Let’s read the Nature abstract: Nature (2019) Article | Published: 15 May 2019 Total synthesis of Escherichia coli with a recoded genome Julius Fredens, Kaihang Wang, Daniel de la Torre, Louise F. H. Funke, Wesley E. Robertson, Yonka Christova, Tiongsun Chia, Wolfgang H. Schmied, Daniel L. Dunkelmann, Václav Beránek, Chayasith Uttamapinant, Andres Gonzalez Llamazares, Thomas […]
Author: kairosfocus
A Caribbean-based Christian thinker with a background in physics and a focus on strategic thinking towards truly sustainable development.
FYI-FTR: Burning the fixity of species strawman
One of the lingering talking points used by darwinists in debates is fixity of species, which as usual is used in a way that is rhetorically resistant to correction. It just popped up here at UD, and so, by way of DDG search, let’s lay it to rest, starting with the much despised YEC’s. The […]
Are high intensity and/or high blue light “white light” LED’s damaging to our health?
Of course, any high intensity light source is potentially damaging to the retina; that’s why we should not look directly at the sun or try to view a solar eclipse directly. Electric arc welding and lasers — including laser pointers — are also hazardous. Retinal burns are painless and permanent. It is believed that that […]
Moon first, then Mars — a path to Solar System colonization?
Some dates are being discussed in a May 18th 2019 Phys-dot-org article: “The Moon is the proving ground for our eventual mission to Mars,” NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said at a conference this week. “The Moon is our path to get to Mars in the fastest, safest way possible. That’s why we go to the […]
AI and hopes for fusion power
A recent news item suggests that AI may help bring fusion power to the table on the long used but challenging Tokamak toroidal reactor architecture. This would be a major positive use of AI technology, if it proves sufficiently reliable: Artificial intelligence (AI), a branch of computer science that is transforming scientific inquiry and industry, […]
Vids: String Theory and Loop Quantum Gravity
Strings: Loop-Q-G: Food for thought. END
Vids: Explaining the recent black hole image
A TED Talk Second vid on observing a black hole: Apart from a notice, there will be no comments. END
Logic & First Principles, 20: What is law?
A good first step to understanding the ongoing failure of our civilisation is to contrast the common, positive law view of law summarised by Wikipedia (as a handy point of reference): Law is a system of rules that are created and enforced through social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior. It has been defined both […]
Defending Civilization, 2: Linking gospel-warrant and the naturally evident law of our morally governed nature
On the table is a warrant regarding the core gospel message, e.g. vid: . . . which is foundational to the civilisation which has come down to us. In effect, the Christian synthesis of the heritage of Jerusalem, Athens and Rome framed what became Christendom and has come down to us today, now usually styled […]
What is the warrant for the core gospel and linked ethics? (Does this matter?)
The gospel-based Christian synthesis of the heritage of Jerusalem, Athens and Rome — led by the Apostle Paul (Cf. Ac 17, Rom 1, Ac 27) — is a core but often unacknowledged or even resented part of the historical foundation of our civilisation. A civilisation which within living memory was described by Churchill as Christian […]
BBC on the “evolution” of robots (missing the “by design” part)
BBC has done a mini-series on the “evolution” of robots, even speaking of invasive species. The silence on the “by design” part is conspicuous, especially as they use a biologist (male) and an engineer (female) as their key personalities: The blindness to the obvious is glaring, inadvertently showing the blinding power of a dominant, flawed […]
Logic & First Principles, 19: Are we part of a Boltzmann brain grand delusion world (or the like)?
In looking at time (no. 18) we saw how a suggested form of multiverse is one in which sub-cosmi are speculated — there is no observational base, this is philosophy dressed up in a lab coat — to pop up as fluctuations, exhibiting their own “big bang” events and timelines: However, it was not as […]
Easter Sunday viewing: a dramatised “Case for Christ” by Lee Strobel
Here: Food for thought. (More here.) END
Logic & First Principles, 18: What is time? (Thence, what of heat death? The proposed infinite past? Etc.?)
“What is time?” is a misleadingly simple question, one that soon surfaces many difficulties. That is, it is a philosophical issue: phil, being the study of hard big questions. However, it is clear that we need to ponder it here at UD at least at a basic level, if we are to examine relevant concerns […]
Churchill on rebuilding the traditional: “We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us”
According to news reports, already over US$ 1 billion has been pledged towards rebuilding Notre Dame: BTW: after the fire, a video tour: In today’s ever so polarised age [currently awaiting the infamous redacted Mueller Report on a two-year investigation into US President Trump], it is unsurprising that we see for example in Rolling Stone: […]