… / …

…si spunea:

“Recently, neuroscientists have done experiments where they’ve taken individuals and put them into an MRI machine.”

And there is neuroeconomics, you know…

_____

> Articolul lui Raghuram Rajan, Has Financial Development Made the World Riskier?, poate fi dl de aici.

> Screenplay transcript, here.

…si spunea:

“Born blind. Therefore no darkness, for that implies an understanding of light.”

_____

> Apostasy and the sorrowful child:

- Faces and shades.

- Apostasie - Prélude à l’abandon.

> Crossing the land of bereavement:

- Incipit.

- Crossing the land of bereavement.

- Silent water (passage).

- Last moments. Part. I.

- Last moments. Part. II.

Prima parte a unui interviu cu adevarat interesant (restul partilor, de sunteti interesati, le gasiti pe tub). Mi-am scos cateva note, insa in cadrul acestui post am sa ma opresc, foarte pe scurt, doar la doua chestiuni:

1. afirmatiile pe care le face Coyne, contrar a ceea ce probabil multi cred, sunt foarte crestine. Ca si cele pe care le face Dawkins. Iezuitul nostru nu este nici primul si nici cel mai radical crestin darvinist (here and here [part. I, cap. 4]). Stiind aceste lucruri, nu ne mai mira ca cineva ca Jacques Loeb was bitterly hostile to Darwinian evolutionary theory because it could be used to support Christian theology (here). Mda, cu o diferenta: evolutionismul este un output al doctrinei crestine si nu o gaselnita which can be used to.

2. God has no place in science, honestly. To explain things, I don’t need God. I don’t need God to explain, say, the rainbow, ne spune S.J.-ul. De acord. Ironic insa, toti parintii of the so called modern science au avut nevoie de God pentru a-si fonda teoriile - impotriva paganilor si ignorantilor de grecotei. Teorii care sunt folosite astazi atat de americani, cat si de japonezi. Atei sau nu. Caci nu?, ne spune Dawkins in acelasi interviu, one of the great virtues of science is its universality: a Japanese scientist is not different from an American scientist. Si, spunem noi, an atheist is not different from a believer.

____

In caz ca intereseaza pe cineva…

(Letter of Theodoretus written on the Death of Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria.) [here]

[Courtesy of Al]

“As I was the first to be asked, I will be the first to tell my name. I am the God who speaks good. I am the God who speaks evil. The Great God of Kadzuraki, Lord of One Word.“

> Trailer.

A Horrible Excess Of Stench:

Thrown Up By The Profound Abyss:

Discogs

> 350 de ani de la aparitia fascinantului volum (1612).

Scriam acum cateva mii de ani despre doi tipi: Nehemiah Grew (1641 – 1712) si John Ray* (1627 – 1705). Cei doi, ambii preoti**, scriau lucruri pe care le auzim astazi din gura “ateilor”: Dumnezeu nu are ce cauta in the science!

Am terminat de citit Logica de la Port-Royal. Autori? Antoine Arnauld (priest) si Pierre Nicole (a clerk in minor orders). Mi-am scos de acolo o multime de citate, unul mai ingrozitor decat altul. Mai jos puteti citi unul dintre ele - foarte lung si foarte horror:

[Sublinierile imi apartin]

“The shortest method which can he found in the study of the sciences, is that of never engaging in the search after any of those things which are above us, and which we cannot reasonably hope to be able to comprehend. Of this kind are all the questions which relate to the power of God, and generally all that belongs to the infinite, which it is absurd to attempt to reduce within the limits of our mind; for our mind, being finite, is lost and confounded in the infinite, and remains overwhelmed with the multitude of conflicting thoughts which it [the infinite] furnishes. This is the shortest and most convenient solution that can be given of a great number of questions, on which we may dispute forever, because we can never attain to any knowledge of them sufficiently clear to fix and hold our minds. It is possible for a creature to have been created from eternity? Can God make a body infinite in size, a motion infinite in swiftness, a multitude infinite in number? Is an infinite number even, or uneven? Is one infinite greater than another? He who should say at once: I know nothing about these things, will have advanced as far in a moment, as he who should have spent twenty years in reasoning on them; and the only difference there would be between them is, that he who had labored to solve these questions is in danger of falling into a lower state than that of simple ignorance, which is that of believing himself to know what he does not. There are also a great number of metaphysical questions, which are too vague, too abstract, and too far removed from clear and well-known principles, to be ever resolved; and the best way is for us to have as little to do with them as we can; and, after having learned, in general, what they are, to resolve boldly to be ignorant of them.

“Nescire quaedam, magna pars sapientiae.” - Hugo Grotius***

In this way, by freeing ourselves from inquiries in which it is impossible to succeed, we shall be able to make more progress in those that are adapted to the capacity of our mind.”

p. 304

Lucrurile sunt destul de complexe, si nu am sa ma intind aici prea mult explicandu-le. Arnauld & Nicole erau jansenisti, iar jansenistii erau catolici. Ray si Grew erau protestanti (Grew, ca si tatal sau, era cleric Nonconformist). In Eros si Magie, Culi’ a spus o chestie fantastica (probabil cea mai tare din toata cartea, serios daca nu…):

“The pagan culture of the Renaissance has been vanquished. To that result Catholics and Protestants contributed equally [...] [F]ar from fighting among themselves, they had done battle against a common enemy.” (p. 196)

Eu as fi pus “pagan” in ghilimele, pt. ca “paganismul” sterilizat al Renasterii nu (mai) avea nici o treaba cu paganismul antic, dar ma rog… trecem cu vederea. Ceea ce ramane important e ca God a fost “scos” din discursul stiintific chiar de catre crestini (de aia hard-core, si nu de vreun spalacit oarecare), si nicidecum de catre nu-stiu-ce ateu / free-thinker din perioada Iluminista, asa cum ne invata manualele de istorie pana astazi.

Bazinga, punk!

_____

* Apparently, he also was the first person to give a biological definition of the term species.

** Caci Grew a fost nu doar teolog (cum scriam in postul precedent), ci si preot:

“English physician and clergyman…”

Extrem de greu de gasit astfel de detalii astazi…

*** “Ignorance of certain subjects is a great part of wisdom.”

E duminica, si eu as vrea sa ma duc acolo unde nu exista Numar.

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Imaginea este un detaliu din Riccioli’s Almagestum novum (1651). Reprezinta un citat biblic din Wisdom 11, 21: you have ordered all things in measure [mensura], and number [numerus], and weight [pondus].

© Trevor Brown.

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Daca mai vreti sa vedeti papusi, faceti click pe tag-ul Papusi. Evident.

All in all, ultimul Raison d’être, When the Earth dissolves in ashes, e slab.

Mai jos, cele doua fire de cenusa. Care in loc sa dizolve lumea, s-ar putea sa o salveze…

Darken my soul:

My soul is darkened:

Ironic, nu?

“Orasele traiesc in profunzimi nemaivazute, in indestructibilul din noi.” - Ernst Jünger

_______

Doua sectiuni transversale prin Kowloon Walled City, realizate de japo chiat inaintea aparentei demolari a orasului [de aici]:

Inclin sa cred ca acesta este unul din cele mai ingrozitoare posturi de pe Lanternativa.

O imagine perfecta a universului crestin. Un gol infinit si tacut pe care pana si Vaticanul incearca sa-l creada populat de extraterestri. Poate… poate…

Golul de sus se suprapune perfect peste golul de jos.

…si spunea:

“There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person, and it can never be filled by any created thing.  It can only be filled by God, made known through Jesus Christ.”

Blaise Pascal

“…and you’ll kiss asphalt.”