The “A” square is the same color as the “B” square.. Impossible to believe but its true. My color picker turns out both squares as color #787878 .. Simply amazing.
Have a look at the creator’s site for explanations etc. I’m also a big fan of this one: The Kofka Ring.
Creation vs evolution is the age old battle that many people are still locking horns over today. In the past, evolution was thought to be blasphemy, and people were condemned for even thinking of something along the lines of God not creating, but something evolving on its own. then came modern science, which we now use to prove that creation is just some myth that Christians hold onto and try to spread despite the ‘irrefutable proof’ that creation is just a bunch of junk. well heres an interesting thought that at this point, is beating down evolution again and bringing the spotlight back onto creation. actually, there’s two different thoughts…
thought #1) imagine this. you’re a ruthless art dealer, who will do anything to make money, even sell fakes to people and stuff. the fakes have to be good right? they need to make people think that there was a history to them. They need to see the brush marks, smell the old paint, feel the roughness accumulated with time, right? they need to believe that it took an artist months, even years, to create it, right? well with a fake, it could take only days to produce something that looks like its lasted for a century or two. its easy. just look at movie props, they all look pretty authentic, at least most of time. now suppose you enlarge this idea to a cosmic scale. imagine God created an already working universe, meaning that everything was built into it to look like it too billions of years to make and evolve. suppose evolution is a cloud that we cant see past because we cant fully comprehend the thought of something creating an already working universe. its like trying to see whats past the event horizon of a black hole, you just cant. maybe we were all created to think that we evolved and the earth took billions of years to make. There’s even a study thats saying the speed of light is slowing down exponentially, and that a few centuries/ millenia ago the speed of light was almost instantaneous, and could travel billions of light years faster than it takes your eye to send these words to your brain. anyways, I’ll continue this thought some other time
thought #2
i don’t know how many of you are familiar with the Krebs cycle, or glycolisis. both are cycles in biology that require many amino acids that are hundreds of proteins long to function. each protein takes a certain amount of ATP (cellular energy) to assemble and to connect to other proteins. Also, the Krebs cycle is completely useless unless it is FULLY completed. Another thing, the net product of these cycles is usually just a couple of ATP. now if each cycle took hundreds upon hundreds of proteins and ATP to create, and only produce a few ATP, its not very efficient now is it? And according to the current model of evolution, we evolved from single celled organisms. and according to evolution, only the most efficient members of the species will survive, and the others die out (Darwinism). now, if you think about it, I’m pretty sure that none of our current organs were present inside the first cells…. and how efficient is half a stomach? or a lung without alveoli (those little air sacs, not sure on the spelling) not too efficient right? now, how do you suppose that those organs came about? why would any member of a species bother to expend energy to create that organ? those things don’t just appear…..they supposedly millions of years to create, and until they are fully functional, they are just plain useless. and same thing with the Krebs cycle. Its completely useless unless fully completed, and it takes thousands of ATP to create the cycle to produce just a couple of ATP. pretty damn inefficient if you ask me. How did the cycle come about? Again, why would an organism expend extra energy, energy that it should be using to ensure its survival, use it to create a fraction of an organ, or cycle, when either one is completely useless to the current species? it seems to me that evolution has a lot of explaining to do
OK that was kind of hard to type, it all just sorta came to me after hearing an interesting point that a friend made. I’ll clean it up later, but i just wanted to leave you with those thoughts…
Okay, you guys have been complaining about how utterly boring this site has gotten, so I think it is time to wheel out the big guns. We’ve been talking about some pretty deep issues (my favorite kind) here, but I think this one might top them. The deal with this post is, I’ve got a question, and I need some help answering it. You guys have never let me down before, so don’t get discouraged that the entire scientific community hasn’t found the answer to this one yet. I have faith in you (even though I am terminally against faith :smile:) so that should be reassuring.
In order to properly ask this question, I’m gonna need a demonstration. I would like you to extend you arm so that it is perfectly straight. Okay, now bend your arm. How did you do that? (this is the first part of the question.)
Most of the answer I have pertains to the laws of physics as I know them. But I’m still baffled by the end. Okay, I’ve gotten this far: Your biceps contracted, and pulled your forearm along with it. Not a big deal, simple mechanical advantage. So why did your muscle contract? An nerve impulse, an actual electrical shock released by your motor neurons that are buried in the muscle fibers. Totally acceptable, a muscle will do this with just any old shock actually, and it doesn’t even have to be inside you body. There are other non-organic substances that will react similarly, so this is still gettable. Okay, where did the shock come from? It began in your brain, traveled along your spinal column and into your outer nervous system, where it travel along a nerve until it reached the muscle. Simple conductivity, right? But how was the electricity created? From the chemical breakup of the food you eat of course! That’s where all the energy in you body comes from!!!
