Making time

Hmm... Haven't managed to post as much as I would like. I guess I'm being too conscientious with my PhD work! Or maybe it's just less effort to read other people's blogs...

Stay tuned for some musings on feminism, scepticism and Calvinism, hopefully coming soon!

Counterfactuals

Would the 'Galileo Affair' have happened if:

• Galileo hadn't offended the Pope?
• Cardinal Bellarmine had died before 1616?
• Cardinal Bellarmine had been around for the 1633 trial?

Revisiting the Book Meme

It's amazing how much time some people have. At this blog here, a guy called Kevin has gone through the answers 275 people gave to the book meme, and has come up with a list of the books that received the most positive comments. He also looked at which books were mentioned by a number of people as books they wish hadn't been written. This list included Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life, though at least two people had rated that positively...

Oh, and he also lists all the people whose answers he looked at, including me! (Hurrah! I'm famous in the blogosphere!) Wonder how he found them all?

Baby Got Book

Who remembers Sir Mix-A-Lot's 'Baby Got Back' from some time back in the 90s? Well, here is a hilarious Christian remake, performed at the Narwee Baptist Church Young Adults Christmas in July dinner, which unfortunately I missed because I was in Cambridge. Poor me.

Anyway, check out the Narwee version here.

Then check out the original version here. And the lyrics are here.

Enjoy!!

Creation and Evolution

If you happen to be a 'creation scientist' (or something of that kind) and have read this far, may I politely suggest that you put this book back on the shelf. It will do you no good. Evolution is true, it happens, it is the way the world it, and we too are one of its products. This does not mean that evolution does not have metaphysical implications; I remain convinced that this is the case. To deny, however, the reality of evolution and more seriously to distort deliberately the scientific evidence of fundamentalist tenets is inadmissible.

Simon Conway Morris, Life's Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe, p. xv.

Galileo

Everything you believe about Galileo is false!

David C. Lindberg, Faraday Summer Course, 2006

Creation or Multiverses?

Surely the conjecture that there is just one universe and its Creator is infinitely simpler and easier to believe than that there are countless billions upon billions of worlds, constantly increasing in number and created by nobody. I can only marvel at the low state to which today's philosophy of science has fallen.

Martin Gardner, Are Universes Thicker than Blackberries? p. 9.

Science as apologetics?

"We don't proclaim our faith on the basis of the evolution of the sabre-tooth cat."

Simon Conway Morris, Faraday Summer Course, July 2006

Oops!

I went down the the UNSW bookshop to buy two books... but ended up with four. Those stands of new books facing the door are a very sneaky strategy to boost sales. Must learn to resist temptation...

These are the four books:

1. Boris Akunin, Pelagia and the White Bulldog.

Akunin's last Erast Fandorin mystery was rather disappointing, so I'm hoping that this 'Sister Pelagia' series will be better. I like a good crime novel, but John Grisham now seems to be writing moral fables, Kathy Reich's keeps copying Patricia Cornwell's plots, and I wonder about some crime authors - what kind of minds can come up with that kind of evil and brutality? And Patricia Cornwell is just too mean to poor Kay Scarpetta.

2. Andrew Drummond, A Handbook of Volapuk.

Battles over universal languages. I wonder if John Wilkins will get a mention? Speaking of universal languages, I saw a book on Amazon which looks interesting - Philosophical Languages in the Seventeenth Century: Dalgarno, Wilkins, Leibniz. Unfortunately, it's US$164.00, so I won't be buying it. Not today, anyway...

3. Marisha Pessl, Special Topics in Calamity Physics.

A coming-of-age murder mystery set around a Great Books course.

4. Simon Conway Morris, Life's Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe.

I heard Simon Conway Morris speak at Cambridge, and apart from being very entertaining to watch and listen to, he had some fascinating ideas that I'd never come across before. To put it simply, Conway Morris is suggesting that evolution has direction and a destination - intelligent, human-like creatures. So, even if the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs had missed the earth, something like us would still have evolved. And if there is life elsewhere in the universe, it is more likely to be similar to us than different. More on this once I've read the book. Don't hold your breath, though. I've got piles of unread books at home!

