At last, I go to the Taizé meeting in Prague

Soon after I heard of the Taizé movement, I saw a notice about the New Year’s meeting in Prague in 1990. Unfortunately, the local contact was someone in my parish who didn’t like me (OK, I fancied her, and she didn’t fancy me back and didn’t want me to be able to go) and she […]

Islands, church trips, and the delay of gratification

Last weekend was a bit of a flop, in many ways. At least that should mean things have more potential to get better! I had been meaning to go to OSSbarcamp, and thought I had booked the hotel for my stay, but it turned out I’d forgotten, and all the ones I could find with […]

Some thoughts on consciousness

Since Weizenbaum’s `Eliza’ experiment in 1966, in which a computer was programmed in a parody of a Rogerian psychotherapist, people have been holding conversations with programs that mimic shallowly a simple counselling session. These days, the threshold for the Turing test is higher, and few people (I think, or at least hope) would be fooled […]

Religion, science and pseudoscience

In my line of work (computer science research and development) it seems that a fairly secular outlook is common, and as my outlook includes religious faith, I think it makes sense for me to put up some notes on how I think religion and science (and pseudoscience) fit together. The standard scientific view works with […]

Some theological thoughts

Many years ago, when on retreat at a friary, I was working through a book of meditations, and it raised the question “What is most valuable to you, and could you give it up [for your faith] if you had to?”  Rather piously, I thought “My faith is most valuable to me,” and it was […]

Scary hinge

Next week I’m due to have an angiogram, and although the risk is described as `low’ I’m finding it a fairly scary prospect… going voluntarily for a procedure that has a risk of stroke or death.  The population risk for stroke or death is 1 in 1000, which may sound quite low, until you’ve got […]