Saturday, May 5, 2018
Humans tend to behave in a predictable systematic, unsurprising irrationality based on emotions and social norms that influence the economic behavior in individual motivation. Human behavior is driven by two opposing motivations, the want to view oneself as honest and honorable but willing to deceive or mislead for benefit. Human behavior is a balance between two forces. Irrational behavior is one part of human nature. Humans are not rational but make bad snap decisions, deceive or mislead and let emotions rule. Trust in social or business situations drop as human populations grow but there are limits to which an honest individual can stretch his dishonesty or what is considered acceptable acts of being dishonest. Humans react differently when stressed and make different decisions than when cool headed. Humans are not perfect so to lie about something doesn't make one bad, it simply makes us human. Humans who are emotionally or physically exhausted are more likely to deceive or mislead. Deceit can spread like a virus within some organizations simply because deceit is a part of life. It's not always about personal gain. Routinely one will not tell someone how they really look. Humans tend to value truthfulness highly but also value loyalty. When other humans you care about tend to gain from you being dishonest, you're more likely to be dishonest. Companies make cost-benefit analyses for gain from outside-the-lines behavior and the potential consequences and forestall bad behavior by putting punishments in place.
Saturday, June 6, 2015
The principle of least action, a law of nature
Mass makes its way instant by instant but does it follow a preordained path?
In 1661 Pierre de Fermat thought a bending of a ray of light as it passes from air into water or glass occurs because it is the fast path. A lifeguard can run at a faster speed than he can swim so he should estimate the path of least time to a swimmer because the shortest path, a straight line, is not the fastest path to a drowning swimmer. Fermat thought light must travel slower in denser media.
Later, Newton thought he proved the opposite. Fermat's principle of simplicity is correct. Theology and physics had not yet distanced themseleves so scientists found it natural to ask "what sort of universe would god make?' Even Einstein would doubt that god played dice with the world at a time when he felt a need to balance between the literal believers in god and his disbelieving professional colleagues.
We now know the more competently science performs is when it has no need for a god. God does not intervene but is rather oblivious or nonexistant; it was Newton's second law where force was equal to the mass times the acceleration. However, Pierre-Louis de Maupertuis discovered a way of seeing such paths. In his scheme, a planet's path has a most economical logic that cant be seen from the vantage point of someone merely adding and subtracting the forces at work instant by instant.
Joseph lagrange showed that the paths of moving objects are always the most economical. These paths minimize a quantity called action. Action is a quantity based on the object's velocity, mass and space it traverses. A planet chooses the best of all possible paths as if god was leaving his stamp.
Where Newton's methods left a feeling of comprehension, the scientists were left with a sense of mystery with minimum principles. Quantum mechanics was the answer.
In 1661 Pierre de Fermat thought a bending of a ray of light as it passes from air into water or glass occurs because it is the fast path. A lifeguard can run at a faster speed than he can swim so he should estimate the path of least time to a swimmer because the shortest path, a straight line, is not the fastest path to a drowning swimmer. Fermat thought light must travel slower in denser media.
Later, Newton thought he proved the opposite. Fermat's principle of simplicity is correct. Theology and physics had not yet distanced themseleves so scientists found it natural to ask "what sort of universe would god make?' Even Einstein would doubt that god played dice with the world at a time when he felt a need to balance between the literal believers in god and his disbelieving professional colleagues.
We now know the more competently science performs is when it has no need for a god. God does not intervene but is rather oblivious or nonexistant; it was Newton's second law where force was equal to the mass times the acceleration. However, Pierre-Louis de Maupertuis discovered a way of seeing such paths. In his scheme, a planet's path has a most economical logic that cant be seen from the vantage point of someone merely adding and subtracting the forces at work instant by instant.
Joseph lagrange showed that the paths of moving objects are always the most economical. These paths minimize a quantity called action. Action is a quantity based on the object's velocity, mass and space it traverses. A planet chooses the best of all possible paths as if god was leaving his stamp.
Where Newton's methods left a feeling of comprehension, the scientists were left with a sense of mystery with minimum principles. Quantum mechanics was the answer.
