Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (215078)	1/16/2005 11:12:35 AM
From: neolib	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1573898

By the way, Z, more proof that the SS "trust fund" is a myth. Current calculations of the federal budget deficit do not account for the increase in debt due to the SS "trust fund" lending money back to the government. In other words, revenue from SS taxes is counted as part of the general revenue, and expenses from SS benefits are counted as part of the general expenditures. As a result, Clinton never balanced the budget, and Bush's deficit is actually close to $570B. Now you tell me whether SS is "just fine." This is exactly what I do not understand about all the SS reformers. If a crook robs a bank, do you say the bank is "broken" or do you nail the crook? People rant on and on about the "trust fund" being nonexistent. Fine, vote to wack the pillagers. SS would be just fine if all the funds that have been collected for it were spent on it. Even more astonishing, some people will actually try to claim that the government cannot hold and invest funds (in Treasuries) since this is just one branch of the government giving an IOU to another. What fools! Any loan is an IOU! The fact that the government repays those loans with tax income is completely irrelevant to who the made the loan. Taxes used to repay T-bills held by Joe 6P American, or the Bank of Japan, or the IOU's to the SS trust fund are absolutely no different from each other. When SS income slips into the red, the government damn well should start repaying the SS trust fund from annual taxes. There is no need to raise SS taxes. It has absolutely nothing to do with SS taxes! Profligate spending by the government for many years in the annual budget caused the debt, but the source of the loans over the years is irrelevant. They all have to be payed back. In your own words: more proof that the SS "trust fund" is a myth. Using your logic, US Treasuries are surely a myth as well. After all, they are nothing more than an IOU which the government must pay back with tax funds at some later date, exactly the same as the SS trust funds borrowed to cover current yearly budget shortfalls. Bush (and a long line of predecessors!) have done a good job of conflating this issue. So good, that half the people on this thread, including the main supporters of SS "reform" are totally blinkered by it!

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (215078)	1/17/2005 10:46:21 AM
From: Road Walker	Respond to of 1573898

UK Science Center to Probe Mysteries of the Mind Fri Jan 14, 9:52 AM ET Science - Reuters By Iza Kaminska LONDON (Reuters) - Can there be a predisposition for fundamentalism? Do the faithful cope more easily with pain? Are they faster to recover from illness? Such are the questions scientists and theologians will attempt to answer at a new study center which starts experiments into human consciousness in the next few months. The Oxford Center for Science of the Mind (OXSCOM) could be the first of its kind in the world, its founders believe. "These are all valid questions," said Susan Greenfield, British neuroscientist and founding director of OXSCOM. "Saying you're interested in the brain but not in consciousness is now like saying you're interested in the stomach but not in digestion," she told reporters. For years scientists have viewed the study of consciousness as a trivial sideline, not worthy of serious study, she added. But increasing acceptance that positive outlooks can encourage well-being have given new credence to the study of the mind, Greenfield said. OXSCOM has received a $2 million grant for a two-year pilot run from the American-based philanthropic John Templeton Foundation to carry out a range of experiments, some of which will use pain techniques to see if the faithful cope better with pain than non-believers. Scientists will use chilli pepper to burn volunteers' skin, said OXSCOM deputy director Toby Collins. Then, religious icons or other symbolic artifacts will be shown to them to see if they make a difference in pain perception. "What we'll be doing is exploring consciousness and particularly how consciousness is shaped and substantiated in the brain, how a belief can trigger or change your consciousness, and how one can affect the other," Greenfield said. The center will bring together experts from disciplines as varied as physiology, neuroscience, religion and philosophy. RESILIENCE OF FAITH Greenfield said its time has come because of people's propensity to go against all logic, based on certain beliefs and faiths. She highlighted the rise of fundamentalist beliefs as a concern. "We are very mindful as to the state of the world as to the strength of beliefs and what that can do for world peace and well-being," she said. "What is it in the brain that, in the presence of evidence, refutes that evidence?" Beliefs can be remarkably resilient, even against logic, added Oxford theologian, professor John Brooke, and this merits study. He used the example of the Asian tsunami disaster to suggest that even a huge tragedy can often fail to force the faithful to flounder in their beliefs. Why is that? In addressing that question, the center will have to face up to one of its hardest tasks -- bridging the two worlds of science and humanities to find ways of actually quantifying levels of belief in the test volunteers. SCIENCE IS READY Scientific knowledge of the brain has advanced enough to offer new approaches to studies of the mind, Greenfield said. Much progress has already been made by fellow OXSCOM member professor John Stein, from Oxford's physiology department. "The reason I think we can provide something useful to this project is because we study pain, mainly focusing on neuropathic pain -- that is pain that is happening when there's no general cause for it," Stein said. The elimination of phantom limb pain in amputees suggests beliefs can be changed through science. Although scientists won't be looking to isolate a propensity for religious fundamentalism, Greenfield said they would be looking for what happens in the brain when people have strong beliefs. "What we'll be looking for is the brain organization -- not the genetics," she said. But the team stressed the project is not about finding ways to manipulate people's beliefs, rather to understand how they come about. The founder members hope the collective insights gained from the center's studies can inspire innovative approaches for promoting well-being and maximizing individual human potential.