Ancient relics suddenly appearing

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Rising seas, raging storms, melting ice and forest fires are exposing artefacts that have much to tell us about our history on Earth – from sunken shipwrecks to the ancient waste dumps filled with bones, shoes and carvings that are emerging all over the Arctic and further south. They  could soon be lost forever, destroyed by weathering and pests.

In Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, receding sea ice has opened up previously inaccessible areas. This has enabled investigation of the estimated 1000 shipwrecks in the region, dating from 1596 to the mid-20th century. But shipworm (a mollusc that consumes wood, previously absent from such cold waters) has  now been discovered in local driftwood. It could potentially destroy most of the artifacts.  Meanwhile, in Walakpa Bay in northern Alaska, for instance, where a 4000 year old collection of the frozen artefacts of the native Alaskan Iñupiat people is thawing, its contents are crumbling into the sea.  A single storm can wash away a site.

Recent advances in archaeological techniques mean that we can now extract detail from old artefacts about the lives and environments of ancient peoples. For example, the isotopes found in dental plaque can reveal an individual’s diet and where they travelled. And ancient DNA can uncover the genetic histories of crops and livestock – information that could help us adapt the species we rely on to climate change and better understand creatures that are economically important, such as cod, and how they lived before Earth’s habitats were affected by human activity.

Archaeologists are now calling on their peers to postpone their work on better preserved sites and focus on these disappearing treasures before it is too late. Efforts are under way to collaborate on retrieving as much of the material as possible and storing it for future study.  (based on a New Scientist article by Aisling Irwin)

Why is this of interest to Epicureans?  Because, for peace of mind and the future of our children and grandchildren, we have to help keep the issue of climate change constantly before the public and ensure that the politicians don’t succumb to pressure from Big Oil and Gas to open the Arctic wastes to some gold rush of exploitation and the further destruction of the fragile environment. As it is, the Arctic stores huge quantities of methane that is presumably starting to be released into the atmosphere.  We should focus more on this part of the world.

The great university “research” scam

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“The vast majority of the so-called research turned out in US universities is essentially worthless”, says Page Smith, a history professor at the University of California. “It does not result in any measurable  benefit to anything or anybody…….It is busywork on a vast, almost incomprehensible scale”.

 The number of journal articles published has climbed from 13,000 50 years ago to 72,000 today, as overall readership has declined.  98% of all articles published in the arts are never cited by another researcher. In the social sciences the figure is 75%, and in the “hard” sciences 25%.  Where there are citations the average number is between 1 and 2 (thanks, mate! I’ll buy you a pint).  And yet faculty members are evaluated, and offered tenure, on the basis of their research.  The research reputation of a university is paramount.  It didn’t used to be like this – in the old days the customers (who now have to put themselves into debt to be there) were kings.
Students are getting short-changed,  fobbed off with teaching assistants or with adjunct professors, who are paid peanuts per course but do it for pocket money, prestige or the love of knowledge.  They are probably good teachers but they are only there part-time.
All this degrades the undergraduate experience.  Students leave university thinking they have had a first class education. But how much time do they individually get in front of a professor  who challenges them, raises their sights and makes them think for themselves?  It’s a giant scam, where students pay for the teachers to do useless research, while being short- changed, but offered good grades to keep them quiet.  This is not education; it is a cynical business.  And I haven’t even got to the fancy sports  facilities!
(Oh, by the way, academia should be delighted with this blog.  Every week I am quoting the results of one piece of academic research or other.  If it were not for blogs like this the number of research citations would be even fewer).

Eat porridge to avoid cancer

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Eating a wholegrain-rich diet can slash a person’s risk of premature death, a new Harvard University study has found. Researchers analysed data from 12 studies involving nearly 800,000 people – and found that people who ate the highest volume of wholegrain foods (three portions per day, or 48g in total) had a 20% lower risk of dying from any cause during the study period, and a 14% lower risk of dying of cancer, than those who ate few or no wholegrain foods. But even eating just 16g (equivalent to a bowl of porridge) a day made a significant difference. Other wholegrain foods include brown rice and Weetabix. Experts welcomed the findings as more evidence of the importance of fibre-rich diets, but warned of the difficulty of teasing apart lifestyle factors in such studies: it’s likely people who eat a diet rich in brown rice and porridge are more health-conscious than other people.  (Reported in The Week)

I’m suspiciousof these studies, for the reason given – other lifestyle factors have to be taken into account.  It doesn’t allow for how much exercise you get, chocolate you eat, or hours you sit in front of the TV, immobile.  Epicurus believed in strolling with friends in his garden, talking about life and the cosmos.  He is supposed to have lived to a fine old age.  Was his longevity owing to the Mediterranean diet, the exercise, the result of using his brain on a daily basis?  Or simply genes?  We will never know, Olives and lots of fish probably helped.  On the other hand he didn’t know about Weetabix.

