As I sit here on my couch, wired up to the greatest source of information humanity has ever known, I find myself returning to the same places on the internet and being less interested in them. I feel as though I am approaching the end of the intellectual interest that my personality can sustain. This is troubling because I haven't been someone who just does the things they like and doesn't wonder, question, or think. On the other hand, I am not someone who becomes obsessed with an area of knowledge and delves deeper and deeper into that area. If I was such a person I would be a successful professional at something.
I am a generalist, someone who is interested in many things at a medium level. I am interested enough in physics to have a basic idea of how the Universe is structured, interested in chemistry to have a basic knowledge of the building blocks of the Universe. I'm interested in history to see if there are common themes, to see if people have changed over time, to have some working knowledge on what effects the modern world. I'm interested in literature in that I like to read good books, I'm interested in art in that I like to look at beautiful things and to find out what is beautiful.
I am not interested in determining whether the logistics of the supply train for Assyrians limited the expansion of their empire, or whether the best guess for M-Theory is 13 or 26 dimensions, or what is the precise nature of covalent bonding in organic chemicals.
The problem arises when a certain amount of knowledge is attained that serves a functional purposes and that further knowledge requires unnecessary effort for diminishing returns. I have a physical worldview, a position on religion, a belief about human nature, a strong opinion on what makes sense as a political structure, I know what I like in art and literature, I have a decent understanding of cultures around the world (probably better than anyone who lived before the 18th century). I'm probably less than halfway through my life and I've answered pretty much all the questions I've had up until now.
I have also found that I am pretty good at predicting what I find interesting or pleasant. That is that it seems quite unlikely that should I just really try to examine Shakespeare in great depth that I will like it more than when I read Shakespeare now. It is unlikely that I will find great satisfaction from examining the bonding structure of the Yanamamo in greater detail.
I find myself really in a position where I am interested in having skills, but not in the process to get there. I wish to be able to speak spanish, to have written a novel, to be an accomplished musician, to be a PhD. in Philosophy, but not very interested in what it takes to get there. I am faced with the edge of what is natural for me to learn, and what comes next requires effort.
I think what I need is stimulation, intelligent people who say something new and interesting. Or a place that I have not been and know little about. Or some new field of interest of which I was unaware. Time to travel, explore, learn.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Stupidity and Ignorance
This is just something that has bothered me personally, and I will hope to broaden the scope of it. There are grown, educated, professional people in the world who believe that scientists are close-minded people who dogmatically stick to current opinion and won't even consider viable alternatives. One viable alternative suggested to me recently was the paranormal, that the anecdotal evidence for the afterlife and other paranormal events is so high that scientists should be putting their time and efforts into extensive research in the area. The guy says that for him the evidence is convincing enough that it is his opinion that there is an afterlife. The evidence he gave was from here and I urge you to take just a little time to look around.
The author of the site in question is a retired worker's compensation lawyer from Australia. Those are his qualifications. Some of the stuff is mind-bogglingly stupid and yet a number of people who can read, write, hold down jobs, engage in theological and philosophical debate, feel that his position is stronger than scientists who dismiss his claims. Here's an example of why this is stupid and ignorant,
The reason that scientists don't put much effort into finding out about paranormal activity is that if paranormal activity is true, basically all of physics (laws of conservation of mass and energy, momentum, laws of thermodynamics and so on) would all have to be false, and they have been tested to an incredible level. On the other hand people seeing things that aren't there, being mistaken about phenomena, being hoodwinked by charlatans, having odd sensations caused by events in the brain are all proven facts, replicated time and again. There are scientific explanations for these events that fit with tested science. While scientists are enormously motivated by finding out new things they are not motivated by proving stuff that seems nonsense according to accepted fact is nonsense.
So why do people believe this stuff? It's a combination of enormous ignorance, personal arrogance, and selfish desire.
