Just another n00b.

[Explorer]

Hi,

I am, and to the best of my recollection always have been, areligious.  The earliest memory I have of encountering religion was religious instruction in school at about the age of 5 and thinking none of it made sense  (I mean really, a boat with every species on board?  Even at 5 it was obvious to me that there were more species on the planet than could be contained in one boat, not to mention the problems of conflict, feeding and waste).  By 9 I was contemplating infinity and what it meant for the universe to have spatial and temporal limits, or not.  I had by that time already rejected God as an explanation for the origin of the universe, since one then had to ponder where God came from.

At high school I studied maths, physics and chemistry.  At university I drifted from science into logic and philosophy, via artificial intelligence.  Now, as I count down the last few months before turning 40, I am married with children in middle childhood, and work to uphold democracy.

Being unable to bring myself to join any of the many community organizations which have religion at their core, constrained from becoming overtly political by my profession and having little interest in sport, I find myself lacking a source of community interaction... which brings me here.

Explorer.

[The Magic Pudding]

Yes and Sunday School colouring in was boring.
Inferior colouring in material is inconsistent with an all powerful god.

Welcome Explorer.

[Thumpalumpacus]

I wish I was that smart at five.  I still haven't figured out girls.

And hiyas.

[wildfire_emissary]

Welcome! Know what? We're the same at age 9. I was also pondering on infinity. I mean I thought my parents had infinite wads of cash for my Matchbox collection.

[Explorer]

@Thumpalumpacus:  I still haven't figured out girls.  God is only imaginary and irrational.  Girls are complex.

Hmm... i is an imaginary number, but it's not irrational... I need to change my avatar to sqrt(-2).

[Tank]

Welcome from the other end of the pale blue dot!

Regards
Chris

[ablprop]

Greetings to the explorer from the land of Ernest Rutherford! He is my all-time science hero. I love the picture in the Cavendish showing the "Talk Softly Please" sign that an assistant researcher posted to remind Rutherford to control himself so as not to disturb sensitive equipment.

Not to disparage the man, but I've always felt he was a kindred spirit; not the smartest guy around, but an imaginative man who used every bit of his intellect because he just wanted to know.

[Explorer]

Thanks all for the welcomes.

Rutherford has his face on our $100 banknote.  Well deserved.

[KDbeads]

God =sqrt(-2)