The War against Reason.

The modern world is not as rational as one would hope, or perhaps, believe. Everywhere I look, I see pockets of unreason...indeed, infestations of unreason, illogic, superstition, belief in the unbelievable and various kinds of delusion. The world is quite mad, in many ways.

Yesterday evening I found myself sitting in a talk that had been billed as being about “health”. I was there because my wife had heard about it and I decided to accompany her. It was a strange experience. At first, I listened with the quiet expectancy that I would be given the explanation as to how the speaker had recovered from a serious case of system wide nerve degeneration, 7 years ago. Although I listened carefully for two hours, he gave no answers as to what had happened to him, or how he had recovered, (though he did show a video of himself ostensibly afflicted, and in the midst of early recovery some years ago.) What I did hear however, was “proof” that there were aliens and that they had visited Earth, throughout history and “proof” that water has memory, of the events that occur to it – even emotional events. Scattered amongst this were little snippets of what kinds of contaminants are in modern foods. Some of these statements were factually wrong, but sounded convincingly alarming to those who didn’t know better. Throughout, the talk, were repeated statements that the audience didn’t know how the world really worked, but that the speaker did. He spoke as if he had privileged access to the secret of the Universe. Yet, he said nothing about what this secret might be...he just hinted that he knew it. To bolster his standing and credibility before the audience, he referred to his past working life as a “pioneer scientist”, who brought certain “advanced technologies” into Malaysia. These “advanced technologies” are actually many decades old analytical techniques which are widely known and available to every well equipped lab in the world. He spoke of all the diverse things he had worked on. He claimed to have been tasked by the Malaysian government to identify the remains of the Mongolian “model” Shaariibuugiin Altantuyaa (note that her mother has stated she never actually worked as a model). The technologies he spoke of in connection to his work, could not be used in such a way. DNA testing was used to identify her – but he never mentioned any proficiency in those techniques...so I doubt his claim. At times, he seemed paranoid, attributing dark motives to unseen others, for why certain information (or misinformation, in fact) was not widely known. Again, he implied that he knew better than the media, than the Government, than the man in the street – that he had privileged understanding. What most concerned me about his presentation was that he mixed in real science, and real theories and made reference to the work of very famous scientists – such as Albert Einstein, to bolster the credibility of what he was saying. He name dropped such things as the Unified Field Theory of Albert Einstein (which, incidentally, was never actually worked out), to support his very tangential and completely unbelievable utterances about his world view. I thought this was most dangerous, since any non-scientist in the room might be convinced by the decoration provided by these famous names, and famous theories, into believing there was something to what he was saying.

The talk was free. However, at the end he gave a sales pitch for two other two day courses, which were far from free. These were presented as providing knowledge of “how the world really worked” and would “change how you saw the world forever”. No indication as to their contents was mentioned.

The thing about the speaker was that he seemed in earnest. However, no real scientist could possibly believe the mix of pseudoscience, superstition, delusion and paranoia, he came out with, even though there was a dash of science as flavouring. No real scientist could do anything but what I did...squirm throughout and often place my hand on my forehead, as if to note to myself that I couldn’t quite believe what was being said. I felt very uncomfortable listening to his nonsense, which, throughout was delivered with a beaming smile.

The talk was very vague and lacking in substance, though he constantly said: “I have so much to tell you, so much...”. Yet, he didn’t seem to have any real points of substance. He excused this by also repeatedly saying: “If you want information, go to Google...I am not going to give you information...what I teach is more experiential.”

By the end of it, I was very keen to leave. I had one word in my mind to sum up the feel of the whole “experience”...cult! Yet, he said, at one point, “This is not a religion, it is a science”. Well, it is most certainly not science...but could only be excused as a rather paranoid, delusional kind of religion.

He claimed, as we made our goodbyes, that he was establishing a postgraduate course in “Energetic medicine”, in Malaysia and Singapore, but when queried as to where, he said: “That is confidential”. Again, he had recourse to the air of secrecy , to project that there was something special going on. I was rather appalled at the thought that he might actually be teaching a postgraduate course in this nonsense. Unfortunately, there is a sufficient lack of rationality in Malaysia (but probably not Singapore), to allow such a course to happen. However, I sincerely hope not.

