Tuesday, February 04, 2003

SYNERGY: Nature's Magic Peter Corning writes: When Arthur Koestler, the famed novelist and respected polymath, penned those words more than 30 years ago, he was seeking to draw our attention to a phenomenon that is greatly underrated and vastly more important even than Koestler imagined. I call it nature’s magic. Grand theories are commonplace these days. It seems that new ideas must shout to be heard. So the claims for this book may sound like hyperbole as usual. The thesis, in brief, is that synergy -- a vaguely familiar term to many of us -- is actually one of the great governing principles of the natural world. It has been a wellspring of creativity in the evolution of the universe, and it has greatly influenced the overall trajectory of life on earth. It has played a decisive role in the emergence of humankind. It is vital to the workings of every modern society. And it is no exaggeration to say that our ultimate fate depends upon it. All this may sound like so much dust-jacket rhetoric, but the "Synergism Hypothesis" (as I call it) is a serious scientific theory that is fully consistent with Darwin's theory, and with the canons of the physical, biological and social sciences, not to mention the new science of complexity. The theory, in a nutshell, is that synergy is not only a ubiquitous effect in nature; it has also played a key causal role in the evolutionary process. It has been at once the fountainhead and the raison d’etre for the progressive increase in complexity over the broad span of evolutionary history. Far from being law-like and predictable, however, this trend has always involved an open-ended, creative, historically-constrained experiment in which economic criteria (broadly defined) have predominated. Complexity – in nature and human societies alike -- is not the product of some inexorable force, or mechanism, or “law”. It has been shaped by the immediate functional advantages -- the “payoffs” -- arising from various forms of synergy. (02/05/03) U.S. Chooses Saddam's Successor The Sidney Morning Herald -- The United States has chosen a successor to Saddam Hussein from Iraq's notoriously fractious opposition groups, according to a former Iraqi diplomat who lives in Sydney. Mohamed al-Jabiri, who has just returned from in talks with Washington, said the White House has given its "blessing" to the head of the Iraqi National Congress, Ahmed Chalabi, to lead a transitional coalition government in Iraq once Saddam has been deposed. Dr al-Jabiri, who talked to Mr Chalabi over the phone last month, said: "He told me that he would take over. He has the blessing of the White House and the State Department." (02/05/03) Computer Worm disabled the Internet in just Ten Minutes! The Independent -- The "SQL Slammer" computer worm that brought much of the internet to a halt last week spread worldwide in 10 minutes, making it the fastest such infection seen, security experts said yesterday. In its early stages the number of machines infected by the worm was doubling in size every 8.5 seconds, according to a team led by David Moore of the University of California at San Diego. "At its peak, achieved approximately three minutes after it was released, the worm scanned 55 million internet hosts per second. It infected at least 75,000 victims, and probably considerably more," said a member of the team. (02/05/03) NASA Memo: Potential for Large Damage CNN News -- A few days before the Columbia shuttle disaster, NASA noted that debris that hit the left wing during takeoff created "the potential for a large damage area to the tile." ... Regarding the debris hit on the left wing last discussed in the Fourth Daily Report; systems integration personnel performed a debris trajectory analysis to estimate the debris impact conditions and locations. This analysis was performed utilizing the reported observations from the ascent video and film. It was assumed that the debris was foam from the external tank. Based on the results of the trajectory analysis, an impact analysis was performed to assess the potential damage to the tile and radial carbon carbon (RCC). The impact analysis indicates the potential for a large damage area to the tile. Damage to the RCC should be limited to coating only and have no mission impact. Additionally, thermal analyses were performed for different locations and damage conditions. The damage conditions included one tile missing down to the densified layer of the tile and multiple tiles missing over an area of about 7 in by 30 in. These thermal analyses indicate possible localized structural damage but no burn-through, and no safety of flight issue.  