The Bewilderness

A huge boost for regenerative medicine

Every year my interest in regenerative medicine deepens; not out of some sneaking admiration for the Timelords and their Baker's dozen of lifetimes (only two bakers, one cake, one smith and the real McCoy in a Doctor's dozen), but because I would like to live longer and remain healthy for all of this century if I can. Dying is a very troublesome event when we live in such interesting times.

Some good news on this front: Stem cells may be collected at any age, possibly.

As an alternative scientists can use a method of taking normal cells from adults and reversing them to an unspecialised state, known as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS), making them almost indistinguishable from embryonic stem cells.

But experts are divided over whether the technique can work efficiently in elderly patients, who have the most to gain from the potential treatments, because their cells have deteriorated further.

By adding two new ingredients, known as transcription factors, to the method of generating adult stem cells, they were able to overcome this hurdle and "reset" many of the key markers of ageing in cells.

Whilst it will be some time to move from this report to potential treatments, the astonishing development, as reported, that the cells rejuvenated were taken from the oldest of the old, including a centenarian. A strong kick in the teeth for cellular senescence.

£9,000 pays for a flight to science

If there is any indication that an increase in tuition fees is having a positive outcome, then the flight to quality in subjects is heartening. The Torygraph reports that applications for the softer subjects such as media studies have dropped by a considerable margin. The drop for harder subjects, such as engineering and maths, is far less.

This could be open to criticism:

Toni Pearce, vice president of the National Union of Students, said: "The indication is that the confusion caused by the Government's botched reforms is causing young people to, at the very least, hesitate before applying to university.

"Ministers must stop tinkering around the edges of their shambolic reforms, listen to students, teachers and universities, and completely overhaul their white paper before temporary chaos turns into permanent damage to our education system."

It does not sound like new students are confused. They sound as if they are taking the time (what we might call hesitation) to evaluate their futures and choose subjects with long-term value. When Toni Pearce says she wants ministers to listen to students, she means herself.

Moving on, the tuition reforms may actually reverse the decline in science and math. Real money is channelled towards the more expensive subjects; they were disadvantaged under a flat pricing scheme where universities preferred to endorse cheaper disciplines, since numbers rather than quality counted.

This has gone some way to reverse that.

Wow, those deniers can write

As soon as we read the 'objective' hagiography in the Independent's reportage about James Hansen: "the most celebrated climate change scientist" or "father of the green movement", we can expect, let's be polite, a slightly one-sided article. The Independent will never disappoint on this. James Hansen, head of NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies has found a novel spin  for the "climate change deniers". They have been more successful at obtaining public support as climate change only has poorly spoken, shy scientists supporting it, where as climate contrarians have communications professionals.

Part of the problem, he said, was that the climate sceptic lobby employed communications professionals, whereas "scientists are just barely competent at communicating with the public and don't have the wherewithal to do it."

This is divorced from reality? Perhaps not: think about the defenders of orthodoxy: government sponsored public sector professionals, smug in their own righteousness versus lightfooted bloggers and contrarians who have to persuade their audience. For the high priests, persuading an audience of your argument is cheating; but this very quality, the ability to write, makes you a communications professional. 

The pharisees really need to rethink. Their message is coming through loud and clear. Frozen pensioners, heating or eating: these are all necessary sacrifices for the greater good. Their blind immoral calculus bodes ill.

How do we assess an innovation nation?

Part of the discussions that H+ group should be having revolve around how we get from here to there (what is required to ascend the shock levels?). One of the drivers is that ubiquitous, ill-defined and poorly thought out champion of politicians, innovation. Flaccid in thought and without rigor, politicians have added this to the canon of virtues that they weave into aspiration and perspiration, in this global competition of nations.

No surprise that a management school will produce a ranking; after all we have them for almost all other aspects of economic comparison:

The INSEAD report focuses broadly on two aspects of innovation: inputs and outputs. Inputs include things like political stability, press freedom, university attendance, and information technology use. Innovation outputs include the number of patents granted, economic indicators, and number of scientific journal articles published.

