Teachers are not scientist? What the hell are you smoking? I have a teacher's MSc in chemistry and physics. Due to the low image of the profession, the politicized curriculum and the low pay I have worked the job for a few months only.
Since then I am a developer in one of the most advance high tech start ups in the world [semiconductors].
There is also something else that you miss - as a teacher in high schools I don't need to know cosmology at the level of Hawking or string theory at the level of Green. But I must be able yo explain Newtonian mechanics [for instance] in a manner that would be suitable for high shoolers. And this, my friend, is a fucking art and it is difficult as hell! If you want to do it properly, of course...
Trust me, to explain a concept to a researcher or post graduate, who already has all the basics of the scientific method in their heads and years and years of analytical thinking is peanuts, compare to explaining basic concept such as mass/energy relation to high school students.
Take a look at Richard Feynman. Why was he considered one of the greatest educators of all time? Because of his Nobel price? Of course not. Because he was a bloody genius when it came to transferring knowledge. He also had excellent oratorical skills and was very good actor [you need this as a teacher, trust me]. Feynman was the exception that combined genius level scientist with genius level educator. Such cases are rare, but not needed per se - as a teacher you only need to understand the concepts very well, genius level science-making is not required. And as a general rule - most science geniuses are NOT good educators.
End with a quote from my favorite writer:
"Ponder realized he can explain the theory of thaum very well, provided the other person knew everything about it already"
Look, philosophers and the like say that there is no spoon, just the concept of a spoon. But somehow no one ever says that the soup is an illusion or just a mere concept... [borrowed shamelessly from T.Pratchett]
The only 3 times I have been sick from eating too much the food was: cherries, brain and liver. Man, those things are tasty. I don't dare tell you how I find such products in the Netherlands for the fear some random euro bureaucrat will decide "to do something about it". Truly, not only the westerners have issue [or so they think] with smell and eww factor, they have been told that it is potentially unhealthy to eat those organs.
Sure it is dangerous - if you feed all kind of chemistry crap to the sheep don't give me their liver!!! Again, something good and useful is about to be taken from us in the name of [probably] profit [is there any other motive left in this society?]
Note the reaction of the american dude when he learns that not only nitrogen is painless but you even get a bit high before the end...have you seen so much spite and hatred......the problem is people confusing retribution with justice...
Back in the days of totalitarianism our history teacher told us once "It does not matter which party wins in the US, their imperialist politics does not change. It is the illusion of choice" . After the class we all said to each other "Ah, that was a nice piece of communist propaganda". And then the system collapsed, we went abroad and saw for ourselves. The teacher, at least in this respect, was right! How depressing...
And why do all commercials sound like they were written by the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation?....and for that matter, why aren't all managers sent off in ark B already?
US soldiers rape even in "allied" countries. Japan - that's easy to find. I am too revolted to do the search in my native tongue, but I can assure you that we had such case in my country too, not long after the establishment of the first american base. Teen girls there were...
Every army is an army of rapists and the awful, terrible secret is that , well, secretly the misogyny is encouraged in the military, US not excluded...
It isn't self-evident. Let me try to explain, but first the disclaimer - I am a fire-proof atheist (like Dorlf).
For many years I said what you say. To the rational mind that is not indoctrinated with religion there is nothing more baffling and inexplicable than the apparent gap [discontinuity] of the logical train of thought of a religious person. And then I started meeting really intelligent scientists and engineers that are devoted believers. That was my chance to get more info.
First - two cases illustrating the stuttering of the logic in believer's brain. Intelligent and aware person in a religious discussion suddenly shows stark lack of thought. I stated that one of the evidences that religion is human creation is its geographical distribution. If you were born in the Arab world you [likely] would be a Muslim, no? - I asked. No, I would not be! - was the incredible answer. At that moment my friend stuttered himself, as if part of his brain was also surprised by this answer. Second case - how religious people are so very thin skinned when it comes to their belief. I tried showing the TV version of Master and Margarita to a christian. I told him that the description of the trial and execution of Christ in this book/movie is so humane and compassionate that even atheist like me want it to be true. Many people even call that book "the gospel of Bulgakov". The representation of Christ is done with utmost respect and love, the book itself is manifestly religious and humane [was censored during communism] - I mean the opening scene is two communist discussing how Christ never existed and then the devil himself joins in the conversation and shows them they are wrong...my friend did not express much opinion about except that it was quite difficult to look at the movie because "anything you say about Christ is very important to me, it's like talking about my mother". That statement stopped me in my tracks... Apology for the long introduction but it is necessary to illustrate that those fails of logic are not simulated. These people do not pretend. And in the rest of the walk of life they are so consistently logical and rational that to claim they lack the intelligence is simply ignorant...so the matter is elsewhere.
