Greenflame
Jottings on science, religion, technology, pop culture, photography and faith from the Aotearoa New Zealand
Category: Science & Technology
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Today I’ve been adding in some footnotes to articles about food aid to developing countries being linked with the requirement to accept genetically modified foodstuffs or crops. And also the attempts by some governments who supply aid for other problems (e.g. malaria) to make acceptance of GM crops as a condition for receiving that aid.…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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,…
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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.
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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…
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Radio New Zealand’s National Radio programme Ideas (part of Sunday Morning with Chris Laidlaw) was a discussion on human embryo research in New Zealand, looking forward to the discussion over the next few months in NZ over policy. Featured a panel discussion including a good friend on mine, Graham O’Brien, and touched on a range…
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Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (2006 Media Release, University of Otago, New Zealand): Choosing Genes for Future Children: Regulating Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis, is the first major report from the three-year multidisciplinary project which draws together a team of New Zealand and international researchers in Law, Bioethics, Science, MÄori and Paediatrics to examine whether, how and to what…