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Home Page > News and Society > Economics > Science, Ideology, and Economics

Science, Ideology, and Economics

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Posted: Jan 23, 2008 |Comments: 0
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Alan Greenspan’s The Age of Turbulence contains a chapter titled The Modes of Capitalism which is full of revelations which Mr. Greenspan unfortunately failes to recognize. The chapter describes the various forms Capitalism has taken in a number of countries, mostly North American and European. Of course, that such various forms of Capitalism have been implemented in different countries is not news. But what Mr. Greenspan fails to notice is that similar chapters could not be written about physics, chemistry, geology, meteorology, astronomy, physiology, botany, astronomy, etc. but could easily be written about Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and even astrology. The point is, science does not have sects, but ideologies do. Of course, economists shun the word sect, preferring instead the euphemism school in an attempt to gloss over the non-scientific nature of economics. Mr. Greenspan’s modes of Capitalism are nothing more than sects, and no endeavor that is comprised of sects is a science.

Mr. Greenspan’s attempts to explain the existence of these sects begins to reveal just how unscientific economists can be. He writes, “To me, the degree of willingness to take risks is in the end, the major defining characteristic that separates countries into the various modes of capitalism.” Mr. Greenspan ranks “the United States as the most ‘free’ of the larger economies” and believes, apparently, that therefore, Americans are less risk averse than people elsewhere. But there is not a lick, jot, fleck, or speck of evidence to support this belief. So although it may be true that the United States is the most free of the larger economies, other reasons for which there is considerable evidence can be cited as more likely explanations. The most obvious of these is differences in educational systems. It may be, for instance, that Americans support this freer economic system because they are poorly educated and therefore more gullible than people in countries that have better educational systems.

There is no question that the American educational system is inferior to the educational systems in many other countries. The will-publicized country-by-country comparisons that invariably show that American students are less competent in many areas of study need not be repeated. But there are far more telling examples of American educational inferiority. When graduates of some of America’s most prestigious universities, such as the current crop of presidential candidates, can openly reject evolution and when various branches of the national government routinely rewrite scientific studies to make them conform to the administration’s political ideology, the failure of the American educational system becomes evident. In America, ideology trumps truth.

An explanation of the failure of even America’s universities to educate their graduates is not hard to find. That America has had a long-standing anti-intellectual culture has been well documented. See Richard Hofstadter’s Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, for instance The American educational system is fractured. Local control of primary and secondary schools, often controlled by school-boards made up of poorly educated people who seek to promote personal agendas, is a tradition dating back to the nation’s founding. The makeup of state school boards is not different, and there are fifty of these. No common standards exist and even state-by-state comparisons are difficult to make. Then, too, American universities were not generally founded to educate people. They were founded to train people for professions; in effect, they were founded as vocational training rather than educational institutions. After the Civil War, the creation of the land-grant university system was explicitly designed for vocational training. As a result, students are taught how to carry out techniques, but rarely taught to critically examine the theories from which those techniques are derived. This description characterizes what goes on in most of the professional schools and colleges attached to our universities. It especially characterizes our graduate departments of economics. One small but revealing example provides anecdotal evidence that supports this view and the view that America’s universities promote ideology over truth is this: Gilles Raveaud, I believe, commenting on Greg Mankiw’s teaching at Harvard has written, “Some of the students I had at Harvard have described Mankiw’s course to me during private conversations as ‘massive conservative propaganda.’ One of them told me that he thought that Mankiw manages to ‘indoctrinate a whole generation.’ In 2003, a protest against a similar course then proposed by professor Marty Feldstein, an ex-adviser to President Reagan, led to the creation of an alternative intro economics course, taught by radical economist Steve Marglin. But while Mankiw’s course gives the required credits to students, Marglin’s does not.” Just as there is no honor among thieves, there is apparently no honor in universities that get huge donations from America’s capitalists who have gotten their fortunes by picking the pockets of consumers and employees and who would be loathe to see their ability to continue to pick those pockets restricted by some idealistic idea of truth.

Mr. Greenspan ignores completely one salient difference between American and Continental educational systems. In the American educational system, analytical thinking prevails. Everything is considered in isolation from everything else. Economic phenomena are examined as though they had no consequences to society in general. In Europe, however, phenomena are considered together as a gestalt. The consequences of changes in one social environment are related to the effects those changes have in other social environments. Whereas American economists think almost exclusively in terms of economic growth, Europeans think in terms of society as a whole. American economists can always find ways of excusing the adverse human consequences of an economic process; the Europeans emphasize the adverse consequences to society as being more important than the economic process. This distinction has been evident in economic circles since the formation of the so-called historical school, and Mr. Greenspan should have recognized it.

But Mr. Greenspan reveals something else about economics that is rarely called attention to—the delusions economists labor under in relation to the real-world economy. When Mr. Greenspan makes risk-taking the characteristic of the American economy, he is delusional. Certainly America has its share of risk-takers. Whether it has more or fewer risk-takers than other nations is questionable. But risk-taking does not characterize the American or any other economy. Economic risk-taken may be thought of as a characteristic of entrepreneurs. But entrepreneurs alone cannot make an economy; if everyone was an entrepreneur, no workers would exist to carry out entrepreneurial ventures. Kurt Wicksell in his Lectures on Political Economy nicely defines the entrepreneurial process: “He who borrows money at interest does not as a rule intend to keep it, but to exchange it at the first suitable opportunity for goods and services, by the productive use of which he hopes to be able to acquire not merely the equivalent of their price but a surplus value. . . .” Although that may be true of entrepreneurs, it is not why most people in today’s real economy borrow money. When people borrow to buy homes, automobiles, appliances, etc., they do not intend to use their purchases in ways that will create surplus value. In fact, these people are not investing at all. The money they borrow is a sunk cost for a place to live, a means of transportation, and other such uses. And although Americans have become a nation of borrowers, they have not become entrepreneurial risk-takers. Any economist who thinks of the economy in terms of entrepreneurial risk-taking is engaged in self delusion.