Where is the matter then? From all I have read, heard and experienced I'd say the old cliche is correct - religion is the opium of the masses. But the masses are put on this drug by their parents, you see. Religion is allowed, legal and overly-respected drug. My nicotine addiction it seems, uses the same reward brain-mechanisms as the other addictions [to both substances and, very importantly, behavior] including religion. When I saw how the above-described people treat their kids, it all fell into place. Even before the child is an individual [before 18 months] the religious education begins. For instance putting the hands together and praying before eating. After just a few weeks the kid started putting them together by himself - he learned this is the way of things. Little steps like that. Then you grow up a bit and you realize that your gods [mom and dad] are worshiping someone bigger even than themselves. Wow! And the more humane and non-violent the religious indoctrination is, the more firm the belief, because you would always associate religion with something positive [sense of community, love, belonging] and the neurons will fire up and you would get this warm glow from the inside that people get when they use their drug, or do their favorite activity, kiss their child, parent or spouse, have sex and so on...
OK, we have a plausible mechanism - addiction propagated through cultural indoctrination. What's to be done? First of all - is there a reason for an action at all? Surely, like any other structure of authority and power religion has bloody hands. That's one. It is dangerous for the survival to not account for reality, thus religion can be a force [one of many] nudging us towards extinction. That's two. Individuals and groups of religious people can be very dangerous wh
People say about me, that I have above average people skills. Well, that is what you get from spending 3-5 hours per day [during school year, during vacation it was 5-10 hours] from the age of 5 being together with 5-10 neighbor kids [and not using a single electronic device in our time together - no radio, no TV, no Internet, of course]. That was in the countryside. In the big city - the same story only the locations and types of fun were different.
Being home after dark? Not after the age of 13. Around that time something happened to me that happens to most boys - I woke up wet. So I asked my parents what this means. "You are entering adulthood and you will change" they said. "But according to the law I am still a kid for 5 years" - I said. "Well, we will have to work it out somehow". Then I started staying with friends for the whole night, or coming home at 04:00 hours after heavy metal concert, going to the mountains for weeks at the time when there was no way to communicate with the rest of the world [can you even imagine that is possible today - to let your kid go to the mountains and not get news from it for 2 weeks!!] and so on....and all the time I was wondering when will my parents say "enough". They never did!
A few years ago I said to my mom "I have the feeling I was left with almost no oversight from you and dad when I was going out as a teen. I had friends on drugs. Others were drinking too much. You knew this; did you never worry?" Mom laughed her heart out "We never stopped watching you very closely indeed. I was worried you might start drinking too much or taking drugs. I was worried that you might have nasty experience with women, or be attacked in the desolate night streets. But since you never "took the bad road" stayed reasonable, studied hard and so on, we never interfered. How could I deprive from your friends just because some of them have habits I consider bad. It would have been a disaster...you need contact with people of your age to become a person!"
On the other side is the sad, sad story of a nephew of mine (born after communism), who got so protected by his [overly scared by media] mother that he never had a friend and was going out once per year with classmates. The boy turned psychotic because once he was in the University his total lack of social skills [although being 22 his emotional and social life is at a level of 10 year old] made him the ridicule of all. He went into fights, did not know how to approach women [guess how sensitive and empathic women are to boys they consider "losers"], grew progressively even more isolated....and at the end of that road was the psychiatrist....
And don't get me started on sexual education, because today kids have the choice between shy and/or paranoid parents and the utterly fabricated "reality" of internet porn....so sad.
Exactly what you speculated - that the "rules" of the economic game are as immutable as the laws of nature. I have heard this sentiment form the majority of "economists" I've interviewed and I swear next time I hear that obscenity I'd scream...
In other words - our way or the highway! F^ck them...
You seem to be under the impression that the Russians by large are atheists. Or that the government still promotes atheism. Let me tell you something - religion is exploding in Russia. Big time, no, huge time!!
They are incorporating it (again, just like during the times of the Tzars) in the their patriotic, empire-like attitude. "The third Rome" , have you heard that [Moscow]? The Russians see themselves as the sole protector of Orthodox Christianity. The Russian tourists that I meet in my country spend all their time visiting religious sites. They talk about it all the time. Just yesterday a Russian businessman offered to buy one of the largest old buildings in the capital of my country [it would cost a fortune] in order to make a museum of Orthodox Christianity.
Tzarist Russia was a backwater, superstitious, low-educated, peasant-bashing, stupid and callous totalitarian hellhole. But man, were they religious! Now they come back to that state again, only at a different technological level.
In the way the state uses religion to fortify patriotism and instill a sense of righteousness Russia and USA are the two sides of the same coin. This has to do with empire-thinking more than it has to do with religion IMO [although a successful argument can be made that that every religion is an empire and behaves like one]. In fact I am aghast that the religious folk happily accepts to be used in this manner by the sate. But then again, they probably like it because the state will, in turn, place special privileges for their religious institutions. Why are you, religious people, behaving like prostitutes, I often ask? Have you no shame? Some sensible people in the military of the US have complained that they were/are used as racketeers; where are the religious leaders that say "we don't want our fate to be used as political tool".
