Archive for the 'politics' Category

Here are the Conclusions to my latest knol on Richard Dawkins: the God Delusion, as well as the replies by Terry Eagleton and Richard Schröder. Comments on the knol are very welcome.

Link to knol here:

http://knol.google.com/k/klaus-rohde/richard-dawkins-the-god-delusion-terry/xk923bc3gp4/60#edit

Conclusion

My conclusion is that Dawkins has underestimated the positive contributions of religions to human culture, in the arts, philosophy, literature, music and architecture. Religions may well have the function to bring about social coherence (as stated by Dawkins himself), and what would take over if religions should be abolished? Dawkins’ emphasis on religion might even be dangerous, if it deflects attention from other important issues. Would it be perhaps more useful to concentrate on social and economic inequalities and try to suggest recipes for their amelioration? - He considers the concept of God a scientific hypothesis that can be tested by scientific means. But, as pointed out by theological critics, God is more than that: a source of love. - From a scientific point of view, I believe that the role of natural selection, the very basis of Darwin’s interpretation of evolution, is not as important as he claims it is. According to Kauffman [2], many traits of organisms have evolved not because of natural selection but in spite of it. Stephen Wolfram’s [3] extensive computer simulations of many systems have shown that simple “rules” in programs lead to complex characters. In other words, it may not be necessary to assume lengthy processes of selection leading from simple to complex characters. These findings suggest that evolutionary patterns may fit into certain “molds”, i.e., that outcomes of evolution are to a certain degree predetermined by the laws of nature (see discussion in [9][10][11][12]), which opens the way to a Spinozistic interpretation of nature, in which a primary cause (which everybody is welcome to name God) is at the base of and determines all the rest. Of course, this does not imply the existence of a personal God who takes responsibility and care of us.

In a previous post I drew attention to some people exposed by the present financial and economic crisis.

An article in the Guardian discusses 25 people (politicians, bankers, economists, etc.) responsible for or warning against the present meltdown. Alan Greenspan heads the list of the culprits, George Soros and Nouriel Roubini are among the warners.

See the full article here.


Here is what the article says about Roubini (bold by me):
Professor Nouriel Roubini¨Described by the New York Times as Dr Doom, the economist from New York University was warning that financial crisis was on the way in 2006, when he told economists at the IMF that the US would face a once-in-a-lifetime housing bust, oil shock and a deep recession.
He remains a pessimist. He predicted last week that losses in the US financial system could hit $3.6tn before the credit crunch ends - which, he said, means the entire US banking system is in effect bankrupt. After last year’s bail-outs and nationalisations, he famously described George Bush, Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke as “a troika of Bolsheviks who turned the USA into the United Socialist State Republic of America”.

(more…)

Over the last several weeks I wrote a number of knols on ecology/zoogeography, ecology/economics, ecology/politics, parasitology, and philosophy, meant mainly for students and interested lay people. Some are in German, some in English. The English ones are listed below with links. Note that you can comment on the knols. Any suggestions for improvements are welcome.

Ecology/Zoogeography

The Latitude Niche Width Hypothesis

http://knol.google.com/k/klaus-rohde/latitude-niche-width-hypothesis/xk923bc3gp4/48#

How Many Species on Earth?

http://knol.google.com/k/klaus-rohde/how-many-species-on-earth/xk923bc3gp4/43#

Competitive Exclusion (Gause’s Principle)

http://knol.google.com/k/klaus-rohde/competitive-exclusion-gauses-principle/xk923bc3gp4/41#view

Evolutionarily Stable Strategies (ESS’s)

http://knol.google.com/k/klaus-rohde/evolutionarily-stable-strategies-and/xk923bc3gp4/50#view

The Paradox of the Plankton

http://knol.google.com/k/klaus-rohde/the-paradox-of-the-plankton/xk923bc3gp4/40#

Niche Restriction and Segregation

http://knol.google.com/k/klaus-rohde/niche-restriction-and-segregation/xk923bc3gp4/12#

Vacant Niches

http://knol.google.com/k/klaus-rohde/vacant-niches-in-ecology/xk923bc3gp4/8#

Effective Evolutionary Time
http://knol.google.com/k/klaus-rohde/effective-evolutionary-time/xk923bc3gp4/11#

Rapoport’s Rule

http://knol.google.com/k/klaus-rohde/rapoports-rule/xk923bc3gp4/6#

Thorson’s Rule

http://knol.google.com/k/klaus-rohde/thorsons-rule/xk923bc3gp4/5#

Parasitology

The Aspidogastrea, Morphology and Life Cycles

http://knol.google.com/k/klaus-rohde/the-aspidogastrea-a-parasitological/xk923bc3gp4/13#

The Aspidogastrea, Sacculinisation

http://knol.google.com/k/klaus-rohde/the-aspidogastrea-a-parasitological/xk923bc3gp4/15

