The monster within the USA.

Monsters come in great variety. There are many ways to be evil. One way, is simply not to care whether one’s fellow men live or die – for that way leads to very dark worlds indeed.

In a CNN Tea Party debate hosted by Wolf Blitzer, recently, the audience glimpsed the true nature of some modern Americans.

Wolf Blitzer asked Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who is a doctor, oddly enough, how society should respond if an uninsured 30 year old has an accident and goes into a coma and needs intensive care for six months. Ron Paul was blunt and rather brutal. He argued strongly that the government should not be responsible. “That’s what freedom is all about, taking your own risks,” Paul said. His voice was overwhelmed by the uproarious audience applause. He continued, “this whole idea that you have to prepare to take care of everybody...”.

“Are you saying that society should just let him die?”, pursued Blitzer.

At that point, the audience gave its answer. They were shouts of “Yeah!”, from those who watched, attended by, rather unbelievably, LAUGHTER.

To my mind, those shouts were horrifying. They signalled that, in some quarters, Americans harbour attitudes to life which would have blended well with the Nazi administration of World War II. They hold life in such low value, that they LAUGH at the idea it should be allowed to slip away, unopposed. Truly, they are monsters. Yet, these monsters, would just call themselves “true Americans”...and have no real knowledge of the callousness of their own position. If this is what the Tea Party is all about, then America has some serious issues to worry about. How would it be, were people who so little value life, to come to power? What kind of society would they build, founded on the celebration of death, as if it were a humorous matter?

Modern America can, at times, seem like a study in heartlessness. At some point, in its history, a wrong turning was taken, such that it is, now, in some quarters, so concerned with “me”, that no-one else matters – even if they die unnecessarily and avoidably. America has become a nation of individuals who care for nothing and no-one but the self. Unfortunately, however, a society cannot be built on universal selfishness. The kind of society that emerges when no-one cares for anyone else, is so heartless, so cruel, so aggressive, so cold and so unremittingly mean, that no-one would ever wish a life there, upon anyone. Yet, that is precisely the kind of society that America promises to come, guided by “thinkers” who believe that the state should not intervene to save a life and that it is “every man for himself”.

There is merit in the European ideal of nationalized medicine. At least, in Europe, the state would not stand by, whilst such a hypothetical 30 year old, died. European healthcare systems would intervene to preserve that life, believing it to have great value and be worthy of great efforts to save. That is a more humane outlook. In America, however, if you are uninsured – and basic insurance for an average family runs to well over a thousand US dollars a month, I am told, if independent of a company plan – then some people would prefer to let you die, than require the state to intervene and try to save you, should you fall catastrophically ill.

It is interesting to consider the different varieties of human society and see the values on which they are built. Europe is built on a regard for human life that seems quite clear – and on a wish to achieve equality of some kind. America, on the other hand, is built not on the value of human life in general, but human life in particular: one’s own life, at the expense, even, of all others. I am not sure that any society following the American model of outlook on life, is a sustainable society. Life should be cherished, wherever it is found and whatever its condition. None of us have any more valuable a possession than our own lives. What kind of world is it, therefore, where society would stand by and let a young man die, without attempting to intervene, for the want of a rather expensive insurance policy? Surely the fault here is in constructing a society which does not provide universal healthcare for all, regardless of wealth. The fault, here, in this imaginary scenario is in America itself. It is not the failing of the young man that he lacks health insurance he probably could not afford – but it is the fault of America for requiring that he be insured in the first place. Healthcare should be a universal right – not the privilege of those with the wealth to afford it. If this is not so, societies constructed on the basis of wealth, determining health care access, become very inhumane, indeed. They are not societies at all – but simply life long scrambles for supremacy over others. They are latter day jungles. Is that the kind of society modern man should choose to live in? Should not care for the lives of all, be at the root of our civilizations? If it is not, is it possible for human beings to thrive in such cold conditions? Can a happy and moral life be found in such circumstances?

The audience of the Tea Party debate placed no value on human life. Might I suggest that American readers, in turn, place no value on the Tea Party? This position would seem the rational response to a political movement informed by a denial of the value of life, at least in this example.

Let us build a world in which all human life has value. All the alternative worlds, that do not, are nothing but varieties of horror. Mankind had enough of such horror in the 20^th Century. Let not Man be visited again, by such horrors, in the 21^st Century – at least no more than we already have.

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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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.

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

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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.

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

The hidden cost of the Iraq War.

Everyone knows that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have proven costly. Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize Winner, puts that cost at over 3 trillion dollars, in a Washington Post article, The true cost of the Iraq War, here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/03/AR2010090302200.html

What people don’t know – including Joseph Stiglitz – is that the true cost is the opportunity cost of what might have been done with that 3 trillion dollars, instead. I would like you to consider an undeniable fact and an uncomfortable one: it is undeniable, that the Iraq War, was largely over the control of oil. Had Iraq no oil, it would also have had no war. It is uncomfortable, for many of us, to also note that the world’s oil is running out. There are arguments over how long the oil will last – but it cannot be denied, except by the insane, or oil company propagandists (the same thing), that oil is finite and running out fast. Typical estimates are that we have no more than 40 years left at present rates of consumption before the end of oil. Without replacement energy sources, advanced human civilization will, thereafter, be impossible. Sadly, not enough is being done to prepare for this eventuality. The world’s politicians, as usual, lack foresight – or perhaps just don’t care about such seemingly distant events.

