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13
May
2022
Thursday May 5, 2022
The coyotes were howling on the hill above my home, the other night. A. howl echoed through the woods. Then another. And several more. Accompanied by a multitude of something like barks. Punctuated by a whole series of high-pitched yips, which I assumed was coyote pups joining in with their elders.
Not long after, a magnificent full moon rose over the hill.
I’m sure some of you immediately thought, “They were howling at the moon!”
No, they weren’t. They started howling long before the moon appeared.
Categories: Soft Edges
Tags: logic, moon, Coyotes, reasoning
15
Nov
2017
My last few columns have been heavy-duty stuff -- planetary consciousness, divine intervention, the nature of reality. This week, I want to tackle a more lightweight subject: Infinity.
Granted, most people have never thought much about infinity. Except maybe in astronomy, assuming loosely that the universe goes on forever. In fact, we don’t know where the outer edges of the universe are, because those outer edges are now moving away from us faster than the speed of light. If their light, or radio waves, or whatever, can never reach us, we can never know if there’s anything out there at all.
A few religious people profess a belief in infinity, although they’re more likely to call it “eternity” -- endless time, rather than endless space.
My cousin the mathematician will probably disagree with me, but it seems to me that infinity is a logical impossibility.
Tags: Infinity, mathematics, logic