The grey world and your grey matter.

I was thinking today about the scientific model of the universe that physics has given us. Most people don't realize the full implications of the model or, really, even half the implications of the model. Those few who realize half the implications of the scientific model realize this much: that the "objective real world" seems to be this colorless, odorless, grey place. Under this model, objective reality is just discrete units of energy/matter moving around in spacetime. Light has no inherent colors, odors are just molecules drifting in the air. A sunset is just radiation from a giant fusion reaction filtering through a mist of oxygen, nitrogen, and other gases. We experience the world the way we do only because that's how our brain interprets the sensory data it gets.

Some people get that much, and despair. Or they rebel, and say science is unspiritual. They just don't Get It. They don't grok!

Then there are the people like me who get the rest of the implications of this model. We grok it, and so what seems to the others like a cause for despair is, to us, reason to fall to our knees in awe and wonder. Because what they don't grok about this is something far more important than the greyness of the scientific model. They don't understand that this means the human brain is the most mysterious and awe-inspiring thing in all existence!

Think about it a moment: if all light is just this inherently colorless energy - no red, blue, green, or even white, then where do colors come from? From the brain, of course! If you're thinking "no big deal," then consider this old yarn:
Person A: "Anything is possible with imagination!"
Person B: "Imagine a new color."
Person A: *despairs, because s/he cannot imagine a new color*
Yes, it is possible to imagine the possibility of a new color, but what would a new color look like? It's impossible to know until it happens to you, and then it's impossible to describe to anyone who doesn't have the same ability to see it as you do. How do you describe what "blue" looks like to someone who's color blind? If they can't see the color blue, it's impossible to describe it to them.

So really, this is an astounding thing. If the real world "is" colorless, odorless, and completely devoid of any Aristotlean essences, then this makes the human brain truly astonishing. I was going to call it an artist, at first, but it goes deeper than that. Evolution has gifted us with a brain that regularly sees things that don't exist. The brain takes sensory data and uses it to paint for us a world full of colors, sounds, smells, and touch sensations that have no existence outside human brain software.

In my opinion, this means the human brain is the closest thing I can think of to God. If an external God exists, it is the God that made the world a colorless grey place devoid of beauty and meaning. Then humans evolved and we saw colors and beauty and heard music! Our brains are gods, living in a world that is mostly imaginary, based only loosely on a very limited, filtered, and compressed set of sensory data. The human brain is God because it gave the universe SOUL.

Science, bitches! With the right perspective, it will give you deeper, more meaningful spiritual experiences than any religion can give you.

Pay attention, everyone.

Pay attention, vegans, this is important. Oh, and anti-vegans that like to call themselves carnivores, you need to read this too.

Herbivores - Animals that have evolved in such a way that their teeth and digestive system show that they eat a diet solely of plants.

Carnivores - Animals that have evolved in such a way that their teeth and digestive system show that they eat a diet mostly (90% or better) of animal matter.

Omnivores - Animals that have evolved in such a way that their teeth and digestive system show that they eat a diet of both plants and meat.

These physiological differences are important. Pandas are physiologically carnivores, but through some fluke of evolution get away with eating nothing but bamboo. This does not mean all humans can, or should, be vegans.

True things to note:

1. Humans are omnivores. It IS possible for some humans to live and thrive on a vegan diet. Hindus have proven this. This does not mean everyone can or should be a vegan, and your being on a vegan diet does NOT give you the right to be a self-righteous, moralizing asshole.

2. Anti-vegans: humans are omnivores. I don't care how much meat you eat in your personal diet, that no more makes you a carnivore than a vegan diet makes vegans herbivores. It is human physiology that determines our "-vore" status.

3. Vegans: dogs are physiologically carnivores. They may, through some fluke of evolution, be capable of surviving on a vegan diet, but this does not change the fact that dogs are CARNIVORES. In the wild, their diet is at least 90% meat. "Survive" and "thrive" are two different things. I know you're used to getting that argument from anti-vegans in context of your own health, and insofar as human health, the argument is bullshit. Bullshit with a capital BULLSHIT. But that's because humans are omnivores. Dogs are carnivores. So they can survive a vegan diet, so what? There are people who survive starvation, too; that doesn't mean it's a good thing. I DON'T CARE IF DOGS CAN "SURVIVE" VEGAN DIETS; IT IS UNNATURAL FOR THEM, AND IT IS YOU IMPOSING YOUR BULLSHIT ON INNOCENTS. IT IS UNETHICAL. IT IS ANIMAL ABUSE.

4. Please read this entry two or three times before you respond, because I am so tired of responding to stupid questions by morons who can't be bothered to read the entire entry.