Hey, this is the partially examined life, a preview to the follow-up discussion that

Wes and I had on.

Some of the topics raised in episode 206 on Lucretius's De Réardom Natura, the full discussion

is 50-some minutes I'm gonna play you two chunks here to give you a flavor of that and because

I think they're intrinsically interesting.

In this first one, for about nine minutes we talk more about the properties of atoms,

according to this ancient view.

So one of the characteristics of atoms that there's a limited number of types of shapes,

and 480, a correlate to the number of the various atom shapes is limited.

If not, it would follow that some seeds would have to be unlimited in bulk.

For given the confines of one tiny thing, whatever it is, the shapes it can assume cannot

be many.

Suppose our atoms have three minimal parts, or even out of few.

Sure, shuffle all the parts of a single atom, bottom and top, switching the right with

the left.

You will learn every permutation and what shape each gives to the atoms a whole.

And then if you should happen to want new shapes, you'd have to add more parts.

The consequence, the shuffleings will require the same logic and new parts, should you want

even newer shapes.

Therefore our growth in bulk must follow upon the novelty forms.

You cannot think then that the number of atomic shapes is endless.

You have to say that atoms of monstrous size exist, which I have proved impossible.

...