Boomer News

Scientific & Religious Thinking: are they getting closer?

Yes I think they are. The combined thoughts and knowledge of all mankind is out there on the Internet to be accessed. Since we acquired  the technology to better understand our brain we are becoming better at in-depth critical thinking.

It took Homo-sapien a million years to come up with the first stone tool. But then it took maybe nine hundred thousand years to move beyond that first step.  Technology had to wait while the conscious mind and than language evolved. The sharing of ideas was slow at first, but once people began to share their ideas all kinds of artifacts ways to do things began to pop up. Now it’s possible for nearly 7 billion people to share their ideas and thoughts.

Kids, grandpa suggests that everyone is born with two natures. The first nature is hope in things that are beyond our awareness. This nature we have comes from  hope that comes from the spiritual world. In human-kinds early years of conscious thought, positive imaginings of the world around them guided them in their the day to day efforts of survival. The combined efforts of hope evolved into the great religions we have today.

The second nature is of things that are provable … of finding better ways. New ways to do things & looking for answers progressed slowly for early humans. The early humans drew conclusions about how things worked by observing nature. Their spiritual nature led the way by establishing names to the mythical forces and mythical people that seemed to rule our existence. Our nature to build and create  was subservient to our spiritual nature of hope in the mythical forces and people we imagined and created.

It wasn’t until Copernicus used a piece of paper to draw a diagram with mathematical proof that the Earth revolved around the sun did our spiritual nature, (Religion), start to see the value of our second nature, (science). Little by little each culture is seeing how important it is for our two natures to converge. Kids, your two natures are of equal importance. In many cultures a polarization exists within the two natures that each person possesses. The good news is that religious thinking and science thinking are beginning to “blend” within each person and eventually it will happen within each culture.

Who do you think he was?

The “Who do you think you are” TV program stirs up an ancestral mystery, I have yet to solve to my satisfaction. Grandchildren, it may surprise you, but the person I know very little about is my father. At age 81, I still have very little information about my father … your grandfather, who died from injuries in a truck accident in 1934.

You eleven grandchildren, (who I have written to you in this blog for the past six years,) will have no difficulty sizing up … your grandfather. Perhaps you now have more information about me than you ever wanted or needed. My father died when I was three years old. My conscious mind had just kicked in. My memory banks was just beginning store events in the conscious part of my brain. I don’t remember his voice or what he looked like. I do have 3 vivid memories of my father … and that is it. Today, all I have is a one inch square picture if him , that I got in Ireland when he was about 12 years old.

How do you explain sudden death to a three year old? It took three months for me to slowly ease out of this unexplained lonely feeling as I kept looking out the window every day waiting for father to come home. It was hard for my mother who was left with six children in the depth of the depression. Basically all of my father’s large family stayed away from us after his death. I never knew my grand parents on either side, nor the many aunts. uncles or cousins on my father’s side. As I grew older I asked what was my father like? The answer was always he was a good father and good person … but he let certain members of his family be too big an influence in our affairs. That was it. Perhaps it was too traumatic for the older siblings to ever go any further. Hopefully I will learn more about who he was.

Ironically, my mother’s experience as a child was similar to mine. Her father died when she was three. She knew nothing of her father. Her mother separated her 3 children and shipped them off to others to be raised. My mothers was determined to hold, and raise her 6 children despite our poverty. Kids, every person with an abstract conscious mind that ever was born has a unique interesting story to be told. If you have watched “Who do you think you are?”, you will see how hard life was before 1900. I was born in the early 1930s, which has prompted me to call my generation … the “Luckiest Generation”.

It didn’t take long as a young boy for me to realize that … where I was born, and the time on time on Earth I was born, put me within the top 5% most fortunate people on Earth.  Kids, I often stop and think of all the conscious thinking people who came before me and thank them.

Dyslexia and Neanderthal Language an Experiment

Kids, this is actually an example of how my dyslexic brain transmits signals that roam through my brain looking for correlations for feasible connections to achieve a desired result. Below is my experiment which shows how my thought process works to answer just one mystery that my brain tries to address.

