Re: virus: A posting

C. David Noziglia (noziglia@actrix.gen.nz)
Wed, 17 Apr 1996 21:22:29 -0700


John A wrote:
>
> Pat Bunt wrote:
> >
> > Actually, the universe is in chaos. The Laws of Physics are not
> sacrosanct.
> > If they were, and we knew them, then no further scientific progress
> would be
> > possible- the Laws of Physics have told us once upon a time that heavier
> > objects fall faster than light ones, that supersonic travel is Impossible
> > Magic, and that 640K should be enough for anyone (sorry, just had to
> throw
> > that one in...) In other words, science can't stand opposed to
> spirituality
> > because science is in no way prepared to fill in for it.
> The Laws of Physics are what they are, even if they don't know them. And
they don't change, just because our knowledge of them changes. Actually, the
Universe is in Chaos, just a different type of chaos that that described in
religious texts. This is the chaos of chaos theory, in which events do have
causes, but we cannot foresee events even if we know the causes, because they
are too complex and turbulent. This is a wonderful state of affairs, because
it keeps the universe both knowable and surprising . . .

> In my mind faith has the burden of proof.

Faith, by definition, has no need of proof.

> >Socrates figured out that you can't have knowledge without a bit of
> >faith- that if you keep asking "How do you know that?" you get to the
> > point
> > where you say "I just know"- a belief not grounded in empirical evidence.
> >
>
> I believe that we will reach a point that this question may be answered
> by existing evidence. It would be like a circle; "a" is true because of
> "b", and "b" is true because of "a". I would like to hear some opinions
> about the implications of this situation. I am not quite sure what to
> think about this concept.

This is the meme version of an auto-catalytic set! See Stuart Kauffman's _At
Home in the Universe_ to know what I'm talking about by that term.

> --
> John Aten
> jwa@inx.net
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
> "Truth demands to be declared even if it is ugly
> and unethical" -F. Nietzsche
>
> "Of each thing ask, what is it? What is its nature?
> What is it of itself" -Marcus Aurelius

-- 
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C. David Noziglia
Wellington, New Zealand
noziglia@actrix.gen.nz

"Blessed are those who have no expectations, for they will never be disappointed." Kautiliya Shakhamuni Sidhartha Gautama Buddha

"Things are the way they are because they got that way."

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