You know what's even more frightening? Your post led me to dig a bit into the Fermi paradox and following one link or another I arrived at the commemoration event [35th anniversary of the Wow! signal] at Aresibo. Wiki reads:
In 2012, on the 35th anniversary of the Wow! signal, Arecibo Observatory beamed a response from humanity, containing 10,000 Twitter messages, in the direction from which the signal originated.[13][14] In the response, Arecibo scientists have attempted to increase the chances of intelligent life receiving and decoding the celebrity videos and crowd-sourced Tweets by attaching a repeating sequence header to each message that will let the recipient know that the messages are intentional and from another intelligent life form.[14]
Imagine if the aliens actually get that signal! Celebrity videos? Tweets? I can just imagine the response "Well, obviously there is NO intelligent life on that planet, so we can use it to test our fully armed and operational battle station. Fire at will, commander!"
Actually, if it is bellow freezing it's even better. True, it takes some time, the clothes freeze and it is not a good idea to fold them at this point but after the ice slowly sublimates the cloth becomes dry, cleaner and carries a very pleasant smell of freshness....I loved that when I was a kid...
I agree with GP that there are so many low hanging fruits in energy saving. It pains me to observe how much can be achieved by very little effort, yet for some reasons (mostly laziness or ideology IMO) it does not happen. Pity...
It's not that Origin of Species is exactly a new book. By the time we developed the antibiotics evolutionary biology was well understood.
I guess as usual , no-one was thinking about long-term consequences.....also I wonder how did my grandparents managed to be successful farmers - earning the most money in the whole family while supporting themselves and the families of their sons with agricultural products (I don't remember my family buying much flour, cheese, meat , fruits and vegetables for decades) without antibiotics. I mean they hardly used machines let alone chemistry...
Sorry for the provocation, but is there anyone who still thinks that free market capitalism is any good in anticipating (let alone solving) global long-term issues?
Look, I am fed up with this. Just turned 40 last Sunday. Have pictures from all the 40 birthdays. All the way through the 70-ties and half 80-ies I am on ski - 50 cm or more snow, winter is in full swing. Late 80-ties and early 90-ties - cold but not freezing. After that it became ridiculously hot until last Sunday when the absolute record was set - it was 23 (I repeat 23 degrees!!!). And BTW, this 20-23 degrees lasted for 4 weeks in total (mid-October -mid November). Utterly ridiculous and unheard off.
Since 10 years the fruit trees in our garden do not bear fruit because it is too hot in January and February, so they start blossoming too early. Then a few frosts in March and they are gone. 17 degrees Celsius in mid-February (for a week or longer)? In my country where this is the coldest month? WTF?!?
Say what you will about anecdotes, I don't give a damn. My experience is unambiguous. The Earth is warming.
That's because your company pays the ticket. 382 Euro per month for "altijd vrji", which is only 30 euro more expensive than a single trajectory (A'dam-Delft) abonament - barely 60 km.
If my company did not pay I' wouldn't work for them - 400 euro is hefty percentage of my monthly income...people with cars spend less but actually pay more than me because cars are dirty and despicable so there is no financial incentive to use them (that's the policy at least).
It was the most revolting thing I've ever seen on a screen. Because I knew it was real. The most horrifying thing for me was how the body of the decapitated soldier reacted - like a rabbit or a chicken to which you have cut the head off - trembling and convulsing.
The idiots in my country (perhaps we are from the same place?) let this video be shown on the central news at 20:00 , Channel 1. I don't know how many were sacked afterwards...
There goes all the spent mod points...but I just cannot let this comment pass.
Look, I thoroughly agree on your ideas and your general attitude to the problem. However, I firmly object to your statement that the throw away society is a product of the will of the people. No,no,no. Perhaps some really brain-dead people, mostly in US (didn't wee learn recently that the Americans are NOT representative for the white race, that they are the freaks not the norm?)
I don't want to change my smartphone every two years but ATM my HTC desire (3 years old, running A v2.2) can hardly browse the net! The amount of app's I have ATM is halved because every damn "update" bloated the apps more and more, made them slower and slower. I can't even install a single game on the phone, I have no space left from the apps that either essential for the normal operation or are irremovable!!!
I don't want to throw away my 250 Euro super duper rain jacket but by Io , the zips on those things are not so durable and NOWHERE in the western world there is a place where they can change the zip for you. Or they'd ask 200 euros.
I don't want to throw away 350 Euro head phones because the cable broke down. Why did it take decades before the first replaceable cables for expensive head phones were created? And by the minority of the companies on the market. And even then, the cables were all the time "out of stock" - it took me 11 months until I could get a replacement cable. 11 months! Don't tell me this was not deliberate action to make people give up, throw away and buy new...
The same for home appliances - one plastic piece fails in the washing machine [that you can 3D print in minutes, but fat chance we will be allowed to do this - copyright and all that, besides is every citizen a nerd with free time on their hands) and you have to throw it away! The reason for the ridiculous prices for repair is "vertical integration" (google it) and it is company policy maximizing the turn-over and minimizing the life-time of the product. Do you see the consumer involved somewhere in this scheme?!