1. My mental question to myself: Is dyslexia associated with any particular culture?
2. My gist info answer: Dyslexia is in all cultures world wide.
3. Gist information: There is a brain structure difference between dyslexics and non dyslexics.
4. (Gist info) Even though Planck Institute has confirmed that Neanderthal has the Fox2 gene, it’s too soon to assume that Neanderthal could communicate with Homo Sapien. Their voice box structure was different. (gist info)
5. Neanderthal became extinct around 30,000 years ago & lived in Europe with Homo Sapien for about 30,000 years … did they mate? Yes, says Planck Institute. Did they have children? It’s not known.
6. Okay. Here is a gist question I keep in memory in case more info becomes available. How did I, and perhaps 10% of the world’s population get longer axons and a different brain structure for slow reading with the compensatory ability to excel at curiosity and imagination?
7. And here is a wild explanation. (Which I keep in memory). During Neanderthals 30,000 years with homo Sapien … and having children with Neanderthals … some of us got Neanderthals genes with their evolved brain structure with long axons in attempts to learn language. But, they did not successfully learn our language ability and became extinct.

Grandpa is very use to failure, so being way off base with this experiment, is the fun part of being curious with an imagination

Were you curious at age 10?

I believe everyone is born curious. I was thinking about our grandson Joseph who is 10 who seems to be a very curious kid. I know I was curious at age 10. I guess I have talked and wrote about age ten being such an important and wonderful age. Read what neuroscientists have to say about age 10. I’m sure I have told you in my blogs about how my 10 year old brain spun around in my head when I tried to fathom that space and time were endless. I think that Lee Smolin said that  he experienced the same thing as a young boy in his book “The Life of the Cosmos”. You will find over and over that people who remain curious today, developed a strong curiosity  between age 8 and 12 years old. Morgan Freeman, who narrates “Through the Wormhole” on TV, often talks about his curiosity as a young boy. Stephen Hawking at age 70, advises us  “to be curious and never give up.”

Did I do a good job at encouraging our five children to be curious when the reached the age of 10? I hope, so but you’ll have to ask your parents kids. I just ran across a video you can see and hear on the Internet about curiosity by Michio Kaku … who is often on the Science Channel. Go to the Internet and type Curiosity Michio Kaku Encouragement Interest in Science and you’ll find his 4 minute plus video on curiosity.

Dyslexia: How it drives science

How ignorance drives science is the subject of a book just published by Stuart Firestein. In the April Scientific American forum article he comments on an impenetrable mountain of facts that can obscure the deeper questions. In one of my blogs a few years ago I lamented about the “Too Much Information Problem” … and I wasn’t focusing on just the sciences. Stuart laments about the “accumulation view” … It’s not just the general public … “science have a pile of facts too big for us to ever hope to conquer … So, science to often will “bore your eyes right out your eye sockets with reams of facts. They should begin with the important questions, that come right beyond the facts.”

Stuart writes; “Are we are all too enthralled with the answers these days? Are we afraid of questions? It’s the unanswered questions that make life and science interesting. Mucking around in the unknown is an adventure.” You know those have been my sentiments also kids. Your grandpa grew to realize that he was lucky to be born dyslexic. Last year I got the book called The Dyslexic Advantage by Brook & Fernette Eide. It was immensely validating for me. Understanding the brain during the recent decade has shown that the dyslexic brain has some advantages over the non dyslexic brain. Dyslexics have longer axons to roam around the brain in search of  more options. The slow reading dyslexic, who gets the “gist”, and the precise, fast and accurate reading non dyslexic, make a great team for conquering the mountain of facts.

Innovation in Education

Since you older grandchildren are starting college I have been getting the Chronicle Review of higher education. This is the title of the Chronicle Review article of interest kids; “Innovation in Higher Education? HAH!” The consensus of the comments on this article seems to be; “college leaders need to move beyond talking about transformation before it’s too late.” Since I began working in the late 1940s after WWII, there are two very human traits that I see that have persisted through out all my working years.  One, we Americans don’t seem to pay attention to a looming crisis until it occurs. Two, even when we become aware that a crisis is upon us, we take the path of least resistance when it comes to actively addressing the crisis. Fortunately, there are always a few amongst us who how have the vision to see a crisis looming and have the skills and leadership to provide a solution.

