God & Nature Magazine
  • Winter 2023 Issue
    • Letter From the Editors
    • Braden, A Modern Bestiary
    • Garte, Assembly Theory
    • Defoe, The Heavens Declare
    • Greenberg, Bonding
    • Barrigar, God's Big Story
    • Phillippy, Overcoming Paradox
    • Bostrom, Near
    • Clifford, Hidden Figures
  • Fall 2022 Issue
    • Letter Fall22
    • Curry, Attentiveness
    • Russo, Deconstruction
    • Touryan, Four Forces
    • Mittchell, Three Words
    • Philippy, Math Theology Fall 22
    • Bostrom, Goodbyes
    • Clifford FAll 22
    • Linsley, Mystic Exile
    • Hall, A Call to Arms
  • Summer 2022 Issue
    • Letter Summer 2022
    • Engelking, Neurotheology
    • Kelley, Environmentalism
    • Garte, Sandpipers
    • Madison, Cultivating Contentment
    • Collins, Answers on Evolution
    • Touryan, Tentmakers
    • Oord, Ever-Creative God
    • Bostrom, Mentors
    • Clifford, Carbon and Sin
    • Campbell, Just, In Time
  • Past Issues
    • Spring 2022 Issue >
      • Letter from the Editors Spring 2022
      • Curry, Knowldege and Truth
      • Pinkham, On a Car Emblem
      • Murray, Candling the Egg
      • Carr, Music, Math, Religion
      • Smith, Wonder and Longing
      • Linsky, Cyber Service
      • Bostrom, Buteo
      • Obi, Coincidences
    • Winter 2022 Issue >
      • Garte &Albert Letter Winter 2022
      • Thuraisingham Pondering Invisible
      • Cornwell Mediations from Molecular Biologist
      • Fagunwa Blsck Scientist & Church Father
      • Garte A Dialogue
      • Gonzalez Being Human
      • Klein Naturalist in Two Worlds
      • Bostrom Creeds
      • Clifford Winter 2022
      • Ardern Contact Points
      • Cooper Imagine No Christmas
    • Fall 2021 Issue >
      • Garte &Albert Letter Fall2021
      • Johnson, God Winks
      • Cottraux, Ancient Aliens
      • Arveson, Anti-Vax Email
      • Gammon, Evolutionary Insights
      • Mitchell, No One Told Me
      • Rummo, Faith in the Invisible
      • Bostrom, Fall Furrows
      • Lemcio, A Franciscan Weekend
      • Funk, Plant Haiku
      • Robinson & Lim, Who is God?
    • Summer 2021 Issue >
      • Garte &Albert Letter Sum2021
      • Warren, Immunization and Salvation
      • Defoe, Bernard Ramm
      • Cornwell Canine to Divine
      • Mix, Running with Nature
      • Pinkham, Scuba Divers
      • Cao, Physics and Bible
      • Bostrom, Sugar Birds
      • Clifford Sum21
      • Oostema, Evolution of Faith
      • Hall, Generation upon Generation
    • Spring 2021 Issue >
      • Garte and Albert Letter Spring 2021
      • Loikanen, Divine Action
      • Madison, Humus and Humility
      • Lappin, Puddles and Persons
      • Cornwell, God's GPS
      • Touryan, Contolled Fusion
      • Russo, Vaccine and Salvation
      • Bostrom, Short-eared Owl
      • Redkoles, Expect Unexpected
      • Clifford, Boring
      • McFarland, Imposition of Carbon
      • Lemcio, Manis Mastodon
    • Winter 2021 Issue >
      • Winter 2021 Contents >
        • Garte and Albert Letter from the Editors
        • Burnett How iit All Started
        • Isaac Director's Corner
        • Ruppel Herrington, First Editor
        • Burnett Origin of Lire
        • Hearn Balance
        • Middleton Natural Theology
        • Story Antibodies and Randomness
        • Lamoureux I Sleep a Lot
        • Warren Overloaded Brains
        • Isaac Knowledge of Information
        • Bancewicz Wonder and Zebrafish
        • Oord Photoessay
        • Albert Hope in Winter
        • Clifford Storytelling & Drama in Teaching
        • Pohl The Column (Poetry)
    • Fall 2020 Issue >
      • Letter from Editors
      • Pohl, Panpsychism and Microbiome
      • Reyes, Communion During Loss
      • Griffin, Hands On
      • Azarvan, Science and Limits
      • Cornwell, Search Engines for God
      • Thuraisingham, Duality of Humans and Particles
      • Touryan, Prayers of Petition
      • George, Perfect Vision
      • Declare the Glory, Green: Awe
      • Bostrom Purpose
      • Oord, Theological Photoessay
      • Clifford, Food, Water, Waste
    • Summer 2020 Issue >
      • Summer 2020 Contents >
        • Editors Letter Summer2020
        • Jones, Science Faith Duopoly
        • Mix, God and the Virus
        • Warner, COVID-19 and Goodness of Creation
        • Gonzalez, Pandemic and Groaning of Creation
        • Johnson, Star Wars Food
        • Pyle, It Takes a (Medical ) Village
        • Arveson, Use for 3D Printers
        • Peterson, Pandemic and Research
        • Zeidan, Mentorship Online
        • Oleskeiwicz, Dragonfly on Water
        • Carr, COVID-19 and Climate Change
        • Nierrman, The Squirrel
        • Cornwell, COVIS-19 Bucket List
        • Bostrom, Grass Thoughts
        • Clifford, Summ20 Conflict
    • Spring 2020 Issue >
      • Letter from the Editors SP20
      • AD
      • Murphy, Nature and Calvary
      • Dickin, The Flood and Genesis 1
      • Gruenberg, Empiricism and Christian Spirituality
      • Ungureanu, Science, Religion, Protestant Tradition
      • Russo, How does it End?
      • Siegrist, Problems with Materialism
      • Ohlman, 20/20 in 2020
      • Warren, Rock Frogs
      • Edwards, Sanctuary
      • Bostrom, Clothed
      • Clifford, The Lent of Lockdown Spring 2020
      • Hall, 1:30 AM on a Tuesday (Poem)
    • Winter 2020 Issue >
      • Letter from the Editor Winter 2020
      • AD
      • Wimberly Inheritance, Meaning and Code
      • Defoe; A Pastor's Journey
      • Mix The Ends of the World
      • Pevarnik Limits of Physics
