tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109445602012-01-18T11:34:44.665-05:00Real PhysicsA Realistic Exploration into Nature
<P><SMALL>“What we call Man's power over Nature turns out to be a power exercised by some men over other men with Nature as its instrument.”</SMALL>Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.comBlogger3001100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-29010135045519774192012-01-18T09:23:00.002-05:002012-01-18T11:34:44.673-05:00The Arc of ModernityJames Barham has a great post on "Can We Teach Virtue?". It got me to thinking about how we got into such a mess that we can't even teach schoolkids that there is truth (or even just pretend that there is, for their sake—but that's another subject altogether).
Here's a skeletal outline of the arc of modernity:
In the late Renaissance and Enlightenment, we reasoned that we can't agree on Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-81660743925735681702011-12-08T21:00:00.001-05:002011-12-08T21:03:39.744-05:00Words in Science
A pretty convinced article on "climate change" in the October Physics Today makes an excellent point about the unusual way scientists use words (and how this keeps them from communicating effectively to the public). They provide this marvelous table of examples.
Terms that have different meanings for scientists and the public
Scientific termPublic meaning
Better choice
Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-10774308853381238822011-11-17T09:06:00.002-05:002011-11-17T09:08:12.416-05:00Science & Faith ConferenceFranciscan University is holding a conference on "Can Science Inform Our Understanding of God?" Friday, December 2 through Saturday, December 3. Dan Kuebler is one of the organizers.
Lots of prominent speakers, including:
Edward Feser
William E. Carroll
Benjamin Wiker
Mark Ryland
Steve Barr
Topics:
What is the precise relationship between faith and reason?
What is the status of the Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-68205733637876004072011-09-24T21:48:00.002-04:002011-09-24T21:51:16.054-04:00The Limits of the "Cosmic Speed Limit"No doubt you've seen the news of the reported observation of neutrinos traveling faster than the speed of light. Aside from throwing out a century-old law of physics, it sounds like a credible result. Of course, the result will have to be duplicated by other groups before we count it confirmed.
Luboš Motl explores some possible measuring errors. I myself am rather doubtful that there's a problemLawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-49607957508251928292011-09-05T17:01:00.001-04:002011-09-06T20:50:00.221-04:00The Inhumanity of Teilhard de ChardinOnce upon a time, among comments on Albert Camus's The Plague, Thomas Merton wrote a trenchant critique of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin1:
The current apologetic reply to Camus’ dismissal of Catholicism goes something like this: Camus was exposed to Augustine when he was not ready for him. He paid too much attention to Pascal and to “sick”
Christianity like that of Kierkegaard. And of course heLawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-12668467838116282802011-06-28T21:59:00.001-04:002011-06-28T21:59:58.062-04:00Physical Intuition, Not MathematicsI ran across an excellent passage in one of Feynman's "extra" lectures about the need to develop physical intuition in learning physics:
Now, all these things you can feel. You don't have to feel them; you can work them out by making diagrams and calculations, but as problems get more and more difficult, and as you try to understand nature in more and more complicated situations, the more you Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-4103098218914438162011-05-23T17:27:00.009-04:002011-05-23T18:01:59.841-04:00Academia, EncapsulatedA baccalaureate Mass I recently attended featured this hymn at the offertory:
I.
For the splendor of creation that draws us to inquire,
for the mysteries of knowledge to which our hearts aspire,
for the deep and subtle beauties which delight the eye and ear,
for the discipline of logic, the struggle to be clear,
for the unexplained remainder, the puzzling and the odd:
for the joy and pain of Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-4863092030257509282011-05-15T17:08:00.001-04:002011-05-15T17:28:27.276-04:00Inward and Outward ActivityI haven't posted for quite a while now since I've been very busy with work. I'm also preparing a paper for a conference this summer, for which I've thrown aside many extra activities. I probably won't be posting again for another month or so.
In the meantime, I thought you might find interesting this great quotation from David Bohm on rest mass as inward movement, and light as pure outward Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-23796739984518494892011-03-10T17:01:00.002-05:002011-03-10T17:05:24.084-05:00More Passages from Burtt's BookLast post I excerpted selections of E.A. Burtt's Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science on Newton as a metaphysician (in the pejorative sense). In this post I have collected other scintillating selections from the book, and grouped them into a few categories. The divisions are somewhat artificial, because the categories are interrelated, and some passages could arguable appear in more than Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-63295625753581601622011-02-07T16:34:00.004-05:002011-02-07T16:43:04.680-05:00Newton the MetaphysicianI finally got around to reading a book I've had in my library for some years now and am sorry that it took me so long to get to it. E.A. Burtt's Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science is a superb analysis of the sources and content of Isaac Newton's philosophical thought, and thus an incisive critique of the entire enterprise of science and modernity.
The first two thirds of the book Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-19371806385801830182011-01-04T09:37:00.001-05:002011-01-04T09:40:25.219-05:00Heisenberg on Nature and ScienceLast post, I mentioned how I have been reading Werner Heisenberg's Gifford Lectures (1955-56), and I related an incisive insight of his on peace declarations to Christmas.
Of course, Heisenberg has written much more of interest on science than on peace. His philosophical observations are surprisingly well informed—or at least seem so these days in which prominent scientists seem to have taken itLawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-20716287484438956642010-12-25T00:00:00.003-05:002010-12-25T00:55:01.553-05:00Peace on Earth (to Men of Good Will)Hail the newborn Prince of Peace!
