Trurl

God of the Old Testament blows up cities and floods the world. In the New Testament Jesus shows up and shows how to live. At everyone’s post on free will and God not intervening. I wonder this too. I will leave you with a simple thought trying to convey the logic I approach it with. In the original Super Mario brothers you get 3 lives for eight levels. But soon you discover if you jump on the turtle multiple times you get 99 lives. Soon you find a warp zone and you go to the last level and beat the game in ten minutes. The game is never the same. In religion they would say blessings along with trials. But the fact that you could die make you life that much meaningful? I think it makes it more important. Suffering is different. I don’t think anyone can explain it. If you figure it out let me know.

No, I am saying that God deserves praise. If he demanded it we would have any choice. How would it be praise if we had no other choice? If you believe or disbelieve or God exists or doesn’t exist you can see why a personal God is needed. Wouldn’t we be doomed without a personal God? The original question was how the gods remind the people they exist. But this occurs all the time in each generation. People choose to believe or not.

That is what I am asking: what evidence would convince you? What I mean by praise is earned is that God would give us reason to praise. I don’t think it is demanded. (Yes I know what the Old Testament says.) But obviously in today’s society it doesn’t seem praise is demanded. Praise is not true praise when demanded. But I agree that if you read the Bible verses it may say something that seems or even may say “demands praise.” I would have to research. But there are many parts of the Bible that need interpretation. I don’t think a few verses will explain God. I once opened the Bible and it said: “Ye of uncircumcised lips.” Needless to say I was confused. But it is only a piece of a larger part. But is there anything that would make you believe? Earlier I suggested that God should change the physical and chemical properties of the world. Newton mechanics would no longer apply. Lisa in this house we believe in the laws of thermodynamics (Homer Simpson). I agree it seems petty for someone all knowing to demand praise. I don’t think demanding praise is who God is. I respect your disbelief. Do you believe that a god couldn’t create the universe or do you not agree with the “definitions” of God?

I have a follow up question. Are such systems that the U.S. is going to spend a trillion dollars on AI? It is all the technology plus power plants have to be built to power it all. 10 billion to feed kids or 500 million for creative property destroying machines? I would rather pour money into Artemis or Mars than a computer which I feel is built for destruction. Agree or Disagree The whole point of AI is to develop a superior intellect.

I think the thread question could read what would make you believe in a God. So are you saying under no evidence would you believe or worship. The people I’m friends with see God when finding their wife or a love one in the hospital; not a horseman on a white horse. Belief doesn’t make it true or untrue. But it does make a difference in how you live your life. Michio Kaku was raised as a Catholic. He is right when he said both sides are wrong: you can’t prove anything. You don’t believe in praise. Why would you? You don’t believe in God. But praise is because you want to praise. Praise is earned. So to answer the original question for the gods to make humans remember them they would cause joigus to praise them.

If God wanted to be remembered he could change all the scientific properties. He would get the attention of scientists everywhere. Could God have built the World any other way? He just did.

Just like a sports game it has to play out instead of just paper. But instead of fake news the computer program would find the real reasons of the conflict. It would answer the question of who is to blame for the war in Gaza. Depending on the news source you watch it looks like the people are intentionally starved. But if we knew the true reasons and facts who would we support?

There are statistics predicting how likely you are to buy something. But is there a public system that will predict war? I mean we have sports game stats, but what if we made an open source software to predict wars? Would it cause or prevent wars? But if we predicted a country going to war we would know there motivations. So if we gave each country a rating of their differences such as military power, economic stability, and strategic options could we influence the world to peacefully handle disputes?

So you are suggesting religion is the root of all the problems. Such as wars over religion? But I don’t think forgetting religion would change anything. I believe God could make us forget if he wanted or remind us if he wanted. In the movie, The Matrix, Neo is about to take a pill and asks, “Do I have a choice?” Does his personality always mean he will always choose the same one or is it predetermined? Does he have free will or is everything statistical? I believe in the Bible Jesus’s teachings imply free will. And in my opinion that is good. We shouldn’t force beliefs on someone. We want them to believe for themselves. Not believing is a choice. We just say that they are “lost.” I can see why people would imagine no religion, like the song. Especially if religion has been misrepresented or forced on them. But the question is does the atheist not believe God is possible or does the atheist believe God doesn’t exist because of the human representation of that religion?

