Quantum theory says that stuff doesn't exist when we're not looking at it.

It used to be and still is the general view to suggest that reality is, well, real. Before quantum physics, our understanding was governed by classical theories in which reality exists regardless of observers. Newton’s laws of motion, for example, say we live in a clockwork, deterministic world that behaves in well-defined, predictable ways independently from what we are doing.


Then along comes Quantum Theory (note the humility in theory as all opinions are theories)

David Bohm a Quantum Theory advocate proposed there was a hidden reality to quantum theory, he was referring to a world that doesn’t exist until you choose to look at it; the world Bohm revealed is a more profoundly and mysteriously interconnected place than we ever imagined

By way of exnnple WHERe us a sub atomic particle when you are not looking at it?

OK , when you aren’t looking a subatomic particle  quantum physicist would probably answer: sort of all over the place. An unobserved particle is a wisp of reality, a shimmer of existence – there isn’t a good metaphor for it, because it is vague both by definition and by nature. Until you do have a peek. Then it becomes a particle proper, it can be put into words, it is a thing with a place.

That picture seems utterly absurd. Yet many, many experiments exploring the microscopic realm over the best part of a century have reinforced the conclusion that when we’re not paying attention, the world is fuzzy and undecided. Only by looking at things, observing them, measuring them, do we make them recognisably “real”.

Einstein was unimpressed, pointedly asking whether the moon is not there if no one looks at it

but it was proven by QM that God did actually play dice.

 is looking at it. But then Einstein was always raising pesky objections to quantum theory. For many physicists since it has been a case of swallowing any philosophical qualms. The maths works, there’s no real alternative, so get on with it!

Creative people are more open so that rules out Hollywood

If you’re the kind of person who relishes adventure, you may literally see the world differently. People who are open to new experiences can take in more visual information than other people and combine it in unique ways. This may explain why they tend to be particularly creative.

Openness to experience is one of the “big five” traits often used to describe personality. It is characterised by curiosity, creativity and an interest in exploring new things. Open people tend to do well at tasks that test our ability to come up with creative ideas, such as imagining new uses for everyday objects like bricks, mugs or table tennis balls.

There’s some evidence that people with a greater degree of openness also have better visual awareness. For example, when focusing on letters moving on a screen, they are more likely to notice a grey square appearing elsewhere on the display.

Now Anna Antinori at the University of Melbourne in Australia and her team are showing that people who score more highly when it comes to the openness trait “see” more possibilities. “They seem to have a more flexible gate for the visual information that breaks through into their consciousness,”


The findings also hint at why extremely open people are more prone to paranoia and delusions, (Hollywood again) says Niko Tiliopoulos at the University of Sydney, Australia. “At those levels of openness, people may actually see reality differently,” (Hollywood again)

Source By Alice Klein in the New Scientist

says.

The meteorite was the sperm that entered mother earth and created life.

I say unto you...yea it was the sperm that imploded itself into mother earth and it came to pass that life was thereby created by the stars etc (no disrespect to believers).

If we view the cosmic fireball implanting itself on earth as the sperm that created us
then we are closer to the truth than all the combined holy writ explanations.

For Meteorites are objects of great scientific interest – they are time capsules from the solar system’s birth, encoding clues about how our cosmic neighbourhood came to be, and why life blossomed on planet Earth

Your personality is not set in stone - you can change it.

Your true self: How your personality changes throughout life

You are not the person you were as a child, or even last year. The discovery that our characters change is unnerving, but embrace it and it can be empowering

AS A child, Paul was extremely shy, he blushed a lot and this blushing went on until his 20s it was painful for him and his family but he overcame his shyness to live a successful and full life,  So how did he change his personality and how did he acquire the confidence to become a well rounded a successful person. Well, he acquired confidence through
psychotherapy and group therapy it was this new found confidence that changed his personality

Psychologist say shyness (blushing)  is an indicator of a low level of extroversion, a key measure of personality

Most of us consider our personality to be an integral and unchanging part of who we are – perhaps the essence of that thing we call the self.

