Meanings of Modern Science

When new science is made, we are also made new.  We have a sense of connection with our own time and others living in this age of scientific discoveries.  If new discoveries are possible then anything is possible.  As new science is applied to everyday life in the form of new technology, our awareness of what makes us human opens up new possibilities.  Just as the internal combustion engine transformed us in the 1900s, how we use the Internet is transforming humanity in the 21^st Century.  Applied science is exposing the complexity and irrational nature of humans.

When confronted with new science applied to benefit the human condition many can’t understand why the consequences aren’t all bad.  They see government conspiracies and corporate profits.  Their belief in the weather clouds their judgment about the climate.  Their belief in seeds poisons their acceptance of genetically modified crops.  Confronted with something we don’t like and don’t understand, we can’t believe in a future when new science is applied to benefit humans.  Our identity as humans is challenged by daily science discoveries that are applied to redefine what being human means.

The Information Age has brought 24/7 sound bites focused on crisis after crisis that increases anxiety over time like getting shot at every day in a war zone.  The Great Recession has threatened every person in this country with losing their home to foreclosure or not being able to move because their house is worth less than they owe.  The news on the Internet, on TV or on talk radio brings daily attacks on our senses in the form of crisis after crisis.

We ought to be having a good time but we aren’t.  As individuals we are anxious about our personal lives and as a society we are anxious about how business and government are dealing with daily assaults on long held beliefs because of new science applied in new ways changing the speed that humans communicate and connect with one another.  We used to measure the speed humans progressed from walking, to riding, to cars, to planes and finally space ships.  Now human progress is measured in the speed of our Internet connection, the doubling of the number of Facebook members, the sales of the first iPhone compared to the new iPhone or iPad.  The Information Age is no longer tethered by a wire, we’ve gone mobile with everything wireless.

Climate change is an example of how our anxiety about a crisis freezes us into inaction.  We are unable to react to the changes in the climate because the consequences of increasing CO2 in the atmosphere are distant in space and time from the coal plant smoke stack or vehicle exhaust.  Also, the science depends on understanding atmospheric physics equations, chemistry in the ocean and building computer models.  Why should everyone take action based on geeks playing games on a computer simulating the future in 2100?

Modern science means new technology applied to our daily lives that enables us to renew ourselves and overcome our anxiety about our future as individuals and as a country.  Investing in science and applying the technology to control and reverse climate change will not be a waste of money. Productivity will increase, energy efficiency will improve, unemployment will go down and society will benefit in the increased confidence to tackle other threats.  How do I know this to be an accurate forecast of the future?

We successfully responded to potential threats in the past with the same result: rebuilding Europe after WWII, putting a man on the moon and ending the Cold War to name a few.  Extreme investments were needed to get these results. There was a belief in the ability of modern science and engineering to deliver results for the benefit of society.  These investments put people to work and remade us as humans by giving us a sense of direction and pride in our contribution helping others succeed.  Investing in climate change is the way out of our collective state of anxiety.

Rabbit Industry late 1920s Colorado

 

This is a scanned copy of the front and back of a brochure made by my grandfather Benjamin Turnock in Colorado in the late 1920s.  Below are pages 2 through 7 of the remainder of the brochure.

Jobs

I read the email from Organizing for America (dated June 5, 2010) sent as a message from President Barack Obama to me personally. I used almost the exact same words and rewrote part of the message with a broader theme then added the last two paragraphes myself. Here is what I would tell the President.

Dear President Obama,

The Great Recession has not just damaged livelihoods. Whole communities have been degraded beyond recognition. And the fury people feel is not just about the money they have lost. They feel the wrenching recognition that this time their lives may never be the same.

The people now without jobs will work hard to meet their responsibilities. But now because of a manmade catastrophe, the Great Recession -- one that is not their fault and beyond their control -- their lives have been thrown into turmoil. This is brutally unfair. What the President needs to tell these unemployed men and women is that he will stand with the people of America until they are working again. In May, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) was 6.8 million.

These are hard times in America, and now Louisiana and the Gulf Coast are hard hit, an area that has already seen more than its fair share of troubles. The people of these United States have met the terrible catastrophe of the Great Recession with seemingly limitless strength and character in defense of their way of life. What we owe the unemployed everywhere is a commitment by our nation to match the resilience they have shown. That is our mission. And it is one we will fulfill: a job for everyone that wants one.