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Is 9:6)
I recently read Werner Heisenberg's Gifford Lectures (1955-56), on which I'll post later. In the meantime, I thought one particular passage was particularly Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-91194109953573713562010-10-03T19:08:00.005-04:002010-10-05T04:39:54.541-04:00Hawking off the Reservation AgainThe media have been aflurry with Hawking's latest pronouncement. The Wall Street Journal features an excerpt of his recently published book The Grand Design, written with Leonard Mlodinow. Here's an excerpt of that excerpt:
Newton believed that our strangely habitable solar system did not "arise out of chaos by the mere laws of nature." Instead, he maintained that the order in the universe was Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-51344175143335114782010-08-02T09:58:00.002-04:002010-08-02T10:00:05.311-04:00Fallacious Application of "non-Euclidean" to Physical SpacePhysicists sometimes talk about space—by which they of course mean physical space—as Euclidean or non-Euclidean. The problem with this way of speaking is that geometry is timeless. It cannot really apply to physical space.
Notice that if there's one lesson that Einstein's relativity has taught us, it is that space is intrinsically temporal: you can't have one without the other, which is why the Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-29728818944662854632010-05-27T18:18:00.002-04:002010-10-24T19:52:53.422-04:00Feminism and the Experimental ExemplarIn response to my last post an anonymous commentator took me to task for my statements about women. With admirable concision, she says, "How dare you attempt to define what it means to be a woman... YOU AREN'T ONE."
On one level, this is pure nonsense, as many of the other commentators who came to my defense (thank you) noted. On the other hand, this woman expresses a common modern view: that itLawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-10316858913183408482010-05-09T22:02:00.007-04:002010-05-10T01:38:23.251-04:00Technology vs. MotherhoodToday is not only Mothers Day, it is ironically also the 50th anniversary of the FDA's approval of the Birth Control Pill, that technology that allows women (and men) to prevent birth in order to avoid control... and motherhood (to take a liberty with Chesterton, who had some other choice words on birth control.)
Time magazine has a pretty thorough review of the history of the Pill, though you Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-18639285273349747782010-04-22T20:00:00.000-04:002010-04-22T20:00:12.754-04:00Maybe a Blockhead, Maybe Not
No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money.
—Samuel Johnson, April 5, 1776, Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
Perhaps I'm wising up, because I've been engaging in remunerative writing of late—outside this blog of course—in addition to my real job.
But perhaps I'm as much of a blockhead as ever, because I've also been doing some additional writing for Wikipedia. My basic motivation is Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-73242452676608327022010-03-01T23:34:00.001-05:002010-03-01T23:34:00.254-05:00Climate Crisis or Truth Crisis?In case you missed it, there was an excellent summary at American Thinker of the recent climate-science-scandal revelations. The bad guy is United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The supposedly scientific IPCC report cites data drawn from environmental advocacy groups like World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace (list of such citations)—sources that are no only rather Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-58393873070367236642010-02-10T08:07:00.004-05:002010-02-10T08:35:43.331-05:00Getting U.S. Space Exploration Back on TrackPresident Obama has recently announced a new budget for NASA with radically shifted priorities. The space agency would get out of the business of manned space exploration (leaving this task to the private sector) and focus on developing new space technologies. You won't often find me praising Obama, but I have to give him credit on this.
As I've written before, NASA is terribly inefficient at Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-13926859226720430512010-01-29T11:38:00.005-05:002010-01-29T12:01:32.079-05:00Abortion and the War against NatureI went down to DC for the March for Life last week. Trip preparations before and catching up with work afterward have taken up much of my time these past couple weeks.
Just ran across this excellent piece by former atheist Jennifer Fulwiler reflecting on her former pro-abortion views, specifically on the source of the anger that energized them.
My peers and I were taught not that sex creates Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-39363556031762005932010-01-14T11:54:00.004-05:002010-01-14T12:01:07.669-05:00A Hiccup in OperationsFor various reasons the service I've been using to host the graphics in my posts will soon cease to work. Google now provides a free service that goes along with Blogger to which I need to migrate the graphics, but I haven't had the time to go back and edit all the graphical posts with the new links.
So the long and short of it is that you might want to grab any of the graphics here while you Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-86544813400383746682010-01-10T15:34:00.001-05:002010-01-10T15:34:00.435-05:00Ratzinger on Aquinas on CorporealityI've read several of Pope Benedict/Cardinal Ratzinger's books, but I think the best I've encountered is the one I mentioned in the last post (on time). Lately I've been reflecting on how time and life go together like time and energy (in modern physics) and like time and money (in our financial lives). Clearly "to save time" means to escape the needless loss of a segment of our lives. The Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-57699079479015044762010-01-06T13:24:00.013-05:002010-01-07T21:25:10.543-05:00Institutional Roots of Scientific DishonestyI recently wrote about about how dishonesty is a matter of course in modern (Baconian) science (and here) with regard to the British climate memo scandal. Yesterday I ran across a post of penetrating insight on how such dishonesty can fester and what can be done about it:
Truthfulness in science should be an iron law
by Bruce Charlton, Editor-in-chief, Medical Hypotheses
The article fills in Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-26934972955317856802010-01-01T00:55:00.003-05:002010-03-15T10:35:50.340-04:00Ratzinger on Augustine on TimeOn this day when we look back to the past year and forward to the new year, I thought it would be appropriate to reflect on time. Recently I read Pope Benedict/Cardinal Ratzinger's excellent Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life. The original motivation for my picking up the book (which required my obtaining it interlibrary loan, though it's so good that now I will have to buy my own copy) was thatLawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-38941823621154253862009-12-27T17:29:00.002-05:002010-03-15T10:35:50.341-04:00Machines vs. BiomachinesLast week I went with my father and brother to see James Cameron's Avatar—in 3D no less. I have to say it was a well made film. The visuals were amazing and the plot well drawn if cliché: highly entertaining. The characters weren't all that deep, but then one doesn't see an action film for deep characterization. Technically this is what a Hollywood action film should be. (No spoilers in this postLawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-70016658733993766942009-12-25T18:38:00.001-05:002009-12-25T18:38:57.756-05:00Merry Christmas!I hope to post a philosophical analysis of Avatar in the next few days. In the meantime, enjoy a blessed celebration of our Lord's Nativity!
