What, Why & How do we Know ?
Linked to Karen Armstrong previously – her “Charter for Compassion” campaign was the subject of her TED talk. She ends up pretty campaigning and preachy in that piece, but she shows a sophisticated position in the God vs Science wars. Not surprising given her history and the enormous number of books she has written on … Continue reading “Karen Armstrong”
Saw Karen Armstrong speak at the Royal Institution last night at an event organised by Intelligence Squared and hosted by BBC Radio journalist & presenter Tom Sutcliffe. It’s a “book tour” speaking and signing in support of her Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence, and the formal part of the evening was in … Continue reading “Religion & War #iq2Armstrong @intelligence2 @Ri_Science”
I’ve been mentioning Systems and Systems Thinking increasingly as I explicitly formalise the metaphysics underlying my world-view and my various writing projects, technical synthesis and creative fictional narrative. And I’m in “just write something” mode after 20+ years of intense reading and research trying to minimise distractions from what is now effectively my post-retirement day-job … Continue reading “International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS)”
Day job not going so good right now, a little under the weather and dog-tired yesterday, I accidentally deliberately slept in this morning. But, I finished my C J Werleman notes on the tube, stepped out into the sunshine, grabbed a great breakfast at a little cafe I’d not previously noticed between the tube and … Continue reading “Extending the Hand of Friendship @cjwerleman”
[Updated here : 10th Sept.] Reading a very interesting book, The New Atheist Threat by C J Werleman; someone I’d not even heard of until a couple of days ago. An Aussie now resident in US who spent a decade in Indonesia, including being in Bali when the nightclub was bombed. An erstwhile New Atheist in reaction to … Continue reading “The New Atheist Threat – @cjwerleman”
Excellent episode of Start The Week. Not just Karen Armstrong on the links between religion and the history of life in general, including war, but more history of Baghdad, Islamic learning, culture and trade, and the evolution of the middle-east situation in general. Imperial dominance overtaking historical cultural leadership, leading to “humiliation” as a driver … Continue reading “Religion and War, and Recent History of the Middle East #starttheweek”
I picked up once before on Karen Armstrong as a TED speaker; a breath of fresh air in the God vs Science fundamentalist debates. I bough a copy of her “The Case For God” yesterday and just started reading. Yep, she’s good. She lumps Ditchkins (Dawkins / Hitchens) and Harris together but Dennett is listed separately. … Continue reading “The Case For God”
Do as you would be done by. I don’t think Karen Armstrong actually mentions “god” in this 20 minute prizewinning TED talk from 2008 (with 2009 updates) on the Abrahamic monotheistic religions. The resultant charter and a promotional film. Passed me by in real time, but very interesting and positive. Looked up Karen Armstrong as a … Continue reading “Faith in the Golden Rule”