Author: philrdutton

There’s no one else that I can talk to no one else in sight

Except the other me and so I guess there’s two me now

And then I can imagine more and three of us somehow

So we three are talking then I see the open door

Another one of me comes in and now all me is four

All four of us are talking now the conversation thrives

Another one of me walks in and now all me are five

You know what happens next of course it’s going to be six

It looks like this is just some poem about mathematic tricks

I think I’ll see if anybody reads it and just how 

There’s probably too much stuff already for a simple blog 

But that’s just me I do not shit a twig I shit a log

He’s quite off the edge with his hair and his stance

I think they should build a gold cage all around him

Because that would make him look strange and confound him

He does have odd hair hanging down at the back

If he was a plumber I would hate the crack

But he is quite witty or now so it seems

He makes up strange fables and stories and dreams

And yes I like Bill and I have seen him live

You can’t see him dead of course none would survive

I’m wondering if anyone has the same thoughts as I do surely everyone does. Especially if you have lived some years and loved and suffered and wondered. I’ve tried putting it down in words and sometimes it flows freely and sometimes it is not easy so I wonder whether you have ever tried to do the same thing and how much of a task have you found it to be. I would like to know. It is an extraordinary thought there are 8 billion of us on this earth now and I’m sure that at some stage we all question our existence. That’s 8 billion questions. Staggering.

I can’t stand watching the television just now because it’s all about the upcoming election, and everyone is picking on small, trivial, ridiculous garbage—like Albanese falling off the stage. Or not falling. Or maybe being elevated. Or not being elevated. Who knows?

I can’t tell, and he can’t tell, and he’s the one who even fell. Or didn’t fall. Or was somehow miraculously elevated. Who knows?

It’s all just so ridiculous now. Everyone has their different statistics, and it’s hard to tell which ones are which. And anyway, who knows?

So we listen to statistics and polls of parties, and they are all different. So who knows?

And then we listen to all of the promises spouted by both parties, and we wonder how they’re going to fund them. And again we have to ask ourselves: who knows?

I’m sure the money is only going to come from us, because there’s nowhere else for it to come from. But who knows?

Every channel has its own political slant, and you can’t tell which one is absolutely unbiased. In fact, none of them are. So, who knows?

I guess I’ll go to the polling station at the appointed time, and pick up one of the how-to-vote leaflets, and have all of the others shoved into my hand anyway. And I won’t have time to read them before I get to the polling station.

So. Who knows?

And I guess when it’s all done, I’ll sit down in front of my TV on the night of the count, and I’ll think to myself: Well…who knows?

It’s early morning, time wears on and solitude’s my friend,

The hours drag. I ask myself, “When will this hour end?”

But that is asking Time to time Time, something has to give,

It’s like asking a ruler: “Tell me, how long will you live?”

Then I remember, Einstein said both time and length can bend,

So what then, if this present hour never seems to end?

Does that mean I have time enough to walk faster than light?

If so, Einstein and I will have a metaphysical fight.

I’ll have my walk this morning in a relativistic way,

But then when I get home will it be on the previous day?

Well, no. Time always moves along in only one direction,

There is no chronological mirror that sends back light’s reflection.

You hold an egg out in your hand and drop it to the floor,

The egg will smash and won’t return to how it was before,

There’s only one way you are now, but countless ways to be,

So going back to how you were is something you won’t see.

Things grow increasingly disordered, that’s called entropy,

You can observe it or prove it experimentally,

It’s called time’s arrow, and the cosmos is a one-way street,

You have to live it, it’s the one thing you cannot defeat.

Imagine, if you lived your life by very strict conditions,

You’d be allowed to live forever, with no inhibitions.

Would you accept? The fear of death would force you to say yes,

But then the fear of endless time might make you wish for less.

Let’s say, to qualify, you had to live your life again,

You’d fear so many years, but it was just three score and ten,

If living your life over twice filled you with trepidation,

Then maybe you’d begin to see the sense in termination.

