Ok. It’s a bad word. Please keep reading. Ontology is a terrible word. Rings of something incredibly complicated.

If you feel like writing. Here’s a question. If not, read on…

Philosophy is more rubbish than science by a mile. Not only do they apply the method of science to an essentially creative subject matter, they also pretend to be scientists – writing peer-reviewed papers, spending time researching and going to conferences, teaching undergraduates, nurturing graduates. Worse still they are so scared of the actual investigative eye of science they keep themselves hidden, quiet little mice of academia, making sure not to rock the boat.

Worst of all, they come up with words like ontology, a word which ring-fences unfathomable complexity (such that surely only a professional philosopher could comprehend, of course).

Well guess what? Philosophy is a science as much as documentary making or being a novelist.

There is the same difference between academic philosophers and philosophers as between english literature professors and novelists (of course they do sometimes overlap).

Except there are no bastard philosophers to be seen. Plenty of novelists, but no philosophers. They used to exist. But now they don’t. They got swallowed up by the scientific attitude (and the old philosophers didn’t help by being utterly impenetrable).

The question

The question you need to ask yourself is simply this. What is real? What is reality like? If you had to describe it objectively, capturing everything, what would you say?

Scientists are a clever bunch. All my criticism is of science applied to the wrong things, not science as used in the right way.

The problem, in an impossibly abstract sense, is that scientists work on an incoherent ontology. It is not scientists fault in a way. They are by definition not interested in a conceptual argument.

In the most basic sense an ontology is just an abstract conceptual description of what is real. Science does deal with defining what is real, but only after you have decided what kind of questions you need answering, and what importance the answers have.

It is not in the interest of science to question the conceptual system in which their investigation takes place. The inevitable answer is that science does not provide the whole answer.

Scientists themselves don’t seem to believe that they have all the answers. They happily use concepts that lie outside of scientific investigation – the purpose of the investigation, for example. Because the ontology is everything it obviously decides the importance of everything, thats all.

Language does not comply to the laws of physics

Ontologies can be really easy.

I’ll try an ontology from the most coherent materialist angle possible:

Everything that happens is made of matter. Matter can be explained by the rules of physics, chemistry, biology and cosmology.

One part of the material world is brains and nervous systems in humans.

Living brains and nervous systems in humans generate a complex, communal form of life, experienced by each living and awake human.

Every fact about the world only matters to us insomuch as it is part of the brain-created, conscious, conceptually organized life we live. This life takes place in the material world, but a material world overlayed with a complex network of interconnected concepts which are shared by massive groups, cultures, societies and populations of humans. You obviously cannot see these in the normal sense.

Of course everything real is a concept that is made of something. But tell me how where a concept is, is the most useful part of the explanation?

Lets try one. The concept of the novel. All the paper and ink in books and led and computer chip as well, on which they are being written. And add the interconnected neurons of novelists – the ones that do the thinking, and the writing, and the history and criticism of novels and the great novelists, and all the reading.

The question is, so what? I know what a novel is. There is no scientific discovery about paper or LEDs that will help me explain what a novel is.

And here we hit the sticky point. We get confused talking about our own brains. There are discoveries about the brain that are obviously yet to be made. The question is the most useful explanation of how the neurons are connected.

I would argue that the scientific explanation is not very useful in conceptual matters. The best, and most comprehensive possible answer of what the neurons are doing, the organisation of the atoms, is the description of the practice of reading and writing novels. This is inevitably an expansive inquiry based on finding out about the connected concepts, practices and ideas – the grammar of our form of life, to put it in Wittgenstein’s terms.

You explain what a novel is by explaining what reading and writing are, you explain narrative and characterization, the history of novelists, the science of printing and of neurobiology, the anthropology of  storytelling. All these things and more give the best, most complete explanation of the novel. (the words explanation and description here mean the same thing).

How can you say that life is not real?

It makes no sense to say that life is not real, but that is exactly what many people seem to believe.

