Auyang (1995), Sunny Y., How is Quantum Field Theory Possible?, Oxford University Press 1995 Jacket: 'Quantum field theory (QFT) combines quantum mechanics with Einstein's special theory of relativity and underlies elementary particle physics. This book presents a philosophical analysis of QFT. It is the first treatise in which the philosophies of space-time, quantum phenomena and particle interactions are encompassed in a unified framework.' 
Amazon   back

Barth, Karl, Church Dogmatics , T&T Clark Ltd 2005 'Product Description The most important theological work of the 20th century in a new edition! Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics is one of the major theological works of the 20th century. The Swiss-German theologian Karl Barth (1886-1968) was the most original and significant Reformed theologian of the twentieth century. He was one of the central figures in the Confessing Church in Germany, which opposed the Nazi Regime. Barth began the Church Dogmatics in 1932 and continued working on its thirteen volumes until the end of his life. Barth's writings continue to guide and instruct the preaching and teaching of pastors and academics worldwide. The English translation was prepared by a team of scholars and edited by G. W. Bromiley and T. F. Torrance and published from 1936. A team of scholars and specialists at Princeton Theological Seminary have started revising the existing translation. The first step was the translation of Greek, Latin, Hebrew and French passages into English. The original is now presented alongside the English translation. This makes the work more reader friendly and accessible to the growing number of students who do not have a working knowledge of the ancient languages. This new edition with translations is presented for the first time in print. The new edition is presented in a new bigger format and broken down into 31 paperback volumes. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.' 
Amazon   back

Cohen, Paul J, Set Theory and the Continuum Hypothesis, Benjamin/Cummings 1966-1980 Preface: 'The notes that follow are based on a course given at Harvard University, Spring 1965. The main objective was to give the proof of the independence of the continuum hypothesis [from the Zermelo-Fraenkel axioms for set theory with the axiom of choice included]. To keep the course as self contained as possible we included background materials in logic and axiomatic set theory as well as an account of Gödel's proof of the consistency of the continuum hypothesis. . . .'  
Amazon   back

Dawkins, Richard, The Selfish Gene , Oxford UP 1976 Amazon: Editorial review: 'Inheriting the mantle of revolutionary biologist from Darwin, Watson, and Crick, Richard Dawkins forced an enormous change in the way we see ourselves and the world with the publication of The Selfish Gene. Suppose, instead of thinking about organisms using genes to reproduce themselves, as we had since Mendel's work was rediscovered, we turn it around and imagine that "our" genes build and maintain us in order to make more genes. That simple reversal seems to answer many puzzlers which had stumped scientists for years, and we haven't thought of evolution in the same way since.' Rob Lightner 
Amazon   back

Denzinger, Henricus, and Adolphus Schoenmetzer, Enchiridion Symbolorum, Definitionum et Declarationum de Rebus Fidei et Morum, Herder 1963 Introduction: 'Dubium non est quin praeter s. Scripturam cuique theologo summe desiderandus sit etiam liber manualis quo contineantur edicta Magisterii ecclesiastici eaque saltem maioris momenti, et quo ope variorim indicum quaerenti aperiantur eorum materiae.' (3) 'There is no doubt that in addition to holy Scripture, every theologian also needs a handbook which contains at least the more important edicts of the Magisterium of the Church, indexed in a way which makes them easy to find.' back

Golding, William, Lord of the Flies, Faber and Faber 1973 Amazon.com Review 'William Golding's classic tale about a group of English schoolboys who are plane-wrecked on a deserted island is just as chilling and relevant today as when it was first published in 1954. At first, the stranded boys cooperate, attempting to gather food, make shelters, and maintain signal fires. Overseeing their efforts are Ralph, "the boy with fair hair," and Piggy, Ralph's chubby, wisdom-dispensing sidekick whose thick spectacles come in handy for lighting fires. Although Ralph tries to impose order and delegate responsibility, there are many in their number who would rather swim, play, or hunt the island's wild pig population. Soon Ralph's rules are being ignored or challenged outright. His fiercest antagonist is Jack, the redheaded leader of the pig hunters, who manages to lure away many of the boys to join his band of painted savages. The situation deteriorates as the trappings of civilization continue to fall away, until Ralph discovers that instead of being hunters, he and Piggy have become the hunted: "He forgot his words, his hunger and thirst, and became fear; hopeless fear on flying feet." Golding's gripping novel explores the boundary between human reason and animal instinct, all on the brutal playing field of adolescent competition.' --Jennifer Hubert - 
Amazon   back

Khinchin (1998), Aleksandr Yakovlevich, The Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Statistics, Dover 1998 'In the area of quantum statistics, I show that a rigorous mathematical basis of the computational formulas of statistical physics . . . may be obtained from an elementary application of the well-developed limit theorems of the theory of probability.' 
Amazon   back

Küng, Hans, Justification: The Docrine of Karl Barth and a Catholic Reflection , Thomas Nelson & Sons 1964 Jacket: 'No other work in English strikes so directly at the theological split between Catholic and classical Protestant Christianity as this book with which Hans Küng estrablished himself as one of the Catholic Church's leading and most able theologians. The point at issue here is the decisive question of the Protestant Reformation: In what circumstances may man be regarded as justified before God? . . . ' 
Amazon   back

