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CarbonCopy

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Posts posted by CarbonCopy

  1. I don't think either is the most important, but I would consider teaching facts more important than teaching morals. To have an education system attempt to teach morals one would need a standard set of agreed upon morality, which there is not. Also, children's moral development has little to do with what they are taught and more to do with what people do that are around them.

     

    Yes, morals depend on the people around children. That would mean the teachers mainly. So, that is why the teachers should impart more morals in school to children. Because, unlike facts, morals cannot be learned from books but, rather by face-to-face interactions.

    Then again, as you said, we do not have an 'agreed' set of rules for moral education, so that is a stumbling block.

    Ideally, we should be teaching both in unison.

  2. We do not have a global culture. We merely have global trade, and even among the different countries there is a disagreement on how to run such an economy. So, just like in the old days, we are only trading with each other. The phrase "global economy" merely means that trade has become global, instead of regional.

     

    Look at the massive differences between China and the USA, the two largest economies: one is still officially communist, the other capitalist. The Chinese have a plan economy, the Americans sometimes seem to attempt to have no rules at all.

     

    Also, English is only the 3rd language by number of native speakers.

    Even when you count the people speaking it as native or second language, Chinese is still the #1.

     

    But just out of curiosity, how would you organize this? Democratically? Whose political system? The American? Or one of the many West-European democratic systems? Directly or indirectly chosen president? What to do with our queen? In the Netherlands we have a queen, you know... Soon, a king, btw. smile.png

     

    Most the differences you listed are political and not social/cultural. I was trying to say in my first post, since, we are more connected and know about other cultures more, it would help to have a united political system. Just saying this on the basis of cultural exchange.

    Though, it will be difficult to reconcile the political system, as they seem incompatible.

    And, btw, Mandrin is number 1 because there are many Chinese. It is nowhere near a ubiquitous as English. It may not be spoken by a lot of people but, it is seen as a standard. In fact, in many Asian countries, you are not considered educated unless you know English wink.png

    I am no expert on politics ( yet ! ) so I'm not sure how to organize the global government. I wanted to see your answers.

     

    Edit - Thank you ydoaPs, will check that book.

  3. Food like french fries are high in carbohydrates and calories, things which give us instant energy necessary to persistent hunt a deer or something. If you look at it that way it seems obvious why our brain prefers these food. It is only recently that these food have become easily accessible and we do not need to persistent hunt any longer. But, our brain has not had time to evolve to stop craving for high calorie food, so, we still like to eats these stuff, even though they are not so good now.

  4. In education, should we give more importance to learning the facts or teaching morals such as how to behave with others, how to control anger, how find a purpose in life, etc.

     

    I feel we should teach morals more, because that gives the child a base to do good to the society.

  5. Different political entities or kingdoms in the past were created because of difference in culture, language and economies. There was trade between different kingdoms but, they all maintained different cultural practices.

     

    But, now we have a global economy, an almost common language ( English ) and a global culture based on this global language. So, for me it seems it seems illogical that we have different political systems when we now are moving towards a global culture. A global government would foster better understanding among humans and lead us to greater scientific heights.

     

    So, do you think it is time we have a global government ?

  6. If it wasn't for the titles, I would have thought you were talking about the Indian education system ! So, I guess it's a global problem.

    IMO it's much easier to teach the facts and the 'products of Science' rather that the actual science itself. But, unfortunately, facts are not Science and hence, actual science gets left out in education. Things like critical analysis, scientific temper and scientific method cannot be tested through a written exam, so the system does not go through the trouble to test these things.

    But, we are seeing a revolution with digital teaching, though it will take some time for youtube, khanacademy, etc to reach school. Though, I see a much greater movement towards this kind of digital education in US than in other parts of the world like India, where I live.

  7.  

    For context, I am fairly certain that this is untrue... Little more than an "old-wives tale" or local belief, and not something that has any connection to reality. If they are seeding clouds with a specific chemical, then sure... There's a mechanism and good science underlying it. If they're just performing a ritual or some sort of sacrifice, then it's nonsense.

    I may not put my thoughts out properly enough. I had read there that the ( clarified ) butter and the other stuff added to the fire might seed the local air, so may be inducing rains.

    The problem with these things is that they come with lots of unnecessary spirituality and other mumbo-jumbo.

  8. That's exactly the kind of double standards that I am talking of, if agnihotra works in bringing rain to regions affected by drought then start taking the existence of these gods seriously because without Agni there cannot be Agnihotra.

    Immortal, seriously ? I can't believe you said that. That sentence makes no sense at all. Just because it is postulated that agnihotra helps bring rains, you say that we have to believe in Agni God ? You have no concept of science whatsoever.

    Anyway, agnihotra is supposed to bring rains not to drought effected area, but, to places that experience delayed rains. That's all. It's a bit like geoengineering. The butter added to the fire among other things is supposed to change the chemistry of the local atmosphere ( for awhile at least ). This is what I have read in that newspaper, some time back. I'm not able to find evidence on the internet for this. If you guys find something please post it here, because I'm starting to think this is just theory and not fact. Newspapers do sometimes tend to post not so accurate stuff. If no evidence is found on this it is as good as false.

  9.  

    Citation needed. If there is evidence in support of a ritual or rain dance that actually works, I think there are a great many people residing in drought ridden lands that would appreciate knowing what that is.

     

    I read that in a newspaper and I'm pretty sure I won't be able to find it it now. But, I did find this link that describes the poin : http://www.agnihotra.com.au/effects-agnihotra-and-homa-therapy-water-resources

  10. As long as the rituals have some benefits ( based on science ) then it is fine. For eg, agnihotra, if performed outside, is know to cause rains and precipitation ( to my knowledge at least ). But, at the same time Vedic practices are filled with cumbersome and useless rituals also, done without any scientific bases. Those ritals should be thrown away and not performed. Also, in the modern world, it is not feasible to perform some of these rituals.

     

    Doing rituals just because religion dictates it is really like asking for trouble from the Scientific Community !

     

    And by the way, Immortal, please check the dictionary for the difference between opinion and facts.

  11. Oh god ! this thread is getting way too long. It's becoming filled with Immortal's ramblings. He is just presenting random thoughts in his head and providing a multitude of link to us, which we will never read anyway. This thread has just become Immortal vs Empirical Science.

  12. One thing you must realize about models is that they do not claim to perfectly mirror reality, only that they can predict behavior. So saying that a positron behaves like an electron moving backward in time isn't a claim that it is, just that it behaves that way. If you want to know if that's physically what is going on, you'd have to devise a test that would distinguish the two cases.

     

    Have such tests been done ?

  13. If two objects are zooming past each other in opposite directions at the speed of light are their combined speeds not 2 x the speed of light? I mean forget transformation of coordinates and all that. Just thinking physically about two objects travelling past each other.

     

    This is exactly the reason why Einstein created Special Relativity, so that he could explain this. Oh, and you have to use Lorentz transformation for this, you can't think 'intuitively' at these speeds because our intuition does not work here. It works only for Newtonian Mechanics.

  14. I'm pretty sure you are going to get a multitude of answers from the people here.

    Well here is my take. It is nonsense to think of God as a super being above all of us, controlling us in some way. For me, my God is anyone and anything that helps me to live my life. According to that, my foremost god would be my parents, then would be the trees around me that cool me ( although there not that many in the city :( ), the water I drink, the plants that I eat ( animals also if you are non veg ). So, you get the idea.

    Well, this my take out. Personally, I find this a good philosophy, so that we appreciate the important things in life.

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