July 2006

Tagged by Jo (over at JoBloggs: book meme) here’s my perspective on the current book meme:

1. One book that changed your life.

Brian Kernighan and Rob Pike, The UNIX Programming Environment.

2. One book you’ve read more than once

Tracy Kidder, The Soul of a New Machine.

3. One book you’d want on a desert island

Mary Doria Russell, The Sparrow.

4. One book that made you laugh

Neil Gaiman, Anansi Boys.

5. One book that made you cry

Douglas Coupland, Microserfs.

6. One book you wish had been written

Theology and cooking: Recipes for a whole community.

7. One book you wish had never been written

Tim LaHeye and Jerry Jenkins, Left Behind.

8. One book you’re currently reading

Janet Browne, Charles Darwin: Voyaging.

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read

Steve Ross, Marked.

10. Tag five people

They’ll know when it happens.

Meme originates at Ben’s Faith and Theology blog.

P.S. Congratulations to Jo for submitting her PhD thesis. All the best for the examination.

The NZ Bioethics Council (Toi te Taiao) has just launched an awareness programme about the use of human embryos in research. Discussion material is available for download and by post, as well as online discussion at their web site. This awareness campaign is timed to coincide with the Advisory Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology (ACART) advising the Minister of Health about embryo research. (You can find their discussion papers and make a submission direct to ACART throught their website.)

Bioethics Council links:

• Human Embryos in Research [Bioethics Council]
• Online discussion forum (15 August to 30 September 2006)
• The Cultural, Ethical and Spiritual Aspects of Using Human Embryos for Research [Bioethics Council] - Discussion brochure in English and Maori (HTML and PDF versions).
• Human Embryos for Research – it’s time to talk [Bioethics Council]
• Martin Wilkinson, Acting Chair of the Bioethics Council, interviewed on human embryos for research (Windows Media Audio - 11 minutes) by Kathryn Ryan, Tuesday 25 July 2006, Nine to Noon, National Radio. (Probably only available for the next few weeks)

Human embryos for research dialogue events:

• A radio programme discussing the issue of human embryos for research, on Sunday Morning with Chris Laidlaw, National Radio, Sunday 6 August. (Online audio available through Radio NZ).
• Seminar on human embryos for research in Wellington on 25 September hosted by the Bioethics Council and ACART.

Related links:

• Science & Theology News - The biotechnology culture clash
• New Zealand Herald - UK scientists given go ahead to clone human embryos - 28 Jul 2006 - World News
• New Zealand Herald - Public views sought on human-embryo research - Monday 24, July 2006 10:06.00 AM

Last month Metanexus held their annual science and religion conference on the theme of “Continuity and Change“. Abstracts and full papers from the conference are available online from the web site. One paper I look forward to reading is
More than Human: Religion, Bioethics, and the Transhuman Prospect by Ronald Cole-Turner.

If I look sideways at that paper, I get an oblique reference when Cole-Turner says, “To date, there has been almost no attempt by religious leaders or scholars to respond to NBIC*, the notable exception being the August 2005 issue of The Journal of Evolution and Technology (see http://www.jetpress.org/contents.htm“. It’s always nice to be a “notable exception”.

* NBIC = nanotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science.

At some point soon I’ll also trip over to Kinder Library to peruse this volume of Zygon that has some thesis-related material in it. See Blackwell Synergy: Zygon, Vol 41, Issue 2 (June 2006). Normally I’d get the online version but there’s a 12 month embargo on digital copy through the university’s licensing agreement.

Papercutz, more well known for their comic book versions of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, have release a biographical graphic novel of Pope John Paul II. See John Paul II - in comics!.

A different slant from the Homopater comic (and the very bizarre Battle Pope comic).

Speaking of Faith (from American Public Media) has a very interesting podcast (and additional web content) on Charles Darwin and his relationship to religion. I listened to half of it this morning and it was intriguing. The relationship is far more complicated and nuanced that the oft-proclaimed Darwin vs. God conflict. See SOF: Evolution and Wonder - Understanding Charles Darwin [Speaking of Faith® from American Public Media]

From the Scopes Trial to school board controversies in our day, Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution are portrayed as a refutal of the very idea of God. With Darwin biographer James Moore, we’ll learn about the world in which Darwin formulated his ideas and how he took religion seriously.

According To Me: The Rules has a bit of a rant about the importance of paying attention to the rules and background that belong to this history of comic book characters.

Good stuff.

