmnzlOMmFJoFq-lQGu3aUOza5DRhlRfWoLatTxdFNkEBUiHfSha0eldA/s1600/bigbangkorea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIgYxER7ehW9101gms7pwgS2N1_ywGPIYApxVB4UlC4odwIvzUAvRT5hhSvXDZlLRliwDpJo2CglaZ7HioSHqTmnzlOMmFJoFq-lQGu3aUOza5DRhlRfWoLatTxdFNkEBUiHfSha0eldA/s320/bigbangkorea.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It apparently happened in Korea and became a boy band.<br />
Nothing right and good about that.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">I read the other day that the Big Bang didn't happen in space.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Which makes sense, since there was no space yet for it to happen in.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Still. That's hard to get.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So there was no Where that it happened in.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But there was a When.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Big Bang happened in a When, but not a Where.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It happened in time, but not in space.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbxugSJcYW1VPTMTnixGnwSEpwQ4tFwtd7Y7-TGtITccd4X4exq8Snvzt8tCqrZiQCUiPLaRqWWe-_CxfO3yw3Z3HlFdiTQshvxfjHk8TjiFYFFL0sQx6RuPlRj7BH2AqFDCfQAsITNog/s1600/bagn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbxugSJcYW1VPTMTnixGnwSEpwQ4tFwtd7Y7-TGtITccd4X4exq8Snvzt8tCqrZiQCUiPLaRqWWe-_CxfO3yw3Z3HlFdiTQshvxfjHk8TjiFYFFL0sQx6RuPlRj7BH2AqFDCfQAsITNog/s320/bagn.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">OK, it's on Mondays at 9. See. It happens in time.<br />
Even if you count syndication.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">So if you were to ask, sweetly, naively, where did Big Bang happen, thinking, sweetly, naively, that there had to be a point where it all started, the answer is ...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">There is a point where it all started. But it's a point in time, not in space.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So the evidence in science has taken us to a place in nature where our brains cannot go.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Big Bang happened in time. Not in space.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Do you want a list of all the other places that the evidence has taken us that our brains cannot go? Just go back and read some of the earlier posts. Any of them.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">So now, let's talk about God.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Pay attention. This is the subtle and clever part.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">1) I understand God as well as I understand him because the theologians have gone out of their way to explain him to me, and 2) I understand that my understanding of God will change with further information, and 3) it might change quite radically in quite unexpected sorts of ways, but 4) I have personal experience with God. That is, 5) evidence has been presented to me, and 6) I have personal evidence as well.</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuSjXh3EsQ6R2u__QzrfyhHlxnRstSA6hHYI3BOEdzwuqiAgv1fP1ApoKMGuEDxhoI2yNHr7hpCYOqY2udqNIJGddgrBAxrySFba_5wZLkpYmOB0f9OVtjS_5JCuBwUb10dDUmy0FbZlo/s1600/Alanis-in-Dogma.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuSjXh3EsQ6R2u__QzrfyhHlxnRstSA6hHYI3BOEdzwuqiAgv1fP1ApoKMGuEDxhoI2yNHr7hpCYOqY2udqNIJGddgrBAxrySFba_5wZLkpYmOB0f9OVtjS_5JCuBwUb10dDUmy0FbZlo/s400/Alanis-in-Dogma.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This would be the Ironic God. Ha. So funny.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">God exists for me because I have some experience with him.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">It is not the same experience that anyone else has had, though there is a lot of overlap, so it is both unique and universal at the same time.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Unique and universal. How...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Intriguing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now, I could go through the evidence for God that might exist in nature, but I've kinda already done that for like almost an infinite number of earlier posts (OK, 24, but still. It was a lot.), and here's what's happened. I predict. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Yes, it's a chaotic, unpredictable universe, but only mostly, so I'm gonna live on the edge and make a prediction.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Those who already believe in God were like, YES!, and, AWESOME!, except for those who don't like Big Bang, but you probably stopped reading a long long time ago, which was foolish. No offense. OK, maybe a little. But you're probably not reading anymore anyway. No offense.