Tuesday, September 17, 2002

Big Thinkers or Cockeyed Optimists ? On July 21, Edge held an event at Eastover Farm which included the physicists Seth Lloyd, Paul Steinhardt, and Alan Guth, computer scientist Marvin Minsky, and technologist Ray Kurzweil. Correspondent of the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Jordan Mejias covered and reports the meeting: Eastover Farm is halfway between New York and Concord, where the New England transcendentalists surrounding Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson first contemplated their design for a new society. The farmer who lives there likes to think bigger. During the week he represents authors and sells their books in the international marketplace, and when he plays host to five stars of American science on a cloudless summer day, it is guaranteed that he will harvest the depths of their knowledge. This time, in luxuriously green Connecticut, he asks them to explain the cosmos to him - its origin, its life, and its end. "You have to think big," one of the cosmologists even says, matching the opinion of John Brockman, prophet of the Third Culture and experienced weekend farmer. (09/17/02)  The Human Theater of the Absurd —II John Brand writes: It is the downside of our reptilian ancestry that can make life so very difficult. When rituals become ends in themselves, they tend to become counter-productive. At times we maintain precedents for no other reason than to obey the dictates of the R-complex. Precedents taking on authority for no other reason than their transmission from one generation to the next can enslave people to meaningless practices. Tradition for the sake of tradition puts blinders on creative thinking. One excellent example of such a condition can be found in the American legal system. I am deeply appreciative of the rule of "stare decisis." This is the legal procedure requiring judges to follow established laws and decisions. Without stare decisis the law would be even more of a jungle than present practices have made of it. But precedent for the sake of precedent can have a most unjust and socially destructive effect. Take the case of Billy Ray McDaniels vs. The State of Texas, 642 SW 2nd, 785. There is no disagreement about the facts of the case. Billy Ray McDaniels raped a twenty-one year old newly married female college student. The attack took place in a back room of a store where both worked. Justice Truman Roberts said, "The appellant [the rapist] threatened to kill [her] before the sexual act occurred. He kept the knife in his hand at all times, except during the act of sexual intercourse. Even then, the knife was within easy reach." There was no question in the minds of any of the justices of the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals that the rape happened, that Billy Ray McDaniels was the rapist and that neither trial judge nor jury had committed any reversible errors. Yet a majority of the Honorable Court reversed the jury's decision in the Lower Court. What happened? Justices Tom Davis and W.C. Davis (no relations) said, "We hold that the indictment in the present case is fundamentally defective for failure to acknowledge that the threatened harm was to be imminently inflicted." (Italics mine.) (09/17/02) Iraq may have Nuclear Weapons NOW! London Times -- Dr Khidir Hamza, who was science adviser to the Atomic Energy Establishment and later helped to start and direct Iraq’s nuclear bomb programme before he defected in 1994, claims in an interview with The Times today that Saddam could be in a position to make three nuclear weapons within the next few months, if he has not already done so. Dr Hamza gave warning that UN inspectors would be useless because even if they were given “unfettered access” they would find it far more difficult than before to detect the nuclear assembly line. “The beauty of the present system is that the units are each very small and in the four years since the inspectors left they will have been concealed underground or in basements or buildings that outwardly seem normal,” Dr Hamza said. ... According to Dr Hamza, that material is already inside Iraq and is currently being processed to weapons grade. He said that Iraq was using a centrifuge method to get a bomb which is easier and quicker than other methods. “Unless he’s stopped soon, Saddam will have set up a whole nuclear bomb industry, not just have made a couple of bombs,” Dr Hamza said. (09/17/02) Scientists Create Biological Heart Pacemaker LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists in the United States have made a breakthrough that could revolutionize heart surgery by replacing electronic pacemakers with a biological equivalent. "Our results indicate that genetically engineered pacemakers could be developed as a possible alternative to implantable electronic devices," the researchers at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, wrote in Nature magazine. The heart has natural pacemaker cells that emit an electrical impulse that prompt it to beat. If these die, they can be replaced by surgically implanted electronic equivalents that do much the same job but have nothing like the adaptability of their biological brethren. But the Johns Hopkins' scientists discovered that by altering the potassium balance in ordinary heart cells in guinea pigs, they could trick them into behaving like pacemaker cells. "We can envision a day when it will be possible to recreate an individual's pacemaker cells or develop hybrid pacemakers -- part electronic, part biologic," said cardiologist Eduardo Marban, one of the Johns Hopkins' team. (09/17/02) The Lowly Earthworm ? Eureka Alert! -- Considered sacred by Cleopatra, earthworms undoubtedly promote the sustainability of soils. The earthworm’s status as one of the world’s most crucial organisms is why scientists from 40 countries will congregate at Cardiff University next week for the International Symposium on Earthworm Ecology (1-6 September 2002). More than 3,000 species of earthworm exist in the world - although only 25 species exist in Britain, and some 300 species in Europe. They all play an important role in forest or agricultural ecosystems and they play an increasing role in biomedical issues as, for example, a replacement for animals in medical experiments and chemical testing. ... “The ordinary earthworm may seem an unlikely candidate for one of the world’s ‘keystone organisms’ but in reality it is a complex creature,” said conference organiser Dr John Morgan, of Cardiff University’s School of Biosciences. “Literally thousands of scientists worldwide consider the earthworm to be an important ally in advancing environmental and biomedical research.” Earthworms are critical to the environment because they consume huge quantities of decomposed litter, manure, and other organic matter deposited on soil – helping to convert it into rich topsoil. The casts excreted by earthworms form clumps of soil particles bound together by organic compounds that improve soil structure, retain nutrients that might otherwise be leached, and reduce the threat of erosion. Earthworms can also help reduce soil compaction, improve permeability – thus providing channels for root growth, water infiltration, and gas exchange.  (09/17/02) Intellectual Property Rights, Bad for Poor People? BBC News -- The expansion of intellectual property (IP) rights is unlikely to help most developing countries, an independent report says. Instead, it will increase their costs, by making them pay more for medicines and seeds. ... Professor John Barton, of Stanford University, said: "Developed countries often proceed on the assumption that what is good for them is likely to be good for developing countries. But, in the case of developing countries, more and stronger protection is not necessarily better. They should not be encouraged or coerced into adopting stronger IP rights without regard to the impact this has on their development and poor people. They should be allowed to adopt appropriate rights regimes, not necessarily the most protective ones." (09/17/02) A Molecule that repairs DNA ! BBC News -- Scientists have discovered a molecule that repairs damaged DNA. The molecule, called AlkB, uses a chemical process called oxidative demethylation to repair DNA, depending on the presence of iron and several other chemicals. ... Dr Sedgwick - who works at Cancer Research UK's London Institute - said: "The process for repairing DNA has been studied intensively for many years now, so to discover a completely new mechanism of action was both surprising and very exciting. ... Sir Paul Nurse, Cancer Research UK's chief executive, explained: "Our cells are constantly suffering genetic damage and without systems for patching up our DNA they quickly die as a result. (09/17/02) Twelve Inventions by Buckminster Fuller Buckminster Fuller signing the prints, March 24, 1981 INVENTIONS IN THE PORTFOLIO 1928 - 4D House 1933 - Dymaxior Car 1938 - Dymaxion Bathroom 1941 - Dymaxion Deployment Unit 1946 - Dymaxion Dwelling Machine 1954 - Geodesic Dome 1956 - Octetruss 1959 - Tensegrity 1959 - Submarisle 1951 - Monohex Geodesic Dome 1960 - Laminar Geodesic Dome 1968 - Rowing Needles 1973 - Non-Symmetrical Tension-Integrity Structures 6:07:20 AM

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