That is because they both depend upon monied interests to get them elected. The pockets from which the election propaganda dollars come are different, but in the end are paid for by people with money who expect their candidate to pay them back in some way. Bribes are officially against the law, except if you call them election contributions. You are right, both the Republicrats and the Democans all are in the pockets of those with money and the sheeple will generally elect who spends the most money or are the most publicized, which often amounts to the same thing. That is why senators such as Mr. Kennedy of Massachusetts can remain in office for 47 years.
....If you just want things to work, though, Linux is not where it is at....
That is why smart people are willing to pay extra for the integration between hardware and software that only Apple supplies. All files and all code necessary to run a program come bundled together and "just work"in OSX. To install many programs, all that is necessary to do is to drag the program from the disk image to the desired place on the hard drive, usually the application folder. Some programs to use the installer. To get rid of a program no special uninstall procedure is necessary most of the time, but simply dragging the application icon to the trash as gets rid of the program.
(...With Linux, often the assumption is made...)
With Apple computers and OSX, no assumptions are necessary because Apple makes both the hardware and the software. If a developer follows Apple guidelines the program will install and run every time.
...the criteria that makes one food "healthier" than another....
It is truly amazing that these so-called "experts" can't figure out something that a first grader could. Modern industrial farms fertilize soil with NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium), whereas all the other elements are slowly depleted out of the soil. Most of those fertilizers are derived from petroleum, which will eventually run out.
(...Studies are coming out now concluding...) Studies financed by whom? The large food conglomerates? Those studies are worth as much as those studies financed by Microsoft concerning which operating systems are "better".
(...while they may taste better...) It is your taste buds that are telling you the truth, not some food industry financed studies or food industry paid for experts. Anybody who has eaten a tomato fresh out of the garden and one from the supermarket shelf, will tell you that there is a night and day difference between them. This is true of all other produce as well and also applies to such things as free range chickens, grass fed beef, and other naturally produced food without pesticides and artificial fertilizer.
(...half the world would starve...) I don't know about other parts of the world, but I do know that most Americans are too fat anyway and are paying for it at the doctors office and in the hospital. Obesity is the number one health problem in in the United States and many other countries with similar diets. There is no such thing as a free lunch, it must be paid for, either at the organic food counter or through the healthcare system. If people would spend additional money to buy naturally produced foodstuffs, they would in the end not be spending more than they do now. It would just go into a different set of pockets, but they would be healthier for it too.
....This year it is fat that is bad for you, next year it is carbs, next year it is red meat, next year refined sugar, etc....
How right you are! It is not those things in themselves, but the fact that all of them have been denatured by modern industrial food processing. Eskimos for example eat predominantly fat and are perfectly healthy doing so. In the Philippines and Pacific Islands, people eat lots of fat, coconut fat to be exact and are very healthy on the native diet. It is only when they switch over to the modern Western diet, when they get sick. It is not fat per se that is bad, but the KIND of fat and what is done to it with industrial processing. Vegetable oils, with the exception of olive oil, are extracted under high heat and pressure, but these fats are damaged by these processes and should be avoided. The same is true of hydrogenation, which is what is done to margarine and fats such as Crisco. Frying foods with these fats under high heat damages these fats even further, so that eating them is akin to eating glass shards on the molecular level. The pasteurization of milk destroys almost all of its enzymes, that in nature help the calf, and by extension the people, to digest it. The homogenization of milk keeps the milk fat particles in suspension by making them very small. They've become so small as a matter of fact, that they are able to pass directly through the intestinal wall into the bloodstream, where they help clog your arteries.
White sugar and white flour also have many nutrients stripped out of them, that nature originally had in the wheat grains and sugar cane plant. Also with today's artificial fertilizer agriculture, the soil has been depleted and so the plants grown in them are not as healthy anymore. The healthiest diet is one that consists as much as possible of organic fresh foods together with other products that have been minimally processed from their natural state. The bottom line is fairly simple. It costs money to stay healthy. In the end you will either spend your money for better quality food in the grocery store, or you will spend it at the doctor's office and in the hospital.
... the solar wind contains oppositely charged particles...
First of all, thanks for the apology. We can all communicate as civilized human beings without name calling.
The solar wind contains primarily electrons, which being 1836 times lighter than protons can escape the solar gravity more readily. The current from the sun is by no means charge balanced, but negative charges far outnumber positive charges. You also must realize plasmas are complex and I am not a plasma physicist, but an engineer, electrical engineer to be exact. As such I also took physics in college, but I know a lot more about electricity than most astronomers. Electric currents in a vacuum such as outer space, encounter no resistance and therefore can travel unimpeded over vast distances guided by electric fields.
(...why neutrally charged objects such as those in your room...) You can easily do an experiment demonstrating the enormous power of the electric force compared to the gravitational force. Get a comb, a piece of cotton cloth, and some Styrofoam peanuts or bits of paper. Rub the comb with the cloth and see how easily the comb overcomes the gravity of a large body such as whole earth, and picks up those Styrofoam peanuts. The number of electrons stripped from the comb, compared to the total number of electrons in that column is miniscule. Yet this tiny charge imbalance is sufficient to overcome the entire planet's gravity. Compared to a number with 36 zeros behind it, even our national debt counted in pennies is tiny, although that may be cold comfort.:-)
(...the many, varied, and critical roles electromagnetism plays in sub-atomic and quantum theory....) I suppose you never have heard of the double slit experiment, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-slit_experiment where a single photon or electron can appear in two places at the same time. This is a very vivid effect that experimentally demonstrates quantum theory. Quantum theory also plays a role in the cosmos as a whole. The red shift up until recently thought to be due to the Doppler effect, is quantized, that is it occurs in little jumps of about 70 km/s. This makes it impossible to equate red shift with motion or distance and puts a large crimp into our ability to determine the real distance of galaxies from Earth. We know that there are large magnetic fields in space. We also know of no way to generate a magnetic field other than by an electric current and we know that an electric current cannot be generated unless there is a difference in potential, ie. an electric field. Even a relatively weak electric field over cosmic distances can accelerate a charged particle to enormous energies, such as they measure in cosmic rays. Even the LHC, if it ever comes online, cannot begin to come close to the energies involved in such particles. Since I am not a plasma physicist and have-not studied plasmas extensively, I cannot and would not go into all the details here anyway, but you can learn all about that if you so desire. I do however know that the electric explanation of the operation of the universe does not require abstract mathematically contrived constructs such as dark energy, dark matter and black holes. Most of the time, the simpler explanation is more likely the correct one. The electric explanation of the universe and its contents is much simpler, although yet, and probably for the foreseeable future, incomplete. In my view, all cosmologists are like blind men trying to describe an elephant, but the electric plasma explanation gives a simpler picture of said elephant.
