A device that can detect gas being squeezed out of rocks could become the first reliable method for predicting earthquakes, according to its developers, who are about to test the device for the first time.
Scientists suspect that radon gas is released from cavities and cracks in rocks into soil and groundwater before an earthquake strikes. But commercially available detectors are too expensive to test this theory in a wide scale trial.
Now, Mexican and European scientists have developed a prototype of a simple detector cheap enough to use in large tests.
Vladimir Peskov, a member of the design team and a physicist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said they aim to use a network of the cheaper detectors to test the theory that radon is released as layers of rock around a strained fault line deform before a sudden quake-causing slip.
The device is based on a technology that is already used in extreme environments such as the CERN particle physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland.
It consists of a 20-centimetre long, nine-centimetre wide aluminium tube which contains a number of wires along its length connected at either end to electrodes. When radon gas enters the tube it strips air molecules of electrons, triggering an electric current in the wire. Unlike existing detectors it works in ambient air.
The design was presented at the Vienna Conference on Instrumentation and a related paper is in press in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment.
"This is an impressive breakthrough," said Heikki Sipilä, an industrial engineer who has been developing gas detectors since the 1960s, and was not involved in the research.
"The detectors are simple and production costs low because no filling gas or expensive materials are needed," he told SciDev.Net.
Peskov told SciDev.Net that his team is planning to test several devices in the Bari region of Italy, which experiences frequent "micro earthquakes".
Tom Hockaday, managing director of ISIS Innovation, a UK technology transfer company, said that the devastating 2010 Chile and Haiti earthquakes had highlighted the dearth of technologies across the spectrum — from predicting quakes to helping with aid efforts.
Although this detector sounds promising and relatively straightforward, he said, full implementation would require fitting each detector with a radio transmitter to broadcast a signal, which might complicate its rollout in developing countries.
"There are challenges in deploying highly complex technologies in areas with relatively undeveloped infrastructure," said Hockaday, adding that it could be difficult to convince companies to invest in such early-stage technologies.
However, the inventors are optimistic and are seeking for collaborators from around the world to test the device. The long-term goal is to conduct full-scale testing along a number of fault zones with international backing, they told SciDev.Net.
If the device is proven reliable in upcoming field trials then they may be of particular interest to developing nations where the human impacts of earthquakes and related tsunamis are often at their most devastating.
I hope everyone is getting the right feed of information on recent movement developments. I hope to be able to give further clarification on what will happen from now on.
TVP's desire to disassociate from TZM:
Last night during a very long meeting on Teamspeak Roxanne has stated that TVP wants to move on, on its own as they felt we werent going in the right direction. Numerous questions on the actual meaning of that statement were ignored. In fact the answer was never provided and that is probably because it was untrue.
It became apparant that:
1. They were not happy that we did not openly endorsed and pursued donations for their movie project 2. They felt they werent given ground to " control " The Zeitgeist Movement and its operations 3. They thought that Peter wanted to be the director of The Venus Project ( or something to this extent it was really all vague talk ) 4. According to TVP, Jacque should be the only credible/reliable source to explain a resource based economy 5. We can no longer use official TVP materials such as logo's, images and designs however due to the term RBE not being trademarked/copyrighted there is no limitation on that for us. This became apparant due to Roxanne's explicit statement about this. 6. TVP now wishes to coordinate the activism teams themselves and in the meeting openly called for people to perform activism under their umbrella. 7. There was no ground for a reasonable discussion, TVP had made up their mind and it was not going to be changed
There were many other silly statements that were quite hurtfull to a lot of members.
The Zeitgeist Movement and consequential steps:
As much as we regret this development in which we feel we had no part and feel we could not have prevented. This does not affect movement operations in the long run.
This has no direct effect on our basic operation as a movement. To myself and a lot of coordinators it has allways been about promoting this direction, targeting the value system and informing our fellow human beings about the need and possibilities for a transition out of a self destructing and wastefull sytem.