Mr. Greenspan is also delusional when he writes about creative destruction. Certainly, creative destruction does happen, but not nearly as often as Mr. Greenspan and other economists seem to think. As examples of creative destruction, Mr. Greenspan mentions the telegraph industry’s demise because of the introduction of the telephone, the tin can’s demise when the aluminum can became feasible, which he relates to the demise of the steel industry. Certainly some workers were displaced when the telephone industry replaced the telegraph industry and then the aluminum industry reduced the steel industry. And certainly such displacements cannot be avoided and no attempt should be made to avoid them. But that is not what is happening in America today. When Fisher-Price offshored the manufacturing of toys to China, it was not because the Chinese had developed new toy-making technology. In fact, those Chinese employ older technologies than those what would have been used in America to manufacture the same toys. When computer related industries offshore their helpdesks, it is not because new helpdesk technologies have been developed in the offshored countries. The technology used in offshore places is exactly the same technology that is being used in America or Europe or anywhere else. So although there is a phenomenon known as creative destruction, what is happening in America today is mere destruction. The other half of Mr. Shumpeter’s thesis is entirely absent, and for Mr. Greenspan to think otherwise is delusional.

Again, Mr. Greenspan writes, for instance, that “in a free society . . . the vast majority of transactions must be voluntary, which, of necessity, presupposes trust in the word of those with whom we do business. . . .” And “It is remarkable how much trust we have in the pharmacist who fills the prescription ordered by our physician.” But this is sheer delusion. People don’t trust the businesses they buy from. In the case of the pharmacist, people buy from him because there is no alternative. And does anyone trust the pharmaceutical firms that market the medicines we are prescribed? If they do, they must be wholly ignorant of the revelations that such firms hide from regulators, physicians, and consumers data of adverse effects and even life-threatening dangers. Do I exhibit trust in Microsoft when I purchase one of its operating systems or applications, knowing full well that what I am getting are poorly coded programs containing innumerable bugs and security lapses that Microsoft will attempt to patch by incessant releases of what it euphemistically calls Service Packs? Trust is something that does not exist in business; that is why contracts exist, and why firms such as Microsoft exempt themselves from all liability for damages within their contracts. If Mr. Greenspan trusts the firms he does business with, he is delusional.

But the unavoidable problem with Classical/Neoclassical economics, which Mr. Greenspan glosses, is its immorality. He writes that, “Clearly, not all activities undertaken in markets are civil. Many, though legal, are decidedly unsavory.” But he also writes, “When I was a child, jokes about the scruples of used-car salesmen were widespread, but in truth a flagrantly (italics mine) unscrupulous used-car salesman is one who will be out of business before long.” Mr. Greenspan fails to recognize that this statement is entirely meaningless. It does not say that businessmen are not unscrupulous; it does not say that competition puts unscrupulous businessmen out of business; it does not say just how unscrupulous a businessman must be to be flagrantly unscrupulous.

Everyone knows that businessmen routinely break even the most fundamental moral maxims, and any economist who denies this must explain the neologising and persistent existence of such phrases as Caveat Emptor, a pig in a poke, and letting the cat out of the bag. In an honest economy, these expressions would have no use. As a matter of fact, there is absolutely no reason to believe that people in business are any more honest than the population in general, and there is good reason to believe that business in a free-market promotes crime and vice, both of which are epidemic in the United States. It is no mere coincidence that when the Soviet Union collapsed and when Israel was persuaded by the Reagan administration to abandon its socialist traditions and free-market practices were introduced, both crime and vice emerged as important social problems.

In fact, free-market economics institutionalizes immorality, which is proven by the mere fact that puffery is an acceptable practice. Businesses that employ puffery to market products will, without batting an eyelash, discharge an employee who is found to have puffed up his resumé. I’m not talking about sophisticated moral philosophies such as Kant’s Categorical Imperative, but those simple maxims embodied in the Decalogue and the Golden Rule. These immoral practices of business are widespread and far-reaching and they contradict many of the favorite clichés of economists.

Mr. Greenspan claims, that free markets increase material well-being to a greater extent than regulated markets. But tell me, how does the marketing of bottled water, which is never tested and whose source is rarely identified, increase the well-being of the people who are snookered into buying it, especially when ordinary tapwater is regularly tested, comes from a well-known source, and is considerably cheaper? In fact, doesn’t it reduce that well-being, since the money wasted on it could have purchased something that provided a real material benefit? The same questions can be asked about numerous other products—the McDonalds hamburger, Taco Bueno’s tacos, pizza from numerous pizza vendors—the list is endless. But there’s more. The Fox affiliate in Dallas regularly runs a feature called “Deal or Dud.” The channel buys products heavily advertised on television and has them tested by ordinary viewers. If a product works as advertised, it’s called a Deal, if not, it’s called a Dud. Every so often the channel comes up with Deals, but most products tested are Duds. As a matter of fact, Mr. Greenspan’s book is itself a dud. It was not published because of the merit of its content; it was published merely because of the notoriety of its author. Mr. Greenspan’s name on the title page can be likened to other forms of puffery. So how does manufacturing and marketing products that don’t work increase the material well-being of consumers? And consider the snake-oils people are sold that are classified as dietary supplements? The manufacturers of these products could easily have them double-blind tested to determine their effectiveness. But they don’t. Is it because they know that if they did, the products couldn’t be sold?

Mr. Greenspan and other economists claim that the free market results in the most efficient allocation of capital. But how can anyone claim that the capital expended on the products mentioned in the previous paragraph is efficiently allocated? In fact, one could easily claim that it is completely wasted, as is the capital lost during economic downturns. So anyone who believes that American business are generally honest are as deluded as the insane person who believes he’s Napoleon.

