It's About Time

I haven't written in 3 or so months and it's probably about time. A lot has been goin on in sleepy Michigan the past few months; I've been to 2 weddings, had 2 visitors from Guatemala, and 2 dear family members have passed away. So there's been a lot to think about.

 Right now (which was when I first started this post 2 weeks ago) I'm feeling a little under the weather watching MLB Networks "The Club". It's a behind the scene look at my favorite baseball team the White Sox. It's a lot of fun to watch since they were awful at the beginning of the year and now they're in first. I might be feeling not so good since I dropped my sister off at O'hare this morning at 3 am so that she could return to Guatemala. The next time I see her will be May 2011 as she's about to get married.

On with the meat and potatoes of this post...

My recent thoughts have been directed towards life. What is the driving force behind our lives? And, at the end of a life how do you know if the time spent here on Earth was fulfilling? I think the second question answers the first. The driving force behind our lives is to fulfill it, to make our time here "worthwhile". Personally, I try to experience new things as often as possible. That's probably the most cliche thing to say and if you ever go on a dating site (though I've never been) you'll probably read that a lot from people who's profile pictures are of them standing on a beach gazing at a setting sun. But really that's an awesome motto to live by. The problem is that it's easier said than done... uh oh more cliche's let's just get them all out now: "opposites attract", "great minds think alike", "there's a light at the end of the tunnel", and finally "moo fart woof quack mustache"... and often we don't realize we've become complacent and get caught sort of cycling through life. So every now and then we need a good kick in the butt. Now, what a fulfilling life consists of is completely subjective. It will mean completely different things for everybody on this planet, and it will even mean wildly different things to the same person throughout their life. Especially when there's kids to consider and all that junk, but that's my two cents for now. (squeezed another cliche in there...score)
Given the chance to live an eternal life would you take it? There's all kinds of follow up questions that would need answers. Like does your body age? Or can some of my friends/family also have eternal life? What happens when the world ends (here I imagine myself floating in space "swimming" towards the nearest star in search of other life)?

 Would I feel pain? I mean the questions go on and on and each answer would have serious implications to my choice. Supposing there is a genie offering this option my decision would probably be made for me since I would die before I could make up my mind. We all fear death yet given the chance to avoid it I'm not sure we would take that chance. On some level I think we all feel that we are here on this Earth for a certain amount of time and that's all we get. Some get more, and some get less. And since we don't know how much time we get let's take advantage of what we do have.

It is said that there are two certainties in life: death and taxes. These are the things that are out of human control, yet paradoxically one of them is entirely a human creation. I think it's an interesting concept that there are things beyond human power, so what are some other things and what kind of effects do they have on our lives? Starting at the beginning, wherever we are born and whoever we are born from commands much of our identity and who we become. I feel extremely fortunate to have been born in America and I try to remind myself of this whenever I am having a bad day. There's no reason that I should have liberties when others do not simply because of my origin yet I do. This is one of the greatest injustices of the world, every human should be granted the same freedoms. This is a big engine to my "global mindset" doctrine. Which has been mentioned in a previous post. It's wonderful to have pride in one's own country but nationalism should have no superiority over globalism.
Evolution is another realm beyond human control. This planet has been shaped based upon physical principles out of our control and was able to sustain human life in addition to all other life. The geography, certain catastrophes and conflicts, and biology have converged to create our lives and human nature as we know it today. The solar system is in this galaxy which is in this universe that we know. It is daunting to think of how little control we have had of anything outside our little sphere of where we live in the vast universe. What makes this little tale fascinating is how we got here has been completely out of our control, but now that we are here (that is to say in the present) we get to control where we go! This is such a special time in human or all of biological evolution. Modern humans with complex societies are known to have been around for about 10 thousand years and this Present is the culmination of all our human struggles. We as a culture have never been more aware of ourselves or surroundings thanks to science and political and social freedoms. It's my opinion that the majority of the world is striving towards what is Right. The worldwide civil rights movement, the fall of communism; much of the population now have seen this in THEIR LIVES. Imagine what wonderful things my generation and future generations will  be able to do without these shackles.

Every human gets one life, one set amount of time and that clock is always counting down. Each society gets a collection of human lives to build its foundation. Our species is the building supported by the foundation of all these societies. It is an awesome sight to zoom out to take a look at the building we have created.