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
History of Christianization
Christian theologians Augustine and Thomas Aquinas legitimized religious persecution. John Milton and John Locke argued for limited religious toleration. Thomas Jefferson developed the concept of religious freedom.
Freedom of religion is recognized to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any religion, the freedom to leave, discontinue membership in a religion or apostasy.
Early Christianity began long after the timeline of Christ. Growth begin after Constantine turned it into a persecuting religion in 300AD during the decline o the Roman Empire. Priscillian became the first to be executed of heresy in 385AD. He was a Catholic bishop and theologian but a layman who had devoted his life to study with a pagan education. After the decline of the Roman Empire, the Christianization of Europe was to a large extent peaceful, except the Jews and Muslims were harshly prosecuted with forced conversions inside the Byzantine empire. At times, encounters between Christians and Pagans were confrontational. Christian kings (Charlemagne, Olaf I of Norway) was known for his violence against pagans.
The persecution of Christian heretics resumed in 1022 when fourteen people were burned at Orleans.
In the late Middle Ages, the Crusades was Christians verses Muslims in a war over the possession of Jerusalem. Massacres of Muslims and Jews occured after Jerusalem was taken by Crusaders in 1099.
Bogomilism and Catharism surfaced in Europe. These sects were viewed as heretic by the Catholic Church. The suppression of the Cathar faith took the form of the Albigensian Crusade. From 1209 to 1229, a military campaign initiated by the Roman Catholic Church used extreme violence by even medieval standards. Notable individuals who were executed for heresy in the late Middle Ages are Jerome of Prague, John Badby and Jan Hus. The Inquisition was established to persecute these heresies until eradicating them by the 14th century.
The Northern Crusades against remaining pagans in Northern Europe eraticated the pagan religions in Europe. Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Tsardom conquered the Kazan Khanate and Astrakhan Khanate by the 1500s. The government forcibly baptized Muslim Volga Tatars and pagan Chuvash, Mordva and Mari. Mosques were prohibited. This persecution subsided during the reign of Catherine II of Russia.
The Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition continued to persecute Jews and Muslims. In Spain after the Reconquista, Jews were forced to either convert or be exiled. Many were killed. The persecution of Jews begin in the 12th century Visigothic Spain after the emergence of the blood libel against Jews. The Spanish agreed to allow Muslims the freedom of religion in 1492 but this was often ignored. By 1500, Muslims had the choice of conversion or exile. By 1550, Arab or Muslim dress was forbidden. Spain prohibited the Arabic language in 1566. Jews were expelled from England by King Edward I.
In 1517 Martin Luther wrote Ninety-Five Thesesand. Catholicism reacted just as it did to the heresies of the late Middle Ages. The Protestant Reformation in Spain ended with a few dozen executions but the strategy failed in Germany, Northern Europe and in England. France suffered through the French Wars of Religion reverting to only Catholic. Catholicism and Protestant denominations were divided. Protestants alleged that the catholic Pope was the Antichrist. Conflicts within the Christian factions were extreme: in France the 1572 St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre; in Germany and Central Europe the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648); in England the English Civil War (1641-1651). The devastations of these wars lead to the ideas of Religious toleration, Freedom of religion and Religious pluralism. As it slowly gained ground in Europe, the Witch trials in Early Modern Europe continued growing between 1550 to 1650 and ended in 1750.
European Colonialism accompanied by Christian evangelism led to the suppression of indigenous religions in the territories conquered or usurped by the Europeans. The Spanish colonization of the Americas largely destroyed the Aztec and Inca civilization. Colonialism and Imperialism were not motivated by religious zeal but the suppression of the indigenous religions was a result. The Goa Inquisition is one such persecution occurring on the European continent.
By the 18th century, persecutions of unsanctioned beliefs were reduced in most Europeans countries to religious discrimination. Legal restrictions applied to those who did not accept the official faith to include barring from higher education and participation in the national legislature. Colonized nations attempts to convert native peoples to Christianity were more encouraging and less forceful. In British India during the Victorian era, Christian converts were given preferential treatment for governmental appointments.