Anyway, back to my porridge.

 

The universe and God: what came after the ancient Greeks.

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Both the atomist and the stoic traditions were eclipsed by a very different conception of God, the Christian god, an unchanging intelligence just like us, but without our frailties, an all-powerful Father, presiding over a singular cosmos. How did this happen?

Plato insisted on a creator-god who made only one universe.  Aristotle also favoured a singular cosmos.  The early Christians adopted this “one universe” approach, dismissed the atomists as hedonists and degenerates because they did not believe in  an all-embracing God.  As for the Stoic idea – that the universe is cyclical and perfect and that every world is exactly the same as the one before – offended Augustine.  It meant that souls would be created, fallen, converted or not, saved or not, and then just when they reached heaven or hell they’d be back again, living the same life.

Augustine argued that “Christ died once for all for our sins” (Romans 6:9). since this only happened once, it must mean there are no other worlds before or after ours. Can you imagine Jesus being sent to live and teach and die in an infinite number of worlds? There could only be one Christ and there is only one world. Phew!

Now we know that the atomists were basically right after all.  The universe is vast and the stars and planets are numbered in billions.  The atom is a building block of the universe. There may be many universes, and new ones are being created all the time. The implication is that there may indeed be a Maker (your choice)  but, as Epicurus and others said, this God, if God there is, does not get involved in the minutiae of our daily lives. Sheer scale prevents it. We are infinitesimal specks, accidents of chemistry and combinations of elements.  There is no place called heaven, no angels and choirs, no particular reward for belief or punishment for sin, except in our own minds and consciences. (Partially based on an article by  Mary-Jane Rubenstein, but interpreted through the eyes of an Epicurean)

The shame of American infrastructure

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Infrastructure was once at the heart of American public policy. Works such as the Los Angeles Aqueduct, Hoover Dam, and the Interstate Highway System transformed the economy. Today, the US spends significantly less, as a share of G.D.P., on infrastructure than it did fifty years ago. The Washington Metro is in such a state that fixing it may require shutting whole lines for months at a time. From the crumbling bridges of California to the overflowing sewage drains of Houston and the rusting railroad tracks in the Northeast Corridor, the infrastructure is decaying.   Once you adjust for depreciation, the U.S. makes no net investment in public infrastructure. This results in wasted time, lost productivity, poor public-health outcomes, and increased carbon emissions. Actually, infrastructure spending is popular with a majority of voters across the income spectrum. Historically, it enjoyed bipartisan support from politicians, too. If it’s so popular, why doesn’t it happen?
One clear reason is politics.   For the  Republican base of  suburban and rural voters in the South and in much of the West, public transport is way down the list of priorities.   Then you have the people with an aversion to government spending and big infrastructure projects.  There’s also a deeper, bureaucratic issue. Over the years, the process of getting infrastructure projects approved has become riddled with what political scientists call “veto points.” There are more environmental regulations and more requirements for community input. There are often multiple governing bodies for new projects, each of which has to give its approval. Many of these veto points were put in place for good reason. But they make it harder to undertake big projects.
And the US isn’t even maintaining the existing infrastructure. The American Society of Civil Engineers, which gives America’s over-all infrastructure a grade of D-plus, has said that we would need to spend $3.6 trillion by 2020 to bring it up to snuff. (Part of an article in The Week)
I personally drive as little as possible – unusually un-American.  But there is one quite important  street in Washington I have to use frequently.  Driving along it is makes me seriously worry about the integrity of the car and its suspension, so bad is the surface and so frequent the potholes. And this near the center of the nation’s capital.  Not good for peace of mind.  The U.S Congress, always interfering in the government of the city,  don’t like infrastructure maintenance, even of it affects them personally.