I have published a new book that takes a look at the philosophical and cosmological issues relevant to Christianity in the post-Darwin era. It incorporates material from God Cosmology and Nothingness and is something like a second addition. Presently it is available in epub format.
05 July 2022
Evolution and Predestination
One wonders about destiny and if the future is simply set yet generally unknown for every individual. Then the worm in the apple arises of evolution. The question that follows is; can destiny be compatible with evolution?
Is it possible for life on Earth or in the Democrat Party to evolve if they already have a destiny? Can blind, random chance govern the Democrat Party or life on Earth? Plainly it is easy to see that institutions have inertia as solid as that Of President Joe Biden following along destined courses that are a result of preceding courses. Destiny may perhaps be conditional and partial and set by the possible range of human behaviors or patterns of being inherent in material objects. Rocks for instance tumble down a talus slope rather than floating against gravity uphill.
The matter of degrees of motion appears in question concerning destiny. I am giving the quality of pre-destination to the definition of destiny in order not to have the term be nothing more than an after-the-fact historical description of what occurred. In some cases destiny could apply to particular circumstances yet not generally to everything. It is also possible that everything is pre-determined except for a few special exceptions. If humans have original sin and are destined to eternal hell for instance, it might be that being saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is the sole exception to that pervasive species-wide destiny.
Prima facia the entire Universe that is matter appears to be pre-determined by the thermodynamic characteristics of matter. Matter evolves through thermodynamics from a low state of entry or disorganization to a high state of entropy; the most disorganized. Cosmology today has the initial state of energy/mass (they need to be regard as equal or convertible states) being highly organized and maybe with just a tiny sliver or no entropy at all in a super-compact singularity containing everything that would ever exist or help to exist the matter and energy of the Universe *(Some of the initial matter was annihilated by antimatter leaving just a tiny fraction of what started to exist in existence. That CP invariance and annihilated stuff could be accountable for odd and unexplained things of interest to theoretical physicists such as dark matter, dark energy and the accelerating rate of expansion of space yet maybe not of time *(if space expands at an increasing space and space-time comprise one phenomenon a common sense, easy assumption would be that time expands too). Human intelligence would be the most indeterministic phenomenon to occur in a deterministic Universe wherein everything except sentience is pre-destined. The concept of a Universe or Multiverse being predestined because of the physics yet being subverted by sentience and evolved to an undetermined state presents and interesting implicit contradiction of states of being.
Global warming is a good example of a pre-destined physical system of the Earth and Solar system being subverted by sentient or semi-sentient human action. The Earth was on track for a healthy multi-billion year life span able to support non-sentient life yet sentience appeared and is making the atmosphere unsuitable for sustaining much life. Humans may be included as non-innocent victims within their warming assault weapons attack on the ecosphere. Human politicians can claim innocence of the global warming and Anthropocene era mass extinction activities and do. That shows that dumb sentience and false sentience can also subvert destined physical structures like an ecosphere. Evolution theory is a good excuse for disregarding subversion of physical systems as it provides a que sera, sera; whatever will be will be logic of destiny latent in nature to global warming deniers as well as the denial of environmental reality opportunity, though humans as non-destined beings because of sentience as exempt from the destiny of the solar system to a great extent.
Destiny in nature may be hotly denied by Democrats in preference of a blind, random chance, natural selection, Darwinized/Heisenbergian uncertainty with all values and perceptions subjective and relativistic. Truth is a matter of opinion and unrelated to material facts except as the artist as a young Democrat choose to construct a narrative on the canvas of free expression. Some of those paradigms are mutually exclusive or at least reciprocally antipathetic; yiu may choose to decide which if determined to do so. It appears to me that matter and energy are destined and predetermined and that the forms quantum particles take are limited and determined. One may speculate that the variables of boundary conditions for forms of possible Universes are infinite, yet each universe that arose should have thereafter a destiny in determined physical values. In each Universe sentience would be the indeterministic element that could reset all of the physical values of a Universe theoretically. That is a good reason for belief that the possibility of just this one universe existing is solid.
Adam and Eve were thrown out of a garden in Eden that apparently was quite phenomenal with each of the pair being without thermodynamic aging. Eve didn’t give birth and Adam didn’t need to work the book of Genesis relates through strict inference. They were relocated somewhere beyond an Eden guarded by four angels that appear suspiciously like four dimensions of space-time. They had eaten of the tree of knowledge (sentience and intelligent philosophical thought) and barred from eating more from the tree of life (everlasting). The paradigm seems something like an omniscient Being preventing willfully disobedient, somewhat blunder-prone programming neophytes from messing around with html code on internet web sites. Such site messing unintended to be malware or viruses can take down web sites. If Adam and Eve in the garden had access to the html code or programming structure of destined structures of existing, past or future universes and wrenched their physical values that might be very bad indeed for the health of creatures living in them.
