It is only a few posts back that I asked (rather tongue-in-cheek) what was the purpose of spiders. Last night I watched a programme that – whilst not answering that question – did illuminate rather well the whole interconnectedness theme that permeates many of my posts in this blog. What is more, it also went beyond the focus that I tend to have – i.e. the way in which we are connected to others – to illustrate that this interconnectedness is really widespread across species.
Worldview
It’s Not Just Me
This blog is predicated on the fact that there is a huge amount of ‘stuff’ that I don”t know – the quotation from Einstein sort of sums it up and I find it proven almost daily. Even so it is always comforting when there is some sort of independent corroboration in the form of someone else saying similar things – even if that does rather smack of confirmation bias.
Science And Spiritual Practices : Reconnecting through direct experience
Anyone who has trawled through this large list of “books I have read” will notice that there are some authors who appear frequently – Neal Stephenson, Terry Pratchett, Robert Harris – and others – and amongst the ‘serious” books are many by Rupert Sheldrake. There is a lot of repetition and cross-over within his books – but that is not surprising as what he is really outlining in all of them is his journey towards a very original worldview – and one that I, for one, can take on board as being not too far from my own.
The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena
A new author for me, but it is clear from the recent books on this list that there is a bit of a theme going on.
A Matter of Perspective
I was watching TV the other evening and switching between a few channels to see what was on and came across something on BBC4 which was described as “A spectacular aerial journey following the world’s longest monument … in slow-TV style”. I have watched bits of other programmes which were “in slow-TV style” and generally they are, actually, rather attractive – in that they draw you in to watch what is, often, not very much!! This one was the same – although actually compared to the journey along a canal this was not quite so slow as it was more like ‘highlights’ than true “slow-TV”. Doing the maths they were in effect travelling at over 1500km/hr – hardly slow.
The Five People You Meet in Heaven
I read this very quickly – and it was both thought provoking and slightly disappointing! The central thesis resonates strongly with my own outlook which can be found throughout the blog entries that there are lots of interconnections in our lives that we know little about – I could link to some of the specific entries that explore this but it permeates so much – whether it is external events that impact on our lives or ourselves unwittingly causing a change for someone else there are lots of “unknowns”.
Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
First book after a long gap – fascinating it was too. It considered various options for the future as Artificial Intelligence is developed to what many see as its inevitable conclusion. Will probably blog on this subject, but the idea that in the same way as we now see great improvements in things like artificial limbs we could also see in artificial brains is – to say the least – interesting – as well as weird/concerning/worrying/downright scary in some respects.
The Discovery of Slowness
Something different and, like the previous book I read, a present from someone so not necessarily a book that I would have picked up myself. Just a couple of chapters in at the moment and it is very interesting – and very different.
Origin
Typical Dan Brown page turner. Good to read, easy to read – not too taxing!
The Long Cosmos
The next (and last) step (so to speak) in this rambling exploration of parallel worlds. Plenty of food for thought in the whole series – as long as you don’t require ‘answers’. Not that the reading date of this is approximate as I can’t remember precisely when I read it.