Freedom of religion is recognized to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any religion, the freedom to leave, discontinue membership in a religion or apostasy.
Early Christianity began long after the timeline of Christ. Growth begin after Constantine turned it into a persecuting religion in 300AD during the decline o the Roman Empire. Priscillian became the first to be executed of heresy in 385AD. He was a Catholic bishop and theologian but a layman who had devoted his life to study with a pagan education. After the decline of the Roman Empire, the Christianization of Europe was to a large extent peaceful, except the Jews and Muslims were harshly prosecuted with forced conversions inside the Byzantine empire. At times, encounters between Christians and Pagans were confrontational. Christian kings (Charlemagne, Olaf I of Norway) was known for his violence against pagans.
The persecution of Christian heretics resumed in 1022 when fourteen people were burned at Orleans.
In the late Middle Ages, the Crusades was Christians verses Muslims in a war over the possession of Jerusalem. Massacres of Muslims and Jews occured after Jerusalem was taken by Crusaders in 1099.
Bogomilism and Catharism surfaced in Europe. These sects were viewed as heretic by the Catholic Church. The suppression of the Cathar faith took the form of the Albigensian Crusade. From 1209 to 1229, a military campaign initiated by the Roman Catholic Church used extreme violence by even medieval standards. Notable individuals who were executed for heresy in the late Middle Ages are Jerome of Prague, John Badby and Jan Hus. The Inquisition was established to persecute these heresies until eradicating them by the 14th century.
The Northern Crusades against remaining pagans in Northern Europe eraticated the pagan religions in Europe. Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Tsardom conquered the Kazan Khanate and Astrakhan Khanate by the 1500s. The government forcibly baptized Muslim Volga Tatars and pagan Chuvash, Mordva and Mari. Mosques were prohibited. This persecution subsided during the reign of Catherine II of Russia.
The Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition continued to persecute Jews and Muslims. In Spain after the Reconquista, Jews were forced to either convert or be exiled. Many were killed. The persecution of Jews begin in the 12th century Visigothic Spain after the emergence of the blood libel against Jews. The Spanish agreed to allow Muslims the freedom of religion in 1492 but this was often ignored. By 1500, Muslims had the choice of conversion or exile. By 1550, Arab or Muslim dress was forbidden. Spain prohibited the Arabic language in 1566. Jews were expelled from England by King Edward I.
In 1517 Martin Luther wrote Ninety-Five Thesesand. Catholicism reacted just as it did to the heresies of the late Middle Ages. The Protestant Reformation in Spain ended with a few dozen executions but the strategy failed in Germany, Northern Europe and in England. France suffered through the French Wars of Religion reverting to only Catholic. Catholicism and Protestant denominations were divided. Protestants alleged that the catholic Pope was the Antichrist. Conflicts within the Christian factions were extreme: in France the 1572 St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre; in Germany and Central Europe the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648); in England the English Civil War (1641-1651). The devastations of these wars lead to the ideas of Religious toleration, Freedom of religion and Religious pluralism. As it slowly gained ground in Europe, the Witch trials in Early Modern Europe continued growing between 1550 to 1650 and ended in 1750.
European Colonialism accompanied by Christian evangelism led to the suppression of indigenous religions in the territories conquered or usurped by the Europeans. The Spanish colonization of the Americas largely destroyed the Aztec and Inca civilization. Colonialism and Imperialism were not motivated by religious zeal but the suppression of the indigenous religions was a result. The Goa Inquisition is one such persecution occurring on the European continent.
By the 18th century, persecutions of unsanctioned beliefs were reduced in most Europeans countries to religious discrimination. Legal restrictions applied to those who did not accept the official faith to include barring from higher education and participation in the national legislature. Colonized nations attempts to convert native peoples to Christianity were more encouraging and less forceful. In British India during the Victorian era, Christian converts were given preferential treatment for governmental appointments.
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Science and scholars find no evidence or need for a god
I choose to believe in noted scholars over our illiterate ancestor's writings supplemented by pragmatic apologetic scholars who have to lie to keep money rolling into the church coffers.
