Just Finished Reading: The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

This is yet another book that has been sitting on my shelves for quite some time. I bought it as a part of the collection of 20 Great Ideas books that changed the World sort of thing. Of the 20 I’m afraid that this is only the 2nd volume I’ve read to date – shame on me.

Anyway, I finally had to read this for my university course and polished it off in only a few days. Written in 1762 this classic of political philosophy is both surprisingly modern and easy to read. Rousseau puts forward the then revolutionary idea that the people, rather than the absolute monarch or aristocratic elite, and the sovereign entity in any state and that they – and they alone – can determine the type of government they will allow to govern them. This was incendiary stuff in the later 18th Century and copies of this work were actually publically burnt in his home city of Geneva (which personally I would count as quite an accolade).

Famous for his championing of the noble savage, Rousseau considered that the invention of society had been a basic error of judgement that, unfortunately, could not easily be undone so attempted to devise the best form of governments in the circumstances. He suggested that Monarchy was the best form of government for large countries or empires, that aristocracy (in the Ancient Greek sense of the best) for medium sized countries and democracy was only fit for small poor countries. He was also – despite being a devout Calvinist – dead set against the involvement of religion (in particular Catholicism) in the running or influencing of the State.

Despite being very much of its time The Social Contract (and its predecessor – of which more later) is a surprisingly modern sounding book. His analysis of political power and its abuses could easily be written today. His warnings about the corrupting effect of money could, likewise, be taken from the pages of today’s newspapers. Rousseau is definitely still worth reading and is, I think, more than capable of shining a light on modern political events. Highly recommended.

Pulp Fiction.

Cartoon Time.

And There Lie the Bodies

by Gideon Levy for Haaretz

Published on Sunday, January 4, 2009

The legend, lest it be a true story, tells of how the late mathematician, Professor Haim Hanani, asked his students at the Technion to draw up a plan for constructing a pipe to transport blood from Haifa to Eilat. The obedient students did as they were told. Using logarithmic rulers, they sketched the design for a sophisticated pipeline. They meticulously planned its route, taking into account the landscape's topography, the possibility of corrosion, the pipe's diameter and the flow calibration. When they presented their final product, the professor rendered his judgment: You failed. None of you asked why we need such a pipe, whose blood will fill it, and why it is flowing in the first place.

Regardless of whether this story is legend or true, Israel is now failing its own blood pipeline test. As Israel has been preoccupied with Gaza throughout the entire week, nobody has asked whose blood is being spilled and why. Everything is permitted, legitimate and just. The moral voice of restraint, if it ever existed, has been left behind. Even if Israel wiped Gaza off the face of the earth, killing tens of thousands in the process, as a Chechnyan laborer working in Sderot proposed to me, one can assume that there would be no protest. They liquidated Nizar Ghayan? Nobody counts the 20 women and children who lost their lives in the same attack. There was a massacre of dozens of officers during their graduation ceremony from the police academy? Acceptable. Five little sisters? Allowed. Palestinians are dying in hospitals that lack medical equipment? Peanuts. Whatever happened to the not-so-good old days of Salah Shahadeh? When we liquidated him in July 2002, we also killed 15 women and children. At least back then, moral qualms were raised for a moment.

Here lie their bodies, row upon row, some of them tiny. Our hearts have turned hard and our eyes have become dull. All of Israel has worn military fatigues, uniforms that are opaque and stained with blood and which enable us to carry out any crime. Even our leading intellectuals fail to speak out on what havoc we have wreaked. Amos Oz urges: "Cease-fire now." David Grossman writes: "Hold your fire. Stop." Meir Shalev wants "a punitive operation." And not one word about our moral image, which has been horribly distorted. The suffering in the south renders everything kosher, as if the horrible suffering in Gaza pales in comparison. Everyone is hungry for revenge, and that hunger is excused by the need for "deterrence," after it was already proved that the killing and the destruction in Lebanon did not achieve it.

Yes, I know, war is war. After all, they brought this on themselves. They are a terrorist organization and we are not. They want to destroy us and we seek peace. Still, is there nothing here that will stop this blood pipeline? Even those whose hearts are hardened by "moral righteousness" will have to momentarily halt the bombing machine and ask: Which Israel do we have before us? What will become of its standing in the world, which is now watching the events in Gaza? What are we inflicting on the moderate Arab regimes? And what of the simmering popular hatred we are sowing throughout the world? What good will emerge from this killing and destruction?

It is doubtful whether Hamas will be cut down to size as a result of this wretched war. Yet, the face of the state has been cut down to size, as have civilian elites who are apathetic and scared. The "peace camp," if it ever existed, has been cut down to size. Attorney General Menachem Mazuz authorized the Ghayan killing, regardless of the cost. Haim Oron, the leader of the "new left-wing movement," supported the launch of this foolish war. Nobody is coming to the rescue - of Gaza or even of the remnants of humanity and Israeli democracy. The statesmen, the jurists, the poets, the authors, academe, and the news media - pitch black over the abyss. When the time comes for reckoning, we will need to remember the damage this war did to Israel: The blood pipeline it laid has been completed.

[What is war without restraint but murder on a massive scale? Since when do we accept the slaughter of women and children as justified as long as some terrorists die in the process? Since when is it acceptable to fire artillery shells into heavily populated areas and still have the gall to say that civilian casualties are being minimised? Is it any wonder why so many people hate the West and its sponsorship of such horrors? When are we going to learn that some things are simply not done – no matter what the provocation?]

Cartoon Time.

Thinking About: The Meaning of Life

Those of you who have been reading this Blog for a while now will be aware that, as far as I know, there is no greater meaning to our lives over and above the one(s) we give it. In effect I’m saying that certainly from the Christian point of view that I hold life to be essentially meaningless. The trick, if I want to use such a word in this context, is what we should do about it. How should we respond to life’s inherent lack of meaning?

As I’ve mentioned in other posts you could always invent a meaning or adopt someone else’s. That’s what most people do. Most people adopt the meaning prevalent in the culture they accidently happen to have been born into – normally called religion. Others discover (or invent) their own meaning like climbing mountains or being the best kazoo player in the world. Some of these people go on to achieve amazing things.

But what if you really believe that life is without meaning? Then what? The danger of this belief is that it’s entirely possible to fall into total despair and basically give up – sometimes followed by suicide. It’s certainly a valid answer to the problem and a permanent one. Alternatively you could 'live' feeling dead inside and responding to life with neither pleasure nor pain, though this sounds rather dull. The classic way to respond to a meaningless life is the well worn track of hedonism – living for pleasure. I’ve known a few wannabe hedonists in my time who expended lots of energy on finding the next high or sleeping with the next girl. Funnily none of them seemed very happy for very long. This was, I believe, because they made the fundamental error of equating pleasure with happiness. Some of them never learnt that they are not the same thing. The problem with all external pleasures is that they’re dependent on other people or other things over which you have little or no control. Being dependent on these things – especially when you crave them – is a recipe for unhappiness rather than the reverse.

