FM>...  The only thing I DON'T have a handle on is 
 FM> the mystery of the advance of technology and especially the way in 
 FM> which it 
 FM> takes spurts and then actually MARKS THE EPOCH in which we are living. 
A short science fiction tale from the 50's, about a computer tech 
who, on a whim, asks the mainframe what the meaning of life is; a 
pause as it crunched the numbers, and comes back with: "Your data 
is insufficient for a meaningful answer at this time." A question 
like this is posed by succeeding generations to successive faster 
and more powerful computers with the same answer every time, even 
to the last man alive before the extinction of our species.  This 
guy, however, goes on to reply, "Well, that may be true; my query 
should still be answered, so I ask you to continue to refine your 
powers until you can give answer even though we are all gone." 
 
Well before Moore's law, the author suggested that the computer's 
power would increase while it's size would decrease, until at the 
end, after even all the stars had burned out, it continued to try 
for the answer, and amid all the remaining nothingness, finally a 
reply was given: "Let there be light." 
 
Given what I see already of the evolution of computers, I doubt a 
meaningful answer will take that long, and indeed, we may live to 
see what it says... and by 'we' I mean both of us Frank. 
 
 FM>  If 
 FM> there IS eternal recurrence that philosophers from Aristotle onward 
 FM> have 
 FM> speculated about we could never know it given our short life spans so 
 FM> history 
 FM> as anamnesis with some assist from the physical sciences is all we 
 FM> have to 
 FM> measure the identity of MAN across the millenia.  But there are 
 FM> certainly 
 FM> literary survivals that reveal a certain sameness in the response of 
 FM> man to her/his/its environment and to society. 
Part of the reason I think the answer may be so forthcoming is an 
ongoing process to put history and philosophy into digital form a 
researcher and his computer may use to collate, reference, and do 
a much better job of logical analysis.   
   
 FM> I listen to your report as earnestly as I listen to Jaspers, Spengler, 
 FM> Eckhardt, Paul of Tarsus, Plato or Heraclitus and numerous others.  
 
As for example, the Gutenburg, and similar, projects will put all 
of the above in your computer so that you can see what any of the 
above have to say on this, or any other issue.  Howze that for an 
ample supply of email ammo Frank?  Be fun either way. eh? 
___ 
 * OFFLINE 1.58 * makes as much sense as a eunuch in a porn flick. 
--- Maximus 3.01
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