There has been a transition of leaders from the engineers of the 1940s, to the accountants, to the lawyers, and to the financial people of today. We don’t necessarily need a physicist to step in and solve the innovation crisis needed in education today. Good ideas can come from any occupation. We know our leaders in higher education have the skills and the ideas.  In the 21st century we can no longer wait for a crisis to already be upon us before taking action.

Balance and Olympia Snowe

Kids, Olympia Snowe was a senator  who was shifting her weight in the middle of a see-saw  with a pile of democrats on one end and a pile of Republicans on the other end, in an attempt to break their stalemate. A moderate Senator in the midst Senators who automatically voted for everything their party championed. Upon leaving the Senate said; “We are becoming more like a parliamentary system, where everyone simply votes  with their party and those in charge who employ every possible tactic to block the other side.” She asserted that this was “unfortunate for the country” … She felt that this was the way things are working in Washington despite the fact that she felt the American people … when  given the chance …  actually take a moderate view to most issues.

It’s a broken system when our older citizens, who serve the public, and our busy younger citizens who look to our older public servants for guidance , are both caught up in a vicious cycle where critical thinking moderates are not heard. We could start almost any where in the viscous cycle. Let’s start with the media. The media generates the sound bites that the busy younger workers only have a short time to grasp. The media knows what attracts the most listeners. And people get herded into following TV information that gets circulated within their culture of friends. Most busy people don’t have time to answers polls. Those in the public that have agendas do make time to answer the polls. Each party has dutiful foot soldiers that march in dreary lock step with their party generals and lobbyists. The poll numbers get cycled back to the press to be circulated back to the public … as confirmation of our polarized system.

Money is often the root of out-of-balance scenarios created by humans. I’m sure Olympia knows how hard it will be to break the viscous cycle and return balanced thinking and compromise to our government.

*( I used some of Frank Bruni’s column on Olympia kids)

Grandpa came up with the word “Balanceology”. The study of balance and moderation. I introduced it into the Boomer News a number of years ago for you grandchildren and those who read the Boomer News Blog to consider. I can see a number of Balanceology.com type blogs beginning to pop up. Polarization equates to a congress with no middle. Sorry to see you go Olympia.

Dyslexia & The Power of Habit

Dyslexia is a learning disability characterized by slow reading, resulting in difficulties, deficits, secondary consequences, and impediments. At age 81, the book The Dyslexic Advantage by Brook & Fernette Eide, has immensely validated all of the upsides & downsides of dyslexia I have experienced. Understanding the brain during the recent decade has shown that the dyslexic brain has some advantages over non dyslexic brains.

I made this mental leap from The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg in David Brooks column to other thought connections in my dyslexic brain. One of the advantages of dyslexic is that they develop the ability to get the “gist” of things to compensate for slow reading. Almost half my life went by before realizing I had dyslexia. Before that I had already realized I was making many dot-to-dot connections in my brain in searching for the answer to a problem.

In the 19th century willpower was used as a dam to block the indulgent bad habits. Willpower & resolutions did not work well. In the early 1950s when debating with a friend  over can of beer, I argued that we wouldn’t fully understand “how to solve the world’s problems” until we understand how the brains works. We won’t see that happening until the end of the 20th century. The “Decade of the Brain” occurred in the 1990s.

The neurologist are doing a great join in helping people understand their thought processes. I recognize that predicting the future is a flat out guess. But, observing the past makes a good guess possible. In 2000, I made the forecast to family members that scientific thinking and religious thing would converge by the year 2050. This does not mean science thinking and religious thinking would merge … after all, I believe humans have two natures of equal importance. If  science (that is provable), and all the faithful within all the cultures of the world use critical thinking  they can change the world , not by using a clever trigger but by some larger global belief. By 2050 keeping Nature in Balance becomes more and more worldly urgent.

Two natures of equal importance ?

It took millions of years for the subconscious mind to reach a point in time when abstract conscious thinking became possible. Grandpa feels that two natures evolved and existed in the human subconscious mind and the two natures became apparent the moment that the first two people were able to communicate an abstract conscious thought to each other.

Lets say the woman asks the man; “What’s it all about Alphi?”  He replies; “Well, we come into being …we  live and then we die.” The woman nods yes, and then asks; “Isn’t there more to our existence than that?’ The man  replies; “I guess you are right … maybe we will be able to figure out what makes the sun shine and the rain to fall?”  Well, she says; “I would like to know even  more than just that.  I’d like to know how we came into being  and I certainly hope there be more to all this after we die?”

