Category: Science-Biology/Chemistry/Physics

The World I See

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The Book of the Week is “The World I See, Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI” by Dr. Fei-Fei Li, published in 2025. In this wordy volume, the author described her professional and personal lives from the 1980’s through the decades of greatly accelerated computing power to date.

Born in Beijing, China, Li grew up in Chengdu. She and her mother moved to Parsippany, NJ to join her father in 1992. Because she and her parents were immigrants, they were grateful for opportunities to get educated and work in a free society. Thus, they weren’t self-absorbed attention-whores with a sense of entitlement. They worked extremely hard, and still suffered financial hardships. Of course, they got a few lucky breaks that allowed Li to participate in a tech startup.

Meanwhile, AI software can replace the inefficient way the census of the United States is taken. Nowadays, data on people’s cars, indicate all kinds of detailed demographics, including the political leanings of their drivers. On the other hand, there are American citizens who do not own or lease or drive a car. So other data sources would need to count those individuals.

There exist other potential dangers in the new Orwellian economy; fatal ones! A hacker could change just a few pixels of what a self-driving car sees so that it misreads a street sign and causes an accident.

The author became interested in a neural network in which software categorizes and describes graphics, in words. Unfortunately, in the single-digit 2000’s, Li and her colleagues couldn’t compete with other researchers who had monster-sized resources, such as those at Google.

Read the book to learn what became of Li.

Incognito

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The Book of the Week is “Incognito, The Secret Lives of the Brain” by David Eagleman, published in 2011. This hodgepodge of a volume jumped from one subject to another on brain function in connection with: legal issues, technological advances in brain-screening, materialism and reductionism. The author argued that those last two ideologies will never fully explain the world’s most complicated neurological problems because humans are just too complicated.

The term “cognitive reserve” means multiple redundancies of brain power. One who seeks brain challenges throughout his or her life, possesses more of it than someone who doesn’t. An autopsy of the former kind of person might show physical manifestations of senility, but he or she might have had no behavioral symptoms of senility when they were alive.

Someone with “anosognosia” has delusional thinking. He truly believes he’s doing what he’s doing. As is well known, a world leader who has anosognosia can be dangerous.

AI statistics-software (hereinafter referred to as “AI”) in any subject-area of life (including brain-related ones) can generate credible evidence that there is a physical cause for a suspect’s behavior. In the future, this will result in more creative legal arguments to defend criminal-suspects. Physical causes can include genetic mutation, stroke, tumor, or chemical imbalance in the brain, or combination thereof.

Traditionally, elected officials in law enforcement had meted out punishment or ordered rehabilitation for a perpetrator, pursuant to the views of political donors. BUT, the predictive power of AI is ushering in a new era of sentencing-guidelines (that proves what works in reducing recidivism) based on numerical data rather than on the biased, unduly-influenced opinions of psychiatrists and parole-board members.

However, there is the danger that a hacker, or disgruntled or unduly-influenced employee could still lie with statistics, for their own selfish purposes.

Read the book to learn more about brain function (and dysfunction).

A Whole New Mind

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This blogger skimmed “A Whole New Mind, Moving From the Information Age to the Conceptual Age” by Daniel H. Pink, published in 2005. As this volume was published twenty years ago, there is now 20/20 hindsight as to the author’s futuristic, and in spots, propagandistic pronouncements.

Throughout the text, Pink sprinkled names of people, places and things, and recommended various websites, but he did not make clear which, if any, he was getting paid to mention. Also, he used the word “computers” when “software” is the more specific entity that is actually accomplishing the tasks he described.

Anyway, the author contended that the human brain is evolving so that there will be more right-brain usage than there used to be, although humans use both halves of their brains in everything they do. The right-brain does the face-recognizing, emotional, specialized, big-picture thinking. The left-brain uses a broad range of knowledge to perform language-oriented, serial reasoning.

Currently, humans are living in the Conceptual Age; they have been forced to become more and more creative for the purpose of survival. They have collectively acquired centuries of life-experience, so everything has become a cliche. Cutting-edge technology in communications and transportation has helped humans become hyper-aware of, and wise to difficult and dangerous situations. Thus, little by little, they’re starting to prevent or minimize damage from those situations.

