gaming my winter

If you're wondering why there's a picture of a fantasy air ship here rather than one of my pictures it's because a few days ago I began playing one of the best games I've ever watched someone else play, Final Fantasy IX. Years ago when I first acted as co-pilot (for puzzle solving) and general passenger, numb played it through the television on our old Play Station 2. It was great for a number of reasons then, but I find it's equally enjoyable now playing it (with frequent assistance) on the little hand held PSP*. The story itself does a fantastic job of bringing the characters to life. For all the action packed moments Final Fantasy IX has just as many quiet heartfelt ones. The strength of the narrative lies in the fact that its characters deal with real human emotions: fear of death, loneliness, identity, self worth and belonging.

Apart from painting pictures of Zen stories I feel I haven't had much to say in general recently; and Crow mostly keeping stchum about his opinions of continuing world events makes it difficult for me to illustrate his more amusing anecdotes. Naturally my preference is to write posts about good things. Yet for every tidbit I find that looks cool I find at least ten more that go from being worrying to downright catastrophic. Perhaps I can do a weekly post of one each of a positive and negative  news item. It may not turn into a regular blog habit, but here's a start (and just for fun I'll let you decide which is which):

From the Guardian: According to Oxfam the 85 richest people in the world are as wealthy as the poorest 3.5 billion put together - that's half the world population.

This hardly needs more comment from me but it's interesting to note that the World Economic Forum opens in Davos, Switzerland this week. I wonder what else they have up their sleeves?

From New Scientist: A sprinkling of stardust is as magical as it sounds. The dust grains that float through our solar system contain tiny pockets of water, which form when they are zapped by a blast of charged wind from the sun. Combined with previous findings of organic compounds in interplanetary dust, the results suggest that these grains contain the basic ingredients needed for life. As similar dust grains are thought to be found in solar systems all over the universe, this bodes well for the existence of life across the cosmos.

This is nice simply because it means there's a good chance there is intelligent life somewhere in the universe.

I'm not sure just how far I'll get playing Final Fantasy IX, but while I wait for inspiration it's much more entertaining in general than reading the news (which I'll continue doing anyway).
♡
* I've been reminded it's a PSVita - not that anyone would care :)

neptunia and her beachball

It occurred to me if scientific thought and education based on cooperation rather than competition was encouraged, we'd have a much better chance of not simply surviving but flourishing. If the world was run on evidence-based science we'd be investing in major projects to develop and deploy clean renewable technologies. We'd work toward ending the spate of curable diseases and the hunger that kill eleven million children every year. Instead, we're seeing huge amounts of money being funneled into the hands of the super-rich who have no long range plan in mind at all other than increasing their own wealth in a world that's at the brink of disaster.

In the last 50 years, we've moved away from collective thinking - all over the world people are educated in the western style to compete. Higher education in much of the west is now so expensive that students have to plan on a high paying career that will allow them to pay off their loans rather than look forward to using their knowledge and skills for positive ends. We have impoverished graduates who can't find jobs in their chosen fields and a large segment of the general population that hates science. That's not only sad but also dangerous.

I like to read and there are so many fascinating discoveries and developments that sometimes I can get lost exploring for whole sections of days. The world is an intriguing, magnificent place where, if we were to admit it, we've caused many of our own problems. I've made it a habit of stopping reading the minute somebody says, 'We should all do so and so to fix this, that or the other thing' because that will never happen. I've heard it said that not everyone brushes their teeth and what could be more basic than that?

I guess what we can do is remain open to the possibilities of a better future for everyone and learn as much as we can on our own. That includes sharing what we learn with each other until we have a society that recognizes that large things matter.

Meanwhile, I give you Neptunia, one of those paintings that didn't work out as planned.

:-)

arts and spare parts

Since I've gone back to painting pictures the slow way I won't be able to post pictures of new ones very often. Oh well. In the meanwhile, here's another that lives in my portfolio and, just to keep things moderately interesting around here, a story that caught my attention this week:

A human spare parts kit may someday become a reality thanks to scientists who claim to have discovered a gene which could allow regrowing of damaged body parts. An international team, led by The Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, has found that if the p21 gene is switched off in mammals they can regrow body parts just like amphibians do.

Now the idea that scientists are chopping parts off small animals after making sure they don't have a particular gene just to see if they'll grow the bits back is kind of creepy but at the same time it is interesting. I guess I just have to hope the creatures are sedated, kept comfortable, well fed and have suitable entertainment available while they recover.

Mammals in general heal wounds by forming a scar but mice with no p21 grow a blastema which is similar to a group of embryonic stem cells. The ones with damaged ears regrew them. It's probably too soon to apply this technique to people and I personally have no idea of how particular genes can be turned off or on but I'll take their word for it.