      • Greenberg "Godly" Science
      • Pinkham Teleological Thinking
      • Alexanian How to Witness
      • "Declare the Glory" Neal, Cross, Gait
      • Clifford "Across the Pond" Winter 2020
      • Oord "Theological Photoessays" Winter 2020
      • Salviander The Objective Man (Poem)
      • Ohlman Orphan of the Universe (Poem)
      • Lemcio Grey's Anatomy (Poem)
    • Fall 2019 Issue >
      • Letter from the Editor Fall 2019
      • Phillippy Mathematics and God
      • Pohl & Thoelen Databases
      • Garte Limits of Science
      • Mitroka Healthy Lifestyle
      • Sigmon Science and Revelation
      • Mariani Compatibility Creation and Evolution
      • Anders Theistic Evolution
      • Touryan Are we alone
      • Johnson Purpose and Source
      • Declare the Glory Curry, Smith, Best
      • Clifford "Across the Pond" Fall 19
      • Oord "Theological Photoessays Fall 19
      • Eyte Cross Cascade "Poem"
    • Summer 2019 Issue >
      • Letter from the Editor Summer 2019
      • Arveson Is There a “Theory of Everything”
      • Anderson The History and Philosophy of Science and Faith
      • Tolsma Science in Church
      • Salviander Black Holes and Atheism
      • Johnson Practical Problems for Literal Adam
      • Hall God and the Assumptions of Scientific Research
      • Linsky Overcoming Misconceptions
      • Wilder Sanctity of Creation
      • Clifford "Across the Pond" Summer19
      • Oord "Theological Photoessays" Summer 2019
      • Flaig Time and Me (Poem)
    • Spring 2019: Creation Care and Environment >
      • Letter from the Editor Spring 2019
      • Bancewicz;Sustainability Pledge: Why the Environment is My Problem
      • Lin; Environmental Problems as a Place for Compromise and Dialogue
      • Garvey; Where the Fall Really Lies
      • Lewis; Solar-Powered Life: Providing Food, Oxygen and Protection
      • Garte; Time and Human Impact on the Environment
      • Mays; Reforming Science Textbooks
      • Carr; Cosmic Energy First, Then Matter: A Spiritual Ethic
      • Kincanon; The Young Earthers and Leibniz
      • Declare the Glory Gauger
      • Clifford "Across the Pond" Spring 2019
      • Oord; Photoessay. Theological Photo Essays
      • Rivera; Photoessay. Digital Artwork: Images of Jesus
      • Albert; Poem. A Goldfish Sings a Tentative Psalm
      • Armstrong; Poem Holy Sonnet XI
    • Winter 2019: Education and Outreach 2 >
      • Letter from the Editor, Winter 2009
      • Applegate; Project Under Construction: Faith Integration Resource for High School Biology
      • LaBelle; Sidewalk Astronomy Evangelism - Taking it to the Streets!
      • Reed; Speaking to the Heart and Mind of Students about Evolution and Creation
      • Marcus; The Conflict Model
      • Rivera; The Implicit Assumptions behind Hitchen's Razor
      • Russo; Redeeming Bias in Discussion of Science and Faith
      • Fischer; Origins, Genesis and Adam
      • Clifford Column, Winter 2019
      • Gait; Photoessay - Stripes
      • Lee; Poem. In Chaos and Nothingness
    • Fall 2018: Education and Outreach 1 >
      • Letter from the Editor Fall 2018
      • Glaze; A Walk within Two Worlds: Faith, Science, and Evolution Advocacy
      • Johnson; Teaching the Controversy in Texas
      • Cootsona; Mere Christianity, Mainstream Science and Emerging Adults
      • Kindstedt; Creating a Third Culture
      • Zeidan; An Effective Way to Integrate Supportive Communication and Christian Belief into Virtual Classrooms
      • Marshall; A New Model of Causation
      • McClure; Nothing in the Bible Makes Sense Except in the Light of Grace
      • Frank; Christianity, Science and Teamwork
      • Assad/Reyes; Interview. Discovering a Renewed Sense of Awe and Wonder about God
      • Clifford Column Fall 2018
      • Menninga; Photoessay. What do These Stones Mean?
    • Summer 2018: Judgment and Peer Review >
      • Letter from the Editors Summer 2018
      • Jones; Peer Review: Avoiding Judgmentalism
      • Arnold; Discovering Spiritual Information Through Peer-Reviewed Science
      • Peterson; Peering at Double-Blind Peer Review
      • Smith; A Philosophical Influence from the Scientific Revolution on Scientific Judgment
      • Mix; The Poetry of Probability
      • Mobley; Randomness vs. the Providence of God?
      • Gordon; Chances are Good: Design and Chance in Genesis 1
      • Siegrist; But the Multiverse...!
      • Reyes; The Community Table: Interview with Marianne Johnson
      • Clifford Column Summer 2018
      • Hill; Poem. Synthesis
      • Lemcio; Poem. I Could See Where This was Going
      • Oord: Photoessay
    • Spring 2018: Chance & Design >
      • Letter from the Editors
      • Bishop; God, Love and Chance
      • Bonham; Quantum Reflections
      • Spaulding; God as Designer
      • Garte; Teleology in Evolution
      • Hall; God, Chance and Buridan's Ox
      • Pohl; Why We Need a Third Culture in Church
      • Dorman; Liturgical Brain
      • Warren; Galapagos
      • Blanchard; On Christian Science
      • Touryan; The Cross as a Cosmic Filter
    • Winter 2018: Race & Inheritance >
      • A Note from the Editors
      • Essay: “Some Pastoral Considerations of CRISPR CAS 9 Gene Editing” by Mario A Russo
      • Essay: “The Genetics and Theology of Race” by Sy Garte
      • Essay: "Grieve the Segregation of Science" by S. Joshua Swamidass
      • Poem: "Cardboard Man" by Ciara Reyes
      • Featured Interview: “Love Is Risk” with Carolyn Finney
      • Essay & Poem: “Abortion Languages: Love, fear, confusion and loss”
