A Dark Dilemma

Scientific theories are descriptions, they are not explanations. Scientific theories develop slowly and only a few create new and useful perspectives, evolution and relativity are examples. Successful theories impact more than just the direction of scientific research. They also alter perspectives within the general population. Successful theories give us a sense that we have arrived at final answers but new discoveries repeatedly make us question even the most established of scientific paradigms. The measurement of galactic movements, starting in the 1930’s, created such questions and has prompted new theories, especially regarding gravity. Gravity has been elusive in our efforts to match it with the other three basic forces of nature. The recent discovery of a ‘Higgs’ particle renewed our hope that we might be close to a unified theory and help us explain the galactic movements we are observing, but finding a large new atomic particle has also created new questions. Newton described the movements of stones falling to the ground, artillery shells curving in flight, and planets orbiting the sun as the result of an attractive force between particles of matter. Einstein described the same movements as the result of matter curving space. Both men used innovative mathematics. Newton used the calculus, Einstein used tensors and complex curves. Both men assumed that matter influences motion, Newton by having matter act on itself, Einstein by having matter alter the geometry of space. Einstein’s relativity replaced Newton’s mechanics and the curved space theory of Einstein has proven more accurate than Newton’s mechanical description by reconciling the planet mercury’s observed orbital discrepancy and by predicting altered paths of light passing near massive objects. Neither theory now accurately describes movements at galactic scales and, with only one macro attractive force in our conceptual repertoire, (gravity) we continue to use it to explain the anomalous rotations we continue to observe in galaxies and clusters of galaxies. Unwilling to question Newton or Einstein we calculated how much missing matter would be needed to cause the strange rotations we are observing. The result of our inverse analytical calculations is a massive amount of invisible matter surrounding small galaxies made of visible matter. Choosing to explain the anomalous rotation of galaxies by additional gravity and with no way to explain gravity without matter we have concluded that an invisible form of matter has to be the cause when all we really know is that galaxies don’t rotate as we expected. As a result we have focused our research on finding and identifying missing dark matter, but there are other ways to explain the observed errant galactic movements. In 1983 Mordehai Milgrom formalized a modification of Newtonian dynamics that describes the anomalies observed in galactic movement as natural variations in gravitational and accelerative forces acting on galactic and larger associations of matter. His predictive formulae also accurately describe the movement of double stars, satellite galaxies, interacting galaxies, and accelerative forces. Unfortunately scientific research has momentum coupled to long term research grants and commitments that can sidetrack promising theories like “MOND”. The anomalous rotation of galaxies was first noted in the 1930s and has been studied in more detail ever since. The idea of hidden matter producing additional gravity is not new, but the name “dark matter” has appeal and attracts media coverage and research funding. The Modified Newtonian Dynamics Theory applies to the same observed galactic phenomena but without any dark postulates. Unfortunately MOND doesn’t the same media appeal. Our conceptual universe was once filled with visible matter, four basic forces and nearly empty space. In the dark world of science It is now filled with, 68.3% dark energy, 26.8% dark matter, and only 4.9% visible matter, which implies, that after more than two thousand years of exploration, we understand less than 5% of what is going on around us. Searching in the dark for matter and forces hidden from us we are reaching beyond current conceptual limits and beyond our most basic assumptions. MOND offers us an alternative that keeps us in the light without the need for dark energy or dark matter and brings closer to reconciling gravity with the other forces of nature. Our primary sense is vision. Visible light has always been our most important portal into the workings of nature. We followed the motion of celestial objects with our eyes noting their movements until we could track and predict their paths. We observed the similarities and differences in living forms, detailing their shapes, colors and behavior in books and paintings until we could explain their similarities as the result of a common trace. We have also developed tools to convert sound and other vibrations into visible curves for analysis. We have invented cloud chambers to study the make up of matter using visible traces of particles too small to see, and have extended our understanding of light to frequencies beyond those available to the eye and now use microwave and infrared light to our advantage. We also symbolize, in symbolic languages, verbal and mathematical predictive descriptions of our observations. Our dependent relationship to light and the pervasiveness of the electromagnetic forces throughout the universe has formed our basic perspectives, shaped our questions, and guided our investigative efforts. Concentrating on (invisible matter) and (invisible forces), instead of re-examining gravity leaves our scientists nearly impotent. Dark matter and dark energy theories find little footing and few experimental options. The MOND theory lets us continue to search in the light and has implications for relating gravity with the weak force and a unified theory. We seem to be searching in the dark for answers that are waiting in the light. My money is on MOND and a few neutrinos for balance.

Attractive or Compressive. What's at the center?

I see the leaf twisting in the air but cannot see the wind, yet I know it must be there. When I stand I feel the weight upon my feet and see the stone drop from my hand but cannot see the force that makes it fall. Sight does not reveal all, and many unseen forces form and direct the dance of matter we observe. We measure and name these forces and predict their results as they interact with matter and with light, but our discoveries never generate final answers. Instead they seem only to generate more questions. Our latest observations have generated questions we have named “dark matter” and “dark energy”, both somehow related to the force we call gravity. As our theorists and scientists seek answers to these new questions, I seek answers to other questions. Specifically; is gravity attractive or compressive, and is there a difference? Before I’m told to put my hand down, as if I were in a classroom asking a dumb question, I would like to explain why I am confused. I have been told by experts that pressure inside a star, or planet, increases with depth below the surface and is greatest at the core or center. This appears correct if celestial spheres are being squeezed into shape from outside, but if they are formed by micro bits of matter attracting each other into spherical shapes it would seem that pressure would increase with depth until the attraction of the matter above begins to balance the attraction of the matter below. If this is the case a zero gravity state would logically follow to exist at the exact center of mass. I liken this to a tug-of-war between the gravitational attraction of mass below competing with the gravitational attraction of mass above. On the surface the pulling team below has the advantage because it has all the players on its side pulling down, but as the tug-of-war rope moves below the surface toward the center of the sphere, the tug-of-war team players systematically move from the pull down team to the pull up team as the mass above increases and the mass below decreases. The deeper they go more and more players switch to the pull up side until they reach the center of the sphere where equilibrium is reached with equal players and equal mass all around creating a stalemate and a zero gravity state. The conclusion that zero gravity and zero pressure conditions exist at the center of all massive celestial spheres seems to contradict many other theories and observations and I remain confused. Is gravity a compressive condition of space acting on matter or an attractive force between matter acting on space, or both? Einstein’s field theories show a connection between matter and gravity similar to a couple arguing about who is in charge. Mass is constantly being pulled around by Gravity. Mass complains but Gravity responds that it is Mass that makes her pull on him. Resolution seems impossible and divorce is not an option. Comments to this blog to help me resolve the paradox of where maximum pressures reside inside stars are welcomed.

When a protest becomes a threat

Confrontations over social issues can take many forms. Peaceful protests, obstruction, intimidation, stalking and violence are all examples. Unfortunately laws do not effectively differentiate between these various confrontational forms. In free societies, laws do not always treat ideological differences fairly for fear of trampling on a citizens right to free thought and speech. In more despotic forms of government protests are dealt with swiftly and sometimes with deadly force. Free speech is an essential element of our democracy and guaranteed by our constitution, but there are limits. Slander is not allowed. Creating panic without due cause is not allowed. Likewise certain activities used as a means to voice an objection or opinion are not allowed. One cannot jamb up a revolving door to a department store because they sell perfume tested on animals, or drop stink bombs onto a construction site because forests are being destroyed. Striking workers however, can recruit surrogates to parade up and down sidewalks with ready made signs, war protestors can infiltrate funerals for fallen soldiers, religious protestors can interfere in gay right activities, protestors can block access to abortion clinics, and neo Nazis can parade with anti-Semitic banners…. as long as these activities are infrequent and of short duration; But there is one ongoing protest that has lasted for decades and is an every day occurrence carried out by the same few individuals who claim their right to free speech excludes restriction because their message is from God. They claim they are free to continually harass, intimidate, threaten and promote harm to others with impunity. Clergy, politicians and lawmakers cower and avoid suppressing these protest activities because this small group has succeeded in drawing the line between what they believe and any modified or alternate view so narrowly that any reasonable attempt to restrict their activities identifies the police or judges as non Christian. These same militant few are treated with kid gloves by police and prosecutors because the protestors revel in anyone’s attempt to control their activities as an opportunity to publically broadcast their obstructionist cause and claim their cause is the victim of state interference in a free expression of religion. Any other continuing protest activity lasting decades and involving stalking, personal threats, invasions of privacy, bombings and killings by a small group of militant evangelists would have labeled them terrorists and been dealt with swiftly but these few radicals have intimidated our leaders and infiltrated government agencies, not to serve the people but to serve a single obstructionist cause. They succeed because their voices are loud and threatening, not because they truly understand or are compassionate. They persist because they have used their single issue to divide our society into believers and non believers and have created a state of avoidance by the law. Ignore them and they will never go away. They have even corrupted our language. Before their decades long campaign of intimidation the word 'choice' had a good connotation. It was at the core of our democracy and morality. Now the word has been turned into a single evil option that cannot be used without their agenda ringing in our ears. I would urge everyone even partially seduced by their rhetoric to go unannounced to one of their protests and pretend you are violating their barrier, or just stand aside and observe. These people are infiltrating your government and slowly usurping your rights, not just as it pertains to their cause but many more. The intensity of one's beliefs does not make their beliefs any more or less true, and this type of militant evangelism is potentially as dangerous as any other radical cause. I would ask those that enforce the law to apply it equally to these obstructionists. A thirty year reign of intimidation and stalking is not a peaceful protest. I would urge the rational clergy to disclaim these religious intimidators and allow others with different beliefs to exist in peace. If you ignore them you condone their approach and will eventually draw their militancy into your churches. We have had enough of religious wars and the deeper you draw the line between those who pray and those who don't, the less likely anyone seeking religious refuge will cross the line.

