October 2006

Back in July the Bioethics Council started a process of public discussion on and engagement with the theme of human embryo research (see Greenflame: New Zealand discussion of human embryos in research). Now, they have started to make some of the results of that process including video and audio content from public seminars, and later summaries of public discussion.

See Human Embryos in Research [Bioethics Council].

Multimedia links at Talking embryos seminar [Bioethics Council].

This is so, so cool. What an amazing way to interact with digital technology. I kept watching and thinking that would be great for this and this and this. That photo lightbox app is just like parts of iPhoto or similar should be like.

See Jeff Han on TED Talks

Some of these are very clever. Some are very funny. Wired Magazine asks various authors to supply six (6!) word short stories. See Wired 14.11: Very Short Stories.

A reasonably long, and sometimes bitty, article on social media’s use by teenagers and tweens over at MediaShift . Media Usage::Finding Balance in Teen Use of Social Media | PBS. One comment that stuck out as I scanned it,

Kids and teenagers have very little freedom in the real world. It’s not like back in the day. They used to bike places on their own — now it’s all controlled and sanitized.

The online world is the only place where they have freedom of expression, and can really be on their own and be themselves.

Hat tip to Fernando’s Desk » Blog Archive » A Few Good Reads…

Russell Kirkpatrick is a geography lecturer and writer of fantasy novels from down the road in Hamilton. I’ve just finished reading his “Fire of Heaven” trilogy, which was a good read for the stage I’m at in the thesis (i.e. something with no robots in it that is easy to read). An interesting mixture of “classic” fantasy geography and cultures (e.g. Nordic, Oriental) but will some Maori and Polynesian landscapes, characters and culture woven into it. The books have an element of gentleness to them, amongst the grand epic fantasy stuff, and the characters flaws weave their way into the story well.

Each of the books has some maps in them. As a lover of maps it was great to see the detail in them, and a more realistic view on the way geography shapes the speed and path that journeys take. In the books the black and white printing loses some of the detail but the web site below has them in glorious colour. Excellent.

When I started the books the theistic slant to them was apparent, and by the end of the books there’s places where Christian imagery and allegory are obvious. But they probably wouldn’t be so obvious to someone brought up in a post-Christian world, and the reader isn’t beaten over the head with the imagery like some other authors like to do.

There’s bits of the books, maps and diagrams on the web site plus a blog (to add to my RSS feeds from other fantasy and sci-fi writers) all at RussellKirkpatrick.com.

Quite possibly the most helpful (and interesting) web site I’ve seen for ages. Love those animations.

See Animated Knots by Grog

Wired News have an interesting article about the rise of “New Atheism” which aims to bring about a society free of religion and superstition through reason. It’s interesting because it raises the issue that this may become the very fundamentalism it seeks to do away with. See Wired News: Battle of the New Atheism

If there’s money to be made then someone will want a slice of it - and possibly tax it. A few points about this at Virtual worlds getting so big they’re virtually taxable - 23 Oct 2006 - World News - NZ Herald.

Brief article on Pope Benedict’s critique of reliance on science and technology over at Pope warns scientists not to risk fate of Icarus - Yahoo! News.

Wired guide for first-time visitors (”noobs”) to Second Life in Let’s Go: Second Life.

And an article over at Rise of the machines - Technology - smh.com.au which picks up on some of the things that I highlight in the opening chapters of my thesis.

These wee beasties look interesting if you’re looking for easy ways to get video/audio into a video iPod. Being able to shoot video or have a video source, convert it and upload it to the iPod or PSP with little or no need for a computer looks helpful.

See iRecord in one touch and Neuros MPEG4 Recorder 2 PLUS.

With it now being over 48 hours since Waikato (37) defeated Wellington (31) (also known as the Cathari) I’ve recovered enough to extend my thanks to all the Waikato supporters who emailed me (and left the odd comment here) after the game. Your thoughts are, as always, much appreciated. (See, such magnanimity.)

Anyway, I enjoyed the game (if not the result) and thought the Waikato team were more hungry for the win.

And I’m pleased Keith Robinson made the All Blacks (and Marty Holah should be there too). Also pleased to see Conrad and Ma’a going too as they look the goods at the moment.

