Poem 2: The Flame

A flame as I observe here intensively,

Gives me the impression that it is tearing a small gap into this plane,

To say to us there is a bright light,

Only that you must learn to tame,

-Dance, dance- 

oh how the flame celebrates,

It is always illusive yet rising prominently,

Because energy is endless yet mysteriously limiting,

If a fire consumes too much, the whole world could burn,

The key to preserve life is to  balance the flame,

Powerful enough to light the way; strong enough to recognize a slight fade...

And if memories do serve as a promise,

Allow them to promise your future as a whole,

For when a candle is blown out,

The dance will never end

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**This poem belongs to Greg and first appeared in the 'Ideas Are Bulletproof' blog. Do not reproduce this poem without permission and proper citation. **

Philosophy 'Lite'/Hypotheticals: The E.T. Question & Hypothetical Implications For Humanity

   The X-Files made news this year after the debut of Season 10, a 14 year break since the 9th season. Most are familiar with the general theme of the show, two FBI agents take on mysterious cases of the unknown called the 'X-Files.' One of the agents is a passionate and oftentimes paranoid believer in the supernatural and Aliens named Fox Mulder, and the other is a medical doctor named Dana Scully who is extremely intelligent and very skeptical of the theories put forth by Mulder (however, her incredible devotion to science and logic is comically swept aside when it comes to religion.) In the beginning of the series, Agent Scully thinks Agent Mulder is a total crackpot, but eventually comes to terms that some things in the world are in fact unexplained by conventional science and that the presence of intelligent, extraterrestrial species is being covered up by the government.

From x-files wiki

   What does the X-Files have to do with reality? Well, it may very well be the case that although X-Files is a stretch, there is some degree of realness to the series.

   This kind of possibility begs the question: what do we do if and when we find out we are not alone in the universe? To answer that question, we must be aware of and try to comprehend several things first.

   So, the first question many people might have is "why does this matter?" or they might say, "why waste our time on this sort of thing? We have real problems to deal with!" Those are of course, valid questions that need a valid answer. To answer that question, I would point to a curious statement made by NASA's chief scientist, Ellen Stofan, last year during a space agency panel discussion on the efforts being made to discover hospitable planets. She stated, "I think we're going to have strong indications of life beyond Earth within a decade, and I think we're going to have definitive evidence within 20 to 30 years." In other words, talking about the potential existence of alien life matters quite a bit, because we may have to prepare for its discovery in as little as 10 years.

Scene from the movie 'E.T.' Courtesy of  Universal Pictures

   Now, allow us to suppose that in 10 years NASA makes an announcement to the world that they have discovered life on Mars (the most likely contender for harboring extraterrestrial life in our solar system.) Little green men are not what they would likely be announcing though. It is no secret that NASA has discovered water on Mars already (here and here.) And as most people know, water is crucial for life. The presence of liquid water on Mars however, suggests that there may be a chance of finding microbial life on the red planet. In fact, microbial life is not hard to believe at all. Scientists have also discovered meteorites that have amino acids, which are an essential building block for biological organisms. With that being said, anyone who says alien is not real is saying that there isn't even the chance of microbial life existing in either of the 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 planets other than Earth in the observable universe. And no, that number is not made up.

Recommendation: find someone who doesn't believe in aliens and make a bet with them that we will discover some sort of alien life in 50 years (to be safe.) Make the wager as cruel as you'd like, because there is no way your friend wouldn't see this coming. The above picture is courtesy of NASA.

What would be the repercussions of finding intelligent life from other worlds?

   So we get it, there is probably microbial life somewhere other than Earth in the universe. And the chances are most people are really referring to intelligent aliens when they generalize about the existence or nonexistence of aliens. So what happens if and when we discover intelligent beings from other worlds? What will it do to our ethics and morals? What about our technology? Our understanding of the universe? Our understanding of each other, ourselves? Will we lose faith in our religions? The sooner we have an answer to some of these questions, the more prepared we are for a revelation of such magnitude. 

   To formulate answers to questions like this, we need to put the questions into context. For the sake of reasoning, allow the question to assume that the answer will be based upon a very current perspective. In other words, assume that we are answering the question as if intelligent beings introduced themselves to us right now. 