It might be the case that physical constants and variables for the boundary conditions of universes are pre-determined one the values are set, unless sentient beings within them change the natural course of evolving events. Original sin means that sentient beings (at least humans) are included for divine accounting purposes perhaps, with the destined mass of the universe to some eternal hell just below absolute zero. Scientists have speculated that the temperature just below absolute zero is infinitely hot-however that could be and be consistent with the paradigm even of a singularity or containment of temperature and mass to limited areas. Boyles law regarding the expansion and temperature of gas (or was that Boltzman?) would seem to preclude infinite high temperature except within a limited area. Infinite heat should also require infinite energy and that appears even more improbable outside of a structure for containment like that of a singularity of zero-dimension and zero-size at which point it should have no destiny for it has no time or space and has already arrived at a terminal destination.
Original Sin and A.I.
Human nature is born in original sin. Thermodynamic drives to consume and burn energy make people wicked. Humans are social beings; half-wits as it were that are brighter in a social setting with synthesis of ideas generated from the masses to form new ideas, yet they are born with a nature to consume, evolving circumstantial ethics in a determined physical criterion; destined as it were to burn. Nothing is beneath human behavior; they have even practiced cannibalism in the past,
Supply and Demand; Post-Covid Crisis Anomalies
For some of us that aren’t economists the inflation and supply shortages immediately following the Covid 19 national crisis present some interesting points to consider. House painting products at some places are in short supply. A particular base paint for dark colors, base 1, is unavailable in Alaska and at Home Depot for the time being.
I would think the
reason for short supply is the earlier stoppage of production during Covid 19.
Many workers were furloughed and stayed home. Builders stopped building by
order of law. Then after the introduction of vaccines and eventual renormalize
of the workforce the return to work brought an increased demand for painting
new homes and repaints to overcome the backlog of demand. The resumption of
supply production of paint and paint materials, tools etc at the normal full
production (1x) pace were inadequate for meeting increased 2x demand, so
inflation resulted with short supply.
And that is the interesting point to consider.
Supply and demand relationships in a global on-demand
supply culture may necessarily produce inflation when there are anomalous
hiccups like pandemics or sudden war in an economy. A fine-tuned production
capacity for meeting supply may not be able to scale up production for what is
regarded as a temporary surge of demand.
Producers may be content to sell the same 1x product for
inflated prices and not invest in new production capacity that might become a
financial loss after demand is met and decreases. There may be little reason to
increase from 1x to 1.5x or 2x temporarily if the cost is substantial to
increase temporary production capacity.
Supply and demand in the market would bring one to
speculate that new producers would enter the market to make products at
inflated prices for the 2x demand. New paint producers though, would need to
anticipate that the increased demand is temporary and their entire investment
in production might be at risk for loss when demand returns to normal at 1x. If
new pant producers remain in the market when the demand returns to 1x the
surfeit of producers of paint and products may deflate prices per unit to
3/4sx, or too many producers would share a limited demand by reducing
production to 3/4sof normal.
I have no idea
when the production of base 1 paint for dark colors will resume. I think it may
be somewhat late for this painting season in Southeast Alaska where it is
usually a rainforest with 80 inches of rain or more annually. Personally I
would hate to start painting a house after the middle of August because
September can have lots of rain in some years. In fact the historical average
for September is for twenty-seven cloudy or partly cloudy days. Maybe the Delta
force can find paint around the world and deliver it to Alaska painters down
fast ropes from black helicopters in the night. Home Depot should deliver to
post office boxes in Alaska if people check a box for a deposit for return
postage if undeliverable to the buyer. Perhaps the HIMAD missile systems sent
to Ukraine to blast Snake Island could be adapted for delivering paint across
the nation from SR-71 same-day paint delivery supplied tactical paint bases.
The economics of the era demand good economic management from those tarnished
Ivory Towers in D.C. and the East Coast sadly in need of paint. It seems
challenging for politicians and something that interest rate adjustment upward
won’t fix directly. Maybe the government should release a weakly economic
theory report to let the public know what they think about the entire post
Covid 19 crisis renormalization program.
