Interestingness in action- New Energy Times Magazine No 36

I sincerely believe that understanding the world is at least 80%
(Pareto's Law applies overall) understanding its Interestingness
See my favorite I--word paper.
I have received this morning a fine proof of this assertion-
the newest issue of  the New Energy Times Magazine http://newenergytimes.com/v2/news/2011/36/NET360.shtml
is much more interesting than a detective story.

Stop Koalemos!

Note: Dear readers, perhaps it is useful to study Cipolla’s Laws before reading this editorial. Law No. 5 is especially relevant. Easy to find them on the Web.

STOP KOALEMOS!

Perhaps the greatest surprise I had ever was an Internet message I  received in July 2007.

 “Peter- I want to reward the faithful admiration and adoration you have shown me for at least 60 years now. I have decided to reveal to you, and only to you, the darkest secret of our Age so you can be prepared and can warn your friends about what will come. However, be aware that nobody will ever believe you; you will have the same fate as that unhappy Priamos’ child, Cassandra. But you are wise enough, my chosen chevalier, to continue even if your success is nil and to accept what Moros has designed for you. You will not need illusory successes and fame to continue your work...

I will be at he airport of your town, the coming Thursday between two flights. from 16.00 to 17.30. Compose some intelligent question for this meeting- our first and last one.

Athena Z.- your all favorite Greek Goddess)

As everybody else I am more bound to my privileges than to my (and other’s) rights- I was honored and very happy to be noticed by the Greatest Lady of All and to have the huge privilege to discuss with Her.

We met at the waiting space of he Cluj airport, Athena was embodied as a very elegant and beautiful lady from the over-sixty category. I have kissed her hand due respect, she gave me a present a little ceramic owl, her owl! - a treasure for me.

First of all I asked her what means that letter Z. attached to her surname.

“Many years ago at the Bayreuther Festspiele I have met the Nordic Gods- very pessimistic gentlemen and excessively rounded girls- they called me nicely  “Atenchen Zeusdotter”- because I am the daughter of Zeus. I travel much and I need a passport as everybody else- please look to it – so I am using now the name Athena Zusdo.”

She started to complain against atheism: more than 99.9999%

of the people do not believe in her and in her fellow gods- this gives her a very bad feeling.  Only because she is wise, she does not plan any revenge “you, humans are self-destructive and unhappy enough” she told.

Athena: “But I wanted to meet you in order to demonstrate you that Mankind is in a deadly danger – not some Aztec idiocies that will appear soon- no, the enemy is inside. We are the victims of atheism, no god can protect him- or herself, some people do not know any limit. Even, you my close-minded bisinisencephalian friend, how many gods do you believe in?

OK. I have to recognize that we, the gods, also have our part of the fault. Sometimes we are so much like you and we even are hybridizable with you- that makes highly suspect that we are not better than you, mortals. And perhaps some off you do not understand well why we want, first of all, obedience from you, before good deeds. And some gods are really  cruel.

When you became very bad- both my Daddy and the One ruling now had organized Floods and millions of people were drowned except  Defkalion’s and the Noah’s families, respectively. Only they, the greatest gods know why exactly these people were saved. And why they were saved- sometimes I am thinking that the Earth, would be a better place without humans.

But the great wisdom is to be able to distinguish truth from reality. (I have not understood this well, but I knew that it is not wise to ask stupid questions from the Goddess of Wisdom.)

I forgive you Homo sapiens for all terrible weaknesses and crimes for what you have created in Technology. I am the Goddess of Technology too

“But now about the important things. Even I am not perfect- wisdom has its very limits and it is wise to accept that even wisdom cannot solve everything. Your mentor and benefactor, Arthur C. Clarke was one of the few humans from which I had to learn. Arthur did not liked much the Gods he thought that

“It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God, but to create him.” And he also told me this: “Information is not knowledge, knowledge is not wisdom, wisdom is not prediction- each grows from the preceding one and we need all” Arthur tells here politely that I may understand, even deeply what happens now but I cannot tell what will happen in the future. It is true, so many times the future has surprised me absolutely. For example the case of Koalemos was a terrible shock for me!

(I have asked who is this Koalemos- I never heard about him before.)