I did come across an interesting solution recently which appeared to offer a way of life for those who fail to see any meaning in existence. A response to the challenge of nihilism designed for people who accept the fact that life can be, by its very nature, deeply absurd. That response is heroism. By that I don’t mean going around rushing into burning buildings saving kittens or throwing yourself on grenades in Afghanistan to save the lives of your team mates. I mean recognising that life is indeed meaningless on any level and still living it to the best of your ability – with a real and sincere smile on your face. To laugh in the face of adversity and death knowing in your bones that it doesn’t matter what you do but you continue to do it anyway and to see the absurd in everything around you and respond with humour because that is the only rational response to such an impossibly ridiculous situation. I obviously need to think and read more on the subject but I think I’ve found a trail worth investigating. I will of course let you know what I find on my travels. If you see someone whistling through adversity with a grin on their face it’ll probably be me – so say hello.

Picture Time.

Just Finished Reading: Trilobite! – Eyewitness to Evolution by Richard Fortey

It’s something you can pick up cheaply in most gem shops – fossilised Trilobites that look like squished odd-looking insects encased in rock. I certainly knew of them before reading this book but I didn’t know that much about them. Trilobites were amongst some of the earliest fossils found back in the 17th Century starting the debate about their place in the scheme of things that eventually led to the Theory of Evolution. They also helped identify the ages of rocks across the whole planet. Once this was established it prompted ideas about plate tectonics and Continental Drift which is so important in understanding geological processes such as earthquakes..

Trilobites are fascinating creatures – the beetles of their time with hundreds of species spanning the whole globe and lasting some 300 million years – that’s 200 times longer than we’ve been around – so they where very successful whichever way you look at them. Part of the fascination of the narrative in this book is that its told as a very personal tale of discovery from the author as a small boy unearthing his first fossil to his life in palaeontology where not only did he have the privilege of naming newly discovered species but also got to name the long vanished oceans they swam in. His stories from all over the world – both personal and historic – bring the study of immense timescales down to a much more human dimension. His comments regarding the Cambrian Explosion – brought to the world’s attention by Steven J Gould – gave me some serious food for thought which will lead to further investigation.

I did struggle with this book a little possibly because it was slightly outside my normal comfort zone – not having read much real science for a while – or possibly that Fortey was so into his subject that he did tend to milk a subject area a little too much on occasion. One thing I do think though – that I might start collecting examples of these fascinating little beasts next time I see one on sale. I can already envisage the glass case full of interesting fossilised creatures. All in all this was a very good start to my anticipated science reading this year. It’s about time I read more things like this

Poster Time.

Cartoon Time.

Why Bombing Ashkelon is The Most Tragic Irony

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 by Robert Fisk for The Independent

How easy it is to snap off the history of the Palestinians, to delete the narrative of their tragedy, to avoid a grotesque irony about Gaza which - in any other conflict - journalists would be writing about in their first reports: that the original, legal owners of the Israeli land on which Hamas rockets are detonating live in Gaza.

That is why Gaza exists: because the Palestinians who lived in Ashkelon and the fields around it - Askalaan in Arabic - were dispossessed from their lands in 1948 when Israel was created and ended up on the beaches of Gaza. They - or their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren - are among the one and a half million Palestinian refugees crammed into the cesspool of Gaza, 80 per cent of whose families once lived in what is now Israel. This, historically, is the real story: most of the people of Gaza don't come from Gaza. But watching the news shows, you'd think that history began yesterday, that a bunch of bearded anti-Semitic Islamist lunatics suddenly popped up in the slums of Gaza - a rubbish dump of destitute people of no origin - and began firing missiles into peace-loving, democratic Israel, only to meet with the righteous vengeance of the Israeli air force. The fact that the five sisters killed in Jabalya camp had grandparents who came from the very land whose more recent owners have now bombed them to death simply does not appear in the story. Both Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres said back in the 1990s that they wished Gaza would just go away, drop into the sea, and you can see why. The existence of Gaza is a permanent reminder of those hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who lost their homes to Israel, who fled or were driven out through fear or Israeli ethnic cleansing 60 years ago, when tidal waves of refugees had washed over Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War and when a bunch of Arabs kicked out of their property didn't worry the world.

Well, the world should worry now. Crammed into the most overpopulated few square miles in the whole world are a dispossessed people who have been living in refuse and sewage and, for the past six months, in hunger and darkness, and who have been sanctioned by us, the West. Gaza was always an insurrectionary place. It took two years for Ariel Sharon's bloody "pacification", starting in 1971, to be completed, and Gaza is not going to be tamed now. Alas for the Palestinians, their most powerful political voice - I'm talking about the late Edward Said, not the corrupt Yassir Arafat (and how the Israelis must miss him now) - is silent and their predicament largely unexplained by their deplorable, foolish spokesmen. "It's the most terrifying place I've ever been in," Said once said of Gaza. "It's a horrifyingly sad place because of the desperation and misery of the way people live. I was unprepared for camps that are much worse than anything I saw in South Africa."

Of course, it was left to Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to admit that "sometimes also civilians pay the price," an argument she would not make, of course, if the fatality statistics were reversed. Indeed, it was instructive yesterday to hear a member of the American Enterprise Institute - faithfully parroting Israel's arguments - defending the outrageous Palestinian death toll by saying that it was "pointless to play the numbers game". Yet if more than 300 Israelis had been killed - against two dead Palestinians - be sure that the "numbers game" and the disproportionate violence would be all too relevant. The simple fact is that Palestinian deaths matter far less than Israeli deaths. True, we know that 180 of the dead were Hamas members. But what of the rest? If the UN's conservative figure of 57 civilian fatalities is correct, the death toll is still a disgrace.

To find both the US and Britain failing to condemn the Israeli onslaught while blaming Hamas is not surprising. US Middle East policy and Israeli policy are now indistinguishable and Gordon Brown is following the same dog-like devotion to the Bush administration as his predecessor. As usual, the Arab satraps - largely paid and armed by the West - are silent, preposterously calling for an Arab summit on the crisis which will (if it even takes place), appoint an "action committee" to draw up a report which will never be written. For that is the way with the Arab world and its corrupt rulers. As for Hamas, they will, of course, enjoy the discomfiture of the Arab potentates while cynically waiting for Israel to talk to them. Which they will. Indeed, within a few months, we'll be hearing that Israel and Hamas have been having "secret talks" - just as we once did about Israel and the even more corrupt PLO. But by then, the dead will be long buried and we will be facing the next crisis since the last crisis.

[I despair, I really do. When will we learn that killing people never solves political problems? It only makes things worse.]

Cartoon Time.

Just Finished Reading: The Carnival of Destruction by Brian Stableford

In 1918 as the Germans advance towards a defenceless Paris a young French sniper lies dying in a foxhole. As he dies he sees for a moment a spectral Maid of Orleans who offers him a deal. If he will act of her behalf she will save his life. He accepts her offer and becomes a foot-soldier in a much larger conflict that has been raging on Earth since the beginning of human existence. For Earth is a battleground fought over by seven creatures some call Angels. These so-called Angels have the power of creation as well as terrible powers of destruction and have used humans – and creatures of their own creation – to operate for them in the material realm. But their time is finally coming to an end. Humanity is about to answer the question that drives them like no other: Who and What they are.

