tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2940570413170689012.post2331890319795936056..comments2024-03-04T10:43:03.201+00:00Comments on The Reason Stick: The Total Perspective VortexCrispian Jagohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16834942943012382473noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2940570413170689012.post-31268673401794013752009-09-04T22:38:55.789+01:002009-09-04T22:38:55.789+01:00Highly late in the year to leave a reply now, but ...Highly late in the year to leave a reply now, but no, I don't think it's conceited to anthropomorphisise global warming - a bit of late school level maths and chemistry make it clear that the changes in carbon dioxide at least really are caused by industry. In fact, if you add up how much CO2 is released by human activity (I don't mean breathing!), there should be more than there is now - the oceans have absorbed half of it! Any chemical system is extremely sensitive to the slightest changes - look at microscopic amounts of plutonium in Litvinenko, or the fact that 1 drop of seawater in a pint of fresh changes the behaviour of the fresh water completely.<br /><br />In any case, global warming is human responsibility and within our powers to change - not a gift we've been given by the creator of the universe who thinks we're supremely important but doesn't admit we could change anything.Alicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14217937730862636923noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2940570413170689012.post-5858950074698184112009-06-16T17:34:30.327+01:002009-06-16T17:34:30.327+01:00I would like to also remind you of the Oglaroonian...I would like to also remind you of the Oglaroonians:<br /><br />"In one corner of the galaxy lies the large planetOglaroon, the entire "intelligent" population of which lives permanently in one fairly small and crowded nut tree. In which tree they are born, live, fall in love, carve tiny speculative articles in the bark on the meaning of life, the futility of death, and the importance of birth control, fight a few extremely minor wars and eventually die strapped to the underside of some of the less accessible outer branches."<br /><br />"In fact the only Oglaroonians who ever leave their tree are those who are hurled out of it for the heinous crime of wondering whether any of the other trees might be capable of supporting life at all, or indeed whether the other trees are anything other than illusions brought on by eating too many Oglanuts."Sean Ellishttp://moteprime.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2940570413170689012.post-91877910703271216382009-06-15T23:13:52.846+01:002009-06-15T23:13:52.846+01:00John,
I concede your comment about the point of t...John, <br />I concede your comment about the point of the TPV being to drive you nuts, and therefore promoting blissful ignorance. I realised this when posting, but Adams’ prose is so sublime I thought I’d squeeze it in anyway even though it didn’t perfectly align with the point I was making.<br /><br />I agree that we may well be the only intelligence there is. I’ve blogged about this here:<br />http://crispian-jago.blogspot.com/2009/02/are-we-alone.html<br />But that doesn’t alter the size of the Universe and our relationship to it.<br /><br />Paul, <br />If my memory serves me correctly Zaphod left the head offices of the HHGTG on Frogstar B via the window, not the door, and hence remained in the virtual world created for him where he was indeed the most important thing, and therefore immune to the effect of the TPV. Nice comparison with the religous living in a seperate bubble equivalant to Zaphod's virtual reality.<br /><br />Thanks for knowing where your towels are and taking the time to commentCrispian Jagohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16834942943012382473noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2940570413170689012.post-31872787081281702792009-06-15T22:27:10.797+01:002009-06-15T22:27:10.797+01:00Is belief in anthropological global warming an exa...Is belief in anthropological global warming an example of this conceit?<br /><br />Just thought I'd that one in there for a giggle...Johnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2940570413170689012.post-41674684034891868472009-06-15T22:03:31.681+01:002009-06-15T22:03:31.681+01:00One thing to remember about Zaphod Beeblebrox'...One thing to remember about Zaphod Beeblebrox's uncanny survival of the TPV is that it wasn't real. He had been tricked into virtual reality and didn't experience the real vortex at all.<br /><br />"It doesn't look like any kind of a Vortex to me."<br /><br />"It isn't. It's just the lift."<br /><br />In some ways the religious environment some of us were born into could be considered a kind of mental virtual reality. But by and by we come to see it as ... just a lift.Paul S. Jenkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15580170289410948764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2940570413170689012.post-6355114509618124292009-06-15T21:38:26.709+01:002009-06-15T21:38:26.709+01:00Just becuase the religious are very probably wron...Just becuase the religious are very probably wrong about our significance, doesn't mean the opposite is necessarily true.<br /><br />We could well be the only reasonably intelligent race there is.<br /><br />And lets not forget, the whole point of the vortex was to illustrate that the truth can drive you nuts, whilst conceited delusion can keep you sane. There are sound evolutionary reasons why the religious exist....Johnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2940570413170689012.post-23718607931633209252009-06-15T21:14:41.247+01:002009-06-15T21:14:41.247+01:00I began reading this post and thought, "That ...I began reading this post and thought, "That video the Bad Astronomer posted recently is perfect for this...."<br /><br />I should have known :-)Paul S. Jenkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15580170289410948764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2940570413170689012.post-25215563154180145942009-06-15T20:10:04.339+01:002009-06-15T20:10:04.339+01:00I'm impressed you managed to comment seconds a...I'm impressed you managed to comment seconds after posting this blog.<br /><br />Thanks for the link to your blog. I liked the poem.<br /><br />Cheers<br />CrispianCrispian Jagohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16834942943012382473noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2940570413170689012.post-63311462784970665002009-06-15T20:01:59.617+01:002009-06-15T20:01:59.617+01:00Hi crispian !
I quite often think on similar li...Hi crispian !<br /><br /> I quite often think on similar lines as you did while posting this one.<br /><br /> The quotation was indeed as interesting as your own write-up.<br /> Thought you might like to have a look at my own blog : http://quantum-verse.blogspot.comAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06973858186468645856noreply@blogger.com