A Clue to Social Stress

Last night I decided to search the Internet for 'social stress'. I was pleased to find the following remark by a teacher named Millicent Kelly:

"We all have a need to belong socially. When this need is threatened, we can experience stress".

I like that, and I think it applies to me. I'll have to give it some serious thought.

Eugene Paul

Extraterrestrials and Evolution

I have been perplexed by the strong belief in extraterrestrial life among prominent cosmologists, especially Carl Sagan and Michio Kaku -- even though there is no evidence to support that belief. I understand the argument: the number of Earth-like planets in the universe must be so enormous that many of them must be inhabited by life. Yet our best efforts have failed to find evidence of the existence of such life.

Then a retired chemistry teacher I know mentioned that life should evolve on other planets in the same way it had evolved on Earth. I began to understand. Life on Earth is believed to have evolved from inanimate matter. The theory of evolution would be strengthened if we could show that life had also evolved elsewhere in the universe.

Then is the theory of evolution weakened by our failure to find any trace of life elsewhere in the universe?

Eugene Paul

Ayn Rand for Breakfast?

Well it wasn't my idea. I turned the radio on just before 6:00 a.m. in anticipation of hearing the latest news, and instead someone named Yaron Brook is offering to explain the philosophy of Ayn Rand in four minutes. I wasn't quite up to the philosophy of Ayn Rand in four minutes before breakfast, so I twirled the dial. (It's an old radio with a dial.)

I had never heard of Yaron Brook, so I looked him up on Wikipedia. It seems that he is the current president and executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute. So what happened to Ayn Rand's protégé, Leonard Peikoff? I don't know. I couldn't bear to wade through all the history of the relationships between Rand's followers.

Here I am in Miami, where my former friend Sergio lives. I haven't bothered to look him up since I moved here. Sergio was Peikoff's student at CCNY. Sergio became a fanatical follower of Peikoff and, presumably, Rand. A total  fanatic.

I don't believe I'll have any fanaticism before breakfast, if you don't mind.

Eugene Paul

The Esthetic Argument for ET

I woke up at 4:00 a.m. on the dot, so I put on my earphones and turned on my bedside radio. I waited for Coast to Coast to come on, and I discovered that Daniel Sheehan, of Christic Institute fame, was being interviewed. Sheehan was talking about extraterrestrials, and he seemed to be saying that Pope Francis believed in them. He seemed to quote Francis as saying that we should prepare for our encounter with civilizations far more advanced than ours. I turned the radio off and began to fume.

This is all the fault of the irrational cosmologists, who should know better. What deductions can be made from the existence of life on one planet? Try as we might, we haven't found any evidence of life anywhere else in the universe.

Then I thought of the Music of the Spheres, or something like it. The sensibilities of cosmologists must be offended by the gross asymmetry that would exist in a universe of stars and planets where life only existed on one unexceptional planet. The concept conflicted with mathematical esthetics. I concede that such a concept would not be consistent with my understanding of the logical structure of reality.

On the other hand, the asymmetry is only important because we think life is important. We are biased, of course. From the point of view of the universe and its structure, life is insignificant.

Kaffee in Miami

Speaking of Kaffee in Miami, I am at this very moment  having a cup of coffee in Miami. It is a cup of my very own making, and it consists of nothing more than hot milk poured onto instant coffee.

Since  I've been here, I've had three cups of Cuban coffee, or three cafecitos, as they say -- on three occasions. All three cups were free of charge.

On the first occasion, I collided with a Cuban who was carrying a cafecito in a paper cup at a shopping mall. I didn't taste the coffee because it spilled on my arm. Drat! 

But on the second and third occasions I was given cafecitos to drink. They were served in tiny paper cups that were only half filled. They were delicious -- or deliciosos, as they say here.

The Problem of the Quick Detectives

Problem:

Three quick detectives require a second to think and a second to act. In a single second, they have grabbed their hats and coats and rushed out the door of Police Headquarters to join their chief, who is waiting for them beside his car. In their haste, all three detectives have put their hats on backwards.

"I observe that at least one of you gentlemen has his hat on  backwards," said the chief. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you who you are."

Each detective looked at the other two, thought to himself, waited for a second, and then turned his hat around.

How did the three detectives know their hats were on backwards?

Solution:

This is a logical problem, but the solution requires imagination as well as logical thinking. The method can be seen more easily by first considering a simpler problem, where there are only two quick detectives, rather than three.

For Two Detectives: Name the detectives A and B, and consider what A does and thinks.

In the first second, A sees that B has his hat on backwards.

In the next second, A considers what B would think and do if A's hat were on forwards. Since at least one hat is on backwards, B would realize that his own hat must be on backwards, and in the third second he would turn his hat around.

But in the third second, B does not turn his hat around because A's hat is not on forwards. 

In the fourth second, therefore, A knows that his hat is on backwards and he turns it around.

At the same time, B would be using the same reasoning, and he would also turn his hat around in the fourth second.

For Three Detectives: Name the detectives A, B, and C, and consider what A does and thinks.

In the first second, A sees that both B and C have their hats on backwards.

In the next second, A considers what B would think and do if A's hat were on forwards. Seeing that A's hat is on forwards, B considers what C would think and do if B's hat were also on forwards. Since at least one hat is on backwards, C would realize that his own hat must be on backwards, and in the third second he would turn his hat around.

If C does not turn his hat around in the third second, then B knows that his hat is on backwards, and in the third second he would turn his hat around.

But in the third second, B does not turn his hat around because A's hat is not on forwards. 

In the fourth second, therefore, A knows that his hat is on backwards and he turns it around.

At the same time, B and C would be using the same reasoning, and they would also turn their hat around in the fourth second.

Eugene Paul 

The True Purpose of Insulin Receptors

It is commonly believed that the purpose of insulin receptors is to enable serum glucose to enter into the body's cells, but -- on the contrary -- the purpose of insulin receptors is to keep glucose out of certain cells at certain times.

Insulin receptors are present in the cell walls of muscle, fat, and liver tissue, but they are not present in the tissues of the brain. Insulin receptors are not needed in the brain; glucose enters brain cells without them.

If glucose can enter brain cells without the aid of insulin receptors, then glucose should be capable of entering any cells without the intervention of insulin receptors. The purpose of insulin receptors is therefore to retard the entry of glucose into selected cells.

This interpretation makes sense. In order to provide the brain with an adequate concentration of serum glucose, which is its only supply of energy, the insulin receptors in the tissues of less critical organs can be closed in order to divert glucose to the brain when necessary.

Eugene Paul