(... see the importance of electromagnetism....) All of chemistry and biology, indeed your very life right now in your body, is dependent on the electric force and operated by it.
....It does not directly contradict our theory of planet formation...
But it does appear to violate a well-known law called the conservation of angular momentum. If the whole gas cloud rotates at a given velocity and then planets form out of it, we rightly know that they should all move in the same direction. In the case of our own solar system for example the angular momentum of the sun is way too small, at the least by the currently accepted theory of our solar system came to be. As we collect more data about our solar system, we find the current theories how it all began in serious trouble.
(...they clearly forgot about the existence of electricity...) It's a mystery to me how a force 36 orders of magnitude greater than gravity can be simply ignored in the large-scale operation of the universe. Any time a model needs nonexistent entities such as dark matter, dark energy and black holes, it is time to consider why. I simply refuse to believe that 90% of all matter in the universe should be hidden from us from direct observation.
These fictional mathematical constructs are only needed because of our ignorance of electricity in the operation of the universe. The electric model is by no means perfect, but it does give a simpler explanation of some of the current data coming to us from advanced telescopes and space probes. If electricity is considered in the operation of the large-scale universe, solely mathematical constructs are not needed, but only down to earth knowledge about plasmas and their behavior. Much of the behavior of plasmas can be ascertained in the laboratory without computers, although it is still quite complicated.
... It is a collaborative effort that is larger than any single person...
Actually, if you will study the history of science, you will learn that progress in basic breakthroughs in knowledge of our natural world were usually made by individuals not teams of people. Science and technology are intertwined but are not the same. In the technology of developing a new microprocessor, teams of people are needed, or in the development of a new drug. In science however, progress is more often made by individuals making basic discoveries. These may then be tested and elaborated on by teams of scientists.
(....how big, vast and wonderful our lives and this world really are....)
And that is exactly a major reason why I believe in God. I just cannot bring myself to believe that all its complexity and wonder came about by non-intelligent, impersonal statistical processes. Just as a complex airliner came from the mind of man, so the brain of man, which conceived of the airliner, came from the mind of God.
Of all ancient writings, the Bible is by far the most scientifically accurate. It is not a book of science, but wherever it mentions the natural world or history, it has never been found to be wrong. Nowhere does it reflect foolish ideas, such as a flat earth for example, that was prevalent in the days when the Bible was written. On the contrary, we read that the earth is a sphere and hangs upon nothing. (Job 26:7) It does however contradict many theories, but no facts of science. Contrary to what they teach you in school, the theory of evolution is not fact, but exactly what it states to be, a theory of nothing more.
....Like I said, I know all about you Electric Universe idiots...
Apparently you don't know of course, that anyone who resorts to name-calling has already automatically lost the argument. When you debate someone, one of the first rules is that there be no personal attacks or name calling. Someone who resorts to those, has already lost the debate. Some of the so-called idiots have won Nobel prizes in the past.
(...LOL. No, it was probably an air burst, which wasn't understood in 1908,...) International scientists have made trips to that area with modern instruments and found no evidence whatsoever of any material foreign to the area. Even if the meteorite or other matter exploded in the air, there would be evidence of this on the ground and in the ground and there's not.
(...it's matter that we simply haven't detected directly yet....) And never will detect it because it doesn't exist. We also will never detect black holes, because they are purely mathematical entities that simply do not exist in real life. A singularity is a mathematical abstraction and one of those is supposedly at the heart of every black hole, and was according to the Big Bang Theory what the universe sprang from.
(...We are able to measure it, via its gravitational effect...)
We are NOT able to measure it, but all is observed is the motion of galaxies in a way that necessitates all these fictitious, nonexistent objects in order to explain this motion we do observe, by gravity only models. If the electric interaction is taken into account as well, note I said as well as gravity, then the need for these purely mathematical constructs disappears.
(...And easily made fun of. Which is why this was so much fun....) Too bad that the object of this is for you to make fun of someone. I guess I was fooled into thinking that I was having a serious discussion. I did not make fun of you, because I thought you are somebody I could have a serious discussion with. Apparently you are not. However since the electric universe is not my idea, maybe you just better peruse http://www.thunderbolts.info/home.htm and make fun of them. Study the material carefully first though, because they have a much simpler explanation for many of the data that are coming to us with the help of modern instruments and space probes. Most of the time in nature, the simpler and more elegant explanation is usually the correct one, but of course not always. In this case however, adding in the electric interaction, makes for a mathematically less convoluted explanation than only taking gravity into account. It just totally inexplicable to me, but apparently not to you, how scientists can totally ignore a force that is 36 orders of magnitude greater than gravity, in the operation of the universe on a large scale, as well as on a quantum scale within and among the atoms.
They only reason I can think of for the downright refusal of mainstream scientists to consider electricity in the large-scale operation of the universe, is that the electric processes greatly speed up everything. This is a philosophical issue, because it throws large question marks into the currently held views on evolution.
.....the opposite and negative charges as will exist in a plasma will cancel out...
That is patently false. In any plasma, charges separate in even the tiniest electric field which can and do exist over cosmic distances. The reason we know this, is that space is permeated by huge magnetic fields which can only arise to two electric currents which in turn can only exist because of enormous potential differences in different parts of the galaxy and the universe as a whole.
(...the net electric charge is very small...)
But again is false, because if it were true there would be no solar wind. The solar wind is a massive movement of charge. In order to have such a massive movement of charge, there must be an electric field of huge proportions as well to drive this current.
(... but for another great many it simply isn't contributing anything, and gravity does in fact dominate....)
If you read my post carefully, you will note that I said that gravity is an operation but it must be considered that the electric force is also there and will dominate any time there is an electric field because that implies a charge imbalance.
(...Seriously, though. "Dark Matter" is just matter we can't see and we can't see...)
The gravity only theories presently accepted by mainstream cosmology requires something called dark matter which is supposed to make up over 90% of the universe. This is necessary to explain the motion of galaxies by gravity only. Any time a theory comes along that makes 90% of all matter in the universe invisible, that theory is clearly wrong. Science is about things we can see and measure not what can be theorized mathematically. Science is about experiments and observations not complicated math. Do you seriously propose, that 90% of all matter cannot be observed and measured in some form? That takes a lot of faith and faith is a realm of religion, not science. I am not proposing any massless charge carriers and you are assuming again by faith that heavenly bodies carry no charge and that there are no vast electric fields, especially highly ionized stars and luminous clouds, jets, and common plasma formations such as spirals.