This third book in the trilogy (preceded by The Werewolves of London and The Angel of Pain) can only be described as rather strange. In some ways it isn’t really a novel at all but a great thought experiment played out against a fantasy backdrop. There is a sort of plot behind it all as well as characters from the previous two books and yet there isn’t really a storyline in any conventional way. What little action there is in these 500 pages is separated by long discourses between the antagonists on the meaning of history and the origins of the universe (amongst other things). We are flung into alternate worlds – which were very reminiscent of H.G Wells or Olaf Stapleton - and alternate utopias so that particular characters can make particular philosophical points. It was often very bizarre indeed. Whilst inevitably verbose (given what I’ve already said) and rather too long – a common complaint from me I know – this book was a more than interesting read. Stableford is a difficult author to pin down. He’s certainly a master of the big idea and writes beautifully but he does sometimes run with an idea a little too far. He is a great pleasure to read but honestly can go on a bit. I still think that The Werewolves of London was one of the best books I’ve read though I honestly struggled with the second book. This final volume was worth the effort it took tracking it down – it’s presently out of print I believe - and I’m glad I finally read it. As to whether or not it was any good – at this point I honestly couldn’t say. It does kind of haunt you though. [muses]

Church attendance 'to fall by 90%'

Jamie Doward for The Observer

21 December 2008

In one of the most holy weeks in the Christian calendar, a report says that in just over a generation the number of people attending Church of England Sunday services will fall to less than a tenth of what they are now. Christian Research, the statistical arm of the Bible Society, claimed that by 2050 Sunday attendance will fall below 88,000, compared with just under a million now.

The controversial forecast, based on a "snapshot" census of church attendances, has been seized upon by secular groups as proof that the established church is in decline. But the Church of England has rejected the figures, saying they were incomplete and ignored new ways of worshipping outside the church network. According to Dr Peter Brierley, former executive director of Christian Research, by 2030 just under 419,000 people will attend an Anglican Sunday service. By 2040 the number will be down to 217,200, falling to 153,800 five years later. By 2050, if the trend prediction is correct, only 87,800 will be attending. The figures stand in contrast to the picture of faith described by the prime minister earlier this month. In a preface to a new report, Faith in the Nation, Gordon Brown said: "Faith in Britain today is very much alive and well. At the last census, more than three-quarters of the population said they belonged to a faith ... people's religious identities go right to the heart of their sense of themselves and their place in society and the world."

Keith Porteous-Wood of the National Secular Society said: "Church attendance has already been in decline for over 60 years, all over Britain, in all major denominations and across all age groups, except the over-65s. Independent statisticians now have enough data to predict confidently that the decline will continue until Christianity becomes a minority sect of largely elderly people, in little more than a generation." The forecast was made by Christian Research in its annual statistical publication, Religious Trends. Benita Hewitt, the organisation's new executive director, said she accepted that the figures were disputed and stressed she did not believe they showed people were turning away from religion. "As with all forecasting, we are living in rapidly changing times at the moment and it is very difficult to predict what things will look like in the coming years," she said.

The Reverend Lynda Barley, head of research and statistics for the Archbishops' Council, said the figures represented only a "partial picture" of religious trends, adding: "Church life has significantly diversified so these traditional statistics are less and less meaningful in isolation." Studies suggest figures for Sunday attendance represent only 58 per cent of the number of people who attend in an average month. Attendance at Church of England cathedral services has been growing , while church groups have attracted new congregations by holding meetings in venues such as pubs or at car boot sales.

[Whilst somewhat less than definitive this report does seem to indicate that religious observance within the UK is in terminal decline – no matter what others inside and outside the church claim. I wonder if there will be a time in the not too distant future when people will only know about Christianity (or maybe even religion in general) through the study of history.]

Pulp Fiction.

Cartoon Time.

As it's cold outside.... a little something to warm the cockles.

My Favourite Movies: Brotherhood of the Wolf

This is the first non-English language film on my list but certainly won’t be the last. Made in 2001 this excellent French film blew us all away when we went to see it at our local multiplex. From the trailer I did initially think that it was going to be a werewolf film – but it turned out to be much better than that.

Taking place in the years before the French Revolution we are introduced to a countryside held in the grip of terror. A seemingly supernatural wolf of huge dimensions, impervious to bullets, unafraid of men and possessed of an unnatural intelligence is praying on the local populace despite the best efforts of the areas ruling elite. Sent into this situation on the request of the King is Gregorie de Fronsac an explorer just returned from the New World (played amazingly by Samuel Le Bihan). His mission is to trap the beast for its display in the Kings gardens. Accompanying him is his Native American blood brother Mani (played by the excellent Mark Dacascos). Almost immediately on their arrival they find themselves ensnared in the manoeuvrings of local politicians which leads to some eye-popping fight scenes. Besides tracking down the wolf de Fronsac has other things in his sight – in particular the stunningly beautiful Marianne de Morangias played by the stunningly beautiful Emilie Dequenne (pictured above). The growing relationship between these two sophisticated people is a delight to watch – except to her brother (played by another excellent actor Vincent Cassel) who has a rather too personal interest in her. If things were not complicated enough at this point we are introduced to an agent of the Vatican (played by the amazing Monica Bellucci) whose task it is to see that any consequences of activities surrounding the hunt for the wolf do not rebound on her employer.

So the scene is set for a sumptuously filmed, consummately acted, funny, engaging, terrifying period drama full of monsters – a few of them in human form – lovers, spies, costumes to die for and some kick-ass martial arts for good measure. I know it sounds a bit weird but take my word for it – it really works. This film is just jaw droppingly good on just about every level. The only slight niggle I had was with the monster itself (which makes its first appearance about 45 minutes into the film) which doesn’t quite live up to its fearsome reputation. But saying that this was probably one of the best films we saw that year and probably one of the best I’ve seen in the last ten years. Oh, one thing though – you must watch it in the original language. The dubbing into English sucks as it tends to do with these things. Enjoy.

Just Finished Reading: Habermas – A Very short introduction by James Gordon Finlayson

Yes, this is an example of my Christmas reading! Whilst not exactly light it did turn out to be rather interesting. Habermas is a modern German social/political philosopher from the Frankfurt School and therefore a proponent of Critical Theory. I’ve come across both of these during my general reading so it was nice to read about one of their greatest proponents. Though in some ways a neo-Marxist, Habermas was not only a critic of Capitalism but of Marx himself. Habermas introduced the idea of communicative rationality and the pragmatic theory of meaning both of which underscored his ideas of society and what forces bound it together.

