In most cases, determining if someone has died is straightforward. Breathing ceases, the heart stops, and we know the person has left us and gone to be with our Lord. But it’s not always that simple. Modern technology and medical knowledge mean death can sometimes be prevented or deferred. People can be resuscitated, such as…
The book of Genesis opens with the creation account describing a beautiful world of sea, earth, sky, plants, fish, birds and other animals. But tucked away in the midst of this story is a curious verse which seems out of place. The verse is Genesis 2:12, which parenthetically mentions that “The gold of that land…
There’s a story behind the minerals inside your computer and cell phone, and it begins with a tooth. Last June a single, gold-crowned tooth returned to the Democratic Republic of Congo, as ordered by a Belgian court. It was placed in a coffin and buried in a freshly built mausoleum as crowds gathered to pay…
I must confess, there is much that I enjoy about Synod. It provides a space for the exchange of ideas and the deepening of theological understanding. It allows for the unity and fellowship of the Church to be expressed. It is a place where different voices and perspectives can come together, seeking to discern God’s…
What follows is an excerpt of a conversation I had with Kelly Kapic, Professor of Theological Studies at Covenant College. He is the author of the recent book, You’re Only Human, about “how your limits reflect God’s design and why that’s good news.” Schuurman: Kelly, what were some of the motivations for you to write…
In December 1903 (only an incredible 120 years ago) the Wright brothers had their first powered flight, traveling 37 metres. By the fourth flight they reached 260 metres and lasted just under a minute in the air. Today a Boeing 787-8 is fifty-seven metres long and can reliably fly for more than 13,500 kilometers carrying…
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Neil Postman’s death at age 72. Postman spent most of his career at New York University as a Professor of Media Ecology and wrote more than 20 books, mostly about the effects of the electronic media on our lives. Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age…
Nearly 20 years ago, when I was completing a PhD in computer vision, I was drawn to an AI technique called “machine learning” for recognizing different images. I recall being astounded at the profound elegance of “training” a computer with example images and then observing how well it could identify new images. My early experiences…
Nigeria has the capacity to export two million barrels of oil per day, the highest export rate of any African nation. Some of these fossil fuels end up in Canada. In 2021, Canada bought 2.1 billion dollars of Nigerian products including mineral fuels and oils, cocoa, rubber and lead. Yet despite Nigeria’s wealth of non-renewable…
Allen Plug is a Calvin University-trained Ontologist working for Cycorp, a company that has developed an artificially intelligent hospital advisor. Plug knows how to talk to robots, or – to be more precise – he is an expert in semantic knowledge representation. He’s also Canadian and has lived in Saskatchewan, B.C. and Ontario. Do you…
“Computers: Are they conquering our world?” That was the title of an article published in Christian Courier (CC) more than 40 years ago. “The possibilities for manipulation of people,” columnist and labour expert Harry Antonides wrote in 1982, “by controlling and slanting information and news via the new systems of communication are staggering.” He was…
In mid-December, scientists for the first time reported a successful nuclear fusion experiment that produced more energy than made it happen. A friend who is a physics professor at the University of Waterloo was bubbling with excitement when he shared its implications with me. Ever since I was in high school, about 60 years ago,…
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