To Tell the Fruth and Nothing but the Fruth

Fruth is what happens when fiction gets tangled up with the truth. Sometimes this occurs by accident or by being overly exuberant but more often this twist is intentional, and when done by skilled language manipulators fruth is difficult to identify. As a carefully concocted almost truth, fruth can misinform, mislead, and malign. It can sway elections, warp important decisions, turn a benign religion into an army, create mass hysteria and destroy nations. Fruth has caused witches to be burned, the innocent to be executed and allowed sociopaths to acquire high office. Politics is filled with fruth as differing opinions and opposing ideologies clash in the contest for public opinion. In 2015 abortion again became a flash point in the US congress when the religious right tried once again to blur the line between church and state by pitting the bible against the constitution. Facts in such arguments are not clear concepts and are easily fruthed. In this case party “R” threatened to hold the country’s budget hostage if an anti abortion provision was not included and forced party “D”, trying to keep the budget process clear of such side issues, to reject the infected bill. Then party “R” who originally threatened to shut down the government accused Party “D” of being the cause of the near shut down by not acquiescing to party “R’s” demands. It doesn’t get much fruthier than this ridiculous display of twisted truth.

The Manipulators

The Manipulators Of the three primary mandates imposed on us by our advanced state of evolutionary awareness, To Be of Good Council may be the most important. Our advanced language capabilities define us as a species. We alone can formulate and exchange complex ideas in debate or in writing and the results of these exchanges form our social arrangements, our governments and our laws. Language in any of its many forms will never be able to capture all of reality. Our mathematics fails when descriptive limits become infinities. Our speech fails when words prove insufficient to carry an idea or when they are manipulated to mislead or misdirect. Words define and structure our most important organizations and are sustained by men of good council who understand the limitations of language and the fragile nature of the organizations created by other men of good council. The institutions that create order in our lives are built on processes described by our words and work well as long as the processes described are followed and allowed to evolve through considered debate. Being of good council requires knowledge, understanding, forethought and effort. To think before one speaks and to listen with an open mind while being mindful of the forum in which the exchange is taking place are the courtesies that allow civilizations to form and continue. Unfortunately economic systems, government processes, and legal systems can be manipulated by skillful detractors and disruptors. Legislative manipulators use committee positions to sideline important debates and flood the debate floor with useless bills and speeches to avoid regular order. Sophisticated investors manipulate the stock market to make millions through short selling, lawyers manipulate jury selections to insure verdicts, banks manipulate lending rules to take advantage of a gullible public, wealthy investors manipulate elections to insure outcomes, corporations manipulate suppliers and shippers to insure greater profits, and the wealthy manipulate tax laws to avoid taxes. Manipulation has become so rampant in our capitalistic democracy that it is flagrantly practiced in our institutions, in business and in the stock market. Manipulation has become ingrained and accepted but it erodes the institutions it feeds on, weakens the economy and the nation. Reason and restraint sometimes intervene but are but whispers in the shouting contest for advantage. Have we become a nation of competitors, forgetting that it was cooperation that made us great, a nation of profiteers instead of patriots, a nation of manipulators instead of managers, or are we just undergoing a temporary setback in reason and civility?

The concept of awareness

The concept of awareness is essential to understanding the human position in evolutionary time and our responsibilities as the most aware species on the planet. The Egyptians mistakenly attributed the center of awareness to the heart and carefully removed and embalmed it for use in the after life while the brain’s sole purpose was believed to be to produce mucous and was sucked out and discarded. We now know that awareness is the product of synaptic activity in the brain. We are learning more about brain function with every new tool invented to trace and measure its activity and we no longer dispute that it is the organ responsible for awareness. Signals from our sensory and tactile organs lead directly to the brain for interpretation and response and once there, they record their passage and leave open the most used and successful response paths and dim those resulting in inappropriate or injurious responses. Awareness is the ongoing mixing of sensory inputs with learned and genetic synaptic paths. From this simplistic overview responses by any living form would seem to be mechanical and predictable but this is not what is observed. From even the simplest of multi-cellular forms complex states of awareness have evolved in concert with the evolution of complexity in shape, function and form. Evidence for this early connection between form and awareness exists in all single celled organisms. Some respond to light, some to vibrations, some to changes in temperature, and some are tactile. Single celled organisms were the only living forms on earth for most of its evolutionary history and they developed sensory complexities long before the advantage of joining into groups of cooperating cells began their random testing’s against changing environments. One of the best examples of early awareness, and its relationship to more advanced states of awareness, is the amoeba. Amoebae are propelled by many cilia along their perimeter and move and change directions quickly as they move about in a drop of water. Under a microscope they appear to be choosing a new direction every second as if making decisions, and in a way they are, but not in the way we think. An amoeba’s cilia beat in concert until it runs into another amoeba or an object where its cellular wall dimples inward at the point of contact and the electrical differential between the outside and the inside of the amoeba’s cellular membrane reverse polarity. The cilia in the dimple respond to the change in polarity by reversing direction and steer the amoeba away from the obstruction. The amoeba has reacted to a tactile input with an electrically directed response, much the same as synaptic responses in a complex brain offers a choice or directs a response in a multi-cellular form. Seeing an analogous starting point for the evolution of awareness allows us to envision and trace the continued natural selection of advancing states of awareness from simple and mechanical to extremely complex states. It is a natural progression of an essential survival benefit from bacteria to man. Awareness is evident in every living thing to some degree and has become, within evolved organs with billions of synaptic possibilities, an organ allowing choice, inventiveness, and self recognition. Evolved awareness has become a power beyond the simple manipulation of fin or limb and has extended itself to a control over matter and energy through mechanical extensions of its sensory capabilities and mechanical extensions of bodily capabilities. Many words carry concepts similar to the concept of awareness but are not adequate to explain it and cloud a true appreciation for this evolved wonder by carrying within them egocentric and pious preconceptions these words mislead us. Words like; intelligence and cognizance are valuable as limited measuring concepts for separating classes of humans and animals but are often misused. Awareness, when understood as a natural, expression of all living things unites us with the reality around us and makes our responsibilities as the most aware animal and the result of billions of years of testing and growth, clear. We are not so separated from other forms of awareness on our planet that we can declare ourselves rulers of all things. We are as dependent upon a stable planet and the rest of life around us as we have always been. Whenever you exchange glances with a bird on a limb or hold a small insect in your hand with respect you are sharing an aware moment. The sharing is what will sustain us.

The Ages of Language

We categorize most intellectual information to facilitate selective study and learning efforts. We divide scientific endeavors into the physical sciences and life sciences, each with many sub categories, and these divisions remain fairly static. The categories in the study of human history, however, change whenever a historian imposes their own perspectives. Will and Ariel Durant, for example, divided history into; Our Oriental Heritage The Life of Greece Caesar and Christ The Age of Faith The Renaissance The Reformation The Age of Reason Begins The Age of Lois the XIV Other categories abound and each reflects the unique perspective of the scribe recording the activities of the past. I am no exception. My preference for categorization is to divide human history into periods differentiated by the preferential uses of language, not which language was preferred, but how language was preferentially used to express the most common attitudes and perspectives of the time. My categories are; The Age of Aggrandizing Languages The Age of Commiseration The Age of Allegories The Age of Directive Languages The Age of Expanded Meanings The Age of Expanded Communication In a blog of reasonable length, and considering that I do not have enough years left to duplicate the investigative detail of Will and Ariel Durant, I offer only an overview of why, and how, my categories are indicative of a separate age and hope others will follow my thinking to see if the categories have merit. The Age of Aggrandizement is long and encompasses the early development of language to include titles and self aggrandizing terms used to promote the self importance of those holding social power. From early tribal leaders to Pharaohs the languages of this period are rife with honorific and aggrandizing terms reflecting the perspective preferences of the period for inclusive social organizations under a strong leadership. The Age of Commiseration began with the introduction of monotheism and grew from the follow-on idea that a divinely appointed human might not be needed for access to the new god. Groups separated from long established aggrandized empires became outcasts and as they struggled to establish their identity and their language evolved to include many self deprecating words and phrases. The Old Testament is as much a testament to the struggle of the dispossessed as it is to the adjustment of their language to express their attitude of being the suppressed chosen few. The Age of Allegories began as Roman rule expanded into areas where languages had become truly self indulgent. As Latin began to erode the languages and perspectives of peoples not accustomed to the harsh factual meanings of Latin, those still using native tongues began to use allegories to evangelize and to avoid repercussions from their Roman rulers. Being less direct, a message or lesson given as an allegory seemed more like an example of a hidden truth than a factual comment and quickly became preferred method of speaking and writing. The New Testament is evidence of the increased use of allegories during this period with both Jesus and Paul using allegories extensively. Jesus used them to advantage by turning any event or situation into an allegorical message. Near a well he would speak of the water of life. Near the sea he would speak of fisher’s of men. During a meal he would talk of symbolic eating and drinking. Jesus spoke only to the Jews but as Paul took Jesus’ message further he Jesus’ example and filled his letters to new churches with allegorical examples and lessons. The Age of Directive Languages began as Europe developed a multitude of kingdoms and as tribal disputes in The Middle East were resolved to become the Koran. The Bible was also translated and transformed by secular rulers anxious to take advantage of the appeal of religious messages promising life after death if one were compliant. Directive passages are prevalent in the Koran and became emphasized in revisions of both the Old and New Testaments. The Age of Expanded Meanings was born of necessity as naturalists and scientists began to expose a reality we had log ignored because we were caught up in religious perspectives directing a head down eyes closed perspective as a requirement for entry into an after life. When a few brave men disobeyed church directives and began to ask nature questions using the scientific method of test and verify, nature willingly gave up her secrets, and with mountains of new information to deal with, languages had to expand. A dictionary from the twelfth century is much smaller than a dictionary from the twentieth century. The Age of Communication has grown out of The Age of Expanded Meanings. Discovery and exploration yield technological advances as a natural consequence of exploration requiring new tools and the spin off of opportunities for new inventions. From this cooperative creative system we now can talk to anyone on the planet using a small device we carry in our pocket, stay informed, learn and are entertained by thousands of communicative channels and are having our languages and our behavior changed in ways we cannot predict.

