Phi for All

I look at the difference in terms of our human intelligence. We're still animals, so we're still hardwired to avoid becoming prey, so we look first for differences. But we should be intelligent enough to recognize the benefits of cooperation with other humans who can support our efforts, no matter how different they look. Ethnicity should only be a factor if it truly impacts what is being attempted. Racism is like choosing which tools are best for the job based on how good they look on your belt and how much they make you look like a contractor.

I think we're having a cultural crisis in the US, where too many people treat those who are different as a threat to their way of life, rather than as individuals the way they do with those who are more similar. We tend to have this blinkered, binary way of looking at problems, probably because of our binary political outlooks, and this spills over into other aspects of our lives. I think the problem gets compounded in white Americans because we're taught that leadership requires tenacity and spirit, that sheer will and determination and striving to do the right thing with confidence in your own capabilities will win the day and make you successful. And while that confidence seems great to the person who works hard to achieve it, it can also make that person steamroll over everybody else's objections and ideas. And as the OP mentions, if non-white people don't feel comfortable expressing a counter opinion, it tends to reinforce to the (oblivious?) white person that people agree with their leadership. Vicious circle. A long time ago, I worked in sales with a young Asian guy named Tony. Both of us were pretty good at the job, and got to become friends. His brother always dropped him off at work, but I found him walking home one day and he told me his family didn't have anyone to pick him up, so I offered to drive him home every day. Little by little, I found out his "family" lived in several apartments in a bigger complex they all owned. There were about thirty of them including cousins, and they lived and worked in shifts all day long, with one of the apartments set up with bunk beds everywhere for sleeping only. Another apartment was for socializing, and something wonderful was always cooking in the kitchen, 24 hours a day. Everyone gave their pay to the matron Aunt and everyone got taken care of. Tony kept telling me more because he could see I was amazed rather than appalled at the way he lived. I thought it sounded like an incredibly strong family environment, and the efficiency of their operation really appealed to me. But when a couple of other people we worked with found out about Tony's family, I saw the distaste on their faces, and realized many white Americans see cultural differences as cultural attacks. This has only gotten worse in my lifetime.

! Moderator Note OK, here's what's going to happen. If you want to discuss ideas that go against mainstream science, it has to stay in Speculations. If you want to discuss this in Psychiatry, you have to ask about what's known in the mainstream, and stop asserting things that you haven't supported. Get off the soapbox and stick to what you can support. So I'm going to close this stinker of a thread and give you a chance to open a new one, with the right attitude. If you want to talk about this, sit the fuck down at the table and lay out your thoughts like a grown up person who wants to learn. Stop jumping on the table screaming and sneering and start acting like you want some intelligent dialogue. You get one more chance with this. If I catch you copy/pasting any attitude from this thread I'll close the new one as well and you can take a vacation for a while. In case you don't get it, I want you to have the best chance of getting a decent discussion, but it all starts with YOU and your attitude. More rigor and civility, please.

Hmmm, I have a sculpture made of almonds of a man throwing up flowers, but not everyone "gets it" (*cough* Vegans *cough*). I'm told somebody else did a drawing of a guy throwing flowers normally, with his hand, and apparently people liked that better. Mine makes more sense because, you know, he ate too many flowers and almonds, obviously, and he got sick.

Beware of false prophets who question Relativity?

I think the recent "witness testimony" film Sir David put together to document climate change over his lifetime, A Life On Our Planet, should be mandatory watching for our entire species. With A Clockwork Orange-level protocols, if necessary.

Early masonic rituals; see Illumineanderthals.

No, that's wrong. Space travel is ANY travel above about 100 km altitude.

Space has been a relatively peaceful place so far, but as more investments are made in satellite technology, and more states come to rely on the data and services these systems provide, the more potential for disagreements and conflicts there are. The United Nations has a special committee dedicated to peaceful pursuits above the planet. China doesn't need to destroy ALL the equipment to be a major threat. Warfare is deadly enough at ground level, you wouldn't want to see the cataclysmic damage that would occur if we unleashed something nasty that continued to orbit the whole globe. Even if there are no active hostilities, there is the Kessler Syndrome, which details how space debris can exponentially increase due to collisions with itself, creating an environment hostile to our current technologies and pursuits. If we follow our typical thought processes, states will pursue defense of their orbital investments, and they'll continue to do so in aggressive ways. Outer space should be different, I think we need to always be humans first when we go off-planet, and nationality shouldn't be so much of a factor.

Before Jack Daniels, people had to confess their sins to a live goat and then set it loose in the wilderness. I think Israel still practices this on Yom Kippur.

"Ahh, but we knew EXACTLY how fast we were going." -- Heisenbergus

Doesn't your scenario rely on Israel giving the unrealistic impression they're simply giving up rather than trying to negotiate a non-violent peace? Assuming the Israelis wouldn't be aggressive without need also assumes that the only obstacle to peace is Palestinian violence, and I don't see how one can defend that reasonably. It's not just my own incredulity, you've even said you don't absolve Israel's leadership from blame. So why can't Israel take the higher road? I use discussion for clarity and focus as I search for a core of understanding. Brevity doesn't equal pithiness, and pithiness doesn't equal understanding, and together they just make things more vague for me.