Personality refers to an individual’s thought patterns and behaviours, which tend to persist over time. Now mounting evidence is undermining that notion. Personality is far more mutable than we thought. 

Good news for those of us who wish our personalities were just that little bit different.

Why is Marin Le Pen 'far right' why is she just not 'right'?

Civic society belied the dogma of original sin, rhank God

Shining a light on the Enlightenment

What is worth preserving is the emancipatory impulse of the Enlightenment

Virtue was institutinalised during the French Revolution however Enlightenment rationality gave rise to new and insidious forms of its own
for instance the Terror enacted after the French Revolution was driven by a rational notion
of virtue as enlightenment 'moral' ideas were put into practise by way of the guillotine as principles unfolded into revolutionary violence

The delusion of a 'true' self

Psychologies are complex, individual things, and there’s no part of the brain, and no aspect of our personality, that stands out as being the seat of the true self, so we’re never going to discover a universally valid answer. “As a scientific concept, the idea of a ‘true self’ is not tenable,” says Nina Strohminger of Yale University.

What is exciting once you have accepted that there is no homunculus (little man/woman) in there pulling the levers is the Foucaldian notion - 

Michel Foucault remaking of self

on a daily  basis

However the cynical French political class circle their wagons 'Le Penism' is not going away.

Fear of terrorism (not just Le Pen but every sane person on the planet)

Resentment towards the elites mistrust of globalization and the ‘system’, distrust of politics (there is something quite sinister about career politicians, compare and contrast career politician Obama and Trump) 

The legacy of carer politicians Hollande in France - Le Pen. Obama - Trump, it is the non-action of career politicians who induce the populace to seek out a 'save us' providential leader

Lastly the disenchantment with Institutions in Europe it is the EU and that whatever the result of the French election on Sunday - will not go away, why do they refuse to hold a referendum on the EU and the Euro, the answer to that question returns one to the disenchantment with career (self interest) politicians

all the conditions that feed the Front National – will still exist after 7 May

DO YOU HAVE CELL PHONE SEPARATION ANXIETY?

It is us or them

'It's us or them,' France's Fillon (leading candidate in French Presidential election) says of fight against 'Islamist totalitarianism'

Message to the Donald regarding his progress

Bill Maher a rather frightening advocate for the left

OK,  all comedy is criticism in some form or the other.

However to watch Bill Maher in a gleeful form of self-deprecation gushing on about the benefit of 'pot' is to witness 'cool' grandstanding to a cringe worthy  degree.  What is worrying is that he has such a large audience, the facile preaching to the facile
and speaking of audiences one can't help wondering if his studio audience, to whom Bill is a kind of Lord of the Flies,  get a Liberal chip implant as they enter the theatre for judging by their hysterical cheering whooping and rapturous applause to every one of Bill's sneers you would have to wonder.

Where did this man get his ideas from; is he one of half educated who emerge indoctrinated from a 'good' University.  Did the Liberal Professoriat get to him as it has  so many others gullible media types who  emerge with a fake (to use a current word of opprobrium) education.

Is that where his moral outrage emanates from 'fake' education. After all 'moral' is not a scientific fact ergo it is an opinion and Maher's spitting in fury moral outrage is no more than calling attention to himself in a rancorous megaphone manner.

But back to the lovable self deprecating Bill, 'I am just an old pot head'; well Bill we have all done it
and I did for a decade and then some of us, when a good woman and the children come along have to discard the torn jeans and get into the real world (Paul McCartney discarded pot because of his children). But I do understand Bill, it would be a barren world indeed without your
infantilising, lavatorial aptly named 'pot'.

When one inadvertently falls on his programme (because he does have some serious and interesting guests - the pull of the ego to appearing on television is irresistible even to thinking types ) one is rather puzzled by his rather strident claim that he is an avowed atheist.

But why then spitting moral outrage  'get out of my Liberal Temple' to any opposing view after all as a liberal what I am espousing is holy writ and by way of television (I don't have a television myself)
he has been almost self anointed as the roi soliel of the deplorable, half educated left deploring the decrepitude of the 'ignorant stupid' Trump supporters. Bill who astonishingly gave Obama a million dollars could be by his action be termed a water carrier for Obama/Clinton alliance.

