[Paleopsych] Benford & Rose Essays

Wed Jan 4 23:13:54 UTC 2006

Benford & Rose Essays
http://www.benford-rose.com/publicationsessay.php
[I sent a couple of these recently. Here are some more. Graze at your pleasure 
and let me know which are esp. good. The Amazon Shorts cost 50¢ each.]

    Benford-Rose : Essays
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    The Benford & Rose Essays, available at Amazon Shorts.

    [21]New Methuselahs New Methuselahs : Can We Cheat Death Long Enough
    to Live Forever?
    by Gregory Benford & Michael Rose
      _________________________________________________________________

    We may now begin to pry humanity loose from the vise of aging. What
    are the realistic prospects for postponing aging, if not obliterating
    it? Some recent biotech promises to understand and impede aging, and
    we can accelerate this work. But some find this undesirable, if not
    immoral. We review the debate from a variety of angles: scientific,
    ethical, and literary. There is real hope.
    [22]Click here to buy "New Methuselahs" for $0.49 at Amazon Shorts.

    [23]Motes in God's Eye Motes in God's Eye : The Deformities of
    American Science
    by Gregory Benford & Michael Rose
      _________________________________________________________________

    Contemporary American science is one of the greatest cultural
    achievements in history. Worldwide, it is the grandest intellectual
    endeavor of our time. But it has its flaws, its motes that obscure its
    vision. Worst of these is the increasingly ferocious and wasteful race
    for grant funding. All too often, conformity, fashion, and cowardice
    dominate the process. Good scientists squander long hours writing
    proposals that have about a 10% chance of getting accepted. In 1950,
    the odds were about 70%. This drives science toward short term
    thinking, shortening our horizons and corrupting our thinking. We must
    change our outworn mechanisms, and soon.
    [24]Click here to buy "Motes in God's Eye" for $0.49 at Amazon Shorts.

    [25]Gods and Science Gods and Science : Three Theologies for Modern
    Times
    by Gregory Benford & Michael Rose
      _________________________________________________________________

    Science finds no sign of an omnipotent being that creates planets but
    also can make your heart disease go away. But there are other kinds of
    god that science can countenance. The most popular of these is God as
    the Universal Laws, which we call God the Physicist. Einstein often
    referred to this God, in discussing the structure of physical theory.
    Another god allowed by science is a Neurobiological God, like a
    Freudian superego writ large. We develop both possibilities. The
    choice among them and the traditional theistic God is up to the
    reader. Perhaps one can even blend them.
    [26]Click here to buy "Gods and Science" for $0.49 at Amazon Shorts.

    [27]We Can Build You We Can Build You : Transplantation, Stem Cells,
    and the Future of Our Bodies
    by Gregory Benford & Michael Rose
      _________________________________________________________________

    Stem cells offer the prospect of large-scale repair of damaged or
    decrepit human bodies. If we can use the patient's own genetic
    information in creating the therapeutic stem cells, we could replace
    tissues without suppressing our bodies' immune response. Mastering
    such technology, we could keep aging or acutely diseased patients
    alive for long times. Our bodies might become sewn together
    contraptions, like Frankenstein's monster-a horrifying prospect to
    some respects, liberating to others. We offer few firm
    recommendations, but we do tour the rocky terrain surrounding this
    issue.
    [28]Click here to buy "We Can Build You" for $0.49 at Amazon Shorts.

    [29]High Frontier High Frontier : A Real Future for Space
    by Gregory Benford & Michael Rose
      _________________________________________________________________

    This is the first of a series of essays on how proper use of space can
    ensure our future for centuries, maybe millinnea. It outlines several
    ideas that we'll treat in detail later, and lingers a bit over one of
    them. Will we have a future in space? Only if we think large. Opening
    up the solar system probably demands huge spacecraft driven by
    spectacular engines. The true long term goal of civilization should be
    the uplifting of all humanity to a decent standard of living. The
    payoff will be vast, and it demands the use of space-or else we all
    face long term poverty, both material and spiritual.
    [30]Click here to buy "High Frontier" for $0.49 at Amazon Shorts.