Science is simply not taught in the USA to most people at any reasonable level at all. I have had a number of conversations with people who believe in evolution who don't know how it works. I've had conversations with adults who don't believe in evolution because no-one has ever seen a dog give birth to a cat. People don't know what dimensions are or how equations work. I would say that the overwhelming majority of Americans simply don't know even the basics of what science has worked out about their world.
Personal arrogance comes through in the belief that what an individual has felt or seen is more likely to be true than all the controlled experiments in the world. A particular experience that a person has, that they feel that they prayed for their friends and their friends got better, is more true than the repeated double-blind experiments that show that prayer doesn't heal to that person. People think that if they saw something their perception of that event is more correct than all the work of all the scientists throughout time. In the USA it is common to find people who think that scientists are a world-wide cabal bent on defeating God, and who lie, cheat and steal, and can't be trusted. These people tend to write this stuff on computers and go to their doctors.
Selfish desire is really the crux of the matter. People don't believe in non-scientific things that make their lives, hopes and dreams worse off. People don't believe that the afterlife is where they will go to live lives of drudgery under Hitler's lash. They don't believe that we are simply pawns of demons, or that the Universe is pointless, random and arbitrary. People believe that they will live eternally, that those who they loved and have died are still around, that they might have special magic powers of prophecy and insight.
Mostly I'm just sick of having conversations with people who have no idea of what is going on and describe my position (that what science has established to be true is our best guess as to what is actually true) as a close-minded, dogmatic religion.
The author of the site in question is a retired worker's compensation lawyer from Australia. Those are his qualifications. Some of the stuff is mind-bogglingly stupid and yet a number of people who can read, write, hold down jobs, engage in theological and philosophical debate, feel that his position is stronger than scientists who dismiss his claims. Here's an example of why this is stupid and ignorant,
They argue that Einstein's formula E=mc2 — energy equals mass to the speed of light, shows that mass 'm' is equivalent to energy 'E'.So, people, and dead people in particular, materialize and de-materalize by converting their matter into energy, moving that energy at beyond the speed of light, and then slowing down the movement and converting back to energy moving at the speed of light which converts into matter. This is said to be the only possible sense to be made of Einstein's equation. The thing is that Einstein's theories require all their assertions to be false. If all the mass in a person's body became energy it would destroy the earth. Energy cannot move faster than the speed of light. If matter was moving at the speed of light it would be hotter than the core of the sun. From my perspective, anyone with a basic high school physics class should know all that. That is that to believe this stuff you need to be ignorant about science at a really deep level.
This explains how materialization and dematerialization operate by matter being transformed into energy. When people try to argue that this equation is all theory but cannot be demonstrated they should be reminded that less than one ounce of matter was transformed into energy to destroy Hiroshima.
The vortex is the actual swirling of the atoms and molecules. Ash and Hewitt argue from Einstein's equation that since matter and light share a common movement, the actual speed of the swirling of the vortex, must be the speed of light. They claim that this is the only possible sense to be made of Einstein's equation and that it is because of the vortex swirling at the speed of light that you can read this page or see another person the trees and the sky and see everything else with physical eyes.
The reason that scientists don't put much effort into finding out about paranormal activity is that if paranormal activity is true, basically all of physics (laws of conservation of mass and energy, momentum, laws of thermodynamics and so on) would all have to be false, and they have been tested to an incredible level. On the other hand people seeing things that aren't there, being mistaken about phenomena, being hoodwinked by charlatans, having odd sensations caused by events in the brain are all proven facts, replicated time and again. There are scientific explanations for these events that fit with tested science. While scientists are enormously motivated by finding out new things they are not motivated by proving stuff that seems nonsense according to accepted fact is nonsense.
So why do people believe this stuff? It's a combination of enormous ignorance, personal arrogance, and selfish desire.
Science is simply not taught in the USA to most people at any reasonable level at all. I have had a number of conversations with people who believe in evolution who don't know how it works. I've had conversations with adults who don't believe in evolution because no-one has ever seen a dog give birth to a cat. People don't know what dimensions are or how equations work. I would say that the overwhelming majority of Americans simply don't know even the basics of what science has worked out about their world.
