Science and technology, where are they headed?

February 16, 2015 //
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Scientific thinking gave us vaccines, planes, computers, plenty of food through higher yield crops and state of the art health care, among other things.
Most of us have decided that using computers is good, including for our children, despite the fact that many of them develop “Facebook addiction”, that planes are safe enough to transport us and our children from place to place and that antibiotics tainted beef isn’t that bad tasting after-all.
Simultaneously some of us decided, all of a sudden and after more than 200 years of successful and safe use of the method that vaccination is ‘bad for you’. No, almost none of those have yet given up the use of planes and still surf furiously on the internet in their quest to convince others of their new found truth. Some of them have indeed shifted to organic food, whenever they can afford it.
Meanwhile the Taliban have started to shoot down the health workers that work hard to immunize Pakistani kids against polio.

And all this came to be because some reckless people who should have known better started to misuse the principles of the same scientific thinking by:
– Trying to produce perfect assassins through the use of LSD,
– Building an eavesdropping net the size of the entire Planet,
– Producing so many almost poisonous food additives and by promoting almost useless but very expensive drugs that regular people have lost their faith in both big pharma and ‘regular’ food industry,
– By the CIA using a “a sham hepatitis B vaccination project to collect DNA in the neighborhood where” bin Laden was hiding in a failed attempt to find him.  (As we all know the good news are that they found him after-all, using more straightforward methods.)
The bad news are that if we don’t clear up our act people will slowly but totally loose their trust in what we now call ‘scientific attitude towards the world’.
And, in fact, the real question is not about where are science and technology headed to but what do WE use them for!
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Categories Choices we make, psihologie, Respect Mutual., The kind of world we live in

small Bang.

February 13, 2015 //
3

“Although the Big Bang singularity arises directly and unavoidably from the mathematics of general relativity, some scientists see it as problematic because the math can explain only what happened immediately after—not at or before—the singularity.”

Ever since Man became aware of the world around him he tried to find explanations for each and every individual occurrence that  grabbed his attention.
Eventually he became aware of the various links that exist between ‘things’ so he started to look for a ‘theory of everything’.
Right now Man seems stuck in the middle of the road.
I’ll assume the presumptuousness of my proposal but what about getting out of this sink hole by giving up mathematics as the main tool of investigation into the matter?
After all mathematics is nothing but just another language. A special kind of language, OK – a lot more precise than all the others, but still a language – nothing but another medium for rational thinking. And just as it happens in any medium/language, nothing can be expressed in that medium before it has been ‘grappled’ with the mind.
Of course that I don’t propose to give up mathematics altogether, that would be both ludicrous and absolutely inefficient.
The problem with our over-dependency on mathematics is that we no longer think first in words/concepts and then translate those into mathematical equations for verification but proceed the other-way around. We first ‘do our math’ and only then try to describe with words whatever imaginary place we have arrived at by using calculus. Doesn’t make much sense, does it? Specially if one looks at it from this angle…
So what do we know about this so called Big Bang?
– Planck says that things cannot be divided further than 1 quantum.
– Heisenberg says that we cannot calculate anything with absolute precision.
– Einstein says that everything is tied together – ‘relative’ to each other.
– Stephen Hawking demonstrated – using calculus, of course – practically the same thing as Einstein when he convinced us that black holes are not exactly one way highways to nowhere. The implication of what Hawking says being that the ‘known’ Universe is somehow encapsulated towards the rear and has only one ‘open side’, the one that faces towards the ‘future’ – whatever that means.
And we still look desperately for a precise description of what happened during and even before the ground/moment 0… Really?!?
How about adopting a more practical attitude and accepting that each level of organization implies a certain amount of “in-determination”, the equivalent of those demonstrated by Heisenberg for the sub-atomic ‘world’ and by Schrodinger for ‘cats’ in general?
Maybe this way it would be easier for us to accept not only that we’ll never be able to find out what existed before the ‘Big Bang’ (if anything even imaginable in our terms) but also that it would be absolutely useless – my hunch being that we cannot ‘go back’ completely through a ‘layer’ of in-determination. A plastic analogy would be that we can see through a soap bubble but we cannot actually cross it and a more scientific one that Hawking taught us how to calculate what happens inside a black hole but never advised us to go there and check for ourselves…

And now, that we have reached this point, here is my scenario for what happened during … call it what you like.

