Friday, February 20, 2004

When Lose/Win becomes Lose/Lose Barry Carter writes: If we go into an Information Age and develop no more emotional intelligence and spiritual awareness than we have today, then we'll simply destroy ourselves out of the fear derived from our lose/win paradigm. Today we are like a group of five year olds who are having our Play Dough replaced with plastic explosives. We are in fact a civilization of children with enormous potential to destroy or create. False neural associations are why we can see the irrationality behind someone else's actions when they cannot see it. Others can see our irrational behavior and we cannot see it. To the person performing the irrational behavior, it is perfectly rational. His or her brain is simply calculating from its false neural associations and therefore the action appears logical. The person viewing the irrational behavior does not have the same false neural associations. He is able to see the irrational behavior clearly. It is not uncommon to hear someone in this position ask, "Why in the world would he behave this way?" Paradigms tell us that there are different realities depending upon one's perspective. Our false neural associations create paradigms and our different realities. As we watch a gang member on news programs and listen to their rationality, we easily see where it is warped. We also see the gang member's logic. We can see from his conviction that there is clear logic and reasonableness from his paradigm. We can see this in the Mid-East conflict. We saw it with Hitler, as well as slavery, South Africa, and the holocaust of the Indians. Though there are many extreme cases, the vast majority of our problems stem from our small daily conflicts and mis-perceptions. This is because all people have false neural associations. They effect us, and hold us back in many ways. Though they helped us survive in a lose/win era, today they have become destructive, self-destructive and self-defeating. Our false neural associations are, therefore, today threatening society with death by a thousand cuts. (02/20/04) A Future Without Oil If we are running out of crude oil and natural gas, as some of the best scientists and engineers in the energy field are telling us,  we have big problems.  Think back for a moment to the year 1801, only two hundred years ago, that was a time when there was no gasoline, no refined oil, no natural gas, and no electrical power derived from oil and gas. As a thought experiment, try to  imagine what life was like at the beginning of the 19th century. If you were transported back two hundred years, how would the lack of petroleum affect your lifestyle? While we might accurately imagine the loss of cheap energy from petroleum, most of us would overlook the 70,000 products that are manufactured using petroleum as a raw feedstock. This includes plastics, acrylics, cosmetics, paints, varnishes, asphalts, fertilizers, medications, etc., etc., etc.. Now, in addition to our loss of cheap energy and the 70,000 products that you and I have come to depend on, imagine our sharing that impoverished Earth with six billion other humans? ... In today's lead article at CommUnity of Minds, Perry Arnett envisioning a near future without oil writes: The natural gas 'cliff' will hit 2007-2010; (because natural gas production is largely self-pressurized in the well, when a NG well quits it is usually sudden and without any previous signals, unlike an oil well where there are signs in advance of its depletion that it is beginning to "go dry"; thus the 'end' of NG is described as being not a peak, but rather as a 'cliff'). As the NG cliff is reached, electricity generation will be the first to be effected and with that, will go primary industries like mining, smelting, metal fabrication and the like. [witness the shutting down ALREADY of aluminum smelters in the Pacific NW, and fertilizer and ammonia production facilities all over the world - due to electricity costs/availability] The first major effects of oil peak will have occurred by ~2012? - this coming just a few years after the NG cliff!; the availability of electricity in the US will soon be on a par with electricity availability in say, China or Ukraine now; spotty, rationed, rolling blackouts, and less and less of it each month, until - Some day soon, ~2010-15? the Net will go down - and never come back up; some time after that ~2015-2020? the US electrical grid will go down, - and never come back up. As soon as those two events occur, life "as we know it" will have been changed forever. All chemical processing, petroleum refining, mining, agriculture, auto manufacturing, all telcom-driven international credit, finance and banking will cease; (by 'all', I mean such a large percentage of the existing activity as to call it 'all' for our purpose here). Auto manufacturing will have ceased by ~2012-2015? (there being either or both no gasoline with which to drive them and little electricity with which to make them); used SUV's may be selling for a loaf of bread or a pound of sugar by ~2015; by ~2015 there will probably be no air travel except for very high muckymucks in government - which will be so rare people will step outside and point up in the sky again....; Most schools and universities will have closed by ~2017-2020? - no heat, no lights, no money for teachers, no internet, no need...; roads and freeways will have been so unmaintained that by ~2013-2016? they will be effectively useless. Elevators in most buildings will have stopped running by ~2012-2015?, making commerce, insurance, banking, pensions, annuities, bond, commodity and equity markets dysfunctional. I've left out the obvious "resource wars" (oil, NG, water, chrome, molybdenum, etc....) currently, and soon to be "in a theater near you"... (02/20/04) The Beginnings of Human Intelligence BBC Science -- The human brain may have started evolving its unique characteristics much earlier than has previously been supposed, according to new research. Hominid brains were being reorganised before the growth in brain size thought to have established a gulf between human and ape abilities, it is claimed. The conclusions come from analysis of a small-brained fossil hominid - or human-like primate - from South Africa. The authors report their findings in the journal Comptes Rendus Palevol. Because the brain creates a mirror image of its surface inside the skull, scientists can create a cast - or endocast - by applying several layers of rubber paint to the cavity. When dry, this leaves a hollow rubber model of the brain that can be removed. The researchers studied an endocast of the brain of Stw 505, a hominid