Athena: It was your fault humans! It is about what you have done with the religions during the last 2000 years- when you ceased to believe in us, Greek Gods- the most real of all. If it exists a verb opposite to “castrate”- that’s what you have done with the world! Before your age the goddesses were  equal in number and influence and power with the gods but you have masculinized and de-feminized and paternalized everything! You have broken the natural equilibrium of the World. The goddesses had been marginalized, they lost all spirituality and power and prestige. Only Aphrodite is still popular, but I ask you, can we call that perverse, siliconized nymphomaniac still a goddess?

And this situation, the asymmetrical and sick world order was seized by the Gang of the Three – three ambitious god-fellows lacking any scruples and decency: Ares, Hermes and Koalemos- this troika had easily conquered the world.

Athena has presented the CVs of these three gods. For my readers less familiar with mythology I add some basic Web information.

Ares (http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Ares.html) is my half-brother unfortunately, a bully and a sadist, god of the stupid wars, who loves fights for the sake of the fights, saturated with hatred, fully deserving a straitjacket. He respects me because I have hit him many times with my spears over his nasty muzzle, when he was young. You cannot use logic with this insane, all he wants is blood, more and more blood! You are making so many sacrifices to Ares,

You have spoiled him and the idiot has achieved the habit of extermination of whole nations and has the passion of organizing  great style wars – everybody against everybody and vice-versa; he succeeded to do this two times. The third time, only I could stop him because there are so many deadly weapons that your species and many others can be easily (ex)terminated.

Ares is by no way a “deus otiosus”- an idle retired god,  he is popular, he creates and educates people just to kill them

He (Ares) is extremely well adapted to your new brave world..

Hermes – is also my half-brother (we, Greek Gods had a rather complicated family life, sorry but you already know it). I have a single reason to be proud of him- he is immensely popular in your world even more that Ares. But what a career and character he has! http://www.theoi.com/Summary/Hermes.html ) The youngest cattle thief for history, then our (gods’) messenger. Hee always had an irresistible attraction to the properties, goods of others, gods or humans alike. Admirably fast moving. The Romans called him Mercur and tried to embellish his image, named him the god of commerce and information- but at the root he is a smiling fraud and a gangster. Hermes has an overwhelming influence, your mass media continuously sings him hymns of glory (the short ones are called advertisments the long ones commercials) and prays for his benevolence. He can achieve everything he wants and believes sincerely that “greed is good” He owns your souls, people! From Apollo he has stolen all the ine Muses, from me he tries to take away Science and Education. With pieces of papers and coins he conquers new and new territories.

He (Hermes)  is the spiritual leader of your new brave world.

However, both Ares and Hermes could not achieve world domination without the help of Koalemos.

http://www.theoi.com/Daimon/Koalemos.html  He was completely ignored in our time, a third category god of dubious origin (it is said that his mother is Nyx- the night- nobody knows who was his father or fathers there is nothing certain about this moron. Even the most chlorotic nymph of the last tiny spring wouldn’t have accepted his courtship and he was never admitted on the Olympos even as a tourist. He is missing from the most mythology books, being so obscure, a genuine nobody!

And look-  now he has made a fantastic career in your world, Google is a failure compared to him. He is the adviser of many of the most important people from your planet, has the greatest number of worshippers and fans (disgusting word!) and he transcends all the cultures, subcultures, incultures, countercultures, spiritualities, ideologies, generations and borders. And this has happened only because you have rejected and wasted the greatest present received from us (I did not dared to ask Athena what is she speaking about- but I guess it was about Reason). You prefer the most damaging forms of drunkeness- with no alcohol and no material drugs.

But we, the gods also were not vigilant and so the dwarf became a giant, a Titan. We have forgotten the warning of a smart clairvoyant German poet, Fritz Schiller who has stated that all gods together are not able to defeat Koalemos and their fight will be in vain. Monuments and temples are built in the honor of Koalemos his cult is blooming and I can only look in astonishment and humiliation how Koalemos manages to force people to believe the most incredible foolish stories and unbelievable ideas and make you his happy and grateful slaves. Now he wants to transform the schools in his churches. Surely, I, Athena am his first target, he wants me to shut up for good and all. I am ready to fight but he is a coward and runs away.