(...Frankly it makes most astronomers uncomfortable to have to resort to...)
All astronomers should be very uncomfortable with the fact that they have to incorporate unseen and unmeasured objects such as dark matter and energy as well as black holes in their theories in order to explain the operation of the universe. These objects exist only as mathematical fictions in the formulas and equations of mathematicians. For example, the singularity that is supposed to lie at the center of a black hole is only a mathematical fiction. There is no such thing in physical reality as a point, which again exists only in mathematics. Math needs to be the servant of physics and science and not the queen. A physical observation needs to be made first and then that observation can be quantified with mathematical terms and not the other way around.
(...Publish! You, or whoever writes it,...)
None of this is original with me, but has already been written about in a book called "the electric universe" about which you can find out more here, http://www.thunderbolts.info/resources.htm
(...physicists will be trying to discover the intricate implications of your theory...)
In an electric universe, that is one that is dominated by electric processes primarily, everything happens orders of magnitudes faster, than in a universe that is controlled only or at least primarily by gravity. The reason for this is that electricity is 36 orders of magnitude more powerful than gravity. This is an unimaginably large number, that reduces the vast periods of time needed by evolutionary models. Physicists and other scientists trying to explain the origin of the universe by the evolutionary model, cannot do so if the timeframe is dramatically reduced. There is a philoso
....they clearly forgot about the existence of electricity...
As a matter of fact, mainstream cosmology does ignore electricity acting in conjunction with gravity. In a cloud of gas, in which only one atom in 10,000 is ionized, that is missing or having one electron too much, will have the electric force be the dominant one by far. Gravity is 36 orders of magnitude less effective on such a cloud of gas or, more correctly called a plasma. All astronomers and cosmologists need to understand something of plasma physics as well as their current way of looking at the universe. In recently discovered phenomena, both in the solar system and in the depths of space, the inclusion of the electric force will simplify many complicated explanations of gravity only theories. Fictional constructs such as dark matter and energy and even black holes are unnecessary, if the electric forces is taken into account in addition to gravity. By far, most matter in the universe consists of charged plasma rather than the nicely neutral form we have here on earth. For this reason, because the electric force is 36 orders of magnitude greater than gravity, it is foolishness to ignore electricity in the operation of the universe as a whole.
Any theory that requires the existence of matter that cannot be directly observed, any theory that requires the existence of objects don't plainly show up, but have to be inferred, such as black holes, in my eyes is plainly wrong or at least severely lacking. I am not alone in this; there are others who believe that the electricity plays a major role in the operation of the universe.
May be theory of how planets form this wrong. Maybe planets do not form out of a cloud of dust that rotates, but in some other way and with other and additional forces, such as electricity, besides gravity. Too often these days, when scientists come across an anomaly, the idea that this might mean that a cherished theory is totally wrong or at least needs adjusting does not come into their mind at all.
...Genetic engineering tech is moving faster than fusion tech...
Except that this is not about genetics, but artificially trying to duplicate photosynthesis. That is before you can duplicate something, you have to know something about it and science doesn't know that much about exactly how a photon of light is used in a green leaf or algae with chlorophyll to knit carbon and hydrogen together into a hydrocarbon.
...Best way to store hydrogen is using a carbon atom...
Is that not what plants have been doing since the beginning? To mimic a process, one first has to understand it. Scientists have been trying to understand exactly how photosynthesis works. I can so many things, a vague understanding is not good enough, but the devil is in the details. Scientists do have some idea about how photosynthesis works, but on the deepest atomic level, they still don't know enough to actually make an artificial leaf. I wish these guys lots of luck, because they'll need it.
If you can answer the question: "How do I know I'm really alive?", then you may be getting close to the answer you seek. As the framers of the Declaration of Independence said, some truths are self-evident.
Jesus Christ said he is the truth and the way to God, the only way. I believed him and everything he says and have come to know this is true in a very personal way. Jesus Christ became my personal sin bearer and now I feel clean inside even though I'm still a sinner. It cannot really be put into words, but this must be experienced, just like looking at a photograph or postcard of the Grand Canyon is nothing like when you stand at its edge and look down at the immensity and grandeur of it.
If you will read Jesus words, as recorded in the Gospels, for yourself, the words will ring true in your soul if you are an honest person and are really willing to submit yourself in obedience to what you read. You will then know Jesus Christ as the truth in a way that his unshakable, yet inexplicable in human language. He is a living person and because he is not dead like all the other founders of all the other religions, he is able to communicate with you in a very special and personal way.
...Which is why it is a mystery from an evolutionary perspective....
Many human behaviors and characteristics which are hard to explain by evolution, have an alternate, better explanation from the creationist perspective. Altruism and superstition, for example, can be grouped under the larger category of religion. Art and creativity are other aspects of human behavior that are better explained by the creationist model. Nobody has ever found a culture or ethnic group that does not practice some form of religion.
The Bible tells us that God is love and he proved that love by sending Jesus Christ. The Bible also tells us that man is made in the image of God and therefore also has been given the ability to love. Scientists observe the universe and living things. They can if they want to observe God's creativity. Some scientists actually do appreciate God's creation. Because God loves beauty and is creative, man also does to art, music, great architecture and on and on.
Laughter does not only have to occur in response to something funny; it also occurs as a response to foolishness. We humans to laugh not only at funny stuff, but also very much, derisively at a fool. God considers atheists to be fools and laughs at them, even though he still loves them and hopes they would turn from their folly.
Psalm 37:12 The wicked person plots against a righteous one and grits his teeth at him. 13 The Lord laughs at him because he has seen that his time is coming.
Psalm 14:1 Godless fools say in their hearts, "There is no God."
....Even if the brain runs "software", we can still examine that software...
I think you misunderstood. I never said that software or the mind cannot be examined, but that the hardware has to be turned on and the brain has to be part of a living person. There is no way you can determine the personality, if it can be called that, of a computer that is not turned on. There is also no way to determine the personality of a dead human or animal. Software, whether in a computer or in the brain of a living creature must have properly functioning hardware.
(...I take it you also BELIEVE in the flying spaghetti monster too?...)
Normally we tend to say: "show me and I will believe", but God does it the other way around, "believe and I will show you". Jesus Christ revealed himself to me after believing prayer and showed me that every word in the Bible is true. He will do this for you also if you ask them in all honesty and truth. He is very creative and he'll show you this is so, in a way that is exactly tailored to you and your personality. Let me warn you however, that although you can come to Christ as you are, you will never again be the same person that you were.