specimen belonging to the species Australopithecus africanus that was unearthed in the Sterkfontein caves in South Africa in the 1980s. Stw 505 is between two and three million years old. When differences in size are discounted, the overall form of human and ape brains is remarkably similar. One of a handful of differences between them is the position of the primary visual striate cortex (PVC), an area of the brain devoted exclusively to vision. The boundary of this region is defined by an arching depression in the brain's surface called the lunate sulcus. In the ape brain, this feature is situated further forward than it is in human brains and is therefore larger. Other researchers had claimed the PVC only decreased in size once the brain had grown substantially in overall size. This occurred only once big-brained Homo - the hominid group that includes humans - appeared on the scene around 2.4 million years ago, not before, they claimed. Australopithecines evolved before Homo, and their brains were similar in size to those of chimpanzees. (02/20/04) Vaccine for Black Plague BBC Health -- UK researchers have made a crucial breakthrough in the development of a vaccine against the 'Black Death'. The bubonic plague, which killed millions in Europe in the Middle Ages, is now one of the most deadly agents available to terrorists. Researchers at the Ministry of Defence's Porton Down laboratory say a vaccine could be licensed "within one to two years". Around 2,500 cases of plague occur naturally each year across the world. It is caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium that can infect rodents. It is usually transferred to humans by fleas. After someone has been infected, symptoms including fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and swollen lymph nodes which ooze blood, develop within two to eight days. If it is untreated, bubonic plague kills around 60% of victims. A vaccine could be used to protect troops against the dangers of biological warfare, and to protect people living in areas where the plague is rife. Porton Down researchers, led by Professor Rick Titball, recently carried out safety tests of the vaccine in humans. They showed the vaccine produced no side-effects, meaning larger scale trials can go ahead. A spokeswoman for Porton Down said: "This is a crucial stage, in that we have had one successful step to show the safety of the vaccine. Now we can move onto larger scale trials." Professor Titball and his team identified two harmless proteins on the surface of plague bacteria which were capable of triggering an immune response against the disease. He said work on a vaccine was even more significant now, as international terrorist organisations such as al-Qaeda could try to use non-conventional forms of attack, such as chemical or biological weapons. Professor Titball warned a terrorist with a degree in microbiology would be capable of constructing a device using plague bacteria. He said it was "one of the bio-terror agents about which we are most concerned." Scientists at Porton Down have been working on a vaccine for bubonic plague since the 1991 Gulf War, when it emerged that Iraq had been developing stocks of chemical and biological weapons including plague, anthrax and botulinum toxin. (02/20/04) Electricity Good for Your Smile BBC Health -- Electric toothbrushes may be better at removing plaque and preventing gum disease than manual brushes, according to a study. British researchers reviewed 29 dental trials involving 1,786 people. They found that those who used electric brushes had lower levels of plaque and less gum disease. But writing in the Journal of Dentistry, they said more research was needed before they could say which brand was best. Sales of electric toothbrushes have rocketed in recent years. However, there has been little evidence on how effective they are. Researchers from the Edinburgh Dental Institute and three British universities analysed all of the available research in this area. They found that people who used an electric toothbrush for one month reduced their plaque levels by 11% compared with those who used manual brushes. They also reduced their chances of developing gum disease by 6%. After three months, that figure increased to 17%. "Brushes with a rotation oscillation action removed more plaque and reduced gingivitis more effectively than manual brushes in both the short and long-term," the researchers wrote. ... A spokeswoman for the British Dental Association (BDA) said: "The way you use your toothbrush is just as important as the one you choose. "The BDA recommends you use a brush with a small head as it's easier to move around the mouth and to get into the gaps where food debris and plaque can lurk. Brushing in a circular motion is the best way to brush, which is why the electric brushes with an oscillating head have come out best in the study." (02/20/04) Bush Government Unscientific BBC Science -- President Bush's administration has been accused of suppressing and distorting scientific findings that run counter to its own political beliefs. The charge comes from an American body, the Union of Concerned Scientists, in a statement with more than 60 supporters. The signatories, who include 12 Nobel Prize winners, say scientific integrity must be restored to policy-making. The White House called the statement "disappointing" and said decisions were taken on the best available science. The UCS chairman is Dr Kurt Gottfried, emeritus professor of physics at Cornell University. He said: "Across a broad range of issues, the administration has undermined the quality of the scientific advisory system and the morale of the government's outstanding scientific personnel. "Whether the issue is lead paint, clean air or climate change, this behaviour has serious consequences for all Americans." Dr Gottfried said: "We're not... taking issue with the administration's policies. We're taking issue with the administration's distortion... of the science related to some of its policies." Russell Train, one of the statement's supporters, headed the Environmental Protection Agency under former Republican Presidents Nixon and Ford. He said: "Science, to quote President Bush's father, the former president, relies on freedom of inquiry and objectivity. "But this administration has obstructed that freedom and distorted that objectivity in ways that were unheard of in any previous administration." Dr Sherwood Rowland, who won a Nobel Prize for his studies of atmospheric ozone, said the consensus of scientific opinion on climate change was being ignored. (02/20/04)     . 6:20:38 AM

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