   So let's pretend that at this moment, you turned on the t.v. and President Obama was holding an emergency national broadcast, and stated to the world that just recently, NASA and other global space agencies have confirmed that they have received transmissions from an advanced civilization that has announced their peaceful intentions and will come to Earth if they have our permission. 

   The immediate global response will stem from the primitive region of the human mind. We can expect there to be riots, emergency meetings, chaotic markets, political crises, religious panic etc. The imagery might begin to play out in your head, and the scene is absolute chaos. Governments all around the world will most likely have to establish martial law. Expect things to remain like this for at least a couple of weeks. 

   If we fast forward several months, it will all be a bit calmer. After direct contact with the civilization, we as a whole will face an existential crisis. First of all, the best thing to come from this event would be the sense of global unity, and that we are truly one people in the vast universe. This good might be overshadowed by the intense religious fanaticism that will likely create a movement demonizing the aliens as 'fallen angels' who have come to pull us away from God, or something along those lines. This movement will probably not become too large, but it will certainly be the source of a new form of extremism that would have to be contained. 

   But with the existential crisis at hand, philosophers would probably be at full force, revisiting old thoughts on morality and humanity, and creating new forms of 'galactic' morality that applies to a broader set of life. Sociologists and psychologists would also be having an academic field day with the flooding of new data to be examined. And of course, scientists like biologists and astrophysicists around the world will be in shock over the way such a revelation would change their understanding of their science.

   If these intelligent beings were kind enough to share their technological knowledge, we'd probably be facing the end of dirty fossil fuel energy and be introduced to new sources of energy and ability for space travel. The implications for medicine would also mean that we could be introduced with cures to all diseases. I think that all this will be occurring as people restructure society and some of our institutions. It would be a time when people would look at each other and say: "well, maybe we aren't so different, you and I." 

   Years after contact, we could imagine the world being a much more peaceful and evolved place. However, the form of religious extremism would probably still be present, albeit smaller. If these beings are generous, we may even be in the process of transitioning to new systems of governance, education, and living in general.

   Truly, a post-contact world is an incredible thing to visualize. It may even put us on the path to a being a 'star trek-like' civilization. This is why preparing for the discovery of alien life is so important, because it is bound to occur within our lifetimes, and if it does, it will change everything we know. If that isn't worth a little bit of consideration, then nothing is. 

Personal Tale: Photos From The Swiss Alps

   Recently, I was traveling through the gorgeous Swiss Alps and stopped at many locations with incredible scenic views. The experience was so stunning, that the images are ingrained vividly into my memory. There were not a lot of signs in the areas I stopped at so I don't know the precise locations. However, all of these were taken along highways 8 & 2 toward central Italy from Interlaken, Switzerland. This stuff is like candy, for the soul and mind.

   *All of these photos I took personally with an IPad. Do not reproduce without permission. Also, if you notice a dark smudge on the top corner of these photos, you'll have to excuse my stupid self for not folding the flap for the IPad protective case to move it out of the camera's way.

Brexit Fallout: No Fear

   On Thursday June 23rd, a referendum was held in the U.K. as to whether they would remain in or leave the European Union. The referendum announced a historic decision that shocked global markets: they would leave. The impact on the pound sterling was immediate, as the pound has dropped to a  30 year low against the dollar. Global investors have been losing confidence in the British economy as Standard & Poor's has lowered the U.K.'s credit rating to 'AA', down from 'AAA.' Economists and banks have drastically cut growth forecasts for GDP growth in the U.K.

   The situation in the U.K. is being described as the start of a "political crisis", and market scenarios indicate a recession is expected in the U.K. for at least the next six months. Gold stocks have soared, and many investors are selling U.K. linked financials. Meanwhile the media headlines go something like this:

   "Good luck"
   "A tragic split"
   "Britain jolts the world"

Or this:

   "The British are frantically Googling what the EU is hours after voting to leave it"

And this:

   "Anger over 'Bregret' as Leave voters say they thought UK would stay in EU"

   Many of the mainstream media reactions regarding the Brexit decision are that of despair, anger and regret as shown above. But the story that media continues to push: that UK markets will tumble further is only harming the markets even more. The stock market is very much a psychological game. Investors tend to react to positive news with exaggerated confidence (meaning they will take more risk), and react to negative news with the opposite effect. In this case, gloom and doom reporting by the media has a powerful effect on investor psychology, and this can lead to less investor confidence and more volatile global markets.