He (Koalemos) adapts your brave new world to himself.

Athena continued: “ It is a great shame that you didn’t knew about Koalemos despite his huge impact and influence. Luckily, you have friends who are more informed than you. For example, Valeriu Butulescu is an expert in the Koalemos phenomenon- his aphorisms which are all dedicated to me tell a lot about Koalemos.

Valeriu is sad when says: ‘you can live only bad where Koalemos reigns” apocalyptic “if the follower of Koalemos will get wings,

they will darken the sky” and resigned “intelligence is only a very small county in the great, shining, omnipresent empire of Koalemos”

The situation is bad but will be worse soon, you will live in the times of a great Crisis (helas, she was right!) if you let that naughty

idiot Koalemos to poison, wash and subdue your brains you will live soon in an Age compared with which the darkest Middle Age

will look as a thousand mega –reflectors shining in the same time.

This 21st century looks already as the 12th in disguise.

The very spirit of Koalemos roams everywhere, overcomes obstacles and barriers, can be seen, heard, smelled, touched, given, taken, shared, accepted, refused, implemented, politicized...and so on. It became a part of humanity and of man. It lives in hundreds of strong, indestructible killer memes. It seems easier to calm down the waves of the ocean or even a tsunami than to stop Koalemos.

Do not forget, koalemositis is kontagious, but you still can stop the great epidemics. Kalemosian thinking is one of the strongest factors of social cohesion. Koalemosians of all countries unite! (they are!)

Athena was very persuasive, I was shocked and confused and desperate.

She told me Xaire! – her next flight has arrived. And I understood how deadly a working combination of Violence, Greed and Stupidity can be. Today, I am aware that the Goddess of Wisdom was actually an optimist.

Peter Gluck

INFORMAVORE's SUNDAY No 440

My weekly selection of serious information:

SEARCH

1. INTERNET

 

Number of Internet users worldwide reaches two billion:

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-internet-users-worldwide-billion.html

 

The Web Is Now the Last Place You Should Read Anything: http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/26284/?nlid=4036

 

Why the Entire Internet Is about to Become 'Slower and Flakier'

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/26297/?nlid=4050

To avert Internet crisis, the IPv6 scramble begins
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20029721-264.html?tag=nl.e703
 

Egypt leaves the Internet!:

http://www.renesys.com/blog/2011/01/egypt-leaves-the-internet.shtml

2. SEARCH & FIND: What, where, how.  

In my opinion, a must read, must subscribe- very useful for searcher: http://www.batesinfo.com/tips This time about search for small companies.

 

Wendy Boswell:  People who have influenced the Web as we use it today:

http://websearch.about.com/b/2011/01/18/a-decade-of-the-webs-most-influential-people.htm?nl=1

Tim Berners-Lee:  

http://websearch.about.com/od/searchingtheweb/p/Tim-Berners-Lee.htm?nl=1                                     

Sergey Brin: http://websearch.about.com/od/focusongoogle/p/?once=true&nl=

Top Twenty Web Celebs

http://websearch.about.com/od/peoplesearch/tp/top-ten-web-celebs-2007.htm?nl=1

A tale of two search engines:

http://community.nasdaq.com/News/2011-01/a-tale-of-two-search-engines.aspx?storyid=54887

Higher income but tepid growth at Yahoo: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/26/technology/26yahoo.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha26

Real-time search is thriving:

http://corp.topsy.com/2011/01/21/real-time-search-is-thriving-topsy-serves-half-billion-queries-in-january/

Ongo: A New Web Resource That Aggregates/Curates Material From Mutiple News Outlets: http://web.resourceshelf.com/go/resourceblog/63534

3. BLOGS and SOCIAL SITES

 

31 New Social Media Resources You May Have Missed:

http://mashable.com/2011/01/22/new-social-media-resources-16/

30 ways to use social media for business people:

http://www.seoptimise.com/blog/2011/01/30-ways-to-use-social-media-for-business-people.html

The state of Wikipedia:

http://gimundo.com/videos/view/the-state-of-wikipedia/

4. GOOGLE

 

A Creator Prepares to Take the Reins at Google

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/technology/22google.html?_r=1

