10:1:
Science and Religion Shift in the First Three Months of the Covid-19 Pandemic
The goal of this pilot study is to investigate expressions of the collective disquiet of people in the first months of Covid-19 pandemic, and to try to understand how they manage covert risk, especially with religion and magic. Four co-authors living in early hot spots of the pandemic speculate on the roles of science, religion, and magic, in the latest global catastrophe. They delve into the consolidation that should be occurring worldwide because of a common, viral enemy, but find little evidence for it. They draw parallels to biblical works, finding evidence of a connection between plague and “social strife.” They explore changes in the purviews of science, religion, and magic, and how and why they have changed, as three systems of covert risk management. They speculate on the coming wave of grief when the world populations finally decide that too many people have died, and they envision cultural changes on the other side of the pandemic, to lifestyles, travel, reverse urbanization, and living and working in smaller communities. Using an unusual approach named “crowd-sourced ethnography”, they conduct un-traditional ethnography and speculate on management of covert risk in their native countries.
The Sociology of Global Warming: A Scientometric Look
The theory of anthropogenic global warming (AGW) enjoys considerable
consensus among experts. It is widely recognized that global industrialization
is producing an increase in the planet’s temperatures and causing
environmental disasters. Still, there are scholars – although a minority – who
consider groundless either the idea of global warming itself or the idea that it
constitutes an existential threat for humanity. This lack of scientific unanimity
(as well as differing political ideologies) ignites controversies in the political
world, the mass media, and public opinion as well. Sociologists have been
dealing with this issue for some time, producing researches and studies based
on their specific competencies. Using scientometric tools, this article tries to
establish to what extent and in which capacity sociologists are studying the
phenomenon of climate change. Particular attention is paid to meta-analytical
aspects such as consensus, thematic trends, and the impact of scientific works.
Theology in Times of Pandemic
A question arises regarding theology and its functions when trying to cope with
the coronavirus pandemic. Surely Christian faith – along with other religions –
can play a role in helping to deal with this crisis, both for individuals and
collectively. Theology connects with the effort religious faith and Churches
perform and provides models and ideas to highlight the Christian sense of what
is happening, that is, in reference to a saving God. Four keys, rooted in the
Christian tradition, are proposed that allow us to understand these difficult
times in a meaningful way, that is, as revealing “signs of the times” for
believers, assisting them in their struggle to cope with these challenging
circumstances.
Reply to Walter Block on Ethical Vegetarianism
I address Walter Block’s recent criticisms of my book, Dialogues on Ethical
Vegetarianism. Methodologically, Block relies too much on appeals to
contentious and extreme assumptions. Substantively, most of his objections are
irrelevant to the central issue of the book. Those that are relevant turn on false
assumptions or lead to absurd consequences. In the end, Block’s claim to
oppose suffering cannot be reconciled with his indifference to a practice that
probably causes, every few years, more suffering than all the suffering in
human history.
A Short History of the Discovery of Black Holes
The concept of black holes or completely collapsed gravitational objects as
they were originally called has fascinated the scientific community and writers
of science fiction for centuries. The mathematical proof of the existence of
black holes came from the collation of multiple lines of evidence, some of
which were highly debated and was derived from both indirect and direct
sources. The measurement of gravitational waves and the observation of a
black hole represent one of the most astounding achievements in astrophysics
which will open up new areas of investigation for the role that black holes play
in the formation, maintenance and evolution of galactic structure.