Why Run?

I must like to run. I mean I go on jogs fairly regularly which means maybe 2-4 times a week if the weather permits. Its the same 1 mile route every time and right around the half mile mark I start hating myself for even putting running shoes on. This is mostly because my lungs feel like they're collapsing and my feet feel like lead weights. Yet, whenever there is a nice day and I'm inside I'm thinking about goin on that run. So what is it that drags me out to that torturous pavement? To fully appreciate what I mean I'm gonna tell a completely different story.

In my last blog post, Godeologies, I wanted to explore Buddhism a little further. Low and behold a two hour special on Siddhartha (the first Buddha) appeared on television. It really was a great introduction to Buddhism. The principles of Buddhism are centered on following the path of enlightenment, which is the realization of a greater truth or knowledge. In India around 5 BC Siddhartha left his family to search for knowledge. He was not the first one to look for a path to divine truth, and he is generally portrayed as an average man who, in seeing pain and human suffering, yearned for some understanding of the world around him. I'll try to give only a meat and potatoes background here. After having many masters Siddhartha became discouraged in his journey for truth. He learned that True Knowledge does not only come from ritual practice, but it also must come from within which is understood to be meditation to push the limits of our minds. A common practice was asceticism which is to deprive yourself of worldly desires. Asceticism includes fasting, celibacy, and torturing your own body. Siddhartha practiced asceticism but found that it did not answer the questions he had.  After these struggles the story says that Siddhartha sat beneath a ficus tree with a bowl of rice pudding and meditated like a beast. He achieved nirvana, which is to say he realized his enlightenment by defeating the god of desire, Mara, and reviewing all his past lives.

After his enlightenment Siddhartha is unchanged. Buddhism is not about being special, it is about being normal. It is about realizing that we are already enlightened. We just have to open our eyes and realize the beauty in the mundane. The path to nirvana is not about following a set of rules, or worshiping some god, but about maintaining a balance in life. Buddhism is the pursuit of knowledge, understanding that everything is connected and cyclical, in life there will be death. As there is joy there is also suffering. Buddhism accepts that there is greed, anger, and ignorance in the world and we must match them with generosity, compassion, and wisdom rather than denying them. I really like the practicality of Buddhism.

So what does this have to do with jogging? I think jogging is my form of meditation. It's really weird to stop and think about how powerful your mind is and jogging is one example of this. Picture me at that half mile marker when my body is saying "I'm not going to keep running, lets walk it out big guy." I know I'm only halfway done and I really have to focus to overcome physical limits. Eventually running a mile doesn't become much of an issue, it is running a faster mile that becomes the driving motivation. The fact that I will always be able to convince myself that I could run faster induces intense concentration when I'm out there gasping for breath. If meditating is similar to jogging then I can see why it is such a popular practice. There is always that moment right after completing the jog when I am simultaneously feeling the most pain and the joy of accomplishing something. Now consider the focus needed to run and complete a marathon (who's in?). The difference between the focus and determination of  marathoners and my measly 1 mile must be similar to a zen master and his disciple.

I'm trying to think of other activities that could offer similar benefits as jogging. Maybe it would be easier to think of jogging as aerobic meditation. I don't think playing organized sports would fit the analogy since most of them aren't really aerobic. And of course all sports require focus but I'm not sure there is a mental analogue in sports to willing yourself to keeping your feet moving when you absolutely don't want to. Biking and swimming are probably close but running is such a pure activity. There's no mechanical assistance or special skills required other than the ability to move your feet. I might be saying that though because I'm an awful swimmer. I guess I enjoy jogging because it is the easiest way to test my physical limits and like Siddhartha I must over come my God of desire. In this case it is the God of Relaxation.

Why run? Perhaps it is better to run than to walk the path towards enlightenment.