Larry Page’s Google 3.0: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_06/b4214050441614.htm

Larry Page and the reinvention of “The Google”: http://searchengineland.com/larry-page-and-the-reinvention-of-the-google-62605

Eric Schmidt sees next decade as age of “augmented humanity”:

http://venturebeat.com/2011/01/25/eric-schmidt-sees-next-decade-as-age-of-augmented-humanity/

 

Video: BBC Airs One-on-One Interview With Google's Eric Schmidt

http://web.resourceshelf.com/go/resourceblog/63627

 

Google's Greatest Innovation May Be Its Management Practice:

http://www.fastcompany.com/1720052/the-b-y-leadership-model-google-s-greatest-contribution-to-innovation-may-be-it-s-management

 

A Periodic Table Guide to Google's APIs [Infographic]:

http://www.readwriteweb.com/cloud/2011/01/a-periodic-table-guide-to-goog.php

10 Must-Have Google Chrome Extensions:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/217432/google_chrome_extensions.html?tk=rss_news

WORDS, BOOKS, LIBRARIES

What’s the longest word in the English language?:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/01/21/133052745/whats-the-longest-word-in-the-english-language?sc=fb&cc=fp

Getting Started With eBooks: A Beginner's Guide http://web.resourceshelf.com/go/resourceblog/63455

E-Books: Amazon.com Now Sells More Kindle E-Books Than Paperbacks:

http://web.resourceshelf.com/go/resourceblog/63621

Is Kindle killing print books?

http://www.bizreport.com/2011/01/is-kindle-killing-print-books.html

SCIENCE

 

A physicist explains why parallel universes may exist:

http://www.npr.org/2011/01/24/132932268/a-physicist-explains-why-parallel-universes-may-exist

 

Science 360 – Chemistry: http://science360.gov/topic/Chemistry/

Light Touch Transforms Material Into a Superconductor

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110122112044.htm

 

Scientists show how to erase information without using energy:

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-scientists-erase-energy.html

 

On the hunt for universal intelligence: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110127131122.htm

 

Problem solving- God is in the definition:

http://blog.threestarleadership.com/2011/01/28/problem-solving-god-is-in-the-definition.aspx

 

Physicist Discovers How To Make Quantum Foam In A Test Tube:

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/26311/?nlid=4055

 

Ancient Body Clock Discovered That Helps Keep All Living Things on Time: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110126131540.htm

 

Light Controls a Worm's Behavior: Scientists Commandeer Organism's Nervous System Without Wires or Electrodes: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110118143222.htm

 

Brain 'GPS' Illuminated in Migratory Monarch Butterflies:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110126121450.htm

Happiness and Age: http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/post.aspx?bid=354&bpid=26293&nlid=4036

Nanoscale Transistors Used to Study Single-Molecule Interactions:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110124102946.htm

 

Salty Evolution: Previously Unknown Central Metabolic Pathway in Microorganisms Discovered: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110121103537.htm

 

Stage set early for success, or failure:

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/69090/title/Stage_set_early_for_success,_or_failure

 

How giants have conquered the Earth: https://mail.google.com/mail/?hl=en&shva=1#inbox/12dd390a05923e60

Orangutans’ genome full of surprises:

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/01/orangutan-genome.html?etoc

 

People Aren't Born Afraid of Spiders and Snakes: Fear Is Quickly Learned During Infancy: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110124111144.htm

 

Video – a self-planting seed:

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/01/video-a-self-planting-seed.html?etoc

An interestiug book- “The calculus of selfishness”: http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/honor-among-thieves

TECHNOLOGY

Technology is good when it is ethical: http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/IEETblog

Debate- natural gas versus renewables: http://www.economist.com/debate/debates/overview/193&fsrc=nwl

 

The world can be powered by alternative energy, using today’s technology, in 20-40 years:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110126091443.htm

Electricity from fuel cells: http://www.technologyreview.com/business/27010/?nlid=4036

 

Less is more for more efficient wind farms:

http://www.gizmag.com/less-is-more-for-more-cost-efficient-wind-farms/17659/

 

Could cows make biofuels better? http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/32233/?nlid=4056

 