Now and Then

In casual conversation we use this reference to mean occasionally. Ask someone how often they trim their toenails and their response will often be; “now and then”. But the “now” and the “then” if given as an explicit answer thinking the question was more than rhetorical, could mean; I am trimming them now and I trimmed them at sometime in the past. We don’t make this mistake because we understand that the question is not expected to illicit an exact answer, (like every 17 days), and we expect the answer to be non specific. But when we get to more serious questions, (asked of nature instead of another human), the answers are specific, not allegorical and the answers we get when we ask nature, through observation or experiment, are often difficult to understand. Being trapped by the limits of our languages and our ability to manipulate combinational patterns we return to an acceptable conceptual allegory. We assume in order to understand. A good example of this is our current cosmological assumptions of the age and size of the Universe. Until we can identify and measure gravitational waves, we have only one energy source available that we can use to interpret the reality beyond our atmosphere, “light”. Fortunately most of the objects in space either radiate or reflect electro magnetic radiation. To further simplify our observations it seems that all types of this radiation travel at the same speed through space and are made up of measurable frequencies and intensities. Using these assumptions we have learned to identify various atomic elements from their emitted wavelengths of light, the approach or departure speeds of light emitting objects and the distance to emitting or reflecting objects. From this one vantage point, using only one complex signal source we have constructed an entire image of the universe around us, its size, its age, and have postulated its beginning and forecast its eventual demise. Using our telescopes, optical, radio infrared, x-ray and microwave, we have looked out as far as we can and back in time as far as we can, or are we? We can’t ask the universe when she trims her toenails because, as far as we know, she doesn’t have any, but we have asked her how old she is and she has answered modestly, “As old as the dimmest light you can find”. Her answer is much like the answer we get from humans when we ask about their toenails, “Now and Then”. The “Now” part of nature’s answer as to her age is the light we can see “Now”, the only light we can see. We can’t see light that has not yet reached us. For us there is only an observational “Now”. Light that, according to our assumptions about its speed through space, may have started thirteen billion years ago. But we aren’t looking back in time, per-see. We are only looking at light that started its journey long ago and has collided with our observational “Now” at the time of our observation. For us inside the universe asking questions, there is no “Now and Then”, There is only “Now” and an assumption. Is it time to trim your toenails?

What are the stars telling us?

