Apr 29 2008
First blog, first post
It’s time for me to start giving back. For many years I have benefited greatly from the staggeringly brilliant thoughts and ideas of those who have been generous enough to publish their words to the world free of charge – enabling little people like myself to understand the truth of the world in which we live. I’m grateful to the many authors and commentators who have challenged my own ideas and perceptions in this wondrous realm of cyberspace, and feel lucky to be able to have a mechanism by which normal, everyday folks can gain enlightenment through the knowledge freely shared by others. Since I’ve been able to partake of such a vast intellectual feast, it is only fair that I now bring something to the table.
A couple of things to understand before I begin writing in this blog is that this work was originally intended to be a book due to the sequential nature of the subject matter. There will be a common, unifying theme throughout the posts on this site that would be more visible if it were written as a book, but I’ve decided it should be a blog due to many reasons:
1) blogs are free, books aren’t
2) blogs are published instantaneously, books aren’t
3) I’m a nobody
4) I’m not a writer, obviously
5) No publisher in their right mind would publish this work (for reasons 3, 4 and because of the subject matter itself – you will understand this shortly)
Because of this, please know that many posts will require back reading to understand what is being discussed. Blogs are posted with the most recent post at the forefront, which might be the cause of much confusion, so I will try my best to let you know which posts reference previous ones.
That being said, hopefully this blog will be able to contribute in some small way toward the better understanding of our society, our nation, our world, and ourselves.
This is the finest exposition I’ve ever read on this subject, bar none. The author has gone to great lengths to frame the debate between ‘evolution’ and ‘intelligent design’ in a most intelligent way. The only question I would ask is if it’s possible for an ‘intelligent system’ to exist randomly, or, to put it another way, does not order require disorder (else what are you comparing it with to define it as order)? So without dark, there is no light, and vice versa. There is a very subtle distinction to be made here—light can only be defined in relation to dark.
Thanks again for a very thought-provoking article!
Thank you, I’m very happy if you have found any part of these posts to be thought-provoking. As to your question, I don’t believe it is possible for an intelligent system to exist randomly, simply because if it is a system, it is subject to laws that define its function; if the laws are violated, it no longer functions as a system hence the system does not exist. Hopefully I am understanding your question correctly, in the sense that you are asking whether darkness could be defined as a random intelligent system as compared with light being defined as an ordered intelligent system (since, as you said, light can only be defined in relation to dark). Coincidently, this very subject is included in the upcoming post. Light is a system defined by law, it is matter acted upon by gravity in such a way that electromagnetic radiation is produced which at specific frequencies can be observed by the human eye. Darkness, however, is the absence of light. This means that either there is no matter in the space where there is not light (a vacuum) or the matter in a space that is not producing light does not do so because it is not organized into the system which by law results in light production.
Basically, this means that darkness is a negation of light; light is a system that exists according to law, and darkness is the negation of that system, or something that does not obey the laws of the system in question. Which means, in my estimation, that darkness is not a system. Does that address your question or am I reading it incorrectly?