Ukraine War; More Livers for Transplant to Rich Alcoholics
As a population ages and has longer life spans modern medical technology allows transplants for patients with bad livers from decades of three martini lunches etc. As the average age of Europeans has increased there probably is a greater demand for liver transplants. There tends to be a shortage of livers to transplant because livers of people dying from natural causes tend to be old and not too valuable for a transplant. Livers of younger people of military age would be more toward the optimal side of prospects for wealthy people on waiting lists for spare body parts to extend their lives.
Where to get more livers for those waiting is a troubling question. Apparently Europeans and even Americans travel to India and who knows where to get operations with organs sometimes sold by donors, and sometimes reportedly harvested illegally from unwilling victims. A war is Eastern Europe may provide a generation of wealthy insiders with liver damage from martini and single malt scotch drinking relief. The prospect is ugly. War, death and the harvest of body parts to transplant are ugly topics too; therefore I thought I would mention the possibility of the casualties of war becoming a supply for an organ transplant or medical research industry since I haven’t read about it anywhere.
Not only can military personnel be swiftly evacuated from a battlefield to treatment centers these days, so very likely can be the dead or organs harvested from the dead. Potentially there are tens of thousands of livers available for transplants to a generation of Europeans on waiting lists. Fulfillment of hopes for life extension for the rich can be accomplished as an unintended consequence of combat in Europe’s back yard. If local wars are piñatas of body parts for same day transport to organ centers around Europe where sick rich people are waiting for install, maybe detailed statistical analysis of the phenomenon, if it exists, should be made for educational and historical purposes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3b6SGoN6dA
27 June 2022
Calvin, Zwingli and Catholic Theocrats May Have Got it Wrong
The 15th and 16th century Protestant Reformation accomplished a lot of good for society of the era. The reformers reigned in an out of control priestly rule of the Catholic Church that was entirely too tight with established, undemocratic secular royalty. The Pope himself aspired to be a theocratic monarch and deigned to pronounce correctness on all matters of faith and even philosophical thought even unto pain of torture and death during the inquisition. Yet he wasn’t alone in neo-theocractic conviction expecting people to tithe the church, and especially on vast tracts of landed owned by the Catholic Church (Maryland was the only Catholic colony to join the revolutionary United States). Two of the greatest Protestant reformers after Martin Luther each believed in the union of Church and State. They were John Calvin and Martin Zwingli.
For modern Americans the idea of a state theocracy is foreign. I have encountered a few ministerial references of those who believed America should be a theocracy, yet of course that would end democracy. Protestantism arose to correct practical errors of the Catholic Church of the era such as a vast quantity of fake Christian relics offered for sale or on display and indulgences. The unmarried priesthood was also reproved as not being the Bible although Jesus and Paul never married, and the Revelation mentions an unmarried elect. Paul did write though; “He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:” Humans have original sin and a cast into thermodynamics penalty making hem unsuitable for developing theocracy as it would corrupt church and state together. People are saved individually by the Lord Jesus, and in the legal-civil sphere individuals are responsible individually and have individual civil rights protecting them legally from corrupting attacks from others. The recent Supreme Court decision banning abortion reminds me of the paradigm of individual rights differentiated from social and public concerns regarding pregnancy and law. Sex and pregnancy are social affairs rather than entirely individual and private. Individuals have a legal right not to have sex and to use birth control pills to prevent pregnancy, that is they have the freedom to choose to conceive or not. The right to privacy shouldn’t be used to abort social conception unless conception was through rape. Rape violates individual privacy. If these are hard issues for the logic of secular democracy, for those with faith in God there may be no justifiable abortions except to save the life of the mother.
Maybe schoolchildren required to attend co-ed public schools by law should get free birth control pills and conservative moral counseling explaining good reasons to abstain from sex and to maintain celibacy until graduation. Birth control and celibacy prevent the issue of abortion from arising.
Chapter 14 of the Revelation describes an unmarried number of 144,000 men that were virgins and loyal to the Lamb following him. * In chapter seven 144,000 is the total of those saved from the children of Israel. Those wearing white robes praising God are a vast, non-specific number that have gone through tribulation in the world yet remained faithful, and there are millions, billions or trillions of angels and beasts. Chapter 14 seems to be quite a strong example of partial preterism in today’s light. That is, some of the things have occurred, some are yet to occur. In chapter fourteen it seems as if those gathered from different temporal points are part of a space-time paradigm extending over a period of human history that may be from the time of John’s composition unto the end of the human temporal history experience before the direct rule of God.