When The Stars Speak. It had been a bummer of a day. Jake had not only flunked his astronomy exam, he had also lost his girl friend when he claimed to be smarter than her. In Jake’s mind none of this was his fault and, feeling sorry for himself, he purchased a six pack of beer and found a secluded park bench near the campus rose garden. As he opened his third beer he noticed a single bright star in the darkening sky and impulsively started to recite a poem he had learned as a child. “Star light star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may I wish I might……………..” Before he could finish, Jake was rudely interrupted by a deep commanding voice. “You don’t really think stars grant wishes…Do You?” Jake looked around. There was no one there. “Up here”, the voice said. “You started the conversation now finish it!” Jake looked back at the star and remained silent. “Yeah, smart ass, its me, I can tell your enjoying a few of my photons, so what the hell do you want?” Jake muttered a few unintelligible words, his gaze transfixed on the brightening star. “Speak up man. I can’t hear you!” Jake had always thought of stars as friendly twinkling lights, but this star was an angry SOB. “I was just wishing,” Jake replied. “It didn’t mean anything.” “You’ve got that right.” The star replied. “You think of yourself as something important and me as a tiny bright spot in the sky, but you have it backwards. You are the tiny spot and I am an enormous nuclear furnace. I was already shining long before your solar system formed and am blasting radiation in all directions, up, down, to the sides and behind me. The tiny bit of light you see is an infinitesimally small part of all my radiation and there are millions of life forms on your tiny planet and on millions of other planets looking at me from all directions and only you and your species assume, that since you can see me, you own me. You depend on a star you call Sun, which in my opinion is a really dumb name, for the energy that allows you to live, and are made of stuff created in the belly of stars long dead. There are only a few billion of you humans. There are millions of billions of stars, more stars than all the grains of sand on your planet, and yet you claim the right to pick out one of us and get wishes granted. You really need to get a grip on reality!” Jake sat very still. The sun was just beginning to peak over the campus buildings behind him. The six pack was empty and the stars were gone. Jake’s inflated ego had been flattened. He went to his astronomy professor and begged to take the test again. His professor smiled and shook his head No. Jake then found his girl friend and asked for forgiveness, she told him to get lost. Later that night Jake crossed the campus after his last class keeping one eye closed. He glanced quickly at the wishing star but kept his mouth shut and quickly looked away. ----------------------------------------------- Before we were blinded by city lights and before we viewed the stars again through telescopes, man marveled at the star filled sky and imagined Gods revealing themselves, outlined by dots of light. Before the stars began to speak to us through science they were benevolent lights in the heaven put there to guide and aid mankind. Now that we understand their language they are revealing themselves as massive balls of fire, exploding with forces that echo throughout the universe, collapsing into black holes, revealing their ages, showing off their planets, and asking us to put our self agrandizing egoes aside, and yet, we like Jake, close our minds and ignore our new perspectives and the mandates imposed by being a part of the marvelous spectacle that surrounds us. We are born of the dust of exploding stars and gathered by gravity and chemistry to become the vessel of nature that allowes her a mirror in which to view herself. We are indeed priviledged, but we are not free to ignore what the stars are telling us. They have waited a very long time for us to listen. Posted 31st March by Vern Westfall 0 Add a comment Mandates-Commandments-Oaths-Pledges & Law Classic Flipcard Magazine Mosaic Sidebar Snapshot Timeslide Mar 31 When The Stars Speak. It had been a bummer of a day. Jake had not only flunked his astronomy exam, he had also lost his girl friend when he claimed to be smarter than her. In Jake’s mind none of this was his fault and, feeling sorry for himself, he purchased a six pack of beer and found a secluded park bench near the campus rose garden. As he opened his third beer he noticed a single bright star in the darkening sky and impulsively started to recite a poem he had learned as a child. “Star light star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may I wish I might……………..” Before he could finish, Jake was rudely interrupted by a deep commanding voice. “You don’t really think stars grant wishes…Do You?” Jake looked around. There was no one there. “Up here”, the voice said. “You started the conversation now finish it!” Jake looked back at the star and remained silent. “Yeah, smart ass, its me, I can tell your enjoying a few of my photons, so what the hell do you want?” Jake muttered a few unintelligible words, his gaze transfixed on the brightening star. “Speak up man. I can’t hear you!” Jake had always thought of stars as friendly twinkling lights, but this star was an angry SOB. “I was just wishing,” Jake replied. “It didn’t mean anything.” “You’ve got that right.” The star replied. “You think of yourself as something important and me as a tiny bright spot in the sky, but you have it backwards. You are the tiny spot and I am an enormous nuclear furnace. I was already shining long before your solar system formed and am blasting radiation in all directions, up, down, to the sides and behind me. The tiny bit of light you see is an infinitesimally small part of all my radiation and there are millions of life forms on your tiny planet and on millions of other planets looking at me from all directions and only you and your species assume, that since you can see me, you own me. You depend on a star you call Sun, which in my opinion is a really dumb name, for the energy that allows you to live, and are made of stuff created in the belly of stars long dead. There are only a few billion of you humans. There are millions of billions of stars, more stars than all the grains of sand on your planet, and yet you claim the right to pick out one of us and get wishes granted. You really need to get a grip on reality!” Jake sat very still. The sun was just beginning to peak over the campus buildings behind him. The six pack was empty and the stars were gone. Jake’s inflated ego had been flattened. He went to his astronomy professor and begged to take the test again. His professor smiled and shook his head No. Jake then found his girl friend and asked for forgiveness, she told him to get lost. Later that night Jake crossed the campus after his last class keeping one eye closed. He glanced quickly at the wishing star but kept his mouth shut and quickly looked away. ----------------------------------------------- Before we were blinded by city lights and before we viewed the stars again through telescopes, man marveled at the star filled sky and imagined Gods revealing themselves, outlined by dots of light. Before the stars began to speak to us through science they were benevolent lights in the heaven put there to guide and aid mankind. Now that we understand their language they are revealing themselves as massive balls of fire, exploding with forces that echo throughout the universe, collapsing into black holes, revealing their ages, showing off their planets, and asking us to put our self agrandizing egoes aside, and yet, we like Jake, close our minds and ignore our new perspectives and the mandates imposed by being a part of the marvelous spectacle that surrounds us. We are born of the dust of exploding stars and gathered by gravity and chemistry to become the vessel of nature that allowes her a mirror in which to view herself. We are indeed priviledged, but we are not free to ignore what the stars are telling us. They have waited a very long time for us to listen. Posted 31st March by Vern Westfall 0 Add a comment Mar 24 An Army of Addicts Armies enticed to fight by creating and controlling an addiction, like an addiction to heroine, is a disturbing but interesting concept. Addicts completely dependent on a regular supply of an addictive substance will do almost anything to get their next fix. They will steal from relatives, abandon their children and will even kill without remorse. An army of addicts would be fearless if they knew that engaging in combat or planting a bomb was a direct link to the drug that sustains them. I know of no examples of armies of substance addicted combatants, unless you include ancient wine drinking marauding groups like Joshua's band of killers that slaughtered every living thing when they invaded a city and then spent a week of drinking and bathing to remove the blood and try to forget the atrocities they had just committed. Drug use is common in armies but not as a controlling element, or is it? Not all addictions are to substances like tobacco, alcohol, or heroine. Some of our most powerful addictions are due to internal endorphins and inborn predispositions. The chemicals that produce sex drives sustain us as a race but also drive some to act outside moral and legal norms, commit rape, sodomy, and murder. We are also predisposed to more subtle but equally powerful emotional reactions that were, long ago, essential to our early survival as we competed with more powerful predators for food and territory. These tribal instincts still influence our behavior. Tribal instincts are evident in the formation histories of most of the worlds religions including Christianity, Islam, and in their splintered factions. Attend any worship service with an open and attentive mind and you cannot help but observe these persisting tribal emotions in ritual and pledges. We continue to be embroiled in conflicts based on our instinctive tribal emotions as the two largest expansive and aggressive religions on earth compete for followers and territory. This continual conflict began when Rome began to collapse and a new roman emperor, Constantine, became an advocate of Christianity, moved the center of roman power to Byzantium, and gave the young and relatively obscure religion status. As an official state religion, Christianity replaced a long history of multiple Roman and Greek gods with monotheism. At about the same time a displaced Arab tribal leader, who disagreed with temple practices in Mecca, took a small band of followers to Medina and started a new religion, built a small army, and returned to Mecca rousting his adversaries and initiated an expansion based on his revelations that included strict rules and rituals and quickly surrounded what was left of the Roman empire with converts. These adversarial tribal differences have been the root cause of many wars since, including the Crusades and now Isis. Christianity promises an after life to those who follow Jesus, Islam promises an after life to those pledged to Mohammad, and we kill each other inflamed by instinctive tribal emotions because, no longer able to accommodate more than one god, both religions cannot be right. Only one monotheistic approach can be allowed and our basic tribal emotions lead us to defend our beliefs from foreign beliefs or threats by infidels. We should be more rational in a world of modern civilizations, but both despotic regimes and democracies have retained and are swayed by dogmas evolved from addictive reactive emotions sustained by religions begun and grounded in tribal instincts. Posted 24th March by Vern Westfall 0 Add a comment Mar 14 You can't disprove what can't be proven. You can't disprove what you can't prove and there is a continuing dispute over what constitutes proof. These disputes and differences are most evident in the emergent conflict between science and religion. Proof for a deity or life after death or the relevance of prayer is primarily based on revelations or directions given by a deity to a privileged or chosen individual, a chain of supporting testimony and a resulting holy writ. Proof for a discovery or theory for natural materials or objects, how they interact and join, and how natural process power and control the reality around us are based on documented observations, recorded experiments, accepted logic and mathematics, and a continuing critical review and repetition of experiments to confirm, modify or disprove any faulty observations, theories or findings. Both systems of proof create changes in the doctrines they support, but in different ways. Religious doctrines change as social arrangements evolve and doctrinal leaders reinterpret and add or remove dictates, rituals or portions of holy writings. Scientific doctrines change as existing theories are disproved or replaced by new discoveries. One changes by dictate, the other by discovery. One is relatively static in its claims, the other fluid, welcoming new discoveries and change. One claims responsibility for creating social order, the other for the technology that supports modern civilizations. One claims an exclusive access to truth, the other makes no such claim and often has its findings and theories rejected by those who's truth comes directly from a deity. Disputes between science and religion are common. Modern conflicts include evolution, global warming, inoculations, ecological issues and many more. The resolution of these and many other conflicts between religious views and scientific findings is unlikely and arguments futile because those who depend on faith for final answers base their arguments on irrefutable information that requires no demonstrable proof other than itself while those that accept scientific evidence understand that knowledge is constantly growing and adjusting as discoveries are made and demand demonstrable evidence. The uncompromising right of religion and the always compromising left of science occasionally find a common home in an individual or organization that compartmentalizes but even there the rigid right cannot give way to conflicting scientific facts without disclaiming their beliefs. Religion depends on reveled truths that are beyond demonstrable proofs of the type used by science and science cannot prove what cannot be disproved. If it were possible to disprove life after death, for example, would suicide bombers think twice? Would church donations stop? Would people stop praying and become more responsible? Would the US Congress suddenly become rational? Posted 14th March by Vern Westfall 0 Add a comment Mar 12 Lines and Circles -- Science and Religion . We live in a world defined by lines and circles. Lines on the ground define countries and their borders. Lines also define subdivisions within each larger border as territories, counties, districts, cities etc. Other lines define ownerships of properties or areas and within each of these many exclusive/ inclusive boundaries different laws and rules apply. Disputes over these lines are frequent as are arguments when differing rules conflict. In spite of the confusion most entities defined by lines find ways to cooperate and trade but tension is always present. In addition to divisions created by lines there are divisions created by circles. These circles are drawn not on the ground but in the mind. Organizations of like minded individuals persist in as many diverse ways as those defined by lines but have no geographic boundaries. Religions reach across boundaries and are subdivided into many fragmented parts. Fraternal organizations, associations, brotherhoods, and many others persist and they too are often at odds with each other and themselves. These mutually pledged groups are committed to one another, not by laws or rules of government but by a common belief in a god, a goal, or an enemy each focusing inward on a narrowly defined perspective. In opposition to all of this subdividing by lines and circles is the recent and exponential growth of information disclosed by our careful examination of Nature. This new method of examining things around us in detail and how natural processes work by drawing conclusions that need verification and confirmation by others and by experiment has resulted in a rush of new technologies that flow across borders and invade circles of faith and narrow focus and create another area of tension in humanities attempt to find a place and purpose in a universe exposed, immense, and seemingly impersonal. We are enveloped in ideological conflicts between many divergent beliefs and between those who base their life on belief and those who choose to remain outside formal belief systems. Nearly all belief based groups, large and small, carefully define their inclusive tenants and rituals to maintain continuity and to differentiate themselves from other faith based organizations and from those with perspectives that require no formal god worship. Across the globe the circles of faith based systems are inclusive to allow governance and control and are, at the same time, exclusive, and make clear their differences from other circles of faith. The religions fathered by Abraham have splintered into Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, and these have further splintered into several Jewish faiths, The Greek Orthodox faiths, Roman Catholicism, thousands of Protestant sects and Shea and Sunni beliefs now all confrontational in some way or another with each other and with radicalized versions which are at war with everyone. Faith based wars are as old as civilization and none are blameless. The believers in Moses as the great law giver are now at odds with those who believe just as fervently in Mohammad as the great prophet. Moses led an armed group of rebels out of Egypt and in generations to follow razed city states in brutal attacks to make way for the twelve tribes of Israel. Many of these attacks were even more vicious than the recent atrocities of ISIS. The Christian conquests in the holy lands, the Persian conquests of the Mediterranean, Mohammad's militant return to Mecca and many more all attest to faith based conflicts and they are not over. We now live in a technological age based on scientific investigations that allow us to enjoy luxuries and communications unimaginable just a few years ago. Our inventions and discoveries allow us to look deep into space and into the constituents of matter and have resulted in a new and more realistic view of our place and purpose in the universe. Our expanded perspectives would be well beyond the ability of Moses or Mohammad to fathom, even when carefully explained. Many faiths see these new perspectives as a threat and hide from the discoveries and the new social responsibilities implied. The simple rules and commandments contained in ancient writings that proscribe behavior to be rewarded, or if not followed punished in an after life now seem inadequate. We are now aware that we live on a very small fragile planet circling an ordinary star near the edge of a galaxy with more than two hundred billion other stars in a universe with more than four hundred billion other galaxies. Those unwilling to look at the sun as a roiling ball of hydrogen with a nuclear fission furnace at its center, or deep into the darkness of space, or at the simple way four amino acids spell out an adaptable system for life to progress and thrive, or at themselves as the product of an amazing chain of trials and errors, miss the true miracles around them and the challenges and responsibilities that our advanced state of awareness imposes. Morality has only partially been maintained by a belief that one will be judged at their death by an invisible god that listens when one assumes a certain posture or attitude, but morale behavior also exists without establishing exclusive antagonistic circles or by drawing lines in the sand between believers and non believers. Empathy and natural impulses to cooperate and communicate have been implanted by evolution and if we can begin to slowly peek out from under the security blankets of religious promises made by a long succession of gods with changing names and changing rules and begin to appreciate the wonder and immensity of the reality around us we may begin to recognize the greater responsibilities and opportunities our evolved position offers and demands. Beyond the behavioral commandments of gods, Nature has given us three mandates: Explore and learn: Our intellectual abilities have taken 3.5 billion years to emerge from the dust and are but a fragile spark in time to be used wisely Be of good council: Language in its many varieties is our primary tool for both discovery and cooperation and when subverted for selfish purposes or to promote disruptions or confrontations seeds self destruction. Be a good steward: Consume everything in a garden and starve. Cultivate and tend the garden and thrive. We are stardust awakened, mandated to observe and begin the next phase of evolution, directed not by genetic chance but by intelligent design, ours. Posted 12th March by Vern Westfall 0 Add a comment Feb 28 PPD Politics Politics is practiced differently in all of the many existing forms of government. The pursuit and control of power has taken many diverse paths in the past. From hand to hand combat by rival tribal leaders to long successions of kings and ascensions by assassination, politics has brought individuals to positions of power in many diverse ways. Democracies have also existed in many forms and those existing today each have their