Category Archives: 4- HOW WE THINK

3- SOLVING WORLD PROBLEMS, 4- HOW WE THINK

SOCIETY HAS BECOME AN ENABLER FOR YOUNG OFFENDERS, AND VIOLENCE BY THE MENTALLY ILL

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Every day in Toronto, there is another incident involving either an unprovoked attack by someone in a mental crisis or a swarming of someone by teenagers. Sympathetic treatment toward mental illness involving violence and the “Young Offender’s Act” are the root cause of this growing problem.

In Oct 2022 RCMP officer Shaelyn Yang was attacked by a homeless man with a knife. She managed to shoot him during the altercation, the homeless man survived, but officer Yang did not. Yang was not only trained as a police officer but trained in dealing with mental health and was part of a homeless outreach program, but despite that, she not only could not help the homeless man but was murdered by him. As tragic as this was, it boggles my mind, that in today’s society, it was necessary to have an investigation afterward to determine if her shooting him was justified. She’s dead! It’s obvious the shooting was not only justified but she should have done more.

There has never been more empathy and acceptance toward mental illness than there is today. As positive as this is, acceptance of the behavior associated with it has enabled a small number to escalate their actions to violence, leading to serious injury and death of innocent people on a daily basis. While some of these attacks are unpredictable, the ones done by people with a history of violence are totally preventable. Lack of a deterrent at the onset of violence because someone has mental issues reduces their need to control themselves and enables their behavior to escalate.

Not unlike violence by the mentally ill, the amount of crime done by young offenders is enabled by the current “The Young Offenders Act”. Of course, everything possible needs to be done to keep youth on the right path and rehabilitate the ones that stray off it but current laws don’t do that. Although “The Young Offenders Act” works for the majority of youth for first or second offenses, it provides little deterrent to repeat offenders, enabling them to commit more serious crimes and reducing their chances of rehabilitation. Any young offender convicted of a second violent offense or a third criminal act should face the full wrath of the adult punishment for that offense.

Most crimes are totally preventable as people can control their actions when they need to. No one would put their hand on a hot stove if they were told not to. (NO I AM NOT SUGGESTING THAT BE DONE TO ANYONE!!!!) I am just saying most people that commit crimes have the ability to control their actions and would think twice before committing a crime if there was enough of a deterrent. Also, current deterrents do not work well because waiting months or years for a trial causes a disassociation between actions and punishment.

It would be nice if everyone could be helped with a hug and a long talk, but with the increase of money and programs toward this solution over the past years, problems are getting worse, not better. You have to be pretty naive to believe that acceptance, defunding the police, and throwing money into programs will help everyone. For a small but significant number, it becomes an enabler. We need to do everything possible to help people before things get out of hand but can not ignore or tolerate violence or repetitive criminal acts because of the age or mental state of the person.

When an armed, specially trained police officer can be killed, what chance do you and your loved ones have? We all have the right to be safe. The rights of the mentally ill and young offenders should not be above everyone else.

Dave Lister

listerlogic.com

4- HOW WE THINK, 5- SCIENCE THEORIES

HAS THE MOST INTENSE EXPERIENCE OF SPACE TRAVEL ELUDED ASTRONAUTS?

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3:30 AM, in a tent miles from anywhere, you awaken with an unignorable urge to pee. The moment you unzip the tent it hits you, millions of stars with clarity, unlike anything you have seen before. A powerful experience for anyone, regardless of background or interests. Hard to imagine, as incredible as it looks, you are viewing it through a dirty window called the atmosphere.

Now imagine you had a fascination with space and astronomy and had the same view from above the atmosphere’s distorting effects. Add in the excitement of space flight, weightlessness, the amplifying effect adrenalin has on experiences, and what you feel would most likely be in the life-changing zone. A normal experience for all astronauts you would think, but not so. In fact, no astronaut to date may have had this experience. Light from the sun, earth, and ambient light from the spacecraft wash out the light from faint stars. It also inhibits the physiological conditions of “3:30 am eyes” needed to see them.

Most photos taken by astronauts show space as being deep black and starless due to the abundance of light from the sun. Much like the sky from the earth throughout the day appears blue and starless. Even when a spacecraft’s orbit brings it in opposition to the sun, light from the earth and the interior of the spacecraft inhibit the astronaut’s eyes from achieving both the physical and chemical adaptation needed to be able to see in low light, as we can in the camping example.

