May 2006

A really interesting article by Alex Mauron that I skimmed today.

ESSAYS ON SCIENCE AND SOCIETY: Is the Genome the Secular Equivalent of the Soul? — Mauron 291 (5505): 831 — Science.

With the complete human genome sequence now at hand, the notion that our genome is synonymous with our humanness is gaining strength. This view is a kind of “genomic metaphysics”: the genomedag is viewed as the core of our nature, determining both our individuality and our species identity. According to this view, the genome is seen as the true essence of human nature, with external influences considered as accidental events.The notion that the genome contains the blueprint of human nature is akin to an important outlook within Western metaphysics that interprets all living organisms as having “souls,” which determine their characteristic traits. From this perspective, the human soul is viewed as encapsulating the human essence.

Connections back to the first link on Greenflame: Random Science and Religion links and to Greenflame: Is our DNA Sacred?.

Received a flyer about this in the mail the other day. Seeing as it’s about 5 minutes drive away might turn up for a session and see if there are any old, familiar faces from my and Kim’s undergrad days around.

TSCF Back to the Cross Graduates conference

Come on and celebrate! Tertiary Students Christian Fellowship is celebrating 70 years of students gathering together to bring the message good news to New Zealand campuses. So come to the TSCF Graduate Conference from 7-9 July and be part of the gathering of the fellowship in Auckland.

Just in case you were looking for a copy of this, there’s an online version of Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness, a report of The President’s Council on Bioethics (Washington, D.C., October 2003). PDF and HTML versions available.

Bits of it have been useful for me as I’ve noted how different groups respond to biotechnology.

Recent opinion piece in the Guardian on technology and education by Baroness Susan Greenfield (author and professor of pharmacology at Oxford University). See EducationGuardian.co.uk | E-learning | ‘We are at risk of losing our imagination’

We must choose to adopt appropriate technologies that will ensure the classroom will fit the child, and buck the growing trend for technologies - including drugs - to be used to make the 21st-century child fit the classroom. The educational needs of the individual are changing, and the very nature of the classroom needs to change, too.

…

Does this mean young people are acquiring or will need different skills? Memory, for example, may no longer be as essential as it was for those of us who had to learn reams of Latin grammar, but with everything just a click away, perhaps we are at risk of losing our imagination, that mysterious and special cognitive gift that until now has always made the book so much better than the film.

The story of having to create a new font for the second edition of the New Living Translation with study notes. They needed to increase the amount of text in the book by 10% but keep the page count the same. And removing bits of the biblical text was out of the question - so a new font was created to do the job. See A new font for an old book.

Looks interesting.

International Portable Film Festival 2006

The festival works very simply - our films are delivered to you as a video podcast that you can subscribe to through this website. When films are ready they are sent automatically to you, ready for you to watch on your iPod, PlayStation Portable, 3G or media player.

Made it to the final but the red and black machine halted our run. All credit to the Crusaders, who made the most of their opportunities in difficult (understatement of the year) conditions. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a rugby game played in such bad fog. Gripping to the end, given both teams have scored several wins right at the end of games this season.

Also, South African referees aren’t always my cup of tea but I thought Jonathan Kaplin did very well.

I’ve you’d asked me at the start of the season whether I’d take a 7 point loss to the Crusaders in the final then I would have jumped at it.

So congratulations to the ‘Canes. You’re looking like you’ll become a regular force in the S14 now.

Roll on Ireland, Argentina and the Tri-Nations, and Wellington in the NPC later in the year.

Wow. Maybe the commercial spinoff will be a TV you can change channels on without having to move any muscles. See Wired News: Brain Waves Make Robot Move

In a video demonstration in Tokyo, patterns of the changes in the brain taken by an MRI machine, like those used in hospitals, were relayed to a robotic hand.A person in the MRI machine made a fist, spread his fingers and then made a V sign. Several seconds later, the robotic hand made the same movements. Further research would be needed to decode more complex movements.

Some Radio NZ programmes at now available as podcasts. Check out Radio New Zealand - Podcasts.

Picked up a copy of Digital People: From Bionic Humans to Androids by Sidney Perkowitz this week from the university bookshop. It looks quite interesting and I admit that once I saw the blurb on the back about science fiction movies - just after I’d edited some similar ideas in my introduction - I was keen to get it. From the back,

Robots, androids, and bionic people pervade popular culture, from classics like Frankenstein and R.U.R. to modern tales such as The Six Million Dollar Man, The Terminator, and A.I. Our fascination is obvious and the technology is quickly moving from books and films to real life.
…
Digital People examines the ways in which technology is inexorably driving us to a new and different level of humanity. As scientists draw on nanotechnology, molecular biology, artificial intelligence, and materials science, they are learning how to create beings that move, think, and look like people. Others are routinely using sophisticated surgical techniques to implant computer chips and drug-dispensing devices into our bodies, designing fully functional man-made body parts, and linking human brains with computers to make people healthier, smarter, and stronger.

