lev.lafayette's blog

The "four desires" of Hinduism is normally interpreted as the puru??rtha [1] (purusha; god, human., artha, object and objective), the objectives of human. These are normally considered within four types; Dharma, Artha, K?ma, and Mok?ha. Dharma suggests devotion to the natural and moral laws (rta) which has conceptual similarity to the Chinese notion of dao, or the European logos. In comparison Artha suggests properity, in the sense of both material well-being as well as reputation and social standing.

'To Be or To Become: The Emzine Dialogue' by Dr. Marc van der Erve is "a new and unifying theory of our world that goes beyond present-day science and religion." The author's academic background is in applied physics (bachelor's degree) and sociology (doctorate), with employment in various managerial roles in organisations such as Xerox, DEC and KPMG and more recently in leadership consulting.

It is not uncommon for advocates to argue that the production of an sufficiently large expert rules based system will provide the sufficient and necessary requirements for 'strong' artificial intelligence. In recent days, attempts in this direction were made not by inorganic computational capacity, but rather with the development of a neural network using DNA.

Nature is a gift of Providence and, as a result, one which we all have an equal right to. But this also means responsibility, that we must pay for whatever damage that is done to nature, and those who are responsible should carry that cost. Where that cost is not applied in accordance to responsibility a social cost arises, and indeed, is encouraged.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a disease which has been the subject of much commentary by religious-minded people since its discovery in 1981, many of whom sought to blame those infected. This was primarily due the discovery of the disease among gay men and injecting drug users, especially through the irregular increase of cases of pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and a previously-rare skin cancer called Kaposi's sarcoma. Tabloid media, displaying the usual sensitivity and accuracy, called this the "Gay Plague".

In 1903, the well-known member of the French Academy of Science, Prosper-René Blondlot, responsible for the first measurement of the speed of radio waves, announced a new form of radiation at the University of Nancy, whilst attempting to polarise X-rays. Excitement rose, and no less than 120 other scientists in 300 published articles also expressed the ability to detect this new radiation, which acquired the title "N-Rays"; notably there was a very disproportionate number of French scientists among the number. There was even debate over who discovered them first.

Address to the Melbourne Unitarian Church, March 27, 2011

Of War and Violence

Service (opening words, reading, closing words) to an address by Marion Harper, Melbourne Unitarian Church January 30, 2011.

Please note that these words were censored from the church website by the Church Committee of Management.

Opening Words

Address to the Melbourne Unitarian Church, January 16, 2011

Recently a PEW study surprised many by its announcement that most atheists know more about religion that those of strong belief, despite the fact that a majority consider religion to be "very important" to their lives. In other surprise figures, a sizeable minority of Protestants cannot name the gospels and a similar figure of Catholics are unaware of the sacrament of transubstantiation.