Wednesday, September 18, 2002

Alternative Futures Sohail Inayatullah writes: Prabhat Rainjan Sarkar is well known as a social philosopher, political revolutionary, poet, and linguist. He has also been described as the complete renaissance man. ... We can divide his futures oriented work into four areas: the first are forecasts based on theory of the social cycle (world government, a spiritual-led polity, and the end of capitalism and communism), the second are forecasts that predict new developments in the potential for spiritual development (the theory of microvita, the shift of the earth's poles and the ice age), the third are specific technological forecasts (longevity, mind and space travel); and the fourth are warnings (water shortage, a global depression). The overall context to his interest in the future, however, is not prediction, but inspiration--the creation of a new vision for humanity. Like Sarkar, many futurists believe that we may be undergoing technological, political, and economic revolutions far more significant than the industrial revolution and possibly more dramatic than any other transitional period in human history. In addition, some futurists argue that we are on the threshold of global governance, interplanetary travel, artificial intelligence, and at the end of the world run by the nation-states of Atlantic-Western civilization. However, although, this transition promises a bright future, the present is one of unprecedented suffering; for we are on the brink of nuclear disaster and in the midst of widespread state terrorism: we face regional famines, desertification, water crisis, and unprecedented environmental pollution. (09/18/02) The Human Theater of the Absurd —III John Brand writes: The hypothalamus, an integral part of the limbic system, is the impresario of our emotional behavior. The genesis of our emotions can be traced back about 180,000,000 years to the therapsids. You may recall that what we may properly call the beginning of intellect had its origin no more about 3 to 5 million years ago. Is it any wonder that our emotions are far more powerful than our intellects? You know what happens when you try to discuss a problem rationally with someone who has deep feelings about the matter. It is mostly a waste of time, is it not? Emotions do not originate in our highest brain centers. They are primordial responses to external events. Neither gods nor devils cause our elation nor do they conspire to force us to act the brute. Our ancient brains provide the capability to either wear halos or to sprout horns. One of the critical factors to the survival as a free people depends upon our understanding the origin of our feelings. Most of us have a tendency to accord whatever behavior happens to occur at any given moment the same degree of authenticity. We do not realize that much of our behavior stems from the evolutionary heritage of animals less sophisticated than we are. Reason, logic, and linear thinking play no roles when emotions are aroused. In all probability neither religious dogmatists nor political charlatans know much about the genesis of human emotionality. However, they sure know how to use emotions to their advantage. (09/18/02) Howard Odum Dead New York Times -- Howard Thomas Odum, a founder of the modern science of ecology and an influential voice in the restoration of the Everglades, died on Wednesday. He was 78. ... Howard Odum, who founded the Center for Wetlands at the University of Florida, played a central role in environmental projects in that state. His study of the ecology of South Florida in the 1970's, financed by the state and the federal Department of the Interior, anticipated much of the Everglades restoration that is under way. Dr. Odum earned his doctorate in zoology from Yale in 1951. He taught at Florida, Duke, the University of Texas, the University of Puerto Rico and the University of North Carolina before returning to Florida in 1970. He wrote 15 books and more than 300 scientific papers. His most recent book, "A Prosperous Way Down" (2001), written with his wife, Elisabeth C. Odum, discusses the prospects for a prosperous future as supplies of fossil fuels dwindle. A revised edition of his 1971 book "Environment, Power and Society" is to be published next year. (09/18/02) The President Is Reading a Book, I’m Afraid Robert Higgs writes: President George W. Bush has been reading a book. At least, he claims to have been reading one. I know what you're thinking, but the First Shrub swears that he has been reading more than just the funny papers lately. We'd all be better off, however, if he had stuck to the comics. In an interview with an Associated Press reporter, Bush said that on his vacation he had been reading a recently published book by Eliot A. Cohen, "The Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen and Leadership in Wartime." Cohen is a well-known neocon war-hawk and all-around armchair warrior who professes "strategic studies" at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and, in his spare time, ponders mega-deaths (his own not included) with other lusty members of the Defense Policy Board. The quintessential civilian go-getter, he never met a war he didn't want to send somebody else to fight and die in. ...  So what are we to make of Bush's reading of this book, assuming that he really has been reading it? The short answer is that this is not good news for the world. (09/18/02) Let Them Eat Smoke—Power for U.S., Pollution for Mexico New York Times -- Here on the edge of Mexicali, a few miles from the California border, two huge power plants are rising in the desert, near a graveyard and a clutch of hovels. They will generate billions of watts for millions of Californians, a handful of jobs for Mexicans and pollution on both sides of the border. They are "what free trade is all about," says an official of InterGen, the company building one. But a California congressman calls placing the plants in Mexico a form of environmental imperialism. The plants will be the first of many built in Mexico specifically to provide power for the United States, says Mexico's energy secretary, Ernesto Martens. And that represents a new phase in relations between the two nations. ... Mexico's environmental law enforcement is weaker, its government less transparent, its desire for foreign capital bottomless. California's energy demand is enormous — as big as its citizens' resistance to huge power plants. ... Like California, Mexico is facing an energy crunch. The country needs at least 29,000 more megawatts over the next decade, at an expected cost of $30 billion — money Mexico does not have. The irony of exporting power when Mexicans need more — and when their electricity bills are doubling — is not lost on the populace. But support for the new plants among politicians is nearly total. Public opposition to the plants was muted by the fact that they were a done deal before the Mexican public knew anything about them. "There is no right to know in Mexico," said Fernando Medina, a social scientist in Mexicali. "Even had we known these plants would be built, no social or political force could stop them." (09/18/02) Simulating the Internet Eureka Alert! -- The global computer network--the Internet--has doubled every year for nearly 20 years. The problem is how to test new pieces of network software on such a grand scale. The traditional method is through computer simulation, such as the model of a jet cockpit in which beginning pilots start to learn how to fly a plane. ... "Why not create a virtual world to make software think it is in the real world?" , asks Srinidhi Varadarajan of Virginia Tech. Weaves can support both simulation and emulation testing, which was Varadarajan's first goal. "You can't test a piece of network software on 200-million computers," he said. Or even 5,000 computers. "But we can create hundreds of thousands of virtual machines that make software think it's running on a very large-scale network. This leads to the creation of a virtual Internet." (09/18/02) 200 Nuclear Weapons Missing! Drudge Report -- TWO hundred nuclear warheads have gone missing in a country suspected of selling high tech arms to Iraq, it emerged last night. ... The warheads, which have vanished in the former Soviet republic of Ukraine, contain enough highly-radioactive plutonium to destroy every capital in Europe and North America several times over. An opposition leader in Ukraine, which has a long history of selling radioactive materials, said that allegations of missing warheads had been confirmed in an investigation by the chaotic country's parliament. ... A Daily Express investigation today reveals how Saddam has used smuggled oil to pay for an illicit worldwide weapons network, breaking UN resolutions to import everything from helicopters to missile guidance systems. Iraq is believed to have made at least £1.3billion in unaccounted funds from smuggling last year alone. Fleets of trucks cross the Jordanian and Turkish border every day, returning unchecked by UN monitors with some carrying banned arms. Neighbour Syria has also reopened a disused pipeline in direct contravention of the UN embargo. Israeli intelligence sources say the two former enemies have been working together on building up Saddam's Scud missile capability, possibly allowing him to strike Israel using weapons of mass destruction. (09/17/02) 6:02:21 AM

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