Shocking news: Mermaids don’t exist...zombies neither.

Mermaids don’t exist, says the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). If that news disappoints you, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), announced, last month, that zombies don’t exist, either.

Now, for me, these news items were a little surprising – not, you understand for their content, but for the fact that they were thought necessary.

NOAA released their denial of the existence of mermaids to counter an upwelling of belief in them, after a recent Animal Planet TV show: “Mermaids: the body found”. Apparently, the computerized imagery showing mermaids, in this show, had convinced some viewers that mermaids were real.  In response, NOAA said: “No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found”.

So, too, the CDC denial of the existence of zombies presumably comes in the wake of a case in which a man, apparently high on some sort of drug, ate the face of a homeless man, in rather zombie like behaviour. The CDC declared: “CDC does not know of a virus or condition that would reanimate the dead (or one that would present zombie-like symptoms).”

Both of these announcements gave me great pause. It is true to say that they are enough, in themselves, to turn one’s world upside down. Of course, that is not because one might be disappointed to learn that mermaids don’t exist and that zombies are entirely fictional. It is quite simply because of the sheer implicit dumbness of the American people that would require these scientific bodies to make such announcements. How dumb must the population be, to be convinced of the existence of mermaids, or the truth of zombies? How dumb must these people be, to live in fear of a “zombie apocalypse”...as some apparently do?

We live in paradoxical times. Whilst educational opportunities, in general, may be better than at any other time in history, for the average person, we are also confronted with the sheer stupidity of many modern people. Somehow, despite the opportunity to learn and a considerable apparatus to do so, in almost all the world’s countries, people still insist on being dumber than your average brick.

Particularly worrisome about this is the fact that both these announcements came from American scientific bodies. This is very much suggestive that America, in particular, may be suffering from a surfeit of dumb people in its population. Could this be because American education has declined in recent decades? Is the average person leaving High School unable to distinguish reality and fiction to the extent that they need to be told, via official announcements that the stuff of mere stories – mermaids and zombies – do not exist in real life?

Modern civilization is upheld, not by the average person, nor by the believers in zombies, or mermaids, but by the intellectually gifted. Relatively few people know how the apparatus of science, technology, engineering, architecture and medicine work. It is on such people that the structure of society rests. Without them, society would be on the level of the zombie believers. That would be the true “zombie apocalypse”.

The situation led me to wonder why our scientific bodies don’t devote more energies to educating the public. What if, instead of having to deny the existence of fairy tales, they could use the mass media to educate the general public about science, technology and the world? The only problem with this, of course, is whether the mass media would even carry such stories.

Sometimes I do find myself agreeing with Ainan’s sombre view of the future of Humanity. He thinks we are in for a general decline in civilization, in the coming century. He sees signs of it in the general decay of public consciousness and in the disregard for the future, shown by our “leaders” (think, for instance, of the general inaction on global warming). He doesn’t yet know about the zombie/mermaid believers. I don’t expect it will fill him with any more hope to hear it.

I do hope Ainan is wrong on this point. I would like civilization to climb to ever higher levels. Yet, then I hear stories like this one. It is a worry.

Clearly, what is needed to address this is for education standards to be raised to the level at which, at least, people are able to distinguish reality and fiction. Is that too much to ask?

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.

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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.

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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.) 

Newt Gingrich's moonbase plan.

Newt Gingrich has pledged to build an American lunar base – or moonbase, as it is more popularly known – by 2020, if he is elected. This is both an ambitious plan and a necessary one, if Americans are to maintain a lead in space, technology and, potentially, energy production.
There are problems with this plan, however. One issue is that America, on the retirement of the shuttle, has no launch vehicle of its own, at least for several years and is reliant on hitching a ride on Russian spacecraft, for now, and, in future, on private ones under development. America is not really a space faring nation at this time. Another issue is that it takes much time to research and develop new spacecraft and new missions, of any real scale. Though under George Bush, NASA spent 9 billion dollars looking a lunar visit. There is no doubt more work pertaining to a moonbase, yet to be done. A spacecraft capable of lunar trips would have to be designed and built. That is a lot to get done in just eight years.