A while back I wrote about viewing technology in ecological terms (Greenflame: Information ecologies). The outworking of this might be called appropriate technology. Ian Barbour, in Ethics in an Age of Technology puts it like this when he says “the welfare of humankind requires a creative technology that is economically productive, ecologically sound, socially just, and personally fulfilling.”

Barbour argues for engagement in all of the following four areas briefly summarized below:

Defense of the personal

To represent human values that stand against materialistic and mechanistic views of the world through:

1. Adopting personal and community life-styles more consistent with human and environmental values.
2. Protesting strongly against unbalanced technological optimism and affluent society’s disproportionate resource consumption.
3. Defending of individuality and choice in the face of standardisation and bureaucracy.
4. Upholding of personal relationships and a vision of personal fulfillment that goes beyond material affluence.
5. Affirming importance of a spiritual life.

The key here is not rejection of all technology but rather identifying what is the “right” technology for the task at hand.

The role of politics

Technology is not only a cultural influence, but is also part of culture. (Similar to Stephen Monsma’s claim that technology is the air we breathe). In recognizing this he rejects both the ideas that:

1. Technology is basically good and should be unregulated (free market approach).
2. Technology is always dehumanizing and uncontrollable, and shapes all the world including politics, leaving individuals and communities powerless (technological determinism).

Rather, by recognizing that technology is an instrument of power to those that wield it, its engagement with culture and as part of culture needs robust political engagement at all levels of society.

The redirection of technology

The past trajectory of technological development should not be totally rejected. Instead we need to look beyond narrow economic agendas and evaluate technology more before deploying it. If we do this then we can work to redirect technology, through decision-making processes and social policies, toward the realization of technological values that affirm a rich and life-giving existence for human beings and the environment.

The scale of technology

A critical key to this is the development of appropriate technology for particular local contexts and situations. The aim being to:

1. Achieve some of the material benefits of technology (optimist),
2. Without destructive human costs (pessimist) – which come, he argues, mostly from large-scale implementations of technology.

Instead, a better way is to create intermediate scale systems that allow decentralization and greater local participation, as well as the use of local materials and the reduction of environmental impact.

This latter point of scale is similar to Joel Garreau’s contention that human values can and do shape our future through the choices available to us. We don’t always pick the best choice technologically but we should not capitulate to technological determinism based on either overly optimistic or pessimistic perspectives of technology.

For the individual Christian, and Christian communities, the questions that arise include:

1. What is “appropriate technology” within the context of loving and serving God and neighbour?
2. If technology is our environment, and is part of the value system we live within, how then has that shaped our theology and praxis in areas such as mission, social concern and ecclesiology?
3. How does that shape ethics and practices in the workplace, the church and engagement with politics?
4. How do Christians work with others in the community to find common values that can undergird technological engagement?

Ekklesia have an article on a new translation of the Bible that has removed a whole lot of material relating to social and economic justice, possessions and money. All in the name of making a relevant gospel - relevant for the affluent West anyway. See Ekklesia: Controversial new Bible cuts out difficult gospel passages

Hat tip: wee beautiful pict: new bible cuts out difficult stuff: so what’s new!.

Related links:

• Greenflame: Twin pillars: Charity & Social Justice

• Greenflame: On urbanizing (social) justice

The pro-nanotechnology website of the Foresight Nanotech Institute has a brief review of the World Council of Churches report on the convergent/emergent technologies of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive sciences.

You can read their slant on the WCC document over at Nanodot: Nanotechnology News and Discussion » Blog Archive » Nanotechnology: World Council of Churches promotes UN approval required for all new technologies.

You can also download the WCC report from here: Science, Faith & New Technologies: Transforming Life — Volume I: Convergent Technologies. (PDF)

Update

There’s a complementary report Science, Faith & New Technologies: Transforming Life — Volume II: Genetics, Agriculture and Human Life. (PDF)

Related links:

• Greenflame: Transhumanism in the mainstream.
• Roco, Mihail C. and Bainbridge, William Sims, eds. (2002). “Converging technologies for improving human performance: nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cogntive science“. U.S. National Science Foundation. (PDF)
• Cole-Turner, Ronald. More Than Human: Religion, Bioethics, and the Transhuman Prospect. Metanexus/Continuity + Change: Perspectives on Science and Religion, 6 June 2006. Accessed 29 July 2006. Internet. Available from http://www.metanexus.net/conferences/pdf/conference2006/Cole-Turner.pdf. (PDF)

A whole bunch of related links that I don’t have time to flesh out.