Same goes for everything man, everything. And it was not people's doing.
I yet have to see a person in this life who is happy with the enforced obsolescence. Everyone I know bitches like hell about it and the technical people hate it with fierce hate (because this kind of shit has penetrated even the professional/scientific markets for super-high precision instruments and so on...)
Well, I don't agree on the language of the parent post and his frustration could have been better worded and he could have avoided most of the harsh language but there is a point there....I can just imagine that on a very bad day I could use similar language and overreact like that because sometimes this topic just adds the last drop...
Let me see if I can do any better.
Some posters in this tread point that the extreme feminism is just another over-hyped reaction by a very small but vocal minority. I disagree. I have heard on a national radio in a EU country a statement from a member of the EU parliament (and a member of a committee on female rights) that "Every sexual intercourse is an abuse against the women". Also from the same person "Prostitution should be banned even if it is perfectly consenting and legal. These women are exploited even if they don't realize it". You call that "small minority" - maybe but they seem to run the show? BTW, do you call this "sanity"?
A balanced, objective and scientifically backed discussion on this topic (male-female) is almost impossible these days. As an example of such an attempt I would like you to take a look at this: [http://denisdutton.com/baumeister.htm]. Notice the story about Larry Summers [I was not familiar with this episode and it came as a bit of a shock] and then the fact about the bell-curves that describe the distribution of well, anything, in both sexes. If Roy F. Baumeister is not misleading/misinterpreting for/lying to us about the distributions, then you simply cannot have 50/50 gender ratio in positions that require extremes (extreme physical ability, intelligence, creativity est.) because men are overly represented in the extremes. On both sides of the bell curve, never forget that! I cannot evaluate well his speculations about the the reasons for this, although the "cheap male - Nature's lab rat" thing does align of what I know of biology. So, if being physics professor at [for example] the MIT requires extreme qualities of some sort (I think we all agree it does, and perhaps not all of those qualities are actually "nice" or even obvious) then a legislation that enforces equal gender distribution (as one that's been proposed in the EU) is offensive to both sexes and potentially dangerous.
It seems that we [men and women] are, after all, different [occasionally, in some areas, under carefully defined boundary conditions]. OK, what's the issue? Are we not happy with this arrangement? Well, complain to the Universe or [insert deity of choice here] then. I am sure they'd listen. On the other hand, from what I have read on the subject it seems that mixed gender groups perform better in any task including extreme conditions. So, we are complementing each other; the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Great!
The equality that needs to be enforced and supported by the law is the equality of opportunity!! Leveled playing field for both sexes. Leave the rest to the people themselves. Period. I think that the filed is leveling fast in today's world and besides, in many countries it is leveled, or if not, it is very slightly inclined (and not always in favor of men, mind you). And BTW, who the f*uck tilted it in the first place? I'd appreciate a historical analysis from knowledgeable people on the matter. One obvious big target is religion, but it cannot be that simple, IMO. Besides religion might have been simply the tool for the advancement of an already existing paradigm.
But somehow [and here lies my butt-hurt in this matter and maybe the parent's poster too], the more the filed levels more accusations are raised that it is not and more and more [paradoxically and ironically - ever more extreme] demands. But this is a finite system, people. Sooner or later the filed is leveled, the issue is solved and we need to move on. But we don't. We never do, do we? We keep pushing until the filed is tilted to the other side which provokes response. Rinse and repeat. And not only on this issue but I think on almost all issu
Actually it can be even beneficial./. regularly slams the nuclear regulation agencies [and their respective governments] for hampering the progress of the technology.
Quickly now, deploy the thorium reactors before they are back!
The power hungry asshats in the east are just not competent enough. I mean, do you think that for instance Putin does not want to have the equivalent of the Russian NSA as powerful, all-seeing and intrusive as the US version? But he just does not have the capabilities to achieve it.
The task of toppling today's world elite (or at least keeping their greed in check) is so much more difficult than fighting against the totalitarian regimes of the communist era. I mean, at that time we all knew we are prisoners and that the system does not serve us, but is actually working against us, the common folk.
In the western world, however, the powers to be have done an excellent job (using hard science and remember the important thing about science - "it works, bitches!") in giving the illusion of choice, the illusion that people determine their own fate and many more illusions, whereas the actual situation is not much different than those totalitarian regimes of the past (and sliding further down daily). In the west the delusional part of the common folk will defend the system because they believe it to be just and right. Brilliant!
Having lived in both systems I can sincerely say: The West is the best! In everything! (that includes propaganda, spying and killing, political hypocrisy and so on...not only the good bits!)
Slashdot Mirror
I see what you did there http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B...
Teachers are not scientist? What the hell are you smoking? I have a teacher's MSc in chemistry and physics. Due to the low image of the profession, the politicized curriculum and the low pay I have worked the job for a few months only.
Since then I am a developer in one of the most advance high tech start ups in the world [semiconductors].
