science – SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR)

Portrait of William of Ockham by Peter Paul Rubens 1617

UK: William of Ockham (1287-1347-49?) – Origin of “Occam’s Razor”! (22.8.2026)

22/08/2026 Adrian (釋大道)

The Church and the State would have us believe that out of this quagmire of human ignorance and darkness – rays of light emerged. I can say that William of Ockham did write copious numbers of texts on all kinds of academic and theological topics, including politics, biographies, and philosophy. Part of the delay in the examination of his work by the Vatican in the 1320s was caused by its sheer volume. And it would seem that after his “Excommunication” – the nature of his work became ever-more defiant and questioning of Church authority. I think his conflict with the Church solidified his method of the efficient use of knowledge as a means of critiquing Church dogma and theology. Indeed, William appears to become nearly “Protestant” in his argument with Avignon. He may not have coined the term “Occam’s Razor” (why would a humble monk do such a strange thing?) – but he certainly earned the right to be considered a strong candidate for its modern inception due to the nature of the hostility he had to contend with. Although I am always suspicious of bourgeois sources (due to their a priori anti-Socialist position) – I believe we can trust the two I have included below. As always – think for yourself.

USSR: The 1971 Mars 2 & Mars 3 Missions – Carried the 1st Soviet-Made “Mars Rovers” [PrOP-M]! (18.8.2026)

18/08/2026 Adrian (釋大道)

The USSR and Eastern Europe had been devastated by Hitler during WWII with the Soviets suffering 41 million (killed and wounded) casualties whilst large swathes of the Western USSR was materially devastated. Leningrad, of course, was reduced to starvation by the Nazi blockade (rather like what Trump II is attempting to do to Cuba). Despite suffering that material and psychological devastation – within a few short years of reconstruction directed by Joseph Stalin – the country was able to regroup and direct its resources toward space exploration, a process which sent shockwaves throughout the world of the US, a place which had suffered no material or economic damage during WWII. Make no mistake about, although Stalin passed away in 1953 – everything that unfolded in the USSR from a technological position – manifested from the groundwork laid by Stalin between 1945-1953. This dialectical preparation sustained the country for decades despites its leaders betraying Stalin and taking the country in a Counter-Revolutionary direction. Indeed, the Mars 2 and Mars 3 Soviet fact-finding missions to Mars in 1971 both carried a version of the world’s first “rover” designed to explore the area immediately surrounding the lander (or “Mars Station”). This “Device Assessing [through] Cross-Country Capability-Mars” [Прибор оценки проходимости-Марс – Pribor otsenki prokhodimosti-Mars] or “ПрОП-М” [PrOP-M] was attached to the lander via a 15 metre tethering cable (similar to the first-generation remote controls attached to TV sets and video recorders).

A protest against AI outside OpenAI headquarters in San Francisco, California, on 11 July. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

US: Trump Vows to “Break Wynd” Over AI Row! (17.8.2026)

17/08/2026 Adrian (釋大道)

She said that when she was found guilty, she was “hit with a wave of grief” because she realised her peers “just didn’t get” the danger she believes is posed by the race to superintelligence. But she was beginning to feel “vindicated” as more prominent figures like Sanders were speaking out. She is now braced for the prison experience of an orange jump suit, “horrible food, dirt [and] you can’t sleep”. She has been previously jailed for short periods related to her decades of political activism over causes including Nicaragua, nuclear disarmament, western Sahara and Palestine.

Her message to the chief executives of OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta, which also reported a security incident with its model, was “regain your humanity”. Kaufmyn said her target audience was ordinary people “and the message being: stop the progress of this technology. Let’s get a global ban on the race to superintelligence.”

Prof Stuart Russell, a leading AI academic at the University of California at Berkeley and president of the International Association for Safe and Ethical AI, gave evidence in Kaufmyn’s defence. He claimed OpenAI’s activities “pose an unacceptable risk”, alleging it had deployed AI systems with inadequate safeguards. He said that further development of these systems “must be conditioned on rigorous guarantees of safety, which are currently unavailable”.

China Has Explored the Celestial Realms for Thousands of Years!

China: Ancient Astronomical Instruments Draw Museum-Goers to Cosmic Quest! (15.8.2026)

15/08/2026 Adrian (釋大道)

HEFEI, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) — China’s museums are often defined by their porcelain, calligraphy and ritual vessels. But a new exhibition in east China’s Anhui Province is turning the spotlight away from traditional treasures and toward scientific endeavors of the past, showcasing jade cosmograms, celestial star charts and bronze globes crafted by astronomers centuries ago.

Titled “Divine-Sky Exploration: The Cosmological Vision of Chinese Civilization,” the exhibition at the Anhui Museum brings together nearly 300 artifacts from 48 institutions nationwide. It is a rare exhibition in China focused specifically on presenting the country’s “understanding of the universe” through cultural relics.

Since its launch in July, the show has drawn some 350,000 visitors, fascinated by the instruments ancient Chinese used to observe, measure and pay homage to the universe.

Doctors from Tongji Medical College perform fully invasive brain-computer interface surgery on a patient. (Photo provided to China News Service)

China: Paralyzed Patient Undergoes First “Invasive Brain-Computer Interface” Surgery at Tongji Medical College! (14.8.2026)

14/08/2026 Adrian (釋大道)

The patient, identified by the pseudonym Hu Damin, has been bedridden for two years following a spinal cord injury. Doctors implanted eight ultraflexible electrodes into her motor cortex. Each electrode, dozens of times thinner than a human hair, can capture neural signals linked to her intention to move.

The BCI system is designed to bypass the damaged spinal cord and translate brain signals into commands for devices such as computer cursors, smartphones and wheelchairs. Through rehabilitation training, doctors hope to help her regain fine motor functions in her upper limbs.

The implanted device is reportedly China’s first high-throughput BCI product capable of recording single-neuron-level signals and has been recognized as an innovative medical device by the National Medical Products Administration.

UK: Should Cambridge University Investigate Rupert Sheldrake? (12.8.2026)

12/08/2026 Adrian (釋大道)

The Buddha does not contain ALL knowledge as if it were lying dormant in his mind at any given moment (therefore he is not “omniscient” in this sense) but he does say that an enlightened being can direct the mind in any direction he or she wishes (like a net enveloping and collecting all things) throughout the world, and in so doing bring any part of it into his enlightened conscious awareness. This lasts for as long as concentration is held in that direction and then fails away – remember that the true nature of the mind is “empty” and spacious – so that all phenomena seems to arise and pass away within it. In fact the Buddha states a long list of abilities and powers he possesses – including the ability for his mind’s awareness to travel to other worlds. What happened over-time is that through various commentaries and translations, the fact that the Buddha could move his mind’s awareness in any direction (or none) became conflated with the idea that his mind’s awareness was already in every place and at every time.

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