Not only is free-market economics immoral, there is some evidence that it could not exist if the immorality were removed. In an impressive new book, The Social Conscience, Michel Glautier asks whether a caring society can exist in a market economy? His analysis suggests that recent and continuing changes to the market economy are putting the achievement of a caring society beyond reach. And the following passage comes from an abstract of a paper by Andrei Shleifer: Explanations of unethical behavior often neglect the role of competition, as opposed to greed, in assuring its spread. Child labor, corruption, “excessive” executive pay, corporate earnings manipulation, and commercial activities by universities all promote censured conduct. When unethical behavior cuts costs, competition drives down prices and entrepreneurs’ incomes, and thereby reduces their willingness to pay for ethical conduct. Unfortunately, both authors are ambivalent when it comes to drawing hard conclusions.

In a rational society, a distinction would be made between scientific enterprises, always keeping in mind that all science is a work in progress, and enterprises grounded in mere belief. The political system would defer to scientists in matters involving the former and allow the people to decide the kind of society they would prefer in matters involving the latter. So the choice of an economic system ultimately comes down to what kind of society people not only want for themselves but for their progeny in future generation. Do we really want an economic system that institutionalizes prevarication and encourages greed, crime, and vice? Those who answer this question affirmatively should, perhaps, have 666 tattooed on their foreheads.

In the second chapter of The Age of Turbulence, Mr. Greenspan writes that he “discovered that some of the scientists in the Manhattan Project subscribed to a philosophy called logical positivism. . . . The mathematician in me embraced this stark analytical credo. . . . The world became a better place, I thought, if people focused exclusively on what was knowable. . . .” Unfortunately somewhere alone the way, Mr. Greenspan lost this focus and became an apologist for the free-market system when he “decided to engage in efforts to advance free-market capitalism.” We are all now faced with the consequences of his decision.

Wise men know the importance of periodically asking themselves, What if what I believe to be true is wrong? It is time that our economists start asking themselves this question.

© 2008, John Kozy

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Retired professor of philosophy and logic who blogs on social, political, and economic issues at http://johnkozy.mindsay.com. Tries to avoid mere opinion and propaganda and emphasizes logic, facts, and evidence. All or any part of his articles can be cited or distributed.

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Home Page > Technology > Communication > The International System of Units: Its History and Use in Science and Industry

The International System of Units: Its History and Use in Science and Industry

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Posted: Feb 08, 2011 |Comments: 0
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ORIGIN OF THE METRIC SYSTEM

The metric system was one of many reforms introduced in France during the period between 1789 and 1799, known as the French Revolution. The need for reform in the system of weights and measures, as in other affairs, had long been recognized. No other aspect of applied science affects the course of human activity so directly and universally.

Prior to the metric system, there had existed in France a disorderly variety of measures, such as for length, volume, or mass, that were arbitrary in size and variable from one town to the next. In Paris the unit of length was the Pied de Roi and the unit of mass was the Livre poids de marc. These units could be traced back to Charlemagne. However, all attempts to impose the “Parisian” units on the whole country were fruitless, as they were opposed by the guilds and nobles who benefited from the confusion.

The advocates of reform sought to guarantee the uniformity and permanence of the units of measure by taking them from properties derived from nature. In 1670, the abbe Gabriel Mouton of Lyons proposed a unit of length equal to one minute of arc on the earth’s surface, which he divided into decimal fractions. He suggested a pendulum of specified period as a means of preserving one of these submultiples.

The conditions required for the creation of a new measurement system were made possible by the French Revolution, an event that was initially provoked by a national financial crisis. In 1787 King Louis XVI convened the Estates General, an institution that had last met in 1614, for the purpose of imposing new taxes to avert a state of bankruptcy. As they assembled in 1789, the commoners, representing the Third Estate, declared themselves to be the only legitimate representatives of the people, and succeeded in having the clergy and nobility join them in the formation of the National Assembly. Over the next two years, they drafted a new constitution.

In 1790, Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand, Bishop of Autun, presented to the National Assembly a plan to devise a system of units based on the length of a pendulum beating seconds at latitude 45. The new order was envisioned as an “enterprise whose result should belong some day to the whole world.” He sought, but failed to obtain, the collaboration of England, which was concurrently considering a similar proposal by Sir John Riggs Miller.

The two founding principles were that the system would be based on scientific observation and that it would be a decimal system. A distinguished commission of the French Academy of Sciences, including J. L. Lagrange and Pierre Simon Laplace, considered the unit of length. Rejecting the seconds pendulum as insufficiently precise, the commission defined the unit, given the name metre in 1793, as one ten millionth of a quarter of the earth’s meridian passing through Paris. The proposal was accepted by the National Assembly on March 26, 1791.

The definition of the meter reflected the extensive interest of French scientists in the figure of the earth. Surveys in Lapland by Maupertuis in 1736 and in France by LaCaille in 1740 had refined the value of the earth’s radius and established definitively that the shape of the earth is oblate. To determine the length of the meter, a new survey was conducted by the astronomers Jean Baptiste Delambre and P.F.A. Mechain between Dunkirk, in France on the English Channel, and Barcelona, Spain, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. This work was begun in 1792 and completed in 1798, enduring the hardships of the “reign of terror” and the turmoil of revolution. We now know that the quadrant of the earth is 10 001 957 meters instead of exactly 10 000 000 meters as originally planned. The principal source of error was the assumed value of the earth’s flattening used in correcting for oblateness.

The unit of volume, the pinte (later renamed the litre), was defined as the volume of a cube having a side equal to one-tenth of a meter. The unit of mass, the grave (later renamed the kilogramme), was defined as the mass of one pinte of distilled water at the temperature of melting ice. In addition, the centigrade scale for temperature was adopted, with fixed points at 0 C and 100 C representing the freezing and boiling points of water (now replaced by the Celsius scale).

The work to determine the unit of mass was begun by Lavoisier and Hauy and was completed by Gineau and Fabbroni. They discovered that the maximum density of water occurs at 4 C, and not at 0 C as had been supposed, so the definition of the kilogram was amended to specify the temperature of maximum density. We now know that the intended mass was 0.999972 kg, i.e., 1000.028 cm3 instead of exactly 1000 cm3 for the volume of 1 kilogram of pure water at 4 C.

