So, I searched up and down for this and didn't find it, so I'm making a thread. I'll preface it a little bit first. Growing up, I had always considered myself Christian. I went to church every Sunday, I prayed (sometimes), and I knew that Jesus died for my sins. However, when I got to be about 15, I started asking questions. For the sake of brevity, I won't bring them up. I asked my small group leaders, my pastor, my parents, everyone I could, yet nobody could satisfactorily answer my questions. At that time, I declared myself an atheist. I felt successful, smart, and a little bit rebellious: I had come to my own conclusion! That lasted up until about 18, when I started doing a lot of reading about theoretical physics, quantum mechanics, and astronomy. The more I read, the more convinced I became that there had to be some kind of God. But I couldn't convince myself that this God was some type of omniscient, omnipresent meddler in our affairs. I take the wind-up toy approach. He got the ball rolling (with the big bang or however the Universe took shape... I have my doubts about that particular theory) and sat back and watched everything unravel. Anyway, I had experimented with a few unmentionables, and they had definitely aided me in my search for God. I think. Anyway, the day after meeting Lucy (lying in bed, recovering from the lack of sleep) I was goofing off on StumbleUpon. And this link came up. Talking To God At the time I read it, I did not realize it was fiction. But either way, it put into words the way I think about God. It blew my mind... what are the chances that I would discover that website the day after? A statistical improbability, my friend would say. I don't like to believe in coincidences... Even though it probably was. Anyway, I'd like to hear what y'all think about the story. I rambled for long enough. TL;DR: read the story. Respond. Interact. ///M
The thinking machine would be artificial intelligence. A computer can process data but does not actually have any real understanding of the data it processes. A "thinking machine" would actually comprehend what it was doing and be self-aware, meaning that it could operate independently of human control. Therefore it could be tasked to go through data that would take normal humans hundreds and hundreds of hours (things like reverse-engineering DNA or searching through the cosmos for planets that may be habitable). ///M
Synchronicity, Carl Gustav Jung. Basically the synchronicity theory says that each coincidence is a meaningful coincidence or not acctually a coincidence at all. Basically Universe can give u answers when you ask you just have to be in the right state of mind/aware enough to pick up on the answers. E.g. was in car discussing whether putting cling film on number plate would stop cameras from reading plate number. Then we were discussing whether it would be worth it and if the police would find out easily. At that precise moment a fed car rolls past. Coincidence? I think not the universe gave us the answer to our question quite simply by making a police car roll past or perhaps by making us notice the police car. But yeah this is a rather minimal description of the whole synchronicity theory it would really be worth your time to read into it and C.G.Jung's other work about pretty much everything. He has very very intresting and as far as I know very true conceptions of this universe, inclusive of religions, psychology and much more Edit: Just read that article, heh thanks for sharing reminds me of god