Entropy and information

Posted on March 5, 2008 by me

Ever since I hit my forties, I have known that I’ve been losing information on nearly a daily basis. Information that used to be readily accessible just simply isn’t there anymore, no matter how hard I rack my brain. For some time, I’ve suspected it’s the 2nd law of thermodynamics at work; that’s right, entropy. My memory is simply becoming disordered and jumbled, just like that drawer full of once neatly wrapped patch cords: when you open the drawer again, you can bet that disorder has set in.

Of course, people try to blame it on old age, but I know better – even when it was argued that entropy only relates to heat dissipation. Like anyone really cares about heat dissipation.

Well, now 2 thinkers from Portland State University (who’d have guessed such smart guys would teach at PSU?) have published a paper with the catchy title, Information Loss as a Foundational Principle for the Second Law of Thermodynamics, in which they show that yes, the Law of Entropy applies to information. In their summary, they state, “the second law exists because there is a restriction applying to information that is outside of and additional to the laws of classical or quantum mechanics.” (I tell you, I’ve lived with that restriction all of my life.)

Duncan & Semura (the authors) believe that the foundational principle underlying the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics can be stated as “No process can result in a net gain of information.” (And no, they are not saying that education is a waste of time.)

This may not seem all that groundbreaking, but it just may be, as the Law of Entropy applied to information has far-reaching implications. I have joked about this a bit, but in all seriousness, I am very interested to see where this discussion goes.

Posted in Faith, Science & Doubt | 2 Comments

“I’ve always tried to be more of a free-thinker than a cool-aid drinker”

Posted on March 4, 2008 by me

This phrase came out by accident while writing a comment on my friend Mike’s blog, and I immediately recognized it for what it was: one of those pithy, bumper-sticker slogans that you hate, but at the same time think they’re kind of cool.

Feel free to make your own signs for the next free speech rally… (that would not, by the way, be at either the Republican or Democrat conventions…).

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Expelled: the controversy

Posted on March 3, 2008 by me

There’s been a whole lot of b.s. written about Expelled, the soon-to-be-released documentary starring Ben Stein which investigates the problems that questioners of materialistic evolution are having on our college campuses. As I’ve written before (here and here) after I had a chance to talk to Mr. Stein, the controversy reached absurd proportions, even before the movie was finished. Most of the flap has been generated by the infamous ID-haters, P.Z. Myers and Richard Dawkins, who are apparently afraid that they’ll be made to look foolish in the movie. It’s been pretty funny over the last few months, to be honest. Both Dawkins and Myers have reminded me of schoolyard bullies, who … well, you can figure it out.

Tom Gilson over at Thinking Christian has posted the first of a series dealing with the film’s pre-release controversy, and does a pretty good job of putting it in context, with plenty of quotes and links (so you can read Myers from his own blog).

Again, it seems obvious to me that the anti-ID folks are protesting too much. I personally think it’s amusing, as in the big picture I believe it really doesn’t matter. The real issue, of course, has never been Darwinism or Intelligent Design, it’s always been about God. And, I suspect that He isn’t nearly as concerned about our science curriculum as we are. And, perhaps I am wrong to find so much amusement in the debate; but, it’s more intellectually stimulating than football (and “Go Vikings!” seems like such a waste of effort).

If you are at all concerned (or amused) by the Expelled controversy, I recommend you check out Thinking Christian and follow the various links.

On another note, if you’re interested in what Ben Stein has to say about the reality of politicians and change, check this out.

Posted in Faith, Science & Doubt | 5 Comments

Webber: The Divine Embrace 7: What now?

Posted on February 29, 2008 by me

Part three of The Divine Embrace is entitled “The Challenge: Returning Spirituality to the Divine Embrace,” which is an excellent encapsulation of Webber’s point: we don’t need to find anything new, we simply need to recapture the church’s original understanding of spirituality, rooted in God’s Story, in God’s Divine Embrace of us and the rest of creation. Crucial to this understanding is the concept of the Incarnation, of God fully embracing humanity. This is a 180-degree turn from much of the evangelical church today. Webber states

… Christian spirituality is not an escape from this world, rather it is the discovery and the experience of spiritual purpose in this world.

This morning I was reading a magazine devoted to church planting issues, and as is typical, the issue of being missional was addressed. As I read the discussion, it occurred to me that the reason that the issue of missional is such a hot topic today is that much of the evangelical and emerging church does not have a clear understanding of God’s story. If our lives are merely focused on “getting saved,” getting others saved, and getting to Heaven, we’re missing the big picture. This is something that the liturgical, confessional traditions have not forgotten. As Richard commented the other day, the liturgy is “the enactment of the story of God, of creation, incarnation, and re-creation, and of the reality of God’s kingdom, on Earth as it is in Heaven.” This is also what we, the Church, are all about.

Spirituality, or our mission, is to reenact God’s story of creation, incarnation and re-creation. This is “what the Father’s doing” as it’s put in the gospel of John; it is rooted firmly in our understanding of God’s incarnational embrace of us. This is God’s story.

The Bible presents 3 clear types or images that demonstrate God’s story:

  1. creation & re-creation: Jesus makes all things new
  2. 1st Adam & 2nd Adam: Jesus, God incarnate, did what we could not do
  3. exodus event & the Christ event: “The ultimate restoration of the whole world is pictured in the Exodus event.”

God’s incarnational embrace recapitulates the human condition; He is re-creating us, and will re-create his creation. He is making all things new.

As we can see, the central concept of the Incarnation, of God fully embracing humanity, without any implication that the physical is in any way less holy than the “spiritual,” is essential to understanding not only God’s story, but our story.

So how do we respond? In Acts 2, Peter preaches 1) repent, 2) be baptized and 3) receive the Holy Spirit. Setting aside the common transactional interpretation, both repentance and baptism reflect a rejection of an identity with the world, and an ongoing identification with the story and purposes of God. Receiving the Holy Spirit, as we know, is the seal, or guarantee, of that identity. As opposed to a typical evangelical understanding, even our repentance – our identifying with God and his purposes – is a response to God’s embrace. Baptism, then, also is not a testimony of our action, but a testimony of the Incarnation, of God’s embrace.

This, then, is our part of the story. God embraces his creation (us), and we respond daily, continuously to that embrace. In this ancient (pre-modern) understanding of the Gospel, the focus is not on us, but on God. If you have been raised with a modern Evangelical worldview, you can perhaps see that this way of thinking changes everything. As Webber states,

… the baptized life has a mission in the world. It is not life-denying or life-escaping. Rather, living the baptized life is a participation in God’s vision within the life of the world.

Posted in Church, Reviews, Webber | Leave a comment