Le Carre, John, The Russia House, Knopf; 0394577892 1989 Amazon Editorial Reviews From Publishers Weekly 'The master of the spy novel has discovered perestroika , and the genre may never be the same again . Le Carre's latest is both brilliantly up-to-date and cheeringly hopeful in a way readers of the Smiley books could never have anticipated. Barley Blair is a down-at-heels, jazz-loving London publisher who impresses a dissident Soviet physicist during a drunken evening at a Moscow Book Fair. When the physicist attempts to have Barley publish his insider's study of the chaotic state of Soviet defense, British intelligence steps in. Barley, after extensive vetting by both MI5 and the CIA, is made the go-between for further invaluable information, and in the process becomes involved with the physicist's former lover, Katya. The portraits of American and British intelligence agents are, as always, wonderfully acute, and the plot is a dazzling creation. Le Carre's Russia is funny and touching by turns but always convincing, and the love affair between Barley and Katya, subtly understated, is by far the warmest the author has created. But the singing quality of The Russia House , written at the height of le Carre's powers, is its pervading sense of the increasing waste and irrelevance of ongoing cold-war machinations: "That is . . the tragedy of great nations. So much talent bursting to be used, so much goodness longing to come out. Yet all so miserably spoken for that sometimes we could scarcely believe it was America speaking to us at all." Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.  
Amazon   back

Lonergan (1992), Bernard J F, Insight: A Study of Human Understanding (Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan : Volume 3), University of Toronto Press 1992 '. . . Bernard Lonergan's masterwork. Its aim is nothing less than insight into insight itself, an understanding of understanding' 
Amazon   back

Miles, Jack, God: A Biography, Vintage Books 1996 Jacket: 'Jack Miles's remarkable work examines the hero of the Old Testament . . . from his first appearance as Creator to his last as Ancient of Days. . . . We see God torn by conflicting urges. To his own sorrow, he is by turns destructive and creative, vain and modest, subtle and naive, ruthless and tender, lawful and lawless, powerful yet powerless, omniscient and blind.' 
Amazon   back

Nichols, Peter, The Pope's Divisions: The Roman Catholic Church Today, Henry Holt & Co ISBN-13: 978-0030475764 1984 Jacket: 'About eighteen percent of the world's population is Roman Catholic, and there is no bigger or more influential religious body that the Catholic Church. . . . Rome correspondent of The Times of London for more than twenty years, sympathetic to the Church although not himself a Catholic, Peter Nichols is closely familiar with the Curia and its functionaries and an absorbed observer of recent Popes and Papal elections. ... ' 
Amazon   back

Rossano, Matt, Supernatural Selection: How Religion Evolved, Oxford University Press 2010 'In 2006, scientist Richard Dawkins published a blockbuster bestseller, The God Delusion. This atheist manifesto sparked a furious reaction from believers, who have responded with numerous books of their own. By pitting science against religion, however, this debate overlooks what science can tell us about religion. According to evolutionary psychologist Matt J. Rossano, what science reveals is that religion made us human. In Supernatural Selection, Rossano presents an evolutionary history of religion. Neither an apologist for religion nor a religion-basher, he draws together evidence from a wide range of disciplines to show the valuable--even essential--adaptive purpose served by systematic belief in the supernatural. The roots of religion stretch as far back as half a million years, when our ancestors developed the motor control to engage in social rituals--that is, to sing and dance together. Then, about 70,000 years ago, a global ecological crisis drove humanity to the edge of extinction. It forced the survivors to create new strategies for survival, and religious rituals were foremost among them. Fundamentally, Rossano writes, religion is a way for humans to relate to each other and the world around them--and, in the grim struggles of prehistory, it offered significant survival and reproductive advantages.' 
Amazon   back

Streater (2000), Raymond F, and Arthur S Wightman, PCT, Spin, Statistics and All That, Princeton University Press 2000 Amazon product description: 'PCT, Spin and Statistics, and All That is the classic summary of and introduction to the achievements of Axiomatic Quantum Field Theory. This theory gives precise mathematical responses to questions like: What is a quantized field? What are the physically indispensable attributes of a quantized field? Furthermore, Axiomatic Field Theory shows that a number of physically important predictions of quantum field theory are mathematical consequences of the axioms. Here Raymond Streater and Arthur Wightman treat only results that can be rigorously proved, and these are presented in an elegant style that makes them available to a broad range of physics and theoretical mathematics.' 
Amazon   back

Veltman (2003), Martinus, Facts and Mysteries in Elementary Particle Physics, World Scientific 2003 'Introduction: The twentieth century has seen an enormous progress in physics. The fundamental physics of the first half of the century was dominated by the theory of relativity, Einstein's theory of gravitation and the theory of quantum mechanics. The second half of the century saw the rise of elementary particle physics. . . . Through this development there has been a subtle change in point of view. In Einstein's theory space and time play an overwhelming dominant role. . . . The view that we would like to defend can perhaps best be explaned by an analogy. To us, space-time and the laws of quantum mechanics are like the decor, the setting of a play. The elementary articles are the actors, and physics is what they do. . . . Thus in this book the elementary particles are the central objects.' 
Amazon   back

Rees, Martin, "The Royal Society's Wider Role", Science, 328, 5986, 25 June 2010, page 1611. 'Martin Rees is Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, UK, and president of the Royal Society.

