Recent content by Tojen

Thanks for pointing that out, although I meant that a bacterium can't respond by changing its DNA. But since you mention it, we all respond to our environment, and the success or failure of the response is determined by our genes. I can run from a bear but whether or not I can outrun it is...

I gather you mean that we make rocks go up, in which case they aren't "falling up" but just reacting to natural forces exerted on them by us. No need to rewrite the book on gravity there (if that's what you meant). Obviously not. Everything can be reduced to universally present elements of...

Quck answer cause I'm pressed for time: But we do know what allows bacteria to respond to the environment. It falls under the umbrella of evolution. (And just to point out, they don't "respond" to the environment. Those that aren't suited to the environment are killed off, leaving those...

I cant' argue that such events would have profound implications, but have such events ever happened? Has a rock ever fallen upwards? Has there ever been a star that should have become a black hole that did not become one? Certainly the rock's gravity is dependent on the rock; without the...

It was rhetorical of course. If we didn't cause changes in the Universe, or if the Universe didn't cause changes in us, we wouldn't exist. Saying "We change the Universe" without adding, in the same reverant tone, "So does everything else" fully implies that we're special. Otherwise, why...

If it turns out the Universe is acting consciously, that would be disappointing for those who think we're different or special because we're conscious. In that case, consciousness by itself would make us no different of special from anything else in the Universe. And just to get technical...

Okay, the Stomper could live with that. I found a movie called My Own Private Idaho staring River Phoenix and the hunky guy from The Matrix (forget his name). They played gay prostitutes. :eek:

"That is precisely the kind of language up with which I will not put." --Winston Churchill :wink:

Is this also very simple? Dirt is part of the Universe. If dirt changes in any way, then part of the Universe changes. The Earth is part of the Universe. Dirt changes the Earth and changes part of the Universe. If any part of the Universe changes, the entire Universe changes...

In a universe where change is inevitable, unavoidable and constant, I would think everyone would find it significant if we didn't cause changes. If I can recap here, for my own clarity at least, you (and Royce and PIT) are saying that by making a change, no matter how minor, we're changing...

I can see how we've changed some things on Earth, but not the entire Universe. I can also see how the forces of nature have changed the Earth unconsciously. I'm guessing the rest of the Universe looks the same as it would have if I hadn't been born. My squashing an ant changes the...

I won't argue with the theory, just your example. A butterfly on Mars is impossible. I think you meant "a butterfly on Earth can set in motion events that lead to a hurricane" as I've heard it, which is at least possible, though the chances of it happening are so remote they're laughable. Now...

Further to my last post, which (I think) will answer both Royce and nannoh... The Universe is change. Electrons are getting knocked around constantly throughout the whole cosmos by unconscious processes but that doesn't change the nature of the Universe. By responding predictably to another...

Pardon me for being dense, but I was hoping we were talking about something more fundamental, not in the way a bug splatted on a windshield "changes" a car. So every time we swat a mosquito, or unknowingly step on an ant, take a bite of a sandwich, move a finger, take a breath, vomit, etc...

I got the reference to Idaho but had to look up "his own private Idaho", and I'm sure Stopin' Tom would be doubly incensed. He's pure Canadian redneck. ("C-A, N-A, D-A...")