How do you spell that?

Fintan, five, is asking strange questions these days. I say "strange" because the questions lead one to wonder what lead him to ask them in the first place.

A few days ago, for instance, Fintan asked his mother, Syahidah: "How do you spell "conspiracy"?"

She was somewhat taken aback at a five year old seeking the spelling of such a word. Where had he heard it? What use would he have for it?

He didn't stop there. Next he asked her: "How do you spell: "confiscate"?"

Again, she found herself surprised. However, at least the word "confiscate" might have more immediate use in the world of a five year old.

Fintan has an interest in language. The puzzle of it, though, is where he encounters these words. I note that he wasn't asking: "What does X mean?" But "How do you spell X?" That seems to imply that the meaning of the words is not the problem, just their spelling.

It is interesting to note the differences and similarities between our three sons. Each is one of a kind, it seems, each with his own outlook, likes, dislikes, preferences and abilities. It is going to be very interesting to watch them grow to adulthood.

I think that fatherhood is the ultimate antidote to boredom: as a father it is impossible to be other than engaged with the present and the future to come, for ones children lead one there, day by day.

(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.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

Why National Service men should not be insured.

National Service men in Singapore, should not be insured. There is a better way.

The problem with the present proposed idea of insurance for the conscripted National Service men of Singapore (NSF) is that insurance provides Mindef with NO incentive to look after the safety of its recruits. I understand that, from January 2009, the option exists for NSFs to insure themselves for 100,000 dollars personal accident insurance for 12.80 dollars per month. They have to pay this themselves, out of their earnings which are to be raised 20 dollars (wow!) to cover the situation.

I find this situation troublingly dissatisfactory. If an NSF is insured and injured, maimed, or killed, Mindef is not going to compensate the family or victim. That means that Mindef will not suffer any loss if its servicemen suffer loss. This is an inherently unsafe situation. If the situation is, however, altered so that Mindef suffers loss each and every time a serviceman is injured, maimed or killed, then Mindef will do EVERYTHING IT CAN to ensure the safety of those servicemen. If, however, there is no loss to Mindef for harm to servicemen it may not be so careful with those servicemen's lives - because it will have no repercussions for them.

Every year there is a tragic toll on young National Servicemen (NSFs) who are injured, disabled or killed in the course of their duties. None of this suffering is necessary and none of it should occur. There are safe ways to conduct training and not so safe ways to conduct training. If training were conducted with the utmost safety in mind and the lives of the conscripts placed as the highest priority, I find it hard to imagine that there would be many casualties: the chances of such could be reduced to the point of rarity. Ideally, therefore, we need to create a situation in which Mindef is highly motivated to ensure the safety of its conscripts. There is one word for the way in which this would work: responsibility. Mindef must take responsibility for the safety, health and lives of its involuntary conscripts.

At first analysis, there are a few obvious ways to encourage a concern for the safety of recruits, of the highest order. Firstly, there must be repercussions to Mindef for every injury, loss or death. Secondly, there must be repercussions for the SENIOR STAFF of Mindef, for each such injury, loss or death. By having such accountability, the organization would take every step to ensure the safety of recruits that is possible.

This analysis leads to a conclusion: there should be NO insurance for NSF/National Servicemen. Instead, Mindef should be DIRECTLY financially responsible for the compensation of all recruits injured, maimed or killed. To make this work, the level of compensation needs to be high and punitive so that Mindef has a strong incentive to look after its recruits. Mindef should be responsible for all medical costs incurred by injuries sustained while recruits serve NS. Furthermore, there should be disability pensions to provide ongoing, lifelong compensation for any disabilities acquired in the course of duties. I know, for instance, a former American soldier who suffers from tinnitus (persistent ringing in the ears) from the sounds of heavy guns firing during a war. He receives a monthly disability allowance from the US government for this injury and shall do so for his entire life. That would be the kind of system which ensures responsibility on the part of Mindef. Not only that, but if a National Serviceman (NSF) dies while serving NS, there should be substantial compensation to the family of the deceased. I would suggest a sum equal to his ENTIRE LIFETIME EXPECTED EARNINGS based on his known academic attributes would be appropriate and fair.

These two measures would create a cost to Mindef for the loss of health or life of its recruits and thus a strong incentive for Mindef to look after its recruits.

