Prime limit, metaphysics

RE Limits: I agree with Paul Erlich about limit terminology.
As generally used on this List, "N-Prime limit" implicitly means
that powers of N and multiples of N with smaller primes are
included in the tuning. Partch's usage of the term N Limit
means that N is the largest ODD number appearing in either the
numerator or denominator of the ratios defining the tuning.
Thus 33/32 would be said to be at the 11-prime limit by conventional
usage, but at the 33-limit in Partch's terms. I think these
nomenclatures are clear enough, but one could add 'odd' to be
unambiguous. Statements such as at the "33 odd-number limit" or
"33(odd) limit" should be clear.

Now to metaphysics: I apologize for replying late to Neil's
post in TD# 1018, but I've been attending a biotech conference on
Natural Products in San Diego the last couple of days. It
is certainly possible to believe in a metaphysical, paranormal,
super- or preternatural aspect of reality and not be a theist or
deist. As I understand Buddhism, neither a Supreme Being nor a Creator
god, nor even unchanging eternal souls exist. Powerful god-like beings
do exist, but they are unimportant and not worshipped by most sects.

There was a philosopher in England in the last century who managed to
be a member of the Church of England, a believer in personal immortality,
and an atheist. He was parodied as "Codger" by H.G. Wells, but I forget
his name.

Atheism is not a modern European concept. The ancient Romans persecuted
Christians on the ground of atheism because they rejected the gods of
Rome. Professing atheism in a Muslim country might well prove fatal these
days.

A skeptic once said that the difference between a monotheist and and
an atheist is that an atheist disbelieves in just one more god than the
monotheist. I might add that the arch-skeptic Martin Gardner is a theist
and has published a book on his beliefs (The Why's of a Philosophical
Scrivener).

I certainly do not dispute the emotional power of belief and its
embodiment in music. My reaction to some religious music is not
dissimilar to Gary's response to the Brahms' Requiem.

I share Neil's concern for integrity, honesty, and civility, but
I don't think that one has to believe in the paranormal to have
these virtues. One can find examples of religious scoundrels
and virtuous agnostics, atheists, philosophers, etc.

Channelling Sagan is certainly an ironic thought! And Asimov as well;
a common quip on the internet these days is that "If life after death
really existed, Isaac Asimov would have written a book on it by now."

Perhaps the SETI program can contact Carl and let us know if there really
are "billions and billions" of inhabited worlds. Perhaps the two of them
can sit down with Velikovsky and set him right. Or with Tesla...

Granted death comes to us all, but over the past century, advances in
hygiene, sanitation, diet, lifestyle, and scientific medicine have
doubled the life expectancy for people in the industrialised and much
of the developing world. We're not completely helpless in face of it.

As James Kukula pointed out, there could be other, mundane explanations
for the correlations between rising signs and personality. However,
the main argument against Astrology is the lack of convincing data that
it works. I don't dispute that some professional astrologers are very
good at telling their customers what they want to hear. This is called
"cold reading" in the trade, though in some cases the astrologers may
have acquired considerable knowledge of the client in advance.

As for subtle forces, the only natural forces whose existence has been
demonstrated are the emf, gravitational, strong nuclear (color) and
weak nuclear. Of these only the emf and gravitational work over long
distances. The attempts to find "5th" and "6th" gravitation-like forces
have failed. There simply do not appear to be any other forces that
operate over long distances, subtly or not.

Electromagnetic effects are certainly important in the solar system, but
NASA has not found it necessary to take them into consideration when
computing planetary, satellite and space probe orbits. Compared to
gravity force, they are too weak to matter.

As for magnetic storms, auroras, trapped radiation belts, etc., these
are caused by streams of charged particles ejected from the sun. They
have very little effect on the earth's surface because of the shielding
effect of the magnetic field and atmosphere. While they could conceivably
affect matters on the earth, humans would be extremely poor "antennae"
for the associated elf (extra-low frequency) waves. I should think
the steel frames of most hospitals would shield adequately against
them, though they will penetrate hundreds of meters of conductive
seawater.Is there a EE in the house?

In any case, the field strengths would be measured and the putative
effects studied, if they were sufficiently defined.

Gauquelin's "astrobiology" has not been unambiguously replicated
outside of France and there are still questions of data selection,
statistics, etc. However, G rejected all of traditional astrology
and developed his own discipline.

I wouldn't consider his work as definitive. In any case, it has no
predictive value, being merely a set of correlations between outstanding
individuals (criteria not exactly clear), their birth dates (caesarians
or induced births omitted I believe), and the position of certain planets
over a rather broad range. I view it as a last-ditch effort to save an
obsolete tradition.

As for Full Moon efects, these are basically urban legends. Studies
in Houston by the Coroner's office and Baylor College of Medicine
showed no correlation with murder rates and lunar phase. Similarly,
there is no correlation with births in delivery rooms and the
moon, though such is commonly believed by nursing personnel.
However, at least in the first case, there is a plausible mechanism
why such correlations might exist. During period of full or near full
moons, there is more light at night, so both criminals and victims
might be more active and about.

It is true that in some animals (i.e., sheep) the fetus sends a
biochemical signal to the mother to initiate the birth process. I
don't know if this has been shown in humans, but I seriously doubt that
the human fetus can sense which planet is on the horizon, if only
because its nervous system is still unformed and "unwired" to a large
degree at birth. As for the inheritance of planetary positions at birth,
I have not seen any data.


I think we are getting rather far from the interests of most of the
subscribers to this List. Perhaps we should continue this thread off-list.

--John


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Hi John,

At 06:34 AM 3/20/97 -0800, you wrote (TUNING Digest 1020, Topic 6):
>I have a program which is intended for inclusion in the Tuning program
>archives. Any suggestions as how I go about submitting it?

One way you could make a program or any other file available would be:
1) Put a reference to the file on your own home page (or another web page).
2) Mention the web page address ("URL") in an email to the tuning list.

This way, you can put some explanatory notes on the web page that refers to
the file. This is how MIDI files are commonly distributed. You can see
http://www.pacificnet.net/~nowitzky/justint as an example.

I look forward to seeing whatever you're submitting!

--Mark Nowitzky
+------------------------------------------------------+
| Mark Nowitzky |
| email: nowitzky@pacificnet.net |
| www: http://www.pacificnet.net/~nowitzky |
| "If you haven't visited Mark Nowitzky's home |
| page recently, you haven't missed much..." |
+------------------------------------------------------+


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