We will continue to advocate the train of thought behind a Resource Based Economy and will likely expand and incorporate more ideas and scientifically viable solutions into our " package ".
Not particularly instigated by this situation but now certainly under attention is the development of a more structured movement. This means a higher level of organisation. More direct and tangible activism. 2011 is the year we are going to lose our Diapers as a movement.
This means that we will need a larger team for the global day to day management of the movement. Active news updates on the front page. Feeds/Streams of Chapter news. Frequent Press releases. More street activism and appearances in public. More lecturers and Spokespersons. Increased media stalking:P and appearances etc.
And we have set the stage and framework in order to achieve this. As Global Chapters Coordinator in service of the movement i have had the privilege of having the most complete overview of the growth of this movement and its perils and i can attest to the fact that we are now gaining momentum and increased potential to become the most influential / widespread and active social movement this planet has seen till date. And seen the state of this planet and society, this is very much needed. So lets go for it!
Chapter Instructions:
Refrain from bombarding TVP with what,how and why questions:
While it is understandable that many of you have questions about this event, we do not want to flood TVP with questions. If you do have questions, perhaps you can send them by email in consideration of their privacy.
Venus Project Images and essays:
Please remove all images and writings on official chapter sites that are produced by The Venus Project as Roxanne has requested this not to be used by TZM anymore.
Chapter coordination:
As much as TZM will continue and expand its activities, so will its Chapters and with the move by TVP to take " control " of its own activism (as far as that exists).... ,a clear distinction will need to be made in our Chapter structure. While more complex parts of this event will have to be discussed at soon planned Coordinator and International meetings, i have no reason to suspect any international chapter coordinator to wish to transition to a venus project chapter coordinator, but if that is the case you may send your resignation as a Coordinator to gilbert[at]thezeitgeistmovement.comso that we may keep an accurate account of active TZM Chapter coordinators and seek replacement.
In conclusion:
Until this subject has been properly discussed at a meeting, i feel we should refrain from other heavy comments or speculation.
In General i would like to express my thanks for the TREMENDOUS work everyone has done so far, and that i enjoy working with all of you and am immensely proud we have already come this far.
Let it be known that there is allways a willingness to conversate with The Venus Project from our side and that it would be great if they turned around and started acting sensible again. Putting the direction in front of the label, not behind. In any case, i thank Jacque and Roxanne for 2 years of great cooperation and wish them good luck with their efforts.
Gilbert Ismail Global Chapters Coordinator The Zeitgeist Movement
ps:
" The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit." Nelson Henderson
Under the terms of an interior ministry decree, riot police will no longer be allowed to wash down their lunch with a glass or two of beer or wine.
Officials were angered in 2010 when photos emerged of riot police drinking beer while policing a demonstration.
Riot police are sent into warring football crowds, street demonstrations and troubled estates.
One police union has called for alcohol to be allowed if meals are taken out of the view of the public.
Articulating the sense of outrage among the rank and file, Didier Mangione, who heads one French police union, wrote to the interior ministry defending the rights of riot police to drink on duty.
Like most other workers in France, officers serving in the Compagnies Republicaines de Securite (CRS) should be entitled to "a small quarter litre of red to accompany meals on the ground", Mr Mangione wrote.
"CRS officers do not have any more or less alcohol problems than anybody else in society. They should be allowed to drink in moderation," he said.
National tradition
According to French law alcohol is banned while employees are at work - with the exception of "wine, beer, apple cider and pear cider".
That has traditionally been taken to mean that a moderate amount of beer or wine is an entirely acceptable way to punctuate a French working day.
Reports suggest the relaxed attitude to alcohol even meant that cans of beer were included in packed lunches issued to riot police while out on the streets.
But images of riot police swigging beer on the sidelines of a student demonstration in late 2010 provoked a strong reaction - and prompted an even stronger reaction from police unions.
In his complaint, Mr Mangione suggested officers should be allowed to continue as before, providing the meal is not eaten in public view.