And so kids,  grandpa’s thinks  that everyone is born with two natures; one is of this world, the other  is of the spiritual world. I believe the two natures have been in our DNA even before  humans acquired conscious thought. The  question is; How much effort should we make to keep an equal balance between our two natures? Grandpa makes the case that we should try to keep a balance between our two natures. First, there is the part of us that creates, discovers, competes, and is involved with building the world. Our provable awareness. Very important. Then there is the second part that is spiritual. Spirituality provides humans with hope and belief that stretches beyond our worldly provable awareness. Also, very important.

Glenn – Maslow – Rosling – Brooks

John Glenn referred to his childhood as Idyllic. At age 90, his life is a story book picture of how marriage and life was for the “Greatest Generation”  Being 10 years younger  I refer to my generation as the “Luckiest Generation” I had a happy childhood despite losing my father at age 3 and being raised by my mother in a family of six children during  the depression.

Then life styles began to change in the 1960s. The  recent marriage statistics and life styles of today made my dyslexic brain jump to “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.” Has the mix of people of my childhood, who filled each section of the pyramid,  moved up to the top of the pyramid? My synapse signal then jumped to Hans Rosling’s “200 countries, 200 years in 4 minutes” moving chart where all countries have moved up to better wealth and better health to the upper corner of Rosling’s chart.

In 1943 Maslow put “morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, and lack of prejudice, at the top peak of the self-actualization pyramid. My synapse hesitated waiting for me to put in my words into today’s self-actualization pyramid. I figured I would sleep on it. Then this morning I got up to read Dave Brooks “The Talent Society” column, to see what self-actualization words would be used for”The Talent Society”. He is right about living in an amazing era of individualism.

David’s closing paragraph is probably a realistic evaluation. “People with skills can really thrive in this tenuous, networked society. People without advantages would probably be better off  if we build new versions of the settled, stable and thick arrangements we left behind.”

I need to sample our family members and especially the parents of the grandchildren for their opinions.

Lin and Tebow … a Fine Sociological Kettle of Fish Ollie

Immediately after the Denver Pittsburgh “miracle” OT ending, the TV camera went to Terri Bradshaw and the post-game gang of analyzers. There they were, with heads bowed and hands clasped as though in prayer. The majority of the sports writers were critical of Tebow’s QB abilities and were dumbfounded after the win over Pittsburgh put Denver in the playoffs. Tebow was unashamedly bringing his God on to the playing field with him and it caught on with the players. As the playoffs began an unrelated article in the WSJ was publiished; “Why Placebos Work Wonders” This brought about a first reaction from my dyslexic brain: “Is this the “smart single cells” described in Bruce Tipton’s book “The Biology of Belief?” He describes these cells as “miniature humans” in a petri dish actively seeking friendly environments that support their survival while simultaneously avoiding toxic or hostile ones. It seems to me, that these cells might be the  placebo effect working in concert to achieve the performance wonders of Lin, Tebow and their team mates.

Lin and Tebow are like able young athletes in their early twenties. (From David Brooks Column):  Lin says; “I’m still learning to be selfless and submit myself to God and give up my game to him. I still don’t fully understand what that means. I struggle with these things every game, everyday”. Jewish Theologian Joseph Soloveitchik argues that people have two natures. First, there is the part of us that creates, discovers, competes, and is involved in building the world. Then there is the second part of us that is  spiritual, who are awed by and humbled by the universe as a spectator and a worshipper.

Joseph Soloveitchik very nicely describes the two natures I am trying to describe in my Balanceology concept that I have been writing to you grandchildren about … particularly in recent blogs. Soloveitchik sees the two natures within us as being  in creative tension … which I don’t don’t see. I see them in harmony. But I remind you that grandpa is such a slow reader that all my information comes from getting the “gist” of what I have read. Read my home page again kids, this stuff I write is all about you kids being imaginative and curious. And don’t forget to always check out what grandpa is saying.

