ARCHIVE: 2012
To link to ideas associated with a posting, click on the link under the topic.
Caveat: Inevitably, given the ever evolving state of the Internet, some of the links on past postings may be outdated.
2012-01-06—THEME: INFANTS AS MATHEMATICIANS
Babies aren’t stupid. Apparently they have less difficulty with Bayesian statistics than most university students whining to their Stats prof that they “just aren’t good at math”. And they seem to have an intuitive grasp of research design and hypothesis testing that we naively assume is only to be found in trained scientists. It is a frightening thought, but it seems we lose these natural born skills as our brains ‘mature’ by sacrificing flexibility for specialization.
BABIES ARE INTUITIVE SCIENTISTS
Gopnik’s research “explores the sophisticated intelligence-gathering and decision-making that babies are really doing when they play.”
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/alison_gopnik_what_do_babies_think.html
BABIES AS NATURAL BORN MATHEMATICIANS
Butterworth’s research suggests that every baby is “born with a core sense of cardinal number… born with a ‘number module’… born a mathematician.”
http://plus.maths.org/content/natural-born-mathematicians
BABIES LEARNING LANUAGE THROUGH STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
Kuhl’s presents her “astonishing findings about how babies learn one language over another -- by listening to the humans around them and ‘taking statistics’ on the sounds they need to know.”
http://www.ted.com/talks/patricia_kuhl_the_linguistic_genius_of_babies.html
2012-01-13—THEME: THE AKADEMIC (SIC) LIFE
Kafka’s unfinished novel Amerika is set in a country he never visited, but it still manages to somehow successfully satirize American ideals. Someone really should write a novel entitled Akademe. But of course there already are many satires about the Hollow (sic) Halls. And they are often penned by writers who have been there—at least for a while. I suspect many of these authors would say that while Akademe is a nice place to visit, you wouldn’t want to live there. Good satire often is about the contrast between ideals and reality.
FIVE GOOD REASONS TO LOVE BEING AN AKADEMIC
http://blog.ketyov.com/2012/01/5-reasons-to-love-academia.html
THE JOY OF INTERACTING WITH COMMITTED STUDENTS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeSdC7lbAlA&feature=related
THE PLEASURE OF BEING APPRECIATED BY THE MORAL MAJORITY
http://www.landoverbaptist.org/news1100/science.html
2012-01-20—THEME: IDEAS WANT TO BE FREE; EDUCATION SHOULD BE
Well if not free yet, at least affordable! Universities lure students with out-dated statistics that make the dubious claim that they’ll recoup the exorbitant cost of tuition somewhere down the road in the workplace. Then these students pay outrageous prices for textbooks that they can’t even sell second-hand afterwards, because a new edition is required for next year’s course. But there is a truly egalitarian movement to make a liberal education possible for everyone at the much smaller cost of a computer (or any digital device, including a smart phone or tablet) and Internet access. A truly liberal education no longer is an elitist privilege thanks to projects like the TED lectures, CBC’s podcasts of programs such as Ideas, and the availability of excellent online videos on almost any topic one might be interested in learning about. And all this is available ‘on demand’. You don’t have to pay big bucks for it or show up some place at a given date and time to get a real liberal education. You may not get that over-valued piece of paper called a diploma, but even if that is what you want, that too is going to become less elitist and expensive. We may be witnessing a real revolution in education at least equivalent to what happened with the printing press and the gradual movement toward universal literacy.
TEXTBOOKS FOR 15 BUCKS RATHER THAN 150
Apple is obviously self-serving but it could certainly be called enlightened self-interest.
TEN TOOLS FOR A FREE ONLINE EDUCATION
Excellent list including ten universities with the best free online courses.
http://lifehacker.com/5188342/top-10-tools-for-a-free-online-education
THE TEACHING COMPANY
Want to hear and watch lectures by the best university lecturers on any academic topic? You’ll pay something for these downloadable AV files, but far less than tuition at one of the prestigious universities where they are the premier lecturers in their field.
http://www.thegreatcourses.com/
Playboy was the premier skin mag for the pubescent boys of my generation, but copies were hard to come by. So we boys often had to settle for certain pics to be found in National Geographic. Times have changed, and now National Geographic has videos. Viewer discretion advised.
SKIN GUN
SKIN DEEP
SKINNED
2012-02-03—THEME: RESPECT WHERE RESPECT IS DUE
Somewhere along the way ‘respect’ got conflated with courtesy. Courtesy greases the social wheels, but it doesn’t trump honesty when honesty matters—and honesty often matters. And just as some people feel they have a right not to be ‘offended’, some people feel they have an inalienable right to have their irrational beliefs ‘respected’. But certainly there is no reason for us to respect superstitious beliefs or those who hold those beliefs. Respect is something earned, not something bestowed on everyone at birth. In fact, to give undue respect can be downright dangerous.
TOLERANCE YES, RESPECT NO
An excellent, thoughtful dissection of the idea of respect.
http://www.butterfliesandwheels.org/2008/religion-is-owed-no-respect/
THE DANGERS OF RESPECT FOR IRRATIONALITY
Why should blind faith deserve any respect?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXHJ-hLjuxM
DISRESPECT FOR WHAT IS RESPECTABLE
This Nobel Laureate got a lot of respect, and he also had the sense to not care about it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kirzr6lnSs
2012-02-10—THEME: INTUITION IS COUNTER-INTUITIVE
You have to love the term ‘counter-intuitive’. What is more perversely pleasing than discovering that common sense is nonsense? We trust our intuition, our common sense, and we do so usually out of laziness. But it fails us often enough that we seem to take vengeful pleasure in it being found to be unfounded. And that is one thing science is good at: putting common sense to the test and watching it fail.
YOU’RE AT YOUR CREATIVE BEST WHEN YOU’RE NOT AT YOUR BEST
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/choke/201202/creativity-happens-when-you-least-expect-it
SMART PEOPLE ARE OFTEN IRRATIONAL
WHY COMMON SENSE OFTEN MAKES NO SENSE
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/under-friendly-spell/201104/why-were-terrible-predictors
"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" are called “unalienable rights” in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, and the pursuit of happiness certainly seems to be the central concern of most Americans—and of most people where life and liberty aren’t immediately or obviously endangered. But what exactly is happiness? And does it make sense to “pursue” it? It has been suggested by many philosophers that happiness really isn’t that important when compared to other goals, such as doing the right thing. And it has been repeatedly observed that we simply notice we’re happy (like something glimpsed out of the corner of one’s eye) when we are doing something meaningful. We don’t attain it by striving for. As Albert Camus observed, “You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of.”
IS HAPPINESS FALSE MEMORY?
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/daniel_kahneman_the_riddle_of_experience_vs_memory.html
IS HAPPINESS A BIOLOGICAL NEED?
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/nancy_etcoff_on_happiness_and_why_we_want_it.html
IS HAPPINESS JUST SYNTHESIZED?
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html
2012-02-24—THEME: WHAT PLACE IS LEFT FOR POETRY?
It is strange and paradoxical the honour and reverence in which poets are held when quoted to make some point, and the total lack of interest in actually reading them. This isn’t true everywhere, of course. Poets are the equivalent of rock stars in many countries, drawing crowds for their public readings. And they are national heroes. There probably isn’t a literate person in Chile who can’t quote Pablo Neruda or anyone in Spain who can’t quote Garcia Lorca. But in North America, if you say you're a writer, and if when asked what you write, you ‘confess’ that many of your books are poetry, you immediately sense the suppressed bemusement. Poetry is seen as either the sentimental doggerel on Hallmark cards or the dead guys’ stuff you had to study in high school. Poetry isn’t taken seriously as a difficult art dealing with forever relevant and important issues. Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje both wrote truly great books of poetry, but their fame is based upon their subsequent works of fiction. And Leonard Cohen would not be given the adulation he now receives had he not put his brilliant lyrical talent to music. But maybe, just maybe, “the times they are a-changin'.”