And though our Bill may not be overtly seeking celestial redemption, yet such certainty, such passion, such seeking out of the moral high ground is surely only for those of a religious bent.

Will it ever end?, No, it will not ever end, still 'something' is done.

More innocent lives lost in Paris, Police Officers, brave men doing a vital job for their communities

gunned down by a terrorist, 'known' to the Police.  So if he was 'known' why was this allowed to happen?  We are told he was released early from gaol after a previous attempt to gun down Police Officers, Human Rights would appear to have their fingerprints all over this one.

So, again and again, more innocents lives lost; an American on holiday in London; a mother going to pick up her children fro school, a girl jumping off a bridge in terror and it goes on and on and on....

but hey if you love death more than you love life as most of these perpetrators appear to do

then one is up against a fundamental mind set quandry,

And the resolution?  Well, call me a coward if you will, but I am afraid to say anything (we are in an

Orwellian world)  in case I contravene the PC, Human Rights rule that overrules and is now enshrined in our legal processes.

If readers of this blog have any thoughts I would be very interested in their views. 

The English obsession with Ghosts and their desire for continuity

The English see more ghosts more than anyone.  Interestingly, the English are also obsessed with the past; ruins, ancient volumes, churches, cathedrals etc

As Peter Ackroyd has it 'Ghosts represent continuity albeit of a spectral kind.'

The English have a rich repository of words to describe Ghost's terrain; 'marsh, fen, bog, swamp, fog
i.e plausibly seen but because of the terrain credibly unseen, so the sight of them is both alarming but oddly consoling.

So how should one deal with this still persistent belief in Ghosts, the stentorian voice of 18th century
England (Peter Ackroyd again) come to mind in that of Samuel Johnson on the subject of Ghosts
'...all argument is against it, but all belief if for it.'

So next time you are alone in the house and you think you hear a scraping on the floor; a sound as if someones moving furniture, the sound of footsteps, that strange sound as if someone near by is jingling money and you feel  you are  witnessing the sounds of a ghostly intruder in
your house, be not afeared, for what is actually happening is that you are dragging up by recall  old wife's tale and ghostly lore.  And if you live in England there is plenty of Ghostly lore.

My God, what was that?  Was that footsteps I heard.  Seriously, be not afraid for it is a fundamental
desire in you for continuity.

Moral outrage - a means of communicating information about one's self

Or is moral outrage partially an attack on one’s own hypocrisy.

Or, moral outrage  based on people’s desire to view themselves as morally upright people. Threats to one’s moral self-image have been shown to elicit unpleasant feelings of guilt that can motivate efforts to restore a positive view of oneself. This is commonly expressed by issuing an apology or making amends.

Moral outrage is much more than an obvious response to injustice; nor merely a concern with justice, or  way to appear virtuous to others, nor even a way to cope with personal guilt.

What is it?

One thing for sure, it is not what it appears to be.

Can we teach morality to robots

 Yes Master, every day and in every way I will label them as racists, bigots, deplorables, misogynists

homophobics islamophobics and any other names my master algorrithm may devise.

Scary? you betcha.

However to the question can we teach morality to robots, the corresponding question should be 'What is morality' is it opinion or fact?  

Can machines think – and, if so, can they think critically about race and gender? 

Robots have been racist and sexist for as long as the people who created them have been racist and sexist, because machines can work only from the information given to them, usually by the white, straight men who dominate the fields of technology and robotics, sorry,
make that transgender Ivy Leaguers and those sympa to the left wing causes who dominate the fields of technology (I am being flippant)

Recent reports have shown that machine-learning systems are picking up racist and sexist ideas embedded in the language patterns they are fed by human engineers. The idea that machines can be as bigoted as people is an uncomfortable one for anyone who still believes in the moral purity of the digital future, but there’s nothing new or complicated about it. “Machine learning” is a fancy way of saying “finding patterns in data”. Of course, as Lydia Nicholas, senior researcher at the innovation thinktank Nesta, explains, all this data “has to have been collected in the past, and since society changes, you can end up with patterns that reflect the past. If those patterns are used to make decisions that affect people’s lives you end up with unacceptable discrimination.”