Did NASA miss an opportunity to rescue the Astronauts? (02/04/03) http://www.synearth.net/ 11:05:17 PM     End the Double Taxation of Work Income Synergic economist Wayne Perg writes: Now that the Bush administration has established that double-taxation of income is unfair, that deficits don’t matter and that tax cuts will pay for themselves, it is time to end the double-taxation of work income. Workers, both wage earners and the self-employed, pay income taxes on the OASDI (social security) taxes that are taken out of their paycheck (wage earners) or that they pay when they make their quarterly estimated tax payments (self-employed). This is not only unfair, it discourages work and, therefore, reduces employment and output. By reducing work, employment, and output, it reduces savings and investment, thus reducing growth. The equitable way to eliminate this unfair double-taxation is to provide for a tax credit equal to what the income taxes would be on the OASDI taxes paid by workers and the self-employed, calculated at the highest statutory marginal income tax rate. This tax credit will end the double taxation of work income and assure every worker of receiving the same dollar income tax reduction for any given amount of OASDI tax paid, regardless of the worker’s marginal tax rate. Workers whose tax credit exceeds their income tax liability (the working poor) will receive a refund equal to the excess of the credit over income tax due. (02/04/03) Proposed U.S. Budget 2.2 Trillion Dollars Yahoo! News -- President Bush sent Congress a $2.23 trillion spending plan Monday that would accelerate tax cuts to bolster the weak economy, overhaul some of the government's biggest social programs and shower billions of additional dollars on defense and homeland security. Even though hundreds of other government programs would be squeezed, the president projects the deficit will still hit record highs of $304 billion this year and $307 billion in 2004. Over the next five years, deficits would total $1.08 trillion. Interestingly, 2.23 trillion dollars divided by 291 million U.S. citizens equals a $7594.00 share for each citizen. This is what one year of federal government services would cost every man, woman and child in America. Duh! This sounds like Bankruptcy to me. (02/04/03) 3D Ultrasound allows Non-Invasive Diagnosis of Heart BBC Science -- Surgeons can, for the first time, see live, 3D images of a beating heart without having to carry out exploratory surgery. The state-of-the-state technology is already being tested by a team at King's College Hospital, London. ... The device, the Philips Live 3D echo machine, works by using ultrasound in a similar way to the method used by submarines to navigate. High frequency sound waves are sent into the body via a handheld scanner that is passed over the area that needs to be viewed. These sound waves are then reflected back to the hand-scanner as they encounter internal organs, bones and tissue, producing varying pitched echoes. A computer processor converts all the data that the scanner has gathered into 3D images. ...  Dr Mark Monaghan, cardiac clinical director at King's, said: "This equipment means that we can see views of the heart that were previously unobtainable. "It means more accurate and quicker diagnosis of problems because the images show the structure and function of the heart as it actually is. (02/03/03) Improving your Vision Naturally Anthony Attenborough writes: The Bates Method for Improving Eyesight is a method discovered at the beginning of this century by Dr. W. H. Bates, M.D. (1865-1931), a prominent American ophthalmologist, and developed by him and his followers to improve sight and restore natural habits of seeing, which have been lost through strain, tension and the resulting misuse of the eyes. Thus the aim of the method is to teach people with problems of vision the faculty of easy and attentive seeing whereby the eyes and mind work together harmoniously to give good sight. Since the Bates Method is a means to improve sight and restore the natural use of the eyes by re-learning the art and skill of seeing, it is not, therefore a medical treatment, but a method of re-education, in the form of both active learning, such as learning a skill like drawing and painting or how to play tennis, and also the receptive awareness of how to appreciate what we see, such as the appreciation of a painting, a beautiful garden or a cathedral. Good sight is thus the result of a relaxed state of mind and body, whereby the individual person feels a direct contact with the surrounding world through the five senses. Poor sight, on the other hand, is the result of tension, where the person is, to a greater or lesser extent, isolated from the outside world through being locked in a pattern of psycho-physical tensions, such as worry, anxiety, rigidity, day-dreaming, boredom, confusion, impatience, etc. (02/04/03) 6:30:03 AM

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