Archive for October 13th, 2015
Freedom of expression is extremely scary: Trans-Pacific Partnership deal text confirms
Posted on: October 13, 2015
Freedom of expression is extremely scary: Trans-Pacific Partnership deal text confirms
Wikileaks has released what it claims is the full intellectual property chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the controversial agreement between 12 countries that was signed off on Monday.
TPP was negotiated in secret and details have yet to be published.
But critics including Democrat presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, unions and privacy activists have lined up to attack what they have seen of it.
Wikileaks’ latest disclosures are unlikely to reassure them
Andrew Bossone shared a link.
One chapter appears to give the signatory countries (referred to as “parties”) greater power to stop embarrassing information going public.
The treaty would give signatories the ability to curtail legal proceedings if the theft of information is “detrimental to a party’s economic interests, international relations, or national defense or national security” – in other words, presumably, if a trial would cause the information to spread.
A drafter’s note says that every participating country’s individual laws about whistleblowing would still apply.
“The text of the TPP’s intellectual property chapter confirms advocates warnings that this deal poses a grave threat to global freedom of expression and basic access to things like medicine and information,” said Evan Greer, campaign director of internet activist group Fight for the Future.
“But the sad part is that no one should be surprised by this. It should have been obvious to anyone observing the process, where appointed government bureaucrats and monopolistic companies were given more access to the text than elected officials and journalists, that this would be the result.”
Among the provisions in the chapter (which may or may not be the most recent version) are rules that say that each country in the agreement has the authority to compel anyone accused of violating intellectual property law to provide “relevant information […] that the infringer or alleged infringer possesses or controls” as provided for in that country’s own laws.
The rules also state that every country has the authority to immediately give the name and address of anyone importing detained goods to whoever owns the intellectual property.
That information can be very broad, too: “Such information may include information regarding any person involved in any aspect of the infringement or alleged infringement,” the document continues, “and regarding the means of production or the channels of distribution of the infringing or allegedly infringing goods or services, including the identification of third persons alleged to be involved in the production and distribution of such goods or services and of their channels of distribution.”
TPP is now facing a rough ride through Congress where President Obama’s opponents on the right argue the agreement does not do enough for business while opponents on the left argue it does too much.
Obama has pledged to make the TPP public but only after the legislation has passed.
Michael Wessel was one of the advisers who was asked by the US government to review what he said were woefully inadequate portions of the document. Wessel said the thrust of the TPP does nothing for Americans. “This is about increasing the ability of global corporations to source wherever they can at the lowest cost,” he said.
“It is not about enhancing or promoting production in the United States,” Wessel said. “We aren’t enforcing today’s trade agreements adequately. Look at China and Korea.
Now we’re not only expanding trade to a far larger set of countries under a new set of rules that have yet to be tested but we’re preparing to expand that to many more countries. It would be easier to accept if we were enforcing today’s rules.”
Wessel said that ultimately, the countries currently benefiting from increased outsourcing of jobs by American firms aren’t likely to see wages rise above a certain level.
“If you look in other countries, Mexico and India and others – there’s been a rise in the middle class but there’s been stagnation for those we’re hoping to get into the middle class,” Wessel said. “Companies are scouring the globe for countries they can get to produce most cheaply.”
That, he said, results in constant downward pressure on American wages. “Companies are not invested here the way we’d like them to; they’re doing stock buybacks and higher dividends,” Wessel continued.
“They may yield support for the stock-holding class but it’s not creating jobs.”
Note: Are the names of those countries also a secret?
Do you have a Calling? Why not be a Renaissance person? Should everyone expect to be a prophet in a field?
Posted on: October 13, 2015
Do you have a Calling?
Do you care if this calling is true?
Why not be a Renaissance person?
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
A question asked to kids of 4 years old and repeated each year ad nausea, and more frequently as you are about to graduate from high school.
As if prophets were born to be just prophet.
Raise your hand if the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” has ever caused you any anxiety.
0:44 I’m someone who’s never been able to answer the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
The problem wasn’t that I didn’t have any interests — it’s that I had too many.
In high school, I liked English and math and art and I built websites and I played guitar in a punk band called Frustrated Telephone Operator. Maybe you’ve heard of us.
