Programming Languages Are Useful But Not Perfect

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A friend back in college enjoyed solving math problems. He once told me about a lengthy assignment his class was given. He solved all the problems and was certain that all the solutions were correct. He got the highest mark in class, but not the full mark. He quickly went through the pages and spotted the professor's remark on the side of one page. It said (translated): "It's not what you think". And there was a line under a phrase that my friend wrote, that said something like: "If so and so information about x is available, y can be measured with absolute precision". He did not ask the professor for an explanation. He understood that, in college, saying 'absolute precision' can get you less marks.

His fascination with math and logic was great. Even after college, in his spare time, he would read books about math and logic, including books about the philosophy of math. What caught my attention was that he said that, in his twenties, the biggest shock was losing a parent, and the next biggest shock was realizing that mathematics was not absolutely solid.

The shock was probably inevitable since my friend was like many people who would see math as the last solid ground that eventually can explain everything.

Gödel’s theorem in Physics and Religion

Gödel’s theorem on incompleteness has been discussed in several fields like Physics and Religion.
I read the following two articles:

• “Gödel’s Incompleteness: The #1 Mathematical Breakthrough of the 20th Century” , by Perry Marshall.
• “Godel and the End of Physics”, by Stephen Hawking.

Here are some thoughts.

مثال من الفكر الغربي لتأسيس "ضرورة الإيمان بالله" باستخدام نظرية جويدل

نظرية جويدل تعتبر من أهم التطورات في القرن العشرين في مجال المنطق والرياضيات. وهناك محاولات في الغرب لأخذ نتائج النظرية في الاعتبار في مجالات مختلفة مثل العلوم الطبيعية وأيضا في مجال العلاقة بين الدين والعلم، وبالتحديد في مجال الدفاع عن الإيمان بالله أو ما يعرف بالـ Apologitics.

المقالة المترجمة أدناه لبيري مارشال تمثل، حسب ما يبدو لي، توجها عند بعض المتدينين في الغرب لاستخدام نظرية جويدل حول عدم الاكتمال في جوانب عقائدية.

والملاحظ في المقالة أن الكاتب يبدأ بتقرير القصور في المنطق مستندا إلى نظرية جويدل، ومنتهيا بأن الإيمان بالله ضروري وبدهي، أيضا بناء على نفس النظرية، وبما يتسق مع أسس العلم الحديث، حسب قوله.

Qigong and Yoga : Practical And Spiritual Aspects

I learned my first lessons on Yoga when I was less than ten years old. Among few basic lessons, father taught me how to sit and breath quietly. I must have been an overactive kid :) .

Last month I participated in a couple of training sessions on Qigong. The sessions were focused on understanding the basic concepts and how to start benefiting from what I feel is an interesting approach to fitness.

However, there are some religious views with reservations regarding Qigong and Yoga exercises (having been developed within a context based on different philosophical views).

Personally, I think that practicing such exercises for the health benefits that have been widely studied and generally recognized (for instance by international bodies like the World Health Organization, but as I understand only as complementary practices and not as alternatives to traditional medicine), is just part of a wide range of practical benefits that most people pretty much already approve of that were the result of efforts based on different philosophical views.

In this article I shall try to explain my view on this point.

 

This article is divided into two sections:

- The Practical Side

- The Philosophical Side

 

Knowing things as they are - A Sufi View

'Things as they are' and the ability or the impossibility to 'know' them, appear to be important subjects to thinkers from different ages and different cultures. In this article I shall try to explain what I have understood about Sufis' position regarding 'things as they are' and their view regarding rational approaches to 'see things as they are'.

Signs of human limits

Humans have limits because: (1) They are made up or composed of other things. (2) They always have limited information about existence.

Affirming the Antecedent

Some critics of logical arguments used by some religious people, say that when one starts with a firm belief in God then tries to use logical arguments to prove that God does exist, he is actually committing a logical fallacy such as Affirming the Consequent or Circular Reasoning.

I think that what could have been overlooked or misunderstood by some critics, and unfortunately by some believers as well, is that any type of rationalizing about deep religious concepts was not how the belief system started. The original belief system was based on a mystical experience that did not involve a shred of logical argumentation, rather was pure sight, vision, or experience.

"Show me a Miracle"

A few days ago I read an article on the net by a writer who insisted on seeing a mystic performing a miracle so he might believe mystical claims.

I am not trying here to say or even to hint that anyone who demands a proof for mystical claims is right or wrong, that is not my intention or concern. I am also not trying to prove that miracles exist; I am just trying to say that the possibility of what might be considered as miracles, need not be dismissed.

Bertrand Russell on Mysticism - Part 2

Part 2 of the comment on Russell's article: "Mysticism and Logic".

Bertrand Russell on Mysticism - Part 1

A comment on Russell's article titled: "Mysticism and Logic".