Gem from GK Chesterton

"A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it."

From The Everlasting Man

Monday, January 26, 2009

aMap is the Best! No, aMap is the worst!

A truckload of thanks to my friend Thom (who is now 10 Bonus Points richer!) for turning me on to aMap. This is an intriguing widget that provides mind-mapping structure to arguments.  For kicks and giggles, I made an aMap of the recent post and comment thread of "Science can enrich faith, but not visa versa?"  which was my response to a statement by Dr. Lawrence Krauss. With wild swings of a very blunt axe, I chopped down the very rich discussion into some basic arguments and supporting statements.  In the first aMap I've mapped the position that "Faith can Enrich Science", supported largely in the comments by myself and The Deeps of Time, (Michael)

In the second aMap, I tried (crudely) to present the contrary position made mostly by Rocket Scientist (Stephanie) and Letters from Lausanne (Boris).  

Apologies to all for hacking off some delicious fruit while doing this pruning.  The purpose of this post is two-fold: 1) Introduce a widget that could be a constructive forum for arguments; 2) Use you as lab rats to assess the potential of this tool. Please build on either argument and help me put this tool to the test.  If this is as snappy as it seems, I'll be happier than a pig in poop.

Do you like aMap, love it, hate it?  Please put this through the paces and let me know.  Let the kicking and giggling begin.






Update 1/26/09:  One drawback to aMap I just noticed is that the title can't be edited once the widget code is created.  My apologies for mispelling "enrich" as "engich".    Although, that might also make an interesting argument.

5 comments:

  1. Brian, this aMap is too cool!! A way to illustrate ideas. As far as religion and Science, they go perfectly. God created the heavens for us to explore, why else, wallpaper for our desktops? He gave us curiosity and a mind, we create the science to learn and explore what God has given us.

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  2. I'm liking aMap too.

    But I have a bone to pick with you that you didn't come to my rescue earlier while I was getting bludgeoned to a pulp by Stephanie and Boris. (Just kidding. Stephanie and Boris didn't use a bludgeon. I think it was a mallet instead! Just kidding again!)

    I was tickled that the first can of worms I opened on the blog was handled very respectfully and intelligently on all sides.

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  3. I prefer the precision of a scalpel. Which is probably better than picking bones. Ouch!

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  4. [Insert Bryan Adams' "Cuts Like a Knife" song here]

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  5. Lol, I like "Cuts Like A Knife"

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