Notes

[Notebook Turkey, DB 55]

[Sunday 15 September 2002 - Saturday 21 September 2002]

[page 110]

Sunday 15 September 2002

Monday 16 September 2002

natura / phusis : the world has a personality of its own and since one part can move (correlate) with another part, personalities can be shared (superposed)

Physical religion attempts to discern and respect the personality of the world. We need to be aware of the timescales of nature, in the range 10²⁰ to 10^-20 seconds, within which we will see about a one hundred year window down to a resolution of about one hundredth of a second, ie 10¹¹ to 10^-2 seconds.

We may look at personalities in two ways, active, self moving, or passive, moved by another.

. . .

We may divide theology into inclusive and exclusive. Exclusive religions tend to be missionary. The world delusion is to think that one's point of view and way of life are

[page 111]

the only valid ones, and non negotiable - solipsism. A global bureaucrat such as Kofi Annam has a lot to teach a simple [local] businessman like George Bush.

'Smash the system' as Bush might do. Experience has shown that smashing the system usually leads to a period of famine or genocide until a new system evolves. All systems must be designed for an orderly transition to the new system. Restumping, as with S's house or the leaning tower of Pisa requires a temporary support while the old support is replaced, otherwise the whole thing will fall down and probably hurt the restumpers. Those who would change the system must proceed incrementally, first identifying maladaptations, then designing and testing various fixes, and finally replacing the old system with the new.

Tuesday 17 September 2002

The work ethic. Work may be as pleasurable as play, or idleness. What is important is the balance. (Ross Gittins, Sydney Morning Herald from Bruno Frei and Alois Stutzer in the Journal of Economic Literature. Frey and Stutzer.)

The natural function of work is to correct 'errors' ie to fulfill natural appetites, to [establish and] maintain the systems to do this.

We seek to live in an environment where every need (and its coupled desire) is fulfilled.

The basic message always comes down to increasing security through order. The hope is that we can identify and implement an optimum level of order which maximizes security. This is the content of physical religion by analogy to the principle of least action.

Wednesday 18 September 2002

[page 112]

Thursday 19 September 2002

Physical religion : physical law : no thought police: people to be judged on their discernible actions vs people to be judged on thoughts and intentions. Precautionary principle says judge on action, but, if deliberateness cannot be proven then one is not guilty of the full consequences of the physical action, eg murder vs accidental killing.

On the other hand, in the case of the 'good' (harmonious with a whole) actions, one must not deprive the agent of glory even if what was done was done reluctantly or inadvertently?

Some would way that inadvertent actions lie outside the range of human morality, but the effects of such actions are also important, and it is negligent not to take steps to avoid inadvertent damage to another.

Friday 20 September 2002

Saturday 21 September 2002

Related sites

Concordat Watch

Revealing Vatican attempts to propagate its religion by international treaty

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Further reading

Books

Click on the "Amazon" link to see details of a book (and possibly buy it!)

Kreyszig, Erwin, Introductory Functional Analysis with Applications, John Wiley and Sons 1989 Amazon: 'Kreyszig's "Introductory Functional Analysis with Applications", provides a great introduction to topics in real and functional analysis. This book is part of the Wiley Classics Library and is extremely well written, with plenty of examples to illustrate important concepts. It can provide you with a solid base in these subjects, before one takes on the likes of Rudin and Royden. I had purchased a copy of this book, when I was taking a graduate course on real analysis and can only strongly recommend it to anyone else.' Krishnan S. Kartik   Amazon   back

Lonergan, Bernard J, and Michael G Shields, Grederick E Crow (Editors), The Ontological and Psychological Constitution of Christ, University of Toronto 2002 Amazon Book Description 'Bernard Lonergan's De constitutione Christi was written to accompany a course being taught in Latin at the Gregorian University, Rome during the 1950s and 60s. This little-known treatise, volume seven in the series, is presented in English translation, accompanied by the original Latin text. Here, Lonergan tackles the metaphysical and psychological questions raised by the unique makeup of Christ, who is both fully human and fully divine, according to traditional Christian theology. His analysis falls into two parts: ontological and psychological. In dealing with the ontology of the incarnate Word, Lonergan explores the notion of person, and in doing so provides an interesting treatment of the existential question of personal authenticity raised by Kierkegaard and treated by Lonergan under the heading of Existez. Moving into his psychological analysis, he argues that consciousness is not a matter of introspection, a perception of oneself as object, but rather an awareness of oneself as subject. He then applies this understanding to the self-awareness of Christ, with particular reference to the question of Christ's knowledge of himself as both human and divine. This book is a foundational text in critical areas of contemporary theology; however, it was never widely circulated and has remained effectively unknown to contemporary scholars. With this translation the work will finally be made accessible'  Amazon   back

