Wednesday, June 25, 2014

                   ORION PRESENTS CRAZIES
        by Richard DePersio Janus Citizen Journalist

Orion: "Urania is visiting Uranus. Prior to her departure, she 
            requested that I present at her comsat. I'm new to
            CJCS Comsats. I wish that Artemis was here. We'd
            be able to hunt the 'smokey dragon,' a few floors
            down."
Three of our favorite quotes:
            "Your profession is not what brings home
             your weekly paycheck.
             Your profession is what you are put
             here on earth to do with such passion and
             such intensity that it becomes a spiritual
             calling."                         -Vinny van Gogh
            "I can calculate the motions of heavenly bodies,
             but not the madness of people."
                                                 -Sir Newton
             "If I have seen further than others, it is by
              standing on the shoulders of giants."
                                                 -Sir Newton
Orion: "He was referring to the following GIANTS:
            Copernicus; Tycho Brahe; Galileo; Kepler. Note: 
            Some scientific celebrities are recognized by only one
            name like the absolutely unscientific Elvis and 
            Madonna (and B.O. -two letters). Shocking: 
            modesty and sharing credits weren't Isaac's usual 
            modus operandi.(CJ is president of the U.S. chapter
            of the Newton fan club).
           
Some psychologists, employing hindsight, suspect that genius
Vinny had A.D.D.
CJ: "I have A.D.D. I am more then most - A.D.D.ed CJ." RD:
"I lost track of what you were saying."
Some psychologists, employing hindsight, suspect the genius
Newton had 'Asperger's Syndrome. See "WebMD for best
definition.
CJ: "I may or may not have six of the eleven symptoms."
RD: "You're crazy! CJ: "Look at my handwriting." RD: "You
look at your handwriting. Next thing you'll claim to have
multiple personalities!!!"
You (reader): "A.D.D.-ing - distracted? Does first section have
something to do with second section in even a subtle way?"
                                 THE END
CJ: "I beckoned you. RD: "Your using the symptoms of a child
with this condition." CJ: "Look at my posture. Most symptoms
are virtually the same for adults and children. RD: "This isn't
our normal modus operandi: writing short articles." CJ: "I
like dinosaurs." 
                                 THE END
CJ: "As Columbo would say: 'Just one more thing.' van Gogh,
Newton and me RD: "Say it." CJ: ...
                                "THE END"

************************************************

       ADDENDUM to ADDENDUM to SUPPLEMENT
        PLATO's MAN-In-The-HOLOGRAPHIC-CAVE
                           (Info is one floor down)
A PROBLEM for SCIENCE: OXYGEN
Yes, our dear friend oxygen which we love so much.
      Scientists suspect that life originated in primordial ponds
or tidal pools or the ocean or hot water vents on the bottom
of the ocean.
      If oxygen were present (Orion: "I thought that I was
finished.) amino acids, sugars, purines (necessary in DNA and
RNA formation), etc. couldn't form for they react with oxygen
 to produce carbon dioxide and water.
      Scientists have proposed an early atmosphere without
free oxygen consisting of: carbon dioxide; carbon monoxide;
free hydrogen; water vapor resulting in life. Older models 
included methane and ammonia.
      This model precludes ozone (oxygen 3) which protects
the earth from the sun's ultraviolet rays. Without the ozone
layer, organic molecules would be broken down shortly
after they formed and have no chance of becoming complex.
      Atmosphere with oxygen - amino acids, etc. can't form --
result: no life; atmosphere without oxygen - no ozone --
result: no life.
      Note: A reducing atmosphere (one with free hydrogen)
is theoretical and not supported by evidence while a
oxidizing atmosphere is backed by evidence going back
billions of years (including, the oxidation of ferrous irons in
early rocks).
      Note: The oldest life is in rocks that are 3.7 billion years
old and are likely cyanobacteria which in time learned to
form colonial bacteria which eventually led to multicellular
organisms. Cyanobacteria produces oxygen via
photosynthesis which created our oxidizing atmosphere.
This still doesn't get us out of the dilemma: how did the
cyanobacteria form? It's truly a catch-22 situation!
      A Love Note: We can't live with you and we can't live
without you. One thing is certain: we love you, sweet
oxygen.
A PROBLEM for RELIGION: HERACLES 
(Orion: "Hey! I know him.")
Heracles (to the Greeks, it's all Greek to us at our comsats;
 you probably know him better by his Roman name, 
Hercules) was beset with ten 'labors': five for his salvation
 and five for humanities'. He whooped them all with style. It 
resulted in a depression (CJ: "Depression is the most 
commonly diagnosed psychological problem. I got that!
As genius Isaac Asimov and genius Isaac Newton - I
share two with the latter). A god-sized depression for he
 was half-man (human mother) and half-god --- sound
 familiar!?! Heracles realized it would be ten labors after ten
 labors ad nauseum...yes, it probably would have gotten 
nauseous but it would be better to say...ad infinitum.
       He opted to end it all by having himself consumed
in a fire. Zeus, the king of the gods and Heracles father
resurrected him from the dead and in the process
transformed him from a demi-god into a full god ---
sound familiar!?!
       Heracles' story is much older than Jesus' story. The 
former ascended to Mt. Olympus while the latter
 ascended to Heaven. 

(Throughout "Plato's Man-in-the-Cave Series," we have
 remained fair and balanced. Plato: "I wouldn't have it
any other way.").
(RD/CJ (together again): Info on our other comsats is
 one stage down).

       




Tuesday, April 29, 2014

                                         SMOKY DRAGON not INVITED!!!
                                   Article Proper, three floors down
                                   Supplement, two floors down
                                   Addendum. one floor down
                                                 (Calliope-Doyle-DePersio Joint)
                                   "Headlines in Search of Articles" at
                                                 www.rickcmtsite.blogspot.com
                                   Our three other comsats:
                                                 www.pan-multiverse.blogspot.com
                                                 www.quasarpolitical.blogspot.com
                                                 www.cj-rickaddsite.blogspot.com
                                    Click or type. If you have trouble 
                                                 connecting, try: Facebook Richard
                                                 DePersio (Followers) or Facebook
                                                 Second American Revolution
                                                 (Everyone) or Twitter @rickaddsite


