6-26-2001: The Kearneys have sent another (and extremely
thought-provoking) article
about ritalin. To me, part of what's so intriguing about
the article is the political bandwagon that it describes in "CHADD
(Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder)". Get
a diagnosis of ADD or ADHD and the future is yours! Equally thought-inducing
to me is the rise of special interest groups and "minorities"
that enforce special treatment by law. There was a news release
a few days ago about parents in Connecticut who have just won
the right to force their public school to using their retarded
child using a personal teacher with a Master's Degree in Special
Education dedicated to the education of their offspring. I wonder
why SAT scores are dropping while school funding continues to
rise? My sister, the advanced placement American history teacher,
was concerned over what was happening at her school after her
retirement. The school was being forced to hire Special Ed teachers
with Master's degrees, one for each child, to individually care
for a few handicapped students. Then there was the mother in the
Mercedes who forced the school to send a special van to bus her
child to and from school. Everett Shostrum observed that underdogs
eventually become the top dogs. You wonder where it will all end.
But to get back to ADD and ADHD, most
gifted children have characteristics that are symptomatic of ADD
or ADHD. (Part of their problem might be the fact that public
schools must now be sensitive to law suits, and are (or so I've
read) offering 300 hours of instruction per year in place of the
1,000 hours of classroom instruction that was required in 1950.)
But high energy levels, absent-mindedness (as in "concentration
on some inner study"), a wide range of interests, etc, can
be mistaken for ADD and ADHD. The Kearneys are concerned that
many gifted children are being misdiagnosed with ADD and ADHD,
and drugged to render them more docile. The Kearneys aren't concerned
for themselves, of course, but for those they see around them..
Two years ago, here in Huntsville, a high school
student who was on ritalin and other medications went berserk
and killed his parents and a couple of his brothers and sisters.
A national campaign is about to be launched from Huntsville to
publicize the this case.
Sometimes things have to get worse before
they get better.
6/24/2001:
A couple
of years ago, NASA's Marshall Flight Center conducted a "tethered
satellite" experiment employing a 20-kilometer-long wire
to generate electricity using the Earth's magnetic field. Before
the wire was fully deployed, it mysteriously snapped in two. Tonight,
I ran into Dr, Nobie Stone, the scientific principal investigator
for the project, and my former co-worker. Nobie told me that the
reason the tether broke was because of the 3,500 volts it had
generated.. Although the Earth's magnetic field is small---0.5
gauss---the tether is so long---2,000,000 centimeters---and the
satellite moves so fast---8 kilometers or 800,000 centimeters---per
second, that high voltages, and kilowatts of power can be
generated. The wire was about 1/16th of an inch in diameter, and
was insulated with teflon. At some point, as the onboard winch
was unreeling the wire, a spot on the wire with a nick in its
teflon insulation passed . With 3,500 volts on the wire, a dielectric
breakdown occurred. An arc formed, with about 1 ampere of current
flowing from the wire back to the satellite. The teflon vaporized
and formed a plasma, which finished the job of melting the wire.
At that
point, our conversation was interrupted. As he turned away, Nobie
mentioned that you could run current the other way, into the wire,
and use it as an electric motor to propel the wire (and presumably,
the satellite). I didn't get a chance to ask about the logisitcs
of the situation, but I will the next time I see him. How practical
is this for spacecraft propulsion, and if it's very practical,
what are NASA's plans for employing it? (It would transfer momentum
to the Earth through the Earth's magnetic field.)
6-23-2001: The Kearneys have also forwarded a book recommendation
that Kevin commended to me the last time we were:together: Julian
Jaynes, "The
Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind",
available for $23.95 from The Robot Store. I searched for a used
copy through Bookfinder,
found several for $5, and just ordered one.
6/21/2001:
I'm
still concerned about yesterday's articles vis-a-vis our rising
tide of mysticism and superstition. I agree with the authors that
we seem to be more into the mystic than we were 50 or 60 years
ago. Fifty or sixty years ago, I think that people were still
grateful for the rural revolution brought on by electrification
and the internal combusion engine in a way that, perhaps, those
who lived through it can appreciate. I remember vividly the chilly
bedrooms in the winter and the stifling bedrooms in the summer,
or being awakened in the night and rushing to close the windows
because a thunderstorm was in progress. There was certainly mysticism
then, too, but it doesn't seem as though it were as pervasive
as it is today. I see it the way the authors do that science may
come across as magic to those who aren't steeped in its underlying
order and logic. And yet, it's the difference between ourselves
and Stone Age tribes. I've wondered about the role of entertainment
in feeding irrationality. Authors write for whatever market has
been selling well lately. If that's vampires, they'll write vampire
stories. If it's sword-and-sorcery, they'll write sword-and-sorcery.
I could imagine that the same thing must hold true for TV stories
and movies. This feedback system can become a vicious bonfire
that feeds upon itself. Our survival depends upon the advancement
of science and technology to cope with problems such as the overpopulation
and pollution of the world that irrationality has brought upon
us. I don't own Carl Sagan's "The Demon-Haunted World: Science
as a Candle in the Dark". I probably should, although I think
it will depress me because it will sound all too true.
I don't
know the answer to this dilemma. Does anyone?