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG2YqTinK36eXWGK13kiizSVypr_d2yFAmHM7UKUAy4yhEZqaYeZx9Pz81Mmjn7Xg4ndEPy0rpf59h9Q6Ts38PA8aJ5a3Aa3r4BlUcSxbzr94koCUZd182-RsNYZpPpqtPqn6b8B5to4U/s1600/nogod.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG2YqTinK36eXWGK13kiizSVypr_d2yFAmHM7UKUAy4yhEZqaYeZx9Pz81Mmjn7Xg4ndEPy0rpf59h9Q6Ts38PA8aJ5a3Aa3r4BlUcSxbzr94koCUZd182-RsNYZpPpqtPqn6b8B5to4U/s320/nogod.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">And those who don't believe in God were like, oh, seriously, all of this crapload of pseudo-scientific religio-babble AGAIN?!?! When are you religious morons gonna catch a clue that there is NO EVIDENCE for God to be found in nature?!?!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">You should maybe dial it down a little. Fewer all caps. By everyone.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Anyway. Here's the thing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We're all looking at the same evidence. But we are each reaching a different conclusion.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Same evidence. Different beliefs.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So it's not really about the evidence. I mean, it helps. But when one group looks at Big Bang and says, whoa, looks like God to me, and another group looks at the same Big Bang and says, wow, looks like a pretty cool accident of nature to me (and a third group looks at the same Big Bang and says, don't even THINK of trying to tell me that the God that I believe in would have used Big Bang to create the universe.)(Sorry about the all-caps.), then ...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It's not really about the evidence.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbCh5MA7_ai2Zhtvv9CsNAP1X0QJNnSDEJiDagr2B_sLtPRjJivKCmz4U9Be8XYgxgjJ_HKBRKq7LuIqeM9u3xUayCuJJL7Km88KHm9Y5xT_xG8PDrIshaH0td7g1pwSgMsZ-384uSQbQ/s1600/gods-parking-spot+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbCh5MA7_ai2Zhtvv9CsNAP1X0QJNnSDEJiDagr2B_sLtPRjJivKCmz4U9Be8XYgxgjJ_HKBRKq7LuIqeM9u3xUayCuJJL7Km88KHm9Y5xT_xG8PDrIshaH0td7g1pwSgMsZ-384uSQbQ/s200/gods-parking-spot+%25281%2529.jpg" width="159" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">I had a guy tell me once over and over for weeks that there could be no evidence for God in nature. Not that there could be but we haven't found it yet. Whatever we found, was not gonna be evidence. No matter what it was. Like, God's t-shirt. His driver's license. His bowling league medals. Even his reserved parking spot.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3ixxm2wDd5psvtcXrvPmNDWAAUCHJKt9E80TGWVqa7yVDAP3MWNbQCylwzenlbidFvORKbL-0GZmNUuQ998dTPTJyruFtIn6EsLHwqkyW_o26zrAo8kmu7Vz9yKmuM1HSiDDe-R5fpC0/s1600/penny-WHAT.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3ixxm2wDd5psvtcXrvPmNDWAAUCHJKt9E80TGWVqa7yVDAP3MWNbQCylwzenlbidFvORKbL-0GZmNUuQ998dTPTJyruFtIn6EsLHwqkyW_o26zrAo8kmu7Vz9yKmuM1HSiDDe-R5fpC0/s320/penny-WHAT.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">When I mentioned that there were a host of notable scientists who believed that there was some evidence for God, this guy just said, well, they're all wrong.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">When I told him that all of the scientists were a lot smarter than he was, he said, no, they're not.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Gotta admire his commitment to his beliefs. Takes some backbone to say that evidence is not evidence and is never going to be </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizihyKHLfcHz5MtHRrBu7mRsxnX1ZU5q_dGEvmskbANJ12tp_7Oyy6937SrrF61GJ5XyMprVOA8fO_6esZrTu_Q-4vgUqwWEkrx8C2faRzkYek1Rdcmnc-RJoAyBbepnUElv-YEZyD3Wc/s1600/atheistgodtouchesman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="109" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizihyKHLfcHz5MtHRrBu7mRsxnX1ZU5q_dGEvmskbANJ12tp_7Oyy6937SrrF61GJ5XyMprVOA8fO_6esZrTu_Q-4vgUqwWEkrx8C2faRzkYek1Rdcmnc-RJoAyBbepnUElv-YEZyD3Wc/s320/atheistgodtouchesman.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">evidence and that on the basis of this assumption, and this alone, that he is smarter than all the scientists except for the ones that agree with him.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Faith. That's what it takes. Faith.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Of course, what he believes about God or science or evidence or nature or the universe is, as we've said, irrelevant.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">God exists, or he does not.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Even if there is no evidence, God still might exist. Even with lots and lots of evidence, he might not.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So how in God's name are we supposed to figure it out? So to speak.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Here's a proposal. Here's what it takes. Here's how to start. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It's like, an equation.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It's evidence plus experience plus faith.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Plus one more entirely interesting, controversial, subjective thing that depends entirely on one's interpretation. Kinda like quantum mechanics. Lots of interpretations. Only one is right. We just don't know which one.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Anyway. One more thing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It's evidence plus experience plus faith plus revelation.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Oh, yeah. It's an equation. It's gotta "equals" something.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqywchIiKjVUnUPWuoqs_nk6MckSlnREy4MRmkJ_j2yOu7SmdlWbSGdMyKOeA8AyxBvSI6kmFYxDCujE1MIWW5IFkwXl3zbcjPzmgQVGCPb6mr_7qAuzHZMJhFl2W44yVtp-a1duIb25M/s1600/beatles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqywchIiKjVUnUPWuoqs_nk6MckSlnREy4MRmkJ_j2yOu7SmdlWbSGdMyKOeA8AyxBvSI6kmFYxDCujE1MIWW5IFkwXl3zbcjPzmgQVGCPb6mr_7qAuzHZMJhFl2W44yVtp-a1duIb25M/s320/beatles.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No, not a revolution. A revelation.<br />
Same thing, maybe.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">Evidence plus experience plus faith plus revelation equals maybe there is a God.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We might start with that. Revelation.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">If God created time and space, then God is outside of time and space.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And therefore we can't find him unless he wants to be found.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That is, you can't go on a search to find God. Well, you can, but good luck with that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It's like the Ultimate Hide-&-Seek game. Ha ha, you'll never find me because I'm outside the universe.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Here's what Big Bang cosmology says: Space and time ... came into existence in a tiny tiny tiny fraction of a second, everything coming from nothing, out of nothing, caused by nothing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And God. Has to be in the nothing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And we can't go there.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">He. Has to come here.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Ah, shoot. I went and gave it all away. Spoiler alert. I HATE it when that happens.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Fewer all caps. Gotta work on that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And here's the really devious part. Let's just assume for fun that God is in the fifth dimension. No, not the old rock group, though God could clearly be black and groovy. Or hip. Or whatever.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We live in 4 dimensions, 3 of space, 1 of time.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So let's go with God lives in a 4th spatial dimension. I don't know if he does, but I don't know that he doesn't, so it'll work.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx1wrIo5fC9yPOSbE2S6WWEsC0mIDi3-1nY8F8r6Cn2iY5FS3uuZzD4zK0qNKWsFeI5dL_RyiW02RxYKR-1FEa-ppZElZfeEkyTNcqafE3S3iyqC8Wht4XJDG8WljxMaF2elpKCoY7gKg/s1600/flatland.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx1wrIo5fC9yPOSbE2S6WWEsC0mIDi3-1nY8F8r6Cn2iY5FS3uuZzD4zK0qNKWsFeI5dL_RyiW02RxYKR-1FEa-ppZElZfeEkyTNcqafE3S3iyqC8Wht4XJDG8WljxMaF2elpKCoY7gKg/s320/flatland.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now. Consider that there might be a world that exists in 3 dimensions, 2 of space and 1 of time.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Flatland. Like a table top. The people are flat people and they only know of 2 dimensions. This way, and that way, but not up or down.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And you live in 3 spatial dimensions, just like you actually do right now anyway.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now. How close can you get to the Flatlanders without them seeing you? Because you are in the 3rd dimension, and they are only in the first two.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Take a flat surface right now and see how close you can move your hand without it touching.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Very very very close.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So if God lives in a 4th spatial dimension, how close can he get to you without you knowing about it?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Very very very close.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And you would never know that he was there. Unless he wanted you to know. And that would only happen if he ...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">... touched your version of Flatland.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now I got goosebumps.</span></div>
Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398313658457813036.post-63396106931037450632016-05-16T13:18:00.003-07:002016-05-18T06:43:15.242-07:00There's Something There - Part 1?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">It's Part 1 because there might be other parts, but I don't really know yet. We'll just have to see.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Anyway. Since we're being provocative ...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">What you believe about _______ (go ahead, fill in the blank) is irrelevant.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">OK, I'll fill in the blank for you.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0KaQhPyK9YQNF4L_eq46LjMV0RmAORQvIjeaRP7xrpk7gwGiE0DSsK4HwPaP_WK2CTfr6rHdvC1cb7SmejtzIs6zVtS4LVlMHxVZLnVpkf2PBzc_UchcJtYtZFMp_uIh2UvF6fI8beVw/s1600/burnsgod.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0KaQhPyK9YQNF4L_eq46LjMV0RmAORQvIjeaRP7xrpk7gwGiE0DSsK4HwPaP_WK2CTfr6rHdvC1cb7SmejtzIs6zVtS4LVlMHxVZLnVpkf2PBzc_UchcJtYtZFMp_uIh2UvF6fI8beVw/s320/burnsgod.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">What you believe about <u>God</u> is irrelevant.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And ...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">What you believe about </span><u style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: large;">the Universe</span></u><span style="font-size: large;"> is irrelevant.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Why, you may ask, am I making such obnoxious statements? Why, you may ask, am I being such a jerk?</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy64xqdOrpArLwCFSjeGitBbPsf0KnmO8ieemqee7_OWFl2WbROBntOac7Ef7YAoamxdxfM3xKMXQGFgCPnzdk8PEm3F8mHBfa7KjUGZlQVClhufOom9dTT3nzL6v5q6VMdm8uzo_LIMI/s1600/godburns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy64xqdOrpArLwCFSjeGitBbPsf0KnmO8ieemqee7_OWFl2WbROBntOac7Ef7YAoamxdxfM3xKMXQGFgCPnzdk8PEm3F8mHBfa7KjUGZlQVClhufOom9dTT3nzL6v5q6VMdm8uzo_LIMI/s1600/godburns.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Here, let me add some emphasis, see if that helps.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">What you <i>believe</i> about <u>God</u> is irrelevant.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">What you <i>believe</i> about </span><u style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: large;">the Universe</span></u><span style="font-size: large;"> is irrelevant.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Let me explain. We'll start with the Universe.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Here's the Thing. The Universe is the way that it is regardless of what you believe about it. It doesn't care what you believe. As we already said that Neal deGrasse Tyson said, the universe is under no obligation to make sense to you. Or to anybody.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">If you think it doesn't make sense, that's not the Universe's fault or problem. It's your problem.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZnYBRgZB9GMcASHMi4izrANVy1uwPa1z30Sxv4P96OIbNEg7BsWNyqrNC7X4IqiGDs0i2DQ9q4FFstpMT3H9zgtx9Eg8Z0G8Pn9RDEv1UfoVCyvz_HuHNbfDIC3brgQEtusnp00LeXSE/s1600/bigbangfunny.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZnYBRgZB9GMcASHMi4izrANVy1uwPa1z30Sxv4P96OIbNEg7BsWNyqrNC7X4IqiGDs0i2DQ9q4FFstpMT3H9zgtx9Eg8Z0G8Pn9RDEv1UfoVCyvz_HuHNbfDIC3brgQEtusnp00LeXSE/s400/bigbangfunny.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This picture is not the universe exploding. It's just your garden-variety<br />
star exploding. Actually, not exploding. Collapsing and bouncing.<br />
The nothing didn't explode either. It just expanded really really fast.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">You can believe that it's infinitely large, or not.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">You can believe that it had a starting point, or not.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">You can believe that it's 6000 years old, or 13.8 billion. Or infinitely old.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">All that you, and we, and everybody has to go on is the evidence that we have been able to uncover, and will presumably continue to uncover, and we interpret that evidence from our tiny perch in time and space as best we can.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And as we have seen, the evidence changes, and so our understanding of the </span><span style="font-size: large;">Universe</span><span style="font-size: large;"> changes, and presumably it will continue to do so, whether we like it or not.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGBd9gXjCVHXF8E_BoaExcUo1GOamr1VzjABs7yLHqGe0tgFSgNvNU4KoFVYO_RQs9JYzv5jvhhiLDcdLU1OZ-LvhXba8-1WUYewF7xhcYYGQI1l_STuLnXnpKs4eTKmWjZtmItqflISg/s1600/monte.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGBd9gXjCVHXF8E_BoaExcUo1GOamr1VzjABs7yLHqGe0tgFSgNvNU4KoFVYO_RQs9JYzv5jvhhiLDcdLU1OZ-LvhXba8-1WUYewF7xhcYYGQI1l_STuLnXnpKs4eTKmWjZtmItqflISg/s320/monte.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If Monte Vaughn had shown this much emotion <br />
