Arquivo para a ‘Tecnology’ Categoria
War and famine
26
Jul
War is not just a dispute over markets and measuring “ideals”,
it is above all an atrocity on a scale, if murder is reprehensible why wouldn’t it be a war? during the Serbia/Bosnia war I asked a Serbian activist why she wanted to destroy Bosnia, she told me that they were historical factors that would be difficult to explain, but she said that her country was a “victim” of bombings that had no justification.
Such is hatred, intolerance and the absence of dialogue, often concealed with docile words to win public opinion, but every war has as its principle some atrocity, some unjustifiable hatred and some cultural intolerance (it can be of many types), not there is no other way to go back other than repentance (on both sides of course) and acknowledging that they chose the worst way, of course, and then sitting down at the table.
One of the consequences, already inevitable, even if there is an agreement for Ukraine’s grain exports, will be the lack of grains on the world market, as shown in the chart above, the country at war is responsible for 42% of sunflower oil in global exports. , 16% of corn, 10% of barley and 9% of wheat (2019 data, see graph) as Russia exports fertilizer and gas to Europe.
There was an agreement mediated by Turkey, but due to the war it is a fact that part of the production was lost and the price of food has already risen worldwide, the current crop will be exported, but little or nothing can be said about future crops, good part of the population left Ukraine, including in rural areas.
It is difficult for a process of regression, apparently throughout the world the confrontation and cultural and social hatred has spread, even among those who should proclaim peace.
Last week we explained the importance of friendship and empathy between men for a true spirituality, which can help civilization in this difficult process.
There is only one way, to change the climate of empathy, peace and solidarity among people, so that politicians and leaders who grow up around hatred may lose ground.
Pre-occupation and mystery
14
Jul
As we developed the themes of last week, the clearing is the abode
of the Being, in general and within certain contexts: “what is hidden within the whole, and from where the Being must emerge” that we elaborated there, this is what enchants the first images of the James Webb observatory, within the context of the universe, to look at great mysteries and phenomena there.
Leaving the occupation and entering the mystery is thus an expansion of the Being, when we discovered a new world at the end of the Middle Ages, a set of discoveries around science were also being illuminated and they too were the beginning of a clearing, but the close link to subjectivism, the path of a materialist objectivism had once again been hidden.
Pre-occupation, meaning what occupies our mind and, consequently, our act, develops in the whirlwind of modernity in a “society of Burnout”, where pre-occupation leads at the same time to mental and social exhaustion, and a lack of contemplation, that is, our inability to “admire and think about something” in a contemplative state.
Thus, it is only possible to leave pre-occupation through a process of clearing the Being, a plunge into the mystery, an ability to “put in parentheses” our thoughts and actions (the method of the phenomenological epoché), and thus return to “breathing” and leaving the toxicity of the modern world, we do not fail to analyze and observe the serious facts of contemporaneity.
Thus, the concealment, the mystification or false “mystification” of reality is opposite to the clearing, and very different from the occultism, the example of James Webb’s images and studies are a clear vision of this plunge into the mystery, where we can always find novelties and new enigmas. .
Pre-occupation is the sameness of the contemporary world, false problems and real problems hidden in discourses and addicted ways of seeing reality, like someone with vision difficulties and not subject to the use of glasses to clarify reality.
Contemplating is a complementary act with active life, and only it allows a unity of Being, where even in dark moments there is light and serenity.
James Webb’s First 5 Images
13
Jul
The first color images of James Webb have arrived, they
are really amazing and also the tools available to users, in addition to all the internal resources of course.
A historic target was Stephan’s Quintet, the first compact group of galaxies that was discovered in 1787, it is in the constellation of Pegasus, as the name implies, there are five galaxies, four of which dance between them and two are very close.
Birth in the so-called Southern Ring, an immense cloud of gas surrounding a dying star resulted from eight explosions from an ancient sun now reduced to a white dwarf.
An authentic “nursery” of a star, the white dots inside an enormous “mystical mountain” made by elements that “feed” the formation of a star, the so-called Carina nebula.
