Mediaboss Marketing

Catholicism has always considered creation to be the place of Gods saving activity, but the Churchs eschatological vision has often focused on an otherworldly destiny that forgets the importance of this world. This otherworldly escapism still lingers in some Christian descriptions of salvation: the individual human soul is saved for heaven. An example of such an escapist eschatology is Dr. Jordan Petersons recent More-Christian-Than-The-Pope tweet Redemptive salvation is a matter of the individual soul directed at Pope Franciss prior comments on social justice. For the doctor, There is nothing Christian about #SocialJustice.

Within the Catholic Church, the escapist view of salvation envisioned by Peterson has become less prominent during the last century. While pre-conciliar eschatology sometimes focused on the Last Things as a postscript to the Christian Faith, now there is a different eschatological focus: the Church does not exclusively seek salvation from Earth but also salvation for Earth. The Second Vatican Council helped to re-emphasize an authentically Christian eschatology in which creation and eschaton belong together in which the world is even now being called to its final fulfillment. This new eschatological focus is not really new but rather a harkening back to the biblical and patristic teaching that, in Christ, creation waits with eager longing for its full restoration (Rom 8:19). For early Christians like the second-century Irenaeus of Lyons, Christ came that He might draw all things to Himself (Against Heresies 3:16:6). The salvation brought by Christ includes the recapitulation and fulfillment of the entire creation.

What accounts for the change? The Churchs re-evaluation of its role in the world and a renewed biblical hermeneutic of salvation history were major factors in this shift. Additionally, the natural sciences have necessitated a new consideration of the entire cosmos in Gods plan. Ultimately, this renewed eschatological vision provides a thoroughly Christian foundation for concern for this world in the here and now. Our attempts to build up the Kingdom of God through the pursuit of social justice have a solid theological foundation.

Whereas we may have once thought of the Church primarily as a haven a collection of the saved from the world, the Vatican Council reminds us that the Church is for the world. As the sacrament of salvation (Lumen Gentium [LG] 48) the Church is the mediating presence of the Spirit, who forever creates the world anew. It is true that as an institution, the Church is often as messy as the world around it. But precisely as sacrament, the Church is the designated locus of Gods saving activity. Just as Christ was the Kingdom of God in person, so the Church continues to incarnate the Kingdom in the world.

That the Church is for the world for its sanctification and transformation means that the Church is active. The Church can never be turned in on itself. Christ indicated as much when he designated his followers as the light of the world (Matt. 5:14).

Now, no Christian will find any of this particularly surprising. Since the Church exists in the world, every believer understands that the Church must have some sort of role to play within it. Yet we still slip into an otherworldly Christianity whenever this role is posited as a mere project of gathering-the-saved. This truncated eschatology does not fully appreciate the Churchs relationship to the world. Precisely as the means of the worlds sanctification, the Church assists the world in its eschatological journey. Christs identification of the Kingdom of God with a mustard seed suggests as much. The seed will grow into the largest of plants so that even the birds come to dwell in its branches (Mt 13:32). Likewise, the Kingdom grows within the created order, ultimately becoming home for all creatures. The Church is for the sake of Gods great gathering of the world.

Echoing the image used by Christ, Vatican II identifies the Church as leaven in the world, the means by which it is gathered into Gods family. As leaven, Christians must build a better world based on truth and justice (Gaudium et Spes [GS] 55). This only makes sense if the church is sent into the world so as to sanctify and transform it from within. The eschatological vision renewed by the council is clear: Earthly progressis of vital concern to the Kingdom of God (GS 39).

The councils renewed interest in the primacy of Scripture in theology also enables a revived eschatology of a creation-in-progress. In particular, the councils framework of salvation history places the work of God in this world, here and now. Creation, covenant, sin, redemption, judgment, resurrection all of these elements comprise one united telling of exitus-reditus, of creations proceeding from and returning to God.

This kind of identification of the world as the locus of Gods promise is apparent throughout the Bible. Genesis situates Gods relationship with Adam and Eve in the garden in the world. Their very purpose is to be priests of creation in its praise of the Creator. Humanitys sin does not change this fundamental anthropology. Rather, from Abraham onward, the divine project of salvation involves the restoration of creations purpose. The completion is yet to come, when God will establish the New Heaven and New Earth (Rev 21:1). Even so, salvation history means that the eschaton takes place in history rather just at its end.[1]

The history of salvation culminates in the Resurrection of Christ. Recovery of the centrality of the Resurrection means the recovery of an authentically Christian eschatology, for belief in the Resurrection means a belief in the eschaton in history. Indeed, the Resurrection concerns the very goal of the entire cosmos. Christ is but the first fruits, as Paul says.

