Great minds think (April 2016)

So, as the month that began with All Fool's Day comes to a close we recall that it also contained this announcement - the grand plan to send tiny spaceships propelled by laser beams to explore our galactic neighbourhood.

Nobody would deride the great achievements of Professor Hawking, made more memorable by the physical limitations from which his great mind operates.  And does anyone doubt the elevation of the human spirit that is attained by the longing to boldly go where no silicon chip has gone before?

On the other hand there is nothing like one of these kind of grand projects to cast doubt on the sanity of the rich and clever and perhaps of us all.

Anyway, here's two ideas to choose from:

'Earth is a wonderful place, but it might not last forever. Sooner or later we must look to the stars. Breakthrough Starshot is a very exciting first step on that journey.'  Professor Hawking 

That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.  But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. The Bible

Teenager

So Google is thirteen today!

And yet it is so hard to remember life without Google.  Was there a time when a whole day passed and nobody, nobody in the wide world said, "Just google it"?  How did you find the Stagecoach timetable?  How did people find Luther's 95 theses?  Is it possible that Alexander the Great conquered the world and it wasn't mentioned on Google?  Could Methuselah have lived 969 years and not used Google even once?

The preposterous thought that Google has become what it is in such short order is a solemn sign I think.  Could one entity rise to prominence in a world of billions of people as the Biblical prophecies suggest?  Can the whole world really be part of anything when there are billions of us that will never meet each other?

Google is, methinks, not the Beast!  But perhaps it reminds me how plausible the previously implausible has become.  In no time we could be at the end of time.