pagsz's Journal: Ramblings of an Idiot (11th Installment)

Well, the Ramblings of an Idiot series goes right on rambling. I had a few ideas yesterday that I didn't get the opportunity to jot down here, so I'm going to do so now, along with some new, fresh stupidity.

• Intelligent Design: A few years ago, I had some thoughts along these lines (although I had never heard of ID until a year ago). The idea that humans had evolved, under the direction of God, had begun to make sense to me. But then, I found a problem with it: dinosaurs. I couldn't find a reasonable way for dinosaurs to fit into my ID-ish theory. I began thinking: What, were they a screw-up? What, did God decide that they weren't going anywhere, so he threw a cosmic fastball at them? That didn't make sense, on a couple of levels: First, if God were guiding the process, then they wouldn't have been a dead end. Second, if he wasn't actively guiding the process, then well, there's no ID then. The concept of them existing simply "for us to find" never hit me then (it's something I've encountered in the occasional creationist/evolutionist debate here on /.). Still, even that doesn't make sense to me. There are plenty of things in the universe to be found, without some stupid dinosaur bones. So, long story short, I left the concept of ID behind a long time ago.
• The Moon: During the same discussion that got me thinking about ID ( Milky Way Inhospitable?, May 28, 2002), I ran across this link: The Moon And Plate Tectonics: Why We Are Alone. It's an interesting article, and makes you wonder. It asserts that what allows us to be here is plate tectonics, and what allows plate tectonics is the existence of the Moon. The crux of the argument is that if the Moon had not been created, removing some seventy percent of the Earth's crust, plate tectonics, and therefore continents, would not be possible. And without landmasses, technology-creating creatures (like ourselves) are not possible. Given the rarity of such an event as the one that created the Moon (an appropriately-sized object hitting a forming planet within the habitable zone of its star at just the right angle to eject enough crust material to kick-start plate tectonics) we may be unique in the Galaxy. This is not to say there is no life elsewhere in the Galaxy, just to say there are no other technologically advanced cultures. The article argues that most habitable worlds would be water-worlds, global oceans. Therefore, it would be near impossible for a species on one of these planets to develop the technology to explore beyond their planet. For example: on Earth, dolphins are highly intelligent creatures. Even if they had a language and culture of similar sophistication to ours, they would not be able to advance technologically because of their aquatic environment and adaptation to it.
• Are We Alone?: While I'm on the subject of our uniqueness, I just thought I'd mention another thing I'd thought of. There is the distinct possibility that we are the most advanced culture in the Galaxy. Somehow, that just doesn't feel right. There is also the possibility that we are the least advanced. Which makes more sense.
• Universal Translator: DARPA Project Babylon: Universal Translator (today): Interesting idea, but I don't think they're going to be able to do anything serious with it for quite a while. Even if it were possible to get a word-to-word translation from one language to another, you would then have to take into account idioms and different meanings. Not to mention that a single language may have dozens of dialects. Take English, for example. Some words and meanings are specific to England, or the Southern US, or Western US, or Midwestern US, or Northeast US. Within the same language, you have a multitude of meanings. Hell, there must be fifty ways to refer to a certain type of sandwich: hoagie, sub, grinder, hero to name a few. Reminds me of a scene in Die Hard: With a Vengeance. The scene in the NY Federal Reserve Bank, where Willis rides the elevator down with the disguised Germans. The use of dogs and cats instead of cats and dogs, and lift instead of elevator tip him off that they weren't local. They spoke perfect English, but it's the little things that count. Try that with a machine.
• Movies: It seems George Lucas plans to keep right on working after finishing the new Star Wars trilogy. Indiana Jones IV is set for a July 4, 2005 release.
  Note to Mozilla users: This page may not render correctly. To read anything, highlight the entire page. Sorry, but that's the way it is.

  And from the "what-the-hell-are-they-thinking department:" Jackass: The Movie . Hollywood at its best!

• E-Mail: I set up a new e-mail account yesterday. Switched over to Yahoo! Mail. Updated the Slashdot account (this, duh). Goodbye and good riddance, Hotmail.

Well, that's all for this installment of Ramblings of an Idiot. So, goodbye and good riddance to all you loyal readers who have permanently damaged your brains by reading my journal.