The Singularity is Forbidden.

So I was wondering the other day.
What if singularities do not exist?

What if they cannot exist?

What happens if singularities, for whatever reasons, are absolutely forbidden?

What happens if, instead of a singularity, there is a solid object more or less immediately beneath the "surface" of the event horizon?

Now, all the physicists are immediately up in arms because "the numbers say..."

What if the numbers are wrong?

What if the approximations are even more approximate than we believe?

What happens if matter is not allowed to fall out of the universe?

Then a black hole becomes an area of extremely high, but finite density.

extremely high, but finite curvature. (aka extremely high, but finite gravity.)

And the search for a theory of quantum gravity becomes moot, because we never have infinite gravity at the planck scale.

It also means we can stop looking for a unified theory, cause gravity simply doesn't play well with others. Doesn't have to.

If there is no singularity, there is no quantum gravity problem, cause they ain't never a situation where gravity matters at the quantum scale.

It was reading Traveling at the Speed of Thought, (Daniel Kennefick, 2007) which sort of started me down this particular road, since it was there I learned that gravitational interactions are calculated as though gravity emanated from a singularity at the center of the astronomical mass, as this is evidently easier than calculating from the actual surface of the object. Even though everyone freely admits that the objects gravity is not actually the result of the distortion of spacetime by a zero dimensional object with the mass of that particular object, be it planet, star, whatever. But for mathematical purposes it can be treated that way. 

But I have to wonder.

There have been some new hypotheses I've read recently that are intriguing, one of which states that spacetime itself may exert a force that prevents matter from collapsing into a singularity of infinite density and gravity. Under one of it's variants black holes are actually hollow spheres filled with, something really strange. But the point is that there is no point.

No singularity.

There are also folks working on theories which would eliminate the need for dark matter, since the speed of galactic orbits can/might be accounted for by the error of calculating gravitational effects for galaxies, (which are rather large, usually non spherical, and without a clearly defined center), as though their gravitational field was a zero dimensional point somewhere in the center.

Spacetime is strange stuff, and though Einstein's theories are the best we have to date, they are certainly not the final word on the subject.

Inerrancy

So this is the latest as I understand it.

It was only the original autographs/manuscripts of the old and new testaments, (which, of course, we do not have), that were inerrant. And since, over the centuries, transcription and other copying and editing errors, redaction, etc... have crept in, it is necessary to go back as far as possible and study the oldest versions, as they are the ones closest to the originals. (The oldest extant versions of certain texts are currently the dead sea (qumran) scrolls, and those are a mere two thousand years old.) And that's also why folks have to spend all those years learning dead languages and idioms. (Which we may, or may not, have interpreted/reconstructed correctly.)

Where shall I begin? I mean seriously, where to begin?

(Well, you know, if we could just find that damn Ark of the Covenant all our questions would be answered. At least about the Pentateuch. But until that day....)

So where are the originals? Have they been destroyed? Have they decayed? Have they been lost? How is that even possible? How the HELL could that happen to G's word? G couldn't be bothered to inscribe them on something imperishable? (Now that would be a miracle, and grounds for belief!) I mean think about it. G knows all there is to know, right?! (Or at least all it is logically possible for him to know.) So G should know high technology, right? G should have been able to quantum transcribe his word into the spin structure of the carbon atoms in a diamond and provide a reader! With encryption and error correction! Easy! There you go! Unalterable! Imperishable! G could have arranged the stars in heaven so they would spell his word out across the sky for everyone on earth to see! Easy!

But he didn't.

In the beginning he apparently used oral transmission, (aka. story telling, legends, mythology), and then, after the invention of writing, he used stone and skin to record his word.