Cultures: Good Agendas and Misguided Agendas

I wrote a comment in David Brooks column called the Materialist Fallacy. He as been on a kick writing on cultures recently … and so have I. He is concerned that the social fabric in the America has deteriorated. He ends his column by saying; “Social repair requires sociological thinking. The lesson of the past few weeks in that the public debate is dominated by people who stopped thinking in 1975.”

One of my hobby interests relates to how do you make cultures take a hard look at examining  their misguided agendas  in the 21st century. There is no doubt that more people are doing more talking about their various agendas … and perhaps David is right … there seems to be more talking about their agendas and less thinking since 1975.

Kids, here is what grandpa wrote as a comment to Materialist Fallacy:

“All the world’s major cultures have good agendas and some misguided agendas. I am 81 and have been writing a blog to our 11 grandchildren for over 5 years. I wrote to them about my year 2000 hopeful forecast that scientific thinking and religious thinking would converge by year 2050. I don’t mean science thinking and spiritual thinking should merge. Scientific and spiritual thinking both are of equal importance to the human consciousness. Science thinking and spiritual thinking is an integral part of every major culture in the world. If the misguided agendas of the scientific culture and the religious cultures begin to disappear it will because of an increase in the frequency of critical  thinking and debates like this one.”

Because science thinking (Things provable) and spiritual thinking (Things based upon faith) are an integral part of every major culture, respect and understanding (convergence of thought) … amongst the followers … is an important part toward a harmonious world in 2050.

Public Schools will Rise Again

Two stories about public schools going in opposite directions this week kids. In USA Today a story about secular parents leaving public education to home school their children. Parents are doing this, not because of faith, but because parents see short comings in public education. Another story this week  is about an intermediate school in my town kids. “Mooreville’s Shining Example” is the New York Times story of a public school heading in a direction … opposite to the public schools that are driving parents to consider home schooling.

Educators from across the country are coming to Mooresville searching for the secret formula. What they are looking for is an example for the steady gains Mooresville has made since issuing laptops three years ago to the 4,400 children from grades 4 through 12. I think they have found it. “This is not just about technology, it’s about changing the culture of instruction – preparing students for the future, not the past. Get your parents to read the article kids.

This change in the culture of instruction is going to happen rapidly. I have been following the Khanacademy story for probably 2-3 years. When I stared reading about it I wondered why the methods and tools hadn’t grabbed the attention of educators  sooner? It caught Bill Gate’s attention. Being a dyslexic, it caught my attention. Another educational advance that caught my attention about the same time was Hans Rosling’s moving charts that brings understanding of statistics to the general public, because it’s quick, fun and very informative. One of my hobby interests for the past 40 years is getting the general public interested in long term planning and forecasting.  Maybe Hans can find a way to use his moving charts to do that.

And while I’m on advancements in education, is the  Steve Jobs interesting story and the use of IPADs  for learning disabilities especially for autism kids. There is lots of interesting stuff going on in education kids.

“The Better Idea Does Not Have to Win …

… Because it is a Better Idea.” (Robert Kagan, WSJ Review). In my previous blog kids, grandpa writes about Charles Murray’s book “Coming Apart” with an argument that America is dividing into a two caste system. On the other hand, Robert Kagan presents the argument that “the world needs America”. But, as Robert Kagan points out America’s … “better idea does not have to win, because it is a better idea.” History shows that to be true.

In the year 2000 Sir Martin Rees published a book called “Our Final Hour.”  It was not a dooms-day book. It was a sober, sane, serious attempt at a wake up call, as we began the 21st century. In 2000 Grandpa projected that scientific thinking and religious thinking would converge by 2050. That did not mean that belief in things that have been demonstrated to have been proven factually true, are more important than religious beliefs that are accepted. Each is of equal importance to human consciousness.

Cosmologist like Martin Rees, who come face to face with the event horizon of a black hole, can prove things on our “our side” of the event horizon,  but they cannot draw any scientific conclusions about what is going on the inside of a black hole. This turns a scientist into a person that belongs to two cultures at the same time. One who believes in scientific thinking and also, a person who believes in hope and faith that come from Mother Nature and her secrets yet to be uncovered.

This will be true of people of religious faith who learn a broader view of the secrets science is able to uncover from science’s mythical figure Mother Nature … who is also synonymous with creation.