Despite the inclusion of some measures more associated with technological prowess, does this actually tell us much about how innovative a country or region is? It seems to conjure up another ranking of economic competitiveness, slightly slanted towards measurable aspects associated with technological activities. Hardly groundbreaking, and a reminder of how orthodox most of these exercises turn out to be.

 

Euroland has a plan, god help us all

Euroland is the new Schleswig-Holstein Question. Nobody knows the answer except for three people: one has forgotten, one is dead and one is mad. Mad and dead may be farcical, but pretending to know the answer is just plain bad. When one man from the government says they have a plan, you run; when seventeen say they have a plan, you hide all your assets. This is the latest deliverable from the currency union that brought you Berlusconi's austerity (avec marocaine) and youth unemployment that devastates a generation.

The debt cycles are feeding upon themselves, each pressure point cascading to the next in linked feedback loops. The diseased arteries of finance in Euroland are drying up: undead institutions sucking lifeblood from the sovereigns, and under the radar, from their own customers. The causes of this financial-political complex are opaque, but its parasitism was launched after the financial crisis in 2008. Unable to accept the necessary pain from deleveraging, politicians and financiers joined together in extend and pretend.

The danger lies in those problems abjured during the good times, and now festering ever closer to the surface. If the banlieues light up at a time of growth, what will a true downturn bring? Acquiescence? Further isolation from the host society or an eruption?

Dis the 'Supreme Court' and the bruv's right to a family life

It is good to finally see some dissent in the ranks of the Supreme Court over the use of summary judgements to overturn government policy. The body has just overturned the law on curbing forced marriages for those under the age of 21. The right to family life has trumped policy attempts to mitigate this evil. [Judges, you may wish to note the use of the prefix forced]. The law was universal and bad, but it is not up to judges to strike down laws they don't like.

"Still more obviously, the comparison between the enormity of suffering within forced marriages on the one hand and the disruption to innocent couples within the 18-21 age group whose desire to live together in this country is temporarily thwarted by the rule change, is essentially one for elected politicians, not for judges."

He noted that Article Eight was "a difficult provision which has already led to some highly contentious, not to say debatable, decisions".

And he concluded: "In a sensitive context such as that of forced marriages, it would seem to me not merely impermissible but positively unwise for the courts yet again to frustrate Government policy except in the clearest of cases.

"To my mind this cannot possibly be regarded as such a case. I would allow these appeals."

The Liberal Democrats may feel satisfied that their moral autonomy has been curbed by unelected judges in the name of human rights. [The strange idea that if you think you share the same ideas and values, you will come to the same conclusions; then the courts become a strange validation device until your oops moment!!].

With a public release of the deep disquiet which some judges view overturning statute, we may see a curbing of this distasteful activism that has thwarted Parliament's will and brought justice into disrepute. Until then, there will be bewildered wives brought here, their status barely more than slaves. Some may even die. But they can be satisfied that the Supreme Court took their rights into account.

Slovaks push stick into € spokes

The EFSF is undergoing the same trajectory as EU treaties: held hostage by the filthy democracy that impdes the beautiful plans of a correct technocracy. Despite some ructions the larger countries have fallen into line. Nevertheless, plucky politicians in small Slovakia have asked a questions: why is acquiring debt a solution to the problem of too much debt? Answers on a postcard to Merkozy.

In the meantime, this Slovakian  stick between the spokes may cause the wobbling velocipede to fall over. The can is acquiring the dimensions of an oil drum: non kickable.

It probably will pass, but the shenanigans may cause a few heart attacks in Brussels. ALways welcome.

We need questions, not answers

Zero State is a new grouping that has emerged out of the inchoate slew of groups and personnel straddling futurism and transhumanism in the United Kingdom. Following the mutations amongst these associations over the last decade, one could get cynical about the lack of 'take off' one finds in a movement. A similar parallel could be drawn in the quest for liberty.