Because the Resurrection is not just a past event but a vital power which has permeated this world (Evangelii Gaudium [EG] 276), the Church is called to mission. Christians who evangelize, says Pope Francis, are instruments of that power (EG 276). Lest one thinks such evangelization is a mere promulgation of propositions for ones individual salvation, one need only read Franciss Evangelii Gaudium to better appreciate the social implications of the Gospel. For the Holy Father, evangelization and human advancement are two sides of the same coin.

As an instrument of the power of the resurrection, the human endeavor for justice inspired by the Gospel is a means of re-creating the world anew in advancement of the Kingdom. All Christians, continues Francis, are called to show concern for the building of a better world (EG 183).

The findings of science within the last few centuries have also motivated Catholic thinkers to stress the importance of creation and its connection to the eschaton. In the context of surveying modern trends in science, the council acknowledges that the human race has passed from a rather static concept of reality to a more dynamic, evolutionary one (GS 45). The entire cosmos is on a journey. The Catechism declares that the universe is moving toward an ultimate perfection yet to be attained (CCC 302).

If the universe is ever advancing to its goal in Christ, then one can no longer make a strict distinction between creation and the eschaton. Though yet to be fully realized, creations aim is the eschaton. In his book Resting on the Future, theologian John F. Haught explores the implications of an unfinished Universe for eschatology. Rebuking both naturalistic pessimism, and otherworldly optimism, Haught advances what he calls cosmic hope.[2] Such a hope recovers that Abrahamic truth: Namely, creation is seeded with the divine promise of the future.

This anticipatory vision is not a type of escapism, for it includes the entire story of creation. It hopes for the redemption of all of cosmic history. The Catechism likewise says that God guides his creation to that definitive sabbath rest the very reason for which he created heaven and earth (CCC 314). Clearly, then, the Universe is not a mere stage for the salvation of individual souls. An eschatology that takes science seriously admits that the entire Universe is in a state of journeying toward its ultimate salvation.

This kind of identification of the here and now with the eschaton as well as the present responsibility of humanity do not result in a mere equivalence between the current order of things and Gods ultimate plan. Nor does it mean that the destiny of creation is reducible to human effort. Nevertheless, the new eschatological emphasis imbues all of creation from the smallest molecules to the entire cosmos with the transforming power of the Resurrected Christ.

Perhaps the most manifest indication of the Churchs new emphasis on the eschatological impact of human activity is the heightened call to ecological responsibility. In his environmental encyclical Laudato Si, Pope Francis unfolds the eschatological vision that identifies the now with the new, the present with the eschaton. The encyclical depicts creation as moving forward with us and through us towards a common point of arrival (LS 83) thereby envisioning human cooperation in creations consummation in Christ.

With this new eschatological outlook, the Christian Faith can never imply detachment from the world. Contrary to the unfortunate even if unintentional impression given by pre-conciliar eschatology, then, belief in the Kingdom of God does not imply waiting around for the worlds betterment at the second coming. In fact, human persons play a central part in the ultimate destiny of all things for by their labor they are unfolding the Creators work (GS 34).

As can be discerned from the above contributions, an authentically Christian eschatology is synonymous with the Gospel message: Namely, in Christ, salvation has come to the world the entire world soul, body, and cosmos. It is this truly Christian eschatology that is the basis for social justice for making a positive difference in the world, here and now. Taking all this into consideration, it would seem that authentic Christian eschatology that is to say, authentic Christianity has little to do with the individual soul and very much to do with #SocialJustice.

[1] Joseph Ratzinger, Principles of Catholic Theology: Building Stones for a Fundamental Theology (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1987), 171.

[2] John F. Haught, Resting on the Future

Image: Lawrence OP. The apse of St Barnabas in Oxford has an image of Christ Pantocrator (Ruler of all) blessing the cosmos. Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0). Via Flickr.

Liked this post? Take a second to support Where Peter Is on Patreon!

More here:
The Eschatological Foundations of Social Justice - Where Peter Is

Theres quite a bit of ground standing between humanity and a working quantum computer, and experts are worried that Europe could be left behind as the US and China pour billions into the technology.

