Kindle pretty much sucks a lot.  With an actual book you have tons more flexibility than you do with a kindle book, and in this digital age, that’s ridiculous.  Be sure to watch part 1 and 2.

Today I Die is a flash game by Daniel Benmergui featuring music by Hernan Rozenwasser.  Game is the wrong word.  It is a story, a deeply touching story about hope, perserverance, struggle, and love.  Today I Die beautifully combines imagery, poetry, and simple gameplay, and the music is the icing on the cake.  The last game to evoke so strong an emotional response from me was Beyond Good and Evil (particularly the conclusion).  If you have any respect for the art of video games, words, music, and emotion, you NEED to play this game.

Play it here

This article will attempt to expand on a point I briefly mentioned in an earlier article.

When it comes to the beginning of everything, many people of faith point to a single argument for the existence of a divine entity.  They will ask “What are the chances?”

What are the chances that…

The big bang produced all the elements of life in such a seemingly chaotic chemical chain reaction?

Those components formed stars, which then went supernova, eventually giving birth to planetoids?

Strong force, gravitation, electromagnetism, and weak force work perfectly in our favor?

Earth is perfectly situated  in the solar system to support human life?

Bacteria formed from non-living matter or that bacteria arrived to Earth from an asteroid impact?

Bacteria navigated the evolutionary chain to form humans after about a few hundred million years?

Out of 700 songs, the one that happens to be extremely relevant to my life at the moment decided to play when I hit the “shuffle” button?

And so on…

This, in my opinion, is quite literally a backwards way of thinking.  Let me explain…

Many people of faith believe that they were brought into existence, and then life, by an intelligent being of some kind. This belief presupposes that the observable universe is somehow meant for humans, that all the phenomena we witness has something to do with human existence.  This causes believers to see themselves as superior to, if not separate from nature in some way, and they take these conditioned beliefs with them when judging the universe.  They consider themselves a unique part of the universe, special because a divine being created them, or at least has a purpose for them.

And so they approach big questions with a big ego.  Because of their preconceived notions, they assume that, if indeed nature created humans, than it had to have been in defiance of the odds, and that leads them to the mistaken conclusion that an intelligence is behind it all.

I want people to completely abandon the notion that probability had anything to do with our successful evolution.  I want you to understand that we are not part of this universe; we are the universe.

Consider this

The Miller-Urey experiment in 1952 tested chemical evolution in a setting thought to be similar to early Earth atmospheric conditions.  From Wikipedia:

At the end of one week of continuous operation, Miller and Urey observed that as much as 10–15% of the carbon within the system was now in the form of organic compounds. Two percent of the carbon had formed amino acids that are used to make proteins in living cells, with glycine as the most abundant. Sugars, lipids, and some of the building blocks for nucleic acids were also formed.

The results of this experiment have been reproduced countless times since then, and it’s extremely important to know that many of the building blocks of life on Earth (sugars, lipids, amino acids, carbon, etc…) have been found on meteorites.

In April 2009 Paul G. Higgs and Ralph E. Pudritz of McMaster University in Ontario, published an experiment that tested a hypothesis that 10 of the most abundant amino acids can be formed in the universe regardless of the source.  In other words, the recipe for these certain amino acids is built into the universe.  The Abstract of the Higgs and Purditz journal article (emphasis added):

Of the twenty amino acids used in proteins, ten were formed in Miller’s atmospheric discharge experiments. The two other major proposed sources of prebiotic amino acid synthesis include formation in hydrothermal vents and delivery to Earth via meteorites. We combine observational and experimental data of amino acid frequencies formed by these diverse mechanisms and show that, regardless of the source, these ten early amino acids can be ranked in order of decreasing abundance in prebiotic contexts. This order can be predicted by thermodynamics. The relative abundances of the early amino acids were most likely reflected in the composition of the first proteins at the time the genetic code originated. The remaining amino acids were incorporated into proteins after pathways for their biochemical synthesis evolved. This is consistent with theories of the evolution of the genetic code by stepwise addition of new amino acids. These are hints that key aspects of early biochemistry may be universal.

If 10 of the 20 amino acids present in human biology, are in fact built into the universe, than it’s likely that another species of intelligent life would have some similarities to humans.  Intelligent life might be rare, but Humans are by no means special, much less superior to nature.

