Why can't the PAP find talent?

The PAP (People's Action Party) of Singapore (in fact, it seems the People's Action Party IS Singapore), has a problem: they can't find new talent. The leaders of the PAP are always bemoaning the great shortage of talent in Singapore and repeatedly state that, despite looking high and low, they can't find anyone to replace themselves, in time to come. The question that comes to me is: why?

You see mathematically, the PAP's complaint is more than a little strange. It is, for instance, a local myth that you need to be particularly talented to be an MP, in fact, Members of Parliament SHOULDN'T be particularly talented. The reason for this is simple, some research that I read long ago, but would have to source again to reference, stated that a leader should be no more than 30 IQ points above the led, so as to preserve the ability to communicate with their constituency. If the leader was too bright, there would be a disconnect with their people and communication would break down. Now, this leads us to a very interesting conclusion: there is no shortage of talent in Singapore for the PAP, or at least, there shouldn't be.

To have an IQ 30 points above the norm is not particularly rare. In fact its theoretical rarity is one person in 44. Thus, one person in 44 in Singapore is at the limit of brightness permissible in an effective leader. This means that among Singapore's 3.16 million citizens (the last time I read a figure in an article), there should be 71,818 people with IQs 30 points above the norm (or about 134 IQ points). That is a very telling result, for all those who have believed that Singapore does, indeed, have a PAP talent shortage. There are 89 PAP MPs. This means that Singapore has enough people of the right IQ to make 807 PAP parties. Furthermore, this is a gross under-estimate of the situation, for it excludes those people whose IQs are less than 134 (who are far more numerous) and who could also do a good job and communicate effectively to the people. It also excludes those whose IQs are slightly above 134 but not so far above as to have a disastrous communication gap.

Thus one can conclude that there are, in Singapore, enough people, with enough "talent" to produce thousands of political parties the size of the PAP. (For the numbers of people with adequate IQs less than 134 is far more numerous than those with IQs of 134. Note the figure 134 comes from the fact that the average IQ in Singapore, according to some studies, is 104).

So, given this super-abundance of appropriate talent, why does the PAP protest the lack of talent for their succession?

There a number of possibilities. Firstly, is the possibility that the PAP has, in its recruitment procedures decided to try to maximise the intelligence of its MPs, to the extreme limit, such that there really are only 89 candidates. This would be a startling scenario, for it implies that the IQs of these MPs is at a rarity of 89/3.16 million. That would be one person in 35,506 people. That means, given Singapore's mean of 104, that the PAP MPs must have IQs of about 168, on average. I find this absurd in the extreme, since the average IQ of Nobel Prize Winners in Science is only 159, according to the Sigma Society.

Are we really expected to believe that PAP MPs are nine IQ points smarter, on average, than Nobel Prize Winners in Science? If so, Singapore would truly have to be run remarkably well. I will leave it to your own opinions to decide whether that is so.

If, however, it is, in fact, so that PAP MPs are as smart as 168 IQ points, each, on average, then that explains something about the way government is conducted locally. People that smart cannot lead ordinary people, because they cannot communicate effectively with them. Thus, if it is so, that the PAP have set things up like this, then it is not surprising that many people are unhappy with them.

Yet, I do not think it is so. Few people who are aware of what a person of an IQ of 168 is like would confuse such a person with local MPs - at least, not from the evidence of their public utterances. Also, it would be reasonable to expect close to perfection from them, in their decision making, were they as smart, as a cohort, as this.

Thus, given the fact that the optimal IQ of a Singaporean MP is only 134 IQ points and that there are 71,818 such people in Singapore, one can conclude that another force must be at work. Quite simply Singaporeans must not want to be PAP MPs. There are over 807 times as many good candidates as there are MP jobs, yet, still the PAP has difficulty with recruitment. This means, basically, that the chance of someone wanting to be an MP is 807 to one (0.001239 of the acceptable population). In fact, of course, this is an underestimate of the unlikelihood of someone wanting to be an MP, since there are many more viable candidates who don't have the exact IQ in question. The true figure would be several thousands to one.

This analysis, which has been guided by numbers and logic alone leads me to ask a question: does the government really believe that the problem is a lack of talent? If so, this would seem to indicate a lack of understanding of the electorate. There is no lack of talent. However, there does appear to be a strong desire, among Singaporeans, NOT to become involved in politics. This could be because of the way politics is conducted in Singapore. For those overseas readers who don't know, the government of Singapore is the PAP and they have a habit of crushing all nascent opposition with every means possible. This makes Singapore effectively a one party state. Perhaps the people of Singapore are uncomfortable with this way of conducting politics and wish to stay out of it.