Next: It's About Time

Godeologies

I. Introduction

I just attempted to tackle the difficult subject of politics. So, feeling a sense of bravado I'm gonna talk about religion. I consider my self to be an agnostic. I don't associate with any of the modern religions yet I share some of the principles they hold, mainly the pursuit of truth. Science cannot answer all the questions a human may ask. If you know me one of my favorite movies is Waking Life, and there is a scene in the movie where the characters talk about a "Holy Moment." (skip to 3:30 for the Holy Moment dialogue)

Everything around us was created by something, every moment in time is a miraculous manifestation of time and matter so it is "holy". Similar to these characters I don't normally think about life in this way but ever so often I am reminded of what I have been neglecting. My holy moments might occur to me while listening to really good music or I'm sitting outside on a clear night next to a campfire with friends (A listing of holy moments below, and please add your own in the comment section). The Holy Moment is a feeling I could not describe but at times it can be overwhelming.

II. Distinction

There is a difference between religion and spirituality. I think spiritual thought arose because of a human desire to understand. You know the saying "With great power comes great responsibility", well humans have these huge brains to contemplate and alter our environment, but what greater responsibility is there than to reflect on mortality and the afterlife? Deep reflection is my interpretation of spirituality. Which leads me to the important distinction between spirituality and religion... in recent history humans have been conditioned to believe that we are in control and religion arose as a way for us to control the inevitable. So you see spirituality was the Question and religion was the Answer. Being aware of the fallibility of the bible (discussed in III): the realization is that humans are the authors of religion and, therefore, I maintain that the Question has not and can not be answered. Christianity is, of course, not the only religion and I will discuss why I am unable to adhere to others later.

III. Foundation

I grew up regularly attending catholic church. I was even confirmed, which for those of you who don't know is sort of a graduation into adulthood from the perspective of the catholic church. As my religious beliefs matured the faults of Christianity made a significant impact on me. Aside from the disgusting behavior of certain priests (who are supposedly the pious leaders), I discovered the true foundation of Christianity. The bible is our history book to Christianity, yet there was no bible until 397 AD. 400 years is a longtime to maintain credible interpretations. Throughout the history of the church political leaders have ingrained their own interpretations of Christianity in the bible. Much of the changes these men made in the bible were a method of control or were selfish manifestations. Did you know there was a Gospel of Mary Magdelene? Unfortunately it's been lost to time. And so it is hard to distinguish "true" scripture (especially since translators of the bible apply their own interpretations as well). If I was willing to admit the original bible was "the word of God" how would I know which part of the scriptures are God's, a monk's translation, or a politician's propaganda? I have to believe God would not have wanted his words to be manipulated in this way, therefore I am not bound by the bible nor Christianity. So what about other religions? Maybe Christianity is wrong and another one is right. If there really was a True religion it would have manifested itself in all cultures around the world, there would be no "guess and check". Instead different cultures have different religious beliefs. This leads me to believe individual cultures created their own interpretations of religious principles, echoing each respective cultures norms and ethos. However, I have found it difficult disqualifying Buddhism. After reading a bit about Buddhism it appears that Buddhism is more philosophy than theology. I guess the question becomes how do you define a religion?

IV. Interpretation

My interpretation of God arose from a logical train of thought. I remember asking my Mother about this when I was maybe 7 or 8-if God created the universe who created God? The innocence of children can be a profound demonstration of human nature. Mom (not being an immortal supreme being) was unable to answer my "simple" question, so I adopted my own interpretation of God. God is my word for an unknown Force. God could be one Being, a Man, a Woman, a whole group of Beings, an Ether, or some indescribable thing. At some point our universe began. Something(s) started the sequence of events that led to our universe. Nothing can come from nothing so my definition of God is the thing that started these actions to create something. Nothing in science disproves the existence of my God and it is here where science and religion (or should I say spirituality) can meet at a happy equilibrium. Stephen Hawking has some interesting ideas about our origins, but this cannot answer the question: Where did the universes come from?

V. Conclusion

One thing I didn't talk about was the amount of killing done in the name of religion. The problem is that people will never be able to agree on religion, so the killing will continue. It's difficult for me to understand why people willingly participate in such tragedies for such uncertainties. Obviously there is no uncertainty in the minds of these religious zealots, and this is probably due to rigid adolescent conditioning. My beliefs described here accept that there is uncertainty and as humans that's the best we can do. Another thing that becomes clear is that I don't know enough about Eastern Cultures. I think at some point in the future I would like to gain first hand knowledge of Buddhism. Not too sure where I would go for that so if anybody has some ideas throw'em out there.

