The Zen of Technology & Scientific Discovery! (& Robots)

[Jundo]

This brings some small hope ...

A previously extinct species of bird returned from the dead, reclaiming the island it previously lived on and re-evolving itself back into existence, scientists have said.

The white-throated rail colonized the Aldabra Atoll in the Indian Ocean and evolved to become flightless, before being completely wiped out when the island disappeared below the sea around 136,000 years ago.

But researchers found similar fossils from before and after that event, showing that the chicken-sized bird re-appeared when sea levels fell again a few thousand years later, re-colonized the island and again lost the ability to fly.

The flightless rail can be found on Aldabra to this day.

The extremely rare process is known as iterative evolution -- the repeated evolution of a species from the same ancestor at different times in history.

The team's study, published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, marks the first time the process has been seen in rails, and is one of the "most significant" instances ever found in birds, according to the authors.

... The rails on Aldabra lost the ability to fly over time, because the lack of predators made it unnecessary -- just as the dodo of Mauritius did.

Unfortunately, that gave them no means of escape when the island was submerged and all its flora and fauna were wiped out.

But unlike the dodo, which became extinct in the 17th century, the white-throated rail was resurrected to tell the tale once the island re-emerged and birds started migrating to the destination again.

https://us.cnn.com/2019/05/10/africa/white-throated-rail-extinction-scli-intl-scn/index.html

Gassho, J

STLah

[Geika]

I was reading this article this morning and trying to wrap my head around it. I had no idea nature could do that. It's really, really cool!

Gassho,

Sat today, lah

[Doshin]

Alas, not all scientific reports are happy ones. All things are impermanent, including our planet ... but no need to rush things.



Cleaning this planet and preserving the environment can be as much Buddhist Practice as cleaning a Zendo floor or preserving a temple building. Saving beings, including ourselves, can come in many forms.

Gassho, J

STLah

Gassho,

I have probably shared this quote before. But it so well summarizes my experience and speaks to why the task requires much more than the tools science brings. Buddhism teachings matter
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Gassho
Doshin
Stlah

[Geika]

Doshin, what a sad and true quote.

Gassho

Sat today, lah

[Jundo]

I have probably shared this quote before. But it so well summarizes my experience and speaks to why the task requires much more than the tools science brings. Buddhism teachings matter
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Gassho
Doshin
Stlah

In my book that I am presently writing, "Zen of the Future!" ... I take care of this problem. At least, I hope so. Future technologies adjusting human body and mind can perhaps deal with our selfishness, greed and apathy, spiritual and cultural transformation.

The "white-throated rail" had to wait for nature to take its course (twice) in evolution. Human beings no longer need wait nor depend on chance alone.

Gassho, J
STLah

[Jundo]

Star in the Big Dipper is an alien invader

A star in the Big Dipper is an intergalactic alien, according to clues in its chemical fingerprints.

The star's unusual chemistry is unlike that of all known stars in the Milky Way and instead has more in common with stars in nearby dwarf galaxies, new research reveals.

Researchers suspected that the stellar oddball, named J1124+4535, originated in a dwarf galaxy that collided with the Milky Way long ago. According to that theory, when the dwarf galaxy fell apart, it stranded this star in our cosmic neighborhood.

The star was first discovered in the constellation Ursa Major in 2015, by the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) in China. Higher-resolution images were captured in 2017 by the Subaru Telescope in Japan, the scientists reported April 29 in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Spectrum readings from the star revealed that it was low in metals such as magnesium but had unexpectedly high levels of the heavy element europium; an element ratio that was unique in comparison to other Milky Way stars, the researchers wrote.

Elements in stars reflect the composition of the dust and gas clouds where the star formed. Stars that are close neighbors are usually shaped by the same materials and therefore have similar chemical signatures. When a star stands out from a group, scientists look elsewhere to see where it might have been born.

Prior studies have found that the Milky Way formed by colliding with and absorbing smaller galaxies. Metal-poor stars such as J1124+4535 are common in dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way today, the scientists reported.

Their analysis of J1124+4535 provides "the clearest chemical signature" yet of the ancient galaxy mergers that shaped the Milky Way billions of years ago, according to the study.

https://www.foxnews.com/science/a-st...-alien-invader

Gassho, J

STLah

[Geika]

I can't wait to look at it tonight!

Gassho

Sat today, lah

[Jundo]

Is it engaging in anger and violence even when the victim is made of silicone and chips?

