Computer Science and

Christianity:A Modeling Approach

Gene B. Chase

29 March 2001

“Thank you for not using 666 in your papers”

Three Approaches to Integration

Incarnational Approach: Who am I? Incompleteness Approach: What do I not

know? Imago Dei: What do I know?

Modeling Approach

I. Incarnational: Who am I?

Lynn Arthur Steen. “The Science of Patterns.” Science, 240, 29 April 1988, pp. 611-616.

“I am a scientist, and I am a Christian. The integration takes place in me, not in the subject matter.”

Apply this to Computer Science?

In the CS workplace, I will model virtue.In worship I will praise God for the beauty

that I see in CS.

Lutheran View

St. Olaf CollegeDr. Richard Hughes, President of California

Lutheran University: “The Lutheran vision never seeks to superimpose the kingdom of God onto the world . . . Lutherans seek to bring the world and the kingdom of God into dialogue.”

Lutheran View

At Lutheran Valparaiso University one department chair said: “Show us what Lutheran economics is and we'll see if we can find a Lutheran economist who can teach it.”

Advantage & Disadvantage

Advantage: It addresses the “so what” question.

Disadvantage: It doesn’t seem to be pursuing integration, just letting it happen.

II. Incompleteness: What don’t we know?

Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem (1931): For any mathematical system S strong enough to do addition and multiplication of integers, the consistency of that system, Con(S), cannot be proven within the system.

Gödel Numbering

g(x)=2, g(y)=3, g(()=5, g())=7,g(+)=11, g(*)=13, g(0)=17,

g(1)=19, g(2)=23, ...g(x*(y+21))= 2g(x)3g(*)5g(()7g(y)11g(+)13g(2)17g(1)

g(statements)= 2g(st1)3g(st2)5g(st3)7g(st4)11g(st5)3g(st6)

Incompleteness Results

J. R. Lucas: Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem suggests that humanity is not the measure of its own meaning.

Chase: “Skolem’s Paradox and the Predestination/Free-Will Discussion”

Chase: “What Does a Computer Program Mean?”

Incompleteness in CS

Alan Turing (1937). The Halting Problem: No computer program U can be written which receives as input a program P and its input I, and returns true if P halts on input I, but returns false if P loops infinitely on input I.

Kurt Gödel (1956). P=NP?

Is P=NP? P=solved in polynomial time. NP=checked for correctness in polynomial

time. Optimists: P=NP, or maybe PNP. Pessimists: P=NP can’t be known. Ecc. 3:11: God “has also set eternity in the

hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”

- 10000 =

Advantage & Disadvantage

Advantage: A sense of humility, awe, and mystery before a great God.

Disadvantage: This view has a “god of the gaps” feel to it.

Calvinist View

Creation mandate: To “subdue the earth” (Gen. 1:28)

The Fall affected our ability to reason, not just our ability to be moral.

III. Imago Dei:What do we know?

Parables. Donald MacKay. The Clockwork Image,

IV Press 1974. A marquee of flashing lights:

Physics explanation. Information-processing explanation.

III. Imago Dei:What do we know?

••••• ••••• •••• ••••• • • • • •••••• • • • •••• • • • • ••• • • • • • • • • •

Complementarity

Information-processing complements Physics

Waves complement particles “Complementarity as a Christian

Philosophy of Mathematics”

Deciding on a Career

Biology Chemistry

PhysicsPhilosophy and

Psychology

Mathematics

Roger Penrose

Big Ideas of CS

Abstraction Hierarchy Virtuality Global versus local Parallelism Time/space tradeoff ...

Analogies in CS

Sofware Soul

Don’t confuse the map with the territory.

Parables as Analogies

Social RelationshipsAbout God in Jesus’ Parables

Father / Mother

Friend

Husband

Master / Employer

Judge

Shepherd

Vineyard Owner

C. S. Lewis

The metaphor is backwards: It is not God who is like our earthly fathers; it is our earthly fathers who should strive to be like Father.

Similarly, CS is not the reality and our faith the metaphor; our relationship with God is the reality and CS can only provide metaphors.

Advantage & Disadvantage

Advantage: We are at home in the universe.

Disadvantage: Multiple perspectives can too easily lead to relativism.

Anabaptist View

Love more important than doctrine (John 13:36)

“We see a poor relfection in a mirror” (I Cor. 13:12)

Anglican View

Bibliography of Faith-Learning Articlesand Books by Dr. Chase

Arranged in Reverse-Chronological Order

[1] Faith-Discipline Musings http://www.messiah.edu/acdept/depthome/mathsci/courses/sensem/manifesto.htm .

Web posting of March 15 about Intellectual Property.

[2] “Universe resists science.” Harrisburg, PA: Patriot News, 9 August 1996[op ed opinion essay, the title supplied by newspaper]

[3] “What does a computer program mean? An introduction to denotationalsemantics.” A tenth conference on Mathematics from a Christianperspective. Proceedings of the biennial conference of the Associationof Christians in the Mathematical Sciences held at Taylor UniversityMay 31-June 3, 1995. Robert L. Brabenec, Editor.

[4] “How has Christian theology furthered Mathematics?” An eighthconference on Mathematics from a Christian perspective. Proceedingsof the biennial conference of the Association of Christians in theMathematical Sciences held at Wheaton College May 29-June 1,1991. Robert L. Brabenec, Editor. Later published as a chapter ofFacets of Faith and Science; Volume II The Role of Beliefs inMathematics and the Natural Sciences; an Augustinian Perspective.Ed. Jitse M. van der Meer. Lanham, MD: University Press ofAmerica. 1997.

[5] Seventh Conference on Mathematics from a Christian Perspective.Proceedings of the Biennial Conference of the Association of Christians inthe Mathematical Sciences held at Messiah College May 31-June 2, 1989.Wheaton College Press, 1990. Editor.

[6] “Selected bibliography of Donald MacCrimmon MacKay.” A Fifth Conference onMathematics from a Christian Perspective. Proceedings of the Conference Held at the King'sCollege May 29-June 3, 1985: 31-33. Robert L. Brabenec, Editor.

[7] “Complementarity as a Christian philosophy of Mathematics.” In Harold Heie and DavidWolfe, The Reality of Christian Learning: Strategies for Faith_Discipline Integration.Eerdmans, 1987.

[8] Bibliography of Christianity and Mathematics: 1910-1983. Dordt College Press, 1983.With Calvin Jongsma.

[9] “Skolem's paradox and the predestination/free_will discussion.” A Christian Perspectiveon the Foundations of Mathematics, Proceedings, 28-30 April 1977.