The implications of this are huge.  If it’s true that the recipe for life is built into the universe, what does that do to the belief that an intelligent force created life?  What does that do to the notion that Humans exist because we ‘beat the odds’?

There was some chance involved in the evolution of humans specifically, but not life in general.  But what I’m trying to get across is that humans aren’t separate from, or superior to nature, thus we are not the perfect beings that God(s) would have us believe we are.  Because of that, the probability of our existence doesn’t matter one bit.

You could make the very same ‘what are the chances?” argument for this, this, this, this, this, and this.

Try to look at it differently

I’ll play into the probability argument a little, if only to prove it even more inadequate.  Suppose the act of rolling a 20-sided die represented the big bang, and what ever the result was, that’s the universe that formed.  Let’s say I roll a 5, and that creates a universe similar to ours, and after a while, intelligent life forms in universe 5.  Well, obviously that intelligent life is going to wonder where it came from.

What are the chances that an intelligent life was formed from all those seemingly chaotic reactions?!!  Well, the chances were 1 in 20.

Now let’s say I roll it again to make a new universe, and this time I get a 7.  Universe 7 gives me intelligent life after a while, but it’s a helium based life form, and they aren’t made of flesh or blood.  But they still wonder:  what are the chances?

well, the chances are 1 in 20.

One last roll, this time, I get a 16, and that creates a universe that somehow doesn’t support the evolution of intelligent life.  In universe 16, no intelligent life is there to ask the question: what are the chances?

The chances that a roll of the d20 will create a universe without intelligent life? 1 in 20.

As far as we can tell, there is only one universe, so assuming that’s true, ask yourself this:

Do you think the intelligent life that could have been is wondering what the chances are?

The chance of it doesn’t matter one bit.  It’s difficult to explain it any better, so I hope you’ll stop looking at the universe with preconceived notions that you’re special, and start being humble.  You weren’t placed here by an intelligent being, you aren’t God’s conduit, and for those of you who have an abstract view of “God”, (i.e. a god of the gaps) I would ask you this:

Why not just save a step and say that the universe is eternal?

The words of Saint Thomas Aquinas:

“…As we attain to the knowledge of simple things by way of compound things, so must we reach to the knowledge of eternity by means of time, which is nothing but the numbering of movement by “before” and “after.” For since succession occurs in every movement, and one part comes after another, the fact that we reckon before and after in movement, makes us apprehend time, which is nothing else but the measure of before and after in movement. Now in a thing bereft of movement, which is always the same, there is no before or after. As therefore the idea of time consists in the numbering of before and after in movement; so likewise in the apprehension of the uniformity of what is outside of movement, consists the idea of eternity.”

We are the universe, go outside and look up.

for fuel.

More specifically, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is developing an Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot (EATR), designed for long range missions.  For fuel, it will take advantage of any fossil fuels and/or biomatter in it’s path, though regular gasoline can also be used.

Full Story

The below footage shows protestors overwhelming a few police officers.

Recently, Google responded to a letter written by privacy experts that urged the company to strengthen it’s focus on creating secure web applications.

Alma Whitten responded on Googles behalf, saying that Google is trialing https encryption methods for implementation in Gmail and other google apps.

Hooray!

I suspect these trials efforts apply to Google Wave as well.

The renowned biologist Charles Darwin, in his book The Origin of species, pointed to three culprits that make evolution inevitable:

Variation
If you have variation within a species (Different sized beaks, different sized turtle shells, etc.)…

Selection
And if you have a struggle to survive (wonder why elephants aren’t wondering all over the planet?)…

Heredity
And if the traits and/or survival skills are passed down to new members of a species over a time…

Then…
The later generations of a species would be better adapted to the environment then their parents.

If you have these three behaviors, then you MUST get evolution, or as Philosopher Daniel Dennet put it:

“Design out of chaos, without the aide of mind.”

Read the rest of this entry »

In this world there is a great deal of religious conflict between people of differing religious beliefs and between believers and nonbelievers. But these groups can all come together as one and express the same sentiment concerning their (lack of) belief in the Goddess N’da.

The Creed

Our creed concerning the Goddess N’Da is as follows:

There is no rational basis to believe in the Goddess N’Da.

We claim that everyone, no matter what their other beliefs may be, can agree with this creed.

Background

We will now outline some support for the above creed.

Evidence & Statistics

When we look at the usual pillars of faith, we can see little reason for belief in N’Da.