Basically, we all bloody well know that we are conscious. That we are all living lives.

There is all this debate about the science of consciousness. We discovered consciousness long ago, but have yet failed to comprehend the implications of the discovery.

We know that our brains do subjectivity, that this is “what it is like to be your brain and nervous system”. We have known the ontology for a long time. But who would herald the discovery of something they were already plainly aware of.

No. We found out that conscious life took place in the brain, and not for example, the lungs. But we were not particularly interested. The logical conclusions are still sinking in.

These thoughts are so far from the scientist’s interests that it is clearly possible to discount them entirely.

The scientist’s question – “how do I find out what is real?”
The scientist’s answer – “it’s what I do”.

1.What is real? Come on you scientists and atheists and rationalists of all shapes and sizes. For the sake of nothing but inquiry and curiosity, indulge me in this trivial matter. What do you think, in the most abstract terms you can face using, is real? What ontology are you working from? Do it in 140 if you like.

Renowned astrophysicist Latchezar Filipov says alien beings are already on Earth.
A leading astrophysicist who has worked on space missions claims that he and his colleagues are in contact with extraterrestrials who are "living among us." And they don’t like what they see.
Latchezar Filipov, head of the Space Research Institute at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, is causing global ripples after researching crop circles around the world.
"We sent (the aliens) 30 questions about global problems," said Filipov, who was vague about how he actually conveyed the queries. "And now we have some answers."
The "answers" came in the form of pictograms in crop circles.
Filipov says the aliens are here, observing us, but unobservable by us for some reason.
"I feel that … some kind of information is being taught, that they’d like to be in contact with us," Filipov said Friday in halting English from his office in Sofia.
Filipov asked the aliens about the SETI, the broad umbrella project searching for alien life, and the supposed end of the world in 2012, when the Mayan calendar expires.
He told the Star that the aliens have told him SETI doesn’t work, owing to a confusion about communication through "magnetic fields."
They also said there is some truth in the 2012 predictions, having something to do with volcanoes in Mexico.
Further, more prosaic revelations include that the aliens are angry about global warming, disagree with in-vitro fertilization and don’t like cosmetics. Apparently, Filipov’s aliens are grumpy Republicans.
This work is only beginning, Filipov cautioned, and he is still open to the fact that he could be mistaken – "I don’t yet believe that this is absolutely true information."
Filipov is no garden-variety crank. He sports an impressive CV: graduate work at Moscow State University, a variety of high-level positions studying astrophysics, work on a MIR spacecraft mission.
However, his latest preoccupation has caught his international contemporaries by surprise.
"I’m not aware of this work," said Ian Corbett, general secretary of the executive committee of the Paris-based International Astronomical Union. "But it is very hard to take seriously."
The IAU website shows Filipov as an active member.
Filipov’s colleagues inside Bulgaria are more peevish. There is a move afoot to force his resignation from the Space Research Institute.
"In Bulgaria now, we have a very strange reaction to my research," Filipov said. "The people in Bulgaria are frightened, they don’t understand this.
"You must understand that this is a very complicated situation."

A plane powered by renewable fuel has circled the skies over the Netherlands, in the world’s first bio fuel passenger carrying flight.

Perhaps we humans are sort of cancer on the world.. we are destroying the planet, we are destroying ourselves… pretty much like some terrible virus.. and religion is the controlling system on the virus(Us).. what drives us to destroy ourselves and our host, the earth, religion tells us there is another place/host where we can go..AFTER DEATH 

By Dr. Brent Lipke DC

If you are pregnant one of the best healthiest things you can do is see a doctor of Chiropractic. 

Another great reason for Chiropractic care during pregnancy is that it is drugless and has no side effects, unlike drugs which can cross the placenta and harm the growing baby. 

Research has shown Chiropractic to help maintain pregnancy, control vomiting, reduce back pain and back labour, reduce premature contractions, shorten labor time by 60% , and reduce drug use by 50%.

