Gleanings Quick Links

Science and the Obama Administration: “But the advances we have all enjoyed in health and power and material well-being do not mean that there is nothing more to life than health and power and material well-being. Politics must be concerned with those, but it must be concerned as well with other—sometimes higher—things: with moral as well as material progress, with equality and liberty as well as prosperity, with human flourishing in its fullness. Perhaps instead of asking about the proper place of science, we should ask about the proper place of politics in a society dominated by science.” (Adam Keiper, The New Atlantis )

Thu 05 Mar 2009 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

The Triumph of Banality: Politics aside, there are some appropriate underlying concerns raised here: “Again, health care is expensive because Americans, with some good reason, have decided that the ancient tragic view—we all age and break down, and pay for the sins of our 20s and 30s in our 50s and 60s—can at last be replaced by the therapeutic promise of vigor and health into our 80s.” (Victor Davis Hanson, National Review )

Wed 04 Mar 2009 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

Faith is the defeat of probability by possibility: You don’t have to be religious to have a sense of awe at the sheer improbability of things: “The more science we learn, the more we understand how little we understand. The improbabilities keep multiplying, as does our cause for wonder.” (Jonathan Sacks, The Times (London) )

Mon 02 Mar 2009 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

The Dangers of Overselling Evolution: Focusing on Darwin and his theory doesn’t further scientific progress: “I don’t think science has anything to fear from a free exchange of ideas between thoughtful proponents of different views. Moreover, there are a number of us in the scientific community who, while we appreciate Darwin’s contributions, think that the rhetorical approach of scientists such as Coyne unnecessarily polarizes public discussions and—even more seriously­—overstates both the evidence for Darwin’s theory of historical biology and the benefits of Darwin’s theory to the actual practice of experimental science.” (Philip S. Skell, in Forbes )

Wed 25 Feb 2009 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

Denis Alexander talks to Francis Collins: Senior Fellow Francis Collins, interviewed in 2008 on his journey to faith and other topics: “I was rather proud of the fact that as a scientist I wouldn’t draw a conclusion until I’d looked at the data and tried to draw the best conclusion I could, and I realised that outside of a few little babblings here and there I’d never really tried to understand what was the foundation upon which believers rest their faith.” (Faraday Institute. Also available in PDF format (46KB). )

Mon 23 Feb 2009 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

The Defense of the West: How to Respond to the Islamist Challenge: “We must recognize that it is not envy but resentment that animates the terrorist. Envy is the desire to possess what the other has; resentment is the desire to destroy it. How do you deal with resentment? This is the great question that so few leaders of mankind have been able to answer. Christians, however, are fortunate in being heirs to the one great attempt to answer it, which was that of Jesus.” (Senior Fellow Roger Scruton, at CERC. )

Mon 23 Feb 2009 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

Blind Science vs. Blind Faith: Some Thoughts on Breaking the Deadlock: ‘In their conversation, the student happened to mention the resurrection of Christ. The professor’s response: The resurrection is inconsistent with the laws of physics. Now, in fact, the laws of physics lie at a considerable conceptual distance from phenomena such as human death and decay and their possible reversal. This particular professor in any case, would have little if any idea where to begin showing that resurrection conflicts with physics—or why it matters, if it does conflict. Indeed, who would? Very few, I would imagine. “Science” was vaguely invoked to end the discussion, just as in other contexts, “religion” is used for the same purpose.’ (Senior Fellow Dallas Willard, from a 1994 essay on dwillard.org )

Mon 23 Feb 2009 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

Pinning Your Own Tail on Someone Else’s Donkey: Guilty feelings got you down? Let Dr. Feelgood help you move on. “We may have, for example, to concede that forgiveness is an example of a virtue that may not be extensible beyond its religious warrant. It is one of Christianity’s most beautiful gifts to our civilization, but if it cannot sustain its nature when detached from its original religious framework, we need to understand that, and understand why. Forgiveness may not be secularizable precisely because it relies upon ideas and sources of justice that are not generally agreed upon in this age.” (Senior Fellow Wilfred M. McClay, in Character, Fall 2008 )