From Paul there’s fishers, surfers and casters » Web Ministry 101 and fishers, surfers and casters » Sydney Anglicans’ new site.

Related to this is an older article by Stephen Downes - Stephen’s Web ~ Turning God and Learning into Commodities.

And let’s cap it of with the cartoon on this page about God and brands.

Related other links:
Greenflame: Marketing Jesus - Aussie style.

A reasonably long (10 page) but accessible magazine article on recent discussions on the nature of mind and soul and their relation to the body. The latter part of the article picks up some of the religious perspectives that are being shaped by contemporary neuroscience.

See USNews.com: New Challenges to Our Most Cherished Beliefs About Self and the Human Spirit.

Related link: Counterbalance section on the cognitive and neurosciences.

Woke up this morning to this news item on the radio alarm clock. Not a good way to start the day. (Audio at: Radio New Zealand: Morning Report: Auckland University Reputation (Windows Media Stream)).

Still, job interview tomorrow. (And I have no idea how that will go)

I guess it’s time to decide whether I want to be:

• a theologian/religionist who engages with technology (very few jobs around to follow that path)

• a technologist who engages with religion/theology (more jobs, but less resources to do the engagement with).
• something completely different (needs flaming angel at the foot of the bed).

Article on recent developments of humanoid robotics in Japan - including the possibility of robot avatars allowing spatial interaction providing things like presence and share objects of attention. See globeandmail.com: Say hello to your robot self.

Related links:

• Greenflame: Robots: From tools to partners
• Greenflame: Have you met my bionic grandmother?
• Greenflame: Enter the robots

Related books:

• “Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species” (Faith D’Aluisio).

With the “Revenge of the Green Lanterns” story arc coming to a close last month, current Green Lantern writer Geoff Johns gave this recent interview over at Newsarama.com: GEOFF JOHNS - GREEN LANTERN, OA, PRIME, & MORE - NEWSARAMA.

Now, I liked the story arc, and on the whole I’ve enjoyed Hal Jordan’s return, the ongoing development of Kyle Rayner’s character over in Ion (Ion #6 Review - Silver Bullet Comics), and the new Green Lantern Corps series (which is in comic relief mode at the moment). The idea that Jordan gets some space to work out some sort of redemption for his past atrocities (even if they were technically not his fault) is good - though I think the run of Jordan as Spectre did it better. And I even liked them bringing Arisia back (even if the retcon wasn’t great). But Arisia’s costume was not great (an understatement).

One of the things that appeals to me about the concept of the comic book Green Lantern Corps is that the defining characteristic of a Lantern is that they can overcome fear, are strong willed, and have a firm moral centre (of sorts). Gender doesn’t come into it. Age doesn’t come into it. Body-shape doesn’t come into it. Species doesn’t come into it (they’re an inter-galactic organization, after all). To paraphrase Paul, “There is neither human nor alien, animal nor plant, male nor female, for you are all one in the Corps.”

Which means, by implication, that the characters in the stories shouldn’t looked like the epitomes of Western ideals of beauty and sex sprayed with latex. Rather, they should look and dress like everyday persons (allowing for the alieness of that). If they can have Mogo, Gnort and Jack T. Chance (not to mention Alan Scott - yes, I know he’s not in the Corp technically) then they should be able to have an Arisia or Jade (who are/were strong-willed, intelligent female characters) able to be portrayed differently. I guess it wouldn’t sell as well though.

Anyway, Karen Healey, over at Girls Read Comics (And They’re Pissed). Karen Healey: Snarkier Than The Collected Works Of Lewis Carroll - Post Hoc Something, Ergo Whatever takes this up. (Warning - profanities abound) [Hat tip to Matt at Problem Attic — #20 / 2006-09-28]

Wellington 30 - 15 Auckland at Eden Park.

Otago or Waikato next week.

Bring on the final!

I like the food column in the Listener each week. A nice mix of chatty information as well as a recipe or two.

