Monday, August 21, 2006

playing by number

When it comes to the U.S. News and World Report, it's all about manipulating a game of numbers. And Princeton still doesn't matter. Not to mention that the cover article of Newsweek appearing worldwide at the same time is by Yale president Richard Levin. ;)

Speaking of games, I wonder why wine-and-dine isn't a more common tactic for loosening the tongues of criminals. Villains have been around for centuries, so this idea isn't new. Why torture prisoners in Iraq yet suddenly break the royal treatment out on the self-(pro)claimed murderer of child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey?

And then for the seemingly unquantifiable... there is finally convincing proof of the existence of that wonderful thing called dark matter that probably comprises 25% of our universe. How much of the universe is made of matter that we've been able to detect until now? Probably 5%.

Every time I marvel at a new discovery or invention that brings us further into the modern and the technological, I wonder at the same time what kind of dark age I'm inhabiting in which we don't understand either the frontiers of space or the workings of the human mind. One day humankind will understand vast amounts more about the universe than we do now--if we avoid self-destruction. And the year 2006, with its proof of the existence of dark matter etc., will be laughable in its ignorance.

1 comment:

tropik said...

sad isn't it. i wish i could be around to see that time... i'd also like to live in the past where things were still innocent and romantic. there's not enough romance in the world today - all mass production, advertising and commercialisation ;(