Friday, November 07, 2003

TIME-BINDING: The General Theory Alfred Korzybki wrote in 1924: ALL HUMAN knowledge is conditioned and limited, at present, by the properties of light and human symbolism. The solution of all human problems depends upon inquiries into these two conditions and limitations. Einstein's theory is a fundamental inquiry and application of the known properties of light; the irrefutable minimum of his theory results in an entirely new world conception, as beautiful and cheerful as the old ones were gloomy and despairing. The minimum of our inquiry into the structure of human knowledge and symbolism is also irrefutable, and this beginning, imperfect as it may be, has already enormous beneficial consequences. Einstein's theory was the application of modern scientific methods to the universe, man excluded. The present inquiry includes man in the field of modern science. As a result, both theories meet on a common ground. The theory presented here is broader than Einstein's. It may be proved that the whole of the theory of relativity can be deduced from the application of correct symbolism to facts; so that the general theory of Time-binding includes the general theory of relativity as a particular case. For a full understanding this essay should be read twice, at least, because the beginning presupposes the end, and vice versa. This theory is built upon the minimum of the best ascertained scientific facts of 1924. Its scientific soundness has to be judged on theoretical grounds (1924). Its working cannot be judged by arguments, only by application. Fortunately, it works with the reader who has understood it. If it does not work, the reader has not understood. We cannot argue as to whether the sun is shining, we must go and see. In the case here presented, arguments alone are also not legitimate. Statements containing variables are called "propositional functions"; they are neither true nor false. When values are assigned to such variables the expressions become propositions, which are either true or false. (Russell.) Many words are names for stages of processes and are therefore variables, as for instance, "civilization", "science", "humanity", "mathematics", etc., etc. To generate a proposition with such words, we must assign to them a value through the use of co-ordinates. For our purpose, it will be sufficient to use only the time-co-ordinate, which will be indicated by the year in parenthesis, such as "science (1924)." Obviously "science (1924)" is a different affair from "science (1500)," or "science (300 B. C.)." In the field of this investigation the term "science" means, for the majority, "science (300 B. C.)," or, at best, "science (1800 A. D.)." For such readers, this inquiry will be incomprehensible. ...  (11/07/03) Healing the Land Lisa M. Hamilton writes about master farmer Reiji Murota: “Of all the things we have done to the earth, agriculture has caused the most devastation.” It’s a controversial statement, to say the least, but there’s no debate on the edge of this onion field. Before anyone questions it, Reiji Murota begins making his point—not as an argument, but as instruction. In his opinion the most unnatural state for upland soil is to be bare. And yet this is an integral stage of modern agriculture’s standard process: plant a whole field, harvest a whole field, leave it bare until the time comes to plant again. Taking crops off the land inevitably extracts some life from the field, even in Murota’s plots. But that stripping off a layer of life to leave the ground uncovered spoils the soil’s natural ability to heal itself. Without this vital element, the fields become dependent on additives—it’s a tale familiar enough to Western ears. But now Murota veers from the beaten path. In nature, he says, the soil always has a layer of something growing on top, which is what allows it to recuperate. To emulate this, he keeps his fields in constant production. This doesn’t mean back-to-back monocrops—even a half-acre in a single crop means the ground must sometimes be entirely bare. Instead he keeps the soil covered by planting in tandem. “Whenever I plant one thing,” he says, “I’m always thinking what I’ll plant with it.” ... It makes sense, even if it is odd to see a farmer plan his fields around a technique normally associated with home gardens. What doesn’t add up is the third companion plant in this field, a vestige of the backyard that seems inherently incompatible with commercial agriculture. After every 11 rows of the squash-onion rotation, the dirt fades into a strip of shaggy grass and a line of arakashi or konara trees, trees of the oak family. Even after a short time on Kishima Island I have realized that Natural Agriculture doesn’t follow the same rules as farming where I come from. (Quite frankly, because financial gain is almost an afterthought, it doesn’t have to.) Yet aren’t trees fundamentally opposed to row-crop farming? They suck up water, eliminate sunlight, and (mostly) yield no crop themselves. Murota, always looking at the macrocosm, sees it differently. Kishima Island’s greatest problem is the climate: there is very little rain, and the near constant winds blow away what moisture does come through. The effects were devastating