Science vs. Religion

Very often people believe that science and religion are incompatible. They either believe that science or religion should be completely ignored. They do not seem to see that science and religion are not conflicting beliefs they are simply different ways for people to understand the Universe. Science attempts to understand everything using reason and observation. Religion gets it's understanding through its prophets who commune with God as well as through direct communion with God. Galileo Galilei once said:

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." (trackback)

People tend to see the world as black and white, good and evil, and them versus us, and sometimes it is that way. But what they fail to see is that being different doesn't make something or someone evil, it only makes them different. Science and religion aren't opposites they are simply different ways of accomplishing the same thing. Science can't prove or disprove the validity of religion and religion can't prove or disprove the validity of science.

Superluminal Flight

Superluminal flight is a concept that fascinates me. Imagine being able to travel around the universe and see all of the amazing things that are out there. Sadly physics seem to say that this is impossible, but these ideas are based on Albert Einstein's calculation which could be wrong, or perhaps partially wrong. Einstein was human after all. It is distinctly possible that he made some error in his conclusions that led him to believe that it is impossible to travel faster than the speed of light. Conversely he may be right but that doesn't mean that Superluminal flight is impossible it just means that accelerating an object to the speed of light is impossible. A very distinct difference. Perhaps if we could travel through another dimension such as hyperspace or foldspace that doesn't answer to relativity. (special or otherwise) Or it may be possible to become a tachyon (a particle that exists at speeds greater than the speed of light) and therefore travel beyond the speed of light without accelerating.

If I understand this correctly the issue with Superluminal flight is the acceleration to the speed of light and beyond. According to Einstein's famous equation (E=Mc2) that states, essentially, that as an object approaches the speed of light the energy it takes to increase it's speed approaches infinity, and we are not able to produce infinite amounts of energy otherwise this wouldn't be a problem, would it? Perhaps the answer is to find a way to effectively travel at superluminal speeds. We may not really travel beyond the speed of light but as long as we travel as if we where moving beyond the speed of light it wouldn't really matter.

Quote:

"Not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine."

-Sir Arthur Eddington

Quote:

"I mean, it's obvious, isn't it? Like a window, it seems perfectly clear and simple to use, but it crashes with the slightest pressure, or sometimes breaks inexplicably."

-Dick Hertz on Windows

Creativity

Creativity is an important part of the human spirit, it is what drives artists to create beautiful works of art and what allows us to defend ourselves from those who would do us harm. Creativity is our ability to create new tools, new weapons, and new ideas. Without creativity there would be little civilization because there would be little progress. If nothing new was ever thought of then we would become stagnant, never progressing because nothing would change.

It seems strange that something that is so deeply a part of the human spirit is so often viewed as a waste of time and effort. Why then would people be so deeply moved by the works that creativity can produce? Why would someone create such a work? Perhaps art does not contribute to the overall welfare or technological advancement of a civilization but the art, or lack there of, is a large part of what defines a people. Therefore we must take a look at what sort of people we are becoming, and the sort of world that we will leave our children. A world of artistic beauty, or a world of cold machinery.

Creativity is our ability to make something that does not yet exist. It allows us to bring new ideas to the world, be it simply a concept or even a tool that makes our lives easier or, perhaps, healthier. Without this ability what would happen? Or perhaps a better question: if the use of this ability is looked down upon or wasted, then what? Will we become stagnant, content to live in a world that never changes, a world in which nothing new is ever produced in which creativity is suppressed.

This is not a world that I wish to see, but a world that I see drawing ever closer. We want instant gratification not a long wait with something wonderful at its end. It is this attitude that starves us of creativity. Is creativity needed more than ever in the world today? Yes it is, because without creativity we would lose something that is such a part of our human spirit that we would be lost without it.