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.