This was an episode of "Into the Universe" with Stephen Hawking, on the Science Channel. Hawking is one of the greatest minds in this generation, if not THE greatest. Imagine if he could procreate. The brain power that could be achieved by the human race in future generations. But that's a topic for another time. This is about the episode and where my little brain went with it.
I'm always fascinated by things that refute the Bible. I watch documentaries on such religious studies. A religious person might think these documentaries are on the side of religion, but if you pay attention, and I do, these documentaries raise more questions than they answer, and they actually question doctrine. The religious scholars who comment in the shows never say this is absolutely so or otherwise. Maybe it was edited to keep the whole thing objective, but I think these scholars are really saying this one fundamental thing. We don't know, we can't know. We just can't.
So I look to science for the best guess. This episode started with the Big Bang (of course) and Hawking's and his colleagues' theories on what happened. He says it started with one thing. Just one tiny atom. Hydrogen.
Genesis - creation. People took the Bible so literally that they believed the universe and all that's in it was created in 6 days. Science has proven that's just plain silly. So religion tries to adjust their flawed beliefs to fit the current science. Then science learns more, and more flaws appear. Christians believe their "Genesis" is the true story of creation, and the rest are just myths, including scientific theory. They are all creation myths. Yes, even the Big Bang Theory. The stories are created to explain the things that can't be explained. Science has just taken it to the next level - the logical level, and they use proven science to tell the story.
From the science arose another version of creationism called "intelligent design". This was how some religious factions compromised to acknowledge the science. It attempts to rationalize the concept of deity by saying that nothing is random, something...some "mind" had to be at the beginning to create it. In the beginning there was Nothing, and then "intelligence" created Something.
Here comes the part where my brain went. If there was nothing, where was this intelligence? It couldn't be there, nothing was there. If it was there, then there couldn't be nothing. What if there was always Something? Not an intangible "intelligence", but a real physical Thing. Hawking said in the beginning there were hydrogen atoms with their gravity and space, but he didn't speculate on how the first atoms came into existence. What if it was always there? Not magically zapped into existence by some deity. Hydrogen and gravity and space. Just THERE.
If we try to apply time to this idea it falls apart. Time implies a beginning. Scientists can only speculate on how long it took for things to happen. Their beginning point is the events leading to the Big Bang because that's as far back as they can go with the science. We can't know how long things were there waiting for something to happen, so we can't know whether or not it was always there.
Religion says the creation of life is too complex to have happened randomly. Hawking said that it could. A couple of hydrogen atoms randomly collided and created a new element and a different gravity. This new element's gravity and energy affected the atoms around it, and created more elements in new configurations. The chain reaction was unstoppable. Eventually this vast array exploded and blasted all those new elements and energy out into space, and those little pieces continued the process that led to life as we know it.
Religion says God is perfect, and everything he does is perfect. If a perfect deity had created the first atoms, they would have been arranged perfectly. That would have been the intelligent, logical thing to do, right? But intelligent design theory doesn't go that far. It simply says that the first thing, the first building block was created by intelligence. They can't give up the idea of deity because their religion won't let them.
Hawking's science says it was random, and it could only be random because it wasn't perfect. If all the little hydrogen atoms had been arranged perfectly, the exact same distance from each other in any direction, nothing else would have happened. They would have just sat there in that arrangement forever. But they weren't arranged perfectly. The arrangement was random, and the atoms' gravitational fields affected the space around them randomly. The concept of a building block created by deity is flawed because there would have been nothing else to cause a reaction. Even if this deity created the randomness necessary for things to progress as they did, it couldn't create the specific events that led to the first atoms coming together, the ones that led to us. Because it's random, it would be unpredictable and therefore uncreatable.
If that's true, and I believe it more than any religious text, life is the result of happenstance. Why is that so hard to digest? Why must there have been a mystical brain to create it? We weren't created by a god, we created god.
My inner geek wants to believe that time travel will answer all our questions. But will it? Anyone who has ever read or seen a time travel story knows that traveling back in time can and usually does change the future. The tiniest change in the past can radically change what happens later. The very act of traveling back to when those first atoms came together could change everything, because the existence of our time machine (or the device that allows us to view the past) in that time and place would affect how those first atoms come together. We might be a very different form of life. Or maybe we don't happen at all.