Personal arrogance comes through in the belief that what an individual has felt or seen is more likely to be true than all the controlled experiments in the world. A particular experience that a person has, that they feel that they prayed for their friends and their friends got better, is more true than the repeated double-blind experiments that show that prayer doesn't heal to that person. People think that if they saw something their perception of that event is more correct than all the work of all the scientists throughout time. In the USA it is common to find people who think that scientists are a world-wide cabal bent on defeating God, and who lie, cheat and steal, and can't be trusted. These people tend to write this stuff on computers and go to their doctors.
Selfish desire is really the crux of the matter. People don't believe in non-scientific things that make their lives, hopes and dreams worse off. People don't believe that the afterlife is where they will go to live lives of drudgery under Hitler's lash. They don't believe that we are simply pawns of demons, or that the Universe is pointless, random and arbitrary. People believe that they will live eternally, that those who they loved and have died are still around, that they might have special magic powers of prophecy and insight.
Mostly I'm just sick of having conversations with people who have no idea of what is going on and describe my position (that what science has established to be true is our best guess as to what is actually true) as a close-minded, dogmatic religion.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Age.
Today I went to a dermatologist to see if my back was growing evil tumors. The results were that I have Seborrheic Keratoses and that I am going to die, but not from benign skin growths, and not for decades to come. However, these are the blotches of age. I am getting older.
I think people do not age in a steady progression. People age in sudden jumps. For example, in my late twenties I managed 90% of my total balding in the course of about two years. Since then, relatively little change.
I believe I have just lurched into middle age. Sometimes my knees hurt. I find myself hitching up my britches. I don't get freaked out by being called, "Sir" anymore. I have a dodgy back. I think I know the right way to do everything (previously the last moment that I knew everything was as a teenager.) My cholesterol is high and having shaved off my beard I am growing a new one because I look better furry. Not more attractive, just more right somehow.
I think people do not age in a steady progression. People age in sudden jumps. For example, in my late twenties I managed 90% of my total balding in the course of about two years. Since then, relatively little change.
I believe I have just lurched into middle age. Sometimes my knees hurt. I find myself hitching up my britches. I don't get freaked out by being called, "Sir" anymore. I have a dodgy back. I think I know the right way to do everything (previously the last moment that I knew everything was as a teenager.) My cholesterol is high and having shaved off my beard I am growing a new one because I look better furry. Not more attractive, just more right somehow.
Monday, August 17, 2009
The Government You Deserve?
Texas is interesting. It's rich, huge, expansive. But it's also tacky, cheap, tawdry. The roads are broad, the houses large, the portions vast. But the roads don't have sidewalks, shoulders or gutters and flood easily. The houses are built from chipboard and cardboard. The meals are large and varied but bland and derivative.
Texas is a society built on tiny units, separated and divided. The family home is a giant building distanced from the road by a large lawn, without a sidewalk for neighbors to pass by, with all the roads destinations rather than places to pass by. The back yard will be large, fenced, and equipped with pools, bars, patios, tables, chairs, hot tubs, cabanas, hammocks. The house will have fireplaces, dens, his and hers whatevers, fans, air conditioning, giant tv's, high ceilings, spiral staircases. The owners will leave this lavish shelter in huge shiny carriages, windows sealed and tinted agains intrusion, air cooled and conditioned, sounds perfectly controlled The journeys will be to designated places for designated purposes, there is not meandering, wandering, hanging out. It is pod living, almost like living in Star Trek. The house is the ship which supples almost everything but is surrounded by the harsh vacuum of space. An SUV exiting and entering the powered door of a garage looks like nothing more than the shuttle leaving the bay.