There is another aspect. Mindef's and SAF's senior staff should have a performance element in their pay linked to the safety of their recruits. If a recruit dies, they should suffer financially, in a significant way. Similarly, if a recruit is injured. It should work both ways - being both a positive and negative incentive. By this I mean that if NO recruits are harmed or killed that year, there should be a large salary BONUS. This would strongly incentivize senior management to look after their charges.

Were all of these proposed changes to be implemented, we would soon see a fall in the number of NSFs injured, maimed or killed. We would also see a force of National Servicemen who are happier to serve, since they will be secure in the knowledge that their country will look after them, and their families, in the event that some harm should befall them. Presently, of course, this is not so. Presently, NSFs know that Mindef will not look after them and their families in the way that they should. This must change.

The other aspect about my proposal which should not be overlooked is that, in theory, it could cost relatively little. All that Mindef and the SAF (Singapore Armed Forces) needs to do to make this a cheap but effective initiative is to ensure the safety of their recruits. In doing so, senior management would then enjoy bonuses to reward them for having guarded the lives of their charges.

I think everyone would be happier with my proposed system. Let, Mindef, therefore, be the automatic insurer of all NS men.

(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.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

A debt of national gratitude.

The Singaporean nation has a debt of gratitude to any National Serviceman who is harmed while serving NS.

A case is presently in the courts concerning a serviceman who appears to have suffered a head injury while doing NS. Mindef (the Ministry of Defence) are claiming that it was not suffered on active duty since he was back at camp, at the time. In other words, they are seeking to weasel out of paying for his medical support.

The National Serviceman's situation is dire. Jeremy Tan Chia Whee's head injury has left him unable to move or speak and he is fully dependent on doctors and nurses for his needs. Despite this, Mindef, who had been paying 80% of his ward and meal charges (the amount of support for non-service related injuries) stopped paying any support in February 2007. Since then, his parents have had to find 133,000 dollars for his care.

His parents are suing Mindef for full support of his medical costs. I think their suit seems more than fair. Here is a young man, whose life was ruined, while an NS man. He appears to have fallen from a height and sustained a head injury that has severely damaged him. The least that Mindef can do is support is his costs of recovery (if he ever recovers).

It seems to me, that Mindef demands that the young men of Singapore sacrifice two years of their lives (plus 10 years on call), exposing them to risk of death and injury, yet, in return, Mindef is unwilling to bear the costs that result when things go wrong. What kind of values does this reveal? It appears that Mindef does not value the lives of its recruits as much as it values its "right" to expend their lives in its cause.

Jeremy Tan Chia Whee may never live a normal life, again. That he is in this position is the responsibility of Mindef. I think they should show an honourable response to this situation and pay for his full medical costs until such time as he recovers.

If Mindef are going to impose risk of death and injury on young men, they must, in return, be responsible for any and all medical costs incurred - even if they are for the duration of the lives of disabled ex-servicemen. This should not even be an issue that I have to write about - it should be an automatic response, in thanks for the sacrifices the servicemen have made.

Furthermore, if a serviceman dies on duty, the family of that serviceman should be compensated for their loss. After all, for some families the lost son may be the only means of support for his parents in their old age - with him gone, what will they do? There should be generous compensation in all such cases, so that one worry, at least, is not heaped on the family's sorrows: that of finance to replace the support of the lost son.

If service is to be compulsory, it should also come with generous support in the wake of anything untoward happening to a serviceman. That would, I think, be the moral stance.

There should be a collective national debt of gratitude to any serviceman who suffers loss, death or injury in service to his nation. Let us not forget to pay it, when the time comes.

(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.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

The science fiction, fantasy fan.

Tiarnan, two, is already showing certain traits that I possessed as a child. The mystery of it is where it all comes from - because I am not really showing these traits as an adult, so he has no real model to draw them from.

Yesterday, Tiarnan, was invited to choose videos at the video store. He was very sure of his selections: he chose 10,000 B.C, The Road to Terabithia and Eragon. Now, as anyone should note, these are all science fiction/science fantasy titles. He ignored all other genres in the store - except he also wanted to get out a dinosaur documentary DVD - but he had already seen that so Syahidah, his mother, vetoed it.

I found his selection very interesting since, as a child and teenager, I had been drawn, primarily, to science fiction and science fantasy in my reading and, if I had the chance, film watching. So, Tiarnan, given complete freedom of choice, is replicating my own childhood choices. I read much science fiction (sci-fi), as a complimentary activity to my interests in science. Thus, my childhood life of the imagination was one that extended my more down to earth interests.