On August 1, 1793 the National Convention, which by then ruled France, issued a decree adopting the preliminary definitions and terms. The “methodical” nomenclature, specifying fractions and multiples of the units by Latin prefixes, was chosen in favor of the “common” nomenclature, involving separate names.

A new calendar was also introduced in September, 1793. Its origin was designated retroactively as September 22, 1792 to commemorate the overthrow of the monarchy and the inception of the Republic of France. The French Revolutionary Calendar consisted of twelve months of thirty days each, concluded by a five or six day holiday. The months were given poetic names that suggested the prevailing seasons. Each month was divided into three ten-day weeks, or decades. The day itself was divided into decimal fractions, with ten hours per day and 100 minutes per hour. The calendar was politically, rather than scientifically, motivated, since it was intended to weaken the influence of Christianity. It was abolished by Napoleon in 1806 in return for recognition by the Church of his authority as emperor of France. Although the calendar reform remained in effect for twelve years, the new method of keeping the time of day required the replacement of valued clocks and timepieces and was never actually used in practice.

The metric system was officially adopted on April 7, 1795. The government issued a decree (Loi du 18 germinal, an III) formalizing the adoption of the definitions and terms that are in use today. A brass bar was made by Lenoir to represent the provisional meter, obtained from the survey of LaCaille, and a provisional standard for the kilogram was derived.

In 1799 permanent standards for the meter and kilogram made from platinum were constructed based on the new survey by Delambre and Mechain. The full length of the meter bar represented the unit. These standards were deposited in the Archives of the Republic. They became official by an act of December 10, 1799.

During the Napoleonic era, several regressive acts were passed that temporarily revived old traditions. Thus in spite of its auspicious beginning, the metric system was not quickly adopted in France. Although the system continued to be taught in the schools, lack of funds prevented the distribution of secondary standards. Finally, after a three year transition period, the metric system became compulsory throughout France as of January 1, 1840.

REACTION IN THE UNITED STATES

The importance of a uniform system of weights and measures was recognized in the United States, as in France. Article I, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution provides that Congress shall have the power “to coin money … and fix the standard of weights and measures.” However, although the progressive concept of decimal coinage was introduced, the early American settlers both retained and cultivated the customs and tools of their British heritage, including the measures of length and mass. In contrast to the French Revolution, the “American Revolution” was not a revolution at all, but was rather a war of independence.

In 1790, President George Washington referred the subject of weights and measures to his Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson. In a report submitted to the House of Representatives, Jefferson considered two alternatives: if the existing measures were retained they could be rendered more simple and uniform, or if a new system were adopted, he favored a decimal system based on the principle of the seconds pendulum. As it was eventually formulated, Jefferson did not endorse the metric system, primarily because the metric unit of length could not be checked without a sizable scientific operation on European soil.

The political situation at the turn of the eighteenth century also made consideration of the metric system impractical. Although France under Louis XVI had supported the colonies in the war with England, by 1797 there was manifest hostility. The revolutionary climate in France was viewed by the external world with a mixture of curiosity and alarm. The National Convention had been replaced by the Directory, and French officials who had been sympathetic to the United States either had been executed or were in exile. In addition, a treaty negotiated with England by John Jay in 1795 regarding settlement of the Northwest Territories and trade with the British West Indies was interpreted by France as evidence of an Anglo-American alliance. France retaliated by permitting her ships to prey upon American merchant vessels and Federalist President John Adams prepared for a French invasion. Thus in 1798, when dignitaries from foreign countries were assembled in Paris to learn of France’s progress with metrological reform, the United States was not invited.

A definitive investigation was prepared in 1821 by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams that was to remove the issue from further consideration for the next forty-five years. He found that the standards of length, volume, and mass used throughout the 22 states of the Union were already substantially uniform, unlike the disparate measures that had existed in France prior to the French Revolution. Moreover, it was not at all evident that the metric system would be permanent, since even in France its use was sporadic and, in fact, the consistent terminology had been repealed in 1812 by Napoleon. Therefore, if the metric system failed to win support in early America, it was not for want of recognition.

Serious consideration of the metric system did not occur again until after the Civil War. In 1866, upon the advice of the National Academy of Sciences, the metric system was made legal by the Thirty-Ninth Congress. The Act was signed into law on July 28 by President Andrew Johnson.

TREATY OF THE METER

A series of international expositions in the middle of the nineteenth century enabled the French government to promote the metric system for world use. Between 1870 and 1872, with an interruption caused by the Franco-Prussian War, an international meeting of scientists was held to consider the design of new international metric standards that would replace the meter and kilogram of the French Archives. A Diplomatic Conference on the Meter was convened to ratify the scientific decisions. Formal international approval was secured by the Treaty of the Meter, signed in Paris by the delegates of 17 countries, including the United States, on May 20,1875.

The treaty established the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM). It also provided for the creation of an International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) to run the Bureau and the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) as the formal diplomatic body that would ratify changes as the need arose. The French government offered the Pavillon de Breteuil, once a small royal palace, to serve as headquarters for the Bureau in Sevres, France near Paris. The grounds of the estate form a tiny international enclave within French territory.

A total of 30 meter bars and 43 kilogram cylinders were manufactured from a single ingot of an alloy of 90 percent platinum and 10 percent iridium by Johnson, Mathey and Company of London. The original meter and kilogram of the French Archives in their existing states were taken as the points of departure. The standards were intercompared at the International Bureau between 1886 and 1889. One meter bar and one kilogram cylinder were selected as the international prototypes. The remaining standards were distributed to the signatories. The work was approved by the First General Conference on Weights and Measures in 1889.

The United States received meters 21 and 27 and kilograms 4 and 20. On January 2, 1890 the seals to the shipping cases for meter 27 and kilogram 20 were broken in an official ceremony at the White House with President Benjamin Harrison presiding. The standards were deposited in the Office of Weights and Measures of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.

