When a 9.0 magnitude earthquake off Indonesia sent gigantic waves crashing down on hundreds of thousands of hapless souls, countless people around the world asked: where is God? Touching on an ancient question that has plagued monotheistic believers through the ages, people wanted to know how their God could allow such horror to afflict innumerable innocent individuals in some of the poorest areas of the world. Nearly 170,000 are known to have died. Thousands of villages, fishing boats, places of worship, farms – decimated. Colin Powell remarked that it was worse than a war zone. We’ve seen the images and heard the tales of woe – and where was God?

Go read Jared Diamond's (author of Guns, Germs, and Steel) report in Harper's Magazine, The last Americans: environmental collapse and the end of civilization. Then donate a few dollars to the Red Cross or other aid agencies working in South Asia (tangentially connected, but it must be said). From the report:

One of the disturbing facts of history is that so many civilizations collapse. Few people, however, least of all our politicians, realize that a primary cause of the collapse of those societies has been the destruction of the environmental resources on which they depended. Fewer still appreciate that many of those civilizations share a sharp curve of decline. Indeed, a society's demise may begin only a decade or two after it reaches its peak population, wealth, and power.

More to the point, who is human, and what is normal? And, can a computer have "human" rights? These are deep philosophical questions with real-world (or potential real-world) application, as shown in How About Not 'Curing' Us, Some Autistics Are Pleading (NY Times) and in Man and the Machines (dead link removed; SF 2025) (Legal Affairs). And what about animals that possess "theory of mind?"

Updated 12/19._ This Friday (12/17/2004) will be the last broadcast of Now with Bill Moyers on PBS, a fantastic show that takes journalism seriously and brings insightful — and sometimes harrowing — news to its viewers. I have often found myself unable to watch Now, knowing that what Moyers uncovers would only ruin my weekend (by usually confirming already held fears or introducing new ones). But like Moyers himself, I am an optimist in the end — I refuse to give in to despair at the condition of the world. Do you remember those "I want to be like Mike" Gatorade commercials with Michael Jordan? Well, I don't want to be like Mike. I want to be like Bill.

Home-brew letter to Senators Dayton and Coleman and Representative McCollum bemoaning the executive branch's handling of science-related policy and suggesting greater Congressional oversight for protection of consumer and environmental rights. If you too are concerned with federal scientific policy making, then please feel free to copy the letter below (and modify as desired) and send to your senators and representative.

In The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems, Fritjof Capra attempts to present a synthesis of systems models as a new (and improved) way of looking at life. While scientists will often speak of paradigm shifts within a field — for instance from Newtonian to relativistic physics, or Lamarckian evolution to the Darwinian kind — it is rare that they attempt to link these individual shifts to a wider movement. It is probably rarer still that they attempt to create the overarching paradigm, as opposed to simply documenting it.

At WorldChanging, Alex Steffen offers up excellent suggestions on reforming the environmental movement in his article Reframing the Planet (dead link removed; SF 2025), asking, "Environmentalism has been getting sand kicked in its face on the political beach for too long now. How do we beef it up?". Answering his own question, Steffen offers the beginnings of concrete ways that the greens can appeal to the American public.

Before my iBook was stolen, I had an essay in the works about the relationship of the environmental and interfaith/religious movements. Sadly that piece is gone and I've not had time to reformulate it. Below are two of the central points I was working towards.

In Wednesday's New York Times (2004-11-24), editorialist Nicholas D. Kristoff wrote about the Left Behind series of books (and assorted merchandise), which are the best selling books for adults in the United States. These books paint a grim picture of the Second Coming of Christ based on the authors' interpretations of some passages in the Gospels and, in particular, the revelatory language of St. John the Divine.

If you know the voice of The Collector from The Simpsons, please invoke it now. Worst defeat ever (in soccer).

I have a couple of article recommendations for you all*: Blinded By Science: How 'Balanced' Coverage Lets the Scientific Fringe Hijack Reality; The Optimism of Uncertainty. Plus a few small comments…