Tag Archive for 'science'

The geographic and temporal spread argument, part 16

Published by davinci on November 8, 2010 in reflections on religion and religion. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

(Part 15 is here.)

I have studied the world’s religions much more thoroughly than the average religious believer, and probably more than many devout ones. There are, of course, religious clergy and academic specialists who have much more in-depth knowledge of a specific religion, or some particular aspect of religion in general, than I do. But I think that I have as broad a knowledge of world religions as almost anyone. I’ve studied the scriptures and foundational texts of the major world religions (and many minor ones), and read authors ranging from popular apologists to the philosophically inclined from each of them, from every period since the foundation of the religion until now. In addition, I’ve also undertaken a pretty thorough study of history, so I have a sense of how religions have developed and interacted with one another that most believers do not have.

Religious believers will sometimes tell me that, if I only studied their scriptures more, or read certain books or talked to certain scholars, I would find that the evidence supports their religion… » [Expand post] [Permalink]

If you like this post, you might also like:

  1. The geographic and temporal spread argument, part 18
  2. The geographic and temporal spread argument, part 11
  3. The geographic and temporal spread argument for religion as a human creation, part 1
  4. The geographic and temporal spread argument, part 17
  5. The geographic and temporal spread argument, part 19
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Overcoming my writer’s block, part 3: science writing in high school

Published by davinci on April 9, 2009 in academic writings, autobiography and personal. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

I have already written previously about how counterproductive authoritarian parenting is, but this is a fact that I simply cannot emphasise enough. Educators are always talking about the importance of encouraging children to read and write, but my parents have always discouraged me from both. Maybe this sounds unbelievable, but I think it is quite common among parents from certain cultural backgrounds. My parents dismissed anything that I read or wrote outside of what was required for school or a job or some other official purpose as “frivolous” and a “waste of time”.

My parents had mostly ignored my writings in elementary school, but I think this was because they had assumed that everything I wrote was “for school”. My father would occasionally pick up something I had written; he would frown or glare at me, or make some negative remarks, but at that time he did not order or pressure me to stop. I think his comments at the time were mostly directed at the school system for what he perceived to be a waste of my time for requiring me to write essays on topics he considered unimportant — or, even worse, fictional stories… » [Expand post] [Permalink]

If you like this post, you might also like:

  1. Overcoming my writer’s block, part 5: writing about open notebook science in high school
  2. Overcoming my writer’s block, part 4: high school and being editor-in-chief
  3. Overcoming my writer’s block, part 2: elementary school, ESL, and fiction
  4. Overcoming my writer’s block, part 1: overview
  5. How I managed to be so successful in high school
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IISSQI08

Published by davinci on September 25, 2008 in academic meetings. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Quite appropriately, given the theme of science transcending boundaries, I’m actually writing this from Kish (کیش) island, Iran, in the Persian Gulf, where I am attending the International Iran Summer School on Quantum Information 2008 (IISSQI08). The summer school is a follow-up to the International Iran Conference on Quantum Information (IICQI07) which took place last year, also on Kish island. The reason that both events have been held here is that scientists from some countries have problems getting visas to enter mainland Iran, and conversely, citizens of Iran have problems visiting certain countries. Kish island is a “free zone” and hence the most logistically convenient place for both sides to meet.

Barry Sanders, iCORE Professor of Quantum Information Science at the University of Calgary and one of the organizers, … » [Expand post] [Permalink]

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