There are other issues too. The Russians and the Chinese both have been speaking of putting together moonbases of their own – the Russians wish to do so, in cooperation with the US. So, there is a certain urgency if America is to get there first. If Newt Gingrich is not elected President, it is unlikely that America will win that particular race. After all, President Obama, with his typical lack of vision, cancelled Bush’s Constellation programme which had planned to take man back to the moon. Obama, it seems, doesn’t see the value in such things. So if Obama is elected again, America’s space plans will have to be decidedly more prosaic for the time being. (Though oddly, Obama did suggest that America forget the moon and go to an asteroid and Mars instead...a much greater ambition, requiring much greater funding. I think, perhaps, he doesn’t fully understand the details of this, since funding concerns was one of the reasons he cancelled the Constellation programme).

Many people have reacted to Newt Gingrich’s proposed moonbase, as if he is off his trolley. He has been buried in scorn from many quarters. Yet, there is nothing impossible about his dream – except perhaps the timescale. Were America to actually fund this proposal, it would happen, in due course. A moonbase is well within our technical capabilities. Indeed, Newt Gingrich is to be admired for having such a vision for America. Without visionary politicians, the future of the world will look rather dull. It is those with vision, who craft a future worth seeing. So I applaud his guts in stating what seems to most, such a visionary near future. I found even more telling about the scale of his vision, when he remarked that once 13,000 Americans were living on the moon, that they could apply to become another state of the USA! How about that for ambitious?
There is something here, that has not been brought up in the discussions about Gingrich’s lunar dream. It is essential, for the long term survival of man, that there be a second location for humanity, other than Earth. It is inevitable that the Earth will face a large scale catastrophe again, as it has in the past. The history of Earth, is a history of extinction...mass extinctions. Indeed, Mankind is precipitating His own mass extinction through carelessness, as I write. One day, Mankind may face extinction on Earth, through a natural catastrophe or a man-made disaster. It is imperative that humanity has a “back up”. Were there a lunar civilization which had got to the point of being self-sustaining, then Mankind would survive an earthly extinction event.

So, though I doubt he is considering the issue, Newt Gingrich’s vision for a permanent lunar base, is one that could not be more important. A lunar base would almost guarantee the long term survival of the human race, by giving us a second chance in the event of mass catastrophe. To be viable as a backup for humanity the lunar base would have to be quite large, with a minimum population of 150 of mixed sexes. This is the smallest number likely to allow long term breeding of the population without too much inbreeding. (If I recall correctly from past reading).

Thus, Newt Gingrich’s view of a new state, with 13,000 Americans resident, would be sufficient to provide a genetic backup to the majority of Mankind, being large enough to store a wide range of genetic variants. It would allow humanity to survive the unforeseen disasters that lie ahead of us.

What if America is led by a man without a vision for space or humanity, like President Obama or his ilk? Then we can expect that China or perhaps Russia will create such a moonbase first. Indeed, without the necessary vision, perhaps America will forego such a base. My reaction to this is perhaps not what you might expect. I would rather that there were a Chinese moonbase, than no moonbase at all. At least, in the event of catastrophe a subset of Mankind would survive, rather than none at all. Thus, it is an advance for humanity, even if only China establishes a moonbase.

It is my hope that a new space race of a kind will ignite, with America vying to get to the moon and form a base, before the Chinese (with the US perhaps working with the Russians) and vice versa. If such a sense of competition is established, it would provoke the competing nations into making the necessary commitment of resources to the task, such that it will actually happen.
One thing that politicians balk at is the cost of a moonbase. I have seen a low estimate of 35 billion dollars to establish the base and 7.35 billion dollars to run it annually. I have also seen one estimate of 700 billion dollars. Whichever it is, I am struck by the strangeness of the thought processes of those who hesitate before such costs – because of one thing: they have no reluctance to commit to spending multi-TRILLIONS of dollars in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – but stall at spending much less on space colonization. It seems that, in America, money is always available to kill people, but not to save the long term future of Mankind.

It is time for Man to take the long term view. We need space colonies if we are to survive as a race. There is no alternative to this. There can be no indefinite survival on Earth, alone. So let us go out into space, and colonize as many worlds as we can in our solar system, and many others.
I am an outsider to American politics. I don’t know that much about Newt Gingrich. Yet, it would be interesting to see him actually become President and strive to put American’s on the moon – permanently. That would certainly make 2020 a year to remember...for all Mankind.

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/

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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.)

Is the future Asian?

I had to ask. You see, very recent experience leads me to wonder where the future epicentre of the world will be. I have the inkling that it might not be in the West for much longer.

Now, the experience that leads me to wonder whether the future is Asian is one that offers the same chance to all nationalities, but then allows me to observe their differing reponses. It was not a deliberate experiment, but it has turned out to be most informative.