Peacock, John A, Cosmological Physics, Cambridge University Press 1999 Nature Book Review: 'The intermingling of observational detail and fundamental theory has made cosmology an exceptionally rich, exciting and controversial science. Students in the field — whether observers or particle theorists — are expected to be acquainted with matters ranging from the Supernova Ia distance scale, Big Bang nucleosynthesis theory, scale-free quantum fluctuations during inflation, the galaxy two-point correlation function, particle theory candidates for the dark matter, and the star formation history of the Universe. Several general science books, conference proceedings and specialized monographs have addressed these issues. Peacock's Cosmological Physics ambitiously fills the void for introducing students with a strong undergraduate background in physics to the entire world of current physical cosmology. The majestic sweep of his discussion of this vast terrain is awesome, and is bound to capture the imagination of most students.' Ray Carlberg, Nature 399:322  Amazon   back

Papers

Atran, Scott, Robert Axelrod, Richard Davis, "Sacred Barriers to Conflict Resolution", Science, 371, 5841, 24 August 2007, page 1039-1040. 'Our research team has measured emotional outrage and propensity for violence in reaponse to peace deals involving compromises over issues integral to Israeli-Palestinian conflict with Israei settlers, Palestinian refugees, and Hamas versus non-Hamas students. Our proposed compromises were exchaning land for peace, sovereignty over Jerusalem, the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their former lands and homes inside Israel, and recognition of the validity of the adversary's own sacred values. We found that the use of material incentives to promote the peaceful resolutiuon of political and cultural conflicts may backfire when adversaries treat contested issues as sacred values. Symbolc concessions of no apparent material benefit may be the key in helping to solve seemingly intractable conflicts.'. back

Frey, Bruno S, Alois Stutzer, "What Can Economists Learn from Happiness Research? ", Journal of Economic Literature, 40, 2, June 2002, page . Abstract: 'In recent years, there has been a steadily increasing interest on the part of economists in happiness research. We argue that reported subjective well-being is a satisfactory empirical approximation to individual utility and that happiness research is able to contribute important insights for economics. We report how the economic variables income, unemployment and inflation affect happiness as well as how institutional factors, in particular the type of democracy and the extent of government decentralization, systematically influence how satisfied individuals are with their life. We discuss some of the consequences for economic policy and for economic theory.' . back

Links

AEAWeb Journal of Economic Literature Editor's Note: 'The Journal's purpose is to help economists keep up with the ever-increasing volume of economics research. This goal is effected by publishing survey articles and essays, book reviews, and an extensive bibliographic guide to the contents of current economics periodicals.' back

Genesis Genesis, from the Holy Bible, King James Version from the Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library back

Plato The Internet Classics Archive | Works by Plato Apology    Translated by Benjamin Jowett     Charmides, or Temperance    Written 380 B.C.E    Translated by Benjamin Jowett     Cratylus    Written 360 B.C.E    Translated by Benjamin Jowett    Critias    Written 360 B.C.E    Translated by Benjamin Jowett     Crito    Written 360 B.C.E    Translated by Benjamin Jowett     Euthydemus    Written 380 B.C.E    Translated by Benjamin Jowett     Euthyphro    Written 380 B.C.E    Translated by Benjamin Jowett    Gorgias    Written 380 B.C.E    Translated by Benjamin Jowett     Ion    Written 380 B.C.E    Translated by Benjamin Jowett     Laches, or Courage    Written 380 B.C.E    Translated by Benjamin Jowett    Laws    Written 360 B.C.E    Translated by Benjamin Jowett     Lysis, or Friendship    Written 380 B.C.E    Translated by Benjamin Jowett     Meno    Written 380 B.C.E    Translated by Benjamin Jowett     Parmenides    Written 370 B.C.E    Translated by Benjamin Jowett     Phaedo    Written 360 B.C.E    Translated by Benjamin Jowett     Phaedrus    Written 360 B.C.E    Translated by Benjamin Jowett    Philebus    Written 360 B.C.E    Translated by Benjamin Jowett     Protagoras    Written 380 B.C.E    Translated by Benjamin Jowett    The Republic    Written 360 B.C.E    Translated by Benjamin Jowett     The Seventh Letter    Written 360 B.C.E    Translated by J. Harward    Sophist    Written 360 B.C.E    Translated by Benjamin Jowett     Statesman    Written 360 B.C.E    Translated by Benjamin Jowett     Symposium    Written 360 B.C.E    Translated by Benjamin Jowett     Theaetetus    Written 360 B.C.E    Translated by Benjamin Jowett     Timaeus    Written 360 B.C.E    Translated by Benjamin Jowett     back