http://www.opednews.com/articles/What-if-Low-Energy-Nuclear-by-Christopher-Calder-120103-869.html "If LENR is real, then aircraft capable of flying at full speed for months on end without refueling will be possible. Vertical takeoff and landing aircraft could become commonplace, and flying wingless cars as seen in Star Wars movies will be buildable for those brave or reckless souls who don't worry about the potential for engine failure. LENR jet engines should be relatively quiet, resulting in nearly silent aircraft sailing through the skies.
[NASA scientist] Zawodny claims that reusable single stage LENR powered space planes will be able to take off from any commercial airport, fly to orbit to deliver satellites, and then land like an ordinary jetliner. This would not only lower the cost of satellite launches, but would allow the cost effective construction of very large space stations. Trips to the moon would become relatively cheap and commonplace, and trips to Mars with active radiation shielding would be possible with a 3 month travel time each way. Space travel could be pursued by private corporations for commercial, industrial reasons, not just by governments. We won't be able to fly to the stars with LENR, but our solar system would become easily navigable at a price we can afford."
For example, they could do a lot of funny stuff about the changes between the 1960s/1970s and now in terms of social mores, technology, politics, economics, globalization, and so on. Basically, use themselves as the straightmen in a lot of social commentary about "modern times"...
They could try to do things the old way in movie making and be confronted with kids glued to gameboys and video games, audiences that don't go to movie theaters, copyright infringement, two-income families, the changing scale of movie budgets, lots of international comedic talent they were disrespectful of, robotic actors and 3D avatars, crowdsourcing, and so on...
I guess this has been done already like in Austin Powers where he and Dr. Evil is frozen and come back decades later and out-of-touch but still (in Austin's case) bringing a lot of good values forward. Of course, since they are older that exact device of bringing them forward in time would not work. I guess it could have more of a "Grumpy/Grumpier Old Men" flavor to it, mixed with Cocoon and similar things. Although a lot zanier, of course.
That fallacy label is itself a fallacy. It assumes infinite demand for good and services to keep up with exponential productivity growth (in contrast to Malsow's Hierarchy of Need in healthy humans), as well as no existing unemployment (which shows demand has already been saturated to excess). How many goods and services does one person really need to be happy and healthy? At some point there is a law of diminishing or even negative returns.
Existing unemployment also invalidates the law of "comparative advantage" too, by the way.
There is a law of diminishing returns on more stuff and services, but no reason productivity should not continue to grow exponentially for quite a while longer through robotics and other automation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lump_of_labour_fallacy#Criticism
Related: http://www.responsiblefinance.ch/appeal/
"The authors of this appeal are deeply concerned that more than three years since the outbreak of the financial and macroeconomic crisis that highlighted the pitfalls, limitations, dangers and responsibilities of main-stream thought in economics, finance and management, the quasi-monopolistic position of such thought within the academic world nevertheless remains largely unchallenged."
We should actually be rejoicing so many are going away through increased productivity. But to move forward we need a mix of a basic income, a gift economy, improved subsistence, and better participatory government planning.
And we also need to rethink jobs so they are more playful and enjoyable. Why suffer eight hours to then vegetate another eight hours? Why not have more meaningful experiences all the time, integrating joy and useful production?
Cynical, but interesting.:-) Worse, most people (including many economists it seems) in the USA don't understand that "comparative advantage" only is a useful theoretical idea if you have "full employment" as otherwise the cost of maintaining the unemployed erodes any advantages from trade: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage#Considerations
"Why use the brilliant minds of our children to merely build drones and robots when we could use the brilliant minds of our children to control drones and robots?"
"BTW, grad school was pretty goddamned good at getting me and my peers to "think, for ourselves, beyond the confines of chosen orthodoxies""
Please read: http://www.disciplined-minds.com/ "Who are you going to be? That is the question. In this riveting book about the world of professional work, Jeff Schmidt demonstrates that the workplace is a battleground for the very identity of the individual, as is graduate school, where professionals are trained. He shows that professional work is inherently political, and that professionals are hired to subordinate their own vision and maintain strict "ideological discipline." The hidden root of much career dissatisfaction, argues Schmidt, is the professional's lack of control over the political component of his or her creative work. Many professionals set out to make a contribution to society and add meaning to their lives. Yet our system of professional education and employment abusively inculcates an acceptance of politically subordinate roles in which professionals typically do not make a significant difference, undermining the creative potential of individuals, organizations and even democracy."