Growing up in the Nazi period in Germany Habermas was a severe critic of Nationalism and great defender of the public sphere which he considered vital to the health of any democracy. He saw the public, unregulated, sphere under threat from commoditisation due to the influence of Capitalism and from the controlling influences of the State. A very prolific writer on a wide ride of social, ethical and political subjects, Habermas is considered to be one of the most influential social philosophers in the English speaking world. Being such I think he might deserve a bit more of my time in future! I did find myself agreeing with much that he had to say about the State and Modernity so I don’t think that I’ll find his ideas too challenging but I’ll let you know if I find him readable. Watch this space.

Cartoon Time.

...and I'm Back!

Just Finished Reading: Haunted by Kelley Armstrong

Eve Levine is dead and has been for three years. This however hasn’t stopped her obsessing about the safety of her daughter or the relationship with her partner (also dead). Eve desperately needs purpose in her afterlife and is given it when the Fates task her with bringing an escaped demon spirit back to Hell. But this demon knows more tricks than Eve and has its sights on Eve’s daughter as its next victim. Eve must choose between the spirit world, her partner and possible angelhood in order to protect her child and each choice has its own deadly consequences.

After being very disappointed with Armstrong’s last book in this series Industrial Magic it’s taken me quite a while to pick up another of her books. Haunted certainly started out well with an interesting baddie (called The Nix) and some fairly interesting characters – most of which I’ve come across before in her previous 4 books. Unfortunately the book quickly lost coherence and began to ramble. Tightly plotted it was not, as the reader was led all over creation searching for The Nix as well as searching for a solution to capturing her. Haunted was at least 100 and possibly 200 pages too long and at times I did find myself skimming over pages just to get it over with. Fortunately at least it was a fast read as it lacked any real substance. I’m afraid that Armstrong has disappointed me again. Unfortunately I have already bought the next two books in the series though I suspect they won’t be read anytime soon!

So yet again I suffer though a disappointing book. This is not good. What I need, I think, is a change of tack. I’ve already (you may have noticed) instituted a scheme where every fourth fiction book was neither SF nor Fantasy which seems to be working out quite well. I’m also reading non-fiction exclusively on Sundays (which hasn’t worked it’s was into the reviews yet). But what I need to do is go further than this if I’m to improve my game. So, more non-fiction reading I think – especially in subjects I know comparatively little about. Also more non-SF/Fantasy I think as I seem to be enjoying them more that the other genres at the moment. Also more classics – both non-SF and non-fiction. Lastly I need to increase my reading of more substantial books and definitely cut back on the fluff! We’ll see what 2009 brings. Hopefully it’ll be a better year for literature.

Rom-coms 'spoil your love life'

From the BBC

Tuesday, 16 December 2008

Watching romantic comedies can spoil your love life, a study by a university in Edinburgh has claimed. Rom-coms have been blamed by relationship experts at Heriot Watt University for promoting unrealistic expectations when it comes to love. They found fans of films such as Runaway Bride and Notting Hill often fail to communicate with their partner. Many held the view if someone is meant to be with you, then they should know what you want without you telling them. Psychologists at the family and personal relationships laboratory at the university studied 40 top box office hits between 1995 and 2005, and identified common themes which they believed were unrealistic. The movies included You've Got Mail, Maid In Manhattan, The Wedding Planner and While You Were Sleeping.

The university's Dr Bjarne Holmes said: "Marriage counsellors often see couples who believe that sex should always be perfect, and if someone is meant to be with you then they will know what you want without you needing to communicate it. "We now have some emerging evidence that suggests popular media play a role in perpetuating these ideas in people's minds. The problem is that while most of us know that the idea of a perfect relationship is unrealistic, some of us are still more influenced by media portrayals than we realise." As part of the project, 100 student volunteers were asked to watch the 2001 romantic comedy Serendipity, while a further 100 watched a David Lynch drama.

Students watching the romantic film were later found to be more likely to believe in fate and destiny. A further study found that fans of romantic comedies had a stronger belief in predestined love. Kimberly Johnson, who also worked on the study, said: "Films do capture the excitement of new relationships but they also wrongly suggest that trust and committed love exist from the moment people meet, whereas these are qualities that normally take years to develop." The researchers have now launched an online study on media and relationships.

[Ha! I knew this was always the case. After years of Rom-Com indoctrination no wonder people have unrealistic views of romance! No wonder that people can’t live up to the ridiculous idea of relationship perfection….. Fantasy romance is toxic!]

Cartoon Time.

Poster Time.

HUBBLE TELESCOPE FINDS CARBON DIOXIDE ON AN EXTRASOLAR PLANET

From NASA Dec. 9, 2008

WASHINGTON -- NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has discovered carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting another star. This breakthrough is an important step toward finding chemical biotracers of extraterrestrial life. The Jupiter-sized planet, called HD 189733b, is too hot for life. But the Hubble observations are a proof-of-concept demonstration that the basic chemistry for life can be measured on planets orbiting other stars. Organic compounds also can be a by-product of life processes and their detection on an Earthlike planet someday may provide the first evidence of life beyond our planet.

Previous observations of HD 189733b by Hubble and the Spitzer Space Telescope found water vapor. Earlier this year, Hubble found methane in the planet's atmosphere. "Hubble was conceived primarily for observations of the distant universe, yet it is opening a new era of astrophysics and comparative planetary science," said Eric Smith, Hubble Space Telescope program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "These atmospheric studies will begin to determine the compositions and chemical processes operating on distant worlds orbiting other stars. The future for this newly opened frontier of science is extremely promising as we expect to discover many more molecules in exoplanet atmospheres."

Mark Swain, a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., used Hubble's near infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer to study infrared light emitted from the planet, which lies 63 light-years away. Gases in the planet's atmosphere absorb certain wavelengths of light from the planet's hot glowing interior. Swain identified carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. The molecules leave a unique spectral fingerprint on the radiation from the planet that reaches Earth. This is the first time a near-infrared emission spectrum has been obtained for an exoplanet. "The carbon dioxide is the main reason for the excitement because, under the right circumstances, it could have a connection to biological activity as it does on Earth," Swain said. "The very fact we are able to detect it and estimate its abundance is significant for the long-term effort of characterizing planets to find out what they are made of and if they could be a possible host for life."

This type of observation is best done on planets with orbits tilted edge-on to Earth. They routinely pass in front of and then behind their parent stars, phenomena known as eclipses. The planet HD 189733b passes behind its companion star once every 2.2 days. The eclipses allow an opportunity to subtract the light of the star alone, when the planet is blocked, from that of the star and planet together prior to eclipse. That isolates the emission of the planet and makes possible a chemical analysis of its atmosphere. "In this way, we are using the eclipse of the planet behind the star to probe the planet's day side, which contains the hottest portions of its atmosphere," said team member Guatam Vasisht of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "We are starting to find the molecules and to figure out how many there are to see the changes between the day side and the night side."

This successful demonstration of looking at near-infrared light emitted from a planet is very encouraging for astronomers planning to use NASA's James Webb Space Telescope after it is launched in 2013. These biomarkers are best seen at near-infrared wavelengths. Astronomers look forward to using the James Webb Space Telescope to look spectroscopically for biomarkers on a terrestrial planet the size of Earth or a "super-Earth" several times our planet's mass. "The Webb telescope should be able to make much more sensitive measurements of these primary and secondary eclipse events," Swain said.

