Nota Bene 4

It's all a blur. I don't know what I've said so far. (Not today, but in general.) I do know that there remains a lot more but, as I've noted before, I'll never get there so I'm declaring it hefker.ⁱ What follow are some thoughts that I don't expect to have time to develop in the near future. Whether or not I've raised these issues in the past, there's still a universe of additional thoughts to be discussed, and I leave that to you.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

1. Suppose the Universe (there's that word again), having expanded after the Big Bang, reached a maximum and started collapsing. Suppose unidirectional time which, according to some physicists, started at the time of the BB, turned around as the Universe started collapsing and, while it is still unidirectional, is now moving from a time when there was much information to a time when little is known – when past and future (as we know them) are reversed. And billions of years from now the same people who once lived (who live now) live again – only the direction of their lives is reversed.

As the days pass, we forget much of what we knew, only remembering what we personally experienced. Now “progress” has a meaning opposite to what we understand. For example, as time goes by the iPod which someone had used a few years earlier no longer exists and he can only remember that there was such a device at one time. And while his retirement is over he becomes younger and his own children disappear while his parents become a more important part of his life. He is aware of the sequence (it is the normal one) and tells his parents what life was like when he was old. Birth is the termination of his life – his death having been its beginning.

2. According to a guy I know in my community, a dog is man's best friend. His criterion? Lock your dog and your wife in the basement. If you open the door after three days, only one will be glad to see you. There must be other benchmarks by which to evaluate such affection, or any other variety, but I have no time to consider the problem now. Maybe I'll get some help in three days.

3. They mustn't win – When is showing that they haven't won more important than your own personal interests? Are there other times when you gain more from losing than from winning. One is to get a better choice in a sports draft, but there must be others. Another is in the effort to gain sympathy. And when must you do something you wouldn't ordinarily do just to show that you can?

4. In a rational scientific Universe, one that originated with the Big Bang, how do we account for the laws of physics. The scenarios explaining the development of the various features of the reality in which we live are based on the existence of such laws – which apparently waited for the Big Bang so they would have something on which to act – but their existence, which assumes that there was something before the origination/creation seems to be separate from the Universe in which they operate.

Have at it. I'll be interested in your results.

Next episode: “Andrew And Greta” – No one to watch over me.

iOwnerless (Hebrew). Available to whoever claims it. And whoever uses it can change it as seems fit.