_____________________________________________________________
They led Jesus then from Caiaphas to the Roman governor's palace. It was early morning. They themselves didn't enter the palace because they didn't want to be disqualified from eating the Passover. So Pilate came out to them and spoke. "What charge do you bring against this man?"
They said, "If he hadn't been doing something evil, do you think we'd be here bothering you?"
Pilate said, "You take him. Judge him by your law."
The Jews said, "We're not allowed to kill anyone." (This would confirm Jesus' word indicating the way he would die.)
Pilate went back into the palace and called for Jesus. He said, "Are you the 'King of the Jews'?"
Jesus answered, "Are you saying this on your own, or did others tell you this about me?"
Pilate said, "Do I look like a Jew? Your people and your high priests turned you over to me. What did you do?"
"My kingdom," said Jesus, "doesn't consist of what you see around you. If it did, my followers would fight so that I wouldn't be handed over to the Jews. But I'm not that kind of king, not the world's kind of king."
Then Pilate said, "So, are you a king or not?"
Jesus answered, "You tell me. Because I am King, I was born and entered the world so that I could witness to the truth. Everyone who cares for truth, who has any feeling for the truth, recognizes my voice."
Pilate said, "What is truth?"
Then he went back out to the Jews and told them, "I find nothing wrong in this man. It's your custom that I pardon one prisoner at Passover. Do you want me to pardon the 'King of the Jews'?"
They shouted back, "Not this one, but Barabbas!" Barabbas was a Jewish freedom fighter.
................John 18:28-40 (The Message)
_____________________________________________________________
Numbers don’t lie (unlike politicians…)
Cynicism: Expressing jaded or scornful skepticism or negativity, as from world-weariness; Believing that people are motivated by self-interest; distrustful of human sincerity or integrity...
Pilate was a modern man. Give him an expensive suit and teach him a little English and he could have easily fit right in on the board of Enron. Having traveled the world, led campaigns in all corners of the Empire, experienced cultures and compared them (as wanting) to his own, his world view was wonderfully and modernly relative. The three words he uttered when confronted by Jesus ring throughout all of history—what is truth?
When I was younger I thought he responded with arrogance—“Bah! What is truth? What does this Jewish peasant know?" Now that I am older, perhaps Pilate’s age when he was confronted with Jesus, I start to wonder if it was more like this—“Sigh, what is truth? What does this Jewish peasant know?"
Pilate's response was ultimately cynical—“So be it. The man dies.” Jesus’ “truth” may have been questionable in Pilate’s mind, but the injustice of the day was evident. So be it.
Fast forward. Nothing changes; cynicism remains the toxin that permeates the modern era. To modern man humanity is dangerous and cruel, a plague upon the earth. Humans are the cheapest, most expendable resource on the planet, an easily replenishable source of labor—coal and oil are more valuable by the ton than humans are. In our valuelessness we find futility.
Consider the Twentieth Century, the age of science and industrialism. The last century produced more death, chaos, despair, oppression, war, pestilence, disease, and malice than any century in our history. Between 1899 and 1999[1] it is estimated that over 200 million people died in wars alone. Add to that another approximate 550 million in abortions, 8+ million homicides and an additional 3+ million racially motivated homicides. Let’s call it 800 million people all together. For comparison it is estimated that natural pandemics, such as small pox and influenza, and natural disasters account for about the same numbers killed in the last century.
But wait! The population skyrocketed in the same time period. The world’s population[2] was around 1 billion in the early 1800s, hit 2 billion in the early 1900s and has been rising dramatically all through the last half of the twentieth century, so of course there will be increased numbers in death rates; there are more people to die. Seems like a logical objection--the high volumes in murder are “normalized” by the high volume of available people to kill. This kind of statistical rationalizing is scary. Why do we not look at these numbers and shudder? 800 million people murdered! Can we even imagine what a number like that means? Perhaps this will help put it into perspective…
Consider this: the average human heart pumps roughly 578,160 gallons (2,207,520 liters) of blood in a year. All the blood pumped by those 800 million people during the course of their lost lives comes to 13,875,800,000,000,000 gallons (that’s 13.87 quadrillion gallons), or 52,980,500,000,000,000 liters (that’s 52.98 quadrillion liters) of blood pumped through veins in bodies not living—all gone. 18.9 trillion gallons of water goes over the Canadian Niagara Falls every year. The volume of blood pumped though all those dead hearts would equal all the water that has fallen over Niagara Falls for the past 733 years.
The dead are silent, and we scramble for the next technotoy. Is that jaded? Sure.
