Samantha Schermanhorn and Kaylie George: proof that humans are not an intelligent species.

Samantha Schermanhorn and Kaylie George, both 13, have recently, and rather unwittingly, proved that the human species is not an intelligent one. Indeed, their action does suggest that some humans are less intelligent than a typical wild animal.

Samantha Schermanhorn and Kaylie George decided to go sunbathing recently. Now, you might think there is nothing particularly stupid about sunbathing (apart from the risk of skin cancer)...except that Samantha Schermanhorn and Kaylie George had a brilliant idea about just where to sunbathe. They chose to do so on the surface of a rural Pennsylvanian road. That is right, they were sunbathing in the road.

Now, here is where it gets even more stupid. They both fell asleep. Guess how they woke up? That is right. They woke up when they were struck by a car. Curiously, this car happened to have been driven by one of Schermanhorn's cousins. The 19 year old young man had stopped at a stop sign, then made a turn – before he ran over his dumb cousins. Apparently, though, both girls survived the collision and are now in the Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, to which they had been airlifted. News articles didn’t say whether they were in a special ward, for the uniquely dumb.

Seriously, though, this incident does show that humanity is not universally intelligent. Commentators about the human species always speak of the “intelligence” of the human race – but frankly, modern man does not bear this out. There are many very stupid people in this world – people who do things a dog wouldn’t think to do. I very much doubt whether a dog would choose to sunbathe in the middle of the road. A dog would know that cars are going to come along and drive over him or her, if they did that. It seems, though, that these two teenage girls weren’t bright enough to see the danger that sunbathing on a road put them in.

Any discussion of the intelligence of the human species needs to be more honest about the situation. Humans are not universally intelligent. In fact, the average human IQ is just 90 – which is pretty dumb, really. However, this should be further understood to mean that half of humanity has an IQ LESS THAN 90. Really, there are billions of dumb people out there...and some of them, like Samantha Schermanhorn and Kylie George are REALLY dumb...life threateningly stupid.

So, future discussions of the “intelligence” of the human species should note that humanity has a small, intelligent minority, but that vast hordes of humanity are really not very bright at all. Just ask Samantha Schermanhorn and Kaylie George. I am sure their replies, to any question at all, would be pretty convincing on the matter.

Posted by Valentine Cawley


(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

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Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

On the dumbness of "intelligence".

CIA stands for the Central Intelligence Agency. I understand that, by “intelligence” they are referring to information, rather than skill in its use – but, nevertheless, one does expect intelligent behaviour from an agency bearing that name and having that role. Recent events, however, suggest that, perhaps, the CIA should look at the quality of either its intake or its training.

Hezbollah has discovered more than a dozen CIA spies in Lebanon. It is feared that they are likely to be executed, if they have not already been. So, too, CIA spies in Iran have been uncovered and apprehended, in a double blow for the iconic agency.

I was struck by reports that the CIA spies in Lebanon were meeting, in a large group, at a Pizza hut. Apparently, the code word for the venue, in their “secret” conversations, was “pizza”. Hmm. I wonder if anyone could guess what that meant? Former officials were the source of the code word. Present officials deny the code word “pizza” was used. My take on that is to ask: who has “face” to lose? Those who no longer work in the US government – or those who do?

Regardless of whether or not that particular code word was used or not – which, if it was, is a spectacular instance of catastrophic dumbness – the other aspect of the situation is equally troubling. Is it not conspicuous for a large number of agents and their contacts to be meeting in a public restaurant all at the same time? Is this not likely to attract attention? Indeed, it did...with the result that the spy network was apprehended and rolled up.

If these reports are true – of a ludicrous code word and attention grabbing meetings – then I have to wonder at how such things can be. It would seem that the CIA’s agents in the Middle East, have been living life without a full appreciation of the risks of their role. They have lived as if in a TV show – where the good guys are never caught and nothing ill ever happens to them. No-one who truly understood, deep down, the risks of the job, would choose to meet, in a large group, in a public place...it is just too likely to be noticed. A little thought, without any special training at all, would suggest many different ways to organize meetings, that are much safer, and less likely to be noticed. However, this was not done, it seems: foolish risks were taken, instead, as if, in fact, there were no risks at all.