What are you going to do when you grow up?

This morning when I was waiting for my bagel to be toasted, the girl in the shop asked if I was heading to class. I told her that I'm doing a PhD, so I do research.

"PhD? What does that mean?"

"Doctor of Philosophy... but I'm doing it in the history of science."

"History of science? That sounds exciting."

"Well, I think it is."

"So what are you going to do when you grow up?"

"I'm hoping to stay in universities - be an academic."

"So you love learning?"

"Yes... and teaching."

"Oh, that's beautiful!"

I know I look young, but I'm sure that she couldn't have been any older. And I'd like to think that I'm already grown up! At least a little bit... But being asked questions like this is one of the downsides of being a PhD student. Usually the question is "What does that qualify you to do?" I find that a bit hard to answer. I think it comes from a rather vocational view of education, which I don't necessarily subscribe to. I'm all in favour of education for its own sake - learning for the sheer joy of learning. It's not just about learning 'facts' (if indeed there are such things). Education teaches people how to reason and think critically.

So what will my PhD qualify me to do? Think. And reason. And rip illogical or unfounded arguments to shreds.

With the teaching experience I'm gaining at the moment, and the publications that will hopefully happen sometime in the near future, I might one day be qualified for a real ('tenure track', if I leave Oz) academic position! And then I can continue researching and publishing in order to keep my position, and supervise more students to perpetuate the cycle!

Cracking up

While I had a wonderful time in Paris, I did feel that Dan Brown had ruined my experience, just a bit. Everywhere I went, I saw pyramids, and chalices, and rose windows. I barely saw anything that didn't make me think of The Da Vinci Code.

On our second day in Paris, Katrina and I visited the Louvre. We got there early, and made a beeline for the Mona Lisa so we could see it without too much of a crowd. It's not a very big painting, but I already knew that, so it wasn't a disappointment. Her eyes really do follow you around, too. Fortunately for Katrina, I managed to resist the urge to scream "I've cracked the code!" I was careful to notice that the perspective was painted differently on either side, which is supposed to make one side of her appear larger, thus emphasising the sacred feminine. Or so Dan Brown says. But he's an expert on these things, right?

The Louvre is a massive museum. I get museum fatigue rather quickly, and just looking at the size of the building made me feel tired! Katrina and I split up and wandered for about 3 hours before meeting for lunch. That would have been enough for me, but Katrina seemed determined to at least walk through every room in the museum. Unfortunately, I managed to misplace my ticket after lunch, so I couldn't get back in. I wasn't prepared to pay another 8 euros to buy another ticket, so I went for a wander in the Jardin de Tuileries.

The Louvre was certainly worth visiting, but I think that if I ever go back to Paris, I'll go at a time when there are less tourists, like the middle of winter. And I'll make sure I'm over my jet lag, so I can appreciate it more.

One book (to rule them all?)

Tagged by my brother Tim.

1. One book that changed your life:
Unnatural Enemies by Kirsten Birkett was quite influential in my decision to switch from Medical Science to History and Philosophy of Science, so I guess without it I would be an unhappy, failing medical student!

2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
SAS Survival Handbook: How to Survive in the Wild, in Any Climate, on Land or at Sea by John 'Lofty' Wiseman

4. One book that made you laugh:
How to Create a Flawless Universe In Just Eight Days by Godfather Publications

5. One book that made you cry:
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Shouldn't have been surprised, I guess.

6. One book that you wish had been written:
The Princess Bride by S. Morgenstern. As mentioned in The Princess Bride by William Goldman.

7. One book that you wish had never been written:
Wish by Peter Goldsworthy

8. One book you’re currently reading:
An Instance of the Fingerpost by Ian Pears. History of Science fiction set in Restoration Oxford. How fantastic is that?!

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
Prophets Facing Backward: Postmodern Critiques of Science and Hindu Nationalism in India
by Meera Nanda

10. Now tag five people:
Hmm... Not too many people with blogs who read this. Nick, Tim G, Karen (but she's probably already done this...)