      • Essay: "Why the Church Needs Intersectional Feminism" by Emily Herrington
      • Essay: “Elected to Salvation (and other things?)” by Bill Leonard
      • Essay: “Local Colour: A reflection on family, history, and heritage” by Mike Clifford
      • Interview: Corina Newsome, environmentalist and animal keeper
      • Essay: “Spiritual Kin Selection” by Steve Roels
      • Photo Essay: "Trouble in Paradise: Plastic pollution in the Bahamas" by Grace Swing & Robert D Sluka
      • Essay: “Race & Inheritance: Personal reflections and annotations” by Walt Hearn
      • Interview: Carla Ramos, molecular biologist
      • Clifford Column; Discipine Hopping
      • Lemcio; Waves
      • Harris Artwork
      • Hearn; Eulogy - Beyond Science,
    • Summer 17: Cosmology & Theology >
      • Letter from the Editors: Summer 2017
      • Essay: "The News from My Home Galaxy" by Walt Hearn
      • Interview: "Deep Incarnation & the Cosmos: A Conversation with Niels Henrik Gregersen" by Ciara Reyes & Niels Henrik Gregersen
      • Photo Essay: "Breath & Dust" by Kathleen Eady
      • Essay: "Why the Eagle Nebula Just Doesn’t Do It For Me" by Mike Clifford
      • Essay: "The Cosmos in My Hand" by Lucas Mix
      • Interview: “What is Life? On Earth and Beyond” with Andreas Losch
      • Artwork by Missy Pellone
      • Essay: "When God & Science Hide Reality" by Davis Woodworth
      • Essay: "​In Search of Wonder: A Reflection on Reconciling Medieval and Modern Cosmology" by Monica Bennett
      • Essay: "If Christianity and Cosmology Are in Conflict, Whose Side Is Philosophy on?" by Vaughan Rees
    • Winter/Spring 17: "Flesh & Blood" >
      • Letter from the Editor: Winter/Spring 2017
      • Essay: "Probiotics, Prebiotics, Synbiotics: On microbiomes and the meaning of life" by John F. Pohl
      • Essay: "With All Your Mind" by Paul S. Kindsedt
      • Essay: "The Stuff of Life" by Mike Clifford
      • Essay: "Experiencing God’s Love in a Secular Society: A Christian experience with socialized medicine" by Alison Noble
      • Poem: "The Problem with Pain" by Eugne E. Lemcio
      • Essay: "Thoughts of Death in a Cruel World: Job’s suicidal ideation and the “right” Christian response to depression" by Jennifer Michael Hecht and Emily Herrington
      • Essay: "Tissues at Issue" by Walt Hearn
      • Essay: "The Dilemma of Modern Christianity" by Tony Mitchell
      • Poem: "Light" by Billie Holladay Skelley
      • Essay: "Some Theological Implications of Science: Revisiting the Ant" by Mario A. Russo
    • Summer/Fall 16: "Stewardship of Words" >
      • Letter from the Editor: Summer 2016
      • Levity: "Walt Being Walt: Excerpts from the ASA newsletter" by Walt Hearn (compiled by Jack Haas & Emily Ruppel)
      • Poem: "A Prayer Tribute to Walt and Ginny Hearn" by Paul Fayter
      • Essay: "Authentic Science & Authentic Christian Faith" by Paul Arveson
      • Essay: "On Modern-Day Saints & Epistles" by Emily Ruppel
      • Essay: "​Mathematics and the Religious Impulse" by Karl Giberson
      • Poem: "The Wasteful Gene" by Eugne E. Lemcio
      • Three Poems by Dan Eumurian
      • Excerpts from: "The Dictionary of Daily Life in Biblical and Post-Biblical Antiquity" by Edwin Yamauchi
      • Essay: "A Comprehensible Universe: The blessing from God that makes science possible" by Bob Kaita
      • Poem: "The Epistolarian" by Emily Ruppel
    • Spring 16: "Brain Science" >
      • Letter from the Editor: Spring 2016
      • Essay: "Ancient Q, Modern A (?)" by Walt Hearn
      • Essay: "Souls, Brains and People: Who or what are we?" by Gareth D. Jones
      • Essay: "A Functional Theology of Psychopathology" by Edgar Paul Herrington IV
      • Three Poems by Richard Gillum
      • Essay: "Thoughts of Death in an Unkind World: Job’s suicidal ideation and the “right” Christian response to depression" by Jennifer Michael Hecht
      • Short Story: "Malefic" by Jeffrey Allen Mays
      • Essay: "An Engineer Visits a Mindfulness Workshop" by Mike Clifford
      • Essay: "Traces of Trauma in the Body of Christ: The case of The Place of Refuge" by Elizabeth Hernandez
      • Essay: "Did God ‘Create’ Science? Christianity and the uniqueness of the human brain" by William H. Church
    • Winter 16: "Quantum Physics/Epigenetics" >
      • Letter from the Editor: Winter 2016
      • Essay: "God and the New Evolutionary Biology" by Sy Garte
      • Essay: "Quantum Mechanics and the Question of Divine Knowledge" by Stephen J. Robinson
      • Essay: "Creation Out of... Physics?" by Joshua Scott
      • Essay: "Of Books and Bosons" by Mike Clifford
      • Essay: "Words, Words, Words" by Walt Hearn
      • Poem: "Encountering Ernst Haeckel’s 'Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny'" by Eugene Lemcio
      • Essay: "The Extended Evolutionary Synthesis: New conversations and theological questions at the horizons of modern science" by Michael Burdett
      • Poem: "The Difference" by Emily Ruppel
      • Essay: "Maupertuis's Ghost: Finding God in 'action'" by Colin C. Campbell
    • Fall 15: "Technology" >
      • Letter from the Editor: Fall 2015
      • Essay: "‘Braving the New World (Wide Web): Mapping Theological Response to Media" by Justin A. Bailey
      • Poem: "Entropy and Enthalpy" by Glenn R. McGlaughlin
      • Essay: "‘How Proactive Should Christians Be in Learning about Emerging Biomedical Technologies?" by D. Gareth Jones
      • Essay: "‘Can We Fix It? Erm..." by Mike Clifford