The tale of the numbers are clear. There are only two evident explanations. Either the PAP has made a fundamental error in selection in thinking that only supersmart people should be MPs, (and the evidence of their public images is against this interpretation) or the people of Singapore simply don't want to be politicians.

The PAP explanation that there is an absence of talent is proven to be false, by these numbers. The talent is there: but perhaps the willingness to be involved is not.

I wonder if the PAP allowed other parties to flourish (which they have not) whether Singapore would discover an abundance of talent, where before there was none? It seems to me that Singapore, which has always justified its one party system on the basis that there was not enough talent to support two parties or more, has more than enough talent, statistically, for a plurality of parties. What it lacks, however, is the willingness of the government to allow any opposition within its shores.

Now, I have written this post, without any interest in the politics of the situation at all. Singapore is not my country. I am merely an observer of it. However, curiosity led me to analyse the IQ distribution and the consequences of that, to see what the true tale of the underlying talent would be. I report the results, much as a scientist does, with no opinion of the results other than to say these are the results. So, let no-one think that I have any political motive in writing this post. I have no interest in the politics of Singapore at all (it is really too dull a subject to have much interest in). I do, however, have a scientific interest in the truth - and the truth is that Singapore has an abundance of talent adequate to the task of being an MP, in Singapore. MPs don't need to be geniuses - in fact they shouldn't be. Given that, Singapore has more than enough talent to run the nation. The big question remains, of course: why is the PAP, then, having such difficulty with recruitment and succession?

(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.)

Jade Goody and modern fame.

Jade Goody is famous. She is the kind of famous person who couldn't possibly have been famous only a few years ago. She is famous for being a "reality" star. In other words, she is famous for being herself.

Jade Goody first came to public attention in the Big Brother series on Channel 4 in the UK. For those who don't know, this is a show in which a group of strangers get together in a house which is covered in surveillance cameras. Week by week, they are eliminated, until there is a winner. Now, Jade Goody didn't win the show, but she won in subsequent life. Although she only came fourth in the show, the exposure was enough to allow her to leverage her position in the most surreal way imaginable: she ended up having other TV shows, launching a perfume (Shh...), various diet and workout DVDs (she is large), appearing many times in gossip and celebrity magazines and amassing a fortune estimated at up to 8 million pounds. In all, she has done remarkably well, for a self-declared uneducated 27 year old from Essex.

Yet, there is a problem: Jade Goody is dying of cancer. Her remarkably unlikely life is also going to be remarkably short. Her cervical cancer has metastasized and doctors give her only weeks to live.

Jade Goody has made another unusual choice: her decline is public news. Photos of her bald head and failing health are to be seen in all the tabloids and her last minute wedding to Jack Tweed was featured in Hello magazine (for a reported 700,000 pounds). In England, much attention is given to her dying days.

Yet, think on this: since when, before the modern era, would the death of an ordinary woman capture the attention of a nation? Jade Goody has none of the conventional talents expected of a famous person. She is not one who could have become famous for her merits, skills or exceptional gifts in the time before reality shows. It is only the advent of the reality show and its appetite for the ordinary person, that she has been able to propel herself to fame, and considerable riches.

What we see with Jade Goody's hold on the British mind is that in the modern era, fame itself has merit. Once a person becomes famous that, in itself, is enough to justify attention directed towards them. Jade Goody is better known than many of much greater merit, but she receives the attention precisely and only because she has already received attention. That is it. There is nothing more to it. Jade Goody is worthy because she is known, but she is not known because she is worthy. She is known because of a modern invention called the reality show that projects ordinary people to the masses.

Having said that, reality shows do provide a new form of entertainment that entertains because its contestants are just like the viewers: ordinary. There is a new kind of bond between viewer and contestant: between the ordinary and the ordinary. Before now, the relationship had always been between the ordinary and the extraordinary - between the ordinary person at home and the remarkable person on the screen. That has changed - and so Jade Goody is now a famous person.

Were it not for Big Brother, Jade Goody would now be just another unknown young mother, dying of cancer. Now, however, she is a wealthy, famous reality star dying of cancer. Her life, though still short, has become much bigger. She will pass on, but she has left an imprint on the public consciousness of the UK. I feel that, somehow, this thought nourishes her.

Jade Goody is dying in full view of the public. She says she is doing this to ensure the financial future of her two sons - because media organizations have been paying for her story. That is fair enough.

Though ordinary in talent, Jade Goody has led a remarkable life. I wish her and her family well.

(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.)