But one startup from the small German city of Ulm believes it can help smaller players with less capital to compete against the big guns of Google and IBM, by addressing one of the key technical challenges in building a useful quantum computer.

QC Design which is today coming out of stealth mode is building technology to help quantum hardware companies fast track a process known as error correction: the task of getting more qubits (the quantum equivalent of a bit a unit of information in classical computing) working together to scale up the power of these machines.

Companies like Paris-based PASQAL,UK-based Quantum Motion and Finnish IQM are all building their own approaches to quantum computers, trying to increase the number of qubits in their systems.

But scaling up the number of qubits isn't the only challenge. To begin solving complex problems like finding new drugs or useful materials quantum computer builders also have to create something called logical qubits.

In simple terms, a logical qubit is a combination of hundreds of qubits working together to facilitate complex quantum calculations. This is difficult to achieve due to the very delicate nature of qubits, which generally have to be chilled to extremely low temperatures to keep them stable, making them expensive and difficult to operate.

This is where error correction comes in, as researchers build systems that counteract the natural faults that qubits make (a goal in quantum computing known as fault tolerance). But theres a big talent shortage in this field and Europe is far behind in the race, according to QC Design founder Ish Dhand.

American companies were here first and lots of the top error correction researchers from Europe and elsewhere in the world work with these big North American companies, he says.

Sifted Newsletters

Sifted Newsletter

3x a week

We tell you what's happening across startup Europe and why it matters.

Join to Sign Up

Sifted Newsletters

Sifted Newsletter

3x a week

We tell you what's happening across startup Europe and why it matters.

Join to Sign Up

If you look at the companies that have blueprints and roadmaps to fault tolerance, these are predominantly North American companies. Even with the biggest companies in Europe which have really good physical qubits the roadmaps to fault tolerance are not yet there.

QC Design hopes it can level the playing field for smaller companies that can't hire the right kind of talent, by licensing them the technology they need to help them scale up their logical qubits.

This will be a mix of hardware architecture and software design, and Dhand tells Sifted that there are already around 50 quantum computing companies globally which could benefit from QC Designs architecture licences.

The company hasn't signed any clients yet, but says its opened early discussions with some quantum hardware builders.

The founder compares his company to an early-stage version of UK chip company ARM, which licences the IP for its chip architecture rather than making the chips itself.

Its just like ARM licences out designs the laptop that I'm talking from is an ARM-designed chip but ARM doesnt make any chips of their own. It's the designs that we licence out, says Dhand.

Comparisons to ARM are, of course, a little premature QC Design was founded in 2021 and employs 10 people. But the company did land pre-seed backing from deeptech investors Vsquared, Quantonation and Salvia last year, and could provide an important piece of the puzzle for companies trying to keep up with the best-funded players in quantum computing.

More:
The startup using ARMs blueprint to give European quantum a fighting chance - Sifted

There is no necessity to marry in modern dating. Instead, many couples simply go through the motions. Often, singletons meet, then they date and have intimate relations with one another before even one word of commitment is spoken.

Years pass, and it gets to that time when talks of moving in together arise. It makes sense to live together its the next step, right? Youre spending so much time together, so why pay two rents when you could be saving for your future together? Plus, with divorce rates being so high, you want to ensure that you and your partner are 100% right for each other before saying I do.

The reasons for moving in together before engagement or marriage are many. It seems like the logical choice. However, youre actually more likely to get divorced if you move in together before you get married. Heres why.

Couples generally believe living together before marriage is a good way to avoid divorce. However, studies have shown that couples who live together first are actually less satisfied with their marriages and more likely to divorce than couples who do not. This is called the cohabitation effect.

Even marital researchers are confused by this effect because, in theory, moving in together before marriage should reduce the chances of marrying the wrong person. Youll learn more about each other, begin negotiating chores, and get a taste of what married life would be like with your beloved. And its true to a certain extent.

For example, a study in 2018 showed that couples who live together first are less likely to break up in the first year of marriage. This is likely because they spend years negotiating and getting used to living together before entering a marriage. However, this happiness doesnt last long, as couples who live together first are more likely to get divorced later on. In the short term, it seems that living together works, but in the long term, its less effective. Why is that?

The cohabitation effect cant be fully explained through characteristics such as a persons religion, education, or politics.

Although some believe this occurs because those who live together before marriage may be more open to divorce in the first place i.e. they arent religious and have no moral reason for not moving in with their partner research shows that the cohabitation effect cant be fully explained through characteristics such as a persons religion, education, or politics.