At first there was nothing. No space, no time, no matter/energy of any kind.
‘Nothing’ in the sense that everything that existed – and that still exists – was so ‘indiscriminate’ as to be completely uniform. The pure bred scientists would use ‘congruous to itself’ to describe this state. Amorphous would be a very weak term for what I have in mind.
White light is a very pointy thing while pitch black is a lot more than its opposite. Light creates shadows, black creates opportunities. There can be ‘nothing’ between a light source and the observer while absolutely everything can hide in the dark.
That was that existed ‘before’. An immense ‘black nothing’.
Everything started/changed when the first ‘symmetry’ crashed in shatters – and who really cares about the ‘why’ of the matter since there was, by definition, no possible cause for anything, for nothing existed yet? I don’t know which symmetry and, again, I don’t really care. For me it is enough that from then on the continuous nothing became divided into ‘quanta’ that started to simultaneously aggregate furiously among themselves and disperse wildly.
The aggregation process gave birth to what we now call ‘things’ (mater, energy) while the ‘dispersion’ gave birth to both space and time.

Coming back to where we started from – ‘math can explain only what happened…’ – I must remind you that math cannot explain anything. Only people can do that, including through the use of ‘math’.
http://phys.org/news/2015-02-big-quantum-equation-universe.html#jCp
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Categories physics, physis, The kind of world we live in

Lice, Mayo, Plastic Bag. And Death.

February 13, 2015 //
1

“(Reuters) – A western Massachuetts toddler died over the weekend after suffocating while undergoing a home treatment for head lice involving mayonnaise and a plastic bag, police said on Thursday.“

OK, one thing at a time.

– Lice. Pestiferous insects that can carry dangerous diseases – typhus among others – usually associated with deficient personal hygiene but also with low standards of living/economic hardships. Last huge outbreak of typhus took place during WWI in Eastern Europe where both conditions for lice infections were met simultaneously. Deaths were numbered in millions, one of my great-grand fathers among them.
– Mayonnaise. Delicious – if well prepared – sauce comprising egg yolk and vegetable oil. Or various presumably edible chemicals, if bought in a jar. Some, as in this example, try to use it as treatment for lice.
Supposedly the fats that make up most of the ‘regular’ mayo will “suffocate” adult lice and the nymphs while the eggs will ‘survive’ the treatment. A second operation, involving vinegar, will be necessary to finish the business.
Anyway here is the ‘disclaimer’ that can be found on one of the sites that ‘promote’ this kind of ‘treatment’: “There are no scientific studies that prove the effectiveness of mayonnaise as a treatment for head lice, but there are many parents who have been using it for years and are very satisfied with the effectiveness of this home remedy against adult head lice.”

NB. This particular site actually warns that the mayo treatment is not suitable for children – who might try to eat some of it out of their hair. They also warn against covering children’s heads with plastic wraps after applying the mayo. These two warnings practically ban the use of this treatment whenever children are involved, right?

– Plastic Bag. Useful industrial product. So versatile that has become almost ubiquitous and so resistant that has become a rallying point for the environmentally minded people: they try to ban it because it ‘clogs’ the waste management systems. It also has been known to having produced accidental deaths, specially among children, by suffocation.

– Death. An otherwise normal occurrence for all living organisms.
It can also be induced intentionally – as in suicide/murder/self defense, hunting/culling or butchering/harvesting, unintentionally – when negligence/callousness is involved, or even against the will of the ‘perpetrator’ – by his own failure to take into consideration obvious aspects of the reality because of temporary ‘blindness’ induced by ‘ideological lenses’.

What has ‘ideology’ to do with anything?

People tend to forget that the concept of ideology has at least two sides and concentrate on the practical one. Most of us see ‘ideology’ as “a body of doctrine, myth, etc., with reference to some political and social plan, as that of fascism, along with the devices for putting it into operation“ and forget about the ‘beacon’ role it plays to our minds: ideology understood as “the body of doctrine, myth, belief, etc., that guides an individual, social movement, institution, class, or large group”.

Why on Earth would somebody subject an 18-months old child to an “unproven” treatment involving mayonnaise and vinegar for a condition that can be cured simply and effectively with FDA approved ‘chemicals’?
Two situations come to my mind: ‘regular’ treatment was applied, several times, and failed or the person resorting to the ‘mayo treatment’ is convinced that ‘FDA is a bunch of liars’.

In both cases that person did a poor job as a researcher. “And if you prefer mayonnaise with French fries and really don’t feel like putting it on your children’s heads, you can instead use an olive oil treatment, this will also be very effective.”

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/611812/typhus
http://headlicecenter.com/head-lice-mayonnaise/
http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/treatment.html
http://www.medicinenet.com/head_lice/page5.htm
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ideology

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Categories Psychology, The kind of world we live in

Gura pacatosului adevar graieste.

February 10, 2015 //
0

Din pacate prea multi dintre pacatosi se decid sa spuna adevarul abia atunci cand este prea tarziu.
Atat pentru ei, adica dupa ce au pacatuit, cat si pentru ceilalalti, care nu mai cred nimic din ce spun acestia tocmai din cauza prea multelor pacate comise de ei.