The Conceptual Age was prompted by three major, worldwide conditions (that have developed over decades from numerous, complex causes):

  • Abundance (mostly the result of a capitalistic, competitive, profit-seeking– rather than a cooperative– environment),
  • Asia (at the time of the book’s writing, outsourcing was all the rage– the people of this continent’s countries were willing to work for lower pay than those in more hegemonic countries, but Pink failed to mention cultural clashes and linguistic misunderstandings; plus, they have a cooperative rather than competitive mentality in the workplace),
  • Automation (software is doing tasks that humans previously did).

Since the book’s writing, all three of the above have forced people to use more of their right-brain in creating and maintaining a higher number of incestuous trading and investing relationships among and between all different countries, especially Asia’s. But, a whole host of jobs still must be done by local employees, as they require a physical presence; those involving personal services and retail locations.

Pink wrote that in the future, two kinds of people will be valued: creators and empathizers. The innovative, revolutionary nature of the Internet has generated demand for creators, inspired humans to get imaginative and produce content.

But a major campaign in America was already underway to encourage young people to develop their right-brain, and of course, to try to maintain America’s economic dominance in the world. It is called STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).

With regard to empathy (feeling what another person feels– leading to compassion, care and uplift), the United States has an aging population and an incredible ability to monetize such behavioral trends. So, no worries, despite its current greedy, selfish leadership.

Read the book to learn more about the aforementioned subjects and others relating to the right-brain; including a list of further readings and websites containing online quizzes.

His Majesty’s Airship

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“The New York Post wrote, ‘No more funds of American taxpayers [should] be squandered on these useless gasbags.’ “

The above is NOT a comment about the 2025 New York City mayoral candidates, but is a 1935 comment in reaction to the series of American airship crashes that killed hundreds of people.

The Book of the Week is “His Majesty’s Airship, The Life and Tragic Death of the World’s Largest Flying Machine” by S.C. Gwynne, published in 2023. In this sloppily edited, chronologically disordered, wordy, redundant (but suspenseful) volume, the author recounts the history of airships through the late 1930’s.

In the early decades of the twentieth century, the Germans racked up significant construction- and flying-expertise with regard to airships with rigid frames. However, they had an abysmal safety record. They papered that over with jingoistic propaganda. The 1910’s saw a few conditions established to make airship flights less risky: flying only in summer and in clear weather with only light winds.

There was a high risk of fire because the hydrogen that filled the airships is easily combustible with just one spark. Helium is less so, but was expensive and difficult to obtain or make, and the Americans controlled the small quantity that was easily accessible.

The German government got the idea that in the event of a war, it could destroy cities at night via airships much more efficiently than it could with ground troops. In WWI, its submarines were actually more effective, because Britain wised up quickly– training searchlights on the airships, and shooting them into fireballs. By 1917, warplanes had become superior to airships, even with their mechanical problems.

Anyway, the author went off on a tangent, detailing the life-histories of a few different royal family members– main characters in the airships story. One such character was Lord Christopher Birdwood Thomson. Beginning in spring 1924, he persuaded the British government to execute his big idea of contracting with a company to make airships a fun, efficient form of global, public transportation.

The author tossed around the term “socialism” but did not elaborate. He described two competing British airship projects; one as capitalist, and the other as socialist. Here is a clarification (more details of which can be found in this blog’s post, “The Last Idealist” about Norman Thomas, in the “Politics – Systems” category):

With SOCIALISM, the people collectively own entities, and share and share alike. These can be profit-seeking businesses; or the government can own entities that provide essential services– health, education, welfare and large public transportation entities– that should not be profit-seeking (but some of their subcontractors are, anyway).

With COMMUNISM, the government owns profit-seeking entities (businesses) in whole or in part (as in the former Soviet Union and China). So yes, these include public-private partnerships in which there are clearly outrageous conflicts of interest that result in patronage and profiteering. So, arguably, the former Soviet Union and China have both Socialism and Communism to a large degree. The U.S. is not far behind anymore.

Furthermore, in America, the super-rich who pay no income tax, salve their consciences through philanthropy, which allows them to propagandize that they’re helping the poor. BUT income tax revenues are pooled so that they could end up getting spent on anything in the political budget. The super-rich specifically choose where to donate their money– whom to help, and it is a tiny percentage of poor people who are helped, compared with the number who are helped if money is provided through income tax!

Anyway, read the book to learn the outcome of the flight of R101 (hint: a large, expensive project run by alpha males with hubris syndrome– in which Darwin award candidates partake– rarely ends well) plus lots more historical background that explains why rigid airships are a thing of the past.