             ADDENDUM to SUPPLEMENT (with its own name!):
                   PLATO's MAN-in-the-HOLOGRAPHIC CAVE*
                     by Richard DePersio Janus Citizen Journalist
                        Coming Soon:    LIVE with Special Guests LIVE
(Expanded Version)
Let's hark back (or down) to Supplement: Could a wolf have 
sufficient consciousness to work its magic on the smoky 
dragon of the moon to bring it into view in order to howl at it or 
a dog entering the living room doing the self-same to the TV in 
order to watch "Lassie"?
        Could a camera replace the conscious being in the cat
paradox? Could the self-same camera cause the early universe
to spring into existence if attached to a telescope? Many
physicists who our uncomfortable dealing with the
problematic issue of consciousness subscribe to the view that a
camera can suffice.
        Yet another description of consciousness!
        "A good analogy of  is explained here based on work by
Giulio Tononi (a pizzona!).**Imagine the difference between 
the image of an apple to your brain and a digital camera. The raw
image is the same whether on a camera screen or in your head.
The camera treats each pixel independently and doesn't 
recognize an object. Your brain, however, will combine parts of
the image to identify an object, that it is an apple and that it
is food. Here the camera can be seen as 'unconscious' and the
brain as 'conscious.'
                              -Oliver Freeman, The Brain Bank (website)
Can only homo sapiens work their magic on the 'dragon,' at
least as regards the early universe!?! Is it fundamentally info
in the form of math within the smoky dragon which collapses
to form the TV, fossil, moon and young galaxies in early cosmos?
Was Plato right in concepts, including, numbers having an
existence independent of us?
       The amount of info contained within a black hole isn't
determined by its volume but by the the amount of inner surface
 on its event horizon. Imagine goldfish in a bowl; it is three-
dimensional and moves in three dimensions.Its two-dimensional
image is on the inner surface of the fish bowl containing all
the info about the fish and its movements. We're talking
holograms here. Which fish is real!?!
        Could we reside in a holographic universe with all the info
within concerning galaxies, stars, planets, you and I projected on 
the inner part of the edge of the observable universe. Are you or
 hologram real - each containing the self-same info!?!
        It is most disconcerting to learn that in a recent poll 50%
of Americans don't accept the BIG Bang as the explanation for
the origin of the universe (only 10% take Genesis literally; the
rest are in the dark). For the evidence for the BIG Bang is
overwhelming, perhaps, it's do to speculations gone wild like
'smoky dragons. They shouldn't throw the baby out with the
bath water.
         On the one hand, God of the Old Testament (or Jewish Bible,
as our Chosen People prefer) commits infanticide on three
occasions while God of the New Testament sacrifices Himself
to Himself in an effort to save humanity from Himself. On the
other hand, smoky dragons and multi-universes. You shouldn't
be dissuaded  from accepting classical physics and Al's 
Relativity, though weird, proven conclusively as our aspects of 
quantum physics. Don't Kaku: it's bad science to accept
 mathematically-proven speculation as fact with little, if any, 
observational and experimental proof. Fascinating as it may be: 
dark matter and dark energy; positive and negative matter
 -matter/antimatter, yes, but no evidence for positive and
negative matter or worm hole or more then three spatial 
dimensions. Yes: wave/particle duality. No: Strings, where's the
 beef!?! We must demand inductive and deductive reasoning;
rationalism and empiricism. Don't settle for less!
         Speculations after decades of studying the issues ( but not 
 Kaku-ing; pure speculation not dressed as fact; take with a grain 
of negative matter): 1) The existence of the Biblical God - 5%; 
The existence of heaven - 10%; the reality of a deist or pantheist
 (with consciousness) god - 25%; our essence (mind, soul,
 consciousness - whatever you prefer to call it) existing beyond
 our death --- out there somewhere - 33%.
*If you're capable of recollecting back to the Supplement, we
slighted Plato; it wouldn't be wise to have done it again.
**We don't consider ourselves Italian-Americans but Americans
and embrace Western Civilization which concerns Europe,
especially, Western Europe. WC unites while multi-culturalism
divides - see numerous posts at www.rickcmtsite.blogspot.com
We  should all embrace WC and American Branch.
                   A CALLIOPE-DOYLE-DE PERSIO JOINT
                LIVE...THE END... LIVE...PARTY TIME...LIVE
        Organized by The Graces: Euphrosyne, Aglaia, Thalia
  Music supplied by Apollo and Pan (and his dancing Nymphs)
(Tables surrounded by chairs; gods and goddesses hobnobbing
 with mere mortals!)
RD: "Smoky Dragon is not invited! Pray tell is Priapus on the 
invite list!?!" CJ: "Dog my cats! We'll never get goddess tail with 
him around!" Painless Pole: "I figured that we had to invite him 
as we were inviting his parents, Dionysus and Aphrodite." RD: 
"We'll send Priapus to the wrong venue --- the Banquet Hall in
 London. And, for good measure, we'll send two others as a
 practical joke!"........
........I confess that at these words a shudder passed through me.
There was a trill in the doctor's voice which showed that he was
himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned
 forward in his excitement...
       "You saw it?"
       "As clearly as I see you."
       "And you said nothing?"
       "What was the use?"
       "How is it that no one else saw it."
       {They were looking in the opposite direction.}
       "You say it was large?"
       "Enormous."
       "How {long] was it?"
       "About four feet..."
       "Good Heavens! Did no one examine?"
       "Yes, I examined, myself."
       {Watson by now I know the minds of our two friends across
        the pond quiet well: RD Janus CJ. I believe that a visit to the
        Diogenes Club will prove most advantageous. Upon arriving
        at the Club, Sherlock exchanged pleasantries with brother,
        Mycroft. He then inquired as to whether or not something 
        had been left for him.}
        He had picked from a drawer a little tarnished cylinder, and
        undoing the tape, he handed me a short note scrawled upon
        a half-sheet of slate-grey paper.
        The supply of game for London is going steadily up. {Up and
        the game is afoot. See you soon. Bring Mycroft. Let him know
        that we intend to update the U.S. Branch of the Diogenes 
       Club at Facebook soon. By the Bye, I laugh as I picture the 
       doc compelled to examine. Reputation and Rumor.}
        As I glanced up from reading this enigmatical message, I saw
        Holmes chucking at the expression upon my face.
        "You look a little bewildered," he said.
        "I can not see how such a message {can be of any assistance.}
        {My dear Watson: comsat www.rickcmtsite.blogspot.com is
         the usual party venue. Watson thought: Priapus + exam +
         Reputation + Rumor. Sherlock and I are just roommates. I best
         get some goddess-ass soon. As for Sherlock: "To Sherlock
         Holmes she - Irene Adler - is always the woman."{How in later
         years, movies would be made to cast aspersions; he is anything
         but abnormal, unnatural and a bad mutation. The former two, yes,
         but not in that vein as "An experience of women which extends
         over many nations and three separate continents." Freak, yes,
         but not in that regard!}
         "Excellent! I (Dr. Watson) cried. 
         "Elementary" said he Holmes.
         {Priapus to party, declared Holmes.}
         "Wonderful!" I (Dr. Watson) ejaculated.
Seated at the dais: Zeus; Calliope; Plato; RD/CJ. RD heads for the
podium. {Wild applause and naked dancing!!!} RD: "Tumultuous
behavior can certainly be explained by an ample supply of the
intoxicating,  courtesy of Silenus, god of beer, and his good pal
Dionysus, god of wine." CJ: "Who invited Machio Kaku!?!
Kaku: "Our grand kids will live the lives of the gods of mythology.
Zeus could think and move objects around. We'll have that power.
Venus {Aphrodite} had a perfect, timeless body. We'll have that,
too. Pegasus was a flying horse. We'll be able to modify life in
the future." Zeus takes to the podium: "Jean Marie Le Pen said
of me, 'An ancient dictum says that when Zeus wanted to destroy
someone, he would first drive them mad.'" 