Just a reminder: the world may tear down its Christmas decorations tomorrow, but Christmas is more than a single day:
The Octave of Christmas ends January 1 with the feast of Mary's Divine Maternity;
The Twelve Days of Christmas end on January 6, the Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-38944884235738961302009-12-15T13:44:00.001-05:002009-12-15T13:46:42.395-05:00The Baconian TemptationLast post I discussed how in Baconian (i.e., modern) science, truth takes a back seat to useful production. It recently occurred to me that the inevitable consequence of setting results (or desire) over truth is the cultural chaos we now live with: in which everyone exalts himself as a little god to reinterpret the world (reality, life, texts, other people) as suits his whimsy or to be pampered Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-60392220734973962352009-12-06T08:23:00.000-05:002009-12-06T08:23:00.231-05:00British Climate Memos: Baconian Science as UsualWith the UN's IPCC now doing damage control—er, staging an investigation, the "Climategate" controversy over the leaked emails from the University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit (CRU) continues to heat up. The public is understandably shocked by the revelation that "science" is possibly being manipulated to further political ends.
The public might not be so surprised if it knew the seedy Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-76540036523270010832009-11-26T16:53:00.003-05:002009-11-28T22:49:16.059-05:00Thanksgiving
Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.
—Cicero, "Pro Plancio," XXXIII.
Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-52032200211653984082009-11-24T13:17:00.001-05:002009-11-24T14:42:53.425-05:00DNA: Not the Master MoleculeBefore I begin, let me wish everyone a safe, happy Thanksgiving celebration.
In researching a piece I'm working on, I read Richard Lewontin's "The Dream of the Human Genome." Like all of us, Lewontin has his ideological baggage, but his assessment of the limitations of genetics is excellent. Even when he's not exactly right, he's close enough to be a stimulating interlocutor.
Lewontin does an Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-22857987530646542082009-11-15T21:48:00.000-05:002009-11-15T21:48:31.119-05:00Procreational Ordering without ConceptionAs I understand it, most marital acts don't result in conception. Lately I've been wondering how the fact that procreation is the natural end of marital relations fits into the qualification that events that happen by nature occur "always or for the most part" (Physics II.8.199b24). I just ran across this old, but very interesting post of Jimmy Akin ("Higamus, Hogamus," June 13, 2004) that may Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-49677264069330376892009-10-31T21:55:00.004-04:002009-11-10T15:54:19.869-05:00"Conservative Physics"The past couple decades have witnessed attempts to cultivate what might best be called a "Conservative Physics." The largest outlet for this view is The American Spectator, and its largest proponent Tom Bethell, who's the author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science.
Before I continue, (in the interest of full disclosure) I should let you know that my (real) name was proposed by a few Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-29049378595781164012009-09-27T20:32:00.003-04:002009-09-27T20:34:22.143-04:00Hiatus ExplainedI've been away from the blog for the past several weeks because my new job required me to move. I'm now busy finding my way in my new position.
Hope to post again before the end of October.Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-20508641744455467322009-08-11T10:42:00.001-04:002010-03-15T10:35:50.341-04:00Love: Marital vs. RomanticSome may think it takes chutzpah for a bachelor to write on marriage, But just as a medical doctor doesn't need to have cancer to diagnose a patient's illness, I hope my detachment will aid my objectivity.
Before anyone misunderstands the title of this post, I need to be very clear that I'm not trying to say that marriage is necessarily opposed to romantic love. What I am trying to say is that Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-61026940968464104442009-08-02T17:45:00.001-04:002009-08-02T17:45:00.276-04:00Aristotelian EmpiricismA question that's been disputed here in the past is the existence of things not open to direct empirical verification, in the modern sense of the positive empirical sciences. One disputed reality is the existence of substances, which are not directly sensible, and which we only know through their "accidents" or sensible characteristics.
The book by Richard J. Connell I've been reading explains Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-55985638769201946842009-07-20T22:56:00.003-04:002009-07-20T22:56:00.257-04:00The Past and Future of Space ExplorationToday is the fortieth anniversary of the first manned Moon landing and Moon walk.1 To commemorate, Google has introduced Google Moon, which includes markers for the six manned moon landings (but what about the unmanned? robots are people too! haha). Here's a zoomed-in map of the Apollo-11 moon landing site. (Hat-tip to GoogleMapsMania, where there are a few more moon-related links.)
Apparently Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-63670162790313516192009-07-09T16:06:00.002-04:002009-07-19T21:25:32.702-04:00A Gap in the MaskI heard on NHPR this morning that Massachusetts is challenging the Federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) for impeding its enforcement of same-sex "marriage equality." (I can't find at link at NHPR, but here's another write-up.) Apparently, despite Obama's posturing as "moderate," his administration is "coming out" in favor of the suit.
Further, a group of Iraq-war veterans are advocating repealLawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-27239898424218735612009-07-05T17:12:00.001-04:002009-07-05T17:12:01.416-04:00The Priority of Ordinary ExperienceI mentioned a few posts back that I have been reading Richard J. Connell's Matter and Becoming. I ran across an excellent passage that I thought I'd share.
