Following on from The Technium: Technophilia a few weeks back, Kevin Kelly reflects on the place of appropriate technology – minimalism that gives rise to freedom and options in life. See The Technium: Why Technology Can’t Fulfill.

I wonder if at some point these ‘mini-essays’ might be collated in some way.

Now that’s really clever: YouTube – Buffy vs Edward (Twilight Remixed).

I am constantly in awe of people who can do this kind of mash-up.

Part 1 of an interesting interview on the comic book character ‘Robin‘ and sidekicks in general. I’m looking forward to Part 2.

See Confessions of an Aca/Fan: Boy and Girl Wonders: An Interview with Mary Borsellino (Part One).

See also: Project Girl Wonder

A couple of books from colleagues of mine are on the reading pile as I look for material about ethics from an Oceanian perspective.

• “Vanua : Towards a Fijian Theology of Place” (I. Tuwere)
• “Waves of God’s Embrace: Sacred Perspectives from the Oceans” (Halapua, Winston)

I like historian Ronald Numbers’ material on the history of science and religion interaction – including the article with NZ historian John Stenhouse entitled ‘Antievolutionism in the Antipodes: From Protesting Evolution to Promoting Creationism in New Zealand’. This latest book by Numbers looks like it will have some interesting pieces in it too. See Harvard University Press: Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion by Ronald L. Numbers. While many people portray science and religion’s relationship as a simple dualism, the historical context is often far more complex than that.

Science & Religion Today: Is This the End Time? has some snippets from different people on eschatological hope from the “Closer to Truth” video episodes “Is This the End Time?“.

Will file it away for the next time I teach on different theological perspectives on the future.

I stumble across A Softer World. The strips are an eclectic mix, and often dwell on death and grief, but there are some thought provoking strips in there.

Attitudes towards technology include techno-optimism (the good features outweigh the bad), techno-pessimism (the bad features always outweigh the good), and instrumentalism (where technology might be value-neutral). Here’s an interesting mini-essay that picks up on the first of these attitudes – techno-optimism.

See: The Technium: Technophilia

The Theological Meaning of Evolution

7pm Thursday 25 June – 5pm Saturday 27 June

Laidlaw College

Auckland Campus

80 Central Park Drive

Henderson, Waitakere

A conference to celebrate and interact with Darwinism, on the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary
of On the Origin of Species.

What impact has evolution had on the world and on belief? How does Darwinism challenge traditional Christian faith? What does evolution really mean in a theological sense? How has evolution changed and challenged theology and what can theology contribute to the conversation surrounding human origins and meaning.

Flyer with more details (PDF)

• Registration Form
• Timetable

It’s been a while since I had a chemistry set at home or did any university science lab work, but this book looks cool – if somewhat dangerous. Definitely something one of my old flatmates from undergrad university days would have been keen to try out.

See Cool Tools: Theo Gray’s Mad Science