Good morning.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Rants on the Road
I'm in a rural community, but it's fairly modern, but I swear, drivers around here think they're on a farm access road or something. I come from a state known for bad (and angry) drivers, but the ones around here take the cake. I'll say it...these old farmers and farmers' wives are too old to be driving! I'm getting up there, but when the day comes that I can't drive right, take away my keys!
My first week here I saw 3 fender-benders in one day. That might not sound like much. Where I come from, you see at least one a day, and they usually during rush hour. This was not that. It was mid-day. Kids were in school, people where settled in at work, traffic wasn't heavy. No one was going particularly fast or trying to. In fact, traffic was rather slow. There was no excuse that I could see. I didn't get it. What the hell was going on here?
As time went on, I began to see what was going on. I think part of my problem is that because I'm retired, I'm usually out and about during the times of day the older also retired population is on the road. So I see more of what the old folks do, and it's scarier than a kid with cell phone in hand.
The kinds of things I see way too much:
Driving too slow. You know the joke. Can't see the driver's head so it's probably a little old lady hunched over the steering wheel. Or there's a hat just showing above the seat back. At least they mostly stay in the right lane, but you are at their mercy if you need to stay there for a turn and it takes forever to get to that turn.
Pulling out in front of you. What...is my car invisible? That's bad enough, but then they don't GO! They pull out, make you brake hard, and then just poke along like they're the only ones on the road. Are they ever surprised to look in the rear view mirror and see a car on their tail which they apparently didn't see coming when they pulled out? Do they look in the rear view at all? I get the feeling they can't feel the gas pedal or don't have the strength or reach to push it down.
About that. How can anyone drive effectively and safely when they are so close to the steering wheel their chin is practically against it? You've seen it. Elbows fully folded and tight to the chest, peering over the top of the steering wheel. You need some elbow room to maneuver. Most newer cars have a driver seat that can be adjusted a lot. You can raise it up, put the back away from the wheel while still keeping in reach of the pedals. You can adjust the steering wheel, too. Most of these seniors have newer cars, and it's often a nice sedan. It has all of those lovely adjustments. If your body is too old to fit any adjustments, you are too old to drive!
Speaking of nice cars, that's another running joke. Nice sedan = senior citizen. Beware. I'll add to that old truck = old farmer. Or sometimes shiny new one. My point is if it's driving like an old farmer, it probably is.
This next one is special. I mean really special and I'd never seen it before I moved down here. Stopping in the middle of the road and what...? I don't know, looking for a turn? Looking at a map or the directions? Looking at that thing over there? What??? I'm not talking about a country road. That's acceptable IF there's no one behind you. I'm talking about a divided highway with fast moving traffic. They just stop! Oh and there's no warning they are going to do something so stupid. You're clipping along at the speed limit or even over it, and then whoa...stop. Boy, have I been surprised by that brilliant move one too many times. And guess what? It's an old timer. You are not on the farm, dipstick!
Do I need to mention turn signals? Nobody...NOBODY...uses them! I want the guy behind me to know what I'm doing next. I really want to know what you intend to do. Is it that these old southern drivers didn't get drivers training? Oh that's right, they learned to drive on the farm in old trucks or tractors that didn't have turn signals. I want to know how in the hell they even pass a driver test when getting their license renewed. I think it should be mandatory every year after a certain age, and that would include the eye exam.
A little story about that. Back in the day, it was mandatory to take the written test every few years. I think now it's only required for those with a few accidents on record. I was renewing my license, and this little woman came up to me and begged me to help her with the test. I just looked at her and shook my head, and she looked back with pleading eyes, saying she didn't understand the questions. Or I don't know, maybe she couldn't read. Yeah right, lady. I'm going to help YOU get on the road. I watched as she went to other people. Don't know if she ever got it. Hope not. If she did find a soft-hearted but dumb soul, I hope he was as dumb as her and they both failed.
Where was I? Then there's the turns themselves. Most modern highways have right turn lanes. I see old drivers come to a near stop in the moving lane and then make the turn. The turn lane is so you can ease into the turn without disrupting traffic too much, you know. What did you think it was for...parking?