The Aspidogastrea, Ecology

http://knol.google.com/k/klaus-rohde/the-aspidogastrea-a-parasitological/xk923bc3gp4/16

The Amphilinidea
http://knol.google.com/k/klaus-rohde/the-amphilinidea-a-small-group-of/xk923bc3gp4/21#

Politics

Games Theory (Nash Equilibria) in Politics

http://knol.google.com/k/klaus-rohde/games-theory-nash-equilibria-in/xk923bc3gp4/29#

Ecology/Economics

A Limit to Globalization

http://knol.google.com/k/klaus-rohde/a-limit-to-globalization-fuzzy-chaos/xk923bc3gp4/28

Free Markets, Free Trade, Ecology

http://knol.google.com/k/klaus-rohde/free-markets-and-free-trade-ecology-and/xk923bc3gp4/25#

Philosophy

Schopenhauer’s Philosophy
http://knol.google.com/k/klaus-rohde/a-crash-course-on-schopenhauers/xk923bc3gp4/45#view

I have been busy with scientific work over the last week or so, but yesterday I looked at some news items and came across these:

Rod Blagojevich, the governor of Illinois, indicted for trying to sell Obama’s Senate seat for personal gain, Bernard Madoff, the US financial guru and former Nasdaq chairman, released on bail after having been arrested earlier for decades-long fraud leading to the disappearance of nobody knows how much but estimated at around US$50 billion, US$120 billion spent for reconstruction  in Iraq without much success, and - such a small item that it is hardly worth mentioning - fraudulent loss of at least US$35 million by Dreier L.L.P.

In this context, the following excerpts from the autobiography of Alan Greenspan, the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve: “The Age of Turbulence” 2007, page 431, may be of interest. He writes: “Indeed, very few regulators of my acquaintance can give me examples of fraud and embezzlement unearthed by anyone other than a whistleblower.” …… “But in truth, there is no way for an audit committee, new or old, to uncover wrongdoing short of deploying a vast army of investigators who would smother the firm with costly oversight that would likely stifle corporate risk taking and ultimately threaten the viability of the company.”

So, risk taking should not be stifled! We are just experiencing the consequences of excessive risk taking. I wonder whether Greenspan would have written this now, after the big crash has occurred and is occurring.

I recommend to read  E.F. Schumacher’s (1973) classic : “Small is Beautiful. A Study of Economics as if People Mattered”. He traces many of our present problems (in 1973 bad enough, but much worse now, because nobody listened) to our “materialistic” philosophy of life, leading to an over-emphasis on large size and simply greed. Among other things, he suggests that personal ownership of means of production is really justified only if the owner actively participates in the production process, and should be restricted to relatively small enterprises (a few 100 people).

If you want evidence for greed and the disastrous effects, consider the present financial crisis with millions losing their jobs, and look at the  smallest fish of the few examples mentioned above, Dreier:

according to the N. Y. Times 14.12.08: “Their health insurance is in default and the firm will not be able to make its $2.6 million payroll on Monday, lawyers there say.” However, “Mr. Dreier’s lifestyle includes a waterfront home in the Hamptons, a Manhattan triplex and a place on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica, Calif. He kept a Mercedes 500 in New York, an Aston Martin in California, and a 121-foot blue and white Heesen motor yacht with a Jacuzzi and a crew of 10 docked in Manhattan or St. Maarten. Associates said the boat, the Seascape, was the site of late-night parties at which Mr. Dreier, who is divorced, was often joined by an attractive young crowd.The law offices themselves at 499 Park Avenue were like modern art galleries. In court papers filed this week, the comptroller for the law firm reported that $30 million to $40 million of the firm’s assets had been spent on art. Among Mr. Dreier’s holdings were works by Picasso and a Warhol depiction of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.”"

Hier sind Auszüge (Übersetzung) aus der International Herald Tribune vom 25.1.08.

(http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/25/europe/belgium.php)

“YPRES, Belgien.Denkmäler für die Gefallenen des Krieges sind wie Pilze aus der Erde geschossen, aber es hat fast 85 Jahre gedauert, bis ein Denkmal für eine andere Gruppe der Toten errichtet wurde: Soldaten, die von ihrer eigenen Seite hingerichtet wurden, weil sie sich geweigert hatten, weiterzukämpfen.

“Kommandeure begannen, Deserteure und meuternde Truppen an Pfähle zu fesseln, wo sie durch Exekutionskommandos erschossen wurden. Die Briten erschossen 320, und die Franzosen so viele wie 700. Die Deutschen, im allgemeinen, erschossen keine Deserteure.”

“Abgesehen von der Ungerechtigkeit, die meisten wurden erschossen, um ein Beispiel zu konstatieren.¦.. Es war eine Art der geistigen Nötigung”

Den Erschossenen wurde von Präsident Sarkozi keine posthume Amnestie gewährt.