I understood the first four words, and struggle mightily to find how the rest applies to the discussion.

That's really odd. Most people who actually read articles on evolution see it as more or less intuitive. Traits from parents are passed to the offspring, and the more diverse the traits the better an organism is able to adapt to more environments. Plants came first and evolved along their own lines, but were made even more adaptable and diverse when bees came along and made pollination easier. I'm so sorry understanding eludes you. Biodiversity is one of the keys here. The more varied organisms there are, the easier it is for more of them to find the best paths to survival. "Fittest" doesn't mean strongest necessarily, but the most adaptable. Plants tried lots of strategies to spread their seeds, and one of them, nutritious fruits, turned out to be heavily selected for. The fruits started small, but over time they were the most successful, so the plants invested more energy into growing more fruit to become more successful. Plants and animals evolve together, and we see this best when we look at some birds and how their bills curve to match a particular flower food source other animals can't reach. The plants also adapt to the birds, making the flower curve even more to hide its nectar from all but a particular species of bird. There is no "Mother Nature", just the evolutionary process, which is more or less blind to the kind of knowledge you're implying. Evolution only works on living species though, so I'm not sure what you mean here. This is an Earth-bound perspective, and you're looking at this problem backwards. The minerals are simply there, and we have adapted to that fact, using them as resources in as efficient a way as possible. Of course they seem like they're in perfect proportions, but it's more like a puddle fitting the perfect proportions of the impression in the land it's in. It's not the impression that did the work, it's the water that adapts to fit the impression that makes the puddle. Again, biodiversity is the key to all life on Earth, because we have so many different environments. Your fungus is extremely resilient, until you put it in an environment where it's not. Fungus is a better food source than humans for many species. But humans can survive an environment much more acidic than mushrooms can, and we're MUCH better at absorbing and using light as an energy source.

So Israel is defined by their intractable, violent nature, and would fail as a nation if they took the first step towards peace?

Sounds like Netanyahu, sounds like Bolsonaro, sounds like Trump, sounds like Modi, sounds like Putin, sounds like Orban, sounds like the other commanders leading places where nationalism, racism, and capitalism get blended and bent in extreme ways. The problem is extremism and the people who push for it above all else. We have to start filtering for smart instead of loud when it comes to our leadership, imo. These fascists use megaphones instead of reason, and the noise scares thinking humans and just attracts the animals. I've just had a small taste of fascist leadership, so I've learned my "druthers" have nothing to do with living under such a regime. Extremism allows crazy people to say crazy things, which sanctions other people to say them until people start actually doing crazy things. I could stay in Cyprus, but the region is overrun with extremists, including the Israeli leadership at the moment. It's not really a matter of choosing which of the Abrahamic religious states is best for me.

Aren't you assuming it's "blame as always"? This seems different, with LOTS of unrest inside Israel's borders lately. And much of that violence looks almost identical to the racist, extremist-right reaction to BLM protests in the US and other places with fascist leadership, like Italy, Hungary, Brazil, Syria, Russia, and others. This is a systemic problem where an ethnic majority has marginalized a healthy percentage of the citizens of the country for too long and the situation has grown intolerable.

Actually, no. Occam's Razor isn't about using the simplest explanation, it's about limiting the assumptions you make when forming one. Rather than require folks to download, perhaps some copy/paste and some LaTex can help. I think it's better for discussion to take in a concept in chunks anyway.

It's not starting out well. Why do you think physics needs to be intuitive? You seem to use your own understanding/misunderstanding as the barometer for how difficult something should be to understand. Are you just confused about Relativity? Why not ask questions instead of making all this up?

All swansont did was ask you to support something you seem to be taking as a given. I don't know where you read all the rest of the stuff you think he's saying/implying. Why do you think only the thalamus is responsible?

! Moderator Note Our rules say you need to present information you wish to discuss here, without requiring downloads or going offsite in order to participate in a discussion. Otherwise we'd be flooded with commercial requests, which are also against the rules. If you can present your concept here, or at least an overview so members can assess the quality of your science, please start another thread in the appropriate section. If your idea challenges mainstream theory, put it in the Speculations section and be prepared to present supportive evidence. I'm closing this thread.

Because you'd be later if you confused a 9 with a 6 than you'd be if you confused a XI with an IX.

What are the differences? Don't you think human emotion has something to do with increased intelligence? It's often argued that instincts would only hamper a really smart person.

It doesn't seem likely that getting the outside of a potato wet would start a process, since they surely get wet in the ground. My mother-in-law swore by a light vinegar wash for potatoes (she was Czech/German), but I never saw much difference. The washed/unwashed process is the same in the US, now that I think about it. Reds and golds are washed, but Russets and other baker types have a bit of dirt on them.

There are some glycoalkaloids in potatoes that become concentrated as they age. I always thought the green bits weren't ripe yet, but apparently that's chlorophyll being concentrated with age and light, like the toxins. I wonder if this is responsible for altered texture and taste. I used to store potatoes and onions together, until someone told me it makes the potato sprouting worse. I can't remember why, but I throw away fewer potatoes now.