tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post4281563370659562850..comments2023-11-22T01:14:54.298-08:00Comments on amor mundi: How Many Likes Does It Take To Get To The Summit of Techno-Pop?Dale Carricohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02811055279887722298noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-26436570662681789942016-08-28T07:01:10.603-07:002016-08-28T07:01:10.603-07:00> All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my ...> All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up...<br /><br />https://vickielester.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/figure-3-satch.jpg<br /><br /><br />Cleopatra, scientist:<br /><br />----------<br />_Patient H. M._, Luke Dittrich<br />p. 116<br /><br />The research conducted by the Nazis at Dachau and other concentration<br />camps was perhaps history's most brutal and sustained example of<br />inhumane human experimentation, but it wasn't the first. . .<br /><br />[D]uring the first century B.C.E., the Egyptian pharaoh Cleopatra<br />supposedly ordered her own series of experimental vivisections on<br />humans. At the time, there was a debate about whether male fetusus<br />developed more slowly in the womb than female ones. In an attempt<br />to settle the question, Cleopatra is said to have had a number of<br />her own handmaidens forcibly impregnated, then dissected at various<br />stages of their pregnancies while still alive. . .<br />====<br /><br /><br />She blinded me with Science!<br />jimfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04975754342950063440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-65310685506106892232016-08-28T06:42:38.868-07:002016-08-28T06:42:38.868-07:00> . . .the kinds of things "scientists&quo...> . . .the kinds of things "scientists" will do to people when<br />> they think they're serving a "higher purpose" and they think they<br />> can get away with it.<br /><br /><br />Like, for instance, the psychologists who participated in the CIA's<br />"enhanced interrogation techniques".<br /><br />http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/12/10/1350885/-Torture-s-new-acronym-may-be-LDS<br />-------------<br />[S]hocking revelations about CIA "rectal hydration," rape by broomstick<br />(also known to Fox News and New Yorkers as "Giuliani Time") and other<br />acts of state-sponsored sadism ensure Americans won't soon forget the<br />term "enhanced interrogation techniques" (EIT). . .<br /><br />As the Salt Lake Tribune first fretted in April 2009,<br />"LDS lawyers, psychologists had a hand in torture policies."<br />At the top of that list of Mormon Torquemadas are<br />John "Bruce" Jessen and James Mitchell, the two psychologists<br />who designed and also later helped administer the. . . tactics. <br /><br />Earlier this year, James Mitchell defended himself by declaring,<br />"I'm just a guy who got asked to do something for his country."<br />Asked, that his, and paid over $80 million by the federal government.<br />(Of course, one man's war crime is another man's business model. . .)<br />Drs. Jesson and Mitchell started out as Air Force psychologists<br />whose Spokane, Washington company then made millions from dispensing<br />human misery. . .<br /><br />[W]ord of their pain-for-profit enterprise didn't lead to<br />excommunication from their church, but instead greater esteem. . .<br /><br />If LDS wasn't put off by Jessen and Mitchell's past, the APA<br />(the American Psychological Association), was horrified.<br />Last month, APA announced it "will conduct an independent review<br />into whether it colluded with or supported the government's use<br />of torture in the interrogation of prisoners during the Bush<br />administration." . . .<br /><br />In a policy proposal drafted by Mitt Romney's advisers in<br />September 2011, Mr. Romney's advisers urge him to "rescind<br />and replace President Obama's executive order" and permit secret<br />"enhanced interrogation techniques against high-value detainees<br />that are safe, legal and effective in generating intelligence to<br />save American lives."<br /><br />That December, the former bishop and former governor Romney<br />put it this way:<br /><br />"We'll use enhanced interrogation techniques which go beyond<br />those that are in the military handbook right now." . . .<br />====<br /><br /><br />Move over, Mitt.<br /><br /><br />http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/06/29/donald-trump-vows-torture-again-i-waterboarding-lot<br />-------------<br />Donald Trump Vows Torture (Again): 'I Like Waterboarding A Lot'<br />"I don't think it's tough enough," Trump says of waterboarding.