Coming Apart … the gist of it

Kids, I was reviewing my year 2000 projection that scientific thinking and religious thinking would converge by 2050, when I read David Brook’s column on the book “Coming Apart”. We are now over 20% into of the 1st half century of the 21st century. So what can I say about  the  have and have not cultures of today in the us? I expected  upheaval  in the world’s cultures and I have not been disappointed in the make up of cultures  around the world, which are  reacting to the knowledge now being absorbed by all the people around the world as a result of the Internet. I wish Hans Rosling could make a moving graph depicting the changes occurring in cultures that have been around for hundreds of years.

I haven’t read the Charles Murray’s book kids, and this is my”gist” of the book through David Brook’s column. Charles Murray suggests there are vast behavioral gaps between the upper tribe (20 percent of the country) and the lower tribe (30 percent of the country). Murray basic argument is not new, that America is dividing into a two-caste society. He mostly uses data on white Americans, so the effects of race and other complicating factors don’t come into play.

David Brooks final comment was,  “if we could jam the tribes together we would have a better elite and a better mass”.

Grandpa wonders if the lower tribes with high birth ratios will successfully mold with the upper tribes with their declining birth rates? As a very poor reading dyslexic child I grew up among the lower financial tribes of the 1930s. Over the course of my 81  years I finally made it to being on the fringes of being a member of the upper tribes. Kids, I need to get the book Coming Apart to get more than just a gist of what it is about in order to write about future culture changes that are blowin’ in the wind.

A Figment …

“Figment”: That is a lonely word sitting out there all by it’s self kids. Unless you add “of your imagination”, the word doesn’t have much meaning for me. The definition of figment in my dictionary: “something made up or contrived” … a negative connotation. This blog is all about you grandchildren having many figments of your imagination. Something you have made up … but not contrived. Grandpa has suggested that the two most fertile subjects to put your imagination in high rear is; the cosmos and conscious mind and how they work.

Where do you go to get a degree in cosmology or the conscious mind?

Cosmology and consciousness … are they good career choices? Here are a few comments off the Internet on cosmology and consciousness as a career;

• “How practical are they in everyday life?
• “Very fascinating, but is it a good career choice?”
• “What’s better than searching and finding the answers to the most important questions … unfortunately you might not find full time employment”

I have to agree. When I start enthusiastically to talk to strangers about these subjects, they will roll their eyes and walk away … friends or family will politely listen for awhile and then change the subject. My guess is that only one out of 10 people will actually be interested  in my thoughts on these two subjects. If any of you kids get into subjects like neurology, micro biology, astronomy, or quantum mechanics you might become fascinated by these two most challenging and interesting subjects. Since the very first two people, with language and abstract thinking ability, said; “What’s it all about Alphi?”, humans have continued to search to find the answers to these two important subjects.

Kids, there is an interesting graph that compares the number of undergraduate degrees in the US in 2009, in the February 2012 Scientific American magazine on page 88, called “How Science Degrees Stack Up”. (Cosmology and the study of conscious thought don’t stack up very well)

Balancing Act: “Iron Lady”

Kids, remember grandpa does not ever claim to have “the answers” … you see, I just can’t keep from thinking … what if? …what if I can find a possible answer? … what if I can figure what Mother Nature is trying to balance now on this tiny planet as I write this blog?

Mother Nature performs a continuous never-ending balancing act. Mother nature must continually balance the sun, wind, and rain and every molecule, particle, no matter how small or large in every corner of the cosmos … that is out of balance. From our human perspective … Mother nature is performing  her “evil or good deeds” as she tries to maintain balance. Which brings to mind an article “Balancing Act: Obligation and Liberation” and the movie “Iron Lady” I just saw.

Author Brinton’s article “Why U.S. politics devolves into good vs. evil”. (A good article). The point he is making; “Without a clear ‘devil’ to rally against, Americans turn the knives on each other.” It’s our nature as humans to “overshoot”. We just have to learn not to keep relentlessly pounding … we just need to learn to bring an unbalanced situation into balance. The Iron lady is a very good example. (A great movie and a marvelous acting job by Meryl Streep). Margaret Thatcher, against all odds, turned things around in the UK  when her conservative philosophies were needed. After 10 years, her iron will was successful and ‘the evil’ was balanced. But the great lady wanted to keep pounding.

