Monday, January 27, 2020

The Future of British Sign Language

The Future of British Sign Language The future of British sign language: Towards one variety or a variety of languages. When discussing the future of British Sign Language we must first define sign language and British Sign Language (BSL). Sign language is a visually based language that uses signs to represent specific words or phrases. There are numerous different types and varieties of sign language based around the world, some are rudimentary while others are have developed into advanced languages. British Sign Language is the most developed and widely used form of sign language used in Britain. It is estimated that 50, 000 people within the UK use BSL. BSL is the natural language of signs that has developed in Britain over centuries. It is the language used by the British Deaf community. (Sutton-Spence Woll 2004, p. 13). Similar to spoken and written languages BSL has grown and evolved since its inception, but unlike many spoken or written languages is not universal. BSL users are restricted to communicating within Britain, or with other signers familiar with BSL, as BSL does not extend beyond Britain’s borders, even to other English speaking populations. Indeed BSL, American Sign Language (ASL), Irish Sign Language (ISL), have all developed different signs for different words and have different structures, thus, someone signing with ASL will not be able to communicate clearly with someone signing with BSL. In addition to variations from country to country, there are dialect variations within each form of sign language. BSL, like spoken language, has evolved through the needs of its users in spontaneous and natural ways. There are wide regional differences in some signs numbers and colours are notoriously variable, however most signs are the same. Many of the variations stem from the schools Deaf people attended; new signs are being coined, and more established signs changing with time and use. Hearing learners may find this a problem in the early stages, but it doesn’t present a problem to native signers. Variations are largely in the vocabulary of signs the words of the language; the grammatical structures that hold it together and give meaning, vary very little. Language has a life of its own, and most attempts to interfere or control it tend to fail. (DeafSign.Com, 2000) Admittedly, it is the nature of language to grow and change, and many dialects and variations have emerged within Standard English. But while dialects in Standard English sometimes lead to confusion if two speakers of different dialects communicate, these differences seldom make it impossible for English speakers, or writers, to communicate with one another. Where as, without a universal form of sign language it makes it difficult for the signing population to communicate with people signing with different variations. This mutual unintelligibly within variations and dialects of sign language leads to deaf populations being not only removed from hearing populations, but also from one another. Because deaf communities tend to be smaller and more contained than other minorities within the hearing community the differences that emerge in sign language are more defined. Where as dialects in spoken English tend to emerge in areas or social communities, there are many more factors that influence dialects in sign language. Sutton-Spence Woll (2004, p. 13) explain that a signer’s age, class, gender, ethnicity, religion, and locale can all effect the way in which they sign. This leads to many different variations within one variety of sign language alone. Thus, even a concerted effort to unify sign language, whether it be the unification of BSL from the current number of dialects and variations within BSL, to a uniform use of the language, or an even greater attempt to unify the varieties within countries, or even worldwide will be an extremely difficult task. There are so many external forces on the development of sign language that it is difficult to control its use and development. The age at which a person learns to sign and whom they learn it from effects the way in which they sign. This is especially notable when comparing the differences between the children of deaf and hearing parents. Exposure to sign language at an early age is different to the children of deaf parents and the children of hearing parents. Those born to deaf parents are more likely to have had early exposure to a fluent model of adult BSL. Those born to hearing parents often†¦ only begin to learn BSL when they start school†¦. Research comparing adult signers from deaf and hearing families has shown that their signing differs significantly. (Sutton-Spence Woll 2004, p. 23-24). One of the reasons that signing in BSL differs so dramatically from one person to another is that BSL is a complex, fully developed language, which is extremely different from Standard English. BSL has it’s own grammar, syntax, lexicon, and has many other unique features. BSL evolved naturally, as all languages do. It uses both manual and non-manual components – handshapes and movements, facial expression, and shoulder movement. BSL is structured in a completely different way to English, and like any language it has its own grammar. Linguists generally agree that BSL is a topic comment language. For example, the question in English ‘What is your name?’ becomes the sequence ‘Your name what?’ in BSL. (RNID 2004, p. 4). Anyone already fluent in Standard English, or any other language, that wishes to learn BSL must learn a completely new language structure and way of communicating to be able to sign in BSL. Like with Standard English there is a dictionary and many other texts to assist BSL users. The British Deaf Association’s Dictionary of British Sign Language (1992) is 1084 pages long and includes both pictures of each sign in the language, as well as, English word definitions. Yet people wishing to learn BSL cannot do so from text book alone as there are many features of BSL which must be seen or described to understand, such as, nods of the head, shoulder shrugs, facial expressions and lip patterns. â€Å"There are many mouth patterns that convey grammatical and phonological information in BSL.