Too much information, not enough context
We are overwhelmed with data—statistics, advertisements, entertainment, facts, lies—it rushes in at all speeds and at all angles. On any given day we are harangued by a thousand pointless attacks on our senses, demanding we bend our attention to pointless decisions concerning pointless consequences. And when confronted with facts (most of the human life ended in the last century was ended prior to birth), we reply with easy prejudice (they're only fetus, not even human), or we blame someone else (I didn't do it), or we fall back on some tired slogan (“a woman's fundamental right to choose”). Niagara Falls.
The view that the Earth is just another meaningless speck of dust in a vast and meaningless universe is both cynical and naive. It stems from the idea that, considering the infinite vastness of the universe and the infinite power of probability, we are insignificant. We are arrogant if we believe we matter in the face of such an enormous universe. It is probable, in fact, to believe that in the vast enormity of space there are civilizations older and superior to humanity. We are just an insignificant spec of hostile, angry, toxic dust, the Judean backwater to the Universe's grander Rome.
The Myth of Insignificance
If we are the product of infinite probability, what exactly does that mean? The probability that we would be here is 1 in 10 to the 282nd power (that’s 1 in 1 million trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion[3]). If a million with 23 trillions after it doesn't mean anything to you, this is what it looks like in good old fashioned numbers:
They led Jesus then from Caiaphas to the Roman governor's palace. It was early morning. They themselves didn't enter the palace because they didn't want to be disqualified from eating the Passover. So Pilate came out to them and spoke. "What charge do you bring against this man?"
They said, "If he hadn't been doing something evil, do you think we'd be here bothering you?"
Pilate said, "You take him. Judge him by your law."
The Jews said, "We're not allowed to kill anyone." (This would confirm Jesus' word indicating the way he would die.)
Pilate went back into the palace and called for Jesus. He said, "Are you the 'King of the Jews'?"
Jesus answered, "Are you saying this on your own, or did others tell you this about me?"
Pilate said, "Do I look like a Jew? Your people and your high priests turned you over to me. What did you do?"
"My kingdom," said Jesus, "doesn't consist of what you see around you. If it did, my followers would fight so that I wouldn't be handed over to the Jews. But I'm not that kind of king, not the world's kind of king."
Then Pilate said, "So, are you a king or not?"
Jesus answered, "You tell me. Because I am King, I was born and entered the world so that I could witness to the truth. Everyone who cares for truth, who has any feeling for the truth, recognizes my voice."
Pilate said, "What is truth?"
Then he went back out to the Jews and told them, "I find nothing wrong in this man. It's your custom that I pardon one prisoner at Passover. Do you want me to pardon the 'King of the Jews'?"
They shouted back, "Not this one, but Barabbas!" Barabbas was a Jewish freedom fighter.
................John 18:28-40 (The Message)
_____________________________________________________________
| The long and short of it.... We are losing sight of the miracle of our uniqueness. |
Numbers don’t lie (unlike politicians…)
Cynicism: Expressing jaded or scornful skepticism or negativity, as from world-weariness; Believing that people are motivated by self-interest; distrustful of human sincerity or integrity...
Pilate was a modern man. Give him an expensive suit and teach him a little English and he could have easily fit right in on the board of Enron. Having traveled the world, led campaigns in all corners of the Empire, experienced cultures and compared them (as wanting) to his own, his world view was wonderfully and modernly relative. The three words he uttered when confronted by Jesus ring throughout all of history—what is truth?
When I was younger I thought he responded with arrogance—“Bah! What is truth? What does this Jewish peasant know?" Now that I am older, perhaps Pilate’s age when he was confronted with Jesus, I start to wonder if it was more like this—“Sigh, what is truth? What does this Jewish peasant know?"
Pilate's response was ultimately cynical—“So be it. The man dies.” Jesus’ “truth” may have been questionable in Pilate’s mind, but the injustice of the day was evident. So be it.
Fast forward. Nothing changes; cynicism remains the toxin that permeates the modern era. To modern man humanity is dangerous and cruel, a plague upon the earth. Humans are the cheapest, most expendable resource on the planet, an easily replenishable source of labor—coal and oil are more valuable by the ton than humans are. In our valuelessness we find futility.
Consider the Twentieth Century, the age of science and industrialism. The last century produced more death, chaos, despair, oppression, war, pestilence, disease, and malice than any century in our history. Between 1899 and 1999[1] it is estimated that over 200 million people died in wars alone. Add to that another approximate 550 million in abortions, 8+ million homicides and an additional 3+ million racially motivated homicides. Let’s call it 800 million people all together. For comparison it is estimated that natural pandemics, such as small pox and influenza, and natural disasters account for about the same numbers killed in the last century.
