Right now, there are generally two types of people on social media: those awash in red button/blue button discourse, and those blissfully unaware of it. For those second types, at the heart of the conversation is the following thought experiment. Everyone in the world has to privately choose to press a red button or a blue button. If a majority of people press blue, everyone lives. If a majority of people press red, only red-pressers live. The current conversation apparently kicked off a few weeks ago with this X poll; … [Read more...] about Science Corner: One Button, Two Button, Red Button, Blue Button
Social Media
Taking the “Selfie Challenge”
How do you view yourself? Do selfies bolster or undercut those feelings? What does God say and feel about you? - Craig Detweiler, Selfies (27) Introduction If you follow the Emerging Scholars Network on Facebook or Twitter, you'll remember that last week I posted a series of quotes from Craig Detweiler's Selfies: Searching for the Image of God in a Digital Age. My motivation was for us to wrap up the summer and engage the new academic year well. Craig Detweiler's reflections and practices assist us not only in … [Read more...] about Taking the “Selfie Challenge”
Science in Review: On the Couch with Dr. Know
As a researcher for a public health software company, I have experimented a little with predictive models of health-related outcomes. Mainly I have focused on population-level predictions -- e.g. how many flu cases to expect this winter in a given county -- but on one occasion I tried to predict which individual patients would eventually experience a drug overdose necessitating a visit to an emergency department. Statistically, the results were encouraging, although on further inspection I realized that mainly my model … [Read more...] about Science in Review: On the Couch with Dr. Know
What Would Jesus Post on Social Media?
Have you ever felt the shot of excitement - the dopamine rush - that comes when someone ‘likes' your photo or status on Instagram and Facebook? Well dear reader, you are not alone. In 2015, Instagram reportedly exceeded 400 million users with 40 billion photos posted. The popularity and increasing use of social media has been a growing area of heated debate and controversy topic in the past couple of years, in both Christian and secular circles. But how does social media affect us in regard to God's mission? Adam … [Read more...] about What Would Jesus Post on Social Media?
“To tweet or not to tweet?”: Selective empathy in a world of hashtag revolutions (Scholar’s Compass)
Bat Manyika contemplates social media activism, drawing on his academic knowledge and practiced experience of the New Testament, which he studies as both church leader at CityHill Church, Johannesburg and PhD student at the South African Theological Seminary. Reflection On the 7th January 2015 the world awoke to the harrowing news of an extremist attack on the Charlie Hebdo headquarters in Paris. News outlets across the globe covered this sad incident in intricate detail. Shortly after, political figures of all … [Read more...] about “To tweet or not to tweet?”: Selective empathy in a world of hashtag revolutions (Scholar’s Compass)