Why are politicians so stupid?

I have often wondered why modern politicians are so stupid. At least, they say stupid things and that is evidence enough of stupidity, for me. It puzzles me, really, because when I read of great politicians of the past, quoted (for instance Winston Churchill), I am often impressed by the wisdom, wit or insight of their words. It seems that modern politicians are a lesser breed (quite literally) and have not the basic components of an intelligent mind, to call upon.

I am about to detail the thoughts of a modern politician. I want you to guess the identity of the politician concerned. I further want you to think of what level of political responsibility you would feel safe entrusting to a person showing this level of intellect.

Here goes. The LA Times wrote recently that a leading politician believes that dinosaurs walked the Earth alongside humans, 6,000 years ago. When challenged on this belief, the politician claimed to “have seen pictures with human footprints inside the dinosaur tracks”. This same politician has made enquiries of the library system on how to ban books. This same politician would like creationism (the belief that God made the Earth 6,000 years ago, complete with all life) to be taught alongside evolution, in schools. Pupils would then be able to make “an informed choice”. This same politician is remarkably uninformed about political matters and said on CNBC in July 2008: “As for that VP talk all the time, I’ll tell you, I still can’t answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day?” This same politician when asked about their apparent inexperience with foreign policy countered with: “I can see Russia from my house”. When challenged by Katie Couric on CBS News to give an example of a Supreme Court decision other than Roe vs Wade, this same politician said: “Well, let’s see. There’s, of course, in the great history of America rulings, there have been rulings.” In the same interview, this politician was asked to name a single newspaper or magazine that they read and replied with: “All of ‘em, any of ‘em that have been in front of me over all these years.” This leading politician was unable to name a single publication.

Wow. These are the thoughts of a leading politician. Now, answer me this: is the person who uttered these words showing a reasonably functioning intellect? Do you see evidence that they are intelligent and capable? Would you feel comfortable entrusting them with high political office? Answer this: are they profoundly stupid or wonderfully gifted?

Please come to a decision on these matters before reading on.

Those words were spoken by Vice Presidential candidate Governor Sarah Palin.

Think about that. She is VP to an old man, who has survived extensive torture. He might die at any time. If she is VP to his Presidency, she could end up as the President of the United States. Yet, on the evidence of her own words, she is an utter moron. She cannot think coherently. She cannot put together an argument. She is not able to answer the simplest of questions, informatively. She appears to be the dimmest politician I have heard of. She makes George W Bush seem like a genius. Indeed, I feel safer having someone of his intellectual calibre running the US, than someone of hers.

How could this happen? How could a woman bereft of intellectual function of even the most basic level end up as Governor of Alaska? How could she be running for Vice President of the United States? Something is wrong with the way politicians are elected in the US. The first consideration should be not how charming they are - but how smart they are. If they are not smart enough to do a good job, they shouldn't ever be in the running, no matter how many people like them. Sarah Palin is not bright enough to be Governor of Alaska, on the evidence above. In fact, she isn't bright enough to be a primary school teacher. (Imagine a primary school teacher giving those answers to a child...just imagine what you would think of that teacher.)

Now, I need to point out that I have NO political opinion regarding the US. I am not involved in who wins or who loses. I am not sure of the differences between Barack Obama, Biden, Palin or McCain...I am just a bystander who finds himself amazed at the stupidity of one of the candidates. Then, again, it should be noted that Senator McCain chose Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. That was an exercise in his wisdom or lack of it. The fact that she is none too bright seems to indicate that maybe he isn't either. You see, if you are bright, you don't choose a stupid running mate. So, I begin to wonder about both of them.

Then, again, Barack Obama has seemed a bit superficial to me, at times, in his answers - as if either he can't think too deeply, or is not well enough informed to do so. All of it leaves me rather worried. I would like to see the USA in hands of someone really, really, bright enough to do a good job. I don't want to see it in the hands of a populist airhead of any race, sex or creed.