This is something Dr. Meg Jay covers in her book The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter and How To Make the Most of Them Now. She writes that when twentysomethings are asked how they ended up moving in with their partner, they often say, It just happened. This is known as sliding, not deciding. Going from dating to cohabitation is often a gradual slope and bears no real commitment. Plus, a real conversation about what it means to move in together rarely occurs.

In fact, moving in together can mean different things to each person and unfortunately, its incredibly common for a couple to have widely different reasons for moving in with their partner. Dr. Jay writes that when women are asked why they want to live with their partner, they are more likely to say they want better access to love. However, when a man is asked, he will often say easier access to sex. Worse still, even after the relationship progresses to marriage, lower levels of commitment still persist.

People have lower standards for a live-in partner than for a spouse.

Another negative side effect of cohabitation is the fact that people have lower standards for a live-in partner than for a spouse something which could be detrimental to your future happiness. Time is a persons most precious commodity, and by lowering standards for a live-in partner, people are simply wasting time theyll never get back. So, if you do decide to move in with your boyfriend and you hope to be married with kids one day its important to ask whether or not this is the person you want to do that with.

Another reason why its important to be intentional is because theres a psychological process that occurs when you make a decision.

According to Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice, The very option of being allowed to change our minds seems to increase the chances we will change our minds. When we can change our minds about decisions, we are less satisfied with them. When a decision is final, we engage in a variety of psychological processes that enhance our feelings about the choice we made relative to the alternatives.

Its almost as if getting married once youve already been living together becomes a default mechanism its just the next step. Couples end up sliding into marriage rather than making a purposeful commitment. Plus, without a lifelong commitment, people are able to keep one foot out of the relationship and easily use their get-out-of-jail-free card.

Ultimately, Jordan Peterson defines what cohabitation really is in his book Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life. He writes: Consider the statement implicit in living together, prior to marriage: Youre good enough to live with, and attractive enough for temporary sexual purposes, but I want to hold open the possibility of trading up if Im fortunate enough to find someone preferable to you (someone sufficiently deluded to accept me as a partner, under such conditions). Contrast that with I am willing to stake my future on our joint integrity, and to risk building a life with you on that foundation. If you had to choose between two potential partners on the basis of those alternate explicitly stated principles one abiding by the former, the other, the latter whom would you choose?

People no longer want to live their lives with boundaries. However, withholding some aspects of a relationship, such as moving in together, may lead to a better outcome in the long run.

If you dont want to wait until marriage to live with your boyfriend, make sure you ask yourself whether the guy youre moving in with would make a good husband and father.Its also important to have the right discussions with your boyfriend before you move in together to ensure youre both on the same page. The last thing you want is to move in with a guy who is only doing so to delay a real commitment to you. But if youve already moved in, its not too late. Have these conversations with your boyfriend now to save yourself from possible heartbreak in the future.

Support our cause and help women reclaim their femininity by subscribing today.

Continue reading here:
Living With Your Boyfriend? Your Marriage Is Less Likely To Work ... - Evie Magazine

A University of Minnesota Twin Cities-led team has developed a new superconducting diode, a key component in electronic devices, that could help scale up quantum computers for industry use and improve the performance of artificial intelligence systems. Compared to other superconducting diodes, the researchers device is more energy efficient; can process multiple electrical signals at a time; and contains a series of gates to control the flow of energy, a feature that has never before been integrated into a superconducting diode.

The paper is published inNature Communications, a peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers the natural sciences and engineering.

A diode allows current to flow one way but not the other in an electrical circuit. Its essentially half of a transistor, the main element in computer chips. Diodes are typically made with semiconductors, but researchers are interested in making them with superconductors, which have the ability to transfer energy without losing any power along the way.

We want to make computers more powerful, but there are some hard limits we are going to hit soon with our current materials and fabrication methods, said Vlad Pribiag, senior author of the paper and an associate professor in the University of Minnesota School of Physics and Astronomy. We need new ways to develop computers, and one of the biggest challenges for increasing computing power right now is that they dissipate so much energy. So, were thinking of ways that superconducting technologies might help with that.

The University of Minnesota researchers created the device using three Josephson junctions, which are made by sandwiching pieces of non-superconducting material between superconductors. In this case, the researchers connected the superconductors with layers of semiconductors. The devices unique design allows the researchers to use voltage to control the behavior of the device.