It is time to uninvent the gun.

It is time to uninvent the gun. No other invention has led to the death of more people than this simple device. If I had the power to remove one thought from the mind of Humanity, it would be the concept of the gun.

Today, a 17 year old teenage gunman opened fire on kids at his former high school, in Winnenden, 20 km north-east of Stuttgart. He managed to kill 15 people, including three teachers, before he was slain by police. This is the worst such shooting in Germany since 2002 when a 19 year old, Robert Steinhaeuser, did something very similar by shooting 12 teachers, two students, a secretary and a police officer before turning the gun on himself. This happened at Gutenberg high school in Erfurt. (Apparently, the young gun club member had been expelled from school for forging a doctor's note: his response was to kill as many people as he could.)

Now, neither of these events would have been possible if the gun had never been invented. Quite simply, a teenage boy with a knife, for instance, no matter how determined he is, is far less deadly than the same boy with a firearm. People can run from a knife, they can't run from a bullet.

The US, of course, is famous for its shootings. In fact, the school shooting is as American as the hamburger: what, in fact, would America be without its school shootings? There is seriousness, in my comedy, sadly - for such events are far too common in America. The reason, of course, is quite obvious: Americans have easy access to guns, so an American with a grudge becomes a school shooter/restaurant rampager/car jacker, all too quickly. What would be a minor altercation in a non gun-owning society, becomes mass murder in a gun owning one.

Singapore recently had its taste of sudden, unexpected violence when David Hartanto Widjaja, allegedly attacked his supervising professor with a knife, then, again allegedly, killed himself. Had David Hartanto Widjaja had access to an automatic weapon the headline might have gone a little bit like this: "Indonesian Chinese boy kills 25 at NTU." Thankfully, access to guns is strictly controlled in Singapore, making such a headline, in Singapore, extremely unlikely. However, I should point out that the David Hartanto Widjaja situation indicates that the ONLY reason Singapore does not have headlines like that, is because the students are not armed. Were Singapore's students as likely to be armed as Americans (or Germans), then, I am sure, that Singapore would have its own long list of school shootings.

The recipe for school shootings is a simple one and Singapore has all the ingredients except one: the guns. All you have to do is put students under tremendous pressure to succeed; make school quite hellish and cold; be just a little inhuman to the student body and keep this up for a decade and a half. Many students, under such conditions, will crack. Those that crack while holding a gun in their hands will take down half their college faculty with them. The only thing saving Singapore from a great shortage of professors is the absence of guns.

The solution, of course, is very simple: take the guns away. Societies that don't have guns, don't have mass shootings. It is terribly obvious. Any society that allows ownership of guns is one that has to accept that the presence of guns will lead to sudden, unexpected large scale violence that can kill many people. Often those people will be schoolchildren.

We can't uninvent the gun, pity though it is. However, we can remove guns from society. It would, I think, be a much better world if every nation on Earth took away the guns. Once the guns are gone, murder rates will fall and every nation will be spared terrible tragedies like the one that unfolded in Germany today.

Many people tend to leap to defend guns, once someone suggests their removal. We have to look, however, at the motives of such people: usually they haven't thought broadly about the situation. All they are thinking is: "I want a gun, to protect myself from the other guy who has a gun." Well, they never seem to consider that nobody having a gun, is better than everybody having a gun. People can't shoot you with their bare hands.

A completely disarmed world, is a much safer world, than a completely armed world. America has shown us what an (almost) completely armed society is like: a stupendous murder rate and mass murders with unrelenting frequency. Societies that traditionally do not have guns, tend also to have relative freedom from murder.

It is time for people to work together to achieve safer societies. All that has to be done is that everyone should agree that there will be no guns. Then take them away. Those that retain them need only be punished with the utmost severity to eliminate guns, entirely, over time.

The alternative, of course, is to invite headlines of the kind we have been speaking of. So choose: no news to report, or sensational headlines - which is it to be?

(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.)

On the verge of a new era.

If we are lucky, we could be on the verge of a new era. In three and half years, Mankind might have a completely different understanding of its place in the world.



The Kepler telescope, or more precisely, photometer, has been launched by NASA. This is a mission with an unprecedented capability: that of finding Earth-like planets. Though, the launch was unseen and unknown by most of us, it could prove to be one of the most significant events of the millennium. For Kepler should show us just how rare Earth-like planets are, and give us a much better idea of the likelihood of other life-bearing planets in the Universe. It will even allow us to put a number to them.