      • Poem: "To My Dear Parents" by Sarah Ruden
      • Essay: "‘Which Side, Lord?" by Walt Hearn
      • Poem: "The Column" by John F. Pohl
      • Essay: "‘Technology and the Church" by Derek Schuurman
      • Poem: "On the Shores of Oroumieh" by Emily Ruppel
      • Essay: "‘Technology as Discipline" by Johnny Wei-Bing Lin
    • Summer 15: "Doubt" >
      • Letter from the Editor: Summer 2015
      • Essay: "‘The Road Not Taken’: A personal reflection on careers, counterfactuals and callings" by Tim Middleton
      • Essay: "The Gift of Doubt in My Life" by Rev. Paul Herrington
      • Poem: "The Marsh Birds" by Sarah Ruden
      • Essay: "On St Brendan and the Pendulum of Postgraduate Study" by Mike Clifford
      • Essay: "Doubt: The Invisible Conversation" by Karl W. Giberson
      • Essay: "Doubt, Faith, and Crevasses on My Mind" by Peter M. J. Hess
      • Poem: "Magdalene" by Leonore Wilson
      • Essay: "Breaking Barriers, Ministering in Relationships, and Exemplifying the Gospel" by Stephen Contakes, et al.
      • Poem: "On the Extinction of Matter Near a Black Hole" by Ruth Hoppin
      • Essay: "Sometimes I Doubt..." by Walt Hearn
      • Essay: "The Risks of Love and Life's Big Questions" by Thomas Jay Oord
    • Spring 15: "Animals/Imago Dei" >
      • Letter from the Editor: Spring 2015
      • Essay: "50 Years of Wilderness: a Christian perspective" by Peter van der Burgt
      • Essay: "All Creatures Great and Small " by Walt Hearn
      • Essay: "Let There Be Less: A Christian musing on nature, faith, and farmers’ markets" by Emily Ruppel
      • Poem: "The New Plant and Animal Kingdoms" by Steve Roels
      • Essay: "Of Wonder and Zebrafish" by Ruth Bancewicz
      • Essay: "The Lion, the Spider and the Image of God" by Mike Clifford
      • Cat Poem 1: "Lullaby for Stomp the Cat" by Sarah Ruden
      • Cat Poem 2: "Letting the Dog In" by Emily Ruppel
      • Cat Poem 3: "Reading on the Couch" by Carol Ruppel
      • Essay: "Angry Discussions: A Wrong Way to Stand for Creation Care or Science Advocacy " by Oscar Gonzalez
      • Essay: "Ethical Eating on a Catholic Campus: Some thoughts from a student of environmental studies" by Grace Mican
    • Winter 15: "Information" >
      • Letter from the Editor: Winter 2015
      • Essay: "What Does it Mean to Know?" by Mark Shelhamer
      • Essay: "Knowledge of Information" by Randy Isaac
      • Photo Essay: "Being Here" by Carol Ruppel
      • Essay: "Truth Anyone?" by Walt Hearn
      • Poem: "Transformation" by Ruth Hoppin
      • Interview: "Unpacking Chance, Providence, and the Abraham's Dice Conference" by Olivia Peterson
      • Essay: "On Knowledge and Information–Tales from an English childhood" by Mike Clifford
      • Poem: "Space Travel" by Ruth Hoppin
      • Essay: "Resuming the Science/Faith Conversation" by Jamin Hubner
    • Archives >
      • Past Contributors
      • Unpublished Materal >
        • Richard Graven A Vision of God
      • Fall 14: "History of Science & Christianity" >
        • Letter from the Editor: Fall 2014
        • Essay: "Orchids: Why the founders of modern science cultivated virtue" by Ruth Bancewicz
        • Essay: "Science Falsely So Called: Fundamentalism and Science" by Edward B. Davis
        • Essay: "The Other 'Atom' in Christianity and Science" by Karissa D Carlson
        • Poem: "The Hermit" by Ciara C. Reyes
        • Essay: "Players" by Walt Hearn
        • Essay: "Using Storytelling and Drama in Engineering Lectures" by Mike Clifford
        • Essay: "Is There Anything Historical About Adam and Eve?" by Mike Beidler
        • Essay: "Finding Harmony in Controversy: The early years of the ASA" by Terry Gray and Emily Ruppel
        • Levity: "Fish n' Chips" by Mike Arnold
        • Essay: "Stories" by Walt Hearn
      • Summer 14: "Christian Women in Science" >
        • Letter from the Editor: Summer 2014
        • Essay: "I Really Did That Work: A brief survey of notable Christian Women in Science" by Lynn Billman
        • Essay: "He + She = We" by Walt Hearn
        • Photo Essay: "The Faces of Nature" by Susan Limone
        • Essay: "On Grass that Withers: Overloaded brains and spiritual discernment" by Janet Warren
        • Interview: "Ancient Humans and Modern Choices" with Briana Pobiner
        • Essay: "Crystallographer, Quaker, Pacifist, & Trailblazing Woman of Science: Kathleen Lonsdale’s Christian Life 'Lived Experimentally'” by Kylie Miller and Stephen M. Contakes
        • Artwork: "Eden, Zion" by Harold Sikkema
        • Essay: "Asking the Right Question" by Dorothy Boorse
        • Interview: "Not So Dry Bones" with Mary Schweitzer
        • Essay: "Is Being a Mother and a Scientist Worth It?" by Abby Hodges
        • Essay: "Playing God: A theological reflection on medicine, divine action, and personhood" by Ann Pederson
        • Column: Great Gravity! "BNL 1976 – 2000 (Part 1)"
      • Spring 14: "G&N: The 2-year tour" >
        • Letter from the Editor: Spring 2014
        • Essay: "Political Science?" by Walt Hearn
        • Comic: "Education"
        • Essay: "Finding Hominids with Kamoya Kimeu" by Fred Heeren
        • Poem: "Ziggurat (and Helix)" by Amy Chai
        • Creative Nonfiction: "One Summer" by Dave Harrity
        • Essay: "Do the Heavens Declare the Glory of God?" by Owen Gingerich
        • Comic: "Miracle Mechanics" by Emily Ruppel
        • Essay: "I Sleep A Lot" by Denis O. Lamoureux
        • Poem: "Angels and RNA" by Walt Hearn
        • Comic: "Seminary"