Rather worryingly, the crowd was slow to leave and seemed interested in talking about what he had said, afterwards. No-one else seemed to have twigged that the speaker had been spouting nonsense for two hours. They were a typical “new age” crowd and seemed the sort who were quite able to believe anything at all, especially if it were utterly preposterous.

Most concerning of all, was that he had a book out about his healing experience and his new world view, which he claimed was a best seller (in fact he said THE best seller), in Malaysia and Singapore. So, there is, it seems, a popular interest in his views. It seems that ignorance and delusion are to triumph over reason, at least in South East Asia (though no doubt the rest of the world suffers from similar problems). Notably, on the front cover, he claimed to be a “molecular biologist”. Now, this may be so, for all I know, but I have never encountered, in my life, a scientist so susceptible to pseudoscience and delusional nonsense as this one.

There is only one remedy to this kind of pseudoscientific cult – good basic science education for all. Unfortunately, most people are scientifically illiterate and are susceptible to this kind of nonsense. The sooner the world’s science education is improved the better. In the meantime, irrationality like this talk and its associated cult, will thrive.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

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It's a mad, mad, world.

Yesterday, I was on the MRT with Tiarnan. The MRT, for those who don't know, is the train: the Mass Rapid Transit, of Singapore. The nearest equivalent would be the London Underground, though the MRT is mostly overground, as far as I can see.

Anyway, there I was, carrying Tiarnan, three, for the whole journey, because no-one would give up a seat and Tiarnan was unwilling to stand on the floor, in such a crowded train. Now, there is nothing unusual, in Singapore, with no-one giving up a seat for someone more in need of one: this is the tradition here, so that didn't surprise me (though it was unpleasant to have to carry him for the whole, quite lengthy journey, on two different trains). Were it not for the entertainment of talking to Tiarnan, the journey would have seemed a long one, encumbered as I was.

After we had been travelling about half an hour, Tiarnan remarked, in some irritation:

"Many people are talking!"

Sure enough, they were. Everyone was trying to talk at once, each competing with all the others to be heard: it was a cacophony of voices in different tongues: English, Malay and Chinese. It was pretty loud, actually.

"Why are they talking, Tiarnan?"

I wanted his views, you see, because they are often interesting.

He looked around him then, in stupefaction at his fellow travellers and said, with an intensity worthy of Hamlet:

"It's madness, madness, madness, ALL MADNESS!"

He was so intent, so focussed, so impassioned, in his view of how his fellow travellers were, that I did not laugh, I thought it, instead, sweet and typically Tiarnan.

We finished our journey together in mutual agreement that everyone around us was utterly bonkers. Any three year old can see that.

(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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The madness of the kiasu.

Kiasu is a Singaporean attitude that means "an extreme fear of losing out". It manifests as extreme competitiveness and desire to "beat" others in all things. It also leads to some astonishingly ugly behaviour.

Today, I encountered one of the most kiasu people I think I have ever had the misfortune to meet. She got on my bus, with her son, after school. Another boy, from the same school, followed them on. As soon as they had sat down - mother and son together on one seat - the other boy diagonally opposite, across the passageway, on his own - the mother was overcome with the strangest emotion: she seemed possessed.

She leant across the passage towards the other boy, bent almost double in her effort to get close to him. She bore down upon him like a truck upon a rabbit crossing the road and there was such fierceness in her. Her body was stiff with tension.

"What's your name?", she began with a strident, demanding tone, as if she was trying to shake him with her voice.

"Why?", he asked, quietly, aware that he was being threatened somehow.

"What's your name?" She continued, ignoring his question, raising her voice a little more, as if annoyed that he should dare to question her.

"W...w...wayne.", he stuttered, her aggressiveness making him nervous.

"How do you spell that?" She almost shouted at him, her words gouging into him.

"Why?", he asked again, clearly not knowing why this mother of his fellow schoolmate should be questioning him so.

"How do you spell that?" She continued, once again, ignoring his question and, once again, raising her voice, further.

"W...a...y...n...e"

"Wangy?" She snapped, seeming to think he was putting one over on her.

"W...A...Y..N...E", he repeated, responding unwillingly, but automatically, as if to an angry teacher.