If you want to find out whether all this is real, you must first believe, at least tentatively. The only way to come to God by faith:
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please God, for it is necessary for the one approaching God to believe that He is, and that He becomes a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
...What happens if I implement software in hardware?...
It does not matter how you implement the software, rather where software originates that is important. No matter how you implement software, it always originates in the mind; in the case of computer software human mind. In the case of what we have come to call the soul, it is from the mind of God that it originates. By definition then, software always is, without exception, a product of mind which can be, but must not be physically embodied. However, because we are presently confined in a physical body ourselves, we can only perceive software as a product of mind, if it is physically embodied.
(...After all, just because something is untestable by science...)
Not all things are testable by science. That is where faith comes in, a reasonable faith in a God who is infinitely greater than we can imagine or think. In Jesus Christ, God scaled himself down to human understanding. Toward the end of his life, Jesus had a conversation with his followers:
John 14:8 Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." 9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you for so long a time, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He that has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words which I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who abides in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me, but if not, believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.
Notice the repeated recurrence of the word BELIEVE.
(...You could make the same claim about physical objects...)
Yes I do, that is exactly the case. All physical objects contain a certain amount of information because all physical objects were either first thought up in a human mind, or in the case of natural objects, God's mind. You were first a thought in the mind of God as well as your parents.
.....You mean, it's a bunch of made up hocus pocus, no one knows if it's true....
Jesus Christ, who claimed to be God and proved it by rising from the dead, clearly told us that God lives in the spirit realm and that we ourselves are spirit beings living in physical bodies. He became embodied and lived for a while as Emmanuel, God with us and among us. Just because something is untestable by science with its limitations does not necessarily mean that it doesn't exist.
(...In that case, prove to me that the computer doesn't have a soul?...) It does. The soul of a computer is its software which has come from the mind of its creators -- human beings. The hardware of the computer has also come from the mind of its creators, again the human beings. Hardware and software are subject to different laws of physics, yet closely work together. Both are necessary to have a working computer. A computer that does not have any software (its soul) is a door stop or paperweight. A human body that has no soul (software) is only worm food. Software in a computer is real, although not physical and so is the human soul real and also not physical.
(...Software is information, and is certainly capable of being described by scientific laws.) Of course can software be described by scientific laws, but these laws are different than the laws that describe physical objects. The ONLY reason that software cannot be transmitted faster than the speed of light, is that software must be impressed on a physical carrier which is limited to the speed of light. Software or information in themselves have no such limitation.
....but I have no doubt at all that someday we will create life,...
Your assumption here is that life is only physical, especially human life. There is more to a human brain than a bunch of interconnected neurons. Just as a computer consists of hardware, that's the brain, so a computer also contains software and that is the mind or soul. Your personality is essentially software just as the personality of a computer is essentially software. Examining the hardware of the brain or the hardware of the computer will not give the slightest clue as to the nature of the software running on either one. There is an immaterial, invisible dimension to life, that people who refuse to believe in God and the unseen world cannot possibly grasp. There is more to reality than what can be measured scientifically by our five senses and their extensions.
Apollo 11 is limited to this physical world because it did not touch on the greater reality that lies beyond the physical. Jesus Christ, who claimed to be God become man, which I believe is true, said that God is Spirit and can only be worshiped in spirit. The physical reality which we now all experience, which is the only thing science can explore, it is but a shadow of the greater reality of the realm of the spirit which God inhabits. Humans as a whole are subtly aware of this, because man is a religious animal, the only religious animal in which a belief of an afterlife stubbornly persists.
....If conscious awareness is something that just happens...
Really, is there anything that just happens rather than being caused? It is always software that runs every computer and all software arises in the human mind. It is the software that causes a computer to do what it does. The software in a computer can be likened to a soul, in that it has no material aspect to it, only that it requires material hardware to execute. Software, the soul of the computer, it is immaterial, that is it does not have to obey certain laws of physics such as material objects do. It is not for example, subject to gravity and can be transmitted at the speed of light. By analogy your operating system, that is your entire personality is software not hardware. It is only your hardware that is subject to time and space and the other laws of physics. Just as computers received their software from human minds, so you too have received your soul from God. There is no way you can determine what software is inside a computer unless you energize it. Similarly, there is no way to find out the personality of a dead person, no matter how carefully you examine their brain.
...So the complexity of the problem is probably an order of magnitude beyond 22 billion neurones and 220 trillion connections...
It is not only the complexity, but there is an underlying assumption, that as far as life, especially human life, that it is only physical. If the life of Jesus Christ and his teachings tell us anything, it is that life in general and human life specifically, are more than the mere physical manifestations. If his claim to be the Creator God is true, and I believe it is, he ought to know the total nature of life, consciousness and intelligence. He was able to do many things which we deem supernatural, such as command a fish to pick up a coin from the bottom of a lake and hand it over for the payment of taxes. It is not merely quantities involved with a brain and its connections, but apparently there is a nonphysical aspect of life that is really at its heart.
....We have hardly begun to understand how the brain works....
All of this assumes that the brain is the seat of consciousness or even intelligence. The brain may be nothing more than a processor in the same way that a computer processes software, which is not a material object. Jesus Christ spoke frequently of an immaterial part of man called the soul. There are also numerous reports even today of out of body experiences or near death experiences where consciousness is preserved without brain operation.
No matter in how much detail you examine the hardware of a computer, you can tell nothing about it until you turn it on, that is until it becomes alive so to speak. The basic performance characteristics of a computer are not determined by hardware, but by software. Software is not subject to the usual laws of physics, such for example gravity. Because software is not a material object, it can be transmitted at the speed of light and can be endlessly copied. Even if computer hardware could be made as complex as the human brain, it would still have to be programmed.
The Bible characterizes a person as being essentially a living spirit or soul, living in a physical body. It tells us that someday, after we die physically, the software of the soul will be loaded into a new more capable body which lives forever. We have to take all this on faith at the present time, because we do not yet have access to the world that exists beyond the physical.
...Some devices are sold with impractical specifications....
Any the moisture condensing on the platters of a hard drive can cause a drive failure or at the very least severe data corruption. Therefore, any device with a hard drive in it that is subject to freezing temperatures, should be allowed to equalize the room temperature before it is powered up.
Slashdot Mirror
...They both suck...