own unique organization and style. Some are shams created to cloak a despotic regime, some are restrictive allowing only partial participation, and some are all inclusive allowing the opinions of all citizens to be considered. Our special form of democracy, in the United States, is but one of many democratic forms of government now being practiced. It has a special history that created a constitution based upon a reasoned attempt to distribute and restrict power to prevent a despotic take over and to protect its citizens from unreasonable oversight and controls. It, like all forms of government, has been forced to adapt to world changing conditions and the impact of new technologies. The processes established by the US constitution have served us well but have been tested often by individuals and groups wanting to interject narrow and restrictive ideologies into the process. When this occurs the reasoned and representative process that make democracies successful are compromised and the system is tested. The ideologues now attempting to manipulate our democracy use statistics to manipulate primary elections, allegiances to K street operatives to predetermine their positions, and misdirection and misrepresentations to sidetrack and delay legislation. Driven by their narrow views they hide behind religion to misdirect any reasoned argument and rely on emotional appeals using PPD politics, (Prejudice, Paranoia, and Denial), to justify their actions and to create a following. Hate is an easily aroused and powerful emotion. Paranoia is equally powerful and easy to induce, and Denial is the best alternative if the facts being confronted are difficult to dispel and threaten ones core beliefs. PPD politics have a long and dangerous history, have led to many atrocities, many wars and is now spreading across the globe under the guise of a middle east religion. Democracies are based on reason, not religion, law, not leverage, and inclusion, not exclusion. Hate, Fear and Denial are easily disseminated and always dangerous. Those who revel in and rely on these emotions as guides and as tools in the pursuit of power have no place in a government based on the ideals that all men are created equal, have a right to privacy and the pursuit of happiness, and a say in how they are governed. Posted 28th February by Vern Westfall 0 Add a comment Feb 13 Creation's Patterns When the creative patterns of energy and matter are seen as a preface to organic molecules, life becomes a natural step in the evolution of all things and our advanced awareness becomes the natural result of an ordered process. Life on earth could not begin before the earth was formed and the earth could not coalesce out of the dust of our forming sun before the long process of galactic formation had taken place. The sets of joining rules for nature’s elements lead from the simple to the complex and from the inanimate to the animate. The rules also appear to lead from a purely mechanical universe to aware states. We are made from stardust and if we hope to find a place and purpose for our awareness we must first decipher the process that has led to our awakening. Creative Patterns In the past, truth was revealed to individuals primarily in moments of inspiration or divine interventions. Our current perspectives are formed differently. They are the result of discoveries made using cooperative investigative efforts and sensory enhancing tools. With the help of our inventions we are now able to look outward in space and back in time and find ourselves, not at the center of a small well planned universe, but on a small planet orbiting a yellow star near the edge of an ordinary galaxy in an immense space populated with two hundred billion other galaxies. Using our sensory enhancing tools we are also able to look deep into the workings of the smallest elements of matter and find that we, and everything else in the universe, are composed of the same tiny particles. We have deciphered many of the joining rules for these particles and are beginning to understand how their joining creates emergent properties that lead to galaxies, stars, planets, life, and awareness. At first glance nature’s creative processes appear to be a disconnected series of events rather than a continuous process. We overlook the analog flow of creation because our conceptual capabilities have programmed us to look at and understand our surroundings piece by piece and one event at a time. To resolve our intellectual disconnect with nature’s holistic approach we search for small patterns that fit comfortably into our limited conceptual capabilities and then combine them to arrive at broader perspectives. We use analogy to reduce complex relationships to a conceptually acceptable image and add back complexity using symbolic tools like mathematics and logic. The patterns we use to understand the world around us may, or may not, be an accurate reflection of the reality we are attempting to understand, but nature used the same methods to produce our awareness that it used to produce our biological form and the reality around us. Our mental capabilities, like our bodies, have been naturally selected. Our conceptual abilities are limited, but they compliment nature and allow us to play a conceptualization game that is “in-sync” with the way the universe is organized. Before we began using scientific methods to examine the reality around us our self awareness produced only egocentric results. Early revelations and assumptions attempting to explain our place and purpose reflected these self aggrandizing perspectives. By learning to read the book of nature our egocentricity has been, in part, set aside. The comfort provided by human centered explanations has been replaced by an impersonal universe where we seem to be of little consequence. Our advanced state of awareness has created a dilemma. Old perspectives provide comfort but seem inadequate. New perspectives seem relevant but empty of purpose and we are left with a question. Can we be both relevant and insignificant? Recent revelations from scientific inquiries have given us great power. The accumulation of information is immense and is accelerating, and as nature’s secrets are reveled, so are nature’s patterns and methods. One of these methods is natural selection, and within nature’s method of molding life and creating awareness, we may find a new grounding, a sense of purpose, and a way to integrate older perspectives into recent discoveries. Atomic theory deals with particles 10 to the 25th power of ten smaller than us and our cosmological explorations deal with sizes 10 to the 27th power of ten larger than us. We find ourselves miniscule in an unimaginably large universe and yet immense compared to its basic constituents. We find our short span of awareness to be but a very short blink between the start of the universe, 13.7 billion years in the past, and an equally long period of time before its projected end, 14 billion years in the future. Our individual span of awareness is so short it seems meaningless. Without the introduction of powerful analogies, time extending in such extremes from our aware moment, is well beyond our cognitive capabilities. We are here, between the largest and smallest of things at approximately the middle of time staring at the universe around us in amazement, exploring it in detail, questioning its purpose, and listening to the echo of our own self awareness. We are discovering that we are as much a part of the universe as the galaxies around us and are composed of the same atomic particles. We have been created and shaped by forces and patterns we do not fully understand for a purpose we cannot discern and which may not exist. Living things are the stuff of the universe evolving, an awakening dust gathered into complex forms struggling to understand its surroundings and itself. The significance of stardust becoming aware is unknown but if awareness is relevant it may give all living things purpose and human awareness responsibilities far greater than we have ever imagined. Cosmological Patterns Nature’s processes flow through time as a complex mix of order within disorder with energy becoming matter and matter creating energy. From observations and experiments we have concluded that the natural tendency of both matter and energy is to become a diffuse smooth mix, a universe with a uniform temperature and no clumps, a diffuse atomic dust of equal composition density and temperature. We have also concluded, from small scale experiments, that the total energy in the universe appears to remain constant, or is conserved, but this conservative smooth mix is not what we observe at large universal scales or at smaller atomic scales. The Universe is full of hot spots with basic elements accumulating into larger bits of matter at both micro and macro levels. Our universal principals may eventually prove true at some extreme macro level as the universe expands, but when we use our observational tools to look back in time we find the uniformity that we expect to exist in the present existed only in the beginning. Instead of flowing from complexity to uniformity, the Universe seems to be progressing in the other direction. If our concept of entropy is correct there must exist one or more powerful forces at both the atomic and universal levels providing the impetus for both matter and energy to concentrate into complex aggregations. The patterns we observe at the largest of scales we group into a grand concept we call cosmology. These largest of patterns include the spontaneous emergence of all matter and energy from a singularity followed immediately by the mutual destruction of matter and anti matter, and a diffuse cooling as the new universe expanded. We also deduce a non uniform distribution of energy and matter due to some unknown initial influence and a shift from a dark opaque universe to one in which light escapes its dusty confines. These events were followed by the gravitational gathering of hydrogen to form immense sinuous clouds and the clumping of hydrogen clouds to form proto galaxies around central black holes. The further gathering of matter within these spinning clouds formed the first giant stars which, in turn, created concentrations of gravity strong enough to compress and fuse hydrogen into helium and further into silicon, carbon and oxygen. Each crushing step producing enormous amounts of energy that held the stars enormous gravity at bay until the fusing process created iron. The fusing of iron from other elements produced no energy and allowed the giant stars to collapse. The implosion of such great masses crushed together even heavier elements and rebounded as super novas redistributing their newly formed elements into space to be recollected by gravity to form smaller, longer lived stars, planets, comets, moons, and asteroids. This amazing series of events is still taking place in the changing event arena of time, a time that began at an infinitely slow rate of zero and is accelerating toward another extreme infinity. Time began at a zero rate (because of the immense gravity of the singularity), but time itself is accelerating as the universe expands and gravities universal grip is weakened. The time we use to measure events today is our current observable time, (measured by the speed of light at this stage of universal expansion). As the universe continues to expand, and universal gravity, (the sum of all material attractions), occupies a greater space, observable time will continue to be stretched toward an opposite infinity as matter becomes disbursed beyond interactive limits. The dark energy we postulate as the cause of the accelerating rate of universal expansion may be the acceleration of time itself as the universe slowly evaporates. Atomic and Molecular Patterns To understand the great variety of matter we find within observational limits, we group the patterns we observe into particle physics and chemistry. We have identified the basic building blocks of matter that make up atoms and uncovered a hierarchy defined by ordered combination of these smaller components. We have created a visualization tool to understand this hierarchy by placing atoms into categories based upon atomic number and valance. We also understand atomic joining rules and the basic structure of the materials their joining creates. We have extended our patterns of understanding to a grand concept for organic molecules and have identified the carbon based congregates that make up life and have traced their combinational possibilities and natural joining tendencies. Complexity and diversity increase exponentially at every level. Quarks combine in a limited number of ways to produce protons and neutrons, electrons combine with protons and neutrons with more latitude to produce a hundred or so natural atoms, and atoms combine with each other in many more ways to produce an extreme variety of chemical elements that in turn combine to make up the observable, and even more extreme variety of organic and inorganic materials around us. Organic Patterns of development To understand living forms we group the patterns we observe in nature into a grand concept we call biology, and to accommodate our conceptual limitations we divide the totality of living forms into kingdoms, phyla and species. We use these concepts to trace life’s origins and its evolution and to decipher the chemical codes that direct and control the process. The hierarchy of combinational and developmental patterns being discovered for life include a myriad of interdependent relationships influencing its development and its survival, including; environmental adaptability, symbiotic relationships, parasitic relationships, predatory effects, competitive influences, cooperative influences, and chance. Life sciences now dominate much of our scientific efforts and reflect our continuing need to answer the universal questions imposed by our self awareness. Patterns of Awareness Still missing from our basic set of explanatory categories are explanations for the combinational and developmental patterns of awareness itself. Initial efforts are being made to identify the genes responsible for organs of awareness and to trace their origins. Progress is also being made to link genetics and behavior. But questions as to how awareness springs from a physical form, or how the complexities of awareness have evolved and how the evolution of awareness relates to natural genetic selection remain unanswered. We have not grouped patterns that help us understand awareness into a grand concept because scientific methods are best suited to the examination of nature’s physical aspects. Attempts to create hypothetical explanations for the development of awareness are also easily misdirected by unsupported assumptions. In the 1870s, Darwin touched on this dilemma in “The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals” when he expressed his disapproval of attempts to link human psychology to evolutionary principles in a field of study called “Sociobiology”, (which quickly became a platform for sensationalism by popular science writers instead of a serious effort to link biology and behavior). Awareness, as a concept, may be beyond our current inductive scientific methods but, (If we are careful not to stray from a serious examination into an egocentric analysis), it is fair game for deductive examination and philosophical inquiry. Posted 13th February by Vern Westfall 0 Add a comment Sep 27 A message for the Press and Politicians I like to think that our elected leaders and our free press are there to find and correct, or at least suggest corrective methods to problems we will always encounter as a free society but, over the past few years, I see a disturbing trend of ferreting out oversights and mistakes, not to correct them but to exacerbate the situation for selfish reasons. Two self aggrandizing 'PP's stand out. First (the press); reporters and editors exaggerating the situation to gain ratings, and second (politicians); vilifying individuals and other office holders for political gain without a thought to the divisiveness and paranoia they are creating. Some even advocate a sort of revolution against the framework of our democracy and have signed pledges to reduce the size of our government to something they can drown in a bathtub. I am confronted daily by those who have been seduced by these deriders to hate instead of love their Country. It's OK to have differing opinions and to be angered by dishonesty and deceit but using every problem or misstep to gain personal advantage and as a way to promote paranoia and distrust is the lowest form of patriotism and boarders on terrorism. If we have a problem help solve it. If someone makes a mistake, point it out and move on. Our democracy has to be rebuilt every day as our civilization becomes more complex and we face new challenges and new enemies. If you can't respect the person holding the office, at least respect the office. A self aggrandizing press, self serving politicians, and a misled populace will never realize the big 'P', (perfection), they hope will emerge after their hate is resolved. Democracy doesn't work that way. When you find a problem report it, focus on it, and fix it without the grandstanding, then we will watch your news and give you our vote. Stop pandering. We aren't as dumb as you think we are Posted 27th September 2014 by Vern Westfall 0 Add a comment Nov 10 A Question of Perception We live together. We live together as couples, families, co-workers, tribes, congregations, and communities. We also live together in cities, counties, states, countries and on the same planet. Humanity, when it's stable, is a great cooperative and productive effort that creates civilizations, technology and advances in living standards, better health, and security. When humanity is unstable couples argue, politicians slander each other, countries disagree and wars are fought. Sometimes disagreement arises over scarce resources or a boundary dispute, but more often disagreements occur because of a difference in perspective, be it personal, political or religious. Disagreements in perspectives are more difficult to resolve and can result in physical confrontations lasting for centuries, especially if the differences are faith based. Differences in perspectives can also fester and become killing contests bent on reconciliation through defeat and submission. Binding us together in cooperative alliances, arrived at by reason or by war, are commitments that take several forms and are called by many names. These can take the form of a treaty, an oath or a pledge freely taken, a religious directive, or an imposed mandate. Unfortunately our cooperative allegiances need to adapt to ever changing conditions but are thought of as immutable and carry within them the seeds of our next confrontation. An unwillingness to compromise on an oath or pledge, or an unwillingness to alter one's perspective regarding whose god given commandments should prevail, or an unreasonable attachment to an outgrown perspective or poorly defined mandate continues to slow humanities progress and provides the excuses to continue killing each other simply to prove a point. When a few or even one individual controls too much power the rules change quickly as new mandates and oaths are imposed and the many have their personal needs and opinions trampled. Democracy is an experiment begun thousands of years ago, and although it reflected only the free choice and opinion of ten percent of the population, it was a step away from the absolute authority of a single individual. We, in the US, are continuing the great experiment with most of the population participating and the voices of citizens heard. We remain a country divided between a laboring class and the righteous and rich but ameliorate our differences through the rule of law and hopefully will remain disciplined as we sort out our differing opinions trusting that our elected officials will put their oath of office above any concealed lobbyist's pledges or narrow ideologies. Unfortunately many have began to question if that trust is justified. Our democracy has again been put at risk by those who run their campaigns and exercise the power of their office by creating paranoia through slander, innuendo and the use of misinformation. We go to the polls, not informed on the issues and the abilities and opinions of the candidates, but stirred by angry rhetoric to vote against individuals and out of hate, not for the best qualified based on informed opinions. We are herded like well counted sheep to vote in primary elections with polling places carefully gerrymandered to insure outcomes and are discouraged from voting by statistical forecasts of outcomes. The future of our democracy is a matter of perception, not as perceived by a few, but the combined perceptions of all in our diverse society with participation and representation allowed for all. It is a great collaborative effort to define ourselves, our goals and our relationship to other nations. It is not a sporting contest between teams with different colors and different mascots scoring points on every issue striving for an ultimate victory. Our future is not a choice between the "Rs" and the "Ds", it is a choice between confrontation or compromise and collaboration. We all win or we all loose, not by defeating those with differing perspectives but by accommodating them. Posted 10th November 2012 by Vern Westfall 0 Add a comment My Photo Loading... Dynamic Views template. 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Translating to Reality