This continued after high school, and at a certain point, I began to notice this pattern in myself where I would become interested in an area and I would dive in, become all-consumed, and I’d get to be pretty good at whatever it was, and then I would hit this point where I’d start to get bored.
And usually I would try and persist anyway, because I had already devoted so much time and energy and sometimes money into this field. But eventually this sense of boredom, this feeling of, like, yeah, I got this, this isn’t challenging anymore — it would get to be too much. And I would have to let it go.
Then I would become interested in something else, something totally unrelated, and I would dive into that, and become all-consumed, and I’d be like, “Yes! I found my thing,” and then I would hit this point again where I’d start to get bored. And eventually, I would let it go. But then I would discover something new and totally different, and I would dive into that.
This pattern caused me a lot of anxiety, for two reasons.
The first reason was that I wasn’t sure how I was going to turn any of this into a career. I thought that I would eventually have to pick one thing, deny all of my other passions, and just resign myself to being bored.
The other reason it caused me so much anxiety was a little bit more personal. I worried that there was something wrong with this, and something wrong with me for being unable to stick with anything. I worried that I was afraid of commitment, or that I was scattered, or that I was self-sabotaging, afraid of my own success.
If you can relate to my story and to these feelings, I’d like you to ask yourself a question that I wish I had asked myself back then. Ask yourself where you learned to assign the meaning of wrong or abnormal to doing many things.
I’ll tell you where you learned it: you learned it from the culture.
We are first asked the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” when we’re about five years old. And the truth is that no one really cares what you say when you’re that age.
It’s considered an innocuous question, posed to little kids to elicit cute replies, like, “I want to be an astronaut,” or “I want to be a ballerina,” or “I want to be a pirate.” Insert Halloween costume here.
But this question gets asked of us again and again as we get older in various forms — for instance, high school students might get asked what major they’re going to pick in college. And at some point, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” goes from being the cute exercise it once was to the thing that keeps us up at night. Why?
While this question inspires kids to dream about what they could be, it does not inspire them to dream about all that they could be. In fact, it does just the opposite, because when someone asks you what you want to be, you can’t reply with 20 different things, though well-meaning adults will likely chuckle and be like, “Oh, how cute, but you can’t be a violin maker and a psychologist. You have to choose.”
This is Dr. Bob Childs and he’s a luthier and psychotherapist. And this is Amy Ng, a magazine editor turned illustrator, entrepreneur, teacher and creative director. But most kids don’t hear about people like this. All they hear is that they’re going to have to choose. But it’s more than that.
The notion of the narrowly focused life is highly romanticized in our culture. It’s this idea of destiny or the one true calling, the idea that we each have one great thing we are meant to do during our time on this earth, and you need to figure out what that thing is and devote your life to it.
But what if you’re someone who isn’t wired this way?
What if there are a lot of different subjects that you’re curious about, and many different things you want to do?
Well, there is no room for someone like you in this framework. And so you might feel alone. You might feel like you don’t have a purpose. And you might feel like there’s something wrong with you. There’s nothing wrong with you. What you are is a multipotentialite.
A multipotentialite is someone with many interests and creative pursuits. It’s a mouthful to say. It might help if you break it up into three parts: multi, potential, and ite. You can also use one of the other terms that connote the same idea, such as polymath, the Renaissance person.
Actually, during the Renaissance period, it was considered the ideal to be well-versed in multiple disciplines. Barbara Sher refers to us as “scanners.“ Use whichever term you like, or invent your own. I have to say I find it sort of fitting that as a community, we cannot agree on a single identity.
It’s easy to see your multipotentiality as a limitation or an affliction that you need to overcome. But what I’ve learned through speaking with people and writing about these ideas on my website, is that there are some tremendous strengths to being this way. Here are three multipotentialite super powers.
One: idea synthesis. That is, combining two or more fields and creating something new at the intersection. Sha Hwang and Rachel Binx drew from their shared interests in cartography, data visualization, travel, mathematics and design, when they founded Meshu. Meshu is a company that creates custom geographically-inspired jewelry.
Sha and Rachel came up with this unique idea not despite, but because of their eclectic mix of skills and experiences. Innovation happens at the intersections. That’s where the new ideas come from. And multipotentialites, with all of their backgrounds, are able to access a lot of these points of intersection.