[Fascinating, eh? I guess it’s only a matter of time now before they detect life-signs on a planet that we think can sustain life!]

Cartoon Time.

Just Finished Reading: The Vengeful Virgin by Gil Brewer

Shirley Angela has a problem. Her stepfather is dying – just not quickly enough. Shirley is 18 and just wants to have fun. Unfortunately she’s tied to her stepdads bedside looking after him as he slowly slips away and waiting in the bank is over $300,000 held in trust. Enter Jack Ruxton, a down at heels TV repair man desperately trying to shrug off a clinging ex-lover and keep his business afloat. Shirley has a plan to help her stepfather slide into that cold night and with Jacks help that’s exactly what she intends to do. Using her more than ample charms Shirley blinds Jack with passion until he agrees to help her. But once the deed is done things inexorably spiral out of control until the only thing to do is run.

Originally publishing in 1958 this is classic pulp noir. The characters are pretty much doomed from the start. Each has a tragic story to tell and each is on a clear trajectory from the gutter to the electric chair. Both Shirley and Jack see themselves as victims even before any crime is committed and apparently cannot help themselves as they scheme to recover the money. Shirley herself is part complaining child and part alluring woman and as such is irresistible to Jack who thinks that something – anything – needs to go right in his life. What he doesn’t see is that the problems he’s had are of his own making with bad decision piled onto of bad decision. Inevitably – as is the overarching theme of such things – plans fail and the more they struggle against what is clearly their fate the worse things get. Clearly a morality tale of sorts this was a well constructed though deceptively simple story or lust, greed, jealousy and rage. A real page turner and highly entertaining. This was my second foray into the Hard Case Crime series and certainly won’t be my last.

War…..

AC Grayling for The Guardian

Saturday September 22, 2001

War is both the product of an earlier corruption and the producer of new corruptions - Lewis Mumford

War, always an evil, is sometimes the lesser of two evils. When it is, it is justified. The war against Nazism was a justified war, although not everything done in it by the opponents of Nazism was justified. This consideration prompts the inescapable question about the conduct of war: what should be its limits? Should ethics tie one's hands when faced with an implacable enemy, whose victory would be a disaster for the world? Churchill said, "There is no middle course in wartime." This hard truth forces one to recognise another: that every war, however justified, reduces the stock of human good, and diminishes civilisation - sometimes destroying in seconds what centuries were devoted to building.

War prompted by religion, even indirectly, is never justified. Whatever the proximate excuse for such wars, the basis of every one is exactly the same, namely, suspicion and hostility engendered by differences of belief and associated culture. Christian armies mounted crusades against "infidels" to capture the holy places of the Middle East, and against "heretics" such as the Cathars to rebut their falsehoods by exterminating those who thought them true. These are entirely matters of ideology. None of the major faiths is bloodless; history reeks with the gore of their wars and persecutions, all the more disgusting a spectacle for being, in essence, as simple as this: A kills B because B does not agree with A that there are fairies at the bottom of the garden.

People should be left to believe what they like, so long as they harm no one else. Apart from normal expectations of politeness, it is not however clear why people should require their personal beliefs to be treated with special sensitivity by others, to the point that if others fail to tiptoe respectfully around them they will start throwing bombs. From a secular point of view, religious beliefs are at best absurd and at worst dangerous, and the amount of free play they are given in the public domain is a menace. Believed-in fairies should be kept at home as an entirely private matter, and their votaries encouraged to cease taking themselves so seriously that, when irritated by those who differ, they resort to Kalashnikovs. Apart from anything else, such reactions speak of little confidence in their own violently held certainties. When differences of belief and religion-based culture are the ultimate source of conflict, the real war that needs to be fought is the war of ideas. A secularist might hope that liberal scientific education would at last free the human spirit from its thraldom to ancient superstitions and practices. Realism prompts the more modest hope that people can learn to accept that others differ, that belief is a private matter, and that no one has the right to impose beliefs on others or to punish their non-acceptance.

This aspiration has a practical dimension. In order to accommodate a variety of religious and cultural differences in a single society, society itself needs to be wholly secular, most especially its educational institutions. "Faith-based" schools entrench and perpetuate the differences that too often lead to conflict; by educating children from all backgrounds together there is a far greater chance of mutual understanding and personal friendships. Enthusiasts of all faiths oppose secular education because exposure to other traditions has the effect of loosening the grip of their own. That, from a secular standpoint, is of course the consummation devoutly to be wished. The war of ideas today is what makes a difference to the occurrence or otherwise of shooting wars tomorrow. But the murderous grip of humanity's various immemorial belief systems is unavoidably here now, sprouting its bitter fruit. It is as hard for the innocents of one side to defend against the frenzy of fanatics as for those of the other to protect themselves against technological might. But the survivors, if there are any, can try to defend the future by winning the longer and greater war against the intolerance, bigotry, zealotry and hatred that so brutally divides humankind against itself.

Cartoon Time.

SF Art.

Just Finished Reading: Choosing Names – Man-Kzin Wars VIII created by Larry Niven.

This was basically a collection of 5 short to medium stories around the common theme of the Man-Kzin Wars. Taking place in Niven’s ‘Known Space’ they cover the earliest encounters between the peaceful (after all this is SF) Humans and the warlike Kzin. Now the Kzin are one of my favourite alien species from SF. They’re basically evolved tigers who learnt to walk upright and became the dominant species on their homeworld. Unfortunately for the rest of the galaxy a species known as the Jotok trained them as mercenaries before realising their mistake when the Kzin turned their guns on their erstwhile masters. The rest as they say is future history.

Despite being the eighth book in the series (I understand that there are four more – so far) it wasn’t half bad. Nothing really exceptional but entertaining enough. I did actually find it a bit bloodier than usual but maybe I’m just getting sensitive with age? Anyway, it was a fine addition to the (many) books based in Known Space and kept me turning pages – which when it boils down to it is what counts. Strangely though its probably the only book in the series without a cover available on Google images so no cover art this time. The stories were by Niven himself, Hal Colebatch, Jean Lamb, Paul Chafe and Warren W James. Unusually for any collection there’s not a duff one that needed skimming over. Basically for fans of the Kzin and Combat SF.

Cartoon Time.

Picture Time.

Ancient supernova mystery solved

By James Morgan for BBC News

Thursday, 4 December 2008

In 1572, a "new star" appeared in the sky which stunned astronomers and exploded ancient theories of the universe. Now the supernova recorded by Tycho Brahe has been glimpsed again, by Max Planck Institute scientists. They used telescopes in Hawaii and Spain to capture faint light echoes of the original explosion, reflected by interstellar dust. This "fossil imprint" of Tycho's famous supernova is reported in Nature. The study will help solve a 400-year-old mystery over the nature of the celestial event which captivated observers across the globe.

