On Jan 4, 12:43 pm, Elko T  wrote:
> M.J. Sammon wrote:
>
> > "We are a way for the universe to know itself." Carl
Sagan, Cosmos.
>
> >http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1175883507954918704#Fast forward to
> > the last 15s of the video.
>
> > Did JMS ever reference Sagan on this phrase or did it pre-date Sagan?
>
>    As I have mentioned before, the idea that humans are the way for the universe
> to understand itself, is old, and goes back to Hegel. Here's what I posted to
> the newsgroup about 2 years ago:
>
>    The first time I heard it expressed in more or less the same form, was in
> 1981-1983 (I don't remember exactly) by a guy named Aya Anthony, a Nigerian, at
> the time a student in Sofia University. As for earlier expressions of the same
> idea, albeit in different form, I can think of Hegel. True, in his theory it was
> God attempting to understand himself through humans, but since in Hegel's system
> God is part of everything (Universe included) it amounts to the same thing.
> Funnily, according to Hegel, it was through Hegel's own philosophy that the
> Universe/God finally understood itself, and that was that.  ;)
>
> --
> No, no, you can't e-mail me with the nono.
i like carl's "a way" over hegel's "the way"
intelligence may only be an artifact
lg
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