God, the universe, and the meaning of life
These are fundamental existential questions that have intrigued me for as long as I can remember, and ones that I want answers to (or at least some of them) before I kick the proverbial bucket. To quote a dream theater song, “where did we come from, why are we here, where do we go when we die?”
The catechisms offered by classical religions on the origins and purpose of life and the universe have never convinced me; the idea of an anthropomorphic designer is appealing and, altogether, a very human explanation of what we observe in the natural world. But science has showed us that there are other possibilities - equally human but far more compelling.
Take for instance the origins of our planet. Most of us don’t give it a second thought - the Earth is here just because it is. And while it is true that our planet has been around for the better part of 4 billion years, the details of its formation contains some rather interesting twists. Virtually
Some billions of years ago and light years away from our solar system, there was a massive star that had exhaused its supply of nuclear fuel. As it finally collapsed and exploded in spectacular fashion, it returned most of its matter to back to the cosmos. In the depths of space, gravity condensed and stirred the stellar dust that gradually accreted to form the sun and planets of the solar system.
On earth, organic molecules which had been cooked and manufactured in the furnaces of stars slowly began the arduous process of natural selection. Initially, these molecules were clumsy and were only capable of making crude copies of themselves. These were not, by any standards, anything we could term “life”. After millions of years, these molecular machines became more sophisticated and better at copying themselves. Collectives of organic molecules evolved to single-celled organisms, which in turn gave rise to multi-celluar organisms that make up all the flora and fauna on the planet, including human beings.
From the dust of dying stars, to life. The take home lesson here is that we are all intimately tied to universe. Its easy to think you’re only been around for a “few decades”. But all of the physical matter that makes up “you” have been around since almost the beginning of time. In a very real way, we all are all literally made of star stuff. We are all stardust.
Increasingly, scientists believe that life is not unique on earth and that it may be very common across the galaxy indeed. It has long been known that the organic building blocks of life, complex amino acids, are virtually ubiquitous across the cosmos. So it appears that life itself is natural, thermodynamically and chemically driven process that happens naturally, given enough time for evolution to occur and according to estimates using the Drake equation, there should be many more intelligent, sentient civilizations in our galaxy.
That consciousness should arise is no accident, either. After all, there are plenty of creatures that go about their business like biological automatons without any real sense of self. So the real question that ought to be raised is: why has sentience evolved? What purpose does it serve, and how does it fit into the grand scheme of things?
Hey You,
I’m just a passer-by who chanced upon your site and am suitably piqued by this post of yours to want to reply. I think you should look into these books in your pursuit of the answers:
The Quantum Brain: The Search for Freedom and the Next Generation of Man [http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Brain-Search-Freedom-Generation/dp/0471441538/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208024355&sr=8-1]
Cracking the Bible Code
[http://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Bible-Code-Jeffrey-Satinover/dp/068815994X/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208024364&sr=8-6]
Give them a chance; I don’t think you’d have wasted your time. You should be able to get them at any good bookstore; or, just head to the ever trusty Amazon.com
Tell me what you think of them alright (my email is real; you can reply there)?
Ciao!
Hi there, stranger!
To be honest, I’m a bit critical of authors who try to promote the “bible code” in any shape or form. Like an amazon reviewer astutely points out:
“…Given that each book of the Torah contains tens of thousands of consonants with an infinite number of wild cards to go between them and thousands of ways of trying to skip through this pile of letters, the truth is that it’s inconceivable that the decoders couldn’t find a hidden message for any event, no matter how small”
And of course, another major problem is that all the predictions are made retroactively. I recall reading a while back that some researchers applied the same “bible code” technique to Harry Potter, and supposedly found events like the JFK assasination and world war 2.
Still, I appreciate your recommendation and will check out “The Quantum Brain”. Lemme finish reading that and I’ll get back to you.
David
Excelente!
I can’t wait to hear what you think about The Quantum Brain. Are you able to get it readily where you are?
And to think you’re called ‘David’ - like ‘John’ or ‘Joe’, it does evoke feelings of dependability and warmth in others, don’t you think? I bet you’re a sure winner when it comes to the girls, eh? =)
iCuidados!
Bruno
Bruno,
I’ll check out the local borders this weekend. In the unlikely event that they don’t carry it, I’ll just get it off amazon. Shipping will be a bitch, though.
I’m not so sure about the winner when it comes to girls thing (check out my post on Feb 18th). Never had much luck with the ones who mattered, anyway.
David
David,
Cue that you’re not from the U.S.: “…I’ll just get it off amazon. Shipping will be a bitch…”. So which country are you from?
If you can’t source it from your local Borders, I can ship it to you if you’d like; it’d be on me.
As for girl trouble, you ought to check this out:
http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Love-Want-20th-Anniversary/dp/0805087001/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208694279&sr=8-1
Unless you’re aesthetically unpleasing (got a picture?), you do sound like the rare guy most girls don’t know they should want; but this begs the question: what qualities do you look for in a girl/which are the girls that catch your eye?
Hasta luego!
Bruno