Waste Not, Want Not

Waste not, want not was a familiar expression in the 1930s and 1940s. Have any of you grandchildren heard the expression waste not, want not? In the 30s during the depression we didn’t throw any thing out … we would fix it and use  it up until it became completely useless. During WWII we had rationing and we recycled everything that could used again for the war effort.

Manufacturing is so improved over the WWII analog method and slide rule designing . With the advent of solid state digital methods  we have software calculations, modeling, quality control, and robotics that result in products that are less expensive, higher quality, and last longer. It almost doesn’t make sense to fix them. If done right, it almost makes more sense to just recycle the products we buy today.

You kids who have grown up in an era of consume, consume and it throw out if it doesn’t work. I hope you  kids realize that “Waste not … Want not” is still very important over the long haul with the earth’s natural resources. Just think of what your life style might be like if tomorrow the world were to  have consumed the last drop of oil. Think about the consequences and then go to the Boomer News archive published August 26, 2009 to read family member’s Mike’s comment on January 12 , 2012 in grandpa’s blog called “Are We Boiling the Frog”.

Today’s media reflections of the moment, see a waning interest in alternative energy because of the recession, and the politics of the moment that is responding  with a crying out to  “Drill Baby Drill”.

What is Balanceology?

Balanceology is the belief in things provable, but not to the exclusion of the belief in things that are not provable. And of course, Balanceology is also the belief in things not provable at the exclusion of things that are provable.  My prediction that scientific thinking and religious thinking will converge by 2050 is predicated on my definition of Balanceology. Kids, you won’t find Balanceology in the dictionary, nor will you find Balanceology as a study to take in any school. Balanceology is just a figment of my imagination.

As a dyslexic,  information obtained by me through reading is limited. However, my brain is structured so that I can get the “Gist” of a story or an article I’ve read. At 81, I’m just getting confirmation from a new book, (I’m almost finished reading), called “The Dyslexic Advantage” that is unlocking the story of why my poor dyslexic reading brain actually has potential.

In the early 1950s, my 1st half century prediction was that the most important social advance of the 20th century would be for our species to better understand the human brain. (The 1990s were called the “Decade of the Brain”). Now that we have a better understanding of our brain … I’m hoping that in the 1st half of the 21st century, each culture will do some serious critical thinking and some self analysis. Who knows maybe each culture will begin to better understand “where they are coming from”  just as your grandpa is doing.

Cognitive abilities …

The brain has always been evolving to meet new challenges. Since the first abstract thought was exchanged from one human to another, the brain has been modifying to meet new challenges. In terms of the age of our species, the conscious mind is still in it’s infancy. Changes in the brain circuitry are probably occurring more frequently in this fast moving technology age than ever before.  What does that mean? … Mary, who is 4, is probably responding  faster to visual gadgetry stimulus than Chiara who is 19. And what about poor grandpa who is 81?

The neat part about homo sapien is that we are very adaptable. I can’t match Mary or Chiara’s cognitive abilities … but I can adapt to this fast environment to fit my needs. I’m dyslexic. 10 to 15 % of the population is dyslexic. Our brains are wired differently than the majority of the population. But, we can adapt quite well. Even though I’m a slow cognitive person. I found that I had some advantages over the non dyslexic at about age 25. I call it connecting the dots. A non dyslexic can go directly from neuron “A” to say neuron “M” quickly to achieve a desired result … where I may have to use several neuron pathways to get to neuron “M”. In the process of taking the longer pathway trips, it exposes me to more interesting possibilities.

I’m just now reading a book called; “The Dyslexic Advantage”. The book points out that if you ask unusually good contractors, engineers, designers, mechanics, electricians, carpenters, small business owners, surgeons, rocket scientists or even mystery novelists, did you have trouble with reading in school, an astonishing number will answer; “yes, but how did you know?” They will also answer yes, that there was a strong dyslexic connection within their family. I am the dyslexic sibling of six in my family. My wife and I have 5 children and one is dyslexic, and one of our 11 grandchildren has dyslexic type symptoms.

My reaction to the book was… It is insightful and immensely validating for me to read that dyslexia can be an advantage, and not a negative factor.