With Tiarnan, it seems he is naturally drawn to that which is more imaginative, more outside the norm of human experience. He is, for instance, a great fan of Ben 10. He has also shown a liking for science, such as is his exposure at this tender age.

To me, this tendency to echo the childhood of the parents is interesting: it seems that basic dispositions of character and interest may also be found in the children. Perhaps much more is inherited than one might suppose.

Tiarnan is a child of great imagination: it has a great effect on him, but I shall post of that another time. It gives me great pleasure to note, though, that his interests are reflecting my own childhood interests. As a father, this means that I can share with him, what once I enjoyed so much, and so come to enjoy it again, in a new way, perhaps a deeper way, as I see him explore territory I so used to explore myself.

Then again, it makes it quite easy for me, as a parent - because I already have such familiarity with his area of interest and so have much to give him, in that regard. This is the kind of luck every parent could do with.

I am looking forward to introducing him to the works of Tolkien, later on - for those were a memorable discovery when I was a kid. No doubt they will be for Tiarnan, too.

I think I have got some videos to watch, now...

(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.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

Listen to the sound of the flames.

Actions speak louder than words. On Sunday, a man's actions, Ong Kah Chua, spoke very loudly indeed: he set fire to a Member of Parliament, Seng Han Thong.

70 year old Ong Kah Chua poured thinner over the back of the MP at a session at which the MP was handing out Hongbao (small packets of money) to the people. He then used a kitchen lighter to set fire to him. Seng Han Thong suffered burns to his right face, back and scalp. The burns amounted to up to 15% of his body.

Now, I realize that my international readers will be shocked to hear of such a thing in Singapore. Surely Singapore is the "safest place in the world", where crime exists only in pulp fiction and on TV? Surely, such a thing is an American phenomenon? Well, no. You see I think that the setting of an Member of Parliament on fire is much more likely to occur in Singapore, than in the USA. In the USA, there is freedom of speech and a strong democracy, the people have a voice and the voice is heard. In Singapore, there is a strange "democracy" in which only one party is allowed to exist (well, I always found it strange, myself). When I say "exist", I mean, live in peace. The non-People's Action Party (PAP) politicians spend their lives hounded by the powers-that-be. They don't truly have the necessary freedom to conduct political activities that is usual in democracies.

The people of Singapore, too, are used to the idea that what they want and believe and think is not heard by those at the top. They are used to the idea that power comes down from above and feel that they do not have the power to influence events. In such a climate, people can feel suffocated, they can feel that their voice will never be heard. Well, when someone thinks they are being ignored, they will tend to be driven to do something extreme to win attention. I think that is what has happened here: Ong Kah Chua must have felt that he was not being heard, that he had no power and no voice -so he did something that all the nation would hear: he set fire to an MP.

The MP in question Seng Han Thong, has got a talent for attracting trouble. In 2006, he was punched by a taxi driver who had a grievance. This indicates to me that this "random" attack is not so random. Seng Han Thong is good at causing people to be upset. It would seem, from this analysis that he might be especially good at not giving the people what they want (he was responsible for proposing taxi surcharges, for instance). Other MPs seem to manage to go about their work in peace, but Seng Han Thong has a gift for being attacked. There is always a reason for such a gift.

It is clear, from reading Singaporean blogs, that Ong Kah Chua has much sympathy for his attack. There is the sense, the rather surprising sense, given Singapore's law abiding reputation that Ong Kah Chua was doing what many Singaporeans fantasize about doing: setting a member of the PAP on fire. I found this a quietly shocking revelation. It made me realize that, perhaps, just perhaps, the Singaporean people have become a little tired of a style of government that external observers would not accuse of being overly accessible. Singapore's government is one that makes decisions irrespective of the will of the people then passes them down, as fait accompli. A lot of people are unhappy with this and have been unhappy for many years, even decades. Ong Kah Chua's little bonfire recalls, for me, Guy Fawkes - the annual burning of an effigy of a man who tried to blow up British Parliament hundreds of years ago.

Ong Kah Chua is Singapore's Guy Fawkes. The difference is that Ong Kah Chua was more successful than Guy Fawkes: Fawkes was caught before his plan could be enacted. Ong Kah Chua was only caught after Seng Han Thong was busily burning away.