Paul Le Guennec, of Unite Police SGP-FO, a riot police union, suggested police bosses should look at their own behaviour.
"Does the fact that having a glass of wine while eating prevent any kind of worker from carrying out their job? I don't think the chief of police drinks water when he's having a meal," he told the JDD newspaper.
McClatchy Newspapers writes “the US military set up a human intelligence laboratory at Guantanamo,” the Washington Post details new classified military documents obtained by the “anti-secrecy organization” present “new details” of detainees whereabouts on Sept 11, 2001 and afterward and the Daily Telegraph reports that it has exposed “America’s own analysis of almost ten years of controversial interrogations on the world’s most dangerous terrorists.”
Months after news organizations reported the Guantanamo Files might be WikiLeaks’next release, the files are now posted on theWikiLeaks website. Nearly 800 documents, memoranda from Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO), the combined force in charge of the Guantanamo Bay prison to US Southern Command in Miami, Florida.
The memoranda do not detail torture or how detainees were interrogated. The reports from between 2002 and 2008 show how JTF-GTMO justified when to keep detainees and also when it chose to release detainees. In cases of detainees “released,” that detainee’s “transfer” is detailed to “the custody of his own government or that of some othergovernment.”
The reports represent not just JTF-GTMO but, according to WikiLeaks, they also represent the Criminal Investigation Task Force created by the Department of Defense to conduct interrogations and the Behavioral Science Teams (BSCTs) consisting of psychologists who had “a major say in “exploitation” of [detainees] in interrogations.”
TheWashington Post, the McClatchy Company,El Pais, theTelegraph,Der Spiegel,Le Monde,Aftonbladet,La Repubblica,L’Espresso, and Andy Worthington are each listed as partners. (TheNew York Timeshas coverage of the documents but isnotlisted as a partner and neither is NPR.)
What is a Guantanamo file?
First, the detainee’s personal information is listed. That information includes what the US considers to be the detainee’s name, aliases, place and date of birth, citizenship. The information also includes an Internment Serial Number (ISN).
The second section describes detainees’ mental health or physical health issues.
The third section is a “JTF-GTMO Assessment.” This section is where recommendations on whether a detainee should be held or released can be found. “Executive Summaries” in this section provide explanation for why a detainee should continue to be detained or released. The section denotes whether the detainee is a low, medium or high-risk detainee. And, under “Summary of Changes,” whether there have been changes in the information provided since the last report on the detainee is listed.
The fourth section is the detainee’s own testimony detailing the detainee’s background and how the detainee was seized and captured.
The fifth section is “capture information.” This section may be one of the more interesting sections in the released reports. Here one can see “Reasons for Transfer.” These are alleged reasons for the detainee’s transfer. WikiLeaks, however, notes there is reason to be skeptical:
The reason that [these reasons are] unconvincing is because, as former interrogator Chris Mackey (a pseudonym) explained in his book The Interrogators, the US high command, based in Camp Doha, Kuwait, stipulated that every prisoner who ended up in US custody had to be transferred to Guantánamo -- and that there were no exceptions; in other words, the "Reasons for transfer" were grafted on afterwards, as an attempt to justify the largely random rounding-up of prisoners.
A sixth section contains an analysis from the Task Force explaining whether the Force finds the detainee’s testimony to be convincing.
The seventh section presents an assessment detailing how much of a threat the detainee happens to be. This is another one of the more interesting sections of the reports because the “Reasons for Continued Detention” often come from statements from fellow detainees in Guantanamo or secret prisons run by the CIA where torture or other forms of coercion have been used to get detainees to talk. In some cases, detainees were offered rewards such as better treatment if they made statements on detainees in US military custody.
This section also looks at the “detainee’s conduct” and how a detainee has behaved citing “disciplinary infractions.”
The eighth section contains a “Detainee Intelligence Value Assessment.” This information suggests areas of intelligence that could be further “exploited.”