But wait! The population skyrocketed in the same time period. The world’s population[2] was around 1 billion in the early 1800s, hit 2 billion in the early 1900s and has been rising dramatically all through the last half of the twentieth century, so of course there will be increased numbers in death rates; there are more people to die. Seems like a logical objection--the high volumes in murder are “normalized” by the high volume of available people to kill. This kind of statistical rationalizing is scary. Why do we not look at these numbers and shudder? 800 million people murdered! Can we even imagine what a number like that means? Perhaps this will help put it into perspective…
|
People killed in the 20th
century (approx.)
|
800,000,000
| |
|
Average human brain
|
3 pounds / 1.35 kg
|
2,400,000,000 pounds, or
1,090,909,091 kg
|
|
Average human body
|
150 pounds, or
68.18 kg
|
120,000,000,000 pounds, or
54,545,454,545 kg
|
|
Average quantity of blood
|
6 quarts, or
6.45 L
|
1,200,000,000 gallons, or
5,161,290,323 L
|
|
Average lifespan
|
30 years
|
24,000,000,000 years not lived
|
|
Number of teeth
|
32
|
25,600,000,000 teeth
|
|
Average heartbeats in a life
|
43,800,000
|
35,040,000,000,000,000 (that’s 35
quadrillion)
|
|
Average breathes in a life
|
9,855,000
|
7,884,000,000,000,000 (that’s 7.8
quadrillion)
|
Consider this: the average human heart pumps roughly 578,160 gallons (2,207,520 liters) of blood in a year. All the blood pumped by those 800 million people during the course of their lost lives comes to 13,875,800,000,000,000 gallons (that’s 13.87 quadrillion gallons), or 52,980,500,000,000,000 liters (that’s 52.98 quadrillion liters) of blood pumped through veins in bodies not living—all gone. 18.9 trillion gallons of water goes over the Canadian Niagara Falls every year. The volume of blood pumped though all those dead hearts would equal all the water that has fallen over Niagara Falls for the past 733 years.
The dead are silent, and we scramble for the next technotoy. Is that jaded? Sure.
Too much information, not enough context
We are overwhelmed with data—statistics, advertisements, entertainment, facts, lies—it rushes in at all speeds and at all angles. On any given day we are harangued by a thousand pointless attacks on our senses, demanding we bend our attention to pointless decisions concerning pointless consequences. And when confronted with facts (most of the human life ended in the last century was ended prior to birth), we reply with easy prejudice (they're only fetus, not even human), or we blame someone else (I didn't do it), or we fall back on some tired slogan (“a woman's fundamental right to choose”). Niagara Falls.
The view that the Earth is just another meaningless speck of dust in a vast and meaningless universe is both cynical and naive. It stems from the idea that, considering the infinite vastness of the universe and the infinite power of probability, we are insignificant. We are arrogant if we believe we matter in the face of such an enormous universe. It is probable, in fact, to believe that in the vast enormity of space there are civilizations older and superior to humanity. We are just an insignificant spec of hostile, angry, toxic dust, the Judean backwater to the Universe's grander Rome.
The Myth of Insignificance
If we are the product of infinite probability, what exactly does that mean? The probability that we would be here is 1 in 10 to the 282nd power (that’s 1 in 1 million trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion[3]). If a million with 23 trillions after it doesn't mean anything to you, this is what it looks like in good old fashioned numbers:
1:1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
Frankly, I'm not feeling the love here.
At what point does reasonable improbability blow up the theory of
infinite probability?
It is fascinating that we take earthly life for granted--life floating mysteriously in the vast, sterile void of space. I grow tired of hearing about how insignificant we are here in the provincial backwaters compared to the splendor of some imagined galactic Rome. What we fail to see is the miracle of life here, abounding life, in the middle of which we sit gazing up at nothing, hoping for something other than what we are. What if there is no other life in space? What if we truly are special?
Where's the Fire...
Consider the timescale of the cosmos. Even though folks talk about the Universe in billions and trillions, it is actually very, very young when you consider it in its own time scale. The numbers may seem large, but to the Universe time is a relative thing. Some estimate the universe will go on forever, at some point however, all fuel in the universe will be depleted and it will approach absolute zero (so some say). Fact is, we can only guess. Let us assume that all fuel will be exhausted at the year 1039 after the birth of the universe. That's a projected life span of 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years (that’s 1 Duodecillion). It is only currently 13,700,000,000 years old now. This means that the universe has lived 0.0000000000000000000000000000137% of its life to date. I feel so young!
