Tuesday 25 June 2002

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I readily agree that the gods of old, as seen in the surviving myths, come across more as magical supermen than cosmic creators. Of course, cosmos was quite a bit smaller when the Greeks invented that word. Now we have a much greater and more awe-inspiring universe, and we also have a much greater God. But sometimes I wonder. To so many people, the whole cosmology becomes theoretical, distant and irrelevant. And I believe, so does God. Perhaps it was easier to be human back when the gods got drunk, made out with mortals and sulked like kids. With a god like ours, the requirements just for being a good human may feel over- burdening sometimes.

But thus are the times. We – well, not I, but the people over at CERN – have the power to eradicate life from the known universe. And we all do our little part to change the climate, eradicate or conserve entire species. If we go wrong, we could bring about the end of mankind. Or of all higher life forms. Or, from 2005, of the planet itself. Or with the message of a modern hero: With great power comes great responsibilities.

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(Now if I had the power to do anything about this hand ... actually, I am on the verge of ordering a "Dragon Naturally Speaking Essentials 5" speech recognition software package. If all goes well, after an evening of training it should be possible to SPEAK my journal instead of typing it. It would certainly be weird, as I am used to thinking with my fingers ... but imagine the godlike power of being able to write just by talking ... no way our grandparents would have believed that when they were our age!)