The other equally spectacular images were the first giant exoplanet, about half the size of Jupiter, of WASP-96 b, discovered in 2014 and which was shown using internal resources the spectrum of elements present on it, that is, if it has water and other chemical elements that make it up.
And finally a fifth image was shown of the cluster of galaxies, SMACS 0723, which works as if it were a cosmic magnifying glass to see and see what other galaxies are like and this is just the first.
Using an available zoom tool allows you to choose your target (in options above, for 5 images: JWST) and take the tour by traveling millions of light years and having an experience close to scientists.
Slap in the Oscar
31
Mar
I had decided not to comment on the best Oscars this year, first
because I don’t consider “Attack of the Dogs” as good a movie, as, for example, Dune and Don’t Look Up, not only for the plots, but mainly for the whole work, Dune ended up taking several well-deserved awards, but none of the major ones.
Will Smith’s slap on Chris Rock stole the show, but director Jane Campion’s best-director comment, in another event about Serene and Venus Williams: “you are wonderful, however, you don’t have to compete with men like me” , also went down badly and his prize lost some of its shine.
Shortly after the slap from Will Smith he would receive the award for best actor, he is a great actor, but it would be more grandiose if he waited for this moment to say about the role he played as the father of the Williams in defense of the family and would give a much greater blow. hard on Rock for making an unfortunate comment about Will’s wife Jada Pinkett’s hair loss.
A lot of people came out in defense of Rock, the newspapers say that his show now breaks box office records, and Will exposed Jada because they now seek to know about her life and her relationships, and just like her alopecia disease, in my opinion, the moment response to Chris Rock could be the statuette moment, and in this case I won’t comment on the merits, but the role of Denzel Washington in MacBeth’s Tragedy deserves to be highlighted.
Another comment is the best actress award, I went to see excerpts after the nomination (I didn’t see the whole movie) Tammy Faye’s eyes (picture), neither the movie nor the winning actress (Jessica Chastain) impress me, I know the Academy follows some cliches: irony, a certain humor and other tics.
I went to see the popularity, just over 60% of people liked the movie, I’m not out then.
I saw Meryl Streep’s performance in Don’t Look Up, and she at least deserved the nomination, of course she’s already won others, she’s a consecrated actress (Margaret Thatcher’s spectacular role in Iron Lady, for example), but merit is indisputable and not the height of the winner matters.
Will Smith’s slap and the fail an action from the Best Director winner (with Williams sisters) drew attention to a lackluster Oscar to the academy’s taste and the slap its a error only.
Don’t look up: between fiction and documentary
29
Dec
The Netflix film is a fiction, but the style has become similar to a
documentary, and different from other apocalyptic films (“Armageddon” (1998), “Deep Impact” (1998) and “A Friend Wanted for the End of the World ” (2012)) the film “Don’t look up” has a different impact due to the apocalyptic waves that find the public.
The film tells of a professor, Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his astronomy student Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) make the discovery of a comet with a short time to collide with the earth, six months, and want to make it. drawing attention from the media that prefers to direct the public to social media media and is little concerned about their own lives, any resemblance to the pandemic is not a mere coincidence, there is a correlation, in particular, of feelings and attitudes.
Things start to change when Dr. Oglethorpe (Rob Morgan) organizes a media tour to the office of President Orlean (Meryl Streep) and her son Jason (JOnah Hill) and also with the help of the Daily Rip airwaves, a program morning hosted by Brie (Cate Blanchett) and Jack (Tyler Perry) and a race against time begins.
In addition to the extraordinary actors, the film catches attention, and is already quoted for awards, the theme, but it is treated almost like a documentary and this is worrying.
The end-of-the-year messages are usually encouraging and almost always speak of hope for a better year, after two chaotic years due to the pandemic situation, the fiction film should have a fictional character as there are many films of the so-called “catastrophe cinema”, and people always watch it understanding it’s a fiction, but the time and conspiracy theories can collaborate to a film that has a negative impact on the emotions of the viewer.