Also if you are a white male between the age of 25-30, educated in predominantly Liberal establishment your bias will be to the left -  which is the case of most employees in Silicon Valley  who are currently engineering our 'digital' future.

So will our Robots in the future be suffused with PC/Diversity/Globalisation/Pro Immigration/Open Borders?

A future scenario: your Robot collects your mail from the hallway it gives it to you
and as you discard some post which is left leaning political entreaties for support
the Robot chants out at you 'Racist, Bigot, Islamophobe'

But it is OK because you have come to accept this mindless Robotic mantra and you promise to oil his/her/its wheel to shut the f... up.

Cell phones; the cause of our neurotic slot machine mentality

Checking your cell phone repeatedly heightens your anxiety level. You go to the cell phone to 'check'

if you are 'liked' by email/message/tweet et al.  So you pull the slot machine handle (cell phone) and  hope that your existence will be validated.  Thank you Silicon Valley

In  a recent study the goal was to see if addictive and self-destructive behaviors with phones and the Internet related to mental health.

People (the majority)  who self-described as having really addictive style behaviors toward the Internet and cellphones scored much higher on depression and anxiety scales

So are we being manipulated into neurotic behaviour by what some call our Orwellian minder, Silicon Valley.

What is the end aim of Silicon Valley apart from making heaps of money. Do these billionaires have a social conscience?

Recently these moguls has been up in arms about Trump putting a stop on foreign workers

but why does 'Silly Con Vally' not put some of their billions in the education of the indigenous US

educational system instead of infantalising us all with their 'tweets'

Be not afraid - technology will adapt to us

Intolerance in any country (post Brexit/Trump) wounds freedom throughout the world

Post Brexit/Trump you can almost touch the resentment and hatred of the losers, it is almost like a calcium deposit 

When will the Russian US election conspiracy theory be sifted from rumour?

Where is a bit of destruction always welcome? - in a Welfare State

A bit of destruction is always welcome in a Welfare State - look at the UK, why are people
risking life and limb to get to the UK and the US?

Regard an insult from the left as a compliment

Next time you get an insult from the increasingly paranoid and self deceiving left (snowflakes to
leftist Professors to diversity proponents to pro immigration fanatics, to addicted to low wages
globalists, to pathological homogeneous  'we are all the same' moralizers) best to regard their attacks
and insults which are in the main framed around ethics and morals - neither of which are facts -
best to regard their insults  as compliments

An attack from a lefty is a recomendation

Social Media is the new Roman Colosseum

Cleveland Facebook killing latest example that social media is the new Roman Colosseum

and more Roman Empire comparisons the US and the rest of the Western World's addiction
to cheap labour will be just its demise - just as it was for the Roman Empire

More than 8 million people in the US have mental health problems

Prince Harry interview 'It was 20 years of not thinking about my mother's death and two years of total chaos'

interview in the Daily Telegraph 17/4/2017

More than 8 million people in the US have mental health problems

 By Chelsea Whyte in the New Scientist

Americans are experiencing serious psychological distress in higher numbers than ever before. More than 8 million adults in the US between the ages 18 and 64 have mental health issues – that’s 3.4 per cent of the nation’s population.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has conducted an annual national health survey for the past 60 years. Respondents are asked how often over the past month they felt certain feelings, such as being so sad nothing could cheer them up, or that everything they did was an effort or worthless. The frequency of such feelings gives an indication of whether someone is in serious psychological distress (SPD).

An SPD score is highly correlated with mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety. It’s also linked to chronic disease, lower socio-economic status, smoking, drinking and a reduced life span.

Judith Weissman, an epidemiologist at the NYU Langone Medical Center, studied the survey data from 200,000 respondents between 2006 to 2014. She found that SPD was more prevalent in women than in men, in middle-aged adults versus younger adults, and in Hispanic and black people versus white people.