Christians killed and took possession of the pagan buildings for the first churches and established holidays. Easter is a pagan holiday set by the first full moon after the vernal equinox and Christmas was a pagan holiday for the equinox. The question of an actual historical Jesus rarely confronts the religious believer. The power of faith has so forcefully driven the minds of most believers, and even the apologetic scholars, that the question of reliable evidence is obscured by tradition, religious subterfuge, and outrageous claims.
No physical evidence to support a historical Jesus. There are no artifacts, dwelling, works of carpentry, or self-written manuscripts. No contemporary Roman record shows Pontius Pilate executing a man named Jesus. There is no contemporary writing that mentions Jesus. All documents about Jesus came well after the life of the alleged Jesus from unknown authors, people who had never met an earthly Jesus, or from fraudulent, mythical or allegorical writings that one can argue come from fraud or interpolations. No reliable evidence exists for a historical Jesus. All sources about Jesus derive from hearsay accounts. Courts of law do not generally allow hearsay as testimony, and nor does honest modern scholarship. Hearsay does not provide good evidence, and therefore, we should dismiss it.
The most authoritative accounts of a historical Jesus are the four canonical Gospels of the Bible. Gospels in the Bible aren't original and authoritative but influenced of early church fathers. The most influential was Irenaeus of Lyon who lived in the middle of the second century, when numerous heretical gospels existed. Irenaeus used 4 for mystical reasons. The four gospels of Church cannon have unknown authors who never met Jesus and wrote the Gospels after the alleged life of Jesus.
The earliest Gospel of Mark came 40 years after the alleged crucifixion. Forty years later Gospel writings mention Jesus!
Not a single historian, philosopher, scribe or follower who lived before or during the alleged time of Jesus ever mentions him!
So the gospels portraying Jesus as famous far and wide, a prophet and healer, with great multitudes of people who knew about him, including the greatest Jewish high priests and the Roman authorities of the area.
If the poor, the rich, the rulers, the highest priests, and the scribes knew about Jesus, who would not have heard of him?
Yet not one person records his existence during his lifetime! What's man got to do, walk on water? Wait, he did that... Come back as a zombie? Wait, he did that... Feed multitudes from a piece of bread? Wait, the gospels say he did that...
So the Gospels mention a particular astronomical event that would have attracted the attention of anyone interested in the heavens. Luke 23:44-45, there occurred "about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour, and the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst."
Hmmm! Not a single mention of such a three hour ecliptic event got recorded by anyone.
No astronomer nor astrologer anywhere in the world, including Pliny the Elder and Seneca who both recorded eclipses from other dates noted it.
Well, for obvious reasons, solar eclipses can't occur during a full moon and passovers always occur during full moons so it likey was another big lie.
So the Gospels mentions the earthquake described in Matthew 27:51-54 where the earth shook, rocks ripped apart (rent), and graves opened.
Hmmm! Not a single contemporary person wrote anything.
So the Gospels mentions extraordinary infanticides in Matthew 2 where Herod and all of Jerusalem as troubled by the worship of the infant Jesus. Herod then had all of the children of Bethlehem slain.
Hmmm! extraordinary infanticides of this magnitude but no one wrote about it?
The area in and surrounding Jerusalem was the center of education and record keeping for the Jewish people. The Romans kept many records. The gospels mention scribes as followers of Jesus and scribes connected with the high priests. Historians were plentiful at the time who had the capacity and capability to record, not only insignificant gossip, but significant events, especially from a religious sect who drew so much popular attention through an allegedly famous and infamous Jesus. Philo of Alexander ( 20 B.C.E. and died 50 C.E) lived as the greatest Jewish-Hellenistic philosopher and historian of the time and lived in the area of Jerusalem during the alleged life of Jesus. He wrote detailed accounts of the Jewish events that occurred in the surrounding area. Yet not once, in all of his volumes of writings, do we read a single account of a Jesus* "the Christ."
So the Gospels mentions a well-known Jesus existed but the fame of Jesus did not reach the ears of anyone for 40 years after he had died.
Hmmm! Not one Jewish, Greek, or Roman writer, even those who lived in the Middle East, much less anywhere else on the earth, ever mentions him during his supposed life time.
