Karen Chaffee

 Hey, Jon, I  want to apologize for my tone. Because of your last name, all this time I was under the impression that you were the moderator of this site.  Ha ha, no but honestly I did.  And I thought as moderator, you were dismissing my topic.  I am sorry!  I just read your bio.  You have every right to dismiss me if you are not moderator!  If yo…[Read more]

Hey, Jon, not so.  (The material in my salon would take years of study) .  In fact, the material in Salon One is covered in much less than one lecture in a first year college chemistry course.  In fact, it is presented in non-majors chemistry-for-poets type classes.  Anyone with a science degree should be familiar with it.  In fact, I kind of rush…[Read more]

I wanted to edit my post to say that electron is the smallest particle in the atom.   But the spacing is lost when I hit edit.   Here is something from wiki: In the physical, known universe we can say that an electron occupies the smallest area and has the least mass. In the quantum mechanical universe we can define the ‘smallest particle’ as a m…[Read more]

I had three salons (meetings to discuss) in my home about chemical bonding.   I tried to use activities and demos to present difficult material, my attempt at ‘storytelling’!  Storytelling is much, much, much, much harder than I thought!    You can read about it all  in my forum (Carbon, mystery and wonder)    Jennifer asked me to present a “Just…[Read more]

I had three salons (meetings to discuss) in my home about chemical bonding.   I tried to use activities and demos to present difficult material, my attempt at ‘storytelling’!  Storytelling is much, much, much, much harder than I thought!    You can read about it all  in my forum (Carbon, mystery and wonder)  Jennifer asked me to present a “Just…[Read more]

Jennifer, I worked on my post and will add it first thing tomorrow.  Busy day. Wow, fourteen pages!  

Thanks, Ursula, are you responding to my question regarding given the correct constants (strong nuclear force, etc)  is carbon formation in our universe likely?  The article is interesting, I have read about a third, but it will take me time to finish.  

Ed, I actually think what you are doing is interesting. Like David Deutsch, you are at least addressing some of these questions. I may never understand what you say, much less believe, but I enjoy reading and thinking about big questions, even if as you say, they may be unknowable.

Ed, I actually think what you are doing is interesting. Like David Deutsch, you are at least addressing some of these questions. I may never understand, much less believe, but I enjoy reading and thinking about big questions, even if as you say, they may be unknowable.

Ed, I actually think what you are doing is interesting. Like David Deutsch, you are at least addressing some of these questions. I may never understand, much less believe, but I enjoy reading and thinking about big questions, even if as you say, they may be unknowable.

Let me stress, all these parameters (see my above response to Ursula) were in play one second after the big bang.  Subsequently, I think the formation of carbon is _likely_ (I might be very misinformed here, it isn’t my field)   and the formation of life _likely_ (this at least is my field)      If you want to read about that, go to the very last…[Read more]

Let me stress, all these parameters (see my above response to Ursula) were in play one second after the big bang.  Subsequently, I think the formation of carbon is _likely_ (I might be misinformed here)  and the formation of life _likely_ (this at least is my field)   If you want to read about that, go to the very last post in my forum (scroll to…[Read more]

<p>Ursula, the formation of the carbon nucleus itself is dependant upon some fine tuning of some constants that govern the strong and weak nuclear force and something called the Hoyle state.  I have not read about the Hoyle state, but the strong and weak force form in a fraction of a second after the big bang with the required fine…[Read more]

Hi, Ursula, thanks for the link!  That is interesting.    I had read about the anthropic principle years ago, but I forgot about it.   I just tried to read the wiki article.  It  is quite related to this forum discussion, in that it links consciousness and the beginning of the universe, which is when the structure of the universe was decid…[Read more]

Hi, Ursula, thanks for the link!  That is interesting.    I had read about the anthropic principle years ago, but I forgot about it.   I just tried to read the wiki article.  It  is quite related to this forum discussion, in that it links consciousness and the beginning of the universe, which is when the structure of the universe was decid…[Read more]

I’d like to bother everyone to say that although I included this quote from Ed’s post….[As British astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle put it:  “Would you not say to yourself, “Some super-calculating intellect must have designed the properties of the carbon atom, otherwise the chance of my finding such an atom through the blind forces of nature would…[Read more]

Duane, I know you are away, but I enjoyed thinking about your question: do I see a difference between ‘living’, ‘conscious’ , ‘intelligent’ and I will add, ‘wise’.  Can the universe be these things?  Also, I add my question, is it emotionally interesting? Living system:  Can the universe be seen as a living system, with functions analogous to tho…[Read more]

I think the beauty of this web page is the chance for those with disparate views to attempt to see each other’s viewpoint, and in doing so, broaden our collective imaginations.  It’s tough, because science is so specialized, and so is philosophy.    I had meant to post comments on four different topics, but was waiting for time to read some of the…[Read more]

Ed–   “Interestingly, the more random a signal appears, the more information is potentially contained in that signal.”  Interesting, and of course, to me baffling.   By the way, I read the New Yorker Article on quantum computing you suggested–very readable, but when I thought I understood for a few sentences, I read a few more sentences and re…[Read more]

However we now know that matter itself – even the vacuum – has vast quantum computational capacity.  What “software applications” are running on this computational substrate?  Is it all really just random noise as most quantum physicists would assert?   Hi Ed, thanks for the reply–this is very interesting!   Or could some portion of our conscio…[Read more]