That said, I'd agree 5% to 10% of professors are really special... Good for you you found some.
Well-rounded (or rather, healthy, which does not always mean being perfectly rounded) human beings are more likely to come out of healthy communities and healthy families...
"In Defense of Childhood: Protecting Kids' Inner Wildness " by Chris Mercogliano, who spent thirty-five years teaching at the Albany Free School http://www.chrismercogliano.com/childhood.htm
While you make some good points, please explain why then over the last three or four decades, the US GDP has doubled or tripled but real wages have stayed about the same for most people... http://www.capitalismhitsthefan.com/
AC wrote: "Isn't Dr. Fuhrman a family doctor and not a cardiologist? That page you linked to even has a disclaimer that it's only for informational and education purposes only and that you should consult a doctor first. I tend to distrust websites like drfuhrman.com which in my opinion seem more oriented towards selling books, audio books, membership plans or a set of DVDs than providing me health information. Imagine if Slashdot had an article about how awesome a new model of wireless router was and then on the side of that page Slashdot was trying to sell you that very same router. Wouldn't you be just a little bit skeptical?"
I actually agree with disliking Dr. Fuhrman's site for the commercial slant. You are right to be skeptical. That said, he generally knows what he is talking about and has done a lot of people a world of good (including me).
A deeper problem is all the conflicts of interest in medicine. To extend your router example, would you trust a cardiologist who says you need a heart operation, when he or she is the one who is going to make $10K from performing it? Would you even trust a second opinion from another cardiologist who also makes $10K from such operations? (Or whatever the amount is the cardiologist gets out of the $50K to $250K total costs.)
As another parallel, if you go to a new car salesman and ask, do I need a new car, mine is three years old, what do you expect to hear? If you go to another one down the road, do you expect to hear anything different?
Please also see my other reply in this thread about other (Non-Dr.Fuhrman) links between nutrition and vitaimin D and heart disease.
By the way, I want to take a moment to add that I agree with the lawyer that the software of medical devices should be open to examination, at the very least by those who receive it. A broader generalization on that theme: http://www.pdfernhout.net/on-funding-digital-public-works.html
Thanks for the skeptical comment. I hope you direct that same amount of skepticism to the medical profession, for reason I outline here, including this quote by Marcia Angell http://www.pdfernhout.net/to-james-randi-on-skepticism-about-mainstream-science.html#Some_quotes_on_social_problems_in_science "The problems I've discussed are not limited to psychiatry, although they reach their most florid form there. Similar conflicts of interest and biases exist in virtually every field of medicine, particularly those that rely heavily on drugs or devices. It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine."
For what it is worth, I've had two relative (a sister and a father) die soon within a year or so of major heart operations, including getting a pacemaker etc..:-( I wish I knew then what I know now, thanks to Dr. Fuhrman and many other conscientious and skeptical and inquiring people like him.
"Low vitamin D linked to heart disease, death" http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/26/us-vitamind-heartdisease-idUSTRE7AO1UM20111126 ""We expected to see that there was a relationship between heart disease and vitamin D deficiency; we were surprised at how strong it was," Dr. James L. Vacek, a professor of cardiology at the University of Kansas Hospital and Medical Center, told Reuters Health. "It was so much more profound than we expected."... After taking into account the patients' medical history, medications and other factors, the cardiologists found that people with deficient levels of vitamin D were more than twice as likely to have diabetes, 40 percent more likely to have high blood pressure and about 30 percent more likely to suffer from cardiomyopathy -- a diseased heart muscle -- as people without D deficiency."
http://www.livestrong.com/article/440011-can-low-potassium-cause-an-irregular-heartbeat/ "A potassium deficiency, or hypokalemia, is an electrolyte imbalance that may cause heart arrhythmias.... Reviewing your dietary intake may reveal a potassium deficiency. Foods that contain high concentrations of potassium include all meats, fruits, vegetables, legumes and dairy products. High-sodium foods that lower potassium stores include processed, prepackaged foods such as soups, prepared pizza, Mexican food, frozen meals, sodas, potato chips and restaurant meals...."
http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/NHC/irregular_heartbeat/cellular_solutions.htm "Conventional medicine has invented its own diagnostic term to cover the fact that it does not know the origin of most arrhythmias. âoeParoxysmal arrhythmiaâ means nothing other than âoecauses unknown.â As a direct consequence, the therapeutic options of conventional medicine are confined to treating the symptoms of irregular heartbeat. Beta-blockers, calcium antagonists and other anti-arrhythmic drugs are given to patients in the hope that they will decrease the incidence of irregular heartbeat.