        • Essay: "The Elegance of Antibodies" by Craig M. Story
        • Photo Essay: "Conversing with Nature" by Thomas Jay Oord
        • Essay: "Under the Tutelage of Trees: Arboreal Lessons on Virtue, Kinship, and Integrity" by Peter M. J. Hess
        • Comic: "Humor"
        • Essay: "Science and Scientism in Biology" by Sy Garte
        • Interview: "Biopsychology and Faith" with Heather Looy
      • Winter 14: "Health & Medicine" >
        • Letter from the Editor: Winter 2014
        • Poem: I Have a Piece of Cow in My Heart
        • Essay: Acts of God: Are all mutations random?
        • Column: Beyond Science
        • Poem: Psalm 1859
        • Essay: The Tao of Departing
        • Essay: The Tao of Departing p 2
        • Photo Essay: Walking in Winter
        • Essay: A Christian Doctor on Evolution, Faith, and Suffering
        • Opinion: Making Friends with Frankencorn
        • Poem: Chiaroscuro
        • Interview: "Biopsychology and Faith" with Heather Looy
        • Essay: "The Elegance of Antibodies"
        • Artwork: "Helix" by Harold Sikkema
        • Column: Great Gravity! "Dissertations and Revelations"
      • Fall 13: "Environmentalism" >
        • Letter from the Editor: Fall 2013
        • Poem: Time
        • Essay: Is there Hope for the Ocean?
        • Artwork: "Earthly Tent" by Harold Sikkema
        • Essay: What is Responsible Eating?
        • Essay: Are We Too Obsessed with Food?
        • Poem: Conversation on Creation
        • Essay: Creation Care from the Perspective of a Conservation Geneticist
        • Essay: Mobilizing Scientists for Environmental Missions
        • Poem: Paleocene Spring
        • Interview: Dorothy Boorse
        • Column: Beyond Science
        • Essay: New Testament Motivation for Environmental Stewardship
        • Poem: Stone of House
        • Column: Great Gravity! "Running the Data"
      • Summer 13: "Science & Creativity" >
        • Column: Beyond Science
        • Letter from the Editor: Summer 2013
        • Column: Faith on the Field
        • Poem: Trying Not to Be Too Sunny
        • Comic: "Work in Progress"
        • Essay: Do the Heavens Declare the Glory of God?
        • Essay: Science, Faith, and Creativity
        • Essay: One Summer
        • Comic: "Miracle Mechanics"
        • Featured Essay: Poetry for Scientists
        • Artwork: "Confluence" by Harold Sikkema
        • Column: Great Gravity! "The Great Ungainly Journey West"
      • Winter 13 >
        • Letter from the Editor: Winter 2013
        • Column: Faith on the Field
        • Comic: "Apples to Apples"
        • Creative Nonfiction: "One Winter"
        • Column: Clearing the Middle Path
        • Essay: Science and Scientism in Biology
        • Poem: "Angels and RNA"
        • Feature Article: I Sleep A Lot
        • Poem: "Fragile"
        • Column: Beyond Science
        • CiS 2012 Student Essay Contest: Runner Up
        • Essay: Why Awe?
        • CiS 2012 Student Essay Contest: First Place
        • Column: Great Gravity! "A Bit of Perspective"
        • Column: Modern Frontiers, Ancient Faith
        • Column: Time Capsule
      • Fall 12 >
        • Letter from the Editor: Fall 2012
        • The Director's Corner
        • Column: Faith on the Field
        • Comic: "Education"
        • Interview: Greetings from Mars!
        • Column: Clearing the Middle Path
        • Photo Essay: "Conversing with Nature"
        • Comic: "Abe"
        • Essay: Evolution and Imago Dei
        • Poem: "Locus Iste"
        • Levity: Beyond Science
        • Essay: God, Occam, and Science
        • Opinion: Humility and Grace
        • Levity: Great Gravity! "The College Years"
        • Poem: "Q.E.D."
        • Essay: My Overlapping Magisteria
        • Column: Time Capsule
      • Summer 12 >
        • Table of Contents
        • Letter from the Editor: Summer 2012
        • Director's Corner
        • Column: Faith on the Field
        • Column: Modern Frontiers, Ancient Faith
        • Comic: "Seminary"
        • Poem: "Temptation in the Wired Wilderness"
        • Levity: Beyond Science
        • Opinion: "The Breaking Bread"
        • Comic: "Humor"
        • Column: Clearing the Middle Path
        • Poem: "Ziggurat (and Helix)"
        • Levity: Great Gravity! "The Grade School Years"
        • Opinion: "Adam and the Origin of Man"
        • Poem: "Missa Solemnis"
        • Column: Time Capsule
      • Spring 12 >
        • Table of Contents
        • Letter from the Editor: Spring 2012
        • Director's corner
        • Column: Faith on the Field
        • Column: Time Capsule
        • Poem: "From Where do We Come?"
        • Featured Scientist
        • Levity: Beyond Science
        • Essay: "Faith and Science"
        • Fiction: "A Matter of Dust"
        • Levity: Great Gravity! "The Early Years"
        • Opinion: "Phony Environmental Theology"
        • Fiction: "Illumination"
        • Interview: "Process"
        • Column: Modern Frontiers, Ancient Faith
    • Spring 13 >
      • Letter from the Editor: Spring 2013
      • Column: Faith on the Field
      • Faith on the Field, cont.
      • Poem: Scientist's Psalm
      • Essay: A Downcast Spirit Dries Up the Bones: More perspectives on depression
      • Artwork: "Lipo Osteo" by Harold Sikkema
      • Feature: The Bible, Evolution, and Grace
      • Column: Beyond Science
      • Book Review: Prisoners of Hope
      • Column: Great Gravity! "The Grad School Years"
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A New Model of Causation​

​Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and our power to choose our response. 
-Stephen Covey, from “First Things First”
by Perry Marshall

The Greek philosopher Aristotle (1) articulated four levels of causation: Material, Formal, Efficient, and Final. While useful and venerated, his categories are fuzzy and have been hotly debated for millennia (2). This has led to endless controversy and confusion.
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The biggest argument is over Aristotle’s notion of teleology, or “final causes,” especially in scientific circles (3). I offer a new model of causation based on the tools of the modern world including science and technology.
"In rocks, crystals, sand dunes, tornadoes, hurricanes, meteors, stars and planets, causation is bottom-up. In communication with messages, encoding, decoding, instructions and meaning, causation is top-down."
Final Causes?
 
Materialists and reductionists insist that teleology, or purpose in nature – Aristotles’ final cause – is an illusion. Biologist Ernst Mayr said purpose is an artificial construct that we impose on the material world (3). Many say purpose doesn’t actually exist; everything just bubbles up from material causes.
 
Theory and practice of modern technology offer clarity on this point. Information hierarchies in digital communication, which are as empirical as anything in science, provide a framework for solving this problem.
  
New Model:
 
Causation can be neatly and cleanly divided into three levels, with sharp boundaries between all three:
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The virtue of this model is that it delineates three non-overlapping levels of causation.
 
Chemicals: Law-Like Behavior
 
Matter always obeys the laws of physics and chemistry. Physical laws are the same everywhere and at all times, so far as we know. Matter obeys equations. Hence the precision of physics, chemistry, and engineering.
 
We can also define entire classes of emergent behavior. Weather, geology, snowflakes, solar systems; stalagmites, caves, beaches, planets, and galaxies – they all follow law-like interactions of matter and energy. The more precisely you know initial conditions, the better you can predict what the system will do. Although for chaotic or dynamical systems, this can only be done statistically, due to the butterfly effect.
 