IS POETRY DEAD? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?
An interesting and objective consideration of the current lack of interest in poetry.
http://poetryisdead.ca/content/poetry-dead-what-hell-happened.html
THE REVIVAL OF PERFORMANCE POETRY
Of course poetry was originally an oral art form, and it seems that tradition is slowly being revived.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw4N62hc_Ik
ARE MUSIC LYRICS WHERE WE NOW GET OUR POETRY FIX?
Most of the music people listen to have lyrics. Some of these lyrics can stand alone on the page as poetry, even if the music enhances them. (Of course many certainly can’t.) Here is a musician who, unlike Leonard Cohen, did not begin as a poet, but whose lyrics certainly can stand alone as great poetry.
http://www.azlyrics.com/t/tomwaits.html
2012-03-02—THEME: I DON’T WANT TO ARGUE ABOUT IT!
Obviously people have different points of view, and most of us have a hard time resisting the urge to try to convert people to our way of thinking. But the empirical evidence is indisputable that this rarely works. More often than not it seems to have the opposite effect: making the would-be convert more entrenched in his or her view of things—and probably more hostile toward us. George Bernard Shaw aptly remarked about arguing, “I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.” So one has to wonder why we do it.
AN EVOLUTIONARY EXPLANATION
“Reasoning was not designed to pursue the truth.”
http://edge.org/conversation/the-argumentative-theory
WHEN ARGUING REALLY MATTERS AND WHEN IT DOESN’T
Some irrational beliefs are harmless, but some definitely are not.
http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4116
SOME FOLKS JUST NEED TO ARGUE
On a lighter note.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y
2012-03-09—THEME: MAGIC SCIENCE
Just as artists knew the tricks of perception long before scientists studied perception, so too magicians understood these quirks long before they were studied systematically. Artists and magicians may not have understood exactly how they worked, but they certainly knew how to apply them. Now there is serious collaboration between those studying how we perceive and those expert at manipulating what we perceive.
TELLER TELLS SECRETS
Teller reveals “a few principles magicians employ when they want to alter your perceptions.”
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Teller-Reveals-His-Secrets.html?c=y&page=1
CHANGE BLINDNESS
There is a trick inside the trick.
http://www.quirkology.com/USA/Video_ColourChangingTrick.shtml
SELECTIVE ATTENTION
Be sure to scroll down and watch the video before reading the article.
http://www.livescience.com/6727-invisible-gorilla-test-shows-notice.html
2012-03-16—THEME: ALIEN INVASIONS
They came from outer space! No, actually they just came from a different ecosystem. It is a strange and somewhat paradoxical idea that introducing a new species to an ecosystem can decrease, rather than increase, biodiversity. One would think that it must occur naturally all the time. But for various reasons these alien invaders are proving quite undesirable.
THE BOTANICAL INVASION OF THE ANTARCTIC
Bad seed!
THE REPTILIAN INVASION OF FLORIDA
Giant serpents!
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1909404,00.html
THE AQUATIC INVASION OF CANADA
It came from the deep!
http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/science/enviro/ais-eae/index-eng.htm
It is sometimes call “reproductive technology”, but not as a reference to artificial insemination or cloning. It refers to the technology that allows us to reproduce images, text, music, and other results of human creativity. It is undeniable that it has democratized access to content that once was only available to a very affluent few. You don’t have to be among the elite of the Viennese aristocracy to hear Mozart’s music brilliantly performed. And you don’t have to travel to the great public and private galleries of the world to view the works of the great masters. And it would be belabouring the point to mention the effects of the Gutenberg Revolution. Is there a downside to this? It is true that scarcity adds value. But is a Van Gogh really less valuable now that one can view a high-resolution image of it on the Internet, or purchase a fine print of it for a few bucks, or even buy a perfectly executed forgery for what is still a fraction of the cost of the original? Does having a larger audience really disadvantage the creator financially? Or only his agent or publisher, who are taking most of the profits? Are we really stealing from a musician if we first listen to his music for free? Or does he build an audience and reputation that more than compensates him in sales he wouldn’t have otherwise had, in concert attendance, and in the other perks that accrue to having created something that is widely valued and appreciated?
ARE THE COSTS OF DIGITAL PIRACY EXAGGERATED?
Mark Twain remarked that “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics.” Are the multi-million-dollar music and film industries using stats to lay a guilt trip on us for sharing something we appreciate and admire?
http://www.ted.com/talks/rob_reid_the_8_billion_ipod.html
THE CULTURE OF COPYING WHERE IT SEEMS TO WORK
Are those creative endeavours that don’t have “protection” from copying suffering?
http://www.ted.com/talks/johanna_blakley_lessons_from_fashion_s_free_culture.html
INFORMATION WANTS TO BE FREE
There may be something to be learned by noting that many of the incredibly valuable and respectable sources for the sharing of information and creative endeavour voluntarily chose to shut down for 24 hours to protest the U.S. government’s attempt to pass so-called “anti-piracy” legislation.
http://news.linktv.org/videos/websites-black-out-over-us-anti-piracy-bills
2012-03-30—THEME: THE TED PHENOMENA
The TED annual conferences began in 1990 with a focus on technology. But it gradually broadened its scope to become a venue for the presentation of new ideas in virtually every field of creative endeavour. In June 2006, the talks (each always limited to about 20 minutes or less) were made available on the Internet at TED.com. They immediately became extremely popular and the audience has continued to grow at a phenomenal rate. It seems there really is an audience for ideas presented concisely and dramatically! By 2009 these talks had been viewed 50 million times, and by June 2011 it was up to 500 million. There are currently 900 TED talks available online. The TED concept caught on, so they started the TEDx series, which are independently organized, curated, and sponsored TED events that follow the format of the regular TED lectures.
TED-ED LAUNCHES ON YOUTUBE
Many educators use the TED lectures as supplementary AV material in their courses, so now refining (and shortening) the format to create free pedagogical tools is the latest elaboration of the TED concept.
BEHIND THE TED TALK
Having had the nerve-wracking honour of giving a Nipissing University sponsored TEDx talk recently, I can’t begin to imagine the stress of having to present in front of a potential audience of millions. Many TED presenters are more accustomed to wrestling with ideas alone or with colleagues than with playing the role of media ‘personalities’.
HOW TED MAKES IDEAS SMALLER
It has to be said that TED is not without critics. It has been accused of dumbing down complex ideas to what can be stuffed into 18 minutes, and of shifting the focus from the ideas to presentation skills. One significant criticism is that the talks are actually too entertaining, and are often judged on that criterion rather than the value of the ideas. Here is one somewhat sceptical and considered opinion.
