Posts Made By: Paul Kammueller

If any entity knew literally everything, then it would not be conscious. The absorption and processing (or reprocessing in different permutations, as in reminiscing) of information is the very essence of awareness. If you knew *everything*, you would have already processed every bit of information that ever could be processed, and every way in which it could have been re-processed, and there would be no information-processing event left to perform to give you consciousness. To know everything is to be mentally static, to realize a state of intellectual nirvana and absolute death of thought all at the same time.

Note also, that once a bear-market bottom is reached, it takes only about a year to run from the bottom of the channel to the mid-point (i.e. 'revert to the mean'), but then it takes another 7 to 8 years to run from that midpoint to the top of the channel (where 'optimistic peaks' occur).

Astronomy has, for me, outlasted any belief system that I've been through. Astronomy and space spans my life and defines the stages in it. I sat on the floor in my diapers watching the Apollo flights blast off on a tiny black and white TV. I have been looking up at the heavens since grade school, stared at Jupiter, Saturn, the Moon and Venus at the eyepiece all through puberty, first sketched Mars when I got my driver's license, sketched it again when I was 20 and in college living in an apartment, watched the impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter shortly after moving in with my girlfriend, sketched Mars again last summer from the backyard of my own house, that I bought with my wife (who was also the girlfriend during Shoemaker-Levy 9) 7 years ago, through the telescope I built myself 2 years ago, and last year showed my 5-year-old daughter the moon through the telescope as well.

In all this time I've been through a number of religious belief systems, not to mention jobs, relationships, homes, etc. Astronomy has been the singular constant in my life, it is my center. There is something very profound-feeling about the Universe and its existence and our place in it that goes way beyond the zoo of angels, demons and other supernatural creatures that populate what passes for religion in our society. I'm still searching for truth. But when I arrive at a destination, or if I do, and from now until then, the sky will always be there, beckoning.

True -- church bells have never bothered me either, and that certainly is a public, widely audible call to worship as well.

I dunno though. There's a lot not being answered here. Like, what range will it be, how many decibels are we talking? Freedom of religious expression is one thing, disturbing the peace is another. What does it sound like? Is it right in a residential area? What is the likely quality of life impact to those living nearest the speakers? What kind of speakers are we talking -- Super-Duper Quadrophonic 3D Stereo SurroundSound, or 1960's riot-gear bullhorns?

You have a none-too-clear clash or rights of two groups here, and there are plenty of subtleties of the situation such as those mentioned above that would sway people's opinion one way or the other.

OMG this is so amazingly cool, I had no idea this event existed! Thanks for the link, Xtine

This post reminds me of a great little monologue from the TV sci-fi series Babylon 5. The Narn ambassador, G'Kar, goes on a little discourse about an ant he observes while walking through the station. While talking of some of the more mysterious alien races he picks up an ant and asks an accompanying human "what do you call this" and he is told it is an ant -- it is one of my favorite TV quotes ever:

"...I just picked it up on the tip of my glove. If I put it down again and it asks another ant 'what was that?' how would it explain? There are things in the Universe billions of years older than either of our races. They are vast, timeless, and if they are aware of us at all, it is as little more than ants and we have as much chance of communicating with them as an ant has with us. We know. We've tried and we've learned that we can either stay out from underfoot or be stepped on. They are a mystery and I am both terrified and reassured to know that there are still wonders in the Universe, that we have not explained everything."

My views:

I believe that time, the universe, and causality make a certain orderly sense. Effects follow certain causes. In short, I do not believe that the Universe, or life developing in it, requires constant miracles to keep it running on an even keel. The Universe is not so badly designed.

At quantum levels it would appear that sheer probability and random chance can dictate the occurrence of certain events or the existence of certain things and that this world of statistical probabilities forms the bedrock of existence.

It would seem to me that randomness can get balls rolling. Forces, natural laws, time flow, cause-and-effect, keep the balls rolling.

If space, or multi-dimensional hyperspaces, is/are infinite in extent outside our universe (small 'u') -- that is, there is an infinitely expansive all-encompassing Universe (capital 'U') then any thing, any Universe that is possible, i.e. non-zero probability, must exist 'somewhere' or 'somewhen' in spacetime.

In short, if spacetime is infinite, then our existence, and that of life in general, or a Universe conducive to its formation, is statistically forced.

If all your sins have been forgiven via sacrifice 2000 years ago, why live a moral life? If you're Christian you're an automatic shoo-in for Heaven no matter what you do, right? So why not just do what you want?

Or, conversely, if everyone falls short in God's eyes, then why bother trying?

>>If when I die I will not face any judgment or punishment for sin, I should be having a drug induced, hedonistic orgy every night. And if someone says I shouldn't do that, beat the crap out of them.<<

...and if they're bigger than you...?

BTW, show me one single study that shows that a life of violent crime and drug abuse leads to long-term happiness.

>>Remember the Zodiac killer. Since he was never captured, he would never be punished for killing all those people.<<

And if he believed in Christ, then he would not be punished in the afterlife either, would he?