| ஒத்திசைவு | प्रत्याह्वय | resonance |

If you are in Bangalore, and if you can spare the time, please go listen to the talk. (Oh how I miss these kinds of stuff that are available & accessible  only to the city-dwellers!)

In a world that abounds in fake-science, fake-technology, fake-religion, fake-activism and fake-atheism – and various other singletonian views of The Universe – I feel that these kinds of discussions are important to get our bearings right…

Robert Geraci is the Author of  ‘Apocalyptic AI: Visions of Heaven in Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Virtual Reality‘ a 2010 book that I liked a lot for its integrity – and for its deep knowledge of the semantics of  technology and of religion. I strongly recommend this book too!

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Contemporary Studies IISc <ccs.iisc@gmail.com>
Date: 5 April 2013 18:20
Subject: Invites you to a talk on “Fundamental and Applied: Religious
Practices in U.S. and Indian Technology”;Wednesday 10th April 2013;4:00 pm
To: Raghavendra Gadagkar

Dear All,

CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY STUDIES
URL: http://ces.iisc.ernet.in/hpg/ragh/ccs

Invites you to a talk on:

“Fundamental and Applied: Religious Practices in U.S. and Indian Technology”
Speaker: Robert M Geraci, Associate Professor, Religious Studies, Manhattan College, New York
Visiting Scholar, Centre for Contemporary Studies, IISc

Day and Date:  Wednesday 10th April 2013 – Time: 4:00 pm – Venue: CCS Seminar Hall, IISc, Bangalore 560012 – Flyer: CCS-20130410-Geraci.

All are cordially invited. Tea/Coffee will be served at 3.30 pm

Abstract: In the 20th and 21st centuries, debates have raged over the respective domains of religion and science, often resulting in misguided attempts to identify how religion and science interact with one another.

Such attempts are misguided in that 1) they are generally too limited in their explanatory power and 2) they presume that the practices of religion and the practices of science are separate and thus able to come into contact with one another as independent entities.

In fact, science, technology, and religion are far more like plies in a length of yarn than they are like (non?)overlapping circles; therefore, it is pointless to look for “pure science” or “pure religion.” Examples from apocalyptic dreams of
immortality and resurrection in U.S. technology and the integration of cultural traditions in Indian technology reveal how religion, science, and technology are intertwined, pulling one another first one way, then another. These are not religious ideas appended onto science and technology, but are perfectly ordinary examples of human scientific practice.