However, the most frequent known side effect of these drugs is an increased risk for new arrhythmias! Slow forms of arrhythmias with long pauses between heartbeats are dealt with by implanting a pacemaker. In other cases, heart muscle tissue that creates or conducts uncoordinated electrical impulses is cauterized (burned) and eliminated as a focus of the electrical disturbance in the heart muscle. Without an understanding of the primary cause of irregular heartbeat, the therapeutic approaches by conventional medicine are not specific and frequently fail.
Modern Cellular Medicine now provides the breakthrough in our understanding of the causes, prevention and adjunct treatnent of irregular heartbeat. The most frequent cause of irregular heartbeat is a chronic deficiency of vitamins and other essential nutrients in millions of âoeelectricalâ heart muscle cells that generate and conduct the electrical impulse responsible for a normal heartbeat. Long-term deficiencies of essential nutrients in these cells cause or aggravate disturbances in the creation or conduction of the electrical impulses and trigger arrhythmias. The primary method for preventing and correcting irregular heartbeat is an optimum supply of specific vitamins and other cellular nutrients.
Scientific research and clinical studies have already documented the value of magnesium, carnitine, coenzyme Q-10 and other important components of my Cellular Health recommendations in helping to normalize different forms of irregular heartbeat and improve the quality of life for patients. A Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Clinical Study Confirms Vitamins and
"Me either. I can't afford it, ironically because nobody wants to manufacture anything here."
Good ironic point. We need a "basic income" and other ideas to deal with structural unemployment from automation: http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm
See also for how far the USA and the legacy of Steve Jobs has fallen, from 1990 and the NeXT days: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1990/02/26/73121/index.htm "THE ULTIMATE COMPUTER FACTORY Steve Jobs has built a Next workstation plant with just about everything: lasers, robots, speed, and remarkably few defects.... Welcome to the Next world. Here a robot that looks like a futuristic sewing machine places tiny capacitors and integrated circuits, rapid-fire, on a printed computer circuitboard. A laser zeros in on each electrical connection. Two robot arms move in tandem, one selecting parts from a bin and the other deftly inserting them into the board. After 20 minutes the board reaches the end of the assembly line, where -- finally -- a real person steps in to check it. Robots outnumber people 13 to five on this line, which turns out the brains for aging whiz kid Steve Jobs's new workstation. Not to save money: Labor accounts for only 3% to 5% of the cost of a typical computer-manufacturing operation. Instead, the automation is meant to ensure the highest possible quality. When Jobs left Apple Computer and started Next in 1985, he was determined to create a manufacturing process as advanced as the product it makes. He assigned some of his best engineers and software designers to the problem. Until recently the 40-person manufacturing staff had more Ph.D.s than the group designing the Next machine. Says Randy Heffner, vice president for manufacturing: ''Most startups don't invest in advanced automation, but that's the key to long-term success.''..."
But even China is automating more now for the same reasons...
The root cause is lack of a basic income, an expanded gift economy, or improved subsistence technology, and/or better government planning (which could all support artists and other creators).
With a basic income (or those other things), creative people would not have to worry where their next meal is coming from, and would not have to engage in the legal, but increasingly immoral (in the internet age), practice of creating "artificial scarcity" to fund future works or repay investors.
"No medical system is perfect, but from my vantage point the American system is pretty messed up."
Even worse, the real solutions (prevention and cures) are not very profitable (compared to palliation and treatments). For example, expensive international heart surgery as $50K+ a pop is basically a "scam" according to Dr. Joel Fuhrman: http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/PCI_angioplasty_article.aspx
On top of that, diverting money to what really is "sick insurance" prevents it from being invested in wellness, like building parks, creating walking trails and bicycle paths, subsidizing cheap vegetables, fruits, and beans (healthier to eat), and so on. Worse, we subsidize and propagandize about unhealthy foods, like (for many people) dairy, factory farmed meats, and products with refined starch and sugar: http://www.seriouseats.com/2007/11/the-subsidized-food-pyramid.html "The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has posted an easy-to-understand visual on its site that shows which foods U.S. tax dollars go to support under the nation's farm bill. It's titled "Why Does a Salad Cost More Than a Big Mac?" and depicts two pyramids -- subsidized foods and the old recommended food pyramid. It's interesting to note that the two are almost inversely proportional to each other."
They are relatively basic things like getting enough vitamin D, eating lots of vegetables, fruits, and beans, and so on.
That said, 20% of modern medicine in miraculous. The problem is, doctors and the medical system don't seem to be able to so the right thing the other 80% of the time (especially for chronic disease) and do problematical interventions instead.
So, in general, I agree with Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel's point. Still, advanced technology can play two important roles.
One is advanced diagnostics. Imagine a test kit (or device) you could buy at the supermarket that would tell you if you had any nutritional deficiencies. Then you could look up what foods or recipes would help in fixing that.
The other is in living well beyond 80-120. Good nutrition may be able to get most people into 80 still doing fairly well, but getting past 120 is going to take advanced technology (which entails confronting a complex ethical, moral, and spiritual issue about the meaning of life, made even worse if life extension is available only to some).
But why put so much money into making "magic bullets" to shoot the apples from the top of the tree when the low hanging fruit is being ignored?
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx "Tragically, most people are totally unaware that they are only a few weeks of discipline away from being able to comfortably maintain healthful dietary habits -- and to keep away from the products that can result in the destruction of their health. Instead, most people think that if they were to eat more healthfully, they would be condemned to a life of greatly reduced gustatory pleasure -- thinking that the process of Phase IV will last forever. In our new book, The Pleasure Trap, we explain this extraordinarily deceptive and problematic situation -- and how to master this hidden force that undermines health and happiness."
Slashdot Mirror
http://www.opednews.com/articles/What-if-Low-Energy-Nuclear-by-Christopher-Calder-120103-869.html
"If LENR is real, then aircraft capable of flying at full speed for months on end without refueling will be possible. Vertical takeoff and landing aircraft could become commonplace, and flying wingless cars as seen in Star Wars movies will be buildable for those brave or reckless souls who don't worry about the potential for engine failure. LENR jet engines should be relatively quiet, resulting in nearly silent aircraft sailing through the skies.
[NASA scientist] Zawodny claims that reusable single stage LENR powered space planes will be able to take off from any commercial airport, fly to orbit to deliver satellites, and then land like an ordinary jetliner. This would not only lower the cost of satellite launches, but would allow the cost effective construction of very large space stations. Trips to the moon would become relatively cheap and commonplace, and trips to Mars with active radiation shielding would be possible with a 3 month travel time each way. Space travel could be pursued by private corporations for commercial, industrial reasons, not just by governments. We won't be able to fly to the stars with LENR, but our solar system would become easily navigable at a price we can afford."
For example, they could do a lot of funny stuff about the changes between the 1960s/1970s and now in terms of social mores, technology, politics, economics, globalization, and so on. Basically, use themselves as the straightmen in a lot of social commentary about "modern times"...
They could try to do things the old way in movie making and be confronted with kids glued to gameboys and video games, audiences that don't go to movie theaters, copyright infringement, two-income families, the changing scale of movie budgets, lots of international comedic talent they were disrespectful of, robotic actors and 3D avatars, crowdsourcing, and so on...
I guess this has been done already like in Austin Powers where he and Dr. Evil is frozen and come back decades later and out-of-touch but still (in Austin's case) bringing a lot of good values forward. Of course, since they are older that exact device of bringing them forward in time would not work. I guess it could have more of a "Grumpy/Grumpier Old Men" flavor to it, mixed with Cocoon and similar things. Although a lot zanier, of course.
"Old people can be funny, and something that takes their senior status into account might be riotous."
Like maybe a hilarious (self-referential) movie about the remaining old Python team trying and failing to make a hit movie? :-)
"Your error is called the lump of labour fallacy"
That fallacy label is itself a fallacy. It assumes infinite demand for good and services to keep up with exponential productivity growth (in contrast to Malsow's Hierarchy of Need in healthy humans), as well as no existing unemployment (which shows demand has already been saturated to excess). How many goods and services does one person really need to be happy and healthy? At some point there is a law of diminishing or even negative returns.
Existing unemployment also invalidates the law of "comparative advantage" too, by the way.
There is a law of diminishing returns on more stuff and services, but no reason productivity should not continue to grow exponentially for quite a while longer through robotics and other automation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lump_of_labour_fallacy#Criticism
Related:
http://www.responsiblefinance.ch/appeal/
"The authors of this appeal are deeply concerned that more than three years since the outbreak of the financial and macroeconomic crisis that highlighted the pitfalls, limitations, dangers and responsibilities of main-stream thought in economics, finance and management, the quasi-monopolistic position of such thought within the academic world nevertheless remains largely unchallenged."
We should actually be rejoicing so many are going away through increased productivity. But to move forward we need a mix of a basic income, a gift economy, improved subsistence, and better participatory government planning.
And we also need to rethink jobs so they are more playful and enjoyable. Why suffer eight hours to then vegetate another eight hours? Why not have more meaningful experiences all the time, integrating joy and useful production?
Cynical, but interesting. :-) Worse, most people (including many economists it seems) in the USA don't understand that "comparative advantage" only is a useful theoretical idea if you have "full employment" as otherwise the cost of maintaining the unemployed erodes any advantages from trade:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage#Considerations
"Why use the brilliant minds of our children to merely build drones and robots when we could use the brilliant minds of our children to control drones and robots?"
Or perhaps our children could learn to use their brilliant minds to figure out non-ironic ways to use the technologies of abundance like robotics and advanced materials and advanced energy source to make a planet the works for mostly everyone?
http://www.pdfernhout.net/recognizing-irony-is-a-key-to-transcending-militarism.html
"... I feel no desire to pay people when they are perfectly capable of getting a job and supporting themselves."
http://www.marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm
"BTW, grad school was pretty goddamned good at getting me and my peers to "think, for ourselves, beyond the confines of chosen orthodoxies""
Please read: http://www.disciplined-minds.com/
"Who are you going to be? That is the question. In this riveting book about the world of professional work, Jeff Schmidt demonstrates that the workplace is a battleground for the very identity of the individual, as is graduate school, where professionals are trained. He shows that professional work is inherently political, and that professionals are hired to subordinate their own vision and maintain strict "ideological discipline." The hidden root of much career dissatisfaction, argues Schmidt, is the professional's lack of control over the political component of his or her creative work. Many professionals set out to make a contribution to society and add meaning to their lives. Yet our system of professional education and employment abusively inculcates an acceptance of politically subordinate roles in which professionals typically do not make a significant difference, undermining the creative potential of individuals, organizations and even democracy."
That said, I'd agree 5% to 10% of professors are really special... Good for you you found some.
People start off being able to reason, school stomps it out of most of them:
http://www.alisongopnik.com/TheScientistInTheCrib.htm
Well-rounded (or rather, healthy, which does not always mean being perfectly rounded) human beings are more likely to come out of healthy communities and healthy families...
Some other links;
"The Underground History of American Education" by 1991 NYS Teacher of
the Year John Taylor Gatto
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/toc1.htm
"The Seven Lesson Schoolteacher" also by John Taylor Gatto
http://www.newciv.org/whole/schoolteacher.txt
"State Controlled Consciousness" also by John Taylor Gatto
http://www.the-open-boat.com/Gatto.html
"The Big Crunch" by David Goodstein, Vice Provost, Caltech
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~dg/crunch_art.html
"Disciplined Minds" by Jeff Schmidt
http://www.disciplined-minds.com/
"What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream" by Noam Chomsky
http://www.chomsky.info/articles/199710--.htm
"University Secrets:Your Guide to Surviving a College Education" by
Robert D. Honigman
http://web.archive.org/web/20060707100524/www.universitysecrets.com/us.htm
http://web.archive.org/web/20060710145531/www.universitysecrets.com/table.htm
"The Kept University"
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2000/03/press.htm
"In Defense of Childhood: Protecting Kids' Inner Wildness " by Chris
Mercogliano, who spent thirty-five years teaching at the Albany Free School
http://www.chrismercogliano.com/childhood.htm
"Teach Your Own" by John Holt (and other books)
http://www.holtgws.com/
"The Teenage Liberation Handbook" by Grace Llewellyn (and other books)
http://gracellewellyn.com/
"The Emergence of Compulsory Schooling and Anarchist Resistance" By Matt Hern
http://web.archive.org/web/20071014123355/http://www.social-ecology.org/article.php?story=20031028151034651
http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2003/Compulsory-Schooling-AnarchistMar03.htm
"Sustainable Education" by Jerry Mintz
http://www.greenmoneyjournal.com/article.mpl?articleid=195&newsletterid=1
"Federated Learning Communities"
http://www.ericdigests.org/2000-1/learning.html
http://www.
While you make some good points, please explain why then over the last three or four decades, the US GDP has doubled or tripled but real wages have stayed about the same for most people...
http://www.capitalismhitsthefan.com/
So, there are other political forces at work...
http://www.businessinsider.com/do-low-tax-rates-on-rich-people-ruin-the-economy-2011-7
AC wrote: "Isn't Dr. Fuhrman a family doctor and not a cardiologist? That page you linked to even has a disclaimer that it's only for informational and education purposes only and that you should consult a doctor first. I tend to distrust websites like drfuhrman.com which in my opinion seem more oriented towards selling books, audio books, membership plans or a set of DVDs than providing me health information. Imagine if Slashdot had an article about how awesome a new model of wireless router was and then on the side of that page Slashdot was trying to sell you that very same router. Wouldn't you be just a little bit skeptical?"
I actually agree with disliking Dr. Fuhrman's site for the commercial slant. You are right to be skeptical. That said, he generally knows what he is talking about and has done a lot of people a world of good (including me).
A deeper problem is all the conflicts of interest in medicine. To extend your router example, would you trust a cardiologist who says you need a heart operation, when he or she is the one who is going to make $10K from performing it? Would you even trust a second opinion from another cardiologist who also makes $10K from such operations? (Or whatever the amount is the cardiologist gets out of the $50K to $250K total costs.)
As another parallel, if you go to a new car salesman and ask, do I need a new car, mine is three years old, what do you expect to hear? If you go to another one down the road, do you expect to hear anything different?
Please also see my other reply in this thread about other (Non-Dr.Fuhrman) links between nutrition and vitaimin D and heart disease.
By the way, I want to take a moment to add that I agree with the lawyer that the software of medical devices should be open to examination, at the very least by those who receive it. A broader generalization on that theme:
http://www.pdfernhout.net/on-funding-digital-public-works.html
Thanks for the skeptical comment. I hope you direct that same amount of skepticism to the medical profession, for reason I outline here, including this quote by Marcia Angell
http://www.pdfernhout.net/to-james-randi-on-skepticism-about-mainstream-science.html#Some_quotes_on_social_problems_in_science
"The problems I've discussed are not limited to psychiatry, although they reach their most florid form there. Similar conflicts of interest and biases exist in virtually every field of medicine, particularly those that rely heavily on drugs or devices. It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine."
For what it is worth, I've had two relative (a sister and a father) die soon within a year or so of major heart operations, including getting a pacemaker etc.. :-( I wish I knew then what I know now, thanks to Dr. Fuhrman and many other conscientious and skeptical and inquiring people like him.
"Low vitamin D linked to heart disease, death" ... After taking into account the patients' medical history, medications and other factors, the cardiologists found that people with deficient levels of vitamin D were more than twice as likely to have diabetes, 40 percent more likely to have high blood pressure and about 30 percent more likely to suffer from cardiomyopathy -- a diseased heart muscle -- as people without D deficiency."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/26/us-vitamind-heartdisease-idUSTRE7AO1UM20111126
""We expected to see that there was a relationship between heart disease and vitamin D deficiency; we were surprised at how strong it was," Dr. James L. Vacek, a professor of cardiology at the University of Kansas Hospital and Medical Center, told Reuters Health. "It was so much more profound than we expected."
http://www.livestrong.com/article/440011-can-low-potassium-cause-an-irregular-heartbeat/ ... Reviewing your dietary intake may reveal a potassium deficiency. Foods that contain high concentrations of potassium include all meats, fruits, vegetables, legumes and dairy products. High-sodium foods that lower potassium stores include processed, prepackaged foods such as soups, prepared pizza, Mexican food, frozen meals, sodas, potato chips and restaurant meals. ..."
"A potassium deficiency, or hypokalemia, is an electrolyte imbalance that may cause heart arrhythmias.
http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/NHC/irregular_heartbeat/cellular_solutions.htm
"Conventional medicine has invented its own diagnostic term to cover the fact that it does not know the origin of most arrhythmias. âoeParoxysmal arrhythmiaâ means nothing other than âoecauses unknown.â As a direct consequence, the therapeutic options of conventional medicine are confined to treating the symptoms of irregular heartbeat. Beta-blockers, calcium antagonists and other anti-arrhythmic drugs are given to patients in the hope that they will decrease the incidence of irregular heartbeat.
However, the most frequent known side effect of these drugs is an increased risk for new arrhythmias! Slow forms of arrhythmias with long pauses between heartbeats are dealt with by implanting a pacemaker. In other cases, heart muscle tissue that creates or conducts uncoordinated electrical impulses is cauterized (burned) and eliminated as a focus of the electrical disturbance in the heart muscle. Without an understanding of the primary cause of irregular heartbeat, the therapeutic approaches by conventional medicine are not specific and frequently fail.
Modern Cellular Medicine now provides the breakthrough in our understanding of the causes, prevention and adjunct treatnent of irregular heartbeat. The most frequent cause of irregular heartbeat is a chronic deficiency of vitamins and other essential nutrients in millions of âoeelectricalâ heart muscle cells that generate and conduct the electrical impulse responsible for a normal heartbeat. Long-term deficiencies of essential nutrients in these cells cause or aggravate disturbances in the creation or conduction of the electrical impulses and trigger arrhythmias. The primary method for preventing and correcting irregular heartbeat is an optimum supply of specific vitamins and other cellular nutrients.
Scientific research and clinical studies have already documented the value of magnesium, carnitine, coenzyme Q-10 and other important components of my Cellular Health recommendations in helping to normalize different forms of irregular heartbeat and improve the quality of life for patients.
A Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Clinical Study Confirms Vitamins and
"Me either. I can't afford it, ironically because nobody wants to manufacture anything here."
Good ironic point. We need a "basic income" and other ideas to deal with structural unemployment from automation:
http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm
See also for how far the USA and the legacy of Steve Jobs has fallen, from 1990 and the NeXT days: ... Welcome to the Next world. Here a robot that looks like a futuristic sewing machine places tiny capacitors and integrated circuits, rapid-fire, on a printed computer circuitboard. A laser zeros in on each electrical connection. Two robot arms move in tandem, one selecting parts from a bin and the other deftly inserting them into the board. After 20 minutes the board reaches the end of the assembly line, where -- finally -- a real person steps in to check it. Robots outnumber people 13 to five on this line, which turns out the brains for aging whiz kid Steve Jobs's new workstation. Not to save money: Labor accounts for only 3% to 5% of the cost of a typical computer-manufacturing operation. Instead, the automation is meant to ensure the highest possible quality. When Jobs left Apple Computer and started Next in 1985, he was determined to create a manufacturing process as advanced as the product it makes. He assigned some of his best engineers and software designers to the problem. Until recently the 40-person manufacturing staff had more Ph.D.s than the group designing the Next machine. Says Randy Heffner, vice president for manufacturing: ''Most startups don't invest in advanced automation, but that's the key to long-term success.'' ..."
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1990/02/26/73121/index.htm
"THE ULTIMATE COMPUTER FACTORY Steve Jobs has built a Next workstation plant with just about everything: lasers, robots, speed, and remarkably few defects.
But even China is automating more now for the same reasons...
"Going after these services is treating a symptom, not the root cause."
See: http://www.basicincome.org/bien/
The root cause is lack of a basic income, an expanded gift economy, or improved subsistence technology, and/or better government planning (which could all support artists and other creators).
With a basic income (or those other things), creative people would not have to worry where their next meal is coming from, and would not have to engage in the legal, but increasingly immoral (in the internet age), practice of creating "artificial scarcity" to fund future works or repay investors.