Language is a strange and wonderful thing. It connects us to others, makes civilization possible and, like the air we breath, goes almost unnoticed. For humans its primary essential carrier is sound, (vibrations in the air). Sensativity to vibrations became a valuable survival trait very early in life's slow evolution. Even before living cells began to join and share functions, early bacteria developed primitive methods of monitoring and responding to their immediate surroundings. Evolution is driven by subtle advantages, introduced by chance, that are carried forward in nature's genetic language. As nature's language evolves it instructs each host cell how to grow and react. Instructions that degrade the host cells ability to survive also reduce the genetic pattern giving the instructions chances of survival. The language of life is modified when its instructions produce favorable or unfavorable living forms. Advances in detecting and differentiating subtle differnces in vibrational patterns have continually proven to be valuable and have been replicated and improved. After three and one half billion years of chance modifications being tested against changing environments the test results for vibrational sensitivity are in and have resulted in complex mamilian ears. The parallel evolution of mutualy beneficial traits is common, especially as multi celled organisims proved their worth in life's struggle against rapidly changing conditions. In humans the parallel evolution of an attuned ear with an articulate tongue proved especially beneficial. Being able to describe situations and to give directions gave cooperating humans an advantage over competing species. At first simple human languages were made up of only a few descriptive nouns and a few calls to action but it was a clear and powerful advantage. Language quickly became an advantage that promted continual refinment and the genetic traits that spell out the better ear and the more articulate tongue flourished. At first language was simple and spoken but with the first rough depiction of an animal scratched on a flat stone, language took on another dimension. The verbal sound coded to match a real animal was now also associated with a symbol, the symbol could evoke the sound and reading and written language were born. At first the scratches were primarily of objects with some showing action and common symbols developed. Tribal members capable of looking at the symbols and translating the visual into a verbal account were held in high regard as the process of making scratches on a stone talk seemed magical. Human language has evolved on its own to accomodate more than objects and actions and now encompasses ideas shapes, numerical relationships, and fantasies and the scratches on the stone have become symbols for sounds that have little or no pictorial accuracy. The learned now literally hear the symbols talk inside their head with no need for vibrations in the air and the trick is no longer one held solely by priests and the priviledged. Learning to read is now an essential ability necessary for societal functions but the translation process from symbol to sound hasn't changed. You learned whatever language you speek by listening to those around you. In school you learned to represent vowel and concenent sounds on paper by making scratches with a pencil. You then learned to translate the scratches back into sounds and made the scratches talk. Eventually you learned to let the symbols talk inside your head without verbalization, eliminating the need to vibrate the air with tounge lips and vocal chords in order to communicate. This silent method of communicating with scratches has advantages and disadvantages. It is not immediate and is innapropriate where spontinaity or an immediate response is required. Sending a note to someone instructing them to "Get Down" a bomb is about to go off, or texting your enjoyment during sex are obvious illustrations. Vibrating the air between us is still an essential method of exchanging information, be it face to face, public speeches, cheering at a sports event or calling your grandmother on the phone on her birthday. Scratch communications, (writing), has the advantage of permenance. Some American Indians called writing; "words that last". On the book shelf in front of me is a copy of "The Illiad", quietly waiting for me to open it and let Homer speak directly to me, without vibrating the air. As long as I can translate the scratches on the page into my inner voice, Homer and hundreds of thousands of others from the past can speek to me. Learning to translate symbols to sound, blueprints to a building, instructions into actions, and ideas into reality, is the trick that sustains us as superior to other life forms and at the same time makes us the most dangerous life form on the planet. Of the three mandates evolution has placed on us; "Explore and learn, Be of good council, and Be a good Steward, being of good council (respecting the gift of language) may be the more important as we translate our beliefs, our ideas, and our attitudes into reality.

