[extropy-chat] Consciences of their own (or not) (was: Famous author self destructs blah blah blah)

Amara Graps amara at amara.com
Wed Jun 8 10:31:12 UTC 2005


Brett Paatsch:
>A lot of urban legends likely have built up around the Galileo story,
>and I am interested in what the real story was, but for present
>purposes, not all that much.

When you are ready, something I've posted before:

HEAVEN'S OBSERVER
Interview by Hazel Muir from New Scientist
http://www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs/2000/20000331.txt

And this book:

Galileo and the Scientific Revolution
by Laura Fermi and Gilberto Bernardini

>For present purposes the only point I
>really wanted to make is that individuals including individuals with
>religious or faith based world views that have consciences of their
>own and are willing to exercise them can choose to look through the
>available equipment be it a telescope or a microscope of whatever if
>they so choose.

Here is an example.

(Hint, no religion is taught, only astrophysics)

-------------------------------------------------------------------


http://clavius.as.arizona.edu/vo/R1024/VOSS2005.html

The Vatican Observatory Summer School 2005

Observational Astronomy and Astrophysics
12 June to 8 July 2005,
Castel Gandolfo, Rome, Italy

Jonathan I. Lunine (Chair)	University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
Christopher J. Corbally, S.J. (Dean)	Vatican Observatory
George V. Coyne, S.J. (Director)	Vatican Observatory
John Baross	University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Chris D. Impey	Steward Observatory, University of Arizona
Woodruff T. Sullivan	University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Neville J. Woolf	Steward Observatory, University of Arizona
The regular faculty will be assisted by other senior scientists in
residence.

   The Vatican Observatory is pleased to announce the 2005 Summer
 School in Observational Astronomy and Astrophysics, on
 Astrobiology: The Search for our Origins and Life Elsewhere. Two
 lectures will be given each morning, with evening seminars by the
 Vatican staff and visiting astronomers. During the course of the
 school, students will also present a short paper on their research
 or the research of their home institution. Other activities will
 include laboratory exercises, use of the Observatory computers for
 data reduction and image processing, and use of astronomical
 databases.

 There will also be opportunities for observations with on-site 40
 cm refractor and 60 cm reflector telescopes. Field trips to visit
 sites of historical interest to astronomy will be included. In
 addition to the principal topics presented by the invited faculty,
 students will have the opportunity to discuss their own research
 with members of the faculty and with the observatory staff. No
 formal course credits will be given, but certification of
 satisfactory completion of the course will be supplied.

 Basic tour of the solar system and known extrasolar planets; scale
 of the cosmos; introduction to chemistry and chemical bonding;
 introduction to spectroscopy from the UV through the radio; the
 discovery of past salty seas on Mars; the discovery of an ocean
 under Jupiter=s moon Europa; the search for pre-biotic molecules on
 Titan; search for life on Mars and Europa; bioethics and planetary
 protection; the microwave background and models for the Big Bang;
 origin of the elements; search for extrasolar habitable planets
 with optical telescopes; search for extraterrestrial civilizations
 with radio telescopes; introduction to biology for astronomers;
 models of the origin of life; origin of metabolisms; extremophiles;
 the tree of life; evolution of life and Earth=s climate through
 time; the future of life on and off the Earth.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is _NOT_ an example:


http://www.comitatoscienzaevita.it/

that is, the "Committee of Science and Life", but I prefer to call
them the "Committee of Decay and Death". I received an analog-spam
brochure from them in my postal box last week, and they have large
glossy posters now hanging in my town. Huge sums of money is spent
to blanket Italy with these advertisements.

You will find pink pictures of pregnant mothers and babies and
sterile test tubes. You will find 'scientific' reports about
assisted reproductive technology that doesn't work and that puts
the future of mankind in danger.

An you will find their opinion on the upcoming ART laws Referendum
in Italy this week. That is, you will read 'NO, Don't vote', and to
make sure that you do not, they will not list the date of the
Referendum vote.

(date: 12-13 June: http://www.comitatoreferendum.it/xml/hp.asp)

And *who*, you ask, is funding the "Committee of Science and Life?"

The richest country in the world, that is: the Vatican.

Amara
-- 

********************************************************************
Amara Graps, PhD          email: amara at amara.com
Computational Physics     vita:  ftp://ftp.amara.com/pub/resume.txt
Multiplex Answers         URL:   http://www.amara.com/
********************************************************************
"Once in a great while the temptation to be REALLY DIRTY is just
irresistible." -- W. H. Press, S. A. Teukolsky, W. T. Vetterling
& B. P. Flannery



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