† (Sutton-Spence Woll 2004, p. 81). In addition, to knowing the intricacies of each sign, as well as, the structure and vocabulary of BSL, signers must also become familiar with other unique features of BSL. Features include the ability to express metaphors, poetry and humour using signs. Signers must also become familiar with BSL idioms, euphemisms, expletives / insults, as with any language BSL contains exceptions to the language rules and certain taboo words, such as, â€Å"ORAL-SIGNER† (Sutton-Spence Woll 2004, p. 245). This insult, which is unique to the signing community, reveals the effect of the divide between different varieties and dialects of sign language on the signing community and signing individuals’ opinions of other signers.   Furthermore, because signing languages are completely visual and do not have a written component, like Standard English, this forces people who wish to communicate through both BSL, or other forms of sign language, and also written English to learn two completely different languages. While BSL is currently the most commonly used variety of sign language in Britain, with the internet and email becoming more dominant communication tools by the day. Younger users of sign language may start to tend towards a variety of sign language that incorporates Standard English into its overall format. Currently there are a number of varieties of sign language used in Britain that use Standard English sentence construction and grammar, but these varieties have long been second to BSL. While the reason for the construction of BSL is quite simple and logical, this does not make the language any easier to use. BSL uses signs that often encompass a few words or a phrase, while the grammar and sentence structure work to create shortened sentences. All of these features serve to shorten BSL sentences, and are necessary to ensure timely communication, as it takes longer to form signs than to speak words. There are a number of other forms of sign language and signing used in Britain, these include Cued Speech, the Paget-Gorman Sign System (PGSS), Signed English, Sign Supported English (SSE), and Fingerspelling. All of these visual languages are largely dependent on Standard English. Some users of sign language use BSL in conjunction with these other forms, while others may choose to stick with one variety. Sign Supported English (SSE) is probably the most popular alternate variety of sign language currently used in Britian. This variety of sign language uses BSL vocabulary and Standard English sentence structure and grammar. â€Å"In Sign Supported English (SSE), the key words of a sentence are signed while the person speaks.† (Sutton-Spence Woll 2004, p. 14). SSE is an advanced variation of Signed English, which uses BSL to sign all of the words in a sentence, using Standard English sentence structure and grammar. There are problems with the use of Signed English. It is very slow, and a message takes longer in Signed English than in either BSL or [Standard] English. This means that spoken English accompanying Signed English becomes unnaturally slow, and many English speakers let speech take over and drop some signs. Many BSL signers using Signed English insert features of BSL grammar so that the grammar is not ‘pure English’ any more. (Sutton-Spence Woll 2004, p. 16). Just as SSE and Signed English depend on Standard English so too does the Paget-Gorman Sign System (PGSS). But whereas SSE and Signed English use BSL signs and incorporate Standard English form, PGSS uses â€Å"signs [that] do not come from any sign language, but have been created to represent English words and English grammar† (Sutton-Spence Woll 2004, p. 14). Because of its focus on Standard English PGSS is easy for native English speakers to learn, but it is not a language used by the deaf community. Similarly, cued speech, which is a system that does not use signs at all, rather â€Å"hand cues are made near the mouth to identify different speech sounds.† (Sutton-Spence Woll 2004, p. 13). Cued speech is a verbally dominated form of visual language and is thus not commonly used within the deaf community. One of the most basic and widely used forms of signing if fingerspelling, which has one sign for every letter of the alphabet and requires users to spell out the letters in a word or sentence. Fingerspelling is not a language in itself but is often incorporated into sign languages. Most commonly fingerspelling is used to spell words for which there is no sign, such as, names of people or places. Alternately, fingerspelling can be used to draw attention to a word in a sentence or phrase. Although fingerspelling may be the most simple and basic form of signing, it fails to be universal because different countries have different signs for each letter in the fingerspelling alphabet, making it impossible for signers from different countries to understand the words that are being spelt. Edward Finegan (2004, p. 19-20) identifies three modes of linguistic communication in Language: Its Structure Use. He defines these as speaking, writing and signing, yet signing at this point is not a fully developed universal mode of communication as a result of the restrictions the different varieties of sign language put upon their users. Because sign languages have developed and evolved naturally within the relatively small communities within which they are used around they have developed independently and created mutually exclusive varieties. There have been attempts in the past to create or nominate one universal sign language, but up until this point no one variety of sign language has succeeded in dominating the international signing community. In Britain because BSL is the official language of the deaf community, with approximately 50, 000 people within the UK using BSL, it