April 2011
The Uncanny & Religious Demythologization
Freud bases his analysis of the uncanny on the German counter notion of heimlich, i.e. what is familiar or intimate, but which is also strange or concealed. He defines the uncanny as that frightening moment of when we are estranged from the familiar, or, brought face to face with the unfamiliar, “as when something that we have hitherto regarded as imaginary appears before us in reality.”...
Will Robots Make Us Their Slaves?
Kurzweil’s robo-thesis of breathing “life” into machines, making them one with humans, has engendered much criticism from the scientific community and corporate media. Aside from the fracas of academic criticism of whether a machine can truly ever “think,” there have been more pressing ethical concerns related to the unintended consequences that this technology might incur on the entire human...
Are We Ready for Neo-Evolution? →
realcleverscience:
Been reading a ton about Transhumanism and Futurism lately and this great TED talk is a perfect introduction to the “G” of the GRINN Technologies (Genetic, Robotic, Informational, Nano, and Neuro) which are causing such a stir.
Dr. Harvey Fineberg discusses “Neo-Evolution”, when humans take control of our own genetics: The moral and societal implications, as well as...
“Wherever I go in the world people ask me “Do aliens exist?” It’s a good question...”
– Stephen Hawking - “Into The Universe” (via cwnl)
Approaching Intelligible Religion
The customary reason to argue the relation of science and religion moot deals strictly with viewing each field as a body of truths—well-established, ineradicable, and beyond critical judgment. Granted, of course, religion suffers more from this compunction than does science. Some theologians, for example, especially fundamentalist sects, strongly discourage self-doubt and scrutiny concerning...
BYU TV presents Turning Point →
This remarkable new series documents ordinary people with extraordinary gifts.
The two episodes you’ll see are especially standout, soul-cleansing.
Just watch the first five minutes to get a taste, it’s incredible stuff!
My good friend Raven did all of the story research, hope you enjoy it!
Heart Spirit Mind: The energy that surrounds you... →
heartmindspirit:
The energy that surrounds you at any given time, is always, always a reflection of what you are thinking and feeling. We know that there is so much going on in the world today that it can be difficult for you to bring yourself back to your center and recognize that all that is around is a reflection of that which is within you. Now is the perfect time for us to remind...
“It’s possible, in a poem or short story, to write about commonplace things and...”
– Raymond Carver (via libraryland)
Know Thyself
Coming to know ourselves, our origin and destiny, takes a lot of imagination. It takes disciplined imagination, the kind that is sensitive to scientific verity yet nevertheless is rooted in a powerful narrative placing us at the center, stripped of tired metaphors and trite aphorisms.
Such a narrative will inspire us to commit acts of love, real love, joined to an action, a gesture, or a deed...
DonaMajicShow: Response to Sthinking, "The... →
sthinking:
donamajicshow:
To my post, “The Ineffable,” sthinking replied:
“I wonder what happens to this feeling of “knowing God” to all the Christians who have become atheists? The human brain is a very powerful simulation machine - to think that experiences conjured by it have a supernatural origin just seems absurd.”
Your question and response is a good one. I agree completely. The ...
Evolutionary Beings
“This life, therefore, is not godliness but the process of becoming godly, not health but getting well, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not now what we shall be, but we are on the way. The process is not yet finished, but it is actively going on. This is not the goal but it is the right road. At present, everything does not gleam and sparkle, but everything is being...
Response to Sthinking, "The Ineffable"
To my post, “The Ineffable,” sthinking replied:
“I wonder what happens to this feeling of “knowing God” to all the Christians who have become atheists? The human brain is a very powerful simulation machine - to think that experiences conjured by it have a supernatural origin just seems absurd.”
Your question and response is a good one. I agree completely. The theist...
The Ineffable
“Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature because in the last analysis we are part of the mystery we are trying to solve.”
—Max Planck
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One of the great disparities that separates my objective and...
“The doubters said,
“Man can not fly,”
The doers said,
“Maybe, but we’ll try,”...”
– Bruce Lee (via maksg)
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”
– Arthur C. Clarke
He Shall Know of the Doctrine...
“My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.”
—Jesus
“That test is most sound. It is most philosophical. It is the most simple test to give knowledge to an individual of which the human mind can conceive. Doing a thing, introducing it into your very being,...
Kurzweil on Music
When materials are assembled in just the right way, transcendence occurs.
Transcendence occurs in art.
When wood, varnishes, and strings are assembled in just the right way, the result is wondrous: a violin, a piano.
When such a device is manipulated in just the right way, there is magic of another sort: music.
Music goes beyond mere sound.
It evokes a response—cognitive, emotional,...
Research shows what you say about others says a... →
heartmindspirit:
“How positively you see others is linked to how happy, kind-hearted and emotionally stable you are, according to new research by a Wake Forest University psychology professor. “Your perceptions of others reveal so much about your own personality,” says Dustin Wood, assistant professor of psychology at Wake Forest and lead author of the study, about his findings. By asking study...
The Science of Why We Don't Believe Science →
youmightfindyourself:
“A MAN WITH A CONVICTION is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Show him facts or figures and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point.” So wrote the celebrated Stanford University psychologist Leon Festinger (PDF), in a passage that might have been referring to climate change denial—the persistent rejection, on...
Radiohead — Good Morning Mr. Magpie
Imagination of Disaster →
The science fiction films are strongly moralistic. The standard message is the one about the proper, or humane, uses of science, versus the mad, obsessional use of science. This message the science fiction films share in common with the classic horror films of the 1930’s, like Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Island of Doctor Moreau, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In the horror films, we have the mad...
On Immortality
Will I ever cease to be?
Is there anything permanent in me?
From certain ranks of secularism comes a conclusion that all things eventually will become annihilated; that all this laborious pain, this jubilant joy, this colorful, volatile, dancing and expanding Wow, after serving its momentary purpose, is to be thrust into cosmic oblivion.
Man, on this view, is a temporary event, a fleeting...
Radiohead — Supercollider
Ray Kurzweil - The Colbert Report - 4/12/11 -...
maybememe:
via colbertnation.com
Posted via email from MaybeMeme dot Com | Comment »
Ivan's Pain: The Intellectual's Demise in "The...
Ivan comes to understand the utter uselessness of his mind. He will not be able to prove that Smerdyakov is the murderer although he knows this to be true. From this follows the hallucinatory scene of self-confrontation and Ivan’s indictment of his own reason: It is Ivan in hell, judging, condemning, and damning his own most precious gift.
Momentarily he apprehends all that his intellect...