On Wednesday 13th October, 2010, Ainan and I, announced some of our scientific work together. Specifically, this was to announce Ainan's discovery of a novel human sense perception, which I termed Velociperception. This is a little complicated but, in essence, is the direct perception of angular velocity as a colour coded experience. It means that Ainan is able to recognize the angular velocity of moving objects, at a glance, in that his mind automatically categorizes them, by assigning a colour code particular to an angular velocity. We believe this arises as a new form synaesthesia. Anyway, this post is not one for too many details, at this time, of this discovery in perception. What is of interest to me here, is the differential response of media from around the world.

I sent out invitations to local and Western media alike. What happened was rather startling. The Western media responded very quickly indicating interest in covering the event (we said it was to announce a scientific discovery), sometimes within half an hour of mailing them. The local media, however, were rather slow to respond: only two RSVPed, at all. All the others remained silent.

On the day of the press conference, something unexpected happened. None of the Western media showed up, despite their having RSVPed their interest. As for the local media, almost ALL of them showed up, despite not having told me they were coming. I found this quite startling. It seems the Western media - at least, the ones operating in Malaysia - just don't keep their word at all.

Now, we presented rather a lot of information to those who came - perhaps too much. So, it was no surprise that only two papers had articles the following day (the conference ended about 3.30 pm the previous day). However, later on the day after, news broke on a Chinese language news agency...and electrified the Chinese speaking world. The news has been taken up by many Chinese language newspapers and portals, including Baidu and Yahoo in Taiwan and Hongkong. Almost all of the hits, referring to the new phenomenon of Velociperception, are Chinese. All of the rest are Asian. Nowhere to be seen, is the Western media world...

To me, this is most telling. It speaks of a differential willingness to acknowledge a new phenomenon. The Western media, have remained silent so far...or have actually failed to keep their word on attending the event. This includes all major Western news agencies, which have just ignored the development. The Oriental world, however, has embraced the novelty of this discovery and news of it is spreading fast. So, who, therefore, is the more forward looking society? The silent West...or the chattering East?

Frankly, I am very surprised by these results. I had not expected this, at all. I had always believed the West to be more open to new ideas, but this may no longer be so. It is, from this diagnostic situation, the EAST, that is more aligned to an open future. The West have stonewalled the new work, so far and even if they do eventually cover it, the coverage would have come very slowly. The East, however, has come alive with the news, in a quite excited manner. Many sites have labelled our news as a "hot topic".

This situation does not auger well, for the West. A society that is not receptive to new ideas, that does not invite new ideas to be considered by the masses, dwelt on, by them, given attention by them, is a society which will become brittle and fossilized...a society which will slowly die. I had thought that the East, would be more likely to be such a society...but no, it is my native West.

Perhaps, then, it is not so bad, that we live in Asia, over the Europe of my youth. Perhaps, here, we will be better appreciated and find more ready acceptance of our work. Perhaps, here, too, we will find a more open future than the one I left behind a decade ago, when I left London, for South East Asia.

I didn't know this, then, but perhaps I made a good choice after all.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.htmlI 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.

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 at http://www.genghiscan.com/

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

The fate of genius.

How do geniuses fare in life? Is their success inevitable? I ask this for a reason. Today, someone from Washingtonville, New York, arrived on my blog with the provocative search terms: "Why do geniuses often fail in life?"

Well, one wonders, firstly: do they? It is difficult to answer this question, for there are no stats to bring to bear on the matter, that I know of. However, it is easy to source anecdotes which suggest that many people, of great talent, live lives beneath their potential. We all, in fact, know such people: people whose intelligence sparkles, in conversation, but whose lives look a little dull by comparison - something is missing, something never happened.

So, let us assume that the assumption of my blog searcher from Washingtonville, is correct. Let us take it that geniuses do often fail in life. Yet, is that the right question? I think we should rather be asking why does life fail geniuses?

You see, the life of a genius is not the easy picture everyone seems to think. There is the basic assumption, of all, that the greatest of intellectual gifts mean that the possessor is blessed with an "easy life" and that, in some way, one should be envious of them. This is, I think, a misplaced envy. Genius is not an easy burden: it is to carry the weight of expectations of a humanity unwilling to help. Everyone expects great things of the "genius" - but they expect them begrudgingly, not really wanting the genius to accomplish them, for how "bad" it would make the ordinary person look by comparison. Thus, the achievement is both expected and resented beforehand. It is a strange circumstance, for the genius is resented for things not yet done: a jealousy permeates the air, for achievements not yet made and which may never be made. It is most bizarre. It is as if the whole of the rest of humanity, imagines the genius' "fated" future life and begrudges them for its lustre - then sits back and hopes desperately that it doesn't happen - or does, more to the point, everything they can to frustrate all progress.