Anyway, what is interesting in another way about this book is how it’s published. If you go to the publisher’s web site you can order a paper copy, buy a PDF (they have paper + PDF combos), buy a PDF of a chapter, sample a PDF, and search or browse the full text of the book.

Your book, delivered how you want it. Cool.

Fishing through some stuff recently sent to me by my folks (who kept such things) I came across this certificate from playing club rugby as a young lad. So obviously, with the Super 14 final tomorrow, it’s time to announce my availability for the ‘Canes should they need me (and as John Campbell once said, 40-odd thousand other people are injured).

I seem to remember we weren’t a bad team. Won more that we lost back in ‘76 (if my memory of those distant times is accurate). I used to play at 2/5 so if Tana or Ma’a pull up lame tomorrow I’m sure I could nip down and help out. As an “impact player” off the bench, of course.

Link to old club: Paremata-Plimmerton Rugby Football Club.

Neil Gaiman and Adam Rogers write in Wired on The Myth of Superman

Superman is different because he doesn’t really belong to the writers who’ve created his adventures over the last 68-plus years. He has evolved into a folk hero, a fable, and the public feels like it has a stake in who Superman “really” is. Schwartz quit writing Superman because his bosses were telling him to put in things that he thought were out of character. That was admirable, but really, the specific stories we tell about Superman – the what-happened and what-he-did – don’t matter that much. Superman transcends plot. We retell his tales because we wish he were here, real, to keep us safe.

BTW - did you know that Gaiman wrote a one-off comic called “Legend of the Green Flame” (cover here) starring Superman and Green Lantern?

Apple - Nike+iPod combines shoes, exercise and the iPod.

I look forward to the integration of my iPod with my toothbrush. The iBrush (has a WhiteTooth interface) that sends music via your jawbone while you brush etc.

Why stop there? - For those who need them why not the iDentures - suck to advance a track, spit to go back, volume control by the opening and closing your mouth.

Random Murmurings: Movie magic… poses the question (and gives a list) of what a good selection of films might be for looking at religion and media. Join in there.

Various links that have been collecting in my bookmarks

Human Dignity Amendment - Christian Democratic Union - a Christian Democratic party in the US. Would like to see them define the imago Dei in some way and it looks like some idealized human genome becomes sacred. (Hat tip to SubversNZ: Human Dignity Ammendment)

George : Death and the brain. Better Humans posting linking brain function and rationality to personhood. Interestingly having made the claim that rational agency defines personhood he continues to address humans who can’t exercise that agency as “persons”.

Philadelphia Inquirer | 05/07/2006 | Science Anxiety talks about the anxiety generated in the general populace by advances in science and technology.

IST Results - Searching for the soul in the machine is an article contemplating artificial intelligence and the possibility of “computer society” - relational computing, but not as we know it, Jim.

I saw this a while back in the paper edition. On the one hand museums are training staff to deal with religious groups suchs as “six day creationist”, while here those groups are taking their own tours of the same museums with their own guides. See Science & Theology News - Religion around the world - Biblically correct tours find home at museums.

» The great Singularity debate | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com looks at various speakers (for and against).

International Superheroes is a web site that aims to build up a database of information about various superhero characters from around the world that are often overlooked in a world dominated by the US-based DC and Marvel characters.

Dave Zimmerman ponders To Be or Not to Be Super? On the Creating and Curing of Mutants at Pop Thought. Using the upcoming X-Men III movie he wonders about what exactly normal is. Some connections with discussions about therapy vs. enhancement related to technology, and to other discussions about the nature of personal identity.

Covalence, a Lutheran publication reflecting on faith, science and technology recently went online. See Faith, Science, and Technology - Covalence

My turn today to do the part of the church service that is specifically for the kids. So we did the Parable of the Lost My Little Pony. Unfortunately during the ensuing hunt around the house last night Sparkleberry Swirl and Minty were unable to be found (they really were lost) so Seaspray (see picture) had to front up. Which she did just fine.

The talk went well - it focused on God as a passionate, even obsessive, collector of people - so I had lots of props of things young and older people collect (including a old 45rpm disc of the NZ soccer teams 1982 world cup song!) and interaction with the children. The parable of the lost sheep was reworked into a girl who collected the ponies, lost one, searched and found it, and celebrated. That parable in Matthew 18 works well because it sits within texts that talk about God valuing children.