This looks interesting. An open-source IDE for creating Web 2.0 type applications. When I have time I’ll download the Mac version and have a look. See Aptana. From the web site blurb:

Aptana is a robust, JavaScript-focused IDE for building dynamic web applications. Highlights include the following features:

• Code Assist on JavaScript, HTML, and CSS languages, including your own JavaScript functions
• Outliner that gives a snapshot view of your JavaScript, HTML, and CSS code structure
• Error and warning notification for your code
• Support for Aptana UI customization and extensions
• Cross-platform support
• Free and open source. (Source available soon)

I’m now not sure what’s left to make iPod-compatible. Can’t see the appeal personally, but I guess there must be a market somewhere. See iCarta iPod Toilet Roll.

Related link: http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2006/03/inshower_mp3pla.html

Science & Theology News - The Daily Dose: Science blessed by Pope points to Vatican’s ongoing openness to engagement with science. There’s a link there to the original Boston Globe news article, plus adding some comments on it.

Union Theological Seminary has been podcasting a variety of interesting lectures. Via Tensegrities: Union Seminary podcasts.

I’ve read some pretty positive (Christian) anthropology recently, but then you come across something like this and you just have to wonder: Woman mails five-foot python | Oddly Enough | Reuters.com

Another interesting article on the use of computer and video games as agents for sociopolitical change.
Morph: Serious Games, Digital Storytelling and Public Perceptions

Serious games, Thompson writes, “immerse people in the real world, full of real-time political crises. And the games’ designers aren’t just selling a voyeuristic thrill. Games, they argue, can be more than just mindless fun, they can be a medium for change.”

The serious games movement comprises advocates and nonprofit groups searching for new ways to reach young people, as well as tech-savvy academics keen to explore video games’ educational potential.

Related links:

• Greenflame: Middle Eastern video games and comic books

• Greenflame: UN uses video game as educational tool
• Greenflame: Serious Games for Religion and Religious Institutions
• Greenflame: Mobile Game ‘Airport Insecurity’
• Greenflame: Resistance isn’t futile
• Greenflame: Education Arcade, day 1
• Greenflame: Gaming the news

The announcement of JMS producing new Babylon 5 material on DVD. Series of new short movies/stories set in the B5 universe, using new and existing characters. Can’t wait. See Ain’t It Cool News: New B5

Via Closet Sci-Fi Geek :: New Babylon 5 on the Way…

Interesting interview I stumbled across today. Albert Borgmann and N. Katherine Hayles interview/dialogue

The claim that cyberspace liberates people from the accidents of gender, race, class, and bodily appearance is often made by advocates of electronically distributed education. But to conceal a problem is not to solve it. We have to learn to respect and encourage people as they actually exist. The “liberated” students or citizens of cyberspace, moreover, have to bleach out their presence to that of a person who is without gender, social background, and racial heritage. Otherwise they betray what is supposed to remain hidden. And it turns out that there are loudmouths and bullies in cyberspace as often as in reality. The fuzzed identities of cyberspace, moreover, lend themselves to their own kind of mischief. (Borgmann)

Related links:

• N. Katherine Hayles
• “How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics” (N. Katherine Hayles)
• Albert Borgmann
• “Holding On to Reality: The Nature of Information at the Turn of the Millennium” (Albert Borgmann)

After managing to find this week’s NZ Listener (it gets delivered 7 days before the week it’s for, and often gets misplaced) I see the lead article is on the accelerating pace of technological change. A quick skim though highlights that it picks up on genetics, robotics and nanotechnology in the typical popular fashion. I’ll go back and read it in depth later today. Still, maybe an accessible article on those technologies. See New Zealand Listener | Issue 3454 | July 22-28 2006.

I was struck by the cover this week too. Very like Herzfeld’s book cover below, and you can find similar images at most online stock photo sites by searching for things like “robot” and “cyborg”.

Follow up from Greenflame: Friends in need at Manawatu Standard: Mum, sons safe in Cyprus, but yet to contact family. Good news for them, though the overall situation continues to be dire.

My supervisor (esteemed author of Peace, Toleration and Decay: The Ecclesiology of Later Stuart Dissent) commented that having read (what was then) Ch.4 of my thesis, there didn’t appear to be any Blaise Pascal in it. This was, apparently, an oversight on my part.

So, this afternoon, while everyone else was out, Blaise and I hung out together and wrote 500 words to fit into the section on the Enlightenment and the imago Dei. He was good company, and I think the words add something to that section. At the very least they connect to the central theme of the thesis - narratives of apprehension.