Fri 06 Feb 2009 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

What Life Asks of Us: Truly countercultural thinking: “But there is another, older way of living, and it was discussed in a neglected book that came out last summer called On Thinking Institutionally by the political scientist Hugh Heclo. In this way of living, to borrow an old phrase, we are not defined by what we ask of life. We are defined by what life asks of us. As we go through life, we travel through institutions—first family and school, then the institutions of a profession or a craft.” (David Brooks, NYT )

Tue 27 Jan 2009 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

Generation G (Generosity, not Greed): “Has there ever been more urgency for corporations to ditch the greed and embrace generosity? It’s something that countless individuals have already started doing, of course: giving is the new taking, and sharing is the new giving. . . . This didn’t happen overnight of course. The financial crisis was just the straw that broke the camel’s back: consumers’ negative and raw emotions stem from too many brands who decided to stop caring a long time ago. In most cases, this starts at the top, with share-price-obsessed execs not generous to (or caring for) their employees, who in turn stop giving a damn about actual customers.” (Trendwatching.com (h/t Ryan Moede) )

Mon 26 Jan 2009 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

Standing up to the ‘sapping of confidence’: “Problems cannot be addressed if they are not defined properly. In particular, if today’s problems are not explained as being the result of human agency, they are unlikely to be thought of as susceptible to human intervention and improvement. Without such an understanding, today’s crisis can appear fatalistically like a natural disaster.” (Sean Collins, Spiked )

Wed 21 Jan 2009 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

RIP Richard John Neuhaus: First Things has posted a 2000 essay by Father Neuhaus, “Born Toward Dying,” that is well worth your time. “The worst thing is not the sorrow or the loss or the heartbreak. Worse is to be encountered by death and not to be changed by the encounter. There are pills we can take to get through the experience, but the danger is that we then do not go through the experience but around it. Traditions of wisdom encourage us to stay with death a while.” (First Things (h/t) )

Thu 08 Jan 2009 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

Money is the new secret of a happy job: Maybe? “Over the past decade, the rich, professional classes have developed an increasingly unhealthy attitude to their jobs. We took our jobs and our fat salaries for granted and felt aggrieved if our bonuses were not even bigger than the year before. We demanded that the work be interesting in itself and, even more dangerously and preposterously, that it should have meaning.” (Lucy Kellaway, Financial Times )

Mon 15 Dec 2008 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

Gee, One Bold Storm coming up….: “Oh, yes Stephen. That’s all very well, but you try being a CEO in the real world of share prices and financial officers. Bullshit. Any CEO who hides behind his shareholders isn’t worthy of their job: I’ve met enough business leaders to know that the good ones lead, they don’t follow. Isn’t that kind of what ‘leader’ means? I seem to be straying. But it’s all relevant really and it all needs saying again and again. Managers, corporates, finance people, executives in tech companies – they all need to understand for the sake of their pride and happiness as much as their success, this simple rule: ‘That’ll do’ won’t do. ‘That’s good enough’ is never good enough.” Also, a psychological insight on the success of the iPhone. (Stephen Fry )

Wed 10 Dec 2008 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

A biblical lesson for today’s bankers: From Spain: ‘Bringing the biblical idea up to date, Governor Ordóñez suggested financial regulators insist that banks build up their capital at an enhanced rate during prosperous years to put them in better financial shape should a serious slump follow with many boom-time loans turning sour. Actually, a predecessor of Ordóñez in the 1990s, Governor Luis Angel Roja, did just that. He put into practice a regulatory mechanism termed “dynamic provisioning.” This, notes Ordóñez, has reinforced the present stability of the Spanish banking system “and today commands wide recognition.” The biblical story indicates that economies are “unequivocally cyclical,” notes Ordóñez. Since Joseph, 4,000 years ago, “perhaps we have made some progress … it seems that the years of plenty are somewhat longer than the lean years,” he adds. “But little more than that.” ’ (Christian Science Monitor, h/t )

Wed 10 Dec 2008 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments