Scientific Musings
Ramblings
It's getting hot in here: The Climate Crisis
- - humbugfighter
Relief: The majority of Americans believe that global warming is real.
This is a relief, that number has gone up significantly in the past two years. Partially due to the political climate as well as the loads of information out there debunking the denier's claims.
How does global warming work?
The Earth's atmosphere acts as a blanket, it traps in heat from the sun which is necessary in order to sustain life. We couldn't live on a planet without a greenhouse effect producing atmosphere. However when heightened levels of CO2 are emitted in the atmosphere this causes the "blanket" to thicken, allowing for more heat to get trapped.
Is global warming man-made?
This is where the deniers are staunchly in disagreement with 75% of the scientific community. Most people accept climate change as a truth, but that is a loaded sentence. Because I don't think there could be a single reason to deny changing climate, it happens yearly on a regular basis, however if you ask the same people how many of them believe in global warming, the number will change. Especially if you ask if they think it was caused by man.
During the ice age, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was at 180-210 ppm, during hot periods it was at 280-300ppm. That is natural climate change. However, after the industrial revolution it is at 390ppm. That means by just the burning of fossil fuels since the industrial revolution, we've raised the CO2 levels almost as much as the transition between a global ice age and regular hotter climates. That is a stunningly drastic change. CO2 emissions are important naturally because they regular the Earth's ice age cycles. The entire scientific community agrees that burning fossil fuels and gas causes the atmosphere to heat up.
Why the denial?
There is geopolitical gain, for starters the average Joe that denies man-made climate change is basically indoctrinated by their favorite conservative talk radio personality to doubt the evidence behind it without further examination, partially due to the paranoia and conspirator mindset that the government will add more regulations and controls due to this "false flag" scenario. It is easier to just deny the whole thing as a fraud than to risk any personal freedoms being taken away. Now, there is some rationality to this push back, radicals on the left think taking drastic precautions is necessary for the environment while others wish to use these drastic changes for their own geopolitical gain. The deniers will fall on their own merit and lack of evidence. Those claiming that global warming is a hoax use, useless facts about Al Gore (which have nothing to do with the scientific evidence.) or keep repeating the war cry "There is no evidence for it!" When in fact, there is.
See, the issue here (as noted in an earlier post) is that we are not only capable of believing things without reason or evidence, but for the same reasons we are also capable of rejecting reality and evidence for no reason than our own desire not to. Denying evidence when there is evidence is the same as making false claims based on no evidence.
How can global warming be solved without taking away my freedoms?
Well luckily we have new technologies, for instance, electric cars will be at the forefront of solving a lot of are carbon emission levels. We also have many climatologists and research scientists looking into ways to alter Earth's atmosphere, we have safe and clean nuclear power technology and many other alternatives to conveniently reduce CO2 in our atmosphere while also adding cost effective energy into the global economy. The problem is political shenannigans. Companies that make billions on the sale of fossil fuels and other dirty energy sources will do whatever they can to stay in business. To them, their goals are not about the future of the planet, but the future of their paychecks. (Every company is the same in this regard, they just seem evil because it's currently an issue.) Acting to conserve old business practices and manipulating the information to keep things unchanged in the economy is self defeating for any business professional. You must be versatile and be willing to invite new technology and trends into your business model. If you know that the burning of fossil fuels will one day be obsolete, it is smart to take pains to prepare now for additional ways to profit on the sale of cleaner fuels and energy. While a good portion of oil companies are taking pains to do so, there is a lot that aren't, they are merely spending the extra dollars to advertise their changed image on offering cleaner solutions, this doesn't solve the initial problem, it is only a band-aid. There is a way to safely solve the global climate crisis without unfair business regulations and taking away individual freedoms.
Why does it matter?
We are half way through our Sun's lifespan. Earth should be around half way through it's life span, averaging at a little over. We are on the brink of destroying the only planet we have and need for every person and species we know to exist. I would say that grave dangers are more imperative than whether or not a few companies fail or succeed. We live in a free market and we have to play by the rules and be the best in order to succeed, if a company doesn't want to play by the rules or innovate to get ahead of the marketplace then those companies will surely fail on their own merits. It is not up to us to adjust the conditions in which something fails or succeeds but to simply allow the chips to fall on their own merit, in doing so, we will give birth to renewable energy offered at highly competitive pricing which will drastically better the environment. There are no other options at this point in time, something must be done to protect our only home. The alternatives are far out of sight, the nearest star system to us is 4.2 light years away and has no known Earth-like planet in its vicinity. So far the nearest Earth-like life sustainable planets that we have discovered are more than 1,200 light years away. Even if we had a perfect Earth planet 4.2 light years away it would still take us 20,000 years to get their due to our current highest speed of space travel we've achieved, of course a giant ship containing humans in space that long would move a lot slower. The radiation levels in space is also a major setback in long term space travel. There are thousands of issues to solve and new discoveries to be made before we could say that our capabilities are that advanced. So as far as we know, we don't have any other available options than to make Earth the most habitable we can make it. It is everyone's responsibility so long as each of those individuals selfishly want themselves and their offspring to survive.
Denying man-made climate change will only damage our situation more and bring up new generations under a scientific denying umbrella at the most crucial time in humanity's history in which scientists have never been more needed to solve the every day and future issues that humanity faces.