Their device also has the ability to process multiple signal inputs, whereas typical diodes can only handle one input and one output. This feature could have applications in neuromorphic computing, a method of engineering electrical circuits to mimic the way neurons function in the brain to enhance the performance of artificial intelligence systems.

The device weve made has close to the highest energy efficiency that has ever been shown, and for the first time, weve shown that you can add gates and apply electric fields to tune this effect, explained Mohit Gupta, first author of the paper and a Ph.D. student in the University of Minnesota School of Physics and Astronomy. Other researchers have made superconducting devices before, but the materials theyve used have been very difficult to fabricate. Our design uses materials that are more industry-friendly and deliver new functionalities.

The method the researchers used can, in principle, be used with any type of superconductor, making it more versatile and easier to use than other techniques in the field. Because of these qualities, their device is more compatible for industry applications and could help scale up the development of quantum computers for wider use.

Right now, all the quantum computing machines out there are very basic relative to the needs of real-world applications, Pribiag said. Scaling up is necessary in order to have a computer thats powerful enough to tackle useful, complex problems. A lot of people are researching algorithms and usage cases for computers or AI machines that could potentially outperform classical computers. Here, were developing the hardware that could enable quantum computers to implement these algorithms. This shows the power of universities seeding these ideas that eventually make their way to industry and are integrated into practical machines.

Read more here:
New Superconducting Diode Could Improve Performance Of ... - Eurasia Review

Graphene and Quantum Computing: A Match Made in Heaven

Graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice, has been hailed as a wonder material since its discovery in 2004. This ultra-thin, ultra-strong material has the potential to revolutionize industries ranging from electronics to medicine. One area where graphenes unique properties could have a particularly profound impact is in the realm of quantum computing.

Quantum computing is an emerging field that seeks to harness the strange and powerful properties of quantum mechanics to perform calculations far beyond the capabilities of classical computers. While still in its infancy, quantum computing has the potential to revolutionize fields such as cryptography, drug discovery, and artificial intelligence. However, the development of practical quantum computers has been hampered by a number of technical challenges, including the need for materials that can support and manipulate delicate quantum states.

This is where graphene comes in. Graphenes remarkable electronic properties make it an ideal candidate for use in quantum computing. For one, graphene is an excellent conductor of electricity, with electrons able to move through the material with very little resistance. This property could be used to create ultra-fast, low-power quantum computing devices.

Moreover, graphenes two-dimensional structure gives it unique quantum properties. Electrons in graphene behave as if they have no mass, allowing them to move at extremely high speeds and follow the rules of quantum mechanics rather than classical physics. This means that graphene could potentially be used to create quantum bits, or qubits, the fundamental building blocks of quantum computers.

Qubits are the quantum equivalent of classical bits, which represent information as either a 0 or a 1. However, qubits can exist in a superposition of both 0 and 1 simultaneously, allowing quantum computers to perform many calculations at once. This parallelism is what gives quantum computers their immense potential for solving complex problems.

One of the key challenges in building a quantum computer is maintaining the delicate quantum states of qubits. Quantum states are easily disturbed by their environment, leading to errors in calculations. This phenomenon, known as decoherence, is a major obstacle to the development of practical quantum computers.

Graphenes unique properties could help address this issue. The materials two-dimensional structure means that it can be easily integrated with other materials, such as superconductors, which are essential for maintaining quantum states. Additionally, graphenes high electron mobility could be used to create devices that can manipulate and control qubits with high precision.

Recent research has demonstrated the potential of graphene for quantum computing applications. In one study, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) were able to create a graphene-based device that could control the flow of electrons with a high degree of precision. This device, known as a valleytronics system, could potentially be used to create qubits that are less susceptible to decoherence.

In another study, researchers at the University of Cambridge were able to use graphene to create a new type of qubit that is both more stable and more easily controlled than existing designs. This topological qubit could be a major step forward in the development of practical quantum computers.

While there is still much work to be done, it is clear that graphene has the potential to play a crucial role in the development of quantum computing. The marriage of these two cutting-edge fields could lead to breakthroughs that were once thought to be the stuff of science fiction. As researchers continue to explore the potential of graphene and quantum computing, we may be on the cusp of a new era of technological innovation that will reshape our world in ways we can only begin to imagine.

Read more:
Graphene and Quantum Computing: A Match Made in Heaven - CityLife