<br />====<br /><br /><br />My very first exposure to anything Mormon (though I didn't know it<br />at the time) was one of the "People" stories by Zenna Henderson --<br />a somewhat saccharine tale of exiled extraterrestrials with<br />supernatural powers and a gentle piety.<br /><br />On the other hand, Mormons' conservatism, fierce anti-Communism<br />(W. Cleon Skousen), and support of American exceptionalism are pretty<br />well known these days.<br />jimfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04975754342950063440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-43977250358873554782016-08-27T22:30:08.492-07:002016-08-27T22:30:08.492-07:00All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close...All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up...Dale Carricohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02811055279887722298noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-35814521800404921732016-08-27T20:39:43.711-07:002016-08-27T20:39:43.711-07:00> . . .the kinds of things "scientists&quo...> . . .the kinds of things "scientists" will do to people when<br />> they think they're serving a "higher purpose" and they think they<br />> can get away with it.<br /><br />> . . .reputedly extremely arrogant. . .<br /><br />There was a recent comment thread here<br />( http://amormundi.blogspot.com/2016/08/futurist-authority-and-toppling-of.html )<br />that mentioned the denizens of the RAND Corporation in the<br />_Dr. Strangelove_ era -- people like Herman Kahn who thought "rationally"<br />about thermonuclear war, and the personalities of some of his colleagues.<br /><br />I e-mailed some of that stuff, including the excerpt from the snarky<br />article "A Beautiful Behind" (a review of the bio of John Nash<br />_A Beautiful Mind_ that later became a movie) taken from a magazine<br />for mathematicians called _Ferment_, to a friend. The subject line<br />of my e-mail was "Is there such a thing as a **nice** mathematician?".<br /><br />And my friend replied,<br /><br />> It's hardly a unique observation now that most mathematicians are rude,<br />> obnoxious egotists. And - in the usual way that genius comes with associated<br />> weaknesses - if they're brilliant at science, they're usually lacking<br />> in empathy and people skills. Just like all the great artists and musicians<br />> whose personal lives consist of one wrecked relationship after another,<br />> with collateral damage like exes and children left behind to fend for themselves.<br /><br />Of course, that's the stereotype. But what I found somewhat shocking,<br />when I grew up ( ;-> ), was that the stereotype is so often true [*]. This,<br />in spite of a good deal of propaganda I'd seen attempting to **debunk**<br />the popular image of the "mad scientist". In fact, those Bell Science<br />films I loved so much when I was in elementary school, I now see,<br />were partly counter-propaganda to that stereotype -- the patient,<br />kindly, bespectacled "Dr. Research" who appeared in many of those<br />films must've been very carefully chosen to appear as benign<br />and trustworthy as possible (the actor, Frank Baxter, was actually<br />an English professor).<br />https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bell_Laboratory_Science_Series<br />In fact, "Dr. Research" comes across much like Robert Young as<br />"Marcus Welby, M.D." in the TV show from 10 or 15 years later.<br />https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Welby,_M.D.<br /><br />The cold, callous, arrogant "mad scientist" stereotype<br />may not always be true. But it's apparently often enough true that<br />people are not being completely silly when they look for evidence<br />that a scientist they're asked to trust doesn't have the personality<br />of a Victor Frankenstein.<br /><br />Hm. Speaking of RAND Corporation uber-rationalist<br />utilitarian game theorist authorities, I just remembered a not-too-bad<br />made for TV movie (once available on YouTube, which is where<br />I saw it a few years ago) called _The President's Plane Is Missing_<br />where, during a period of panic when the President of the United<br />States seems to have died in a plane crash, the National Security<br />Advisor (played by Rip Torn) almost manages to bully a<br />not-too-bright Vice President (Buddy Ebsen) into starting a<br />nuclear war.<br />https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_President%27s_Plane_Is_Missing_(film)<br /><br />[*] I suppose you could ask Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen why that might be<br />the case. (Or see some of the commentary on<br />http://amormundi.blogspot.com/2009/04/pretending-to-be-biologists.html ).