Arthur Clarke once wrote,
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
Allow me to rephrase that:
Any sufficiently advanced technology will befuddle an individual and make him/her suspect supernatural influence and/or alien presence.
Had I been exposed to the following NASA images very early in my life -- prior to being better educated -- I very well may have been befuddled. And who knows what I would have done in reaction to that befuddlement.
(particle collidor)
(shuttle cockpit)
(unmanned explorer on Mars)
P.S. I am currently still on semi-hiatus, doing a ton of non-writing work and attempting to convert my latest book from one type of code into another type of code suitable to Kindle devices. Again, decades ago I may have suspected that my potential readers and their non-paper 'books' were from out-of-this world. Or at least "out of MY world."
Believe it or not, I am skeptical of the existence of time. But wait, before you write me off as a loon, what I am skeptical of is not "change" -- what time is usually considered synonymous with and even responsible for. Rather, I doubt that time is substantive, that it exists independent of mass and energy.
To me, time is akin to temperature. Asking if time exists is like asking if temperature exists. Temperature is certainly a handy concept. It is how we refer to and measure an entity's average kinetic energy at the microscopic level. But temperature doesn't exist on its own. Roughly speaking, I believe the same is true for time. It is how we describe, coordinate, and measure events.
A consequence of this conclusion is that there is no such "thing" as the past or the future. As for the 'river of time,' it is but an illusion.
Curious? I invite you to check out the book.
A Turtle on the Pond of Time:
Philosophical Dialogues that Question the Nature of Time
Description:
Is time a fundamental element of our universe? Or is it a human invention—a tool used to measure and predict movement and change? In this colorful collection of short dialogues, Andrew sheds a fanciful yet skeptical light on the idea that time is a like a river, magically sweeping everything along with it. If asked to supply his own metaphor, the author would describe our universe as something of a roiling pond. Yes, there is movement and change, with “things” aggregating into existence and dissolving out. Yet to speak of previous and subsequent states of matter and energy as belonging to “the past” or “the future” is to create a fictitious depth to our universe. Bunnies measuring speed, herrings charting distance, crabs arguing over "the infinite"—this book is one part Saturday morning cartoon, one part invitation to contemplating the nature of time. Intelligent, entertaining and thought-provoking, A Turtle on the Pond of Time aims to draw minds into questioning the existence of time.
I'm almost back from my blogging hiatus. When I do return, I'll be easing my way into it. What have I been up to? Glad you asked. First and foremost, working. Not writing-working, but working working. I'm ankle deep in renovating/refurbishing a house. (This week's goal: replace all the plumbing fixtures and shut-off values.) Although I am many, many days away from completion, I am now feeling less mentally overwhelmed: like I've been asked to juggle one ball too many.
Otherwise, I've also been on vacation. My wife and I recently turned the big 5-0 within 3 days of one another. To celebrate (run away and hide?), we made a trip to New Mexico, where we rented a small house in the middle of a gorgeous nowhere. It was awesome. Maybe the best week of my life. So far.
Anyway . . .
Dear Readers,
I won't be posting for a few weeks -- likely the entire month of March. A curve ball has come over my plate, so to speak, and I've got to swing away. I hope to back at blogging in April of this year.
Pro eruditio,
Andrew
I have been contacted by a doctoral student conducting a study on personality and morality. (A definite interest of mine.) He needs volunteers to complete a survey.
The survey: Relationships of Well-Being, Social Morals, and Personality Among Individuals of Faith and No-Faith.
Without data, there is no science. If you have the time and interest, I encourage you to participate.
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