I took my children to the Auckland Observatory tonight. What can I give my kids that’s inspiring and takes them away from their addictions like Playstation? I love looking into the stars. They fill me with such a deep sense of wonder. Maybe they will be inspired too.

Contact is one of my favourite movies. It stars Jodie Foster as a SETI astronomer who struggles against orthodoxy in her quest for intelligent life. Really its theme is the tension between belief and science. But her parents die when young. I still feel the pain of separation from my children even though it was seven years ago. It is amazing when we start to dig how much suffering is there.

I personally think that the universe is the body of god. Is that so different from Stephen Hawkings suggestion in A Brief History of Time that he’s looking into the mind of god? Maybe I can pass that feeling onto them.