Sheldrake Speaks

Found myself listening to Rupert Sheldrake last night in the Essex Unitarian Church at Notting Hill Gate in front of a congregation of The Jung Club. Fascinating encounter, despite being really only a 25 minute potted summary of his Morphic Resonance field hypothesis – increasingly elaborated in his later works with more opportunities for empirical … Continue reading “Sheldrake Speaks”

Quantum in “Scare Quotes”

Good job this story has “Quantum Computing” in scare quotes because it’s nothing to do with quantum computing – computing using quantum information in qubits. It’s a computer that uses quantum effects, like every computer – in fact like every device, and indeed everything in the cosmos, you and me included. What it is using specifically … Continue reading “Quantum in “Scare Quotes””

Henry Stapp

Henry Stapp’s words quoted by Brian Josephson, were one of the first occasions I was turned on to considering that (eastern) mysticism might have something real to add to science. Both serious physicists, the latter a Nobel prizewinner, both interestingly, present at the 2003 Science of Consciousness event in Tucson. At the time (noted in … Continue reading “Henry Stapp”

Fundamental Life

Speculative presentation from Brian Josephson … I love the anti-reductionist “levels of reality” aspect – and the teleological “future directedness” of life. Explanation being distinct from predictability – no unique cause-effect or whole-part relations, and two-way causal & explanatory dependencies. Such basic common-sense stuff from the Nobel Laureate. … note the parallels in his fundamental life idea … Continue reading “Fundamental Life”

(Alfred) Joyce Kilmer

Another to add to the intriguing list of intellectuals converting to catholicism. Most famous for his much parodied “Trees”, but an interesting if brief life. I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. Picked-up on Kilmer because of this quote of the subsequent couplet … A tree whose hungry mouth is … Continue reading “(Alfred) Joyce Kilmer”

Millennium Project

Interesting seminar from FIATECH by Jerome Glenn of The Millennium Project – trans-institutional think tank on forecastsing preparing for the future. (See the 15 challenges). Maturing technology possibilities and the highest level sustainability and ethical conflict agenda presented in a business environment. eg genetic engineering of self-organizing (new) lifeforms anyone ? (See previous Josephson link.) … Continue reading “Millennium Project”

Dumb Atheists

I like to think of myself as (I’ve even been branded) a “sophisticated atheist” and, as an “open-minded scientist”, I’ve been a fan for several years of  Brian Josephson; staunch Nodel-laureate defender against bad knee-jerk science. Feb 2009 article here from Brian, about the case last year where Michael Reiss (a Theist) came to “step … Continue reading “Dumb Atheists”

Full Circle, Paradoxically

I just blogged about Colin Talbot‘s “Paradoxical Primate” which despite the unlikely sounding TLA (Three Letter Acronym) “PST” (Paradoxical Systems Theory) jargon, and the negative review I initially stumbled upon, I found the subject and title headings sufficiently attractive to order a copy. I’d just renewed contact with Bruce Charlton only a couple of days ago, … Continue reading “Full Circle, Paradoxically”