As is well known, the American government has been a large, expensive project run mostly by alpha males with hubris syndrome. Given the current overwhelming influences of money and sophisticated messaging via global, sophisticated communications technology, individuals need not even be physically present anymore to run the government. Like Elon Musk, they can be a mastermind of national policies in absentia. Here’s what Musk is singing now.

AMERICA

sung to the tune of “Africa” with apologies to Toto and to whomever else the rights may concern.

See my influence echoing on the Right.

These are the results of our secret conversations.

I and Trump pretended to have a fight.

Withdrawal from D.C. has let me discreetly plot to save my nation.

I learned from my old man along the way,

looking to amass resources to impose my brand of supremacy.

I turn to forceful people for-pay.

Scan the whole world, is I all have to DO.

It won’t take a lot to make my dreams come true.

My money has such power, I can lord it over you.

I act behind-the-scenes in America.

Trump’s taking this time to do the things we always pla-a-a-anned. ooh ooh

We reach out to our friends on the Right,

and we’ve grown prosperous, assisted by our hegemonic companies.

I know I’m doing what is right, sure as I am aiming to gradually rid the White House of democracy.

I need world conquest, deep inside.

Priming the pump for the great times to come.

It won’t take a lot to make my dreams come true.

My money has such power, I can lord it over you.

I act behind-the-scenes in America.

Trump’s taking this time to do the things we always pla-a-a-anned. ooh ooh

Scan the world is all I have to DO.

It won’t take a lot to make my dreams come true.

My money has such power, I can lord it over you.

I act behind-the-scenes in America.

I act behind-the-scenes in America.

(I act behind-the-scenes)

I act behind-the-scenes in America.

(I act behind-the-scenes)

I act behind-the-scenes in America.

I act behind-the-scenes in America.

(Trump’s taking this time)

Trump’s taking this time to do the things we always pla-a-a-anned. ooh ooh

Blind Spots

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“The media clapped like seals congratulating the researchers. Reporters amplified the study’s conclusion, even thought they hadn’t yet seen the actual data… the media promoted whatever health authorities said, rarely challenging them or publishing quotes from dissenting experts.”

For decades now, such are the sound bites emanating from communications sources, telling people about alleged medical-research results or medical recommendations; information that is distorted at best, and is even harmful to the population.

The Book of the Week is “Blind Spots, When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What it Means for Our Health” by Marty Makary, MD, published in 2024. This slightly sloppily edited volume contained anecdotes of wrongheaded messaging of medical “experts” that resulted in numerous needless deaths and ruined lives. Not to mention lawsuits.

In 2000, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) told Americans that an infant should not be fed any peanut butter or products with any peanuts– as the child would develop a peanut allergy. The AAP should have made the opposite recommendation, as their reasoning was backwards.

Makary saw that the AAP’s board of messengers were mostly dieticians and had little or no immunology knowledge! For fifteen years, many pediatricians blindly obeyed the AAP, and told their patients to avoid peanuts. Those patients developed extreme (life-threatening) peanut allergies that had to be treated with exorbitantly priced EpiPens. The experts with whom Makary spoke– who claimed to know what caused a peanut allergy, were later promoted and got awards in their respective careers.

The above happens frequently in the medical industry. For decades, arrogant medical authorities also told people that opioids aren’t addictive. To combat a myth such as this, the author and his colleagues started a website, “Sensible Medicine” but a drawback is that one of the types of people (a closed-minded, cocky medical professional) who could benefit from the site, won’t read it!

The author wrote that Big Pharma shies away from funding research that doesn’t involve intellectual property from which it can make big bucks. Thus, funding was stopped for a non-mRNA technology flu vaccine (one covering many flu strains)– because it wouldn’t have to be administered annually, and wouldn’t pay royalties to anyone.

Meanwhile, the media continue to spout their staged and scripted reality shows of political soap-operas whose issues affect a tiny percentage of ordinary Americans, while America’s broken healthcare system continues to cause the deaths of, and bankrupt numerous people every day.

Read the book to learn of many more healthcare abominations borne of greed, and dogma, and how healthy skepticism is a good thing.

Baseless

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The Book of the Week is “Baseless, My Search for Secrets in the Ruins of the Freedom of Information Act” by Nicholson Baker, published in 2020.