Now, here’s where I need all your guys’ help. Here’s the question: What directed this impulse to the nerve that leads to your arm? Well, lets look at the cause. It had something to do with the light coming out of your computer screen while you were reading that second paragraph. For some reason, that light went though your two optical organs, the information was converted into an electrical impulse and carried down your optical nerve to the brain. Something happened there, I don’t know what, something just from that pattern of light, that your brain somehow processed, and that told your arm to move.
Let’s think now. Is there anything else in nature that would move simply because it saw a certain pattern of light. I can’t think of anything. This is a trait only demonstrated in living, thinking beings. The ability to process this information and come up with a desired reaction. Somethin’s goin’ on up in our heads that just isn’t natural.
So what is it? What is this consciousness that you and other humans, and possibly other animals to a certain extent, posses? What is this force?
Okay, lets take a step back. Lets look at animals. Lets look at very, very simple animals. Lets look at jellyfish. Think about these guys. They float around in the water all day, and while they do move, there movement is almost the exact same thing for their entire lives. Just a gentle pulse, that sends them moving along with the current. I have very little doubt that these creatures do not posses the same level of consciousness we do, if any at all. There minds are programed, much like a computer, to have a limited number of reactions for every action. Sure, you poke them, they recoil, but then they just go right back to their gentle pulsation. Even the simplest computer in the world can mimic that level of consciousness.
So at what point is life more than just a programmed action/reaction, when does that consciousness come about? That’s why you can’t have artificial intelligence, right? There’s this consciousness that make the things humans do more than just action/reaction.
I’m not sure how well this example applies, it kind of demonstrates the power of our minds, but here’s another example. Close your eyes and picture a blueberry muffin. (I meant once you had finished the sentence!) Where is the muffin? You can see it, right? And if you have a good imagination, you can touch it, smell it, and taste it, too. You can simulate all properties of it’s existence, even though it is simply a figment of your imagination. (Kinda makes you wonder, what if all of us are just a figment of some superbeing’s imagination. It would be inteldesign! Of course, that would mean nothing as we know it exists, and were faced with the problem of reality melting again. Bummer!)
Go ahead and chew on that for a while. I’ll speculate more when I hear you guys’ responses. (BTW, this is not an argument, Jackie, this is just a speculation. You don’t have take on the responsibility of taking up an opposing side.)
Last night I went to see the film “What the Bleep Do We Know?” with a few of my very good chums. It brought up many topics that seemed perfect for discussion with this fine group of thinkers. All you guys that haven’t had better go and see it so you can be included in this discussion, or else you’ll be left in the dust.
Okay, my personal take on the movie: I am very interested in this revolutionary idea of quantum physics, though I have not yet been very well informed in the field until yesterday. So the first half of the movie was riveting for me, learning these new hypotheses and theories on the physics of probability. But I thought the second half about the bio-chemistry and cell receptors got very repetitive, and was mostly unnecessary. It was definitely an interesting idea about individual cells becoming addicted to certain chemicals, or emotions in the bloodstream, were talking about only that for much too long. It started to sound more like some dumb psychologist’s “self-help” video that wanted to sound all smart just by talking about the science and bio-chemistry of your emotions. I didn’t need that; I feel just fine about myself and don’t need any help controlling my emotions. But that’s just me; I can totally see how that would help some people, just not me. I want to hear more about how all of matter is really just a condensed thought.
I thought they did a very good job of tying all these interviews and explanations into the life of a speech-impedimented photographer. Didn’t seem like it would work at first, but it turned out to be pretty well executed.
A thought I had while watching the movie: When was the last really revolutionary scienctist? It was probably Einstei and his major work was in the sixties. I’m not talkin’ about someone that only people on High School science bowl teams recognize, I’m talking about the people that all the public, even the uneducated people know. Everyone knows einstein came up with E=mc2, everyone knows Galileo invented the telescope, and Newton discovered gravity, but if you asked a random person on the street who Enrico Fermi is, they probably wouldn’t be able to tell you that he’s credited for splitting the atom and creating the atomic bomb. So Fermi doesn’t count, but the others are known revolutionary scientists, and there haven’t been any of them since Einstein. I’ll betcha the next one discovers something about quantum physics. Quantum physics has so much potential to change the way we see the universe, but it’s still got quite a few kinks to work out. So it seems logical that whoever irons out these kinks and is able to make quantum physics real for everyone will be the next Einstein. Just a thought…
So now I want to go read a book on quantum physics. Does anyone know any good ones? I don’t want one that’s all math and proves everything in about six different ways that I don’t know anything about, but I also want one that’s not dumbed down so much it fails to stimulate my mind. If anyone has any recommendations, it would be greatly appreciated.