The second multipotentialite superpower is rapid learning. When multipotentialites become interested in something, we go hard. We observe everything we can get our hands on. We’re also used to being beginners, because we’ve been beginners so many times in the past, and this means that we’re less afraid of trying new things and stepping out of our comfort zones.
What’s more, many skills are transferable across disciplines, and we bring everything we’ve learned to every new area we pursue, so we’re rarely starting from scratch.
Nora Dunn is a full-time traveler and freelance writer. As a child concert pianist, she honed an incredible ability to develop muscle memory. Now, she’s the fastest typist she knows.
Before becoming a writer, Nora was a financial planner. She had to learn the finer mechanics of sales when she was starting her practice, and this skill now helps her write compelling pitches to editors. It is rarely a waste of time to pursue something you’re drawn to, even if you end up quitting. You might apply that knowledge in a different field entirely, in a way that you couldn’t have anticipated.
The third multipotentialite superpower is adaptability; that is, the ability to morph into whatever you need to be in a given situation. Abe Cajudo is sometimes a video director, sometimes a web designer, sometimes a Kickstarter consultant, sometimes a teacher, and sometimes, apparently, James Bond.
He’s valuable because he does good work. He’s even more valuable because he can take on various roles, depending on his clients’ needs. Fast Company magazine identified adaptability as the single most important skill to develop in order to thrive in the 21st century. The economic world is changing so quickly and unpredictably that it is the individuals and organizations that can pivot in order to meet the needs of the market that are really going to thrive.
Idea synthesis, rapid learning and adaptability: three skills that multipotentialites are very adept at, and three skills that they might lose if pressured to narrow their focus.
As a society, we have a vested interest in encouraging multipotentialites to be themselves. We have a lot of complex, multidimensional problems in the world right now, and we need creative, out-of-the-box thinkers to tackle them.
Let’s say that you are, in your heart, a specialist. You came out of the womb knowing you wanted to be a pediatric neurosurgeon. Don’t worry — there’s nothing wrong with you, either.
In fact, some of the best teams are comprised of a specialist and multipotentialite paired together.
The specialist can dive in deep and implement ideas, while the multipotentialite brings a breadth of knowledge to the project.
It’s a beautiful partnership. But we should all be designing lives and careers that are aligned with how we’re wired. And sadly, multipotentialites are largely being encouraged simply to be more like their specialist peers.
So with that said, if there is one thing you take away from this talk, I hope that it is this: embrace your inner wiring, whatever that may be. If you’re a specialist at heart, then by all means, specialize.
That is where you’ll do your best work.
But to the multi-potential persons in the room, including those of you who may have just realized in the last 12 minutes that you are one to you I say: embrace your many passions.
Follow your curiosity down those rabbit holes.
Explore your intersections.
Embracing our inner wiring leads to a happier, more authentic life.
And more importantly — multipotentialites, the world needs us.
Note: I confirm the advantages of the multi-potential Renaissance erudite: idea synthesis by creating something new at the intersection of fields of study, rapid learning, and adaptability.
Once you are exposed to studying more than two fields, you realize that most fields have common denominators in methods and procedures. All you need is to memorize the peculiar terminologies.
Once you are exposed to studying more than two fields, you know that you don’t have to be slave to one line of paradigm and you can select the methods that are better suited to tackle problems
Meet 12 brilliant women scientists
As if anyone would care about anybody Not brilliant.
Everywhere you look, odds appear stacked against women in STEM.
Young male scientists receive up to twice as much funding as their female counterparts in Boston’s biomedical research institutions, a global research hub.
Only 30% of the world’s researchers are women, and women hold fewer than 25% of STEM jobs in the US.
In fact, one recent survey found 67% of Europeans and 93% of Chinese respondents don’t even believe women have the skills to do science — and Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Tim Hunt thinks women cause “trouble” in the lab. (Related to sexual harassment?)
But take a look at the above portrait, which was taken by photographer Bret Hartman at the TED Fellows Retreat in Pacific Grove, California in August 2015.
These 12 scientists represent a range of disciplines — from astrophysics, biology, genetics, archaeology, medicine, glaciology, data science and more — and represent 5 countries around the world. They also happen to all be women.
