As a matter of course, and because I co-host an astronomy program on 2RPH, I consume quite a lot space- related information, some of which I actually retain. This morning I did a short recording of a piece about the SETI program, the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence. This usually occurs by means of scanning for radio signals, finding potentially habitable exoplanets and looking for things like atmospheric biosignatures.

If you didn't already know, there are significant resources (though still insufficient) devoted to the active study of exoplanets and the wider SETI program. Thus far we have but one distinctly unusual signal (the WOW signal) received by a radio telescope 30 years ago and never repeated. Its provenance is disputed. But we have found dozens of potentially habitable exoplanets (planets outside our solar system) and as technology improves, so will our ability to look more closely at the data available.

SETI is relatively benign since we are largely sitting back, collecting and then analysing the data as it comes in. Its twin sibling, METI, is less so, for the M stands for messaging. METI actively seeks to contact ET (should any exist) through the sending of powerful messages broadcast through radio telescopes. The hope is that something intelligent and technological will be able to pick up the signal, decode it and return the favour. It is a needle in a haystack really and its unlikely to bear fruit, but suppose it does. 

Blasting out Earth's location as well as information about lifeforms and technology might seem like a fun thing to do, but suppose an intelligent advanced civilisation does receive the message? And suppose that they are bent on domination or the extermination of others to ensure their own survival. Sure, they are light years away and its takes a long time to travel in interstellar space. But it does present a danger and I am not sure who is assessing the risks.

 Very soon, the day after tomorrow in fact, autumn will be upon us. In Australia, it is rarely experienced as a "season of mists and mellow fruitfulness" but rather as a slow, steady easing into the colder months of the middle of the year. As March fades, April ushers in the cooler mornings and nights (though midday might still be warm and sunny), while May has "a spider-light that holds but never stays." The last of the leaves that are going to fall now lose their purchase and tumble.

As I said two posts ago, autumn brings out the mild melancholic in me. It is not depression, but a lingering sense of loss, made concrete by what I see about me. Who can help it - all that is fecund is in retreat. But it is such an achingly beautiful time, and such are its rhythms that I would not miss it for a thousand summers.

For a non-economist I watch quite a few economics based programs, though these are aimed at the lay public. In yesterday's reading of the Newcastle Herald, some witty columnist noted that 'economists were invented to make astrologers look good' a joke of course, but one which finds some purchase in real life. If an astrologer is correct it is only because the general nature of the 'prediction' could suit any number of scenarios. At least economists take the risk of being precise and basing there prognostications upon a rough kind of science. Chances are they will outdo any astrologer, particularly since the latter is based upon total nonsense.

But all this is a digression. Many economists have recently noted that liberal democracies have come under strain in the last couple of decades (and that this will likely worsen) because of changes in the market economy- to wit - the decline of traditional manufacturing in favour of a more 'advanced' economic model which highlights services. Educated younger people are well placed to benefit from these new opportunities, while a whole class of former industrial workers find themselves in unemployment queues. They become easily disgruntled with the system (and who can blame them) and easy marks for political charlatans of all stripes.

The rise of Trump, the popularity of buffoons like Johnson and Berlusconi - and the rise of even more dangerous characters, who are keen to take advantage of growing inequality, poses a serious challenge to democracy. It is easy to believe in slogans and lies, particularly large and flagrant ones. Democratic leaders would do well to address the problems that have arisen and will continue to arise, or the democratic experiment of the last two centuries will be a mere blip in the history of governance.

Despite some hot weather recently, the approach of autumn is inexorable. Gone will be the "long still-lengthening days" (Rosetti) and soon, the slow closing-in that comes with seasonal change. I love autumn and often wonder why, because it inevitably sets off a kind of melancholy in me.

Living in Japan didn't help this at all, for even the cherry blossoms in the springtime had their built-in decay time, that moment when the petals begin to brown and the leaves appear. A flash and they're gone. The Japanese see this as a symbol of the transience of all things. It seems to be that spring would better be placed alongside autumn as a way of contrasting growth and decline. Maybe summer is squeezed in between to save us all the angst that might result.

