Date: Sun, 11 Jan 1998 22:37:32 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <199801120337.WAA17585@locke.ccil.org> Reply-To: Pycyn Sender: Lojban list From: Pycyn Organization: AOL (http://www.aol.com) Subject: Why be in the Philosophy of Religion X-To: goldenruel@earthlink.net, bikson@cssg-sandiego.com, ellen.baker.geisel@mosby.com, rv@hartsem.edu, 780867@ican.net, Huddis@aol.com, etoth@unix1.sncc.lsu.edu, lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu To: John Cowan X-UIDL: a96fe19ef67673e52683900f8454e27d Status: RO X-Mozilla-Status: 0001 Content-Length: 2177 X-From-Space-Date: Mon Jan 12 15:58:26 1998 X-From-Space-Address: - From a presentation by Frederick Gregory, History of Science, University of Florida. at the 1998 Tallahassee Winter Conference of the John Templeton Foundation Science and Religion Course Program. A thermodynamics professor wrote a take-home examination for his graduate students. It had one questions: Is Hell exothermic or endothermic? Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs usding Boyle's Law or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following: First, we postulate that if souls exist, then they must have some mass. If they do, then a mole of souls can also have a mass. So, at what rate are souls moving into Hell and at what rate are they leaving? I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets into Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for souls entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these relgions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there are more than one of these relgions and and people do not belong to more than one relgion, we can project that all people and all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change in volume in Hell. Boyle's law states that in order for the temperture and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the ratio of the mass of souls and volume needs to stay constant. #1. So, if Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose. #2. Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over. So which is it? If we accept the postulate given to me by Theresa Banyan during our Freshman year, that "it will be a cold night in Hell before I sleep with you," and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then #2 cannot be true, and Hell is exothermic. The student go the only A. >|83 pc