These days, we have "shoot em up" video games that are socially acceptable (I am not such a fan even of those). But how about taking it a step further, to actually acting out the violence on a humanoid object? This leaves me with an unpleasant feeling. Hmmm.

These robots were built to be punched, stabbed and cursed. Here's why you might want to oblige them.
The masochistic little bots are intended to help people process negative emotions, but some experts wonder if they might do just the opposite.

The research team, based at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, says the so-called “cathartic objects” are designed to be hit, stabbed, cursed and otherwise abused. The bots don’t complain or fight back, as seen in a video, but they do respond by flashing lights and flailing around.

Why should we take our anger out on robots? The researchers say it’s all about catharsis, the process by which people give full expression of their negative emotions as a way to curb them.

“Negative emotions are unpleasant, but they are necessary,” Michal Luria, a doctoral student in human-computer interaction at the university and leader of the team who created the robots, told NBC News MACH in an email. “I suggest that technology can help us channel our negative emotions in a healthier way, that doesn't hurt the people around us.”

Luria and her colleagues created four different prototype robots.

Object 1 is a moplike robot covered in black fabric that wiggles back and forth when poked with something sharp.



...

Object 3, the most humanlike, has a doll-like fabric body and a shock of blue hair. It provokes users with an irritating laugh until they pound it into submission.



If hauling off and hitting a helpless robot sounds as if it might encourage our sadistic tendencies, Luria says it’s just the opposite. In a paper describing the team’s research, which was presented May 5 at a human computer interaction conference in Glasgow, Scotland, she and her co-authors cite research linking expressions of anger to higher pain tolerance and better responses to being wronged.

... But Patrick Markey, a professor of psychological and brain sciences at Villanova University, isn't so sure. In an email to NBC News MACH, he called catharsis an outdated concept, adding that beating up a robot might make us feel more angry, not less.

https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science...-s-ncna1005166

Gassho, J

STLah

[Geika]

I really like Grand Theft Auto and I also love movies like "Goodfellas," "John Wick" and "The Matrix." However, when there's violence or confrontation in my life, I feel ill. One time I tried to save a moth and ended up stepping on it after I thought it had flown away. I felt really sick about it for a couple of hours.

I guess my point is, I see no correlation in my life between my living behavior and some of my media choices. I don't think catharsis is what I am getting from playing a violent video game, which I guess is what they warn against in the article-- the catharsis that results from releasing pent up violence, which I don't think I receive in the slightest.

But everyone is different. There are some people I know who have talked about smashing their phones after an annoying phone call or destroying their computers after a bad round of Fortnite. Perhaps they are the kind of people who should stay away from violence as catharsis, or even those types of games.

Gassho

Sat today, lah

[Jundo]

vDeepest ever dive finds plastic bag at bottom of Mariana Trench

An American undersea explorer has completed what is claimed to be the deepest manned sea dive ever recorded -- returning to the surface with the depressing news that there's plastic trash down there.

Victor Vescovo journeyed 10,927 meters (35,853 feet) to the bottom of the Challenger Deep , the southern end of the Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench, as part of a mission to chart the world's deepest underwater places.

Making multiple trips nearly 11 kilometers, or seven miles, to the ocean floor -- one of them four hours in duration -- Vescovo set a record for the deepest solo dive in history, his team said. ...

As well as four new species that could offer clues about the origins of life on Earth, Vescovo observed a plastic bag and candy wrappers at the deepest point on the planet.

... Discoveries in the Challenge Deep included "vibrantly colorful" rocky outcrops that could be chemical deposits, prawn-like supergiant amphopods, and bottom-dwelling Holothurians, or sea cucumbers.

The team said its scientists were going to perform tests on the creatures found to determine the percentage of plastics found in them.

https://us.cnn.com/travel/article/vi...fic/index.html

Gassho J

stlah

[Kyonin]

Hi guys,

I love action movies with guns, explosions and martial arts. I also play videogames where there is a lot of cartoony and dumb violence. But most of the times I tend to embrace peace, minimalism and calm. I also find joy in puzzle games and slice of life anime

But I am not a violent person at all and in my day to day I go about practicing the Dharma and teaching it to people. I guess it's how you want too relate to media violence and if you take it seriously.

Like Gaika said, everyone is different.

Gassho,

Kyonin
Sat/LAH

[Tai Do]

I identify with you, Geika and Kyonin. I also love different kinds of video games, movies and anime and have no problem with seing or playing violent ones, like the "Evangelion" anime and "Mortal Kombat" game. I also like peaceful and heart warming slice of lifes.