The modern politician is a stupid being. That much is clear. However, what is not is why the people of Earth ever allowed this to come to pass. The pity of it is, I suspect, however, that the electorate is too stupid to tell the difference. Thus, stupid people, elect stupid leaders, who make stupid decisions and stupidly destroy the countries they lead. Then again, financial institutions seem pretty good at doing the very same thing. So, politics doesn't have a monopoly on stupidity.

I would like to see a higher value being placed on intelligence as a quality in leaders of all kinds. Then, perhaps, we might have a world in which countries function well and wisely - and the world doesn't face the kind of global financial crisis that it now does.

So, I vote for wit and wisdom. Unfortunately, I can't find too many candidates who qualify. They must be hiding somewhere - or perhaps, wisely, thought better of getting involved in politics or finance in the first place.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

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The colleague I made one day.

This is a reposting of Tuesday's post - because it has been unaccountably deleted (at least, I can't find it on my screen).

I had no idea, when my first son was born, that in a few years, he would, essentially, become not only my son, but my colleague, too.

Before Ainan, I had never really had a close scientific colleague with whom I could discuss ideas and consider possibilties. Although Ainan is only eight years old, talking to him is not like talking to an eight year old - it is like holding a discussion with a very creative, fast thinking adult scientist. I find it refreshing. All my life I have lacked such stimulation (I didn't find it at Cambridge University, for instance) but, now, in my own home, I have as much of it as I want or could ever need - all I have to do is begin a sentence with "Ainan..." and I am soon deep into a wide-ranging, scientifically profound conversation. It is wonderful.

I don't know what the future of the intellectual side of my relationship with my son will hold. Yet, I can say: the present is pretty good. I have had the best scientific conversations in my life with Ainan since he was five years old. No other conversation, with adult scientists, has proven as remotely interesting.

Fatherhood is full of surprises - and some of them are much more rewarding than one could ever have anticipated.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2008

Two Americans, Martin Chalfie and Roger Tsien and one Japanese scientist, Osamu Shimomura, share this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work on green fluorescent protein (GFP). This is a protein, first found in jellyfish that glows green under ultraviolet light. This allows the tracking of particular cells, such as cancer cells, or nerve cells providing a window onto many biological processes.

This work has been applied in many ways and has given insight into the damage caused by Alzheimer's disease, the growth of insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas of an embryo, the development of brain cells, the growth of bacteria and many other biological phenomena.

Once again, however, I am amazed at how old this work is and how long it took the Nobel Committee to recognize it. Shimomura and a colleague first observed GFP in 1962, having extracted it from 10,000 jellyfish. They reported, that year, that it glowed green under UV.

Thirty years later, Chalfie used the GFP gene to make individual nerve cells in a tiny worm glow green (allowing the development of its nervous system to be studied). Tsien then extended the work to include a variety of colours, allowing more detailed studies to take place.

Thus, this work has it beginnings 46 years ago. It took basically a lifetime to recognize it. Shimomura could so easily have died of old age waiting for his Nobel Prize. This, of course, poses the question: could and should Nobel Prizes be awarded more swiftly? The original intention of Nobel himself was that this would be so and that young researchers would thereby win support for their work and find their careers facilitated. What is happening instead, however, is that old researchers, many of whom will have ceased any real productive work, are receiving Nobel Prizes for an achievement of their early careers perhaps forty or fifty years before. It is not in the spirit of Nobel's original intentions that this should be so.

What I would like to see is a Nobel Prize being awarded for something that took place only a couple of years ago - not something that began before I was even born. That is too, too long to wait for recognition of the standing of one's work.

Perhaps this dilatoriness arises out of an inability to recognize the long-term importance of recent work. Well, that could be remedied by a little imagination. Perhaps, however, it is caution that dominates the Nobel Committee's decisions - a wish to be really sure of the merits of particular work before recognizing it - hence the sloth of their decision making and the fact that many potential winners die of old age before they can win.

Nevertheless, congratulations to the winners of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry 2008. Patience was certainly required in the winning of it, however.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

Cyberdyne and the immorality of modern business

There is a Japanese company called Cyberdyne which has just announced a product called HAL. Now, if you are at all well-informed about modern culture, you will recognize both those terms. That you do is, in itself, somewhat of a disgrace.