There is also something else that you miss - as a teacher in high schools I don't need to know cosmology at the level of Hawking or string theory at the level of Green. But I must be able yo explain Newtonian mechanics [for instance] in a manner that would be suitable for high shoolers. And this, my friend, is a fucking art and it is difficult as hell! If you want to do it properly, of course...
Trust me, to explain a concept to a researcher or post graduate, who already has all the basics of the scientific method in their heads and years and years of analytical thinking is peanuts, compare to explaining basic concept such as mass/energy relation to high school students.
Take a look at Richard Feynman. Why was he considered one of the greatest educators of all time? Because of his Nobel price? Of course not. Because he was a bloody genius when it came to transferring knowledge. He also had excellent oratorical skills and was very good actor [you need this as a teacher, trust me]. Feynman was the exception that combined genius level scientist with genius level educator. Such cases are rare, but not needed per se - as a teacher you only need to understand the concepts very well, genius level science-making is not required. And as a general rule - most science geniuses are NOT good educators.
End with a quote from my favorite writer:
"Ponder realized he can explain the theory of thaum very well, provided the other person knew everything about it already"
Look, philosophers and the like say that there is no spoon, just the concept of a spoon. But somehow no one ever says that the soup is an illusion or just a mere concept... [borrowed shamelessly from T.Pratchett]
Ben, I have one word for you, just one word - plastics! [I always hear Sid's voice in my head in such cases]
Excellent post!
The only 3 times I have been sick from eating too much the food was: cherries, brain and liver. Man, those things are tasty. I don't dare tell you how I find such products in the Netherlands for the fear some random euro bureaucrat will decide "to do something about it". Truly, not only the westerners have issue [or so they think] with smell and eww factor, they have been told that it is potentially unhealthy to eat those organs.
Sure it is dangerous - if you feed all kind of chemistry crap to the sheep don't give me their liver!!! Again, something good and useful is about to be taken from us in the name of [probably] profit [is there any other motive left in this society?]
I don't have the time to read every post, so sorry if someone has pointed it out already:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQTHqg_8_UA
Note the reaction of the american dude when he learns that not only nitrogen is painless but you even get a bit high before the end...have you seen so much spite and hatred......the problem is people confusing retribution with justice...
Back in the days of totalitarianism our history teacher told us once "It does not matter which party wins in the US, their imperialist politics does not change. It is the illusion of choice" . After the class we all said to each other "Ah, that was a nice piece of communist propaganda".
And then the system collapsed, we went abroad and saw for ourselves. The teacher, at least in this respect, was right! How depressing...
And why do all commercials sound like they were written by the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation? ....and for that matter, why aren't all managers sent off in ark B already?
US soldiers rape even in "allied" countries. Japan - that's easy to find. I am too revolted to do the search in my native tongue, but I can assure you that we had such case in my country too, not long after the establishment of the first american base. Teen girls there were...
Every army is an army of rapists and the awful, terrible secret is that , well, secretly the misogyny is encouraged in the military, US not excluded...
It isn't self-evident. Let me try to explain, but first the disclaimer - I am a fire-proof atheist (like Dorlf).
For many years I said what you say. To the rational mind that is not indoctrinated with religion there is nothing more baffling and inexplicable than the apparent gap [discontinuity] of the logical train of thought of a religious person. And then I started meeting really intelligent scientists and engineers that are devoted believers. That was my chance to get more info.
First - two cases illustrating the stuttering of the logic in believer's brain. Intelligent and aware person in a religious discussion suddenly shows stark lack of thought. I stated that one of the evidences that religion is human creation is its geographical distribution. If you were born in the Arab world you [likely] would be a Muslim, no? - I asked. No, I would not be! - was the incredible answer. At that moment my friend stuttered himself, as if part of his brain was also surprised by this answer. Second case - how religious people are so very thin skinned when it comes to their belief. I tried showing the TV version of Master and Margarita to a christian. I told him that the description of the trial and execution of Christ in this book/movie is so humane and compassionate that even atheist like me want it to be true. Many people even call that book "the gospel of Bulgakov". The representation of Christ is done with utmost respect and love, the book itself is manifestly religious and humane [was censored during communism] - I mean the opening scene is two communist discussing how Christ never existed and then the devil himself joins in the conversation and shows them they are wrong...my friend did not express much opinion about except that it was quite difficult to look at the movie because "anything you say about Christ is very important to me, it's like talking about my mother". That statement stopped me in my tracks...
Apology for the long introduction but it is necessary to illustrate that those fails of logic are not simulated. These people do not pretend. And in the rest of the walk of life they are so consistently logical and rational that to claim they lack the intelligence is simply ignorant...so the matter is elsewhere.