A few weeks back the regular writer, Lois Daish, wrote about how for many families dinner (or tea) revolves around a simple repertoire of seven favourite meals. In the article she cites a couple of people’s lists of what these are and makes the comment,

The principal ingredients chosen by both women are amazingly similar. Their favourite meats are minced beef, chicken and lamb, and both regularly cook pasta and rice dishes that don’t include much meat. However, the way they approach these ingredients is rather different. Sarah seasons her food very simply but takes a particular interest in its texture, defining her food according to whether it is crunchy or moist or tender. Hester, on the other hand, enjoys more intense flavours, such as mustard, tomatoes and chilli, and most of her food is moist rather than crisp. For her, the story behind the recipe is important.

See Food: What’s for dinner? by Lois Daish | New Zealand Listener (September 9-15 2006 Vol 205 No 3461).

So, seeing as I cook most of the evening meals, I thought I’d try to put my list of seven meals that we tend to have regularly. (Not that I’m trying to start a new meme or anything, but I’d be interest in knowing what other people’s most frequent seven are and how many they cook for.)

Garner Repertoire of Seven Frequent (and Favourite) Meals (cooked for 2 adults and 4 children)

1. Tex-Mex (Enchiladas, Burritos or Tacos depending on which child voices an opinion) plus salad.
2. Breakfast sausages, onions, vegetables, and mashed potato.
3. Butter chicken, green beans or peas, and rice.
4. Boiled corned beef/silverside (not the tinned stuff) cooked with peppercorns, bayleaves and golden syrup in the water, potatoes and carrots cooked with the meat, and cabbage. Leftovers for sandwiches or another dinner.
5. Casserole of some sort – Typically beef stew (with potatoes and vegetables in stew) or oven-cooked beef stroganoff with rice and vegetables.
6. Cold meat (ham, salami, chicken, leftover corn beef), bread, olives, cheese and salad.
7. Pasta meal - typically lasagne.

Now I like well-seasoned food, and particularly Mediterranean, Indian and Tex-Mex cuisine. But some of my family don’t, so we compromise and the food tends to be only mildly spicy (if at all), and I add sauces/pepper etc. to mine later at the table.

Latest Speaking of Faith podcast looks at the role of religion in globalization and includes discussion with Peter Berger and Rosabeth Moss Kanter. The web site contains links to the podcast feed, the MP3 file, and extra material.

See Speaking of Faith® from American Public Media | Globalization and the Rise of Religion

Experts once predicted that as the world grew more modern, religion would decline. Precisely the opposite has proven true; religious movements are surging and driving “alternative globalizations” across the world. Two leading thinkers offer a penetrating view of how and why religion of all kinds is shaping the global economy and political order.

CASI have republished Christopher Carey’s short article Twin pillars: Charity & Social Justice from the August 2006 issue of Tui Motu. Talks about how love/charity cannot be divorced from justice - even if many sermons seem to make that distinction.

See Twin pillars: Charity & Social Justice

Why then is so little heard in the church about social justice? Why is it systematically ignored in homilies? There are probably many reasons. Three stand out. Surely a principal cause lies in our level of material comfort. In terms of income and stability, New Zealanders live among the top five percent on the planet. Our nation’s goals are wedded to greater economic growth and wealth accumulation. Social justice questions do not sit easily with such goals.

A second reason could be our own prejudices. We all have them. Having them challenged can be upsetting. A third reason will be our fear of losing popularity. Highlighting injustice tends to upset people, including family and friends.

Now that’s a pretty awesome looking cake - Discworld Cake

Article I found today in a footnote in a book. If you kick a robotic dog, is it wrong? | csmonitor.com

What do you think?

Simon Smith (who runs the BetterHumans.com web site) pauses to think about the effects of living in “eschatological” hope - in this case, waiting for some sort of techno-rapture. See Simon : Are virtual worlds inhibiting real social progress?.

But I would argue that, thanks to their sheer immersiveness, virtual worlds are qualitatively different from previous escapes, and getting more sophisticated all the time. My concern is what happens to the world while we’re waiting to upload into our digital utopias. The more realistic and appealing our virtual worlds, the more I fear people will avoid dealing with real problems. It’s certainly possible that virtual worlds will have a positive societal influence, with people trying to replicate some of their virtual experiences in real life. But I think it’s far more likely that people will increasingly seek to escape a world with poverty, sickness, social strife and other ills for one where such suffering is not only eliminated, but simply not represented because those who suffer can’t afford the cost of entry.

