jimmydasaint

First, of all, I cannot agree with the word "proved". IMHO, Scientific technique involves investigation of a broad hypothesis which has appeared from observations (which are repeated) of a certain phenomenon, e.g. electricity applied to a frog's leg make it contract. Experiments are then performed on the size of the potential difference until the threshold potential difference is known. Then the frog's muscle and neurons are examined to investigate how electrical events occur to make the muscle move, until a new hypothesis occurs. Falsifiability of the hypothesis is the aim. This is all deductive. Much of scientific experimentation is deductive. Where did you get the idea that all Laws are proved inductively? And how did you come to the idea that Science proves things, when there is no question of 100% proof? I realise that language difficulties may be obscuring what you meant, so I don't mean to sound harsh. Please back up your OP with examples of what you mean.

Under the present pressure of teaching an over-full curriculum which was designed by some Boring Old Farts that wanted to replicate the academic conditions of their own youth, the whole education system would need an overhaul to teach important topics, e.g. wisdom, critical thinking and life skills and scientific investigation. We need to return to a system which would encourage real in-depth thinking and reflection and then we would not need to educate our leaders to real and changing Science. Sadly, I don't see that happening in my lifetime.

I am quite confident that many, if not most, of our British MP's have heard the traditional educational route of private school, Oxford or Cambridge and then straight into politics. However that is not a prerequisite for excellence in Science and not a guarantee that they would vote for sound science from a viewpoint of knowledge and be able to vote for important issues from a neutral position. Thatcher destroyed British industry and the dreams and hopes of thousands in this country. Her legacy was economic disaster farther than the support of sensible scientific consensus. I hated her. But I forgive her.

Ed, could you please re-post the link, it doesn't work for me. Cheers mate.

I was brought up in gangland Glasgow as a child and went to school in a place that used to be called the Gorbals and then had its name changed to Hutchesontown. I had a great childhood but stayed clear of junkies and idiots and avoided fights whenever possible. However, when called upon, I verbally stood up for myself. Being 5ft 4 in, I did not really do much else. Reluctantly, I agree with the UK consensus, bullying in a tough housing estate requires some form of violence. Calling the police is not an option, and the bullies understand violence very well. However, if you are not in the position to stand up to the bullying, being bold and verbally assertive usually helps in the first instance. As a young adult, you may have to learn to be physically in control of any situation though by taking up martial arts. I don't think there is an overall answer, but it is clear that we all hate bullies.....

As a teacher, I would be willing to try to educate politicians in the UK for free, as long as the Science is clear and involves frank and unbiased discussion and then regular updating. I don't doubt the education of the politicians but it is my opinion that their scientific knowledge is given from vested interests and biased sources. The comment about certain industries preventing discussion about climate change is very relevant. The factoids and sermonising approaches occasionally work but, I agree, the factoids should be accompanied with interactive material and discussion. As a teacher, it is one of my disappointments that my less able classes usually want to be beauticians or retail managers and do not care about the science or having enough science knowledge to be able to vote in a confident manner on scientific matters. On the other hand, I may have accidentally switched one or to students on to the beauty of scientific discovery and the mysteries that remain unanswered. Excellent idea! We should have a quota for women in politics as well as spaces for scientists and engineers. However, the nature of the political system, in the UK at least, requires local party activists to vote for a candidate and then to marshal voters to the polling booth. Perhaps we have to encourage scientists and engineers to put themselves forward. This is a drawback of course. We live in the real world where the politicians would be educated and might still vote the same way. What a tragedy. I think that voters could be educated by popular TV programming. However, the politicians and legislators need advice that is untainted.

Reading a separate thread about bullying and subsequent neural regrowth, I became a bit disturbed by the claims of the person who wrote the post saying that he had been bullied all his life and that he was 31 years old at the writing of his OP. http://www.scienceforums.net/topic/100353-can-brain-grow-new-neurons-in-the-cerebrum/?hl=%2Bneural+%2Bregeneration#entry953438 I am horrified by bullying and consider it as an unacceptable infringement on the rights of another human being. However, if you see it happen to an adult, what would you do? 1. Look away? 2. Walk away? 3. Verbally intervene? 4. Physically intervene? 5. Other - please specify. (If this is in the wrong thread, can Mods please send this to "Ethics")

It is one of my passions and dreams that a modern society has enough Science education, numeracy and literacy to be able to comment on, and vote on, serious scientific issues. However, in my opinion, we need to update the Science curriculum for the people that lead us so that they are able to make rational and sensible decisions on the new changes and discoveries in science which are taking place at a blinding pace. In short, do we need to send our politicians and legislators back to school to learn new Science?

A quick search using a reputable search engine would have suited you better. But try this: http://gulpmatrix.com/6-characteristic-features-anemophilous-flowers/

I concur with Rasher Null, oh that rhymed but was quite dull, nevertheless, it is the best in my experience. Sorry, listening to Monty Python has made my mood quite frivolous.

This is rock at its best. It examines the dichotomy of success and celebrity status with the feeling that it is not truly deserved. Slow, but with good earphones (ask StringyJunky) this sounds awesome, I really mean awesome.... Lyrics: How long can you stand Tightening up Avoiding the fight Avoiding the truth Tighten the smile Tighten the lie Will you get what you want To be cursed with your dreams I hope for your sake Something gets in the way How long can you stand Living under the lens The kiss of success The ensuing, all consuming, mess Message of love They arrive everyday People you touch Wasting away People you don't know Give you no choice And you're sick to your stomach At the sound of your voice And the shape of your face And the sound of your name They send you pictures of yourself It's someone you don't know And they call you a genius Cause you're easier to sell But the fire in your belly That gave you the songs Is suddenly gone And you feel like a fake Is that what you want? Read more: Marillion - King Lyrics | MetroLyrics

Maybe it is an anomalous dead parrot. Which, when it was alive, flew off course and had a good time in Siberia when the weather was warmer than nowadays. Was it nailed to its perch?