What are we really voting for?

Science and math now play major roles in the politics of democratic societies. The ability to measure, manipulate and predict voting outcomes has become a science used extensively by parties, super pacs, lobbiests and campaign managers. The actual beliefs, character and issue positions of canditates have become secondary to applied and controlled sets of carefully crafted image campaigns and prepared statements and responses. Candidates for political office have become created personas molded to get desired responses from carefully measured aspects of the voting public. The actual individuals, shaking hands and making speeches, have become disquised, coached and prepared images more than actual individuals. Candidates are chosen for recognizable names, public status, and their measured appeal to specific portions of the electorate. Carefully vetted candidates are more like actors on stage in front of elaborate backdrops than true individuals seeking a leadership role, and asking for our trust and approval. Election poles and results have begun to give all voters pause and make all of us question, not weather the election was rigged by manipulating vote counts, but, how much, each of us may have been manipulated by statistical analysis and slick advertising to make the selections we did in the voting booth. The same science that manipulates our politics is also used to manipulate our shopping, our social behavior and to insure trial outcomes by the careful selection of juries. The innate propensities for certain behaviors by individuals and groups of individuals has always been with us but, unmeasured, the outcomes of group decisions seemed random and somehow fair. Political candidates were real people asking for our vote, our choice of products was a thoughtful selection we assumed was of our own free will, and juries composed of random opinions was thought to meet out fair and imartial justice. These assumptions may have been naieve but we felt empowered by our freedom to choose and took pride in the expression of our individuality. Now, we leave the grocery store or the polling booth wondering if our chioces were really our own. Are we becoming sheep hearded subliminally by teams of wealthy big brother corporations or rich individuals? The uncertainty raised by the power of statistical analysis echos all around us and is making us suseptible to even more manipulations by those playing on the increasing tendancy to paranoia it brings on. Some of those playing on paranoia are simply unethical radio hosts using public uncertainty to increase their ratings and income, but others are pushing our emotional buttons to gain control and change the way our democracy works. Freedom is not simply freedom from big government, it is also freedom from the imposition of religion, freedom from manipulative political indoctrination, and the freedom to participate openly in a diverse cultural mix under the umbrella of a compasionate government that molifies extreems and recognizes everyone's contributions. The only way to keep the sheep herders at bay is think for youself. Question your emotional responses to political differences, they are probably the result of a long and persistant indoctrination by your family, your friends, your church, and the community you live in. Try reason instead of preprogramed emotions. You may find your opinions havent changed after hate and anger are removed from the equation but you can now vote from an informed position instead of as an angry pupet. Induced political paranoia serves no valuable purpose in a democracy. Become as independent in your thinking as a cat. No one has ever been able to herd cats.

Defending the Faith

Be it a faith based organization, an ethnic group, or a nation state dependent on a common set of cultural beliefs, groups define themselves by pointing out who they are not, as well as by defining who they are. Any organization that finds outside influances threatening or is unwilling to allow compromises its basic beliefs or principles has to expend energy and assets to maintain its integrity. Alternate systems and beliefs are viewed with caution and often as a treat. It is these self defining systems that create most of the cultural tensions, conflicts and wars, and religions are not exempt. As the world becomes more secular religions become more defensive and with few options beyond converting non believers, some go to extreems and attempt to eliminate the threat by killing or suppression. A devout individual or organization with no alternate perspectives to fall back on can easily become frustrated when their belief system is threatened or compromised even when the treat is imagined. This same emotional impulse to distructive action can also be triggered by powerful or charismatic leaders and has been used often to create chaos and killings on massive scales. When a set of beliefs become the primary definition of self for individuals or a group, paranoia is a natural result and violent reactions become a possibility. The Middle East is being torn apart by conflicting belief systems, and tension is growing in the West as simiar conflicts have found their way into democratic political systems. The wisdom of the founding fathers of the United States to keep church and state seperate has never been more poinient as this vital seperation is slowly being narrowed by subtle and persistent manipulative political efforts. Having served as a security guard in front of abortion clinics to keep protesters from blocking driveways or causing a traffic accident I have been confronted directly by individuals driven by their frustration as they threatened me and others and deflected any attempt to reason with them. A mutual understanding was impossible. Any argument was met by a display of their holy book or a rush to recite the rosery. The gates to any mutual understanding were closed tight as the protestors shouted and prayed and attempted to disuade abortion clients and convert anyone who would listen. For them their was only their faith and no outside influances would ever disuade them or get their attention. Their minds were closed. Disturbed by the growing encroachment of religion into our politics I occasionally watch one of the many religious television programs. A recent program got my attention as the hosts and a guest author seemed to be revisiting the Scopes trials in a slightly different way. The author was highlighting his recent book, "Stealing from God" and describing how any secular argument against God must draw on the reality around them,(which were obviously created by God), and were therefore arguing against God by using his creations. It reminded me of arguments by Thomas Aquinas proving God by his creations. The Host's comments were how watching an earth mover at a construction site was a perfect anology that prooved the necessity of a creator. The author had obviously been willing to confront disbelievers in debate and had a favorite question that he claimed always put an athiest back on his heels. The question was; If Christianity is true would you become a Christian? He felt that the usual hesitation to answer was proof that he had made an irrevocable point that couldn't be countered. In fact he was just bringing up the old paradox about liars always telling the truth.....and the hesitation was the realization that it was a trick question and there was no answer. The correct response should have been a responding question; If Christianity is not true would you become an athiest? The extreems of religious TV programing and their increasing numbers, may be evidence for a growing frustration by the devout. The silliest in early indoctrination programs for children is Veggie Tales, a cartoon about moral behavior by carrots. It took me a long time to extricate myself from the unthinking flock and a lenghthy indoctrination, but now that I am a part of the real world again, aware of my responsibilities to my community, my country, all of humanity, the planet, and all life, I am not about to cop out again. Far more important than ten commandments that promise a false pass to a life after death if followed, are the mandates imposed by 3.5 billion years of chance evolution bringing us to our advanced state of awareness. To ensure the future of our planet, our species and a continuance of the natural order and balances that allows life to thrive on Earth, we must do three things; Explore and learn Be of good council and Be a good steward