"What's your mother's telephone number?" Again, she seemed to pounce on him. There was something SO predatory in her manner, voice and approach.

"Why?", he asked, in some distress, but quiet with it.

"What's your mother's telephone number?" She continued, again, ignoring his question, again raising her voice.

He gave her his number and repeated it for her to finally grasp. She wasn't too good at listening, accurately - too busy raising her voice.

"Are you in the same class as David?". She didn't really speak. Her words were spoken as if in a stabbing motion, plunging into him, as she leant over him.

He nodded, silently.

"What mark did you get in the last maths exam?" She was so tense that I rather thought she would reach out and grab him, if he didn't give her the answer.

"66". He said, very quietly.

"What?", she said, needing to make doubly sure.

"66". He repeated, a little louder.

"The same as me.", said the clearly mad woman's son.

I understood, by now, that I was witnessing the worst of kiasu attitudes in action. Here was a mother seeking competitive intelligence for her son, in her lifelong combat with the rest of the world.

The mother ignored her son's statement. She didn't even look at him, nor shift from her raised position above the hapless other boy. It was like she was a bird of prey and the boy was a shivering mouse.

"And what did you get in the last maths test?" She seemed angry now, angry that this boy had the same mark as her son.

"93", he said, very quietly indeed.

"What?" She seemed truly pissed.

"The same as me!", her son repeated, "He got the same as me!"

Again, the mother ignored her son. It was as if he hadn't even spoken. Her gaze...her ever so fierce gaze...remained pinned on the eight or nine year old boy who seemed affixed by it, unable to move.

"Who is your maths tutor?" She asked, virtually spearing him with her intensity.

He didn't answer.

"Who is your maths tutor?", She repeated, to no answer from him. It was unclear whether he did not know the man's name...or did not want to answer.

"How did you do in science?"

He didn't answer.

"Who is your science tutor?"

He didn't answer, but just shifted in his seat, as if seeking an escape, but finding none.

"Does your mother work?" She demanded, bullyingly.

He didn't want to answer. "Why?", he asked, painfully.

"Does your mother work?" Again, she raised her voice.

"Yes.", he said.

"What time is she back from work? Seven?" She had not the patience to wait for an answer, so suggested her own.

"Yes. Seven.", he answered, finally, unable to resist her bullying any further.

The mother turned from the boy then, and sat back in her seat. She didn't look at him at all, again. She had got what she wanted. For the rest of the time that she was on the bus, she didn't engage the boy in conversation, nor acknowledge his existence. Interestingly, her son didn't speak to the boy either. They shut him out. Neither mother nor son spoke to one another.

I resolved then to speak with this crazy woman when I rose to get off the bus, for she was behind me. Unfortunately, when it came to leave, I noted that she had got off before me, while my back was turned.

I have never witnessed such an aggressive questioning of a child before, in all my life. It was quite the most astonishing thing I have ever heard.

The most perturbing thing about it was the fury this woman seemed to have in her throughout the entire bullying tirade. She could not have been more aggressive had she been beating him, the whole while.

The question all of this leaves me with is this: would not Singapore be a better place without such kiasu attitudes? Does this characteristically Singaporean behaviour pattern make any positive contribution to life?

It is incidents like this that make me think that Singaporean education is a toxic experience best avoided. Perhaps everyone should homeschool, then no-one would have to put up with this kind of bullying for kiasu aims.

I rather hope the mother of Wayne gets to read this and realizes that she should not cooperate with the mother of David (as I presume her son to be).

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

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

Breeding a nation of chronic gamblers.

The "Integrated Resorts" are coming and with them, the temptations of casinos. Many, in the media, seem to look upon this prospect with great anticipation - but shall the opening of grand casinos in Singapore lead to more problems than they are worth?

Yesterday, I saw some evidence that Singapore might be in for troubles it is really unprepared for. I was shopping with my middle son, Fintan, five, in Toys R Us, to get an idea of what he might like for Christmas. While we browsed through the brightly coloured offerings, I noted something unexpected: a toy casino.

I looked on this box with some shock. It contained a roulette wheel and some card based games (the box proclaimed that there were four casino games contained within). What on Earth was a home casino doing in a toy shop?