~Nella
The human mind is the most perplexing masterpiece of all time. It has managed to manipulate all other species on this earth and take control.
I would like to focus, at least for this topic, on religion. I would like to look at this from a sterilized scientific point of view, and I do not mean to offend anyone who has a religion. I’m sure many of the things I am about to discuss directly contradict many established teachings…so bear with me. I am also aware that this topic has been discussed many times in the past by many people, but I’m tossing it around so that we can do it too 
.
Why have humans created themselves a higher power? Many religions sprung up with the creation of civilization, each independantly of the other. At some point, most people on Earth decided they needed something to blame, worship, love, use, etc. They then got the notion stuck in their heads that there was a higher power (or in some cases, multiple powers). Many have used this imagined power to justify their actions. The Crusades were a great example.
So it all boils down to one thing. Where did we get this idea in the first place? Does it satisfy some need or fill some void in our souls? My personal take: We need Greatness. Something with absolute control and power. We want to be ruled. We want to have someone/something to turn to when all other venues of sympathy have been exhausted. Humans, being social organisms, create themselves an overlord.
The key to religion is mob psychology. People need to have other people with common beliefs and ideals. It is a great conversation starter, discussing such topics. All successful religions have developed a devout following.
Throughout all this, I’ve painted religion as sort of an ugly and childish solution to our problems. Personally, I think it’s great. I respect everyone with beliefs. I think they build character, make people nicer, and easier to deal with. Religion is a great release for stressed out humans, it creates diversity, and nourishes intellectual discussions.
Hey Fellas and Jackie and whoever else might be reading this,
I thought long and hard about what my first post would be on Andrew’s regal website. One of my first thoughts was to inform everyone about my brilliant plans to design and build an electro-magnetic canon, but can’t, for fear of my idea being stolen by someone with more initiative than I.
I think it would be opportune of me to use this space given graciously by andrew to erase any doubts that anyone out there has about the existance of extra-terrestrial bodies of marijuana. In addition to my being able to prove the existance of a single “planet of pot,” I can easily continue to prove an infinite amout of them. There really is no stopping me
Okay, now, this proof will only work if everyone out there agrees that there is the possibility that a planet of pot exists. There is, and if you don’t think so, go talk to Mrs. Sorg. Now I’ve also run into a slight snag with people having a slightly misinformed fundamental understanding of the universe/space. I’m not sure exactly how accurate this is, but for reasons of understanding in this blog, I will refer to “space” as all of everything that’s out there, and “the universe” as this giant clump of matter that we believed to have originated from a singular point of matter. Now that we have everything straightened out, I can continue.
While our universe may be finite, Space is infinite. No matter how far you go, there will always be something more. It may be a void for a very, very, very long way, but no matter what you can keep going. People have often argued, “Well what if you reached the end?” It is possible that somewhere out there, there is an impenetrable barrier, but even so, there has got to be something beyond it. No matter how far you go, there will always be more.
I also know that there is more matter outside of our universe. The fact that matter occured here tells us that there is a possiblilty that matter can occur, therefore it will occur again somewhere due to the fact that space is indeed infinite. An infinite number of monkeys at typewriters will give you Shakespeare, an infinite space will give you matter. But not only will it give you matter, it will give you an infinite amount of matter. Lets keep thinking about it in terms of monkeys. You walk down the line of monkeys at type writers, and eventually you find one that’s got the complete works of Shakespeare. What if you kept going? Eventually you’d find another, and then another. With infinite monkeys, you’ve also got an infinite number of Shakespeares.
So we apply both these things to this aforementioned planet. If there is a possibility of the existance of a planet of pot, then eventually you’ll find one. In the infinite expanse of space, there’s going to be, not only one, but an infinite number of pot planets. Quod Eras Demonstratum.
This topic is probably better for discussion, so please comment. Any angry rants about how utterly wrong I am are most welcome. 
Out
∼Nella