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behaviour and intelligence 3

a crude report on the harm caused by madsam and war
I would prefer a better report but i have as yet found nothing.

In my view, there is strong evidence of female infanticide throughout the Middle East, and all figures of death rates and sanctions in Irak are entirely dependent on figures from the Iraki propaganda machine and therefore highly unreliable.

This article also does not mention the problems with heavy equipment, that crack the hardened surface of the desert , so preparing the way for sand storms, dune formation and eventual engulfment of otherwise productive and living areas.

Further, a major unexpected problem stemming from the oil-well damage has been amounts of oil sinking through the earth and contaminating the aquifers/water-table.

War is yet another way in which humans damage the planet.

the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/behaviour3.htm#behaviour200303

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corporate responsibility index—an interesting idea and legitimate criticism

“The inaugural Corporate Responsibility Index, published by a business charity and backed by the government, ranks more than 100 companies on the basis of their performance in dealing with community, environmental, workplace and other social issues.”

The Index listing is here.
[A seriously crummy presentation and html.]

the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/behaviour3.htm#behaviour140303

bleeding heart liberals out of step with reality

“War against a murdering fascist has by now become fully postmodern — a surreal experience whose strangeness transcends even the new weapons, tactics, and operational protocol involved. In our therapeutic, global culture the demands upon the United States military are now legion and incongruous, going well beyond preparing for chemical and biological attacks.”
—
“So war now belongs to the realm of postmodern thinking, a world where a grim Pericles must convince not the Athenian assembly, but the slouching guests at Trimalchio's banquet. There is no absolute good or bad, only the suspiciously powerful and the nobly impotent. Intention and exegesis are everything, action nothing. Meeting and defeating evil is considered judgmental and arbitrary — and thus hopelessly simplistic; soldiers must be social workers who feed and nurture victims, rather than those caricatured, retrograde avengers from our more primitive past.”

This analysis by Victor Davis Hanson shows the attempts by warm-hearted, but soft-headed, liberals to remould harsh reality to fit the cotton-wool world of the politically-correct.

This touchy-feely, soothing stance is near to damaging, possibly irrevocably, the United Nations Organisation, as well as the NATO Alliance and the European Union.

Similar attitudes in handling those who have experienced unusual, dramatic events such as war, terrorist attacks, large-scale accidents—who are now often labelled as ‘trauma victims’—has exacerbated the numbers with supposed problems such as ‘post-traumatic stress disorder’, rather than helped in such situations.

“Soldiers and psychologists, gathered together in London on March 5th to discuss the effects of war on participants' psyches, agreed that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) counselling, which is common, and sometimes compulsory, after disasters, can do more harm than good.”
—
“In lower Manhattan,[...] 40% of the population believes it has suffered PTSD since September 11th. Yet work by American psychologists among those who underwent counselling also suggests that many would have been better off without it. And a study in Israel of heart-attack victims showed that while 7% of those who buttoned up developed PTSD, 19% of those who spilled out their feelings did. Repression, as the British always knew, works.”
[Economist print edition, 06.03.2003]

So take it on the chin with a stiff upper lip, chaps.

related material
establishment psycho-bunk articles

the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/behaviour3.htm#behaviour080303

08.03.2003

related material
establishment
psycho-bunk articles

reponsible leadership upsets fashion-conscious commentators

“The American commentariat is gravely concerned. Over the past week, George W. Bush has shown a disturbing tendency not to waffle when it comes to Iraq. There has been an appalling clarity and coherence to his position. There has been a reckless tendency not to be murky, hesitant or evasive. Naturally, questions are being raised about President Bush’s leadership skills.”
—
“ In certain circles, it is not only important what opinion you hold, but how you hold it. It is important to be seen dancing with complexity, sliding among shades of grey. Any poor rube can come to a simple conclusion - that President Saddam Hussein is a menace who must be disarmed - but the refined ratiocinators want to be seen luxuriating amid the difficulties, donning the jewels of nuance, even to the point of self-paralysis. ”

It would seem that straightforward integrity is being confused with dogma and bigotry.