That is because they both depend upon monied interests to get them elected. The pockets from which the election propaganda dollars come are different, but in the end are paid for by people with money who expect their candidate to pay them back in some way. Bribes are officially against the law, except if you call them election contributions. You are right, both the Republicrats and the Democans all are in the pockets of those with money and the sheeple will generally elect who spends the most money or are the most publicized, which often amounts to the same thing. That is why senators such as Mr. Kennedy of Massachusetts can remain in office for 47 years.
....If you just want things to work, though, Linux is not where it is at....
That is why smart people are willing to pay extra for the integration between hardware and software that only Apple supplies. All files and all code necessary to run a program come bundled together and "just work"in OSX. To install many programs, all that is necessary to do is to drag the program from the disk image to the desired place on the hard drive, usually the application folder. Some programs to use the installer. To get rid of a program no special uninstall procedure is necessary most of the time, but simply dragging the application icon to the trash as gets rid of the program.
(...With Linux, often the assumption is made...)
With Apple computers and OSX, no assumptions are necessary because Apple makes both the hardware and the software. If a developer follows Apple guidelines the program will install and run every time.
...the criteria that makes one food "healthier" than another....
It is truly amazing that these so-called "experts" can't figure out something that a first grader could. Modern industrial farms fertilize soil with NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium), whereas all the other elements are slowly depleted out of the soil. Most of those fertilizers are derived from petroleum, which will eventually run out.
(...Studies are coming out now concluding...)
Studies financed by whom? The large food conglomerates? Those studies are worth as much as those studies financed by Microsoft concerning which operating systems are "better".
(...while they may taste better...)
It is your taste buds that are telling you the truth, not some food industry financed studies or food industry paid for experts. Anybody who has eaten a tomato fresh out of the garden and one from the supermarket shelf, will tell you that there is a night and day difference between them. This is true of all other produce as well and also applies to such things as free range chickens, grass fed beef, and other naturally produced food without pesticides and artificial fertilizer.
(...half the world would starve...)
I don't know about other parts of the world, but I do know that most Americans are too fat anyway and are paying for it at the doctors office and in the hospital. Obesity is the number one health problem in in the United States and many other countries with similar diets. There is no such thing as a free lunch, it must be paid for, either at the organic food counter or through the healthcare system. If people would spend additional money to buy naturally produced foodstuffs, they would in the end not be spending more than they do now. It would just go into a different set of pockets, but they would be healthier for it too.
....This year it is fat that is bad for you, next year it is carbs, next year it is red meat, next year refined sugar, etc....
How right you are! It is not those things in themselves, but the fact that all of them have been denatured by modern industrial food processing. Eskimos for example eat predominantly fat and are perfectly healthy doing so. In the Philippines and Pacific Islands, people eat lots of fat, coconut fat to be exact and are very healthy on the native diet. It is only when they switch over to the modern Western diet, when they get sick. It is not fat per se that is bad, but the KIND of fat and what is done to it with industrial processing. Vegetable oils, with the exception of olive oil, are extracted under high heat and pressure, but these fats are damaged by these processes and should be avoided. The same is true of hydrogenation, which is what is done to margarine and fats such as Crisco. Frying foods with these fats under high heat damages these fats even further, so that eating them is akin to eating glass shards on the molecular level. The pasteurization of milk destroys almost all of its enzymes, that in nature help the calf, and by extension the people, to digest it. The homogenization of milk keeps the milk fat particles in suspension by making them very small. They've become so small as a matter of fact, that they are able to pass directly through the intestinal wall into the bloodstream, where they help clog your arteries.
White sugar and white flour also have many nutrients stripped out of them, that nature originally had in the wheat grains and sugar cane plant. Also with today's artificial fertilizer agriculture, the soil has been depleted and so the plants grown in them are not as healthy anymore. The healthiest diet is one that consists as much as possible of organic fresh foods together with other products that have been minimally processed from their natural state. The bottom line is fairly simple. It costs money to stay healthy. In the end you will either spend your money for better quality food in the grocery store, or you will spend it at the doctor's office and in the hospital.
... the solar wind contains oppositely charged particles ...
First of all, thanks for the apology. We can all communicate as civilized human beings without name calling.
The solar wind contains primarily electrons, which being 1836 times lighter than protons can escape the solar gravity more readily. The current from the sun is by no means charge balanced, but negative charges far outnumber positive charges. You also must realize plasmas are complex and I am not a plasma physicist, but an engineer, electrical engineer to be exact. As such I also took physics in college, but I know a lot more about electricity than most astronomers. Electric currents in a vacuum such as outer space, encounter no resistance and therefore can travel unimpeded over vast distances guided by electric fields.
(...why neutrally charged objects such as those in your room...) :-)
You can easily do an experiment demonstrating the enormous power of the electric force compared to the gravitational force. Get a comb, a piece of cotton cloth, and some Styrofoam peanuts or bits of paper. Rub the comb with the cloth and see how easily the comb overcomes the gravity of a large body such as whole earth, and picks up those Styrofoam peanuts. The number of electrons stripped from the comb, compared to the total number of electrons in that column is miniscule. Yet this tiny charge imbalance is sufficient to overcome the entire planet's gravity. Compared to a number with 36 zeros behind it, even our national debt counted in pennies is tiny, although that may be cold comfort.
(...the many, varied, and critical roles electromagnetism plays in sub-atomic and quantum theory....)
I suppose you never have heard of the double slit experiment,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-slit_experiment
where a single photon or electron can appear in two places at the same time. This is a very vivid effect that experimentally demonstrates quantum theory. Quantum theory also plays a role in the cosmos as a whole. The red shift up until recently thought to be due to the Doppler effect, is quantized, that is it occurs in little jumps of about 70 km/s. This makes it impossible to equate red shift with motion or distance and puts a large crimp into our ability to determine the real distance of galaxies from Earth. We know that there are large magnetic fields in space. We also know of no way to generate a magnetic field other than by an electric current and we know that an electric current cannot be generated unless there is a difference in potential, ie. an electric field. Even a relatively weak electric field over cosmic distances can accelerate a charged particle to enormous energies, such as they measure in cosmic rays. Even the LHC, if it ever comes online, cannot begin to come close to the energies involved in such particles.
Since I am not a plasma physicist and have-not studied plasmas extensively, I cannot and would not go into all the details here anyway, but you can learn all about that if you so desire. I do however know that the electric explanation of the operation of the universe does not require abstract mathematically contrived constructs such as dark energy, dark matter and black holes. Most of the time, the simpler explanation is more likely the correct one. The electric explanation of the universe and its contents is much simpler, although yet, and probably for the foreseeable future, incomplete. In my view, all cosmologists are like blind men trying to describe an elephant, but the electric plasma explanation gives a simpler picture of said elephant.