So, we find that the latest permutation seeks not to mainstream transhumanism, but to embrace the values and broaden participation. Admirable goals, no doubt and mood music to the major focal point of this post. Without quoting from the text, a troubling manifesto was put up for comment on a mailing list as a response to the financial crisis. The first paragraph blamed the financial crisis on capitalism and deliberate actions by a cross-section of government and the richest 1%. The result was that the middle class were paying a redistribution to the rich. The redistribution to the rich exists but I was loath to recognise agency in such a confusing and unknown situation. Within the text, such sentiments did denote class war and the politics of envy; sentiments indistinguishable from any utterance of the Labour Party or the radical left. This led me to think: if we are unable to understand what has occurred so far (since we can read a slew of competing narratives), what would transhumanist interests bring to the table? And I think that this is an important question, since these interests, these values distinguish us from the peddlers of traditional fictions.

One of the key factors of the banks has been a misreading of risk; part of the area that plays into the research on cognitive bias and other factors that can skew thought and action. Should we ensure that there are women traders to break up the dominant effects of testosterone? Should we ensure that all risk officers are women (the mother of all Battles?) Do we need to consider the effect of archaic institutional perspectives on what has occurred? Corporations, regulators and hedge funds all date from the twentieth century. They find it difficult to receive, process and act upon information; the complexities are too tangled in certain circumstances. (That does not prevent us from identifying those companies that were just stupid: loading themselves up on badly rated debt and foudering as a result).

The emphasis should be on questions, not an narratives. Adopt a story and you will instantly slot yourself into an existing narrative; one based on its own assumptions, not the evidence.

 

 

A gig from the Beautiful South that I would like to see

Now that the Age of Exploration is on hiatus, we turn inwards with fascination to both the triumphs and the failures of earlier years. One of the key focal points for exhibitions and the public are the polar expeditions of the Edwardian era, whose centenaries fall about now. The cult of anniversary has spawned a rash of new findings.

Most bizarre of all is the uncovering of the Terra Nova expedition's last photos, taken by Captain Scott. Recognised by its leader, Captain Scott, and the untimely end of its members, uncovering a new record of their exploit is surprising. The disputes over copyright can often lead to the destruction of historical records:

After two years of lectures, exhibitions, slide shows and film screenings, and a bitter clash over who owned the rights, thousands of photographs, along with Scott's images, were returned to the expedition photographer, Herbert Ponting.

The nitrate film of the collection disintegrated, but a single set of positives printed by Ponting survived, stored loose in a cardboard box. Ponting died in 1935.

The images were bought by a commercial picture agency but their true identity still went unrecognised. They resurfaced when part of the archive was sold at auction.

Now they will be shown for us. If Scott's last photos can resurface, what other treasures lie hidden in the archival depths?

Events versus the inertia of coalition

The Tories can congratulate themselves on a somnolent meeting where backbenchers and rebels were bored into submission. Even away, the waves of tedium were palpable on dead tree and live panel press. No doubt the bubble appeared lively within the conference event horizon, irrelevant outside.

Even the comparison of Tory discipline with Liberal Democrat handwringing was dispersed by the kind of dispute on associates with the yellow flush. Was Ken Clarke swinging his handbag to keep himself awake? Yet this policy-free zone heralds paralysis. Once the honeymoon of coalition was over, implementing agreements only take you so far. Breaking left has only rendered the Liberal Democrats look irresponsible whilst clinging protectively to the deficit reduction renders the Tories impotent as the tsunami breaks about them.

If the question "what can we do?" is posed, the answer appears to be all the wrong things. Further QE, more regulation and the greenest job-destroying policy on the planet. Something will flip and flop and flip again. Politicians always do and for this coalition: the events will keep on coming. A wonderful experiment: change versus the inertia of coalition. Maybe they will call themselves a National government.