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Arquivo para March, 2020

The Big Bang can be something else

17 Mar

And the Theory of Standard Physics, whose discovery of the Higgs particle recently in the Hadron collider made physicists vibrate, now everything seems to have another meaning.
There were two strong evidences about the Big Bang and the expansion of the universe since the first ball from which everything came out, and now it would be in a bubble of 250 million light years.

And now, this “our universe” where the density of matter is half of the rest of the universe, the hypothesis is Lucas Lombriser, theoretical physicist at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and answers at what speed the universe expands, and reconciles the two previous averages of Universe Expansion.
The approach published in the journal “Physics Letter B”, resolves the divergence between two independent calculation methods that reached different values by around 10%, a statistical deviation that is irreconcilable, and does not need any new physical model.
According to the Big Bang theory occurred 13.8 billion years ago, the proposal was first made by the Belgian physicist and elder Georges Lemaître (1894-1966) and demonstrated for the first time by the American astronomer Edwin Hubble (1889-1953), observing that distant galaxies were moving away and putting them back together, one could calculate the time of the first explosion.
The expansion constant called H0 was meditated at a value of 67.4 according to data provided by the Planck space mission, which hypothesizes that the universe is homogeneous and isotropic, but now you can think of it with a bubble with matter density half of the entire universe, that is, at 13.8 billion light it exploded within a “other” less dense universe.
Lombriser said: “If we were in a kind of gigantic” bubble “, where the density of matter was significantly less than the density known to the entire universe, this would have consequences on the distances of the supernovae and, ultimately, on determining the H0”.
Thus, the 250 million-year constant for the bubble reconciles the values of the constant H0 for the Big Bang with the constant with the calculation of the spacing of the supernovae that has influence from the entire universe including the part of the bubble with half density, reconciling the two measures.

 

Sensibility and public cause

16 Mar

Health is a public cause, almost everyone agrees, but when proposing protective measures, many people, not seeing the cases explode and the number of infected people growing, do not understand why and make them a joke or disdain, it was like that in countries that later woke up, this is the case of Italy, whose number of deaths exploded yesterday, Spain and Portugal where the movement on the streets disappeared and many products on the market as well.
Italy recorded 368 deaths, an increase of 25% just this Sunday, and the number of infected people went to 3690 this weekend, Spain and Portugal the number of people who decided to stay at home practically paralyzed the country and for this to be as possible, families have stocked up in supermarkets, they have reduced offers, those who have not been prevented may be left without some products.
Several authorities have commented on the effects, there is a real video of a meeting that took place at Incor (Heart Institute), and a fake attributed to Stanford University, it is also false that Cuba sent vaccine to China, a fake and ridiculous fake is that lemon and vitamin C fights the virus.
The politicization of the issue is also of little concern for the population, we must all fight because soon the explosion of the coronavirus will happen in Brazil, what many experts are concerned about is the capacity of the Health System to respond, all over the world and also in Brazil , with protection the curve will be less steep and the system will have a response capacity, the graph above explores with and without protective measures.
The most complete video on the subject, because it also deals with the cultural aspect and behavior in combating a pandemic, is that of the profa. Dr. Claudia Feitosa Santana, from University of São Paulo, Brazil (is possible setting to English):

 

The changes of the 20th century

13 Mar

The changes of the last century, but whose social and economic structures are still present, were marked by the end of economic liberalism but which was supported by great empires, in addition to the colonial ones in Africa and Asia (the end of the empire in India, for example), also social and economic customs were changing and are still present in the 19th century.
It would be more opportune to talk about the economic, at a time when the financial empires seem to be melting on the Stock Exchanges, the so-called Bear market, of fear managing business, but on March 8, which was women’s day, we chose to talk about the issue .
Since Ibsen’s romance in the 19th century, the Doll´s house, where the affable and liberal structure of a marriage hid her husband’s machismo, by the way the moment he takes over an Investment Bank, the oppression of wife.
We also pointed out the development of the female issue through Doris Lessing Nobel Prize for Literature and who had a balanced but tough position, far from fads and the politically correct, she lived and pointed out the issue of women, even though white women suffered in South Africa with the issue of racism for defending blacks.
We arrived at the “Commons” economy of Elinor Ostrom, ignored by the left for not being against capital, and ignored by the right because it affirmed that the governance of common goods can be productive and well managed, contrary to what the “Tragedy of Commons” provides ”.
The change in posture and culture, it is true that we need laws and policies to combat machismo, but cultural change defends the view of women, now independent, in the job market but still suffering the consequences of her emancipation.
Although the religious view is said to be sexist, and often is, it is not what Bible presents in the New Testament, remembering that the Jewish culture of the time was sexist and the Old Testament reflects this, however Jesus’ position on women were different.
Thus, it appears in the text of John (Jn 4, 8-9): “The disciples had gone to the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman then said to Jesus: “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask me to drink that I am a Samaritan woman? “, And the text clarifies that the Jews did not get along with the Samaritans, and the position of the woman was inferior, accepted by them.

