Monday, May 19, 2003

The Power Of Stupidity Giancarlo Livraghi writes: I have always been fascinated with Stupidity. My own, of course; and that’s a big enough cause of anxiety. But things get much worse when one has a chance to find out how Big People take Big Decisions. We generally tend to blame awful decisions on intentional perversity, astute mischievousness, megalomania, etc. They are there, all right; but any careful study of history, or current events, leads to the invariable conclusion that the single biggest source of terrible mistakes is sheer stupidity. When it combines with other factors (as happens quite often) the results can be devastating. One of the many examples of stupidity is that intrigue and powermongering are called “machiavellian”. Obviously nobody has read his books, as that is not what old Niccolò meant. Another thing that surprises me (or does it?) is the very little amount of study dedicated to such an important subject. There are University departments for the mathematical complexities in the movements of Amazonian ants, or the medieval history of Perim island; but I have never heard of any Foundation or Board of Trustees supporting any studies of Stupidology. (05/19/03) More Thoughts on Humanity's Salvation Joseph George Caldwell, Ph.D. writes: Now, what started this focus was my reading Neale Donald Walsch and his Conversations with God series. ... In a nutshell, Walsch is an advocate of moral relativism (also called humanism, new spiritualism, New Age spiritualism, secularism, and other terms).  Walsch’s view is that God created man – and all life – in order for him to enjoy (sense, realize, express, manifest – it is not clear what is the right word here) their experiences, in order to enjoy (etc.) the experience of being “not God.”  The fundamental purpose of human life, and indeed of all life, is to experience and enjoy life to the fullest extent possible. ... The general approach to Walsch’s moral relativism is reasonable in concept: understand the problem or challenge that you are facing, synthesize alternative solutions (this is a creative activity), evaluate them with respect to your feelings and knowledge, and pick the one that seems best.  The difficulty is in the implementation.  The devil is in the details! Under the concept of moral relativism, what “works” best for a single person or family may be quite different from what “works” best for a large organization or for the planet (in mathematical terms, a “local” optimum may differ from a “global” optimum).  To judge whether something is good for the human race, Walsch advises to ask yourself the question, “What would happen if everyone did it?” It should also be recognized that what “works” for one person or culture may be quite different from what “works” for another.  For Moslem nations, for example, it “works” to stone adulterous females.  In Christian nations, they are simply “forgiven,” and death by stoning would not “work” at all.  This is one of the tremendous advantages of moral relativism over absolute morality.  The moral code is adapted to the situation and circumstances of the time and place.  The difference between relative and absolute morality is somewhat like the difference between English common law and Napoleonic (French) law.  The former attempts to set forth general principles of justice, whereas the latter attempts to write down laws for treating each specific instance. (05/19/03) Adult Stem Cells hold Great Promise New Scientist -- In a claim that could profoundly affect the future of stem cell research, scientists at biotech giant Genzyme say that many supposedly different kinds of adult stem cells are in fact indistinguishable. Stem cells hold enormous promise for treating disease. The experiments appeared in a little-noticed paper late in 2002 (Tissue Engineering, vol 8, p 739), but are now gaining attention. If the conclusions are correct - and this is far from settled - those in the field may be in for quite a ride. At issue are basic questions about how many different types of adult stem cells there are, what they are capable of and how to distinguish between them, not to mention who owns the patent rights. Because adult stem cells are present in everyone, they are easier to obtain than the embryonic stem cells taken from 10-day-old embryos, and far less controversial. Until recently, however, it was thought they had only limited potential. That changed in 2002, when Catherine Verfaillie of the University of Minnesota discovered "multipotent adult progenitor cells", or MAPCs, apparently capable of giving rise to all tissues in the body, just like embryonic stem cells. (05/19/03) 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' New York Times: Books -- Bill Bryson, hitherto principally a travel writer, had gotten into the project when on a plane flight to his latest exotic destination he peered out the cabin window, beheld the wide moonlit oceanscape below, and all at once it struck him, ''with a certain uncomfortable forcefulness,'' he says, ''that I didn't know the first thing about the only planet I was ever going to live on.'' ... So he ransacked the sciences, read books and articles, consulted the experts, and he found out.  ...the more I read of ''A Short History of Nearly Everything,'' the more I was convinced that Bryson had achieved exactly what he'd set out to do, and, moreover, that he'd done it in stylish, efficient, colloquial and stunningly accurate prose. We learn what the material world is like from the smallest quark to the largest galaxy and at all the levels in between. The basic facts of physics, chemistry, biology, botany, climatology, geology -- all these and many more are presented with exceptional clarity and skill. (05/19/03) Extinction threatens Griffon Vultures New Scientist -- Scientists are reporting a first glimmer of hope in their battle against a mystery disease that has decimated India's griffon vultures. Two birds afflicted by the deadly disease appear to have been nursed back to health by researchers at a new laboratory. An understanding of the disease is urgently needed. Firstly, the three resident species in India are almost wiped out, with the slender-billed vulture unique to India having fewer than 300 birds left. Secondly, new satellite tracking data have shocked scientists by revealing that the closely related Eurasian vulture migrates much farther than they had thought, and could therefore carry the killer disease from India to griffon vultures in Europe, Africa and across Asia. (05/19/03) 'Our Final Hour' New York Times: Books -- Martin Rees, Britain's Astronomer Royal, a professor at Cambridge University, one of the world's most brilliant cosmologists and a longtime arms control advocate, gives civilization as we know it only a 50-50 chance of surviving the 21st century. The proposal for ''Our Final Hour,'' a breezy but deadpan recital of all the possible ways that the sky could fall on us, was so depressing, Rees has said, that his agent had a hard time selling it. But that was before 9/11. The choices we make in the next few decades, Rees contends, could decide the fate of life not only on Earth but beyond, either ensuring its survival -- if we can diversify into space -- or dooming it forever. ''It may not be absurd hyperbole -- indeed, it may not even be an overstatement -- to assert that the most crucial location in space and time (apart from the Big Bang itself) could be here and now,'' he writes. (05/19/03) Listening to Mother BBC Health -- It has long been known that a baby can recognise its mother's voice shortly after birth. But now new research goes further - it seems a baby responds to its mother when it is still in the womb. Hearing her voice is enough to start its heart racing, scientists in Canada have found. This may help the unborn child learn and develop language ability as well as helping the bonding process. It was discovered a few years ago that foetuses can hear by the third trimester of pregnancy. The researcher, Dr Barbara Kisilevsky, has now found that full-term infants in the womb respond to their mother's voice. She came to this conclusion by carrying out a novel experiment with colleagues in China. Audiotapes were played to 60 pregnant women to see how the developing child responded to the voice of either its mother or a female stranger. The scientists found the baby's heart-rate speeded up when it heard its mother but slowed down in response to a stranger's voice. (05/19/03) Mystery Eye Disease Blinding Children BBC Health -- The disease, called optic neuropathy, attacks the optic nerve, destroying it in the most acute cases. The problem is nobody knows exactly what causes the condition or why it occurs in very specific parts of the world, such as Tanzania. While doctors continue to ponder the causes of optic neuropathy, Teddy Kaiweni's major concern is how she is going to continue studying. For the last three weeks Teddy has been experiencing pains in her eyes and blurred vision, symptoms which appear to be worsening by the day. It's beginning to seriously affect her daily life. "At school I am having a lot of problems reading what the teacher writes on the board. I have to get up from my desk to take a closer look or ask my friends to help me. This is very embarrassing and disruptive. I wonder if I can continue studying but most of all I am worried about going blind." ... since then the number of cases has grown dramatically. Most of those cases have been young people in the coastal region. Research published in 1988 suggests that at least 5,000 children in Dar es Salaam alone had the condition. (05/19/03) 5:54:38 AM

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