No-one, on Earth, is more hated than a genius, in their early years. Their self-evident gift is a spur to every darker emotion in people: hate and envy gleam in every eye - and for what? Because those others, see, they know that the genius is "better" than they are - and they loathe them for it.

To be a genius is thus to be barred from acceptance by humanity. It is to be thrust out, by an essential difference, into a category of one's own. It is a great thing to be a genius - for, Humanity is only ever united in the presence of one: united in envy of the "Great One".

It is a truth, that all of significant talent, come to observe - that the only admired genius, is a dead genius. It is, you see, impossible to be envious of the dead. Thus, only when a genius is safely interred, will the envy slough away, and the admiration come to the fore. Geniuses have the bizarre distinction of being universally hated in life, and universally loved in death. Most people would rather choose the opposite condition - but it is not for the genius to choose: they were born the way they are and cannot trade it for the alternative. So long as they rise far above the common herd of man, that herd, that sheep-like mass, will despise them for it. That leads us to why so many geniuses "fail".

The only course of action, for a genius who wishes to have a happy life, is to give up being who they are. A genius who "fails" is an ordinary man, once more. A genius who "fails" may be accepted, finally. A genius who "fails" is one who succeeds, in life. For, it is clear, that if a genius fails, they come to be seen to be human again. They can, for the very first time, be embraced as "one of us" - and so, at last, at long, long, last, be befriended by the bulk of Man. A genius who "fails" is a genius who learns how to be loved in life - and forgotten in death.

So, the dilemma of a genius is a difficult one. They must choose either to succeed in becoming who they should be, in expressing what only they can see, and, therefore, step so far outside the limits of the common Man, that there could never be anything in common with that Man. Or they can choose to hide their essence, to leave their thoughts unexpressed and undeveloped, to muffle their inner longings to create and become a semblance of what others are. They can choose to be "normal" or, at least, seem normal in every functional way, by not functioning outside of the norm. If they make this choice, they lose the happiness and sense of fulfilment that attends the highest creative activity - but they gain, in return, acceptance by the wider world; they may be embraced by the community, loved as every "ordinary joe" is loved - in that diffuse kind of way, that comes from thinking that "you" are "one of us".

So, it is not geniuses who fail in life. It is life that fails geniuses. Life fails geniuses by not allowing them the space to be. A genius must choose either a life within the community - or a life outside of it, in a very real sense. You see, if your work, the products of your mind and, indeed, the fullness of your inner thought, are beyond the understanding of the common man, then you, truly, have nothing in common with that man. There is no means to find genuine mutual understanding. It is to be a natural outsider - and, as you probably know, most people never reach out to the outsiders of this world - in fact, they enjoy debarring them, from the shared discourse of all. They feel unified by their act of exclusion.

Geniuses fail, because no-one wants them to succeed - or at least, no-one wants a living genius to succeed. They are quite happy to note that a dead genius, did, since there is nothing threatening about the mental powers of a corpse. Indeed, most living people have the mental powers of a corpse - so they probably feel quite well-disposed to one just like themselves, once the genius has died.

Geniuses discover that there is nothing more adept at working together, than the whole of Man, against the genius, if they are so foolish, as to reveal themselves. Thus, the socially skilled genius (no doubt there are some), notes this and chooses dissemblance - and the most effective means of disguising genius is to do nothing with it, at all. There. Done. "Happy"...but unfulfilled.

Indeed, it seems to me that the only geniuses who would not choose to make this choice are the socially inept geniuses. These would not, perhaps, understand the problem, would not act appropriately upon it, and persist in - oh the cheek of it! - being true to themselves and continue to create their works that so offend Man, whilst they live, but shall so delight them, once they die.

Thus, it is not that geniuses lack social skills - it is just that the only geniuses that we come to acknowledge as geniuses (usually after they are safely decomposed) - are the ones who lacked the social skill to work out how to "fit in" and be socially accepted.

So, there is one thing that a genius may never do, in public, and be accepted - and that is: create! As long as the genius persists in being incapable of being a genius, then they will find themselves quite capable of being loved by all.