Weighing in on the Fermi - Hart Paradox

Years before we began to confirm the existance of exo-planets we began looking for evidence of extraterrestrial life. Assuming that an advanced life form would be following advances similar to our own and would be using similar technology, we began to listen to the nearby stars hoping to intercept their version of Saturday Night Live. We have been listening for a long time, but the rest of the universe remains mute. During this early period we convinced ourselves that it was unreasonable that among the 200 billion stars in our galaxy our sun would be the only star with a planet supporting life and that humans would be the only technologically advanced life form. For most humans the question was as moot as the universe was mute and were satisfied with science fiction stories and entertaining monster movies to answer the question. Our top scientists, however, took the paradox seriously and, like scientists always do, began developing formulae based on probability and statistics to find answers. But without evidence their efforts only expanded the paradox. As Fermi shouted out in frustration while having dinner with Teller and other scientists; "Where are they"? Now we have discovered that most stars have planets, that the sun is a large star, not an ordinary star, and that we have been missing the most common stars, red dwarfs, which often have multiple planets. We have also discovered that some of the three hundred moons in our solar system have conditions suitable for the development of life, and the statistical guesses made by Fermi, Teller and Hart were far short of the hundreds of millions of possibilities projected by or recent discoveries. "Where are they"? The paradox, now deepened, has prompted many speculative answers. Tecnologically advanced life forms destroy themselves on a regular basis before they have much to say to their neighbors in nearby solar systems or, that living forms rarely evolve to a level where tecnology emerges or, that advanced life forms choose to keep quiet for safety, out of paranoia, or because they are stealthy hunters or, they use communication methods we can't monitor or they have been monitoring us and finding us unsuitable for contact are avoiding us and on and on.... I choose to respond only to the proposition that we are not hearing the echoes of other advanced civilizations because very few life forms advance to an aware state allowing an investigative approach to their surroundings using tools to enhance their senses. Our observations and comparisons of lines of development of hundreds of extant and extinct phyla and species makes it clear that fragile chemical messages formed from ordinary matter optimize the possibility, the continuance, and the adaptable progressive compexity of the energy concentrations we call life. Form and function emerge better suited to fit new environments and to persevere, not because the better are chosen, but because the less suitable are eliminated. The process only works if there is a large number of living options to be measured against the totality of the conditions in which they exist, and if the testing is subtle and only small differences, directed by randomly produced chemical directives, are eliminated or continue. The form and function of living forms are not adjusted directly, only the chemical language that directs their emergance is adjusted as the form or function directed by these chmical directives succeeds or fails. The living form struggles to survive and reproduce in the short term, The gene struggles to survive and reproduce in the long term, and both are prompted by solely natural causes similar to sea foam forming on the sand of an ocean beach. The process, following natural paths is similar to the patterns of atoms and moecules and minerals combining to form succesive states of increasing complexity. We observe and agree that matter follows the same formative patterns throughout the universe and can reasonbly assume that life also follows natural formative patterns in developing adaptive forms and functions. But what of the reasoning abilities needed to transform basic minerals and chemicals into tools and the technology needed to allow cooperative advanced civilizations to develop? Beyond regulating the simplest of living processes genes are inefective in producing further complex developments until early ways to interface with the environment emerge. These random changes are genetic accidents that improve sensitivities to temperature/ chemical conditions or internal conditions and each random adjustment that improves survivability is passed on and over time these advances in microbial awareness become cumulative, lead to parallel developments in form and function and create a partnership between the development of compexity in form with advances in awareness that leads to advanced sensory and cognitive abilities. This parallel progression is evident in all life and is so interdependent that one can assume a reasonable number of exo-planets would follow the same patterns and continued to a maximum optimization of awareness until, like humans, it assumes control of adaptive evolution and overrides natural selection by random genetic abberations. This is a state of development requiering advanced technology and advanced communicative skills, but not necessarily a pace of awareness similar to ours. The many planets that orbit red dwarf stars circle closer in and have a year lasting less than a month, and days of random lenghts. We may be attempting to communicate with an advanced life form with a pace of awareness faster than a humming bird or slower than a snail. Time may not be the only thing that is relative in our strange universe, but the extreeme numbers of planets and moons in our galaxy hints at similar numbers in hundreds of billions of other galaxies and we need to look for other reasons for not finding electromagnetic evidence for advanced life and we need other methods for finding it. The numbers are too large to ignore and the elements needed for life too common. We are alone but where are they?

A Flatul Beginning

As a child I played with rockets and cars powered by small Co2 cartridges. The cartridge was placed in the toy and a spring loaded needle was used to puncture a plug in the end of the cartridge. When I pulled the plunger back and released it, the needle opened a small hole in the cartridge and the compressed Co2 was released with a loud hiss, and a cloud of condensate was created, as the potential energy stored in the compressed gas was released. According to current scientific theory our universe started in a very similar way and, (in spite of having been poorly named "The Big Bang"), it, like the energy that propelled my toys, was held in a small compressed state, (not big), and was released as a great hiss, (not a Bang). We can still detect the hiss as microwave background radiation. My toys were powered by the release of potential energy. So is the universe. When the energy that powered my toys was released it created movement and a condensate,(dry Ice). When the energy that is now the universe was released it created movement and condensates consisting of new forms of energy, one of these is matter. As Einstein has pointed out, matter is a form of energy. E=MC2. The energy release that powered my toys was converted from the potential energy created when the Co2 was compressed and was converted into inertial energy upon its release. The universe began as a compressed singularity and when its stored energy was released, both movement,(time), and other forms of energy were created. Initially, as the compressed energy was being released, there was a great rush called the inflationary period, after that momentum took over. The last term, "T", in Einstein's basic field equation for general relativity is a stress energy momentum tensor describing this momentum. All of the energy released from the singularity at the birth of the universe and all of the energy released from my Co2 cartridges is still with us, it has only been transformed and occupies a greater space. We have now identified some of the basic condensate energies resulting from the creative release, (I think of it as a three dimensional fart), including; electromagnetism, the strong force, the week forces and a special energy condensate called matter. We have yet to identify the most prevalent energy causing the universe to expand at an accelerated rate but, (the acceleration theory is based on the assumption that the speed of light, (our measure of time), has been constant as the universe expanded and may be leading us to a false conclusion). When the Co2 escaped from my toy cartridges it created a temporary energy deficit and a dry ice condensate that existed until the heat energy dissipated when the Co2 was compressed was recaptured. As the deficit was resolved by drawing in heat to overcome the cold period deficit sublimation occurred, the dry ice was converted from a solid state to a gaseous state and the deficit was resolved by converting the re-gathered heat energy into the inertial energy of molecular motion in the re-formed gaseous Co2. A similar energy deficit seems to have occurred as the universe was released that created the primal condensates including particles of matter, electrons, photons, quarks and gluons but, unlike my toy cartridges, it has not been resolved because of an entanglement between quarks and gluons in color glass condensates that make up protons and neutrons. This energy deficit may help explain the tendency of these entanglements to warp the space between them in an attempt to clump together. Mass then becomes warped space as Einstein described without the need for time as a part of the equation, and gravity becomes a topological feature of space. My interpretation of the creative event may stink as a well developed theory but fits well with those that are.

When The Stars Speak

It had been a bummer of a day. Jake had not only flunked his astronomy exam, he had also lost his girl friend when he claimed to be smarter than her. In Jake’s mind none of this was his fault and, feeling sorry for himself, he purchased a six pack of beer and found a secluded park bench near the campus rose garden. As he opened his third beer he noticed a single bright star in the darkening sky and impulsively started to recite a poem he had learned as a child. “Star light star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may I wish I might……………..” Before he could finish, Jake was rudely interrupted by a deep commanding voice. “You don’t really think stars grant wishes…Do You?” Jake looked around. There was no one there. “Up here”, the voice said. “You started the conversation now finish it!” Jake looked back at the star and remained silent. “Yeah, smart ass, its me, I can tell your enjoying a few of my photons, so what the hell do you want?” Jake muttered a few unintelligible words, his gaze transfixed on the brightening star. “Speak up man. I can’t hear you!” Jake had always thought of stars as friendly twinkling lights, but this star was an angry SOB. “I was just wishing,” Jake replied. “It didn’t mean anything.” “You’ve got that right.” The star replied. “You think of yourself as something important and me as a tiny bright spot in the sky, but you have it backwards. You are the tiny spot and I am an enormous nuclear furnace. I was already shining long before your solar system formed and am blasting radiation in all directions, up, down, to the sides and behind me. The tiny bit of light you see is an infinitesimally small part of all my radiation and there are millions of life forms on your tiny planet and on millions of other planets looking at me from all directions and only you and your species assume, that since you can see me, you own me. You depend on a star you call Sun, which in my opinion is a really dumb name, for the energy that allows you to live, and are made of stuff created in the belly of stars long dead. There are only a few billion of you humans. There are millions of billions of stars, more stars than all the grains of sand on your planet, and yet you claim the right to pick out one of us and get wishes granted. You really need to get a grip on reality!” Jake sat very still. The sun was just beginning to peak over the campus buildings behind him. The six pack was empty and the stars were gone. Jake’s inflated ego had been flattened. He went to his astronomy professor and begged to take the test again. His professor smiled and shook his head No. Jake then found his girl friend and asked for forgiveness, she told him to get lost. Later that night Jake crossed the campus after his last class keeping one eye closed. He glanced quickly at the wishing star but kept his mouth shut and quickly looked away. ................................................... Before we were blinded by city lights and before we viewed the stars again through telescopes, man marveled at the star filled sky and imagined Gods revealing themselves, outlined by dots of light. Before the stars began to speak to us through science they were benevolent lights in the heaven put there to guide and aid mankind. Now that we understand their language they are revealing themselves as massive balls of fire, exploding with forces that echo throughout the universe, collapsing into black holes, revealing their ages, showing off their planets, and asking us to put our self agrandizing egoes aside, and yet, we like Jake, close our minds and ignore our new perspectives and the mandates imposed by being a part of the marvelous spectacle that surrounds us. We are born of the dust of exploding stars and gathered by gravity and chemistry to become the vessel of nature that allowes her a mirror in which to view herself. We are indeed priviledged, but we are not free to ignore what the stars are telling us. They have waited a very long time for us to listen.