Perhaps the government of Singapore would do well to listen to Ong Kah Chua's message. His message is not the action of one man, but the deed of a frustrated nation. For every one Ong Kah Chua who has the courage, or insanity, to act on such a wish, as to burn an MP, there may be a thousand, or a hundred thousand who would do so, if they could get away with it. Ong Kah Chua is not an isolated madman, I think, but a symptom of a system that has been too disregarding of the will of its people. Singaporeans want a more open style of government, a more sympathetic style of government, one that listens more, and cares more. They want a government they feel is there to do a public service and not one that seems, at times, to do a service to itself (one need only look at the multi-million dollar salaries of ministers to see where they got that impression).

Seng Han Thong is fortunate that Singapore is not an armed society, as America is. Were Singapore to have guns available it is fairly certain that Seng Han Thong would have been shot, not burnt.

I think it likely that the government will learn something from this, but perhaps not the right thing. They will learn to pay more attention to the security of their MPs...but they will probably not do anything to reduce the palpable anger and resentment that many Singaporeans evidently feel at the way their nation is ruled. (One need only look to the internet to find abundant evidence of such dissatisfaction).

So, yes, Singapore is a safe country - but perhaps not, anymore, if you are a member of government. There is a price to pay for a closed style of government - and Seng Han Thong is, today, paying that price.

(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.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

The limits of the world.

What are the limits of the world? How do we perceive them?

Sometimes, when people hear of Ainan and his attributes they just don't believe in them. Their response is often quite strong: "That is impossible!", they seem to be saying and point blank refuse to accept what they are told. To them, the way Ainan is, is beyond the limits of the world. He is an impossibility, for them.

Why do they think this way? I think it is because what they perceive to be limits of the world, are, in fact, limits of themselves. They are not like that. They have no personal experience of being like that. Unconsciously, they think that the human is limited in the same way that they are limited. In other words, they think of themselves as the limit of what can be. It is not within their imagination to conceive of someone more precocious or more capable than themselves.

Of course, not everyone reacts this way to Ainan. Many simply accept him for the way he is, even if a little wonderingly. Others come out with tales of their own gifted childhood and times they, too, were misunderstood. However, it is the Impossibles! that draw my attention and concern. People like that often cause stress and distress for the parents of gifted children. Gifted children are often met with misunderstanding, incomprehension and even, at times, hostility. Part of the reasons for these responses lie in this perception of limits. There is a belief in some people's minds that a child that goes beyond what they, often unconsciously, hold as limits, cannot be real. Some of them are very vociferous in expressing their beliefs to the parents of gifted children (conversations along these lines are not uncommon on parenting and "gifted" message boards). The harm to gifted families is palpable. There is the feeling, among some of them, that they cannot express, in any way, what they are going through, without meeting opposition and hostility and open doubt from some.

There is a remedy for this: everyone should accept the idea that the limits of the world are greater than the limits of ourselves or of any one person. That another can do something that is inconceivable for ourselves, should not, in itself, make that thing inconceivable. The other person is just different, that is all, and therefore bound by different constraints.

It is true that humans have limits. However, I have learnt that those limits are far less limited than many people suppose. The limits of the human world are great indeed, and stretch far beyond what we are accustomed to think of, as human behaviour. It is possible, indeed, that no-one, who has yet lived, has actually bumped up against the true limits of the human world: not even the fabled such as Leonardo da Vinci.

I wonder what those who doubt the tales of gifted children think of the tales of Leonardo da Vinci? Compared to most gifted children, Leonardo is a demi-god. How much more skepticism would that elicit, in them? Funny enough, I have had searchers arriving on my blog with the words "Did Leonardo da Vinci exist?". Luckily, however, there was a Leonardo da Vinci...and the limits of the human world are greater than many suppose.

(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.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

Old and Childless.

So many, today, are old and childless. It doesn't bode well for the future of the world, for you know who these "old and childless" people are: ones with something to offer future generations.

Personally, I know several who are old but childless, who have lived full lives but never become parents. A short description of them is enough to cause alarm among those who care for the future genetic quality of Mankind. One of them has the best autobiographical memory I have ever encountered: he remembers his life in the most exquisite detail, despite being in his late sixties. He has never had a child and never will. His gift, for profound memory, will never be passed on.

I know others, too. One is a businessman and non-fiction writer. He is very intelligent and energetic and has qualities which any child would love the chance to have inherited from a parent. He is in his seventies, has never fathered a child and never will.

