Dynamic Knowledge and Static Truth

Both Knowledge (which is dynamic) and Truth (which is static) are time-space related. They do not apply to LTS-related matters like life-matter (soul), God, afterlife, etc. That is, there is no such thing as knowledge/truth about life-matter (soul), God, afterlife, etc.

Only humans possess a soul?

Most religions hold that only humans possess a soul and consequently, consider all other life forms to be of a lower or inferior nature. As such, many religious folks may not think twice before killing an animal for sport in the name of hunting or fishing. Often, we see on the cover of specialty magazines the hunter and the hunted, with the former proudly displaying their sizeable kill and flashing a genuine smile for the camera. Likewise, thanks to taxidermy, many hunters proudly display in their living rooms the stuffed heads or bodies of their various kills. These same individuals are often adamantly against abortion for religious reasons—their rationalization, not surprisingly, being that animals do not have a soul, but humans (and thus, human fetuses) do.

Explaining the Incomprehensible

There is a subtle difference between “God was Created” and “God was Created3”. The former begs the question “by whom?”, whereas the latter doesnt/shouldnt. It is like the difference between “the biggest number” (which is time-space related) and “infinity” (which is lack-of-time-and-space or LTS related). In theory, we can multiply the biggest number by 2, but we cant do the same with infinity (by definition). Like infinity, Creation3 implies/provides some kind of a closure/explanation about the incomprehensible.

Artificial Life Fantasy

Regarding the recent hoopla about creation of partially synthetic bacterial cell, I agree with the scientists who praised Dr. Venter’s project but characterized the experiment in less revolutionary terms. They noted that only the genome was synthetic; the recipient cell was equipped by nature and billions of years of evolution to make sense of the genes and turn them on.

Though I consider myself to be science-oriented, I acknowledge limitations of science and prefer stepping beyond the boxes of both religion and science. While some may characterize Dr. Venter’s experiment as “the latest step toward making life from scratch”, I don’t. And while some may think science will some day help to create artificial life, I don’t. In line with the theory of biogenesis (which states that life can only come from preexisting life), I hold that life cannot be generated from purely inanimate objects.

In my view, science and its tools are limited to the time-space realm, but life (including freewill, instincts, and thoughts) pertains to a realm that is beyond time-space—and is as such beyond the reaches of science and its tools. Thoughts or emotions for instance, cannot be created per se by science and its tools; rather, they can only be influenced by them. Chemicals and drugs merely manipulate preexisting thoughts or emotions—they do not conceive, originate, or invent them from scratch.

"Creation", "Forever", and "Purpose"

At first glance, concepts like creation, forever, and purpose have a clear, unconstrained, and universal connotation. Closer scrutiny, however, suggests that such concepts can lose relevance within the confines of our five-sense-bound faculties and become enigmatic.

We often treat these concepts as if their applicability is unbounded, and extend their meaning to answer questions that they are not really capable of addressing. For instance, we assume that God had some purpose for creating the universe. Likewise, we assume heaven and hell last forever.

The book Thinking Is Authorized! has an intriguing follow-up discussion about those concepts.

Do prayers get answered?

I recently heard of a case in which an upstart business owner had to have a sample of his product tested by a licensing authority to ensure it had enough bacteria of a certain type. The sample failed since the trial test showed the product did not have sufficient bacteria. The barely established business owner felt powerless and got very worried. Being religious, he prayed for the bacteria to multiply as rapidly as possible so that the follow-up test the next day would not fail. As it turned out, the follow-up test showed positive results and the business eventually became a major success nationwide. The business owner attributed the success of his business to that particular prayer early on which apparently increased the bacteria count in the test sample.
However, taking into consideration, for example, that the business eventually affected the lives of numerous employees, shareholders, customers, and all associated with them—including me writing and you presently reading about it—I doubt strongly that it was the prayers that multiplied the bacteria. Chances are, it was nothing supernatural—the bacteria count grew most likely due to normal, natural causes.

If it were possible to successfully transplant our brain into say a rabbit, a mouse, or a duck

From my perspective, all life-matter is identical regardless of the size or complexity of the species. What distinguishes one species from another is not their life-matter, but rather, the size or complexity of the physical body their life-matter happens to reside in.


As such, and in theory, if it were possible to successfully transplant our brain into say a rabbit, a mouse, or a duck, then their behavior would become similar to that of humans. It would resemble the behavior of such animated cartoon characters as Bugs Bunny, Speedy Gonzales, and Daffy Duck. By the same token, if it was possible to transplant a rabbit’s brain into a human, the human would behave like a rabbit.