The Gulf Coast oil spill is a crisis that can be turned into an opportunity to put people back to work. BP pays and the government will hire companies that will hire the workers.

We need to have people back to work now, not in 2013 as forecast by economists. We need to increase tax revenues from income taxes by increasing people’s income not by increasing taxes. We need to decrease the deficit and the growth of the national debt by reducing spending on entitlements paid to people with unearned income over $100,000 per year (in 2010 dollars).

Brain Power

Estimates vary on the percent of our brain our conscious mind uses.  Our subconscious mind probably uses around 80 percent of our brain.  Why do we assume people will make rational decisions when they aren’t using the majority of their brain for conscious thoughts?

People make intuitive and irrational decisions all the time.  Retailers know this and depend on impulse buying for sales.  People know in their gut and make decisions based on how they feel every day.  Our subconscious mind processes our experiences every night in dreams and we day dream every day about how our life could be different.

However our subconscious mind doesn’t communicate directly with our conscious mind.  We daydream, imagine, use our intuition and make decisions based on how we feel as ways of attempting to use our subconscious mind.  There are ways to tap into our subconscious mind to create rational results.

Conflict of Interest and Contracts

Soccer Player Tryouts

A situation with a young player at soccer tryouts became a conflict of interest.

A parent paid the $25 and registered their child expecting that the soccer player was going to tryout like anyone else.  That's a contract with offer and acceptance.  Someone interfered with the contract and told the coach evaluating players at the tryout to not consider the child. No matter what prior conversations there were between coaches and parents, no one has the right (legal or otherwise) to cancel the contract with the coaching staff doing the evaluations.

Call the coach and ask for an evaluation based on the fact that the registration fee was paid and the player was properly registered.  If the coach mentions the interference, tell the coach that you expect them to evaluate your child just like any other soccer player.

When a coach of a soccer player tells another coach not to consider that player for their team, they have a conflict of interest.  When a parent contracts for an evaluation of their child, they have a right to get feedback from the coach and the right to have their child considered for the team without interference from anyone else.

Anxiety, how to deal with

The way to help yourself is to practice proper breathing and use the mantra "I can leave my body out of it."
• By practice, I mean the Buddhist type of practice where you do it everyday for the rest of your life.
• By proper, I mean breathing by pushing your stomach out to move the diaphragm muscle instead of attempting to expand the rib cage.
• By breathing, I mean inhaling through the nose, exhaling through the mouth while making an "O" sound and then closing the mouth and exhaling the remaining air through the nose while making an "M" sound (sounds like humming).
When feeling something isn't right with the body, say aloud "I can leave my body out of it" over and over again until the bad feeling passes. The bad feelings get shorter and shorter over time, but never go completely away. Then over time, saying the phrase silently to your self is all that is needed.

This method works whenever there is any physical symptom that a doctor can't diagnosis the cause. There are over a hundred symptoms for anxiety that mimic real physical problems that the doctor can’t diagnosis because there is no evidence of a cause (virus, bacteria or organ failure). In your situation (where many things have gone wrong in the past) there is sometimes no evidence of a cause for your symptoms.

Like all humans, your mind and body are closely connected. The mind thinks something might be wrong (because in your case many things have gone wrong) the body reacts and sends signals to the mind that something is wrong, the mind stimulates the body, the body sends signals to the mind that something is wrong and it spirals out of control. This circular cycle is broken by using the mantra "I can leave my body out of it" and practicing proper breathing.

When is Fear Good or Bad?

Good fear is when we live in the moment and react to the present situation.  For example, wearing a helmet while riding a bicycle or avoiding getting hit by a car.  We buckle our sear belts before driving in the car or use the brake to avoid an accident. Good fear is when we take actions in the present in a way that mitigates the risk from clear dangers in the present or near future.

Bad fear is when we think about something that is not close to us in space or time and our body reacts to what we’re thinking.  We have words like worry, afraid, panic, concern and anxiety that we use to describe our reactions to bad fear.  Bad fear is when someone obsesses daily on something that does not present a clear and present danger to them.  Our bodies react to what we are thinking, our mind thinks something is wrong with our body, then our body reacts to what we are thinking and the cycle continues.  Bad fear that builds over time is what leads to symptoms of anxiety and depression that mimic real medical issues.

Worrying about the national debt is bad fear.  Good fear is taking actions (that are legal) in the present or near future to support reducing the national debt.