<br />:-/<br />jimfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04975754342950063440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-4147035530916721402016-08-27T19:58:02.974-07:002016-08-27T19:58:02.974-07:00It's easy to roll one's eyes and dismiss t...It's easy to roll one's eyes and dismiss this as redneck know-nothingism,<br />like the resistance to GMO food, or to food preservation by<br />irradiation, or to vaccination, etc.<br /><br />But in the very same newspaper, there was yet another review of that new<br />book _Patient H. M.: A Story of Memory, Madness, and Family Secrets_<br />by Luke Dittrich. This is a book largely about the kinds of things<br />"scientists" will do to people when they think they're serving a<br />"higher purpose" and they think they can get away with it.<br /><br /><br />http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/25/books/patient-hm-recalls-the-story-of-a-surgery-that-took-a-mans-memories.html<br />-------------<br />‘Patient H.M.’ Recalls the Story of a Surgery That Took a Man’s Memories<br />By JENNIFER SENIOR<br />AUG. 24, 2016<br /><br />. . .<br /><br />Dr. William Beecher Scoville, the neurosurgeon who brazenly removed<br />roughly 25 grams of H.M.’s brain, was Mr. Dittrich’s [the author's]<br />grandfather. . .<br /><br />The first two-thirds [of the book] have far less to do with<br />[H.M.]. . . than with the man who operated on him and the<br />climate that made his brand of cowboy experimentation possible. . .<br />H.M.’s surgery did not happen in a vacuum. It was part of a much<br />larger and unseemly trend. . .<br /><br />Mr. Dittrich very much wanted to interview Mr. Molaison, and<br />you can see why he thought he had a shot: He was connected<br />to him not just through his grandfather but also through<br />Suzanne Corkin, the neuroscientist at the Massachusetts Institute<br />of Technology who worked most closely with H.M. She just<br />happened to be his mother’s oldest friend.<br /><br />If you read between the lines, it’s clear that she didn’t like<br />Mr. Dittrich. He clearly didn’t like her either. He portrays<br />her as brittle, dislikable, unimaginative — a scientist who’d<br />struck gold and was now overzealously controlling access<br />to her star patient. (He quotes other scientists saying as much, too.)<br /><br />Mr. Dittrich’s most incendiary reporting: Dr. Corkin told<br />him that she had “shredded” all files related to H.M.<br />(“It locks in stone your own telling of H.M.’s story,” he<br />points out. ) . . .<br /><br />M.I.T. has already pushed back hard against Mr. Dittrich’s<br />charges. The university has issued two statements in the last<br />few weeks. . . Over 200 academics also signed a letter in<br />support of Dr. Corkin, after reading an excerpt from the book<br />in The New York Times Magazine. . .<br />====<br /><br />Circling the wagons.<br /><br />I'm reminded also of Dr. John Money a (reputedly extremely arrogant)<br />psychologist who thought he had a chance to perform the perfect<br />"natural" human experiment that would demonstrate that sex roles<br />are entirely a matter of nurture, not nature. There was coverup<br />and denial in that case, too, according to later accounts.<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUTcwqR4Q4Y<br />-------------<br />BBC Horizon - Dr. Money And The Boy With No Penis<br />====<br />jimfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04975754342950063440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-17025726821368397512016-08-27T19:57:32.637-07:002016-08-27T19:57:32.637-07:00> "The last mosquito that bit me had to ch...> "The last mosquito that bit me had to check into the<br />> Betty Ford Clinic."<br /><br />So speaking of mosquitoes, there was an article in the New York Times<br />a few days ago about a plan in the Florida Keys to release male mosquitoes<br />carrying a gene-spliced genetic "bomb" that causes the larvae of the<br />females they impregnate to die. This is ostensibly to control the<br />spread of the Zika virus, but some of the locals aren't having it.<br /><br />http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/25/us/zika-florida-keys-mosquitoes.html<br />-------------<br />In Florida Keys, Some Worry About ‘Science and Government’ More Than Zika<br />By LIZETTE ALVAREZ<br />AUG. 24, 2016<br /><br />KEY HAVEN, Fla. — To live here. . . requires a blend of carefree eccentricity<br />and go-it-alone grit.<br /><br />So when, several years ago, the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District<br />offered up the peninsula of Key Haven. . .