Some Announcements

Things to come, things to read

1. Having just returned from Australia, I am scheduled to depart for the UK six days hence in order to participate in a large conference at Cambridge celebrating the life and work of Rowan Williams. I shall be gone for only a week, but once again travel and social obligations may slightly disrupt the schedule of postings here.

2. Thereafter, however, I shall run a series of articles on recent attempts by certain physicists, biologists, and philosophers of science to explain the evolution of organic life and consciousness in terms of the chaotic development of complex systems “far from equilibrium,” intended to avoid the problems inherent in both pure reductionism and strong emergentism. Chiefly, the articles will engage with Evan Thompson’s Mind in Life. I expect that the series will run to three entries in all, but it may turn out to be longer.

3. A recent issue of The Christian Century contained the abbreviated text of an interview with me conducted by Ross Allen. The topics we covered were many and diverse. Tonight, I shall post the full recording of that interview, for those who might want the fuller account of our conversation.

4. I mentioned a few weeks back that my brother Robert had begun a Substack publication, The Musical Platypus, devoted to matters Euterpean. I have to admit that I have been enjoying his articles there; I even have to admit that his musical erudition and insight somewhat intimidate me. I mention it here, however, only because his latest posting there is a wryly gentle but perceptive piece on John Cage, out from behind the paywall, that I found especially entertaining.