Tag: Universe
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Why Something rather than Nothing?
Despite human knowledge having steadily increased, there are still unanswered questions. Perhaps the first is, why is there something rather than nothing? Putting on our philosophical hat, we need to clarify what we mean by ‘nothing’. The SOED suggests “a non-existent thing”, which sounds like a self-contradiction, since the same dictionary defines a ‘thing’ as…
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Rediscovering Death
The title of this post might cause some not to read it. That’s a pity, I think, since death is the one certainty in life, so why not think about it? It may well be that when we die, we’ll no longer exist. This universe in which we find ourselves will assuredly come to an…
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Intelligent Design?
I find interesting the “New Atheism” versus “Intelligent Design” confrontation (most trenchant in the USA), which can have the ‘appearance’ of science versus religion. Prominent new atheists are Richard Dawkins and the late Christopher Hitchens, and on my shelves are “The God Delusion” and “God Is Not Great”, both superbly written, containing plenty I agree…
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Let There Be Light !
The Greek philosopher Thales had an idea that was right and wrong. He thought there must be one thing from which all others were made, and decided this was water. It’s one thing, yet it can be solid, liquid or gas, and it’s essential for life – dead things dry up. That was a reasonable…
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What is (or are) Real?
Since this is so counter-intuitive, and goes against ‘common-sense’, let’s have another go at asking the question, what is real at the most fundamental level? What can we say about the most basic building blocks of all that exists? This doesn’t seem like an unimportant question, because I’m part of whatever it is that’s real.…
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NOW you see it ! NO you don’t ! (ii)
The difference between appearance and reality is counter-intuitive, and hard to grasp. If we value integrity, authenticity and actuality – the facts about how things are – we must have the courage to follow Alice down the rabbit hole, and discover how mind-bendingly full of wonders is fundamental reality. We need to let our imaginations…
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Let me tell you where I am (ii)
Borrowing from ‘Dragons’ Den’ tradition, in my previous post I decided that “I’m out” as far as the phrase “Intelligent Design” is concerned if it’s implying that, at the source of all that is, there’s a ‘Personal Designer’. ‘God’, for me, is more like an evolving trail and error ‘process’. It can’t be a ‘once…
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Let’s get ‘Real’
Assuming we’re not hostile to Science for religious or other reasons, we really ought to take on board some of its newest findings, however strange or disturbing some of them might seem to be, especially if we’re at all interested in being ‘real’. Imagine you’re sitting at a table. It has a flat top, and…
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The Search for Meaning (ii)
As a follow-on from the previous post, let’s consider how our universe began with a bang to end all bangs, a cataclysmic origin that might suggest that any resulting universe should be extremely disorderly, if not completely chaotic. Surprise, surprise! Ours is developing in accordance with ‘laws’ which we can mathematically formulate and experimentally verify.…
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The Search for Meaning (i)
Does human life have a meaning? Paradoxically, perhaps, Richard Dawkins seems to suggest the only possible meaning of life is, it’s meaningless! Here’s a typical quote – “Nature is not cruel, only pitilessly indifferent. This is one of the hardest lessons for humans to learn. We cannot admit that things might be neither good nor…
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