Related link - Greenflame: By their eschatology you shall know them.

A follow up to the post a few days ago on e-mail being for old people. Seems that some tech-gen youth are deciding that the face-to-face, flesh and blood, incarnate path is the one to take. See Wired News: Some Tech-Gen Youth Go Offline. From the article,

“True friends,” he tells them, “need to learn when to stop blogging and go across campus to help a friend.”

At the end of a frustrating week the real Wellington turned up to play Canterbury in the Air New Zealand Cup quarter-finals.

Wellington 36 - 23 Canterbury.

Often, we beat Canterbury in the round-robin and then they thrash us in the semi-finals. Not this time.

See Wellington bulldoze Canterbury - Stuff.co.nz.

Spent the day wrestling my CV into some sort of hybrid beast. I have an academic CV and a technological/IT CV but needed a blend of these for a job application I’m making. Given that there’s nothing going around the place for theologians at the moment (<insert long list of reasons here - mostly to do with no one having any money>), I’ve decided to explore other avenues (and hopefully return to theological teaching/research at a later time).

Seeing as technology and education are another of my (many) interests I’m looking around in that area at the moment.

Related links:
Fernando’s Desk » Blog Archive » Location Should Be No Barrier To A Desire To Learn.

P.S. Must admit it’s bl**dy frustrating. I have all these ideas and research projects in my head about religion, media and technology and no outlet for them at the moment. Plus, I keep running into the general apathy/inertia about Christian engagement with technology that’s also frustrating. Everyone wants Powerpoint (or like) in church - no one wants to think about appropriate technology or how technology shapes society.

Article on Ars Technica that points to recent surveys that show teen email use is down, and technologies like IM are more in vogue at the moment (see Teens: E-mail is for old people).

User Friendly responds to this here and raises a good point about the nature of interactivity. If you want responsive and real-time communication, why not incarnate?

BTW - I started using email in 1987. That must make me really old.

Trying to nut out the 1000-1500 words I want/need to write about the Singularity, its various flavours, and its commentators. I’ve stacks of notes, written chunks about it before in drafts and papers, but can’t quite get the slant to these words that I want and need. That slant is not so much a description of what its proponents think, but rather how the ideas behind it form a type of technological eschatology - with its own heaven or hell, depending on which commentator you read. And then how that interacts with Christian anthropology and eschatology.

Anyway, if you want to read some stimulating (and mostly light) articles about it - including Vernor Vinge’s article/talk that kicked most of this discussion off - then have a look at the Spring 2003 edition of Whole Earth Magazine.

Related links:
The Connection.org : The Ethics of Creating Consciousness - radio programme - featuring Marvin Minsky, Brian Cantwell Smith, Paul Davies.
Ethical Issues In Advanced Artificial Intelligence - by transhumanist philosopher Nick Bostrom.
AAAI Topics: Ethical & Social Implications - links to lots of articles etc. about AI and ethics etc.
Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence

Sitting on my desk are two recent books that look at religion and computer-mediated communications (CMC).

The first book is Religion and Cyberspace, a collection of essays edited by Morten Hojsgaard and Margit Warburg. I saw this by accident in a library the other day and found the essay, “Utopian and Dystopian Possibilities of Networked Religion in the New Millennium” by Stephen O’Leary, relevant to some stuff I’ve written on religious technological narratives. From the blurb,

Religion and Cyberspace explores how religious individuals and groups are responding to the opportunities and challenges that cyberspace brings. It asks how religious experience is generated and enacted online, and how faith is shaped by factors such as limitless choice, lack of religious authority, and the conflict between recognised and non-recognised forms of worship.

The second book, Exploring Religious Community Online: We are One in the Network, is the latest book by religion and media expert Heidi Campbell. I found it next to the one above in the library and was meaning to have a look at it sometime. Again from the back,

Exploring Religious Community Online is the first comprehensive study of the development and implications of online communities for religious groups. This book investigates religious community online by examining how Christian communities have adopted internet technologies, and looks at how these online practices pose new challenges to offline religious community and culture.

It’s part of the Digital Formations series that covers all sorts of CMC stuff. At the moment I’ll be skimming it, but later I hope to read it right through.