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/03/how-ted-makes-ideas-smaller/253994/
2012-04-06—THEME: DECLINE AND FALL OF THE EDUCATIONAL EMPIRE
There is plenty of justification for academics being called hypocrites. We carry on about maintaining standards, but our livelihood depends on the continual expansion of the income generated by students (or more often their parents) willing to pay for a ‘formal’ education and that magical piece of paper handed out at graduation that is falsely advertised as guaranteeing life-long financial security. The common (and justified) complaint of professors is that university administration is more interested in how many warm bodies they can recruit than in the quality of the students or the education delivered. Yet without those warm, lucrative bodies showing up for classes (that grade inflation allows them to pass and so continue paying tuition), there would be a lot of unemployed profs. But education is being radically democratized, and it is looking like the current university structure is going to either crumble or change drastically. One can only hope that as education becomes more widely available and virtually free for those who really want it, the world will be a better place. But all revolutions have victims, and all radical change involves the loss of something of value.
THE RADICAL STANFORD EXPERIMENT
Take Stanford graduate level courses without a prerequisite—and for free.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/03/ff_aiclass/all/1
THE KHAN ACADEMY
The originator of this idea, Salmon Khan, gives a wonderful explanation of its genesis on TED, which is easy to find and worth watching. This is the link to the resources currently available for teachers or independent learners.
THE iTUNES U. PROJECT
Steve Jobs long ago remarked, “Computers themselves, and software yet to be developed, will revolutionize the way we learn.” He was right. Apple has always claimed it was devoted to using technology to promote the humanities. Whatever one might think of the somewhat Draconian Apple ‘ecosystem’, it has to be admitted that Apple has lived up to that promise. The wealth of educational material available as podcasts through iTunes has now been expanded with the iTunes U. project.
http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/
One of the great pleasures of surfing the Net is learning facts that are inherently interesting because they are so odd. Everybody enjoys collecting weird trivia. But don’t believe everything you read! Some of these odd things ‘learned’ are not actually true. However, for sceptics there is the subsequent pleasure of checking on what you’ve ‘learned’ and discovering what facts are not really facts—but just fascinating and convincing falsehoods.
20 THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT...
Here is a reasonably reputable source with a fascinating list of facts about a variety of specific topics, such as math or languages or digestion.
http://discovermagazine.com/columns/20-things-you-didnt-know
STRANGE FACTS
Here is another less organized hodgepodge of strange facts that a very superficial check seems to substantiate. But before repeating any of these as a ‘fact’, it would be worth researching it—which will be interesting no matter what its veracity.
http://www.strangefacts.com/facts1.html
THE FACT CHECKER
Snopes calls itself “the definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumours, and misinformation.” If you check on them, you’ll find they really do a good job of living up to this claim. It’s an especially useful resource when something you read sounds suspicious or you get a mass emailing about some rumour.
2012-04-20—THEME: FIXING SCIENCE
“If it ain’t broken don’t fix it!” is good advice. However, if it is broken, then one should fix it—not discard it! There are plenty of people who so dislike the way scientists (from Galileo through Darwin) have damaged our overblown egos that they are quite willing to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Of course science as practised isn’t perfect, and thus, like any complex system, has parts that need constant repairing or fine-tuning. It is unfortunate, but inevitable, that creationists and conspiracy theorists interpret this self-correcting principle of science as a flaw, while actually it is the guiding principle of the scientific method and its greatest guarantee of arriving at truth.
REPLICATION
Scientific findings are always tentative, so replication of results is crucial to confirming any initial findings. The social sciences have a pretty low bar to jump over to claim a ‘significant’ finding. The statistical confidence level of the conclusion need only be 95% (which effectively means the likelihood of it being wrong is 1 time out of 20). This deems it is worthy of publication, and, only too often, uncritical acceptance as a scientific ‘fact’. (Physicists set the bar a lot higher: before confirmation of a finding in physics is deemed a real effect the statistical chance of it being wrong has to be 1 out of 3,488,555!) So it isn’t really surprising that replication is a big problem in the ‘soft’ sciences. But the real problem is that attempts at replication are so infrequently made, so interesting findings get entrenched that are often going to be wrong!
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/12/13/101213fa_fact_lehrer?currentPage=all
PUBLISH OR PERISH
Information wants to be free. But when it comes to scientific information, not only is it costly to get access to it, but also it often costs scientists to give it out! Of course they’ll pay up, for it pays back in increased professional status—and salary.
http://the-scientist.com/2012/03/19/opinion-academic-publishing-is-broken/
FIXING SCIENCE - SYSTEMS AND POLITICS
Scientist as a ‘profession’ is quite new. The label ‘scientist’ was only coined in the middle of the Nineteenth Century. (Darwin disliked the term, preferring to call himself a naturalist.) With the professionalization of doing science came a lot of problems about objectivity. This is a well thought-out series of suggestions for patching some of the flaws in the system.
http://neuroskeptic.blogspot.com/2012/04/fixing-science-systems-and-politics.html
2012-04-27—THEME: PSYCHOLOGY’S PRETENSIONS
Psychology is a ‘wannabe’ science. Ever since it tried to usurp the territory occupied by philosophy, it has claimed to be a science. The status associated with being a science has given psychology (and the other social sciences) more credibility in the public’s mind than deserved, just as the lab coat worn by some actor in a commercial helps gives the product more credibility. But is it really a science? Or is it just wearing the lab coat? It is classed as a “soft science” as opposed to the “hard sciences” such as physics or chemistry or biology. Only fairly recently has a significant part of what is called ‘psychology’ actually achieved the status of ‘hard’ science, because it actually is the hard science of biology; i.e., neuroscience. Is the rest, the ‘soft’ part, just bogus?
IS PSYCHOLOGY REALLY A SCIENCE?
Here is the case for denying it that status.
http://www.arachnoid.com/psychology/index.html
IS PSYCHOLOGY ABOUT TO COME UNDONE?
There are two necessary criteria for a finding to be considered scientifically sound: validity and reliability. Validity is defined as actually measuring what you think—or you claim—you are measuring. (Certainly the validity of alleged tests for intelligence or personality traits is questionable.) Reliability is consistent replication of the results of the measurement. So how is psychology doing in the replication department?
http://chronicle.com/blogs/percolator/is-psychology-about-to-come-undone/29045
IS PSYCHOLOGY TAKEN SERIOUSLY BY ‘HARD’ SCIENTISTS?
Are the ‘soft’ sciences just pseudosciences? Here is what is probably not an uncommon view of social science by Richard Feynman, Nobel Laureate in Physics and often considered Einstein’s equal in scientific brilliance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaO69CF5mbY
2012-05-04—THEME: THE POWER OF CARTOONS
Humour is the last refuge of freedom of expression in an increasingly censorial and litigious world. And the double whammy of an image with pithy text is one of the most effective ways of speaking one’s mind safely. Cartoonists are our court jesters, the least likely to get in trouble for their sarcasm and satire.
THE ART OF POLITICAL CARTOONS
“Outside of general intelligence, there is nothing more important to a political cartoonist than ill will.”
http://youra.net/pdf/books/politicalcartoons.pdf
HOW HUMOUR CAN CHANGE OUR MIND
Argument builds walls around beliefs and biases, but humour sneaks in the back gate.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/chris_bliss_comedy_is_translation.html
SOME CAN’T TAKE A JOKE AND SOME CAN
Lawyers have no sense of humour, but clearly Jane Goodall does.
http://bonvito.wordpress.com/2010/06/07/jane-goodall-is-a-good-sport/
2012-05-11—THEME: REDEFINING CREATIVITY
Creativity is one of the words for which there are so many different individual definitions that it is difficult to have any reasonable discourse about it. Yet it is a word for something profoundly important. Here are three talks on it.