The royal society is currently celebrating its 350th anniversary. In its earlier years, Christopher Wren, Robert Hooke, Robert Boyle, Samuel Pepys, and other "ingenious and curious gentlemen" met regularly in London. Their motto was to "accept nothing on authority." They did experiments, peered through newly invented telescopes and microscopes, and dissected weird animals. But, as well as indulging their curiosity, they were immersed in the practical agenda of their era: improving navigation, exploring the New World, and rebuilding London after the Great Fire of 1666. . . .'. back

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Xi Jinping’s totalitarian regime cannot coexist with the democratic world , ' Defectors invariably paint their erstwhile regimes in the grimmest of colours. Cai Xia’s forensic broadside on the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China (CCP) is as grim as it gets. Professor Cai taught for 15 years at the Central Party School, the sanctum sanctorum of the Communist elite and the motor engine of revanchist doctrine. The cadres learned that there can be no modus vivendi with “American imperialist wolves”. The foe must be smashed. Her long essay on the CCP’s ideological reflexes published by the Hoover Institution should be read with caution but it is nevertheless a seminal text for our time. It is both an exposé of the incorrigible character of this totalitarian beast but also an indictment of Western wishful thinking over forty years of failed strategic engagement.' back

Anglican Church League, The Thirty Nine Articles, 'THE ARTICLES OF RELIGION Agreed upon by the Archbishops, Bishops, and the whole clergy of the Provinces of Canterbury and York, London, 1562 Article I Of Faith in the Holy Trinity There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions; of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the Maker, and Preserver of all things both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there be three Persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. . . . ' back

Aquinas 1209, Whether those things that are of faith should be divided into certain articles, ' On the contrary, Isidore says: "An article is a glimpse of Divine truth, tending thereto." Now we can only get a glimpse of Divine truth by way of analysis, since things which in God are one, are manifold in our intellect. Therefore matters of faith should be divided into articles.' back

Aquinas, Summa: I, 14, 1, Is there knowledge in God?, ' I answer that, In God there exists the most perfect knowledge. . . . it is clear that the immateriality of a thing is the reason why it is cognitive; and according to the mode of immateriality is the mode of knowledge. Hence it is said in De Anima ii that plants do not know, because they are wholly material. But sense is cognitive because it can receive images free from matter, and the intellect is still further cognitive, because it is more separated from matter and unmixed, as said in De Anima iii. Since therefore God is in the highest degree of immateriality as stated above (Question 7, Article 1), it follows that He occupies the highest place in knowledge.' back

Biome - Wikipedia, Biome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' A biome is a collection of organisms that have adaptations for the environment in which they exist. They can be found over a range of continents. Biomes are distinct biological communities that have formed in response to a shared physical climate. Biome is a broader term than habitat; any biome can comprise a variety of habitats.' back

Black Widow (2021 film) - Wikipedia, Black Widow (2021 film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Black Widow is a 2021 American superhero film based on Marvel Comics featuring the character of the same name. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the 24th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Cate Shortland from a screenplay by Eric Pearson, and stars Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow alongside Florence Pugh, David Harbour, O-T Fagbenle, Olga Kurylenko, William Hurt, Ray Winstone, and Rachel Weisz.' back

Cai Xia, China-US Relations In The Eyes Of The Chinese Communist Party: An Insider’s Perspective, ' How does the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) view the China-US relationship, and what factors have shaped China’s approach to the United States? As a former insider in the CCP and professor at the Central Party School for many years, I would like to offer here some personal reflections on these questions (even though I am not an expert on Sino-American relations).' back

Camilla Nelson, The ‘madness’ of Julia Banks — why narratives about ‘hysterical’ women are so toxic, ' Banks, with decades of experience working in male-dominated professions, thought she could see what Morrison and his colleagues were doing. But it is much easier to call out overt acts. If diffuse and low-level untruths are repeated constantly, the danger is the public starts believing that there must be something wrong. Banks description of Morrison as “menacing, controlling wallpaper” is an apt description of the tangible and intangible barriers that so many aspiring women face.' back

Camilla Nelson & Meg Vertigan, Misogyny, male rage and the words men use to describe Greta Thttps://theconversation.com/misogyny-male-rage-and-the-words-men-use-to-describe-greta-thunberg-124347hunberg, ' Greta Thunberg obviously scares some men silly. The bullying of the teenager by conservative middle-aged men has taken on a grim, almost hysterical edge. And some of them are reaching deep into the misogynist’s playbook to divert focus from her message. . . . In Australia, Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt has called Thunberg “freakishly influential … with many mental disorders”. Sky News commentator Chris Kenny described her as a “hysterical teenager” who needs to be cared for.' back

Carter Malkasian, What America Didn’t Understand About Its Longest War, ' I have found no single answer to why we lost the war. While various explanations address different parts of the puzzle, the one I want to highlight here can perhaps be seen most clearly in the conversations I’ve had with the Taliban themselves, often in their native Pashto. “The Taliban fight for belief, for janat (heaven) and ghazi (killing infidels). … The army and police fight for money,” a Taliban religious scholar from Kandahar told me in 2019. “The Taliban are willing to lose their head to fight. … How can the army and police compete?” ' back

Christopher Shields, Aristotle (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), First published Thu Sep 25, 2008 'Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.) numbers among the greatest philosophers of all time. Judged solely in terms of his philosophical influence, only Plato is his peer: . . . A prodigious researcher and writer, Aristotle left a great body of work, perhaps numbering as many as two-hundred treatises, from which approximately thirty-one survive. His extant writings span a wide range of disciplines, from logic, metaphysics and philosophy of mind, through ethics, political theory, aesthetics and rhetoric, and into such primarily non-philosophical fields as empirical biology, where he excelled at detailed plant and animal observation and taxonomy. In all these areas, Aristotle's theories have provided illumination, met with resistance, sparked debate, and generally stimulated the sustained interest of an abiding readership.' back