I know another who is actually a well-known fiction writer, of high quality literary fiction. He is about sixty, is unmarried (though has "girlfriends") and is very unlikely to have a child: he has said he doesn't want to be a parent because he doesn't think he would make a good one. I look at his written work and see a gifted man who will never pass on his gift.

I know another who is a former physicist, who is now a well-known photographer. He is old, but doesn't reveal his age. He is one of the brightest people I know of. He too has never had a child and doesn't want one - for the same reason as the one above: he is critical of himself and doesn't believe he would be a good father. His fine mind has not and will not be passed on.

Finally, there is someone I do not personally know: Robert Sawyer, who is a science fiction author of broad and deep talent. He is not yet old but is adamant that he will never have a child. As far as I remember he prefers to live on in "memes". In other words, he doesn't want a child to interfere with his attention to his creative work. He too will die without having passed on his genetic gifts. Rather appallingly, in his case, he has no relatives who are bearing children - so his entire line is dying out, with him. I find it strange that he doesn't see tragedy in this.

There are many such bright, gifted, elderly people without children in this world. It has become almost fashionable to be "unencumbered" and able to focus exclusively on one's own interests. I think all who are like this have missed the point of life - which is that it must continue, that the line must not be broken and that one must have children, who in turn have children. Otherwise, all that one is, will pass and be no more.

My friends are all very gifted, but it saddens me that they have all either decided against children or never found the right relationship in which to have them. All that they are, will pass away and there will be no more like them. Some of them have very special gifts, but all that will be gone.

This trend began with the widespread availability of contraception in the early 19th century. It has spread throughout the world with the more intelligent of each population being more likely to have few or no children. Thus it is that the world is becoming dumber each generation (see the detailed work of Richard Lynn in this regard).

The future of Man cannot be a gifted future, a bright future, a creative future if its gifted members don't raise families. What can be seen now is that Man is in decline. The day might come when Man's civilization itself might fail for the want of intelligent people to sustain it.

The old and childless might have their reasons for being so. Yet, they are doing the future of Man a disservice if they also happen to have any special gift of any kind. The future needs such gifts.

In the light of this, I am very content to be a father. Yes, it is true that being so interferes with one's own interests, work and passions. Yes, it is true that those who have chosen to be childless have more freedoms - but, at the same time, there is a lot that they miss. Live is richer and more rewarding for a parent than a non-parent. There is a lot I get to see, witness and understand that my childless friends never do and never will. On balance, being a parent is a richer experience than being a non-parent. Even knowing the "advantages" that my childless friends have, I would not swap my situation for theirs. Indeed, having known my situation, were I placed in their situation, I would mourn for the life I had lost.

It is true that my old, gifted and childless friends are enjoying their lives. They are creating interesting things. But are they missing out on something deeper? Have they missed the real point of life? Will they come to regret what they have omitted to create: a child of their own?

I know, I would.

(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.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

The Future of The Human Race

Do people care about the future of the Human race? Is it something to which intelligent people give thought?

Now, one would think so. One would think that no concern could, ultimately, be greater, for those who are intelligent, than that the race of which we are each but one, individual member, should have a long-term future. Yet, such supposition might be in error.

Yesterday, I found myself in a conversation with a number of professional men, in their thirties and forties. They were in respectable demanding jobs in such areas as finance, marketing and public relations. They were, therefore, considered to be intelligent, given the responsible and sometimes complex nature of their work. They were all, also, financially successful. Somehow the topic of the colonization of other planets came up. I spoke in its favour. To my surprise, EVERYONE THERE was against it.

"Why would anyone want to go to Mars?" said one scoffing professional.

"Well, because if all of mankind lives on one planet, eventually something will happen, and we will become extinct."

"I couldn't care less.", he retorted, somewhat harshly, his eyes seeming to mock me for caring about something so unimportant as the future of the Human race.

Seeing my way forward blocked in his unmoving eyes, I turned for support to the man standing next to me, a financier of some kind.

"If we don't colonize other planets, there is no chance of mankind surviving long term."

"I couldn't give a f*** about the human race!", he said, his face a little too close to mine, his voice rather aggressive in holding such an opinion.

I couldn't believe it. Here was a body of men who cared nothing for the future of the human race. One other, who did not speak directly to me, looked on, throughout, laughing each time I spoke of the need for Man to spread into space, to ensure its survival. I was surrounded by profound skeptics regarding the worth of Mankind.

