The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde
When we were little, my brother and I had each a bedtime-stories book. One of my favorites tales was the Happy Prince. I remember that my mother was reluctant to read it and I did not understand why.
Now that I have two boys, I see why. When I was little I did not fully grasp the whole idea. The image of a golden statue talking to a swallow was a nice one. Nowadays, when I try to read it, my voice fails and it is after a lot of effort for self-control that I can keep with it.
This is for me an example of how things change with a little of life experience.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Ventajas cognitivas del hombre moderno
Un colega de trabajo se preguntaba que ventaja en la educación tiene una persona en la actualidad con respecto a alguien que vivió hace 500 años. Si existiera una máquina del tiempo donde tan solo las personas pueden viajar sin nada material. Cuál sería el mayor cambio que haría debido al conocimiento extra que posee?
En mi opinión el mayor cambio se haría en cuanto a la higiene y prevención de enfermedades. Recién alrededor de 1850, John Snow demostró en Inglaterra que el cólera se transmitía por materias fecales. Debido a eso, se diseño en Londres un sistema de cloacas que reduciría la concentración de desechos humanos en la ciudad, disminuyendo los focos infecciosos. Imaginen como sería el disenio de las ciudades previo a eso.
Una persona en la actualidad, posee los conocimientos mínimos de higiene y prevención de enfermedades así como disminuir su transmisión. Como ejemplo, la construcción de fosas cépticas para las casas, hervir el agua antes de tomarla o cocinar con ella y usar alochol para desinfectar heridas.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Book review
Recently, I've been contacted by Beverly Hill Times publisher to review a book. The e-mail is:
The Beverly Hills Times Magazine has come across a book about which we are considering running an article. The book presents a theory about the emotional balance of people, with focus on homeostasis, evolution, conservation laws, society, and religion. We are seeking background information on the topics in the book to ensure that all of the information in the book is accurate. We are asking for your assistance because your extensive expertise has been brought to the attention of the Beverly Hills Times Magazine.
As background information on the Beverly Hills Times Magazine, my name is Stephen Takowsky, and I am the publisher of Beverly Hills Times Magazine. This is the only free magazine that goes to the residences and businesses in Beverly Hills, California. We have several prestigious monthly contributors including: Ralph Nader, Erin Brockovich, Ron Paul, and Dennis Kucinich. We maintain close contacts with other media, and our articles have been featured on several media platforms including CNN and TMZ. Our websites focus on gathering heavy traffic for our articles by bringing the key words in our articles to the top of search engines.
For more information on our magazine, you can check out our website at bhtmag.com, or you can Google us by searching for Beverly Hills Times. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated. Our main goal at this point is to determine whether there is any established scientific evidence that tends either to support or invalidate the theory presented in the book. We want to find out if there is any scientific research that is relevant to the premise of the book. The Beverly Hills Times Magazine would give you full credit for any input you provide. We would also consider publishing one of your own articles as trade for your contribution. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at Publisher@bhtmag.com
Here is a link to the book: http://www.ofgrandeur.com
Here is a link to the book: http://www.ofgrandeur.com
If you are interested, we would appreciate having your comments by September 19, 2010.
Thank you for your time.
Stephen Takowsky
Publisher, Beverly Hills Times Magazine
bhtmag.com Publisher@bhtmag.com Publisher, Beverly Hills Times Magazine
Firstly, I was surprised that the author of the book wrote me as the publisher of Beverly Hills Times magazine. This rises a lot of ethical questions.
My review is:
The terms happiness and sadness are used without proper definitions. There are several assumptions made along the book which are not supported. One example is that pain always produces sadness which is not true as it is the case of masochists. Also an objective description on how to measure the happiness and sadness concept is missing along the book. All of these make this idea vague and imprecise. In the book, the question on how to define and measure these concepts are addressed but not answered. The book develops the idea of balance between these concepts related to an emotional energy, a statement which is not scientific. Below it is explained why not.
The conservation laws are applied to quantities that are transfered between different systems. They are conserved for an isolated system. In two interacting systems which can exchange them, the amount that one systems receives is the same that the other gives. The best example is energy. For an isolated system its energy is conserved. Within this concept, a statement like the absence of energy defines a new entity does not make any sense.
Another concept is the existence of two quantities that interact between each other or are the possible states of some measurable property. One example is the head and tail states of a coin. If a coin is tossed and the outcome is registered, it can be either tail or head. When the coin is tossed several times, the probability of measuring tail is 1/2 and head is 1/2. In average, we will measure the same amount of tails and heads. This does not mean that there is a balance law between them but just that both states have the same chance to outcome.
In the same sense, the concept of emotional balance between happiness and sadness have the same sense that the concept of coin balance between tail and head. Stated otherwise, since these quantities are the properties of our emotions, it could be that there is no such balance, just a probabilistic fact. The concept of emotional energy it does not make any sense because for an isolated system the emotional energy will not be conserved. Before life started on earth the emotional energy was zero since it is associated to life. It later increases with the amount of living things. Therefore is not conserved.
My review is:
The terms happiness and sadness are used without proper definitions. There are several assumptions made along the book which are not supported. One example is that pain always produces sadness which is not true as it is the case of masochists. Also an objective description on how to measure the happiness and sadness concept is missing along the book. All of these make this idea vague and imprecise. In the book, the question on how to define and measure these concepts are addressed but not answered. The book develops the idea of balance between these concepts related to an emotional energy, a statement which is not scientific. Below it is explained why not.
The conservation laws are applied to quantities that are transfered between different systems. They are conserved for an isolated system. In two interacting systems which can exchange them, the amount that one systems receives is the same that the other gives. The best example is energy. For an isolated system its energy is conserved. Within this concept, a statement like the absence of energy defines a new entity does not make any sense.
Another concept is the existence of two quantities that interact between each other or are the possible states of some measurable property. One example is the head and tail states of a coin. If a coin is tossed and the outcome is registered, it can be either tail or head. When the coin is tossed several times, the probability of measuring tail is 1/2 and head is 1/2. In average, we will measure the same amount of tails and heads. This does not mean that there is a balance law between them but just that both states have the same chance to outcome.
In the same sense, the concept of emotional balance between happiness and sadness have the same sense that the concept of coin balance between tail and head. Stated otherwise, since these quantities are the properties of our emotions, it could be that there is no such balance, just a probabilistic fact. The concept of emotional energy it does not make any sense because for an isolated system the emotional energy will not be conserved. Before life started on earth the emotional energy was zero since it is associated to life. It later increases with the amount of living things. Therefore is not conserved.
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