Christopher Shields - Aristotle, Aristotle (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), First published Thu Sep 25, 2008 'Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.) numbers among the greatest philosophers of all time. Judged solely in terms of his philosophical influence, only Plato is his peer: . . . A prodigious researcher and writer, Aristotle left a great body of work, perhaps numbering as many as two-hundred treatises, from which approximately thirty-one survive. His extant writings span a wide range of disciplines, from logic, metaphysics and philosophy of mind, through ethics, political theory, aesthetics and rhetoric, and into such primarily non-philosophical fields as empirical biology, where he excelled at detailed plant and animal observation and taxonomy. In all these areas, Aristotle's theories have provided illumination, met with resistance, sparked debate, and generally stimulated the sustained interest of an abiding readership.' back

Continuous function - Wikipedia, Continuous function - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'IIn mathematics, a continuous function is a function for which, intuitively, "small" changes in the input result in "small" changes in the output. Otherwise, a function is said to be a "discontinuous function". A continuous function with a continuous inverse function is called "bicontinuous".' back

Cosmological constant problem - Wikipedia, Cosmological constant problem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In cosmology, the cosmological constant problem or vacuum catastrophe is the disagreement between measured values of the vacuum energy density (the small value of the cosmological constant) and the zero-point energy suggested by quantum field theory. Depending on the assumptions[which?], the discrepancy ranges from 40 to more than 100 orders of magnitude, a state of affairs described by Hobson et al. (2006) as "the worst theoretical prediction in the history of physics." ' back

Cybernetics - Wikipedia, Cybernetics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Cybernetics is a transdisciplinary approach for exploring regulatory systems, their structures, constraints, and possibilities. Cybernetics is relevant to the study of systems, such as mechanical, physical, biological, cognitive, and social systems. Cybernetics is applicable when a system being analyzed is involved in a closed signaling loop; that is, where action by the system generates some change in its environment and that change is reflected in that system in some manner (feedback) that triggers a system change, originally referred to as a "circular causal" relationship.' back

Cyclic group - Wikipedia, Cyclic group - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' In group theory, a branch of abstract algebra, a cyclic group or monogenous group is a group that is generated by a single element. That is, it is a set of invertible elements with a single associative binary operation, and it contains an element g such that every other element of the group may be obtained by repeatedly applying the group operation to g or its inverse. Each element can be written as a power of g in multiplicative notation, or as a multiple of gin additive notation. This element g is called a generator of the group.' back

David H Petraeus & James F Amos, Counterinsurgency, Preface 'This field manual/Marine Corps warfighting publication establishes doctrine (fundamental principles) for mili- tary operations in a counterinsurgency (COIN) environment. It is based on lessons learned from previous coun- terinsurgencies and contemporary operations. It is also based on existing interim doctrine and doctrine recently developed. Counterinsurgency operations generally have been neglected in broader American military doctrine and na- tional security policies since the end of the Vietnam War over 30 years ago. This manual is designed to reverse that trend. It is also designed to merge traditional approaches to COIN with the realities of a new international arena shaped by technological advances, globalization, and the spread of extremist ideologies—some of them claiming the authority of a religious faith. ' back

Discrete mathematics - Wikipedia, Discrete mathematics - Wikipedia,the free encyclopedia, 'Discrete mathematics is the study of mathematical structures that are fundamentally discrete rather than continuous. In contrast to real numbers that have the property of varying "smoothly", the objects studied in discrete mathematics – such as integers, graphs, and statements in logic – do not vary smoothly in this way, but have distinct, separated values.[2] Discrete mathematics therefore excludes topics in "continuous mathematics" such as calculus and analysis.' back

Euclid - Wikipedia, Euclid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Euclid (Greek: Εὐκλείδης Eukleidēs; fl. 300 BC), sometimes called Euclid of Alexandria to distinguish him from Euclid of Megara, was a Greek mathematician, often referred to as the "Father of Geometry". He was active in Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy I (323–283 BC). His Elements is one of the most influential works in the history of mathematics, serving as the main textbook for teaching mathematics (especially geometry) from the time of its publication until the late 19th or early 20th century. In the Elements, Euclid deduced the principles of what is now called Euclidean geometry from a small set of axioms. Euclid also wrote works on perspective, conic sections, spherical geometry, number theory and rigor.' back

Farnaz Fassihi, They Were the Nice, Older Couple Next Door. Then the First Body Turned Up., ' Over the past year, so-called honor killings have been making headlines in Iran. One involved a 20-year-old gay man killed by his brother and cousins, and another a 14-year-old girl beheaded by her father in a small village after running away with her boyfriend. In a changing society, as younger, more progressive Iranians chafe under the demands of their older family members, the killings have brought about something of a reckoning. There have been renewed demands to reform Iran’s penal code, which, based on Islamic sharia law, stipulates that as guardians of their children, fathers and grandfathers are exempt from the death penalty for their murder. The maximum punishment they face is 10 years in prison.' back

Football Federation Australia, Football Australia Home, 'Football Federation Australia (FFA) is a member of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the international governing body for football. Information regarding FIFA is available at www.fifa.com FFA is[also] a member of the Asian Football Confederation, having joined that body on 1 January 2006. Information regarding the Asian Football Confederation is available at www.the-afc.com FFA is the governing body for football in Australia. Therefore, FFA is responsible for governance of the game in Australia, ensuring the world’s most popular sport is conducted to the highest of standards and continuing the growth and development of the game. back

General covariance - Wikipedia, General covariance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, In theoretical physics, general covariance (also known as diffeomorphism covariance or general invariance) is the invariance of the form of physical laws under arbitrary differentiable coordinate transformations. The essential idea is that coordinates do not exist a priori in nature, but are only artifices used in describing nature, and hence should play no role in the formulation of fundamental physical laws.' back