Was going to talk about collecting robot movies, science fiction TV shows and comic books - which the kids would have been fine with - but some obsessions are better left at home sometimes. (Still getting comments about the Serenity screen saver that kicked in last time I was preaching - though some people felt the images went well with the content of the sermon.)

The first in a series by David Plotz who returns to revisit the Bible after many years. See Slate blogs the Bible.

Via Maggi Dawn: What happens when an ignoramus reads the Bible?

Hurricanes 16 - Waratahs 14

And a nail-biter to the end. More at Planet-Rugby.com: Hurricanes sneak into the Final.

Not the science fiction movie based on Firefly but rather Serenity - America’s Premier Inspirational Manga a newish Christian comic book series.

Anyone know anything about it and if you can get it in NZ? I’ve seen some pretty awful Christian comic books in my time but maybe someone’s got the right end of the stick here.

Issue 3 was reviewed “secular” comic reviewers here: Serenity v3: Basket Case Review - Silver Bullet Comics.

Hurricanes to host the Warratahs tonight at the Cake Tin in the first Super-14 semi-final.

Be still my beating heart.

(Web colours modified to reflect eschatological hope)

Go the ‘Canes!

For the interesting things that happened this week in science file.

Genetic study reveals surprises in human evolution | Reuters.com
Last chromosome in human genome sequenced | Reuters.com
Chile telescope discovers three planets | Reuters.com

If the Lord of the Rings is an analogy for doing a thesis (see earlier today) then possibly NetHack is another useful metaphor.

The chapter I’m currently working on bears a startling resemblance to this screenshot. (True Believers will understand) Will put it aside for a day or two and return to it after working on some other edits.

A long time ago I wrote about this Lord of the Rings allegory for the PhD process I’d come across (see Greenflame: Lord of the Rings: an allegory of the PhD?). It still seems to have some force with the current part of the journey being like this.

The last and darkest period of Frodo’s journey clearly represents the writing-up stage, as he struggles towards Mount Doom (submission), finding his burden growing heavier and heavier yet more and more a part of himself; more and more terrified of failure; plagued by the figure of Gollum, the student who carried the Ring before him but never wrote up and still hangs around as a burnt-out, jealous shadow; talking less and less even to Sam.

From Lord of the Rings: an allegory of the PhD? by Dave Pritchard.

At this point I’m stuck in the gap between two halves of a chapter trying to map the connection between the two bits that seemed so clear not so long ago. (Personally I think it’s the least interesting chapter in the thesis so that may have something to do with it).

The Royal Society of NZ is holding an essay competition for high school students to write about genetics and ethics. See RSNZ: genETHICS.

The Genethics Essay competition is a unique and innovative competition that provides secondary school students with an opportunity to discuss ethical issues associated with human genetics research. The competition is open to students in years 11, 12 and 13 studying Biology, Science, English or Social Sciences.

Firefly and Buffy are now in the iTunes store (well, at least for the US).

One of the introductory points I make in my research is that the term “transhumanism” is now moving into usage by mainstream media and no longer just being used by the self-identified transhumanist community. The technologies being linked to it have been discussed in the public arena but the term is now in general use. So in a recent Fox News story (FOXNews.com - Nanotech Policy Faces No Small Hurdles ) we get this sort of thing happening,

And like the genetically modified food discussion and genetics as a whole, nanotech developments raise deep philosophical questions over what it means to be human, and the change of the human condition.

“That conversation haunts every discussion about nanotechnology,” Cameron said.

Cameron said one frightening development is so-called “transhumanism,” where people might create things to replace human functions like thinking with nanotechnology.

While a technology could be used for a good purpose, like recovering from a stroke, “the same technology could allow you to have Google in your brain,” Cameron said, which “raises huge questions for public policy.”

Cameron said he also can foresee the use of nanotechnology further widening class divisions. With expensive nanotech solutions for cancer or other health problems, it’s likely that those with the best health care would be able to get the new care and live longer whereas the poor would be left behind.

I guess the term entering into this wider usage does support the comments earlier - Greenflame: Is transhumanism passé?

Related links:

Andy Clark’s EDGE: NATURAL BORN CYBORGS?. A short paper with the same name as his book which includes a chapter at the end on the negative potentials contained within cyborg technologies.

Center on Nanotechnology & Society director of Nigel M. de S. Cameron quoted in the Fox News article above.

Materious’ forecast umbrella uses a wifi connection to download weather information. The more likely the chance of rain, the bluer the handle glows.

