Mad Science. The big 2008 LHC Scare.

Humans are capable of remarkable achievements. We are also compulsive explorers, relentlessly looking for remote hitherto un-chartered places. From earth, to space, and now the smallest of particles we can only imagine may exist. We simply can’t help ourselves. Doing so is at once altruistic and self centred. Those who are born discoverers, pursue fame and recognition (at least by a force of nature known as ‘Mom’) as much as they crave the high of a discovery. A vindication that their single minded pursuit sets them apart and that their discoveries, immortal. But the image of a  lone explorer, a romantic visionary with an obsessed mind, is now being replaced with giant, collaborative projects.

Smart Money Invests in Culture and Arts

In a previous post, I lamented Harper’s government’s budget cuts to culture and arts programs. My main concern is long term damage to one of Canada’s most vibrant ‘industries’ -  film making. It turns out that not everyone is as short sighted. The Canadian Film Centre announced the creation of a new actor’s conservatory to train and market future stars of screen and stage. Financial support is provided by the Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation and CanWest Global Communications Corp. 

“S” for Scientific. “S” for Spiritual.

Any attempt to explain the clash between spiritualism and science and how the two differ in explaining the world around us in a short blog entry, is of course doomed. In this admittedly shallow format, and with my own severely limited knowledge and time to truly do justice to this fraught topic, I will resort to generalities. I can do no more than touch on a couple of questions raised in a recent conversation with a person one could label ’spritual’. In a dialogue between the two world views, there are some puzzling, possibly anecdotal similarities worth considering – if only for the purpose of sharpening our respective mental tools (so here: I admit nothing!).

The Krill and the Leviathan

‘Cogito ergo sum’ (I think, therefore I am) is supposedly a slam-dunk proof of our existence as envisioned by Decartes in the 17th century, generations of philosophers since then, and now a staple of popular culture. Decartes did not think about the Internet and blogging when he came up with this concept of course, but I suspect that if he was to be revived and shown around (dear god, please make sure it’s not David Pogue who’s doing the showing around!), he would have been capable of grasping this tsunami of unfettered expression of human thought and creativity. Blogging melds and reconciles two ideas into one. “Thought Leviathans” happily swim side by side with (and feed on) untold multitude of Krill. Individualism meets collectivism.

Is Spore the Creationists’ End Game?

Will Wright’s new simulation game ‘Spore‘ is getting a lot of attention in the gaming universe. Wright, the inventor of such classics as SimCity (my first case of gaming addiction), and The Sims, seemed to have created his most ambitious game to date. Spore is loosely based on evolutionary science and as such it will be enthusiastically embraced by scientists and educators (reservations about its scientific accuracy aside). I was also thinking what would be the Creationists’ response to this game. Will ‘Creationists who are parents allow their sons and daughters to spend precious time playing with Spore? The obvious answer should be: no they won’t (vehemently so). But here’s a funny little twist worth considering: Spore’s ‘Creature Creator‘ module turns the gamer into, well, The Creator! For those supporting the idea that ‘micro evolutions’ were kicked off by the so called Intelligent Designer, this could be used to prove their own point.
Could it be that Spore is a Creationist’s game come true?