I thought Bill is long enough,, I was listening on the news that it is a good thing that you are protestant ,, the news was saying you have to pay to be roman Catholic in Germany.. kind of a church support thing. Allan On Oct 1, 2012 8:50 PM, "William L Houts" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > > > > > > Hello Gabby --it's great to meet you too. I don't know what happened with > the name thing --I'm sure one William L. Houts is enough for anyone. > > > --Bill > > > > > On 10/1/2012 10:02 AM, gabbydott wrote: > > Hello Bill, I noticed that your screen name on the group website is rather > long. It reads: William L. Houts William L. Houts Lukaeon William L. Houts. > I was wondering if this was your intention. > > Maybe yes. Just so much, I do differentiate between heaven and afterlifeand > their individual usability for corruption. Both terms are somehow > related to the future, but the access is different. Sorry, I forgot to > introduce myself. My name is Gabby (short for Gabriele), I am a Protestant, > my first language is German, and I believe in God. I like to listen to > other people's stories which is why I have learned to keep my own very > short. Nice meeting you. :) > > On Friday, September 28, 2012 7:17:08 AM UTC+2, William L. Houts William > L. Houts Lukaeon William L. Houts wrote: >> >> >> >> >> >> >> I wonder if humans do dream of uncorrupted worlds, in general. You'd >> think that would be universal, and it does seem to be borne out by >> Western mythologies, with some exceptions. For instance, the Greeks had >> Olympus, but except for Heracles no one got to go there; everyone else >> went to Hades, which was gloomy and boring if you were lucky enough to >> land there in general population, and terrifying if the gods put you in >> Tartarus. And the Romans didn't seem to place faith in any sort of >> afterlife at all, which is one of the main reasons whyChristianity sold >> like hotcakes. Eastern religions such as Buddhism had various hells and >> heavens, but they were sort of besides the point: your karma is / was >> supposed to boil down to nothing and liberate you from the Wheel of >> Rebirth, which was supposed to put you in Nirvana, which was less a >> Heaven than it was a Nowhere. And Taoism doesn't have much to say about >> heavenly afterworlds; its whole point is to make this world more just >> and balanced and leaves heavens to the individual to figure out. >> >> But as to your question of whether humans long for uncorrupted worlds, I >> think that besides the Abrahamic religions noone takes them very >> seriously. And I think they've got a point: I mean, if you're taking >> your present existence at all seriously, then just what is an afterlife >> supposed to be about? Are we supposed to be eating bonbons all day and >> living in some version of American luxury? I'd like to believe in >> Heaven --which for me looks like a kind of liberal college town, with >> libraries and funky old cinema houses-- but all of that seems kind of >> empty if there's no gravitas, no seriousness. Without death, without a >> final marker which howls at us, Do what you must do NOW and die knowing >> that you've used your life well--without that, I think heaven would >> become kind of slouchy and boring, or worse. Unless, of course, what's >> waiting for us on the other side is something superrational but >> beautiful, like being absorbed into the godhead, if such there be. >> >> So in answer to your question, I think we do dream of uncorrupt worlds, >> but if we examine them too closely, they tend to be bustable soap >> bubbles. And maybe I lack imagination, but I wonder, how could it be any >> other way? Frankly, I'd like to be told how. I sound sensible about all >> of this if a little pessimistic, but in reality I'm a scared ex-Catholic >> who is terrified of death and wants to solve the Big Question before >> they're performing Last Rites on his sorry ass. >> >> >> --Bill >> >> >> >> >> On 9/27/2012 7:20 PM, rigsy03 wrote: >> > I wonder where you put the mythological and religious other-worldlies- >> > from gods to guardian angels, etc.? Or the construct of Dante's >> > "Divine Comedy", for instance. Do humans long for uncorrupted worlds? >> > >> > On Sep 27, 6:23 pm, William L Houts <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> I'm with the pragmatists on