        




Monday, April 14, 2014



(Editor's Note: Our flagship {comsat} www.rickcmtsite.blogspot.com
 Politics, Economics, American History with a splash of Greek
 Mythology)
"God" is one floor down.



                   SUPPLEMENT: GOD, BRAINS and STUFF
  by Richard DePersio Janus Citizen Journalist, ably assisted
                   in our investigation by Mr. Logic Himself, Sherlock

Re: Upside down U.S. Flag has nothing to do with offering. It
       just serves to let our Dear Readers know that the U.S. Flag
       still flies in this manner at all five of our comsats ---
       symbolizing a nation in distress due to B.O. (Sherlock says
       it shouldn't be part of Supplement; Sherlock overruled.).
(Editor's Note: Our most confusing articles have been those
       concerning the most confusing things in the cosmos: You
       and I.)
1:1 In the Beginning, God created Heaven and Earth...
      (We have discussed Anthropic Principle and Multiverses; the
      latter representing a feeble attempt and an artificial construct
      by scientists to deal with the former. Those of our readers 
      who are religiously-inclined may have been offended by 
      aspects of the article proper. Rest assured that we remain equal
      opportunity offenders when it comes to science and
      religion.).
1:2 ...and the Moon. Most astronomers harbor the view that earth-
      like planets are common as is carbon/water-based life, including,
      intelligent life is teeming in the cosmos. As we heretofore,
      stated: the uniqueness of our moon and the precise manner
      of its creation, we contend would make intelligent like
      elsewhere extremely unlikely.
Plato: "I interrupt the Supplement in order to register a complaint:
            this Supplement and the article 'God' should be part of my
            'Man-in-the-Cave' Series. What have you been doing behind
            my back while I was in my Cave!?!
RD:    "We - CJ and I - stand corrected. This constitutes 'Another
             Enjoyable visit to Plato's Cave'."  
1:3 The Mind/Brain Problem...Definitions on mind or consciousness 
      vary but have basic elements and concepts in common.Let's 
      define the mind as follows: consciousness (self-awareness); the 
      ability not only to register pain but to know that it is uncomfortable
      and causes
      distress to body; memories; one's moral code; you behavioral 
      characteristics; personality; thoughts; feelings; ability to remember
      the past and plan for the future; language (beyond mere signalling)
      leading to culture and language enabling abstract thought. Do
      these things exist solely in mind or some in mind while others in
      brain or do they all exist in both locales. Is it all
      material; is brain and mind the self-same thing? Or, are they
      intimately related but existing in two different formats --- with
      mind a new form of matter/energy.  Most neuroscientists and 
      physicists say emphatically: "No!" Yet, they can readily accept 
      multiverses, more then three spatial dimensions, dark matter and 
     dark energy! There is a notable exception to the rule: mathematician/
      physicist Roger Penrose concedes that consciousness may 
      be in the  microtubules which  give size and shape to cells much like
      skeletons do for the body. He suggests it exists in microtubules of
      neurons. Would our other elements in our definition of mind reside 
      there as well? (As is our wont: it's time to repeat our criticism of
      physicist Machio Kaku --- he excepts proven mathematical
      speculation as fact, thereby, short circuiting the accepted process
      of speculation {with or without math.} to model to theory to widely
      accepted theory to fact. A long row to hoe -decades from speculation
      to fact - that can be stopped at any juncture. In contrast, we have
      Roger and though he can mathematically prove that a part of us may
      survive death, he considers it pure speculation, until and if, someday
      experiments can be developed to prove or disprove. 
1:4 Consciousness, many have argued, is what separates humans from
      other animals. Consciousness refers to our awareness of our own
      mental processes, such as our thoughts, feelings and, sensations. It
      is possible that we are the only beings on this planet that have this
      type of self-awareness or level of consciousness and the ability to
      introspect, or look inward and examine these processes. For 
      example, if you are angry, you can try to understand you anger, why
      you are angry, what that anger feels like, etc. But can a cat? 
                                  -Psychology Glossary
1:5 Employing our definition of mind above, only humans have all the                            characteristics and to the deepest degree; in the strictest and fullest 
     sense only humans have mind. Other primates and dolphins not all the
     elements in the definition and not to our degree. Much less other
     mammals. We contend not at all other living things.
1:6 What if we only consider language? We shouldn't confuse the
      primitive signalling process of some animals with the sophistication
      of human language. Nor should we confuse working out a problem in                       the head with trial-and-error with primitive-automatic-                                                   genetically pre-programmed responses."...'linguistic turn' that came
       to dominate much philosophy of the mind in the 20th century. 
      According to this, our mental life is essentially underpinned or
      mediated by language, and our thoughts are necessarily represented
      inwardly in linguistic terms. Such a view rigidly applied to
      non-linguistic animals, would oblige us  to deny that they can
      entertain any thoughts at all. Attitudes have since softened, and
      most philosophers would allow that (some) non-human animals
      have thoughts albeit of a simpler kind.
                                   -Ben Dupre', 50 philosophy ideas you really need
                                     to know, Quercus, 2007
1:7 What if we are highly restrictive and only consider pain?
      Mammals seem to react to pain in much the same way as we do...
      there reactions...in physiological terms...genetic make-up...
      evolutionary origin...it is plausible to suppose that there should be
      resemblances at the level of subjective experience too. In this
      way we may be on relatively safe ground in making inferences
      about our close relatives, apes and monkeys, rather less so when
      to more distantly related mammals, such as rats and moles. The
      analogy becomes weaker..."
                                   -Ben Dupre' (see above)
1:8 "Definition: In psychology, consciousness refers to our awareness 
      of   sensations, thoughts, and other internal processes. As you might 
      expect, our experience  of conscious is always changing as our 
      thoughts and environment shift. For example, at one moment you 
      might be focused on reading a blog post. Moments later you might
     shift your thought  to a  memory of a lecture you attended earlier in the
     day. Next, you might notice how uncomfortable your seat is and start
     rubbing your neck. This  ever-shifting stream of thoughts can change                        dramatically from one moment to the next, but your experience it 
     seems smooth and effortless."
                                 -About.com/Psychology 1/18/2013
1:9 Is consciousness just the globalization of electrical and
      chemical activity within  the brain? "We experience ourselves and 
      the world as a constant flow of thoughts a sensations, but how the
      brain generates this stream is a mystery. According to one influential
      theory, consciousness is like a theater - a 'spotlight of attention' 
      shines a bright beam onto certain neural processes, and those that are
      lit up enter the 'stage' of conscious awareness...We are conscious of 
      the actors only when they enter the stage. When they are not on stage,
      their actions are being performed unconsciously." Stage corresponds
      to working memory which enables us to deal with small amounts
      of info for short periods. "It can be thought of as a kind of screen,