the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/behaviour3.htm#behaviour070303

the fear of speaking out—enhancing human dna

“The scientist who co-discovered the structure of DNA stirred a row on Friday, the 50th anniversary of the breakthrough, by saying he backed genetic engineering to make people smarter and better-looking.”
—
“ Tom Shakespeare, a bio-ethicist at Britain's University of Newcastle, criticized Watson's remarks.
"He is talking about altering something that most people see as part of normal human variation, and that I think is wrong.... I am afraid he may have done more harm than good, his leadership of the Human Genome Project and his discovery of 1953 notwithstanding." ”

So, it is OK to discuss curing or avoiding disease by drugs or surgery.
It is OK to get bigger boobs or a facelift, or even exercise to improve yourself and your situation.
It is OK to teach a child to read or to provide vitamin supplements.

But you must not even discuss these human problems, if DNA is in question.

Such Luddite behaviour, aimed to suppress discussion, varies not one jot from the repression of the Inquisition or from brainwashing children in Nazi and many ‘religious’ schools.

It is the suppression of the open society and stifling human curiosity that perpetuates human squalor and misery.

the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/behaviour3.htm#behaviour010303

current commentary from france on the peasenik party

by a French commentator—

“why is the "peace camp" attracting butchers?"”
—
“if you listen to the "peace party," it's always too early - "Iraq has no nuclear weapons; there's no need to intervene" - or too late - "North Korea has nuclear weapons; it's too dangerous to take action." ”

and this, which I find quite surreal—

“ "I just can't believe what I am hearing," says Marianne Helloin-Vanura, a woman in her 40s, whose family was forced out of their farm by the Nazis. "We are grateful, we haven't forgotten what they did for us. However could they say this?"
—
“ "France has become the scapegoat. As if we could ever forget their support during the Second World War," she says.”
—
“ "Everyone has a right to their own opinion," she says. "It's because we've seen war, and we see the graves of the soldiers all the time, that we know that war is not an answer." ”

!!!

Paraphase to, “It was OK to rescue us from Adolf, but not to rescue Irakis from Madsam.”
Am I really reading this hypocrisy?

Are these people just stupid, or are they morally bankrupt?

the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/behaviour3.htm#behaviour230203

The morality of war on Iraq

Item moved to ethics and the ‘just war’ section

the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/behaviour3.htm#behaviour220203

kissed any frogs lately? the myth of repressed memory

moved to briefing documents

the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/behaviour3.htm#behaviour170203

i just know there are unicorns, i just can't detect them

I tell you we really do understand the universe. Just because we do not know what 96% of it is, and cannot even detect it (!!), does not mean we do not understand it.

“Perhaps most importantly, the image confirms the best and most improbable theories of our Universe. It shows that over 73% of the Universe is made of 'dark energy' - a mysterious force that appears to be pushing the cosmos apart. Another 23% is made of 'dark matter', a whole family of particles that has so far eluded detection by astronomers and high-energy physicists.

“That leaves just 4% for the rest - galaxies, stars, planets and people, everything made up of atoms. "WMAP has put this basic absurd picture of the Universe on much firmer ground," says cosmologist Michael Turner of the University of Chicago.”

This stuff reminds me vividly of Tertullian on christianism: “It is certain because it is impossible”.

‘Dark energy’, ‘dark matter’, ‘big bangs’, ‘mysterious forces’— the bishops might be just as batty, but at least they do not claim to be scientists!

“... most importantly, the image confirms the best and most improbable theories of our Universe [...] has put this basic absurd picture of the Universe on much firmer ground...”

I love it—who pays these people? I would rather discuss these ‘matters’ with a witch doctor.

The above article is from Nature, a supposedly serious and important scientific journal of record.

Little wonder that some are now getting the guts to speak out against ‘peer review’, otherwise known as the Vatican holy office or the academic establishment censor.

From João Magueijo:

“Peer review doesn't mean anything. The system has been disintegrating for years: you should see what passes for refereeing reports. It boils down to personal reactions to papers. Either referees know you and like you, or they know you and don't like you. If they don't know you, then it depends which institution you're at. It has become really corrupt in this respect. The refereeing process is collapsing anyway - they're having trouble finding people to do it. I now refuse to referee quite often. Sometimes I am sent three or four papers a week to referee. That is ridiculous. There is no way that you can do a proper job. I probably shouldn't say this, but, since papers should be in the archives anyway, sometimes I just accept everything. I don't see why you should reject a paper unless it is very obviously bad science.”

