magnocrat

Well when we hand over the reins to government we allow alsorts of practices. The only way to be reasonably safe is to make sure there are plenty of different views expressed in the chamber of power.Couple this with a beligerent press and things are unlikely to get out of hand. Naturally we will have to put up with the abuse of taxpayers money oiling thd palms of those who control it but we can. live in relative freedom from tyrants.

I know politics is out but like everything this has a political ring. Steven Pinker proved in 'The Blank Slate ' we carry a huge evolutionary baggage. I think hard-wired into that is live now pay later when what we need is pay now and live later. Our clever scientists have more or less proved global warming and our involvement. What they are powerless to do is alter who we are. My evidence: just take a good look at the world.

Some believe that there was a period long ago when the earth was a huge snowball. The idea is that when oxygen took over from methane in the atmosphere the greenhouse effects of methane were gone and the earth cooled drastically into a huge snowball. At that timethe sun itself was weaker and the greenhouse effect was essential to keep the earth warm.

I've spent a few entertaining hours looking at colour and light on the web, its not an easy subject by any means. Like a lot of science it gets tricky when you probe. I supose its the nature of the beast. I discovered the different colours travel at different speeds in glass. A most curious fact and yet in a vaccum they all travel at equal speeds.

It was started by Francis Galton who believed the lower classes should not be encouraged to breed as they were inferior. You are right I was pointing out how the poor are side-lined today in just the same way, there are analogies. Lives are also measured against convenience and profit every day in government decisions all over the world. Notice how they proudly pronouce how many lives will be saved by enforcing the speed limit. While it is expedient some live others die.

That is true but are you saying that we have not the right to make the judgement that another human is unfit to live? It sounds a very Catholic view to me along the lines we must not play at being God. We do play at being God more and more as science advances and we have more and more power over our own lives or deaths. The only real danger is eugenics but we could argue we already practise it in favouring the haves of this world with the top medical treatment while the poor fend for themselves.

These remind me at school ( long ago now) we were shown a wheel of rainbow colours and when it was spun it looked a grayish whiteproving white light consisted of all the rainbow colours. If we mixed fine sands of rainbow colours we would have a sort of whitish sand. How can we be sure when we see a colour it is a pure colour? White is really a multicolour.

Robert Hare gives twenty questions for his psychopath test so it is not an arbitary pointing finger. We can all be callous but its much more. than that. The SS guards loved to feed the birds. I suspected myself but I passed with flying colours now I. can sleep easy tonight

It may seem a silly question but why do our receptors respond to those particular colours? Is it because the sun throws out more of those so natural selection picked the most prolific source? Its true that the sun looks yellow so maybe our eyes are yellow orentated.

I am for the death penalty. It is administered every day throughout the world by law enforcement , sometimes to the innocent. So why the enormous fuss over a few wicked criminals who have no respect for life. I suspect Christianity is at the bottom of the reason in western nations: repentance is always possible .Robert Hare who worked many years with criminals believes 1% of the American population are psychopaths. Could we not well do without them ?

Is there something special about what we call light or do we see it as special because we have eyes. I'm told some animals see colour differently though its hard to believe we can get inside an animals brain to know this is true.

The prism acts as a filter but is each colour what we call monochromatic light? I have come across the term monochrome and take it to mean of one colour.

A rose by any name still smells the same..

My apologies I sometimes get fired up and carried away, but you are right I'm drifting from the point I will quietly withdraw.

Absolutey that is why we must elavate no one. It has perhaps been the greatest lesson we have learned in recent decades of improved transparency. We must be merciful of human folley in order to receive merciful treatment in return. We live in the age of organic food and it is peddled continously everywhere. Now we have organic eggs at extra expense. I'm not sure what an inorganic egg looks like or even if it is edible. Is there really any scientific evidence for organic food? Just what is the meaning of organic?

I understand your point but education is not the answer to this difficulty. Many scientific claims are difficult for the layman to grasp even if he were educated to o level standard. This fact is well known to the charlatens and dishonest and they exploit it to the full. Not only that they misrepresent genuine scientists who often are not aware of the abuse. Last but not least there are such animals as dishonest scientists who use their scientific expertese for reputational gain or political ends. Science has a high reputation as politics once had but it can easily be marred.

If I cannot tell whether I'm being deceived or not through lack of expert knowledge or understanding I cannot be blamed. We live in an unscrupulous world and science is wide open to abuse for many reasons. Lets stop critising the ordinary and unlearned citizen and get to grips with the guilty. I fear behind much of this is financial gain.

A process that some cannot grasp or a process that some may not want to grasp since they are involved in other pursuits. In this complex technical world we are at the mercy of experts like it or not. Experts and communicators have to tell us in ways we can understand the truth.

Come come you've seen the IQ bell curve 50% below 100. My own IQ is about 105 and I have quite a lot of difficulty with some subjects and I'm a persistent applicator. I tried to get to the bottom of the 'five .a day' nonsense merely to be told it was government policy.

That sounds fine but many don't want a scientific education. The most popular press are those that entertain.We must never forget that many are glad to leave school and go to work. One way would a much more vocal science community making it more difficult for them to be misrepresented. Experts must come down to earth as far as possible. The press must be tackled along with dishonest profiteers. I need help with dishonest car mechanics.

Genuine scientific findings are often streched well beyond their limits by the popular press to create news. So an advance in cancer treatment becomes a new cure. When it comes to diet the slightest suggestion of benifit becomes a miracle food.Science is the magic word anything with science attached must be true.

I used to look to the sky when a boy for no two skies were ever the same. Later I discovered the kaleidoscope with its endless symetrical patterns. Science seeks to tame , explain and link the uniqueness around us. Hence the struggle for a theory of everything. Yet we need sameness just imagine waking up to a different world each day. ' Let them be left oh let them be left Long live the weeds and wildness yet' Hopkins

Julian Jaynes makes a good case for humans having bicameral brains and being unconscious zombies. He believed the transition from bicameral man to consciously aware man took place over ten centuries beginning around 1800 BC. I'm not sure Mr Dawkins believes this but his comment suggests fhe possibility. As for me I'm a humble layman hoping to glean a glimpse of truth from the experts. Some of these topics are very tricky but fascinating nonetheless.

'From a chemical reaction to consciousness' thats a tall order by any standards it almost sounds like a search for when and how life waz first injected into organic material. ' What ever is fickle freckled who knows how' Hopkins

I think you will find number one requirement is a high IQ. The famous persons mentioned will all at least be above 140 the minium requirement for Mensa. Having the basic ability then application and hard work will pay off. If you are born with an IQ of 80 then no amount of hard work will do the job. I'm a good example my IQ is about 105, so I will find understanding general relativity immensely difficult.