Now, at present, the world consumes about one cubic mile of oil per year, and another two cubic miles of oil energy equivalent, per year, for a grand total of three cubic miles of oil per year. See this Wikipedia article for these facts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubic_mile_of_oil

Thus, one third of the world’s total energy comes from oil. Without it, modern civilization would look a lot like the 18^th century or so – with no energy for the machines of the Industrial Revolution and beyond. One would have thought that this future inevitability (if nothing is done about it) would occupy the minds of our leaders. Unfortunately, that assumes that our leaders have functioning minds – but close observation puts this in question.

I was struck, on reading the Wikipedia article, by an interesting coincidence. The estimated cost of creating a cubic mile of oil energy equivalence, from wind power, is 3.3 trillion dollars. That is about the money spent on the Iraq War. Now, the Iraq War was about securing energy, as oil, for the USA (whatever else they might say it was about, that was, of course, the true motivation). The USA was so concerned about its energy future, that it decided to kill hundreds of thousands of Iraqis to secure more oil supplies. It also thought it worth spending 3 trillion dollars to do so. Curiously, that 3 trillion dollars was about the cost of one cubic mile of oil, at 2008 prices (120 dollars per barrel). So, the Iraq war has cost, so far, enough to buy the world’s entire annual oil production for one year. It has also cost enough to create an independent alternative energy source, from wind, equal to one cubic mile of oil per year, for the lifetime of the turbines (20 to 30 years).

Thus, it can be seen that, had the American leadership been intelligent and wise, they could have foregone the Iraq war and spent the funds they would have spent on it – 3 trillion dollars – on creating energy independence for the United States, such that the United States would have no need for an external energy source, ever again.

The decision to go to war in Iraq was not a rational one. It was one derived from very narrow thinking, that did not see the broad context in which the decision was embedded. Nor did it see the alternative means of achieving the ultimate goal – energy security – that existed. It is clear that little intelligence was applied to the decision – no-one paused to reflect on whether there was an alternative way to achieve the unstated goal: energy supply for the USA.

I wish to propose a general principle: The principle of irrational resource wars:

Wars over oil or any other energy source are irrational, since the cost of the war, is always going to be greater than the cost of creating an alternative energy source by investing some of the funds that would have been spent on the war.

America could have secured the energy equivalence of 20 to 30 cubic miles of oil (the lifespan productive capacity of the wind turbines they could have built), for the cost of the Iraq war. I do not think that Iraq’s total oil reserves are likely to amount to as much as this, since the total world reserves are not going to be much greater than that. (Proven oil reserves are at 43 cubic miles of oil…after that runs out, we are in a post-oil world). Indeed, this article in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_proven_oil_reserves suggests that Iraq has just 8.26% of the world’s oil reserves. That would be equivalent to just 3.55 cubic miles of oil. America could have secured 8 and a half times as much energy, for the same investment, as it did in Iraq – and at the cost of no human lives at all.

From this analysis, it can be seen that the Iraq war was irrational – it had great cost in financial and human life terms – yet, there existed an alternative that would have secured permanent energy independence for the United States, had it been implemented.

Never forget this: War is dumb. There are always more intelligent alternatives, to achieve the same ends – unless the end is death itself.

(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

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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.)

The USA Debt Ceiling and Democracy's failure

There is a lesson in the wrangling between the Democrats and the Republicans, Obama and John Boehner, over how to tackle the USA’s astonishing debt crisis. The lesson is a simple one: democracy doesn’t always work. Now, that might seem a disturbing statement, but the juvenile antics emerging from America, on the debt crisis, do not provide any evidence as to democracy’s effectiveness – and much evidence to the contrary.

Watching the deadlock between the two ideologically opposed foes, of Democrats and Republicans; watching Obama reveal his essential lack of power, as his overtures are rebuffed by House Speaker John Boehner, I am struck by the ineffectiveness of the American system. So much energy, time, and productive effort are being wasted, in the USA, in argument between two sides who will never agree. Is that what democracy was meant to be about?

Democracy works when there is a clear mandate and one side can outvote the other. Only in such circumstances can there be effective leadership. However, in the USA, at present, there does not appear to be this dominance of one power over the other – as the result, we have a deadlock.

Given the stalemate in the USA on such an important issue as the debt ceiling and whether or not the USA defaults on its repayments, I am not convinced that the greatest powers, in the future, will necessarily be democratic ones. Democracy has certain strengths – but, at times like this, it is clear that unity of purpose is not one of them. The USA is showing us, that democracy can be a very weak form of leadership for a country, sad as it is, to say this – or at least, the form of democracy presently in place in the USA.