I am left to wonder at the age of the agents in question. Were they young and inexperienced...and, perhaps, a little unprepared for their roles? Did they see it as a game, and not as a very perilous life, indeed? No-one of any maturity, with any perspective on the consequences of being revealed, in such a role, could have behaved, as these “spies” are said to have done.

If it transpires that these operatives were, in fact, very young, it would be wiser, in future, to use older, more experienced field operatives, with a better appreciation of the fragility of life, and the precariousness of their position, as foreign agents, in the midst of hostile territory.

That being said, I hope the operatives, young or not, return home safely to their families, intact and untortured – though I rather feel that is as much a vain hope, as their actions were foolish, in meeting in Pizza Hut, in the first place.

That pizza better have been worth it.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Once upon a time...

As I come to understand the future path of the world ahead – the one which we shall all have to face, whether we want to, or not, I have to measure what I should tell my children and what I should omit. Generally, I like to keep them informed about the issues they will face.

A few days ago, I remarked to Fintan, eight, in a soft voice, bearing hard news:

“The oil will run out in your lifetime.”

“But not in yours!”, he countered, very quickly. “That’s not fair!”, he said most passionately.

“It will.”, I said, sad but sure, “but I will probably be an old man by then.”

He seemed to stare off into the distance – a distance in time – and what he saw there displeased him. It was clear that, at that moment, he had no further comment to make: he needed time to absorb the message and think about it.

Most of us think of ourselves as at the beginning of a new world. We look ahead to the greater things to come. Few of us, however, reflect upon the unavoidable truths that Mankind now faces: the end of the Age of Oil, for a start. It is quite possible, that my children’s children, will be born in a time when the oil has finally gone. It is certain that my children’s, children’s children – that is my great grandchildren, will definitely be born in a time in which oil has become a fairy story – a “once upon a time...” to be told at bedtime, of a fabled era when there was such a thing as cheap energy and people did crazy things, like drive their own two ton people carrier, called a “car” – often to move just one person. Young children, in those times, might lump “oil” along with “elves” and “dragons” – as something that either was far, far away and of no relevance to the modern world (which might be a lot less “modern” than now), or consider them of equivalent status: not real at all.

We live in a time of great challenge, greater than most people seem to appreciate. All that we have become accustomed to, in our way of life, is threatened. Unless Man builds an alternative energy infrastructure, with no dependence on oil or other fossil fuels, soon, the future will not seem to be the “future” at all – but the past. Without a great deal of energy, the modern way of life is not possible, at all.

When I am old, the Age of Oil, will be at an end. My children will, then, be in the middle of their lives. They will see oil pass away and they will live in what is to come. For them, it shall be harder, therefore, than for me – for they will see the contrast between the Age of Oil and the age of whatever is to come. Should Man be foolish enough not to have replaced the energy source, in full, by then, my children will know a sense of loss, in the second half of their lives, as they compare the lives they have to live then, and the lives they knew, growing up in the early 21^st century.

Looking again, at Fintan’s words: “That’s not fair!”, he asserted. He is right. It is not fair that my generation and the couple of generations before me, should have been so profligate with our oil and other fossil fuels, such that it shall shortly be at an end. It is not fair, that the generations that are and have been, did not husband this precious resource more carefully. Even an eight year old can see that – can feel the wrongness of it. It is not fair that people living now, should deprive all the people, who shall come, in the entire future history of Man, of that precious resource. We all should be more careful with it, than we have been. It is foolish to burn such a precious, once in a planetary lifetime, material, for reasons which, actually, don’t seem good enough, if you analyze them.

It is an odd thought, but my remaining life expectancy, if I live a typical life, for one of my background, is much the same, as the life expectancy of oil. Should I pass from the world as expected, I shall be leaving the world, just as oil does, too. I shall not, therefore, see what happens when all of it has gone – but I shall see the effects of its depletion as it nears that time.