U.S. CUSTOMARY UNITS

The U.S. customary units were tied to the British and French units by a variety of indirect comparisons.

Troy weight was the standard for the minting of coins. Congress could be ambivalent about nonuniformity in standards for trade, but it could not tolerate nonuniformity in its standards for money. Therefore, in 1827 a brass copy of the British troy pound of 1758 was secured by Ambassador to England and former Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin. This standard was kept in the Philadelphia mint and lesser copies were made and distributed to other mints. The troy pound of the Philadelphia mint was virtually the primary standard for commercial transactions until 1857 and remained the standard for coins until 1911.

The semi-official standards used in commerce for a quarter century may be attributed to Ferdinand Hassler, who was appointed superintendent of the newly organized Coast Survey in 1807. In 1832 the Treasury Department directed Hassler to construct and distribute to the states standards of length, mass, and volume, and balances by which masses might be compared. As the standard of length, Hassler adopted the Troughton scale, an 82-inch brass bar made by Troughton of London for the Coast Survey that Hassler had brought back from Europe in 1815. The distance between the 27th and 63rd engraved lines on a silver inlay scale down the center of the bar was taken to be equal to the British yard. The standard of mass was the avoirdupois pound, derived from the troy pound of the Philadelphia mint by the ratio 7000 grains to 5760 grains. It was represented by a brass knob weight that Hassler constructed and marked with a star. Thus it has come to be known as the “star” pound.

The system of weights and measures in Great Britain had been in use since the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Following a reform begun in 1824, the imperial standard avoirdupois pound was made the standard of mass in 1844 and the imperial standard yard was adopted in 1855. The imperial standards were made legal by an Act of Parliament in 1855 and are preserved in the Board of Trade in London. The United States received copies of the British imperial pound and yard, which became the official U.S. standards from 1857 until 1893.

When the metric system was made lawful in the United States in 1866, a companion resolution was passed to distribute metric standards to the states. The Treasury Department had in its possession several copies derived from the meter and kilogram of the French Archives. These included the “Committee” meter and kilogram, which were an iron end standard and a brass cylinder with knob copied from the French prototypes, that Hassler had brought with him when he immigrated to the United States in 1805. He had received them as a gift from his friend, J.G. Tralles, who was the Swiss representative to the French metric convocation in 1798 and a member of its committee on weights and measures. Also available were the “Arago” meter and kilogram, named after the French physicist who certified them. They were purchased by the United States in 1821 through Albert Gallatin, then minister to France. The Committee meter and the Arago kilogram were used as the prototypes for brass metric standards that were distributed to the states.

In 1893, under a directive from Thomas C. Mendenhall, Superintendent of Standard Weights and Measures of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the U.S. customary units were redefined in terms of the metric units. The primary standards of length and mass adopted were prototype meter No. 27 and prototype kilogram No. 20 that the United States had received in 1889 as a signatory to the Treaty of the Meter. The yard was defined as 3600/3937 meter and the avoirdupois pound-mass was defined as 0.4535924277 kilogram. The conversion for mass was based on a comparison between the British imperial standard pound and the international prototype kilogram performed in 1883. These definitions were used by the National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology) from its founding in 1901 until 1959. On July 1, 1959 the definitions were fixed by international agreement among the English-speaking countries to be 1 yard = 0.9144 meter and 1 pound-mass = 0.45359237 kilogram exactly. The definition of the yard is equivalent to the relations 1 foot = 0.3048 meter and 1 inch = 2.54 centimeters exactly.

The derived unit of force in the British system is the pound-force (lbf), which is defined as the weight of one pound-mass (lbm) at a hypothetical location where the acceleration of gravity has the standard value 9.80665 m/s2 exactly. Thus, 1 lbf = 0.45359237 kg x 9.80665 m/s2 = 4.448 N approximately. The slug (sl) is the mass that receives an acceleration of one foot per second squared under a force of one pound-force. Thus 1 sl = (1 lbf)/(1 ft/s2) = (4.448 N)/(0.3048 m/s2) = 14.59 kg = 32.17 lbm approximately.

THE ELECTRICAL UNITS

The theories of electricity and magnetism developed and matured during the early 1800s as fundamental discoveries were made by Oersted, Ampere, Faraday, and many others. The possibility of making magnetic measurements in terms of mechanical units, that is in “absolute measure,” was first pointed out by Gauss in 1833. His analysis was carried further to cover electrical phenomena by Weber, who in 1851 discussed a method by which a complete set of absolute units might be developed.

In 1861 a committee of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, that included William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin), James Clerk Maxwell, and James Prescott Joule, undertook a comprehensive study of electrical measurements. This committee introduced the concept of a system of units. Four equations were sufficient to determine the units of charge q, current I, voltage V, and resistance R. These were either Coulomb’s force law for charges or Ampere’s force law for currents, the relation between charge and current q = I t, Ohm’s law V = I R, and the equation for electrical work W = V q = I 2 R t, where t is time.

A fundamental principle was that the system should be coherent. That is, the system is founded upon certain base units for length, mass, and time, and derived units are obtained as products or quotients without requiring numerical factors. The meter, gram, and mean solar second were selected as base units. In 1873 a second committee recommended a centimeter-gram-second (CGS) system of units because in this system the density of water is unity.

Two parallel systems of units were devised, the electrostatic and electromagnetic subsystems, depending on whether the law of force for electric charges or for electric currents was taken as fundamental. The ratio of the electrostatic to the electromagnetic unit of charge or current was a fundamental experimental constant c.

The committee also conducted research on electrical standards. It issued a wire resistance standard, the “B.A. unit,” which soon became known as the “ohm.” The idea of naming units after eminent scientists was due to Sir Charles Bright and Latimer Clark.

At the time, electricity and magnetism were essentially two distinct branches of experimental physics. However, in a series of papers published between 1856 and 1865, Maxwell created a unified theory based on the field concept introduced by Faraday. He predicted the existence of electromagnetic waves and identified the “ratio of the units” c with the speed of light.