It seems that either no-one has considered the effect of offering casino toys in a children's shop - or that someone has considered it and thought it a great idea for breeding life's addicted gamblers.

I noted that on the box was a little white sticker which had been affixed, perhaps in Singapore itself (it wasn't part of the box normally) with the symbols: "18+" on it. Now, that seems like nothing more than a cop-out - because how many over 18s (apart from parents) actually shop in Toys R Us? It is primarily a shop for little kids - and the majority of people who would see the casinos on offer would be little kids.

What would happen to any family that bought such a game? Well, two things: the kids would learn how to play casino games - and they would also learn the excitement of gambling. There is also something that they would not learn: that gambling can be very harmful to one's life and well-being, bringing with it, the certainty, in the long-run, of financial ruin. No gambler, apart from those of peculiar gift at card games, perhaps, can ever expect to win, long-term: everyone loses - and the longer you play, the more you will lose.

So, these casino games will breed future gamblers. The kids who have so much fun playing with their "casino" as a child, are very likely to grow up to be adults who think that they are equipped to play in the real casino with their hard-earned salaries. Indeed, if they have a lot of fun at home, playing the casino games, they may even make it a bit of an obsession and become life-long, hardcore gamblers. You see, once the excitement of gambling is felt, by some people, there is no turning back - they are addicted to the thrill of these games. Not everyone is like that. However, if enough young children get to play these casino games, it is certain that many of these natural gambling addicts will encounter the games, and become ensnared on the thrills of gambling. Such children will grow up to be adults with poor life outcomes.

I understand that Singapore's government is anxious to find sources of revenue - but sometimes some sources are just not worth the hassle they will bring.

The advent of the IRs may bring much more than additional tax revenue to the State - it may also lead to many thousands of Singaporeans ruining their lives through the consequences of gambling addiction.

I think casino games should be banned from the shop shelves. No child should be entrained into a world of gambling. There are many more fruitful lessons they could learn, than the excitements of the roulette wheel or the blackjack table. Indeed, it gave me a little shudder to see that casino game on sale in a famous children's toy shop. There seems such cynicism in marketing such a "game" in such a location - for it is sure, given the demographic of people who go to such a store, that the primary people on behalf of whom it is purchased, will be kids a lot younger than 18.

Save the kids: ban the casino games.

(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.)

The world escapes from economic reality.

It seems that, around the world, adults are escaping from economic reality. Everywhere, in houses and apartments in developed cities around the world, fully grown adults are escaping reality into alternate worlds. They are fleeing the economic troubles all around them. What are they doing? They are playing video games.

Sales in the video games industry are up 43% on last year - which is really a lot of growth for any industry to undergo in one year - especially in a year of economic decline. Instead of cutting back on such "luxury" and seemingly unnecessary items as video games, adults around the world are making sure they splash out on these highly distracting items. Now, video games are not cheap, particularly console games - but they do offer something other forms of distraction do not offer: many, many hours of complete absorption. Quite simply, it is impossible to think of the global economic meltdown when you are playing an intense computer video game.

In the days of the Great Depression, it was a trip to the movies that provided distraction and consolation from the universal troubles all faced; now it is the video game.

I find it interesting that people are fleeing their situations in this way. It shows, in some respect, that they are choosing not to face up to the problems, but are, instead, turning their minds away from them and hoping that they will go away in the midst of their video game playing.

Now, I can understand the common desire to find sanctuary from the problems that people face - but, while it might be psychologically beneficial to do so - in terms of lessened stress etc. - it may actually be counter-productive. For if people are hiding from their troubles, then they are not actively seeking ways to deal with them. This could lead, in turn, to a heightening of the very troubles they face.

Perhaps, people are not so very different from ostriches, with their head in the sand ways. It is just that any sand that people see nowadays, will be digitized, in computerized dunes, in never ending games.

Then again, it must be good to be a computer games manufacturer. Just think of their business model: in good times, sales will, by definition be good - but in bad times, they will be BETTER. Wow...they have really got something.

The funny thing is, though, I haven't played a single computer game since the crisis began. My reaction is not, though, it seems, typical: I am outnumbered by legions of dedicated reality escapists, around the world, playing away in darkened rooms, while the economy burns.

I bet the games industry is just about the only industry hoping that the recession will be a long one.

(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.)