And while a portrait like this one shouldn’t be extraordinary in 2015, it sadly is — highlighting a very real, very large gender gap in the sciences.
Patsy Z shared this link TED
Get to know their groundbreaking work:
“This week, a cab driver asked me, ‘What do men say when you tell them you’re a scientist? Because you don’t look like a scientist,’” marine biologist Kristen Marhaver says. “In this picture, I see a twinkle in each of our eyes, saying, ‘No, that’s the thing, sir. I do look like a scientist.’”
Get to know these extraordinary women and their groundbreaking work in the short bios below.
<img class=”progressiveMedia-noscript js-progressiveMedia-inner” src=”https://d262ilb51hltx0.cloudfront.net/max/1200/1*L0mUNREIqSQQ8fV4-LnsSw.png”>1. Renée Hlozek, cosmologist
South African cosmologist Renée Hlozek studies the cosmic microwave background — radiation left over from the Big Bang — to better understand the initial conditions of the universe and how it grew into the structures, such as galaxies, we see today.
“My field is about asking questions about the nature and evolution of the universe, fundamental to our understanding of ourselves,” Hlozek says.
“While there is a history of women in astronomy, there are still so few in my field, I find that I’m noticed as more of an outsider.
But because there aren’t many of us, I find I can have a clear voice within the field. I’m proud to be a role model for young women interested in science, and am excited for the day that we have equal number of men and women scientists in cosmology and astrophysics.”
2. Janet Iwasa, molecular animator
We know a lot about molecular processes, yet they are impossible to observe directly.
Molecular animator Janet Iwasa’s colorful, action-packed 3D animations illustrate how molecules look, move and interact — allowing scientists to visualize their hypotheses and conveying complex scientific information to general audiences.
Iwasa uses high-end animation software to create her works, but to help scientists access visualization technology, she’s also created Molecular Flipbook, a free, open source 3D animation software tool that lets researchers intuitively and quickly model molecular hypotheses.
“The group of women in this image work on some pretty awe-inspiring science — from understanding the birth of the universe, to finding evidence of cancer in ancient human populations, to preserving animal species that may disappear without our help,” says Iwasa.
“My subjects are far too small to see, but through my work I hope to reveal a world within our cells that is chaotic and beautiful, and — hopefully — also awe-inspiring.”
3. Katie Hunt, paleo-oncologist/archaeologist
When archeologist Katie Hunt was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at 22, it catalyzed a deeper curiosity about cancer as an ancient disease.
Delving into ancient texts and analyzing ancient human remains, Hunt discovered cancer’s presence in antiquity — recorded as early as 1,500 BCE, and in skeletal remains from as early as 6,000 BCE — but no tools existed for rigorous scientific analysis.
So, with three other women in science, Casey Kirkpatrick, Jennifer Willoughby and Roselyn Campbell, Hunt launched the Paleo-Oncological Research Organization — a network of archaeologists, oncologists and cancer researchers working to develop scientific research standards and techniques — and an open source database of physical evidence of cancer from many eras and regions.
This growing field of paleo-oncology will raise interesting questions about how biology, culture and environment affect development of the disease, helping us better understand its prevention and treatment.
“Biological anthropology — a physical science in a gentle embrace with social science—happens to be a field predominantly led by women, so I have the fortune of working with brilliant woman scientists every day,” says Hunt.
“While sexism still exists in our lives, I’m privileged to witness a world in which women in science is commonplace and celebrated, as in this picture. And science is stronger for it!”
4. Kristin Marhaver, coral biologist
Based in Curaçao, marine biologist Kristen Marhaver researches how corals reproduce and what their juveniles need in order to survive on today’s reefs — an urgent task as corals struggle against pollution, overfishing and a changing climate.
By gathering coral spawn and raising larvae in the lab, Marhaver and her colleagues analyze corals’ habitat preferences in substrates, colors and even bacterial scents, in order to construct environments that encourage coral settlement in the wild and facilitate the reintroduction of lab-raised juvenile corals.
Marhaver’s research team was recently able to harvest the spawn of and successfully breed the Caribbean pillar coral, which until now scientists worried had stopped reproducing.