In principle, even the most complex system becomes simple once you know the laws. If you know Maxwell’s equations, the periodic table, and a handful of physics formulas, you can model everything that occurs on this level.

 Codes: Local System Rules
 
You can readily distinguish between universal physical laws and the local laws of codes because codes are symbols. Symbols are freely chosen. The meaning of any symbol can only be defined within the system. The meaning of a string of 1s and 0s like “00100101” is defined entirely by context.
 
Information is measured in bits, not grams or kilometers or watts (4). This is why codes do not belong in the Chemicals category. Information is neither matter nor energy, as Norbert Weiner famously said (5). A bit, “1” or “0,” is a representation or record of a choice. A 64-Gig USB stick holds 549,755,813,888 bits, which are 549,755,813,888 binary choices, or degrees of freedom.
 
When we move from Chemicals to Codes, we encounter an entirely different class of complex system (6). The modern term for this is “algorithm.” (Aristotle might have struggled to relate, since he owned neither iPhones nor Androids.)

Our world is run by algorithms: Google and Facebook and GPS; microwave ovens and automatic software updates; automated traffic signals and cruise controls. Algorithms use languages defined in advance and run on specific hardware. You can’t run Microsoft Word on a pocket calculator. You can’t run Mac OS in your Microwave oven.

Codes and algorithms are hierarchical. Engineering has a well-known model called the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) 7-Layer Model. Your computer cable has a physical layer – the copper wire. This wire, layer one, carries a voltage (5 volts = “1,” and 0 volts = “0”), which forms layer two. Layer three is bytes of information that symbolize characters like “ABC” and “123.” And so it goes on up the chain to layer seven – as in the Microsoft Word application, for example (7). Each layer is controlled by the layer above. Each is built on top of the layers below.
 
All information systems, languages, and programs work this way. In human languages, alphabet is the lowest layer. Spelling and words are next; rules of grammar are above those; the intended meaning is the highest layer (8). 
 
We’re all familiar with the limitations of computers. Programs crash. Computers don’t program themselves. My computer is dumb as a box of rocks. We talk to Alexa and Siri, but nobody is “home.”
 
Machine learning acquires knowledge but only learns what it’s programmed to learn. Machines that pass the Turing test or exhibit “general intelligence” have eluded us. Luciano Floridi, professor at Oxford’s Alan Turing institute, says true AI doesn’t exist at all (9).
 
This is because none of our machines possess level three. The folks at Apple are trying as hard as they can to get Siri to pass the Turing Test. Currently, Siri cannot even convince a six-year-old that she is a real person.
 
Genetic Algorithms are machine learning programs that use a process resembling Darwinian evolution to write software. They require the user to define a fitness function, and they often need human intervention to achieve their goals. The combinatorial space is so vast that either 1) they get stuck, or 2) they consume infinite resources searching for solutions. Thus it often takes more resources to babysit a GA than to hire a coder or solve the problem some other way. Such problems are well known in machine learning (10).
 
The ingredients GAs lack that humans have are consciousness and volition. If GAs had these attributes, they could set goals and then make decisions based on those goals. Because they cannot set their own goals, humans set goals for them. The effort of establishing such goals often proves far more complex than originally envisioned.
 
Consciousness: Volitional Behavior
 
Definition of consciousness: “In practice, if a subject repeatedly behaves in a purposeful, nonroutine manner that involves the brief retention of information, she, he or it is assumed to be conscious” (11). Consciousness emphasizes the contextual way in which humans uniquely respond to unique situations. Programs are routines. Computers are by definition not capable of behaving in a nonroutine manner. A computer always does only what it is programmed to do.
 
Human beings make choices. We create languages, write programs, build machines. The simple act of making an acronym like “MTC” (“Marshall’s Theory of Causation”) creates a symbol and assigns meaning to it. The fact that humans freely assign meaning to words and symbols is the most basic evidence of our ability to choose. This is precisely what computer programs lack.
 
Two Directions of Causality
 
The three-tier model of Chemicals – Code – Consciousness defines two directions of causality: bottom-up and top-down. In rocks, crystals, sand dunes, tornadoes, hurricanes, meteors, stars, and planets, causation is bottom-up. In communication, with messages, encoding, decoding, instructions, and meaning, causation is top-down. There are currently no known exceptions (12). The $5 million Evolution 2.0 Prize is a search for an exception (13).
 
Similarly, we can make a clear distinction between computers, codes, and algorithms vs. the willful activity of humans. Computers, codes, and algorithms only learn with prior direction from humans. Toddlers learn 24/7/365. A toddler is far smarter than any computer. We can conceptualize conscious free will as a Volitional Turing Machine, where instead of writing a 1 or 0 based on a deterministic program, the conscious agent decides whether to write a 1 or 0. This is how we construct sentences, assign meanings, and build machines, thus creating higher levels of order.
 
This is handily illustrated by autosuggest on a smart phone. Here you see a text from my friend Nathan:



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Autosuggest offers me three choices: I, Ask, and Yes, based on statistics of prior messages and the English language.

Autosuggest demonstrates the difference between an algorithm and a human. If I'm only permitted the choices it offers (I’m a volitional Turing machine with three options), I can construct a sensible message without ever typing anything. I did a quick experiment and managed to generate this sentence just taking choices it gave me:
 
I don’t think you should get the mail today and you can pick up some stuff at my house and then go get some lunch.
 
