The Future of Islam

            Did you know that over SIX MILLION African Muslims are converting from believers of Islam into believers of Christianity?  That’s right, it’s true.  If you do the math, that’s approximately 667 Muslims an hour. That’s a lot!  What is the reason for this huge change of heart?  Well the main reason is that Islam is just not as strong a religion as Christianity is.  In Africa, Muslims believe that it is more important to build a “mosque” or church in order to teach and to spread the word of Muslims.  That is not what children in Africa need right now.  The most important thing they need right now is not a place to worship, but a place to learn.  In other words, they need a school. 

An average Muslim may spend approximately an hour or two at the mosque per day and have nothing to do for the rest of the day.  This leaves them vulnerable to the “Christian Missionary Octopuses”.  Christians are very strong and quite wealthy and have taken the chance to help the people in Africa as well as spread their words of faith with them.  They offer medication, food, water, and most importantly, education.  Kids can spend at least six or seven hours a day at school which is more efficient than only spending an hour or two at a mosque and having nothing to do afterwards. 

The problem with Islam is that it is quite a burdensome and harsh religion.  They must always preach of Peace and Love.  This is evident when one Muslim scholar talks about implementing Shari’ah as if it is self- evident that it benefits society.  In other words, he believes that the words of Islam are always correct.  At the rate that they are going, the problem could spread all around the world and before you know it, Islam will be completely forgotten. 

A religion cannot be lost.  It can, however, be forgotten.  What do you think?  Will Islam survive in the future or will it forever forgotten?  Even specialists say that Islam may be facing a crisis as more and more followers are starting to either convert to another religion or are abandoning religion altogether.  That leaves the question: What will Islam be like in the future.  Some people think that people will start to take bits and pieces of different religion and create a whole new religion altogether in order to adjust to their own personal need.  What are your thoughts on this matter?

An Overview of Islam

First of all, what is Islam?  The word “Islam” can be read as “surrender” or “submission”.  The meaning behind that is their belief is to sincerely surrender to God so that they can live in peace.  Peace is obtained through their complete obedience for God.  For example, God said to never steal, respect your elders, etc.  Islam is a very welcoming religion.  It will not force people to believe but they highly encourage it.  

Islam is believed to have been first revealed to people by Muhammad, the Final Prophet, who was the first person that Allah (God) had revealed the Qur'an from.  Muhammad was born in 570 CE in the city of Mecca.  He was orphaned at a young age and was raised by his uncle Abu Talib.  He got married at the age of 25 and his wife brought him into the business of trade.  During one trade journey, Gabriel the archangel descended upon him and revealed to him the Qur'an.  Many believe that Muhammad magically recited the words as if he already knew them.  He was 40 years old at the time.  He then returned home to spread the word.

The Qur'an is very important as it is known to be of Allah's exact words.  Therefore, whenever a copy of the Qur'an is replicated, it must be carefully done without altering any of the words.  Some Muslim schools teach calligraphy in order to replicate the Qur'an better.  It is believed that the Qur'an was slowly revealed in bits and peaces over a total of about 23 years starting from the year 610 CE during the month of Ramadan.  The meaning of the word "Qur'an" can be translated to "he read" or "he recited" as it was words sent directly from God.  That is why Muhammad is also known as "The Messenger of Allah".  

            For someone to truly be considered a believer in Islam, they must first complete the tradition of the Five Pillars of Islam.  They are as follows:

1.      The Declaration of Faith (Shadadah) - One must recite: ““I testify that there is no true deity except God and that Muhammad is his messenger” in order for God to cleanse them of their sins.

2.      Praying Five Times a Day (Salah) – One must pray at least five times a day while facing Makkah or more if they wish.

3.      Paying the Yearly Alms (Zakah)  - One must donate at least 2.5% of their income throughout the year in order to donate to the needy.

4.      Fasting During Ramadan (Sawm) – One must not eat, drink, or have sex for the duration of a day at one point during the month of Ramadan in order to cleanse themselves of sins.

5.      Making the Pilgrimage to Makkah (Haji) - A person wishing to follow in the word of Islm must make a pilgrimage to the Ka’bah in Makkah ONCE in their lifetime if possible.  It compels the pilgrims to break down the racial , economic, nad social barriers that may reside in their societies.  Each person walks counter-clockwise seven times around the Kaaba, the cube-shaped building which acts as the Muslim direction of prayer, runs back and forth between the hills of Al-Safa and Al-Marwah, drinks from the Zamzam Well, goes to the plains of Mount Arafat to stand in vigil, and throws stones in a ritual Stoning of the Devil. The pilgrims then shave their heads, perform a ritual of animal sacrifice, and celebrate the three day global festival of Eid al-Adha.

They must also believe in the six articles of Faith which are as follows:

1. Belief in God

2. Belief in his Angels

3. Belief in his Books

4. Belief in his Prophets and Messengers

5. Belief in Day of Judgement

6. Belief in God’s Divine Decree

      Islam has been known to be a harsh and burdensome.  What do you think?  Is Islam a harsh religion?  What are your thoughts about their traditions?  Would you consider being a believer in Islam?  Check back on my next post regarding the future of Islam.