• Sacred texts: None known.
• Relevant historical events: None known.
• Churches: None known.
• Followers: None known.
• Scientific evidence: None known.

Based on this evidence, there appears to be no reasonable basis for anyone to believe in the Goddess N’Da. She is mentioned in no historic records, and appears to have had no followers at any time in the past. No miracles have been ascribed to her, no one is seen to pray to her, and no one has claimed to have performed any acts under her influence.

Newness Argument

Some people might argue that new religions arise over time, new gods appear and old ones appear to lose followers and die. According to such an argument, the lack of any past support for the Goddess N’Da may only be a sign that the earth was not yet ready for any revelation at all about her existence. In such a worldview, other religions may be seen as preparing the way for her.

A skeptic might wonder “Why Now?” and “Why N’Da?”. Before anyone can reasonably believe in the Goddess N’Da, it seems sensible to wait until there is some more concrete basis for belief (e.g., sacred texts, known followers, miracles or other supernatural occurrences attributed to the Goddess N’Da, claimed consequences for nonbelief, rewards for belief).

Faith

Some people say that to believe without any evidence whatsoever is a test of faith, and on that basis belief in the Goddess N’da would appear to be an act of profound faith. But similar or greater faith would be required to believe that crows are really aliens or that cushions are imbued with the spirits of the dead. There appears to be no good reason to choose to believe in the Goddess N’da compared to any other supernatural force or entity.

Direct Personal Revelation

Some people would claim that although external evidence is not required for faith, they have internal evidence to support their beliefs. They might say that one way to know the reality of the Goddess N’Da is simply to enter a contemplative state and seek revelation. For example, after you have read this paragraph and before reading the next one, close your eyes, relax, breathe slowly and deeply, focus, and take a few minutes to seek enlightenment about the Goddess N’Da. Ask her to reveal herself to you. This feeling of enlightenment can arrive as tingle that slowly builds across your body, a presence or eerie sensation, or simply a feeling of being loved. (Feel free to take a moment now and seek that sensation.)

_________________________________________________________________

Most people will feel something when they try the above exercise if they focus properly, given an appropriate open frame of mind, but we should not assume that they have actually felt the love of the Goddess N’Da. There are other, more rational, explanations, involving suggestion. No matter how profound the feeling appears to be (and for some people, the results can be dramatic), we can almost always explain those results as simply the result of suggestion.

Conspiracy Theories

Of course, one might ask why anyone would take the time to refute the existence of a nonexistent God with no known followers, and that doing so is clearly suspicious. “Why,” they might ask, “do they want us not to believe?”. A typical conspiracy explanation would be that followers of the Goddess N’Da have as a tenet of their faith the requirement that they only argue against the existence of the Goddess N’Da, in which case, vast numbers of people (including self-professed atheists!) could secretly be followers of the Goddess N’Da. Similarly, as Donald Rumsfeld said, “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence,” so the fact that there are no public records of N’Da showing her power and no public sacred texts does not mean that these things do not exist.

Like most conspiracy theories, this theory cannot easily be refuted, but Occam’s Razor suggests that given multiple explanations, we should prefer the simplest one. Thus, rather than suppose that there are lots of people who believe in the Goddess N’Da but do not admit it, which is somewhat paranoid, it is simpler to suppose that most people do not believe in the Goddess N’Da.

Gnostic vs Agnostic Views

In the creed, it merely states that there is no rational basis to believe in the Goddess N’Da. Some people might be willing to go further and explicitly state that the Goddess N’Da does not exist (gnostic viewpoint). Our suggested creed is more inclusive since it is accessible to agnostics who might be skeptical about the Goddess N’Da, but who, nevertheless, cannot completely rule out the possibility of her existence.

Unresolved Questions

One last unresolved question that remains is one we raised in the conspiracy section: If there is no Goddess N’Da, why talk about her at all? We might also note that the entire tone of this document is careful to avoid making an outright statement on the existence of the Goddess N’Da, which allows the possibility that its author(s) actually (secretly) believe.

In this case, Occam’s Razor would still lead us to prefer the explanation that this page is an elaborate joke or thought experiment written by one individual than that the Goddess N’Da is the one true god who demands that most patience and faith, whose love is received in private contemplation, and whose existence must never be acknowledged except to oneself.

Reposted from: http://nda.jottit.com/