Posts Tagged ‘science’
Yikes, our psychology is old fashioned
Here we are close to 2010, wrestling with philosophy and physics that was well documented half a century ago.
Let’s look at what most of us think of as science.
If I throw a stone, in theory, I can predict where it will land. I like that. It is certain. I like that I know exactly what is going to happen.
But, of course, I don’t know where it will land.
- I am no good at throwing stones. It could go anywhere.
- My ability to calculate the physics of the trajectory is limited (I’ve forgotten and can’t do it in my head in real time).
- And other factors kick in such as the wind.
All in all, that stone becomes unpredictable. Oh, I don’t like that.
I don’t like the idea that what I thought was certain is not. It’s as if the earth shook under my feet.
Let’s look at what we think of as weakness of character
I hate it even more when I become unpredictable. Yesterday, I woke up thinking a project was hopeless. By the evening, I was so excited about the exact same project that I could not sleep. My judgement should not swing about like that ~ at least if I am a person of substance, or so we are brought up to believe.
The truth is that nothing is predictable. Least of all us.
So why do we persist in believing the world is under our control?
This is how it works. We have is a few factors under our control. When we focus on those factors, we feel calm. We feel efficacious. And therefore we persist in whatever we are doing.
It doesn’t mean that we are effective. It just means that we are willing to persist. We pay attention. We are more likely to do what we are thinking about than what we are not thinking about. So we get done what we are thinking about.
In a circular fashion, we think we will succeed, we feel in control, so we persist and therefore we try, and sometimes we do succeed.
There is still a huge factor of chance involved though. There is so much else happening around us that can affect an outcome. We’ve simply narrowed the range of outcomes by paying attention.
Is it a good thing to control our attention?
It’s interesting that in the western world that we put such a high premium on predicting results. We really want to feel in control, of course. Not be in control, feel in control.
We aren’t really in control. We are just ignoring what is out of our control. We are just writing a story of us in control. It is the story of being in control that we love! Take that away, and we really feel helpless!
You don’t believe that we just like to think we are in control?
Let’s look at the west. It is more successful than the rest of the world. It is richer.
Yes, it is. And dirtier. Where do the emissions come from? How much energy is used to make this life style?
We are richer because we consume. That’s what wealth means in this sense. We have learned to consume a lot.
And if that is a marvellous thing, then aren’t we are being silly ~ we are destroying the world’s ability to sustain the thing that we say is so important.
Aren’t we just behaving like a person who barges to the front of the queue? It is true we get there. But at the expense of becoming very unpopular.
The point is that we barged to the front of the queue, not because being in the front was important, but because we wanted to feel in control. Now we are in the front, do we feel in control? No we don’t. All those people behind us will get their own back at the first opportunity! We’ve reduced our control.
High control needs
Now I am an in control type of person. Anyone who knows me, knows that. I like being in control. I look for ways to understand the world. I think we do more when we understand the world
But I shouldn’t mistake
- My desire to be in control
- The mechanisms that explain the behaviour of plants, animals, things and other people
- My ability to control all these things
These are three different parts of the system.
Paradoxically, to be in control, I must give up control and join a system in which many mechanisms interrelate.
Oh, I can carry on being me. Enthusiastic, energetic, zestful. But that is just me being exuberant. Exuberant people are part of the universe. Take us into account in your calculations!
But my wish to control does not make things controllable. It means I will spend a lot of time researching what is controllable. I will not stop trying to make things controllable. But that does not make things controllable. I must distinguish my urge from reality.
The truth is that all the forces of the world exist because other forces exist and interplay with each other. I can learn what is humanly possible. I can learn as much as I can of the considerable knowledge of the world that there we have at our disposal. I can try to use the knowledge.
But I should never confuse my need to control with the ability to control. Indeed if I want to be effective, I should stand back a bit and not confuse the tunnel vision of will with the mindfulness when we pay attention to the world around us.
When we enjoy the world, when we celebrate everything around us, we get a lot more done.
Am I making any sense? This is hard to get.
I want a British TED
The world is divided it seems – in to those who watch TED and those who don’t.
I watch TED because I like positivity – I like my daily fix. And I admire technological advancement. I wish we had a British TED too – the best of science and technology that is coming out of the UK.
But is my wonder of TED shared?
It seems strange to me, but so many people don’t share my wonder. They aren’t interested. They even proclaim themselves proudly as Luddites.
What bothers the Luddites?
Of course, the original Luddites weren’t just disapproving of new technology. They smashed the new weaving presses too.
The people around us who claim they are Luddites, simply don’t understand the technology they decry. But they don’t stop anyone else using it.
They share with the original Luddites, though, a sense of disapproval. Most of all, the new technology threatens their status.
Should we bother with Luddites?