I'm going a little off topic now. Not much, this is still about the rules of the road. Now it's about shopping. Shopping carts, shopping aisles. Why do shoppers suddenly revert to British rules when driving their carts? If everybody drives on the right side, everybody keeps moving in an efficient fashion. Why is that so hard? It should be 2nd nature, you're already doing it in your car. Other things you can apply. Like looking before pulling out into an aisle.
One that annoys me to no end! Stopping in the middle of the aisle. Look around. Are there other people in the aisle? They probably want to go around you. Nooo. They have to excuse themselves, and usually louder than should be necessary, and more than once since you are oblivious. Pull the hell over! That's what you'd do on the road, isn't it? Isn't it???
It gets worse. Socializing in the middle of a busy aisle. Suddenly stop to chat with someone going the other way. Neither of you look around to see if this is a good place for a chat. I feel a bit uncomfortable having to interrupt your important conversation to say excuse me. And again more than once and louder since you didn't hear me the first time. One of the chatters is even facing me, but for some reason I went invisible.
I wish shopping carts had horns, or maybe those little hotel desk bells. Wouldn't that be cool? Not only would we get the oblivious ones' attention, it would get everyone's attention and they'd be embarrassed. Might get annoying but I think it's a fine idea. Maybe they'd learn.
I will admit that I'm guilty of occasionally stopping in the aisle without looking around. But I always realize what I've done right away and correct quickly.
One last rant. Cell phones. I notice if someone is following me too close, and I pump my brake lights in hopes they see I'm slowing down or coming to a stop. I'm really nervous if they have a phone stuck to their ear, and these days, 3 out of 5 do. If ever someone rear ends me while on the phone, I'm going to make the report call and then dash their fuckin phone on the ground!
It's polite to allow someone to pull in front of you when they are stuck in a parking lot waiting for a traffic jam to clear. I will let anyone in that position in. I'm just sitting there anyways, it's not going to slow me down any more. But if you are on the phone...no. Sit there and finish your damn call. You aren't paying attention anyways, so you won't notice me giving the go wave. I'm not going to sit there and wait for you to notice.
Well, I've gone on long enough about this. I will probably revisit this rant again sometime. There's more.
Good morning.
My first week here I saw 3 fender-benders in one day. That might not sound like much. Where I come from, you see at least one a day, and they usually during rush hour. This was not that. It was mid-day. Kids were in school, people where settled in at work, traffic wasn't heavy. No one was going particularly fast or trying to. In fact, traffic was rather slow. There was no excuse that I could see. I didn't get it. What the hell was going on here?
As time went on, I began to see what was going on. I think part of my problem is that because I'm retired, I'm usually out and about during the times of day the older also retired population is on the road. So I see more of what the old folks do, and it's scarier than a kid with cell phone in hand.
The kinds of things I see way too much:
Driving too slow. You know the joke. Can't see the driver's head so it's probably a little old lady hunched over the steering wheel. Or there's a hat just showing above the seat back. At least they mostly stay in the right lane, but you are at their mercy if you need to stay there for a turn and it takes forever to get to that turn.
Pulling out in front of you. What...is my car invisible? That's bad enough, but then they don't GO! They pull out, make you brake hard, and then just poke along like they're the only ones on the road. Are they ever surprised to look in the rear view mirror and see a car on their tail which they apparently didn't see coming when they pulled out? Do they look in the rear view at all? I get the feeling they can't feel the gas pedal or don't have the strength or reach to push it down.
About that. How can anyone drive effectively and safely when they are so close to the steering wheel their chin is practically against it? You've seen it. Elbows fully folded and tight to the chest, peering over the top of the steering wheel. You need some elbow room to maneuver. Most newer cars have a driver seat that can be adjusted a lot. You can raise it up, put the back away from the wheel while still keeping in reach of the pedals. You can adjust the steering wheel, too. Most of these seniors have newer cars, and it's often a nice sedan. It has all of those lovely adjustments. If your body is too old to fit any adjustments, you are too old to drive!