Let me put the matter another way. The ordinary experience of men leads them to declare that they know real things and not [merely] images, concepts, or the impressions within their knowing powers. The burden of proof, therefore, is on him Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-91629059345277968962009-06-28T10:43:00.003-04:002009-06-28T10:43:01.536-04:00Men and Women in ScienceA recent report published by the National Academies of Science calls into question the convential (PC) wisdom that women are more poorly represented than men in science because they are victims of prejudice (h/t to Chistina Hoff Sommers). The executive summary says,
Our survey findings do indicate that, at many critical transition points in their academic careers (e.g., hiring for tenure-track Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-63842128468109806002009-06-11T08:20:00.001-04:002009-06-11T08:31:43.527-04:00Matter and BecomingOn a friend's recommendation, I ordered a copy of a book on book I of Aristotle's Physics. It's an old book (not quite as old as the Physics!)—Matter and Becoming by Richard J. Connell, who studied at Laval.
I haven't started reading it yet, but even the title is highly suggestive. Matter in Aristotle's thought is what becomes something else; it's the principle of substantial becoming, the Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-84356026690221231392009-05-29T15:24:00.002-04:002009-05-29T15:26:22.994-04:00The Continuing West ControversyChristopher West has published a clarification of his ABC interview. Not exactly satisfying, but good enough. Needless to say, West does not endorse Hefner or pornography.
Jimmy Akin has some well thought-out criticisms of both Christopher West and ABC's treatment of him. For whatever it's worth, I think Akin is spot-on.
Then David Schindler, head of the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-33932577170350707432009-05-10T09:51:00.004-04:002009-05-10T09:51:00.148-04:00Naivete or Stupidity? West on HefnerChristopher West is a popular exponent of Pope John Paul II's "Theology of the Body," which teaches a positive view to spousal intimacy as a reflection of God's love.1 Over the years I've heard untoward rumors about some questionable sexual practices that West is supposed to have advocated. In the absence of any solid evidence, I've discounted them as Jansenistic misunderstandings.
But now a Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-74340205694957791042009-05-02T09:25:00.002-04:002009-05-02T22:57:30.818-04:00News Flash: Women Are Different than MenA couple recent examples of our willful blindness of the unique nature of women.
There's a provocative article in The Atlantic on "The Case Against Breast-Feeding." Hanna Rosin argues that studies showing the benefits of breast-feeding are exaggerated. It's a challenge to design a study that isolates breast-feeding from other factors accidentally correlated to it.
Nearly all the researchers ILawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-42099107825144342012009-04-25T08:45:00.002-04:002009-04-25T08:56:34.050-04:00Dawkins's DuneRichard Dawkins's The God Delusion (2007) is probably one of the most overblown rants in the English language published in living memory. Other than revealing how shallow and arrogant the author is (he cannot even condescend to read and understand his opponents' arguments—and admits as much), the book is not very useful.
However, in spite of himself, Dawkins does manage to allow through some Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-35606060972315243942009-04-17T08:55:00.009-04:002009-04-24T17:26:52.805-04:00Fr. Jaki RoundupLast week I told you about the passing of Fr. Stanley L. Jaki. Eventually I will have to post something more in-depth about the man and his work. But in the meantime, I'll simply link to some recent items about him and highlight the more noteworthy information. This first group is obituaries.
What Does Prayer Really Say? (April 7)a simple announcement, but the comments include a broadcast emailLawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-36575000317598513812009-04-09T16:56:00.005-04:002009-04-10T09:19:53.915-04:00Stanley L. Jaki, RIPI just found out Fr. Jaki died on Tuesday. This definitely represents the passing of an era. From the Seton Hall obituary:
Rev. Stanley L. Jaki, the world-renowned Hungarian-born author, physicist, philosopher and theologian died April 7 in Madrid, following a heart attack. Known as a leading thinker in areas at the boundary of theology and science, Jaki was awarded the Templeton Prize in 1987.Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-11240359679136797392009-04-06T08:52:00.001-04:002009-04-06T10:40:21.462-04:00NYT: Global Warming Enthusiasts Need Not Lose FaithIt's long been noted by those skeptical of the "consensus" on global warming that over the last decade, the Earth's average surface temperature has been more or less flat. The New York Times's Andrew C. Revkin notes a forthcoming peer-reviewed paper that argues that flat temperatures—and indeed even cooling spells—are not incompatible with a larger warming trend.
I'm not sure how much this paperLawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-69029808810812042192009-04-02T22:08:00.000-04:002010-03-15T10:35:50.342-04:00Seven Deadly Sins of Religion in Science Fiction"The 7 Deadly Sins Of Religion In Science Fiction" by Charlie Jane Anders gets it just about right.1 I'll leave it to you to read the column's illustrative examples and entertaining language, but here are the "sins" to which I add a brief explanatory paraphrase:
The cargo cult. [Primitive peoples worshiping more advanced technology]
The cheap Jesus. [Christ imagery plopped on]
The dumb space Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-9420582117097640452009-03-25T12:54:00.002-04:002009-03-25T12:56:16.347-04:00Live, Online Bioethics DebateI thought you might be interested in participating in this debate taking place this week at The Economist.Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-59952739708872758972009-03-16T19:17:00.001-04:002009-03-16T19:17:52.819-04:00CONTEST: Name this CreatureLet me describe a hypothetical creature, a thought experiment to clarify the distinction between a machine and an organism, and perhaps you can come up with a name for it. It is based on the observation that flames share certain characteristics with living things: they have a “hunger” for food or fuel, and in some sense, they are constituted by what they consume. So why can’t we harness these Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-16141870007643824902009-03-10T18:30:00.003-04:002009-03-10T18:37:10.203-04:00The Times Gets It Right!At long last, an honest news analysis from the New York Times:
Members of Congress and advocates for fighting diseases have long spoken of human embryonic stem cell research as if it were a sure avenue to quick cures for intractable afflictions. Scientists have not publicly objected to such high-flown hopes, which have helped fuel new sources of grant money like the $3 billion initiative in Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-36808228922795741052009-02-25T18:45:00.001-05:002009-02-25T18:45:40.127-05:00A Prayer of GratitudeI thought this would be appropriate for the beginning of Lent.