SCIENCE REDEFINING CREATIVITY
Ken Stange. (Please excuse Your Man Friday’s promotion of his puppet master’s views.)
http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/TEDxNipissingU-Ken-Stange-Redef
CREATIVITY AS DEFINED AS APPLIED IMAGINATION
Ken Robinson.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtnRaa7AgLs
CREATIVITY DEFINED AS PLAY
Tim Brown.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/tim_brown_on_creativity_and_play.html
2012-05-18—THEME: COSMOLOGICAL VISIONS
Artists and poets have always been inspired by the starry heavens. Now science is making visible more and more of the awe-inspiring cosmos and giving us a new perspective on our place in the universe. Here are three astoundingly beautiful video compositions based on actual images from out beyond our modest terrestrial home.
LEAVING EARTH
The Van Gogh Sea.
OUTER SPACE
Saturn: Lord of The Rings
THE COSMOS
Genesis
2012-05-25—THEME: MUSIC AND EMOTION
For most people music is the art form that is most immediately and profoundly moving. Our brains seem to have circuitry for appreciating music that is lacking in every other species. Music is complex and abstract and uses the most evolved and complex parts of our cerebral cortex, so it is paradoxical that it is usually considered the most emotional of art forms, the one most capable of inducing 'primitive' emotions. The notable cognitive scientist Stephen Pinker feels this is an accidental, pleasing, but unimportant happenstance of evolution, but the neurologist Oliver Sacks believes it is absolutely integral to our evolved higher consciousness. Here are three wonderful TED lectures on music and emotion that seem to support Sacks' viewpoint, and certainly elucidate how emotion in music is important.
MUSIC AND EMOTION THROUGH TIME
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/michael_tilson_thomas_music_and_emotion_through_time.html
ON MUSIC AND PASSION
http://www.ted.com/talks/benjamin_zander_on_music_and_passion.html
MUSIC IS MEDICINE, MUSIC IS SANITY
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/robert_gupta.html
2012-06-01—THEME: IS CONTEMPORARY ART A CON JOB?
From prehistoric cave painting to contemporary conceptual art, the history of art is a history of how artists have continually redefined the function of art. Sometimes the impetus is a change in the zeitgeist; e.g., the increase in secularization after the Renaissance or the nihilism resulting from the meaningless horror of World War I. Sometimes it is a technological innovation; e.g., the invention of photography or the digital revolution. Always, however, the average person and the artistic establishment greet these changes with hostility and scepticism. And given the different criteria used to judge art works, one can always find justification for rejecting out of hand the new art. The current dominant movement in art seems to be conceptual art, and the criticism of it is based on the same one once applied to photography and then to abstract art: it requires no skill and is just a con job. However, it seems fairer to judge the work by the same criteria that the artist used to create it. You may disagree with the validity of those criteria, and you may simply not like the individual work or find it boring, but that is a different issue.
IS CONTEMPORARY ART JUST A CON JOB?
“Yes, but is it art?”
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504803_162-57405985-10391709/morley-safers-infamous-1993-art-story/
THE BACK STORY
Criticism is more meaningful coming from someone who knows something about what is being criticized. Here is a resource-rich overview of conceptual art.
http://www.theartstory.org/movement-conceptual-art.htm
ARE THE IDEAS OF IDEA ART WORTHWHILE?
Here a balanced and informed consideration of conceptual art. If conceptual art is about concepts, about ideas rather than the creation of material objects, then are the ideas presented deep or shallow?
http://www.spiked-online.com/articles/00000006DFD9.htm
2012-06-08—THEME: THE IMPORTANCE OF STORY
If there is one thing that holds our attention, it is story. When the first films were made, artists treated them as a new way of presenting visual art, and they can do that, but our attention wanders fairly quickly. Only when they were seen as a medium for telling stories did movies evolve into the extremely popular art form they are today. Most narrative from ancient times to fairly recently was in poetic form, but a few hundred years ago the novel usurped that role, just as film is now replacing novels as many people’s primary source of story. So poets have now specialized in the lyric form, and the audience for poetry has dwindled, while the audience for novels and movies has grown.
LOST IN A TALE
'Losing yourself' in a fictional character can affect your real life.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120507131948.htm
THE CLUES TO A GREAT STORY
Here is an insightful and charming talk by filmmaker Andrew Stanton about why a story works.
http://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_stanton_the_clues_to_a_great_story.html
THE VALUE OF STORY
Scientific psychology may give us some significant insight into human behaviour, but it is great stories that most effectively teach us about human motivation. Shakespeare’s understanding of human nature is far deeper than any social scientist’s. The good story has always been about character and motivation, the understanding of which is the path to social wisdom. Here is a wonderful interactive video with the great Shakespearean actor, Ian KcKellan, who clearly appreciated the Bard’s insights into human emotion and motivation and his brilliant poetic way of communicating these insights.
http://www.stagework.org.uk/mckellen/mckellen_assets/mckellen_standard-tc.htm
2012-06-15—THEME: WHINING ABOUT WINE
As Thomas Jefferson noted, “No nation is drunken where wine is cheap, and none sober where the dearness of wine substitutes ardent spirits as the common beverage". So Canucks are in trouble, for it is with good reason that people whine about the outrageous cost of wine, which really should be an affordable staple and probably sell for less than pop and certainly no more than milk. Ah, but then why do we often add to the pain by buying the more pricey vintages? Because of faith in the wisdom of the ‘expert’ oenophiles—who just must know of what they speak? But do they? (Personal disclosure: I’m not alone in liking wine. How else explain all those empty bottles with messages I send each Friday?)
DOES ALL WINE TASTE THE SAME?
Give me a fine recent New Jersey vintage. And I’ll still splurge and cough up for the $7.99 one over the $6.99 one. I have a refined palate.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/frontal-cortex/2012/06/wine-taste.html
PAYING FOR THE (OLD AND DUSTY) LABEL
It’s a wonderful, perverse pleasure to see the rich conned by their own snobbery.
http://nymag.com/print/?/news/features/rudy-kurniawan-wine-fraud-2012-5/
IT’S NOT JUST THE WINE, IT’S THE WINE GLASS!
Ah, now it is the wine glass that matters! This is worth watching, at least for a while, as unintentional comedy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=886KA1jLal4&feature=fvwrel
2012-06-22—THEME: THE FINAL JUDGE
For art, it isn’t St. Peter at the Pearly Gates; it’s Monsieur Posterity. It is an implicit belief of most artists (and probably most people who give it any thought) that posterity is the final judge, the one who will separate the wheat from the chaff, the enduring from the merely fashionable. It is certainly true that many spectacularly unsuccessful artists created works now so highly valued as to boggle the mind. There is no question that time, in its passing, discards the unimportant once considered so valuable and revalues what was once considered worthless. But time keeps passing, so posterity’s ‘final” judgements are never really final. It is like science in that its judgements are not writ in stone and are always tentative, but nevertheless are still the best possible, given our lack of omniscience. For both scientific theories and artistic judgments, the truism applies that “only time will tell”.
THE GRADUAL RECOGNITION OF GENIUS
A fascinating timeline of Shakespearean criticism describing a reputation that runs from contemporary Robert Greene’s description in 1592 of the Bard as “an upstart Crow… able to bombast out a blanke verse as the best of you” to Harold Bloom’s pronouncement four hundred years later that “He sets the standard and the limits of literature."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Shakespeare_criticism
THE KING IS DEAD! LONG LIVE THE KING!