In 1888, Heinrich Hertz verified Maxwell’s prediction by generating and detecting electromagnetic waves at microwave frequencies in the laboratory. He also greatly simplified the theory by eliminating unnecessary physical assumptions. Thus the form of Maxwell’s equations as they are known to physicists and engineers today is due to Hertz. (Oliver Heaviside made similar modifications and introduced the use of vectors.) In addition, Hertz combined the electrostatic and electromagnetic CGS units into a single system related by the speed of light c, which he called the “Gaussian” system of units.

The recommendations of the B.A. committees were adopted by the First International Electrical Congress in Paris in 1881. Five “practical” electrical units were defined as certain powers of 10 of the CGS units: the ohm, farad, volt, ampere, and coulomb. In 1889, the Second Congress added the joule, watt, and a unit of inductance, later given the name henry.

In 1901, Giorgi demonstrated that the practical electrical units and the MKS mechanical units could be incorporated into a single coherent system by (1) selecting the meter, kilogram, and second as the base units for mechanical quantities; (2) expanding the number of base units to four, including one of an electrical nature; and (3) assigning physical dimensions to the permeability of free space 0, with a numerical value of 4 x107 in a “rationalized” system or 107 in an “unrationalized” system. (The term “rationalized,” due to Heaviside, concerned where factors of 4 should logically appear in the equations based on symmetry.) The last assumption implied that the magnetic flux density B and magnetic field H, which are related in vacuum by the equation B = 0 H, are physically distinct with different units, whereas in the Gaussian system they are of the same character and are dimensionally equivalent. An analogous situation occurs for the electric fields D and Ethat are related by D = 0 E, where 0 is the permittivity of free space given by c2 = 1 / 0 0.

In 1908, an International Conference on Electrical Units and Standards held in London adopted independent, easily reproducible primary electrical standards for resistance and current, represented by a column of mercury and a silver coulombmeter, respectively. These so-called “international” units went into effect in 1911, but they soon became obsolete with the growth of the national standards laboratories and the increased application of electrical measure-ments to other fields of science.

With the recognition of the need for further international coopera-tion, the 6th CGPM amended the Treaty of the Meter in 1921 to cover the units of electricity and photometry and the 7th CGPM created the Consultative Committee for Electricity (CCE) in 1927. By the 8th CGPM in 1933 there was a universal desire to replace the “international” electrical units with “absolute” units. Therefore, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) recommended to the CCE an absolute system of units based on Giorgi’s proposals, with the practical electrical units incorporated into a comprehensive MKS system. The choice of the fourth unit was left undecided.

At the meeting of the CCE in September 1935, the delegate from England, J.E. Sears, presented a note that set the course for future action. He proposed that the ampere be selected as the base unit for electricity, defined in terms of the force per unit length between two long parallel wires. The unit could be preserved in the form of wire coils for resistance and Weston cells for voltage by calibration with a current balance. This recommendation was unanimously accepted by the CCE and was adopted by the CIPM.

Further progress was halted by the intervention of World War II. Finally, in 1946, by authority given to it by the CGPM in 1933, the CIPM officially adopted the MKS practical system of absolute electrical units to take effect January 1, 1948.

INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF UNITS (SI)

By 1948 the General Conference on Weights and Measures was responsible for the units and standards of length, mass, electricity, photometry, temperature, and ionizing radiation. At this time, the next major phase in the evolution of the metric system was begun. It was initiated by a request of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics “to adopt for international use a practical international system of units.” Thus the 9th CGPM decided to define a complete list of derived units. Derived units had not been considered previously because they do not require independent standards. Also, the CGPM brought within its province the unit of time, which had been the prerogative of astronomers.

The work was started by the 10th CGPM in 1954 and was completed by the 11th CGPM in 1960. During this period there was an extensive revision and simplification of the metric unit definitions, symbols, and terminology. The kelvin and candela were added as base units for thermodynamic temperature and luminous intensity, and in 1971 the mole was added as a seventh base unit for amount of substance.

The modern metric system is known as the International System of Units, with the international abbreviation SI. It is founded on the seven base units, summarized in Table 1, that by convention are regarded as dimensionally independent. All other units are derived units, formed coherently by multiplying and dividing units within the system without the use of numerical factors. Some derived units, including those with special names, are listed in Table 2. For example, the unit of force is the newton, which is equal to a kilogram meter per second squared, and the unit of energy is the joule, equal to a newton meter. The expression of multiples and submultiples of SI units is facilitated by the use of prefixes, listed in Table 3. (Additional information is available on the Internet at the websites of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures at http://www.bipm.fr/ and the National Institute of Standards and Technology at http://physics.nist.gov/cuu .)

METRIC STANDARDS

One must distinguish a unit, which is an abstract idealization, and a standard, which is the physical embodiment of the unit. Since the origin of the metric system, the standards have undergone several revisions to reflect increased precision as the science of metrology has advanced.

The meter. The international prototype meter standard of 1889 was a platinum-iridium bar with an X-shaped cross section. The meter was defined by the distance between two engraved lines on the top surface of the bridge instead of the distance between the end faces. The meter was derived from the meter of the French Archives in its existing state and reference to the earth was abandoned.

The permanence of the international prototype was verified by comparison with three companion bars, called “check standards.” In addition, there were nine measurements in terms of the red line of cadmium between 1892 and 1942. The first of these measurements was carried out by A. A. Michelson using the interferometer which he invented. For this work, Michelson received the Nobel Prize in physics in 1907.

Improvements in monochro-matic light sources resulted in a new standard based on a well-defined wavelength of light. A single atomic isotope with an even atomic number and an even mass number is an ideal spectral standard because it eliminates complexity and hyperfine structure. Also, Doppler broadening is minimized by using a gas of heavy atoms in a lamp operated at a low temperature. Thus a particular orange krypton-86 line was chosen, whose wavelength was obtained by direct comparison with the cadmium wavelength. In 1960, the 11th CGPM defined the meter as the length equal to 1 650 763.73 wavelengths of this spectral line.

