Category Archives: Theology

Philosophy, Theology

Ill will, good will – free will?

Neuroscientists largely see the “free will as an illusion” – according to a recent essay in Nature. As the author of this interesting essay, I have a major problem to give up the idea of a “free will” (mainly for theodicy reasons that needs a free will of humans). Maybe our will is being influenced by many factors, it is not always a conscious decision and it can of course be altered by chemicals or diseases. Nevertheless the subjective, sudden and not anticipated impetus to do something – for example writing a blog about free will – is a symptom of free will even with all existing antinomies, yea, yea.

 

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Philosophy, Theology

In-tui-tion, In-tui-fiction and educated guess

During my recent lecture series on science and religion, I tried to make clear that science includes many beliefs in addition to hard facts while religions encompasses hard facts in addition to many beliefs.
So what about the fuzzy approach of intuition or educated guess in a prototypical biological experiment? If this is not just a dose or time variation from a previous experiment, it will always involve an extrapolation from somewhat related facts believing that the next experiment will be better than the last Continue reading In-tui-tion, In-tui-fiction and educated guess →

 

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Philosophy, Theology

La gaya scienza

Dieter Hattrup pointed me today to Nietzsche

Der tolle Mensch sprang mitten unter sie und durchbohrte sie mit seinen Blicken. Wohin ist Gott? rief er, ich will es euch sagen! Wir haben ihn getödtet, ihr und ich! Wir alle sind sein Mörder! Aber wie haben wir diess gemacht? Wie vermochten wir das Meer auszutrinken? Wer gab uns den Schwamm, um den ganzen Horizint wegzuwischen? Was thaten wir, als wir diese Erde von ihrer Sonne losketteten?

But see also Nietzsche’s account to all Darwin admirers (page 119 of Hattrups book)

Die Behauptungen Darwin’s sind zu überprüfen – durch Versuche! Ebenso die Entstehung höherer Organismen aus den niedersten. Es müssen Verscuhe auf 1000de von Jahren hin geleitet werden! Affen zu Menschen erziehen!

Gaya scienza is close to todays’ synthetic biology, yea, yea.

 

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Philosophy, Theology

Our politicians, our governments? Always years behind

The new Edge Magazine has the annual question 2009 online

New tools equal new perceptions.
Through science we create technology and in using our new tools we recreate ourselves. But until very recently in our history, no democratic populace, no legislative body, ever indicated by choice, by vote, how this process should play out.
… While science may or may not be the only news, it is the news that stays news.
And our politicians, our governments? Always years behind, the best they can do is play catch up.

But unfortunately it continues Continue reading Our politicians, our governments? Always years behind →

 

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Joke, Theology

People know their assassins

I am quoting from a PLoS one press release of brain’s ‘Hate Circuit’ identified:

People who view pictures of someone they hate display activity in distinct areas of the brain that, together, may be thought of as a ‘hate circuit’, according to new research by scientists at UCL (University College London). Continue reading People know their assassins →

 

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Philosophy, Theology

Would you like to be a centenarian?

I am currently working on a literature survey on the genetics of ageing when I came across a series of nice monographs at the Max Planck Institute in Rostock.

… the Deluge swept away the pluricentenarians. Ernest (1938) mentioned that the semi-divine persons of the Hindu Sagas lived hundred of thousands of years, and that on average each of ten rulers of Ancient Babylon lived about 43,000 years. Continue reading Would you like to be a centenarian? →

 

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Genetics, Theology

46andyou

I have no idea how 23andme got its name but the business model of this company seems to rely on a rather haploid view of the world.
I had the pleasure this weekend to listen to a talk by Joanna Mountain(senior research director at 23andMe, the company that was founded by Googles Sergey Brin‘ s wife Anne Wojcicki). For whatever reasons Brin Continue reading 46andyou →

 

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Philosophy, Theology

Science magazine on bible references

Yes, a somewhat unusual topic, but a HONORABLE MENTION in the “2008 Visualization Challenge“shows an

illustrated Bible with a modern twist. Römhild started with a list of verses in different versions of both the Old and New Testaments that referred to figures or ideas from earlier passages, then combed through both books for additional examples. Using a custom-built computer program, Harrison translated the trove of data into “Visualizing the Bible.” … “It almost looks like one monolithic volume”.

true observation or wishful thinking?

 

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Philosophy, Theology

The logic of science?

Edge has a wonderful article about statistics:

… statistical and applied probabilistic knowledge is the core of knowledge; statistics is what tells you if something is true, false, or merely anecdotal; it is the “logic of science”; it is the instrument of risk-taking; it is the applied tools of epistemology [and epidemiology Continue reading The logic of science? →

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf accessed 01.11.2025
Genetics, Theology

The largest experiment of the world

Physics gets now a lot of attention with the largest experiment ever done with the LHC (pictures+data).
* largest machine (26.659 m diameter)
* largest freezer (60 tons helium)
* fastest runaway (99,99999 % speed of light)
* highest energy consumption (7 TeV)
* most lonely place – vaccum (10^-13 at)
* hottest place 100.000-fold temperature of the sun
* coldest place onearth (-271,3°C)
* largest supercomputer

Gratulations from the biomedical field that produced much less records in this week.

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf accessed 01.11.2025