Seems true of Elvis. Also seems apt for the Beatles, living on in “Strawberry fields forever.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=886KA1jLal4&feature=fvwrel
ARE LITERARY PRIZES A LOSS FOR WORDS?
While referencing the Australian literary scene, many of the author’s observations apply universally, with many unfortunate parallels to the Canadian scene.
http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/books/a-loss-for-words-20120615-20exa.html
2012-06-29—THEME: CHANGING MINDS
It may seem hard to get people to change their minds, but our minds, our brains, are in fact constantly changing. Cognitive scientists spend a lot of time studying what causes these changes—and how we adjust to them.
THE HIDDEN FACE WITHIN
Here is an interesting article on pareidolia. (What does that make you expect to be reading about?) Why do we see what we are led to expect to see?
http://neuroskeptic.blogspot.com/2012/01/hidden-face-within.html
BRAINS IN FUTURE SHOCK
Here is an interview with Ray Kurzweil, AI researcher and futurist, discussing how our brains adjust to technological change.
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-01/26/kurzweil-interview?page=all
CONSEQUENCES OF HAVING INFORMATION AT OUR FINGERTIPS
Here is an essay that raises the question as to whether we have moved our information database from our brains to the Internet. If the Internet went down, would it be equivalent to having a serious stroke?
2012-07-06—THEME: POLITICAL SCIENCE
Political science is no science. It’s a contradiction in terms. I’m not referring to the academic discipline, although it is certainly true of that as well. I’m referring to the idea that politics should have anything to do with accepting scientific evidence. That is a very bad idea. Oh, it would be a better world if scientific evidence shaped political decisions, but the current situation is the reverse of that. It is political views, ideology, that usually motivate and determine both governmental and personal decisions, often in the face of contrary scientific evidence. One is reminded of the Pope refusing to look in Galileo’s telescope. But what is scary is that in a democracy personal decisions can determine political decisions—and that only works with an educated and rational electorate.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Few laypersons have an opinion on most scientific questions; e.g., whether failing to find the Higgs boson at CERN will require a revision of the Standard Model of quantum mechanics. But a few issues always seem to be sufficiently ‘newsworthy’ to inspire everyone to have an opinion, usually because they may affect us personally. What is disturbing is that these opinions are usually based on personal ideology, rather than any examination of the scientific evidence. Climate change is a good example. Read or listen to this excellent analysis.
http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4309
SCIENCE DENIAL
Other hot topics are vaccination, genetically modified food, and so-called ‘alternative medicine’. In contrast to global warming, one can reasonably predict that opposition to the scientific evidence on these matters will tend to come from the left of the political spectrum. Here Michael Specter points out that, just as with global warming, ignoring the scientific evidence has effects well beyond one’s personal life.
http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_specter_the_danger_of_science_denial.html
BIG PHARMA, BIG PLACEBO
It’s difficult to avoid being misled about the scientific evidence. The misinformation comes from every direction. And when it’s our health that is of concern, we’re misled by both the pharmaceutical industry and by the health food industry. Both are very profitable and very self-serving. Money trumps facts. So since we can’t be personally knowledgeable about everything, it comes down to that age-old question: Who do you trust?
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/ben_goldacre_battling_bad_science.html
2012-07-13—THEME: SUPERSTITION
It is fascinating how certain--and often common--events can become imbued with special significance and meaning. Our brains are hard-wired to see meaning, and it is a good thing—even if it can mislead us. In terms of evolutionary survival it is better to assume, although almost always wrongly, that the noise heard in the middle of the night has agency. It is unlikely that it is a sabre-toothed tiger (or a burglar), but it could have been. Better safe than sorry. But in that example we check the assumption. That is rarely the case with superstitions. And often the "better safe than sorry" approach just confirms us in our irrational belief. That is why when I learned that the dried body of a frog worn in a silk bag around the neck averts epilepsy and other fits, I added that to my daily apparel. My sceptical friends may scoff, but I've never had a seizure.
FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH
Since we get a couple of these days almost every year, one might wonder where this idea that it is a bad-luck day originates. Well, it’s easy to find out in these days of the Internet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th
DATABASE OF SUPERSTITIONS
Read at your own risk. Like when reading ‘Health’ websites, you might discover an amazing number of risky behaviours of which you were ignorant.
http://www.corsinet.com/trivia/scary.html
INTERESTING SITE ON SUPERSTITION
First Commandment: “Thou shalt have no other superstitions before me.”
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14339a.htm
2012-07-20—THEME: SEEING IS BELIEVING
Most of the time, for most of us, seeing is believing. But is this belief well founded? Magicians and con artists have always known that we trust our eyes too much, and they have been expert at taking advantage of this trust. And advances in technology have made it increasingly easy to fool our eyes. While we may have become a bit more sceptical, our first instinct is still to take what we see at face value, be it a beautiful woman on the cover of a magazine or a staged video of George Bush being welcomed to Iraq after his Pyrrhic victory.
CAN WE TRUST PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE?
Here is a nice set of examples of the wonders of Photoshop.
http://mashable.com/2012/03/06/photoshop-transformations/#view_as_one_page-gallery_box3293
HOW ABOUT VIDEO PROOF?
“Research shows that if fake footage is extremely compelling, it can induce people to testify about something they never witnessed,"
http://www.livescience.com/5716-fake-videos-alter-perception-reality.html
WHAT IF WE SAW IT LIVE?
The Ames Room and Magnetic Hills are both great examples of how we are deceived even when observing something directly. This is on the Ames room, a standard exhibit at many science museums.
(For North Bay readers, I discovered an unexploited magnetic hill in Callandar. Email me for directions.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttd0YjXF0no
2012-07-27—THEME: WHAT IF AND HOW COME?
Mathematicians and scientists have an amazing tool kit, which also serves as their toy box. And they love to play with their toys.
WHAT IF…
We all love to speculate about weird and wonderful “what ifs”. This site developer uses knowledge of physics to answer readers’ funny hypothetical questions with solid physics, questions such as “What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90% the speed of light?” or “What if everyone who took the SAT guessed on every multiple-choice question? How many perfect scores would there be?” The answers are usually surprising.
DETERMINING SALAD BAR STRATEGY
“A mathematician, an engineer and a psychologist go up to a buffet… No, it's not the start of a bad joke.”
(Personal disclosure: the Stange involved in figuring out how to win at the buffet table is my daughter.)
WONDERING ABOUT WASPS DIVING OFF THE EDGE
There is always a reason for what seems strange behaviour. Who would’ve thought that wasps knew physics?
http://www.science20.com/chemical_education/wasp_deck_applied_physics-92071
To say that violence is in the news is not news. And rarely is the reaction to it rational. Everyone has a pet (and pat) solution, most of which objectively make no sense whatsoever. But here are three examinations of the phenomenon of violence based on reason and real data.
IS VIOLENCE REALLY INCREASING?
The reasoning fallacy called the “availability heuristic” consists of exaggerating the importance or extent of something because it is fresh in our minds. The new media certainly keep violence in the forefront of our consciousness. Consider the idiocy of Canada’s new “tough on crime” bill, which is virtually guaranteed to actually increase crime. Here Stephen Pinker presents the hard evidence that humanity has progressively and dramatically become less violent.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/steven_pinker_on_the_myth_of_violence.html
FINDING CAUSES BY LOOKING AT DIFFERENCES
Obviously some places are more violent than others. One can begin to rule out the usual suspects by examining what is really different in different places. Here is one such an attempt, using scientific evidence.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/primate-diaries/2012/07/26/the-jokers-wild/
THE SCIENCE OF VIOLENCE MIGHT CHANGE OUR LAWS
As science learns more about the causes of violence, the legal system will have to make some serious adjustments. Here is a brief commentary on this, with some interesting links.
http://www.livescience.com/6535-laws-change-science-violence-explained.html
2012-08-10—THEME: OFFICE SUPPLY SCULPTURE
The first sculptures that we know about, such as the Venus of Willendorf, were made from materials at hand, and for the Palaeolithic artist that would have been wood and stone. These two materials are still used, but contemporary artists also use any new materials at hand.