I hope my children see a good world, in the time beyond the Age of Oil. I hope that there is enough wisdom in the world’s leaders (or at least all the major leaders between now and then...for there is little enough wisdom in the present ones), to ensure a secure ENERGETIC future for Man to come. Yet, I worry at what that world will be. Will enough be done, to ensure a good future for Mankind? Will my children have a good world to live in, in the second half of their lives? Any parent who truly understands what Mankind faces, can only be concerned about what the future will hold. I would suggest that, wherever you are, you choose to elect leaders who have an eye on replacing our present fossil fuel based energy infrastructure, with a renewable alternative, well in time, whilst there is still fossil energy to allow it to happen.

I wonder what Fintan will tell his children, about the Age of Oil and about his early life? I hope there is a workable alternative, then, for them, I really do.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.).

The Celtic and the English civilization.

Recent events in the UK, have given me pause to reflect on one very obvious issue. Almost every media organ referred to the riots as “UK riots”...yet, it is most clear when one looks at the list of locations of the riots – which were many, incidentally – that this was NOT a British problem – but an English one. An unavoidable conclusion comes to me: English civilization has declined in relation to Celtic civilization and now, at this time, the Celts (that is the Irish, the Scots and the Welsh) are most definitely more civilized than the English. The further question that this prompts me to ask is: was this always so?

The Irish, as an example of the Celts, are noted for their friendliness and ease of conversation. The English are traditionally noted for aloofness, to a degree and reluctance to engage with strangers (at least, a certain class of Englishmen). Could it be that the disengaged English are not working together to create an inclusive civilization, whereas the friendly Irish etc are being more inclusive and more, thereby, civilizing?

It is funny, in a way – darkly funny – for you see the English, that is a certain class of English, have long looked down on the Irish – they think of themselves as “superior” to the Irish. This is, of course, an English delusion since the Irish are among the most creative and intelligent people I know (that is I can produce specific examples of creativity and intelligence from among the Irish population). On the other hand, England has spent the last few generations breeding a new class of people, for whom “intelligence” is an unspellable word (yes, my computer suspects that to be a neologism, but never mind). This new class of Englishman is, perhaps, more violent, more resentful, more ungrateful, more parasitic and more criminal than any other similar group in any country I care to think of. They are the New Englishman. Now, it seems to me, that if England does not confront the implications of the existence of this large group of largely unemployable individuals, that England faces ruin in the long term: these people have the power to bring down that once great nation. You see, one big problem is that this group appears quite fertile: they are having lots of kids. There are many accounts of great fecundity among them. Yet, what kind of children are they having? Generally speaking, they are in the mould of their parents: low IQ, unskilled, uneducated, and, it seems, quite often, violent. Does England really want to be over-run by hordes of low IQ youngsters, who think that burglary is a respectable profession and mugging is an enjoyable hobby?

The problem the English now face, is made particularly difficult by the nature of the English State. There are particular obvious solutions to this problem which would be politically impossible. For instance, any significant reduction in benefits for this “underclass” would result in said underclass, numbering in the millions, voting out the existing government and replacing it with any party who promised to reinstate their benefits. Yet, it cannot be doubted that the benefit system, as is, has paid for the creation of this underclass. Unless difficult decisions are made and implemented and unless the various parties can agree, together, to maintain these changes, this underclass will only grow and grow until it becomes a dominant force in England. At that time, England, as we think we know it, would be at an end. The nation that would be in its place, would be a very ugly one indeed. The recent riots would be as nothing compared to the chronic condition of such a nation.

I hope that England’s present leaders, find the strength to face up to this problem and address it intelligently, even if their approach causes short term pain, as long as it ameliorates the situation, in the long term. Until then, however, it seems safe to say that Celtic civilization is more civilized than the English have now become.

Disclosure: I am Irish – but that doesn’t change the validity of what I have observed.

Posted by Valentine Cawley.

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Echoes of Alexandria.

Once, there was a great library that held virtually all of the world’s knowledge. Barbarian thugs burnt it down.* That library was, of course, Alexandria.