Around here at the moment the handle would be a deep indigo with all the rain we’re having.

Interesting little article on whether the sustained use of internet connections due to downloading of video and like will screw up internet service providers’ models for provisioning of services. See Wired News: Could High-Def Choke Internet?

Hardware Wars (1977), the Star Wars parody that was played in cinema around the world, is now available at HARDWARE WARS - Google Video. (I definitely remember classmates of mine seeing it in Wellington cinemas in the late 70’s.)

Other related links: Grocery Store Wars | Join the Organic Rebellion, Fanboys (2003 NZ short film), and Feel the Force: The Jedi Street Preachers of Auckland (2004 NZ short film). The last two from Peter Haynes at www.haynesfilm.com.

Article here by The Minneapolis Star Tribune (I think) on the recent (international) free comic book day. It’s done as a comic itself and it’s not too bad. See TwinCities.com | 05/05/2006 | Saturday is free comic book day. I didn’t get to a shop on the day as I had to pick up my copy of Ion the day before (curses!), but hopefully next year I’ll be synchronised.

Wired has an interview with Douglas Coupland about his new novel jPod (official site), an sort-of sequel to Microserfs (one of my all time favourite books). See Wired 14.05: A Tale of Two Couplands.

Simon Smith at BetterHumans.com wonders if the term transhumanism is now past its best before date because he thinks the ideals it proposes have now moved into the mainstream consciousness. So it’s not a question of whether to enhance human beings using technology but more a question of when to do it. See Betterhumans.com: Is transhumanism becoming anachronistic?.

He cites the following article at New Scientist Premium- The new incredibles: Enhanced humans (need registration) as an example of this. Another one I noted a week or so back is Popular Mechanics - Redefining The Human: The Upgradable You.

Certainly the Extropy Institute agrees with him and see its ideas in the public sphere now allowing it to move on into new directions. See Extropy Institute: NEXT STEPS — Extropy Institute is closing its doors and opening a window for a proactive future.

Probably a good time to submit my thesis before it gets too out of date But then again there’s 4000 year old material in there from Ancient Egypt so it’s probably too late all ready.

Panel discussion at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival about the relationship between Hollywood and religion in the wake of The Passion and Narnia movies. I like the bit at the end where they talk about the types of film they think Jesus might direct. One of the panelists, Jonathan Bock, reckons,

[Jesus] would direct things that would be very populist. He pissed off the religious elite and was speaking directly to the people. I think it would have all the elements that all great films do. I think it would be funny. I think it would be poignant. I think it would be commercially successful. You know, the reason that the Bible is still around today is in part due to the fact that they are universal stories that have stood the test of time. And I think that’s the kind of stories that he would tell even now.

See Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly . WEB EXCLUSIVE . What Would Jesus Direct? . May 12, 2006 | PBS.

SEOmoz Blog | Interviewing Web Developers - 20 Good Questions to Ask has a good list of questions to ask someone selling web development expertise - especially if you’re interested in hiring one.

Sitting in the tea room today (drinking coffee) I flicked through a recent issue of the Spiritual Growth Ministries journal Refresh and saw this article - Spirituality and the Science Fiction Atheist by Adrienne Thompson. (SGM Journal Refresh Vol. 5 No. 2 (Summer 2005-6), 14-17).

It’s a brief reflection on the writing of Ursula Le Guin and has a nice quote in it about stories. LeGuin says,

What you get out of that story, in the way of understanding or perception or emotion, is partly up to me—because, of course, the story is passionately meaningful to me (even if I only find out what it’s about after I’ve told it). But it’s also up to you, the reader. Reading is a passionate act. If you read a story not just with your head, but also with your body and feelings and soul, the way you dance or listen to music, then it becomes your story. And it can mean infinitely more than any message. It can offer beauty. It can take you through pain. It can signify freedom. And it can mean something different every time you reread it.

(from interview at CBC Magazine: Meet the Author/Illustrator: Ursula LeGuin)

Thompson’s article didn’t transfer well to the web - some formatting is lost - but the content’s all there.

See also:

• Greenflame: Ursula Le Guin Interview for another interview.
• Greenflame: Ursula K. Le Guin’s: Some assumptions about fantasy
• Greenflame: Differences
• Greenflame: A Whitewashed Earthsea

Most of the science and religion books on my bookshelf are by men. Many of the books I frequently use about religion and technology are by women (see Greenflame: Some many books, so little time). The latter seem to me to be more engaging and interested in the “real world” (as opposed to some theoretical and abstract world). ST News have produced a brief list of some interesting science and religion (and technology) books authored by women. Check it out at Science & Theology News - Beyond Curie: Women in science make a difference. I’m encouraged to see I own or have read most of these authors.