Sheesh, my supervisor was right, as the other one was the other month. One suggested I needed more Pascal, the other suggested I needed more Schleiermacher. Both sections look good. Must buy them coffee this week.

Anyway, here’s a bit from Blaise’s Pensées on human beings that made it into the section,

It is dangerous to explain too clearly to man how like he is to the animals without pointing out his greatness. It is also dangerous to make too much of his greatness without his vileness. It is still more dangerous to leave him in ignorance of both, but it is most valuable to represent both to him. Man must not be allowed to believe that he is equal either to animals or to angels, not to be unaware of either, but he must know both.

A short, but interesting, interview (text and video) with Francis Collins (Director, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health and Author, THE LANGUAGE OF GOD) at Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly . PROFILE . DR. FRANCIS COLLINS . July 21, 2006 | PBS.

Recent Science and Theology News article looking at Jewish interaction with reproductive technologies. See Science & Theology News - Be fruitful and multiply.

NakedReligion contemplates the impact that special (professional) events, primarily for youth, have upon the local churches that the attendees return to, as well as the attendees. Interesting stuff, and I’d suggest that some of the ideas there might apply to a variety of situations. See nakedreligion » Blog Archive » CHIC, Spiritual Renewal, and the Consequences for the Local Church.

Report on the American Association for Artificial Intelligence celebrating 50 years of AI research. See Wired News: The Wisdom of Robots.

When you see your friends in the newspaper you hope that it’s for something good, not necessarily this -
Family dive for cover as shrapnel strikes - 20 Jul 2006 - Lebanon

Kyrie eleison
Christe elesison
Kyrie eleison

Praying for them, and all in that part of the world.

I have a small section about Justin Martyr and the image of God in chapter three. Within that section is a paragraph that looks like it represents some of his thinking but is without a footnote (or rather the footnote that I had there wasn’t particularly helpful). It’s quite a good paragraph, but I don’t really want it turning up in my oral I’m not sure where I absorbed the content from. It’s related to an analysis of Justin’s work I read somewhere, rather than directly citing some of his writings.

So today I went into the Auckland University library to get a book on Justin to check where I might have got this stuff from. I knew which book I wanted, and that the university had it. While I was there I thought I’d check out other books on the same shelf and see if they could shed some light. Fat chance. Because I knew the particular book I wanted I didn’t realize that it was pretty much the only book entirely dedicated to an analysis of Justin Martyr in the entire library. I was shocked (especially as the nearby Lactantius (who also appears in the same chapter) seemed to have numerous volumes in the shelf below).

Now, I know that he crops up in other books about the Early Church in the library, but I would have thought we’d have more than one volume dedicated entirely to an analysis of him in the uni library. (I know that the other theological libraries around town that we also have access to might also have more, but I expected more at uni - even if they were eBooks.).

I’m just glad I’m not doing a thesis on Justin, and only have to worry about a few hundred words.

Via Tensegrities a link through to Confessions of an Aca/Fan: The Official Weblog of Henry Jenkins: Sneak Preview: NBC’s Heroes. Contains a good overview of what the new TV series “Heroes” looks like (having seen the pilot). He argues it’s in the style of a Vertigo or Image style comic - darker and with more human interest stories.

The trailer for the series can be seen here: NBC.com > Heroes

Not holding my breath for it arriving in NZ any time soon.

A real “mish-mash” of ideas in this emotional outburst here. See Stuff.co.nz: Federated Farmers’ chief slams environmentalists.

Definitely falls towards the “Wise Use” end of the spectrum identified in the article: Jim Ball, “The Use of Ecology in the Evangelical Protestant Response to the Ecological Crisis”, Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 50 (March 1998), 32-40.

The evangelical Protestants of the Wise Use type are providing a theological rationale for such exploitation. … Rather, those in this type seek to offer an alternative which actually works against caring for creation. God is indifferent to the rest of creation, and thus it has no moral status. Moreover, the best strategy for achieving the welfare of present and future generations is not conservation but economic growth and “resource substitution.” Thus, Wise Use’s co-optation potential has been fully realized.

“Wise Use” is, of course, in the eye of the beholder, and Ball notes that it has a measure of irony attached to it.

There is quite possibly a special level of heaven reserved for proofreaders.

The Lone Ranger gets a makeover in a new comic book series produced by Dynamite Entertainment. It’s being co-written by Brett Matthews who wrote for Firefly and worked on the Serenity comic book. See Dynamite Entertainment! - Lone Ranger #1 for some brief details and some page images, and NEWSARAMA.COM: BRETT MATTHEWS TALKS THE LONE RANGER for an interview.