So you may want a peaceful death, I know that’s what I’d choose,

But others might prefer a mighty bang, nothing to lose,

Or lay warmly in bed, and feel their mind just ebb away,

Without knowing which day, at last, would be their final day.

I peeked through mortal curtains, and I glimpsed eternity,

I realised that life that long would be absurdity,

And nature’s way, one death, would be relief and not a test,

So our reward for living all that life would be a rest.

sometimes i wake up and think wow i’m still here why one day maybe ill wake up and think but therell be no here or maybe i will wake up but i wont be able to think or there will be a time when i dont wake up and I wont know what time that is because no one invented time when that happens dont bother saying rest in peace if im at rest peace should be part of the deal if you go shopping i don’t say spend with money and only writing r on the headstone should save 67% in masonry fees i dont know why i get these thoughts i think we all do and its a bit scary we all hide under the blankets with a torch sometimes wondering your brain never stops so i suppose its inevitable that it will think weird things like where is the light stored inside a torch newton didnt have a torch so he cut a hole in his curtain he put that sunlight through a prism and all the colours came out the other side some people said the prism made the colours but it wasnt the prism because newton put green back through and only green came out and thats why hes a genius if you start feeling blue youll stay blue and psychiatry wont help freud thought of himself as a mental prism therapist but in german thats geistigprismadäktër and even freud thought that word sounded ugly like a bucket of cutlery falling onto a car roof so he called himself a psychologist but the point is dont feel blue so start with white not the colour thats had bad press lately i mean the sunlight but remember it was not the first thing made bible and science agree science says space forces quarks then light bible says god heaven earth then light simon says ok simon says so why the big fight neither mentions time no creation story at all mentions the invention of time but we all feel strongly that it exists einstein even put space and time together as one word but we are immersed in time and maybe thats why we cant see it from outside like wondering what does a goldfish think about the existence of water there seems to be an endless quantity of time but it cant be seen or heard or tasted is it worthless then like words to a mime we say dont waste time but can time be wasted we cant even move through it faster than one second per second but seconds change fall from a plane and seconds are short lie in bed not sleeping and theyre very long einstein said spacetime can be warped and that the presence of a large amount of matter can bend space but what is it that does the bending of time is it the presence of human mind the mind even changes matter quantum mechanics says so an electron is always in two states of mind about whether it’s a wave or a particle until human mind looks at the electron and then it decides so after the light was made there came stuff and we are all rather fond of stuff some designers invent fancy stuff and put their name on it and people pay a lot of money for that fancy stuff i guess if your name was jim rubbish you wouldnt have much luck as a fancy designer but maybe you would because nowadays sick and wicked and the bomb have all reversed their original meanings and they all mean good and thats weird and all stuff costs money and so we have to work to get the stuff so we go to great lengths to make sure no one steals it i sometimes go to a telstra shop theft can be subtle but i can see through it if theft of my stuff is not gonna stop at least i want a professional to do it so enjoy the sun and the light and pick your favourite colour science and religion can both explain stuff and space the what and the here but not the now time is an orphan so enjoy your stuff and enjoy the here because one day you might wake up and it will all be gone but you will never know what time it happened

brainshit

sometimes i wake up and think wow! i’m still here!

why?

one day maybe i’ll wake up and think but there’ll be no “here.”

or maybe i will wake up but i won’t be able to think,

or there will be a time when i don’t wake up,

and I won’t know what time that is, because no one invented time.

when that happens don’t bother saying rest in peace,

if i’m at rest peace should be part of the deal.

if you go shopping i don’t say spend! with money!

and only writing “r” on the headstone should save 67% in masonry fees

i don’t know why i get these thoughts,

i think we all do and it’s a bit scary,

we all hide under the blankets with a torch sometimes.

wondering.

your brain never stops so i suppose it’s inevitable

that it will think weird things

like where is the light stored inside a torch?

newton didn’t have a torch so he cut a hole in his curtain.

