On September 11, 2001 the World Trade Center Twin Towers disintegrated in a manner that scientists say resembled deliberately calculated implosions. The facts open for discussion include: at 5:20 p.m. that same day another building, the 47 story WTC 7, completely collapsed within 70 feet of its footprint in 6.6 seconds. These three buildings became the first such structures to ever suffer complete collapse due to fire and damage.
The film closely examines one of the world’s worst catastrophes from a civil engineering perspective. Using photo and video footage as well as expert scientific testimony, the film thoroughly examines the official reports, offering varied criticisms of the official findings, while raising a more plausible hypothesis. The findings from these scientific experts have been quietly ignored by both government investigations and the mainstream media.
“The dramatic collapse of World Trade Center 7 is something everyone ought to see . . . It really does have the characteristics of an explosive demolition.” – Dr. Steven Jones, physicist, author of “Why Indeed Did the WTC Buildings Completely Collapse?”
This is a wonderful presentation. It lasts about two hours and is worth watching if you have the time. If we had more of these kind of presentations in media we actually might get critical thinking working in the general populace! Imagine that! People actually using their brains instead of parroting soundbites!
I couldn't help myself but I thought this musical accompaniment by the Talking Heads to be just too appropriate!
The corruption of science is one that I take quite personally as well as find to be extremely disappointing to say the least. Science as a practice is about the ordering of knowledge not the the tool to be used by vested interests to persuade the public on certain social-economic-politcal issues. In this regard science is co-opted by sophistry in order to win arguemnets and persuade. It is no longer used as a means to ascertain the truth of a subject of inquiry. In this regard it becomes a seething blight upon the whole of the subject, well beyond the measure of an honest mistake that any person or scientist could make. To begin, lets us take a cursory examination of the subject of global warming. If you have been following this topic, as if you could avoid it, you could easily walk away from a discourse with the average person either confused or not the much wiser to say the least. Perhaps you have heard many of the arguements presented by the so called skeptics on the topic. But wait a second, aside from the skepticism that is the usual practice of research there appears to be more than just scientists practising their usual business:Exxon spends millions to cast doubt on warming! So for a topic that is immensly complicated and very specialized here we have a vested interest intentionally muddying the waters of an already complex topic. The question one must ask regarding the topic is simple: WHY? Why is a major oil company paying to cast doubt on the topic?
For my own liking, I think I'll go ahead and give the credence to The Federation of American Scientists on this topic. BTW, that site is quite a resource in trying to wrap your mind around the topic. Either way, we are going to find out who is correct sooner or later. My guess is it is going to be sooner than most think!
But the corruption of science doesn't stop there! On this week's Living On Earth, actually a good use of public funds IMHO, the topic of global warming and conflicts of interest is addressed in the show titled:AN INCONVENIENT CONTROVERSY. You can dowlaod and listen to the show from the link! No matter your persuasion, this topic is a serious one and we certainly do not need vested interests and opportunists muddying of the waters of this complicated topic. Thanks for your contributions to humanity, JERKS!
So be warned all you would be scientists of the world, corruption can seep into any human endeavor because, well we are all human after all. The real problem is cleaning up the mess created by those who are willing to corrupt in order to garner influence and profit. In the case of science, we all risk losing valuable researches and discoveries that some would prefer to keep from the public at large. They gain at our detriment! Once again, thanks for your contributions to humanity, JERKS!
Well here the man many would love to hate just because. I have found most of what he has to say to be erudite and right on track. Here are some of the Q&A's I liked:
Our pub quiz team is named The Church of Richard Dawkins. At a recent Oxford quiz night, we were told to change our name in case it was deemed offensive to any churchgoers present. Have you any suggestions for a " less offensive" name?RICHARD O SMITH, Oxford
And they call me intolerant! I am shocked that this happened in Oxford, of all places. I hope you win the tournament so resoundingly that you can dictate terms and call yourselves whatever you like. "Offensive" my foot.
Are people who advocate intelligent design stupid, and do you think natural selection will operate to remove them from future generations?ADAM KHAN, The Hague, Netherlands
The majority are ignorant, which is not the same thing as stupid. Natural selection will not remove ignorance from future generations. Education may, and that is the hope to which we must cling.
The concept of symbiosis is extended to Jungian psychology, where the ego and Self are considered as two living symbiotic systems. The ego and Self appear to form a symbiotic relationship of continuous and obligate mutualism. The ego and psyche are both considered to be dissipative systems as defined in modern chaos theory. Dreams are shown to be feedback loops from the Self to the ego. Phase locking or entrainment is one possible outcome of the symbiotic relationship between the ego and the Self. During the first half of life, the ego develops relative independence. The primary feedback loop operating is the dream and the ego is drawn back to the Self during the second half of life through entrainment. Mental health, during the second half of life, can only be maintained by the ego becoming conscious of this relationship, and deliberately encouraging and enhancing it. An optimum level of conscious awareness is required because too much can result in inflation, while too little can result in alienation, and both of these extremes can easily become pathological. The ultimate goal of this symbiotic relationship is individuation.
As intriguing as it sounds there may be some gaps one would have to fill in order to make this line of thinking work. Like perhaps some measurements that are quantifiable!
If you are interested in complex systems, stochastics, and other ramblings of another madman, then Three-Toed Sloth may be worth looking into. If you really want to crawl down the rabbit hole then might I suggest looking into some of Cosma's work on Stochastic Processes (Advanced Probability II). WARNING: Not for the faint at heart if you have not looked at his website yet.
If you feel you need a primer I would suggest looking into the site of Dr. John Evans or HyperPhysics. He can get you started down that long pristine path known as complex systems.
