MachineMachine /stream - tagged with myth http://machinemachine.net/stream/feed en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Sweetcron text@machinemachine.net The Roots of Religion: Myth, Play and Human Evolution http://www.bigquestionsonline.com/features/the-roots-of-religion Robert Bellah, one of America's most distinguished sociologists, caps off his luminous academic career with "Religion in Human Evolution: From the Paleolithic to the Axial Age" , a near 800-page magnum opus that delves deep into the roots of humankind's encounter with mystery and the search for meaning. Underwritten in part by funding from the John Templeton Foundation, Bellah's book, out this month from Harvard University Press, has been described as “the most important systematic and historical treatment of religion since Hegel, Durkheim, and Weber. It is a page-turner of a bildungsroman of the human spirit on a truly global… ]]> Wed, 19 Oct 2011 03:17:49 -0700 http://www.bigquestionsonline.com/features/the-roots-of-religion Steven Pinker on the History and decline (and myth of) Violence http://aminotes.tumblr.com/post/10416268270/steven-pinker-on-the-history-and-decline-of Some of the evidence has been under our nose all along. Conventional history has long shown that, in many ways, we have been getting kinder and gentler. Cruelty as entertainment, human sacrifice to indulge superstition, slavery as a labor-saving device, conquest as the mission statement of government, genocide as a means of acquiring real estate, torture and mutilation as routine punishment, the death penalty for misdemeanors and differences of opinion, assassination as the mechanism of political succession, rape as the spoils of war, pogroms as outlets for frustration, homicide as the major form of conflict resolution—all were unexceptionable features of… ]]> Tue, 20 Sep 2011 03:05:16 -0700 http://aminotes.tumblr.com/post/10416268270/steven-pinker-on-the-history-and-decline-of Morning coffee http://www.flickr.com/photos/grickle/6026420074/

Grickle posted a photo:

Morning coffee

The Minotaur starts another day in the labyrinth.

]]> Tue, 09 Aug 2011 10:15:45 -0700 http://www.flickr.com/photos/grickle/6026420074/ Heaven for Atheists http://thehumanist.org/july-august-2011/heaven-for-atheists/ It’s human nature, I suppose, to want to survive, to resist succumbing to the same fate all living things do. It’s the reason we write books, create art, have children—we’re hardwired to want to leave a legacy. Many even invent afterlives, rarely accepting death at face value but instead saying that someone who’s died has “gone on to a better place.” Some don’t even call it death but rather feel the need to be polite in saying someone “passed away.” These are the comforts we afford ourselves so we don’t have to confront the inevitable. Cryonics, I have decided, is… ]]> Mon, 04 Jul 2011 09:01:26 -0700 http://thehumanist.org/july-august-2011/heaven-for-atheists/ Myths of a Near Future: Simon Sellars, Bruce Sterling and V. Vale on J.G. Ballard http://www.ballardian.com/myths-of-a-near-future-sellars-sterling-vale Two years ago, I appeared on a panel, ‘Myths of a Near Future’, with writer Bruce Sterling and V. Vale of RE/Search Publications to discuss the work of J.G. Ballard. Held at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) as part of the Kosmopolis 08 literary festival, the panel was chaired by the Spanish critic Jordi Costa, the driving force behind the CCCB’s magnificent ‘JG Ballard – Autopsy of the new millennium‘ exhibition.

Jordi began with a Spanish-language introduction, and then Vale followed with a 15-minute video detailing his relationship and collaborations with Ballard. Jordi’s questions… ]]> Mon, 15 Nov 2010 03:31:00 -0700 http://www.ballardian.com/myths-of-a-near-future-sellars-sterling-vale The Myth of Separate Magisteria http://www.bigquestionsonline.com/columns/susan-jacoby/the-myth-of-separate-magisteria By now, nearly everyone with a passing interest in science or religion is familiar with Stephen Jay Gould’s description of the two disciplines as “non-overlapping magisteria” with separate domains — science in the physical universe and religion in the moral realm. On this website, the philosopher Roger Scruton recently made the sweeping declaration that “genuine science and true religion cannot conflict.” A 2004 editorial in Nature magazine insists that science and religion clash only when the two “stray onto each other’s territories and stir up trouble.”

