It's worse than that :( In that I agree with much of what he says. Or at least, I get his perspective, as part of a working understanding. But he's clearly not interested in that :( So it goes.
Yeah. It's like I told a friend of mine once during a discussion. "That is a lucid, cogent, well thought-out opinion." <pause for effect> "But I disagree." I have a working theory related to Christianity in this regard. I find that in cultures not rooted in Christianity, people seem to be more accepting of disagreements, and understand that disagreements are quite natural and are to be respectfully explored, but that this should represent no difficulty towards understanding. Whereas, those from Christian cultures used to all the preaching and such tend to develop the idea that there is only one way to think, and if you think differently then, well YOU MUST BE CONVERTED! This seems to break down somewhat, however, in regards to Russians; whom while Orthodoxy is a deep cultural influence, also have very nuanced linguistic forms like 'Da nyet' (yes no). It's use to express a somewhat undecided negative answer in some contexts, or to contradict someone. Or 'da nyet navernoe' (yes no maybe) to express a negative answer, but which is decidedly undecided. But the important point is the 'da nyet', while usable to contradict someone, has no personal pronouns involved. So, while in English one must say 'You are wrong.' or 'I disagree' .. in Russian, and other languages too, the subtext becomes more "There is disagreement" with the personal side taken out. I suspect this is why, in English speaking countries, talking politics or religion carries a certain social taboo in many situations, while in Russia there seems to be a much greater expectation to talk about such things with new people, in order to get to know them. Just a little applied Chomskyism today, I suppose.
Alas, I have difficulty accepting the heat death of the universe as well; I suppose that's 'on me' as they say.
I'm rooting for a big crunch :)
Me too! I'm too big of a fan of symmetry to think otherwise.