What Is Man?

Jun 122011
 

Different religious traditions have express in a variety ofways their images of the divine.
In the Judeo-Christian tradition, infinity is a key attribute of God. As all creatures,
human beings are finite and fleeting, yet God created man in his own image, in the
image of God he created him,24 so that he shares something of the infinity of God.
This direct relationship of every single human being with the infinity of God provides a
foundation for the unlimited value of each human person, irrespective of his/her status,
power, health, or intellectual capability: In only one case is this point . . . , [the] single
human being, free from the entire world, free, so that the world together and even the
total universe cannot force him into anything. In only one instance can this image of a
free man be explained. This is when we assume that this point is not totally the fruit of
the biology of the mother and father, not strictly derived from the biological tradition
of mechanical antecedents, but rather when it possesses a direct relationship with the
infinite, the origin of all of the flux of the world . . . that is to say, it is endowed with
something derived from God

Continue reading “What Is Man?” »

8 Weird Ways To Save The Earth

Dec 022009
 

8 Weird Ways To Save The Earth

Cloud whitening

cloud_whitening.jpgHow it works: The idea here is to use satellite-guided sailing ships to crisscross the oceans, constantly spewing a fine stream of sea mist into the clouds.

Turns out particles, in this case the salt in the sea mist, will cause clouds to become denser, reflecting more sunlight back into space and keeping the planet cooler.

The novel ship design actually dates back nearly a century, when the German inventor Anton Flettner built one that crossed the Atlantic. The mist towers are hollow and rotate in the wind, acting as sails. It can cross the Atlantic faster than a conventional sail boat and do so without a crew. The power for the mist pumps is generated by the turbine under the hull.

Each ship would cost $2 or $3 million, making the entire program cost just a few billion dollars.

About 1500 ships would be needed to maintain current temperatures, according to John Latham, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

Beyond the machine: Like most scientists studying geoengineering, Latham said it is not a substitute for reducing greenhouse gas emissions as it does not address other problems associated with too much carbon dioxide.

He also said the idea, like most other geoengineering ideas, needs much more study before it’s deployed on a wide scale, as any other potential side effects are still unknown.

Continue reading “8 Weird Ways To Save The Earth” »