The nature of online friendships

If you haven't read backrubbear's post on The Nature of Online Friendships you really ought to. Especially if you're relatively new to online communication.

Spiritual Machines

As of late science has really started to challenge my faith. Even though I consider myself a great believer in science all my life it's never provided all the answers. For instance a cloned cat isn't exactly like it's original. Also queried in this slashdot discussion pointed out by iberianbear is weather or not emotions, personalities... soul if you will... are stored in our matter like like meta-data or are they some sort of fluent and intangible spiritual nothingness?

It's my belief that although science has not emprically proven the existence or non-existence of soul/god/creator/source. Now faith is the belief in an answer in absence of a solution. I guess it's my faith that our very essence of being is something tangible and that we're only slightly more complex than we can presently comprehend. Also, most importantly, I think it's going to take a great deal of faith to believe in the empirical measurement of our being. As an example, imagine sometime in the future a simulation of a human mind is completed. For all intents and purposes it is a person possibly of vast or maybe highly limited intellectual capacity but still experiencing emotions and expressing desires however capable. When do we believe it? And as an extrapolation when do we believe that we are not the extension or facimile of the divine but a result of the infinite? No third party involved.

Ok, so that was a little flakey sounding. I'm gonna go rustle up some Asimov from the basement now..

A wee slip of a girl

For the record: I hurt all over still. Oh, and the impressive looking and assumedly accurate scale at the gym weighs me in at a scant 261lbs. This means my scale at home is off by about 7-10lbs. Woo, haven't even finished one week and I'm already down... 7-10lbs!!

I think it's time for an end of the movie style high-five.