Does the Universe Have a Purpose?

[bystander]

Does the Universe Have a Purpose?
Universe Today | Nancy Atkinson | 2012 Nov 25

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Credit: Minute Physics Narrator: Neil deGrasse Tyson

[neufer]

[b]the late Sir John Templeton[/b]

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Hello, friends. My name is Peter Weyland. I am your employer. I am recording this 22 June 2091 – and if you are watching it, you have reached your destination, and I am long dead. May I rest in peace. There is a man sitting with you today – his name is Chris – he is the closest thing to a son I will ever have. Unfortunately he is not human. He will never grow old and he will never die – and yet he is unable to appreciate these remarkable gifts, for that would require the one thing that Chris will never have: a soul.

I have spent my entire lifetime contemplating the questions "Where do we come from – what is our purpose – what happens when we die?" And I have finally found two people who have convinced me they're on the verge of answering them: Doctors Holloway and Shaw – if you you would please stand. As far as you're concerned, they're both in charge.

the late Dr. Jerry T. Bonnell

[b][size=150]the late Peter Weyland[/size][/b]

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The John Templeton Foundation is a philanthropic organization that funds inter-disciplinary research about human purpose and ultimate reality. It is usually referred to simply as the Templeton Foundation. It was established in 1987 by the late investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton; the current president is his son John Templeton, Jr. The mission of the Templeton Foundation is:

[to serve] as a philanthropic catalyst for discoveries relating to the Big Questions of human purpose and ultimate reality. We support research on subjects ranging from complexity, evolution, and infinity to creativity, forgiveness, love, and free will. We encourage civil, informed dialogue among scientists, philosophers, and theologians and between such experts and the public at large, for the purposes of definitional clarity and new insights. Our vision is derived from the late Sir John Templeton's optimism about the possibility of acquiring "new spiritual information" and from his commitment to rigorous scientific research and related scholarship. The Foundation's motto, "How little we know, how eager to learn," exemplifies our support for open-minded inquiry and our hope for advancing human progress through breakthrough discoveries.

According to the Foundation, it gives away about $70 million per year in research grants and programs. The Foundation restructured its grant making process in January 2010. It is divided into five core funding areas which include:

• Science and the big questions
  Character development
  Freedom and free enterprise
  Exceptional cognitive talent and genius
  Genetics

[Ann]

The Templeton Prize, awarded for

outstanding contributions in affirming life's spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works.

But does the Universe listen?

Ann

[neufer]

The Templeton Prize, awarded for

outstanding contributions in affirming life's spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works.

• But does the Universe listen?

<<Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott. The film's title refers to its primary antagonist: a highly aggressive extraterrestrial creature that stalks and kills the crew of a spaceship. [Alien was] promoted by the tagline:

"In space no one can hear you scream.">>

[Beyond]

Of course the Universe has a purpose... To be a BIG pain in the 'seat' of humans. A purpose it fulfills very well (IMHO)

[Beyond]

"In space no one can hear you scream.">>

Has that theory actually been tested yet

[neufer]

"In space no one can hear you scream."

Has that theory actually been tested yet

Are you volunteering

[rstevenson]

"In space no one can hear you scream.">>

Has that theory actually been tested yet

I can recall only one Physics experiment from high school. A ringing alarm clock was placed on a foam pad and a Bell jar was placed over it. We could hear the ringing. The air was then evacuated from the jar by a pump to form a reasonable facsimile of a vacuum. We could no longer hear the ringing. We were expected to write in our report that the sound could not get from the clock to the jar because there was no medium through which to propagate the sound waves. I wrote that, but added that the alarm may have coincidentally stopped ringing. I got full marks.

Rob

[Chris Peterson]

I can recall only one Physics experiment from high school. A ringing alarm clock was placed on a foam pad and a Bell jar was placed over it. We could hear the ringing. The air was then evacuated from the jar by a pump to form a reasonable facsimile of a vacuum. We could no longer hear the ringing. We were expected to write in our report that the sound could not get from the clock to the jar because there was no medium through which to propagate the sound waves. I wrote that, but added that the alarm may have coincidentally stopped ringing. I got full marks.

You could have added that it was a badly designed experiment. It should properly be done with an old-fashioned alarm clock, with a mechanical clapper. That way, there can be no possibility that the ringing coincidentally stopped.

[neufer]

You could have added that it was a badly designed experiment.
It should properly be done with an old-fashioned alarm clock, with a mechanical clapper.
That way, there can be no possibility that the ringing coincidentally stopped.

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[Chris Peterson]

(Video)

"Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings" always seemed to me a confusion between cause and effect.

[neufer]

"Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings"
always seemed to me a confusion between cause and effect.

Zuzu is not expounding upon cause & effect per se;
she's expounding upon synchronism.

Synchronism: The simultaneous occurrence of two or more events
at the same instant on the same coordinated time standard.

(The rest of the movie explains what generally causes an angel to gets its wings.)

[neufer]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Ga. girl bitten while feeding dolphin at SeaWorld
Chron, December 2, 2012

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (AP) — <<The family of an 8-year-old Georgia girl says she suffered minor injuries after a dolphin bit her hand at SeaWorld in Orlando, Fla.