Research on lasers at the Boulder, CO laboratory of the National Bureau of Standards contributed to another revision of the meter. The wavelength and frequency of a stabilized helium-neon laser beam were measured independently to determine the speed of light. The wavelength was obtained by comparison with the krypton wavelength and the frequency was determined by a series of measurements traceable to the cesium atomic standard for the second. The principal source of error was in the profile of the krypton spectral line representing the meter itself. Consequently, in 1983 the 17th CGPM adopted a new definition of the meter based on this measurement as “the length of the path traveled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second.” The effect of this definition is to fix the speed of light at exactly 299 792 458 m/s. Thus experimental methods previously interpreted as measurements of the speed of light c (or equivalently, the permittivity of free space 0) have become calibrations of length.

The kilogram. In 1889 the international prototype kilogram was adopted as the standard for mass. The prototype kilogram is a platinum-iridium cylinder with equal height and diameter of 3.9 cm and slightly rounded edges. For a cylinder, these dimensions present the smallest surface area to volume ratio to minimize wear. The standard is carefully preserved in a vault at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures and is used only on rare occasions. It remains the standard today. The kilogram is the only unit still defined in terms of an arbitrary artifact instead of a natural phenomenon.

The second. Historically, the unit of time, the second, was defined in terms of the period of rotation of the earth on its axis as 1/86 400 of a mean solar day. Meaning “second minute,” it was first applied to timekeeping in about the seventeenth century when pendulum clocks were invented that could maintain time to this precision.

By the twentieth century, astronomers realized that the rotation of the earth is not constant. Due to gravitational tidal forces produced by the moon on the shallow seas, the length of the day is increasing by about 1.4 milliseconds per century. The effect can be measured by comparing the computed paths of ancient solar eclipses on the assumption of uniform rotation with the recorded locations on earth where they were actually observed. Consequently, in 1956 the second was redefined in terms of the period of revolution of the earth about the sun for the epoch 1900, as represented by the Tables of the Sun computed by the astronomer Simon Newcomb of the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, DC. The operational significance of this definition was to adopt the linear coefficient in Newcomb’s formula for the mean longitude of the sun to determine the unit of time.

The rapid development of atomic clocks soon permitted yet another definition. Accordingly, in 1967 the 13th CGPM defined the second as “the duration of 9 192 631 770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two ground states of the cesium-133 atom.” This definition was based on observations of the moon, whose ephemeris is tied indirectly to the apparent motion of the sun, and was equivalent to the previous definition within the limits of experimental uncertainty.

The ampere. The unit of electric current, the ampere, is defined as that constant current which, if maintained in each of two parallel, infinitely long wires with a separation of 1 meter in vacuum, would produce a force per unit length between them equal to 2 x 10-7 N/m. This formal definition serves to establish the value of the constant 0 as 4 x 107 N/A2 exactly. Although the base unit for electricity is the ampere, the electrical units are maintained through the volt and the ohm.

In the past, the practical representation of the volt was a group of Weston saturated cadmium-sulfate electrochemical standard cells. A primary calibration experiment involved the measurement of the force between two coils of an “ampere balance” to determine the current, while the cell voltage was compared to the potential difference across a known resistance.

The ohm was represented by a wire-wound standard resistor. Its resistance was measured against the impedance of an inductor or a capacitor at a known frequency. The inductance can be calculated from the geometrical dimensions alone. From about 1960, a so-called Thompson-Lampard calculable capacitor has been used, in which only a single measurement of length is required.

Since the early 1970s, the volt has been maintained by means of the Josephson effect, a quantum mechanical tunneling phenomenon discovered by Brian Josephson in 1962. A Josephson junction may be formed by two superconducting niobium films separated by an oxide insulating layer. If the Josephson junction is irradiated by microwaves at frequency f and the bias current is progressively increased, the current-voltage characteristic is a step function, in which the dc bias voltage increases discontinuously at discrete voltage intervals equal to f / KJ , where KJ = 2 e / h is the Josephson constant, h is Planck’s constant, and e is the elementary charge.

The ohm is now realized by the quantum Hall effect, a characteristic of a two-dimensional electron gas discovered by Klaus von Klitzing in 1980. In a device such as a silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), the Hall voltage VH for a fixed current I increases in discrete steps as the gate voltage is increased. The Hall resistance, or RH = VH / I , is equal to an integral fraction of the von Klitzing constant, given by RK = h / e2 = 0 c / 2 , where is the fine structure constant. In practice, RK can be measured in terms of a laboratory resistance standard, whose resistance is obtained by comparison with the impedance of a calculable capacitor, or it can be obtained indirectly from.

A new method to determine the relation between the mechanical and electromagnetic units that has shown much promise is by means of a “watt balance,” which has greater precision than an ordinary ampere balance. In this experiment, a current I is passed through a test coil suspended in the magnetic field of a larger coil so that the force F balances a known weight mg. Next the test coil is moved axially through the magnetic field and the velocity v and induced voltage V are measured. By the equivalence of mechanical and electrical power, F v = V I. The magnetic field and apparatus geometry drop out of the calculation. The voltage V is measured in terms of the Josephson constant KJ while the current I is calibrated by the voltage across a resistance known in terms of the von Klitzing constant RK. The experiment determines KJ 2 RK (and thus h), which yields KJ if RK is assumed to be known in terms of the SI ohm.

The Josephson and quantum Hall effects provide highly uniform and conveniently reproducible quantum mechanical standards for the volt and the ohm. For the purpose of practical engineering metrology, conventional values for the Josephson constant and the von Klitzing constant were adopted by international agreement starting January 1, 1990. These values are KJ-90 = 483 597.9 GHz/V and RK-90 = 25 812.807 exactly. The best experimental SI values, obtained as part of an overall least squares adjustment of the fundamental constants completed in 1998, differ only slightly from these conventional values.

