The biblical language of the early chapters of the book of Genesis continues to permeate the discussions of technology and no more so than in the area of genetic engineering. Both religious and secular writers draw upon images Babel, Eden, naming, gardening and the Fall to frame their arguments and to inspire the imagination of their readers. For example, Lee Silver’s “Remaking Eden: How Genetic Engineering and Cloning will Transform the American Family”, and Leon R. Kass’ “Technology and the Humanist Dream: Babel Then and Now”.

Often negative responses to technology (or aspects of it) appeal to a symbol like the biblical Tower of Babel in Gen 11:1-9. This is interpreted as an example of humanity’s hubris leading to God’s judgement, and therefore used as a justification for limiting technologies that appear to ‘play God’. Pete Moore, in his recent book (“Babel’s Shadow: Genetic Technologies in a Fracturing Society”) on genetic engineering examined from within the Christian tradition, notes the potential for such technology as a force for good, but he also uses the Babel symbolism to highlight its potential for disaster.

In biblical Babel the solution was to confuse the language and scatter the people. The result was diversity. In the future, the genetic ‘Tower of Babel’ may have a more lasting impact, and the scattering could come from new forms of discrimination and exclusion, or from events as extreme as a split into more than one human race. On the other hand, if controlled and managed with care, it could lead to a world where individuals are treated with respect and enabled to live out their full potential.

Maybe in response to his request for “SansBlogue: Getting ideas for Biblical Studies Podcasts”, Tim could do one of his ‘5-minute Bible‘ spots on Gen 11:1-9. Gen 1-3 get lots of coverage around the place, but the end of the Gen 1-11 primeval history less so. Might be a useful refresher for those who keep coming across the Babel motif.

This upcoming conference looks interesting:

Pacific Institute for Ethics and Social Policy: Challenging Assumptions: Religious Faith, Genetic Science, Human Dignity
(12 to 14 October 2007, Portland, Oregon, United States).

See CFP here.

Open Source Mac – Free, Open-Source software for OS X is exactly what is says it is – “A simple list of free, open-source software for Mac OS X.” Nevertheless, it’s a helpful wee site.

I borrowed a copy of “Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends” (edited by Kevin Vanhoozer, Charles Anderson and Michael Sleasman: 2007) from the library the other day because it contained a copy of the essay “Human 2.0: Transhumanism as a Cultural Trend” (PDF) by Matthew Eppinette, as well as an essay on the church and blogging by .

I haven’t yet read most of the articles but from a quick skim it looks like it’d be a good introductory book for the course ‘Gospel in a Post-Christian Society’ that I took as part of my BD way back in 1999. (See e~mergent kiwi: a burger at my theological table for more on the course).

In his introductory essay, Kevin Vanhoozer argues for Christians being able not only to exegete the Bible and reflect theologically upon it, but also to exegete culture and become culture-makers. He states:

The reason why theology must study God and contemporary culture is the same reason why preaching must connect both with the biblical text and the listener’s context: because disciples do not follow the gospel in a vacuum but wend their Christian way through particular times and places, each with its own problem and possibilities. We can follow God’s word only if we know where we are and if we have a sense of where various ways lead. Doing theology is part and parcel of one’s daily walk and is too important to leave solely to the professionals.

Definitely.

A movie promotion falls foul of the US Mint. See US MINT NOT HAPPY WITH SILVER SURFER QUARTERS – NEWSARAMA. I guess, they get the media presence they were after one way or the other.

A couple of links came to my attention this week. Firstly, the Singularity Institute have started a blog to promote ideas about the technological singularity (Greenflame » Pondering the Singularity (Again)), and at the same time I came across the bioethics podcasts from The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity. Both have interesting material on them, though they have quite different perspectives.

Here’s a selection of other links that relate to different people and groups looking at the future. It’s an eclectic mix pitched at a variety of levels, so caveat lector.

• NetFuture: Technology and Human Responsibility
• World Transhumanist Association
• Nick Bostrom’s home page – Transhumanist, philosopher and director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford.
• Sentient Developments – by transhumanist George Dvorsky. There’s a podcast too.
• Changesurfer Consulting by James Hughes and the related Cyborg Democracy. Hughes is Executive Director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies
• KurzweilAI.net – Techno-optimistic news and views linked in with Ray Kurzweil’s vision of a better future.
• Betterhumans.com – Community site for techno-progressives/optimists.
• The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network
• BioCentre // The Centre for Bioethics & Public Policy (UK)
• Center on Nanotechnology & Society
• Toi te Taiao: New Zealand’s Bioethics Council
• Bioethics Centre, Dunedin School of Medicine, New Zealand
• InterChurch Bioethics Council (NZ)
• Society, Religion and Technology Project (Scotland)

Nowhere near an exhaustive list, but it’s a start.