PAPER
http://www.toysperiod.com/blog/uncategorized/the-modern-art-and-science-of-origami/
PAPERCLIP
http://zacharyabel.com/sculpture/
PACKING TAPE
http://www.fastcompany.com/1656197/designers-create-spiderman-worthy-cave-from-packing-tape
While most of the world is concerned with just getting something to eat, we relentlessly obsess about what we eat. Wanting to have a healthy and tasty diet is reasonable, but a lot of the ideas as to how to obtain that are simply nonsense.
10 STUBBORN FOOD MYTHS
Low fat foods are always better for you.
http://lifehacker.com/5847591/10-stubborn-food-myths-that-just-wont-die
ORGANIC FOOD MYTHS
“Organic” food is healthier and more ecologically sound.
http://www.skepdic.com/organic.html
FRANKENFOOD MYTHS
Genetically modified food is dangerous and to be avoided.
http://skepchick.org/2010/08/ask-surly-amy-genetically-modified-food/
2012-08-24—THEME: THE BITTER BEAN
There are numerous legends about who first came up with the idea of making a delicious, invigorating beverage from a bitter bean, but most would agree it was a brilliant idea. Of course, there are two kinds of people: tea people and coffee people, and the former aren’t quite as impressed with the idea. But the statistics clearly indicate tea drinkers are in the minority, at least in the West. Compare the number of coffee shops to tearooms.
COFFEE, BUGS AND DEATH
There’s a bug in my coffee!
http://blogs.plos.org/retort/2012/04/22/coffee-bugs-and-death/
COFFEE FAQ
Toasting the roasting.
http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~alopez-o/Coffee/coffaq.html
WHAT COFFEE REALLY DOES TO YOUR BRAIN
A look at the dark side: roasting beliefs about coffee.
http://www.daviddisalvo.org/the-daily-brain/2012/8/4/what-does-caffeine-really-do-to-your-brain.html
2012-08-31—THEME: SPARKS ACROSS THE ‘GENERATION GAP’
Ancient Sumerian tablets (our oldest written records) record elders complaining about the next generation’s frivolity and students complaining about their out-of-touch teachers and parents.
THE WORLD THROUGH YOUTHFUL EYES
Here an interesting essay on the usually unacknowledged gap in canonical knowledge between profs and their students. (Includes a link to the famous Beloit annual report on this.)
THE SO-CALLED ‘GENERATION GAP’ IS A MYTH
The idea of distinct generations, popularized in the 1960’s, is obviously absurd and arbitrary pigeonholing. What years exactly delimit “Baby boomers”, “Generation X”; “Generation Y”, and the ‘current’ generation? If you were born in December of 1964 are you a “Baby Boomer” or “Generation X”? How much in common do you have with someone born in 1946 or in 1982? Or even with someone born the same date in a different home environment.
http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/09/02/generation-gap-there-really-is-no-such-thing/
ARE TODAY’S YOUTH REALLY ‘SLACKERS’?
It is difficult for most of us to remember how much we were like the youth of today, in both positive and negative ways.
http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/03/17/current-generation-may-not-be-slackers/12191.html
2012-09-07—THEME: THE DANGER IN IDEAS
Oscar Wilde may have overstated the case when he said, “An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.” (Certainly some of Your Man Friday’s weekly compilations of ideas are relatively innocuous.) But ideas, both good and bad, certainly can be dangerous, for their acceptance or rejection determines the course of human events. For this reason all ideas deserve a fair trial; there is far greater danger in trying to suppress them. If they are judged rationally on the basis of evidence and compassion, the human race has some hope. So here are some dangerous ideas to judge.
FROM “WIRED”
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/17-10/ff_smartlist
FROM “BIG THINK”
http://bigthink.com/blogs/dangerous-ideas
FROM “EDGE”
http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/dangerous07/dangerous07_index.html
2012-09-14—THEME: WRITERS’ MOTIVES
Why do writers’ write? Only rarely does it bring significant extrinsic rewards, and the intrinsic rewards are hard to pin down. And if one cares about doing it well, it is hard, lonely work. You can ask a writer for his motives, but you’ll get wildly contradictory responses. The fact is that we rarely really understand our motives for doing anything that doesn’t give instant gratification. We’re a bit better at recognizing how we feel when we are doing it, but here too there is no consensus. Some writers feel that the urge—or need—to write is no more than a frustrating and painful addiction. Red Smith described the experience of writing as “You simply sit down at the typewriter, open your veins, and bleed.” But James Michener said, “I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.” Dr. Johnson famously remarked to Boswell that "No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money." But that would make most poets blockheads, because writing real poetry, not sentimental doggerel, is the most difficult form of writing and the least lucrative. Whatever the motives of individual writers, there still are enough readers left who feel gratitude that something motivates writers to write.
WHY I WRITE: A CELEBRATION OF THE NATIONAL DAY ON WRITING
A huge collection of links to writers trying to explain their motives.
http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/3663
SOME QUOTATIONS FROM WRITERS ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCE OF WRITING
What we have here is a difference of opinion.
http://www.quotegarden.com/writing.html
ON THE EXPERIENCE OF WRITING A CHARACTER INTO EXISTENCE
Writing is about creating a new reality.
http://www.kenstange.com/offering/TheCreationOfCharacter.pdf
2012-09-21—THEME: EARTH AS ART OR MEDIUM
"Land art, Earthworks (coined by Robert Smithson), or Earth art is an art movement in which landscape and the work of art are inextricably linked." (Wikipedia entry) Call it what you will, it's a great idea.
DISTANCING OURSELVES FROM MOTHER NATURE’S WORKS
The human contribution to this natural art is technology’s offering of a new perspective.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/landsat/news/40th-earthasart.html
MOTHER NATURE AS COLLABORATOR
These works of land art on water are “left to the mercy of the elements, decaying, aging, or slightly moving, depending on forces of wind, water and sun. Like the principles of the land art movement, the installations are meant to coexist with the elements of nature, which are themselves an ever-changing work of art. Gerry Berry’s installations harmonize with nature, rather than disrupt it.”
MOTHER NATURE STRIPPED BARE AND LOOKING GOOD
They tore the earth open and then repaired the damage in a most admirable way.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-19396755
2012-09-28—THEME: PC AIN’T POLITICALLY CONSERVATIVE
Once upon a time, censorship was associated with the right—not the morally right, but those on the political right. And our tendency to simplistic thinking leads to the conclusion that those on the left must of course be opposed to the ideas of those at the other end of the political spectrum. When it comes to censorship, that partisan thinking is clearly flawed. In most modern, democratic societies, it is the ‘liberals’ that seem most concerned about limiting what one can say or write. Their intentions are certainly altruistic, but then so were those who insisted that it was ‘offensive’ to show a married couple in a double bed on a TV sitcom. It is fun to make fun of political correctness, for it is an easy target, but it is a serious problem, as is any excuse for censorship.