 

The first woman Nobel in economics

12 Mar

Elinor Ostrom was the first woman economist to receive the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences together with Oliver E. Williamson, in 2009, for “her analysis of economic governance, especially with common goods”, the so-called “Commons” that now also dominate the world of scientific dissemination, such as Creative Commons, where copyright is maintained with permission to use.
But, of course, Elinor’s theory is much more general, and aimed mainly to disprove the idea that was then “enshrined” in the “Tragedy of Commons”, which became known for the article written by the American philosopher and biologist Garret Hardin in 1968.
The modern concept that Elinor explored from “Commons” is universal common goods such as water, oceans, rivers, fish stocks, roads and highways (privatized almost worldwide), and even an office refrigerator or space shared audience.
Elinor Ostrom demonstrated in her book “Governing of Commons” giving an example of communities that self-managed whether top-down regulations or privatizations, with economic success.
In 1973 she founded the Theories and Political Analysis Workshop at Indiana University with her husband Vincent Ostrom, and one of her last activities was the preparation for the Rio + 20 conference at the head of the Planet Under Pression scientific committee, which had a strong influence at the conference, although Elinor died in 2012.
His latest book Working together: Collective Action, The Commons, and Multiple Methods in Practice, written in conjunction with A. Poteete and M.A. Janssen, gives practical lessons in collective action that can enhance work around “common goods”.

 

The golden book

11 Mar

Written in 1962 and considered one of the great novels of the 20th century, the Golden Book (O Caderno Dourado in Spanish, in the photo), tells the story of Anna Wulf, a writer immersed in a personal crisis who decides to tell her story, from the black book for his literary life when he lived in South Africa, the red book on his left-wing political activism, the yellow his emotional life and the blue his daily life.
Doris Lessing, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature at the age of 85 (2007) when she expected nothing more, herself made a joke about it, but the recognition was deserved and little is known today of this consequent feminist and who refused to adhere to fashions and conjunctures followed his struggle.
Themes such as friendship, motherhood and sexuality have much deeper tones and outlines in this author, in novels such as “As grandmothers” (2007) where old age is seen in a different light, especially for women, or about politics in its book “The sweetest dream” that she suggests as an autobiographical one, and that reflects deeply on her humanitarian vision.
But if I had to highlight a novel by her, my favorite of the youth “Prisons we choose to live in” (1987), it attacks in a subtle and extraordinary way the question of political rhetoric (or what was decided to be politically correct) where it instigates individuals to come out of social constraints and build a better world, in fact and above everyday fashion.
He does not fail to attack in this novel ignorance and the lack of personal responsibility in the desire for applause and mere repetition of mottos, how current his speech would be, anticipating the times, because it was precisely because of the excess of rhetoric and the absence of concrete acts that we fell into pitfalls and we help contemporary ignorance and demagogy.
His sentence that seems to sum up his thinking was: “I cannot and will not hurt my conscience just to adhere to the fashion of the day”, and he said this not for conservatives, but for the apparently advanced positions of his time that were not directed towards attitudes concrete.

 

Doll´s house

10 Mar

Written in 1878 and built in 1879, the Norwegian novel by Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) is one of the first manifestations of the exclusion of women in a dualistic and macho society, made for the theater had its first staging in the Kongelige theater, Copenhagen, Denmark , already in 1879.

The romance caused quite a stir at the time, however Ibsen was from a wealthy and respected family in the city of Skien, Norway, and is considered one of the founders of modernism.

The setting is the Christmas season, and the couple Nora and Torvard Helmer are getting ready for the party, and he comments on the expenses of the woman, which she treats with nicknames that reduce her childishness: “lark”, “squirrel” and “ my little girl ”like a bad boy who still knows little about adult life.