George Smith, Isaac Newton (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) , First published Wed Dec 19, 2007 'Isaac Newton (1642–1727) is best known for having invented the calculus in the mid to late 1660s (most of a decade before Leibniz did so independently, and ultimately more influentially) and for having formulated the theory of universal gravity — the latter in his Principia, the single most important work in the transformation of early modern natural philosophy into modern physical science. Yet he also made major discoveries in optics beginning in the mid-1660s and reaching across four decades; and during the course of his 60 years of intense intellectual activity he put no less effort into chemical and alchemical research and into theology and biblical studies than he put into mathematics and physics.' back

Holy See, Congregation for Bishops - Index, back

Holy See Press Office, Synod of Bishops, 'During the work of Vatican Council II, the Fathers at the Council explored the idea (manifested in the Decrees Christus Dominus [N. 5] and Ad Gentes [N. 29]) of enlivening the true spirit of collegiality, that is to say the conviction that the Pope, in his work as Universal Shepherd of the Church, could exercise his union with the Bishops, Members of the same episcopal order as the Bishop of Rome, in a more obvious and efficient way. To achieve this, Pope Paul VI, in his Apostolic Letter "Motu proprio" Apostolica sollicitudo, dated September 15th 1965 (AAS 57 [1865] 775-780), created the Synod of Bishops for the entire Church, the fruit of conciliar experiences, determining the structure and the institutional task: «The Apostolic concern leading Us to carefully survey the signs of the times and to make every effort to adapt the means and methods of the holy apostolate to the changing circumstances and need of our day, impels Us to establish even closer ties with the bishops in order to strengthen Our union with them "whom the Holy Spirit has placed [...] to rule the Church of God" (Acts 20:28)' back

Jeffrey Nicholls (2008), On the (non-) quantization of gravitation, ' Shannon has shown that we can approach error free transmission over a noisy channel by encoding our messages into packets so far apart in message space that the probability of confusion is minimal. . . . This correspondence enables us to interpret quantization as a consequence of the error free communication which (we assume) underlies the stability of universal structure. Conversely, we should not expect to find quantization where error is impossible, that is in a regime where every possible message is a valid message. Since gravitation couples universally to energy alone, and is blind to the particular nature of the particles or fields associated with energy, we can imagine that gravitation involves unconstrained and therefore intrinsically error free and non-quantized interaction.' back

Jeffrey Nicholls (2020a), On creating the world, ' We might attribute the explosive development in mathematics since the end of the nineteenth century to the philosophy of formalism which liberated mathematics from its connection to observed reality and required only that it be an internally consistent symbolic system. Formalism exemplifies the role of unconstrained creative thought in arriving at understanding and exploitation of our environment, the heart of human evolution. A leading example of this phenomenon is Cantor's construction of the transfinite numbers which places mathematics and physics on a new basis. I wish to bring theology into the scientific domain by exploring the hypothesis that the universe is divine. This essay suggests some of the consequences, which amount to a cognitive cosmology, flowing into physics from this assumption. back

Jeffrey Nicholls (2020b), A prolegomenon to cognitive cosmology, ' Since ancient times philosophers, physicists and astronomers have sought a comprehensive model of the universe. The current modern model comes in two incompatible parts, the general theory of relativity and the standard model. If the universe is one and consistent, and began with a single initial singularity, it should be possible to unite these two pieces. Success has been elusive, however, casting some doubt on progress so far. Further, while current attempts to create a unified model of the universe concentrate on fundamental particles, it seems that a comprehensive model should embrace all stages in the emergence of the current universe from it initial state: it must explain creation, the most interesting property of both the universe and human mentality.' back

Jenann Ismael, Quantum Mechanics (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), First published Wed Nov 29, 2000; substantive revision Tue Sep 1, 2009 'Quantum mechanics is, at least at first glance and at least in part, a mathematical machine for predicting the behaviors of microscopic particles — or, at least, of the measuring instruments we use to explore those behaviors — and in that capacity, it is spectacularly successful: in terms of power and precision, head and shoulders above any theory we have ever had. . . . The question of what kind of a world it describes, however, is controversial; there is very little agreement, among physicists and among philosophers, about what the world is like according to quantum mechanics.' back

John Palmer - Parmenides, Parmenides (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), First published Fri Feb 8, 2008 'Immediately after welcoming Parmenides to her abode, the goddess describes as follows the content of the revelation he is about to receive:
You must needs learn all things,/ both the unshaken heart of well-rounded reality/ and the notions of mortals, in which there is no genuine trustworthiness./ Nonetheless these things too will you learn, how what they resolved/ had actually to be, all through all pervading. (Fr. 1.28b-32) ' back

John Palmer - Zeno, Zeno of Elea (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), 'Zeno of Elea, 5th c. B.C. thinker, is known exclusively for propounding a number of ingenious paradoxes. The most famous of these purport to show that motion is impossible by bringing to light apparent or latent contradictions in ordinary assumptions regarding its occurrence. Zeno also argued against the commonsense assumption that there are many things by showing in various ways how it, too, leads to contradiction.' back

John Paul II, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis: Apostolic Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on Reserving Priestly Ordination to Men Alone., 'When the question of the ordination of women arose in the Anglican Communion, Pope Paul VI, out of fidelity to his office of safeguarding the Apostolic Tradition, and also with a view to removing a new obstacle placed in the way of Christian unity, reminded Anglicans of the position of the Catholic Church: "She holds that it is not admissible to ordain women to the priesthood, for very fundamental reasons. These reasons include: the example recorded in the Sacred Scriptures of Christ choosing his Apostles only from among men; the constant practice of the Church, which has imitated Christ in choosing only men; and her living teaching authority which has consistently held that the exclusion of women from the priesthood is in accordance with God's plan for his Church." back