(... see the importance of electromagnetism ....)
All of chemistry and biology, indeed your very life right now in your body, is dependent on the electric force and operated by it.
Maybe you can look at:
http://www.thunderbolts.info/
and tell me where they are wrong, because so far I have not
....It does not directly contradict our theory of planet formation...
But it does appear to violate a well-known law called the conservation of angular momentum. If the whole gas cloud rotates at a given velocity and then planets form out of it, we rightly know that they should all move in the same direction. In the case of our own solar system for example the angular momentum of the sun is way too small, at the least by the currently accepted theory of our solar system came to be. As we collect more data about our solar system, we find the current theories how it all began in serious trouble.
(...they clearly forgot about the existence of electricity...)
It's a mystery to me how a force 36 orders of magnitude greater than gravity can be simply ignored in the large-scale operation of the universe. Any time a model needs nonexistent entities such as dark matter, dark energy and black holes, it is time to consider why. I simply refuse to believe that 90% of all matter in the universe should be hidden from us from direct observation.
These fictional mathematical constructs are only needed because of our ignorance of electricity in the operation of the universe. The electric model is by no means perfect, but it does give a simpler explanation of some of the current data coming to us from advanced telescopes and space probes. If electricity is considered in the operation of the large-scale universe, solely mathematical constructs are not needed, but only down to earth knowledge about plasmas and their behavior. Much of the behavior of plasmas can be ascertained in the laboratory without computers, although it is still quite complicated.
... It is a collaborative effort that is larger than any single person...
Actually, if you will study the history of science, you will learn that progress in basic breakthroughs in knowledge of our natural world were usually made by individuals not teams of people. Science and technology are intertwined but are not the same. In the technology of developing a new microprocessor, teams of people are needed, or in the development of a new drug. In science however, progress is more often made by individuals making basic discoveries. These may then be tested and elaborated on by teams of scientists.
(....how big, vast and wonderful our lives and this world really are....)
And that is exactly a major reason why I believe in God. I just cannot bring myself to believe that all its complexity and wonder came about by non-intelligent, impersonal statistical processes. Just as a complex airliner came from the mind of man, so the brain of man, which conceived of the airliner, came from the mind of God.
Of all ancient writings, the Bible is by far the most scientifically accurate. It is not a book of science, but wherever it mentions the natural world or history, it has never been found to be wrong. Nowhere does it reflect foolish ideas, such as a flat earth for example, that was prevalent in the days when the Bible was written. On the contrary, we read that the earth is a sphere and hangs upon nothing. (Job 26:7) It does however contradict many theories, but no facts of science. Contrary to what they teach you in school, the theory of evolution is not fact, but exactly what it states to be, a theory of nothing more.
....Like I said, I know all about you Electric Universe idiots...
Apparently you don't know of course, that anyone who resorts to name-calling has already automatically lost the argument. When you debate someone, one of the first rules is that there be no personal attacks or name calling. Someone who resorts to those, has already lost the debate. Some of the so-called idiots have won Nobel prizes in the past.
(...LOL. No, it was probably an air burst, which wasn't understood in 1908,...)
International scientists have made trips to that area with modern instruments and found no evidence whatsoever of any material foreign to the area. Even if the meteorite or other matter exploded in the air, there would be evidence of this on the ground and in the ground and there's not.
(...it's matter that we simply haven't detected directly yet. ...)
And never will detect it because it doesn't exist. We also will never detect black holes, because they are purely mathematical entities that simply do not exist in real life. A singularity is a mathematical abstraction and one of those is supposedly at the heart of every black hole, and was according to the Big Bang Theory what the universe sprang from.
(...We are able to measure it, via its gravitational effect...)
We are NOT able to measure it, but all is observed is the motion of galaxies in a way that necessitates all these fictitious, nonexistent objects in order to explain this motion we do observe, by gravity only models. If the electric interaction is taken into account as well, note I said as well as gravity, then the need for these purely mathematical constructs disappears.
(...And easily made fun of. Which is why this was so much fun....)
Too bad that the object of this is for you to make fun of someone. I guess I was fooled into thinking that I was having a serious discussion. I did not make fun of you, because I thought you are somebody I could have a serious discussion with. Apparently you are not. However since the electric universe is not my idea, maybe you just better peruse http://www.thunderbolts.info/home.htm and make fun of them. Study the material carefully first though, because they have a much simpler explanation for many of the data that are coming to us with the help of modern instruments and space probes. Most of the time in nature, the simpler and more elegant explanation is usually the correct one, but of course not always. In this case however, adding in the electric interaction, makes for a mathematically less convoluted explanation than only taking gravity into account. It just totally inexplicable to me, but apparently not to you, how scientists can totally ignore a force that is 36 orders of magnitude greater than gravity, in the operation of the universe on a large scale, as well as on a quantum scale within and among the atoms.
They only reason I can think of for the downright refusal of mainstream scientists to consider electricity in the large-scale operation of the universe, is that the electric processes greatly speed up everything. This is a philosophical issue, because it throws large question marks into the currently held views on evolution.
.....the opposite and negative charges as will exist in a plasma will cancel out...
That is patently false. In any plasma, charges separate in even the tiniest electric field which can and do exist over cosmic distances. The reason we know this, is that space is permeated by huge magnetic fields which can only arise to two electric currents which in turn can only exist because of enormous potential differences in different parts of the galaxy and the universe as a whole.
(...the net electric charge is very small ...)
But again is false, because if it were true there would be no solar wind. The solar wind is a massive movement of charge. In order to have such a massive movement of charge, there must be an electric field of huge proportions as well to drive this current.
(... but for another great many it simply isn't contributing anything, and gravity does in fact dominate....)
If you read my post carefully, you will note that I said that gravity is an operation but it must be considered that the electric force is also there and will dominate any time there is an electric field because that implies a charge imbalance.
(...Seriously, though. "Dark Matter" is just matter we can't see and we can't see...)
The gravity only theories presently accepted by mainstream cosmology requires something called dark matter which is supposed to make up over 90% of the universe. This is necessary to explain the motion of galaxies by gravity only. Any time a theory comes along that makes 90% of all matter in the universe invisible, that theory is clearly wrong. Science is about things we can see and measure not what can be theorized mathematically. Science is about experiments and observations not complicated math. Do you seriously propose, that 90% of all matter cannot be observed and measured in some form? That takes a lot of faith and faith is a realm of religion, not science. I am not proposing any massless charge carriers and you are assuming again by faith that heavenly bodies carry no charge and that there are no vast electric fields, especially highly ionized stars and luminous clouds, jets, and common plasma formations such as spirals.