      onto which your experiences are projected to your 'mind's eye.' ...
      Actors move on and off stage...
                                     -Moheb Constandi, 50 Ideas you really
                                  need to know - the human brain, Quercus, 2013
1:10 Descartes, though considered the 'Father of Modern Philosophy' his
      ideas  poo-pooed by most philosophers and neuro/cognitive
      scientists today. Descartes: the brain generates consciousness
      by selecting certain info and displaying it on an internal screen
      where it it is viewed by a little man (an homunculus) representing
      mind or immaterial  soul. Daniel Dennet refers to it disparagingly as 
      'Cartesian theater. (We shall visit the 'little man' again later).
1:11 It appears to us - does it appear to you - that the 'global workplace'
      model of 1:9 and the Descartes model only differ as regards a
      immaterial substance called mind or consciousness. Why can't
     there be an immaterial mind, after all, scientists accept the existence
     of dark matter and dark energy.  Further, some physicists even talk 
     in terms of negative and positive matter not to be confused with
     matter and anti-matter. Pure speculation:  a different kind of matter.                           One ponders: why do brain scientists and physicists struggle or refuse
    out of hand --- mind beyond brain!?! 
      (As  the Bible and religion appear more and more silly as does 
      science; the latter once grounded in classical physics and the 
      strangeness of relativity has become so divorced from commonsense 
      and reality with the ever harder to accept and stranger than even
      relativity - quantum physics, string theory, dark matter, dark energy --- 
      and, of course, multiverses!).
Plato: "Don't forget me and my perfect forms of circles, squares, chairs,
            tables, etc. and my perfect concepts of love, justice, etc. existing
            in heaven along with souls. Souls inhabit corrupt and imperfect
            bodies. Some of us are better than others at overcoming the
            prison of the body and grasping the perfect forms and concepts
            which we will all appreciate perfectly again upon our return to
            heaven."
Sherlock: "Plato, please desist from interrupting as you interrupt my
                  logical train of thought."
1:12 Descartes thought envisioned two realms: 1) immaterial minds -
      with mental properties such as thinking and feeling; 2) material
      bodies with properties like mass and shape. Matter would take up
      space while mind wouldn't necessarily be confined to the brain. "A
      desire to drink causes my arm to lift the glass; a drawing pin in my
      foot causes me pain. Mind and body (so common sense suggests)
      interact: mental events bring about physical ones and vice versa.
      But the need for such interaction immediately casts doubt on the
      Cartesian picture. It is a basic principle that a physical effect
      requires a physical cause, but by making mind and matter 
      essentially different, Descartes appears to have made interaction 
      impossible....From this duelist metaphysics arises (Gilbert)
      Ryle's disparaging picture of the 'Ghost in the Machine': the
      immaterial mind or soul  (the Ghost) somehow living within and
      pulling the levers of the material body (the Machine)...Spinoza
      who claims the notion of dualism relates not to substances but to
      properties: two distinct types of property, mental and physical,
      can be ascribed to a single thing (a person or subject), but these
      attributes are irreducibly different and cannot be analyzed in terms
      of one another. So the different properties describe different
      aspects of the same entity." Like matter and energy? "The theory
      can explain how mind-body interaction occurs as, the causes of
      our actions have both physical and mental aspects. Like matter and
      energy interact?
                  -Ben Dupre', " 50 philosophy ideas...," Quercus, 2007
1:13 We know that neutrinos exist although they rarely interact with
      matter. We suspect that there is dark matter even though it might
      only interact with matter gravitationally. Matter/Dark Matter and
      Matter/Energy --- and Mind/Brain?
1:14 Returning to Penrose an atheist..."Post existence, continue to
      exist in some form, maybe in another dimension, but continuing to
      exist...But I do believe in separation of consciousness. But in no way
      am I implying that just because I believe in the possibility of
      post-existence do I mean that I am in any way religious or believe
      anything religion has to claim...Keeping in mind I believe in the
      possibility of post-existence, I'm not saying it's fact, I'm saying it
      could be possible." He further suggests that quantum gravity 
      (scientists are attempting to merge relativistic and quantum physics)
      effects may be taking place in the microtubules.
1:15 Mind as a new substance in nature like dark energy and dark matter
      (remember: E=MCsquared; matter and energy are the same). Or,
      mind and brain being two different forms of the same thing (like matter
      and energy). Or, a quantum gravity effect in a wave/particle (once
      again a dualism in nature sometimes light acts like a particle and
      sometimes a wave; sometimes a proton acts like a particle and
      sometimes a wave). Why can't mind and brain contain the same
      info in different formats with brain not have spatial locality like
      light or proton when in wave or field form or format. Think of a
      field or waves as having no definite location in space, and perhaps,
      in space-time.
1:16 "Without consciousness the mind-body problem would be much
      less interesting. With consciousness it seems hopeless."
                                -Thomas Nagel, US philosopher, 1974
1:17 "We are all immediately conscious of our consciousness - that
      we have thoughts and feelings that are subjective and on which we
      have a unique and personal perspective; science, by contrast, is
      rigorously objective and open to scrutiny. We may wonder how
      something as strange as consciousness can exist in the physical
      world explained by science; just as certainly we will struggle
      to find a place for the soul, the presumed seat of consciousness.
                     -Ben Dupre', 50 big ideas...
1:18 There is no room for mind or soul if the universe is physical
      and that is the domain of science; there must be a scientific
      explanation --- or not. Just because some scientist's electronic
      device measures something does not mean they are measuring
      imagination. They are measuring some brain reaction that occurs
      when you initiate an act of imagination. There is a relationship
      between the mind and the brain, but this relationship is almost
      completely unknown and not understood. How does brain
      generate subjectivity? Science can't deal with subjective for
      it can't measure it: determine it's length, width, depth, weight,
      location, etc. 
1:19 How do neural firings and chemical exchanges in the brain
      generate thoughts and feelings.
     Sherlock: "Observation: it isn't logical - the Supplement is going
      to be longer than the article proper!"
1:20 "...researchers may be able to deduce by looking at blood flow
      patterns in the brain what someone is thinking about. Further,
      by electrical or drug stimulation of particular areas, as well as
      surgery, they can bring about smells, sights, sounds quite 
      indistinguishable from reality...What they do find more difficult
      is to relate brain activity to personal inner experience."
                              -Adrian Fumham, 50 psychology ideas...Quercus, 
                               2008
      "Consciousness is not just an issue for biologists; it's a problem 
      for physics. There is nothing in modern physics that explains how
      a group of molecules in a brain creates consciousness. The beauty
      of a sunset, the taste of a delicious meal, these are all mysteries to
      science -- which can sometimes pin down where in the brain the