Juan Yin et al (2013), Lower Bound on the Speed of Nonlocal Correlations without Locality and Measurement Choice Loopholes , ' In their well-known paper, Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen called the nonlocal correlation in quantum entanglement a “spooky action at a distance.” If the spooky action does exist, what is its speed? All previous experiments along this direction have locality and freedom-of-choice loopholes. Here, we strictly closed the loopholes by observing a 12 h continuous violation of the Bell inequality and concluded that the lower bound speed of spooky action was 4 orders of magnitude of the speed of light if Earth’s speed in any inertial reference frame was less than 10-3 time the speed of light. ' back

Kevin Rudd, Greg Hunt has failed to vaccinate the nation and must go, ' Breakdowns of fundamental standards of governance don’t come much bigger than the Morrison government’s medley of pandemic policy and performance failures on aged care, quarantine and vaccination. For these reasons, Health Minister Greg Hunt should resign, or else Morrison should dismiss him now.' back

Leonid Bershidsky, Why Both Russians and Americans Got Nowhere in Afghanistan, ' In other words, no matter what your values, no matter how much time you spend or how many soldiers you lose, no matter whether you’re on the winning or the losing side in geopolitical battles, what you’ll leave behind in Afghanistan is scenes of looting, a weak regime too dependent on your support and unlikely to hold out much longer, tough local fighters who feel vindicated for years of hardship, and gloating Pakistani generals across the border. Another constant: Afghanistan’s flourishing opiate industry, which neither the Soviets nor the Americans could undermine.' back

Lèse-majesté in Thailand - Wikipedia, Lèse-majesté in Thailand - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Section 112 of Thai Criminal Code currently reads as follows: "Whoever defames, insults or threatens the King, the Queen, the Heir-apparent or the Regent, shall be punished with imprisonment of three to fifteen years".' back

LLL Media Group, Inc, Tantra * Kama Sutra * Tantric Sex, 'Like meditation and yoga, Tantric sex is a spiritual practice. It is not aimed at self-indulgence or pleasure as an end in itself. Tantra uses sexual energy, with all of its rawness, social stigma, fear, and vulnerability to crack open our egos so that we can be present with our lovers, and ultimately, with ourselves.' back

Mach's principle - Wikipedia, Mach's principle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In theoretical physics, particularly in discussions of gravitation theories, Mach's principle (or Mach's conjecture) is the name given by Einstein to an imprecise hypothesis often credited to the physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach. The idea is that the local motion of a rotating reference frame is determined by the large scale distribution of matter, as exemplified by this anecdote: You are standing in a field looking at the stars. Your arms are resting freely at your side, and you see that the distant stars are not moving. Now start spinning. The stars are whirling around you and your arms are pulled away from your body. Why should your arms be pulled away when the stars are whirling? Why should they be dangling freely when the stars don't move?' back

Mariology of the popes - Wikipedia, Mariology of the popes - Wikipedia, 'The Mariology of the popes is the theological study of the influence that the popes have had on the development, formulation and transformation of the Roman Catholic Church’s doctrines and devotions relating to Mary, the Mother of God. The growth path of Mariology over the centuries has been influenced by a number of forces and factors, among which papal directives and decisions have often represented key milestones. Throughout history, popes have highlighted the link between Mary and the full acceptance of Jesus Christ as son of God.' back

Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance, Alliance Online, 'The Alliance is the union and professional organisation which covers everyone in the media, entertainment, sports and arts industries. Our 30,000 members include people working in TV, radio, theatre & film, entertainment venues, recreation grounds, journalists, actors, dancers, sportspeople, cartoonists, photographers, orchestral & opera performers as well as people working in public relations, advertising, book publishing & website production ...in fact everyone who works in the industries that inform or entertain Australians.' back

Meinard Kuhlmann, Quantum Field Theory (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), First published Thu Jun 22, 2006 'Quantum Field Theory (QFT) is the mathematical and conceptual framework for contemporary elementary particle physics. . . . QFT is presently the best starting point for analysing the fundamental features of matter and interactions.

During the last two decades QFT became a more and more vividly discussed topic in philosophy of physics. QFT is an attractive topic for philosophers with respect to methodology, semantics as well as ontology. Indeed, from a methodological point of view QFT is much more a set of formal strategies and mathematical tools than a closed theory. Its development was accompanied by problems provoked by the application of badly defined mathematics. Nevertheless, empirically such pragmatic approaches have been far more successful so far than more rigorous formulations. How could such a theory work for more than 70 years? Since mathematical reasoning dominated the heuristics of QFT, its interpretation is open in most areas which go beyond the immediate empirical predictions.' back

Noosphere - Wikipedia, Noosphere - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The noosphere . . . is the sphere of human thought.The word derives from the Greek νοῦς (nous "mind") and σφαῖρα (sphaira "sphere"), in lexical analogy to "atmosphere" and "biosphere". It was introduced by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in 1922 in his Cosmogenesis.' back

Parmenides - Wikipedia, Parmenides - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Parmenides of Elea (early 5th century BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Elea, a Greek city on the southern coast of Italy. He was the founder of the Eleatic school of philosophy, his only known work is a poem which has survived only in fragmentary form. In it, Parmenides describes two views of reality. In the Way of Truth, he explained how reality is one; change is impossible; and existence is timeless, uniform, and unchanging. In the Way of Opinion, he explained the world of appearances, which is false and deceitful. These thoughts strongly influenced Plato, and through him, the whole of western philosophy.' back