AGUSTIN BLAZQUEZ WITH THE COLLABORATION OF JAUMS SUTTON
A personal essay by the producer and director of the “Covering Cuba” series about the “scourge” of political correctness from its historical roots through his personal experience of it in Castro’s Cuba to his fear of the PC infection spreading into democratic societies.
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/4/4/121115.shtml
STEPHEN PINKER
An interview with Harvard psychology prof and author of The Blank Slate and The Better Angels of Our Nature, books that challenge conventional and politically correct thinking with hard evidence.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0W9sSqeJnA
KINKY FRIEDMAN
On a lighter note, this interview with the very politically incorrect singer, songwriter, novelist, satirist, and founder of the Texas Jew Boys Band.
It is estimated that, unless we are blind, we receive more than 90 percent of our knowledge of the world through our vision. It is the most complexly developed sensory part of the human brain. We value what we perceive so very much that we constantly attempt to capture it and freeze it in time. Our photographs are usually among our most prized possessions. And we rather naively say that "seeing is believing!" But in actuality our visual perception doesn't really correspond that well at all to what is really out there, for what we can see is only a tiny part of the electromagnetic spectrum observed in a very narrow time frame.
IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE
Filming at 100 trillion frames per second.
IN THE EYE OF THE CAMERA
Repairing damaged visual memories.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/becci_manson_re_touching_lives_through_photos.html
IN, NOT THE EYE, BUT THE EAR OF THE BEHOLDER
Expanding the spectrum through sound.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/neil_harbisson_i_listen_to_color.html
2012-10-12—THEME: DAMNED AND BANNED
It seems that last week was “Banned Books Week”, and one has to wonder about the point of all these ‘Awareness Weeks’. Who isn’t aware of cancer or heart disease—or book banning? But what the hell! Going with the flow, albeit belatedly, here is some related material.
MAKING THE TOP ONE THOUSAND
A truly liberal education is rarely to be found in university, but consistently found in a good library. But if one were given limited funds to open a library, the selection of books to include would be a hard call. A good start would be to use this list: a list of the one thousand and one most frequently banned books. Any writer would be proud to make the cut! Talk about being in good company!
http://www.oclc.org/research/top1000/complete.html
WRITERS SUPPORT BANNED BOOKS
Well, of course, not really. But because censorship always fails, it does have a bright side. As Mark Twain remarked, “Apparently, the Concord library has condemned Huck as ‘trash and only suitable for the slums.’ This will sell us another twenty-five thousand copies for sure!”
http://www.flavorwire.com/333790/famous-authors-funniest-responses-to-their-books-being-banned?all=1
PREACHING TO THE CHOIR
There probably is little to be gained by writers writing about the absurdity and evil of banning books, for those who are doing the banning rarely read. Nevertheless, it is enjoyable reading for the literate, for the choir of readers. Here are some brief ‘sermon’ extracts by Kurt Vonnegut, Charles Bukowski, Susan Sontag, Harper Lee, and other fine writers. They certainly are more entertaining and intelligent than what one usually gets in church.
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/10/01/literary-icons-on-censorship/
2012-10-19—THEME: KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID
It’s nice to know someone on the U.S. House Senate Committee on Science and Technology can relieve us all of dealing with the complexity of trying to understand the universe and our place in it. It is nice to know, as he pointed out in a recent speaking engagement, that it has already been explained—in Genesis. It’s nice to know that God set it all up in six days a mere nine thousand years ago, and that “All that stuff…about evolution and embryology and the Big Bang Theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of Hell.” But for those who are willing to risk eternal damnation in hell’s fires by their allegedly merciful god, here are some devilishly interesting alternative explanations.
BRIAN GREENE
He speaks with forked tongue of an ever-forking universe. Viewer discretion advised.
http://www.ted.com/talks/brian_greene_why_is_our_universe_fine_tuned_for_life.html
STEPHEN HAWKING
He speaks because of technology, which is the work of the devil, and that should be a warning!
http://www.ted.com/talks/stephen_hawking_asks_big_questions_about_the_universe.html
PAUL BROUN
This link is added for anyone foolish enough to have followed the previous links. One can still find salvation by taking these words to heart—and embracing the Lord.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge64kMFoQEo
2012-10-26—THEME: THE MEANING OF LIFF
The Meaning of Liff is a hilarious "dictionary of things that there aren't any words for yet" written by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd. The cover makes the claim “This book will change your life.” It doesn’t give a meaning for the word ‘life’, because we already have that word. However, we can’t seem to agree on its meaning!
SOME FOLKS
WITH INTERESTING DEFINITIONS
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/09/17/the-meaning-of-life/
MONTY PYTHON’S IRREVERENT DEFINITIONS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54ulXNk-bmo
ONE PHILOSOPHER’S DENIAL OF DEFINITION
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2004/sep/20/features11.g2
2012-11-02—THEME: DECISIONS, DECISIONS, DECISIONS!
Six Nobel Prizes are awarded annually for literature, physics, chemistry, peace, economics, and physiology & medicine. Nobel's bequest stated that the prizes should be given "to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind". One might wonder why economics made the cut, and psychology didn’t. The most likely explanation is that psychology as scientific endeavour was still in its infancy back in 1896 when Alfred Nobel penned his bequest. However, that doesn’t explain including economics, which most people probably don’t think of as a science and certainly not really of benefit to mankind. Well, some aspects of psychology have matured, and the Nobel committee found a work-around in 2002 when they awarded the Princeton psychologist, Daniel Kahneman, the prize for Economics. It may have helped that he refers to his approach as “behavioural economics”, but there is no question of the scientific validity of his research and that his insightful findings about how and why we make decisions, especially bad ones, is profoundly important and influential.
THINKING, FAST AND SLOW, RIGHTLY AND WRONGLY
Kahneman’s best-selling book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, clearly explicates and summarizes all the insights he has gained through many decades of research.
LIVING, IN THE PRESENT AND IN OUR MEMORIES
Kahneman’s recent research interests have included what is called “hedonic psychology”.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/daniel_kahneman_the_riddle_of_experience_vs_memory.html
LIVING AND THINKING, IN THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE
Daniel Goldstein is another researcher into what influences our decisions and how we might improve our thinking and our lives.
2012-11-09—THEME: MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THIS
Memories are made of this (just like all good narratives): good editing. We have different memory systems. The two major types of conscious or explicit memory are called ‘semantic’ and ‘episodic’. The former is for factual information and the latter is for our memories of experiences, episodes in our personal autobiographical narrative. Episodic memory is the more emotional and the least available for fact checking when brought out to the light of day. (“You said…” “No, I didn’t, what I said was…”). We trust it more, but it is less trustworthy. So we reinvent our past every time we remember it—or even think we do.
YOUR MEMORY IS LIKE THE TELEPHONE GAME
Every time you take a memory out to examine it, you edit it before putting it back.
http://www.kurzweilai.net/why-your-memory-is-like-the-telephone-game
THE DANGER IN FALSE MEMORIES
Loftus, an expert on false memories, presents the scientific evidence that should make us wary of believing what we think we remember.
http://faculty.washington.edu/eloftus/Articles/sciam.htm
THE FALSE MEMORY FOUNDATION
Too many psychological and psychiatric ‘professionals’ (and the ever suspicious police) are guilty of believing—and actually unintentionally inducing—unfounded accusations that have sent people to jail and shattered families.
http://www.fmsfonline.org/about.html
2012-11-16—THEME: SURVIVING CITIES
The cities are people magnets. The proportion of people living in cities has grown from 13% in 1900 to 49% in 2005. Over 80% of Canadians live in urban areas, yet the physical area of Canada that could be considered urban has to be way less than 1%. The country is virtually empty, and the cities are overcrowded.
