Cosmic Purpose and the Question of a Personal God

Purported evidence for purposeful divine action in the cosmos may appear to warrant describing God as personal, as Swinburne proposes. In this paper, however, I argue that the primary understanding of what is meant by a person is formed by the experience of ”I’ -- ”you’ or second-person relatedness, a mode of relation with God that is not part of natural theology. moreover, even among human beings, the recognition of purposeful agency does not invariably lead to the attribution of personhood in the usual sense. ”Person’ is therefore a misleading term to use of God on the evidence of cosmic purpose alone in the absence of suitable revelation

Una reflexión crítica sobre el Mecanismo de Antikythera desde una perspectiva idealista y sus implicaciones en el desarrollo tecnológico como medio para entender nuestro Cosmos

Technology can be an insight into how humanities’ needs have changed along the centuries and how science has been applied in order to solve these conundrums, to make the world our own and understand it to learn about what surrounds, what is true, and what is unchangeable. The Antikythera Mechanism’s complexity and recent discoveries allow the academy to know its functions and how exact it was, as a new model has been proposed that shows that it was a device to unravel one of the biggest mysteries of antiquity: The Cosmos and the Stars. Along with the help of the perspective of Collingwood’s sense II and sense III, this paper aims to define and analyse the epistemological and methodological significance of the Antikythera Mechanism, by looking into what is says about the old world and how it contrasts with the new.La tecnología muestra una mirada perspicaz hacia cómo las necesidades de la humanidad han cambiado a lo largo de los siglos, y cómo la ciencia ha sido aplicada para resolver estos acertijos, para hacer el mundo nuestro y entenderlo para aprender lo que rodea, lo que es cierto y lo que es inmutable. La complejidad del mecanismo de Antikythera y recientes descubrimientos permiten a la academia saber sus funciones y qué tan exacto era, ya que un nuevo modelo ha sido propuesto que muestra que era un dispositivo para descifrar uno de los más grandes misterios de la antigüedad: El cosmos y las estrellas.Con la ayuda de la perspectiva del sentido II y el sentido III de Collingwood, este artículo busca definir y analizar el significado epistemológico y metodológico del mecanismo de Antikythera, al estudiar lo que dice del viejo mundo y cómo contrasta con el nuevo

Studying, designing and 3d-printing an operational model of the Antikythera Mechanism

3D printing technology is an established industrial practice for rapid prototyping and manufacturing across a range of products, components and commercial sectors and at the same time possesses great potential for every-day life applications to be invented, explored and developed by the coming generations of scientists and engineers. A 3D printer installed in a school setting and complemented by well-designed educational activities can: stimulate the interest and curiosity of students; engage and motivate them into studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects, that they may choose or consider as career options; give the opportunity to teachers to achieve content and concept learning in an innovative way. In this paper we present an interdisciplinary science course that was developed for high school students and was implemented in an actual science classroom. The objectives of the course were both to spark the interest and creativity of students and teach them certain curriculum units the content knowledge of which is reached or utilized in an unconventional way. Students are gradually introduced into the 3D printing technology, its application and potential and are assigned a challenging collaborative project in which they have to study, analyse, design and build, using the 3D printer of their school, an operational model of a renown ancient artefact, the so-called Antikythera Mechanism. The mechanism is a 2100-year-old computer and is internationally known as an artefact of unprecedented human ingenuity and scientific, historic and symbolic value. The course involves the teaching of STEM curriculum domains of physics, astronomy, mathematics/geometry, informatics and technology related content and also non-STEM subjects like history and Greek language, both ancient and modern. We give an overview of the course, discuss its various phases and highlight its outcomes

Contributions of astronomy to the study of art conservation and archaeology

The application of physics to art history, art conservation and archaeology is currently a growing area of research. Astronomy and astrophysics have made significant contributions to imaging science which has in turn contributed to the developments of many other fields ranging from biological science to the study of art history, archaeology and art conservation. This paper will discuss how knowledge traditionally associated with astrophysics have made impact on the study of cultural heritage. Examples will be drawn from recent research carried out in my research group

Breaking Down Traditional Classroom Walls and Studying Spacesuits Abroad

The spacesuit curriculum under development by the Spacesuit Utilization of Innovative Technology Laboratory (S.U.I.T. Lab) in the Spaceflight Operations program of the Applied Aviation Sciences Department at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has the unique challenge of educating non-engineering students about extremely technical space systems, highlighted by spacesuits. CSO 399: “Spacesuits and Human Spaceflight Operations” course, taught in Greece each summer, introduces students to human spaceflight topics. This unique offering takes advantage of the clear water visibility in the Aegean Sea with practical underwater demonstrations of space operations. Students live in confined quarters on a sailboat for two weeks to simulate operations in a close-quarter space station, emulating astronaut living experiences. Hiking Mount Astráka in the Zagori region of Greece created an immersed environment to learn about spacewalk preparations for extravehicular activities. This course is innovative by taking students outside of the classroom to do hands-on, or gloveson, learning. Students taking this course have a drive to obtain a career in the spaceflight industry. By taking this course, students developed an understanding of the design process of human-rated spacecraft and spacesuits required to aid humans in exploring the cosmos. Nontraditional learning was reinforced by the uniqueness of the program teaching “anywhere but a classroom and included locales such as an amphitheater on the beach, catacombs, monasteries, a church courtyard, and as micro-lessons along the way, on sailboats, buses, hotels, and underwater. By changing the locations and having students constantly adapt to new learning environments they were able to grasp a feel for the constant changing pace of the space industry and the thrill of exploration