Review:

Last week the unflappable Professor Gus declaimed, exclaimed, excoriated and defoliated while addressing the topic of Emergent Order. Some were tempted to skip Gus' talk because it was too intellectually deep and there were not enough pictures of fairies with those of his birds and fish. Actually, the science of emergent order does deal with topics that were formally the purview of metaphysics while explaining the peculiar behavior of beings and particles that seem to have minds
that we cannot account for. Like you, dear reader. If atoms do not have color, why do large groups of them seem so colorful? And why don't the properties of hydrogen and oxygen predict that water will be wet? This science began in the social sciences but, like everything else cool, was stolen by the physical sciences.

Science Buzz Cafe # 21 with Gus diZerega, Ph.D., November 8th, 2007

Science Buzz Cafe # 21 with Gus diZerega, Ph.D., November 8th, 2007

Science Buzz Cafe # 21 with Robert Porter, Ph.D., November 8th, 2007

Science Buzz Cafe # 21 with Gus diZerega, Ph.D., November 8th, 2007

Science Buzz Cafe # 21 with Gus diZerega, Ph.D., November 8th, 2007

Preview:

What do ecosystems and science, the web and market economies, schools of fish and slime molds all have in common? If you think that market economies and slime molds have everything in common then you are WRONG; they are emergent orders. What do Yellowstone wolves and Pacific salmon, Google and banks all have in common? Wolves and banks? Are you joking? No, again. The correct answer is the kind of role they play in different emergent orders. Why is central economic planning a failure? Why is the Invisible Hand of the Market soooo much like the Big Finger? Why do democracies not fight other democracies? If you say why should they when that is what they pay us for, again, the answer concerns emergent orders. Find out why. Come this Thursday night to hear Prof. Gus diZerega, who has come from the dark side to illuminate the dark recesses of this arcane field. He has promised to keep a straight face. Straightish, anyway.

Review:

Speaker: Lynda E. LeMole, Executive Director of United Plant Savers

www.unitedplantsavers.org

Last week we had a charming visitation from the plant world. Lynda LeMole, executive director of United Plant Savers came to set us straight about the precarious condition of so many medicinal herbs here in North America. In a society where huge profits are reaped from merely advertising "The Little Purple Pill" without once saying what the little pill might do for you (my doctor simply had a bowl of them set out at Halloween with the jelly beans) we have come to regard medicinal herbs with suspicion and even disdain.

But the array of herbs which are thought (with good reason) to have medicinal properties is dwindling from a variety of causes. Sometimes they are merely over-harvested, as with plants that are too good, or they may vanish because their niche is so interdependent with other vanished plants. However, Ms. LeMole did a fine job of outlining the task at hand and the good work performed already.

Many pharmaceuticals derive directly from plants or are inspired by them. If Lynda and her gang of Plant Savers and their plant saviors are successful the day could come went peddlers of mugwort drive Jaguars and the pharmaceutical firms are holding bake sales to keep the lights on. But don't wait up.

Preview:

Lynda LeMole comes to us on November 1 to talk about the Science of Yin and Yang. Science, in its relentless pursuit to boil the complexities of the world down to its irreducible fundamentals (all the while seeming to make it less accessible with its fancy schmancy talk) has long contemplated pairs of opposites: mass and energy. Time and space. Electricity and magnetism. Girls and boys. The mind seems to crave schemes that can sort out our observations and experiences of life only to find that we have produced a new system that makes the uninitiated look askance when confronted with terms and concepts that don't seem simple. An interviewer, Edward R Morrow, once asked J Robert Oppenheimer about the rumor that he wrote Sanskrit poetry. Yes, he confessed that he did. Morrow said he could not grok this because, "Science attempts to take the obscure and make it clear, while POETRY! . . ." Perhaps Lynda will succeed where Oppie could not.

Review:

This past Thursday, Oct 25, brought us Duncan Gray discussing Energy Systems of the Future. In discussing energy, which is at once one of the most fundamental concepts in science and one of the hardest to define intuitively, Duncan attempted to make clear the wide range of energies from natural sources as well as the difficulties with harnessing this important commodity. Duncan is clearly a great fan of solar energy. However, having said this we should realize that energy from oil, gas, coal, wind, waves, slaves and animals are all forms of solar energy. However, the devil is in the details and the challenge is how to eat our cake and still have it: How to get energy in a convenient form that is economical and will not destroy our planet or our peace of mind. I once heard a physics professor say that ours is a class I civilization, one that uses the energy of its planet. Type II would use the energy of its sun. Type III, on the other hand, would use the energy of its galaxy. I raised my hand and asked, but what about type IV? "And what energy would such a civilization use?" I thought a type IV would use no energy. I don't recall his exact remark but a year later he began to teach a course about physics and extraterrestrial civilizations. But meanwhile . . . .

Science Buzz Cafe # 19 with Duncan Gray, October 25th, 2007

Preview:

This coming Thursday night brings us Duncan Gray to talk about Energy Systems of the Future. He will explain the realities and magnitudes of the dimensions of Energy and Power and where our future needs will most likely be met. He will discuss the pros and cons (the professionals and confidence men) and why they find it so lucrative to work the energy field. He will explain in painful detail how each exciting new technology functions and will then continue the tradition originated by geologist Terry Wright: he will pass out samples.