Meme to the M to the E-M-Me!

1. Do you believe in God (and/or etc.) and why?

I am an agnostic. I do kind of believe that there might be a God/omniscient being, but having not seen overt proof, my pragmatic side sees that as proof that there is no God. I do have a fairly strong belief in fate though. I was raised Christian, but we stopped going to church when we moved to Michigan, because in North Carolina you were almost expected to go to church. Plus it gave my mom something to do, i.e. hanging out with the church ladies. The South is odd like that. I guess what I'm saying is, I don't necessarily believe in the Christian God, but yes I believe in a God-like construct. I do like the following argument about the existence of God.

From The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

"The Babel fish," said The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy quietly, "is small, yellow and leech-like, and probably the oddest thing in the Universe. It feeds on brainwave energy not from its carrier but from those around it. It absorbs all unconscious mental frequencies from this brainwave energy to nourish itself with. It then excretes into the mind of its carrier a telepathic matrix formed by combining the conscious thought frequencies with nerve signals picked up from the speech centres of the brain which has supplied them. The practical upshot of all this is that if you stick a Babel fish in your ear you can instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language. The speech patterns you actually hear decode the brainwave matrix which has been fed into your mind by your Babel fish.

"Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mindboggingly useful could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as the final and clinching proof of the non-existence of God.

"The argument goes something like this: `I refuse to prove that I exist,' says God, `for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing.'

"`But,' says Man, `The Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED.'

"`Oh dear,' says God, `I hadn't thought of that,' and promptly vanished in a puff of logic.

"`Oh, that was easy,' says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing.

"Most leading theologians claim that this argument is a load of dingo's kidneys, but that didn't stop Oolon Colluphid making a small fortune when he used it as the central theme of his best-selling book Well That About Wraps It Up For God.

"Meanwhile, the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different races and cultures, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation."

2. What do you, without realizing it, find yourself thinking about most often as you fall asleep?

It's strange, or maybe not, but oftentimes I still find myself thinking about Caitlin. I still miss her. Oh, why didn't you ask who influenced me, because she would be one of those people. It seems like all the time there are things that happen in my life, or objects or movies, songs, so many things that remind me of her.

Of course that also can lead into one of my other "Deep Thought" topics, my past relationships and my failures in them.

3. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Well, I think I would love to live in Hawaii. Specifically on Maui. It's where my dad was born, and when we visited a couple years back, I remember thinking that it felt like home. I love the weather, the atmosphere, the ocean, the laid-back attitude. I know my parents have discussed retiring there. I don't think it will happen, but it definitely has a pull on my dad. My uncle too, he ended up buying a place there and moving from LA. I know it's kind of cliche, but Hawaii is a paradise on Earth.

4. If you could instantly learn anything (like in the Matrix), what would it be?

I think I would like to learn how to cook like a gourmet chef, and also Kung Fu or Karate. I'd be an Iron Fist Chef. I'd also like to learn to play guitar really well.

5. If you were independently wealthy, what would you do with your life?

I'd like to think I'd be very altruistic, but I think I'd mostly spend the money on myself, family and friends. I'd probably travel a lot. I'd like buy property, 'cause property is always a good investment. I'd buy a private island. I'd start fishing again, fly kites, play guitar, start internet companies, start a film and television production company and fund really good sci-fi and offbeat comedy movies and shows. I don't know if I'd work, but I'd probably find some kind of creative outlet. Like designing stuff. Especially mechanical or electronic gadgets. I have a lot of ideas, but no knowledge of how to implement them. So, I'd hire a team of engi-nerds to breath life to my visions. I'd be like Steve Jobs, only slightly less megalomaniacal.


Questions courtesy of Dan

MEME RULES
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

*Don't forget to include the rules at the end of your post.