I remember the last one to watch in this style, which was the Norwegian film Earthquake (2018), in which geologist Kristian (Kristoffer Joner) decides to investigate the Oslo tunnels, where a great earthquake occurred many years ago, and meets Marit (Katherine Thorborg Johansen) who is the daughter of a geologist who died while investigating the Oslo mines.
Both decide, with the imminence of a new earthquake, to save as many people as possible.
The problem is always how to avoid tragedy, of course if possible, so don’t get the vaccine is akin to “don’t look up”.
Both decide, with the imminence of a new earthquake, to save as many people as possible.
The hope should not start from the fact that a tragedy cannot happen, such as an extension or a new pandemic, but the preventive measures that can save, but “Don’t look up” seems more like despair than actually an attempt to avoid further catastrophes, will give you something to talk about.
Volcanoes and Possibilities of Earthquakes
24
Nov
In addition to the civilizing crisis, the forces of nature 
seem to be more awake than usual, the volcano on the islands of La Palma, in the Canary Islands, a territory of Spain, arouses great interest in the volume of lava that I expect to arrive close in two months and without give signs of truce.
The earthquakes, the number of mouths opened by the volcano (there are now 5), the seriousness of the situation on the island which, despite being confined, has not been carried out any large-volume evacuation, have sparked debates even in the scientific world, the last one is about an earthquake of depth 3.4 or 34 km that happened these days, because the smaller depth would indicate new lava mouths and a greater risk for some abrupt change in the structure of the island which is composed of faults in its interior and large cliffs. depressions towards the sea.
There are several active earthquakes, some are of the Strambolian type, they are volcanoes with explosive eruptions such as emission of essentially effusive lava, and ejection of ash and gases such as sulfur, in incandescent lavas, also launching volcanic rock bombs that are launched from tens to hundreds of meters high, the Cumbre Vieja de La Palma volcano is of this type, in addition to attracting more attention, it is actually more dangerous, due to the terrain where lava can reach, the gases and, in some cases, the deformation of the terrain.
They are linked to the earthquakes that are a result of the Earth’s plate movements, and the biggest concern is not this island located in the Atlantic Ocean, but because it may be a small-scale representation of what can happen on a larger scale in the Pacific Ocean where there is a great circle of fire, name given to a large planetary junction of regions of volcanoes and quite frequent earthquakes and where the possibility of a Big One, a large earthquake from the San Andres fault on the American plate, is speculated.
The real possibility in La Palma is a small tsunami near the island, the consequences would no doubt be devastating, would it be large earthquakes in the circle of fire, or the eruption of large volcanoes like the Yellowstone Volcanic Chair, the Hawaiian Kilauea volcano on which they exist. just sensational speculations.
The consequences in La Palma are still unknown, but the volcano is still active and rather than calming down, these days were one of big explosions and strong earthquakes.
The Falling Virus as New Concerns
01
Nov
The number of cases in Russia that remained high, new cases
emerging in China attributed to the Delta variant, according to data from the country’s own National Health Commission, accused 32 cases in Inner Mongolia, in the north of the country and which has already spread throughout In 11 provinces, cases have been confirmed in Guizhou in the South, Shandong in the East and in Gansu near Inner Mongolia, three cases in Beijing and two in Yinshou, in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
In Brazil the moving average of deaths continues to fall, now in the range of 260 deaths, with 75% having already taken the first dose, and 55% the necessary doses, it is possible to predict a Christmas and a milder end of the year of the Pandemic in the country, many collective events are already released, games with 100% of the fans and parties and public shows.
The concern now turns to social problems arising from the pandemic, unemployment, impoverishment and rising prices. Even if some social aid does come, it will be insufficient to contain the spread of the crisis.
The closing of downtown offices, the mandatory use of masks and the restrictions imposed on restaurants have transformed landscapes into cities around the world, and are likely to continue in the long term, such as rethinking urban space, what to do with office buildings , closed stores and restaurants in the city centers, smart cities showed paths with a trend, apparently only electronic, now it seems inevitable, in Singapore even policing is done by robots (photo).