the question of intelligent alien species. >> >> Many scientists who speculate on this sort of thing --though there >> >> really aren't that many of them-- say that such species wouldn't >> >> resemble anything so comforting as a humanoid physiology, but I think >> >> they're partly mistaken. Surely there would be surprises in the way >> >> nature cooks up life on other planets with radically different >> >> chemistries than our dear old Mama Earth. But I think there's reason >> to >> >> suppose that many alien species would resemble us. After all, any >> >> species we might imagine has to cope with gravity as it evolves. So >> >> they're much more likely to evolve some form of locomotion which >> >> involves two, four or six pedal extremities (as Fats Waller calls >> them) >> >> rather than three or five: even-numbered legs are less wobbly and >> more >> >> amenable to balanced movement which consumes fewer calories. . Also, >> >> sense organs like eyes and ears are likely to be located in or close >> to >> >> a head, as there is survival value in having sense organs located >> close >> >> to a brain, or whatever such species might use for brains. Finally, >> >> everyone in the cosmos requires energy to get going, so they're >> either >> >> going to evolve photosynthesis and take their energy directly from >> their >> >> sun or suns, or they're going to take their sunbeams indirectly by >> >> consuming something lower in the food chain. I'm sure there are lots >> of >> >> evolution pathways I'm leaving out, seeing as I'm a curious poetrather >> >> than a serious scientist type of guy, but I think these notions are, >> as >> >> Allan named other ideas of mine, sensible provisos. >> >> >> >> PS. I left out centipedes and millipedes with their scores of legs, >> but >> >> I think y'all's get what I'm saying here. >> >> >> >> --Bill >> >> >> >> On 9/27/2012 3:57 PM, archytas wrote: >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >>> I haven't seen any UFOs and tend not to be much interested in people >> >>> who claim to have - at least without Bill's sensible provisos. The >> >>> speed of thought as a brain process is slower than light-speed - but >> >>> then I'm basically a tropical fish realist. I'd have a bet that no >> >>> one in this group would really have much of a definition of light- >> >>> speed and the Ricel curvature tensor, Euler Langrangian and the rest >> >>> of Einstein's field equations. I mean no offence and don't do much >> of >> >>> this science myself. >> >>> If you point out to a physicist that the people from the future who >> >>> have invented the time machine are in extraordinarily short supply >> in >> >>> our present he may come up with some mathematical guff on the shape >> of >> >>> the universe that explains this or makes time travel only possible >> to >> >>> the future. I have seen demons - plodding back to camp after a >> week's >> >>> endurance exercise with no food for two days I was visually >> convinced >> >>> the sentries were vampires but still asked them where the Naffi was. >> >>> My guess is that we travel through space as primitive life-forms with >> >>> evolution built-in and waiting to unfold. We may thus have come >> from >> >>> a much more advanced civilisation than ours bound by the speed of >> >>> light, capable of the biological engineering but not space-flightmuch >> >>> more advanced than our own. Calculations give 28 years as the time >> to >> >>> reach the edge of the known universe - but this is the time insidethe >> >>> ship accelerating to near light speed fairly slowly. Space is not >> >>> friction free and it's doubtful we or our instruments could take the >> >>> radiation of light-speed flight. >> >>> I rather hope there are some nice, genuinely civilised aliens >> thinking >> >>> of coming here. In my speculation, intelligent life tends to worry >> >>> about food chains led by apes as these have been notoriously war-like. >> >> >>> I'm into bees and ants rather than UFOs at the moment. Bees use >> >>> 'pharma' to combat fungal infections. Ants take slaves - killing >> the >> >>> adults of another species and taking the larvae. These slaves then >> >>> raise the slaver brood. Interestingly, the ant slaves rebel and >> kill >> >>> the pupae of their masters - an act that does not favour the >> >>> individuals a they will die, but