So, if you are a genius - what choice have you made: to be loved in life, and forgotten in death...or loathed in life, and loved forevermore, once you are no longer able to feel it?

It is not much of a choice, is it?

Well, there is a solution. Any society which welcomed genius, would suddenly find that it had more of them. Thus, the answer is in all your hands: accept geniuses for what they are, love them for what they do - and don't for a minute feel a twinge of envy. If you can manage this, if the whole of Mankind can manage this, life for all would improve at an immense rate, as all the world's dissembling, self-defeating, "fitting-in" geniuses suddenly get to work, without fear of being loathed for it.

Overnight, there would be a revolution in the fortunes of Man - and all you have to do is stop hating and start loving. 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.

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IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals. If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

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

Lunar water and the future of man in Space.

NASA has discovered lunar water...and lots of it. This is both good news and potentially bad news. I shall explain.

On October 9th 2009, a mission involving the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, LCROSS discovered 25 gallons of water in a plume of dust kicked up, one mile into space, by an empty rocket hull smashing into the Cabeus crater. The crater had been chosen because it is permanently shadowed, at its position near the South Pole: the sun never gets the chance to heat it up and evaporate its contents.

Now, the good part of this news is clear. It seems certain, now, that there is plenty of water on the moon, in such permanently shadowed places. Therefore, a moon base could be established much more cheaply than otherwise would be possible. The water for drinking would not have to be lifted into space - and so too, could rocket fuel be manufactured in situ. The moon is a much more viable location for a permanent base than ever had been thought, before. Yet, there is a danger here. The new attractiveness and relative cheapness of the moon might distract Mankind from a much better prospect: Mars.

Should a permanent base be established on the moon, it may be that Man might delay, for a time too long to contemplate, the establishment of a colony on Mars. The red planet offers a lot more to humans than the Moon ever could. Mars could be terraformed, over centuries, into a new home for Man. The moon could never be that, however much easier it might be to establish a base, now. The moon is not, and could never be, a second Earth. Mars, however, is a few clever technologies from being a second Earth. We need a second Earth, much more than we need a permanent moon base - and if the latter were to prevent the former from happening, then we really should consider whether a moon base should ever happen at all.

NASA's resources are finite. They are, in fact, very modest (about 18 billion dollars per year). Thus, space exploration has not been prioritized by the Americans for some decades. Were its resources greater, then a moon base and a mars base would both be within reach, in the next couple of decades. However, it lacks the money presently for either. The economic danger this new discovery presents is that it might persuade NASA's paymasters to support a moon base...which is now going to be much cheaper than expected...but NOT a Mars mission, which remains as expensive as ever.

Ideally, we should have both a moon base and a Martian presence. However, if we are only to have one: it should be Mars that we open up, not the moon.

The answer to this, of course, is not to force NASA to make difficult choices - but to give it the money it needs. As I have noted before, the long-term survival of Mankind depends on us getting "offworld". Man needs to establish offworld colonies if it is to ensure its own survival to the far reaches of time. That, in fact, should be the true mission of NASA: the survival of Mankind. Were NASA to define itself in those terms - and were its paymasters to take that mission seriously - then Mankind could breathe a little more easily that it has a future to look forward to.

If the discovery of water on the Moon is used wisely, as a means to facilitate new missions, then that is good. However, it must not become a long-term distraction from what should be NASA's real aim: establishing an ongoing human presence on Mars.

(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.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals. If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

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.)

On considering the future of Mankind.

At times, I consider the future of Mankind, indeed, the future of not only Mankind, but of all life. It seems to me that, if not enough people give this matter due consideration, there may not be such a future, at all.

It doesn't take much observation to see that modern Mankind is a short-term thinker, in general: we are polluting our world, pushing thousands of species to extinction, annually, using up irreplaceable resources, ruining our climate, killing thousands, even millions of people, in far away places as a kind of national hobby, and devoting major portions of national budgets to institutionalized murder (war). We are, in short, a brutish species masquerading as an enlightened one.

Yet, I hope for a better future. I hope for a future with a more enlightened Mankind at its helm. There are, after all, among the people of the world, those who do consider the environment, who do seek to preserve species and prevent their loss. There are people who think ill of war and wish for a more peaceful world. There are those who are careful with resources and decry their waste. There is an environmental movement and there are peacemakers. There are even space programmes which promise a long term future for Man, by allowing us to expand beyond the confines of the Earth. There is, therefore, hope for Mankind, if these nascent positive forces are not drowned out, but come to prevail.