he put that sunlight through a prism

and all the colours came out the other side,

some people said the prism made the colours

but it wasn’t the prism.

newton put green back through and only green came out,

thats why he’s a genius.

if you start feeling blue you’ll stay blue and psychiatry won’t help.

freud thought of himself as a mental prism therapist

but in german thats “geistigprismadäktër”,

even freud thought that word sounded ugly

like a bucket of cutlery falling onto a car roof

so he called himself a psychologist.

the point is don’t feel blue

so start with white.

not the colour. that’s had bad press lately.

i mean the sunlight

but remember it was not the first thing made.

bible and science agree.

science says, “space, forces, quarks, then light”

bible says, “god, heaven, earth, then light”

simon says “ok”, simon says “so why the big fight?”

neither side mentions time.

no creation story at all mentions the invention of time

but we all feel strongly that it exists.

einstein even put space and time together as one word,

but we are immersed in time.

maybe that’s why we can’t see it from outside

like wondering what does a goldfish think about the existence of water.

there seems to be an endless quantity of time,

but it can’t be seen or heard or tasted,

is it worthless then, like words to a mime?

we say “don’t waste time” but can time be wasted?

we can’t even move through it

faster than one second per second,

but seconds change.

fall from a plane and seconds are short.

lie in bed not sleeping and seconds are very long.

einstein said spacetime can be warped

and that the presence of a large mass can bend space

but what is it that does the bending of time

is it the presence of human mind?

the mind even changes matter.

quantum mechanics says so.

an electron is always in two states of mind

about whether it’s a wave or a particle,

until human mind looks at the electron and then it decides.

so after the light was made there came stuff

and we are all rather fond of stuff.

some designers invent fancy stuff and put their name on it,

and people pay a lot of money for that fancy stuff.

i guess if your name was “Jim Rubbish”,

you wouldn’t have much luck as a fancy designer,

but maybe you would:

nowadays “sick” and “wicked” and “the bomb”

have all reversed their original meanings and they all mean good,

and that’s weird.

all stuff costs money, so we have to work to get the stuff,

then we go to great lengths to make sure no one steals it.

i sometimes go to a telstra shop,

theft can be subtle but i can see through it.

if theft of my stuff is not gonna stop

at least i want a professional to do it.

so enjoy the sun and the light and pick your favourite colour.

science and religion can both explain stuff and space,

the what and the here,

but not the now. Time is an orphan.

so enjoy your stuff and enjoy the here,

because one day you might wake up

and it will all be gone

and you will never know what time it happened.

Roald Dahl once observed that life is a series of thousands of tiny miracles, and this quote was accompanied by a photograph of somebody with a handful of sand.

I’m sure that you have held a handful of sand and allowed it to fall through your fingers. Did you notice how every grain of sand falls downwards in the same direction, following the contours of space itself, curved by the mass of the Earth? The path of each grain of sand only shifted slightly by the movement of the wind, the movement of the air molecules in the atmosphere of the Earth, which also remains trapped around the Earth by the same curved space that draws down the grains of sand.

The Earth is 150,000,000 km from the sun, and the sun itself is an enormous thermonuclear bomb, engaged in a continuous explosion, which emits a fierce storm of high energy ionised particles out into the solar system. This wind of particles has stripped Mars and Mercury of their atmospheres. So how does the Earth retain its atmosphere? Luckily the Earth is bigger than Mars, and even though it is 40% closer to the sun, it has a liquid iron core, and the rotation of the Earth and its iron core generates a magnetic field, and it is this magnetic field that forms a protective layer around the Earth, repelling the ionised solar wind which would otherwise have stripped the atmosphere away from the Earth and made it devoid of life.