will continue to be the dominant sign language in Britain. Although, with the rise of internet technology and written electronic communication the younger signing community may start to tend towards a Standard English based form of sign language, such as, SSP. The use of SSP would enable signers to communicate in the same language in person and in writing, rather than communicating with BSL sign language in person and Standard English in writing. The current dominance of British Sign Language can be attributed to the same factor which has led to the formation of the so many different varieties of sign language, in Britain and around the world, because signing communities tend to be quite small and isolated from one another, adult signers pass on the language they are familiar with ti younger signers. As a result, younger signers may not be aware of other sign languages available to them. But with the influence email, and the rise of written communication as a result, younger singers will beging to seek out a variety of sign language that incorporates the Standard English conventions they will become more familiar with as they become more familiar with writing. Indeed this may simply lead to the transformation of the current BSL variety into a variety of sign language, which incorporates rather than excludes Standard English conventions. Alternately, the language we currently know as BSL could be replaced by another variety of sign language, such as Sign Supported English (SSE), or another variety altogether. In a world dominated by travel and technology signing communities, both within Britain and around the world, need a language through which they can successfully, and clearly, communicate with one another. The first step towards universal communication between signing communities is to ensure that the sign languages used are simple for hearing people to learn, and that there is as little variation (and as a result confusion) within the varieties. By encouraging hearing people to learn sign language the signing community would broaden the language base and thus provide stability to the language. And although it is difficult to control the growth and evolution of any language, by adopting a sign language which follows Standard English conventions, the language would have to adhere to Standard English and thus evolve with it, creating a more universal and less confusing language. By adopting or creating a sign language based on Standard English, the variations of that sign language would tend be restricted to the variations of Standard English. The evolution of language is a gradual process, therefore the future of British Sign Language will most likely see the continuation of BSL as the dominant language, with the growth of a Standard English based language. The two languages will coincide for a period before the modern Standard English based language gains control. BIBLIOGRAPHY BRITISH DEAF ASSOCIATION, Brien, D. (ed.), 1992. Dictionary of British Sign Language. London: Faber and Faber. CRYSTAL, D., 2003. The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Language. 2nd edition. Cambridge:   Cambridge University Press. (p. 222-227) DEAFSIGN.COM, 2000. Is British Sign Language standardised? [online]. Available from: http://www.deafsign.com/ds/index.cfm?scn=articlearticleID=6 [Accessed 25 June 2005] FINEGAN, E., 2004. Language: Its Structure and Use. 4th ed. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth. RNID, April 2004. Introducing British Sign Language. London: RNID SUTTON-SPENCE, R., WOLL, B., 2004. The Linguistics of British Sign Language: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Angels Demons Chapter 16-19

16 Hundreds of miles from CERN, a voice crackled through a walkie-talkie. â€Å"Okay, I'm in the hallway.† The technician monitoring the video screens pressed the button on his transmitter. â€Å"You're looking for camera #86. It's supposed to be at the far end.† There was a long silence on the radio. The waiting technician broke a light sweat. Finally his radio clicked. â€Å"The camera isn't here,† the voice said. â€Å"I can see where it was mounted, though. Somebody must have removed it.† The technician exhaled heavily. â€Å"Thanks. Hold on a second, will you?† Sighing, he redirected his attention to the bank of video screens in front of him. Huge portions of the complex were open to the public, and wireless cameras had gone missing before, usually stolen by visiting pranksters looking for souvenirs. But as soon as a camera left the facility and was out of range, the signal was lost, and the screen went blank. Perplexed, the technician gazed up at the monitor. A crystal clear image was still coming from camera #86. If the camera was stolen, he wondered, why are we still getting a signal? He knew, of course, there was only one explanation. The camera was still inside the complex, and someone had simply moved it. But who? And why? He studied the monitor a long moment. Finally he picked up his walkie-talkie. â€Å"Are there any closets in that stairwell? Any cupboards or dark alcoves?† The voice replying sounded confused. â€Å"No. Why?† The technician frowned. â€Å"Never mind. Thanks for your help.† He turned off his walkie-talkie and pursed his lips. Considering the small size of the video camera and the fact that it was wireless, the technician knew that camera #86 could be transmitting from just about anywhere within the heavily guarded compound – a densely packed collection of thirty-two separate buildings covering a half-mile radius. The only clue was that the camera seemed to have been placed somewhere dark. Of course, that wasn't much help. The complex contained endless dark locations – maintenance closets, heating ducts, gardening sheds, bedroom wardrobes, even a labyrinth of underground tunnels. Camera #86 could take weeks to locate. But that's the least of my problems, he thought. Despite the dilemma posed by the camera's relocation, there was another far more unsettling matter at hand. The technician gazed up at the image the lost camera was transmitting. It was a stationary object. A modern-looking device like nothing the technician had ever seen. He studied the blinking electronic display at its base. Although the guard had undergone rigorous training preparing him for tense situations, he still sensed his pulse rising. He told himself not to panic. There had to be an explanation. The object appeared too small to be of significant danger. Then again, its presence inside the complex was troubling. Very troubling, indeed. Today of all days, he thought. Security was always a top priority for his employer, but today, more than any other day in the past twelve years, security was of the utmost importance. The technician stared at the object for a long time and sensed the rumblings of a distant gathering storm. Then, sweating, he dialed his superior. 