when I asked her out, well, a win.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">The Universe is indifferent to your feelings about it. It's like that cheerleader that I asked out four times in college. Her name was Monte Vaughn. I still remember her name. She </span><span style="font-size: large;">was </span><span style="font-size: large;">... indifferent. And remained indifferent. She did not go out with me. She does not remember my name. She may not have actually been a cheerleader, either. But it's a better story that way.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The Universe does not remember your name. It is the way that it is, and it will continue to be that way (that is, dynamic and constantly changing) regardless of your thoughts, opinions or beliefs about it. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">If it's helpful to rename the </span><span style="font-size: large;">Universe "Monte Vaughn", go right ahead. It is unimaginably beautiful. And it is not interested in going out with you.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now. God.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">God is something like the Universe.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Either God exists, or he does not. What you believe about that is irrelevant.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That's harsh, but true. But you will not eliminate God with your lack of belief, if he exists. Nor will you cause him to exist via your beliefs, if he does not.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Either he does, or he does not.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">(I'm using "he" because constantly having to say "he, she, it or they" is awkward and irritating and so I'm not really saying God is a man or male, but that he is surely more than an "it". "They" would work, but it will irritate the non-Trinity folks and yadda yadda yadda. Live with it.)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Either he does, or he does not.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Your opinion about that is immaterial.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now isn't that a curious thing? It causes one to wonder, ok, NOW what am I supposed to do?</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Well. We could talk about evidence for, let's say, the universe first. But we will quickly run into theories that say, as we have said in </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioMRsrm_Rfxbf8fljEIYgqdOPcMWTGjdU3fX5HAVl-TasMIgj1GyLVOrHG26Q4DdZW-J8bABU9D1zhAC9f3XgEbIaLjV1x7lWmTR3fTuDHeN99YvX1y3iikSX7wlvPjEpo7G6070W62hA/s1600/n-UNIVERSE-HOLOGRAM-628x314.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioMRsrm_Rfxbf8fljEIYgqdOPcMWTGjdU3fX5HAVl-TasMIgj1GyLVOrHG26Q4DdZW-J8bABU9D1zhAC9f3XgEbIaLjV1x7lWmTR3fTuDHeN99YvX1y3iikSX7wlvPjEpo7G6070W62hA/s400/n-UNIVERSE-HOLOGRAM-628x314.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">other earlier blogs, 1) the universe is a hologram (and therefore not really here) or 2) the universe is a computer simulation (and therefore not really here.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7mIpcSHET7ZvAFvZGqwjepG0UAVDRE_bhs-vthVJCnzocRsV7p9QKCpapaPLU2cJM8OwQQOnRUoyzA8O2DiVuWbaaAC12_8WV7lELppN5dpdaMd9CaCctNFftevuWRMBjY_df24sVE-Q/s1600/DarkEnergy_Wanted.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7mIpcSHET7ZvAFvZGqwjepG0UAVDRE_bhs-vthVJCnzocRsV7p9QKCpapaPLU2cJM8OwQQOnRUoyzA8O2DiVuWbaaAC12_8WV7lELppN5dpdaMd9CaCctNFftevuWRMBjY_df24sVE-Q/s320/DarkEnergy_Wanted.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Plus, since we don't know what either Dark Matter or Dark Energy are, 95% of the universe is a complete mystery to us.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Plus, the universe might be 10**26th times bigger than the part that we can see, and we'll never see any of the rest of it and will never know anything about it,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Or, it might be infinitely big, which is a lot bigger than just 10**26th times bigger, and so the part that we do know something about is infinitely smaller than the rest of it, and (just do the the math) is therefore not really here,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And that's THE OBSERVABLE UNIVERSE, of which you are not even a measurable part of, either. Well, measurable maybe. But very close to infinitely insignificant,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUkJDWxsxD9z8B9Y9FqqwJtAXdQ_XSq1yvOX6mlF325rkEW1QnWFN_rYDR5YitB9_BFyGyPd_8DN-vrjjCDbZwD8hT5cYNXDWiK9qviZY4Rladm-gJ7daDpSbY5cvdMq43TiA1rhF9VnI/s1600/rollercoaster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUkJDWxsxD9z8B9Y9FqqwJtAXdQ_XSq1yvOX6mlF325rkEW1QnWFN_rYDR5YitB9_BFyGyPd_8DN-vrjjCDbZwD8hT5cYNXDWiK9qviZY4Rladm-gJ7daDpSbY5cvdMq43TiA1rhF9VnI/s320/rollercoaster.