If I always pick the first choice autosuggest offers me, I end up with the following:
 
I have a few minutes to do this stuff and then I’ll send you a text message and ask him about it and then I can tell you about it and then I can tell you about it and then I can tell you about it…
 
If I always pick the second choice autosuggest gives me, I get this:
 
Ask me about how much I can get it for you today I can tell you about how about it I can tell you about how about it I can tell you about how about it…
 
You notice the algorithm quickly collapses into a loop of repetitive gibberish. This is common to all algorithms. It makes passing the Turing test extremely difficult. This is because language comes from top-down causation (based on goals of conscious beings), but statistical methods of generating words and sentences are bottom-up.
 
Computers cannot process semantic information (14). A conscious agent is always present or implied above the top layer of every computer message or program. All codes, programs, and algorithms whose origin we know come from conscious beings (15). Passing the Turing test will continue to be a fruitless endeavor until we learn how to endow computers with consciousness. Similarly, strong AI will never emerge from conventional computers. Conscious activity reverses information entropy by creating new information; nothing else is known to do this (15). 

 
The best argument for the three-tiered model of causation is simply that it fits all available data.
 
I believe the following is the correct hierarchy of cause and effect:

  1. Conscious agents make choices, creating codes, languages, and algorithms.
  2. Codes and algorithms manipulate matter according to local syntactical rules.
  3. Matter alone only obeys fixed laws and does not create codes or consciousness.
 
This sequence conforms to all documented experience. Futurists like Ray Kurzweil tell us that Moore’s law guarantees computers will double in speed every two years. Thus it’s only a matter of time before a “Singularity,” when computers become smarter than humans. Eventually we will upload ourselves into cyberspace and achieve immortality in the “cloud.”
 
Until man-made machines can transcend the limitations of algorithms, self-evolve, and pass the Turing Test, we have no good reason to endorse the Singularity theory (14). The Singularity is a mythical narrative because, though embraced by intellectual elites, it is based on a backwards understanding of causation. Consciousness creates codes, but codes have never been shown to create consciousness.
 
This brings us to Aristotle’s question of final causes. Human beings ostensibly have purposes and goals. We are teleological. The purpose of our drive in the morning is to take us to work. In a lesser way, computers and codes are also teleological. In ASCII the purpose of 1000001 is to represent the letter “a.” In your email program, the purpose of the “send” button is to transmit your message to another computer. Computers and codes have pre-programmed goals; as conscious beings we choose our goals. This does not address the question of ultimate purposes. I do not attempt to answer this question here. Until we understand what consciousness is, we may not be able to answer it at all.
 
What we can say is that purpose is not illusory; that humans and programs appear purposeful because they are purposeful; and that consciousness is not known to be an intrinsic property of matter. Rather, consciousness controls and manipulates matter by means we presently do not understand.
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 References

  1. Aristotle. trans. by R. P. Hardie and R. K. Gaye, ed. "Physics". The Internet Classics Archive.
  2. Hume, David, A Treatise of Human Nature (1739–1740)
  3. Mayr, Ernst. “The Autonomy of Biology.” Walter Arndt Lecture. https://s10.lite.msu.edu/res/msu/botonl/b_online/e01_2/autonomy.htm
  4. Shannon, C. E. (1948). “A Mathematical Theory of Communication.” Bell System Technical Journal, 27, 379–423.
  5. Wiener, N. (1965). Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the 
Machine, 25. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  6. Yockey, H. P. (2005). Information Theory, Evolution, and the Origin of Life. Cambridge, 
UK: Cambridge University Press.  
  7. Spurgeon, Charles, and Zimmerman, Janet, Ethernet: The Definitive Guide, O’Reilly 2014
  8. Pattee, Howard Hunt, Raczaszek-Leonari, Joanna, (2012) Laws, Language and Life Springer ​
  9. Floridi, L. 2005. "Consciousness, Agents  and the Knowledge Game." Minds and Machines 15, nos. 34:41544.
  10. Skiena, Stephen, Algorithm Design Manual, Springer 2009
  11. Koch, Christof Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist MIT Press 2017
  12. Walker, Davies & Ellis, Matter to Life: Information and Causality, Cambridge University Press, 2017.
  13. Scudellari, Megan, $5 Million Prize for Origin of Genetic Code, IEEE Spectrum March 2018 https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/diagnostics/5-million-prize-for-origin-of-genetic-code
  14. Floridi, Luciano, Should we be afraid of AI? https://aeon.co/essays/true-ai-is-both-logically-possible-and-utterly-implausible.
  15. Marshall, Perry Evolution 2.0: Breaking the Deadlock Between Darwin and Design, Benbella, 2017
 
 *Image source: Wikipedia https://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaizdas:OSIModel.jpgLAWS, LANGUAGE and LIFEHoward Pattee’s classic papers on the physics of symbols with contemporary commentaryAuthors: Pattee, Howard Hunt, Rączaszek-Leonardi, Joanna
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Perry Marshall is author of Evolution 2.0: Breaking the Deadlock Between Darwin and Design. He is founder of the $5 million Evolution 2.0 Prize, staffed by judges from Harvard, Oxford and MIT, at www.evo2.org. 

Perry is a software engineer and entrepeneur. His reinvention of the Pareto Principle is published in Harvard Business Review, and his 80/20 Curve is used as a productivity tool at NASA's Jet Propulsion Labs at the California Institute of Technology. He is endorsed by FORBES and INC Magazine. 
God & Nature magazine is a publication of the American Scientific Affiliation, an international network of Christians in science: www.asa3.org