Testing for this experience is not hard and may have already been done. The astronaut must be placed in a pitch-black part of the spacecraft for a minimum of 1 hour before, to allow full dilation of their pupils and give time for the chemical dark adaptation of their eyes to take place. The sun and moon need to be in opposition. Without exposure to ambient light from the spacecraft and using the spacecraft to block ambient light from the earth, the largest observation window facing away from the earth should provide the most spectacular experience and view of the universe.

The same experience could also be possible on sub-orbital flights, by wearing VR goggles 1 hour before apogee. During launch and ascent, cameras on the outside of the goggles convert what would normally be seen, to a red light image on the screen inside below 650 nanometers. Red light below 650 nanometers does not affect our night vision. During a nighttime launch, after main engine cut off when the spacecraft gets to its apogee, the goggles would be removed.

Life-changing experiences are not uncommon for astronauts. Years ago, only the most hard-core test pilots made it into the Mercury / Apollo programs. Many of these highly disciplined, stone-cold astronauts admitted to being overcome with emotion when traveling to space. Most notably is an experience called the “Overview Effect”. The overview effect is a well-documented feeling of enlightenment, reported by many astronauts when they view Earth from space. There is no reason seeing the universe from space would be any less intense, a sort of “Outerview-Effect”

We live our entire life in this house with dirty windows we call Earth, a unique and insignificant spec in an unimaginable vastness of space. How can we claim to have lived a full life if we have never punched through the atmosphere, gone outside on the front lawn, and clearly seen and felt the universe we live in, even if it’s only for a few moments?

Dave Lister

listerlogic.com

3- SOLVING WORLD PROBLEMS, 4- HOW WE THINK

THE SLOW EROSION OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH

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Russia 1993, in a small cafe in downtown Moscow, I sat with my tour guide, Olga. It was the middle of winter and I was the only one on the city tour that day. With the formalities of the tour over, it was the perfect opportunity to ask some personal questions. Olga was in her mid 60’s and had lived through the extreme communism of Russia’s past, so I couldn’t wait to ask. “What was it like growing up?” She hesitated for a moment then told me “Everyone had their own opinions, anything that was against government policies would only be talked about with close friends and family, we would never dare voice it in public.” At the time I couldn’t fathom what that would be like, now in Canada 2022, I fear I am starting to understand.

At first thought, for most people, Canada may seem to be the same free Country now as it was back in 1993, but things have changed. Ever so slowly year after year, barely noticeable, freedom of speech has been slipping away. The repressers now are not only the government, but mainstream media and social media.

Disagree? Have you ever had a point of view, no matter how valid you thought it was, you only shared with friends and felt intimidated to admit publicly? Almost everyone I know today seems to. I remember back in 1993, trying to relate to Olga’s statement, I couldn’t think of anyone that did.

Today, even questioning mainstream ideas in public can immediately label you as an extremist that is uneducated, sexist, racist, an idiot, or has some phobia. Careers and businesses can be wiped out with 1 sentence taken out of context, even if made in private.

The latest example of the erosion of our free speech is the trucker’s protest in Ottawa against Covid-19 vaccinations. Although I strongly disagree with them occupying the streets of Ottawa, there are existing traffic laws that gave the police the authority to tow and impound their trucks. There are also existing laws that allow the police to arrest anyone that obstructs them from doing their job. However, the government’s response was beyond extreme, threatening to confiscate their trucks, cancel their insurance, and freeze their bank accounts. They even went so far as to threaten to freeze the bank accounts of anyone that donated to their cause, intimidating anyone that even partially supported the truckers. How long will it be before the government threatens to take everything you have for speaking out against any of their other policies.

The slow loss of our freedoms since 1993 shows no sign of stopping. If it is allowed to continue, where will we be in the next 30 years?

Dave Lister

listerlogic.com

4- HOW WE THINK, 5- SCIENCE THEORIES

ARE WE REALLY HERE?

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Over the past few years, video games have become an obsession for more and more people. As gaming systems become more advanced, what will the ultimate system turn out to be? Obviously, it would have to seem as realistic as possible but what if you even believed it was real?

Along with video games, medical science has also made huge advancements, right down to a molecular level. Many complex organs can now be transplanted and amputees can control basic functions in prosthetics through there own nerves. It no longer seems impossible that one day even a brain transplant could be done. As our understanding of how signals transmit through the nervous system also advances, it’s reasonable one day they could be duplicated by a computer. Now imagine combining the two. Our brain could be connected and interacting with a computer that would send all the sensations we would feel in reality. If perfected you would not be able to tell this new virtual reality from reality.

How popular would video games be then, if there was no difference in what you feel between virtual reality and reality? At first, all the video games we play now would be extremely popular at this new enhanced level. Racing cars and fighting aliens. The people we interact with could be real players also in VR or computer created.