       

Early Beginning's of Christianity

Christianity has been around for roughly 2000 years now. It had periods of struggle and times where it seemed Christianity as a religion was going to perish. But, Christianity clung on.

Little is known about Christianity in the beginning. Researchers know that it grew in the 1st century as a Jewish religion.

From then on, mass persecution erupted because of the belief of Christ. None more so then the time of Emperor Nero's reign. Nero blamed the Christians for the great fire of Rome. Furthermore, Christians suffered from persecutions for their refusal to worship the Roman emperor, considered treasonous and punishable by execution.

How did Christianity still hold on? Well again, researchers have no idea how Christianity was managed to be so successful.One thing researcher do point out is the combination of the Christian promise of a general resurrection of the dead, the Greek belief that true immortality depended on the survival of the body.

Robot Code of Ethics

In 1940, Isaac Asimov devised the Robot Laws or code of ethics. There are only three robot laws but they are very important. They go as follow:

1. A robot cannot allow or harm a human being. Ex. If a robot saw a truck coming for a human, it should push the human out of the way of the truck.

2. A robot must obey orders given by humans unless it conflicts with the previous law. Ex. If a human tells a robot to kill another human, the robot cannot obey the order.

3. A robot my protect itself as long as it does not conflict with the 2 previous laws. Ex. The robot must protect humans, even if it means sacrificing itself for them.

In 2007, South Korea announced that they are devising another Robot Code of Ethics. The list has not been released yet.

Basic Christianity

 As you may all know, Christianity is the largest religion in today's world. A quarter to a third of the world's population is christian and its constantly growing! Currently, Christianity is the most common religion used in books, magazines,movies,TV shows etc.  Because of this, knowing something about Christianity(even a little bit) is beneficial.

In this post, I will explain to people the basic concepts of Christianity. (Note, this is not about the branches of Christianity and how they differ to each other)

 It began in the in the mid-1st century as a Jewish religion. Soon in 4th century, it had become the dominant religion within the Roman Empire. In the Middle Ages, most of Europe were Christians. Furthermore  Christianity was a becoming a large religious minority in the Middle East and Asia.


The majority of Christian faith was based on 4 things. It goes as follows:

1.belief in God the Father, Jesus the Son of God and the Holy Spirit.
 2. the death, descent into hell,resurrection, and ascension of Christ.
 3.the holiness of the Church and the communion of saints.
4. Christ's second coming, the Day of Judgement and salvation of the faithful.

The first point tells new Christians the divine figures in there religion. Coming in first is God. The  the creator, life-giver, law-giver, and protector of humans. Second is Jesus, the central figure of Christianity and the son of God. Christians  believe that God sent Jesus to earth to save mankind. The third figure is the Holy Spirit. He is someone who tells people's hearts about the truth of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit also acts as a Christian's teacher. Also, reveals God's will and God's truth to a Christian.The Holy Spirit is something that lives inside faithful Christians. Believer believe that the Holy Spirit build into our lives love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Furthermore,  empowers Christians to perform ministerial duties that promote spiritual growth among Christians.


The second point is the belief in how Christ died and how important it is for Christians to understand why he died. Jesus Christ  gave his life as a sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. What man must do is believe and accept the sacrifice Christ made and must repent all our sins.Additionally, it tells us that Christ went into hell to tell his believer in the underworld to go to heaven with him. (descent into hell and resurrection of Christ)

The third point is quite straightforward. It tells Christians that the Church is God's tool in teaching the people. No one should think the Church is wrong nor should they question what the Church wants. Going on with that, the Church is in fellowship with angels. (Saints)

The last point is Christ's second coming. Many Christinas think that Jesus will once again walk on this earth. Judgement Day(infamously known as Armageddon) occurs after Christ's second coming. It is when God  decree the fates of all men according to the good and evil of their earthly lives. The good go to heaven and the bad go to hell.

In conclusion, Christianity is religion that impacted the world in many ways. Thus, Christianity will not be forgotten anytime soon.

The History of Artificial Intelligence

The first thought of a thinking machine came from a man named Charles Babbage dueing the 1830's. Babbage wanted to create a machine that could automatically calculate a mathematical chart in less time and with more accuracy.

Since then, early A.I. researchers believed that the human brain worked like a computer, taking in information and converting it to symbols, which were processed by the brain and converted back to a recognizable form as a thought. The researchers also believed that intelligence could be abstracted from implementation.

In the past few decades, there have been simulated neural networks that have been built like the neural network in a human brain. Another name for simulated neural networks is Artificial Neural Networks.

In 2000, Honda revealed ASIMO to the world. ASIMO stood for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility and it is the most lifelike robot to date. ASIMO is able to walk and play soccer. It has three cameras (two on it's head and one on it's waist to help it play soccer). There are sensors in each ankle to predict the next step it should take and there are gravity sensors to track the force of each movement ASIMO takes. The solid scope gyrometers help monitor the body position and help keep ASIMO upright. Ever since its release in 2000, Honda has kept improving various parts of ASIMO. It has become lighter and taller, it can run faster, it can operate longer, and it has more degrees of freedom.

First post!

Hello everyone!

This blog will be dedicated to our musings about the future of religion and robots! Our main contributors will be Gerry Hu, Christian Chan and me, Kyle Chan. Please check back soon as we hope to have our first post as soon as possible :)