Finally, the “EC Status,” yet another interesting section, details whether the detainee is to still be considered an “enemy combatant” or not. Based on findings from the Combatant Status Review Tribunals, just 38 out of 558 detainees that came before tribunals held in 2004-05 were determined to no longer be enemy combatants.
Now, as of 12:15 AM ET on April 25, sixty-seven detainee reports have been posted on the WikiLeaks website.
This is WikiLeaks first new leak since Cablegate. Presumably, WikiLeaks will continue to post US State Embassy Cables to its website as it releases these files.
Source: WLCentral.org (*WLCentral will have coverage all week of the Guantanamo Files. Check back here regularly for updates.)
In a new Cognitive Robotics Lab, students at Rensselaer are exploring how human thought outwits brute force computing in the real world. The lab's 20 programmable robots allow students to test the real-world performance of computer models that mimic human thought.
"The real world has a lot of inconsistency that humans handle almost without noticing -- for example, we walk on uneven terrain, we see in shifting light," said Professor Vladislav Daniel Veksler, who is currently teaching Cognitive Robotics. "With robots, we can see the problems humans face when navigating their environment."
Cognitive Robotics marries the study of cognitive science -- how the brain represents and transforms information -- with the challenges of a physical environment. Advances in cognitive robotics transfer to artificial intelligence, which seeks to develop more efficient computer systems patterned on the versatility of human thought.
Professor Bram Van Heuveln, who organized the lab, said cognitive scientists have developed a suite of elements -- perception/action, planning, reasoning, memory, decision-making -- that are believed to constitute human thought. When properly modeled and connected, those elements are capable of solving complex problems without the raw power required by precise mathematical computations.
"Suppose we wanted to build a robot to catch fly balls in an outfield. There are two approaches: one uses a lot of calculations -- Newton's law, mechanics, trigonometry, calculus -- to get the robot to be in the right spot at the right time," said Van Heuveln. "But that's not the way humans do it. We just keep moving toward the ball. It's a very simple solution that doesn't involve a lot of computation but it gets the job done."
Robotics are an ideal testing ground for that principle because robots act in the real world, and a correct cognitive solution will withstand the unexpected variables presented by the real world.
"The physical world can help us to drive science because it's different from any simulated world we could come up with -- the camera shakes, the motors slip, there's friction, the light changes," Veksler said. "This platform -- robotics -- allows us to see that you can't rely on calculations. You have to be adaptive."
The lab is open to all students at Rensselaer. In its first semester, the lab has largely attracted computer science and cognitive science students enrolled in a Cognitive Robotics course taught by Veksler, but Veksler and Van Heuveln hope it will attract more engineering and art students as word of the facility spreads.
"We want different students together in one space -- a place where we can bring the different disciplines and perspectives together," said Van Heuveln. "I would like students to use this space for independent research: they come up with the research project, they say 'let's look at this.'"
The lab is equipped with five "Create" robots -- essentially a Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner paired with a laptop; three hand-eye systems; one Chiara (which looks like a large metal crab); and 10 LEGO robots paired with the Sony Handy Board robotic controller.
On a recent day, Jacqui Brunelli and Benno Lee were working on their robot "cat" and "mouse" pair, which try to chase and evade each other respectively; Shane Reilly was improving the computer "vision" of his robotic arm; and Ben Ball was programming his robot to maintain a fixed distance from a pink object waved in front of its "eye."
"The thing that I've learned is that the sensor data isn't exact -- what it 'sees' constantly changes by a few pixels -- and to try to go by that isn't going to work," said Ball, a junior and student of computer science and physics.
Ball said he is trying to pattern his robot on a more human approach.
"We don't just look at an object and walk toward it. We check our position, adjusting our course," Ball said. "I need to devise an iterative approach where the robot looks at something, then moves, then looks again to check its results."
The work of the students, who program their robots with the Tekkotsu open-source software, could be applied in future projects, said Van Heuveln.