      sensations arise, but not how and why there is any subjective 
      personal experience to begin with. And, what's worse, nothing in
      science can explain how consciousness arose from matter. Our
      understanding of this most basic phenomenon is virtually nil.
      Interestingly, most models of physics do not even recognize this
      as a problem."
                           -Robert Lanzawth  and Bob Berman, Biocentrism
1:21 "If you try to access that luminous, energy-filled, visual part of
      the brain, it's easy. You're already effortlessly perceiving it with
      every glance you take. Custom says that what we see is 'out there,'
      outside ourselves, and such a viewpoint is fine and necessary in
      terms of language and utility, as in 'please pass the butter that is
      over there.' But make no mistake: the butter itself exists only in
      the mind. It is the only place visual (and tactile and olfactory)
      images are perceived and hence located. Explained in the 
      language of biology, the brain turns impulses from our senses
      into order and a sequence. As photons of light bounce off the
      butter, various combinations of wavelengths enter our eye and
      deliver their force to trillions of atoms arranged into an exquisite
      design of cells that rapidly fire into permutations to vast for any
      computer to calculate. Then, in the brain, this information, which
      as we previously saw has no color by itself, appears as a yellow
      block of butter. Even its smell and texture are experienced in the
      mind alone. The 'butter' is not 'out there' except by convention of
      language.The same is true for all perceived objects, including the
      brain, cells, and even the electromagnetic events we detect with
      our instruments...As noble physicist John Wheeler said, 'No
      phenomenon is a real phenomenon until it is an observed
      phenomenon.'"
                         -L and B., Biocentrism
1:22 Erwin Schrodinger created the 'cat-in-the-box paradox' in which
      the cat is alive or dead at the same time. The observer will know
      when  he lifts the lid and collapses the wave function. You can think 
      of the cat as waves or a field whose atoms are in many locations
      simultaneously. Upon observing, the atoms take definite positions
      constructing a living or dead cat. It would later be proven in the
      double-slit experiment. It shows that observation/consciousness
      determines the outcome: if you watch photon or electron travel to
      screen, it behaves like a particle; if you just look at screen, it
      behaves like a wave.
1:23 The observer needs an observer to collapse his wave function
      and that observer needs an observer ad nauseum. The problem:
      physicists hate infinity appearing anywhere in an equation;
      not so a mathematician. Eugene Wigner pointed this out and
      is known as Wigner's friend, Wigner's friend's friend, etc.
      Does this necessitate an ultimate observer ---God! Descartes's
      'little man'; we told you that we would get back to him. The
      'little man'  " Remember: Descartes considered the mind to
      in effect be a stage "on which ideas (perceptions) are
      viewed by an inner observer - the immaterial soul. The inner
      observer or homunculus (little man), appeared to require a
      'little man' pf its own and so on to infinity or God.
1:24 Scientists who don't like dealing with consciousness for it
      smacks to some as non-physical, insist that a camera could 
      replace the observer. But, we ask, wouldn't the creation of
      a camera require an intelligence aware of and harboring the
      need to create such a 'conscious' recording device!?!
1:25 You can picture it as waves or field or waves of probability as
      the two-slit experiment tells us not a single one of these 'particles'
      (photon or electron) actually occupies a definite place; rather, as
      a range of possibilities are in many places at once. It exists in
      several states or places called a superposition or as John 'W'
      (not to be confused with the 'W' who had been president prior to 
      BO) called it, a 'smoky dragon.' We reiterate: once the 'particle' is
      observed, you collapse its wave function and it instantaneously
      collapses into a single position. 'W' coined the term 'Participatory 
      Anthropic Principle' (PAP) - anthropic is Greek for human. He
      stated, "We are participants in bringing into being not only the
      near and here, but the far away and long ago."
1:26 PAP is also known as 'Participatory Universe' and 'Biocentrism.'
      During the early stages when this weird thinking was beginning to
      be developed the developer of weird concepts himself Albert
      criticized it (some strange being acceptable, we suppose) by saying
      to guests: look at the moon, does it suddenly spring into existence
      when a mouse looks at it. One might ask: Is the TV there when you
      are in the kitchen?  Before you enter the living room, a particle is 
      in numerous locations or nowhere precisely. Upon entering, TV
      appears as TV. If a tree falls and no one is around to see it, does it
      fall? No; it exists both fallen and 'un-fallen' unless observed; it also
     can be said not to look like a tree but in a 'smoky dragon' state.
1:27 Are there things that require human consciousness to assume
      a particular state? Do dinosaur fossils exist before the
      paleontologist  looks at them? Upon observing do they spring into
      existence as if the had existed for millions of years? To the
      physicist, this would be consistent with the notion that the fossil is
      actually millions of years old.The further
      into the universe we peer with eye or camera, the further into the
      past that we 'see. When we observe a galaxy 7 billion light years
      away, we are seeing it the way it was 7 billion years ago --- or
      are we collapsing its wave function causing it to spring into
      existence as if it had existed for 7 billion years; as far as the
      physicist is concerned it's equivalent to it actually having
      existed for 7 billion years.
1:28 'W' extends his thinking: matter sprang into existence when the
      'smoky dragon' containing information was observed. Pythagoras
      contended the that everything was made up of or was the
      embodiment of info in the form of numbers. 'W': "observerses'
      consciousness is required to bring the universe into existence.
      This means that pre-life earth would have existed in an
      undetermined state, and pre-life universe could only exist
      retroactively."
                            -John Wheeler's Participatory Universe, 4/13/2014
1:29 The Anthropic Principle or The Fine-Tuning of the Universe or
     The Goldilocks Universe. Thousands of things have to be just
     so for us to exist: not too much or too little. If the BIG Bang
     were slightly more or slightly less energetic, if the proton were
     slightly less or slightly more massive, if the gravitational constant
     were slightly higher or lower, etc. ---- we would not exist!
     Is it just a remarkable coincidence that everything is just right
     for us to exist - nearly a statistical miracle? The fact that we
     exist, that we are alive, means that the right conditions must
     exist - any other universe and we wouldn't exist -- we discover
     what we must discover by our very existence. Reasons One and
     Two are closely related. Reason Three: God did it. Reason Four:
     Biocentrism - no universe could exist which didn't allow for life
     to  bring it into existence. Life or Consciousness or High Level
     Consciousness capable of causing fossils and distant galaxies
     to spring into existence. The dog entering the living room
     might have sufficient consciousness to bring the TV into
     existence but not to peer through a telescope and bring a
     universe into existence!!!!
We'll drink to that. Speaking of our old friend Dionysus to the
Greeks and Bacchus to Romans, the god of wine, huge crowds
would gather to partake of the grape. The revellers felt that
they were drinking 'D' or drinking his divinity. Sound familiar?
And, was everyone collapsing each other's wave functions?