Also from Magueijo:

“The bandwagon is where someone important says you should do something, and everyone - old and young - jumps on the bandwagon. But yes, if you're going to do anything new, you really have to have the balls to jump [off the bandwagon].”

the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/behaviour3.htm#behaviour140203

watching numbers

“... thanks to my new Honda Civic Insight, of course – a car indistinguishable in appearance from all the millions of other Honda Civics, except that it almost never stops at gas stations. But to me the niftiest thing about the car is not its four-cylinder Vtec engine, or its trunk-mounted battery pack, or its regenerative braking that charges those batteries every time I put on the brake. It's the gauge that lets me know exactly how many miles I am getting per gallon.”

the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/behaviour3.htm#behaviour110203

preserving data for the information future—sound recordings!

“... the first 50 sounds to be entered in a National Recording Registry that seeks to ensure even greater protection for some of the most notable songs, speeches and other utterances.”
—
“The collection has grown so large that the sounds, along with the library's enormous photo archive, will be moved to a new 41-acre complex in Culpeper, Va., about 70 miles southwest of Washington. [...] Anything stored in Culpeper will be accessible via computer at the library's Madison Building in Washington.”

When will the recordings be net-accessible?

the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/behaviour3.htm#behaviour040203

an accurate assessment of what it takes to succeed in the 21st century
and what it takes to fail.....    

The new and growing class division in a meritocratic society:

“As with employers, visible diversity serves as a signal that a community embraces the open meritocratic values of the creative age. The people I talked to also desired nightlife with a wide mix of options. The most highly valued options were experiential ones—interesting music venues, neighborhood art galleries, performance spaces, and theaters. A vibrant, varied nightlife was viewed by many as another signal that a city "gets it," even by those who infrequently partake in nightlife. More than anything, the creative class craves real experiences in the real world.

“They favor active, participatory recreation over passive, institutionalized forms. They prefer indigenous street-level culture—a teeming blend of cafes, sidewalk musicians, and small galleries and bistros, where it is hard to draw the line between performers and spectators. They crave stimulation, not escape. They want to pack their time full of dense, high-quality, multidimensional experiences. Seldom has one of my subjects expressed a desire to get away from it all. They want to get into it all, and do it with eyes wide open.”

This article also gives a useful background interview with Richard Florida, the author of The Rise of the Creative Class.
[thanks to Limbic.]

The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life by Richard Florida. 2002 1st edition, Basic Books, 0465024769, hbk $19.25 (amazon.com) £15.41 (amazon.co.uk)

the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/behaviour3.htm#behaviour140103

USA mad fundamentalist ‘drug war’ extends idiocy into schools
accurate and well written article—highly recommended

“A 1998 study of nearly 150 teenagers treated in dozens of centers across the country found that there was 202 percent more crack abuse following treatment and a 13 percent increase in alcohol abuse.”

It is known that the greatest influence on the young is peer pressure.
It is known that only those who wish to get off drugs will get off drugs.

As a UK politician said, “prison is a method designed to make bad people worse”.

the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/behaviour3.htm#behaviourt060103

on orangutan culture

“According to Mr. Van Schaik, some orangutans kiss on the hand, others kiss on the lips, while still others kiss a leaf. "As far as we can tell, the meaning remains the same but it's clearly different in different places," he said. "We are fairly confident it's cultural because when animals kiss on a hand, everybody in a population does it, when they kiss on the leaf, everybody does it, and they don't do the other variants." ”

An interesting report. However, cultural behaviour has been known in animals, including birds, for at least fifty years.

the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/behaviour3.htm#beh-int040103

doing the right thing for a change, instead of just headline grabbing

In the UK,

“Thirty thousand mothers and fathers of errant children could be told to take lessons in good parenting in a programme aimed at driving down youth crime.”

“Research has shown that children whose parents attended the classes committed 50 per cent fewer offences in the year after the programme.”

the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/behaviour3.htm#beh-int030103

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© abelard, 2003, 3 january


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the address for this document is https://www.abelard.org/news/behaviour3.htm

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