January 19, 1936 My dear Dr. Einstein, We have brought up the question: Do scientists pray? in our Sunday school class. It began by asking whether we could believe in both science and religion. We are writing to scientists and other important men, to try and have our own question answered. We will feel greatlyContinue reading “Do scientists pray?”
Author Archives: Guest Editor
My dungeon shook
There is no reason for you to try to become like white people and there is no basis whatever for their impertinent assumption that they must accept you. The really terrible thing, old buddy, is that you must accept them. And I mean that very seriously. You must accept them and accept them with love.Continue reading “My dungeon shook”
Not to be published
‘A New Theory of Biology,’ was the title of the paper which Mustapha Mond had just finished reading. He sat for some time, meditatively frowning, then picked up his pen and wrote across the title-page: ‘The author’s mathematical treatment of the conception of purpose is novel and highly ingenious, but heretical and, so far aContinue reading “Not to be published”
In the backstreets
I love museums and I am not alone in finding that they make me happier with each passing day. I take museums very seriously, and that sometimes leads me to angry, forceful thoughts. But I do not have it in me to speak about museums with anger. In my childhood there were very few museumsContinue reading “In the backstreets”
I’m still touched by falling leaves
I’ve read about falling leaves in fifty thousand poems novels and so on watched leaves falling in fifty thousand movies seen leaves fall fifty thousand times fall drift and rot felt their dead shush shush fifty thousand times underfoot in my hands on my fingertips but I’m still touched by falling leaves especially those fallingContinue reading “I’m still touched by falling leaves”
The Simulation Argument
If we are living in a simulation, then the cosmos that we are observing is just a tiny piece of the totality of physical existence. The physics in the universe where the computer is situated that is running the simulation may or may not resemble the physics of the world that we observe. While theContinue reading “The Simulation Argument”
Utopias
Utopias seem to be much more achievable than we formerly believed them to be. Now we find ourselves presented with another alarming question: how do we prevent utopias from coming into existence?… Utopias are possible. Life tends towards the formation of utopias. Perhaps a new century will begin, a century in which intellectuals and theContinue reading “Utopias”
The national hero
From the ornate picture frame on the wall, Atatürk — the father of the Turks — would glance down at them, his steel-blue eyes flecked with gold. There were portraits of the national hero everywhere; Atatürk in his military uniform in the kitchen, Atatürk in a redingote in the living room, Atatürk with a coatContinue reading “The national hero”
The first twelve years
The world beyond the train window contained more people, wheat fields, poplars, oxen, bridges, donkeys, houses, mosques, tractors, signs, letters, stars, and transmission towers than Mevlut had seen in the first twelve years of his life. The transmission towers looked as if they were coming straight at him, which sometimes made his head spin untilContinue reading “The first twelve years”
Porpoises
We were out on the fjord in the rowing boat, the sky was grey and heavy. Before us lay Lihesten, a long, almost vertical cliff which rises straight from the fjord to a height of several hundred meters, in some places visible as a darker, slate-colored wall deep in the fog. My hair was damp.Continue reading “Porpoises”