Happeness
I was wondering today about the connection between the words "happy" and "happen". It turns out that both derive from the old Norse word "happ" which means "good luck, chance". A few hundred years ago, the word "happy" was used…
The Three Illusions · Archive
Month: January 2013
What Happened Before The Big Bang?
"I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together." - John Lennon, I Am The Walrus. When discussing the nature of what each and everyone of us is - i.e. the undivided, eternal,…
Stephen Hawking on Free Will
I'm currently reading Stephen Hawking's most recent book (co-authored with Leonard Mlodinow) "The Grand Design" and was pleased to find the following paragraphs about free will. “Do people have free will? If we have free will, where in the evolutionary…
What About Our DNA?
My mum is visiting from Bundaberg today and we got talking about philosophy this morning over coffee (as you do). I mentioned that the universe is eternal and infinite (because it incorporates all of space and time) and she pointed…
Neither Particle Nor Wave
The latest edition of New Scientist has a fascinating article titled "Quantum shadows: The mystery of matter deepens" by Anil Ananthaswamy (requires free registration to read). It discusses recent experiments conducted to try (yet again) to determine why photons sometimes…