posted December 28, 2003 05:38 AM
OK, here goes... This was an email to a friend (additions are noted as such):
quote:
Hey Dean,You said i should send you am email about these multichoice questions of yours... okay, here we go, btw i've got Bach on, so i might end up a little philosophical.
1) What is the meaning of life?
This is such an open ended question. What is the meaning of life? If you were a Mormon (your not, are you????) then the meaning of life would be to get married and have lots of good little children, who eventually grow up and give 10% of their income to the church so they can be seen as good people in the eyes of Jesus. My meaning of life is definitely not that, in fact i think that everybody's would be different. Or maybe the question is far too complex to be made sense of in the first place that an answer if 42 simply states that there is no simple answer, that the question is more important. IMO you need a text box, and you cant really be marked wrong for this one.
ME: 42 and live long and prosper are fairly generic, I admit, but I think they some up the meaning in so far as:
1. 42 means destiny (4) through learning (2) added together equal 6 = love. Therefore the ultimate meaning is to love, but through destiny and learning - mostly in that order (?)
2. Live long and prosper MUST be a meaning as backwards would be "why are we here if to die young". Prosperity is a must only to enjoy life and, consequently to live longer.
There are many answers as you've said, but these ones *together* summarise them - I think. Also, the fact that numerology is an answer in itself is to say "wake up, there's magic out there!" so to speak...
Addition: 42 = 24 in Chaldean Numerology which I think sums it up too - to live happily but always be aware of Karma, that things taken for granted may be taken away.
quote:
2) What are aliens?Aliens don't exist... the establishment would have you believe (on a side note, did you know there is a law preventing any 'American' coming into contact with an extra terrestrial entity - why is there a law if they don't exist??). But aliens of the extra terrestrial type you mean, if you clarify the question - alien is such a broad term, once again.
Whether they exist or not is pointless. I assume they exist because to not do so is very arrogant - I think. How could we be the only ones here? God must be rather simple if all he wanted to do was create one world surrounded by an infinite universe. I'd love you to read The Meaning of Life as on my main page. Please! Friends we haven't met yet and simlar beings are my answer as how could you say they're different? Even if they're on a different dimension and have 24 arms without fingers, etc. doesn't mean they're different. They'd still be alive to live and prosper as in 1, etc.
quote:
3) How big is the Universe?The universe is curved says Stephan Hawking, that if you were to fly in a space ship you would eventually get back to the point you started. How big is the Multi-verse, it is theorized that every choice of every individual represents a branch to another universe. So how big is the universe??? Just very ^ n large, and always expanding, at a finite speed. Outside the Universe there is no Universe, cos general relativity breaks down - nothing that would exists in this universe can exist outside of it.
I think I answered undefinable as, like you said, it's growing and could be considered infintite as a circle is, or a Kock curve - i.e. an infinite length within a finite area. Also, what of matter? That can't be infinite... or can it? The Higgs field is said to make mater all the time, but where does matter go at the end of its life? In any case, I think undefinable is accurate as even if you keep zooming out (or in) implies you may always get the same thing. Maybe like fractal chaos.
quote:
4) Do i find this survey boring?It represents your point of view - which i don't find boring.
The answers in themselves are complex.
No is the correct answer. Due to yin and yang, it can't be not at all. Never implies time, or more precisely the future, which you don't know yet, so you can't answer never. The fact that you chose something is also an indication that you're not bored. If you didn't answer, and just browsed off somewhere else would mean, yes.
quote:
5) What is matter?I said energy - i dunno if that is right, but i think that matter is just 'frozen' energy. Matter has to be 100% something or it wouldn't be matter, it would be nothing.
I think energy is correct. 99 percent isn't very accurate, and "Stuff we believe exists due to misinterpretation of our senses" is vague. Of course everything could be considered this, but then we ourselves are this, and hence everything else by comparison is not.
quote:
6) What is energy?Energy.
Matter. e=mc squared. c is a constant (the only ever). God and unexplained phenomena are valid, but incorrect because we are both those thing too, so as in 5, by comparison, they are void.
Addition: OK, here is where the contradiction is. I forget to tell Chris about this (like it matters? (mind the pun 
)). The actual answer is unexplained phenomena, not matter as it should be from the previous question. The reason is that Young's double slit experiment first discovered that light (or one form of energy) is a wave. They then went on to discover the length of the waves, etc. However, when electrons went through, they also appeared like waves evern though they were matter - ie. the experiments gave the same results. The situation became more confusing when they fired electrons through the slits one at a time ie. the electrons shouldn't affect each other the way normal waves do - ie. creating troughs and peaks due to the waves overlapping. How could the electrons do this? Well, it was decided that electrons must move as waves as well as be particles, hence, energy is unexplained, but matter is energy... I also think its a matter of the chicken and the egg. I just personally feel that energy was first and is unexplained.
quote:
7) How significant is our existence?None of these, but if you murder someone they might disagree that it is infinitesimal.
Another trick question of sorts. I think I went with 42 again as it is an exact number which as explained earlier ultimately results in love, so our existence is directly proportional to our degrees of love. Also, what do we love? Its not just refering to people, but life and existence in general, so to not love anything is to be infinitesimal, and the opposite...
quote:
8) Is there a God?Oh crap, not that question....
A. What do you mean "a"?
B. What do you mean "there"?
C. What do you mean by "God"?
Um, I think the answer was a. Only because God is completely subjective. There are many versions, and the universe is undefinable, so if there is a God then we "know" s/he's the creator, and s/he's out there... A is not known as we could be considered Gods ourselves. The term God could be used to regard many things, which implies c, but I think I had a as correct.
Addition: this was verified.
quote:
9) Can the world endure spiritual enlightenment?Nope, not everyone right now, but maybe one day.
A. Maybe the world can, but its people can't
B. Maybe the world can, but its animals can't
C. Maybe the world can, but the spirits can't
I think I went c... mostly because animals and people are also spirits, so hence, it is the only valid answer.
Addition: verified.
Chris didn't comment on 10, but this is my answer:
For 10, I think it was a as no, there was one more. To answer b is incorrect because as admitted there was one more question. C is just vague but fun 
A. No, just one more question
B. Yes, at the point of answering, the survey was completed
C. No, these questions will be asked for ever, and don't really have answers
Thanks for trying it though man, and for the feedback! I'll see you around work.
Dean.
Lindaland
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