“This picture carries extra power for me because we all look like our real selves,” says Marhaver. “I have this photo hanging behind my desk, so that when people come to my office, I have a posse of 12 PhDs backing me up.”
5. Marcela Uliano da Silva, computational biologist
Invasive Golden Mussels, brought to South America from Asia in ballast water, threaten to destroy the ecosystem of the Amazon River. Brazilian computational biologist Marcela Uliano da Silva is sequencing the mussel’s genome to develop a genetic solution preventing mussels from being able to attach to substrates. But it’s a race against time: the mussel — which arrived in South America in the 1990s, choking river systems, altering aquatic ecosystems and damaging industrial and infrastructural facilities — is a mere 150 kilometres from the first river in the Amazon River basin. If it arrives, it would spell disaster for the Amazon and the health of the planet.
“It wasn’t until my work as a scientist got more well known that I felt, in rare moments, the prejudice: objectification, discredit,” Uliano da Silva says. “The only thing I could think when such things happened was that such behavior is based in insecurity. People are afraid of change, yet change is the thing that makes mankind move forward in extraordinary ways. Science has already shown us that each individual, regardless of origin or gender, has the potential to be as creative as anyone else.”
<img class=”progressiveMedia-noscript js-progressiveMedia-inner” src=”https://d262ilb51hltx0.cloudfront.net/max/800/1*aBzhLtJk_MNMjK4aSkAYRQ.jpeg”>6. Jedidah Isler, astrophysicist
Astrophysicist Jedidah Isler studies supermassive, hyperactive black holes. These objects devour material at a rate upwards of a thousand times more than an average supermassive black hole. They pull in material via an accretion disk that spins around the black hole, and then shoot it out via jets that move at 99.99% the speed of light.
When these jets are pointed at the Earth, we call the supermassive, hyperactive black holes that produce them blazars, or blazing quasars. Isler is working to understand how and where the highest-energy light from the jet is made, and how that energy is transported through the galaxy.
“In this picture, see the future. I see a diverse set of explorers, thinkers, builders, achievers who are using their incredible intellect to improve the world we live in,” Isler says.
“As a woman of color in STEM, I see the opportunity to add my voice to the chorus of women redefining what it means to ‘be’ a scientist or ‘do’ scientific work. It’s an honor and privilege to stand with these women, but even more, to stand as an example for the next generation. I hope young women all over the world see themselves represented somewhere in this image, aspire to greater STEM dreams and find herself in the company of the next generation of women in STEM.”
7. Laura Boykin, computational biologist
Smallholder farmers in Africa rely on cassava for both sustenance and cash, but this crucial staple crop is threatened by whitefly, an insect that transmits a destructive virus to the plant.
Computational biologist Laura Boykin uses genomics, supercomputing and phylogenetics to identify whitefly species, gathering information necessary for researchers to modify cassava to resist both insect and virus. To accelerate progress, Boykin has launched WhiteFlyBase — the world’s first database of whitefly genetic information — with the hope of eradicating whitefly and bringing food security to East Africa.
“Being a woman in science can be lonely,” says Boykin. “When I see this image, I realize I will never be alone again. I also think about all the young females in science who can stand on our shoulders, because we will be providing a ladder for them — not pulling it up as so many before us have done.”
<img class=”progressiveMedia-noscript js-progressiveMedia-inner” src=”https://d262ilb51hltx0.cloudfront.net/max/800/1*yhBsUS5bW8u4-eKFqSVacg.jpeg”>8. Patricia Medici, conservation biologist
Brazilian conservationist Patricia Medici has devoted her life to preserving the life and habitat of the South American lowland tapir, the largest terrestrial mammal of South America. Though not well known, tapirs are important to their ecosystems as an umbrella species: protecting tapirs also protects iconic species like peccaries, jaguars and pumas.
Tapirs also help distribute the seeds of the foods they eat, shaping and maintaining the structure of forests. Sadly, tapirs are threatened by deforestation, hunting and roads, and are especially vulnerable due to their long gestation periods.
“I started my tapir work in 1996 when it was a pioneer research and conservation program and we had nearly zero information about tapirs,” says Medici. “They are extremely difficult to study, mainly because they are nocturnal, solitary, very elusive animals. That’s exactly what fascinated me. The rest is history.