17 Not many children could say they remembered the day they met their father, but Vittoria Vetra could. She was eight years old, living where she always had, Orfanotrofio di Siena, a Catholic orphanage near Florence, deserted by parents she never knew. It was raining that day. The nuns had called for her twice to come to dinner, but as always she pretended not to hear. She lay outside in the courtyard, staring up at the raindrops†¦ feeling them hit her body†¦ trying to guess where one would land next. The nuns called again, threatening that pneumonia might make an insufferably headstrong child a lot less curious about nature. I can't hear you, Vittoria thought. She was soaked to the bone when the young priest came out to get her. She didn't know him. He was new there. Vittoria waited for him to grab her and drag her back inside. But he didn't. Instead, to her wonder, he lay down beside her, soaking his robes in a puddle. â€Å"They say you ask a lot of questions,† the young man said. Vittoria scowled. â€Å"Are questions bad?† He laughed. â€Å"Guess they were right.† â€Å"What are you doing out here?† â€Å"Same thing you're doing†¦ wondering why raindrops fall.† â€Å"I'm not wondering why they fall! I already know!† The priest gave her an astonished look. â€Å"You do?† â€Å"Sister Francisca says raindrops are angels' tears coming down to wash away our sins.† â€Å"Wow!† he said, sounding amazed. â€Å"So that explains it.† â€Å"No it doesn't!† the girl fired back. â€Å"Raindrops fall because everything falls! Everything falls! Not just rain!† The priest scratched his head, looking perplexed. â€Å"You know, young lady, you're right. Everything does fall. It must be gravity.† â€Å"It must be what?† He gave her an astonished look. â€Å"You haven't heard of gravity?† â€Å"No.† The priest shrugged sadly. â€Å"Too bad. Gravity answers a lot of questions.† Vittoria sat up. â€Å"What's gravity?† she demanded. â€Å"Tell me!† The priest gave her a wink. â€Å"What do you say I tell you over dinner.† The young priest was Leonardo Vetra. Although he had been an award-winning physics student while in university, he'd heard another call and gone into the seminary. Leonardo and Vittoria became unlikely best friends in the lonely world of nuns and regulations. Vittoria made Leonardo laugh, and he took her under his wing, teaching her that beautiful things like rainbows and the rivers had many explanations. He told her about light, planets, stars, and all of nature through the eyes of both God and science. Vittoria's innate intellect and curiosity made her a captivating student. Leonardo protected her like a daughter. Vittoria was happy too. She had never known the joy of having a father. When every other adult answered her questions with a slap on the wrist, Leonardo spent hours showing her books. He even asked what her ideas were. Vittoria prayed Leonardo would stay with her forever. Then one day, her worst nightmare came true. Father Leonardo told her he was leaving the orphanage. â€Å"I'm moving to Switzerland,† Leonardo said. â€Å"I have a grant to study physics at the University of Geneva.† â€Å"Physics?† Vittoria cried. â€Å"I thought you loved God!† â€Å"I do, very much. Which is why I want to study his divine rules. The laws of physics are the canvas God laid down on which to paint his masterpiece.† Vittoria was devastated. But Father Leonardo had some other news. He told Vittoria he had spoken to his superiors, and they said it was okay if Father Leonardo adopted her. â€Å"Would you like me to adopt you?† Leonardo asked. â€Å"What's adopt mean?† Vittoria said. Father Leonardo told her. Vittoria hugged him for five minutes, crying tears of joy. â€Å"Oh yes! Yes!† Leonardo told her he had to leave for a while and get their new home settled in Switzerland, but he promised to send for her in six months. It was the longest wait of Vittoria's life, but Leonardo kept his word. Five days before her ninth birthday, Vittoria moved to Geneva. She attended Geneva International School during the day and learned from her father at night. Three years later Leonardo Vetra was hired by CERN. Vittoria and Leonardo relocated to a wonderland the likes of which the young Vittoria had never imagined. Vittoria Vetra's body felt numb as she strode down the LHC tunnel. She saw her muted reflection in the LHC and sensed her father's absence. Normally she existed in a state of deep calm, in harmony with the world around her. But now, very suddenly, nothing made sense. The last three hours had been a blur. It had been 10 A.M. in the Balearic Islands when Kohler's call came through. Your father has been murdered. Come home immediately. Despite the sweltering heat on the deck of the dive boat, the words had chilled her to the bone, Kohler's emotionless tone hurting as much as the news. Now she had returned home. But home to what? CERN, her world since she was twelve, seemed suddenly foreign. Her father, the man who had made it magical, was gone. Deep breaths, she told herself, but she couldn't calm her mind. The questions circled faster and faster. Who killed her father? And why? Who was this American â€Å"specialist†? Why was Kohler insisting on seeing the lab? Kohler had said there was evidence