Hattix

Hot on the news that Tony Blair hid his strong religious views while Prime Minister for fear of appearing a lunatic (which one would agree with, those who hear voices in their head telling them what to do tend to be, regardless of whether those voices pretend to be gods or not) is him now claiming that faith should have a stronger role in politics.

What?

Every single time any form of religion has got involved in politics, it has resulted in widescale repression, oppression and curtailment of freedom. In something as serious as running the bloody country, we need calm rational minds, not the irrational gibbering of someone hearing voices in his head from a ghost in the sky.

 Politics should be, indeed must be, secular. Is a Jew going to vote for a Muslim? Is a Muslim going to vote for a Christian? No, but all three would vote for a secular leader who isn’t going to favour either of the other two. Politicians should concentrate on the business of running the country not on the business of playing favourites with faith.

 Blair makes the hilariously misguided statement that “the world will be immeasurably poorer, more dangerous, more fragile and above all, more aimless - I mean without the necessary sense of purpose to help guide its journey - if it is without a strong spiritual dimension” and then somehow, I’m not at all sure how, equates this with requiring religion in politics. Is spirituality necessary for a sense of purpose? Mr. Blair seems to think so, he seems to think that it’d be “aimless” and “without a sense of purpose”. One would think a former British Prime Minister would choose his words better than to outright state that several million Buddhists, Atheists and non-practitioners are “aimless”. Once again, religion is a divisive force stirring only hatred and intolerance.

 Faith must not be tolerated in politics. It is favouritism, it’s immoral and downright wrong for a government.

It brings me no joy at all and a great deal of sadness to learn that Arthur C. Clarke, the most noted science fiction author since Asimov, passed away yesterday. Born in 1917, his highest moment of fame was writing 2001: A Space Odyssey, but his legacy is much, much greater than a few literary works.

Clarke first described the geosynchronous orbit[1], where weather and communications satellites exist today. He wrote numerous factual books (including the very popular Snows of Olympus) and, indeed, most of his fiction did not stray outside the bounds of science. He had no warp engines, no teleporters, no ultra beam weapons, just physics and astronomy. He inspired two generations of rocket scientists, aerospace engineers, astronomers and physicists.

He was not just an author. He was an acclaimed futurist and inventor and a very influential one. The Apollo 13 Lunar Module was named “Odyssey” after his best known work, he is often quoted saying “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” and is acknowledged as a major influence to Gene Roddenberry’s creation of Star Trek.

His tales of lunar colonisation and journeys through space never once cross the boundaries to fantasy but remain, to this day, engaging, realistic and very well written.

Spend a few minutes on Google exploring this giant of a man and the legacy he leaves. For a personal story, check Phil’s obituary at his Bad Astronomy Blog.

[1] While the idea was being tossed around Bell Labs also, Clarke described and notarised it so well that his writing was used to demonstrate prior art and deny a patent application.

I haven’t posted much lately, it’s purely laziness, so here’s a few stories that have caught my eye over the last few days.

BBFC defeated in Manhunt2 release. Morality, especially someone else’s morality, should not be law. The BBFC took a bloody nose in this one, its own regulation didn’t support its position and a government report due later this month supports removing the BBFC as the dominant authority on video game rating.

Glaciers receding faster than ever before. The base rate from 1990 to 1999 was 30cm/year, which is now increased to 150cm/year and still increasing. One glacier in Greenland lost 290cm in 2007, another in Norway lost 310cm in 2006. The number of worldwide glaciers which are actually getting bigger is now in single digits.

BBC’s iPlayer for mobile devices was “hacked” by nothing more complex than pasting the completely unprotected URL into a web browser. While offering unencumbered downloads is to be applauded, it wasn’t the intention here as the BBC don’t have permission or right to offer programming for more than 5 days after air.

Muslim ultra-conservatives win elections in Iran. Because everyone else was banned from running for not being Muslim-conservative enough. I shit you not.