My Holy Moments

• Driving along I-90/94, or Wacker Drive, or Lake Shore Drive past the Chicago skyline
• The moment an airplane gains elevation on take off
• Looking at the stars
• Waking up in a tent
• Staring at a large body of water
• Finishing a really good book
• Waking up on a Saturday morning
• Family gatherings
• New Years Parties
• Attending an outdoor concert or music festival
• Making people laugh really hard
• Traveling
  

Political Fauxs

The 21st Century's gonna be a new century! Not the century of slavery, not the century of lies and issues of no significance, of classism and statism, and all the rest of the modes of control... it's gonna be the age of humankind, standing up for something PURE and something RIGHT! What a bunch of garbage, liberal, Democratic, conservative, Republican, it's all there to control you, two sides of the same coin! - Alex Jones in Waking Life

Politics are a touchy issue. It is often hard to have a discussion with somebody about politics unless they identify with your "political party". I am guilty of getting overly defensive but if I was to have a rational counterpart who was able to disagree respectfully I would very much enjoy a political discussion. It is the degree of disagreeability I have a great distaste for; I think people are too quick to defend themselves rather than listen to opposing viewpoints. I can tell immediately if somebody is willing to have a productive discussion or is going to be stubborn and abrasive. Here's how-do they ever express interest in your way of thinking or are at least able to agree on a middle ground? If not all hope is lost, abandon ship. There must be a mutual respect for each others intelligence.

The views I hold descend from the political environment I was surrounded by and I tend to think this is the way most people are. One parent was conservative one was liberal. I've spent 70% of my life with two presidents and say 90% of my politically aware life with these guys (I'll say this starts at age 10-around 1996). I lived in a mostly white upper-middle class neighborhood. Here are my cliff notes of those administrations:

Clinton: (Highest Approval Rating: 73; Lowest Approval Rating: 37)-a time of financial prosperity, scandal, and peace. The economy did very well and we actually started paying back our national debt. Clinton was certainly no stranger to scandal though. How big was the Monica Lewinsky thing? I'll throw Linda Tripp's name in there because that seemed to be tossed around all the time. The Clinton administration was able to keep the United States secure and was able to administer peace talks between Bosnia and Herzegovina. During this time it became clear to me that too many government officials took advantage of their status here are a few of these people who worked for President Clinton (these officials deeply sadden me to the point of great frustration): Webster Hubbell, Dick Morris, Mike Espy and Henry Cisneros.

Bush: (Highest Approval Rating: 90; Lowest Approval Rating 25)- Bush achieved the highest approval rating of the 13 presidents whose ratings have been tracked, but also the 3rd lowest. (behind Truman-22 and Nixon-24). Bush's presidency will probably be remembered for 9/11. He was able to rally America during this difficult time, indicated by his approval rating of 90 10 days after. He was able to capture perhaps our greatest enemy and begin the spread of democracy in a terrorist nation but also pass the now controversial USA Patriot Act under the cloak of 9/11. Unfortunately, the urgency of the Bush Administration to invade Iraq may have greatly affected the way the world views the United States. The Bush administration, like Clinton, lost many conniving government officials: Alberto Gonzalez, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Karl Rove, Alphonso Jackson, and Harriet Miers. Finally, the financial collapse of 2009. Many attribute this financial collapse to the deregulation of bank restrictions which actually can be seen starting in the Clinton administration (see: Glass-Steagall Act Repeal) Notice, however, that neither Bush nor Clinton are fault, congress is largely to blame as the repeal of this act passed with flying colors due to bi-partisan support. Interesting how the one thing congress can agree on is the ability of banks to run wild and eventually collapse the worldwide economy.

In the 2000's I started proactively thinking about politics more often. In my search for political coverage I discovered C-Span (zzzzzzz, snore, cough, zzzzz) and the Fox News Channel (not to be confused with your local Fox News show). Fox News is known to make edits to video tape and sound clips to drive the most radical conservative agenda . In fact Fox News is a misnomer, it is actually opinion based programming rather than objective news coverage. Hopefully the audience watching the most popular cable shows realize this. I recently found a comparable left-wing channel. I was very disappointed because who the anchor is: Here's the story-before a boy becomes a man and has to worry about things like politics, sports are what he talks about. That boy goes to ESPN for sports and one of the greatest anchors was Keith Olbermann. He had the wittiest and most hilarious quips "He put the biscuit in the basket" or "I can read his lips, and he is not praying" or "real craftsman don't blame their tools". Unfortunately, he somehow found a job in politics and is now the liberal version of Bill O'Reilly.