that her father's murder was related to the current project. What evidence? Nobody knew what we were working on! And even if someone found out, why would they kill him? As she moved down the LHC tunnel toward her father's lab, Vittoria realized she was about to unveil her father's greatest achievement without him there. She had pictured this moment much differently. She had imagined her father calling CERN's top scientists to his lab, showing them his discovery, watching their awestruck faces. Then he would beam with fatherly pride as he explained to them how it had been one of Vittoria's ideas that had helped him make the project a reality†¦ that his daughter had been integral in his breakthrough. Vittoria felt a lump in her throat. My father and I were supposed to share this moment together. But here she was alone. No colleagues. No happy faces. Just an American stranger and Maximilian Kohler. Maximilian Kohler. Der Konig. Even as a child, Vittoria had disliked the man. Although she eventually came to respect his potent intellect, his icy demeanor always seemed inhuman, the exact antithesis of her father's warmth. Kohler pursued science for its immaculate logic†¦ her father for its spiritual wonder. And yet oddly there had always seemed to be an unspoken respect between the two men. Genius, someone had once explained to her, accepts genius unconditionally. Genius, she thought. My father†¦ Dad. Dead. The entry to Leonardo Vetra's lab was a long sterile hallway paved entirely in white tile. Langdon felt like he was entering some kind of underground insane asylum. Lining the corridor were dozens of framed, black-and-white images. Although Langdon had made a career of studying images, these were entirely alien to him. They looked like chaotic negatives of random streaks and spirals. Modern art? he mused. Jackson Pollock on amphetamines? â€Å"Scatter plots,† Vittoria said, apparently noting Langdon's interest. â€Å"Computer representations of particle collisions. That's the Z-particle,† she said, pointing to a faint track that was almost invisible in the confusion. â€Å"My father discovered it five years ago. Pure energy – no mass at all. It may well be the smallest building block in nature. Matter is nothing but trapped energy.† Matter is energy? Langdon cocked his head. Sounds pretty Zen. He gazed at the tiny streak in the photograph and wondered what his buddies in the Harvard physics department would say when he told them he'd spent the weekend hanging out in a Large Hadron Collider admiring Z-particles. â€Å"Vittoria,† Kohler said, as they approached the lab's imposing steel door, â€Å"I should mention that I came down here this morning looking for your father.† Vittoria flushed slightly. â€Å"You did?† â€Å"Yes. And imagine my surprise when I discovered he had replaced CERN's standard keypad security with something else.† Kohler motioned to an intricate electronic device mounted beside the door. â€Å"I apologize,† she said. â€Å"You know how he was about privacy. He didn't want anyone but the two of us to have access.† Kohler said, â€Å"Fine. Open the door.† Vittoria stood a long moment. Then, pulling a deep breath, she walked to the mechanism on the wall. Langdon was in no way prepared for what happened next. Vittoria stepped up to the device and carefully aligned her right eye with a protruding lens that looked like a telescope. Then she pressed a button. Inside the machine, something clicked. A shaft of light oscillated back and forth, scanning her eyeball like a copy machine. â€Å"It's a retina scan,† she said. â€Å"Infallible security. Authorized for two retina patterns only. Mine and my father's.† Robert Langdon stood in horrified revelation. The image of Leonardo Vetra came back in grisly detail – the bloody face, the solitary hazel eye staring back, and the empty eye socket. He tried to reject the obvious truth, but then he saw it†¦ beneath the scanner on the white tile floor†¦ faint droplets of crimson. Dried blood. Vittoria, thankfully, did not notice. The steel door slid open and she walked through. Kohler fixed Langdon with an adamant stare. His message was clear: As I told you†¦ the missing eye serves a higher purpose. 18 The woman's hands were tied, her wrists now purple and swollen from chafing. The mahogany-skinned Hassassin lay beside her, spent, admiring his naked prize. He wondered if her current slumber was just a deception, a pathetic attempt to avoid further service to him. He did not care. He had reaped sufficient reward. Sated, he sat up in bed. In his country women were possessions. Weak. Tools of pleasure. Chattel to be traded like livestock. And they understood their place. But here, in Europe, women feigned a strength and independence that both amused and excited him. Forcing them into physical submission was a gratification he always enjoyed. Now, despite the contentment in his loins, the Hassassin sensed another appetite growing within him. He had killed last night, killed and mutilated, and for him killing was like heroin†¦ each encounter satisfying only temporarily before increasing his longing for more. The exhilaration had worn off. The craving had returned. He studied the sleeping woman beside him. Running his palm across her neck, he felt aroused with the knowledge that he could end her life in an instant. What would it matter? She was subhuman, a vehicle only of pleasure and service. His strong fingers encircled her throat, savoring her delicate pulse. Then, fighting desire, he removed his hand. There was work to do. Service to a higher cause than his own desire. As he got out of bed, he reveled in the honor of the job before him. He still could not fathom the influence of this man named Janus and the ancient brotherhood he commanded. Wondrously, the brotherhood had chosen him. Somehow they had learned of his loathing†¦ and of his skills. How, he would never know. Their roots reach wide. Now they had bestowed on him the ultimate honor. He would be their hands and their voice. Their assassin and their messenger. The one his people knew as Malak al-haq – the Angel of Truth. 