We have all heard of the Batman Equation. Click Here https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oaIsCJw0QG8&pp=ygUaYmF0bWFuIGVxdWF0aW9uIHJldmlzaXRlZCA= The Batman equations add parametric equations together. As the video states any design of more complexity takes a computer. But what if we could solve the equation both parametrically and using Cartesian Coordinates? I know that with some equations you are left with things that aren’t very useful. But if the complex was made simple you could determine where a certain value takes place. I mentioned that I wanted to start a make-shift bio lab. I am not a biologist, but I wanted to read more to understand the pattern of DNA. I figured if an irregular, complex pattern could be described by a helix then what else can be described by matching an equation to a pattern? I figured a logarithmic spiral could be used to describe Prime numbers. My figuring is that if you force a pattern to a shape then that shape may reveal patterns of the series. That is where drawing “irregular” shapes and being able to covert and map the shape’s coordinates comes in. What if we were to graph an equation y = 7x + 5 ? But what if a graph y = 7x + 5g, where g is a set of numbers {3, 5, 7, 11, 13…} g doesn’t have to be a variable; it can be a derivative, integral, or equation; it doesn’t even have to be linear. If I control what g is, can I force at pattern? Can I give order to a drawing or sketch without a super computer? And of course you could at more variables other than g or even program variables with variables. I know it sounds too abstract or too complex. I hope I explained it right. One of the images in a graph was Newton. The Newton sketch takes much processing power to draw. But I just thought nesting equations with equations could simplify the entire process. Again I know this idea is abstract. It isn’t a solution. Instead it is a thought process. I don’t know the methods of these maths. I am just sharing how I would go about trying to solve such problems. *note the Newton drawing is in the linked YouTube video.

I though about taking an online degree but it is just too expensive. I read “Maverick Scientist” by Forest Mims and he suggests to “just do science” and spend the tuition money on equipment. The book is very encouraging for amateur scientists. Does anyone here have an electronics or bio-lab at home? We probably all have some kind of man cave.

Yes, I understand why scientists don’t like the story: I changed the history of Einstein. I did that not to take away his good qualities but to separate him from pacifism. I truly believe he has more to do with the nuclear program. He knew the dangers of the Nazis. He would understand why a weapon had to be built. What good would it do to be a genius and not work to save it? My story is not historical fiction but hero scientist. I am not saying it isn’t pure fiction but I am trying to write an interesting story that reflects in decision making. History is tough It is filled with misinformation. I is like when you what two different channels and the same news story is different. I think the story reads better when you ignore the fact I changed Einstein. I did want to get rid of his pacifism. I made it the time of war because it is about decision making and war is when decisions mean the most. But the theme is how to use science to improve the world and the decisions that have to be made. That is why the time traveler was debating whether to kill Einstein or Hitler. And in the end who wins when everyone has a nuclear weapon? I probably would leave it a story and not curriculum, because it isn’t intended to be historical accurate. But it asks the question: is it possible to fix time as a time traveler? Who decides what is the correct events? I think if is read knowing what I just described, you may understand why I chose Einstein. You still might not like it, but you will understand my writing process

I was rereading the Einstein short story and I kind of like it. I know that as the reader reads it and learns that in the story Einstein is not only discovered relativity, but can manipulate atoms makes some feel that Einstein has changed. But in less than 10 pages I think it has many little reflections or discussions or maybe symbolism. I am just saying it was more than just action. Like the arms race starting with Einstein sharing his knowledge with both the U.S. and Russia. Brinkmanship in game theory. The time traveler influencing history: should he kill Einstein to prevent his knowledge becoming known, or would killing Hitler stop evil only have it to be replaced by something else? Einstein was a pacifist, but he stands up to the Nazis. Plenty of stuff to create literary criticism. But I revisit this story because I am may right other short stories. Not only for entertainment, but to create curriculum. I believe I wrote the Einstein short story like a comic book. There is still symbolism and meaning in comic stories. The Marvel Way to write comics is to create the drawings first and then write the story. It sounds backwards but it produces better stories. Like when I was a kid playing with He Man or Transformers, you design the story as you battle. The description of events and dialogue are very much comic like in the Einstein short story, sometimes even silly. But sometimes there is some pretty serious meaning behind the blunt silliness of the dialogue But for now my question is: When you read the Einstein short story do you see many themes of literary criticism? Did it present deeper ideas than just Einstein fights the Nazis?

That is a good question. I think the answer varies personal to person. It could be religious, but doesn’t have to be. The book I mentioned is about observing another world. If a god designed the world it would seem that he created a simulation. But if you live in the world you are an observer and it is very much real. So how does a simulated world differ from a “real world?” The whole idea of AI and quantum computers seems like scientists building gods. I know the science isn’t there yet. That is just my assessment. Let’s build something that can manipulate the universe. What could go wrong?

I think it means design. But we were talking science fiction in another thread. A book that is science fiction and has real science with somewhat good storytelling is https://www.amazon.com/Planiverse-Computer-Contact-Two-Dimensional-World/dp/0387989161 This book is about contact with a different world.

Why would it be a simulation? In the Matrix the world is computer generated, but if the person interacts with it, it is a genuine world. I argue a simulated world is a genuine world.

@studiot Thanks for the reply. The problem I am facing is that I can find the value of the limit knowing x, but I want to find x as the limit approaches zero. I know the equation of the function should be able to be set to zero, but on a curve I can’t get it to work. I was trying to create enough information with the derivative to “make it work.” I have seen others “program” this with trial and error, but is there a known method? This is a reoccurring problem for me. Others can inspect the graphs better than I can and I made the graph. It does apply to Simple Yet Interesting. But I have moved past that problem. But the challenge of knowing x at a given limit still exists. I don’t know what the solution is. But I truly believe the answer unleashes some dynamic way to approach graphs.

