September 2006

UC Berkley have released some course lectures and other talks over at Google Video. Nice way of promoting your yourself, while also being useful to some. See UC Berkeley on Google Video.

Over at The Digital Sanctuary: Internet Evolution Cynthia points to the new Pew/Internet report Imagining the Internet which surveyed the opinions of various stakeholders in the Internet. Related to my previous posting is their assertion that a substantial number of them are concerned about the role of autonomous technology in shaping future societies.

Of course, one of the best known examples of this technological unease is Bill Joy’s article Wired 8.04: Why the future doesn’t need us, which sparked off a range of responses.

Another well-known but optimistic view is that of Ray Kurzweil. See, for example, Reinventing Humanity: The Future of Machine-Human Intelligence. (PDF)

Joel Garreau’s book gives a good introduction to three of the various scenarios posed by the development of nano, biological, information and cognitive technologies (NBIC). He describes these as “Hell”, “Heaven”, and “Prevail”. Your local library should have a copy of the book. See “Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies — and What It Means to Be Human” (Joel Garreau).

Mark over at Reflections… wanted some more details about last Friday’s talk. So here are some links to related things:

• The introduction to my talk is here - Cyborg-Intro.pdf. It’s pretty rough and ready as I read it, rather than have others read it.
• I used the ASB Bank “Streamline” TV commercial as an example of a narrative of apprehension about technology - wonder and anxiety combined. It’s online here: http://www.caanz.co.nz/awards/video/effie_2002_1269.mpg (It’s the last ad in the clip)
• Mondolithic Studios have some pretty amazing art the connects with the themes of the cyborg and boundaries being broken. See www.mondolithic.com.
• Sociable robotics projects at places like MIT. Video clip available on this page about MIT Media Lab’s Leonardo Robot is a good example.
• The Flavr-Savr - a tomato with a flounder gene in it to slow down decay and spoiling.

All these things contribute to the sense the traditional boundaries are being lost. Human life is now found in the borderlands between what used to be clearly separated categories in the world.

In recent times I’ve seen the Christianity Today article Young, Restless, Reformed concerning the return by some to a more Calvinistic type of evangelicalism. For example, theobloby: Calvinism and Youth Ministry and Generous Orthodoxy ThinkTank: Young, Pastors, Male.

Because of the Generous Orthodoxy posting the pointed out that in the print edition there are more photos (which seem pretty much white and male) I went to have a look for myself. However, it was the following article in that issue of CT that I found more interesting.

In For Shame? Amy Laura Hall has a thought-provoking article on attitudes to single mothers in society and the church. Have a read. What attitudes do we have towards single parents, and solo mothers in particular? And do we use shame as a blunt instrument, when we should be thinking more of grace?

Related links:

Scot McKnight has some interesing posts relating to Calvinism and Arminianism over in Jesus Creed » Post-Calvinism.

Before & After magazine has a few PDF articles that you can download - teasers to get you to subscribe to the magazine. One of these free articles is a nice one on choosing a readable typeface for a publication/presentation.

Via ProBlogger: Which Font is Best for Blogging?. Darren has a few extra comments there too.

Soccer prize-giving today for the kids football club this morning, followed by the end of year BBQ at the club for one of the kids soccer teams. Sitting still for a couple of hours, followed by kids vs. parent touch rugby and soccer has left me hobbling a little - It was the glorious run down the left wing to score a try that did it. Reliving the speed of youth, followed by the painful reality of a sedentary lifestyle and advancing age. Good company, conversation, fun, food and drink - glimmers of the kingdom in unexpected places. The team and it’s associated parents, brothers and sisters, and other supporters becomes family-like.

One of the interesting things about the meeting today was finding out that the local Baptist church is a financial sponsor of the club through their community trust. This combines with their willingness for their property to be used for fundraising activities by the club - like kids’ discos. Nice feeling seeing them mentioned positively in the speeches, and good to see some of their visible input into the local community.

Presented last night for the (semi-regular) meeting of the Auckland group of STAANZ (NZ systematic theology association) held at the Methodist Ministry Training Unit right in the centre of town.

The presentation came out of the final section of the thesis (and some random ideas that generated recently) and was entitled “Living in the borderlands : Cyborgs and the imago Dei”. Looked at the concept of hybridity that arises within contemporary technoculture, especially the clash of ontologies between organic and inorganic, human and non-human, artificial and natural, and asked the question of whether the Christian tradition has resources within it to engage with this world.