I lashed out on Friday and bought a microphone for recording at home. I want to be able to do the small bits and pieces of articles for the 2RPH program, What's in Space, that sometimes escape our notice. This takes some of the pressure off my regular sessions with the co-presenter. I can send him WAV files and he can make the necessary adjustments. Since we have to hit 29 minutes every broadcast, there is always a need for some filler or a make-up piece.

Just this afternoon, having unpacked the new mike and gingerly set it up, I recorded two short articles and sent them on for 'expert analysis'. I am obviously concerned about quality and sound levels as we both want a professional product to go to market. 

Doing a simple voice recording is not difficult, but eliminating the sound of cockatoos, lawn mowers, leaf blowers, mulchers and overflying aircraft is more of a challenge. Who would have have thought that a Sunday in the Blue Mountains is the site of such uproar!

When I say that I lashed out, I was exaggerating. The mike, an Audio Technica 2020, was half price and therefore in the budget range. I look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with this cute bit of kit.

Who doesn't like a mountain path, one that winds wherever it may lead but which holds the promise of something new or special along the way. It is never the destination but the getting there that matters inevitably.

Jeremiah, an ancient prophet, wrote,

This is what the Lord says:
"Stand at the cross roads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it. And you will find rest for your souls."

It is one of those comforting and uplifting passages of Scripture that I read daily. You don't have to be a Christian or a Jew or in any way religious to appreciate the key point of the message - 'ask where the good way is, and walk in it.'

What parent doesn't hope for this very the thing for their son or daughter? I know I do.

photo: Tom Swinnen

 My mother surprised me the other day on the phone when she asked me, "Why does God allow suffering?" Perhaps because it was Sunday and she knew I had earlier gone to church, or there may have been some other reason. Whatever the cause, it is a question for the ages and one that philosophers and theologians have wrestled with for a long time, philosophers and theologians far better placed than me.

For some the point is moot. If you are an atheist and believe only in the materiality of the universe, then suffering is merely a outworking of the laws of nature which assembled themselves randomly at a distant point in space and time. Gravity can cause you to fall and hurt yourself. It both supports and potentially destroys without any conscious regard. If you crash your car and die, you will have been subject to all sorts of forces, none of them the least bit interested in your welfare.

But a Christian response is quite different. Yes the laws of the universe do hold fast for how we live and interact with the world. But why human suffering should occur when we argue that God is a loving God is far more complicated. Surely a loving God would remove suffering from the world?

There are some obvious responses which go part-way to answering the question but first we need to establish one point - a complete understanding of this topic is a mystery, one of the mysteries of faith. Beyond that we can say (and I speak from a Catholic perspective here) that one outcome of having free will, the choice of loving or hating, preserving or killing, making good or bad choices, is suffering. There is joy and there is suffering and there is everything in between. It is a part of a human condition which can freely choose. A loving God has granted us this freedom.

Another aspect of suffering is its redeeming quality. Perhaps, in the sheer pain and bewilderment of a terrible situation or calamity, we cannot see any silver lining. The darkness is profound and unrelieved. Christians, however, believe that God knows the end from the beginning and only permits suffering where, ultimately, good will prevail somehow, somewhere. Redemption is one of those 'goods' that can be forged in the furnace of suffering, sometimes only there. 

I realise that this is not a satisfactory answer for those in pain. I have suffered too and while some of it has been clearly self-inflicted (poor choices), other disasters have flown out a clear blue sky. There is no self-assurance or glibness in what I write, for underlying the original question is an opacity that will not be made clear in this lifetime. I struggle for answers as many have before. 

This was the gist of the answer that I gave my mum, because she asked. But this kind of response to a person in the pangs of an awful situation is entirely wrong. Compassion, and that alone, is the only recourse we have.