Weissman also found that while SPD rates were going up, access to mental health care was declining.

Listen to your blogger on audio book talking about how to deal with difficult relatives

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_3yD0p5G4Y

Family Stress by Dr Peter Cheevers audio book published by Sheldon Press

A question worth asking - the evolutionary puzzle of homosexuality?

In the last two decades, dozens of scientific papers have been published on the biological origins of homosexuality - another announcement was made last week. It's becoming scientific orthodoxy. But how does it fit with Darwin's theory of evolution?

This is a paradox from an evolutionary perspective," says Paul Vasey from the University of Lethbridge in Canada. "How can a trait like male homosexuality, which has a genetic component, persist over evolutionary time if the individuals that carry the genes associated with that trait are not reproducing?"

Scientists don't know the answer yet to this Darwinian puzzle, but there are several theories. It's possible that different mechanisms may be at work in different people. Most of the theories relate to research on male homosexuality. The evolution of lesbianism is relatively understudied - it may work in a similar way or be completely different.

PLANTS AND ANIMALS

It’s an evolutionary paradox that’s frustratingly difficult for biologists to explain, but researchers may have just found a benefit conferred by homosexual sex that could offer an explanation as to why this behavior has persevered, at least in one species. According to a new study in fruit flies, not only does same-sex sexual behavior seem to be heritable, but females with a genetic makeup associated with this trait actually display higher reproductive rates, which is an evolutionary advantage. These fascinating findings have been published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Accounting for the counter revenge future of Trump's action

Isis must be defeated they are barbaric in the extreme this is a given for any sane thinking person.

However, a reason often given by Islamic terrrorists for their actions is the previous actions of Western and US interventions
(bombing of their homeland)s.

So has the White House game plan accommodated this counter revenge future in their
mapping of their recent bombing actions?

The limits of your language means the limits of your world.

The limits of your  language means the limits of your world. (Wittgenstein)

But what of my imagination?

But that is in language too there is no view from no where
one is always somewhere in one's mind and that somewhere is language

When ideas fail, words come in very handy

                                                                            Goethe

What we “look at” is not the real world itself but our internal model of it.

The answer to the famous philosophical question, “What is it like to be a bat?” might be “Pretty much the same as to be a fast flying, visually hunting insectivorous bird such as a swallow.”

. When visual animals such as swallows or people look at the world, we construct a simulation model in the brain, which is continuously updated by incoming data from the eyes, and hence bears enough similarity to the real world outside to allow navigation through it and pursuit of moving targets. The remarkable phenomena of visual illusions are best interpreted on the hypothesis that what we “look at” is not the real world itself but our internal model of it.

We may look at a large rock and presume its solidity but Density can refer to the number of molecules in a substance. This can apply to gases, liquids, and solids

So the empirical argument, not the malleable rational argument, goes
that the rock does not have density in fact think of a football stadium with a fly in it and that is the measure of the density of a rock.

Dr Johnson may have attempted to refute this by kicking the rock 'I refute it thus'
but he was being rational not empirical.

Bats see colour through their ears and dogs through their nose

Photons ravel fast in straight lines, and can be focused with huge precision. This provides the opportunity to compute highly detailed, accurate information about the world. We are familiar with this, and we take it for granted that our eyes and associated brains enable us to navigate our way around obstacles at high speed, and hit a fast moving target like a tennis ball. We really notice the difference when darkness reduces us to helpless stumbling.

But there is a living to be made during the dark half of the day-night cycle, and it is now well known that bats have evolved the capacity to “see” without light, using their highly tuned ears rather than eyes (indeed the more specialised bats have all but completely lost their eyes). Echoes of high pitched sounds are not quite as good as well focused light but, with suitable processing in the brain, they enable the bat to fly at high speed between stretched wires without getting injured, and to catch insects on the wing, all in total darkness. Toothed whales have evolved the same “echolocation” skill (especially highly developed in river dolphins swimming and hunting in murky water where seeing is almost impossible) and by two separate groups of cave-dwelling birds.