I think there is a serious underlying issue here which merits further discussion. Can I respectfully ask the Mods to move this portion of the OP to the Lounge with the title: "What to do when being bullied?" which may appeal to the younger audience who may wish to contribute their thoughts and also give advice, Thanks

http://www.fasebj.org/content/20/10/1581.full Moontanman, although I respect and admire you (although you are a bloody frustrating friend...), you got this wrong in my opinion.

http://www.fasebj.org/content/20/10/1581.full As for the concepts of chi and prana energies, perhaps a rigorous scientific study will show that they are wrong. Fine! However, don't write them off because they are not well-characterised. To quote AronRa "if you can't show it you don't know it" True

Thank you for that injection of wisdom in the discussion.

Until the age of about, oh...36 yrs old, I had the misconception that the sky was blue due to filtering out of other parts of the spectrum. I was totally wrong. I am sure that, even at 54, some of my misconceptions remain to be cleared up. Maybe we are all a collection of partly understood ideas and concepts.

Respectfully, I disagree with you in turn, my friend. As dimreepr hinted, progress in the West prospered not to the scientific method but because of colonialism. The Berlin Conference of 1884 gathered together world leaders for one aim only - to exploit Africa for natural mineral resources and to divide the continent amicably amongst the European nations who met at the Conference. This cynical act has kept Africans poor and undeveloped to this day http://cabinda.net/Berlin_Conference.htm . Exploitation of the resources of "inferior" nations gave us the British Empire in its glory. Although we gave rights to other nations, we still exploited them. The shame of the British Empire came in the form of the slave trade which did lead to fortunes being made in America. http://teachingushistory.org/lessons/col_his_bg_notes.html. The financial profits of colonialisation led to the building of Institutions in the European countries. Although the Industrial Revolutions used the scientific method, the working classes were exploited at a level which was evil. http://www.history.com/topics/industrial-revolution. The claim that mysticism is nonsense is turned on its head by astonishing scientific evidence which has been recorded showing use of energy to heal brains. I quote from the original work for fear of misquoting the person who wrote the book: http://www.normandoidge.com/?page_id=1042. I will let you respond to these points, and I still stand by the OP, until I get some evidence on cultures which still incorporate mysticism into their daily philosophy.

I am referring to philosophical domination of the West. In my opinion, Science did not enter the thought of Aristotle, Plato or more recent philosophers such as Spinoza or Kant. Reason was thought to be the medium through which factual knowledge could be reached by the human mind. My O.P. came from examining the inadequate education systems we have in the UK, where it is OK to fail 40% of the children in a school. An academically challenging and recall-based curriculum has destroyed the confidence of those children labelled as "slow" learners. The system seems to have been designed by old farts who graduated from Cambridge and Oxford and who decided that this was the best way to learn for children across the socio-economic spectrum. It is wrong! As an extension to these thoughts, I stand to be corrected in what I have opined in the OP. Our entire social system has been designed in a Eurocentric manner and our system of reasoning and what is reasonable has been derived from the same system of thought. Old white guys have designed a system for other Europeans (females slipped the net somehow). In the West, we have a system of reasoning which applauds know-how and in Medicine, the patient's body becomes a battleground between the disease and the doctor in a war of attrition. An alternative approach would be to use Eastern understandings of energy circulation (not mumbo-jumbo but insight). Energy can be applied to the brain, for example, in the form of transcranial ultrasound which can alleviate psychological disorders and "reset" the brain. http://www.quantumconsciousness.org/content/transcranial-ultrasound-0 Ultrasound is a form of energy that resets energy patterns in the brain. Scientific thought, which represents an objective truth becomes moulded to society which is simply not suitable for a scientific experiment. Basically, the role of a society is for every citizen to achieve their potential, not for a multi-racial, multi-faith society to mould itself to a racial paradigm. Moontanman, Science cannot be applied to the overall goal of a society which should be to make the citizen happy to live in a State.

It seems to me that the world is run by old white European guys for other white European guys and their descendants. European philosophy dominates the philosophical world, Eastern philosophy resides in a handful of books- Tao Te Ching, Analects, Buddhist teachings, the Vedas... Where is the equality of fair play? Why are European philosophical prognostications more valuable than this of the East? Or have white men so dominated the fields of academia that white domination over thought is seen as normative behaviour in a white dominated society and socio economic system? Can this paradigm ever be shifted?

Thank you for the links and the evidence. Should I start drinking red wine in the mornings between lessons and then continue in the evenings after everyone has gone to bed? Or after eating chocolates? Seriously, great links and need to be addressed. Of to the shops in the morning, bloody predictive texting...

some KICK ASS post grunge music.

In the Mafia context, big balls need to be shown to all around. This macho bullshit is seen in ghetto areas (where I grew up as a child) where the most ruthless guys show no love except to other badmen. Badmen don't smile at babies or others except in private. It is an attitude of mind. In my context, love, compassion and forgiveness are attributes of the strong - the weak never forgive and never offer compassion. Which one will people remember?