Where is the matter then? From all I have read, heard and experienced I'd say the old cliche is correct - religion is the opium of the masses. But the masses are put on this drug by their parents, you see. Religion is allowed, legal and overly-respected drug. My nicotine addiction it seems, uses the same reward brain-mechanisms as the other addictions [to both substances and, very importantly, behavior] including religion. When I saw how the above-described people treat their kids, it all fell into place. Even before the child is an individual [before 18 months] the religious education begins. For instance putting the hands together and praying before eating. After just a few weeks the kid started putting them together by himself - he learned this is the way of things. Little steps like that. Then you grow up a bit and you realize that your gods [mom and dad] are worshiping someone bigger even than themselves. Wow! And the more humane and non-violent the religious indoctrination is, the more firm the belief, because you would always associate religion with something positive [sense of community, love, belonging] and the neurons will fire up and you would get this warm glow from the inside that people get when they use their drug, or do their favorite activity, kiss their child, parent or spouse, have sex and so on...
OK, we have a plausible mechanism - addiction propagated through cultural indoctrination. What's to be done? First of all - is there a reason for an action at all? Surely, like any other structure of authority and power religion has bloody hands. That's one. It is dangerous for the survival to not account for reality, thus religion can be a force [one of many] nudging us towards extinction. That's two. Individuals and groups of religious people can be very dangerous wh
So true!
People say about me, that I have above average people skills. Well, that is what you get from spending 3-5 hours per day [during school year, during vacation it was 5-10 hours] from the age of 5 being together with 5-10 neighbor kids [and not using a single electronic device in our time together - no radio, no TV, no Internet, of course]. That was in the countryside. In the big city - the same story only the locations and types of fun were different.
Being home after dark? Not after the age of 13. Around that time something happened to me that happens to most boys - I woke up wet. So I asked my parents what this means. "You are entering adulthood and you will change" they said. "But according to the law I am still a kid for 5 years" - I said. "Well, we will have to work it out somehow". Then I started staying with friends for the whole night, or coming home at 04:00 hours after heavy metal concert, going to the mountains for weeks at the time when there was no way to communicate with the rest of the world [can you even imagine that is possible today - to let your kid go to the mountains and not get news from it for 2 weeks!!] and so on....and all the time I was wondering when will my parents say "enough". They never did!
A few years ago I said to my mom "I have the feeling I was left with almost no oversight from you and dad when I was going out as a teen. I had friends on drugs. Others were drinking too much. You knew this; did you never worry?" Mom laughed her heart out "We never stopped watching you very closely indeed. I was worried you might start drinking too much or taking drugs. I was worried that you might have nasty experience with women, or be attacked in the desolate night streets. But since you never "took the bad road" stayed reasonable, studied hard and so on, we never interfered. How could I deprive from your friends just because some of them have habits I consider bad. It would have been a disaster...you need contact with people of your age to become a person!"
On the other side is the sad, sad story of a nephew of mine (born after communism), who got so protected by his [overly scared by media] mother that he never had a friend and was going out once per year with classmates. The boy turned psychotic because once he was in the University his total lack of social skills [although being 22 his emotional and social life is at a level of 10 year old] made him the ridicule of all. He went into fights, did not know how to approach women [guess how sensitive and empathic women are to boys they consider "losers"], grew progressively even more isolated....and at the end of that road was the psychiatrist....
And don't get me started on sexual education, because today kids have the choice between shy and/or paranoid parents and the utterly fabricated "reality" of internet porn....so sad.
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
Exactly what you speculated - that the "rules" of the economic game are as immutable as the laws of nature. I have heard this sentiment form the majority of "economists" I've interviewed and I swear next time I hear that obscenity I'd scream...
In other words - our way or the highway! F^ck them...
You seem to be under the impression that the Russians by large are atheists. Or that the government still promotes atheism. Let me tell you something - religion is exploding in Russia. Big time, no, huge time!!
They are incorporating it (again, just like during the times of the Tzars) in the their patriotic, empire-like attitude. "The third Rome" , have you heard that [Moscow]? The Russians see themselves as the sole protector of Orthodox Christianity. The Russian tourists that I meet in my country spend all their time visiting religious sites. They talk about it all the time. Just yesterday a Russian businessman offered to buy one of the largest old buildings in the capital of my country [it would cost a fortune] in order to make a museum of Orthodox Christianity.
Tzarist Russia was a backwater, superstitious, low-educated, peasant-bashing, stupid and callous totalitarian hellhole. But man, were they religious! Now they come back to that state again, only at a different technological level.
In the way the state uses religion to fortify patriotism and instill a sense of righteousness Russia and USA are the two sides of the same coin. This has to do with empire-thinking more than it has to do with religion IMO [although a successful argument can be made that that every religion is an empire and behaves like one]. In fact I am aghast that the religious folk happily accepts to be used in this manner by the sate. But then again, they probably like it because the state will, in turn, place special privileges for their religious institutions. Why are you, religious people, behaving like prostitutes, I often ask? Have you no shame? Some sensible people in the military of the US have complained that they were/are used as racketeers; where are the religious leaders that say "we don't want our fate to be used as political tool".