Speaking of nice cars, that's another running joke. Nice sedan = senior citizen. Beware. I'll add to that old truck = old farmer. Or sometimes shiny new one. My point is if it's driving like an old farmer, it probably is.
This next one is special. I mean really special and I'd never seen it before I moved down here. Stopping in the middle of the road and what...? I don't know, looking for a turn? Looking at a map or the directions? Looking at that thing over there? What??? I'm not talking about a country road. That's acceptable IF there's no one behind you. I'm talking about a divided highway with fast moving traffic. They just stop! Oh and there's no warning they are going to do something so stupid. You're clipping along at the speed limit or even over it, and then whoa...stop. Boy, have I been surprised by that brilliant move one too many times. And guess what? It's an old timer. You are not on the farm, dipstick!
Do I need to mention turn signals? Nobody...NOBODY...uses them! I want the guy behind me to know what I'm doing next. I really want to know what you intend to do. Is it that these old southern drivers didn't get drivers training? Oh that's right, they learned to drive on the farm in old trucks or tractors that didn't have turn signals. I want to know how in the hell they even pass a driver test when getting their license renewed. I think it should be mandatory every year after a certain age, and that would include the eye exam.
A little story about that. Back in the day, it was mandatory to take the written test every few years. I think now it's only required for those with a few accidents on record. I was renewing my license, and this little woman came up to me and begged me to help her with the test. I just looked at her and shook my head, and she looked back with pleading eyes, saying she didn't understand the questions. Or I don't know, maybe she couldn't read. Yeah right, lady. I'm going to help YOU get on the road. I watched as she went to other people. Don't know if she ever got it. Hope not. If she did find a soft-hearted but dumb soul, I hope he was as dumb as her and they both failed.
Where was I? Then there's the turns themselves. Most modern highways have right turn lanes. I see old drivers come to a near stop in the moving lane and then make the turn. The turn lane is so you can ease into the turn without disrupting traffic too much, you know. What did you think it was for...parking?
I'm going a little off topic now. Not much, this is still about the rules of the road. Now it's about shopping. Shopping carts, shopping aisles. Why do shoppers suddenly revert to British rules when driving their carts? If everybody drives on the right side, everybody keeps moving in an efficient fashion. Why is that so hard? It should be 2nd nature, you're already doing it in your car. Other things you can apply. Like looking before pulling out into an aisle.
One that annoys me to no end! Stopping in the middle of the aisle. Look around. Are there other people in the aisle? They probably want to go around you. Nooo. They have to excuse themselves, and usually louder than should be necessary, and more than once since you are oblivious. Pull the hell over! That's what you'd do on the road, isn't it? Isn't it???
It gets worse. Socializing in the middle of a busy aisle. Suddenly stop to chat with someone going the other way. Neither of you look around to see if this is a good place for a chat. I feel a bit uncomfortable having to interrupt your important conversation to say excuse me. And again more than once and louder since you didn't hear me the first time. One of the chatters is even facing me, but for some reason I went invisible.
I wish shopping carts had horns, or maybe those little hotel desk bells. Wouldn't that be cool? Not only would we get the oblivious ones' attention, it would get everyone's attention and they'd be embarrassed. Might get annoying but I think it's a fine idea. Maybe they'd learn.
I will admit that I'm guilty of occasionally stopping in the aisle without looking around. But I always realize what I've done right away and correct quickly.
One last rant. Cell phones. I notice if someone is following me too close, and I pump my brake lights in hopes they see I'm slowing down or coming to a stop. I'm really nervous if they have a phone stuck to their ear, and these days, 3 out of 5 do. If ever someone rear ends me while on the phone, I'm going to make the report call and then dash their fuckin phone on the ground!
It's polite to allow someone to pull in front of you when they are stuck in a parking lot waiting for a traffic jam to clear. I will let anyone in that position in. I'm just sitting there anyways, it's not going to slow me down any more. But if you are on the phone...no. Sit there and finish your damn call. You aren't paying attention anyways, so you won't notice me giving the go wave. I'm not going to sit there and wait for you to notice.
Well, I've gone on long enough about this. I will probably revisit this rant again sometime. There's more.
Good morning.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
