Just what is consciousness and how does it work? What does it mean that I am aware? That I am aware of myself? Does it arise entirely from the brain? Is it a function of a soul? Are other animals conscious? How would we know? Does individual consciousness survive beyond death? And what about ... zombies?
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2020 New York Encounter: Crossing the Divide
Are you hungry for an extended engagement with reality, for something that will awaken you more fully to the human condition? Consider joining us at the New York Encounter, February 15th through the 17th.
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The Infinite Coast
According to the U.S. state department the coastlines of Washington, Oregon and California together measure 2,131 km. This would seem to settle things. But the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (N.O.A.A.) says that number should be 3,288 km. Has at least one of these agencies measured ... poorly?
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QFT: The World is Stranger Than You Thought
Beginning with studies of electromagnetism, scientists have come to understand reality in such a way that there really is no such thing as tiny bits of matter that exist independently and that cannot be divided. Atomism (in any traditional sense) is dead. Reality is not what we thought it was.
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Quantum Mechanics, Contingency, and Freedom in Ted Chiang’s “Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom”
Sooner or later each of us confronts the question of what it means to be me. Who am I as an individual existing in this time and place, as part of this family and this people? This most basic question is thrown at each of us, and there is no predetermined script.
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“Beyond the Next Ocean”
To gaze upon something well done and speak the truth about it becomes us, since we are ourselves formed in God’s image.
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On the Importance of Forgetting
Most attention in our culture is given to the importance of remembering. But it turns out that forgetting can be just as important. The inability to forget can be as destructive as the inability to remember.
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Unity in Difference: Language-Learning and God’s Kingdom
Learning another language helps me not only understand, but better experience first-hand how another person thinks, feels, and interacts with the world
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The Black Hole
The release Wednesday of the first-ever image of a black hole dominated the world’s collective imagination. An amorphous ring of fire glowed curiously across Facebook feeds and newspaper headlines, inviting a barrage of timid questions from lay people – which, given our total understanding of black holes, is all of us.
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Origami, Neusis and Angle Trisection
The history of mathematics tells us that oftentimes approved technique is as much a matter of philosophical commitments and aesthetic sensibilities as it is a matter of pure utility.