THE LAWS THAT GOVERN CITIES—STATISTICAL LAWS
“Physicist Geoffrey West has found that simple, mathematical laws govern the properties of cities -- that wealth, crime rate, walking speed and many other aspects of a city can be deduced from a single number: the city's population.”
http://www.ted.com/talks/geoffrey_west_the_surprising_math_of_cities_and_corporations.html
MAKING CITIES SMALLER—PHYSICALLY SMALLER
“How can we fit more people into cities without overcrowding? Kent Larson shows off folding cars, quick-change apartments and other innovations that could make the city of the future work a lot like a small village of the past.”
http://www.ted.com/talks/kent_larson_brilliant_designs_to_fit_more_people_in_every_city.html
MAPPING CITIES—WITH MENTAL MAPS
“Map designer Aris Venetikidis is fascinated by the maps we draw in our minds as we move around a city -- less like street maps, more like schematics or wiring diagrams, abstract images of relationships between places.”
http://www.ted.com/talks/aris_venetikidis_making_sense_of_maps.html
2012-11-23—THEME: LISTEN FOR THE DUCKS AND THEN DUCK
The Internet is the most amazing learning tool since the Gutenberg revolution. There is so much knowledge available at our fingertips (tapping on a computer keyboard or mobile device) that it boggles the mind. But there is just as much—or probably even more—misinformation just as readily available. Knowing who you can trust has always been an important question when reading, whether in print or on Internet websites. Most profs make an effort to be sure their students learn the guidelines for trust, and require peer-reviewed sources for student papers. But even some of them don’t practise what they preach and ignore these guidelines in personal matters, such as health or political issues. There is no foolproof inoculation against confirmation bias or wishful thinking. And the general public, usually untrained in sniffing out bullshit, is even more vulnerable. Here are some websites worth checking out before believing something is true because it is on the Web.
QUACKOMETER
This is a wonderful experimental site, which actually seems to work quite well. One pastes in the URL of a site, and it analyzes it, looking for those red flags (which it calls “canards”) that indicate it is suspect, such as pseudo-science jargon, sales pitches, vague and extreme claims. Give it a try with known bullshit sites and reputable ones. And then sites you’d really just like to believe are trustworthy.
http://www.quackometer.net/?page=quackometer
SNOPES
For years this site has been investigating rumours that have gone viral in email. It is always worth checking here before passing on some warning about a lethal computer virus, or a group petition to fix some wrong or to help someone in dire straits, or a link to a site that ‘proves’ the validity of some conspiracy theory.
QUACKWATCH
This site specializes in tagging medical misinformation, perhaps the most common—and most dangerous—misinformation found on the Internet. Everybody is concerned about his or her health, and there are a helluva lotta people willing to take advantage of this, for it is a virtually universal vulnerability—and here quackery is very lucrative. Sadly, many well-intentioned people innocently help promote the quacks.
2012-11-30—THEME: FACE IT!
Faces
matter. We’re told not to judge a book by its cover, but we can’t help it. We
are judged by the face we present to the world. IN THE
BEGINNING
It is said that as you age, you get the face you deserve. Over time your predominant emotions etch themselves into the landscape of your face. It would be a good sign if we all concluded our lives with deep laugh lines. This is an amazing short video about how we grew the blank page of our first face.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFY_KPFS3LA&sns=em
EMOTION WRITES ITSELF ON OUR FACE
The universality and innate nature of basic emotions has been demonstrated by showing photographs of faces expressing different emotions to people, including those of an isolated stone-age culture, all of whom had no trouble reading such basic emotions as anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise.
http://www.inspectorinsight.com/emotion/facing-up-to-reality/
FACE BLINDNESS: PROSOPAGNOSIA
If you can never recognize the cover of a book, you’ll have a problem remembering what is inside.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLGXAiSpN00
2012-12-07—THEME: STRINGS ATTACHED TO EXCEPTIONAL GIFTS
They used
to call them “idiot savants”, but that’s not politically correct—and, actually,
it isn’t even really correct. These are people with special gifts, and they are
only idiots in the same way we all are. To a math savant, the average person
would seem to be a math idiot. Our brains have limited capacity, and every
mental gift has its price.TEN
AMAZINGLY GIFTED SAVANTS
http://www.neatorama.com/2008/09/05/10-most-fascinating-savants-in-the-world
DAMAGE AND DEFICITS DELIVERING GIFTS
INSTANT GIFT GIVING
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFlUIru2xzo
SHAMELESS self-promotion addendum for former colleagues:
I’ll be launching my latest book at Gulliver’s Books on Main tonight from 7:30 to 9. It is a collection of fictions written over many years entitled God When He’s Drunk. Give the gift of book. More info at:
KenStange.com/GodDrunkPressRelease.pdf
2012-12-14—THEME: THEY LIVE AMONG US
No, not
aliens—just other species. We keep animals in our houses as ‘pets’. We use food to attract birds to our backyards
or urban balconies. It seems that somewhere in our collective unconscious there
remains a primitive need to share our existence with other creatures. If this
idea seems strange consider…MONKEY
BUSINESS IN TAMPA
A community that welcomes and helps out the homeless—macaque.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/magazine/tampa-monkey.html?hp&pagewanted=all&_r=0
PET HIPPOPOTAMUS
He followed me home. Can I keep him?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B54Bl5b1AXw
URBAN ANIMALS
Photo gallery of urban animals—other than your neighbours in the Frat House.
2012-12-21—THEME: THE DANGEROUS FRUIT
It
masquerades as a vegetable and claims to be good for us, but it is a member of
deadly nightshade family. Where did we ever get the crazy idea that it was
something to eat?! TOMATOES
ARE EVIL
http://www.tomatoesareevil.com/tomato%20history.html
TOMATOES MAKE YOU CRAZY
http://www.oddities123.com/annual-tomato-fight-la-tomatina-bunol-spain/
TOMATOES ARE TRYING TO KILL US
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPZUWTTCBRA
2012-12-28—THEME: END OF YEAR, END OF OUR WORLD
Homo sapiens have made it this far, but let’s get real: that ain’t very far in the grand scheme of things. The universe as we know it has been around for 13.7 billion years, our planet for a mere 4.5 billion years, primitive cellular life on our hunk of rock for 3.6 billion years, and our species for the blink of a cosmological eye: a mere 20,000 years at most. And we as individuals only have cosmic nanoseconds to savour the miracle of existence before out personal world blinks outs. But it is hard to place our own lives in such a grand perspective.
HISTORY OF
APOCALYPSE FORECASTERS
Harold Camping, who’s highly publicized forecast of May 21, 2011 for the “Rapture”, is only the most recent nutcase to cause the naïve to mess up their lives in ‘preparation’ for The End.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dates_predicted_for_apocalyptic_events
CURRENT REAL THREATS
There are real threats to the extinction of our species. Our irresponsible treatment of our planet is but one. We could have some control over that, although we don’t seem to be doing so. Another threat may come from beyond, and we may or may not be able to control that.
http://www.space.com/15734-dangerous-asteroid-census-nasa-telescope.html
THE EVENTUAL END
But all good things must come to an end. That includes the universe in the inevitable Great Heat Death. It may be 100 trillion years away, but still…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhVD-QDToxs
Happy New Year!