h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ah, the Good Doctor!

I loved Asimov when I was younger. (He knew a lot about the Bible, too.)

Gif

Hi Vicky,

<>
>Not necessarily at all!

So if prayer works, why don't Christians recover more from illness?

Gif

I met Prof. Dawkins on Thursday, after he gave a lecture in Liverpool. He's really very charming and nice.

It made me think of the advantages that religions have over atheism, and in my mind one of the biggest ones is that the proponents of religion (Cardinal Ratzinger and Ian Paisley aside) can be really charming. Yet Dawkins redresses that, because he is just brilliant to listen to.

There were also a bunch of protesters (possibly Christian Voice, but I didn't see whats-his-face Green and he's usually with them) outside which made me laugh.

I'm still trying to work out how 'thinking of someone' differs from prayer. Vicky says that it's god wanting us to hold each other in one another's mind. But do we need to be told that by god? I try to do it anyway. I don't, however, think it has any impact on a person's illness - other than, possibly, that being told 'I like you enough to care that you're ill' is bound to be beneficial.

So how, in this respect, does religion differ from 'ordinary stuff'?

btw, NPF. You say you have high school biology. Since then, have you read anything about evolution by a reputable biologist? If not - Dawkins' 'The Selfish Gene' is an obvious recommendation.

Oops. Wrong thread.

Wrong book, more like.

You'll get no Reward for that, Ed.

It never hurts to evangelise.

I can Cope with it.

I was thinking more this *prayer* thing. And I think it might be interesting to conduct a proper scientific/psycholgical experiment on the benefits to the 'pray-er' rather than the prayed for.

I can imagine how good if feels emotionally to pray.

Not quite sure how they'd set the experiment up to measure something so amorphous?

For UK posters.

Stephen Hawkings prog on tonight at 9 pm on C4

http://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/M/master_universe/

Could be interesting, but I suppose there'll also be personal stuff about him and his motor neurone disease. That'll maybe be interesting as well.

No chance, I'm afraid - it clashes with the last ever episode of Attenborough's Life epic.

Thank redundant-metaphysical-justification for TV On Demand!

Gif

Don't you ever watch the BBC iPlayer Gif? Attenborough's thing is always available there for up to a week later.

That has to be one of the best science programmes I've seen about the current state of physics and the investigation of the big bang and how the creation of the universe came about. Hawkings has to a degree brought relativity and quantum mechanics fairly close through his concepts involving black holes and the singularity. Apparently scientific experiments are actually going on, on sattalites in orbit in space as well as at the particle accelerators in Cern, Geneva. The theory of everything is still elusive though. But it seems as if the universe probably started as a singularity.

All mind blowing stuff. The size of our whole galaxy can be compared to a full stop in the middle of his whole book, A Brief History of Time.

Utterly riverting and there's a second part next week.



He can only now communicate through one muscle in his cheek with the computer set up. I was thinking imagine if he finally cracked it in his mind, but he could no longer communicate?

Will post more tomorrow maybe. Too much to think about.

>>I can Cope with it.

I'm afraid I'm unispired for a new name.

You know...I didn't really like the Hawkings. I was hoping for more science. Sure, I already knew he was trying to unite the physics of the very small and very large. But I wanted more detail. Tell us about relativity. Tell us about quantum mechanics. We can handle it! It should have made my brain hurt a little more.

OK - I admit. It had its good points. What I'm wondering is if god has been keeping Hawkings alive until he proves he doesn't exist.

Well I loved the interweaving of the angst of his personal journey with the journey of his mind and the science.

Romanticism and rationality together.

But hey I'm just a silly girl.

I reckon there'll be more science next week. I was actually expecting less science because I know how telly often is with these 'heros' things.

Well, you both made the wrong choice.

Attenborough was outstanding. 'Life' is quite possibly the greatest series of TV series ever made!

Plus - who'd a' thought? - baby 'gators are cute

Gif

Attenbrough gets on my nerves.

Too sugary about nature red in tooth and claw.