The Earth retains its oceans for the same reason. Water, brought to this earth by thousands of comets during a period called the Late Heavy Bombardment about 4 billion years ago. In the oceans, over many years, sedimentary layers formed on the ocean floor, and sometimes the movement of the liquid layers of magma under the crust of the Earth forced this sedimentary rock up out of the ocean, and then the wind and the rain eventually eroded it down to form grains of sand. On tropical islands, the very white sand that you see is the result of the excretions of parrot fish after they have chewed on coral, so this is another unusual source of the sand which shapes every beach on the planet.

So when you pick up a handful of sand you can think about the oceans and the sediment and the wind and rain and the parrot fish that have created the sand that you hold, and when you let it fall through your fingers you can see how it follows the contours of space itself, and you might notice it blown around by the wind, the movement of the atmosphere, protected by the Earth’s magnetic field, and you might think of these miracles, tiny and vast.

It was 8 million years ago and the Earth began to cool. Rainfall decreased and forests dwindled as the grasslands expanded. The grass was more resistant to fires and to changes in rainfall and it spread across a large part of the Earth. Today we call it the savannah, and it was a major factor in the evolution of early hominins.

Back in November 1974 palaeoanthropologist Donald Johanson and one of his students discovered a skeleton in Ethiopia. It was a 40% complete fossil of an Australopithecus Afarencis individual and the skeleton showed that it walked upright. When the exploration party were celebrating the discovery that night they played the Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” so the skeleton was called Lucy.

The Lucy skeleton was 3.2 million years old but the most important thing about Lucy was her upright posture, which gave her the advantage of being able to see across the top of the savannah grasses, and it also freed up her hands to do more than just help her walk along. This was one of the most significant advantages in the long line of evolution.

With hands, humans could now develop weapons like stone knives and spearheads to help them kill the larger and more ferocious carnivores that also inhabited the savannah, and by doing this they could supply themselves with meat, a much more efficient food for feeding the expanding brains of these evolving creatures.

This evolutionary spiral continued, then the first members of the homo genus appeared around 2.8 million years ago in the form of Homo habilis, followed about 2 million years ago by homo erectus whose name exemplifies the importance of the upright stance, and of course while this was happening the human hand was developing as well as the parts of the human brain that would be needed to control what the hand could do.

After this there was homo heidelbergensis, then the neanderthals and finally Homo Sapiens. At every stage the evolution of the brain and the ability of the human hand progressed.

With their remarkable ability to make tools like spears and arrows with which they could keep themselves protected and well fed they migrated out of Africa and into other continents over a long period between 50,000 and 70,000 years ago spreading across Asia, Europe and eventually reaching Australia and the Americas, all the time walking on their two feet and using their two remarkable hands.

It is thought that the development of human intelligence was accelerated by the need for the mind to control and take maximum advantage of the abilities of these hands. It’s also thought that language developed when human’s hands enabled them to form communities and begin farming rather than always pursuing a hunter gatherer lifestyle, because at this time, living among each other in villages and small towns required more communication between people, so the human brain needed to develop better linguistic abilities and more languages in order to transmit information about how to farm and how to treat animals and crops and how to treat each other in a village or a town.

People needed an agreed way of greeting each other. As far back as the ninth century BC people shook hands as a sign of allegiance, and this tradition continued, another dimension to what the hand could do.

It was now impossible to stop the expansion of Homo sapiens, and the villages turned into small towns and the towns turned into cities and then they began to explore the rest of the world.

The Portuguese ventured out on their boats and discovered the West Coast of Africa back in the 15th century. At that time Christopher Columbus also discovered the Americas and around this time people shook hands when they greeted each other and this gesture was supposed to make it obvious that neither person was holding any weapon.

In the next century, Spain, Portugal, England and others explored and colonised North and South America as well as Asia and Africa. In the 17th century the Dutch discovered the West Coast of Australia and Russian explorers ventured into the tundras of Siberia. In the 18th century the South Pacific and Oceania were explored by British and Spanish and Portuguese fleets. In the early 20th century the north and south poles were discovered and all of this was done by human beings using their minds and their hands

Now, when I meet my sister and her husband Paul, we always shake hands.

Hands that Lucy gave us.