Dearest Lord God,
Help me to be thankful for all the blessings you have bestowed on me, which, like my existence itself, I hold not by any justice of mine, but by the richness of your merciful kindness. Help me to realize that the goods of this world are simply signs of your love, and that despite their fleetingness, you remain. Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-7990107753594958032009-02-18T09:59:00.000-05:002009-02-18T09:59:00.585-05:00Reductionism and NaturesThe Institute for the Study of Nature has now posted the text of Mike Augros's January 28 talk at MIT. The talk is a splendid source of material for understanding the intersection of the natural sciences and natural philosophy and the need of science to be complemented by philosophy. The talk is well worth reading in its entirety, including the appendices.
I thought I might quote a little of it Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-1171266929170095582009-02-12T11:14:00.006-05:002009-02-12T21:52:25.789-05:00Reductionism & The Origin of Non-SpeciesReductionism and Darwinian evolution: what do they have to do with each other? A lot, as I will shortly explain.
But first a couple upcoming events. The Institute for the Study of Nature (ISN) has announced its plans for its annual Summer Seminar and Conference, June 15-20, 2009 at MIT. This year's theme is "Reduction, Emergence, and Essence." In other words, it's about the limits of the Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-26250487528867987072009-02-02T08:12:00.000-05:002009-02-02T08:11:59.467-05:00On Marriage: a Bad Good-Article and Two Better OnesI've been terribly busy with work, but I'd like to call to you attention an interesting triptych of articles on marriage in Touchstone.
First "Divorced from Reality" by Stephen Baskerville. I've rather inclined to believe what the article has to say: that unilateral ("no-fault") divorce is effectively a way for the state to stage hostile take-overs of families. The currency of this issue cannot Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-44538333297934697002009-01-03T16:33:00.004-05:002009-01-03T16:38:49.170-05:00The Need for ModerationHappy new year!
A very good piece here: "The other ‘N- word’" by Jordan Susman. (I'd tip my hat to an article by John Zmirak, but I can't seem to find it.)
We definitely need to ratchet the rhetoric down and talk with open ears. At least Obama's rhetoric is moderate. (His actual opinions are far from moderate.)Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-977092112386838142008-12-31T18:05:00.000-05:002008-12-31T18:05:00.375-05:00The Hole in the BottomTonight we commemorate the final passing of a year that, like every other, has been expiring since it began, over 360 days ago.
We spend our days strutting around as if we govern ourselves, as if we control "our" lives. However tightly we cup our hands, this life drains away with each passing moment.
What foolish mortals we are to miss what is right before us: we are not our own masters.
"AndLawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-39568902536657783322008-12-24T01:07:00.000-05:002010-03-15T10:35:50.342-04:00The New Scrooges"Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat...
but please don't put a penny in the old man's hat,"
or at least that's what the classic carol would go if some intellectuals could re-write it according to their ideology.1
Lew Rockwell site still has posted Butler Shaffer's defense of Ebeneezer Scrooge from Dickens's A Christmas Carol. (I will not dwell on Shaffer's misspelling of Cratchit, Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-34618271066280148192008-12-10T22:50:00.007-05:002008-12-10T23:10:01.258-05:00Power or Reason?Just ran across this excellent quotation in Richard Weaver's Ideas Have Consequences:
It may indeed appear before the struggle is over that the attack upon private property is but a further expression of the distrust of reason with which our age seems fatally stricken. When it is no longer believe that there is a restraining reason in accordance with which men may act, it follows that the stateLawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-160198652302137912008-11-06T10:55:00.001-05:002008-11-06T10:59:50.197-05:00Spurious Hope?John Zmirak's latest on InsideCatholic is a well crafted picture of the nightmare we can expect from the Democratic takeover. He's predicting much of the same thing I am, albeit more skillfully.
Nevertheless there are some interesting dissenting responses to his post about how serious the threat of FoCA is. Here are some excerpts:
The problem with being my age is that you remember too much. Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-84569171686568112582008-11-05T10:16:00.005-05:002008-11-05T11:35:51.265-05:00The REAL HopeA demagogue takes the highest office in the land. We are witnessing the decline of the republic, not unlike the passing of the Weimar Republic that preceded Germany's fall to National Socialist rule.
But is Obama comparable to everyone's favorite dictator? In his own words to his supporters, "You did it [voted me power] because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead." Does he Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-58320592146385491562008-10-27T13:16:00.001-04:002008-10-27T13:23:06.612-04:00His Top Priority
Please consider forwarding the link to this spot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0__ctD48nfQ.Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-399253703418407922008-10-17T11:06:00.006-04:002008-10-18T09:26:47.272-04:00Obama Paper DollsWell we knew Google had a liberal bias. Here's further evidence.
I searched for "dover books". The first resultant link was to www.doverpublications.com: no surprise, just what I wanted. I clicked the Google link that says
More results from doverpublications.com ».