      




Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Fwd: GOD




"...God"





 PLATO/URANIA/HERMES PRESENT GOD - Expanded --- Now with Soul



 proper appeared at googlegroup/rickcosmos-eclectic instead of comsat-ak due to a

technical problem. Problem resolved. Thank God. Below "God" - new version
Now with Supplement; Supplement Coming Soon; Supplement with its own name!































   "The deathbed is a wonderful reasoner.  "Of man's first disobedience, and the
    Many proud infidel hath it humbled and   fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal
    refuted without a word."-Robert Boyle     taste Brought death into the world, and
                                                                    all our woe, With loss of Eden*"-Milton
(We critique our own article which follows: a bit disjointed and A.D.D.-ed; nonetheless,
 points are made and backed-up. We approve.)
                                                                               
                    PLATO-HERMES-URANIA PRESENT GOD
                                  (in a very convoluted article)
                      by Richard DePersio and Citizen Journalist
(Pic 1: Hermes as messenger; Pic 2: coffin. The message was delivered to
 Zeus, Poseidon and Aphrodite; it will soon be delivered to Hades. You will
become cognizant of it in the article subsequent to this one which will be
posted directly after Thanatos* has been properly notified). 
(It's wonderful to have Plato and Hermes and Urania collaborating as they
rarely do so. Their little legacy: Urania's Astronomy and Plato's Philosophy
(his "Man-in-the-Cave Series at www.comsat-ak.blogspot.com ; Hermes'
aeronautics, astronautics and space policy taken residence at
www.quasarpolitical.blogspot.com  - all material written over the past year
and a half still highly relevant and largely up-to-date; please enjoy as we
 worked hard to bring it to you...yes, you...don't lower your head out of shyness
 because the spotlight is on you...take a bow...milk it!).
(As you know, RD/CJ are deist. We believe in a God predicated on reason,
as opposed to, faith. We believe that the existence of God and an after-life is
feasible but scientific developments over the past 400 years have explained
 much of what God and the devil were needed to explain and that it has become
 progressively more difficult to accept and embrace the God of the Bible. Read
with an opened mind).
Roller Coaster Ride: Ticket, please; used safety bar.
BIBLE: God and the Devil sitting on an unbelievably tall mountain which enable
them to see all of earth's surface. It implies that earth is flat! (Otherwise, they
wouldn't be able to see the other side of the spherical earth). God creates
 universe; God thinks that the earth is flat; Bible is the Word of God. Is God
unable to understand the universe that He created. Educated ancients knew earth
 was a sphere. You might say that He didn't want to tell the rest; He wanted them
to discover it on their own. Why must one make excuses for God!?!
Bible: All the animals and plants that existed in the Garden of Eden are the same ones
that exist today: none underwent evolution; none became extinct.
Bishop Usher in the late 17th Century interpreted the Bible and pontificated that
Creation took place on Sunday, October 23, 4004 B.C. at 9 A.M. (The Jews calendar
dates from 6,000 years ago). The good bishop didn't stop there: Adam and Eve
were driven from Paradise on Monday, November 10, 4004 B.C.; Noah's Ark touched
down on Mt. Arafat on May 5, 2348. Most theologians, as well as, most scholars
attested to his brilliance and embraced his dates.
A minority demurred as times were a-changing. Copernicus had proposed a sun-
centered solar system (universe) in the 16th century to the dismay of the Church.
We were special to God, therefore, He placed the earth at the center. However, humans
weren't perfect and there was good and bad on earth. The heavens were perfect and
unchanging. The telescope and the microscope were invented in the 17 Century.
Galileo is often credited with inventing the telescope. Actually, he was the first to
suggest its military use in spotting enemy ships and made a bundle by making
telescopes for the military; he was the first to turn the telescope toward the heavens for
astronomy. He is often credited with inventing the thermometer. In reality, he improved
the original design which led to the modern thermometer. (Torricelli, a student of Galileo
invented the barometer). Galileo is also credited with inventing the compound
microscope while he dramatically improved the invention. Gal, as we call him as he is
a good friend who visits and makes pasta, gathered the observation evidence to prove
the Copernican theory: the heavens weren't perfect and unchanging as there were spots
on the sun and craters in the moon; Venus went through phases which could only be
explained by placing the sun at the center; Jupiter had moons which meant that the
earth wasn't special and at the center of everything. If that weren't enough - and the
Church punished him for his wicked ideas - he explained inertia which would become
Newton's first Law of Motion and the Law of Falling Bodies incorporated into Kepler and
Newton's theories. Learn about his daddy at www.pan-multiverse.blogspot.com
Hutton is known as the Father of Geology. Less then a hundred years after Usher, he
proved that the earth had to be at least several millions of years old. This was the 18th
Century: the Enlightenment. Deism was born.
(Those if you who are familiar with us know that we have been equally critical of
science when circumstances warrant Case in point: Kaku). Those who are familiar with us
doesn't mean a fig leaf isn't in order!).
God brags to Devil: See how Adam and Eve love me, adore me and only do things
to please me. Devil retorts: Of course, they have no choice. Give them free will and
 see which of us they choose. God: I already know the answer. Devil: I dare you;
I double dare you; I triple dare you. Does God say: I don't have to prove anything to
 you. I am God. I know that they will choose me. No; like a kid in a school yard, He
can't refuse a dare. It isn't the only time that the All Mighty succumbs to the Devil's
dares. God, who is suppose to be everywhere, discovers Adam and Eve hiding
and doesn't understand why. As it turns out, the Devil got them to eat from the fruit
of the forbidden tree of knowledge of good and evil. They are hiding out of
embarrassment at being naked. They finally emerged sporting fig leaves.Why such a
tree? A pattern begins: The loving/forgiving God doesn't understand the concept that
 the punishment should fit the crime. (A fault of His throughout the Old Testament
{Jewish Bible}). A & E aren't forgiven and our kicked out of Paradise to suffer aging and
disease.
Anthophic Principle-Plus: We've discussed the Anthropic Principle in depth at
www.comsat-ak.blogspot.com and why it indicates the existence of a deity and also at
comsat-ak is Plato's Man-in-the-Cave Series wherein we describe what a God based
on reason might be like. In spite of this, the vast majority of astronomers maintain that
earth-like planets are common and that the universe is teeming with life, including,
intelligent life. Didn't they get the memo on AP. Well, if AP isn't enough, how about a
memo on the moon. Our moon is vital to life. The chance of an earth-like planet having
a moon like ours is astronomically small.. Early in earth's history, it was struck by a Mars-
