Good News and Bad News

I have good news and bad news.

First, the universe is a vast, cold and mostly empty place. Apart from a few concentrations of matter in the form of stars, planets, etc., the bulk of space is pretty thin. What’s more, the little we know of it comes from our extremely limited perceptions of a tiny sliver of the electromagnetic spectrum and other phenomena.

The random interactions of all this cosmic stuff produce some swirls and eddies that seem complex to us … processes like life, photosynthesis or consciousness. We have no hard evidence that these are anything but side effects of the overall action of the universe, but one of the characteristics of consciousness is that it “thinks” its own purpose and importance are somehow greater than those of chance occurrences. So far as we’re able to determine scientifically, we are merely the accidental byproducts of a machine set in motion billions of years ago.

That’s also the bad news.

The Big Questions

I think it's time to address the big questions.  I don't mean Windows vs. Mac, or 401(k) vs. Roth IRA.  I mean the really big questions.

And the first really big question is ... what are the really big questions?

Here are my candidates, in no particular order:

1) Is there a god (or are there gods?)
2) If not, what's the point? (Or, if so, what the point?)
3) Are people, in general, stupid? (If so, why is the Web all about crowd-sourcing?)
4) Is life fair? (Why can't you buy a box of vanillas?)
5) Are things getting worse? (And if not, why does it always seem that way?)
6) Why do I keep using parentheses?  (Why not?)

So these are the kinds of probing, philosophical topics I'll be taking up in future posts when I'm really stuck for an idea.

Don't say I didn't warn you.