I tried to explain it to them in simple terms. "It is just like anything else." I began, quietly, but firmly. "You don't put all your eggs in one basket. Thus, you can't have all of Mankind on one dirt ball...just like you wouldn't put all your money with Madoff." I added, mindful of the financial background of more than half of my audience.

The one who couldn't give a f*** about the future of the human race then scoffed: "Just give me one reason why anyone should go to Mars."

Well, economic arguments are something these people are likely to understand, I thought. "Well, it is much easier and more economically feasible to mine the asteroid belt using Mars as a base, than Earth. Then you could ship a huge amount of metals to Earth."

"Why would you want to do that?", he persisted, no reason being good enough for him. "We already have a huge amount of metals and no-one wants them. Have you seen the prices on the commodities market?"

Again, his thoughts were limited to money as the only justification for anything.

"That is a temporary economic situation. You could use the metals to make things."

"So you could increase the productive capacity of the Earth." he noted.

"Yes."

"What would you make?"

"Well, you could make lots of spaceships and spread outwards...", I said, somewhat deliberately, so as to challenge his world view, perhaps to needle him a little.

"We have a different viewpoint.", he concluded, trying to end the discussion.

I had one final point.

"You could use the materials to build solar power stations, giving cheap energy, much more energy than we presently have."

"For where?", he said, not caring about anywhere else but: "For Earth?"

"Yes."

"I think we use too much energy already."

"This would give us lots of cheap energy."

At this point, one of the others chipped in. He was involved in marketing.

"Have you ever been to Hawaii?", his eyes peered intently at me, like a cat waiting for a mouse to come out of its hole.

"No."

He seemed gratified: the mouse was out.

"Well, if you had, you wouldn't want to go to Mars. It is just beautiful."

"I didn't say I would go...but I think some people should. It should be colonized."

"What would they do there? Living in a bubble."

"They would terraform it. That would be their job."

He wasn't convinced.

"How would they do that?"

"Well they could release CFCs into the atmosphere this would cause global warming, which would promote the release of CO2, as the caps melted, which would promote more global warming and so on."

"And you are going to grow forests?", he mocked ever so sure of his position.

"Not at first, but eventually. You would have to start with lower life forms."

"Lichen." he acknowledged.

"Yes. That would start the process of making oxygen."

"Who would want to go to Mars?", he doubted.

"Lots of scientists would love to go."

"That is the problem." He said with a strange certainty, since I couldn't see any problem at all.

"Plenty of science has been done on this. The science is there...but the political will is not."

"Thank God for that." he said, a little louder, gratified.

I wasn't going to argue this one, when surrounded by a room of skeptics - but I was glad to have raised the topic, for it gave me an appreciation of a problem that I had not known existed: those who think about the long-term future of the Human race will be faced with opposition from a seeming majority of people who JUST DON'T CARE about the future of the Human race. That surprised me.

Having considered it, I would say that it is a property of a mature human mind, that such a person should be concerned about the long term future of both the Earth and the Human race. Absence of such a concern indicates, to my mind, an immaturity of mind - for the level has not been reached at which the person is thinking beyond their own needs and concerns, the level at which they think beyond the narrow confines of their own life and lifetime.

This group of professional men had not reached the level of inner growth that would allow them to be concerned about the long-term future of the Human race. They were still stuck on the immediate concerns of their own life (indeed, almost exclusively on the question of "How rich am I going to get?")

I hope, for the sake of the future of the Human race that such short-sighted attitudes as I encountered yesterday are rare. Even if they are not, such uncaring attitudes should not be allowed to influence policy. Major decisions affecting the future of Earth and the Human race should only be made by those who value the continuation of both.

Mankind needs to colonize space if it is to survive. It won't do so, as long as the short-term thinking I encountered yesterday predominates. Nothing could be more important to us all, than that the human enterprise endures, as long as the Universe does. We should, therefore, take all steps necessary to give Mankind such a chance to endure. The colonization of space is one such critical step.

I, for one, hope that it occurs in my lifetime. I would like to know that Mankind was not captive on one planet and at the mercy of its fate.

Thus, I look forward to what is to come: the Space race between the USA and China, to return to the Moon and to go to Mars, beyond that (at least the USA intends to visit Mars). I only hope that they stay when they get there. There is a world to build. Americans have done it once...why not do it again?

(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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