"As a cognitive scientist, I want this to be built on elements that are cognitively plausible and that are recyclable -- parts of cognition that I can apply to other solutions as well," said Van Heuveln. "To me, that's a heck of a lot more interesting than the computational solution."
In a generic domain, their early investigations clearly show how a more cognitive approach employing limited resources can easily outpace more powerful computers using a brute force approach, said Veksler.
"We look to humans not just because we want to simulate what we do, which is an interesting problem in itself, but also because we're smart," said Veksler. "Some of the things we have, like limited working memory -- which may seem like a bad thing -- are actually optimal for solving problems in our environment. If you remembered everything, how would you know what's important?"
About: ZM Global Radio is a weekly radio show presented by various active coordinators of The Zeitgeist Movement in a rotational fashion. These broadcasts discuss the developments and aims of The Zeitgeist Movement. http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com
This Wed., April. 27th 2011 at 4pm EDT (for the world Time Table variations, please verify this LINK) Federico Pistono, coordinator of the Italian Chapter, will host The Zeitgeist Movement's Global Radio show, covering the topics of collaboration and organization.
Researchers at the University of Illinois and Northwestern University have demonstrated bio-inspired structures that self-assemble from simple building blocks: spheres.
The helical "supermolecules" are made of tiny colloid balls instead of atoms or molecules. Similar methods could be used to make new materials with the functionality of complex colloidal molecules. The team publishes its findings in the Jan. 14 issue of the journal Science.
"We can now make a whole new class of smart materials, which opens the door to new functionality that we couldn't imagine before," said Steve Granick, Founder Professor of Engineering at the University of Illinois and a professor of materials science and engineering, chemistry, and physics.
Granick's team developed tiny latex spheres, dubbed "Janus spheres," which attract each other in water on one side, but repel each other on the other side. The dual nature is what gives the spheres their ability to form unusual structures, in a similar way to atoms and molecules.
In pure water, the particles disperse completely because their charged sides repel one another. However, when salt is added to the solution, the salt ions soften the repulsion so the spheres can approach sufficiently closely for their hydrophobic ends to attract. The attraction between those ends draws the spheres together into clusters.
At low salt concentrations, small clusters of only a few particles form. At higher levels, larger clusters form, eventually self-assembling into chains with an intricate helical structure.
"Just like atoms growing into molecules, these particles can grow into supracolloids," Granick said. "Such pathways would be very conventional if we were talking about atoms and molecules reacting with each other chemically, but people haven't realized that particles can behave in this way also."
The team designed spheres with just the right amount of attraction between their hydrophobic halves so that they would stick to one another but still be dynamic enough to allow for motion, rearrangement, and cluster growth.
"The amount of stickiness really does matter a lot. You can end up with something that's disordered, just small clusters, or if the spheres are too sticky, you end up with a globular mess instead of these beautiful structures," said graduate student Jonathan Whitmer, a co-author of the paper.
One of the advantages of the team's supermolecules is that they are large enough to observe in real time using a microscope. The researchers were able to watch the Janus spheres come together and the clusters grow -- whether one sphere at a time or by merging with other small clusters -- and rearrange into different structural configurations the team calls isomers.
"We design these smart materials to fall into useful shapes that nature wouldn't choose," Granick said.
Surprisingly, theoretical calculations and computer simulations by Erik Luijten, Northwestern University professor of materials science and engineering and of engineering sciences and applied mathematics, and Whitmer, a student in his group, showed that the most common helical structures are not the most energetically favorable. Rather, the spheres come together in a way that is the most kinetically favorable -- that is, the first good fit that they encounter.
Next, the researchers hope to continue to explore the colloid properties with a view toward engineering more unnatural structures. Janus particles of differing sizes or shapes could open the door to building other supermolecules and to greater control over their formation.
"These particular particles have preferred structures, but now that we realize the general mechanism, we can apply it to other systems -- smaller particles, different interactions -- and try to engineer clusters that switch in shape," Granick said.
