Not bad wande.Fairly well balanced.
A BBC radio channel has today been discussing the future of science with a range of experts and with phone in contributions from the great unwashed.
Issues raised included-
1-Nano microphones and cameras of molecular size which could easily,it seems,be incorporated into food products and hence into tissues.
2-The possibility of ordinary speech becoming obsolete.
3-Longevity levels which the economic system could only afford so long as people worked well past 120.
4-A two tier social system caused by scientific language being incomprehensible to non-scientists who would necessarily be disenfranchised.
5-A eugenics programme resulting in everyone being more or less perfect which is to say identical.
( A most un-Darwinian idea I should have thought.)
6-And,as Huxley predicted,a proportion of drop-outs who choose to live in a more traditional manner.
I haven't got it all there as I was driving when I heard those bits.But there was something about generating multiple consciousnesses,watching TV in the eyeballs,and introducing consciousness into objects.
I came off it with a distinct feeling that "science" as thought of on this thread is that from before sliced bread was discovered and that the only way to retain vestiges of humanity is to support the ID side on the grounds that it is less daft.
spendi's brain is fried from all his visits (daily?) to the local tavern.
spendiQuote: I came off it with a distinct feeling that "science" as thought of on this thread is that from before sliced bread was discovered and that the only way to retain vestiges of humanity is to support the ID side on the grounds that it is less daft.
Jever wonder how a catfish can see where its goin in the Mississippi? I feel like a shaved catfish. The above spendispeak is perhaps one of the godawfullest sentences Ive ever read in these forams.
c.i. wrote-
Quote:spendi's brain is fried from all his visits (daily?) to the local tavern.
It was scientists on the radio who said all that.I only gave a garbled precis.I wasn't taking notes.How do you conclude my brain is fried merely because I reported it.
fm wrote-
Quote:Never wonder how a catfish can see where it's goin' in the Mississippi? I feel like a shaved catfish. The above spendispeak is perhaps one of the godawfullest sentences I've ever read in these forums.
You just have to be kidding fm.Can't you see your way to explaining what you mean.
I ought to have said that the radio programme was dealing with stuff being worked on now and coming on stream in the next fifty years.
A good example of spendi-speak:
I came off it with a distinct feeling that "science" as thought of on this thread is that from before sliced bread was discovered and that the only way to retain vestiges of humanity is to support the ID side on the grounds that it is less daft.
"fried brain cells from too much alcohol" seems like a good probability. I could be wrong, but all the symptoms are there.
Answer the question man for goodness sake.
How does my reporting a radio show prove anything about the state of my brain.It did show I have a fairly retentive memory I think. There was quite a lot in my report and the discussion was interlarded with music and I was working.I even impressed myself getting so much down on your behalfs.
spendi, Trust me on this one; it was not on "our" behalf. It was entirely for spendi's consumption and analysis.
You could just as easily say that about any post on here.I thought you might be interested in what was said by two eminent British scientists concerning current research and hopes in the field.One was the Emeritus Professor of Biological Geography at London University.(I think I have that right.)
If you run with untramelled science that's the general direction.Seemingly you favour it.So do I actually.It sounds good fun.
I always saw Brave New World as utopian.I think reading it dystopianly is to miss the point.
All those pneumatic women who never age and are all popped up all the time and you get looked down the nose at for being interested in one twice.
I think I choose to be an alpha minus.Virtual reality video playcast star.Something along those lines.I'm a bit arty.
I wouldn't mind being a gamma plus but not a minus.Beta range I would definitely not wish on my enemies.
That's why I said that the professor's brief survey of the next fifty years progress sounded like good fun.Although it only covered the things we can already imagine a bit.
You'll notice that the guy who runs off because he can't take it anymore goes into the agricultural business on his own account.He gets an allotment.
You won't believe this but it's true.
After I wrote that I went to the pub and this geezer comes up and starts telling us about how his ambition is to go to the wilds of emptiest Canada and feed himself from nature's bounteous resources.It was a bit garbled but I heard mention of racoon pie.
Is it any good?
Racoon, like bear and to some extent even squirrel, tends to be greasy if not carefully prepared. When roasting, the meat should be on a trivet or grate of sufficient size to keep it above the rendered fat, when grilled or rotisserie cooked over open flame, flareups must be managed, and when stewed, the product should not be boiled vigorously, but rather should be simmered, with frequent attention paid to skimming the froth and fat from the surface. Due to their high fat content, meats of these sorts do not lend themselves well to pan-frying. Strongly flavored themselves, such meats work well cooked with robust wines and with stronger herbs and spices, such as garlic, sage, and laurel. Hearty vegetables - radishes, turnips, cabbage, leeks, carrots, onions, and the like, also work well with these meats.
Done correctly, any of 'em can be downright tasty, prepared any number of ways. You need a lotta squirrels, though, to make a decent meal; they ain't real big to start with, and ain't much meat on 'em.
Why does the Ballad of Jed Klampett come to mind.
Nothing, absolutely nothing is worse than African "bush meat", ya never know what yer gonna get.
spendiQuote:I always saw Brave New World as utopian.I think reading it dystopianly is to miss the point.
I imagine youd say that about the Stepford Wives as well.
The folks in Columbia may well have a friend in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The author of the article constantly refers to "Darwinism." A theory of evolution owes to Darwin what physics owes to Newton--but just as modern physics has advanced well beyond the conceptions of Newton, and of Einstein, for that matter, so moder life ane earth sciences have advanced well beyond Darwin (and Wallace). Darwin relied upon morphology to make the distinctions which lead him to develop a theory of descent with modification by natural selection (as did Wallace). Modern biologists investigate evolution at the molecular level by mapping genomes.
With the major newspaper in the state of Missouri repetitively using a term such as "Darwinism" to describe a theory of evolution, one might tend to despair of the objectivity of those who will make the decisions in this matter.
Actually, the bill, if this quote accurately reflects the intent and langauge of same:
Quote: ... the bill would require teachers to distinguish between "verified empirical data" and theories. The bill further calls on teachers to "minimize dogmatism while promoting student inquiry, healthy skepticism and understanding.
leaves no room for anything but critique, criticism, and ultimate consequent debunking and ridiculing the ID-iot proposition, in that the patently religious absurdity of that proposition is devoid of verified empirical data, wholly dependent on dogmatism, has no objective, forensically valid, academically honest defense against legitimate inquiry or healthy skepticism, and is based on "understanding" only the superstitions of the Abrahamic Mythopaeia.