I am impatient with people who are ‘tight’. But all fear is genuine – sincerely and acutely felt. And I am willing to spend time to help people find a positive place in the world.
What I am not willing to do is hold up improvements for others while they have a sulk. That’s not on the agenda at all.
The general class of bereavement counseling
When we are counseling people who are fretting about change, we are working with a ‘general class’ of issue – bereavement at the highest level, and adjournment at the level of group formation.
Because disdain of new technology belongs to broader, general class of situations, we have the know-how and experience to help people. We work through three broad steps.
1. Acknowledge the contribution they made to our welfare and celebrate the skills they used. We do this fully, sincerely and elaborately.
2. Focus attention on the opportunities that are opening ahead of us, and new patterns of relationships with new people who are coming into view. We are concrete & specific and we introduce them, in person, to people who work in the new technologies.
3. Help individuals, one-by-one, to formulate a personal plan. We get down & dirty, one person at a time.
I think we should be bothered with Luddites. If they cannot see how technological change will benefit them, then we haven’t worked hard enough to show them around the new world that it is coming.
Better Reality TV? TED and the parallel program for Luddites?
I want a British TED, because I like to watch science, and I want to know the best of British science, up and down the land.
I’d also like to see a parallel program that offers respect for the work of people in ‘old technologies’ and welcomes them into a world that we find dear.
Shall we put reality TV and our license fees to good work?
The seriousness of the recession is exaggerated and underplayed!
All around us, we hear the doom and gloom of the recession and I think this talk is both exaggerated and underplayed Indeed, it is exaggerated because it is underplayed.
The economy needs structural change
The economy has not been strained like the plant on my desk that will bounce back with a little water. The economy has been strained like the continous salad on the window sill that needs to be replaced.
Britain has a long tradition of science
Such stress in the economy would be a disaster if there was no way of replacing it. But we only have to watch TED talks to know we are on the cusp of major technological changes and though Britain does not contribute as much to the R&D efforts of the world as the US, we are up there and have a long tradition of serious science.
How will technological change open up jobs for you and me?
I am making it my business to look out for the job opportunities of the future and TED once again obliges with a future opportunity that does not require a PhD in science, though it is certainly based on science.
Green offices!
We are going to green our offices to jungle proportions. Yep, you will work in a thicket and the last thing you will do every night before you go home is wipe the leaves of 10 bushes very carefully! Once a quarter, you will pop your plants outside and bring in another set!
And for greening your office, you will
- Save 15% of power and this is pretty important because 40% of the world’s energy is put into airconditioning.
- You will feel heaps better and be ill less often
- You will have 42% chance of an increase of 1% oxygen in your blood.
- You will be 20% more productive. That’s a lot.
So where is the opportunity?
In plant growing and tending of course!
I wonder how many people who run nurseries have been scribbling figures on the backs of envelopes.
- How many airconditioned buildings are there in UK?
- What is the capital cost of equipping the buildings with a new set of plants?
- What will be the knock-on effect on air-conditioning businesses and power companies?
- What would be the projected power decrease and how would it be offset by increased fumes as we ship plants across UK on our inefficent road networks?
- Who else is effected? Well, HR and productivity specialists are put squarely in their place at a 20% productivity increase!
What other side effects can you think of that I haven’t thought of?
And here are the details for the greening of your office from Kamal Meattle speaking at TED
Areca Palm
- Co2 to Oxygen
- 4 Shoulder high plants per person
- Hydroponics
- Wipe the leaves daily in Delhi or weekly in less congested place like Milton Keynes
- Outdoors every 3 to 4 months
Mother-in-law’s Tongue
- Co2 to Oxygen at night
- 6-8 waist high plants per person
Money Plant
- Hydroponics
- Removes volatile chemicals like formaldehydes
Evidence of the benefits of green offices
- Tried this green formula in Delhi office
- 50 000 square feet
- 20 year old
- 1200 plants for 300 occupants
- 42% probability that your blood oxygen goes up 1% when you spend 10 hours in the building
- Reduced incidence of
- eye irritation by 52%
- headaches by 24%
- respiratory illnesses by 34%
- lung impairment by 12%
- asthma by 9%
- Human productivity increased by 20%
- Reduction of energy requirements in the building by 15% because of reduced air conditioning
- Replicating with 1.75 million square feet building with 60 000 plants
Importance of greening offices
- Demand for energy will grow by 30% in the next 10 years
- 40% of energy is used by buildings
- 60% will live in cities with population of more than 1 million people
I must get this together before next winter!
The banking crisis is bad and a lot worse than most people think. But I am not worried. And this is why. On front after front, scientists and science-based professions are making enormous technoloigcal advances.
As I am a British resident, I am interested in this:
Who and where are the top scientists and technologists in UK?
Juan Enriquez talking on science at TeD (via YouTube).
flowing motion 
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