Friends, Below is the updated Mission Statement of The Zeitgeist Movement.
As many in the community might be aware, The Zeitgeist Movement is no longer in partnership with The Venus Project due to Jacque Fresco's interest to keep a more centralized focus on his work.
While TZM supports and advocates the concepts that encompass TVP, The Movement's focus has now become more open and flexible in its pursuit of a 'Resource Based Economic Model', inviting a larger community of sustainable perspectives and activism than before.
Thank you. ZM
- MISSION STATEMENT [Updated April 24th '11] -
Founded in 2008, The Zeitgeist Movement is a Sustainability Advocacy Organization which conducts community based activism and awareness actions through a network of Global/Regional Chapters, Project Teams, Annual Events, Media and Charity Work.
The Movement's principle focus includes the recognition that the majority of the social problems which plague the human species at this time are not the sole result of some institutional corruption, scarcity, a political policy, a flaw of "human nature" or other commonly held assumptions of causality in the activist community. Rather, The Movement recognizes that issues such as poverty, corruption, collapse, homelessness, war, starvation and the like appear to be "Symptoms" born out of an outdated social structure. While intermediate Reform steps and temporal Community Support are of interest to The Movement, the defining goal here is the installation of a new socioeconomic model based upon technically responsible Resource Management, Allocation and Distribution through what would be considered The Scientific Method of reasoning problems and finding optimized solutions.
This "Resource-Based Economic Model” is about taking a direct technical approach to social management as opposed to a Monetary or even Political one. It is about updating the workings of society to the most advanced and proven methods Science has to offer, leaving behind the damaging consequences and limiting inhibitions which are generated by our current system of monetary exchange, profits, corporations and other structural and motivational components.
The Movement is loyal to a train of thought, not figures or institutions. In other words, the view held is that through the use of socially targeted research and tested understandings in Science and Technology, we are now able to logically arrive at societal applications which could be profoundly more effective in meeting the needs of the human population. In fact, so much so, that there is little reason to assume war, poverty, 95% of most crime and many other money-based scarcity effects common in our current model cannot be resolved over time.
The range of The Movement's Activism & Awareness Campaigns extend from short to long term. The long term view, which is the transition into a Resource-Based Economic Model, is a constant pursuit and expression, as stated before. However, in the path to get there, The Movement also recognizes the need for transitional Reform techniques, along with direct Community Support.
For instance, while "Monetary Reform" itself is not an end solution proposed by The Movement, the merit of such legislative approaches are still considered valid in the context of transition and temporal integrity. Likewise, while food and clothes drives and other supportive projects to help those in need today is also not considered a long term solution, it is still also considered valid in the context of helping others in a time of need, while also drawing awareness to the principle goal.
The Zeitgeist Movement also has no allegiance to a country or traditional political platforms. It views the world as a single system and the human species as a single family and recognizes that all countries must disarm and learn to share resources and ideas if we expect to survive in the long run. Hence, the solutions arrived at and promoted are in the interest to help everyone on the planet Earth, not a select group.
Future buildings may use heat to cool off more efficiently, using new materials developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The materials could enable compact adsorption chillers inside homes and office buildings.
Adsorption chillers are a type of air conditioner that runs on waste heat, requiring very little electricity. But they’re big and expensive, which has limited their use to large, hot places like power plants or industrial spaces, as Technology Review explains.
PNNL received a grant last summer from the DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency, ARPA-E, to build smaller adsorption chillers based on PNNL-developed nanostructured metal-organic heat carriers, or MOHCs. The material is more porous than existing adsorption materials, which makes them more efficient. PNNL researchers displayed the new material at a recent conference.
Adsorption is the binding of molecules or particles to a surface. In an adsorption chiller, hot water drives the cooling process instead of electricity. An evaporated refrigerant (in this case, water) binds to the surface of silica gel. The gel acts as a sponge for water vapor, and when the gel is heated, the water molecules are released, condensing into water droplets when the pressure rises.