In early November 1572, the brilliant "new star" appeared in the constellation Cassiopeia, and was even visible during daylight. Among those who marvelled was the great Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, who recorded its precise position in his book, "Stella Nova". His measurements revealed the "new star" was located far beyond the Moon - contradicting the Aristotelian tradition that such stars were unchangeable - which had dominated western thinking for nearly 2000 years. This set the stage for the work of Kepler, Galileo, Newton and others. "The supernova of 1572 marked a milestone in the history of science," said Oliver Krause, of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Germany. "It ultimately led to the abandonment of the notion of the immutability of the heavens. But its classification has been controversial. The determination of the exact supernova type has not been possible, without spectroscopic information."

Based on historic records, Tycho's supernova [SN 1572] has traditionally been interpreted as a type Ia supernova. Such supernovas are believed to occur when a white dwarf star undergoes a titanic, thermonuclear explosion. Material from the star is ejected at up to 18,000 miles per second - or one-tenth of the speed of light. Astronomers have reconstructed Tycho Brahe's 1572 supernova. The debris from Tycho's supernova has expanded over the last 400 years into a cloud of gas and dust with a diameter of more than 20 light years. But the nature of the original explosive event which created this remnant has remained unresolved.

To elucidate, Dr Krause and his team conducted a "post-mortem", by training their telescopes on faint light echoes from the original event. A supernova explosion acts like a cosmic flashbulb - producing light that propagates in all directions. The first direct light wave from the explosion swept past Earth in 1572, observed by Brahe. But even today, further waves of light from the original explosion continue to reach Earth indirectly - reflected in the "mirror" of interstellar dust particles. These "light echoes" contain a kind of "fossil imprint" of the original supernova, and are used by astronomers to "time travel" back to witness ancient cosmic events. Dr Krause and his team were able to detect an optical spectrum of Tycho's supernova at near maximum brightness, using telescopes at the Calar Alto observatory, Spain, and at Mauna Kea, Hawaii. "We find that it belongs to the majority class of normal type Ia supernovae," said Dr Krause. "An exciting opportunity now would be to use other [light echoes] to construct a three-dimensional spectroscopic view of the explosion." The new measurements may also shed light on important, unsolved questions about how type Ia supernovae arise. In one model, a white dwarf star accumulates (accretes) material from a companion star until it reaches a critical mass and undergoes a thermonuclear explosion. In another, the accretion occurs by the merging of two white dwarfs.

The proximity of Tycho - which lies in the Milky Way - makes it an ideal candidate for more detailed studies. "The technique of observing light echoes from supernovae is a remarkable observational tool," said Dr Andrea Pastorello, of Queens University, Belfast. "It will allow astrophysicists to characterise other supernova remnants in our galaxy and in nearby galaxies. This will hopefully clarify the relationship between supernova relics and their explosion mechanisms. Finally, it is likely that precise information about the frequency of the different supernova types in our galaxy and its surroundings will shed light on the star-formation history and chemical evolution of the local group of galaxies."

[This is a classic example of how scientific thinking changes our view of the Universe around us and gives us all a better understanding of what is really happening in the world. No other system of thought provides this valuable insight. That’s why science is so important and that’s why I love it.]

Poster Time.

Cartoon Time.

Just Finished Reading: Pattern Recognition by William Gibson

Cayce Pollard is cursed (or blessed) by an almost pathological allergic reaction to brand names. At the sight of Prada or especially the Michelin Man she goes into intense panic attack. Fortunately this is a talent she can sell to advertising companies as she can instantly tell if a new brand is effective – or not – saving companies millions in potentially failed advertising costs. Cayce is also obsessed with the Footage – an Internet viral video depicting what might be a fragmented movie of outstanding quality. Cayce spends most of her on-line time discussing the Footage on Forums and by e-mail. After a job finishes in London she’s hired by an advertising mogul to track down the creator of the Footage which takes her first to Tokyo and then to Moscow. On the way she begins to unravel what happened to her father who disappeared in New York on September 11th.

I clearly remember the effect Gibson’s Sprawl series had on me in the late 80’s. The sheer imagination surrounding the world he created was breath taking. SF was never the same again after Cyberpunk crashed onto the scene. I miss those books and wish Gibson would write more of them. However he’s of the opinion, I’ve heard, that there’s no need to write science fiction based in the future – because the future we dreamed of (or had nightmares about) is already here. Hence Gibson now writes contemporary fiction. But you can still discern his Cyberpunk style even as he writes about the early 21st Century. He sees the world through slightly different lenses than the rest of us – seeing cities that are at once familiar and yet subtly different. His characters are outstanding, especially Cayce herself. She’s hip, knowing, sassy and yet vulnerable at the same time. I’ve known people like her sans the pathology of course. The other characters that litter the book are equally well drawn and about as diverse as you can imagine from a ex-Soviet oligarch mafia gangster to a Japanese cyber-geek afraid of his own shadow, from an American art-house film producer to a Eastern European market trader who works part time ‘infecting’ people in bars with viral advertising. Some of the book is laugh out loud funny or more often downright strange. After I was halfway through this book I had, by osmosis, become more sensitive to the sheer amount of branding we see everyday. It’s everywhere. We just don’t normally notice it.

This book was wonderfully written, wonderfully constructed and wonderfully executed. It was just plain wonderful. A rich, adult, knowing book that felt like drinking fine wine whilst having a intelligent conversation with people you really want to get to know. I shall savour my other Gibson books for next year I think. It’ll give me something to look forward to if I hit another stinker like my last book!

Cartoon Time.

My Favourite Movies: The Big Sleep

LA detective Philip Marlowe (played almost effortlessly by Humphrey Bogart) is hired by General Sternwood to protect his wayward daughters from a blackmailer. Once on the case Marlowe finds himself slipping deeper into the sordid world of gamblers, grifters and pornographers. Everyone it seems is holding secrets – including the coldly beautiful elder Sternwood daughter (played by Lauren Bacall). Marlowe must figure out what each of the players is hiding before one of them literally kills him. Made in 1946 by Howard Hawks this iconic Film Noir is a master class in movie making. Not only beautifully filmed and acted to perfection this film is a gripping mystery as we watch Marlowe work his was through a labyrinthine plot to find what exactly is being held over the Sternwood family.

There are many things I love about this film. It’s not just the atmosphere that you could cut with a knife. It’s not just the ability of the actors playing the smaller parts – including the always watchable Elisha Cook Jr as the hard done by ‘heavy’ and the delightful Dorothy Malone playing the intrigued ACME bookstore owner and it’s not just the snappy dialogue. It’s the mixing of all of these things with Hawks’ consummate skill and not a little humour too.

I’d read somewhere that the plot – presumably taken from the original novel by Raymond Chandler (I couldn’t compare the two as its been many years since I read it) – makes no sense as Marlowe ‘discovered’ things that he couldn’t possibly have know in order for the plot to move forward. But when I watched it again recently I followed Marlowe’s trial quite easily. It was all very reasonable and logical. This is a great movie to watch on a wet Sunday afternoon with a glass of wine in hand. Just relax and let the Noir mood seep into your bones.