I tend to watch shows like the Daily Show. Admittedly, it is skewed towards the left. However, The Daily Show regularly brings on guests from both political parties and always treats them with mutual respect (unlike MSNBC or Fox News). The most powerful and substantive portion of the show is the before and after clips. People are actually held accountable for the things they say (both Democrats and Republicans); it is a depressingly honest representation of the hypocrisy of our government. I wish more news sources took this approach, corporations skirt accountability too easily due to their influence. If you haven't seen Jon Stewart's debate with Jim Cramer (Part I, Part II) it is journalistic gold.

After writing this blog a few things become more clear. The two major parties of our government are fundamentally flawed and furiously self-interested. How do you sift through all the garbage on television and on the internet then? Well my personal experience has told me that if there's one thing that can't lie it's numbers. If you're interested in reading straight facts about politics go to http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/. If you don't like his articles you can at least respect the ability to draw interesting conclusions based on statistical data.

What do we have to look forward to with President Obama. Yes, lets think about the good things Obama can offer us. Lets forget about the garbage about the Nobel Peace Prize, even Obama basically admitted he was undeserving...which segues to my next point- He SEEMS to be a sincere, honest president. He has some wonderful ideas lets see if he's going to commit to actually making a change. You have to admit his town hall meetings are refreshingly intimate interactions with our government. He is willing to directly answer the public's concerns. I think we can all agree health care needs an overhaul and president's have been down this road before and failed. I think the best way to consider the health care debate (forget about party allegiances) is to consider existing examples of government run health care. I will provide a link to Wikipedia's pages and you make up your mind whether these are successful or not.

I. Medicare
II. Medicaid
III. England's Universal Healthcare (other countries included in link)

IV. Hawaiian Universal Healthcare (This is a New York Times Article which many regard as Liberal)

Sometimes all the lies and deceit brings me to a breaking point and I like to remind myself why the government is such an essential part of life. The Declaration of Independence is my welcoming reminder that this country made some visionary changes to a human society in the past for the good of its people. The beauty in America is that people have a voice and maybe one day we will be able to instill a passion in our politicians to reflect on our history and elminate the petty self-righteousness...

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

Solar Power:(Light) Wave of the Future?

    Recently I've been visiting prospective graduate schools. I've been to the University of Delaware, University of Massachusetts-Lowell, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. These trips have been a lot of fun really and meeting professors is always an interesting experience. So my plan is to research something related to renewable energy sources. Solar power is my first interest. Wind power looks to have a really bright future and is a few steps ahead of where solar is today. In my opinion wind power technology is fairly straightforward and wouldn't really interest me academically and solar power today is... lets say imperfect and that's what draws me to it. It's so expensive and inefficient but consider the potential advantages:

a) The sun will be burning for ~4 billion more years so the source is not going anywhere soon
b) I think people are more willing to install solar modules than a wind generator on their property. Solar panels are more customizable and less of an eye sore (check out these cool shingles or roofs)
c) One interesting study showed that if we employed 8% efficient solar panels on the 6 major deserts we could provide the WORLD its energy needs. However, the study admits there are major technical and political obstacles standing in the way so don't take this too literally.
d) The places in most desperate need of electricity are right where the sun's rays are strongest
e) Nano-science is pushing the boundaries of solid-state electronics and thin films which would directly affect solar cells.
f) Being responsible for our own power generation would clearly make us more aware of our energy consumption (The Google Power Meter alone reduces power consumption). That link and this somewhat cheezy movie shows, just having knowledge gives people the power to change. We've become so reliant on electric companies that its hard to consider our alternatives.
g) Clearly a corollary to part f would be relieving our dependency on electrical companies. I don't foresee nor want the electric companies to become obsolete but I see them as a safety blanket. They will be there when the sun isn't shining. The candle industry had to step aside when Edison started providing DC current to New York. So too the electric companies either need to step aside or aid in the development of alternate energy sources.