A good question when the terms ‘unlimited’, ‘free’, and ‘all you can eat’ are devalued in our society by the attachment of disclaimers and fine print limiting what they mean. See Prayer From the Cell #35 | nakedpastor.

Up in the dark yesterday to take Mark to a soccer tournament in Whangarei. Returned in the dark too. Mark’s team (U11 Waitakere) played 6 games – won 4, lost 1 and drew 1. The team were happy, as they’re a new squad made up of players from various West Auckland clubs who’ve only had a couple of practices together, and things will get better as they play together more.

Very windy (the Pentecost factor?) but the rain stayed away. See the 360 degree panorama taken from side of the park.

Quicktime VR of the same photo. No idea if this will work, and you’ll probably need to view it in Quicktime player rather than in the browser.

Should be tournaments in Cambridge and Tauranga in the next month or two, so lots more traveling coming up.

Got to go – three soccer practices to get kids to this afternoon. Fortunately all club practices so they are all at the same training ground. Will prepare hot and hearty food for when they return.

NEWSARAMA.COM: JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #6 PREVIEW has some sample pages from an upcoming issue of the Justice Society crossover with the Justice League and the Legion of Super Heroes. The first three sample pages refer to an old issue of the Legion of Super Heroes I owned when I was about 6 or 7. Funny how little things like this bring a rush of childhood memories flooding back.

Over the years I’ve used lots of different text and word processors to support writing I’ve needed to do:

• nroff and similar on UNIX systems for writing documentation
• View on the BBC Microcomputer in the 1980s
• Something on an Apple II+ which only displayed 40 characters per line
• WordStar, MS Word and WordPerfect under MS-DOS (pre-Windows)
• Nisus and MacWrite on my Mac Plus and Mac LC to write my Masters thesis
• MS Word 2.0, Word 95, Word 97 and Word 2003 on various Windows computers.
• MS Word 3, 4 and 5 and ClarisWorks on my Apple Powerbook 150 and 520c and PowerMac 6100 (Still have a set of Word 5 install floppies somewhere)
• AppleWorks and MS Word v.X on the Mac OS X G3 iBook (the latter for the PhD thesis)

Of all of these, MS Word 5 on the PB150 and PB520c offered the best system for just blatting out text without getting distracted by the bells and whistles of the software. The black-and-white display and keyboard of the PB150 seemed to work for me, plus with no internet connection etc. I only turned it on to write. Word v.X was okay (and it supported EndNote) but it didn’t really inspire me to write.

Now with the thesis all written up I’m wondering whether it’s time to look at trying some different things to aid the writing process in the next few months. Some tools that help organize the writing process as much as just allowing text entry and formatting. I’d like them to run on the iBook (which won’t be replaced in the near future) and to have some support if possible for bibliographic data. MS Word compatibility is less of an issue as I still have Word v.X and Word 2003.

From looking around the net these links look helpful.

Applications that help with note-taking and organising writing material

• Note Taking Application Faceoff at The Apple Blog
• Literature and Latte – Scrivener – looks really interesting
• Mellel, which looks good for academic writing and support for non-English languages
• Journler – Wherever Life Takes You
• mekentosj.com | Introducing Papers… Your personal library of science

Bibliographic support

• Bookends, reference and bibliography software for Macintosh
• Third Street Software – Sente
• I’ve used EndNote and avoided much of the grief others I know have had with it, so that’s still a possibility. It’s integration with non-Word word processors remains an issue though.

Some articles about Mac word processing

• Mac360 – Why The Mac Is The Ultimate Writers Tool Box.
• Mac360 – Is This The Best Word Processor For Real Writing?

I wouldn’t be adverse to a Windows XP/Vista word processor and material organizer though, if they did the job. Just don’t have a Windows laptop to run it on.

Anyway, now feels like a good time to try something new, before I get caught up in not being able to change while projects are ongoing.

Updates

• For Windows users then perhaps PageFour – Software for writers – novel outliner and tabbed word processor might do the task (thanks to Bill for the link)
• Mac OPML Editor for building outlines
• Acta, the classic outliner – available free and runs under MacOS Classic and earlier. (I used it extensively to write the Masters thesis back in 1990)
• Son of Acta – Opal: Easy notes and organizing for Mac OS X 10.4. See also Opal is the new Acta – O’Reilly Mac DevCenter Blog
• Outlining should also include consideration of The Omni Group – Applications – OmniOutliner
• I’ve also played with Inspiration – a mind-mapping tool of sorts. Useful for visual learners like me, who love to diagram ideas.
• DEVONthink
• Sidenote
• Notational Velocity – minimalist notetaker
• SOHO Notes
• Dan Schimpf Software: MacJournal
• Bartas Technologies – CopyWrite
• Flying Meat: VoodooPad
• Mori – Productivity Tools
• Sebastian Krauß / Software – My Mind