19 Vetra's lab was wildly futuristic. Stark white and bounded on all sides by computers and specialized electronic equipment, it looked like some sort of operating room. Langdon wondered what secrets this place could possibly hold to justify cutting out someone's eye to gain entrance. Kohler looked uneasy as they entered, his eyes seeming to dart about for signs of an intruder. But the lab was deserted. Vittoria moved slowly too†¦ as if the lab felt unknown without her father there. Langdon's gaze landed immediately in the center of the room, where a series of short pillars rose from the floor. Like a miniature Stonehenge, a dozen or so columns of polished steel stood in a circle in the middle of the room. The pillars were about three feet tall, reminding Langdon of museum displays for valuable gems. These pillars, however, were clearly not for precious stones. Each supported a thick, transparent canister about the size of a tennis ball can. They appeared empty. Kohler eyed the canisters, looking puzzled. He apparently decided to ignore them for the time being. He turned to Vittoria. â€Å"Has anything been stolen?† â€Å"Stolen? How?† she argued. â€Å"The retina scan only allows entry to us.† â€Å"Just look around.† Vittoria sighed and surveyed the room for a few moments. She shrugged. â€Å"Everything looks as my father always leaves it. Ordered chaos.† Langdon sensed Kohler weighing his options, as if wondering how far to push Vittoria†¦ how much to tell her. Apparently he decided to leave it for the moment. Moving his wheelchair toward the center of the room, he surveyed the mysterious cluster of seemingly empty canisters. â€Å"Secrets,† Kohler finally said, â€Å"are a luxury we can no longer afford.† Vittoria nodded in acquiescence, looking suddenly emotional, as if being here brought with it a torrent of memories. Give her a minute, Langdon thought. As though preparing for what she was about to reveal, Vittoria closed her eyes and breathed. Then she breathed again. And again. And again†¦ Langdon watched her, suddenly concerned. Is she okay? He glanced at Kohler, who appeared unfazed, apparently having seen this ritual before. Ten seconds passed before Vittoria opened her eyes. Langdon could not believe the metamorphosis. Vittoria Vetra had been transformed. Her full lips were lax, her shoulders down, and her eyes soft and assenting. It was as though she had realigned every muscle in her body to accept the situation. The resentful fire and personal anguish had been quelled somehow beneath a deeper, watery cool. â€Å"Where to begin†¦Ã¢â‚¬  she said, her accent unruffled. â€Å"At the beginning,† Kohler said. â€Å"Tell us about your father's experiment.† â€Å"Rectifying science with religion has been my father's life dream,† Vittoria said. â€Å"He hoped to prove that science and religion are two totally compatible fields – two different approaches to finding the same truth.† She paused as if unable to believe what she was about to say. â€Å"And recently†¦ he conceived of a way to do that.† Kohler said nothing. â€Å"He devised an experiment, one he hoped would settle one of the most bitter conflicts in the history of science and religion.† Langdon wondered which conflict she could mean. There were so many. â€Å"Creationism,† Vittoria declared. â€Å"The battle over how the universe came to be.† Oh, Langdon thought. The debate. â€Å"The Bible, of course, states that God created the universe,† she explained. â€Å"God said, ‘Let there be light,' and everything we see appeared out of a vast emptiness. Unfortunately, one of the fundamental laws of physics states that matter cannot be created out of nothing.† Langdon had read about this stalemate. The idea that God allegedly created â€Å"something from nothing† was totally contrary to accepted laws of modern physics and therefore, scientists claimed, Genesis was scientifically absurd. â€Å"Mr. Langdon,† Vittoria said, turning, â€Å"I assume you are familiar with the Big Bang Theory?† Langdon shrugged. â€Å"More or less.† The Big Bang, he knew, was the scientifically accepted model for the creation of the universe. He didn't really understand it, but according to the theory, a single point of intensely focused energy erupted in a cataclysmic explosion, expanding outward to form the universe. Or something like that. Vittoria continued. â€Å"When the Catholic Church first proposed the Big Bang Theory in 1927, the – â€Å" â€Å"I'm sorry?† Langdon interrupted, before he could stop himself. â€Å"You say the Big Bang was a Catholic idea?† Vittoria looked surprised by his question â€Å"Of course. Proposed by a Catholic monk, Georges Lematre in 1927.† â€Å"But, I thought†¦Ã¢â‚¬  he hesitated. â€Å"Wasn't the Big Bang proposed by Harvard astronomer Edwin Hubble?† Kohler glowered. â€Å"Again, American scientific arrogance. Hubble published in 1929, two years after Lematre.† Langdon scowled. It's called the Hubble Telescope, sir – I've never heard of any Lematre Telescope! â€Å"Mr. Kohler is right,† Vittoria said, â€Å"the idea belonged to Lematre. Hubble only confirmed it by gathering the hard evidence that proved the Big Bang was scientifically probable.† â€Å"Oh,† Langdon said, wondering if the Hubble-fanatics in the Harvard Astronomy Department ever mentioned Lematre in their lectures. â€Å"When Lematre first proposed the Big Bang Theory,† Vittoria continued, â€Å"scientists claimed it was utterly ridiculous. Matter, science said, could not be created out of nothing. So, when Hubble shocked the world by scientifically proving the Big Bang was accurate, the church claimed victory, heralding this as proof that the Bible was scientifically accurate. The divine truth.† Langdon nodded, focusing intently now. â€Å"Of course scientists did not appreciate having their discoveries used by the church to promote religion, so they immediately mathematicized the Big Bang Theory, removed all religious overtones, and claimed it as their own. Unfortunately for science, however, their equations, even today, have one serious deficiency that the church likes to point out.