Peter MacHamer, Galileo Galilei (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), First published Fri Mar 4, 2005; substantive revision Thu May 21, 2009 'Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) has always played a key role in any history of science and, in many histories of philosophy, he is a, if not the, central figure of the scientific revolution of the 17th century. His work in physics or natural philosophy, astronomy, and the methodology of science still evoke debate after over 360 years. His role in promoting the Copernican theory and his travails and trials with the Roman Church are stories that still require re-telling. This article attempts to provide an overview of these aspects of Galileo's life and work, but does so by focusing in a new way on his discussions of the nature of matter.' back

Pius XII, Mystici Corporis Christi, 9. For while there still survives a false rationalism, which ridicules anything that transcends and defies the power of human genius, and which is accompanied by a cognate error, the so-called popular naturalism, which sees and wills to see in the Church nothing but a juridical and social union, there is on the other hand a false mysticism creeping in, which, in its attempt to eliminate the immovable frontier that separates creatures from their Creator, falsifies the Sacred Scriptures.' . . .
Given at Rome, at St. Peter's on the twenty-ninth day of June, the Feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, in the year 1943, the fifth of Our Pontificate.' back

Pius XII, Mystici Corporis Christi, 'Venerable Brethren, Health and Apostolic Benediction. The doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ, which is the Church, was first taught us by the Redeemer Himself. Illustrating as it does the great and inestimable privilege of our intimate union with so exalted a Head, this doctrine by its sublime dignity invites all those who are drawn by the Holy Spirit to study it, and gives them, in the truths of which it proposes to the mind, a strong incentive to the performance of such good works as are conformable to its teaching. For this reason, We deem it fitting to speak to you on this subject through this Encyclical Letter, developing and explaining above all, those points which concern the Church Militant. To this We are urged not only by the surpassing grandeur of the subject but also by the circumstances of the present time.' back

play havoc with, Cambridge Dictionary, ' to make a situation much more difficult or confusing: The snowstorm is really playing havoc with rush-hour traffic. ' back

Quantum entanglement - Wikipedia, Quantum entanglement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Quantum entanglement is a physical phenomenon which occurs when pairs or groups of particles are generated, interact, or share spatial proximity in ways such that the quantum state of each particle cannot be described independently of the state of the other(s), even when the particles are separated by a large distance—instead, a quantum state must be described for the system as a whole. . . . Entanglement is considered fundamental to quantum mechanics, even though it wasn't recognized in the beginning. Quantum entanglement has been demonstrated experimentally with photons, neutrinos, electrons, molecules as large as buckyballs, and even small diamonds. The utilization of entanglement in communication and computation is a very active area of research.' back

Representation (arts) - Wikipedia, Representation (arts) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Representation is the use of signs that stand in for and take the place of something else. It is through representation that people organize the world and reality through the act of naming its elements. Signs are arranged in order to form semantic constructions and express relations.' back

Richard Kraut - Plato, Plato (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), First published Sat Mar 20, 2004; substantive revision Thu Sep 17, 2009 'Plato (429–347 B.C.E.) is, by any reckoning, one of the most dazzling writers in the Western literary tradition and one of the most penetrating, wide-ranging, and influential authors in the history of philosophy. . . . Few other authors in the history of philosophy approximate him in depth and range: perhaps only Aristotle (who studied with him), Aquinas, and Kant would be generally agreed to be of the same rank.' back

Rolf Landauer , Information is a Physical Entity, 'Abstract: This paper, associated with a broader conference talk on the fundamental physical limits of information handling, emphasizes the aspects still least appreciated. Information is not an abstract entity but exists only through a physical representation, thus tying it to all the restrictions and possibilities of our real physical universe. The mathematician's vision of an unlimited sequence of totally reliable operations is unlikely to be implementable in this real universe. Speculative remarks about the possible impact of that on the ultimate nature of the laws of physics are included.' back

Rolf Landauer (1999), Information is a Physical Entity, 'Abstract: This paper, associated with a broader conference talk on the fundamental physical limits of information handling, emphasizes the aspects still least appreciated. Information is not an abstract entity but exists only through a physical representation, thus tying it to all the restrictions and possibilities of our real physical universe. The mathematician's vision of an unlimited sequence of totally reliable operations is unlikely to be implementable in this real universe. Speculative remarks about the possible impact of that on the ultimate nature of the laws of physics are included.' back

Royal Society - Wikipedia, Royal Society - Wikipedia, 'The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence.[1] Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London". The Society was initially an extension of the "Invisible College", with the founders intending it to be a place of research and discussion. The Society today acts as a scientific advisor to the British government, receiving a parliamentary grant-in-aid. The Society acts as the UK's Academy of Sciences, and funds research fellowships and scientific start-up companies.' back