Deutsche Weisheit, Deutsche Dummheit hier:

http://blog.une.edu.au/klausrohde/2008/04/16/deutsche-weisheit-deutsche-dummheit-v-gefahr-von-rechts/

This is an invitation to contribute to a discussion (by writing comments) about the theoretical foundations of ecology and economics on my knols:

“Free Trade and Free Markets, Ecology and Economics”

http://knol.google.com/k/klaus-rohde/free-markets-and-free-trade-ecology-and/xk923bc3gp4/25#

and

“A Limit to Globalization? Fuzzy Chaos Modelling in Ecology and Economics”

http://knol.google.com/k/klaus-rohde/a-limit-to-globalization-fuzzy-chaos/xk923bc3gp4/28#

I read again in a book published almost 70 years ago (”I Believe. Nineteen Personal Philosophies”, Unwin Press, London 1940). It contains, among others, a brief (five page) contribution by Albert Einstein. It is worth quoting from it:

“I do not believe we can have any freedom at all in the philosophical sense, for we act not only under external compulsion but also by inner necessity. Schopenhauer’s saying - “A man can surely do what he wills to do, but he cannot determine what he wills” - impressed itself upon me in youth and has always consoled me when I have witnessed or suffered life’s hardships. This conviction is a perpetual breeder of tolerance, for it does not allow us to take ourselves or others too seriously; it makes rather for a sense of humour.

To ponder interminably over the reason for one’s own existence or the meaning of life in general seems to me, from an objective point of view, to be sheer folly. And yet everyone holds certain ideals by which he guides his aspiration and his judgment. The ideals which have always shone before me and filled me with the joy of living are goodness, beauty, and truth. To make a goal of comfort or happiness has never appealed to me; a system of ethics built on this basis would be sufficient only for a herd of cattle.”

………..

“This subject brings me to that vilest offspring of the herd mind - the odious militia. The man who enjoys marching in line and file to the strains of music falls below my contempt; he received his great brain by mistake - the spinal cord would have been amply sufficient. ……. War is low and despicable, and I rather be smitten to shreds than participate in such doings.

Such  a stain on humanity should be erased without delay. I think well enough of human nature to believe that it would have been wiped out long ago had not the common sense of nations been systematically corrupted through school and press for business and political reasons.”

In a previous post I drew attention to the difficulties in attributing blame for the outbreak of the war between Russia and Georgia.  Western media, generally, blamed Russia. Here is the latest about the Russia-Georgia war from the New York Times.

Full account here.
Excerpt:

“Newly available accounts by independent military observers of the beginning of the war between Georgia and Russia this summer call into question the longstanding Georgian assertion that it was acting defensively against separatist and Russian aggression. Georgia moved forces toward the border of the breakaway region of South Ossetia on Aug. 7, at the start of what it called a defensive war with separatists there and with Russian forces.

Instead, the accounts suggest that Georgia’s inexperienced military attacked the isolated separatist capital of Tskhinvali on Aug. 7 with indiscriminate artillery and rocket fire, exposing civilians, Russian peacekeepers and unarmed monitors to harm.”

Interestingly, in my first post I had two BBC links, one of them on the effects of the Georgian attack on civilians in South Ossetia. Apparently, the report was taken off the BBC website very soon (the very same day I read it) after it had first been published. At least I could not link into it after my first successful attempt. Another example of media bias, or a technical hitch?

Here are some excerpts from an article by Geoffrey Wheatcroft in the Guardian, 21.10.08. Full text here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/21/religion-christianity-palin

“God bother in Wasilla. The resurgence of religion now marks the widest divide between US and European politics.”

“John McCain has tried to negatively associate Barack Obama with Jeremiah Wright, his fire-eating radical pastor (or former pastor), but much less attention has been paid to Sarah Palin’s membership of the Assembly Church of God in Wasilla and to her own pastor, Ed Kalnins”

…

“According to Kalnins, the Jewish people must be gathered into the Land of Israel as a preliminary to Armageddon. When that vast conflict comes the Jews will be converted, or possibly annihilated, and it will be followed by the Rapture.

Already Kalnins sees “the storm clouds are gathering” through conflict in the Middle East: “Scripture specifically mentions oil instability as a sign of the Rapture. We’re seeing more and more oil wars. The contractions of the fulfilment of prophecies are getting tighter and tighter.” And he hopes to witness the Rapture soon. “I’m just looking at the turmoil of the world, Iraq, other places - everywhere people are fighting against Christ,” he says. Since Palin is one of his flock, she presumably believes this too. She certainly believes that Jesus told us to invade Iraq: she said so from the pulpit.“

…

“Not long ago John McCain was obliged to disown John Hagee, a Texan preacher with a huge following who is not only militantly hostile to Catholicism and Islam but believes that “Hitler was a hunter” who had been sent by God to drive the Jews to Israel. “

Sarah Palin as President?

Sarah Palin as Vice-President to a belligerent Commander-in Chief?

God help us.

Richard Dawkins may have a case, after all.