WSB-TV reports (http://bit.ly/SpqcA3 ) young Jillian Thomas of Alpharetta was feeding fish to the dolphin as part of a SeaWorld attraction and got bitten when she held up the paper fish container to where the dolphin could grab it. That's something SeaWorld warns guests not to do.

Jillian says she feared the dolphin would "eat my hand off." Instead she suffered three small punctures.>>

[rstevenson]

... I wrote that, but added that the alarm may have coincidentally stopped ringing. I got full marks.

You could have added that it was a badly designed experiment. It should properly be done with an old-fashioned alarm clock, with a mechanical clapper. That way, there can be no possibility that the ringing coincidentally stopped.

It took me a few minutes of confusion to figure out what you were talking about Chris. I'm old enough that when we did the experiment, there were only wind-up alarm clocks to work with. They do run down to silence if you wait long enough, and since I didn't know how much the clock had been wound my reply was correct -- despite the fact I was just trying to be funny.

Rob

[owlice]

I think Chris's point was for the alarm clock bell to have a visible mechanical clapper.

[Chris Peterson]

I think Chris's point was for the alarm clock bell to have a visible mechanical clapper.

Precisely.

[rstevenson]

Ah! The light dawns.

Rob

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Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Q: Why are watches adjusted to ten past ten in any advertisement?
.......................................................
A: Many years ago they were set at 12.00 o'clock but someone realized that ten minutes to ten looks like a smiling face and thus more customer friendly. Watches and clocks for sale have been so set ever since. The symmetry of the hands of the watch-face makes for a subconsciously pleasing effect. Also when many watches are displayed they are all at the same time to look neat and uniform. So it's become an industry standard.

[Beyond]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Q: Why are watches adjusted to ten past ten in any advertisement?
.......................................................
A: Many years ago they were set at 12.00 o'clock but someone realized that ten minutes to ten looks like a smiling face and thus more customer friendly. Watches and clocks for sale have been so set ever since. The symmetry of the hands of the watch-face makes for a subconsciously pleasing effect. Also when many watches are displayed they are all at the same time to look neat and uniform. So it's become an industry standard.

There seems to be a war going on between the red and blue times listed.
The red says that watches and clocks are set to ten past ten.
The blue says that they are all set to ten minutes to ten.
No wonder then that the Guess Who's mechanical clock sounds so strange.

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[Beyond]

Looks like Jiminy Cricket is a mite ticked-off about all the ding-a-lings in this thread

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There seems to be a war going on between the red and blue times listed.
The red says that watches and clocks are set to ten past ten.
The blue says that they are all set to ten minutes to ten.

Obviously ten minutes to ten is a conflation of ten minutes to two & ten past ten.

Which brings to mind that old chestnut:

When do the hour & minute next coincide after 12:00

[Beyond]

There seems to be a war going on between the red and blue times listed.
The red says that watches and clocks are set to ten past ten.
The blue says that they are all set to ten minutes to ten.

Obviously ten minutes to ten is a conflation of ten minutes to two & ten past ten.

Which brings to mind that old chestnut:

When do the hour & minute next coincide after 12:00

So... the clock would be the conflation, expressed in two different times. Ten before and ten after.
Neither of which (to me) look like a smiling face.

I don't bother with chestnuts, old or new, roasted or unroasted, horse or otherwise. But it would seem that the old chestnut you have, would be 12:12.
and how about the 12/12/12 time when there is a conflation of day time-month time-and year time. That will only show up on a few expensive time pieces though.

[neufer]

Obviously ten minutes to ten is a conflation of ten minutes to two & ten past ten.

So... the clock would be the conflation, expressed in two different times. Ten before and ten after.
Neither of which (to me) look like a smiling face.

Ten minutes to two & ten past ten are both smilees.

Which brings to mind that old chestnut:

When do the hour & minute next coincide after 12:00

I don't bother with chestnuts, old or new, roasted or unroasted, horse or otherwise.
But it would seem that the old chestnut you have, would be 12:12.

I'll try again:
When do the hour & minute hands next coincide after 12:00

[Beyond]

Ah... i thought you might have meant hands. So that would be twice, high noon and low midnight. Except on a 24hr clock of course. Am i right, or do i have to go to Milliways and have another, so i'll be able to see more clearly(?) what you're getting at.
Oh, if you color in the clockface yellow, after ten after ten, downward and up around to ten to ten, then you'd have a pac-man. The ten to ten, to the ten after ten, would be the mouth. It would be faceing up.

[Ann]

When do the hour & minute hands next coincide after 12:00

Ask me, I know. There was something wrong with my beloved old sky blue plastic DDR kitchen wall clock recently. When the minute hand passed over the hour hand, it ran the risk of getting stuck. One morning the clock hands had become stuck at exactly 12:00. The next morning they were stuck at, I think, 02.11. (Or maybe 02.10.30.) I suppose I was lucky they didn't get stuck at 01.05, 03.17 or another of those times when the minute hand passes over the hour hand.

Ann