You know what's even more frightening? Your post led me to dig a bit into the Fermi paradox and following one link or another I arrived at the commemoration event [35th anniversary of the Wow! signal] at Aresibo. Wiki reads:
In 2012, on the 35th anniversary of the Wow! signal, Arecibo Observatory beamed a response from humanity, containing 10,000 Twitter messages, in the direction from which the signal originated.[13][14] In the response, Arecibo scientists have attempted to increase the chances of intelligent life receiving and decoding the celebrity videos and crowd-sourced Tweets by attaching a repeating sequence header to each message that will let the recipient know that the messages are intentional and from another intelligent life form.[14]
Imagine if the aliens actually get that signal! Celebrity videos? Tweets? I can just imagine the response "Well, obviously there is NO intelligent life on that planet, so we can use it to test our fully armed and operational battle station. Fire at will, commander!"
I like your idea of rediscovery very much.
Small issue though, who is going to pay for psychologist help of billions of touch screens?
Actually, if it is bellow freezing it's even better. True, it takes some time, the clothes freeze and it is not a good idea to fold them at this point but after the ice slowly sublimates the cloth becomes dry, cleaner and carries a very pleasant smell of freshness....I loved that when I was a kid...
I agree with GP that there are so many low hanging fruits in energy saving. It pains me to observe how much can be achieved by very little effort, yet for some reasons (mostly laziness or ideology IMO) it does not happen. Pity...
It's not that Origin of Species is exactly a new book. By the time we developed the antibiotics evolutionary biology was well understood.
I guess as usual , no-one was thinking about long-term consequences.....also I wonder how did my grandparents managed to be successful farmers - earning the most money in the whole family while supporting themselves and the families of their sons with agricultural products (I don't remember my family buying much flour, cheese, meat , fruits and vegetables for decades) without antibiotics. I mean they hardly used machines let alone chemistry...
Sorry for the provocation, but is there anyone who still thinks that free market capitalism is any good in anticipating (let alone solving) global long-term issues?
Look, I am fed up with this. Just turned 40 last Sunday. Have pictures from all the 40 birthdays. All the way through the 70-ties and half 80-ies I am on ski - 50 cm or more snow, winter is in full swing. Late 80-ties and early 90-ties - cold but not freezing. After that it became ridiculously hot until last Sunday when the absolute record was set - it was 23 (I repeat 23 degrees!!!). And BTW, this 20-23 degrees lasted for 4 weeks in total (mid-October -mid November). Utterly ridiculous and unheard off.
Since 10 years the fruit trees in our garden do not bear fruit because it is too hot in January and February, so they start blossoming too early. Then a few frosts in March and they are gone. 17 degrees Celsius in mid-February (for a week or longer)? In my country where this is the coldest month? WTF?!?
Say what you will about anecdotes, I don't give a damn. My experience is unambiguous. The Earth is warming.
That's because your company pays the ticket. 382 Euro per month for "altijd vrji", which is only 30 euro more expensive than a single trajectory (A'dam-Delft) abonament - barely 60 km.
If my company did not pay I' wouldn't work for them - 400 euro is hefty percentage of my monthly income...people with cars spend less but actually pay more than me because cars are dirty and despicable so there is no financial incentive to use them (that's the policy at least).
Bloody hell, you also saw this? Me too.
It was the most revolting thing I've ever seen on a screen. Because I knew it was real. The most horrifying thing for me was how the body of the decapitated soldier reacted - like a rabbit or a chicken to which you have cut the head off - trembling and convulsing.
The idiots in my country (perhaps we are from the same place?) let this video be shown on the central news at 20:00 , Channel 1. I don't know how many were sacked afterwards...
There goes all the spent mod points...but I just cannot let this comment pass.
Look, I thoroughly agree on your ideas and your general attitude to the problem. However, I firmly object to your statement that the throw away society is a product of the will of the people. No,no,no. Perhaps some really brain-dead people, mostly in US (didn't wee learn recently that the Americans are NOT representative for the white race, that they are the freaks not the norm?)
I don't want to change my smartphone every two years but ATM my HTC desire (3 years old, running A v2.2) can hardly browse the net! The amount of app's I have ATM is halved because every damn "update" bloated the apps more and more, made them slower and slower. I can't even install a single game on the phone, I have no space left from the apps that either essential for the normal operation or are irremovable!!!
I don't want to throw away my 250 Euro super duper rain jacket but by Io , the zips on those things are not so durable and NOWHERE in the western world there is a place where they can change the zip for you. Or they'd ask 200 euros.
I don't want to throw away 350 Euro head phones because the cable broke down. Why did it take decades before the first replaceable cables for expensive head phones were created? And by the minority of the companies on the market. And even then, the cables were all the time "out of stock" - it took me 11 months until I could get a replacement cable. 11 months! Don't tell me this was not deliberate action to make people give up, throw away and buy new...