Good feedback (as always) from the group, and encouragement to continue pursuing this direction. The group is mixed across a range of spectra - denomination/tradition, conservative/liberal, male/female - which always generates interesting dialogue.

Fernando (as always) has some good comments on the formation of FoxFaith, a division of 20th Century Fox, formed to produce movies oriented around “Christian” and “family” values. See 20th Century Fox To Release Christian Films.

The Wired web site has a new interactive bionics feature that allows you to find out more about technology being used therapeutically within the human body. Everything from artificial knee joints through to neural implants of various sorts. Focus is upon mechanical, digital and nano technologies. See Wired - Interactive Bionics Tour.

Up to my ears in footnotes (interesting anatomical imagery comes to mind) so haven’t had much time recently for blogging. However, a few random thoughts at the end of the day.

• Congratulations to the Black Ferns for winning the Women’s Rugby World Cup for the third successive time. Awesome.
• Wellington 26 - Canterbury 24. Someone buy Ma’a Nonu a drink.
• Finally got hold of Green Lantern #13 to finish reading the story arc started in GL #10. Many comments that may come out later but from a research point of view the story made for an interesting clash of cyborg ideologies. The review here was pretty spot on and of the four parts of the arc it was probably the weakest.
• Fanfare about the iTunes Music Store and new iPods etc. in the email starts to grate a little when NZ still doesn’t even have a ITMS for downloading music. Ah, the joys of being in a digital backwater.
• Bizarre iPod accessory of the week - the iBreath - a combination FM tuner and breathalyzer. Really.

Chris Wren of Mondolithic Studios posts an interesting article which contends that transhumanism isn’t a distinct movement or philosophical school. Rather it is simply one manifestation of the myriad of ways that human beings are technological. See Mondolithic Sketchbook: AREN’T WE ALREADY TRANSHUMANISTS?

Certainly this would fit with claims that transhumanism is a useful label from promoting certain ideas about humans and technology, but that it is little more than that. See also: Greenflame: Is transhumanism passé?

Editing a section on virtual reality ethics and I see this The Shire of Bend. Virtual reality of sorts. I wonder if you’re required to wear rustic costume too?

Andrew Butcher has posted a variety of links on his blog to a new Massey University report he co-authored about immigrants to NZ facing discrimination when seeking employment in spite of being well (or over) qualified.

See Immigrants face employment discrimination. The full report: Butcher, Spoonley and Trlin (2006) Being Accepted: The Experience of Social Exclusion and Discrimination by Migrants and Refugees in New Zealand, (PDF 665KB) is available for download here New_Settlers_Discrimination_Report_no_13.pdf

There’s also a link to the radio interview about the paper at Radio Interview - Immigration research.

Back by popular(?) demand the next series of Bluffer’s Guide to Theology is back on. This series is entitled “The Bluffer’s Guide to Heresy” which sounds provocative. See virtualtheology.net » 2006: The Bluffer’s Guide rides again!

I thought the first series was good value, and as with last time, you can subscribe to their podcast. Handouts etc. on the web site from the last series too.

At the end of September the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand has its General Assembly. Among the things being discussed this time, there is the proposal to adopt a new confession of faith (produced over the past few years by the Focal Identity Statement Task Group) as the Subordinate Standards of the PCANZ. This would replace the current Subordinate Standards - the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms. The Bible remains the Supreme Standard.

You can download the proposed document as a PDF file from the PCANZ web site here. The Confession of Faith forms Appendix 1, while Appendix 2 contains explanatory notes about the confession. Both would become the Subordinate Standards. The introductory material in the document explains some of the history behind the proposal and the process that it has gone through to get to this point.

It will be interesting to see if it gets adopted, and what amendments are proposed.

Brief article about access and use of information techonology in US education arena at CNN.com - Digital divide separates students - Sep 5, 2006. It points out that while getting educational institutions online helps improve access and skills for students that does not address the “out of school” access that complements it, and which is significant in shaping students opportunities and skills.

Here’s something I hadn’t considered. Taking the 9/11 Commission’s report and reworking it in a comicbook/graphic form to make it accessible for a different audience. See The 9/11 Report - Graphic Adaptation by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón.