*The Revelation Chapter 14-3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb. 5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.”
Protestants believed in the Bible as the fundamental authority unlike Catholics who believed edicts or insights of important church officials equally important. The principle of sola scriptura- through scripture alone, with a priesthood of believers rather than of a separate commercial church priesthood and laity followers as class B Christians who who be vicariously forgiven of sins through the offices and instructions of the priesthood, was a very important reform. Yet in the fine print generally ignored by Protestant reformed era seminaries perhaps is the idea of the church being one with civic political leadership. That is why Zwingli could with good conscience put on his war helmet and battle to the death when Catholic warriors invaded his cantonment in Switzerland to purge the reformers.
There is a very useful eleven minute video that briefly covers Zwingli and Calvin of that day. I recommended watching it. From it one may discern the reason so many varieties of Protestantism have grown from the reformation’s beginning. Today many of those sects have gone over to apostasy, and/or are replete with content, practices and beliefs discordant with the ideas of the early reformers.
It is interesting to me that contemporary Christians have entirely lost track of Luther’s concept of a priesthood of believers. In my opinion in inability of modern clergy to adapt to the technology of the present day, unlike the reformers who took up Gutenberg’s printing press readily to print bibles in the vernacular of each country is notable. Modern clergy seek after a 10% tithe that is actually Biblically incorrect since the tithe mentioned in the Old Testament for non-working priests was divided three ways (priests, widows, orphans etc.) and collected only every third year. Modern Old Testament style tithing should be therefor 1% per year. That would be enough for a priesthood believers with Christians having regular jobs too. Pro theologians could work to write ecclesiastical tracts and messages for churches and work full-time at that with ordinary Christians sharing reading those or acting out those parts in small groups in churches/gathering halls. Perhaps those praising God wearing the white robes ain The Revelation Chapter 7 verses 9 and 10 re those ordinary Christians saved through the Lord’s atoning grace. They may be ones appropriate for a priesthood of believers and heterosexual marriage. “9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; 10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.”
It was interesting watching the video to learn that even stained glass windows ere regarded as idolatry by some reformers. If one thinks about it certainly statues do seem to be. The thing is, Christianity should be an active social matter with everyone being a priest and sharing the gospel; explaining to new arrivals the articles of faith- a popular catechism method for adults, with ongoing Bible education roles shared among the assembly of faith. Paraphernalia of votive worship with incense and velvet robe wearing potentates is a way to have mystery, ceremony and hierarchy established rather than to build an active living faith. Everyone at church should be a priest and actually believe and express principles of faith. Church should be far more participatory, and easily could be.
What the Republicans Need to Win in 2024 Presidential Race
The recent SCOTUS decision overturning the corruption of Rowe vs. Wade showcases the problems facing Democrat Presidential potentials on moral issues; they simply cannot demur on support for what are regarded as immoral choices demanded by Democrat voters, and that loses many independents. Democrats talk about freedom of choice, and that should mean freedom of choice to conceive or not, rather than abort. Many Americans do not want to be accomplices of infanticide by having abortion legal within their jurisdiction. Republicans on the contrary are fairly firm on their moral positions and it is economic and environmental challenges that win or lose elections for them.
I should note right off that Americans seem to prefer conflict and head-on political crashes to subtle maneuvers that allow people traveling in opposite directions to remain alive and happy. If alternative lanes are available Democrats would still want to use the same lame as people driving the opposite direction in their lane. It is possible to run a democracy in ways that will not present nearly equal in number political majorities and minorities with one winner and one very hateful loser.
Republican voters must realize they can achieve their moral agenda with a conservative court so winning the next Presidential election is more that just making the economy work better. President Biden has shown that Democrats aren’t weak on war. Actually Democrats tend to go to war or support foreign wars fairly regularly and often for wrong reasons. President G.W. Bush was a Republican oddity in attacking Iraq, yet their were better reasons for ending the tyranny of the Baathist Party dictator (like 50,000 Iraqi’s dying annually, needlessly under ongoing U.N. sanctions) than Democrats have for escalating the Ukraine-Russia war with copious weapons donations including intermediate range missiles. Democrats labor under the fiction that Ukraine wasn’t a part of Russia before the communist era).
To win the 2024 election against an unliked Democrat President Republicans should remember a forgotten tool for expanding a political base that is known as broadening a platform, not compromising moral planks, to attract more voters. The two largest blocks of new voters Republicans could get fairly easily are environmental votes and the poor; young and old. To attract votes of the poor a Republican platform would need to provide a basic income for all Americans of $10,000 annually. There is no question that with that plank several million votes would go Republican. Voters would know that the Party would get Democrat support for the proposal and could get it down.