The idea behind Kepler is simple and clever. It cannot image a planet directly, but what it does is measure the dip in light, from a star, as a planet passes in front of this. From this measurement, it is possible to estimate the size of the planet in question and determine whether it lies in the "Goldilocks Zone" of being not too hot and not too cold, for life.



The photometer (light measuring device) consists of an array of CCDs, such as you might find in a digital camera, amounting to 96 million pixels, for an .95 m telescope. Kepler is to be trained for at least three and a half years, on the same spot in space, in Cygnus-Lyra where it should be able to examine around 100,000 stars for evidence of Earth-like planets. The reason it is trained for so long on one spot is to prove the presence of a planet by capturing its orbital period, when it returns, again, to the same spot, and dims its star once more. This will allow calculation of whether it lies at a suitable distance from its star, or not.



The idea of the mission is a straightforward one, but its impact on Mankind - whatever the outcome - shall prove profound. Kepler will tell us the frequency of Earth-like planets in the Universe. That will inform us not only of the future possible homes for our future descendants, but also whether other life-bearing planets are likely to exist. The impact on Humanity will be great, whether Earth-like planets are shown to be rare, or common, or somewhere in between. Personally, I have my fingers crossed that Earth-like planets will be abundant, for the Universe that that implies is so much more interesting and welcoming than the alternative. Should, however, it should be shown that Earth-like planets are rare to non-existent, that might have a strong, immediate impact on our environmental consciousness: for what greater reason could there be to look after the present world, but the knowledge that there is not going to be another?



Kepler is the first step to doing what seems unimaginable: imaging distant Earth-like planets. Ultimately, that will be the result of the present early steps. There is nothing in physics to preclude Humanity building a scope big enough (actually an array of scopes working together), to image Earth-like planets around other stars, should they actually exist. Such images could finally answer the question: is there life elsewhere in the Universe? For surely, certain colourations and spectra of light from distant planets could tell us a lot about whether there was active life on their surface.



It is beginning to look as if astronomy might answer the question of whether there is likely to be life elsewhere, within the prospective lifetimes of most of us. The building of the necessary telescopes is certainly within the technological capability of Mankind, at present: all that is needed is the, quite substantial, investment. Few scientific investigations promise to change Man's view of the world and himself more than what such telescopes could reveal.



One day, of course, probably too far in the future for any of us to ever personally know, the images from such telescopes might guide future men to visit those far off stars and begin the process that is required if Mankind is to endure the ages: colonizing the galaxy, one planet at a time.



Future historians, looking back from their distant worlds, around other stars, will trace the beginning of the exploration that led to their world's colonization to the launch of Kepler and the knowledge it brought Mankind of exactly which stars are orbited by an Earth-like planet.



One day, perhaps, each of the Earth-like planets Kepler finds will, in fact, be populated by human beings - if not, of course, already populated by something else. I hope Mankind doesn't stoop to piracy and the taking of other worlds (unless, I suppose, there were no intelligent life present, then it wouldn't be so bad, I think, to put some there).



I, for one, I am very interested to know, what Kepler learns in the next three and a half years. What it tells us, whether it be positive or negative, shall forever change Mankind's view of his place in the Universe. Now, that is a pretty good use for what amounts to a digital camera.



(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 cause of NTU's suicide habit.

Every effect has a cause - and NTU's recent suicides are no exception. The question is: what could motivate two young men: David Hartanto Widjaja, 21 and, now Zhou Zheng, 24, to throw their lives away? It seems clear that both men thought their lives not worth living, anymore. What could have driven them to such a conclusion? Well, recent news reporting has inadvertently provided me with a clue.

In the Channel News Asia report of the hanging of Zhou Zheng, a recently appointed Project Officer, in THE SAME LABORATORY AS THE OTHER SUICIDE, they mentioned something in passing, which I think to be of great importance. They said that reporters from the radio station 938 Live had interviewed other residents in Block 101 C Nanyang Heights (a residence on campus for staff and graduate students). They weren't very successful in their interviews. They learnt that residents kept largely to themselves and interacted little with each other. Without realizing it, those reporters had, I feel, stumbled on a big clue as to what is happening at NTU. If people do not interact with each other, they feel alone, isolated, set apart. Without sufficient human interaction, they may begin to question their own worth, or value, they may begin to think little of themselves. A person who is isolated, though living in a block surrounded by many others, who basically ignore them, can very easily succumb to depression, or be led to dark thoughts.

