I read somewhere, in a far distant spacetime, that Medieval theologians had a one-line joke: Heaven and Hell are the same place. An inch-millisecond ago by cosmological standards, circa 1900, Albert Jay Nock left the Episcopal priesthood and later said it was partly because he couldn’t see that many human beings had much in the … [Read more…]
Freedom as we idealize it is not at all an instrument or an agent to achieve our desires, good or bad. The lesser freedom of the tiger or the grazing deer can do that for us. Freedom as we idealize it is an aspect of the state of personhood, a state in which we are … [Read more…]
Some readers might access this blog in ways that don’t display the main page and might not be aware that I have a variety of books, nonfiction and fiction, available for free download. I’m planning to put this message up every month or sometimes every 2 months or so until I can determine if it’s … [Read more…]
Those who have enough sense not to watch modern movies might not realize that: Skynet is a fictional, self-aware artificial intelligence system which features centrally in the Terminator franchise and serves as the franchise’s main antagonist. Scarcely depicted visually in any of the Terminator media, Skynet’s operations are almost exclusively performed by war-machines, cyborgs (usually … [Read more…]
In Cosmology: A First Course, Marc Lachieze-Rey writes: The best definition of the cosmos is possibly the ensemble of relations between the constituent parts of the cosmos. First of all, I’ll point out that the larger context, the entirety of the introductory chapter, makes it clear that the cosmos is the parts as well as … [Read more…]
Years ago, I proposed that the immaterial feel of our minds might be the result of fields playing a major role in our thinking. An article, Neurons Talk Without Synapses, discusses recent work that shows neurons `talk’ to each other by way of changes in electromagnetic fields and not just by direct electrochemical contact. I … [Read more…]
Can we derive the properties of complex entities from the particles or lesser entities from which they are built or from which they grow? The modern man tends to answer, “Yes,” even when he’s an accomplished thinker in a field which involves higher level analysis of empirical or abstract knowledge. This idea, underlying various sorts … [Read more…]
Readers interested in our dysfunctional higher education system might be interested in an essay from one of the websites of Liberty Fund. I’m certainly not implying that the lower levels are functioning at even a minimal level of competence, but the issues are somewhat different though overlapping. In any case, I can’t add anything of … [Read more…]
I’ve made the claim that the Christian Church itself is but one organ in the Body of Christ, though the most important and potentially most powerful organ. I would supplement that claim with another: the true power of the Church is dependent not upon external force but upon proper execution of Her duties of teaching … [Read more…]
Some readers might access this blog in ways that don’t display the main page and might not be aware that I have a variety of books, nonfiction and fiction, available for free download. I’m planning to put this message up every 2 or 3 months or so until I can determine if it’s worthwhile. The … [Read more…]