First Blog

  Albert Einstein (1879-1955) slept nearly 10 hours a day. He was known to be a firm believer in the importance of a good night’s sleep, often aiming for around 10 hours of rest. However, his approach to sleep was somewhat unconventional. He frequently took short naps during the day, sometimes even multiple times a day. These power naps were brief, lasting only a few minutes, and he believed they helped him recharge his mind and creativity. He claimed that these naps allowed him to tackle complex scientific problems with a fresh perspective.

  WHITE BUTTON MUSHROOMS AND PROSTATE CANCER. White button mushroom extract shrinks tumors and delays their growth, according to new human clinical trial on food as medicine. In mice with prostate tumors, a single daily dose shrank tumors. In human prostate cancer patients, 3 months of treatment found the same activation of immune cells. "Reduction of myeloid-derived suppressor cells in prostate cancer murine models and patients following white button mushroom treatment", 2024, Xiaoqiang Wang et al., Clinical and Translational Medicine.

 The Art of the Maxim  Wisdom is often carried along through maxims, aphorisms, proverbs, and truisms. They are often stated in vague terms or in vague ways that resonate differently with different readers but carry a similar message. In this short note, we’ll consider a maxim from one of the great mathematicians and cryptographers of the 20th century, Alan Turing (1912-1954). The problem with this maxim is that without familiarity with advanced mathematics, it might not have genuine meaning to a general audience. We will look for a similar meaning through re-expression.  So, from Turing we have, "Science is a differential equation. Religion is a boundary condition." Looking for some wisdom, this maxim suggests that everything (e.g. science) in the world is a contained mechanism, with science on the inside, while it is bounded from the outside by conditions we may not know. However, the inside and outside are strongly linked with the boundary conditions specifying what ha...

  More precisely, what are the potential consequences of applying old  theories to new situations without testing them first? The easiest answer is that most of the time, we don’t know it’s a new situation and/or an old theory until it fails. Putting that aside, the c onsequences are many. Keep in mind, though, sometimes testing is impossible as in some economic or cosmological theories. Testing Einstein’s general theory of relativity had to await instrumentality development that could do so.  Here are some other consequences of failure to test or inappropriate use. 1.       It is a sometimes expensive way to find the old theory needs repair. (Aeronautics, encryption, numerical analysis) 2.       Overgeneralization. (Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs) 3.       It can sometimes cause lives or great damage. (Bridge design, large machinery) 4.       It can make inaccurate pr...

 Why is Science Always Changing? Consider knowledge, which includes any particular science you have in mind such as physics or medicine. In the diagram, note the center ring is all the knowledge you have, as in know. The next ring out contains all the knowledge (e.g. science) you don’t know. The outer ring includes all the knowledge you not only don’t know but don’t know you don’t know. Inside the small center ring is included a smaller ring of all those things you may believe you know, but know incorrectly.   Each of these containers changes with time. As you learn more, the enter ring enlarges, possibly because you have concluded more knowledge or have solved one the your known unknowns. That is, you solved a problem. Also, over time, you may have discovered something you believed to be correct was not correct after all. You now may know what is correct, or it has become a new known unknown. Both of these happen all the time, us personally, for every science, and all s...

  Here are percentages of who sleeps how much. Actual percentages can vary by country, lifestyle, and individual circumstances. 1 hour: ~0% (usually due to severe sleep disorders or extreme circumstances) 2 hours: ~0.5% or less (very rare and usually due to sleep disorders or extreme conditions) 3 hours: ~1% (rare, often linked to insomnia, shift work, or other disruptions) 4 hours: ~1%–3% (a very small percentage, often due to chronic sleep deprivation or lifestyle demands) 5 hours: ~5%–7% (some adults function on this amount, but it’s below the recommended range) 6 hours: ~30%–40% (common but still considered short sleep for most adults) 7 hours: ~25%–30% (meets the minimum recommendation for adults) 8 hours: ~25%–30% (the ideal amount for many adults, within the recommended range) 9 hours: ~5%–10% (acceptable for some adults but on the higher end of the recommendation) 10+ hours: ~2%-4% Most people fall within the 6-8 hour range, with 7–8 hours being the most commonly reported ...