One might as well say that conflict arises between men… ]]> Wed, 10 Nov 2010 06:17:00 -0700 http://www.bigquestionsonline.com/columns/susan-jacoby/the-myth-of-separate-magisteria And Another ‘Thing’ : Sci-Fi Truths and Nature's Errors http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2010/09/and-another-thing-sci-fi-truths-and-natures-errors.html

by Daniel Rourke

In my last 3quarksdaily article I considered the ability of science-fiction – and the impossible objects it contains – to highlight the gap between us and ‘The Thing Itself’ (the fundamental reality underlying all phenomena). In this follow-up I ask whether the way these fictional ‘Things’ determine their continued existence – by copying, cloning or imitation – can teach us about our conception of nature.

Seth Brundle: What's there to take? The disease has just revealed its purpose. We don't have to worry about contagion anymore... I…

]]> Sun, 05 Sep 2010 21:20:00 -0700 http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2010/09/and-another-thing-sci-fi-truths-and-natures-errors.html The Ship Argo http://www.flickr.com/photos/huge-entity/4593039926/in/set-72157624025953884/

Mr. Daniel posted a photo:

The Ship Argo

Extract from 'Roland Barthes by Roland Barthes', page 46

]]> Sun, 09 May 2010 12:37:00 -0700 http://www.flickr.com/photos/huge-entity/4593039926/in/set-72157624025953884/ The 'Basic' Plots in Literature http://www.ipl.org/div/farq/plotFARQ.html Q: I’ve heard there are only 7 (or 5, 20, 36…) basic plots (or themes) in all of literature. What are they?

A: People often say that there are only a certain number of basic plots in all of literature, and that any story is really just a variation on these plots. Depending on how detailed they want to make a "basic" plot, different writers have offered a variety of solutions. Here are some of the ones we’ve found:

1 Plot | 3 Plots | 7 Plots | 20 Plots | 36 Plots ]]> Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:35:00 -0700 http://www.ipl.org/div/farq/plotFARQ.html Avatar: We're Not in Kansas Anymore! http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2010/02/avatar-were-not-in-kansas-anymore.html

by Daniel Rourke

3D! According to the film industry, to director James 'billions at the box-office' Cameron, Avatar is the first 'true' 3D movie. It takes the experience of cinema to the next (natural?) level, and it does it in a way that makes the movie industry gasp. According to the industry, Avatar is the 3D film that other film makers will be watching for years to come; Avatar is the Citizen Kane of 3D cinema.

It is at this point that I could repudiate this position,…

]]> Sun, 21 Feb 2010 22:25:00 -0700 http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2010/02/avatar-were-not-in-kansas-anymore.html Cargo cult http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult A cargo cult is a type of religious practice that may appear in traditional tribal societies in the wake of interaction with technologically advanced cultures. The cults are focused on obtaining the material wealth (the "cargo") of the advanced culture through magical thinking and religious rituals and practices, believing that the wealth was intended for them by their deities and ancestors. Cargo cults developed primarily in remote parts of New Guinea and other Melanesian and Micronesian societies in the southwest Pacific Ocean, beginning with the first significant arrivals of Westerners in the 19th century. Similar behaviors have, however, also appeared… ]]> Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:51:00 -0700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult Simulating Kim Jong Il http://machinemachine.net/text/things/simulating-kim-jong-il
Kim Jong Il x 3

Will the real Kim Jong Il please stand up?

The idea of Kim Jong Il has become commodity. There is a reality inside North Korea, and there is another outside. Which is real and which is simulation?