At the bottom of the first page I find:
Obama Paper Dolls
pad, Dover Home, pad, Store Directory, pad, Customer Service, pad ..Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-69285724699173395032008-10-09T17:28:00.001-04:002008-10-09T17:29:52.439-04:00The Gimme GenerationIt seems that the federal government is getting into the "business" of bailing people out of their troubles. First there were Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, then AIG, then the banking industry $700 billion (which may not be "enough"!). Then the state of California asked for $7 billion to pay for its profligacy. And now it seems the commonwealth of Massachusetts wants its turn at the federal trough.
Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-69395721575636335642008-10-02T15:22:00.003-04:002008-10-02T15:27:32.779-04:00God Is Not My OppositeThis was in last month's Magnificat (p. 347) and I thought it worth reproducing since it speaks to the fallacy of gnosticism and the need to look to nature to understand God.
A thing is not true just because I need it, for need does not create truth, but only directs us to it. Or am I forbidden to ask whether the miracle of the Incarnation is true? Must I even believe it just because it is not Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-88893533269536390852008-09-29T14:32:00.003-04:002008-10-02T17:54:31.184-04:00The Ideological Subtext to the Financial CrisisYesterday I talked to an old libertarian banker friend. He dislikes the whole idea of a bailout, but reluctantly admits that the economy probably needs it in order to slow and contain the crisis. By his estimate, it would take the economy 20-30 years to sort itself out without the bailout. (Reasoning: it took us 3-4 years to get over the tech-bubble bursting, and those were goods that were only Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-4492238100122238562008-09-25T19:17:00.003-04:002008-09-25T19:24:00.755-04:00The Real CrisisThe economic crisis is all over the news.
A friend notes that worries about the government's bailout of AIG is exaggerated, that the government will likely make money on the deal. Fine. My worry is that the government is so deeply involved in the economy at all. When politics and not economics controls where the money goes, when stupid decisions don't receive their natural retribution, then the Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-15248232825528742792008-09-15T08:05:00.000-04:002008-09-15T08:05:47.480-04:00Luck Substitutes for ReasonA recent New York Times article illustrates how chance acts as a imitation or placeholder cause in scientific explanation. The article recounts a study that compares the survival of the dinosaurs to that of another reptile group:
But then at the end of the Triassic, for some unknown reason the dinosaurs survived while almost all the crurotarsans did not. “There was a certain amount of luck Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-22649899962367707132008-08-18T18:47:00.003-04:002008-08-18T18:57:02.971-04:00SpecialnessRecall that Copernicus removed Earth from the center of the universe, and Enlightenment mythology says that he destroyed man's special status in creation (of course the mythology forgets that man is unique for being able to contemplate having a special status). A recent AIP news item seems to undermine the so-called Copernican hypothesis that supposedly underlies so much of the modern scientific Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-56549569222716712152008-07-29T11:40:00.000-04:002008-07-29T11:40:22.608-04:00Environmentalism and ReligionFreeman Dyson's recent book review concludes with some insightful thoughts:
All the books that I have seen about the science and economics of global warming, including the two books under review, miss the main point. The main point is religious rather than scientific. There is a worldwide secular religion which we may call environmentalism, holding that we are stewards of the earth, that Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-73646403330334973852008-07-21T15:10:00.004-04:002008-07-22T10:21:56.168-04:00Four Levels of TeleologyThe existence of teleology (from telos, Greek for end or purpose) is a controversial issue in the study of nature. The Scientific Revolution succeeded in rendering the notion disreputable, largely by ridiculing its abuses and ignoring its strengths.
A big obstacle for moderns to believe in natural purpose is the flattening of language that's occurred since the so-called Enlightenment. Words Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-63947413224034546002008-07-07T18:42:00.000-04:002008-07-07T18:42:01.088-04:00Graying and DyingJust a short note to point out a couple of interesting articles on the graying and dying of our population. First, Boston Globe op-ed by Jeff Jacoby on the coming population bust.
Human fertility has been dropping for years and is now below replacement levels - the minimum required to prevent depopulation - in scores of countries, including China, Japan, Canada, Brazil, Turkey, and all of Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-71027077142033608022008-06-22T12:09:00.002-04:002008-06-22T20:44:55.297-04:00Sex on the BrainWork's been keeping me from writing anything here, though I have been thinking of things to write. I thought you might be interested in a couple interesting articles on sex I've run across.
The first is about a study that exposed men to sexually suggestive stimuli and then measured their impatience.
“It seems that sexual appetite causes a greater urgency to consume anything rewarding,” the Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-72369335986475270862008-06-01T14:18:00.003-04:002008-06-02T15:04:19.242-04:00Phillip Johnson, Put Down that Kool-Aid!There are a couple especially noteworthy articles in the May Touchstone. First L.P. Fairfield writes a review of a book on panentheism (not to be confused with pantheism).
"Panentheism" means "God in everything" and conversely, "everything in God." Unlike pure pantheism, it does not merely identify God one-for-one with the sum total of everything in the cosmos. But unlike biblical Christianity,Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-66627243785048020842008-05-22T17:03:00.001-04:002008-05-22T17:19:34.637-04:00Physics for RealistsLooks like Anthony Rizzi's new book is out. You can order your copy for just shy of $100 plus shipping at the IAP Store.
This first of its kind in 300 years textbook will enlighten you and your students. For advanced high school students and college freshmen.