Today, I learnt that, amongst all the buildings set afire by Britain’s own barbarian thugs, were two libraries – and a College. Gloucester Library and the former Salford library were both set ablaze by Britain’s rioters. So, too, the Gloucester College of Art and Technology, has been burnt to the ground.

Now, assuming the choice of these buildings was deliberate, it does say something telling about the psyche (such as they have them), of the rioters. They choose to destroy that which they are personally unable to appreciate, presumably through a combined lack of intelligence and interest in learning. These thugs are typically uneducated, largely by choice, since the opportunity of a free education was given to them all. That they should burn libraries shows that they resent the written word, as something that somehow offends their “sensibilities”. To them, perhaps, the written word and books represent a kind of oppression: it is something that caused them great difficulty in school and required effort (which is the last thing they want to make), so, when faced with an innocent, vulnerable library, their first response is to set light to it. Watching all those books burn, no doubt fills them with glee. If these rioters had their way, there would not be a single book left in the world – and then everyone would be equal in their ignorance. The rioters are unable, intellectually, to “level up” with everyone else, so they would rather level everyone else down to them, through depriving them of the books, the rioters always resented.

That Gloucester College of Art and Technology should have been set afire is also very revealing of their mentality. It seems as if they blame the education establishment, in some way, for their own predicament. Perhaps they think that the education “system”, prevented them from gaining qualifications, by some trickery, or deviousness. In truth, of course, they prevented themselves from gaining from education by making no effort within it.

The rioters’ choice of two libraries and a College to burn, is evidence that we are really dealing with barbarians here, in the truest sense of the world. Although they grew up within British culture, they are not part of it – they have their own subculture, a barbarian world with no place in our own. There are only three choices when dealing with these people: reform, exile, or containment. Of course, there is the fourth alternative: death – and perhaps it might even have to come to that, if this blight upon the British people persists in mayhem, violence, looting, arson and, I now understand, murder (three and counting).

The means must be found to reform the character, nature and outlook of these thugs. If the means cannot be found (and, in fact, it would be difficult to educate such bestial people) then we should look to long term containment of them, until such time as they are no longer a threat to society. As for exile: who would have them? Would it be fair to inflict them on anyone? If, however, a rioter should be an immigrant from another country, a fair punishment would be for any visa, or indeed citizenship of Britain, to be revoked, and for them to be sent back to their country of origin – with a permanent ban on any return. Anyone who strives to destroy society – as these thugs have – deserves to be exiled from society, forever. I intend to write a fuller approach to dealing with them, in another post.

Given that two libraries and a College have been set alight, it would seem wise if the police took particular care to set a guard at the leading libraries in the UK. I cannot, for instance, imagine the loss to the nation, were the British Library to be set on fire – or indeed, any of the major University libraries, containing, sometimes, millions of books each.

The rioters have anger. They are evil, in the sense of not seeming to know what good is, or not caring about it, at least. All that they lack, is intelligent guidance. Should there arise among them, an intelligent leader able to guide them, so as to do maximal damage, then Britain will be in a very grave situation, indeed. It is fortunate that, so far, they appear to be as stupid as they are thoughtless of others. Perhaps, in a way, we should be thankful for their lack of seeming effort in the education system. Had they learnt more about the world, they would be a greater danger to it.

Then again, it must be said, I never thought I would live through times, in which people set libraries alight. When I was a young boy, in school, the idea that anyone would actually burn down the greatest library in the world, Alexandria, destroying the heritage of humanity, appalled me. I couldn’t understand how anyone would so lack appreciation of knowledge, art, literature, culture, science and history, that they would be able to do that. Now, however, Britain has a bred a generation of thugs, able to do just that: burn libraries, destroy knowledge, wipe out culture (given a chance). The burning of libraries, often signals the fall of civilizations and the ending of Old Worlds. Let us halt the advance of these particular barbarians and not be fearful of dealing with them in the manner they deserve – before their violent creed becomes the new norm, for a fractured British society. Personally, I would rather see the rioters burn, than our libraries. The real danger, however, in the present British political and social system, is that the rioters will be treated too gently, too kindly and too respectfully ever to teach them to be civilized. These rioters are a threat to Britain as a civilization. They should, therefore, be approached as an existential threat and dealt with, with an appropriate and punitive level of harshness. They should come to learn that Britain will not tolerate barbarians on its soil – not now and not ever (again).