That passing remark by 938 Live reporters makes me wonder what sort of culture now prevails at NTU. Is it one of relatively little interaction, at all levels? Or is it just among the graduate students and staff? If it is at all levels, that would provide some insight into David Hartanto Widjaja's and Zhou Zheng's death. We must not ignore that both were from the same lab. That means that both were exposed to the same social forces, the same environment, and many of the same issues, stresses and problems. What amazes me is that Zhou Zheng had only been at work for, I think, five days, before he decided to kill himself. Is working at NTU really such an unpleasant experience that he would end his life, so soon? Or is the problem restricted solely to the EEE lab (Electrical and Electronic Engineering) where he worked - and where David Hartanto Widjaja had studied?

This situation should not be dismissed as just a dark, unfortunate coincidence. That two young men should die, allegedly by their own hands, from the same laboratory at the same University, in the same week, is far too unlikely to be just coincidence. There is something afoot in the EEE lab of NTU, though what, it is difficult to say. It could be as simple as "the residents kept largely to themselves and interacted little with each other." A little social isolation can go a long way to undermining many people's belief in their own worth and that of life itself.

I would say that Universities, here, in Singapore, should pay less heed to academic demands and more heed to creating a convivial, warm, human and HUMANE atmosphere that makes staff and students alike feel welcomed and valued. I cannot believe that either Zhou Zheng, or David Hartanto Widjaja felt welcomed and valued. Had they done so, I cannot believe that either would have taken their own life, at the very beginning of what could have been. They both seem to have thrown everything away, just when it was beginning. No-one does that, without a very good reason. The question is: what was the reason? Why did David Hartanto Widjaja and Zhou Zheng, both of the EEE lab, both decide to kill themselves (allegedly) in the same week?

The answer may be as simple as social deprivation - or it could be a whole lot more involved. However, the social issue is one that should be looked at, after all, David Hartanto Widjaja, was described as someone who spent a lot of time to himself, in several reports. Maybe he wasn't too happy with that, in his own way.

I am watching this situation with interest, for I feel it deserves a full investigation and not one that proceeds by assumption or the need to preserve the good image of the institution concerned. What is needed is a good dose of truth seeking, no matter what truth might be found. People just don't kill themselves without a strong proximate cause. Now is the time to look for that cause - before others join Zhou Zheng and David Hartanto Widjaja, in death. To cover this up, might be to kill others, too. Let us not allow that to happen.

(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.)

Living in an overpopulated world.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in an overpopulated world? Well, wonder no longer: just come to Singapore.

Writers are fond of warning us of overpopulation and indicating some future time at which this would have occurred. They then paint the terrors of such a time and such a condition. I find this a little puzzling since it doesn't take much experience of life, in some parts of the world, to know that overcrowding is already here.

Today, I made the mistake of going to Singaporean shopping centres on a Sunday. This innocent enough sounding activity is actually most unpleasant. The crowds and the noise were both unbearable. I seemed to have entered a competition, in which a basic challenge had been made: how many people can you squeeze into a shop at one time, without killing any of them? I could swear that every shop I entered was well on the way to being the winner. It was awful. Everywhere, I felt the press of too many others. Every sight line was blocked by a myriad people, obscuring everything beyond them, ever moving, ever jostling. Then there was the noise: so many people chattering at once, seeking to speak above those who sought to speak above them. It was a cacophony of incomprehensible sounds, for so many of them did not speak English (or nothing that I would recognize as such).

I felt the strongest need to be at home, in peace and quiet.

As I looked around, a thought nudged me every now and again: the Singaporean government wants even more people in Singapore. Already there are 4.8 million, but I understand the target to be 6.5 million. Well, on the hugely unpleasant evidence of what I experienced today I would say that Singapore has long past the point of overpopulation already. Singapore is already, in some ways, a very unpleasant place to live: you just have to go to the wrong place at the wrong time (ie. where everyone else wants to go) and you will really have a terrible time fighting your way through the crowds of people. Were there to be another 1.7 million people, as planned, Singapore would be truly unbearable: everywhere would be unbearably overcrowded ALL the time.

I would say that Singapore should have no more than 1 million people. That is all. The population of Singapore should be drastically reduced if it is to be a livable environment in the decades ahead. If the population is increased, only those who are particularly immune to living in intensely overcrowded conditions will stay here. The rest will leave for anywhere else, that offers more breathing space.

I have learnt something though. I don't intend to go to a main shopping centre, in Singapore, on the weekend again. That is the time to stay away from such places. Life is too short to spend any of it in such unpleasant situations.

I rather hope that the global population does not continue to climb - otherwise more and more places will become as densely populated as Singapore and there will be fewer and fewer refuges for the sensitive among us, from the urgent press of innumerable humanity.

It was a relief to get home.

(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.)