The same for home appliances - one plastic piece fails in the washing machine [that you can 3D print in minutes, but fat chance we will be allowed to do this - copyright and all that, besides is every citizen a nerd with free time on their hands) and you have to throw it away! The reason for the ridiculous prices for repair is "vertical integration" (google it) and it is company policy maximizing the turn-over and minimizing the life-time of the product. Do you see the consumer involved somewhere in this scheme?!
Same goes for everything man, everything. And it was not people's doing.
I yet have to see a person in this life who is happy with the enforced obsolescence. Everyone I know bitches like hell about it and the technical people hate it with fierce hate (because this kind of shit has penetrated even the professional/scientific markets for super-high precision instruments and so on...)
Well, I don't agree on the language of the parent post and his frustration could have been better worded and he could have avoided most of the harsh language but there is a point there....I can just imagine that on a very bad day I could use similar language and overreact like that because sometimes this topic just adds the last drop...
Let me see if I can do any better.
Some posters in this tread point that the extreme feminism is just another over-hyped reaction by a very small but vocal minority. I disagree.
I have heard on a national radio in a EU country a statement from a member of the EU parliament (and a member of a committee on female rights) that "Every sexual intercourse is an abuse against the women". Also from the same person "Prostitution should be banned even if it is perfectly consenting and legal. These women are exploited even if they don't realize it". You call that "small minority" - maybe but they seem to run the show? BTW, do you call this "sanity"?
A balanced, objective and scientifically backed discussion on this topic (male-female) is almost impossible these days. As an example of such an attempt I would like you to take a look at this: [http://denisdutton.com/baumeister.htm]. Notice the story about Larry Summers [I was not familiar with this episode and it came as a bit of a shock] and then the fact about the bell-curves that describe the distribution of well, anything, in both sexes. If Roy F. Baumeister is not misleading/misinterpreting for/lying to us about the distributions, then you simply cannot have 50/50 gender ratio in positions that require extremes (extreme physical ability, intelligence, creativity est.) because men are overly represented in the extremes. On both sides of the bell curve, never forget that! I cannot evaluate well his speculations about the the reasons for this, although the "cheap male - Nature's lab rat" thing does align of what I know of biology. So, if being physics professor at [for example] the MIT requires extreme qualities of some sort (I think we all agree it does, and perhaps not all of those qualities are actually "nice" or even obvious) then a legislation that enforces equal gender distribution (as one that's been proposed in the EU) is offensive to both sexes and potentially dangerous.
It seems that we [men and women] are, after all, different [occasionally, in some areas, under carefully defined boundary conditions]. OK, what's the issue? Are we not happy with this arrangement? Well, complain to the Universe or [insert deity of choice here] then. I am sure they'd listen.
On the other hand, from what I have read on the subject it seems that mixed gender groups perform better in any task including extreme conditions. So, we are complementing each other; the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Great!
The equality that needs to be enforced and supported by the law is the equality of opportunity!! Leveled playing field for both sexes. Leave the rest to the people themselves. Period.
I think that the filed is leveling fast in today's world and besides, in many countries it is leveled, or if not, it is very slightly inclined (and not always in favor of men, mind you). And BTW, who the f*uck tilted it in the first place? I'd appreciate a historical analysis from knowledgeable people on the matter. One obvious big target is religion, but it cannot be that simple, IMO. Besides religion might have been simply the tool for the advancement of an already existing paradigm.
But somehow [and here lies my butt-hurt in this matter and maybe the parent's poster too], the more the filed levels more accusations are raised that it is not and more and more [paradoxically and ironically - ever more extreme] demands. But this is a finite system, people. Sooner or later the filed is leveled, the issue is solved and we need to move on. But we don't. We never do, do we? We keep pushing until the filed is tilted to the other side which provokes response. Rinse and repeat. And not only on this issue but I think on almost all issu
Erotica is when you use a feather. Pornography is when you use the whole chicken.
IIRC, this is from Terry Pratchett
Actually it can be even beneficial. /. regularly slams the nuclear regulation agencies [and their respective governments] for hampering the progress of the technology.
Quickly now, deploy the thorium reactors before they are back!
Precisely!
The power hungry asshats in the east are just not competent enough. I mean, do you think that for instance Putin does not want to have the equivalent of the Russian NSA as powerful, all-seeing and intrusive as the US version? But he just does not have the capabilities to achieve it.
The task of toppling today's world elite (or at least keeping their greed in check) is so much more difficult than fighting against the totalitarian regimes of the communist era. I mean, at that time we all knew we are prisoners and that the system does not serve us, but is actually working against us, the common folk.
In the western world, however, the powers to be have done an excellent job (using hard science and remember the important thing about science - "it works, bitches!") in giving the illusion of choice, the illusion that people determine their own fate and many more illusions, whereas the actual situation is not much different than those totalitarian regimes of the past (and sliding further down daily). In the west the delusional part of the common folk will defend the system because they believe it to be just and right. Brilliant!
Having lived in both systems I can sincerely say: The West is the best! In everything! (that includes propaganda, spying and killing, political hypocrisy and so on...not only the good bits!)