Tot din pacate si tot de prea multe ori nici macar ajunsi in momente de criza prea multi dintre pacatosi nu au curajul sa dezvaluie intregul adevar. Mai degraba transforma oportunitatea unei confesiuni potential eliberatoare, macar din punct de vedere psihologic/moral, intr-o sordida lupta de ariergarda.
Dar asta nu inseamna ca printre spusele lor nu se gasesc adevarate perle. Ar fi pacat sa nu le ridicam din mizeria de pe jos, mai ales ca ne sunt extrem de folositoare chiar noua.

Ca sa nu prelungesc prea mult introducerea iata ce spunea Elena Udrea atunci cand procuratura a cerut pentru ea, intr-o sigura sedinta a Parlamentului, trei incuviintari pentru anchetare si tot trei incuviintari pentru arestare.(Exista oare rubrica pentru chestii din astea in World Book of Guinness Records? Poate la ‘ciudatenii’?!?)

“Timp de 10 ani am luptat pentru statul de drept, justiţie independentă, instituţii puternice. Sunt dintre cei care au acuzat Parlamentul că nu poate garanta progresul României şi nu poate da ţării viitorul de care are nevoie, despre ineficienţa Legsilativului, despre reducerea parlamentarilor la 300, de nevoia întăririi justiţiei şi reformele pozitive la nivelul serviciilor de securitate. Am încercat în discursul meu să mut greutatea acţiunii de pe Parlament pe alte instituţii. Într-o anumită măsură recunosc că am greşit. Am pierdut legitimitatea publică a Parlamentului pentru a creşte prestigiul altora din păcate. Cosnstat astăzi eu însămi ce înseamnă să faci parte dintr-o clasă politică şi un Parlament cu credibilitatea pierdută pe fondul clădirii unor statui unor instituţii de forţă.”

Pentru ‘conspirationisti’ acest pasaj ar putea constitui un argument de genul ‘uite dom-le cum vor astia sa slabeasca Romania’. Pentru cei care au ‘boala’ pe ‘servicii’ inca un motiv sa sustina ‘astia au deja prea multa putere’!
N-am de unde sa stiu nici ce a vrut cu adevarat sa spuna Elena Udrea si nici daca serviciile au prea multa putere sau nu. Cu atat mai putin am vre-un argument clar cum ca ar exista vreo conspiratie malefica care ar incearca sa distruga, din exterior, statul roman.
Ca or fi tot felul de oportunisti si de pescuitori in ape tulburi care isi incearca permanent norocul… asta e cu totul si cu totul altceva.

Si, de fapt, exact asta a marturisit, printre dinti, Elena Udrea. Ca a facut parte dintr-un grup de indivizi care odata ajunsi la putere au incercat sa foloseasca aceasta putere in scop personal. Ba, mai mult, ca nu s-au multumit cu firmituri ci ca au incercat, din pozitiile pe care le ocupau si in mod total ‘netransparent’, sa schimbe structurile de putere din interiorul statului roman, tocmai pentru ca sa isi poata atinge mai usor scopurile. Indiferent care or fi fost acelea.

Ar fi mare pacat sa trecem prea usor peste marturisirea, chiar din partea unui ‘initiat’, ca exista astfel de tentative.

http://m.adevarul.ro/news/politica/arestare-elena-udrea-dosarul-microsoft-gala-bute-urmarire-penala–noaptea-mai-lunga-1_54d90b6b448e03c0fd71923a/index.html

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Categories Justitie, politica, psihologie, Respect Mutual., Tara din care traim

Stages

February 9, 2015 //
0

“- Can we talk to you?
– We talked, now it’s time for each of you to listen to your own hearts.”

Misterious Ways, Pure of Heart: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0655359/?ref_=ttep_ep3

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Categories Choices we make, Psychology

Vaccines Don’t Cause Autism, But That’s Not The Point. Stop Being Ableist.

February 6, 2015 //
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Anne Thériault's avatarThe Belle Jar

Here are some typical arguments put forward by parents who choose not to vaccinate their otherwise healthy child (by “healthy” I mean they’re not asking they’re not asking for an exemption because the child is immunocompromised or otherwise couldn’t medically tolerate vaccinations).

For this example, I will pull quotes directly from a recent New York Times Article, Vaccine Critics Turn Defensive Over Measles:

“It’s the worst shot,” [Missy Foster, mother to an 18 month old daughter] said, with tears in her eyes. “Do you want to wake up one morning and the light is gone from her eyes with autism or something?”

