John Ostrowick

• HdipEd, PhD
• Alumnus at University of Cape Town

South Africa, amongst other nations in Africa, most notably Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda, is aiming to take a lead in implementation of policy intended to address the challenges represented by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We take the South African Constitution's Bill of Rights as our guide on the moral obligations of the government, from the logi...

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has, since the White Paper on e-Education (2004), been striving to introduce ICTs into teaching and learning nationwide. However, the DBE has experienced a number of challenges along the way. There is a view supported by some research that the Return on Investment (ROI) of ICTs in education is so low that the...

Given the scientific possibility of Boltzmann Brains, and the theory from philosophy of mind known as Functionalism, it is quite possible to construct a model of pantheism which is not as implausible as restricted theism or traditional models of pantheism. The aim of this article is to explain how this might work, but also to say why, in the end, i...

This paper argues, in agreement with Neuringer, Beggs and others, that if we wish to scientifically characterise human choice we have to work with a probabilistic or chaos- derived model. This has a number of implications for philosophy of mind. Firstly, it is in theory possible to describe human behaviour with some form of law-like equation; it’s...

Many proponents of the Abrahamic religions assume that the Theory of Evolution is ipso facto opposed to religion, and therefore, since religion derives from scripture, which is the divinely inspired word of an infallible God, the Theory of Evolution must be false. This paper argues that not only is this view incorrect, but that religion can be help...

Given ht as the hypothesis of theism, hm as the hypothesis of materialism, and e as the evidence of a complex life-bearing universe, Swinburne presents these arguments in his “The Existence of God” (2004): (1) That this ordered universe is a priori improbable (2004: 49: 150, 1991: 304 et seq.), given the stringent requirements for life (cf. Leslie...

Richard Swinburne, in his The Existence of God (2004), presents a cosmo- logical argument in defence of theism (Swinburne 1991: 119, 135). God, Swinburne argues, is more likely to bring about an ordered universe than other states (ibid.: 144, 299). To defend this view, Swinburne presents the following arguments: (1) That this ordered universe is a...

Richard Swinburne, in his The Existence of God (2004), presents a cosmological argument in defence of theism (Swinburne 1991: 119, 135). God, Swinburne argues, is more likely to bring about an ordered universe than other states (ibid.: 144, 299). To defend this view, Swinburne presents the following arguments: (1) That this ordered universe is a pr...

The neurological experiments conducted by Benjamin Libet (1985) and Grey Walter (1993, in Dennett) provide evidence that our actions are caused by non-conscious brain events beyond our conscious awareness. Normally, we assume that our conscious choices lead us to do things. If these researchers have interpreted their evidence correctly, it may be t...

There is a concern that causal determinism might render free-will impossible. I compare some different perspectives, namely Compatibilism, Incompatibilism, Libertarianism, and Hard Determinism, and conclude that Hard Determinism is correct—we lack free-will. To further bolster the case, I consider the work of Libet, who has found neuropsychological...

In the African context, it does not necessarily make sense to spend large amounts of money on proprietary computing solutions when low cost solutions exist. This paper explores the experiences we have had in our University implementing both network-booting and hard disk-booting Linux systems. Most Linux systems boot from hard disk. Our system, one...