There were a few instances in AS where you could detect just how deep the pain was, most notably in Francisco's character, both before Atlantis and during Dagny's month in Atlantis.

I am familiar with Craig Venter's work. When such artificial DNA can self-replicate in a non-biological host, then it could be reasonably called an artificial life form. Venter's synthetic genome work is almost as landmark a development of the genome sequencer before that.

The same questions should be asked of everyone.

Theory yes. Saying you know for sure, for example, God created man or God didn't create man to me is wrong because we don't know.

j; I'm not proposing that you don't look for answers. I'm only suggesting that you do so within the reality of your life and with logical, rational reasoning based on provable facts.

I'll note that you use the term "superior being" rather than supernatural being. I take that to be based on a belief that man is NOT a or the superior being of the existence we find ourselves in. And that concept is one that I totally reject, until someone comes up with some type of proof otherwise. That's the type of thinking that has led to AGW and other anti-human concepts.

I thought that's what a theory is ....
The best conclusion (simplified) of the unknown.
If it's a theory it is not conclusive is it?

All is consciousness, all is sound, all is numbers.

"The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena It will make more progress in
1 decade than in all the previous centuries of it's existence" Nickola Tesla
Arguably the greatest producer during the most rapid growth period the world has ever known and maybe because of him.

"If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of Energy, Frequency and Vibration." Nickola Tesla
Resonance is energy transfered from sound
Through vibration .
528 hz is a frequency that is shown to repair DNA .UCLA lab.
528 hz is what the sun resonates
Green grass same resonance.
Solfeggio Scale do-396Hz re-432Hz me-528Hz Fa-639Hz so-741Hz la-852Hz
Our hearts resonate at 258Hz 33 harmonics or 32 overtones above the earths 7.83 Hz resonance confirmed in 1954 known as the "Schumann resonance"
5280 feet in a mile

Symbolically very important 33/32 33 feathers left wing 32 feathers right wing on the American eagle on the dollar bill - 33degree Scotish Freemason-- runway 33 at Cape Canaveral angled 33 degrees west from due north the only runway there. - tree of life 33 circles and pathways -33 miracles performed

Doesn't it, jbrenner? I've often wondered if other Gulchers ever felt this.

Actually the Founders did anticipate many of those problems, and included Article V as their solution.

Admittedly, many people will trade limitations imposed by others in hope of an eternal reward.

I can accept the idea that existence at one point existed in a way very different from what it has since a big bang. I cannot accept that the emergence of life is caused by the identities of the elements involved. As a nanotechnology researcher who specializes in self-assembly of nanomaterials (including several of those associated with life like collagen and hydroxyapatite), I never have heard of anyone reporting the emergence of life without transplanting that life from somewhere else, ... and I never will, and neither will anyone else. It truly takes faith to accept the emergence of life from inanimate objects, more than I have and anyone should have.

j; Part of our existence, explained fully by such as AR and our Founders, will always contain the struggle to maintain individual liberty and self ownership. It is and has always been a part of life. The struggle is to determine how to put in place a philosophy of life that prevents, through the effort of individuals, those that oppose those individual rights. The Founders failed to grasp the problems of the humans that would exercise, or not, the votes of democracy and the ultimate power of the citizen, revolt.

As long as humans are told that after death, they can go to heaven and exist forever with God, they will never grasp the significance and importance of the little bit of life they have. They will accept whatever imposed limitations others place on them, believing that God will give them a perfect existence later.

Its as simple as saying, NO. Somewhat similar to your example of Kirk and the Kobayashi Maru. NO to authority, I'll do it my way because that's reality.

Roark was right, but the pain does go down deep enough that it hurts a lot.

“It is not true that Big Bang theory holds that existence started at some point in time, or that existence emerged out of non-existence. Rather, it holds that something very different from matter as it exists today, and perhaps operating by physical laws different from physical laws as they are today, existed before the Big Bang, and caused the Big Bang (this pre-Big-Bang existence is usually referred to as "the Primeval Atom"). While some have interpreted Big Bang theory as holding that existence emerged out of non-existence, or as confirmation of the religious idea of creation by God, these are fringe interpretations. Mainstream Big Bang theory, as widely accepted, does not in any way challenge Objectivist ideas.”
– Eyal Mozes, “Existence, Time, and the Big Bang.” Atlas Society website
http://atlassociety.org/commentary/co...

"To grasp the axiom that existence exists, means to grasp the fact that nature, i.e., the universe as a whole, cannot be created or annihilated, that it cannot come into or go out of existence. Whether its basic constituent elements are atoms, or subatomic particles, or some yet undiscovered forms of energy, it is not ruled by a consciousness or by will or by chance, but by the Law of Identity. All the countless forms, motions, combinations and dissolutions of elements within the universe — from a floating speck of dust to the formation of a galaxy to the emergence of life — are caused and determined by the identities of the elements involved."
– Ayn Rand, “The Metaphysical Versus the Man-Made”, in Philosophy: Who Needs It.

True, existence is what I have. However, none of us has to accept the current existence that we have. I view life much like Capt. James T. Kirk from Star Trek viewed the Kobayashi Maru simulation. If you don't like your reality, you change your reality to make it a reality in which you can win. There are very few options left for making my own happiness, but I found one that is acceptable for now. But who knows for how much longer?

Do you regard the big bang theory at least at the level of accepted theory? If so, then the universe had a beginning. By that logic, existence exists now, but it has not always existed, in which case your argument regarding existence being prior to causation falls apart.

"Why could there not be one act of nature following its own actions that triggered intelligence?" My response is that of Cheryl Taggart regarding Rearden Metal, " “But the iron ore and all those other things were there all the time. Why didn’t anybody else make that Metal, but Mr. Rearden did?”" My point is that all of the items in the universe did not got there by a series of cosmic accidents. They required thought and creativity.

Regarding the ability to discover the existence or will of a supreme being, I am not going to make the claim (that Christians and Jews do) that there is a prescribed way for doing so.

j, I would argue that atheism has been a significant part of the makeup of numerous men since the dawn of mankind. Its how we have advanced technologically as far as we have.

Indeed

Interesting quote from Einstein. I had not heard that one. Strangely enough, I have always envisioned the big bang as a energy-to-matter conversion. Thanks for the enlightenment (pun intended).

But existence is what you have. It's what you do with it that truly matters.
Objectivism gives you a way to connect with that existence and determine how to rationally determine actions for yourself that better your life. Whether others are happy or not is up to them, not me.

RE: "The very existence of what exists begs for an explanation for both how and why it exists." To go back to my earlier statement, existence must logically precede causation. Without existence, no causation is possible. The very questions "how" and "why" presuppose existence.