To learn more about how a safe, gentle and scientific, Chiropractic adjustment could TRANSFORM your health contact your chiropractor.  If you are interested in a complimentary consultation, CALL  The Family Chiropractic Centre, 519-837-1234. 

I’m Dr. Brent Lipke, educating you to help you educate others !

FDA to Evaluate Safety and Legality of Alcoholic Beverages Containing Caffeine

“The increasing popularity of consumption of caffeinated alcoholic beverages by college students and reports of potential health and safety issues necessitates that we look seriously at the scientific evidence as soon as possible.” — Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Principal Deputy Commissioner of Food and Drugs, FD

What are caffeinated alcoholic beverages?

Caffeinated alcoholic beverages are alcoholic beverages to which the manufacturer has intentionally added caffeine and/or other stimulants that are metabolized as caffeine (e.g., guarana). An increasing number of companies are producing these beverages, with young people as the apparent marketing target. The reported prevalence of combined caffeine and alcohol use among U.S. college students is high as 28%.

What are the potential health concerns with caffeinated alcoholic beverages?

• Studies have shown that people who drink caffeinated alcoholic beverages drink larger quantities of alcohol.
• Caffeine can mask the negative effects of alcohol intoxication, increasing the chance that users will engage in potentially risky behaviors, such as drinking and driving, because they don’t feel that they are intoxicated.
• Users of caffeinated alcoholic beverages are also more likely to experience alcohol-related consequences, such as being taken advantage of or taking advantage of someone else sexually.
• Consuming these beverages may also be associated with adverse effects on heart rhythm, most likely in individuals with pre-existing cardiovascular conditions.

Is caffeine approved by the FDA for use in alcoholic beverages?

A food additive is presumed by the FDA to be unsafe unless its particular use has been approved by federal regulation or is Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) under the conditions of its intended use. The FDA has approved caffeine as GRAS for use only in non-alcoholic cola- type beverages at concentrations of no greater 0.02 percent. The FDA has not approved caffeine for use at any level in alcoholic beverages.

What is the FDA doing about this?

On November 13, 2009, the FDA issued a mandate to nearly 30 manufacturers* of caffeinated alcoholic beverages to produce within 30 days their rationale and supporting data concluding that their use of caffeine in an alcoholic beverage is either GRAS or prior sanctioned.** To be GRAS, the burden is on the manufacturers to show that 1) the use of caffeine is safe for use in alcoholic beverages based on publicly available scientific evidence and 2) there is a consensus among qualified experts regarding the safety of caffeine for this use. In their letter to manufacturers of caffeinated alcoholic beverages, the FDA states that, “If FDA determines that the use of caffeine in your alcoholic beverage is not GRAS or subject to a prior sanction, FDA will take appropriate action to ensure that this product is removed from the marketplace.”

*In the past year, Anheuser-Busch and Miller agreed to discontinue their caffeinated alcoholic beverages and agreed to not produce any caffeinated alcoholic beverages in the future.

**A substance is considered prior-sanctioned if its specific use in food was authorized by the FDA or the Department of Agriculture prior to September 6, 1958.

SOURCES: Adapted by CESAR from the following documents available on the FDA website at http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodIngredientsPackaging/ucm190366.htm: “FDA to Look Into Safety of Caffeinated Alcoholic Beverages; Agency Sends Letters to Nearly 30 Manufacturers,” FDA Press Release, 11/13/09; FDA, Questions & Answers on Caffeine in Alcoholic Beverages, 2009; CAB Letter to FDA from Attorneys General, 9/25/09; CAB Letter to FDA from Scientists, 9/21/09.

Norwegian health authorities say  they have discovered a mutation in the H1N1 flu strain which could cause more severe symptomps.

–scientificamerican

For many people, it has become routine to go online to check out a map before traveling to a new place. But for blind people, Google maps and other visual mapping applications are of little use. Now, a unique device developed at MIT could give the visually impaired the same kind of benefit that sighted people get from online maps.The BlindAid system, developed in MIT’s Touch Lab, allows blind people to “feel” their way around a virtual model of a room or building, familiarizing themselves with it before going there.