Instead of sustaining an illusion of endless energy supply it is time for society to be more responsible and aware. Natural gas and oil reserves are finite, they WILL run out. A wonderful article in Scientific American (draft of the article here) is written by Leonardo Maugeri-an Executive VP of an Italian oil company. Basically he is disagreeing with alarmists who argue that the peak of oil recovery has been realized; once we think we've exhausted an oil reserve we find a new way to extract more oil or we find a new reserve all together. He is right-many studies conducted on this topic have been proven wrong. So how long does he think our reserves will last? According to him we'll safely glide into the next century, after that we will be running on E...100 years of oil left, according to an oil company! This is not some nagging environmentalist urging the use of alternate energy sources (i.e. me). 100 years...wow. At that point we will have no choice but to turn to alternates. Nuclear energy will probably be the understudy to oil in this theatrical performance of "How to Drain the Earth of its Natural Resources as Fast as Possible" written by: The Human Race. But hopefully solar power and wind energy will be viable sources as well. All this tells me one thing: get a head start on solar so that we can conserve some oil, ergo lower our greenhouse gas emissions.

But how do we encourage people to limit their use of natural gas and oil? A good way to motivate people is to offer direct and immediate consequences to their actions. See if you can follow me: having personal power generators (such as solar modules) would be like having an energy checkbook; you would have to budget the amount of energy used and if you saw that maybe you were overusing in the beginning of the month then you would amp it down to stay within your limits (haha amp it down-a little electrical humor there). I can't count how many times I've been guilty of leaving my bedroom light on or leaving a window open or leaving that butt warmer on for too long, but let me tell you I would be willing and able to limit my energy consumption if I knew I would be running out soon.

Up Next: Political Fauxs

Science: A Powerful Diplomatic Tool

Science

 Knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation

One thing I like about science is that it's fluid. The "laws" of science are malleable, they are often corrected and improved. You can oppose any theory as long as you are able to provide support for an alternative... shoot you could oppose a theory without support and nobody's going to imprison or torture you to retract your statements, offensive as they may be. I imagine that if science could speak I imagine it saying constantly "I'll believe it when I see it, you knucklehead!" Also, if science was a human it would be a 5 year old child;  "so if I push down on this tube some colors come out? I wonder if colors will come out if I press this tube on the wall so mommy or daddy can see my artwork." Markers on the wall are a 5 year old's equivalent of the Egyptian's hieroglyphs.

Questions: So what happened to America, we used to be the leaders in innovation and technology? Have people suddenly lost their sense of curiosity or lost a will to see the beauty in nature?  How does your iPod work? How is it that you are reading my blog from miles upon miles away on a different machine? How do plants grow, why do stars twinkle but planets don't? Why is beer so delicious?

The Future: Clearly science can offer some answers to interesting questions. However, the purpose of my entry is not to ridicule everybody uninterested in science. What I want to do is display how crucial science is to international relations and society's future. As Einstein would say lets perform a gedanken experiment (a thought experiment)...imagine a world ( ✓)...good. Okay, imagine a world, a world I'll call Jontopia, similar in all ways to Earth except that it instituted a global consortium (think CERN's LHC but greater cooperation or the Montreal Protocol but durative) that received funding from all participating countries and used those funds to organize and perform world scale (Jontopia scale) experiments. The consortium could be multifaceted...

1) Environmentally Active--> these experiments would be to provide facts and evidence to policy makers so that said policy makers will install laws that maintain the diversity and overall health of Jontopia's environment. Remember these are to be global scale experiments, no one country is targeted. Think climate change or despeciation.

2) Information Gathering --> undertake experiments to better understand natural phenomena.These experiments would provide insight to the life and the universe and would not necessarily provide direct research to support or oppose specific legislation. Evolutionary science and biology, physics and astronomy would lead many of the projects here.


So what does this mean for all Jontopians? I think they would probably find it hard to imagine a world without their global consortium. A few of the things to note:


1) Ultimately the cooperation of multiple countries to achieve a common scientific goal must decrease the chances of disagreeable nations to engage in military action. Remember that this is not the UN or NATO. The purpose of the consortium is scientific and does not stand to benefit any nation politically or economically.



