Emergence

Emergence, in the realm of origin of life questions, is the idea that nature will order itself in increasing complexity. Start with protons, electrons and neutrons (or at a lower order of substance which makes these) they will order themselves as Hydrogen. Then a bunch of Hydrogen will make a star. The star will make all the elements. Those elements make our planets and moons. They form things like water and rocks. Which form things like bacteria. Which form things like amoebas, and algae. Which form things like plants and fish. This theory goes beyond this as a possibility in nature, but Emergence is the theory that all things will increase in complexity by law of nature.

Now, I don’t presume to know what you’re thinking, but if I were you reading this right now I would think Marcus is a Christian and is offended by any creation story other than the Genesis story. No, that is not where I am going. This idea of nature ordering itself into complexity does not offend me as a Christian, it offends me as a science minded person.

Richard Dawkins has said he is unsatisfied with creationism as an explaination for existence because it stifles inquiry (because the answer to every question is “God did it”). And he’s right, absolutely right . Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.” The Message says, “God delights in concealing things; scientists delight in discovering things.” I’ll add this to it, “this way everybody wins.”

But this new theory doesn’t answer any questions… at all. Richard Dawkins should be critical of this new idea because the new answer to the origin question is “Emergence did it”.

Here we are going to introduce a term I hope to revisit again and again: Mysticism. There are many definitions, I would like to focus on one aspect and apply it. It can mean a belief in the existence of dimensional realities beyond empirical perception, or a belief that a true human perception of the world goes beyond current logical reasoning or intellectual comprehension.

Is Emergence a mystical idea? An easier question: Is string-theory an mystical idea?

Being Married, It’s Different.

Last month I got married to a wonderful woman named Karen. It was just a month ago, but I am going to weigh in on my experiences thus far. It is, of course different. We wouldn’t hold a big party and change names and banking information if it were not different. It is good difference. But here are some things I have learned about.

Literally sleeping together. Simple right? Not at all. The first week or so neither of us got much sleep. I turn and toss in my sleep. She likes to be warm and hates cold, I like to feel cool and I hate feeling hot. We both snore. And now, the last several nights when we lay down I have been feeling chatty.

Here’s a trick for anybody who shares these problems. Games. That’s right. It starts by one of us saying a word like ‘Illinois’ the other can answer any number of ways, but how they answer the first time defines the game. For example: answering ‘Springfield’, then responding ‘California’, the correct answer would be ‘Sacramento’. The second person could have just a easily answered ‘USA’, and responded with ‘Bavaria’ (the answer is ‘Germany’). It really makes you search for a while for something you know for certain, but your spouse wouldn’t know. That is when you fall asleep.

Openness. I am not an open person. Working and living with another person has forced openness on me. I think of something I don’t want her to know, and then I realize two things: 1) She will find out, and 2) when she does, the fact I wasn’t open will hurt her more than the concealed matter would have hurt both of us combined.

One funny outcome is that I tell her things she doesn’t care about, or would never be upset over me not sharing. For example: She asks what me what I’m thinking about, and I answer honestly that I was day-dreaming about being in a rock band, and playing rock music alternating between instruments. Karen then tells me I am random. Some mornings I tell her about the cigarette dream I had the night before (it is a recurring dream of mine, where I smoke one or many cigarettes). She would be sad if I really smoked one, but she doesn’t care if I dream about it.