Mandayam Srinivasan, director of the Touch Lab and affiliated with the Research Laboratory of Electronics and the Department of Mechanical Engineering, is working with the Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton, Mass., to develop and test the device. Preliminary results show that when blind people have the chance to preview a virtual model of a room, they have an easier time navigating their way around the actual room later on.

A cane for virtual navigation

The BlindAid system builds on a device called the Phantom, developed at MIT in the early 1990s and commercialized by SensAble Technologies. Phantom consists of a robotic arm that the user grasps as if holding a stylus. The stylus can create the sensation of touch by exerting a small, precisely controlled force on the fingers of the user.

The BlindAid stylus functions much like a blind person’s cane, allowing the user to feel virtual floors, walls, doors and other objects. The stylus is connected to a computer programmed with a three-dimensional map of the room. Whenever a virtual obstacle is encountered, the computer directs the stylus to produce a force against the user’s hand, mimicking the reaction force from a real obstacle.

Srinivasan’s team has tested the device in about 10 visually impaired subjects at the Carroll Center, a non-profit agency that offers education, training and rehabilitation programs to about 2,000 visually impaired people per year.

To successfully use such a system, the visually impaired person must have a well-developed sense of space, says Kolb. For those people, “this offers the prospect of being able to preview an environment and have a sense of what’s in the environment, the shape of it, and where landmarks are located,” he says.

During the testing, Kolb realized that BlindAid could also help mobility instructors evaluate the exploration strategies the subject is using — whether he or she has an organized approach or tends to get stuck in a certain area.

Orly Lahav, a former postdoctoral associate in the Touch Lab, and David Schloerb, a research scientist in MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics, did much of the work to develop BlindAid. Lahav presented the work at the Virtual Rehabilitation 2009 International Conference in Israel this summer.

Once Srinivasan obtains additional funding, he hopes to incorporate the BlindAid system into the Carroll Center’s training program, which will yield user feedback that should help him refine the system for commercial production. In the long term, he believes BlindAid could be used to help blind people not only preview public spaces such as train stations, but also plan and travel by public transportation using virtual route maps that they can download and interact with through touch.

In October, Srinivasan presented the system at an event at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, called “Art Beyond Sight,” sponsored by an organization of the same name, which promotes ways to help blind people experience visual arts. In museums, visually impaired people can experience art through verbal descriptions and touch, and devices such as BlindAid could allow them to find out how to navigate the museum before visiting.

“There is a big difference between going to a totally unknown place and a place for which you have a mental map,” says Srinivasan.

– Anne Trafton, MIT News Office

For those of you who are fascinated by science but have limited scientific background, you know how difficult it is to share your ideas with others. This is a blog that will hopefully begin a discussion on hot scientific issues among the un-washed. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments as this new blog unfolds.

Unfortunately I have seen this logical fallacy used on both sides of the skeptic/believer debate. It occurs when ridicule or mockery is used in place of evidence in an “argument”.

As usual I will substitute the X’s for something cute and fuzzy.

The Appeal to Ridicule has the following format where X equals puppies:

1) Puppies (X), as some form of mockery, is aimed at the claim (C).

2) Therefor Claim (C) is false.

This sort of “argument” is fallacious because ridiculing a claim is not provable evidence that said claim is actually false. An obvious example would look like this “1+1=2?? That’s the most patently ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!”

This argument is of course based in the idea that we are working with a Base 10 system of counting.

I have heard this fallacy used as an argument so many times even in my own household. A real world example looks like this:

“Evolution is absurd! I’ve never heard of a monkey giving birth to a human!”

The ridicule here occurs in both the use of the word ‘absurd’ and the dismissiveness of the concept of human evolution as a whole.  Usually that argument is made by Creationists who simply have not educated themselves or have chosen not to be educated on the current theory of evolution.