Agave Fuels Excitement as a Bioenergy Crop

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110126121102.htm

 

New Device May Revolutionize Computer Memory

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110120111025.htm

Bob Rankin- fastest desktop PC: http://askbobrankin.com/fastest_desktop_pc.html?awt_l=4jAx_&awt_m=1a6mnbpcQOP6SL

Bob Rankin- sending fax from computer: http://askbobrankin.com/sending_fax_from_computer.html?awt_l=4jAx_&awt_m=1cbtk08DVOP6SL

EDUCATION, CULTURE, ART

 

Creating Simplicity: How Music Fools the Ear

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110120073507.htm

Rachel Carson- pen against poison: http://www.america.gov/publications/books/rachel-carson-pen-against-poison.html

Pandia looks at three great music recommendation engines:

http://www.pandia.com/sew/3396-music-recommendation.html

New research reveals the root of musical pleasure

http://www.gizmag.com/mcgill-research-shows-dopamine-responsible-for-music-pleasure/17663/

Problem solving- teaching the art of critical thought:

 http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/jan/25/techniques-for-teaching-the-art-of-critical/

Falsehoods- the Human Universals:

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2011/01/falsehoods_human_universals.php

Freedom of speech, religion, press around the world:

http://www.freedomfilter.us/

 

Brain Scans Show How Teens Are More 'Me-First' Than Adults

http://www.livescience.com/culture/teen-brain-changes-reciprocity-110126.html

 

Peaked performance- The case that human athletes have reached their limits: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2011/01/23/peaked_performance/?page=full

BUSINESS

 

Stop operating with a guild mindset: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/12/stop_operating_with_a_guild_mi.html

China’s king of e-commerce: http://www.economist.com/node/17800299?story_id=17800299

 

The Value of Ritual in Your Workday: http://blogs.hbr.org/bregman/2010/12/the-value-of-ritual-in-your-wo.html

Provocative: expand your mind- dumb-stupid and dimwitted (by Miki Saxon)

http://mappingcompanysuccess.com/2011/01/expand-your-mind-dumb-stupid-and-dimwitted/

HEALTH & MEDICINE

How Bacteria Keep Ahead of Vaccines and Antibiotics

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110127141655.htm

Discovery of a Biochemical Basis for Broccoli's Cancer-Fighting Ability: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110126131906.htm

 

Cracking a Tooth: 3-D Map of Atoms Sheds Light on Nanoscale Interfaces in Teeth, May Aid Materials Design: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110112132126.htm

 

Obesity Linked to Economic Insecurity

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110122112459.htm

 

Fighting the Fight for Healthy Teeth

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110123210113.htm

 

Alien Hand Syndrome sees woman attacked by her own hand:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12225163

FOOD & COOKING

Report advocates GM crops in food supply measures

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/report-advocates-gm-crops-in-food-supply-measures-2192790.html#

 

Lack of Sex Among Grapes Tangles a Family Vine http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/science/25wine.html?_r=1&ref=science

Why Diets Make You Fatter -- And What to Do About It

http://www.alternet.org/story/149702/why_diets_make_you_fatter_--_and_what_to_do_about_it

Why it is hard to lose weight?:

http://www.alternet.org/story/149628/why_is_it_hard_to_lose_weight_

Make Chinese food at home:

 

Top 12 Easy Chinese Recipes:

http://chinesefood.about.com/od/resourceschinesecooking/tp/easychinese.htm?nl=1

 

How to Lower the Fat in Chinese Cooking

http://chinesefood.about.com/cs/health/ht/lowerfathowto.htm?nl=1

 

Top 12 Quick and Easy Recipes to Celebrate Chinese New Year

http://chinesefood.about.com/od/chinesenewyear/tp/easy_recipes.htm?nl=1

MISCELLANEA

 

Journal of Universal Rejection:

http://www.math.pacificu.edu/~emmons/JofUR/

Horror scoped:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/01/22/horror-scoped/

SELECTED NEWS

SPAM & SPYWARE   

Matt Cutts on search and spam:

http://managinggreatness.com/2011/01/22/matt-cutts-on-search-and-spam/                                                        

 