Pulp Fiction.

Thinking About: My Dad

Somewhat strangely – or maybe not so strangely – I find myself thinking more about my Father now that he’s dead than I ever did when he was alive. Maybe it’s because now I have lost the opportunity to actually get to know him better. My family are not exactly forthcoming or emotional but is still surprises me that I actually know very little about my Dad. I know he was born in 1929 and joked that he was at sea during the war – being on a boat aged 10 with his family coming to England from Eire. I know he did National Service in the 50’s and was based, I believe, in Newcastle of all places. He must have met my Mum in the early 50’s and they got married, I think, around 1956. After that he spent most of his working life on various building sites. I know that times were not always easy but there was always food on the table and clothes on our backs. Thinking back I think that we were rather ungrateful children – at least me and my brother were – because we were blissfully unaware of my parents lack of money.

I think the most personal thing my father gave me was a love of film. I have memories of watching apparently endless black and white movies during the weekends as well as seemingly constant trips to the cinema where my love affair with the movies deepened. My father was also an explorer, taking us out on trips all around the area. Whenever we complained that we’d walked too far he always said “Let’s see what’s around the next corner.” Of course this turned into the next corner and the one after that. Then there were the museums and art galleries where we spent hours looking at artefacts from around the world and through the ages. We often ended up at Liverpool docks watching the ships come in. I remember (vaguely) scampering over warships that visited the port including – I think – the Ark Royal and a nuclear submarine. One of our favourite trips was on the ferry across the Mersey. In those days you only paid if you got off at Birkenhead so we stayed on and got a free trip across the river and back again. Of course the common denominator in all of this is that it hardly cost any money at all – because, I’m convinced, we simply didn’t have any. Oddly I can’t ever really remember noticing that we were poor in any way, probably because everyone around us was in pretty much the same position. I mean we didn’t have inside plumbing until 1970 after I had turned 10.

After I moved out on going to University I didn’t go home very often and as the years passed I became shocked at how old my father had become – as if the aging process had simply accelerated somehow. Of course it hadn’t it was just that I saw my family less and less often. Dad had always had problems communicating with his kids – though again oddly total strangers would stop him in the street for a chat (something they do to me too!) – so we never exactly engaged in long conversations. Then in the blink of an eye he was gone. I’d been home one November for a week because I wasn’t planning to go home for Christmas that year. Dad was still getting over a bout of illness and had recovered some of his strength and weight. He seemed actually healthier than I’d seen him in a while. A few weeks later he was in hospital with a lung infection. A few days after that he was dead.

I got some compassionate leave from work and got the train home. That was a weird trip. Everything seems either hyper-real or totally unreal. I can’t really make my mind up which. I hated the funeral. We were driven to the crematorium in a big black limousine and I felt as if everyone was looking at us – which they probably were. My mother – bless her – had requested a light Christian ceremony rather than the full on Catholic affair. She said to me “No tutting or rolling of the eyes, OK.” I couldn’t help but laugh at that. I actually lost count of the number of times the stand-in priest mentioned God but I kept my word and not one tut escaped my lips. What disgusted me most though was the conveyor belt process it turned out to be. After the words were said the coffin was whisked away and we were ushered out of the side door to allow the next family to have their 40 minutes of public bereavement. Then back home in the limo again. Apart from the family hardly anyone attended. This was partially because Mum didn’t want a fuss and partially because we don’t know that many people. I couldn’t help wondering how many people would be at my funeral.

I didn’t cry. After three years I still haven’t cried. I was expecting to after it hit me but still – nothing. I did feel numb for a while and sad for much longer but actual tears? No. I did feel a bit guilty about that. I still do. But I do think of him more than I ever did. Maybe that’s something at least. I do look in the mirror sometimes and can’t help seeing how much I look like him. Maybe that’s another of his legacies. Maybe that’s how I’ll keep on remembering him. That and classic movies oh, and John Wayne.

Happy Birthday to St Paul's Cathederal - 300 years old today!

Cartoon Time.

Pulp Fiction.

National Intelligence Council Report: Sun Setting on The American Century

by Tim Reid for The Times

Friday, November 21, 2008

WASHINGTON _ The next two decades will see a world living with the daily threat of nuclear war, environmental catastrophe and the decline of America as the dominant global power, according to a frighteningly bleak assessment by the US intelligence community. The report said that global warming will aggravate the scarcity of water, food and energy resources. Don't worry, though, there's good news in it, too. "The world of the near future will be subject to an increased likelihood of conflict over resources, including food and water, and will be haunted by the persistence of rogue states and terrorist groups with greater access to nuclear weapons," said the report by the National Intelligence Council, a body of analysts from across the US intelligence community. The analysts said that the report had been prepared in time for Barack Obama's entry into the Oval office on January 20, where he will be faced with some of the greatest challenges of any newly elected US president. "The likelihood that nuclear weapons will be used will increase with expanded access to technology and a widening range of options for limited strikes," the 121-page assessment said.

The analysts draw attention to an already escalating nuclear arms race in the Middle East and anticipate that a growing number of rogue states will be prepared to share their destructive technology with terror groups. "Over the next 15-20 years reactions to the decisions Iran makes about its nuclear programme could cause a number of regional states to intensify these efforts and consider actively pursuing nuclear weapons," the report Global Trends 2025 said. "This will add a new and more dangerous dimension to what is likely to be increasing competition for influence within the region," it said. The spread of nuclear capabilities will raise questions about the ability of weak states to safeguard them, it added. "If the number of nuclear-capable states increases, so will the number of countries potentially willing to provide nuclear assistance to other countries or to terrorists."

The report said that global warming will aggravate the scarcity of water, food and energy resources. Citing a British study, it said that climate change could force up to 200 million people to migrate to more temperate zones. "Widening gaps in birth rates and wealth-to-poverty ratios, and the impact of climate change, could further exacerbate tensions," it said. "The international system will be almost unrecognisable by 2025, owing to the rise of emerging powers, a globalising economy, a transfer of wealth from West to East, and the growing influence of nonstate actors. Although the United States is likely to remain the single most powerful actor, the United States' relative strength - even in the military realm - will decline and US leverage will become more strained." Global power will be multipolar with the rise of India and China, and the Korean peninsula will be unified in some form. Turning to the current financial situation, the analysts say that the financial crisis on Wall Street is the beginning of a global economic rebalancing. The US dollar's role as the major world currency will weaken to the point where it becomes a "first among equals".

"Strategic rivalries are most likely to revolve around trade, investments and technological innovation, but we cannot rule out a 19th-century-like scenario of arms races, territorial expansion and military rivalries." The report, based on a global survey of experts and trends, was more pessimistic about America's global status than previous outlooks prepared every four years. It said that outcomes will depend in part on the actions of political leaders. "The next 20 years of transition to a new system are fraught with risks," it said. The analysts also give warning that the kind of organised crime plaguing Russia could eventually take over the government of an Eastern or Central European country, and that countries in Africa and South Asia may find themselves ungoverned, as states wither away under pressure from security threats and diminishing resources..