It does seem, watching the USA’s ongoing financial problems, social problems and political problems that we are in a modern equivalent, of the fall of Rome. It is altogether possible, indeed, seems altogether probable, that the USA will falter, irretrievably, in my own lifetime. If nothing else, it looks like the national debt will soon have the power to bring it down. It is a pity to note it, but the USA’s lauded version of democracy doesn’t seem to be helping much here. I say this, knowing that there are worse alternatives out there, too – however, quite a few of them would be more effective in the present situation.

I hope Obama and Boehner come to a deal soon. The world does not need another financial crisis. However, what it does seem to need, is a rethinking of how a government should work and what form constitutes the most effective and fair form of leadership. Looking at America, I am not convinced that their model is the best possible – there must, surely, be something, even theoretically possible, which can improve on the American mess? I will have to reflect on it.

A note to my readers: I will return to my customary themes of giftedness and the like, shortly but I felt that these recent events should be addressed. Thank you.

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.htmland 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.)

Wikileaks' paradoxical secrecy potential.

Wikileaks. There, I have said it. I have actually mentioned the biggest news story of the decade. It had to be...I have watched on the sidelines too long.

I have been thinking about what Wikileaks are doing and, it seems to me, that they may achieve the exact opposite of what they intend. Wikileaks has the parodoxical potential to usher in an era of much greater secrecy in the USA.

The problem is this: the more Wikileaks exposes the USA, the more the USA will wish to protect itself from exposure. At this time, they are attacking Wikileaks, for releasing the information and persecuting them in whatever way they can. However, this does not address the true problem here: Wikileaks is not the origin of the information: the USA government is. Some state employee - perhaps PFC Bradley Manning - perhaps not, has given Wikileaks all of its information. Indeed, Wikileaks is only able to function because there are US citizens (and those of other countries around the world), disgruntled enough to reveal "state secrets" to an outside organization. Wikileaks is not the problem, here: US internal security of information is. Quite simply, as it is presently organized, the USA is congenitally unable to keep secrets, because it is entrusting them to the wrong people.

Once the USA has destroyed Wikileaks - which it is clear it intends to do, it will have to turn its attention to the real problem: the USA itself. The only way the USA will be able, logically, to protect itself from a Wikileaks style problem, is if it massively upgrades the security on information within the USA. This means, essentially, one thing: restricting the number of people who have access to that information and vetting those people more carefully. At present, I have read in various online newspapers somewhere in the region of two to three million US government employees, in various functions, had access to the information that has been leaked to Wikileaks. That strikes me as far too many to have any measure of security. So, it seems inevitable that the USA will begin to restrict access to "secret" information, in the wake of Wikileaks. However, this creates its own problem. You see, if state employees do not have access to the information they need to make decisions, then the state itself cannot function effectively. Thus, the USA is stuck between two needs: to maintain security of information - and to be able to function as a state. The only way to resolve this would be to increase the height of the hierarchy and to centralize decision making, more. This means deciding upon a limited number of layers who have, perhaps varying access, to information - and cutting off large numbers of people who presently have access. Now, those who have been placed in the dark need to refer to "higher ups" for advice on matters on which they would previously be able to proceed themselves.

Clearly, what I have described is a logical consequence of seeking to reduce the chances of further leaks. It is also a culture of much enhanced secrecy. It is the kind of culture that, on the outside, America is not supposed to represent. Yet, that is precisely the kind of culture which Wikileaks may force America to become: one paranoid about secrecy, extremely hierarchical and compartmentalized. It would also, incidentally, be inflexible, slow to respond and may, at times, be paralyzed, by the inability of a small number of people to make a large number of decisions. In some ways, such a change in structure, would weaken America, in ways that would do more damage to America than, perhaps, a constant stream of Wikileaks revelations. Either way, America loses...

However, if America chooses the path to greater secrecy as a way to protect against Wikileaks and similar endeavours then, in a fundamental way, Julian Assange and Wikileaks, will have failed. They would have provoked a shift towards secrecy, when, in fact, they had sought a shift towards open-ness. Wikileaks may, in fact, create a much darker world than the one it seeks to usher in. Wikileaks may lead to a world steeped in virtually unbreachable secrecy, a world in which almost no-one knows what is going on - because access to that information has been restricted as much as it is possible to do so, and still have a functional State.

Yet, if Wikileaks loses, in this way, we all lose. America would become an even less pleasant place to live in, than it already is - and the world would know even less about its conduct, than they do now.

Whatever happens, this much is sure: long after President Obama has been forgotten (and he shall be, on a long enough timescale), Julian Assange and Wikileaks will be remembered, for what they sought to achieve, even if they never achieve it. Another thing is sure, too: America cannot win in this situation - indeed, they have already lost. They cannot suppress the flow of revelations - and they will only be able to prevent future ones, by changing the entire character of their nation, in ways that would be detrimental to it. Thus, it is not untrue to say, that, in this information war, one man has defeated the world's supposedly greatest superpower. History will never forget that...though future American textbooks, might leave that information out, if their present behaviour is extrapolated. Never mind...other countries will remember for them.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, 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 at http://www.genghiscan.com/

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