Google Launches Algorithm To Fight Content Spam: http://searchengineland.com/google-launches-algorithm-to-fight-content-spam-62736

VIRUSES & e-CROOKS

A brief history of malware: the first 25 years:

http://antivirus.about.com/od/whatisavirus/a/A-Brief-History-Of-Malware-The-First-25-Years.htm?nl=1

25 years of digital vandalism: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/opinion/27Gibson.html?_r=2&hp

WiFi

Report: Analysis Of The Great Mobile App Store Boom Of 2010: http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/07/distimo-2010-mobile-app-store-boom/

Apps Could Turn Your Smart Phone Into a Wallet: http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/27125/?nlid=4036&a=f

An other new septoe

I have also read with pleasure Gina's first septoes and I found inspiration to
add an other one, in fact a translation of a Valeriu Butulescu aphorism

"Populism is moving the Center to Periphery"

I wonder which is more socially noxious- populism or cult of celebrity,
taking in account their intensities, extension and effects on thinking.
Butulescu's statement is valid for both.

Trying my first septoes

Let's see if I got this right. I should try to say something intelligent in only seven words. Whoever knows me for a long time, would agree that it is really difficult to restrain my tendency to express myself in words to only seven words per phrase. But this is exactly the challenge!

First that comes to mind is another way of defining a septoe, actually a very popular principle among communication gurus:
KISS principle - keep it short and simple!

Then another definition comes to mind - actual translation of a Romanian popular joke:
Indecision: wondering whether to wonder or not.


Now, let me try some thinking of my own now:
Flexibility: ending your phrase with a comma.
Life happens if you start living it.
Love will not fit into any schedule.
‘Change’ is just another word for ‘life’.
Devil doesn't need lawyer - he represents himself.
Trust should not be given, but gained.
“Never say never “ well… you just did!
Life has no cure – is always deadly.
My end, someone’s beginning; and vice versa.
Faith: having all the answers, without questions.
Mothers do not need arms to embrace.
Angels do not fall, they just are.
Parenthood isn’t easy or tough; just is.

That should be enough for one post.
I go to bed now and sleep well.
Coloured dreams -long sentences, no hidden meanings.
I wish you a good restful night!

Georgina Popescu

MY FAVORITE I-WORD

MY FAVORITE I-WORD

This essay is dedicated to Prof. Francesco Piantelli, who made most interesting discoveries regarding both New Energy and cancer research

 I love words. love them separately and love them even more

in good combinations, as in smart aphorisms, catchy statements,

inventive headlines and convincing arguments- all these being dense in ideas.

But it is a word that is my all-time and final favorite, an I-word.

It is not “important” but in a certain sense it is the most important

and influential word of all. However, its universality, uniqueness and ubiquity can be revealed only by a thorough analysis of the state of the word, of what we call reality-if we succeed to remove our many dominant memes – our relative truths.

It is a neutral word, not evil or good, but also very evil and good in some circumstances. It is NOT politically, ethnically, ethically

incorrect- it is NOT offensive to anybody, it is popular but NOT

populist. (N.T. I am writing NO and NOTalways with capital letters because these are my favorite N-words as I will tell you in

a following essay)

My I-word is not “important”, it is not offensive and it is not politically, ethnically, ethically, spiritually incorrect. It is in some respect, very vulnerable, but it is absolutely indestructible and unstoppable.

How have I  discovered this word? Somewhere, toward the end of my first career –in industrial research and consulting (socialist style: work and problem solving- yes, payment-no. or almost nil) I have decided to raise to a meta-professional status, to draw some general conclusions from what I have seen, learned, lived. To distil

my practical experience.

I have formulated the essence of what I know in this way:

“The World was built deliberately in order to satisfy the curiosity and the interests of the scientist, being infinitely complex and perfectible at all levels, thus opening him/her an unending area for thinking and action.”

In this wording- “built deliberately” must be discussed, a theist would think that scientists, using logic and reason are the Creators chosen people and this seems not a popular idea in some circles.

Agnostics, atheists, negatheists and bisincephalian thinkers are open to this idea and would accept it, being driven by the facts

of existence, not by memes.