According to Dr. Fuhrman: http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/PCI_angioplasty_article.aspx
Now, she may well need a pacemaker, but she should also look into things like nutritional issues, omega 3s and good fats, vitamin D, and other similar things, if she has not. Links here: http://www.changemakers.com/discussions/discussion-493#comment-38823
Hard to say where might you be now by putting all that energy, intelligence, and creativity into your own small software business or an apprentiship in a trade instead of college?
http://lifeinc.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/05/25/6717536-the-entrepreneur-whos-paying-kids-not-to-go-to-college
But either way is a roll fo the dice...
Make sure you get enough vitamin D, omega 3s, and vegetables to keep going at that pace.
http://www.changemakers.com/discussions/discussion-493#comment-38823
One of the most insightful posts I've seen on slashdot.
You might like the related links in this comment of mine, btw:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2629450&cid=38756882
Then we could pass laws against business models based on artificial scarcity? http://artificialscarcity.com/
Sorry about the typo in his name.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfejBpD_wm4
We could unite against the mutant menace! :-)
See also this thread I started:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2621264&threshold=0&commentsort=0&mode=thread&cid=38699248
"No medical system is perfect, but from my vantage point the American system is pretty messed up."
Even worse, the real solutions (prevention and cures) are not very profitable (compared to palliation and treatments). For example, expensive international heart surgery as $50K+ a pop is basically a "scam" according to Dr. Joel Fuhrman:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/PCI_angioplasty_article.aspx
On top of that, diverting money to what really is "sick insurance" prevents it from being invested in wellness, like building parks, creating walking trails and bicycle paths, subsidizing cheap vegetables, fruits, and beans (healthier to eat), and so on. Worse, we subsidize and propagandize about unhealthy foods, like (for many people) dairy, factory farmed meats, and products with refined starch and sugar:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2007/11/the-subsidized-food-pyramid.html
"The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has posted an easy-to-understand visual on its site that shows which foods U.S. tax dollars go to support under the nation's farm bill. It's titled "Why Does a Salad Cost More Than a Big Mac?" and depicts two pyramids -- subsidized foods and the old recommended food pyramid. It's interesting to note that the two are almost inversely proportional to each other."
Here are some real solutions to obesity and other chronic issues I've collected:
http://www.changemakers.com/discussions/discussion-493#comment-38823
They are relatively basic things like getting enough vitamin D, eating lots of vegetables, fruits, and beans, and so on.
That said, 20% of modern medicine in miraculous. The problem is, doctors and the medical system don't seem to be able to so the right thing the other 80% of the time (especially for chronic disease) and do problematical interventions instead.
So, in general, I agree with Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel's point. Still, advanced technology can play two important roles.
One is advanced diagnostics. Imagine a test kit (or device) you could buy at the supermarket that would tell you if you had any nutritional deficiencies. Then you could look up what foods or recipes would help in fixing that.
The other is in living well beyond 80-120. Good nutrition may be able to get most people into 80 still doing fairly well, but getting past 120 is going to take advanced technology (which entails confronting a complex ethical, moral, and spiritual issue about the meaning of life, made even worse if life extension is available only to some).
But why put so much money into making "magic bullets" to shoot the apples from the top of the tree when the low hanging fruit is being ignored?
"this has nothing to do with the discussion. The US is NOT an underdeveloped nation."
Not only that, but the USA has had a role to play in keeping (materially) underdeveloped nations underdeveloped.
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx
"Tragically, most people are totally unaware that they are only a few weeks of discipline away from being able to comfortably maintain healthful dietary habits -- and to keep away from the products that can result in the destruction of their health. Instead, most people think that if they were to eat more healthfully, they would be condemned to a life of greatly reduced gustatory pleasure -- thinking that the process of Phase IV will last forever. In our new book, The Pleasure Trap, we explain this extraordinarily deceptive and problematic situation -- and how to master this hidden force that undermines health and happiness."
Also, to go with my other post: http://www.lawyerswithdepression.com/
http://www.google.com/search?q=lawyers+with+depression
"About 20,200,000 results (0.10 seconds)"
That said, there are a lot of lawyers out there fighting the good fight, building bridges between people, and doing the right thing.
See also: http://lawschoolscam.blogspot.com/
http://insidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com/
http://www.askmen.com/entertainment/better_look_3800/3816_law-school-scam.html
Or:
http://www.google.com/search?q=law+school+scam
"About 2,940,000 results (0.10 seconds)"