sized object. It had to be just the right size and it had to strike Earth One at just the right
speed and angle. Being 'blessed' with just the right moon being created after the collision
means that there could be land-based life. It means an axis with a 23 degree stable tilt.
Mars has two gravitationally weak moons so that over a period of a few hundred thousand
years its axis varies from 0 to 90 degrees. If that were true of the earth, the radical change
in climate would make it extremely difficult for advanced life to have evolved. The
collision might have jump started life by triggering the process of producing a reducing
atmosphere which we need. After our moon formed in, perhaps, a unique fashion, it was much
closer to earth than it is today creating great tides - churning and mixing the minerals and
chemicals of the primordial sea from which the precursors if life emerged. While it can't be
proven, it is plausible that the moon might have been at the right place and time to take a hit -
 meteor or comet - for us preventing our extinction. There have been at least five mass
extinctions over the past 540 million years and one with our name on it might have been
avoided thanks to our moon. if life formed on the surface or below, it would be like our
primitive alga and bacteria. We profess to have the evidence to be contrary to the vast majority
of astronomers - some of whom are bad scientists allowing their subconscious atheistic 
prejudices and agendas to taint their work which should be as objective as humanly possible
 - suffering from Kaku-itis.
God is everywhere and knows everything. Yet, He doesn't know what happened to
Abel.. He later discovers that he was killed by his brother Cain. We: descendants of bad sibling.
It was 1859 when 'the Origin of Species" was published. By then, the earth was suspected
to be 1 to 2 billion years of age and Charles was concerned that the fossil record only went
back 500 million years. Progress was made: by the 1960s, the earth was suspected to be
over 3 billion years old with the fossil record going back 1 billion years. By the '70s, we were
certain that the age of the earth was 4.5 billion with the fossils being dated to 2 billion; by the
'80s 3; '90s, 3.4 billion; last year, 3.8. Usher out Usher. Buddhists believe in reincarnation,
perhaps, he can come back as a stand-up comic! Scientists have created amino acids - the
building blocks of proteins and nucleotide bases - the building blocks of DNA. The earliest
life may have been self-replicating RNA, 4 to 4.2 billion years ago whose presence might
be impossible to detect. Later, RNA assumed a more subordinate role of a messenger ---
don't tell that to Hermes! Humans might create life within the next 10 years!!! We feel that
that is likely. The idea the computers/robots will be smarter than us and have emotions
by 2030 according to Google CEO, we consider hogwash! A majority of scientists harbor
the view that if you were born in the '50s or '60s that you have over a 60% chance of living
to between 75 and 80. While are growing minority say that you have over a 60% chance of
living to over 150 due to advances in genetic engineering, nanotechnology, artificial body
parts and the growing of body parts! Some are talking in terms of eternal life but we doubt that
 that can overcome the entropy problem.
Later, the perfect God realizes that He screwed-up as everyone has become evil, therefore, He
  must destroy everyone in a flood except Noah, his family and some animals. it would appear 
that the Devil is winning the mountain-top bet! Drowning: what a horrible and cruel death - even
children, even babies! What sin did they commit!?! And, He sends them to hell to boot. He
is guilty of infanticide on three separate occasions. Why do we think that the
children, including, babies got an express ticket to hell? See below.
(Read Genesis carefully and you discover that Adam had a women before
Eve who wanted to be his equal. Adam and God couldn't stand for that; the perfect God erred
 and has to create a second 'better' women).
The modern form if the anthropic principle emerged in early '70s and the modern version of
(flimsy-weak-improbable) multiverse was created from inflationary theory in the '80s and '90s.
The latter being pure mathematical speculation with little, if any, chance if being proven. Was it
subconsciously created because AP was disconcerting to many scientists!?! Kaku rears his
head!
History repeats itself: The 'omnipotent' being who was afraid when A & E (by the bye,
the Bible doesn't say an apple as popularly thought) ate from the tree special to Him
becomes afraid when human beings want to built a tower to reach heaven: the Tower
of Babel! Remember: the Biblical term firmament. According to the Creator, the sky
is an invisible solid not many miles above the earth. Humans are able to cooperate on
such an ambitious project because they speak the same language. He says, "Behold,
they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of
what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will be impossible for them.
Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language that they may not understand
one an other's speech. (You thinking: Bible shouldn't be taken literally*).
Look at the Old Testament and there is a revelation: God not the Devil commits evil; the
few times the Devil does so is when he has God's permission. God destroys Sodom
and Gomorrah except for Lot's family. Where all the inhabitants evil, including, the
children!?!
Let's talk more about punishment: For forty years Moses leads the Israelites, wondering in
the desert, awaiting the Promised Land. One day, God spies Moses getting water from a
'rock' employing a different method than the one that God taught him (he exercised free
will) and God points to the horizon and states: there it is, you waited forty years for the
Promised Land but you're not going --- does the punishment fit the crime! Lot and his family
are told to leave and not look back. You know how women are. Lot's wife's curiosity gets
the best of her and she is turned into a pillar of salt - Lot looses his wife, children loose a
mother --- does the punishment fit the crime!...
Here's a whopper: God stops the sun from moving in the sky! Doesn't the Creator of the
Universe know that the earth goes around the sun, the sun doesn't go around the earth?
According to the Bible, the earth is immobile at the center of the universe. In reality, the
earth rotates from west to east creating the optical illusion that the sun is moving from
east to west. The loving God imposes ten plaques on the people of Egypt for not freeing
the Jewish slaves --- horrible stuff with the tenth being the murder by God of the first
born sons of Egypt, some of whom were children, some of whom were babies. A God who
can stop the 'sun' from moving across the sky (ha, ha) could certainly teleport the
Israelites to  Canaan. These babies went to hell too!!! The Catholic Church invents Limbo
for them --- less God appear evil. Protestants protest to inventions of Catholics: Limbo and
Purgatory which aren't in the Bible. Protestants have no answer. Chalk it up to another
God Mystery!
There were ancient Gnostics who believed that the God of the Old Testament was a lesser
God; more precisely, there was but one God but the O.T. God was further from the center.
He created the universe - this portion. He isn't evil. He can't help himself for he is part of
the outskirts of God a less perfect. He imprisoned some of God's eternal life in human
bodies. And, that they had the sacred prayers fir the dead which enable them to enjoy a
