Mentioned an op-ed in the NYT about evolution. This piece complements it nicely. Really makes you understand the size of a mote when we put ourselves in perspective. How can we not be awed? How can we not understand that God gave us signs so that we may know (5:97, 17:12, 49:13, 65:12)?
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Muslims and Quasicrystalline Structures
Muslims had it 500 years before the West! Woo hoo! Story here and here. So what? It should sadden us that the doors of communication have been closed or filtered for so long that this knowledge wasn’t available earlier. It’s more a reflection of the mindset we have of each other that a comment on how intelligent Muslims may have once been. (Although that is how the story is framed, which makes me sad that the stereotypes persist and keep us all stupid.) Technorati Tags: Islamic Architecture, Math
Revelation vs Investigation
"He told of a time, more than a millennium ago, when Baghdad reigned as the intellectual center of the world, a history fossilized in the night sky. The names of the constellations are Greek and Roman, Dr. Tyson said, but two-thirds of the stars have Arabic names. The words “algebra” and “algorithm” are Arabic. But sometime around 1100, a dark age descended. Mathematics became seen as the work of the devil, as Dr. Tyson put it. “Revelation replaced investigation,” he said, and the intellectual foundation collapsed." Fascinating article in NYT about scientists trying to grapple with religion. IQRA!
Aside: Alien Life Next Door
Armchair theologian becomes armchair scientist. I love evolutionary biology. Today’s NYT op-ed has a nice piece about finding our non-ancestoral local aliens.