* There are four possible historical culprits for the partial or complete destruction of Alexandria's library. I am not going to disentangle them here - except to say that although not supposedly all barbarians, their attitude to knowledge was certainly barbaric (except for Caesar, who might have burnt it by accident!)

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

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The triviality of modern medicine.

So much about modern life is trivial - even, it seems, at times, medicine.

I will explain. There is a glaucoma drug called Lumigan which had an unusual side effect (well, more than one unusual effect, but I will get to that). Commonly, users of Lumigan noticed that their eyelashes grew longer and thicker than before. So, being alert to any opportunity to make money, the pharmaceutical company behind Lumigan has remarketed Lumigan, the glaucoma drug, as Latisse, the eyelash-lengthening-plastic-surgery-in-a-pill-drug.

On hearing this news, I found myself quietly astonished. Now, there is a drug to lengthen eyelashes...and people actually want it. Journalists in the news piece I saw, interviewed women who said that they would "take the drug for the rest of their lives". The estimated cost of the drug, by one doctor, was over 100 US dollars per month, for the privilege of elongated eyelashes.

What kind of world do we live in, in which companies would actually develop drugs to lengthen eyelashes - and people would actually buy them? To my, perhaps old-fashioned way of looking at things, this preoccupation with minor details of appearance seems appallingly trivial. I cannot imagine anyone or anything more superficial than the lifelong consumption of a medical drug purely to lengthen one's eyelashes.

Interestingly, this drug, Latisse, has another side effect that its consumers might not be so keen on. Users of Lumigan, for glaucoma, also noticed that their irises tended to darken over time: light blue eyes, would darken and become brown, for instance. This is a permanent change in iris colour that cessation of the drug does not reverse. However, progression of the darkening stops once the drug is no longer consumed.

I wonder how many people are going to start consuming this drug? If it becomes popular, long eyelashes might become universal - and everyone would have dark eyes: blue eyes would become something only young children have, before they lose them to Latisse.

I would like to think that it is just my own sensibilities becoming more demanding, as I get older, but, it seems to me, that the world we live in, is becoming one of the most trivial Ages there has ever been. People are preoccupied with matters of such triviality (and superficiality) that not one thought should be devoted to them - yet they are major matters of attention, for so many. People devote their lives to pointless activities; people spend money on useless commodities - and people actually take drugs to change the length of their eyelashes. It is all mind-bogglingly stupid.

As for medicine...you know, the Ancients may not have known much, but I rather think they were trying to address serious issues, and did not overly concern themselves with the length of eyelashes.

Which would you rather have? A cure for a major illness...or long eyelashes? The same research and development funds that are committed to nonsense like "eyelash extending drugs" could have been committed to matters of greater import. When the trivial is allowed a voice, it tends to crowd out matters of more substance. No drug company should be devoting funds to trivial projects, when there are so many untreatable, or inadequately treatable, illnesses in this world that need attention.

Once, medicine was a serious calling and drug manufacturers were serious businesses engaged in matters of great importance to us all. Not anymore, however: now we can look forward to a plethora of drugs for every trivial issue that ever concerned the most trivial of people. However, I bet you one thing: the serious diseases will still be incurable - and enough attention will fail to be devoted to them.

Perhaps it comes down to one thing: more people have eyelashes than have cancer - so why not treat "short eyelashes" and make money, rather than "treat cancer" and save lives (and make money, too)? It seems that triviality is an infectious disease and the pharmaceutical/medical establishment has caught a serious case of it. Perhaps it will be fatal. Let's hope so. Perhaps the doctors and pharmacologists who replace them will be a serious bunch, instead.

(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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