higher place in heaven than those who came to heaven through Jesus
After the Jews were safely across the water that He had parted, He doesn't restore the
water hereby ending the pursuit. No; He waited for the Pharaoh and his army to be on the
river bed and, then, let the water go. After the Great Flood, He saw what BAD He had
done and promised never to destroy with water again. He can't keep His own Word!
Why do we think that the children, including, babies, in both cases, were sent to hell?
Jesus first trick was turning water into wine; a trick done 2,000 years ago by amateur
magicians at parties to entertain family and friends!
As far as free will, you free to choose but you must make the choice that He wants: a
Hobson's Choice!
People think that Peter was the first Pope and that there was unity after Jesus' crucifixion.
Nothing could be further from the truth. You had the Ebonite (let's call them Jewish-
Christians who like Jesus were practicing Jews;, a new Jewish denomination wherein
Jesus was human and the Jewish Messiah. You had the Christian Gnostics. And, you had
the Pauline Christian; Paul who never met Jesus declared that Jesus was the Savior
of everyone and the Son of God. The Apostles were Jewish-Christians. Paul won over a
couple of them, including, Peter. The Ebonite followed in Jesus' footsteps. Paul
hijacked the religion: the New Testament is 2/3 Paul - his letters, his philosophy, his
mission and his interpretation of  Jesus' philosophy which he seemed to mix with Greek
philosophy and religion (later becoming mythology). He took the show on the road gaining
many converts while the Apostles were still in Jerusalem. Later, Emperor Constantine
selected this brand of Christianity - Pauline --- and that was that! The Catholic Church is created.
Theologians attempt to blame the devil or humans but they can't get around the 'fact'
that the loving/forgiving God created everything: Hell; hatred; disease; depression; anxiety;
loneliness; natural disasters which kill thousands. some theologians, in desperation, wring
their hands, and say: God acts in mysterious ways. It just doesn't cut it: evil is evil
whether committed by God or a human. Time doesn't suffice to cover all of His Old Testament
sins!
Does God suffer from multiple personality syndrome: three personalities in one God. Clearly,
the mean and petty God of the Old Testament has nothing in common with the peaceful and
loving God of the New. As we heard a physicist say: God sacrificed Himself to Himself to
protect humanity from himself (Think about it). When Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, they
 no not what they do." Did, the Father (himself) say: You're an embarrassment. The angels
are laughing. You take after your Mother! Smite the Romans. Put a pox in their houses. I
showed you how to do the plague stuff!!!
Why do we think the babies went to hell? The Apostle's Creed: it states that Christ descended
into hell before he ascended in heaven. Why? To give those who lived and died before
Jesus came to earth the opportunity to embrace Him and, thereby, join Him in Heaven. It is
clear to us the  righteous and the children, including, the innocent babes were there. It is
a theological foundation of Western Christian denominations. It was apparently written by the
Apostles - Jewish-Christians and says nothing of the divinity of Jesus. Again, you have
Paul (who never knew JC but liked to call himself the 13th Apostle as did the Roman Emperor
Constantine) lurking in the background.
There was a time when Gods and Goddesses or one God was needed to explain a frightening
world: comets; eclipses; earthquakes; disease; plaques; insanity, etc. And, this enabled the
Church to be feared and financed. Misfortune was the wrath of God being displeases with His
subjects or acts if the Devil. Not so much the latter. It was mostly Gods vengeance.
Over the past 400 years, slowly people are less afraid of the Church as science explains
misfortune. Yet, there are still theologians who claim that God has to constantly control every
atom in the universe!!! He has to wind up the cosmos to keep it running. Today, more and
more people are publicly talking about  atheism, evolution, BIG Bang due in large part to
cable/satellite TV and Internet. In contrast there was a time when few publishers would print 
books on these topics or broadcast radio and TV would air docs or have guests espousing such
 concepts or polite people would raise such questions for fear of Roman Catholic Church. While 
some dare to exit closet as Church weakened over last 400 years, most did not do so until the 
scandals early in this century Have gone beyond outside small intellectual circles. The Bible and
 religion served two purpose: defining morality and explaining the universe; the latter purpose has 
been usurped by science. Going public: has grown from a handful 400 years to a vocal and
noticeable minority today with substantial growing since early this century.
Yet, a minority of scientists subscribe to a particle religious or religious denomination while others of a
God of a different nature and like the great minds of the 17th and 18th centuries want to understand
and marvel at the Mind of God. However, man has embarked a journey that of playing God: We don't
think the He is up to the challenge.
The Word of God? Beginning about 200 years, Pope and Mainstream Protestant ministers began
stating that some of Bible shouldn't be taken literally; it has grown to most. Also due to
Renaissance and Enlightenment, Conservative and Reform Jewish denominations formed. Unlike
Orthodox, they don't subscribe to immaterial/immortal soul in body and later in Heaven nor
the coming of the Messiah (they felt that such concepts made Jews look foolish) --- they now constitute 80% 
of Jews! The Roman Catholic Church's Pope 
in the '50s gave Catholics permission to read about evolution. Strange, we thought God had
granted Free Will! In '86, the Pope said that you can except a God-managed BIG Bang and Evolution
 or the Bible's Genesis and in '96,  it was permissible to think that life elsewhere existed in the
 cosmos. BIG changes since Vatican Two. Centuries of dogma placed by roadside for garbage
 pick-up! Why? So, Church doesn't look foolish. After all, today only less than 10%  take Bible
literally: Fundamentalists; less then 5% in Europe. Hundreds of years of theology is now optional!!!! 
Desperate to survive. Why don't they return to their roots: Jewish Jesus? Best illustrated this
way: late 1600s, Bishop Usher using Bible determines day, date, time and year of Creation.
A hundred years later, James Hutton proves that the earth has to be at least millions of years old!
Less and less for Biblical God to do. There is only one last hope: Is mind and brain one and
the same or intimately related but separate? With mind being soul. The evidence doesn't look
good. We envision a different God - if God exists. We describe our deist God in various posts at
www.comsat-ak.blogspot.com largely in Plato's Man-in-the Cave Series. We would thoroughly enjoy
debating Pope, Bishop Jake and Rev. Graham at the same time with half a hemisphere of our
neocortex tied behind our back! Debating them separately wouldn't be fair and we would be charged
with being BIG Bully!
 "We are all Greeks. Our laws, our literature, our religion, our arts, have their roots in Greece."-Shelley
 We doubt that he was talking about the religion crated by Paul, Constantine, Jesus and the Apostles
 in that order; nonetheless, apropos.