This is disorganized. But I thought it had potential. Can you take the slope of a point and the start of the graph and the slope at the end of the graph and combine it with an approach similar to Newton's Method, to determine where a given value occurs? I know it sounds stupid, but I am serious. I haven't had a calculus course in 20 years. But if you look at the picture (which is also messy), it just might give you some ideas. The problem starts out to find a limit. On a graph the limit of the relative minimum is the desired value. Limit notation finds a limit 0 (zero) when x equals a known value. But it would be more useful to find the value of x when the limit equals zero. So instead of finding the limit at a given value, the goal is to find the value at a given limit. Is there a method for this? The only methods I know is to test the values until the desired point is revealed. Newton's Method may prove helpful. However test values are still need. The question is how do you find x when the y value is known, where y is the limit (zero in this case). This idea is in early stages. It is just a concept. But my question is as you look at the picture can you create useful geometry that combined with the integral and derivative can be used to map a graph? I know this is messy, but when you read it, it just might give you some good ideas.

So in your review of Dragon’s Egg did it have both story and facts? I was looking at the plot summary and it seems pretty complex and wild in a good way. He is a good writer if he can tie all those elements together. On Rocheworld would the double planet have cancelling gravity so travel between the planets is possible? The Walter Isaacson biography of Einstein says Einstein described “riding a beam light” because he read a similar story in a science fiction book. So science fiction and science influenced each other, no doubt. Swanson is for the story. I agree. We have to create an interest in the project or no will read it. I was just saying take a science fiction and create a project that has real science behind it. The idea is not original. Popular Mechanics did it with projects similar to the space elevator. For a while I thought they were just reading journal entries and summarizing them. But putting facts and creating original art is difficult. It’s like how every science fiction/fantasy book has to have a great cover.

Well I believe that Popular Mechanics and Popular Science are no longer published. Lots of quality content lost. But I share it because like a short science fiction story it leads for problems in real science. If you create a story, you have just created a lesson plan. If you told a student to try and develop a solution or find the math behind the story, they couldn’t just plug it into ai. Sure they could, but it would just be the start of more research. It is also an economic way to learn because all the tools are readily available. Some times starting to get an idea worth pursuing is difficult. Someone reads your short story or article in a magazine and it gives them ideas otherwise lost.

Well if you launch a rocket from a plane there are several advantages. You can launch it anywhere in the world and you don’t have to worry about the launch site being bombed. But I admit my science wasn’t very good. I’m just trying to brainstorm new ideas. Stuff that ai doesn’t ruin. I post a picture of a space elevator. Now I don’t think anchoring the elevator to an asteroid is going to work, but there is a valid problem that needs solved and that is to build a 20,000 mile structure that doesn’t collapse. I believe that impossible problems make excellent learn examples. If you gave a student a problem to make structures out of the atmosphere it may seem like kaka but it is a problem that ai would have trouble solving and if the student did use it, that would only be a starting point.

I just want to chime in and say that I hope the Big Beautiful Bill passes. Why? The bill will get worse with more cuts. Any change makes it even worse.

I chose to increase the atmosphere because humans can’t live in the vacuum. Traveling in the vacuum would increase speed but humans can’t withstand it. But I suppose if you could alter the atmosphere you could build a ship that had an atmosphere. But altering Earth’s atmosphere has advantages like stopping climate change. Also would it be possible to increase the layers of the atmosphere to give a plane more lift? I remember that Popular Mechanics always predicted a plane could take off and fly then reach an altitude and escape into space.I don’t know if the project ever worked. I agree. I don’t know enough about the atmosphere to avoid plot holes. But what if it was not written as traditional science fiction but a lesson plan to research things like the velocity a plane would need to escape the atmosphere? I am not an expert story teller. Sometimes a good story teller is all you need. But something like this the science has to be real. I’ve heard the transporter was invented because it was the only way to get to the planet and have it flow in the show. It basically breaks down the molecules of your body and sends them through space. I don’t know how it reassembles them or how this affects living organisms.

Thanks for the reply. I do need to research further. I can’t remember who said it but the question to ask a physicist is, “Could God have built the universe in a different way?” That is a problem: more atmospheric pressure. I choose to extend the atmosphere because the building blocks already exist. If we could control gravity it would make it easier to work. Obviously we don’t have the technology, but what if you build “atmospheric bridges” in the sky? You could put a structure of invisible gases and anchor them the surface in order to reduce atmospheric pressure. And before you answer remember it just hypothetical.

I don’t believe the world is flat, but what is the evidence for the theory that it is a sphere? Is it approximately a sphere? And why would the planets form as a sphere in the first place? Would you say intelligent design or gravity is circular? Why can’t it be a cube with an irregular 3d surface that approximates a sphere? I’m quite serious. Why are we not looking for planets in different shapes? And why are black holes logarithmic spirals? I want to write a sci-fi story where instead of using ships to explore space we instead grow the Earths atmosphere. I mean we make space livable by growing the Earth’s protective atmosphere layers. No need for oxygen you already have it. Gravity and the fact you have to travel in an airplane just might be some drawbacks. I have some ideas, but the story telling part is where it takes literarily talent. Any plot ideas?