   It is best to avoid buying into the mainstream narrative that often invokes a fear response in investors which if not contained, can lead to a very drastic situation. To quote Franklin D. Roosevelt: "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Don't overreact and don't pay much attention to mainstream media. Let us embrace a more independent British nation.

Music With A Message 02: "I Won't Say Anything" by Bad Religion

   Punk ain't pretty. But in the case of Bad Religion, they're a lot more accessible than other punk bands (especially the closer you get to the roots, like this or this.) And if you're into bands like Blink-182 or Green Day, Bad Religion will be an easy plus.

   This song is a nice little jam to go along with an uplifted mood. It compliments a music aided session of positive introspection and hopefulness. Lyrically, the song seems to briefly touch on the subjects of politics (not 100% about that one, but most likely), religion and death. Even with the eyebrow raising topics, it never strays from it's radio-friendly, almost playful sound which makes it a truly great add to any library.

 

Idea: From Far Right Wingers to Hard Leftists, Universal Basic Income Is An Idea With Growing Popularity

Courtesy of 'the daily blog'

   What if every month, you as an American citizen, received a check from the government for about $8,000? And what if I told you that the check had no strings attached--it's "free" money, merely for existing. Does that sound like some kind of socialist utopia? It certainly does. However, this idea is not new, nor is it socialist. It has been proposed by prominent enlightenment era thinkers such as Thomas Paine and Marquis de Condorcet. It also has support from modern figures such as libertarian Charles Murray and liberal Anthony Atkinson. Yet, the concept is experiencing a mainstream revival and is being taken very seriously by economists, sociologists, politicians and even Silicon valley visionaries from all ends of the political spectrum. That is because it's true aim is to create a new flavor of capitalism.

   On the basic income website, it states that "a basic income is an unconditional income granted to all on a individual basis, without means test or work requirement." You read that correctly--you can receive a basic income without even having to work. Essentially, UBI is a new system of welfare that seeks to replace the traditional welfare state which has failed to adequately help the very people it intends to help (in 1996 extreme poverty in the US was estimated at 636,00 while in 2011 it was estimated at 1.5 million.) But this idea has many economists intrigued for several reasons. One of the most obvious reasons is that it has never been done before, but economists are not even sure what to expect from it, which makes it all the more interesting. However, some economists believe that a UBI will eliminate the poverty trap, which is when your income rises and you lose state funding, therefore leaving you with no net gain or even a net loss.

Courtesy of this YouTube video

   The growing interest in UBI is strongly associated with growing fears that within the next 20 years, half of all US jobs may be replaced by automation. Proponents argue that UBI will help ease this transitional period in the market by helping workers explore other career paths or even be more willing to open up businesses of their own. Opponents argue that guaranteeing people income without any conditional could cause an incentive for people not to work. But an experiment with guaranteed income to residents in a Canadian province called Manitoba showed that providing a basic income to citizens did not have a significant effect on the labor market participation of the recipients. These results however, are disputable and in no way conclusive about the effectiveness of a nationwide UBI system. Finally, some opponents still argue that giving money to everyone won't necessarily solve poverty.

How would we even finance UBI?

   Funding a UBI system is certainly achievable in rich countries like the US, Canada, Germany, Switzerland etc. Some of the funding could simply be drawn from the replacement of old welfare programs. Additional revenue would have to be raised by several possible ways. One of them is through a raise in income tax, although doing this can be more harmful than good as it would potentially increase people's rationale for tax evasion or have other adverse effects. An interesting alternative would be through a system of taxation that is popular in Europe known as value-added tax or VAT. A VAT is a tax that is based on the increase in value something goes through in each stage of production or distribution. Another idea is funding through a land tax. A national land tax based on all the land in the US (whose entire value is estimated at $23 trillion) of just 5% could raise about $1 trillion in revenue.

Courtesy of 'fastcoexist'

Conclusion

   The support from people of all political ideologies proves that this is certainly not a strictly partisan proposal, but rather something that needs to be seriously studied and considered along nonpartisan lines. Could this be a solution to poverty? only in practice would we know for sure. But I would advise for us not to forget the wise words of Maimonides, "give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." 