The nanostructured MOHCs are even better sponges, trapping three or four times more water by weight, which can reduce the size of the system. They are also more efficient at releasing the water molecules, further reducing the chiller’s size; Tech Review gives the full breakdown here.
PNNL says a variety of heat sources can be used to warm up the MOHCs and free the water vapor, such as burning natural gas or other fuels, heating with solar thermal, or capturing engine or fuel cell system waste heat.
On May 1, 2011 Pres. Barack Obama appeared on national television with the spontaneous announcement that Osama bin Laden, the purported organizer of the tragic events of September 11th 2001, was killed by military forces in Pakistan.
Within moments, a media blitz ran across virtually all television networks in what could only be described as a grotesque celebratory display, reflective of a level of emotional immaturity that borders on cultural psychosis. Depictions of people running through the streets of New York and Washington chanting jingoistic American slogans, waving their flags like the members of some cult, praising the death of another human being, reveals yet another layer of this sickness we call modern society.
It is not the scope of this response to address the political usage of such an event or to illuminate the staged orchestration of how public perception was to be controlled by the mainstream media and the United States Government. Rather the point of this article is to express the gross irrationality apparent and how our culture becomes so easily fixed and emotionally charged with respect to surface symbology, rather than true root problems, solutions or rational considerations of circumstance.
The first and most obvious point is that the death of Osama bin Laden means nothing when it comes to the problem of international terrorism. His death simply serves as a catharsis for a culture that has a neurotic fixation on revenge and retribution. The very fact that the Government which, from a psychological standpoint, has always served as a paternal figure for it citizens, reinforces the idea that murdering people is a solution to anything should be enough for most of us to take pause and consider the quality of the values coming out of the zeitgeist itself.
However, beyond the emotional distortions and tragic, vindictive pattern of rewarding the continuation of human division and violence comes a more practical consideration regarding what the problem really is and the importance of that problem with respect to priority.
The death of any human being is of an immeasurable consequence in society. It is never just the death of the individual. It is the death of relationships, companionship, support and the integrity of familial and communal environments. The unnecessary deaths of 3000 people on September 11, 2001 is no more or no less important than the deaths of those during the World Wars, via cancer and disease, accidents or anything else.
As a society, it is safe to say that we seek a world that strategically limits all such unnecessary consequences through social approaches that allow for the greatest safety our ingenuity can create. It is in this context that the neurotic obsession with the events of September 11th, 2001 become gravely insulting and detrimental to progress. An environment has now been created where outrageous amounts of money, resources and energy is spent seeking and destroying very small subcultures of human beings that pose ideological differences and act on those differences through violence.
Yet, in the United States alone each year, roughly 30,000 people die from automobile accidents, the majority of which could be stopped by very simple structural changes. That's ten 9/11's each year... yet no one seems to pine over this epidemic. Likewise, over 1 million Americans die from heart disease and cancer annually - causes of which are now easily linked to environmental influences in the majority. Yet, regardless of the over 330 9/11's occurring each year in this context, the governmental budget allocations for research on these illnesses is only a small fraction of the money spent on “anti-terrorism” operations.
Such a list could go on and on with regard to the perversion of priority when it comes to what it means to truly save and protect human life and I hope many out there can recognize the severe imbalance we have at hand with respect to our values.
So, coming back to the point of revenge and retribution, I will conclude this response with a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., likely the most brilliant intuitive mind when it came to conflict and the power of non-violence. On September 15, 1963 a Birmingham Alabama church was bombed, killing four little girls attending Sunday school.
In a public address, Dr. King stated:
“What murdered these four girls? Look around. You will see that many people that you never thought about participated in this evil act. So tonight all of us must leave here with a new determination to struggle. God has a job for us to do. Maybe our mission is to save the soul of America. We can't save the soul of this nation throwing bricks. We can't save the soul of this nation getting our ammunitions and going out shooting physical weapons. We must know that we have something much more powerful. Just take up the ammunition of love.”
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