Ludwig Van Never Did Anything Wrong

I just saw A Clockwork Orange last week for the first time. How timely:

In January it was revealed that West Park School, in Derby in the midlands of England, was “subjecting” (its words) badly behaved children to Mozart and others. In “special detentions,” the children are forced to endure two hours of classical music both as a relaxant (the headmaster claims it calms them down) and as a deterrent against future bad behavior (apparently the number of disruptive pupils has fallen by 60 per cent since the detentions were introduced.)

One news report says some of the children who have endured this Mozart authoritarianism now find classical music unbearable. As one critical commentator said, they will probably “go into adulthood associating great music—the most bewitchingly lovely sounds on Earth—with a punitive slap on the chops.” This is what passes for education in Britain today: teaching kids to think “Danger!” whenever they hear Mozart’s Requiem or some other piece of musical genius.

Tony Judt on Identity

Tony Judt’s series of blog posts for the NY Review of Books is one of the best things I’ve read in ages. His most recent entry is on identity, where he commits a sacrilege of the left and questions our current notions of identity. There are echoes of Teddy Roosevelt here:

In academic life, the word has comparably mischievous uses. Undergraduates today can select from a swathe of identity studies: “gender studies,” “women’s studies,” “Asian-Pacific-American studies,” and dozens of others. The shortcoming of all these para-academic programs is not that they concentrate on a given ethnic or geographical minority; it is that they encourage members of that minority to study themselves—thereby simultaneously negating the goals of a liberal education and reinforcing the sectarian and ghetto mentalities they purport to undermine. All too frequently, such programs are job-creation schemes for their incumbents, and outside interest is actively discouraged. Blacks study blacks, gays study gays, and so forth.

As so often, academic taste follows fashion. These programs are byproducts of communitarian solipsism: today we are all hyphenated—Irish-Americans, Native Americans, African-Americans, and the like. Most people no longer speak the language of their forebears or know much about their country of origin, especially if their family started out in Europe. But in the wake of a generation of boastful victimhood, they wear what little they do know as a proud badge of identity: you are what your grandparents suffered. In this competition, Jews stand out. Many American Jews are sadly ignorant of their religion, culture, traditional languages, or history. But they do know about Auschwitz, and that suffices.

I’m not 100% with him on the “identity studies people study only themselves” idea, given I’m a straight male studying feminism and queer theory. But it certainly doesn’t disprove his point. I’m the exception to the rule in that department. The whole essay is marvelous.

King Korea

Having just visited Korea, I can tell you, this article by Hank Hyena is right on the money. Korea is a major rising star. It is wired, educated, and those folks work hard:

In 1960, SK was a famished pauper with a per capita annual income of $100. Since then, “The Miracle on the Han River” has boasted the world’s most explosive economy; 8.7% annual growth from 1960-1990 transformed it from agricultural hick into techno-metro sophisticate. SK is #1 in digital technology, #1 in shipbuilding, it constructed the world’s tallest building (Burj Khalifa in Dubai), the largest shopping center (Shisegae Centrum City), the biggest boat (cruise ship “Oasis of the Seas”), it houses Samsung, LG Electronics, Hyundai-Kia, Cyworld, POSCO, etc. How’d SK do it? Relentless education, long work hours (2,390 hours per person annually, 34% more than Americans) and brave creativity — they own the 3rd largest number of patents and they’re the “Most Innovative Country” according to Global Innovation Index. Meanwhile, though North Korea is one of the globe’s poorest nations — its citizens average 4 inches shorter in height than southerners due to malnutrition — it does have mineral wealth. Goldman-Sachs believes a unified Korean economy could rival Japan’s by mid-century.

Nature vs Nurture vs Environment

The more you study biology and child development, the more this makes sense:

Early childhood is a”crucial time for establishing the brain architecture that shape’s children’s future cognitive, social and emotional well-being,” the study says.

“Children growing up in a disadvantaged setting show disproportionate levels of reactivity to stress, and it shows at the level of hormonal studies, neurological brain imaging studies and at the level of epigenetic profiling,” said Thomas Boyce, of the University of British Columbia.

The researchers studied data on more than 1,500 individuals born between 1968 and 1975 taken from a 40-year demographic study of US households that measured family income during every year of childhood, educational attainment, what level people reached in their careers, plus crime and health as adults.

They found “striking differences” in how the children’s lives turned out as adults, depending on whether they were poor or comfortably well-off before the age of six.

Not having the raw statistical data makes it dubious as to just what levels of causation are involved, but this phenomenon surely has a huge number of variables. Worth investigating further, nonetheless. via Saletan

Sci-Fi Gets Classy

Awesome posters from Travis Pitts:

via io9

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Robots

Wow! By Jason Powers!

Back Door Eugenics?

Not so, says Alexandre Erler at Practical Ethics, one of my new favorite blogs, on a post about Britain allowing reprogenetics:

To come now to the worry about “back door eugenics”, it is unfortunate that the term “eugenics” has become a dirty word due to its association with some of the darkest pages of Western history in the past two centuries, and particularly Nazi Germany. The eugenics charge only appears to carry weight because it implicitly understands the term as referring to the horrendous ways in which eugenics have been practiced in the past, i.e. to the compulsory sterilization of thousands of people considered “unfit” in America and Nazi Germany. But this shows that the charge relies on equivocation. Indeed, the genetic test that we are discussing doesn’t involve sterilizing anyone. Its aim is to avoid that children be born with one of a number of handicapping and dangerous diseases. This clearly isn’t Nazi eugenics. If it is eugenics, then it is so in another sense, i.e. it allows us to diminish the likelihood that children will be born with certain features we judge undesirable; and we judge them undesirable because they are likely to be seriously harmful to their well-being. If the word is used in this sense, the claim that using the test in our reproductive decisions would be eugenics does not constitute an objection at all. One might as well argue that the state should not coerce its citizens in any manner, even when they murder each other or refuse to pay their taxes, because coercive policies have been used by the Third Reich and other totalitarian regimes, and they were heinous.