My following experience, study and thinking has reinforced the idea formulated above and I succeeded to express it in the idea-dense form of septoes:

“ The Universe feeds our insatiable curiosity forever”

and

“The Universe is obsessed to be interesting”

Both septoes lead to the I-word, there are two reasons to call it so

It is too long (15 letters) and sounds much too “intellectual”

It is INTERESTINGNESS, it is about the idea or principle of the inherent, inborn, infinite interestingness of the the reality. It is a decent, grammatically correct noun, it gives almost 700,000 hits on Google.

Interestingly enough I came to the concept of the interestingness of the world independently, however in July 2004 I have discovered that an important and influential american scientist and thinker, Freeman Dyson has arrived to the same idea:

http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail170.html

Freeman Dyson dixit: “As a working hypothesis to explain the riddle of our existence, I propose that our universe is the most interesting of all possible universes, and our fate as human beings is to make it so." 

I was honored and enchanted- he is a great man. I wrote him immediately- long live the Internet! He answered, thus reinforcing my certainty that people of real value are always nice, friendly modest, so was Arthur C Clarke and so is Piantelli now. Freeman Dyson wrote: “I thought that the main reason for which the people do not believe in Heaven, is that Heaven is annoying. A universe in which all kinds of evil would be prohibited would be very annoying. On the other part, an universe in which the Universe will triumph also would be very annoying. Therefore I thought that because the universe in which we are living is not annoying, perhaps it was designed to be as interesting as possible.” (not exactly his words, I am translating back from Romanian, the original message was lost due to a crashed PC).

So I could learn that religion has lead Freeman to this idea of limitless interestinghness, my guides were technology and science.  A case of double, shared, priority.

Matter is infinitelly interesting at all levels, living matter is even more interesting and thinking living matter (so are supposedely the human beings) has the very mission to add to this too- as Freeman Dyson has emphasized the idea.

Paradoxically enough, humans add a lot to the interestingness of the world just by trying to change or even to mutilate it- by

a)   oppressing, trying to make the world less interesting, complex, diverse, surprising, temporary unknowable than it is; to create sub-interesting things,

b)   on the contrary trying to increase, to exacerbate, to inflate the interesting character of some things, to create super-interesting things

Both procedures are widely used. In the first case simple explanations are provided for yet unexplainable phenomena and “good” solutions are imposed for insoluble problems. For example

creationsts know quite exactly how a very geocentric and human-focused world was created in six days and this includes the origin of life and the essence of awareness/soul. Religions (there are some 11,000 of them) give all the necessary explanations, there are no open questions. You can also learn that Intelligent Design has a load of certainties while Evolution is full of weak points. In order to compenste in part the lost interestingness, religions offer mysteries and miracles while science is full of unknowns and surprises. Shortcuts in the first case; long, tortuous, tiresome

ways in the second. Substituting  the interesting with something less interesting- what an interesting endeavor! Making a lot of people who don’t like the unknown and the dangerous- quite happy. Having the certainty of a good place after death is so much better than to accept nothingness.

Existence is interesting, then why not imagine some even more interesting ones?  The real interestingness is more intense than we could imagine, but this does not stop imagination from trying.So we create the strange the sensational, the thrillerous, the dirty, the kitschy etc. Super –interesting borrows the supernatural from the less- than- interesting and populates it with inexisting beings, usually evil monsters.

A very interesting image develops – the enemies of interesting- mutilated interestingness and malign interestingness (celebrity cult is the second’s most pernicious form) –unite and collaborate- sometimes very well.

Unfortunately my  two left brain hemispheres are unable to discover were enters Art- a legitimate and noble form of interestingness in this picture and scenario. I will ask an artist

about it  on the Web. Perhaps the Canadian painter Robert Genn

because I like both his paintings and his by-weekly art essays at http://www.painterskeys.com/ - I am reading them regularly from immemorial Internet times.

I find the world of science interesting enough, and will follow it up to my last intellectual breath. I think that I am alive only till I make interesting discoveries. 

An intellectual feast in the SKEPTIC Magazine

Published today in the SKEPTIC Magazine:

The Ideological Immune System - Resistance to New Ideas in Science

by Jay Stuart Snelson

Resistance to new ideas is the main obstacle to the development of the new energy

sources too.