aBlog

Hi H

Thanks for the loan of Calculating God. The book made for some
interesting reading and the plot was intriguing enough to keep
reading. I thought I should write down my feedback if only because it
will help me to clarify my own stand on some of the issues. I figured
you may be interested in a lengthy response since you said you were
intrigued by the characterisation of good/evil in different religions
(a la Rushdie) and their nuances.

First, I usually say that I am a scientist and an atheist, but
that's only because "theism" as interpreted in the USA and many other
countries is very narrow in scope and often refers to belief in some
kind of personal entity that governs humankind and our actions.
Unfortunately, I find that "atheism" also seems to have similar narrow
connotations, instead of meaning, as I had hoped, "non-belief in a
personal savior."

Yesterday, we decided that my wife and son would go to see Harry Potter, while I would take our daughter Katya, too young for Potter, to see Shrek the third. That we were unaware of Shrek no longer playing in theaters signifies the inordinate infrequency with which we have been to cinemas lately, the last one being the rather unremarkable "Charlotte's Web". This time we were spurred into action by pressure from a long-standing promise we had made to the kids. Since Shrek was out, we decided that Mathangi and Panini (wife and son) would watch Potter and then snack, while Katya and I would snack and watch Ratatouille (in that order to fit slight mismatches in the movie schedules). Unfortunately, Katya was too young for Ratatouille also, for she said there was too much "talking" in the film; but fortunately, I was aged just right for it, or at any rate I enjoyed it so much that this is certainly one for my DVD collection.