Eugenics simply means “good genes.” The problem has been, and will continue to be, who defines “good.” So long as it is an individual, well informed decision, and coercion and force are kept out of the equation – I think we can enjoy the benefits of eugenics without the horror of the past.

Print Me A Kidney

This is such a gross drawing

The Economist has a spiffy article on the growing potential for printable body parts, on demand:

The new machine, which costs around $200,000, has been developed by Organovo, a company in San Diego that specialises in regenerative medicine, and Invetech, an engineering and automation firm in Melbourne, Australia. One of Organovo’s founders, Gabor Forgacs of the University of Missouri, developed the prototype on which the new 3D bio-printer is based. The first production models will soon be delivered to research groups which, like Dr Forgacs’s, are studying ways to produce tissue and organs for repair and replacement. At present much of this work is done by hand or by adapting existing instruments and devices.

To start with, only simple tissues, such as skin, muscle and short stretches of blood vessels, will be made, says Keith Murphy, Organovo’s chief executive, and these will be for research purposes. Mr Murphy says, however, that the company expects that within five years, once clinical trials are complete, the printers will produce blood vessels for use as grafts in bypass surgery. With more research it should be possible to produce bigger, more complex body parts. Because the machines have the ability to make branched tubes, the technology could, for example, be used to create the networks of blood vessels needed to sustain larger printed organs, like kidneys, livers and hearts.

Behold! The Singularity!

SMBC

“A Tale of Two Prostheses” Corrected

Carrie Davis, one of the people I mentioned in my post, “A Tale of Two Prostheses” commented on IEET regarding that post. Here is her amazing post in full:

Hello Kyle,

Carrie Davis here. Interesting piece – though I’m not a wealthy socialite that mingles in high society, gets noticed and comes off as superior. It may have seemed like that from the article in Fast Company Magazine, but let me assure you, I’m an average girl who has dedicated my life to helping others who have lost limbs. My “Tiffany Ring” is a $10.00 sparkly gem on an elastic, stretchy band. The seemingly ridiculous attitude that I have regarding my prosthesis as a positive, beautiful aspect of myself is not ridiculous at all. In fact, it took me many years to get to a point where I was proud of the body that I came in, prosthesis and all.

Therefore, like I said, I have dedicated my whole life to helping others. I am a National Patient Advocate for Upper Extremity Patients seeking assistance. I have worked with kids, families, adults, soldiers, etc. to help them accept their bodies and work effectively with their prostheses. I write letters to insurance companies to help patients get funding for prostheses and once they receive them, I’m there every step of the way to offer moral support and guidance. When insurance doesn’t come through, I work to help try to find a way.

I also volunteer at a camp called Camp No Limits – a camp for kids with limb deficiencies. My goal is to catch kids before they decide their self-image based on their body image or what they don’t have versus the gifts, talents and heart that they do have. I’d invite you to check out the foundation www.nolimitfoundation.org. That “ridiculous positive attitude” and sense of pride in my body is one that I hope kids also grab on to, as well.

I’m also the National Coordinator for a volunteer organization called Amputee Empowerment Partners; a group of over 500 trained volunteers nationwide who also want to assist new amputees navigate the road to recovery. We just started a very unique e-community online specifically geared toward helping others.

My “bag of arms” has been compiled over 20+ years. I have an i-LIMB, yes, which I do think is pretty special, but I also have a cable operated hook that I wear regularly, as well. Do people perceive me differently when they see the hook hanging out of my sleeve versus the hand? Yes. Do I care? Not so much.

What I do care about is that people see me for who I am and what I’m about versus what I’m missing. The black i-LIMB starts conversations. The hook repels them. When I catch people staring at my hook, I invite a conversation, “Hey, I saw you were looking at my hook – do you have any questions? Would you like to know more about it?” Whether I want the attention or not, I get it and so I use it to benefit others, hopefully.

I thank you for noting that we are all working to improve the lives and well-being for those with the need for prostheses. It truly is my mission in life. I’m not a wealthy socialite. I’m a single mom to two amazing sons, living in a modest home, moving through life the best I can, hoping I can help people along the way.

My prosthesis and its price tag have very little to do with me. However, having access to all kinds of prostheses has allowed me to accomplish anything that I have set my sights on. Thanks to my prostheses and the great prosthetists that I have had the good fortune to work with in my life, I am able to do anything I want. I’ve always said that if you don’t have a hand, you don’t have an excuse, because there is a prosthesis or a terminal device that will allow me to do anything I can set my mind to – even, as one commenter wondered – scratch my…

Cheers Kyle.

Why the hell Fast Company didn’t do a 10 page article on her life, I’ll never know. Apologies for my errors (that ring really does look like a popular Tiffany ring, I promise!), and thank you, Carrie, for setting the record straight. Can’t wait to hear more!