But I don't identify with violence off screen. I know many people in the game and anime community in Brazil who are also like this. So I don't think there is a correlation between games, movies, anime etc. and violent behaviour.

But beating up robots without any gaming or martial art training context is perhaps a little disturbing. There appears to be no point in it besides violence per se. With movies, animes games etc. the violence that appears is serving the plot or the objective (in case of game), which is not the case here with this robots.
Don't know if I'm being coherent here or if my view has support on the current psychological researchs, but this is what I think.

Gassho,
Mateus
Sat

[Geika]

This pangs me every time I hand out a plastic bag at work. I ask everyone, "Do you NEED a bag?" They almost always pause for a while, and then say, "Um... I don't know... yeah sure, just in case." One time, I watched one of these customers go outside, stand in the parking lot, eat the sandwich while holding the bag, and then come back inside and put it in the trash. Yeah, he really needed it.

I am seeing that plastic is a really hard habit to break. In fact as my engaged project, I have started really researching zero waste options and have been working on incorporating them into my life. Maybe I will start a thread about it where we can all share how we help to make our impact smaller...

Gassho

Sat today, lah

Edit: Not to mention the amount of plastic gloves I dispose of every day... I hate it. Been trying to get a job with Dr. Bronnor's soap that is nearby my house. They are a good company that cares about these things and their employees and I have been lurking their job page waiting for one I qualify for. Fingers crossed for me!

[Jundo]

I identify with you, Geika and Kyonin. I also love different kinds of video games, movies and anime and have no problem with seing or playing violent ones, like the "Evangelion" anime and "Mortal Kombat" game. I also like peaceful and heart warming slice of lifes.

But I don't identify with violence off screen. I know many people in the game and anime community in Brazil who are also like this. So I don't think there is a correlation between games, movies, anime etc. and violent behaviour.

But beating up robots without any gaming or martial art training context is perhaps a little disturbing. There appears to be no point in it besides violence per se. With movies, animes games etc. the violence that appears is serving the plot or the objective (in case of game), which is not the case here with this robots.
Don't know if I'm being coherent here or if my view has support on the current psychological researchs, but this is what I think.

Gassho,
Mateus
Sat

Hmmm. That movie and TV series "Westworld" is kind of in between violence in games and violence directed at robots. I would not be surprised if something like that becomes more than SF very soon.

For those who may not know, Westworld involves a theme park in which people have gun battles and sword fights with hyper-realistic robot cowboys, samurai and the like. Of course, the human are supposed to always win ... until things go haywire!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BqKiZhEFFw

I would say that the Precepts wisely guide us not to fall into and act on anger and violence. It is less serious if we just think it than act upon it, but we are still advised against anger and violence. So, I would say that it is less serious to kill a robot than to kill an actual sentient being (assuming the robots are not sentient beings ... open to question in Westworld). However, even if it is just directed at hitting a pillow or punching the wall, one should still avoid anger and violence as much as possible.

However, I don't think that playing a "shoot em up" video game is actually "violence" (honestly, I am not sure, but it may be no more violent than kids playing "cowboys" or chess or football. However, beating up a human shaped robot seems a different level of violence).

Gassho, J

STLah

[Getchi]

Is it engaging in anger and violence even when the victim is made of silicone and chips?

These days, we have "shoot em up" video games that are socially acceptable (I am not such a fan even of those). But how about taking it a step further, to actually acting out the violence on a humanoid object? This leaves me with an unpleasant feeling. Hmmm.



Gassho, J

STLah

I laughed so hard, remembering the disgruntled talking cow from Hitchhikers Guide! https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Ameglian_Major_Cow


My favouritye games are the TotalWar series, whereby one commands an entire army and faction. I was uncomfortable with the level of violence i suddenly noticed (obviiously always there, racing Napoleon to the Top of the World), and became quite disturbed by it. I still play those games, but im relearning Chess and started on Go. My son is 8, and with his GrandMa right now due to hospital routines. We never let him play Fortnight, but now he has gotten good enough to be scouted for a "clan" of competitiors. Im proud of his achievment, critical of the game and very not-okay with theidea of a 8 year old playing competitive kill-games.


TLDR; Psych consensus is that violent content in games and media does not lead to more violent patients. This is different if the imagery and emotional content is divorced from context, however. That is why we need to be careful with what we comment on as funny in front of kids. Repeating aggressive physical actions are extremly dangerous, as we simply learn to give less time to teh space between "desire" and "action". Che Boddhis.