Dollan Wrote:
I feel that I have to interject here on one point: "Contact" was clearly not a representation of Carl Sagan's beliefs, nor was he, over all, a fiction writer. He used his "Contact" novel to put forth a great fictional idea he had, while attempting to remain within the realm of hard science (the idea of using wormholes was actually provided by Kip Thorne).
I'm not certain how many such novels Sagan wrote, but his other primary works were assuredly not fictional.
Sorry, I was being sarcastic. I know he's not a fiction writer. I saw an interview with him on television (I think over the making of the movie but, may have been the book also; it was a long time ago) in which he said that it was a combination of Science and his beliefs. Were my beliefs intertwined in my post? Yes but, they really were not of a religious nature.
The analogy I gave concerning the picture was taken directly from an analogy he gave on the possibility of a 4th dimension, though certainly not verbatim since I heard it so long ago. That's where I got it from! When I said "consider this" I meant it as a "think of this" NOT A "understand this".
I realize, especially in light of a few incidents over the past few days at work, that misunderstandings can occur when people are unfamiliar with one another's habits, verbage or humor. People come to know the verbal signatures we use in our descriptive terms or word usage which can be the difference between a house of silence or laughter after a joke.
I reread my post and say to myself, "I don't see the interjection of religion here" but then again, I know exactly what I meant when I wrote it. I took it for granted that everyone else would understand my metaphors and comparisons. Unfortunately, it got blown out of proportion but, the misunderstanding of my attempts at sarcasm and humor leave me no choice to conclude that, I am unfamiliar (still) with members of this forum and some are unfamiliar with me.
So to everyone, including Malenfant, I extend my apologies for any inappropriate content or apparent tone in my post. It was however, just an opinion and, it wasn't from a religious point of view, honestly!