So the Gospels mentions Jesus lived as God on earth, the Almighty is plum embarrassing at explaining his existence.
This Creator doesn't have any evidence and science and scholars rest on it.
Christians killed and took possession of the pagan buildings for the first churches and established holidays. Easter is a pagan holiday set by the first full moon after the vernal equinox and Christmas was a pagan holiday for the equinox. The question of an actual historical Jesus rarely confronts the religious believer. The power of faith has so forcefully driven the minds of most believers, and even the apologetic scholars, that the question of reliable evidence is obscured by tradition, religious subterfuge, and outrageous claims.
No physical evidence to support a historical Jesus. There are no artifacts, dwelling, works of carpentry, or self-written manuscripts. No contemporary Roman record shows Pontius Pilate executing a man named Jesus. There is no contemporary writing that mentions Jesus. All documents about Jesus came well after the life of the alleged Jesus from unknown authors, people who had never met an earthly Jesus, or from fraudulent, mythical or allegorical writings that one can argue come from fraud or interpolations. No reliable evidence exists for a historical Jesus. All sources about Jesus derive from hearsay accounts. Courts of law do not generally allow hearsay as testimony, and nor does honest modern scholarship. Hearsay does not provide good evidence, and therefore, we should dismiss it.
The most authoritative accounts of a historical Jesus are the four canonical Gospels of the Bible. Gospels in the Bible aren't original and authoritative but influenced of early church fathers. The most influential was Irenaeus of Lyon who lived in the middle of the second century, when numerous heretical gospels existed. Irenaeus used 4 for mystical reasons. The four gospels of Church cannon have unknown authors who never met Jesus and wrote the Gospels after the alleged life of Jesus.
The earliest Gospel of Mark came 40 years after the alleged crucifixion. Forty years later Gospel writings mention Jesus!
Not a single historian, philosopher, scribe or follower who lived before or during the alleged time of Jesus ever mentions him!
So the gospels portraying Jesus as famous far and wide, a prophet and healer, with great multitudes of people who knew about him, including the greatest Jewish high priests and the Roman authorities of the area.
If the poor, the rich, the rulers, the highest priests, and the scribes knew about Jesus, who would not have heard of him?
Yet not one person records his existence during his lifetime! What's man got to do, walk on water? Wait, he did that... Come back as a zombie? Wait, he did that... Feed multitudes from a piece of bread? Wait, the gospels say he did that...
So the Gospels mention a particular astronomical event that would have attracted the attention of anyone interested in the heavens. Luke 23:44-45, there occurred "about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour, and the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst."
Hmmm! Not a single mention of such a three hour ecliptic event got recorded by anyone.
No astronomer nor astrologer anywhere in the world, including Pliny the Elder and Seneca who both recorded eclipses from other dates noted it.
Well, for obvious reasons, solar eclipses can't occur during a full moon and passovers always occur during full moons so it likey was another big lie.
So the Gospels mentions the earthquake described in Matthew 27:51-54 where the earth shook, rocks ripped apart (rent), and graves opened.
Hmmm! Not a single contemporary person wrote anything.
So the Gospels mentions extraordinary infanticides in Matthew 2 where Herod and all of Jerusalem as troubled by the worship of the infant Jesus. Herod then had all of the children of Bethlehem slain.
Hmmm! extraordinary infanticides of this magnitude but no one wrote about it?
The area in and surrounding Jerusalem was the center of education and record keeping for the Jewish people. The Romans kept many records. The gospels mention scribes as followers of Jesus and scribes connected with the high priests. Historians were plentiful at the time who had the capacity and capability to record, not only insignificant gossip, but significant events, especially from a religious sect who drew so much popular attention through an allegedly famous and infamous Jesus. Philo of Alexander ( 20 B.C.E. and died 50 C.E) lived as the greatest Jewish-Hellenistic philosopher and historian of the time and lived in the area of Jerusalem during the alleged life of Jesus. He wrote detailed accounts of the Jewish events that occurred in the surrounding area. Yet not once, in all of his volumes of writings, do we read a single account of a Jesus* "the Christ."
