Shagz wrote:SpeedOfSound wrote:So my rule number one is: no getting silly about this shit.
I agree. However, no offense, but it seems to me that you're getting silly about shit and violating your own rule. First you try to paint yourself as a hardcore rationalist; then you confess to having some silly notions about the universe.
Silly notion #1: Because the Earth happens to be in the thermal zone where the sort of life that you expect to find on Earth can exist, it's special.
Er.. no shit. Is Venus less special then? How come you didn't marvel at how special Jupiter is? I think we both know the answer to that: By singling out the Earth, you're implying that the Earth and the life here has some kind of special place in the universe. Has it ever occurred to you that you, a life form from Earth, might be biased when you assume that the Earth and its life are special somehow?
Silly notion #2: We're an organism that resonates with synchronicity.
I don't think we can rationally call humanity an "organism," when we're clearly a collection of organisms. Maybe someone could make the argument that we're similar to a superorganism like a bee hive, but maybe that's pushing it. On top of that, you throw in "resonates with synchronicity," whatever that means. By synchronicity, do you mean the random occurrences that human beings, for one reason or another, attach significance to? In a universe with nonstop random occurrences, isn't it expected that some of them would happen to appear to be related to each other in some meaningful way to us? Why do you keep going on about synchronicity, anyway? Even though you took care to make it clear that you aren't a theist, I get the impression that you think there's something supernatural about it, and that you hold some kind of reverence for it, and that this notion of synchronicity, for you, has replaced the notion of god as the cause of the universe. Or something. Otherwise, why would you keep bringing it up? How come you aren't going on about some other aspect of the universe? Why is synchronicity in particular noteworthy?
Frankly, I suspect that you, sir, hold quite a lot of silly notions that some here would call "woo". I suspect that you aren't quite as hard as you think you are. Therefore, it doesn't seem that surprising to me that you take up praying from time-to-time. Don't get me wrong -- it's interesting, but I would be more surprised if someone more hardcore confessed to praying.
Silly notion #1: Because the Earth happens to be in the thermal zone where the sort of life that you expect to find on Earth can exist, it's special.
Er.. no shit. Is Venus less special then? How come you didn't marvel at how special Jupiter is? I think we both know the answer to that: By singling out the Earth, you're implying that the Earth and the life here has some kind of special place in the universe. Has it ever occurred to you that you, a life form from Earth, might be biased when you assume that the Earth and its life are special somehow?
I think carbon chemistry on Earth is special. Kind of subjective though. I very much doubt that the kinds of things that evolve on Venus will be discussing how special things are there. So bias is kind of built in don't you think? Now I think certain things called Groups are special. Rocks on Venus do not think so, I think. Non-groups, or random sets of permutations are not so special.
Carbon chemistry is kind of like this. In this temperature zone a level of complexity is attainable and I do not think it can be so in any other thermal band. On Jupiter we have that red spot though. Maybe stars and jupiter have, at another scale, something as interesting as carbon chemistry on Earth. Can you make a case for that?
So I mean a couple of things here.
1. In this goldilocks we have a kind of thing occurring that can sit around and wax on about 'special'. Not so on Jupiter and Venus. I think. Maybe. You could make a case here where I'm wrong.
2. Complexity in the given physics of our universe seems to explode from around 0-50 degrees. The math gets way interesting in the zone. We can do more than be subjective about this. We can count the number of compounds formed chemically in different temperature zones. Kind of like how we measure different kinds of infinity.
Silly notion #2: We're an organism that resonates with synchronicity.
Let me explain. You have a thing called a brain. When some pattern occurs this brain makes a sketchy record of it. This involves a complex process of ST, UST memory, sleep cycles, and LT plasticity. You have a stable structure in the goldi-zone that lasts about 100 years. Those sketches stick around. If your stable structure takes in a similar, isomorphic pattern, there is a resonance with the old pattern. You are the kind of creature that can 're-member' what you 'did' while you are 'doing'. (Note, If you are on Jupiter or Venus this won't work so good)
So. We 'resonate' in complex ways 'in the zone'.
I think I did the above with pure reasoning. Never sure of myself about that. But go ahead and try to respond in the same way be careful to leave out ideas like bias and other silly notions that trivially render reason trivial.