(There is an entire section of apologetics dedicated to explaining why G used only the technology available to humanity at the time of revelation. And also why the scriptures contain no information that was not generally available to the "prophets" at the time they were "prophesying". And, I hate to tell you this, (well actually, no I don't), but, (here comes an appeal to authority), as far as serious biblical scholars have been able to determine, NOT ONE of the supposedly prophetic books in the bible was written down BEFORE the facts or events it supposedly prophesied occurred. This is made clear by the undeniable fact that the "prophecies" are accurate up to the date they were known to be written down, (i.e. were recounting, (more or less accurately, depending), history up to that point), and then their accuracy goes to hell-in-a-handbasket when they begin prophesying about what would be actual future events. (Where the devil is jesus by the way? He was supposed to be here by now!) If  someone is writing a history, that usually means it's being recorded after the fact, by either the victor, or someone else with an axe to grind.)

But, I have to ask you, why should omnipotent omniscient G be constrained by the technology we had available at the time? (And speaking of high technology - why did G create us ignorant when he could have started us out in the garden with Big Screen TV and internet!) I mean G could have created  The Sacred Imperishable Incorruptible Flash Drive and Holy PC of Antioch. (With some sort of eternal solar/nuclear power supply!)

Or would G use a Mac? (Hmmm, I thinks I detects the potential for, The Great Schism.)

But does he?

No. 

G uses his finger to inscribe stone tablets! (Or maybe Moses used a chisel? Who knows? We don't. We only have Moses' word on that, and he seems to be a pretty unreliable narrator if you ask me. Writing about things that happened after he was dead... What? Did he think we were stupid?) And then Moses breaks them by throwing them on the ground?! (Must'a been some pretty shitty quality stone.)

And, you should also remember, there are two, very different! sets of commandments given! Ex 20: 1 - 17 vs Ex 34: 17 - 27, which includes the commandment for the human sacrifice of all firstborn children, (should you be unable to afford a "redemption lamb"). He's a bloodthirsty sumbitch, is old G. 

You didn't know that? For G's sake read the damn book! 

Anyway, Moses smashes G's handywork, and G doesn't strike Moses dead? For perishing his imperishable word? And start over with someone more trustworthy? Or at least more careful? What is up with that? (Unreliable narrator I tell you! Absolutely Unreliable!)

And how come Aaron, who is responsible for the whole golden calf debacle, is NEVER punished? But, in fact, seems to be rewarded for his error. (Versus the 3,000 innocent bystanders slaughtered by the Levites.) Why didn't G just vaporize old Aaron and the calf on the spot? Problem solved!

Anyway, for whatever mysterious reason, (Can't explain it? Just put on the silly hat, call it a Mystery, and the sheep will continue to believe, and, most importantly, continue to give money, so you can sit around and drink the sacramental wine and fondle the altar boys), G chooses that his eternal word should be inscribed on perishable items! Leaving his sacred word to the tender mercies of mold, mildew, scroll weevils, pigeons, and the few people around who know how to write. 

And then he can't be bothered to make sure they copy it correctly?

Oh give me a break! This is G we're talking about here.

Effing CAPITOL G!

Not a sparrow falls but he knows about it! Nothing happens anywhere without his OK. (Modern liberal theologizing that G could not, for possibly logical arguments, create a world in which he has total control over everything, notwithstanding.)

He's G! 

Omniscient!

Omnipotent!

Omnibeneficent! or benevolent! or whatever! (Well, the jury is still out on that one. But today isn't about theodicy. It's about inerrancy!)

This is his Word! These are the most important documents in human history! G is The Author! The Immortal Souls of his creation hang in the balance!

And he can't be bothered to proof his text?

Omnipotent Omniscient G can't be there to whisper in the ears of the monks and rebbes and scribes? G, who has ultimate power over everything, can't be bothered to guide the hands of the men copying his word and make sure it is transmitted without error!?

What the hell?

- You know that the verse Matt 1:23 "Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel" only works because it's based on a mistranslation? And had old Matt actually spoken or read hebrew, which he obviously didn't, he would have known that? The original verse contains no mention of a virgin conceiving anything.

Young woman, yes.

Virgin?

No.

