27 JUL 2018 by ideonexus
The Great Lifespan Escape
At the time when the lines begin, in the mid-18th century, life expectancy in Europe and the Americas was around 35, where it had been parked for the 225 previous years for which we have data.3 Life expectancy for the world as a whole was 29. These numbers are in the range of expected life spans for most of human history. The life expectancy of hunter-gatherers is around 32.5, and it probably decreased among the peoples who first took up farming because of their starchy diet and the diseases ... 1 
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notes12 AUG 2014 by ideonexus
Judy Seltz on Education
I believe to my core that education--that is, access to quality learning--is the only way we can be a true democracy and the only way that nations will thrive both individually and in a global community. Education is the best route out of poverty; it is how children learn how to be part of a civil society. I believe that education opens doors to words, to language, to reading, to music, to drama, to science, and to exploration. That makes teachers the heroes and heroines of our society. Every...Folksonomies: education human progress
Folksonomies: education human progress
1 notes
notes02 MAR 2014 by ideonexus
How Poverty Affects IQ
In a series of experiments, the researchers found that pressing financial concerns had an immediate impact on the ability of low-income individuals to perform on common cognitive and logic tests. On average, a person preoccupied with money problems exhibited a drop in cognitive function similar to a 13-point dip in IQ, or the loss of an entire night's sleep.
But when their concerns were benign, low-income individuals performed competently, at a similar level to people who were well off, said...
1 Fascinating for the fact that IQ appears so plastic in just day-to-day environment. Removing the stressors increases the IQ.
02 MAR 2014 by ideonexus
Poverty Impedes Cognitive Function
The poor often behave in less capable ways, which can further perpetuate poverty. We hypothesize that poverty directly impedes cognitive function and present two studies that test this hypothesis. First, we experimentally induced thoughts about finances and found that this reduces cognitive performance among poor but not in well-off participants. Second, we examined the cognitive function of farmers over the planting cycle. We found that the same farmer shows diminished cognitive performance ...The stress of poverty can cause a 13 point reduction in IQ that improves when financial security is attained. Details from this article: "In a series of experiments, the researchers found that pressing financial concerns had an immediate impact on the ability of low-income individuals to perform on common cognitive and logic tests. On average, a person preoccupied with money problems exhibited a drop in cognitive function similar to a 13-point dip in IQ, or the loss of an entire night's sleep."
08 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Parasites are Always Out There, Waiting
But however secure and well-regulated civilized life may become, bacteria, Protozoa, viruses, infected fleas, lice, ticks, mosquitoes, and bedbugs will always lurk in the shadows ready to pounce when neglect, poverty, famine, or war lets down the defenses. 1 notes
notesWe must be ever-vigilant.
06 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Jefferson Sees Science Beginning a Revolution
Even in Europe a change has sensibly taken place in the mind of man. Science has liberated the ideas of those who read and reflect, and the American example has kindled feelings of right in the people. An insurrection has consequently begun of science talents and courage against rank and birth, which have fallen into contempt. It has failed in its first effort, because the mobs of the cities, the instrument used for its accomplishment, debased by ignorance, poverty and vice, could not be rest... 1 notes
notesAgainst privilege and rank.
29 MAY 2012 by ideonexus
The Relationship of Industrial Society to Knowledge
Industrial Society is not merely one containing 'industry,' large-scale productive units capable of supplying man's material needs in a way which can eliminate poverty: it is also a society in which knowledge plays a part wholly different from that which it played in earlier social forms, and which indeed possesses a quite different type of knowledge. Modern science is inconceivable outside an industrial society: but modern industrial society is equally inconceivable without modern science. R... 1 notes
notesThe two are codependent, one cannot exist without the other; therefore, our entire modern world relies on science.
22 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
Richer is Greener
Overpopulation is a problem we can handle most effectively by targeting foreign aid and encouragement for emerging democracies wi± a stable rule of law and growing economies. Poverty and population explosions are highly correlated. We have learned much in the past four decades about the relationship between increased wealth and decreased family size and about the many ways we can reduce our environmental impact. As the "green" economist John Baden has argued, as people become better educated...Folksonomies: environmentalism
Folksonomies: environmentalism
1 notes
notesThe higher a society's quality of life, the more environmentally conscious they become.
04 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Chemists Live More Sweetly Than Persian Kings
The chemists are a strange class of mortals, impelled by an almost insane impulse to seek their pleasures amid smoke and vapour, soot and flame, poisons and poverty; yet among all these evils I seem to live so sweetly that may I die if I were to change places with the Persian king. 1 notes
notesKnowledge for its own sake is more satisfying than immense wealth.
16 DEC 2011 by ideonexus
Mother Teresa as Campaigner
Mother Teresa has a theory of poverty, which is also a
theory of submission and gratitude. She has also a theory
of power, which derives from St Paul's neglected words
about 'the powers that be', which 'are ordained of God'.
She is, finally, the emissary of a very determined and very
politicized papacy. Her world travels are not the wanderings of a pilgrim but a campaign which accords with the
requirements of power. Mother Teresa has a theory of
morality too. It is not a difficult theory to c... 1 notes
notesHitchens outlines his perspective on the future saint.