Kelly McMenimen, a Lagunitas parent, said she “meditated on it a lot” before deciding not to vaccinate her son Tobias, 8, against even “deadly or deforming diseases.” She said she did not want “so many toxins” entering the slender body of a bright-eyed boy who loves math and geography.

View original post 858 more words

Categories Uncategorized

How deep do we need to dig?

February 5, 2015 //
0

Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit another salt mine, an active one this time,

My mother worked in the mining industry, my father in law was a miner almost all his life, my first job was in a factory building mining equipment, I went down another half a dozen mines before, both active and transformed into touristic attractions. I thought I had a fair imagine about what it means to be a miner.

In the mine I visited yesterday there was a small church, entirely carved in salt of course. On one of its walls the visitors can read:

“Afara-s doar chinuri si nevoi,
Aici, in mina-i Dumnezeu cu noi.”

(Out there, topside, nothing but trouble comes in sight.
Down here, deep into the mine, we have the Lord on our side.)

How deep into our souls do we need to dig in order to find our good nature?

And then I found this picture on Facebook:

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Categories Choices we make, Psychology, Respect Mutual., The kind of world we live in

What kind of government.

January 30, 2015 //
0

I started to comment on “The reason the economy crashed and has been slow to rebound is because of government intervention, not the market mechanism” by Nick Sorrentino and got carried away. So I transformed the comment into a post of my own.

I fully agree with your conclusion “I prefer an open sourced economy to one which is manipulated by programmers writing in a language which is full of bugs and which brings the system down periodically.” but I find your initial assumption to be too vague.
The current situation was indeed heavily influenced by government decisions. And yes, they were completely out of touch with reality – central planning never works.
But here is where our ways depart.
The solution for the current situation is not at all ‘less’ government. Or, god forbid, ‘no government’!.
Free market is the most efficient way of running an economy only it has two limitations. It is populated by people and the total amount of trade-able goods is limited. Hence the market is never really free. We do need a free market only the natural evolution of any limited system is to gradually loose it’s freedom. So it is us who have to guard the freedom of the market.
And this is what ‘government’ business should really be. Not to tell us what to do – to plan for all of us – but to make sure that nobody becomes so powerful as to be able to dictate to others what to do.

Some of you might wonder “Why should we not accept any monopoly if it has been ‘lifted to power by the free market'”?
I mentioned earlier that there is no such thing as a really free market.
OK, you might disagree with that, after all we both advocate freedom and I’ll use a reason we both agree upon: “central planning doesn’t work“. Ever! So why do you think that a private monopoly would be able to function any better than a public one? Just because it’s private? I assure you that Lenin saw the entire Russia as his back yard and that didn’t stop him from messing that country so big that it’s still reeling under the consequences. King George saw the American colonies as his private possessions and that didn’t make the early Americans any happier.
So what we have to implement is a completely different kind of government, not a weaker one. Blaming ‘the (notion of) government’ instead of specific government decisions only induces the impression that ‘government’ as a whole is useless/despicable and that drives people away from (the concept of) government.

What we really need, that different kind of government I was speaking about, is a government that is closely watched by the people and who jealously defends both the political and economic freedom of the individuals, not either notion of ‘central planning’ or ‘vested interests’ – which, in the end, are uncannily similar.

http://www.againstcronycapitalism.org/2015/01/the-reason-the-economy-crashed-and-has-been-slow-to-rebound-is-because-of-government-intervention-not-the-market-mechanism/

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Categories 1989 and the Global Financial Crisises., Choices we make, politics, Respect Mutual.

“Reducotorul impotentei”!?!

January 29, 2015 //
0

reducotorul impotentei

Ma documentam pentru postul precedent si am observat reclama din partea dreapta a imaginii.
Avand o oarecare vedere periferica am vazut si scrisul, nu doar picioarele.

Acum am o mare nedumerire.
O fi o simpla greseala de redactare sau un ‘genial’ joc de cuvinte?

Pentru conformitate am pus mai jos linkul de unde am facut captura. Degeaba il leg de poza ca s-ar putea sa nu nimeriti aceiasi reclama. Articolul merita citit.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/22/mommy-wars-similac-video_n_6517242.html

Categories Bancuri

Which ‘best’ is better?

January 29, 2015 //
0

Most people tend to be passionate about what they do, parents in particular.
This is absolutely normal, what could be more important than ‘the future of mankind’?

And the more passionate we are about something, the more we want to reach the best results in what we do, right?

Only sometimes we are so busy trying to demonstrate that our best is the best there is that we neglect some of the basic aspects of the day to day reality.
The most neglected one being that very seldom ‘one size fits all’.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-routly/where-similac-and-the-mother-hood-go-wrong-and-why-it-matters_b_6536280.html

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Categories Choices we make, Psychology, Respect Mutual., The kind of world we live in
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