From the 1940’s through the 1960’s, the CIA funded, and was supposed to supervise certain big-name American universities’ and the U.S. military services’ secret research; this, in biochemistry, pathology, mycology, entomology, etc. for the purpose of developing weapons of mass destruction. Such weapons would cause deaths of famine from crop failure or from fatal diseases, or spur regime changes. Government officials lost control of the experimenters’ spending and activities. The “researchers” were accountable to no one.

Pursuant to their actions, the researchers generated documents that they desired remain classified forever, or else redacted in large portions thereof, so as to become incomprehensible or prevent their readers from connecting the dots, because such secrecy allows them (to this day!) to hide their unethical, even evil behavior and shameful harm to society.

This book’s author repeatedly asked for said documents under the United States’ federal law called the “Freedom of Information Act” (or FOIA); he did hours and hours of reading to detect the truth about the wrongs committed by American officials. Those officials’ excuse for their coverups (during the Cold War– it was anti-Communist measures) is always “It’s a matter of national security.” The government keeps on violating FOIA by taking years (instead of weeks or months) to fulfill the author’s numerous requests.

Despite the government’s stonewalling, American society is changing in ways that offset the harm done by the lack of information on the government’s past evil actions; among them:

  • muckraking gadflies such as the author (who globally disseminate information on the shameful behavior of society’s leaders);
  • the increasing number of females (who are displacing alpha males in the shrinking “old boy network” and generally do not behave like alpha males) who are taking top leadership positions in America’s institutions;
  • propagandizing of celebrities, such as Bill Maher, (who, a number of years back, joked that “If your kid’s not learning in school, don’t blame the teacher– fire the parent!” which has perhaps influenced recent legal cases in which failures of parents have been perceived as a major factor in their kids’ shooting people– involving “parental responsibility statutes”);
  • the quantum leap in knowledge-sharing made quick and easy by the Internet (in spite of disinformation), through countless international, multi-media human-interest stories and videos that are raising awareness of the importance of voting and other actions Americans can take to help maintain their democracy;
  • the fact that the Internet has fostered a grass-roots communications revolution by allowing ordinary Americans to express themselves in a decentralized global network at the speed of light, absent the filtering of past societal influencers such as journalists, politicians and celebrities;
  • the fact that the body of knowledge of power-abusing American presidents in the past half-century has been amply globally publicized so as to significantly lessen the impact of their historical revisionists– and that Americans’ learning curve on them has run its course;
  • the COVID lockdown of 2020, which forced all different stakeholders to deal with education and childcare issues, and showed how the wisdom of life-experience has been imparted from the older generation to the younger one.

The author pointed out that every president to hold office since the 1930’s has committed evil of one kind or another– funding terrorists or authorizing the use of unethical practices in creating weapons of mass destruction (which were actually seldom used, and of course, were a ridiculous waste of taxpayer money) to supposedly keep America’s enemies at bay.

The author listed a number of online primary sources of governmental misdeeds and James-Bond wannabe activities; among them (in no particular order):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Classified_documents

Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/CIADocuments/CIA-001/)

Brill (https://brill.com/display/db/cwio?language=en) — charges a fee for its services

MuckRock (https://www.muckrock.com/)

The Black Vault (https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/)

governmentattic.org

And, he listed the physical libraries that contain the said Swiss-cheese, needle-in-a-haystack, “smoking gun” information: the National Security Archive at George Washington University and the CREST database in the FOIA Reading Room at the CIA.

One of many specific studies the author mentioned, involved 1940’s germ-warfare experiments that resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of hogs and fowl, and the subsequent early 1950’s actual use of bacteria in North Korea and East Germany. On civilians.

Other evil scientists sought to learn whose buildings burned longer– Japan’s or Germany’s, in the early 1950’s, as the U.S. was then firebombing both North and South Korea. Interestingly, each territory’s building materials differed, and so burned at different rates.

Read the book to learn a lot more about the research– how men were promoted to the highest military or government positions and hailed as heroes for the info they gathered on how to do grievous harm to other human beings; the unexpected, mysterious deaths of certain of them; and everything you ever wanted to know about their plausibly deniable, willfully ignorant, fear-mongering propaganda campaigns (which was their true ulterior motive in the midst of all that distracting sociopathic “science”; it was thought that rattling the enemy psychologically more than physically, did more harm).