 First thing you need to do is figure out how much sleep you need. Six, eight, or ten hours, it doesn't matter. If you cheat your body on sleep, your body will cheat you on performance. 

Consider just a few ways that AI can be used to create fraud  through omission, latency, commission, oversampling, or bias. We already have AI created fake voices and fake images. This is just the beginning. A. First of all, much of the purported AI is little more than standard statistical analysis, with error criteria unmentioned at best or concealed at worst. B. Error that creep in to AI results are forever. There seems no continuing validation. Very important in medicine. C. AI results and conclusions may dominate human conclusions and decisions, deprecating the human factor. Already students are using AI to generate original assignments.  D. Generative AI can be used to create new (i.e. fake) data and images, which in turn can be sold to other data centers as original data. This will impact business decisions, government regulations, and even scientific results - to mention just a few. I expect in the next few years, the issues of fakes and fraud with AI will explo...

A TIP FOR THE DEPRESSED  If you are depressed or have too many depressive thoughts, here's a remedy. It is a self-help,  five-step plan.  Start a blog* devoted to optimistic topics only.  Your first couple of blogs will be difficult, very difficult.  After a few more, it will get easier.  By the time you're at number 20, you'll start believing the stuff and finding truth in it.  By the thirtieth, you're cured. The reason you’re cured is that you have learned the positive side of life, in particular your life. This is important because now you can reflect on why you’re depressed. You have learned a good habit of mind. You understand your depression is self-imposed. You have changed your course. You can see or at least find positivity everywhere. You may even have followers that depend on your good words.   There are dozens of free websites such as BlogSpot and WordPress. 

  Modern Journalism. Old maxim (modified): If you lie down in the dirt, you wake up dirty. Applied to journalism, we witness a new breed of journalists altogether. Gone are the days of carefully researching an article, checking and re-checking sources, and isolating the story from personal bias. These days we have. 1. Echo journalism – Just repeat what another source prints. 2. Attack journalism – Get your opponent using any tools. 3. Talking points journalism – Equipped with talking points, just regurgitate them. 4. Hypothetical journalism – Well, it could be true; so print it. 5. Narrative journalism – All articles must conform to a preset story – no deviations allowed. 6. Biased journalism – You don’t like the true story, so secrete your personal opinions inside your article. 7. Legitimate journalism (Gone are the days, my friend, I thought ...)

  The Persistence of Problems Many problems seem to persist, despite our best efforts to solve them – assuming only the tools provided by critical thinking. Some problems are just too hard. We’ll see some problems are solved and solved again, each time with unsatisfactory outcomes. Still others are shrouded in complexity, vagueness, and wickedness. Let’s consider the root origins of these problems in ten steps. 1.              We don’t have the tools (yet) to solve them, intellectual, theoretical, or instrumental. Example. Origin of the universe. 2.              We don’t know what the real problem is. Example. Explaining matter - from antiquity to wave-particle duality. Disease. 3.              We make a solution. It catches on. It becomes the solution until it fails. Then we begin again. New fai...

How Are Physical Theories Formed? Here’s a brief overview of the process for physical theories. Theological and philosophical theories are similarly formed, mostly without the data component. The vague word "truth" is used below. Roughly, it means consensus, consistency, and predictability. Important it is to note that in the five steps below, answers are compounded through the vehicle of problems, or asking questions. A.  Observation : It starts with observations focused on a particular topic, such as the moon, fish, or trees. At this and the next stage axioms, the accepted truths, are formed. B.  Data Collection : Once metrics are defined, the observations are converted into empirical data, often represented as numerical values. C.  Hypothesis Formation : Hypotheses are then developed—educated guesses about how things work or behave. D.  Theory Development : When enough hypotheses are confirmed through experimentation and analysis, the framework of a theo...