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">And the part of the universe that we can see, we will never ever be able to go to any parts of it, apart from the part that we are in. Like, even getting to Neptune seems like a stretch. Frankly, even Mars seems like a stretch. I think you could put all the people who've been to the moon in an egg carton. OK, a large egg carton. One that would fit people. Or a roller coaster that seats 12. Like that one. That many people have been on the moon.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And we will never ever know for sure where the universe came from, or whether it is unique and there are lots of other universes, or maybe just a couple or four, a dozen maybe, a gross of universes.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">(OK, to be honest, you can't actually be "very close to infinitely insignificant", but if you could, we would be.)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So <i>your</i> personal evidence for the existence of the universe is anecdotal and highly suspect. I would not choose to believe in the universe based solely upon <i>your</i> personal experience. And I don't give a rat's patootie who you are, because even you, you universe scientists, you cosmologists and astronomers, even you have only seen or experienced a tiny tiny fraction that (if the universe is infinitely big) is infinitely smaller than the actual universe itself, and you don't even have much of a clue what it is, either. And you keep changing the story.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">No offense. It's kinda hard. I get that. That's actually the point.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I should say, BTW, that I do in fact believe in the actual universe.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijonnw5QuL9hWgXegYepjNZjK6-5LtUgIeAmUZ1dpFh0MkDOhA1Ml3A9z5aHved8eK28vpN2aDUuqH7kL8RKR5os3VNpC0aMVc2FJMu-fICvPKK3guNlJTMpnxxBQ1RRbnlazPQIIXwAY/s1600/cleverness.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijonnw5QuL9hWgXegYepjNZjK6-5LtUgIeAmUZ1dpFh0MkDOhA1Ml3A9z5aHved8eK28vpN2aDUuqH7kL8RKR5os3VNpC0aMVc2FJMu-fICvPKK3guNlJTMpnxxBQ1RRbnlazPQIIXwAY/s1600/cleverness.gif" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Pay attention. This is the subtle and clever part.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">1) I understand the universe as well as I understand it because the cosmologists and astronomers have gone out of their way to explain it to me, and 2) I understand that my understanding of the universe will change with further information, and 3) it might change quite radically in quite unexpected sorts of ways, but 4) I have personal experience with the universe. That is, 5) evidence has been presented to me, and 6) I have personal evidence as well.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The universe exists for me because I have some experience with it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It is not the same experience that anyone else has had, though there is a lot of overlap, so it is both unique and universal at the same time.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Unique and universal. How...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Intriguing.</span></div>
Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398313658457813036.post-27525456187292251682016-05-11T12:22:00.000-07:002016-05-11T12:22:46.508-07:00There's Nothing There - The End<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">Now I'm going to say something that will irritate some of you.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Here it comes.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Nobody is smart enough to be an atheist.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMUoMsBls3LoOR7HmyE5wyoP-pvDWvqDTaSkSwUt9-ee35nebke7H-xTfUDFftiUURuq507eZJTB10F_wAfbpyNiNXCLXai84zig9YfYrWQbEXNo-FXK0d23L_JvNQEBKcTRcg9DE02to/s1600/troll.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMUoMsBls3LoOR7HmyE5wyoP-pvDWvqDTaSkSwUt9-ee35nebke7H-xTfUDFftiUURuq507eZJTB10F_wAfbpyNiNXCLXai84zig9YfYrWQbEXNo-FXK0d23L_JvNQEBKcTRcg9DE02to/s320/troll.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Go ahead. Write me nasty letters. Be a troll. Find your inner troll and let it out to stomp me into troll-stomping oblivion.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Wait, though.