 After a long gestation, the program What's in Space will premier soon on 2RPH. A half hour fortnightly show, we hope to explore aspects of the cosmos through readings from two magazines, All About Space and Sky and Telescope Australia. This will be supplemented by material from range of reliable internet based sources, of which there are many.

It's necessarily a selecting, editing and winnowing process because there is so much information about the universe and space that we could do a two hour weekly program and only make a dent in the pile. We need also to be aware of our audience. How much depth is too much? How do you get the balance right? Is it better to hone in on a topic or go for a mix?

I guess we shall see. More details here when we are about to be broadcast.

I have been knocking around with computers on one level or another since the 1980's. I realise that still brings me rather late to the game. My earliest experiences were, as a member of staff, we were 'introduced' to some early iterations of the personal computer, such as the Apple 2e or an IBM equivalent. They didn't seem to able to do very much at that time, though we recognised the enormous potential that was embedded in the technology.

Fast forward to 1995, when Windows 95 was being touted as the greatest thing ever and the internet was becoming a 'thing', as they say. One afternoon after work I walked down to a 'supercomputer' shop and lashed out for an early Pentium machine - a huge CPU tower with a bulky monitor, for an astonishing sum of money. I could have bought a modest used car for the same amount. 

A week or so later  I was typing coded language (given to me by my local internet provider) into the computer to establish a dial-up link. I'm surprised at how well I did and equally surprised now that I actually had to do it, since the text was complicated and unintuitive. My first connection, accompanied by that whistling dial-up sound, was a personal victory of sorts.

My how times change. Plug and play, instant access, point and click. I don't yearn for the old stuff back. But I'm glad I came through the process, the better to appreciate where we now are.

Below. An Apple 2e and a mid-90's desktop PC.

 The Russian invasion of the Ukraine continues apace with little end in sight. The latter, with assistance of the former's surprising military incompetence, together with a huge cache of weapons from the West, have thus far repulsed the attackers. But methinks time is on the side of the Russians, who can put vastly more men in the field and also produce a lot of planes, tanks, ammunition and the like. Putin is counting on the West becoming fatigued.

My fear is the same as that held by a number of political commentators in late 1913 going into 1914. Things could go horribly wrong very quickly, in spite of what seems like a calm now. The insertion of Western tanks into the battle gives the defenders a greater opportunity for a military advance. It strikes me that the people of the Ukraine are angry enough (and who can blame them) to want to carry the war into Russian territory. All bets are then off.

It would pay Western leaders to prepare for such an event, to be ready to defuse the situation by whatever means and push for a negotiated settlement. To carry on blindly or complacently is only begging for a Sarajevo moment to occur and with it, a disaster for all humanity.

These days it is much easier for some folks to embrace the idea of an 'ancestor simulation' than believe in God. It may be that the former, based upon a proposal by Oxford academic Nick Bostrom, has a more scientific, more sophisticated ring to it, than what seem like the worn-out, ancient ideas of faith.

Some serious minds have embraced the notion that we are a part of a massive experiment by a super-advanced race, who, in their curiosity about their own origins, set up a computer simulation of mind-boggling proportions. We are in essence one of the potential pathways of their early evolution, there being many others, depending on the software settings. It is impossible for us to conceptualise the kinds of computing power required to generate a universe of such vast size, together with creatures who are self-aware. That's is really just the start of our befuddlement.

I find theories like the ancestor simulation, which can be neither proven nor disproven, fascinating from pretty much any angle. They speak to a great curiosity and a keen intelligence. They are essentially harmless. That they seem to take the place of God is hard to contest, only this is a god that sets all in motion and then walks away. It is a god who watches, now and then, from afar with a kind of detached scientific interest. This universe has no teleological, no moral significance. It just is.

And in as much as we seek to derive meaning and to feel that something is ultimately in control of the universe that, through science, we continually unravel, this cosmos is most unlike our own, I suspect. Better the simpler explanation, the uncaused cause, that is God.