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Redirect to: 

Article in The Economist

Our state of Alaska closest to already having UBI

 

Book Review 01: "The Law" by Frederic Bastiat

   Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) was a French economist, author and statesman. His most famous work is The Law, which is an easy-to-read flagship Libertarian work of philosophy that is highly critical of socialism (and communism.)

From 'wesley gospel' website

   A few months ago, a couple of buddies and I were given a copy of this book from our local Republican representative (although he was really Libertarian) for free after meeting with him and voicing our concerns about a political issue. At the time (because we had a rather heated disagreement), when he gave us the book I thought to myself "what a joke! I'm not reading this crap!" and I tossed the book aside. I didn't throw it away though, I kept it in my library without giving it much thought. Today, I decided to pick this book up after having gone through my whole library for the summer and give it my full attention. In short: I have a much better understanding about Libertarianism, but I still have my reservations about it.


   In The Law, Bastiat, living under the growing influence of socialism, famously states that "socialists despise mankind" and "want to play God." A revolutionary for his time, Bastiat gives his formal definition of law as the "collective organization of the individual right to lawful defense." The purpose of this common force is only to defend persons, liberty and property. However, the premise goes against the act of taxation, as it states that

...Thus, since an individual cannot lawfully use force against the person, liberty, or property of another individual, then the common force--for the same reason--cannot lawfully be used to destroy the person, liberty, or property of individuals or groups...

In other words, a man's labor should be free and the fruits of his labor should be protected from unjust attack. This espouses the non-aggression principle that is a core philosophy of Libertarianism. Bastiat goes on to say that legislators seek power over the power because they want to mold mankind in their vision. The principles of government are innately immoral not only because they violate the non-aggression principle through taxation, but because they do not trust humans to govern themselves and therefore see regular citizens as sheep. So for example, in the case of education, Bastiat argues that just because he does not support "socialist" public education, it does not mean he doesn't support education, it just means he does not support the law committing legal 'plunder' (basically theft) by violating our liberty and property via taxation. Libertarians do not support forced fraternity, forced artificial unity, forced association and forced organization. Bastiat further states that social democrats are fundamentally flawed in their logic because if "people are incapable, as immoral, and as ignorant as the politicians indicate, then why is the right of these same people to vote defended with such passionate insistence?" All in all, Bastiat believes individual liberty and rights should be at a maximum and government should not step in other than to enforce just laws, and the there should be market anarchy.        

From 'libertarian memes' pinterest

   My take on this philosophy is that much like socialism, it sounds great until its put into practice. I cannot in good conscience say that I would trust a completely free market to protect the environment. I also do not see how such a small government could not easily be bought out by big corporations, much like what we have now, but only worse. Politically I'm a centrist, so I identify as socially liberal and fiscally conservative for the most part, but even so I recognize that there is some good to government if policies are implemented properly and there is little corruption. I also believe strongly in soft regulations on the market, as capitalism is not perfect and does have its rough edges.

   Another point I'd like to make is that even though I am not a social democrat, there is a claim Bastiat makes that has not held up

...Which countries contain the most peaceful, the most moral, and the happiest people? Those people are found in the countries where the law least interferes with private affairs; where government is least felt; where the individual has the greatest scope...

   In several world happiness indexes, countries that are social democracies (heavily taxed welfare states usually characterized by mixed socialist/capitalist economies and large governments) have consistently ranked as the happiest countries on Earth; particularly the Scandinavian countries.
How could this be? Well, my belief is that perhaps Bastiat is still kind of right, but it just depends where you are and who you're looking at. But if he were alive today, he would likely despise the heavy taxation in the social democracies specifically and criticize it as an extreme violation of liberty--but according to the self-reported happiness indexes, I don't think the people under the rule of social democracies mind it all that much.

Stockholm, Sweden (a socially democratic country.) Courtesy of 'planet ware' website

   All in all, The Law is a must-read for anyone who is interested in political philosophy and wants an extremely well-received introduction to the Libertarian philosophy.


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I remain open-minded to this idea, but I will eventually post a detailed critique of my perceived flaws in Libertarianism