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I'm going to say something that will irritate the rest of you.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Here it comes.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Nobody is smart enough to be not an atheist.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw7fHBgUkuWgq8j7GWqWcU9lEu7-UvyStWEFW2dmPF30yNnaPoLz4PaOO_D7f1Gl8EL5JFlpj7J0o2FFclMnkotNRCIE1L18huAl4Z0CF2Jd-fXVggytVeBdDmjHm68j15KyQ6ZFB38jw/s1600/hell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw7fHBgUkuWgq8j7GWqWcU9lEu7-UvyStWEFW2dmPF30yNnaPoLz4PaOO_D7f1Gl8EL5JFlpj7J0o2FFclMnkotNRCIE1L18huAl4Z0CF2Jd-fXVggytVeBdDmjHm68j15KyQ6ZFB38jw/s320/hell.jpg" width="285" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Go ahead. Write me letters that pray for me and consign me to the darkest depths of hottest hell. Send the demons after me. Find your inner demon and let it out to stomp me into demon-stomping oblivion.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Wait, though.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Let's think about it for a minute.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">'Cause what we're really saying is that belief is not really a matter of intelligence.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now THAT will open up dozens of worm cans. Cans of worms. Whatever.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Belief is also not a matter of information. As in, the more you know, the less you believe.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJZTpfCBjSh8SpBIFz_DVi_EY6od-vg8sYpNHWJQYHqKrcYOPgq5YaMCSKSJXwipALk5uk6V1JLQOeUM3sFRe1cCHRlPTLObCge8_mK5Jt4XJSGY0-TgXLR1gZnSXIucSwBWJrCmvKL3g/s1600/can+of+worms.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJZTpfCBjSh8SpBIFz_DVi_EY6od-vg8sYpNHWJQYHqKrcYOPgq5YaMCSKSJXwipALk5uk6V1JLQOeUM3sFRe1cCHRlPTLObCge8_mK5Jt4XJSGY0-TgXLR1gZnSXIucSwBWJrCmvKL3g/s320/can+of+worms.PNG" width="250" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">There you go. More worms in more cans.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Let's do the easy part first.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">As in. No matter how smart you are, there's somebody smarter who has different beliefs about The Old One (as Einstein called God).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Bingo. Einstein believed in The Old One, and he is officially smarter than nearly everybody except for maybe Isaac Newton (who believed) and maybe da Vinci (who believed, even though he painted naked people)(that is, he painted pictures of naked people, not, he painted </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFtxQR32NQEaFsI4BExyze5q2j9pFmBKHa5hUsV63cmC77-_eJIAfxaD4IhlhFS0Oy-b7VKVKIzz8hhGebruxdUVOGbJScWH_YNVo8nR5gfELz_IB4c-TbdmgmRBhWUDmce-cL3QGwbUc/s1600/davincitattoo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFtxQR32NQEaFsI4BExyze5q2j9pFmBKHa5hUsV63cmC77-_eJIAfxaD4IhlhFS0Oy-b7VKVKIzz8hhGebruxdUVOGbJScWH_YNVo8nR5gfELz_IB4c-TbdmgmRBhWUDmce-cL3QGwbUc/s320/davincitattoo.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">people who were naked. I mean, he did, but not on their actual nakedness.)( I think he may have opened a tattoo parlor in his later years.)(Some of that was not strictly speaking true.)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So. But. Einstein was not a practicing religious person. Not as a Jew. Not as a Christian. Not as anything.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So he's the metaphor. If you want to disbelieve, you can't point to Einstein as your example, and if you want to believe, you can't point to Einstein.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaK3BhhnybBsdLkVcDrfEnn_djV7eKM3Q1NyQeSdOu2tYEQcBLgS4PQ84sh5M7aOBV3ZQs4_BfFLgP5PpyyuDb3UdrOmNVToLQWCmGYqTMfBNnYHQY_BrpPzpUSDfneA5c3Yf74YnKyo4/s1600/sheldon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaK3BhhnybBsdLkVcDrfEnn_djV7eKM3Q1NyQeSdOu2tYEQcBLgS4PQ84sh5M7aOBV3ZQs4_BfFLgP5PpyyuDb3UdrOmNVToLQWCmGYqTMfBNnYHQY_BrpPzpUSDfneA5c3Yf74YnKyo4/s640/sheldon.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And you are not smarter than Einstein.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Of course, you're not smarter than Newton or da Vinci, either. Sorry. No offense.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">For most of you, there's a lot of people that are smarter than you.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Some of them believe. Some of them don't.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So it's not really an intelligence thing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">How about information then?