Well, it’d be interesting if they get it going, but I imagine it’d have US-only stamped on the delivery mechanisms. See Joss Whedon’s Firefly Season 2.

A few articles out recently that pick up on the potential of nanotechnology for the purposes of human therapy and enhancement.

Popular Mechanics has an article Redefining The Human: The Upgradable You which covers a range of technological developments relating to nanotechnology among other things.

The forever techno-optimistic Ray Kurzweil has an article in the latest Science and Theology News - Trends hint at a golden era of nanotechnology. Kurzweil see technology as part of the process of evolution, and follows the line of thought that human beings are in effect “nature’s technology.”

Then again working through indirection, biological evolution used one of its creations to usher in the next stage of evolution, which was technology. The enabling factors for technology were a higher cognitive function with an opposable appendage, so we could manipulate and change the environment to reflect our models of what could be. The first stages of technology evolution — fire, the wheel, stone tools — only took a few tens of thousands of years.

Kurzweil cites the synthetic red blood cell research noted in the Popular Mechanics article too.

And lastly, there’s an older article at the British Centre for Bioethics and Public Policy that looks at nanotech from within a Judeo-Christian framework. See CBPP - Going all the way? - cybernetics and nanotechnology (Philippa Taylor, April 2004) (and the closely related PDF “From Fiction to Fact: Christian Perspectives on Future Developments in Bioethics: Nanotechnology and Cybernetics” CBPP briefing series: No. 3, Philippa Taylor, Summer 2003).

Short video clip at EVTV1 of a humanoid robot - She´s A Robot. Not quite Commander Data but more realistic than some other attempts.

A click on the “Publish” button in Ecto instead of the “Save” button will have given a odd posting. Apologies to all and sundry.

I’ve been reading several of the books from the British Film Institute’s Modern Classics series while I revised the introductory chapter to the thesis. Skimming through the books on The Matrix (Joshua Clover) and Blade Runner (Scott Bukatman) was helpful in straightening out some examples I wanted to use of cinema serving as an arena for public concerns about technology to be expressed within.

The books are shortish and easy to read - though in a couple of places I needed to decode the film/media studies jargon. Well worth having a look at, if only briefly.

Brian Harris (a former lecturer of mine and one who shares the same PhD supervisors) has an article in the latest Princeton Theological Review. That issue of the journal is dedicated to evangelical Baptist theologian Stanley Grenz and Brian reflects upon his influence “downunder”.

See Brian Harris, “Straddling the Tasman: The Relevance of Grenz’s Revisioned Evangelical Theology in the Australasian Context”, The Princeton Theological ReviewVolume XII, Number 1 - Issue 34 - Spring 2006.

From the paper,

In an article published in 1992, Stanley Grenz suggests that by adopting “community” as the integrative motif for theology, “North American evangelical theology will also discover that it is being linked to insights that lie at the center of theological expressions of the gospel found in other regions of the one world we share in common.” To what extent was Grenz correct? Do his theological method and motifs interact meaningfully with expressions of evangelicalism found outside of the North American context within which his theology was birthed? Are Grenz’s insights helpful in plotting a path for evangelicalism outside of his own setting? In this paper, I explore the helpfulness of Grenz’s approach within the context of Australasian evangelicalism, focusing particularly on evangelical theology and expression in both New Zealand and Australia.

Today in a workshop I attended the facilitator recommended formating all documents in the Arial typeface. I winced. There’s something about Arial that just rubs me the wrong way - but I can’t guarantee that Helvetica will be available on every computer that prints out my documents. Later today I stumble across The Scourge of Arial which contains some history about how Arial came to be ubiquitous.

A brief article on some new web site monitoring software that allows salespeople to monitor pretty much everything you do on a web site to tailor return sales calls to you. See The case of the spying salesman - Alpha Blog - alpha.cnet.com. I agree with the author that it breaks some sort of social contract because the monitoring is undisclosed.

Problogger notes that the new version of Drupal (4.7.0) is out now. It has some nice videos on installation and features. A while back Drupal made my short list when I was looking around for a CMS. Now the new version is out I’ll have a look and compare it with Mambo (another on the shortlist).

Paul’s pre-press version of his article Why should we think about mass media?. From the introduction,

Yet among academic circles there is growing research into the intersection between mass media, religion and popular culture. This article provides a general examination of the themes discussed in this emerging research, and the reasons why theology should meet with media and culture.