Now I'm going to send the article to my dentist so we can discuss the third set of teeth I should be growing right about now.

demon haunted world

Just last week I read the last book Carl Sagan wrote before his death in 1996 called 'Demon Haunted World'. The thesis of the book is that America's obsession with pseudoscience has curtailed the growth of the United States as a scientifically literate society. Science requires a painstaking trial and error system called The Scientific Method. All that pseudoscience requires is gullibility. Science is fed by hard work and intellect. Pseudoscience is fed by misguided emotion.

Touching on several examples of pseudoscience - recovered memory syndrome and Satanic abuse, so-called alien abduction and others, Sagan calmly examines the claims and finds them to be built on a desire to see things as they are not. He argues that the only true method with which to examine these claims is by adoption of a healthily skeptical scientific method.

In this regard he devotes a chapter of his book to his now-famous 'Baloney Detection Kit' which informs the reader of the forms which pseudo-scientific arguments take - tautologies, ad hominem attacks etc. And also what you should be looking for in an argument that should be taken seriously and what kind of proofs should be needed for it to be accepted. His thoughts on these matters can equally be applied to politics and economics.

Sagan never once said anywhere in this book that science is perfect. Along with great things such as penicillin, food refrigeration, and the Internet that can be credited to science, things like nuclear weapons, Agent Orange, and DDT could be blamed on it as well. He acknowledged that but when all things were taken into consideration, science was the horse he chose to put his money on.. and with good reason.

Okay, the book review is over but I have to share a few of my favorite quotes by Carl Sagan:

All of the books in the world contain no more information than is broadcast as video in a single large American city in a single year. Not all bits have equal value.

I am often amazed at how much more capability and enthusiasm for science there is among elementary school youngsters than among college students.

If we long to believe that the stars rise and set for us, that we are the reason there is a Universe, does science do us a disservice in deflating our conceits?

We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.

Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowed from deep nonsense.

Personally, I would be delighted if there were a life after death, especially if it permitted me to continue to learn about this world and others, if it gave me a chance to discover how history turns out.

Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.

The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition.

For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.

Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.


(the picture is from APOD - a site I visit daily)

yes, but can i touch it?

We tend to believe magic is evil, strange, or just the hocus-pocus of entertainers with lightning fast reflexes and lots of fancy equipment but what if it's as real as your refrigerator? For the Egyptians magic was neither scary nor strange but a force present in nearly every aspect of their lives.

We imagine our eyes to be little windows at the front of our heads that let the pictures of the world inside for us to consider and have opinions about, but what's really happening is that everything we see exists only in our minds. For a simple example check out the blind spot self test. Perceived information goes for the other senses too. Sound is a vibration in air currents and without an ear, or air, or a brain, there is no sound. I think my bottom and my favorite chair are attracted to one another by gravity but since all objects are made of molecules which are formed of protons and electrons orbiting a nucleus at a significant distance, what is real about my sitting here? The spiritual anodyne that we are all one goes much further than the bozos on this bus route we tend to understand from a purely practical basis. Since each and every one of us is attached to everything we perceive - me to chair, breathing in air, air blowing breeze, wind currents, you sitting, standing, walking but always breathing so long as you're here. We're attached. If we could see true reality we can't begin to imagine what would appear.

I don't recommend books very often but I read one recently that confirmed something I've accepted inherently all my life called 'Biocentrism' written by Robert Lanza, MD (a scientist with a genuine reputation). The essence of the book is that life creates the universe rather than the other way around whose proof revolves around current discoveries in quantum mechanics. What a wonderful concept. If you don't have time to read the book you should at least check out the article which I've borrowed from just to give a hint of a paradigm altering concept that would allow us some sense of ease through difficult times.

We can believe there's a universe out there even if there were no living organisms, but this is just a thought and thought requires a thinking being. What could existence mean without consciousness of any kind? There is nothing in modern physics that explains how a group of molecules in a brain creates consciousness. The beauty of a sunset, the taste of a delicious meal, these are all mysteries to science — which can sometimes pin down where in the brain the sensations arise, but not how and why there is any subjective personal experience to begin with. And, what’s worse, nothing in science can explain how consciousness arose from matter. Our understanding of this most basic phenomenon is virtually nil. Interestingly, most models of physics do not even recognize this as a problem.





















Right now there are only four explanations for this mystery. One is to argue for incredible coincidence. Another is to say, "God did that," which explains nothing even if it is true. The third is to invoke the anthropic principle’s reasoning that we must find these conditions if we are alive, because, what else could we find? The final option is biocentrism pure and simple, which explains how the universe is created by life. Obviously, no universe that doesn’t allow for life could possibly exist; the universe and its parameters simply reflect the spatio-temporal logic of animal existence. That's because it's Magic. There's a life stream running through the Cosmos and we're all a part of it. In Egypt an open-mouthed lion functioned exactly the same as gargoyles found on Gothic cathedrals - draining water and warding off evil spirits. Science has given us much but it can't tell us everything we need to know.