The US intelligence community expects that terrorism would survive until 2025, but in slightly different form, suggesting that al Qaeda's "terrorist wave" might be breaking up. "Al Qaeda's inability to attract broad-based support might cause it to decay sooner than people think," it said. On a positive note it added that an alternative to oil might be in place by 2025.

[Wow… Even centuries suffer from deflation… It looks like the American ‘Century’ is going to last less than 50 years. Personally I think that this century belongs to the Chinese……]

Cartoon Time.

Guess what? Self-interest is bad for the economy

Simon Caulkin, The Observer management

Sunday November 16 2008

If you thought you felt the earth shudder on 23 October, you were right. When Alan Greenspan told the House Oversight Committee 'I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organisations, specifically banks and others, were such that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms', the effect was the same as Frodo and Sam casting the Ring of Power into the fires of Mount Doom at the end of The Lord of the Rings: the edifice of 21st-century management shook to its foundations.

Self-interest as the driver that, like an invisible hand, permits individuals acting on their own behalf to benefit society as a whole goes back to Adam Smith. But Smith at least realised the drastic inequities it would cause and proposed measures, including progressive taxes, to mitigate the worst effects. No such caution has been in evidence since the 1960s as the concept has become the central belief around which all Anglo-American corporate governance, and thence management as a whole, revolves. Self-interest (and the need to guard against it) is the reason for dividing the chairman and chief executive's role, just as it is for setting executive and non-exec directors against each other; self-interest justifies and encourages individuals to demand vast pay (including in the public sector) without thought for the consequences; finally, a near religious faith in the power of self-interest to both motivate and police is the foundation on which, as Greenspan now regrets, Wall Street's rocket scientists erected the teetering superstructure of debt instruments crashing down around us.

The real-world consequences of a commercial universe with self-interest at its heart thus give the lie to previous assumptions about how individuals and organisations work. In this sense, Greenspan's mea culpa might be likened to the Vatican's admission in 1992 after a 13-year inquiry that Galileo had, after all, been right ('It's official - the Earth moves round the sun,' as the Chicago Sun-Times caustically put it at the time). Common sense suggests a number of reasons why self-interest-centred commerce is as flawed a model as an Earth-centred solar system. Self-interest contains within it the seeds of its own destruction. It drives for reward, but once rewards reach a certain size it can no longer function as a discipline. When rewards were less high, self-interest was tempered by the need to nurture the reputation a career depended on. With salaries at current stratospheric levels, however, self-interest provides no such restraint, since careers are redundant. Anyone who has done one big deal - or worked in the City for more than a few years - never need work again. Far from being a restraining influence, in these circumstances self-interest promotes a short-term focus on transactions that in turn amplifies its second baleful impact: increasing distrust. As anyone not blinded by fundamentalist zeal must see, the obverse of the coin of self-interest is lack of trust - and both are self-reinforcing. The swelling of self-interest is in direct proportion to the draining away of trust, the cumulative results of which are now visible all around us.

An interesting recent article in the science weekly Nature, signalled by a correspondent, laments how dependent economics is on unproven axioms, and how resistant to empirical observation. In the physical sciences, notes the (physicist and hedge-fund manager) author, researchers 'have learnt to be suspicious of axioms. If empirical observation is incompatible with a model, the model must be trashed or amended, even if it is conceptually beautiful or mathematically convenient'. Not so in economics, whose central tenets - rational agents, the invisible hand, efficient markets - derive from economic work done in the 1950s and 1960s, 'which with hindsight looks more like propaganda against communism than plausible science. In reality, markets are not efficient, humans tend to be over-focused on the short term and blind in the long term, and errors get multiplied, ultimately leading to collective irrationality, panic and crashes. Free markets are wild markets' - for which classical economics has no framework of understanding.

In fact, it's even worse. It isn't just that, as the author points out, economics has been remarkably incapable of predicting or averting crises such as the present credit crunch; through the medium of management based on its faulty assumptions, it has actually helped to cause it. It's an error to think that management, or even economics, can ever be a 'hard' science, not least because of their self-fulfilling premises. That doesn't mean they are unworthy of study and understanding. On the contrary. But, as Greenspan sorrowfully acknowledges, the first step on that path is to bow to empirical observation and stop trying to prove the Earth is the centre of the universe.

[It would appear the greed is not good after all. Who would have possibly imagined that?]

My Favourite Movies: Troy

This is certainly not a great film even in its own sword and sandal epic genre. Yet despite its many faults I have to admit that there are elements within the movie that I really liked. That being the case it just managed to nudge itself over the line to get my coveted Gold Award.

Now I haven’t read The Iliad – the Greek epic poem on which it was based – but I am aware enough of the story. In a nutshell the action takes place over 3000 years ago when King Agamemnon (played in rather over the top fashion by Brian Cox) is unifying Greece under his rule. His brother – Menelaus King of Sparta (played by Brendan Gleeson) – has just signed a peace treaty with the greatest city in the East, the legendary Troy. Unfortunately his new wife Helen has fallen in love with the Trojan prince Paris (played rather badly by Orlando Bloom) who steals her away to his home city thus sparking the Trojan War. Agamemnon puts together a huge armada of 1000 ships and sets sail to conquer the last remaining threat to his power. Of the 50,000 Greek soldiers he commands are heroes whose names have travelled down the ages – Ajax, Odysseus and the greatest warrior of the age Achilles (played by Brad Pitt).

It is the character of Achilles that sold me on this movie. Pitt, I thought, played him superbly. As I’ve said I haven’t read the original text so can’t comment on the accuracy of the characters portrayal but just loved the way it came across. Achilles was more than aware that he was the greatest warrior who had ever lived, who was undefeated and almost untouched in battle. Yet he was at the same time a deeply tragic figure who passionately hated his fate. He had a disregard for just about everything except that he was determined – driven even – to be remembered down the ages. At one point his mother told him that he had a choice between a long happy life with many children but ultimate obscurity or a short bloody life with eternal fame. Well, we all know which life he chose.

The other thing I liked very much about the film was Achilles’ fight with Hector (played competently by Eric Bana) outside Troy’s city walls which was quite superbly choreographed. I do remember though that at this point in the legend that Paris shot an arrow from the battlements which hit Achilles in his only vulnerable spot (his heel of course). The filmed however added a love story between Achilles and Briseis (played by the delightful Rose Byrne) which meant that the death of Achilles was delayed until after Troy fell care of the infamous Trojan horse.

Of course there was many things wrong with the film but they didn’t really add up to very much in my view. I do know people who took an instant dislike to the film – especially with its truncated timeline but textual accuracy has never really been a Hollywood priority. Whilst being far from a perfect film or even a great one Troy is still entertaining enough but it is the central character of Achilles that pushes this film into my favourite category. OK, only just but it still counts.

Cartoon Time.