The immense empty spaces must be preserved and cared for, without robots the cost is high for a small population, so in many cities they will either remain abandoned centers or they will have to develop more computerized forms of maintenance and policing, in addition to the existing cameras.
It is likely that a reasonable number of people return to the routine of agglomerations in large centers, but there is a tendency to go to smaller cities or leave urban centers and work at home.
The night of culture and humanism
19
Oct
Edgar Morin considers contemporary culture something broader
than what is considered and was theorized as mass culture, for him it goes beyond media culture, which is in full decline, despite reactions from the art world in some segments, in general it deals with death, the dark and contempt for symbols, values, myths and images related to everyday life and the collective imagination, but regional, religious and humanist cultures persist in an act of resistance.
The industrial process and the success of performance and productivist values hide what is processed in the spirit, something Morin calls “industrialization of the spirit”, this second colonization is not processed horizontally conquering territories, but vertically penetrating the human soul and obscuring it.
The cultural industry has set in motion a third culture (in addition to classical and natural, I would call original), but there is a human resistance that comes from the original culture of each people and each specific culture, but the idea of colonizing is alive.
The multicultural realities present in mass culture are not autonomous, so the idea is to demolish (or erase) the institutions that can resist this new “colonization”, and resistance can only arise from the cultures of peoples, from their original development of culture and its religions and beliefs.
Although one can criticize the current media culture, social networks are a ties between actors that can be made through them, it does not find a society devoid of culture to be omnipresent, it contains social values and symbols, beliefs and ideologies , and in them the transcendental factors are still impregnated, it is not a separate culture.
In Morin’s view, mass culture integrates and disintegrates at the same time in a polycultural reality, it makes contain, control, censor (also in many cases by the state and by the churches) tending to corrode and disintegrate other cultures.
It is now a cosmopolitan and planetary culture, and it will constitute the first truly universal culture in the history of mankind, while conservative thought considers it plebeian barbarism, left-wing critics consider it an opiate of the people and deliberate mystification , and so the only perspective seems to be the authoritarian one.
In the authoritarian case, the state must control the production and distribution of “cultural goods”, while in the democratic case the large cultural groups must dictate the media controlling the production and distribution of content, here digital media is present.
Both currents agree in the criticism of mass culture, classifying it as a poor cultural product, of low aesthetic quality and without originality (kitsch).
The great solution pointed out by Morin is in the structure of the imaginary: the use of archetypes that order dreams, without the standardization of mythical and romance themes, art is a great reaction in this field, the cultural industry was reduced to archetypes and stereotypes, who outside of these there is no cultural “insertion”, and her prisons are individualized products.
It’s not about accepting diversity, but increasing consumption, just as it did with the pop culture of the 60s, movies, radio or TV shows (now lives and stories) are solely aimed at maximizing profit and audience (likes and fanpages).
In religious terms, syncretism is the most suitable word to translate the tendency to homogenize culture and dictate values and the comicity used to these themes plays the role of destroying its essence and originality, everything is similar or equal.
Children’s cultural content is invaded by themes of adult consumption: they are presented in a simplification that takes them (to adult viewers too) as children.
Even leisure is not just a way of allowing a balance of life, but it is invaded by mass culture, the so-called “resorts”, the beaches and leisure places are invaded by the “cultural industry”, everything within reach, just by an app.
This crisis is neither temporary nor fleeting, a great civilizing crisis may emerge from it, but it is necessary to have hope despite the public blindness.
MORIN, Edgar. (1997) Cultura de massas do século XX. (20th century mass culture). trad. Maura Ribeiro Sardinha. 9ª. edição. Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Ed. Forense.
The finality of beings and machines
23
Sep
Edgar Morin says that “we are therefore in the prehistory
of finality”, using the Hegelian discourse he will say “the whole ‘itself’ becomes almost a for-itself” (Morin, 1977, p. 242), and so the machine living (to differentiate from artificial ones) from soft cells to the most complex living organisms “are almost specialized in function of quasi-programmed tasks that aim to achieve ends, and all these ends are united in the global end: to live” (idem).