Cyberdyne is the name of the fictional company in the Terminator films, based on Harlan Ellison's story, that made the chips used in the Terminator robots. HAL is the name of the artificially intelligent computer in Arthur C Clarke's (and Stanley Kubrick's) 2001.

I find it galling that a Japanese start up firm should steal these names out of popular culture so as to trade on the familiarity and goodwill created in those names, by the true original creators of them. It strikes me as profoundly wrong. Yet they have the nerve on their site to write that HAL and Cyberdyne are trademarks and service marks of Cyberdyne Inc protected by Japanese and foreign trademark laws. Well, what about the protection under copyright laws of the true creators of these terms? How about their rights?

Cyberdyne Inc. is a company that, in moral terms, deserves to fail. There is no excuse for stealing these names from elsewhere just so as to trade on the familiarity already created in them. They could - and should - have created their own names to identify their products.

Incidentally, there is an aspect of this which they haven't thought clearly about. In stealing the Cyberdyne and HAL names they also adopt some of the subtextual baggage that comes with those terms. Cyberdyne is, in the Terminator films, ultimately responsible for the end of the world as we know it. HAL turned out to be a murderous machine. So, unknowingly or otherwise, people will have these associations with their products.

HAL stands for Hybrid Assistive Limb - and that is what it is: a robotic device to assist the movement of the weakened and physically incapable. It is based on the work of Professor Sankai of the University of Tsukuba. I wonder at that. Is his technical work as original as his verbal choices? No doubt we will find out, in time.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

Nobel Prize for Medicine 2008

The Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine is, traditionally, the first of the Nobel Prizes to be awarded. Now, I must be getting old because it doesn't seem so long ago that the last Nobel Prizes were awarded...oh well.

Anyway, this year the Nobel Committee have decided to recognize the discoverers of the viral causes of two diseases: cervical cancer and AIDS (it is strange to think that it has taken SO long to recognize those who discovered the viral cause of AIDS considering how many tens of millions have died since that discovery decades ago).

The award has been divided into two halves: half going to Harald zur Hausen for his discovery that human papilloma viruses (HPV) cause cervical cancer and the other half going to Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier for their discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), that causes AIDS.

Zur Hausen (born in 1936) works at the German Cancer Research Centre Heidelberg. Barré-Sinoussi (born in 1947) is employed by the Regulation of Retroviral Infections Unit, Virology Department, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France and Luc Montagnier (born in 1932) is at the World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention also in Paris.

It is interesting to contrast the advance of medicine in these two diseases since the discovery of their viral causes. Zur Hausen's discovery has since led to vaccines that completely prevent infection by HPV if given before exposure, to young girls. This means the eradication of cervical cancer as a cause of disease and death in girls so vaccinated. So, his work has heralded a great health victory.

On the other hand, Barre-Sinoussi and Montagnier's work has not led to the conquering of AIDS. It has led to its long term management through anti-retrovirals - which is a half-victory, I suppose - but it has not led to its eradication. Yet, without the discovery of the virus by the duo, it is unlikely that AIDS treatment would even have got this far.

Looking at this way, it is clear that the long delay in awarding Nobel Prizes (and it is long...these figures were young men when they made their discoveries - and they are now old men), allows the discoveries to be evaluated in the light of their later importance. We come to see the impact of their work, before the prizes are awarded. I suppose this is a means by which the Nobel Committee become sure of their choices. Personally, however, I wish that prizes were awarded sooner, for then they would have greater impact on the outcome of the work that follows and would have a more positive real world impact on the work, itself (by enabling the researchers better access to resources and so on, owing to their Nobel reputations etc.)

Nevertheless congratulations to all three winners of the Nobel Prize for Medicine this year. Many millions of people owe their health to the, until now, relatively unknown work of these scientific adventurers.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

Kimbo Slice and the manufacture of "talent"

In the modern world, you don't have to be talented to succeed, you just have to be seen to be talented. Such is the case with Kimbo Slice, a Mixed Martial Artist fighter, in America.