during the time of his predecessors, who razed the island’s forests to make room for fields, leaving the ground totally exposed. So when Murota took over, the first thing he did was plant trees. (11/07/03) More for Less: Wrist Cell Phone BBC Technology -- Throw away your earpiece, soon your finger could be helping you make and take calls via your mobile phone. Japanese phone firm NTT DoCoMo has created a wristwatch phone that uses its owner's finger as an earpiece. The gadget, dubbed Finger Whisper, uses a wristband to convert the sounds of conversation to vibrations that can be heard when the finger is placed in the ear. So far NTT has given no date for when a commercial version will go on sale. The wristband for the watchphone is key to the device's many features. According to reports the Finger Whisper phone is answered by touching forefinger to thumb and then by putting the forefinger in the ear to hear who is ringing. The call is ended by again touching forefinger to thumb. ... The sound converting wristband on the watch phone is also fitted with a microphone that the phone owner can talk into. The phone has no keypad but users can make a call by saying out loud the number they want to reach. Voice recognition electronics built in to the wristband decipher what has been said and dial the number.  (11/07/03) Oil Tanker continues Polluting BBC Environment -- Almost a year after she sank, the tanker Prestige is still polluting the picturesque coast of north-west Spain. Campaigners say thousands of tonnes of her cargo are floating offshore, and occasionally washing on to the beaches. They say the oil spilt and the coast affected by the loss of the Prestige exceed the damage caused by the Exxon Valdez accident in Alaska in 1989. The Prestige spill is estimated to have killed 300,000 seabirds, making it one of Europe's worst wildlife disasters. The campaigners, from WWF, formerly known as the Worldwide Fund for Nature, accuse the Spanish Government of failing to clean up the coast of Galicia, the province worst affected by the spill. ... they say the tanker has spilt 64,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil, 60% more than estimated at first. The report says 5-10,000 tonnes are still floating offshore, with some reaching the coast from time to time - and 13,000 tonnes remain in the wreck. The vessel sank on 19 November 2002, polluting about 3,000 kilometres (1,800 miles) of coastline. The economic cost of the disaster to fishing and tourism is put at about 5bn euros (£3.4bn). The report criticises Spain for re-opening the fishing grounds too soon, and says some local fishermen's groups say their catches have fallen by 80%. (11/07/03) UK to Clean Up America's Trash BBC Environment -- The UK courts have blocked work on dismantling four obsolete US navy ships which allegedly represent an environmental danger. ... The four ships on their way to England are part of a 70-strong "ghost fleet" of World War II-era US navy ships considered obsolete, and in need of disposal. The rest are currently moored off Fort Eustis in Virginia as part of the US navy's reserve fleet. There was a lot of argument about how to dispose of the fleet in America, but it was agreed the four ships and nine others still in the US would form a pilot project, authorised by Congress, to be disposed of in an environmentally sound manner. A contract worth nearly $15m (£9m) was awarded to Post-Service Remediation Partners of New York, which is now a subsidiary of Able UK. The company has a ship yard in Hartlepool on Teesside - and that is where the ships are heading. Two of the four ships - the Canisteo and the Caloosahatchee - were oil tankers, but the ships also contain toxins like asbestos, lead, mercury, and polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. ... The environmentalists in America and the UK fighting the arrival of the ships say they are very old and fragile, could break up at any time in stormy seas and that some have already leaked oil at the base in Virginia. Britain's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds says Able's site in the UK is close to important wildlife sites, and there have been no cast-iron guarantees that recycling work will not have adverse impacts on the ecosystem in Teesside. The environmental groups in the US say they should be returned directly to a recycling facility in America, but only in favourable weather conditions and with an emergency response vessel accompanying them. ... In Britain a High Court judge has granted an injunction, banning any work taking place on the ships, until the week beginning 8 December, and demanding that if the ships come to port, no work should take place on them except for measures to make and keep them safe. The court will hear legal argument from the environmental group, Friends of the Earth, that a modification to the licence that allowed Able UK to recycle the ship is invalid - and anyway, the licence does not cover ships. In addition, the Environment Agency says there are a variety of other permissions and authorisations Able UK need to carry out the work. (11/07/03) 10:17:11 AM

© TrustMark 2003 Timothy Wilken. Last update: 12/3/2003; 10:21:57 AM. This theme is based on the SoundWaves (blue) Manila theme.