"Physics for Realists is a landmark textbook that uses our common sense to discover and clarify modern physical theory. The resulting Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-4738513582201913092008-05-14T11:12:00.005-04:002008-05-15T10:12:51.247-04:00Pinker's ConfusionSteven Pinker's screed against of the President's Council on Bioethics will be officially published by The New Republic on May 28 (h/t Holopupenko).1 He writes of the Council's recent document Human Dignity and Bioethics,
This collection of essays is the culmination of a long effort by the Council to place dignity at the center of bioethics. The general feeling is that, even if a new technologyLawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-76657593361340609422008-05-03T18:44:00.005-04:002010-03-15T10:35:50.343-04:00The Mystical Vision of Pan's LabyrinthRecently I saw a powerful film called Pan's Labyrinth. The filmmaker, Guillermo del Toro, is obviously of a man of the left, but it appears to me that he is groping toward something much bigger than political ideology. As with any great work of art, there's a lot going on in this film, and I'll try my best to lay it out systematically, but it may be too much for me to bind together into a Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-42580535997609306002008-04-12T14:31:00.005-04:002008-04-12T14:38:50.437-04:00Hurricans and ClimateI've failed to recently because I've been working on a longer post that requires a lot of thought and interpretation. In the meantime I thought I'd let you know about a Houston Chronicle story about a scientist moderating his opinion about the connection between climate change and hurricane strength (h/t NY Times).
The hurricane expert, Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyLawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-84247337375557163052008-03-28T17:45:00.005-04:002008-03-28T22:24:17.345-04:00Another Word on Climate ChangeIt was a pleasant surprise to see Physics Today feature an article1 questioning the consensus on global climate change. The piece is rather technical, but from what I can glean, it sounds like the authors are pointing to at least circumstantial evidence that the "majority" opinion is ignores some key information.
Earth's atmosphere, landmasses, and oceans absorb and redistribute the total solarLawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-5966991896094362612008-03-21T21:54:00.005-04:002008-03-28T22:23:30.994-04:00Making Room for LightJust wanted to offer something small for this Good Friday: a recollection of Pope Benedict of the celebrations of the Holy Triduum in his younger days:
For all of Holy Week, the windows of the church were covered by black coverings. Even in daytime, the church was shrouded in a darkness dense with mystery. But the instant the parish priest sang out the verse that announced "He is Risen!" theLawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-67991853823180735042008-03-17T21:55:00.008-04:002008-03-17T22:14:22.141-04:00ISN Summer SeminarWork's kept me too busy to post lately, but I thought I'd let you know about this notice I received about the Institute for the Study of Nature's Summer Seminar this June 9-14 at MIT (Cambridge, Massachusetts):
Dear friend of the ISN:
The Institute for the Study of Nature is pleased to announce its second annual Summer Seminar and Conference to be held June 9-14 at the Massachusetts Institute Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-17767408195559003912008-03-07T10:11:00.006-05:002008-03-07T18:25:03.393-05:00Galileo inside the WallsThe Times UK reports that the Vatican is planning a statue of Galileo Galilei for the gardens outside the apartment where he stayed while awaiting trial for heresy in 1633. (Next year is the 400th anniversary of Galileo's adoption/adaptation of the telescope for astronomy.)
Galileo being the poster-boy for secular humanists who want to humiliate the Roman Catholic Church for its putative Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-75094027133984560992008-02-29T15:47:00.006-05:002008-03-04T15:30:06.855-05:00The Pill Wrecks Environment, Non-Human and HumanFor your consideration, a story with a politically incorrect detail that you won't see highlighted in your evening news. It seems that waste estrogen making it's way into Canadian waters is harming the fish populations:
Male fish exposed to estrogen become feminized, producing egg protein normally synthesized by females. In female fish, estrogen often retards normal sexual maturation, Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-74278493405889640312008-02-23T16:25:00.004-05:002008-02-23T18:39:41.010-05:00The Natural "Rules"The March Atlantic Monthly has a significant piece on bringing reality back to romance. The author, Lori Gottlieb, is a single woman whose arrival at her 40th birthday has made her realize that she had been living in a world floating free of reality, that fantasy constructed by Hollywood and Madison Avenue in which each of us is destined to find heaven on earth in a "soul mate".
About two and aLawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-64659303239681372702008-02-15T14:17:00.007-05:002010-10-06T22:22:06.946-04:00"You Shall Be as Gods"?I was down at MIT yesterday and paid a visit to a campus feature that I'd long heard about, and never seen myself—there being no photographs of it on the web. I'd heard that MIT was so high on the power of technology that a building on campus featured the empty promise of the serpent in the Garden of Eden, "You shall be as Gods," inscribed on a wall.
Well I discovered that it is true that Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-9569189671777802822008-02-08T11:25:00.000-05:002008-02-08T11:29:17.824-05:00Marriage and GovermentIn last month's First Things, Robert P. George had some great observations on the connection of small government to the strength of the traditional family:
I understand why someone would consider this idea [privatizing marriage], but it strikes me as a bad one. There is a reason that all cultures treat marriage as a matter of public concern and even recognize it in law and regulate it. The Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-82911717683866200902008-02-01T12:40:00.000-05:002008-02-01T12:51:52.850-05:00Of Medicine and MurderShould we credit the Times for allowing the other side to air its opinion?
In the New York Times Health section of a few days ago, Dr. Lawrence K. Altman pondered the wisdom of allowing a convicted murder to practice medicine:
A killer turned healer might seem to be a shining example of prison rehabilitation.... Yet it is hard to think of a case in which a murderer should become a medical Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-53512057519379236502008-01-20T22:26:00.001-05:002010-10-06T22:42:04.873-04:00A Womb, Not a FactoryMovie Morphogenesis
Way back in 2005 when I reviewed The Island, I left off a discussion of the film's hypothetical technology for "manufacturing" human clones (a process that fills in some of the details for a fictional cloning process hinted at in Blade Runner).