2) This project would provide a multitude of jobs for Jontopians. Participating in an international consortium would provide opportunities for scientists and universities to gain notoriety. Also, anything on this type of scale has to command significant media coverage. Given all this wouldn't it stand to reason that more young minds would be likely to see the benefits of science? I'm not saying people will get as excited about it as the Super Bowl or maybe for international comparison I should say the World Cup or the next Miley Cyrus concert, but if some of the research supplants 1 news story a month about celebrity gossip or athletes contracts it is giving people a chance to think about more important things.


3) Countries will disagree, scientists will argue, projects may fail. Where to conduct the research, what to conduct it on, how much to time and money should be spent on specific research, how to limit and respond to failures. These questions demand a lot of attention. Eventually they will argue about the results. These are healthy disagreements, and this would help people think globally rather than locally. With the mass distribution of 7 billion people we must adopt a global mindset.


4) In order for countries to participate they need to meet strict requirements. They need to commit a certain portion of their budget to this as a "down payment" (perhaps demand a percentage from military spending). Agree to a non-violent treaty with all other participating countries. Agree to a global constitution. Of course open their borders to research teams. In return each country will choose an ongoing project they would like to be a part of and submit a project they are interested in. Also, thanks to modern technology, all participating nations will give their citizens voting rights on all projects. Votes may be weighted depending on where research is to take place, population of nation, or perhaps all nations are given the same amount of votes. Votes may not be integer numbers in the latter scenario. Suppose each country counts as 3 votes and 120 million votes are cast in a country: 50 million vote YES and 70 million vote NO, then from that country 1.25 votes are YES (3 x 50/120 = 1.25), and 1.75 are NO (3 x 70/120= 1.75). You sum all the YES and NO's from the globe and maybe a simple majority wins. I don't know, it's just an idea

5) This should be an expensive venture. Hopefully redirecting a nation's military funds. This way countries are committed once they join. Remember this is not-for-profit. All transactions and spending will be transparent to members and citizens. Assuming things are done right, big assumption!, these projects will make Jontopia sustainable and in effect less money will be spent cleaning up. Also, consider all the products and new technologies top-of-the-line research creates. 


So how did Jontopia institute this consortium in the first place? That's a story for another blog. I think the main questions that arise are can we put aside our differences to work towards a common goal and are we able to realize the value of something even if it does not turn a profit? 

Next Blog: Solar Power: (Light) Wave of the Future?

An Arrow Pointing in All Directions

Location: Beginning with the Virgo Super Cluster of Galaxies we'll find our Local Group of Galaxies which of course includes our Milky Way Galaxy, and about the midpoint between the galactic center and the outer edge of the Milky Way will be the Orion Spiral Arm and this is where 8 planets are found orbiting around a 4.6 billion year old, smaller than average star we call The Sun. Earth is the 3rd planet found about 8 light minutes away. In the North Western Hemisphere there will be a collection of lakes on a great land mass. I am located at the southern tip of one of these lakes. Of course only humans would be able to understand how the hemispheres of our planet are arbitrarily designated but I hope I'm safe in assuming only humans can read this.


Influences:

1) Family --> Despite getting divorced, both my parents have been and are involved in my life. Dad: a hard working, sports loving, generally smart guy. Mom: a caring, understanding, world class cook, and source of goofiness. Sis: really a polar opposite of myself despite the obvious gender differences, she is artistic and I am not, she is high strung and I am mostly relaxed, yet somehow we get along really well and always have. I am lucky enough to have lost only one grandparent, and for a good portion of my life they all lived in the same general area.

2) Chicagoland --> I've spent most my life located no further than 1 hour from Lake Michigan. When asked I say, "I'm from Chicago", but right now I live in Michigan. I got my degree in physics from the University of Illinois at Chicago, but also spent some time studying in Milwaukee. The midwest can be beautiful, melancholy, blistering hot, freezing, exciting, boring, blue-collar, white-collar, bluesy, hip-hoppy,  punkish, jazzy, quirky, straight-laced, all kinds of adjectives. This is in many ways has shaped who I am, a variety of all kinds of qualities and ultimately I think it drives me to become a well rounded person.

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