I figure they’ll probably do the character justice. A while back I picked up the first issue of Dynamite’s Battlestar Galactica series and it had the same feel as the new TV series. (Random trivia - the writer of the BSG comic is Greg Pak - who directed the quite interesting series of short films using robots to explore the human condition. I’ve got the DVD and it’s worthwhile having a look at - just don’t expect a Terminator style movie. See Robot Stories.)

Two roommates, one hidden camera, one energetic dance routine, 2 minutes of internet fame. It all comes together here at glumbert.com | media | Dance, White Boy, Dance.

consequently.org/news • Well, that was easy… on using an RSS feed and iTunes to distribute PDF files through syndication.

Theology Blogs is a new blog - strangely enough about theology blogs.

Article here on the BrainGate, a device the integrates the human brain with computer systems.

Using an array of hair-thin electrodes implanted in his brain, a 25-year-old quadriplegic man was able to operate a computer, open and close a prosthetic hand, and manipulate a robotic arm just by thinking about it, according to a new study. Such a brain-computer interface may one day help restore movement and communication to people paralyzed from spinal cord injuries, strokes, and disorders such as muscular dystrophy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

See Mind Over Matter — Wickelgren 2006 (712): 1 — ScienceNOW.

Working on refining the thesis section that notes people who have used the idea of co-creation independently of Philip Hefner’s work. Here’s a quote from Arthur Peacocke on co-creation which he frames within the topic of humanity, creation and concern for the environment:

to be co-creator with the ‘living God’ who always actualizes in his creation new possibilities, previously unimagined humanly speaking, is to be prepared always to adjust creatively and deliberately to the changes necessary for God’s purposes to be fulfilled—which includes maintaining the environment in such as way that it can go on being the medium through which life can continue and explore new modes of existence under the guidance of God. (p.316)

From: Peacocke, Arthur R. Creation and the World of Science: The Bampton Lectures, 1978. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1979.

I was stuck in the second to last thesis chapter. I knew what I wanted in there, had the material, but couldn’t quite get it right. All I needed to do, after days of stressing, was to track down one of my supervisors and tell her what I wanted to do in the chapter. Articulating it out loud to someone else helped clarify it in my own mind. Now things flow again. Cool.

The last week has seemed incredibly busy. School holidays combined with two birthdays in the immediate family, my wedding anniversary, kids’ soccer, preaching today out in the country at Riverhead, plus normal family stuff, plus ongoing thesis stuff. Exhausted just thinking about it all.

New Music Video From David “The Hoff” Hasselhoff - “Jump In My Car” - Google Video.

And I thought “Hooked on a Feeling” was dire.

So bad, it must be good.

Thanks to Matt (Problem Attic. Jump In My Car) for bringing this to my notice.

Sonalog have developed an exo-skeleton with a MIDI interface that can control sound and vision. I can see the emerging church equivalent of 1970-80s interpretative dance happening - ouch!

Science & Theology News - Is altruism encoded in our genes? - read some other stuff on trans-kin altruism yesterday so this was relevant for me.

New Zealand Herald - Andrew Stone: Gospel truths hit the Mark, Matthew, Luke and John - Wednesday 05, July 2006 20:59.00 PM - on God-talk billboards.

Science & Theology News - The Daily Dose: Excommunicating stem cell researchers. More at Telegraph | News | Vatican vows to expel stem cell scientists from Church.

NZ Herald: Bono-funded computer game causes row in Venezuela - 06 Jul 2006 - Lifestyle & Leisure

15 years, 4 children, and 3 cities. The adventure continues.

Article (and video) from PBS Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly on the shortage of young clergy in mainline US denominations. See YOUNG CLERGY SHORTAGE . June 30, 2006 | PBS.

Not satisfied with just watching the films of their favourite superheroes some fans set about making their own fan films and trailers for the films they’d like to see. Three good examples are:

TheForce.Net | World’s Finest - Superman/Batman team up.
TheForce.Net | Grayson - Robin seeks justice for the death of the Dark Knight.
Collora Studios: Batman - Dead End - the Dark Knight meets more than even he can handle?

A couple of reflections from the latest Superman movie.

Darren’s finished off his study guide for the movie and posted it over at Digital Orthodoxy - Superman Returns.

And Dave Zimmerman ponders his sympathy for Lex Luthor at Strangely Dim: Sympathy for the Bad Guy.