I think, in fact, that it's Isaiah who knocks the young woman up. (But I can't be bothered to check that out right at this moment.) And anyway, Jesus isn't ever called Immanuel. But I digress, sort of -

Because this brings me to translation.

And the question I have is "why?"

Why translate?

G could have written his word imperishably, in G language, and provided each and every one of us with the genetic ability to read and understand that particular script.

No problem.

And even if I grant the apologists arguments for why G should choose to convey his word exclusively to the members of a bunch of petty feuding tribes, in a rather obscure series of languages, spoken by the peoples of a very minor kingdom, who begged borrowed and stole mythology from every civilization surrounding them, in what would eventually become the middle east, I still have to ask - why would later translators differ over what was meant?

I am regularly informed, (by those who believe), that G is actively involved in the world. That G answers prayers. That G produces miracles to this very day!  And yet he cannot be bothered to whisper into the ears of the translators of his word so that they all agree?

No. Evidently he can't.

All translations are works done by committee, with final interpretations decided by vote!

(Or, in the case of certain decisions reached by certain councils regarding doctrine during the reign of Constantine, by unfortunate "accidents" befalling whose who disagreed with Constantine's party line, and with a new "vote" being taken after the funerals of the unfortunates.)

If G, or the holy spirit, can inspire and guide the committee, he could certainly inspire the individual translators, could he not?

You know what would incline me to belief?

If the 72, (OK, silly obscure reference), all went off into their separate rooms with the same text, and, without conferring or communicating with each other in any way, came out with every single one of their translations agreeing word for word with each other. Because that would mean G cared enough about his word to whisper into their shell like ears and prevent any confusion.

But that has never happened.

And it never will.

Because, either G doesn't care.

Or he doesn't exist.

Agency

To be human is to see agency everywhere.

It's what we do.

In fact it appears to be completely unnatural, and extremely difficult mentally, to not do it.

It is one of the things that makes scientific thinking so difficult for us. We seem to be hard wired to jump instantaneously to a post hoc, ergo propter hoc (and hoc is always intentional) explanation in every situation. This may make for good narrative, but rarely for a good, or true, explanation.

(Any of you who have taken a stats class should remember having "correlation does not imply causality", pounded into your heads. Followed by any number of examples of correlation 1.0 events that have nothing whatsoever to do with each other. i.e. even though fingernails grow at about the same rate as new oceanic crust is created at the mid ocean ridges, one should not assume the correlation means that fingernail growth causes oceanic crustal spreading, or vice versa.)

Seriously.

Still, anyone who has ever spent time with children, (or Christians, or New Agers, or anyone of any religious bent), has seen this type of magical thinking in action.

I remember very clearly thinking that way as a child. (Hell, I thought that way until my early twenties in most situations. In fact I'm still working on not doing it. It has been a very hard habit to break.)

If snow fell off a tree branch and onto my head, there was nothing random about it, either the tree, or the snow, or possibly both, had done that act on purpose. Which, of course, led inevitably to the question of why the tree, (and/or the snow), wanted to do that. Were they trying to tell me something? (like "take a bath!") Leading me next to the thought, "What can I do to make that not happen in the future?", "Is the tree unhappy with me?", "Was it a joke?", "What does the tree want?" and "Do I really have to take a bath?"

Ritual purity, it's not just a good idea, it's the law!

I wanted things. So I did stuff to make things happen to achieve my ends. I also knew (not believed, knew), that the world was full of other agents whose sole purpose (desire) seemed to be to thwart my end!

Both figuratively and literally!

(They were usually called Mom and Dad, though there were also many other adult authority figures, (teachers especially!), who seemed to be in on my parents schemes!)

They WERE all out to get me! (Conspiracy thinking starts early too!) So therefore, trees, and rocks, and the weather, and traffic lights, (especially traffic lights!) must also want things, and therefore, do things, on purpose, to achieve their ends.

Or to frustrate mine.

The world is very personal to a child, (or anyone of any age), engaged in magical or wish thinking.