(...Frankly it makes most astronomers uncomfortable to have to resort to...)
All astronomers should be very uncomfortable with the fact that they have to incorporate unseen and unmeasured objects such as dark matter and energy as well as black holes in their theories in order to explain the operation of the universe. These objects exist only as mathematical fictions in the formulas and equations of mathematicians. For example, the singularity that is supposed to lie at the center of a black hole is only a mathematical fiction. There is no such thing in physical reality as a point, which again exists only in mathematics. Math needs to be the servant of physics and science and not the queen. A physical observation needs to be made first and then that observation can be quantified with mathematical terms and not the other way around.
(...Publish! You, or whoever writes it,...)
None of this is original with me, but has already been written about in a book called "the electric universe" about which you can find out more here, http://www.thunderbolts.info/resources.htm
(...physicists will be trying to discover the intricate implications of your theory...)
In an electric universe, that is one that is dominated by electric processes primarily, everything happens orders of magnitudes faster, than in a universe that is controlled only or at least primarily by gravity. The reason for this is that electricity is 36 orders of magnitude more powerful than gravity. This is an unimaginably large number, that reduces the vast periods of time needed by evolutionary models. Physicists and other scientists trying to explain the origin of the universe by the evolutionary model, cannot do so if the timeframe is dramatically reduced. There is a philoso
....they clearly forgot about the existence of electricity...
As a matter of fact, mainstream cosmology does ignore electricity acting in conjunction with gravity. In a cloud of gas, in which only one atom in 10,000 is ionized, that is missing or having one electron too much, will have the electric force be the dominant one by far. Gravity is 36 orders of magnitude less effective on such a cloud of gas or, more correctly called a plasma. All astronomers and cosmologists need to understand something of plasma physics as well as their current way of looking at the universe. In recently discovered phenomena, both in the solar system and in the depths of space, the inclusion of the electric force will simplify many complicated explanations of gravity only theories. Fictional constructs such as dark matter and energy and even black holes are unnecessary, if the electric forces is taken into account in addition to gravity. By far, most matter in the universe consists of charged plasma rather than the nicely neutral form we have here on earth. For this reason, because the electric force is 36 orders of magnitude greater than gravity, it is foolishness to ignore electricity in the operation of the universe as a whole.
Any theory that requires the existence of matter that cannot be directly observed, any theory that requires the existence of objects don't plainly show up, but have to be inferred, such as black holes, in my eyes is plainly wrong or at least severely lacking. I am not alone in this; there are others who believe that the electricity plays a major role in the operation of the universe.
....the PLANET's orbit changed...
May be theory of how planets form this wrong. Maybe planets do not form out of a cloud of dust that rotates, but in some other way and with other and additional forces, such as electricity, besides gravity. Too often these days, when scientists come across an anomaly, the idea that this might mean that a cherished theory is totally wrong or at least needs adjusting does not come into their mind at all.
...Genetic engineering tech is moving faster than fusion tech...
Except that this is not about genetics, but artificially trying to duplicate photosynthesis. That is before you can duplicate something, you have to know something about it and science doesn't know that much about exactly how a photon of light is used in a green leaf or algae with chlorophyll to knit carbon and hydrogen together into a hydrocarbon.
...Best way to store hydrogen is using a carbon atom...
Is that not what plants have been doing since the beginning? To mimic a process, one first has to understand it. Scientists have been trying to understand exactly how photosynthesis works. I can so many things, a vague understanding is not good enough, but the devil is in the details. Scientists do have some idea about how photosynthesis works, but on the deepest atomic level, they still don't know enough to actually make an artificial leaf. I wish these guys lots of luck, because they'll need it.
....we should not confuse evolution with design....
That is right, evolution is random, but design is purposeful.
....In what way?....
If you can answer the question: "How do I know I'm really alive?", then you may be getting close to the answer you seek. As the framers of the Declaration of Independence said, some truths are self-evident.
Jesus Christ said he is the truth and the way to God, the only way. I believed him and everything he says and have come to know this is true in a very personal way. Jesus Christ became my personal sin bearer and now I feel clean inside even though I'm still a sinner. It cannot really be put into words, but this must be experienced, just like looking at a photograph or postcard of the Grand Canyon is nothing like when you stand at its edge and look down at the immensity and grandeur of it.
If you will read Jesus words, as recorded in the Gospels, for yourself, the words will ring true in your soul if you are an honest person and are really willing to submit yourself in obedience to what you read. You will then know Jesus Christ as the truth in a way that his unshakable, yet inexplicable in human language. He is a living person and because he is not dead like all the other founders of all the other religions, he is able to communicate with you in a very special and personal way.
...Which is why it is a mystery from an evolutionary perspective....
Many human behaviors and characteristics which are hard to explain by evolution, have an alternate, better explanation from the creationist perspective. Altruism and superstition, for example, can be grouped under the larger category of religion. Art and creativity are other aspects of human behavior that are better explained by the creationist model. Nobody has ever found a culture or ethnic group that does not practice some form of religion.
The Bible tells us that God is love and he proved that love by sending Jesus Christ. The Bible also tells us that man is made in the image of God and therefore also has been given the ability to love. Scientists observe the universe and living things. They can if they want to observe God's creativity. Some scientists actually do appreciate God's creation. Because God loves beauty and is creative, man also does to art, music, great architecture and on and on.
Laughter does not only have to occur in response to something funny; it also occurs as a response to foolishness. We humans to laugh not only at funny stuff, but also very much, derisively at a fool. God considers atheists to be fools and laughs at them, even though he still loves them and hopes they would turn from their folly.
Psalm 37:12 The wicked person plots against a righteous one and grits his teeth at him. 13 The Lord laughs at him because he has seen that his time is coming.
Psalm 14:1 Godless fools say in their hearts, "There is no God."
....Even if the brain runs "software", we can still examine that software...
I think you misunderstood. I never said that software or the mind cannot be examined, but that the hardware has to be turned on and the brain has to be part of a living person. There is no way you can determine the personality, if it can be called that, of a computer that is not turned on. There is also no way to determine the personality of a dead human or animal. Software, whether in a computer or in the brain of a living creature must have properly functioning hardware.
(...I take it you also BELIEVE in the flying spaghetti monster too?...)
Normally we tend to say: "show me and I will believe", but God does it the other way around, "believe and I will show you". Jesus Christ revealed himself to me after believing prayer and showed me that every word in the Bible is true. He will do this for you also if you ask them in all honesty and truth. He is very creative and he'll show you this is so, in a way that is exactly tailored to you and your personality. Let me warn you however, that although you can come to Christ as you are, you will never again be the same person that you were.
