Star Trek

I absolutely loved the original series of Star Trek. I can remember watching them from around the mid 70's.  I've seen them countless times. When the next generation came out around mid to late 80s I watched around 5 or 6 episodes. But I just didn't like them. I'd just rather watch the original series over and over again. Just not the same without Spock and Kirk.

Nothing to do.

I'm astonished to hear that many people -- if not indeed most people -- would find it profoundly boring not being in a full-time job as an employee. That they would have nothing to do all day. Indeed, many people claim that when they were unemployed they were sleeping 12 hours a day and were just depressed.

I have to say I find this utterly bizarre. So going for walks in the countryside; visiting museums; learning and becoming proficient in some subject and perhaps even becoming an expert; discussions on a variety of subjects on the Internet and elsewhere; reading novels; playing games; exercising; just simply thinking about reality and our place in it and what it all means; laying in a field in the warm bright sunshine in the arms of the one you love. And so on and so on and so on... None of this has any appeal? Peoples' only aim in life is to sell their labour to an employer? Nothing else in life is worth doing? Wow...

I am me, and no-one else

I've always been very different from everyone else. I've tried to fit in -- to be like everyone else. But I have irrevocably finally given up. I'll always be different. And I suppose . .in a sense . .I like that. I'll never be at one with a crowd, or even with a few individuals. But at least I'll be me -- not some false facade.

Scared of the dark?

When I was child, I used to be really frightened of the dark.  As I grew older and older, I grew less and less frightened. Nevertheless, even when in my late teens and early 20's, and 'specially after watching a horror film, there was this very slight residual fear of . .say . .walking at night where there wasn't anyone else around and it was really dark.

But now?? It's weird, but I simply have no fear at all. No fear of "ghosts" or spooks or the supernatural . . . but . . umm . .yeah . .certainly fear of my fellow human beings.

Realistically colourized historical photos

From Here

Abraham Lincoln, 1865

Japanese Archers, circa 1860

Charles Darwin, 1874

 

 

Oscar II, King of Sweden and Norway, 1880

 

 

Charlie Chaplin, 1916

 

 

Washington D. C., 1921

 

 

Baltimore Slums, 1938

 

 

London, 1945

 

 

Unemployed Lumber Worker and His Wife, circa 1939

 

 

Country store, 1939

 

 

British Troops Board Their Train for the Front, 1939

 

 

Albert Einstein in Long Island, 1939

 

A creator or a multiverse?

Let's imagine there only existed one planet in the entire Universe, and
it is Earth. Now I would suggest that it would be utterly extraordinary if it just happened to be ideally suited for life. It
would be far far more likely that it would be a planet wholly
devoid of any life.

But, of course, there are at least trillions
of planets in the Universe. The overwhelming majority are likely to be
hostile to life. So why do we happen to live on one suitable for life?
Well, obviously because we couldn't have evolved on any of the planets
hostile to life!

Now, the Earth is ideally suited for life. Hence, even if we knew of the
existence of no other planets, it would be overwhelmingly likely that zillions of other planets must exist.

This is the precise
same argument whereby we infer there must exist zillions of
other Universes, all with random differing values for the constants of nature. In the
overwhelming majority of such Universes' life simply could not arise.
The reason why we live in an incredibly unusual Universe that happens to
permit life is precisely the same reason why we happen to live on a
planet which is ideally suited to life.

The other alternative is
to suppose there is only one Universe. The reason why the physical
constants and properties permit life must be because some outside
influence -- a creator of some description -- constrains the Universe to
be that way.

Obviously scientists prefer the multiverse hypothesis.