So the Gospels mentions a well-known Jesus existed but the fame of Jesus did not reach the ears of anyone for 40 years after he had died.
Hmmm! Not one Jewish, Greek, or Roman writer, even those who lived in the Middle East, much less anywhere else on the earth, ever mentions him during his supposed life time.
So the Gospels mentions Jesus lived as God on earth, the Almighty is plum embarrassing at explaining his existence.
This Creator doesn't have any evidence and science and scholars rest on it.
Monday, July 21, 2014
Evolution of the Gray Wolf
Science has shown that all dog breeds derive from the gray wolf. The dog genome is completely sequenced allowing comparisons between dogs and gray wolves or between dog breeds. The genetic underpinnings of artificial selection at a genome-wide level reflect Darwin's ideas that populations contain significant diversity, and that artificial selection can act on that diversity over time to promote the reproduction of certain variants over others to shift average characteristics of a population. The evidence suggests that natural selection acts in essentially the same way as artificial selection favoring the reproduction of certain variants over others are Darwin's parallels between artificial and natural selection.
Moon causes waves
The gravitational force of attraction between two massive bodies is larger for larger masses and increases as the distance between them decreases. Tides result from the difference in the moon's gravitational force between two opposite sides of the earth. The side nearer to the moon is pulled with greater force than the center of the earth while the side farther from it is pulled with less force. When the centrifugal force, which is equal and opposite of the gravitational force on the center, is subtracted, the result is two forces pulling away from the center. This mostly affects the oceans which are fluid and therefore easily deformed by this tidal effect resulting in two bulges on opposite sides of the earth in line with the moon.
Friday, July 4, 2014
Evolution of the Sun
Evolution of a star depends on its mass which determines the amount of fuel available and the maximum central temperature attainable for its fusion reaction. Stars lose mass into space as they burn. The Sun releases proton and electrons generating a solar wind. This wind of energetic particles causes the auroras called the northern and southern lights, which are the result of solar flares that intensify the solar wind. As the hydrogen fusion ends, the fate of a star depends on its mass.
All stars contradict the Aristotelian view of the eternal eighth sphere of the heavens that contains fixed and immutable stars. The Sun is a low mass star with a final stage of helium fusion that starts 5B years from now and will cause the sun luminosity to increase by a factor of 1000. In 1B years a 10% increase will cause water vapor on earth to be lost into space. As the luminosity increases it will cause the oceans to evaporate and scorch the earth.
As a star gets older it becomes larger, cooler, and redder; increasing its energy output. The hydrogen fusion stag ends and it morphs to a red giant. Stars eight times larger than the Sun or smaller don't have the mass to explode into a supernova. Therefore the Sun will fade away.
There is hundreds of possible nuclear reaction occurring in stars at different stages in their evolution as well as the aftermath of a supernova explosion. These provided the answer to the profound question of the origin of the elements. The oxygen and nitrogen we breathe, the carbon in our bodies, the metals such as aluminum, silver, gold and platinum were all made from stellar processes. Without the life and death of stars the world could not exist, without the source of energy from the Sun, life could not have developed.
All stars contradict the Aristotelian view of the eternal eighth sphere of the heavens that contains fixed and immutable stars. The Sun is a low mass star with a final stage of helium fusion that starts 5B years from now and will cause the sun luminosity to increase by a factor of 1000. In 1B years a 10% increase will cause water vapor on earth to be lost into space. As the luminosity increases it will cause the oceans to evaporate and scorch the earth.
As a star gets older it becomes larger, cooler, and redder; increasing its energy output. The hydrogen fusion stag ends and it morphs to a red giant. Stars eight times larger than the Sun or smaller don't have the mass to explode into a supernova. Therefore the Sun will fade away.
There is hundreds of possible nuclear reaction occurring in stars at different stages in their evolution as well as the aftermath of a supernova explosion. These provided the answer to the profound question of the origin of the elements. The oxygen and nitrogen we breathe, the carbon in our bodies, the metals such as aluminum, silver, gold and platinum were all made from stellar processes. Without the life and death of stars the world could not exist, without the source of energy from the Sun, life could not have developed.
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