Category: Science
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Election Thoughts 5 | Stephen Hawking | Aliens | Vegetarianism
In a documentary to be shown shortly, Stephen Hawking has suggested that: a) alien life almost certainly exists in other parts of the universe, and b) it will probably not be friendly. If such life is found, or finds us, I think it will have a profound effect on our idea of ‘the other.’ In…
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Theological ‘Lock In’ | I Am Not A Gadget | Bad Faith [3]
[ Lock In [1] ] [ Lock In [2] ] Finally got my hands on Lanier’s book. Been devouring it like a good doughnut. In the last post I explained how Sartre sets up this paradox: we are what we are, but precisely part of our being is that we are not simply what we are. Having…
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Theological ‘Lock In’ | I Am Not A Gadget | Bad Faith [2]
[ Lock In [1] ] In the previous post I raised the idea of technological developments giving rise to ‘lock in.’ Gadgets do not evolve in the organic sense ‘free’ that we might imagine: because of protocols and standardisation (think USB / railway gauges / HTML / Lego) their evolution is guided along particular lines.…
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Theological ‘Lock In’ | I Am Not A Gadget | Bad Faith [1]
One of my favourite podcasts is Material World – a science review from the BBC. In a recent episode, Jaron Lanier discussed his recently published manifesto: You Are Not A Gadget. I’ve ordered it, but not read it yet, but was very much taken by one line of thought he introduced in the interview –…
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Whitey On The Moon: Not Any More
Occasionally two things from the news catch your ear and resonate together. Today it was the news that Obama has cancelled Nasa’s new moon programme. And [ht Barry Taylor] that Gil Scott-Heron is back with a new album. The connection? I’ve always loved Scott-Heron’s early, hard-hitting social commentaries. And the lyrics of ‘Whitey on the…
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Predictions | 2010 | 2020
I’ve been thinking about what this new year and new decade might hold for us, and thought I’d stick my neck out and make some predictions. In line with some of the major themes of this blog I’ve gone for something from categories of: technology, faith, environment, politics… and the personal. Some tongue-in-cheek, some serious.…