After a while though, gamers would realize as good as this was there is still something else missing. The game would be even better if they thought it was real and didn’t know they were in a virtual reality world. If this became possible it would also draw the attention of not just gammers but those who also wanted to be educated beyond what a book can do. Imagine being able to experience life at any point of time in history without knowing it was virtual reality, being able to understand not only how people felt at that time but why. Picking wealthy or famous people with lavish lifestyles and perfect bodies would eventually get boring, just like gamers, you would eventually want to try harder, more difficult roles. Facing the challenges of higher levels while gaining the rewards of a further understanding of life.

Could the year now actually be 2220 and you are playing the ultimate virtual reality game. If so, it would be ironic if you wasted too much of it playing a primitive X-box.

Dave Lister

listerlogic.com

4- HOW WE THINK

IS NEWS MEDIA CONTROLlING OUR MINDS?

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News media has now become the most powerful force in our society, controlling how we think, who we elect and our values as a whole.  Alarming as this is, the most disturbing part is the number of people totally unaware of its power and control over us.

You have undoubtedly heard of “Fake News” but did you know about “Biased News”, “Incomplete Facts News”, “Taken Out Of Context News”, “Selective Broadcast News”, “Selective Interview News”, and “Quantitative Broadcast News”? By using these techniques regardless of the facts, reporters can slant any story to be positive or negative,  affecting our perception and opinions on any topic or person. Over the past 10 years, slanted news has become so powerful, it is having an effect on justice and freedom of speech, the very foundations of a free society. 

As human beings, we can be easily influenced. Evidence exists we are even influenced on a subconscious level which is why these types of slanted news propaganda techniques are so dangerous.   

A recent example was on November 10, 2019. CTV National News in Canada, trusted for decades by Canadians to provide them with unbiased headline news from around the world, did anything but, and it wasn’t the first time by far.

The story was on controversial remarks that could be interpreted as racist made by sports commentator Don Cherry. First of all, I am not a fan of Don Cherry but realize when doing live improve broadcasting it’s easy to say something that can be taken out of context. Whether Cherry was trying to get the message out to new Canadian’s about the importance in our society of buying a poppy, or making a racist remark depends on who you talk to. (Cherry later insisted his remarks were not meant to be racist). Either way, any network complaints from offended viewers watching the original broadcast should have been enough to determine Cherry’s fate. What happened in the news media after is much more concerning.

It’s not that CTV National News ran this story, but the fact they spent 3-4 minutes of the 23-minute broadcast on it, out of all the news in the world it was their lead story, and they did the same thing the following 2 days when he was eventually fired because of public complaints. CTV was not the only one to do this, for 3 days on the front page of newspapers, on radio and TV the message “Don Cherry is a racist” was drilled into us. If you still believed his remarks were just taken out of context or the media was overreacting you felt intimidated to speak out in public, effecting your freedom of speech. This silence combined with the deliberate slanting of the story by media made it seem like not only did the entire nation believed Cherry is racist but if you didn’t, you were racist too.

World news media like CTV has the responsibility to prioritize news from all over the world to inform the public on what is happening. They are also responsible to report all the facts unbiased so we can form our own opinions. The fact that one sports announcer of thousands said something that could be considered racist is hardly a national/world news story that deserves more than even a few seconds of air time. Yet in an example of “Selective Broadcast news” and “Quantitive news”, this was the lead story on CTV for 3 days making up 13-20 percent of the entire news broadcast each time. On each of the 3 days, a carefully edited (“Incomplete Facts”) video of Cherry’s remarks was shown. “Selective interviews” comprised of almost all negative public reactions condemning him were also shown. He was even called ignorant by what should have been an unbiased news anchor covering the story. This reckless, relentless coverage was repeated across the country over and over and over again, until finally, public outcry based on their perception through media, ended a career of over 40 years in disgrace (News Media Justice).

With the amount of sensationalism, it’s clear news media has become less about reporting facts and more about competing for viewers. At first, the motive behind slanted news techniques may have been to obtain viewers but with its continuous use, now expanded to political coverage, it’s obvious some people have begun to understand the power and influence it has on us. Unless addressed and corrected soon, slanted news techniques will continue to advance, becoming as complex as our psychology. Manipulation will not be obvious and news that appears to be positive on a topic could be done in a way to trigger a negative reaction. In the case of Don Cherry, how would the people that thought Cherry’s comments were taken out of context and intimidated into silence vote on future political racism issues?

Dave Lister

listerlogic.com