It can be said then, in the author’s expression, that “this living being that self-finalizes is the product is the finished product of the reproductive act that originated it” (ibid.), and “retracing” this to the origin of life, the question remains “how is the purpose born of the non-purpose?” (MORIN, 1977, P. 243).
You will then ask what kind of “information” is capable of reproducing and controlling proteins with which they were not yet associated? The idea of information, and therefore of program, and therefore of purpose, cannot be prior to the constitution of a first protocellular ring” (idem), it will conclude from there that “the idea of a final process before the appearance of the life”, perhaps here we separate artificial machines from living beings, its beginning.
He will say in a categorical and essential way that “the biological, and evidently anthropo-sociological, purpose is immersed in a recurrent process of self-generation of which it is a part. It is the immersed and informational face of this generation-of-itself” (ibidem), for those who believe, I say that this is what I think is “God’s image and likeness”, being in an original vital process.
Living and artificial machines will have in common, according to the author, “purposes of the origins of life have repercussions and are reflected in the global purposes of living machines, and even of artificial machines” (MORIN, 1977, p. 243).
It will further differentiate the artificial machine from the live, quoting Paul Valéry: “Artificial means that it tends towards a defined end and, therefore, it opposes live”, for example, the purpose “of a manufacturing is to manufacture cars, whose purpose it is displacement, which serves for constructive activities of the individual’s life in society and of society in the individual” (Morin, 1977, p. 244).
So while the machine has an extrinsic purpose of life, and this purpose should have the intrinsic purpose of biological life, these “complementary purposes can become concurrent and antagonistic, as happens with the purposes of individual existence and reproduction…” (Morin , 1977, p. 245), if they become antagonistic, they can lead to the exclusion of one purpose for the other.
And so, concludes this topic Edgar Morin> “in Homo sapiens, gastronomic pleasures and erotic enjoyments become ends to the detriment of feeding and reproductive purposes; knowledge, a means of surviving in an environment, becomes, in the thinker turned thinker, to which his own existence subordinates” (MORIN, 1977, pp. 245-246).
Thus ends shift, degenerate and become uncertain, like the future of civilization.
MORIN, E. (1977). A natureza da NATUREZA. Lisboa PUBLICAÇÕES EUROPA-AMÉRICA, LDA.
The ineffable that exists and the metaphor
22
Jul
Many phenomena in nature and in a broader sense of the
universe, although they may have explanations, are ineffable, that is, because even when described, they have limitations due to their complexity and not obviousness.
One of these phenomena is the quantum tunneling of quantum mechanics in which particles transpose energy states that “logically” would be prohibited, they escape from regions surrounded by potential barriers even though they have a kinetic energy lower than the barrier.
Einstein, Podolski and Rosen (EPR) wrote an article in the 1920s calling this effect “ghostly” but in the 1970s it was proven and also breaks with the classical thinking that there is A and non-A, there can be no third hypothesis, it exists and it is proven, at least in physics.
The ineffable in everyday life are human phenomena that cross the imaginary barrier and are physically realized, they are mysteries and they exist not only to demonstrate tricks that are convincing to deify this or that group, or to make a “magic”, that is, field of charlatans, but for a clear phenomenological awareness of something beyond the human.
One of the functions of the metaphor is to be able to describe this phenomenon without resorting to a very complex logic for common sense, and to allow many people to understand these mysteries.
The figure in the parable enters into this aspect, with a small difference from the metaphor by using examples from everyday life and common sense, it is pedagogical in explaining how the mystery of life (and also death) can be seen in order to understand the fate of humanity and what life is.
Far from explaining its origin in the physical sense, Genesis for example, refers to Adam and Eve, the fact that man came from some complex aspect of nature is explained as being made of clay, the metaphor is that man came from organic compounds of nature, and of course, after God blew his nostrils and gave “life” in the spiritual sense, it is not difficult to understand that this life exists.