In Picture two filme from the 70´s, Jane Fonda and Claire Bloom interpret Nora Helmer.

In the first act a widowed woman Cristina Linde and Dr. Rank arrive, who go to the office to talk to Holmer while Cristina who is a former colleague of Nora’s, talks about the death of the husband of Cristina, Holmer’s former colleague. While Holmer goes to the office with his friend, Nora and colleague Cristina talk about their personal lives.

Nora says that her husband will receive the position of manager in an investment bank and this will bring stability to the family, while Cristina also treats her as a “grown child”.

The doorbell rings again and the maid announces Mr. Krogstad, who comes to talk about business with the bank in Helmer’s new position, Cristina recognizes him as having “business of all kinds”, Dr. Rank leaves the office and comes to the room and also knows Mrs. Linde.

When Nora is alone with Mr. Krogstad who had made him a loan, and Mr. Holmer did not know, about the period when the family was in bad finances, Mr. Krogstad tells him that he knows that her father’s signature as guarantor it was falsified because it was 3 days after his death, and here the novel enters its plot.

Cristina actually had an affair with Mr. Krogstad and she can help Nora, resuming the relationship with Krogstad, he sends the promissory note to Holmer but had already sent a letter saying of the loan that his wife had made with him by forging her father’s signature.

The ending is surprising, Holmer opens Krogstad’s letter that tells the “secret of the loan”, then he receives the promissory note and tears it up, but reconciliation with Nora was already impossible because he had said harsh words about her loan.

And in the end Nora leaves, leaving them with her children, whom he said he had no capacity for and educating them, undoubtedly a shocking novel for the time, and which received harsh criticism.

 

 

 

 

Women and new media

09 Mar

The women’s day was yesterday, the prospect of a non-sexist society is very distant, even in European countries I contacted with sadness that sexism is still a general culture, for example, harassment in France has high rates and in Portugal there are recent cases , where even a Supreme Court judge expressed his machismo in a case of domestic violence that he judged.

Wikipedia is the 5th.

The most accessed site in the world, it has more than 6 million entries, and despite having problems with editing and corruption in its entries, which is treated but can go online and cause confusion, its importance is undeniable, and denying it is not living the present reality.

New media is no different, Wikipedia the 5th. most read site in the world, it has recently been reported that the majority of women influential in scientific investigations are ignored by the site.

The article written by James Vicent in August 2018 in The Verge Magazine, says that 82% of the biographies are written about men, cites the example of Teresa Woodruff, a scientist who had no entry on Wikipedia (now has), and was named one of the most influential people in investigations and Artificial Intelligence by Time magazine in 2013.

Another influential researcher cited is Jessica Wade, a physicist at Imperial College London who wrote Pineau’s new entry, a system called QuickSilver, and spoke about Wikipedia:

“… it is incredibly biased and the under-representation of women in science is particularly bad”.

The article focused on AI research and also cited robotics researcher Joële Pineau.

However, new media have given women power and a voice too, it is undeniable that a number of excluded social groups, cultures almost disappeared, and many minorities now have a voice thanks to new media.

In social media media, facebook and instagram, there are countless cases of exposure of sexist images and content, which are not always denounced and punished for offensive practices

 

 

Ascent and asceticism

06 Mar

Asceticism then means a virtuous process by which through steps and exercises one can acquire a spirituality by placing the soul in the face of obstacles and situations where it can overcome itself and follow a path of ascension.

Some cases in which there are psychological barriers, self-help can be a panacea or even be contrary to the creation of a true asceticism, creating superstitions and new problems and new vices entering a vicious cycle that will need some professional help.

Moments of crisis and depression favor these cycles, but true asceticism is another way in which we feel that we are taking ever higher steps and we are able to overcome the natural and or imposed obstacles caused by life, serious illnesses, economic situations, etc.

The appeal for a magical solution to these problems does not mean spirituality or religiosity, but an opportunism with the person who suffers some short-term life problem, can in many cases even constitute crimes of extortion and personal or moral harassment.

Asceticism is a necessary human effort, the daily life demands a way of living well and that puts the soul in a necessary comfort for the solution of daily problems, so it is not just about religiosity or mere virtuosity, life asks us for ways to live well.