† Kohler grunted. â€Å"The singularity.† He spoke the word as if it were the bane of his existence. â€Å"Yes, the singularity,† Vittoria said. â€Å"The exact moment of creation. Time zero.† She looked at Langdon. â€Å"Even today, science cannot grasp the initial moment of creation. Our equations explain the early universe quite effectively, but as we move back in time, approaching time zero, suddenly our mathematics disintegrates, and everything becomes meaningless.† â€Å"Correct,† Kohler said, his voice edgy, â€Å"and the church holds up this deficiency as proof of God's miraculous involvement. Come to your point.† Vittoria's expression became distant. â€Å"My point is that my father had always believed in God's involvement in the Big Bang. Even though science was unable to comprehend the divine moment of creation, he believed someday it would.† She motioned sadly to a laser-printed memo tacked over her father's work area. â€Å"My dad used to wave that in my face every time I had doubts.† Langdon read the message: Science and religion are not at odds. Science is simply too young to understand. â€Å"My dad wanted to bring science to a higher level,† Vittoria said, â€Å"where science supported the concept of God.† She ran a hand through her long hair, looking melancholy. â€Å"He set out to do something no scientist had ever thought to do. Something that no one has ever had the technology to do.† She paused, as though uncertain how to speak the next words. â€Å"He designed an experiment to prove Genesis was possible.† Prove Genesis? Langdon wondered. Let there be light? Matter from nothing? Kohler's dead gaze bore across the room. â€Å"I beg your pardon?† â€Å"My father created a universe†¦ from nothing at all.† Kohler snapped his head around. â€Å"What!† â€Å"Better said, he recreated the Big Bang.† Kohler looked ready to jump to his feet. Langdon was officially lost. Creating a universe? Recreating the Big Bang? â€Å"It was done on a much smaller scale, of course,† Vittoria said, talking faster now. â€Å"The process was remarkably simple. He accelerated two ultrathin particle beams in opposite directions around the accelerator tube. The two beams collided head-on at enormous speeds, driving into one another and compressing all their energy into a single pinpoint. He achieved extreme energy densities.† She started rattling off a stream of units, and the director's eyes grew wider. Langdon tried to keep up. So Leonardo Vetra was simulating the compressed point of energy from which the universe supposedly sprang. â€Å"The result,† Vittoria said, â€Å"was nothing short of wondrous. When it is published, it will shake the very foundation of modern physics.† She spoke slowly now, as though savoring the immensity of her news. â€Å"Without warning, inside the accelerator tube, at this point of highly focused energy, particles of matter began appearing out of nowhere.† Kohler made no reaction. He simply stared. â€Å"Matter,† Vittoria repeated. â€Å"Blossoming out of nothing. An incredible display of subatomic fireworks. A miniature universe springing to life. He proved not only that matter can be created from nothing, but that the Big Bang and Genesis can be explained simply by accepting the presence of an enormous source of energy.† â€Å"You mean God?† Kohler demanded. â€Å"God, Buddha, The Force, Yahweh, the singularity, the unicity point – call it whatever you like – the result is the same. Science and religion support the same truth – pure energy is the father of creation.† When Kohler finally spoke, his voice was somber. â€Å"Vittoria, you have me at a loss. It sounds like you're telling me your father created matter†¦ out of nothing?† â€Å"Yes.† Vittoria motioned to the canisters. â€Å"And there is the proof. In those canisters are specimens of the matter he created.† Kohler coughed and moved toward the canisters like a wary animal circling something he instinctively sensed was wrong. â€Å"I've obviously missed something,† he said. â€Å"How do you expect anyone to believe these canisters contain particles of matter your father actually created? They could be particles from anywhere at all.† â€Å"Actually,† Vittoria said, sounding confident, â€Å"they couldn't. These particles are unique. They are a type of matter that does not exist anywhere on earth†¦ hence they had to be created.† Kohler's expression darkened. â€Å"Vittoria, what do you mean a certain type of matter? There is only one type of matter, and it – † Kohler stopped short. Vittoria's expression was triumphant. â€Å"You've lectured on it yourself, director. The universe contains two kinds of matter. Scientific fact.† Vittoria turned to Langdon. â€Å"Mr. Langdon, what does the Bible say about the Creation? What did God create?† Langdon felt awkward, not sure what this had to do with anything. â€Å"Um, God created†¦ light and dark, heaven and hell – â€Å" â€Å"Exactly,† Vittoria said. â€Å"He created everything in opposites. Symmetry. Perfect balance.† She turned back to Kohler. â€Å"Director, science claims the same thing as religion, that the Big Bang created everything in the universe with an opposite.† â€Å"Including matter itself,† Kohler whispered, as if to himself. Vittoria nodded. â€Å"And when my father ran his experiment, sure enough, two kinds of matter appeared.† Langdon wondered what this meant. Leonardo Vetra created matter's opposite? Kohler looked angry. â€Å"The substance you're referring to only exists elsewhere in the universe. Certainly not on earth. And possibly not even in our galaxy!† â€Å"Exactly,† Vittoria replied, â€Å"which is proof that the particles in these canisters had to be created.† Kohler's face hardened. â€Å"Vittoria, surely you can't be saying those canisters contain actual specimens?† â€Å"I am.† She gazed proudly at the canisters. â€Å"Director, you are looking at the world's first specimens of antimatter.†

Friday, January 10, 2020

Free Will and Divine Foreknowledge Essay

