Is Google Making Us Stupid? This article by Nicholas Carr struck me as an article that touches on an important subject that in a way feels denied or neglected in our society.

I am convinced of the fact that our thinking is morphed by our actions, specifically our way of dealing with language. Language is to me the mechanism that synchronises our inner world with the world outside us.

Human beings specifically, but life in general, are mirror-beings. We mirror the outside world, even on the cellular level. I tend to see our brains as immense mirror organs or sensory apparatus. It baffles me that the degree to which our inner reflections of the outside world are influenced or even determined by the language we employ (or languages for the lucky few among us, or for the really fortunate ones, different language families) is so totally unknown.

A hot topic in The Netherlands at the moment is embryo selection. This is the use of a technology to detect "genetic defects" in embryo's in a very early stage of development. This could then lead to destroying those "defect" embryos before implanting.
The discussion has escalated to the political arena, because the state secretary responsible for legislation in public health, Bussemaker, has made some peculiar moves in the past few weeks: first she accepted the use of this technology, especially for the detection of genetic characteristics that could lead to breast cancer, then she withdrew that.
One Dutch hospital has already announced they would continue with the practice in spite of the withdrawn legislation, because they "take their responsibility toward the unborn child". Another hospital has announced they would use this technology for embryos especially suspect of serious other genetic defects (other than breast cancer that is).
The discussion is especially interesting, because it reveals many psychological traits in modern society, with severe implications in philosophical and ethical areas.
So it seems we are more and more able to detect genetic deficiencies.
First: I challenge the scientific foundation of that claim. True, we know some genetic correlations with diseases like breast cancer and cystic fibrosis. These correlations are, I wager, purely statistical. But I also have serious doubts whether the correlation is valid in the other direction: does the presence of these signatures lead to these diseases? The human genome, or any genome for that matter, is such a complex thing in itself, that making any statement implying we "understand" anything about it is grossly misleading, and certainly not scientifically sound.
Second: the technology is applied in a very early stage of embryo development. Specifically, one cell is removed from the embryo at a stage where the embryo has only eight cells. This is anathema to me, but another aspect of biology we know so little about is simply shoveled under the carpet. What do we know about the early development of the embryo, and the effects in the person, both mentally and physically? Almost nothing. There is a plethora of publications in the several areas that at least hint at such effects.

1. Piaget's theory of cognitive development
2. Kohlberg's stages of moral development
3. Maslow's hierarchy of needs
4. Erikson's stages of psychosocial development
5. Jane Loevinger's stages of ego development
6. Lietaert Peerbolte - His exceptional book called Psychocybernetics.

Third: there is a very interesting association with "suffering". The medical discipline is supposed to be a discipline based on science, with the express purpose of treating human beings to alleviate "suffering". Usually associated with the physical body, it sometimes feels like doctors assume the role of the creator, with godlike powers like the power to heal.
We had a wise village doctor who used to say: "I cannot cure you, you have to do that yourself. I only hope to provide some help."
What do we know about suffering? Who are we to decide that a person born and living with a genetic defect, is "suffering" in an "unacceptable" way? What about persons who are living now, adults with defects? Should they "never have been born"? Of course this is not what is meant. Or is it? I am not sure. We have become so afraid of the body, of our physical existence, that we are waging a war against its unpredictability, its irrationality. While those traits are the very roots of life and complex systems of which our bodies (and minds!) are an inseparable part.

The entire discussion, as could be expected of one played out in the political arena, is a gross simplification of an issue of such depth.

Zotero: The Next-Generation Research Tool It's free, and possibly the most advanced web browser plugin I have seen so far. What it does? I have been using it for 20 minutes and already I could not do without: it manages my library references in such a brilliant way! I have been using several tools to manage my library and bibliographical references:

1. Librarything: www.librarything.com/catalog/rvens This is currently the place most of my books are catalogued, and a fantastic social networking site for books.
2. Bibliographix: www.bibliographix.com A tool I have been using for many years, runs only on Windows, but possibly the most extended bibliography manager there is.
3. BiblioTalk: http://www.sepher.nl/bibliotalk My own homegrown tool, doing things I could not do with the other stuff above.

Though I am using zotero for only a very short time, I already think that some and maybe even all of the above tools may now be obsolete. The developers have done such a great job with this tool that is literally brimming with functionality, that my only reservation would be the fear that at some moment in time they will start charging money for it.

Tags: bibliography, library

GM Mosquitoes Nearing Widespread Release in Malaysia

GM Mosquitoes Nearing Widespread Release in Malaysia | Wired Science from Wired.com An essential attribute of complex systems is the almost absolute impossibility to predict the consequences of a change. To change something on the genetic level is an action that goes "under the belt" of self-repairing and self-sustaining systems. The demise of an entire group of insects, however harmful they may be, can have totally unexpected consequences, and the strange thing is that I see no scientific reports reflecting on this problem. Genetic modification is one thing, the effect on self-repairing complex systems is another thing. It feels a lot like "the ends justify the means" reasoning, which has set fire to many parts of this planet. Every time I see a report like this, I am recalling the work I have done in building a simulation of ecological complex systems. We did this exactly for the reason of being able to reason about consequences, about cause and effect in such systems. In my simulation work this was to detect possible sources of pollution, but it is not much different, and I would very much go back to that work with modern hardware resources to be able to do research on the effects of this mosquito injection. What we seem to find very hard to learn, is how to work with the system, like in Judo, to move with its innate self-healing mechanisms, instead of the Rambo mentality of throwing grenades at it.

Tags: ecology, complexity

Microsoft sluit aan bij 100 dollar laptopproject

Automatisering Gids, Microsoft sluit aan bij 100 dollar laptopproject

Het OLPC project is een project dat uitblinkt door betrokkenheid van inhoudelijke reuzen (Nicholas Negroponte, Alan Kay) maar veel problemen heeft werkelijk van de grond te komen.

Op zich niet verbazend: het idee alleen al om miljoenen kinderen te voorzien van een laptop met de volgende eigenschappen is niet alleen revolutionair, het kan ook de wereld van computing aardig op zijn kop zetten waarbij gevestigde belangen zich ongetwijfeld op hun hoofd zullen krabben:

1. goedkoop ("100 dollar")
2. scherm dat in de zon leesbaar is
3. robuust genoeg om te kunnen laten vallen
4. onafhankelijk van stroom (zonne energie of mechanische energie)
5. in staat draadloos met andere OLPC's te verbinden, naast de gangbare draadloze protocollen (wat al heeft geleidt tot discussies over een gigantisch grid netwerk - bedenk dat wij bij OLPC's het hebben over vele miljoenen machines!)
6. gratis software met geweldige omgevingen als eToys die een open omgeving bieden voor kinderen om in te programmeren

Dat Microsoft zich aansluit bij het project dat de laatste tijd meermalen negatief in het nieuws kwam, is misschien een goed ding, en misschien niet, of zelfs juist niet. Niet voor niets gaat het gerucht dat het vertrek van OLPC topman Walter Bender met de betrokkenheid van Microsoft in verband zou staan. De mondiale industrie heeft weinig te winnen bij dit project volgens mij. Het riekt teveel naar empowerment van de consument.