In any form of thought or culture, emptying yourself to elevate yourself is necessary for the smooth progress of perfect asceticism, the Greek epoché was nothing but this initial process to acquire new thoughts and allow the elevation of consciousness, intelligence and spirituality.

In Christianity, one of the biblical passages, which speaks in particular of the asceticism of Jesus, is the one he takes with him Peter, James, John and takes them to “a place apart”, says the evangelist Matthew Mt 17,1-4 : “And he was transfigured before them: his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. In this, Moses and Elijah appeared, talking to Jesus.

Then Peter took the floor and said, “Lord, it is good for us to stay here. If you want, I will make three tents here: one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah,” wanting to stay on this ascent.

The fact is that afterwards they “descend” from Mount Tabor (photo above), that is, they do not always remain in a high spirit, but there is another important thing in this asceticism that is the fact of the presence of Moses and Elias, of course both had already died for a long time, however, the presence of “men” with Jesus.

 

 

Asceticism, spirituality and epoché

05 Mar

The asceticism that comes from the Greek acekesis which means “spiritual exercise”, and often it means renouncing pleasure and even some of the primary needs, for example, not eating and fasting, can be linked to spirituality or simply to some culture.

Epoché means the suspension of judgment, as already explained in phenomenology, it is a “putting in brackets”, which means abandoning even if I convince some concept or theory, in order to penetrate a phenomenon, and be aware of some “thing” that we investigate .

It could be a point of convergence between spirituality and knowledge, of course in an environment where this was conducive, and that each side there was prepared for a true “suspension of judgments”, which is rare, even more so in times of confused convictions. Supposing that it is possible, and the exercise that Husserl proposes, the Greeks did it to get to know, episteme and get out of the doxa, what are the necessary conditions for this realization, so to think of an exercise for this means to create an asceticism for “epoché”.

The phenomenological epoché for spiritual elevation can thus be extended, it is not a change from its true path through which it must find the Being creating a transcendental (or reflexive phenomenology, as Gethmann stated) and this Heidegger path has trodden deeper.

Turning to what is experienced, to the original, to the source, to the birth of what is as it is (turning to the thing as proposed by Husserl), constituting an elevation by exercise that has the consequence of personal knowledge, but is far of just being self-help.

Taking the human being and taking it into consideration is not only in the sense of accumulating new information, but becoming more Being, the new man as proposed by Husserl, freeing himself from the automated and immediate movement of daily life, from impulsive and little reflective.

There are many false acceses, which, because they are mere exercises, do not bring with them a spirituality or a form of self-knowledge in fact

 

Between phenomenological reduction and eidetic variation

04 Mar

Asking about Husserl consciousness will propose a radical method to “search” the phenomenon, recovering and modifying a Greek concept that is the phenomenological reduction (epoché).

Epoché is suspension means in ancient Greek, that we do not erase from our conscience the judgment we have about things, but the Husserlian perspective is “in brackets” which is more realistic, because we cannot erase, at least completely, the memory, however forget what we think about what we learn about the experiential world.

Thus Husserl manages not to do a high attitude, like the Cartesian cogito that does not erase the ego, but a “natural attitude” to review how we relate to the things of the world. So learning something means capturing them as they are, so phenomenology seeks to focus the phenomenon in the sense of how it appears to us, without using what we already knew before and its applications of how it has already been seen, with the aim of reaching its!

Originality !, its “purity” of phenomenon, It means leaving aside all prejudices, theories, definitions and trying to acquire a new concept about concepts, without prejudices about the “thing”.

Epoché does not intend to doubt the existence of the world, nor, even less, to suppress it. The world around presents itself only in consciousness.

For Husserl, the objects of the world are already placed for us in different perspectives and we almost immediately adopt a meaning for it, in general what we do not know we attribute an essence and it should remain unchanged because we gave this object its original meaning.

Husserl’s second fundamental concept is eidetic variation, precisely what differentiates his view of eidos from contemporary idealistic culture, where he calls noema what is of the object itself, what is the thing, which the ancients call quality, while it calls of Greek noesis νόησις, it means the immediate apprehension that may not have the necessary dianóia, that is to say, to think about the thing that links it to the noema.

So the fixation on objects and the misunderstanding of their meaning on the other hand, is part of the contemporary world, this desynchrony between noema and noese.