Augustine discusses a critical issue which is the incompatibility of man’s free will and God’s foreknowledge. So the question is, do we really have free will in spite of the fact that God foreknows everything? If God knows what must necessarily happen next, then how do have the free will to make our own choices? Augustine comes up with a series of arguments to prove that we sin by our own will with no intervention of the divine foreknowledge. Augustine first argued a characteristic of God that He has free will, and that He has foreknowledge of his own actions. Therefore, both God’s will and foreknowledge go along with each other. From this point he then assumes that man’s will and God’s foreknowledge are both compatible. But can we compare God with man? And is this argument convincing enough? More elaboration has to be given in order to make it more convincing. Augustine then proceeds to do so. He states that people who do not believe in the compatibility of free will and divine foreknowledge are those who â€Å"are more eager to excuse than confess their sins† (p. 73). That means that people who always blame others for their own wrong doings rather than admitting it are those who claim that we have no free will and that everything is already known by God, and that nothing can be changed, which they also use as a justification for their wrong actions. These people live their life by chance, leaving everything according to the circumstances rather than trying to take good actions. An example for that is the beggars, who always try to take money from people without giving anything in return or even having a job, although they have the ability to do so. But because of their laziness and their belief that this is what they were created to be, they leave everything to happen by luck and according to God’s foreknowledge that couldn’t be changed (p. 73). Augustine then moves to another point which is the relation between the will and the power to achieve that will. He states that the will itself is within our power. Therefore, our desire to commit certain acts is a power that we own. But if we will something that is not within our power then it is not considered as a will because we can only will what is within our power. Augustine then discusses that if something good happens to us then it is accordance to our will, not against it. So for example, being happy, although God foreknows that you will be so, doesn’t mean that we are happy against our will. Thus, God’s foreknowledge of our happiness doesn’t take away our will to be happy (p. 76). And so, he concludes that if God foreknows our will, then definitely this will is going to occur, and so it will be a will in the future. Consequently, his foreknowledge doesn’t take away our will. And since that what we will is in our power, God foreknows our power and He will not take it away. Hence, we will have that power because God foreknows it (p. 77). So Augustine made it clear â€Å"that it is necessary that whatever God has foreknown will happen, and that he foreknows our sins in such a way that our wills remain free and are with in our power† (p. 77). However, the fact that God’s foreknowledge of our sins is consistent with our free will in sinning still stays questionable. Taking into consideration the fact that God is just, so how does He punish our sins that happen by necessity? Or is God’s foreknowledge not an obligation? The topic is still confusing so Augustine then proceeds to make it clearer. To conclude, Augustine succeeded in coming up with a good argument showing that man’s free will and God’s foreknowledge are both compatible. The sequence of his ideas made his argument understandable and convincing for any reader. As a reader, I’ve always thought about that subject but didn’t receive any answers. However, reading â€Å"On Free Choice of the Will† made everything clear for me and made me well convinced that God’s foreknowledge doesn’t intervene with our own choices that we make. Works Cited Williams, Thomas. On Free Choice of the Will. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company

Thursday, January 2, 2020

Pollution Is Releasing Harmful Substances Into The Air,...

Bianka Kliman Mrs. Hook Science 7-1 December 1st Pollution in China Pollution is releasing harmful substances into the air, water, land etc. There are many types of pollution: air pollution, water pollution, land pollution, soil pollution, noise pollution, person pollution, visual pollution and radiation pollution (Bradford). A fifth of China’s population breathes in heavy pollution (Ferris). China became a country in 1949. Still to this day china is a very modern country but at the same time very ancient and has a lot of history behind it. China is such a big country having 1.4 billion people that the weather varies. So in the northeast winters are really cold but summers are dry and hot. The central and north region has hot summers cold winter but they commonly have rain. Usually in china the weather is either really hot or really cold (China s Climate). China has a great amount of monuments. China has a great amount of deforestation. But China does have a wide range of wild life such as elephants, which live in the south, musk deer, reindeer and tigers live in the north and snow leopards live in the west etc. A lot of these animals feel intimidated by the human population and how its increasing so fast and the deforestation (Bryan Starr) China has more than a couple types of pollution that is affecting them. Air pollution is one big one mostly caused by exhaust fumes from vehicles and smoke from factories. A rule is that if this pollution stays this dangerous andShow MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Deforestation On The Environment845 Words   |  4 Pagesworking together with people, we can change the world. Deforestation, air pollution and improper disposal of toxic paint contribute to the degradation of the environment. Deforestation can cause many damage to your environment today. Trees absorb greenhouse gases and carbon emissions. 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