In the film, the clones are grown to adulthood in plastic wombs. This process is interesting to examine. As good film-making Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-48617293267175006012008-01-16T18:03:00.000-05:002008-01-17T09:40:50.046-05:00A Chimp Is Not a PersonMatthew Hiasl Pan has three names like a human person, but is only a chimpanzee, according to the Austrian Supreme Court. The AP tells us
It's official: In Austria, a chimp is not a person
Animal rights group had sought personhood for soon-to-be-homeless chimp.
Sanity has prevailed in the face of a ridiculous legal strategy by activists, however admirably aiming to aid the animal. The Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-9067678745179158862008-01-15T16:20:00.000-05:002008-01-15T16:23:31.809-05:00Martyr for the "Faith"I thought football was big in Texas until I moved to New Hampshire. Even the women swear allegiance to the Patriots (and the Sox).
Against all odds, 14-year-old Anna Grant had just out-punted, out-passed and out-kicked the top four (of 32) national finalists to win this year's NFL Pepsi Punt, Pass & Kick title for her age division.
But when the Stratham champion stood on the field Sunday in Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-31971480220918457002008-01-12T12:03:00.000-05:002008-01-12T12:24:50.191-05:00Getting back to the Things: Business ManagementHow we carry ourselves and the way we live our lives have profound philosophical implications. Take for example the latest installment of Peter Day's BBC program Global Business:
This week’s programme explores an intriguing proposition: that craftspeople know better than most business people how organisations ought to be run. Peter Day explores the mystery of crafts and speaks to a big thinkerLawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-69374986071425547242008-01-10T11:04:00.000-05:002008-01-10T11:04:54.983-05:00Hume: Miracles Are PossibleDinesh D'Souza has an excellent article on the possibility of miracles in the January Columbia.1 He starts off with the point that atheist rat-pack authors like Dawkins and Hitchens cite David Hume's as the strongest argument against miracles.
In his Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Hume argued: 1) A miracle is a violation of the known laws of nature; 2) We know these laws through Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-26001130995565084782008-01-06T09:25:00.000-05:002010-03-15T10:35:50.343-04:00Making God an AlienIn putting together last month's post on the Nature Institute, I was doing a little research on Lewis, Barfield, and Steiner and I came across this Kjos Ministries page of excerpts and commentary on C.S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man.
The page exemplifies an unfortunate presumption that has developed among some segments of the Christian community: that the the Fall so completely alienated Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-41255441162428330162008-01-01T21:02:00.000-05:002008-01-01T21:10:31.839-05:00Greatness in SmallnessA quotation appropriate for this final day of the Octave of Christmas1:
But, we think, in an age when we know how infinitely different things are, how unimportant the earth is in the vast universe and consequently how unimportant that little speck of dust, man, is in comparison with the dimensions of the cosmos—in an age like this it seems an absurd idea that this supreme being should concern Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-23024840408965376092007-12-24T23:56:00.000-05:002007-12-25T13:05:39.940-05:00Keeping SilenceWith everyone clamoring to cash in on Christmas1, it is difficult to shut out the noise long enough to reflect on the real meaning of this silent night.
Last month's issue of The Atlantic featured an insightful article by Walter Kirn on multitasking and how it is driving us to distraction:
Through a variety of experiments, many using functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure brain Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-52910556969652484472007-12-13T18:51:00.000-05:002007-12-13T19:03:46.793-05:00Amazing Evolution!Just came across another example of superfluous invocations of evolution in this New York Times article:
Spines, Made Extra Curvy for Women by John Schwartz
Let me just start off by saying that, as you may know from reading this blog before, I really don't have a dog in the fight of the "Evolution Wars." Whether or not God used evolution or some other secondary cause to develop life seems in Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-83646000545917041462007-12-11T14:49:00.000-05:002007-12-11T14:59:44.411-05:00Climate Models Found WantingScience Blog posted a report this morning, "New study increases concerns about climate model reliability"1:
A new study comparing the composite output of 22 leading global climate models with actual climate data finds that the models do an unsatisfactory job of mimicking climate change in key portions of the atmosphere.
Here is a provocative paragraph from the article's body:
The 22 climateLawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-27890553889102760462007-12-04T11:40:00.000-05:002007-12-10T16:19:03.758-05:00The Nature Institute“Is it, then, possible to imagine a new Natural Philosophy, continually conscious that the 'natural object' produced by analysis and abstraction is not reality but only a view, and always correcting the abstraction? I hardly know what I am asking for. I hear rumours that Goethe's approach to nature deserves fuller consideration—that even Dr Steiner may have seen something that orthodox Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-8452685616193634732007-11-24T15:44:00.000-05:002007-11-24T15:45:26.751-05:00Faith in SciencePaul Davies has an op-ed in today's New York Times on how today's science—cosmology in particular—involves a large dose of faith. He points out that the belief in ordered, rational laws governing the universe is a matter of faith. He rightly points out that this assumption originates in the Christian cultural matrix.
But from where do the laws themselves originate? The origin of physical Lawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10944560.post-73817388493049383742007-11-16T10:18:00.000-05:002007-11-16T16:37:01.084-05:00Nanogenerators—for Good or IllI'm rather late reporting on this, but it's such an important development, that it cannot go unnoted. Scientists have developed a way to power nanodevices off ambient vibrations. The device consists of zinc oxide nanowires whose movement generates a tiny electrical current via the piezoelectric effect.
The salutary uses are the most obvious, and of course the ones touted by the inventor:
ButLawrence Gagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01242322119143922513noreply@blogger.com1