    [31]Sex and the Internet Sex and the Internet : HOW BENFORD CORRUPTED
    THE WORLD WIDE WEB
    by Gregory Benford & Michael Rose
      _________________________________________________________________

    In the late 1960s, one of us (GB) noticed that the early DARPANet had
    a biological analogy. This led him to create and write about the first
    computer virus. Nobody paid much attention, until viruses and other
    pernicious forms became a major problem and defending against them an
    industry. They tell us something sad about our species. This analogy
    still holds, and can still make predictions.
    [32]Click here to buy "Sex and the Internet" for $0.49 at Amazon
    Shorts.

    [33]Real Cool World Real Cool World : NEW WAYS TO STOP GLOBAL WARMING
    by Gregory Benford & Michael Rose
      _________________________________________________________________

    Global warming can't be plausibly solved by minor cutbacks like those
    promised by the Kyoto Accords. We are ignoring two methods that we can
    deploy fairly quickly, and even cheaply. First, start storing carbon
    away, so it can't return to our air as carbon dioxide. The best place
    to put it is probably in the deep oceans. Second, start reflecting
    more sunlight back into space-nature's historical solution. We can do
    this by lightening our roofs and highways, right now. Soon we can
    produce clouds over the oceans (which absorb most of the sunlight).
    These are obvious and so far ignored. We do so at our peril.
    [34]Click here to buy "Real Cool World : New Ways To Stop Global
    Warming" for $0.49 at Amazon Shorts.

    [35]NASA and the Decline of America NASA and the Decline of America
    by Gregory Benford & Michael Rose
      _________________________________________________________________

    How apt is the common analogy between America and Rome? Certainly some
    traits, like faltering political will and neglect of social basics,
    seem to be similar. But as Rome failed at its frontiers, so has the
    USA neglected and cynically managed its space program. For 30 years it
    has done little at great cost. Fixing NASA gives clues to how we might
    save America.
    [36]Click here to buy "NASA and the Decline of America" for $0.49 at
    Amazon Shorts.

    [37]Back from the Freezer Back From the Freezer?
    by Gregory Benford & Michael Rose
      _________________________________________________________________

    Cryonics companies suspend their dead "patients" in liquid nitrogen.
    Bringing them back is not obviously impossible, but research to make
    it happen will probably take half a century or more. This is a long
    shot chance to see the future, utterly American. Scientific issues
    might be overcome, but social impediments are large, too. . At least
    cryonics makes it possible for you to die with some hope, however
    small.
    [38]Click here to buy "Back From The Freezer?" for $0.49 at Amazon
    Shorts.

    [39]Our Invisible Maker Our Invisible Maker
    by Gregory Benford & Michael Rose
      _________________________________________________________________

    The problem with the debate about natural selection versus Intelligent
    Design is that neither is visible. If we were visited by a supremely
    powerful being-say, like an smart Oprah Winfrey with command over
    Earth and all its creatures, that claimed to have made us, in a voice
    rolling from the sky--then ID would be obviously true. Even if such
    beings visit us from outer space every few hundred thousand years or
    so, they might have left some debris behind, perhaps in orbit around
    Earth. We haven't found any. But whatever our maker(s) is (are), they
    aren't immediately visible. Evolution by natural selection also does
    not announce its working for all to see. But it is one of the most
    powerful of all scientific theories, with a wide range of indirect
    evidence supporting it. Its main difficulty is that it is not warm or
    cuddly, unlike God or Oprah.
    [40]Click here to buy "Our Invisible Maker" for $0.49 at Amazon
    Shorts.

References

    1. http://www.benford-rose.com/index.php
    2. http://www.benford-rose.com/news.php
    3. http://www.benford-rose.com/blog.php
    4. http://www.benford-rose.com/benfordbio.php
    5. http://www.benford-rose.com/rosebio.php
    6. http://www.benford-rose.com/publicationsessay.php
    7. http://www.benford-rose.com/publicationsother.php
    8. http://www.benford-rose.com/insidescience.php
    9. http://www.benford-rose.com/thenewfuture.php
   10. http://www.benford-rose.com/modernculture.php
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   41. http://www.writerwebs.com/