Another form of this argument is “reductio ad absurdum” or “reducing to absurdity”. This site http://bit.ly/2×6CEY has an excellent example of it. I’ll quote it here:

One form of this line of reasoning is known as a “reductio ad absurdum” (“reducing to absurdity”). In this sort of argument, the idea is to show that a contradiction (a statement that must be false) or an absurd result follows from a claim. For example: “Bill claims that a member of a minority group cannot be a racist. However, this is absurd. Think about this: white males are a minority in the world. Given Bill’s claim, it would follow that no white males could be racists. Hence, the Klan, Nazis, and white supremists are not racist organizations.”

Since the claim that the Klan, Nazis, and white supremists are not racist organizations is clearly absurd, it can be concluded that the claim that a member of a minority cannot be a racist is false.

3207713    การเตรียมวรรณกรรมวิชาการ    Scientific Literature Preparation

วิธีการเขียนบทความทางวิชาการและงานวิจัย เพื่อตีพิมพ์ในวารสาร

(An approach on conducting scientific and research papers for publication.)

(3207713 จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย)

I received a great question from a Reiki student today who was researching Reiki for an assignment at college.

Q. I was just wondering what your opinion is about differing qualities of Reiki given by a reiki Master or a level 1 or 2 practitioner?

This is a wonderful question, which I am pleased to be able to offer an opinion about.

I can really only speak from personal experience. For me, the ‘quality’ of Reiki coming out from my hands didn’t really change from Level 1 to Level 2, but increased dramatically when I did the master level. Having said that, I think there are so many factors influencing the ‘quality’ of a person’s Reiki, including how grounded they are, how much spiritual development they have done, whether they’re coming from a heart space or ego space (especially!), how strong their spiritual practice is, what’s going on in their life at the time, and how much of a “click” factor you might have with them in general. I’ve had Level 1 or 2 people put their hands on me and it’s been just wonderful and I’ve had “masters” put their hands on me and I’ve wanted to slap them and run away!!

My general advice, at all times, is to ask your higher self to direct you to where you need to go and then trust your instincts.

I don’t really know how I feel about the ’scientific’ study of Reiki… I appreciate that we all want to quantify things and that ‘research’ gives us great arguments to defend what we do. But, personally, I’m not really interested in defending something that I simply know to be true. (In my experience, defending something rarely gets results anyway because the people on the attack aren’t really interested in hearing the answers.)

The biggest problem for me with ‘research’ of Reiki is that it assumes you can control the energy, and the first principle of Reiki is that we must let go and let the Reiki do its own work. We cannot control it. To assume otherwise is laughable. And, because of the individual’s effects on the ‘quality’ (as discussed above), for me there can be no such thing as a ‘control group’ because that would assume that the Reiki coming from everyone’s hands is exactly the same, and we know from experience that that’s just not true.

In summary, I don’t believe that the level of Reiki necessarily affects the quality of the healing and I don’t believe that it can be ‘proven’ one way or another. So, trust your instincts and take guided action.

The Nov./Dec. 2009 issue of Zoogoer Magazine is now online! Features interesting, in-depth articles on the culinary team that feeds the Zoo’s endangered species, Ostrichs, Mehgan Murphy’s beautiful photographs, and a How Do You Zoo? on wild animal veterinarian Carlos Sanchez–written by me! Of course it’s better in person but please peruse the issue online.

This is actually a Lilium request for a To Aru Kagaku Railgun Rainmeter skin. The character here is Misaka Mikoto which I find her in the series is tsundereically charming (Haha, what am I saying?). A little bit disappointed though, by this second season, but the fan service and the comedy is quite refreshing. So, here you go Lilium, sorry for not using the picture you gave me, since it doesn’t portray her character very well. I hope you don’t mind.