A while back Brian Edgar, Director of Public Theology for the Australian Evangelical Alliance, wrote a good summary paper on some of the theological issues arising from transhumanism and the notion of the cyborg. It’s written in reasonably accessible language (one doesn’t need to be a theological or technological expert) and was originally presented at a seminar on ‘Humans and Machines’ at The Centre for Apologetic Scholarship and Education, New College UNSW in November 2004.

I picked up a copy from the ISCAST (Institute for the Study of Christianity in an Age of Science and Technology) web site - ISCAST - God, Persons and Machines: Theological Reflections. It’s also available, along with others public theology papers, from Edgar’s web page.

It was Father’s Day last Sunday here in NZ and my family, knowing me like they do, gave me a DVD containing the three “robot” episodes of the Six Million Dollar Man. I have been since explaining to my children that when I was their age the show permeated all of my childhood existence. We played Six Million Dollar Man in school lunchtimes, there were branded ice creams with stickers, board games and posters (I remember sending off to TV One to get one).

And there were the action figures! 12″ high with the rubber skin you could peel back to see the “bionics” and the glass eye to look through, mine came with the engine that Steve Austin would lift if you used the ratchet button on the back. And the trendy 70’s tracksuit! If only I’d saved mine - I see they’re collectors items now.

I really, really wanted the Bionic Transport and Repair Station, but apart from that add-on (and some of the board games) I can’t remember seeing any of the other merchandise here in NZ. I was pretty happy though to go through the spinning tunnel from the Bigfoot episode at Universal Studies a few years later though (as was my sister when she got to sit in KITT and it conversed with her).

Maybe it was Steve Austin who shaped my ultimate direction to researching the religious implications of cyborgs? I must make a note of what my children are watching.

A few links that popped up in the last week with a Roman Catholic theme.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Pope prepares to embrace theory of intelligent design. Basically all theistic religions believe in a creator and hence that the universe was in some way ‘designed’. It will be interesting to see it the link to a ‘6 day creation’ develops though.

Catholics cast wider net with rent-a-priest service - 01 Sep 2006 - Religion and beliefs.

The Christian Century: Going Catholic - Six journeys to Rome by Jason Byassee. Related link Greenflame: Looking back, looking forward - historical connections for the faith including a link to McKnight’s “From Wheaton to Rome”.

Mary Hess has a good point about the nature of science with respect to the reclassification of Pluto recently. True science continually articulates and revises its view of the world - it is dynamic rather than static. To keep Pluto as a planet, because that’s what all the textbooks in schools say, defeats the nature of the scientific enterprise. More at Tired of “Pluto ‘plaints”.

Also, the process that produced the reclassification demonstrates that science is also a communal process with social dimensions.

As noted in the last post my love of fervently sung hymns (and beer) would have found me enraptured here - Greenbelt, hymns and beer.

Brief article in the Herald today noting that the Ministry of Education has decided not to continue with its proposed guidelines relating to religion in the state schools. It’s been interesting listening to people talk on this, both from secular and religious perspectives, particularly over the perceived difference between religion and spirituality. The latter, spirituality, is seen as an essential part of children’s development (and society’s). This begs the question of whether the institutional religions actually understand what’s being talked about and whether they can articulate a spirituality for these times in a way that can resource the spiritual dimension within state education.

See Government backs down on prayer rules - 04 Sep 2006 - Religion and beliefs

Paul also has some recent comments on spirituality here:

Prodigal Kiwi(s) Blog: A Reflection on the Spirituality of David Bosch
Prodigal Kiwi(s) Blog: Thinking About Spiritual Formation

For some other links relating to religion in schools in NZ see:

• Feature: With God on their side by Sally Blundell | New Zealand Listener (July 31-August 6 2004 Vol 194 No 3351) on religious schools in NZ.
• Feature: A spiritual bypass by David Young | New Zealand Listener (May 8-14 2004 Vol 193 No 3339) on the need for a Pakeha spirituality of the land.
• Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand : sPanz : Christian values draw parents (Sept. 2006) on the benefits of church schools. (Not entirely convinced having been through one myself - but I do know and like hymns sung loudly as a result)
• NZ Religious History is the online version of Peter Lineham and Alan Davidson’s book “Transplanted Christianity”. Chapters 2 & 4 are relevant for discussions of education - including some of the history about why religious education was excluded from NZ state schools.