There are many short-term risks which Mankind needs to overcome if it is to survive: the forces of religious conflict, the possibility of epidemic, natural or man made, the spectre of global terrorism. These are all things which could, in the worst possible scenarios, bring the human race to an abrupt end. Beyond that, however, are other matters that are not to do with human actions. There is the aging of the Sun, its eventual swelling and swallowing of the Earth. This will require us to leave the Earth in the distant future for the outer planets, or other stars. Beyond that there is the dying of the stars, and the darkening of the Universe. One day it shall be colder than cold and darker than dark. It shall end as scattered neutron stars and black holes and not a lot else. It is unlikely that we shall be able to endure in such a world. There are, however, possible solutions, as detailed by physicist Michio Kaku. He has listed a number of escape routes that Mankind might use one day: use of naturally occurring wormholes, travel through black holes (using a probe), creation of negative energy, manufacture of baby universes (yes, making our own universe...now who said something about "playing God"), use of multi-light year sized atom smashers/particle accelerators (apparently feasible for a "Type III civilization"), and nuclear powered laser implosion machines. The idea behind all of these schemes is the finding of or construction of, a portal to somewhere else - another Universe, basically. My favourite is making baby Universes, which, according to physicist Dr. Guth, would actually only require: 1089 photons, 1089 electrons, 1089 positrons, 1089 neutrinos, 1089 antineutrinos, 1079 protons, and 1079 neutrons. Apparently, an entire Universe could be built from that - it reminds me of the five loaves and fish of one Mr. Jesus Christ.

Now, I give consideration to the long-term future survival of Mankind, because I value what Mankind is - or what the best of Mankind is. It seems to me that there could be no greater pity than that all of Mankind and His works should be lost, in time, or at the end of time. It would, in a sense, make all of what we do and are, utterly pointless. To let our lives and our race have lasting meaning, something of it must endure, for all time, then beyond time. There should be Mankind at the cold dark end of the Universe, (or his evolved descendants), and there should also be Mankind surviving this era, in other "Universes" if such there can be. All that we are, must not end.

I am conscious that, in thinking of the long-term future of Mankind, in this manner, that I am one of few who do. Dr. Michio Kaku has already given much consideration as to how Mankind could survive the end of the Universe - so there are others out there thinking on this matter - and so there should be, if we are to stand a chance of long-term survival, as a race and civilization. My thinking and concern, is in sharp contrast to those I talked to, a while ago and wrote of in another post, who didn't give a damn about the future of Mankind. So, though not alone in my consideration of this matter, I am probably outnumbered by those who just don't care. Such people should not be allowed to prevail, but those of longer term vision, should be empowered to do so.

In a way, it feels strange to be concerned for unborn people, civilizations and races far beyond my time. For though I am concerned about them, it is extremely unlikely that any of them will ever know of my concern, or care that I was concerned. It is, therefore, a unilateral, unidirectional concern. Those who consider the long-term future of Mankind, will not themselves be considered by that future, should it ever come. We shall, instead, be forgotten and it will be as if we had never been. Yet, though we do what we can to ensure that there is a far future, that far future will not know of us. Nevertheless, we still must do what we can, in whatever way we can, for those we hope shall be, in thousands, millions, billions of years from now. You see, if we are not concerned and do not act appropriately, they are very unlikely ever to be. Then, it is sure, that our civilization will go unremembered and unremarked, for there will be no-one to remember and to remark. If anything of what we are is to survive, we need to ensure that we have survivors, that we have descendants, that there are remote, far future civilizations descended from "modern" Man.

To do so, we must cultivate long-term thinking of our own. The environment should not be harmed. Species must be preserved. Resources must not be squandered. Wars should not be waged. Space must be colonized. Culture, science and technology, should be high priorities and all capable of such work, should be well-supported. If all these things are done, Mankind is likely to have a long-term future. It may be that Man will one day fill the galaxy and perhaps beyond. It may be that Man will watch the darkening of the Universe. It may well be that one day, Mankind may, as Michio Kaku dreams, (and I had pondered on, long before I had ever heard of Michio Kaku) start new Universes and populate them with our kind. Man could endure forever - but only if we take the steps necessary today, to ensure the security of all life on Earth and take the first steps beyond it, in the near future.

(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.

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.)