Quantum Quackery: The Subatomic Cult
- - humbugfighter
A Quantum Cult
Quantum
Mechanics is a branch of modern physics that deals with the world on a
microscopic level. It departs from classical mechanics at the atomic and
subatomic scale and provides the mathematical explanation for wave-particle
duality and much much more. Basically, it is a lot of math and requires a few years of Calculus
and physics to understand on an intermediate level. So when people whom do not
have that sort of educational background in physics go on television to explain
to you how quantum physics works and how you can make it “work” in your own
life. It’s humbug.
“What the bleep
do we know?” is a documentary style film that came out in 2004 and with it,
brought a whole new trend among new agers alike. It explores the supposed
spiritual connection between consciousness and quantum mechanics. This is not
the only film that has tried to do this; for reference purposes here’s a list
of the other popular ones:
“The Law of
Attraction”
“The Quantum
Activist”
“A Quantum
Leap!”
(Not the amazing
sci-fi show)
“Quantum
Communication”
“Quantum
Creations”
“Quantum
Attitude”
“Quantum Mind of
God”
“What the
Bleep!? Down the Rabbit Hole”
“Quantum
Revelation”
“The Voice: The
Cosmos and the Quantum Universe.”
(Sounds more
sciencey, except it stars Krishna Das)
“Quantum
Astrology”
“Who you REALLY
Are!”
“Getting into
the Vortex!”
“Path of
Enthusiasm”
“The Secret”
“The Big Bang
Within You”
“Manifesting
Change”
Just to give you
an idea, when I say the word “Trend”, I mean TREND.
How did this
happen? Newton said it best; for every action there is an equal and
opposite reaction. Every branch of science as its opposing pseudoscience.
Quantum
mechanics is an easy target because, even scientists will tell you it is a
little weird and no one quite understands all of it yet.
First, let’s
take a look at only one of these films, “What the bleep do we know?”
The film makers
are cult members
Yes, you heard
that right.
They're not
trying to hide it from you. Remember that one weird lady in the film? You
probably didn't notice her info presented here.
Her real name is
Judith Hampton, she goes by J.Z. Knight in the public eye while claiming to be
channeled by the spirit of "Ramtha" whom has never existed. We know
Ramtha never existed because she claims he was an ancient shaman from the lost
city of Atlantis (which also probably never existed). She's also been around
long enough for even Carl Sagan to criticize her in his book "A
Demon-Haunted World".
She started a
cult called "Ramtha School of Enlightenment", it has been
self-described as a cult by her former husband and former member, as well as
several other formal members due to the fact that they have forced members to
be locked in the school grounds overnight in poor conditions that actually
contributed to someone's death.
The main ongoing
belief is that Jehovah will return to Earth in a spaceship accompanied by
"Lizard People".
Cyanide Kool-aid
anyone?
Not exactly the
type of people to get your science info from. All three directors of the film
are members of this cult. However, they have carefully crafted many books and
documentaries to sound scientific and make an attractive case for how you can
control situations and outcomes by merely using your thoughts.
Here are the
major claims made in this documentary as well as other "Quantum
Self-Help" materials.
· The universe is made from ideas,
rather than substances.
· Matter is not solid. Particles
disappear in and out of existence.
· Peptides in the brain can cause a
bodily reaction to emotion.
· Everyone has and creates their own
reality.
· You can change substances and
molecules by your thoughts.
The film
features actual physicists that have gone "solo" and decided to leave
a promising career in actual science for a fraudulent career making millions in
book and DVD sales.
However, there
were a few scientists featured in the film that were purposely misled that it
was a scientific film about quantum physics and had nothing to do with any sort
of mind body connection, a few were outraged and sued. However, it is easy to
just ask to meet the scientific adviser; if they don't have one, then leave.
David Albert did explain for 4 hours how quantum mechanics has nothing
spiritual about it, only for the clips to be edited in a misleading way to seem
as though he is a proponent of the idea.
Other
professionals include: A theology professor, anesthesiologist, chiropractor,
psychiatrist, Fred Alan Wolf who calls himself a physicist, and a
neuro-scientist.
Basically;
quantum mechanics works nothing like this film implies. The ideas in this film
does not come from quantum physics but actually from another philosophy;
Solipsism.
They have
hijacked the word "Quantum" in order to convince the layman that they
are sharing something "scientific", in reality it is a cult that is
supporting this belief.
What the bleep
is Solipsism?
It's an
epistemological position that knowledge outside one's mind is unknown and the
only thing sure to exist is one's own mind. There are many sub branches of this
philosophy but the main idea comes from Metaphysical Solipsism which states
that there is nothing in existence outside of the mind, your world is a figment
of your own imagination, essentially no one else exists, even me. Regardless of
the fact that I too feel just as strongly about existing as you do and could
easily argue that you don't exist either. While that is an interesting thought
experiment, believing it is ridiculous. Your hallucination is oddly consistent
and persistently disappointing considering you're controlling it in your head.
The solipsist
believes that one can alter their own reality precisely because they are the
only mind that exists and their mind is creating the illusion of reality.
How can you make
a documentary sharing how anyone can control their own reality, if the entire
basis of the idea relies on only one mind existing in the first place, due to
the issues it would create? For instance, there is a finite amount of money in
the world; if everyone in the world thought about wanting it, this documentary
says "You will get it, surely!", but that isn't the case. We've all
wished for money but we don't get it. It would be impossible to wish and
receive things that everyone else is also wishing and receiving.
Why is matter
finite if matter can be created in our minds?
I will let the
obvious crackpot claims lie on their own merits and you can be the judge.
You can put down
the vision board, get out in the world, start setting real goals with real
actions to back them up, and get real results.
Quantum
Mechanics is complex and interesting without having to make up crap about it.