If you want to find out whether all this is real, you must first believe, at least tentatively. The only way to come to God by faith:
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please God, for it is necessary for the one approaching God to believe that He is, and that He becomes a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
...What happens if I implement software in hardware?...
It does not matter how you implement the software, rather where software originates that is important. No matter how you implement software, it always originates in the mind; in the case of computer software human mind. In the case of what we have come to call the soul, it is from the mind of God that it originates. By definition then, software always is, without exception, a product of mind which can be, but must not be physically embodied. However, because we are presently confined in a physical body ourselves, we can only perceive software as a product of mind, if it is physically embodied.
(...After all, just because something is untestable by science...)
Not all things are testable by science. That is where faith comes in, a reasonable faith in a God who is infinitely greater than we can imagine or think. In Jesus Christ, God scaled himself down to human understanding. Toward the end of his life, Jesus had a conversation with his followers:
John 14:8 Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."
9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you for so long a time, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He that has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words which I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who abides in Me does the works.
11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me, but if not, believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.
Notice the repeated recurrence of the word BELIEVE.
(...You could make the same claim about physical objects ...)
Yes I do, that is exactly the case. All physical objects contain a certain amount of information because all physical objects were either first thought up in a human mind, or in the case of natural objects, God's mind. You were first a thought in the mind of God as well as your parents.
.....You mean, it's a bunch of made up hocus pocus, no one knows if it's true....
Jesus Christ, who claimed to be God and proved it by rising from the dead, clearly told us that God lives in the spirit realm and that we ourselves are spirit beings living in physical bodies. He became embodied and lived for a while as Emmanuel, God with us and among us. Just because something is untestable by science with its limitations does not necessarily mean that it doesn't exist.
(...In that case, prove to me that the computer doesn't have a soul?...)
It does. The soul of a computer is its software which has come from the mind of its creators -- human beings. The hardware of the computer has also come from the mind of its creators, again the human beings. Hardware and software are subject to different laws of physics, yet closely work together. Both are necessary to have a working computer. A computer that does not have any software (its soul) is a door stop or paperweight. A human body that has no soul (software) is only worm food. Software in a computer is real, although not physical and so is the human soul real and also not physical.
(...Software is information, and is certainly capable of being described by scientific laws.)
Of course can software be described by scientific laws, but these laws are different than the laws that describe physical objects. The ONLY reason that software cannot be transmitted faster than the speed of light, is that software must be impressed on a physical carrier which is limited to the speed of light. Software or information in themselves have no such limitation.
....but I have no doubt at all that someday we will create life,...
Your assumption here is that life is only physical, especially human life. There is more to a human brain than a bunch of interconnected neurons. Just as a computer consists of hardware, that's the brain, so a computer also contains software and that is the mind or soul. Your personality is essentially software just as the personality of a computer is essentially software. Examining the hardware of the brain or the hardware of the computer will not give the slightest clue as to the nature of the software running on either one. There is an immaterial, invisible dimension to life, that people who refuse to believe in God and the unseen world cannot possibly grasp. There is more to reality than what can be measured scientifically by our five senses and their extensions.
Apollo 11 is limited to this physical world because it did not touch on the greater reality that lies beyond the physical. Jesus Christ, who claimed to be God become man, which I believe is true, said that God is Spirit and can only be worshiped in spirit. The physical reality which we now all experience, which is the only thing science can explore, it is but a shadow of the greater reality of the realm of the spirit which God inhabits. Humans as a whole are subtly aware of this, because man is a religious animal, the only religious animal in which a belief of an afterlife stubbornly persists.
....If conscious awareness is something that just happens...
Really, is there anything that just happens rather than being caused? It is always software that runs every computer and all software arises in the human mind. It is the software that causes a computer to do what it does. The software in a computer can be likened to a soul, in that it has no material aspect to it, only that it requires material hardware to execute. Software, the soul of the computer, it is immaterial, that is it does not have to obey certain laws of physics such as material objects do. It is not for example, subject to gravity and can be transmitted at the speed of light. By analogy your operating system, that is your entire personality is software not hardware. It is only your hardware that is subject to time and space and the other laws of physics. Just as computers received their software from human minds, so you too have received your soul from God. There is no way you can determine what software is inside a computer unless you energize it. Similarly, there is no way to find out the personality of a dead person, no matter how carefully you examine their brain.
...and it'll probably have to be a dead brain....
That should be about as useful as trying to determine what operating system or other software a computers is running without turning it on.
...So the complexity of the problem is probably an order of magnitude beyond 22 billion neurones and 220 trillion connections...
It is not only the complexity, but there is an underlying assumption, that as far as life, especially human life, that it is only physical. If the life of Jesus Christ and his teachings tell us anything, it is that life in general and human life specifically, are more than the mere physical manifestations. If his claim to be the Creator God is true, and I believe it is, he ought to know the total nature of life, consciousness and intelligence. He was able to do many things which we deem supernatural, such as command a fish to pick up a coin from the bottom of a lake and hand it over for the payment of taxes. It is not merely quantities involved with a brain and its connections, but apparently there is a nonphysical aspect of life that is really at its heart.
....We have hardly begun to understand how the brain works....
All of this assumes that the brain is the seat of consciousness or even intelligence. The brain may be nothing more than a processor in the same way that a computer processes software, which is not a material object. Jesus Christ spoke frequently of an immaterial part of man called the soul. There are also numerous reports even today of out of body experiences or near death experiences where consciousness is preserved without brain operation.
No matter in how much detail you examine the hardware of a computer, you can tell nothing about it until you turn it on, that is until it becomes alive so to speak. The basic performance characteristics of a computer are not determined by hardware, but by software. Software is not subject to the usual laws of physics, such for example gravity. Because software is not a material object, it can be transmitted at the speed of light and can be endlessly copied. Even if computer hardware could be made as complex as the human brain, it would still have to be programmed.
The Bible characterizes a person as being essentially a living spirit or soul, living in a physical body. It tells us that someday, after we die physically, the software of the soul will be loaded into a new more capable body which lives forever. We have to take all this on faith at the present time, because we do not yet have access to the world that exists beyond the physical.
...Some devices are sold with impractical specifications....
Any the moisture condensing on the platters of a hard drive can cause a drive failure or at the very least severe data corruption. Therefore, any device with a hard drive in it that is subject to freezing temperatures, should be allowed to equalize the room temperature before it is powered up.