The second large group is environmental voters concerned with habitat degradation for humans and wildlife. Specifically reversing global warming economic practices and ending biodiversity would bring in a few million votes to a Republican presidential candidate since voters again would know they could get it done. With the poor and independents voting for a Republican their should be a landslide for the party enabling the next Republican president to select conservatives to replace retiring justices on the high court and that would enable the reversal of homosexual marriage. High court appointees should include black and Hispanic men.
Charisma only goes so far. Good ideas are what make or break a presidency. A President should have five good ideas that could b e accomplished if he is elected. Realistically few candidates have that many or actually get them done. Democrat Presidents tend to trick voters and don’t do what they promise in elections and instead force through things half the country doesn’t want. Tactics to get a 2024 Republican presidential victory are simple. They need a youthful candidate with a good platform; big enough to attract sufficient voters to win 30 or more states. President Biden has proven Democrats talk big about global warming and habitat loss and deliver small. If Republican candidates for president really care about moral concerns they should get one of themselves elected and there is an easy way to get that done; get support from environmental and poor voters. If budget hawks exist Republicans should stay out of foreign wars that aren’t needed (through diplomacy) and raise taxes on the super-rich while slowing the increase of government.
-a note on advantages of basic national income
A basic national income would radically simplify numerous problems of the lower class and increase economic efficiency. Millions could leave food stamp and other social programs like S.S.I. also reducing the number of federal workers needed to administer programs. A basic income probably would keep millions from being arrested after being pressured in unemployment and lacking traction for immediate upward mobility. Incarcerating one individual costs a minimal $50,000 annually. Tens of billions could be saved if several hundred thousand citizens could be kept out of prison each year.
Basic income would increase the ability to afford bus passes in urban areas costing a median $500 annually. Reliable transportation is requisite for employment if not living within walking distance of a job site. Basic income would enable the frugal to have enough capital to start a small business venture from the ground up. A movable feast cart selling lunch to people becomes within reach while living in an old van with nothing besides a home-built microwave toilet and bottles of rubbing alcohol for personal hygiene, a used notebook computer and a 200 watt flexible solar panel on the roof to charge a 12 volt battery and converter to step up to 19.5 volts.
A basic income allows people to leave jobs to look for a better job without concern from corrupt unemployment people in state labor departments blaming the individual when pressured to exit. State governments are very cheap and will readily balance budgets by trimming the poor. State governments are far more likely to direct state funds to special interests at a local level rather than innovate some more efficient, labor saving and cost saving approach to delivering services like education. The federal government alternatively tends to benefit special interests that are wealthy and victimize the poor. Too big to fail banks and auto companies. Tax cuts for billionaires and those with hundreds of millions of dollars and so forth are rewarded by corporate world and special interests even if laundered through time or investing in a politician’s local interests. Basic national income cuts through the red lines and myriad exploitation methods perpetrated by establishments interested primarily in benefiting the rich.
U.S. patents are too expensive for the poor to purchase. The cost formerly was five applications for three thousand dollars. That is too much for most of the poor to afford. Independent and poor inventors might originate new ideas yet be unable to afford to patent them. Patent search cost money too. Even defending a patent can be very costly. If the U.S. government won’t lower the cost for patent applications it should create a basic minimum income for all U.S. citizens so they have the option of applying for a patent. The cost of going to China to find someone to manufacture a patented item is another challenge far easier for the rich to meet than the American poor. With a basic national income a poor inventor might talk with a few other poor people and get them to invest in the new invention. With more inventions someone might build a multi-purpose, adaptable Manufacturing Store franchise located in several large U.S. cities with 3D and 4D printing, some plastics fabrication tools and other elements for putting together new inventions locally for a reasonably low cost that an inventor could walk in to for a quote on the cost per unit to produce.
American government has drowned itself in false logic concerning political theory since the end of the Cold War to the effect of bring hundreds of millions of people to fear looking socialist and forsake reforms needed to let democracy be contemporary and an effective bulwark against evolution to plutocracy and tyranny of the rich minority or all aspects of political economy nationally and globally. Myriad new ways have developed with technology and computing to advantage the rich against the poor and all that are not sycophants of corporatism and concentration of wealth. Politicians should have enough intellect and fortitude to balance and equalize the present state of democracy so that it is not venal, fake and nothing more than a toady organ of the richest.
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