Now, it might seem quite a departure for me to discuss Kimbo Slice - but it isn't really, for his situation has bearing on the search for and promotion of talent and what it means, today.

Kimbo Slice, a former Miami streetfighter, has been building quite a reputation for "badness" on the Mixed Martial Arts fight scene. Yet, all has not been as it seems. Some critics, according to what I have read, have pointed out that his opponents seemed to have been handpicked for one characteristic: the ability to lose. They have not been seasoned, gifted fighters, but people who have consistently lost previous fights. Hence, Kimbo Slice's growing reputation (and he is, apparently, a big new star of the Mixed Martial Artist fight scene), is something of a mirage: it has not been founded on solid wins against solid opponents.

What seems to have happened with Kimbo Slice is that his backers thought that the more buzz and hype they created around him, the more money could be made out of the situation - the fact that he wasn't actually the mega-fighter they were building him up to be, didn't seem to concern them: money did. One article I read said that $58 million had been spent on his career so far - so presumably the takings must have been greater still, than that. Beating people up is, it seems, big business.

Every fight Kimbo Slice had was carefully picked with an opponent certain to lose. The audience may not have been aware of this. So, it created an impression that Kimbo was something special - a fighter who always won. Well, it didn't last. In a quirk of fate, the carefully picked loser, Ken Shamrock, that Kimbo Slice was meant to fight, had to pull out at the last minute owing to a cut eye, in training. In his place, a relatively unknown quantity, Seth Petruzelli, 28, was asked to take the bout. He did...and boy did he. In 14 seconds, he demolished Kimbo Slice and his reputation, deploying two kicks and four power punches to bring down the mirage.

Overnight, people are calling this the end of Kimbo Slice. His backers played a high-risk game promoting someone of dubious true talents...and now they have lost.

I see the over-promotion of Kimbo Slice as an example of something which doesn't just happen in Mixed Martial Arts - it can happen in any walk of life. It is the tendency to back someone convincing, rather than someone capable. If everyone believes in the merits of a particular individual they get the job, the promotion, the business. Quite often, no-one takes a close look at the actual merits of the person in question. I call this the "manufacture of talent" - the image of great talent is created around someone, and they are permitted all the perks of actually having the great talent in question. We do it all the time to graduates of great institutions - it is assumed they have great merits to go along with it: sometimes they do, sometimes they don't - but the assumption is always that they do. Many a CEO brings with them a reputation for building up companies which may actually be accidental - that is the company may have succeeded without them - yet they carry, thereafter, the reputation of great talent - and that is generally strongly promoted. Again, we are creating Kimbo Slices of the corporate world.

I think what is happening is that everyone needs talent and needs to believe in talent - but great talent is hard to find. It is easier to fake it - to build someone up and make money out them, than it is to actually find a great talent. Thus, it was easier for the backers of Kimbo Slice to create the impression of a great fighter than it was to actually FIND a great fighter to back. They created what, for them, was equivalent: someone that others would believe in as a great fighter. All they had to do was ensure that his opponents were natural born losers. In no time at all, Kimbo Slice was a legend.

This tendency to inflate the gifts of certain people, so as to profit from it should be opposed - for it makes it more difficult for people of true talent. Somewhere, in the world, there is a real Kimbo Slice - a fighter who actually has the merits attributed to Mr. Slice: that fighter is not known, not discovered, not being paid and promoted. His place was taken by a sham, instead. That isn't right. Talent should be discovered and promoted - but it must be true talent. Fake talent must not be allowed to crowd it out.

Kimbo Slice has fallen - but other Kimbo Slices shall rise in his place. I hope, one day, that the charade ends - and that only true talent is allowed to come to the fore. It is the best solution: the backers will have a sure foundation to their businesses - and people of talent won't have to lack opportunity.

So the next time you want to find a "hero" - search long and hard for a real one: creating one from nothing may be easy, but in the long run, it could prove expensive. Just ask Kimbo Slice's short-sighted backers and their $58 million.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)