A culture that is based on the individual, living in pods, only leaving to accomplish specific goals produces individuals who are motivated by getting and kepping their own things. Such a culture is based on the individual filling their own needs, rather than a community filling the needs of the individuals in the community. As such there are no town squares, no promenades, no town centers, no village greens, many more golf courses than parks. While there are roads to get places these are designed simply as surfaces to drive along, no bike lanes, no sidewalks, no boulevardes. Such a culture tries to keep its money and therefore avoids taxes. Lower taxes mean fewer services, cheaper services, poorer services. Crappy services for your tax dollars produces a belief that government services are automatically poor, and in Texas that's a self-fulfilling prophecy.
In Texas the streets flood regularly. The power goes out in a strong rainfall. The crime rate is very high and I rarely see a policeman and never outside of a car. Our mail delivery has been sporadic, to the point where we found out that upon going to the post office to tell them that we weren't getting all our mail they recorded us as having moved ot. It is only that their incompetence was so high that we still received any mail at all. To get your driving license you line up for several hours and then wait eight weeks to possibly get it mailed to you, there is no telephone number for enquiries. Education levels are low, health is poor/ The government services in Texas are terrible and Texans think that governments are literally incapable of doing anything well. The result is a feedback loop, self-interest above community interest leads to fewer resources for community resources, which leads to poorer services, which leads to a lower regard for community services, which leads to a greater regard for self-interest.
In places where people think, expect and demand that governments can achieve things, the resulting government services overwhelmingly are of high quality. In Texas, where people think and expect that governments are incompetent, crooked, evil entities the government they receive is woeful. As my darling wife says, Texas is like living in the richest third world country in the world.
Texas is a society built on tiny units, separated and divided. The family home is a giant building distanced from the road by a large lawn, without a sidewalk for neighbors to pass by, with all the roads destinations rather than places to pass by. The back yard will be large, fenced, and equipped with pools, bars, patios, tables, chairs, hot tubs, cabanas, hammocks. The house will have fireplaces, dens, his and hers whatevers, fans, air conditioning, giant tv's, high ceilings, spiral staircases. The owners will leave this lavish shelter in huge shiny carriages, windows sealed and tinted agains intrusion, air cooled and conditioned, sounds perfectly controlled The journeys will be to designated places for designated purposes, there is not meandering, wandering, hanging out. It is pod living, almost like living in Star Trek. The house is the ship which supples almost everything but is surrounded by the harsh vacuum of space. An SUV exiting and entering the powered door of a garage looks like nothing more than the shuttle leaving the bay.
A culture that is based on the individual, living in pods, only leaving to accomplish specific goals produces individuals who are motivated by getting and kepping their own things. Such a culture is based on the individual filling their own needs, rather than a community filling the needs of the individuals in the community. As such there are no town squares, no promenades, no town centers, no village greens, many more golf courses than parks. While there are roads to get places these are designed simply as surfaces to drive along, no bike lanes, no sidewalks, no boulevardes. Such a culture tries to keep its money and therefore avoids taxes. Lower taxes mean fewer services, cheaper services, poorer services. Crappy services for your tax dollars produces a belief that government services are automatically poor, and in Texas that's a self-fulfilling prophecy.
In Texas the streets flood regularly. The power goes out in a strong rainfall. The crime rate is very high and I rarely see a policeman and never outside of a car. Our mail delivery has been sporadic, to the point where we found out that upon going to the post office to tell them that we weren't getting all our mail they recorded us as having moved ot. It is only that their incompetence was so high that we still received any mail at all. To get your driving license you line up for several hours and then wait eight weeks to possibly get it mailed to you, there is no telephone number for enquiries. Education levels are low, health is poor/ The government services in Texas are terrible and Texans think that governments are literally incapable of doing anything well. The result is a feedback loop, self-interest above community interest leads to fewer resources for community resources, which leads to poorer services, which leads to a lower regard for community services, which leads to a greater regard for self-interest.
In places where people think, expect and demand that governments can achieve things, the resulting government services overwhelmingly are of high quality. In Texas, where people think and expect that governments are incompetent, crooked, evil entities the government they receive is woeful. As my darling wife says, Texas is like living in the richest third world country in the world.
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