<br />for the first United States test of genetically modified mosquitoes<br />built to blunt the spread of dengue and Zika, it was only a matter<br />of time before opposition mounted.<br /><br />Today, . . Key Haven’s hardened position against the trial — or the<br />experiment, as they call it — is hard to miss. . . “No Consent to Release of<br />Genetically Modified Mosquitoes,” red-and-white placards declare.<br /><br />“People here can survive what nature throws at them. . .<br />Hurricanes, bring them on; long-timers here seldom evacuate.<br />Mosquitoes, well, that’s the price of paradise. Zika,<br />this too shall pass, like dengue. But science and government,<br />I’m not so sure about.” . . .<br /><br />[I]n the lower Florida Keys, as is true in large areas of the<br />United States, skepticism of corporate interests and scientific<br />findings abounds. . .<br /><br />“This is Jurassic science. . . People distrust this because<br />there is so much corporate spin.” . . .<br />====<br />jimfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04975754342950063440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-70103037331176151252016-08-23T10:48:00.442-07:002016-08-23T10:48:00.442-07:00Awat?
http://reddragdiva.tumblr.com/tagged/singul...Awat?<br /><br />http://reddragdiva.tumblr.com/tagged/singulardtvjimfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04975754342950063440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-36610845567360927342016-08-22T12:51:25.612-07:002016-08-22T12:51:25.612-07:00As someone who is content, even honored, to influe...As someone who is content, even honored, to influence a gathering in a classroom I have never quite understood those who would dismiss a small smart dedicated readership. The few posts of mine that have attracted more widespread notice -- like that "Unbearable Stasis" piece for whatever reason -- occasioned such a froth of vapid likes and dumb incomprehension it is hard to see what is so gratifying about being swarmed online on a regular basis. America is such an anti-intellectual place we can't distinguish glorified gossip columnists from public intellectuals.Dale Carricohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02811055279887722298noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-48345029009452678702016-08-22T12:34:09.692-07:002016-08-22T12:34:09.692-07:00> How Many Likes Does It Take To Get To The Sum...> How Many Likes Does It Take To Get To The Summit of Techno-Pop?<br /><br />Well, here's somebody who should know:<br /><br />http://amormundi.blogspot.com/2010/05/robot-cultists-have-won.html<br />-------------<br />In something of a surprise move, Singularitarian Transhumanist<br />Robot Cultist Michael Anissimov has declared victory. Apparently,<br />the superlative futurologists have "won." The Robot Cult, it would<br />seem, has prevailed over the ends of the earth. . .<br />====<br /><br />(Also, mockery and name-calling. ;-><br /><br />"The last mosquito that bit me had to check into the<br />Betty Ford Clinic."<br /><br />-- Patsy Stone)<br /><br /><br />http://amormundi.blogspot.com/2009/04/if-i-only-had-brain.html<br />-------------<br />You're right Dale, few will listen to you about superlativity,<br />now or ever. Meaning, few will start saying "yes Dale, you're right,<br />transhumanist discourse is wrong or silly or harmful."<br />To the contrary, a lof of serious, bright, and thoughtful<br />people will likely continue to see transhumanist discourse<br />as having value no matter how many times you repeat your critique. <br />====<br /><br />http://amormundi.blogspot.com/2007/11/superlative-boo-hoo.html<br />-------------<br />Brian Wang, Mr. Fact Guy and "Big Thinker" wrote:<br /><br />> Dale's website was ranked less popular then the<br />> top 2 million websites until he leached onto the<br />> Superlative stuff.<br /><br />You mean "leeched", presumably. . .<br /><br />> He is gaining some traffic because the "superlative technology"<br />> sites are more popular.<br /><br />Well and good.<br /><br />> Accelerating future is fairly regularly in the top 100,000 sites.<br />> It has 20 to 40 times the traffic of Dale's snark rants. My site<br />> advancednano has more traffic than Dale's and triple the technorati<br />> authority.<br />><br />> I am slumming by talking to you more marginal people.<br /><br />Too bad your intellectual sophistication doesn't track<br />your Nielsen and Arbitron ratings.<br /><br />Really, you pay attention to numbers like that?<br />You getting paid by the click, or something?<br />====<br /><br /><br />;-><br />jimfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04975754342950063440noreply@blogger.com