Happy 2023!
Happy New Year to all readers and subscribers, and special greetings to the paid subscribers!
This is a picture of the “Space Window” in the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, designed by Rodney Winfield. A seven-gram lunar fragment, collected during the Apollo 11 mission, is embedded in the center of the window. It was presented to the Cathedral by Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins during a ceremony at the Cathedral on July 21, 1974, on the five-year anniversary of their historic mission.
I’ll have this picture in mind as we move into the new year. 2023 and the following years of this decade promise to be big years for spaceflight, and I hope to see the beginnings of human space expansion. Spaceflight is both a showcase and a catalyst of unlimited sci-tech progress.
The Space Window in the National Cathedral also symbolizes the positive synergy of science and religion. God, or God by whatever name you prefer, wants us to go to the stars and become God-like cosmic engineers. This is our cosmic destiny.
I was hoping to complete a first draft of my next book “Astounding universe, amazing grace” in 2022, but I won’t be able to make it. I’ll do my best to complete a first draft in 2023.
I got stuck on the never ending questions of being or becoming, determinism or nondeterminism, predestination or free will. This distracted me from my writing schedule for the book draft, but I think these are THE fundamental issues that will provide an operating system for whatever new science we will develop.
Now I see things clearly enough to move on. With some loose ends of course, but in my metafysiks you can never tie all loose ends, so this is OK.
I’m planning to complete a first draft of the book in 2023. This is my top priority for 2023. If Turing Church is to live up to its name, I must write down a Turing Church framework inspired by science but compatible with religion, as consistent and complete as I can, and using the simplest words that I can find. However, I won’t call my framework science, or religion. I’ll call it science fiction (note the double homage to science fiction in the book’s title).
As soon as the book’s draft is complete I’ll put together a group of early readers for a review phase. I expect the review to take a few months, after which I’ll publish the book in late 2023 or (more likely) early 2024. All full (paid and complimentary) subscribers will be invited to join the early readers group. So if you are interested, please subscribe to turingchurch.com!
More inspiring pictures for you to begin the year with:
But this is, I think, the best picture of the year:
To me, this awesome picture is the new Earthrise. It says to me that we're going back to the Moon to stay and thrive, and then we'll make a new home for humanity on Mars. And then we’ll expand to the planets and the moons of our solar system. And then to the stars.
I’ll be back in early January with a review of of “The One: How an Ancient Idea Holds the Future of Physics” (to be published on January 17, 2023), by Heinrich Päs, and a conversation with the author in the Turing Church podcast. The following episode of the podcast will be a conversation with Emily Adlam. My chat with Adlam, on January 14 via Zoom, will be open for you guys to listen in. See the Turing Church meetings calendar if you want to participate.
January 14 will be the second time (this was the first) Turing Church hosts an interview open for other people to listen in and participate at the end. Some of these meetings will be open, and some will be restricted. All full subscribers (paid and complimentary) to the turingchurch.com newsletter will be invited to restricted meetings by default (the access coordinates will be published in a paywalled section of this newsletter). I’ll also invite others on a case by case basis.
I’ll also host regular Turing Church meetings, via Zoom, usually on the first Saturday of every month, at 11am ET (8am PT, 5pm CET). This is convenient for me and should be convenient for people in many timezones (sorry Australians, not for you guys). See the Turing Church meetings calendar if you want to participate. Occasionally I may have to skip or reschedule a meeting. If so, I’ll post a notice here as well.
The next Turing Church meeting will take place on Saturday, January 7, at 11am ET (8am PT, 5pm CET).
I’ll also continue to co-organize and host the Terasem Colloquia in July and December. The theme alternates between spaceflight and neuroscience/consciousness studies. Stay tuned for two 2023 Colloquia with stellar speakers!
Happy New Year again, and see you in 2023!