For the past half decade an excess of images, simulations and caricatures of the North Korean leader have bombarded us. The media of excess has repeated the mantra of simulation in bold headlines, in news-print and digital text : “Is… ]]> Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:28:00 -0700 http://machinemachine.net/text/things/simulating-kim-jong-il Monsters and the Moral Imagination http://chronicle.com/article/Monstersthe-Moral/48886/ Monsters are on the rise. People can't seem to get enough of vampires lately, and zombies have a new lease on life. This year and next we have the release of the usual horror films like Saw VI and Halloween II; the campy mayhem of Zombieland; more-pensive forays like 9 (produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov), The Wolfman, and The Twilight Saga: New Moon; and, more playfully, Where the Wild Things Are (a Dave Eggers rewrite of the Maurice Sendak classic). The reasons for this increased monster culture are hard to pin down. Maybe it's social anxiety in the… ]]> Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:01:00 -0700 http://chronicle.com/article/Monstersthe-Moral/48886/ Jorge Luis Borges: The Mirror Man http://www.ubu.com/film/borges.html Directed by Philippe Molins - Although honors came late in life to Jorge Luis Borges, his unique worldview had begun to emerge even as a child. This program examines the life and literary career of the charismatic Argentine writer, as well as the thematic, symbolic, and mythological underpinnings of his works. Archival interviews with Borges; his mother, Leonor Acevedo de Borges; his second wife, Maria Kodama; and collaborator Adolfo Bioy Casares provide insights into the private Borges, while readings from “The Mirrors,” “Dreamtigers,” “The Plot,” “The South,” “The Aleph,” and other landmarks of Latin American fiction demonstrate his virtuosity as… ]]> Thu, 06 Aug 2009 13:23:00 -0700 http://www.ubu.com/film/borges.html Desire Paths: Reading, Memory and Inscription http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2009/07/desire-paths-reading-memory-and-inscription.html

by Daniel Rourke

This article is an edifice, a mockery of the freedom needed to create it. It is rigid, it is linear. Its sentences end only to lead onwards to the next, pulling the reader's eye through a series of limited, and limiting pathways. And yet, reading does not have to be this way. In the process of writing this article little time was spent laying out the path of words you now follow to their conclusion. The process of writing is non-linear, perhaps more like a network of ideas spanning out from nodes…

]]> Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:35:00 -0700 http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2009/07/desire-paths-reading-memory-and-inscription.html Atlas Obscura http://atlasobscura.com/ Welcome to the Atlas Obscura, a compendium of this age's wonders, curiosities, and esoterica. The Atlas Obscura is a collaborative project with the goal of cataloguing all of the singular, eccentric, bizarre, fantastical, and strange out-of-the-way places that get left out of traditional travel guidebooks and are ignored by the average tourist. If you're looking for miniature cities, glass flowers, books bound in human skin, gigantic flaming holes in the ground, phallological museums, bone churches, balancing pagodas, or homes built entirely out of paper, the Atlas Obscura is where you'll find them. ]]> Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:14:00 -0700 http://atlasobscura.com/ Seeing Centaurs http://machinemachine.net/text/featured/seeing-centaur

The Greek CentaurIt is written that when the Maya people of The New World were first set upon by the Spanish cavalry it was spiritual confusion that hastened their demise. To their eyes the seething onslaught of man and horse was made of but one, new and terrifying, species of creature. In the West we might call these creatures Centaurs: liminal entities fused of two distinct species. To the Maya the border between God and beast was breached by the Spanish invaders, truly alien beings who in all… ]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2009 14:50:00 -0700 http://machinemachine.net/text/featured/seeing-centaur 'On the Origin of Stories,' 'Finding Our Tongues,' 'Catching Fire' take path-breaking looks at survival of fittest http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2009/05/24/how_storytelling_and_cooking_helped_humans_evolve/ A few years ago Tufts philosopher Daniel Dennett opined that the idea of natural selection - proposed 150 years ago in Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" - was "the best idea anybody ever had." The flood of books published this year to celebrate the sesquicentennial would seem to prove Dennett right. The "idea of natural selection" is that changes in any organism's makeup or behavior will persist or not according to whether they make it more or less likely for that organism and its descendants to survive. What kind of changes, and where do they come from? Any… ]]> Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:01:00 -0700 http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2009/05/24/how_storytelling_and_cooking_helped_humans_evolve/