</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDW7shwm7q0oxdsuRgjRZEUyM766a3nBahnxXLk092xEpZW0ktfVYzXH-uGkXxe8dl4YBvaqBjWV-fRZafSQD74IMOtpYDld-wJEyIgYXVgydMlgwAWpyIRwf6257xg-aT3UtbmqVg-DY/s1600/sheldon-cooper-chnage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDW7shwm7q0oxdsuRgjRZEUyM766a3nBahnxXLk092xEpZW0ktfVYzXH-uGkXxe8dl4YBvaqBjWV-fRZafSQD74IMOtpYDld-wJEyIgYXVgydMlgwAWpyIRwf6257xg-aT3UtbmqVg-DY/s320/sheldon-cooper-chnage.jpg" width="228" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Well. The problem with information is that it changes all the time.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And when information changes, evidence changes.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And when evidence changes, facts change. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And when fact change, science changes.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">'Cause science is about facts, facts come from evidence, and evidence changes all the time.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We used to think, for example, that the universe made sense. That it was predictable. That the laws of physics caused everything to happen. That we didn't need God to explain anything. That the universe was infinitely large and old and everything had always been here, including the laws of physics.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But we didn't know what the laws of physics were yet.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We thought there was just gravity. And as it turns out, we didn't even understand gravity.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And then when Einstein explained gravity to us, all of sudden, the universe wasn't infinite at all.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And the laws of physics hadn't always been here. Which means that something that wasn't the laws of physics caused the laws of physics.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And boy, were they weird.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-ERl3OH0-LFqYdToKcADhvFtHo6hyFR_ir8wJTrbtFAGndwqsQJ_CXGzc-ESswNVs1gxUV1gA96Z3Chhyphenhyphen-3ma5yZN9Qj298AzqkjnMycGaE1q7RAfu_KkLAylY_15KFz79EU8ggdq3vs/s1600/changes-ahead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-ERl3OH0-LFqYdToKcADhvFtHo6hyFR_ir8wJTrbtFAGndwqsQJ_CXGzc-ESswNVs1gxUV1gA96Z3Chhyphenhyphen-3ma5yZN9Qj298AzqkjnMycGaE1q7RAfu_KkLAylY_15KFz79EU8ggdq3vs/s1600/changes-ahead.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">So everything changed. All of science changed. All the evidence changed. All the information changed.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And it might change again.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">No. That's wrong.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It will change again.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So you can't base your beliefs on information that can and will change.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes it'll make it seem like there is no God, no creator.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes it'll make it seem like there might be one. Or there must be one.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And then. It'll change again.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBuaciwtGozggEFKesUqS6pjZ-MUwfGp-dLqQCu1dX0Kki8RTW7fZKhgINj4jKXV_TgV2s_V2ylI-Sz6PyGRxNFl3sKp0FF1G3X2EmrXJ_VkML3VPmcRYLm5ufUNXpm82_jg5_KUdZFgA/s1600/Dr_Sheldon_Cooper_Mind_Logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="580" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBuaciwtGozggEFKesUqS6pjZ-MUwfGp-dLqQCu1dX0Kki8RTW7fZKhgINj4jKXV_TgV2s_V2ylI-Sz6PyGRxNFl3sKp0FF1G3X2EmrXJ_VkML3VPmcRYLm5ufUNXpm82_jg5_KUdZFgA/s640/Dr_Sheldon_Cooper_Mind_Logo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So even if you are Ed Witten. He's the smartest guy alive at the moment. Or Stephen Hawking. Or Marilyn Vos Savant (she has the highest IQ on the planet). Or my friend Chip Diggins (his IQ is scary high.) Or Richard Dawkins (he's only kinda smart.) Or Father Andrew Pinsent at Oxford (my very very smart friend Simon says Fr. Andrew is smarter than Simon is.)(Simon got his PhD in particle physics from Oxford and did his dissertation at CERN, so as we say in Texas, he's pretty dad-gummed smart.) Or Rev. John Polkinghorne. Or Paul Davies. Or Fred Hoyle. Or Neil deGrasse Tyson. Or Stephen Weinberg. Or, frankly, anybody. Even Sheldon Cooper.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It doesn't matter how smart you are, or how much you know. Because there's someone smarter who believes differently than you do, and what you know, will change. And then it will change again.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It's not about intelligence. It's not about information. It's about something else.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And what, you may ask, might that be?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now that is a stellar question.</span></div>
Fletchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748560718537982868noreply@blogger.com0