"How Many of You Expect to Die?"

"How many of you want to be old when you do?"

A recent edition of On Being titled The Far Shore of Aging is a fine example of why I am a regular listener to Krista Tippett's podcast.

In the July 21st 2011 episode Tippett interviews Jane Gross, journalist, author of A Bittersweet Season: Caring for Our Aging Parents--and Ourselves, and founder of The New Old Age blog at The New York Times website.

My sister-in-law and her husband, my wife, and our family are caring for the woman who was once my mother-in-law as she descends into her Alzheimer's.  My feelings about this sort of death are not kind.  This is a horrible process.  My own mother is not well in dozens of small ways, but she has her wits.  She is aware of her decades of pain but she is still the person who was my mother.  Which is better, mindless comfort or mindful suffering?  Which is harder on the family?  What choice do we have?

In the course of her interview Gross said, "We live too long and we die too slow."  I almost cried.  On my way home from some errands I turned the car toward the local Barnes & Noble and bought my wife a copy of Gross's book.  I may read it myself.

Cultural Cognition of Risk

Also known as the Conservative White Male effect...

The debate surrounding certain risks which mark the boundaries of the Culture War - abortion, tobacco, free trade, gun control, global warming, war on drugs, fundamentalist religion, global war on terror, debt limits, NASCAR - are highly polarized. Cultural Cognition of Risk helps explain why.

Chris Mooney has reposted a couple very interesting articles at his Discover magazine Intersection blog.  They lead us to posts from his Desmogblog.

The Bias Trap: Are We All Just A Bunch of Motivated Reasoners?

Alpha Males, Hierarchy Endorsers, System Justifiers…and Climate Deniers?

What’s Up With Conservative White Men and Climate Change Denial?

From there we are led into the world of familiar terms like, "Denialism," "Alarmism," "Confirmation Bias," "Cognitive Dissonance," and then on to less familiar terms such as "Motivated Reasoning," "Cultural Cognition of Risk," "Identity Protective Cognition," "Social Dominance Orientation," "System Justification," "Biased Assimilation," "Belief Perseverance," "Attitude Polarization," and "Covariation Detection."  Whew!  It'll take me a while to unpack this all but so far the explanatory power of the theory seems compelling.

One of the eminent scholars in the field is Dan Kahan of the Yale Law School where he runs the Cultural Cognition Project.  Another was the late Mary Douglas.

Of course there are blogs about this field; The Situationist, Four Cultures, Big Think, even Bruce Schneier wrote on it last fall.  There are instruments that assess how cultural cognition of risk affects you.

I keep thinking there ought to be an undegrad, if not high school, course on "Critical Thinking, Scientific Method, and the Psychology of Belief," but where to begin?

It's Called a Two-Fer

"The ability of the Stuxnet cyberattack to physically impact equipment has made cybersecurity significantly more important for U.S. domestic security strategy..."

"Until now, the primary worry of the U.S. government's counterterrorism groups has been stated by CBRN, which listed threats in order of likelihood: chemical, bacteriological, radiological, and nuclear. [...] Since Stuxnet, terrorism concerns have morphed into "KBC: kinetic, bacteriological and cyber," said Cofer Black, vice president for global operations for threat analysis firm Blackbird Technologies, and a 30-year veteran of the CIA's counterterrorism efforts.

First, one (almost certainly American) alphabet agency uses Stuxnet to break Iranian centrifuges.

Now, the existence of Stuxnet allows other alphabet agencies to sound the alarm saying cyberweapons are real and can be used to break American things.

Someone is certainly getting their money's worth.

In related news:

Dateline Beijing ~1044 CE - Today Zeng Gongliang and Yang Weide presented their paper,

Wujing Zongyao - Collection of the Most Important Military Techniques, to the Chinese Emperor Renzong.  At a press conference following their audience with His Excellency the authors spoke briefly.

Gongliang said, "The invention of gunpowder will allow the Chinese people to destroy our  enemies with greater ease and efficiency.  Of course, the invention of gunpowder will allow our enemies to attack the Chinese people with greater ease and efficiency as well.  We recommend that measures be taken to protect the Chinese people from this new gunpowder threat."

Weide added, "Not since the creation of the first stone hand axe on the continent of Africa more than 1 million years ago has a weapon offered so many advantages to friend and foe alike.  This glorious achievement is also a deeply troubling development.  May you live in interesting times." 

You Have My Complete Attention

NASA Announces News Briefing on Mars Orbiter Science Finding 08.03.11...

 

The Press Release:

WASHINGTON - NASA will host a news briefing on Thursday, Aug. 4, at 11 a.m. PDT (2 p.m. EDT) about a significant new Mars science finding. The briefing will be held at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

The new finding is based on observations from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been orbiting the Red Planet since 2006. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

The briefing panelists are:

- Philip Christensen, geophysicist, Arizona State University

- Colin Dundas, research geologist, U.S. Geological Survey

- Alfred McEwen, planetary geologist, University of Arizona

- Michael Meyer, Mars Exploration Program lead scientist, NASA

- Lisa Pratt, biogeochemist, Indiana University

The news briefing will air live on NASA Television and the agency's website. For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv  The event will also be carried live, with a live chat box available, at http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

My Commentary:

This announcement is being made at NASA instead of the Whitehouse.  Good.

President Obama will not be making the announcement.  Good (or bad, if you're a SETI fan).

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is not making the announcement.  Very good.

There is no flurry of urgent activity at Cape Canaveral, Air Force bases, Navy submarine yards, or nuclear missile silos.  Really good!

There are going to be a bunch of government scientists there.  That's not necessarily bad, unless one of them is that misguided scientist who is intent on ruining things for the human race.

In a little over an hour we'll know...

An Update:

Streams of muddy salt water.  Not streams of muddy salt water inundating an abandoned space port.  Not tharks body-surfing on streams of muddy salt water.  Just streams of muddy salt water, flowing down a hill.  Then they dried up.

Finally, A Tattoo That Makes Sense

XKCD strikes again...

Click the image or here for the full size strip

Cancer still sucks.