We are fleas trying to understand an elephant, so let’s look at the elephant in flea terms. I want to understand how quickly the universe gave birth to life after its own birth relative to its own lifespan. It’s like this, if a woman who will live 100 years has a baby at the age of 20, 20% of her life has gone by before giving birth. Using an analogy like that, the universe had lived 0.0000000000000000000000000000077% of its own life when life first appeared. This is just too small a number to have meaning. Assume the universe will only live 100,000,000,000,000,000 years (that’s 100 quadrillion, a reduction of 22 zeroes). If that’s the case, the universe spawned life when it had lived 0.000000077% of its life. Comparatively, in the lifespan of the same 100 year old woman, she would have had her first baby 4 minutes after her own birth. I used to think those scientists talking about the slow grind of billions and billions of years was a long time. Now, eh.
It is fascinating that we take earthly life for granted--life floating mysteriously in the vast, sterile void of space. I grow tired of hearing about how insignificant we are here in the provincial backwaters compared to the splendor of some imagined galactic Rome. What we fail to see is the miracle of life here, abounding life, in the middle of which we sit gazing up at nothing, hoping for something other than what we are. What if there is no other life in space? What if we truly are special?
Where's the Fire...
Consider the timescale of the cosmos. Even though folks talk about the Universe in billions and trillions, it is actually very, very young when you consider it in its own time scale. The numbers may seem large, but to the Universe time is a relative thing. Some estimate the universe will go on forever, at some point however, all fuel in the universe will be depleted and it will approach absolute zero (so some say). Fact is, we can only guess. Let us assume that all fuel will be exhausted at the year 1039 after the birth of the universe. That's a projected life span of 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years (that’s 1 Duodecillion). It is only currently 13,700,000,000 years old now. This means that the universe has lived 0.0000000000000000000000000000137% of its life to date. I feel so young!
We are fleas trying to understand an elephant, so let’s look at the elephant in flea terms. I want to understand how quickly the universe gave birth to life after its own birth relative to its own lifespan. It’s like this, if a woman who will live 100 years has a baby at the age of 20, 20% of her life has gone by before giving birth. Using an analogy like that, the universe had lived 0.0000000000000000000000000000077% of its own life when life first appeared. This is just too small a number to have meaning. Assume the universe will only live 100,000,000,000,000,000 years (that’s 100 quadrillion, a reduction of 22 zeroes). If that’s the case, the universe spawned life when it had lived 0.000000077% of its life. Comparatively, in the lifespan of the same 100 year old woman, she would have had her first baby 4 minutes after her own birth. I used to think those scientists talking about the slow grind of billions and billions of years was a long time. Now, eh.
Life is in a
hurry. It didn't take long for life to
develop in the universe considering the potential lifespan of the Universe. If we consider the appearance of life related
to the entire age of the universe, we have to stop and ask God, “Where's the
fire?” Maybe, just maybe, we are the beginning of all things. How
much of those first 17 billion years was the universe a hot, radioactive waste
of unformed galaxies, stars and planets?
For most of the universe’s existence there was no place for life to
form! It is humbling to look at the
magnitude of the universe and to be awed that so much has happened on our tiny
planet in such an incredibly short time. We look to the skies for life,
convinced that we are not alone, longing for some better, more civilized form
of life out there than we wretched humans. Maybe, just maybe, this is all there is.
It's like we are a disgruntled Jewish
peasant mob longing for some unseen, imagined Caesar. We cry out to this unseen power "There is
no king but probability", doing our best to kill the prophet whose only
message is that we matter. Like the Jewish leaders in the time of the
Roman Empire, are we trading the miracle of our uniqueness for puppet
insignificance?
If we act under the assumption that we don't matter in the grand scheme of things, then it becomes easy to treat others that way as well, to shrug our shoulders as we push them over the Niagara Falls.
[1] http://necrometrics.com/warstats.htm
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population#Milestones
[3] Probability For Life On Earth (APR 2004), Dr. Hugh Ross http://www.reasons.org/probability-life-earth-apr-2004
If we act under the assumption that we don't matter in the grand scheme of things, then it becomes easy to treat others that way as well, to shrug our shoulders as we push them over the Niagara Falls.
[1] http://necrometrics.com/warstats.htm
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population#Milestones
[3] Probability For Life On Earth (APR 2004), Dr. Hugh Ross http://www.reasons.org/probability-life-earth-apr-2004
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