Skin Name: Misaka Mikoto Rainmeter

File Size: 143 KB

Color Theme: Brown

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/file/zjmqc1zfmzy/MisakaMikoto.rar

Note: A Rainmeter application can be downloaded in my previous post. Don’t forget to extract and move the folder to your Rainmeter skin directory. Happy downloading!

The Scientific Revolution page is now complete!  Look for it in the “pages” section to the right —->

by Dr. Brent Lipke DC

Carpal tunnel syndrome is the occupational disease of the 21^st century.  It involves numbness, weakness or pain in the wrist and hand and is caused by pressure on the nerve entering the wrist.

Traditionally it has been treated by wearing a splint, taking anti inflammatory drugs or with surgery, all having limited success. 

Spinal misalignments are often found in the lower necks of patients suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome.  Nerve compression in the neck can block the flow of nutrients to nerves in the arm, shoulder and hand, making them susceptible to injury.  Chiropractic gently restores proper nerve flow from the neck to the hand correcting the cause of the problem.   

To learn more about how a safe, gentle and scientific, Chiropractic adjustment could TRANSFORM your health contact your chiropractor.  If you are interested in a complimentary consultation, CALL me at The Family Chiropractic Centre, 519-837-1234. 

I’m Dr. Brent Lipke, educating you to help you educate others !

The Mayan Long Count calendar shows time ends on December 21, 2012

The Times News Network predicts that global financial markets will crash in 2012

It is anticipated that the last son of the KGB, Vladimir Putin, will return to rule Russia in 2012

The 2012 Olympics will be held in that great city of the World London

NASA predicts that a great meteor will narrowly miss the earth in 2012

When viewed from above, the layout of the three Giza Pyramids in Egypt coincides with the shape that will be assumed by the three stars which make up the belt of the constellation Orion on December 21, 2012.

An elder of the New Zealand Maori reports that the Maoris have taught for centuries that the great curtain over the world will be “torn” in 2012.

Some sources (e.g., author Jay Weidner in his book A Monument to the End of Time: Alchemy, Fulcanelli and the Great Cross) report that Peruvian Shamans are looking forward to the return of Pacha Cuti in 2012. Pacha Cuti is expected to be the once and future emperor of the world.

Regardless of whether one believes Nostradamus possessed a window into the future, in his Lost Book, he predicts that a comet–called "Doomsday" or "King of Terror" depending upon the translation one reads–will strike the earth in 2012,

The Prophecy of the Popes, published in 1595 and attributed to Saint Malachy,

is a list of 112 short phrases in Latin. They purport to describe each of the

Roman Catholic popes (along with a few anti-popes), beginning with Pope Celestine II (elected in 1143) and concluding with a later added pope described in the prophecy as "Peter the Roman", whose pontificate will end in the destruction of the city of Rome, which I turn will be the domino to the destruciton of the world. It is important to note that according to the Prophecy of the Popes, Peter the Roman—i.e., the “last pope”—will ascend after the death of the current pope, Pope Benedict XVI. In other words, there is "scheduled" to be one more pope, under whom the world will end.

The Bible Code predicts a solar-flare or comet holocaust in the year 2012. As more fully described at the great website http://exodus2006.com/2012code.htm, The Bible Code predicts a 2012 extinction type event, relying on the cannonical verses of Revelation 16:8-9.

The mysterious Cross at Hendaye bears engravings that support the 2012-Galactic Cross end of time theory espoused by researchers of the Mayan long ocunt calendar and the “shape” of the Giza pyramids.

World oil consupmtion is beginning to peak through the abuse and misuse of the earth’s natural resources, and it is predicted that oil consumption will peak in 2012. (See, http://www.energybulletin.net/35127.html). This “peaking” of energy demand will, according the Indian version of The Wall-Street Journal, coincide with a collapse of the global finacial markets. In the June 28, 2007 edition of The Economic Times, found here

http://www.december212012.com/articles/news/financial_apocalypse.htm.

A prominent Harvard economist predicts that global liquidity in emerging markets will dry up in 2012.

In short, 2012 will be a very interesting year.