does seem to be altruistic in favour >> >>> of other colonies of the enslaved species. I mention this to >> suggest >> >>> science is not a human invention, just something in evolution we are >> >>> expanding. >> >>> UFOs remind me of religion generally - people seem to bond around >> >>> ludic claims about golden salamanders and what cannot be proved. I >> >>> guess we will find life or past life-sign on Mars. Salvation may >> come >> >>> from a mother-ship, but my own feeling is that our inability to >> >>> develop science as we could is a more important thought experiment. >> >>> In respect of this problem I recommend 'Bad Pharma' by Ben >> >>> Goldacre, He finds a �600 billion industry in which more money >> is >> >>> spent on marketing than on research and development, where the >> results >> >>> of clinical trials of new drugs are massaged, and in which >> regulators >> >>> fail to regulate. Papers supposedly by respected academics are >> >>> ghostwritten by drug companies, and patients' pressure groups are >> >>> covertly sponsored by pill manufacturers. >> >>> I can't for the life of me work out why we aren't directing our >> >>> collective towards tapping into the asteroid belt and beyond instead >> >>> of ADMASS. >> >>> On 24 Sep, 20:15, William L Houts <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>>> I'm placing my bet on thoughtspeed. It's a great concept and it's >> a >> >>>> great word. How could I do any better than that? >> >>>> --Bill >> >>>> On 9/24/2012 7:17 AM, Don Johnson wrote: >> >>>>> I agree with Allan the distance challenge is daunting. In an >> endless >> >>>>> universe there's also no doubt in my mind there are other >> inhabitable >> >>>>> planets out there but very unlikely any "aliens" will be visiting >> us. >> >>>>> But there is hope.... >> >>>>> http://www.npl.washington.edu/**av/altvw81.html<http://www.npl.washington.edu/av/altvw81.html> >> >>>>> It's fun to speculate. The ball is in your court. >> >>>>> dj >> >>>>> On Sun, Sep 23, 2012 at 4:51 PM, William L Houts <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>>>>> I've been around for a while now, so I thought I'd put in a topic >> for >> >>>>>> discussion. I'm very interested in the UFO phenomenon and wonder >> what the >> >>>>>> singing minds here have to say about it. As for me, I don't have >> a dog in >> >>>>>> this fight --I tend to think that there's something to them, >> something very >> >>>>>> unusual, but I'm not at all certain that they're even piloted. >> Jacques >> >>>>>> Valee, one of the more interesting theorists on the subject, says >> that >> >>>>>> they're something like external dreams. Well, he doesn't say >> that exactly, >> >>>>>> but that's how I interpret him. Carl Jung, who was also very >> interested in >> >>>>>> the topic, says something very similar. >> >>>>>> I have an experience to relate, too. About fifteen or sixteen >> years ago, I >> >>>>>> was flying down to Las Vegas on Southwest. Looking out of my >> window I saw, >> >>>>>> perhaps 20,000 feet below us, a disc-shaped object. It was >> featureless and, >> >>>>>> in the bright sun and from this angle, almost perfectly white. >> It wasn't >> >>>>>> particularly fast and other than the fact that it was round, it >> wasn't all >> >>>>>> that interesting. I told my three travel mates, and they all >> basically >> >>>>>> called me a liar. (I was very interested in occult topics in >> those days, so >> >>>>>> my judgment was highly suspect.) I'm not convinced that it >> wasn't something >> >>>>>> like a military test craft or something like that, but it was a >> UFO both in >> >>>>>> the high woo woo sense and in the sense that it was an unfamiliar >> flying >> >>>>>> object. Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. >> >>>>>> Tennis, anyone? >> >>>>>> --Bill >> >>>>>> -- "I just flew in from the Land of the Dead and boy are my arms >> tired." >> >>>>>> -- >> >>>> -- >> >>>> "I just flew in from the Land of the Dead >> >>>> and boy are my arms tired." >> >> -- >> >> "I just flew in from the Land of the Dead >> >> and boy are my arms tired."- Hide quoted text - >> >> >> >> - Show quoted text - >> >> >> -- >> "I just flew in from the Land of the Dead >> and boy are my arms tired." >> >> -- > > > > > > > -- > "I just flew in from the Land of the Dead > and boy are my arms tired." > > -- > > > > --
