First Blog

Everyone these days is flying up to the cloud, for storage of files (dropbox, onedrive, etc). for transmission of information, for communication.  Yet, I am suspicious.  When posting information to one of these free or even private clouds, there is an organization behind the service, often a free service.  No service is in business to simply "give" to the client a valuable portal toward information transmission of any kind. Once a file is up there on the cloud, someone has access, someone wants to know what you are doing, someone wishes to mine the information for advantage.  Someone wants to and needs to pay their electric bill.  Information must be exchanged for cash, influence, or other value. There is a consequence of payment, whether it be so benign as to determine products that may be of interest, to understand confidential aspects of your life, your family, your company, or your government. Private servers are subject to hacking. Public servers are the same but wit

Utopian worlds.   Now. For millions of people, the world is completely safe (or at least a safe place).   Sure, there are threats, but only distant threats or possibilities of distant threats. These people need not be rich.   Many are poor.   Most have a modest income, with housing, with security, few with challenges either to survive, to succeed, other than to enjoy daily safe living.   The recourse to safety and security is significant.   It is foundational as many have noted.   With it, they may operate with impunity, and without it there come suspicion.  It may be callous to mention that this is precisely the hope promised by most retirement communities.   For the retired, this is a well-deserved world paid for with a lifetime of experience, toil, and savings. It is the dream come true – pardon the age.   It is as near as some get to utopia.   Gone are those cares of their past, of jobs, of homes, including that of survival. Community builders advertise exactly this world,

The Halo Effect There is in psychology a phenomenon called the halo effect . For the teacher it essentially comes to this: if a student does well on the first few exam problems graded, the teacher will normally grade higher the remainder of the problems.  The counter to this is to grade the first question of all exams, then the second, and so on.  It takes more time. But it erases the effect.  Of course, it is important to not know student names, to try not to remember handwriting, and other clues to whose paper is being graded.  But the halo effect applies to many other phenomena. Now suppose I was going to talk about science, like to tell you things that are generally new and mostly unknown.  How would you receive it?  If you knew me and trusted my words are carefully measure, you would look more favorably toward what I say, and vise-versa. Again, the halo effect.  On the other hand, if you didn't know me, you would read the words with a more questioning outlook and decide well i

If we are ever to understand the mind-brain relationship, it is important to ask the right questions.  If we are to model the workings up there in the head, it is important to create a model of those workings.  Only in that manner can we suggest tests toward validity and reliability.  If we deny functionality of the mind-brain operations, there becomes a muddle most difficult to fathom.  Therefore, assuming functionality, upon which nature seems to operate in most venues, we note for the mind and brain the following capacities: recognizing, learning, remembering, abstracting, rejecting, and focusing.  There are more, but these are most important for a first go.  There is yet another aspect of the mind-brain, that of spiritualism.  From the atheist to the most devout believer, most all persons consider themselves to be “spiritual,”   that is having a capacity beyond the mere biological firing of neurons and the like. Of course, there is the perennial nagging issue of cons

I like funerals.  Not mine of course.  I'm not there yet.  And even not others who are my dear friends.   But I still like because at a funeral, only kind words are spoken, only kind sentiments are given, and only wonderful comments are made.  Everyone is a brother or sister.    Every one seems to have a common bond, if only for a few moments. The funeral is one of the very few events in all of society where people put their swords, spears, knives, barbs, and hooks in the closet.  We celebrate a departed friend, or foe, or loved one, or even acquaintance with equal measures of kindness and love.  The air is one of consilience, of forgiveness, and of hope for all. Almost contradictory this is, this celebration of a life after it is gone.

In the recent soccer match between Manchester United (MU) and Leicester,  MU won the game 3-1.  This means they get three points in the standings.  Good.  In their previous match, Leicester won 5-3, meaning MU got zero points in the standings. So you might conclude they broke even.  No gain no loss.  MU gained and average of 1.5 points for each game  BUT... MU was suppose to have won both games, based on their talent and win-loss records.  So, MU should have six points.  This gives a ratio of 6:1.5, or a factor of four.  1. Really bad math this is. Why? 2. But there is a correct mathematical interpretation of this "factor" of four.  What is it?

The brain and the mind For most chordates, the brain is a neural system of nodes firing as they will. The brain is comprised of several systems, sensory, regulatory, and otherwise, each competing for system resources. These systems create the brain state.    The mind controls, or attempts to control this system.   This is a duality, a form much discussed for millennia. Here we attempt a functional approach, with the brain and the mind each maintaining independent, though highly dependent roles one upon the other.   Of the mind and brain, we ask ·          How does it do it? ·          Why does it do it? It comes to The Task .   The task is the fundamental extraordinary function of the every single organism.   Extraordinary because the simplest organisms exists and respond to stimuli in a programmed manner.   They exist and survive or not on the basis of the programs within it.   Aside from such, all existence is centered on tasks.   This is their fundamental duty, whether