It’s not always easy to be a woman in the conservation world as it requires a significant level of commitment to spending long periods of time in the field, away from home and family. It also requires physical strength and the proper frame of mind to deal with the hardships of working in the wilderness — not to mention the mosquitoes, ticks and botflies!”
<img class=”progressiveMedia-noscript js-progressiveMedia-inner” src=”https://d262ilb51hltx0.cloudfront.net/max/800/1*M9hw1TY-AREtDX4AOYokSg.jpeg”>9. Lucianne Walkowicz, astronomer
Stellar astronomer Lucianne Walkowicz works with data from NASA’s Kepler mission, studying stars that host planets outside our solar system, and how stellar radiation influences whether life could thrive on those worlds.
Lucianne also mines astronomical datasets in search of signals from intelligent life in the universe, and is a leader in the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, a new project that will scan the sky every night for 10 years to create a huge cosmic movie of our Universe.
“Searching for habitable worlds and life in the universe really makes me value our home, Planet Earth!” says Walkowicz. Both our challenges and our opportunities are so great, we need the brightest minds to create the future we want to see — and that means making science open and accessible for all.”
10. Julie Freeman, artist/computer scientist
British artist and computer scientist Julie Freeman creates kinetic sculptures, compositions and animations from nature-generated data, such as the motion of fish swimming, or the quiver of moths’ wings.
“I use digital technology as a communication bridge between the natural world and ourselves,” she says. “I make artwork that allows me to be curious about nature in different ways, and to share that curiosity. What is it about natural systems that are so compelling? How can we understand phenomena that exist beyond our sensory perception? Technology allows us insight into hidden elements of biological systems, and can allow us to experience things in new ways.”
Freeman’s online, data-driven artwork “We Need Us” explores the nature of metadata, and the humanity in the life of data.
“One of the things I’m increasingly aware of is the multiplicity of roles we all play,” says Freeman. “I am an artist AND a scientist. A swimmer and a speaker. A consultant and an entrepreneur. I am shy and I am outspoken. I don’t believe any of us represent a single role or gender. We care about being given respect and equal opportunity to do whatever we are good at — without the fight, without the justifications that we find ourselves involuntarily pronouncing.”
11. Michele Koppes, glaciologist
Glaciologist Michele Koppes travels to the the coldest places on Earth to study glaciers: how they move, carve out valleys and mountains, and respond to the warming atmosphere, oceans, and rocks — as well as how these changes affect the landscape, water resources and biodiversity.
Her one-of-a-kind research in the Himalayas fills in gaps of unrecorded glacial change, and may help vulnerable populations adapt to shifting weather patterns.
“As a woman, I constantly need to prove I am not only scientifically capable, but hardy enough to thrive in the field, in the harsh environments of my research,” says Koppes. “Doing science properly is rife with failed attempts — on top of this, women must stand up for their legitimate seat at the table.
The time has come for both women and men to discard the cultural stereotypes of what a ‘proper scientist’ should be — we can all be curious, creative, brainy, rational, driven, successful, and loving partners and parents, playful and engaged teammates and citizens.”
12. Sheila Ochugboju Kaka, genetic virologist
As a child growing up in rural Nigeria, Sheila Ochugboju Kaka was urged to stay indoors to stay safe from an untamed environment — an upbringing that piqued her curiosity about invisible things that can so easily kill a child: bacteria, viruses, scorpions in the sand.
This curiosity led her to study baculoviruses as a postdoctoral research fellow at Oxford University, investigating genetic engineering as a way to produce commercially viable biopesticides. Today, Ochugboju Kaka is a science communicator and international development expert, promoting the intersection of art and science — such as the Wellcome Trust’s Danscience project, an exploration of the science of epigenetics through dance — to promote innovation and social change.
“It’s incredible to be amongst such a diverse mix of women scientists which in itself exemplifies the power that different perspectives, skills, experience and heritage brings to any discipline,” says Ochugboju Kaka.
I’m also encouraged that nearly 20 years after I got my PhD in biochemistry, the image of women in science is finally shifting. What a beautiful change that makes.”
Adonis Diaries 