Salart, Baas, Branciard, Gisin, & Zbinden 2008, Testing spooky action at a distance, ' In science, one observes correlations and invents theoretical models that describe them. In all sciences, besides quantum physics, all correlations are described by either of two mechanisms. Either a first event influences a second one by sending some information encoded in bosons or molecules or other physical carriers, depending on the particular science. Or the correlated events have some common causes in their common past. Interestingly, quantum physics predicts an entirely different kind of cause for some correlations, named entanglement. This new kind of cause reveals itself, e.g., in correlations that violate Bell inequalities (hence cannot be described by common causes) between space-like separated events (hence cannot be described by classical communication). Einstein branded it as spooky action at a distance. A real spooky action at a distance would require a faster than light influence defined in some hypothetical universally privileged reference frame. Here we put stringent experimental bounds on the speed of all such hypothetical influences. We performed a Bell test during more than 24 hours between two villages separated by 18 km and approximately east-west oriented, with the source located precisely in the middle. We continuously observed 2-photon interferences well above the Bell inequality threshold. Taking advantage of the Earth's rotation, the configuration of our experiment allowed us to determine, for any hypothetically privileged frame, a lower bound for the speed of this spooky influence. For instance, if such a privileged reference frame exists and is such that the Earth's speed in this frame is less than 10^-3 that of the speed of light, then the speed of this spooky influence would have to exceed that of light by at least 4 orders of magnitude. back

Sheffer stroke - Wikipedia, Sheffer stroke - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In Boolean functions and propositional calculus, the Sheffer stroke, named after Henry M. Sheffer, written "|" . . . denotes a logical operation that is equivalent to the negation of the conjunction operation, expressed in ordinary language as "not both". It is also called nand ("not and") or the alternative denial, since it says in effect that at least one of its operands is false.' back

Spin-statistics theorem - Wikipedia, Spin-statistics theorem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In quantum mechanics, the spin–statistics theorem relates the spin of a particle to the particle statistics it obeys. The spin of a particle is its intrinsic angular momentum (that is, the contribution to the total angular momentum that is not due to the orbital motion of the particle). All particles have either integer spin or half-integer spin (in units of the reduced Planck constant ħ). The theorem states that: The wave function of a system of identical integer-spin particles has the same value when the positions of any two particles are swapped. Particles with wave functions symmetric under exchange are called bosons. The wave function of a system of identical half-integer spin particles changes sign when two particles are swapped. Particles with wave functions antisymmetric under exchange are called fermions.' back

Statistical mechanics - Wikipedia, Statistical mechanics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Statistical mechanics (or statistical thermodynamics is the application of probability theory, which includes mathematical tools for dealing with large populations, to the field of mechanics, which is concerned with the motion of particles or objects when subjected to a force. . . . The essential problem in statistical thermodynamics is to determine the distribution of a given amount of energy E over N identical systems. The goal of statistical thermodynamics is to understand and to interpret the measurable macroscopic properties of materials in terms of the properties of their constituent particles and the interactions between them. This is done by connecting thermodynamic functions to quantum-mechanic equations. Two central quantities in statistical thermodynamics are the Boltzmann factor and the partition function.' back

Stephanie Mccallum, Decoding the music masterpieces: Liszt’s Consolation in D flat — serene sweetness and melancholy , ' Dreamy, slow-moving and gentle, the D flat Consolation is far from our accepted picture of Liszt, which is often taken from caricatures of his solo recitals: wild hair and eyes, hands flying off the keyboard His extraordinary life to this point, breaking class barriers and performing and composing with the status of a superstar, was stranger than fiction. So it is perhaps unsurprising that in mid-life, Liszt took a new direction towards privacy, orchestral conducting and composition. Later, he freely gave of his experience as a teacher to an international audience of young, aspiring pianists. " back

The T & T Clark Blog:, Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics - The Revised Edition, 'We are happy to announce the publication of the revised edtion of Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics. The newly revised and digitized edition is the result of a close co-operation between Princeton Theological Seminary and T&T Clark Publishers. The Church Dogmatics is arguably the greatest theological work of the twentieth century. This exciting development will make it possible for the first time to query and search the nearly 8,000 pages of the Church Dogmatics and will result in the publication of a new 31 volume paperback edition by T&T Clark in 2008' back

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Thomas Aquinas: The medieval theological classic online : 'Because the doctor of Catholic truth ought not only to teach the proficient, but also to instruct beginners (according to the Apostle: As unto little ones in Christ, I gave you milk to drink, not meat -- 1 Cor. 3:1-2), we purpose in this book to treat of whatever belongs to the Christian religion, in such a way as may tend to the instruction of beginners. We have considered that students in this doctrine have not seldom been hampered by what they have found written by other authors, partly on account of the multiplication of useless questions, articles, and arguments, partly also because those things that are needful for them to know are not taught according to the order of the subject matter, but according as the plan of the book might require, or the occasion of the argument offer, partly, too, because frequent repetition brought weariness and confusion to the minds of readers.' back

University of Paris - Wikipedia, University of Paris - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The University of Paris (French: Université de Paris) was founded in the mid 11th century, and officially recognized as a university likely between 1160 and 1170 (or possibly as early as 1150).[1] After many changes including a century of suspension (1793-1896), it ceased to exist in 1970 and 13 autonomous universities (University of Paris I–XIII) were created on its remains. back

William Bowtell, Morrison’s ‘new deal’ for a return to post-COVID normal is not the deal most Australians want, ' From mid-2020, the economic and social disruption caused by the COVID response should have begun to dissipate. But instead, the Morrison government made the critical decision that prolonged and intensified the misery of the pandemic. Rather than sign contracts with a number of vaccine manufacturers to guarantee adequate supplies this year, the government put much of its faith in one candidate – AstraZeneca. And after the more infectious Delta variant emerged in December 2020, the Morrison government resisted all entreaties, pleas and scientific evidence to build Delta-proof quarantine facilities. The effect of these two decisions has been to prolong Australia’s emergence from the botched COVID response until next year. On the present trajectory, there is no way most Australians will travel abroad again until sometime after March 2022 — the second anniversary of the lockdown that saved Australia.' back