It's been while since we had a Heretics Brunch...with everything that happens in the spring from Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest, we kind of have to wait for an opening where we can fit one in the schedule.
And a great mimosa with friends is an excellent way to start the summer.
See Calendar for more information.
We've been heading back to our familiar haunts this past month, but it's time to venture out and try something new again.
Mellow Mushroom originated back in 1974, so they know something about being...well, relaxed....hence the name.
See Calendar for more information.
A Universe From Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing, by Lawrence M. Krauss
A Universe From Nothing is an excellent overview of the latest thinking in cosmology. Physicist, speaker, and writer Larry Krauss has made a difficult subject brief, comprehensible, and enjoyable.
A major point of the book is that the philosophical debate about the existence of God as the uncaused cause of everything has become outdated and needs to be redefined in terms of recent work in physics. The theistic side of that argument claims that there must be a God who created everything because the universe must have begun from a state of nothingness, and no natural process could cause something (or anything) to arise spontaneously from such nothingness. Krauss argues that this philosophical definition of nothingness -- a state without any potential for becoming something spontaneously -- corresponds to no reality known to science. As physicists now understand it, the emptiest space always has a potential for becoming something, and matter and energy can even arise in a hypothetical void that lacks space itself.
All of this, of course, lies within a more speculative realm of science, and is far from proven. Yet recent work increasingly converges on the realization that so-called empty space is never really empty. We live in a universe composed in large part of Dark Matter and Dark Energy, phenomena we have yet to observe directly, but are strongly indicated by experimental and theoretical evidence. Any volume of space, no matter how perfect a vacuum, boils at the quantum level with virtual particles and energies that sometimes break into the realm of the observable. Our universe is likely contained within a larger multiverse, either because the total reality is a ten-dimensional domain we can only describe mathematically, or because our ordinary four-dimensional domain contains clusters of matter and energy that are so far apart they can never know anything about each other. Much of this understanding has unfolded in recent decades, and has rendered obsolete any philosophical debate grounded in earlier models.
As Krauss explains, this development continues the centuries-long trend of science narrowing the gaps within which God can operate. Nothingness is naturally unstable, and tends to transition into an extant something, without supernatural prodding. This doesn't prove that there is no God, but it does make God an unnecessary hypothesis.
A Universe From Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing, by Lawrence M. Krauss. Free Press (2012). 224 pages. ISBN: 9781451624458. Available in Hardcover, E-Book and Audio Book formats.
A Universe From Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing(ISBN:9781451624458), by Lawrence M. Krauss - review by Jim Dugan
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Humanists reject superstitious beliefs.
Instead, we can make sense of the world using reason, experience and shared values.
We can make the best of life by creating meaning and purpose for ourselves, and choosing to take responsibility for our actions.
It is important to act morally towards others, not because of a divine imperative, but because people have inherent dignity.
We have only one life, it is our responsibility to make it a good life, and to live it well.
Believing there's no God means I can't really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories. That's good. . . I have to try to treat people right the first time around. - Penn Jillette
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