METRIC UNITS IN INDUSTRY

The International System of Units (SI) has become the fundamental basis of scientific measurement worldwide. It is also used for everyday commerce in virtually every country of the world but the United States. Congress has passed legislation to encourage use of the metric system, including the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 and the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988, but progress has been slow.

The space program should have been the leader in the use of metric units in the United States and would have been an excellent model for education. Burt Edelson, Director of the Institute for Advanced Space Research at George Washington University and former Associate Administrator of NASA, recalls that “in the mid-‘80s, NASA made a valiant attempt to convert to the metric system” in the initial phase of the international space station program. However, he continued, “when the time came to issue production contracts, the contractors raised such a hue cry over the costs and difficulties of conversion that the initiative was dropped. The international partners were unhappy, but their concerns were shunted aside. No one ever suspected that a measurement conversion error could cause a failure in a future space project.”

Economic pressure to compete in an international environment is a strong motive for contractors to use metric units. Barry Taylor, head of the Fundamental Constants Data Center of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and U.S. representative to the Consultative Committee on Units of the CIPM, expects that the greatest stimulus for metrication will come from industries with global markets. “Manufacturers are moving steadily ahead on SI for foreign markets,” he says. Indeed, most satellite design technical literature does use metric units, including meters for length, kilograms for mass, and newtons for force, because of the influence of international partners, suppliers, and customers.

CONCLUSION

As we begin the new millennium, there should be a renewed national effort to promote the use of SI metric units throughout industry, and to assist the general public in becoming familiar with the system and using it regularly. The schools have taught the metric system in science classes for decades. It is time to put aside the customary units of the industrial revolution and to adopt the measures of precise science in all aspects of modern engineering and commerce, including the United States space program and the satellite industry.

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Home Page > Business > Leadership > Bill Nye the Science Guy

Bill Nye the Science Guy

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Posted: Jul 09, 2010 |Comments: 1
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Contents

The show ran about the same time as and covered similar topics to Beakman’s World, in fact sharing one crew member, editor/writer/director Michael Gross. He made an appearance on the Disney Channel’s New Mickey Mouse Club in its forty-eighth episode Anything Can Happen Day. Before this show, Bill Nye had previously worked alongside Christopher Lloyd in Back to the Future: The Animated Series, where Nye played Doc Brown’s assistant and demonstrated several experiments.

Bill Nye the Science Guy has been likened to a modern Mr. Wizard. Bill’s TV persona is a tall and slender scientist wearing a lab coat and a bow-tie. He mixes the serious science of everyday things with fast-paced action and humor. Each show begins with Bill walking onto the set, called “Nye Labs”, which is filled with scientific visuals (including many “of science” contraptions announced dramatically, such as “The slingshots of Science!”) relevant to the topic of the show. Most episodes contain a mock song parody and music video in the “Soundtrack of Science” by “Not That Bad Records”, substituting a scientific roundup of the episode for the lyrics to a popular song. Each show ends with Bill explaining his departure in a clever description of an activity on topic. The credits sometimes rolled next to a series of outtakes from the episode. Other times, outtakes are shown at the time they actually happened.

Another popular member of the cast is the announcer Pat Cashman, whom Nye knew from his time on Almost Live!. Some announcers who subbed in for Cashman include Ernie Anderson, Gary Owens, and Brian Cummings. In 1996, Bill made a guest appearance on Cartoon Network’s talk-show Space Ghost Coast to Coast in its twenty-fourth episode, Boo! with Michael Norman. A year later, he made a guest appearance on the long-running PBS series Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.

List of episodes

Episodes

Season

Episode number

Episode name

“Soundtrack of Science” Parody song

1

1

Flight

Nyevana – “Smells Like Air Pressure”

Parody of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana

2

Earth’s Crust

Magmadonna – “Crust”

Parody of “Vogue” by Madonna

3

Dinosaurs

J.C. – “Mr. Dino”

Parody of “Mr. Wendal” by Arrested Development

4

Skin

No music video

5

Buoyancy

Sure Floats-alot – “Bill’s Got Boat”

Parody of “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-a-Lot

6

Gravity

Attraction Action – “G-R-A-V-I-T-Y”

Parody of “Twilight Zone” by 2 Unlimited

7

Digestion

Dy Gestion – “Can’t Eat This”

Parody of “Can’t Truss It” by Public Enemy

8

Phases of Matter

Phaze Change – “Solid Liquid Gas”

Parody of “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)” by Digable Planets

9

Biodiversity

Bio Di Versity – “We’re all Connected”

Parody of “Connected” by Stereo MC’s

10

Simple Machines

The Pulley Ramp Five – “ABC’s of Machinery”

Parody of “ABC” by The Jackson 5

11

The Moon

The Lunatics – “Moon Cycle”

Parody of “Bicycle Race” by Queen

12

Sound

Gloria Wavelength and the Vibrations – “Sound is a VIBE”

Parody of “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor

13

Garbage

Trash E. Trash – “R.E.C.Y.C.L.E.”

Parody of “Respect” by Aretha Franklin

14

Structure

Stress N’ Tension – “Let’s Talk About Stress”

Parody of “Let’s Talk About Sex” by Salt-n-Pepa

15

Earth’s Seasons

A Tilted Development – “Rhyme and Season”

16

Light & Color

The Bent Wavelengths – “Light and Colour”

Parody of “Trust and Dread and the Fugitive Mind” by Megadeth

17

Cells

Mighty Chondria – “Cellular Haze”

Parody of “Purple Haze” by Jimi Hendrix

18

Electrical Current

Billy Ray Cyrcuits – “AC/DC Charge”

Parody of “Achy Breaky Heart” by Billy Ray Cyrus

19

Outer Space

Elve Centuri – “Celestial Hotel”

Parody of “Heartbreak Hotel” by Elvis Presley

20

Eyeball

The Eye Doctors – “Two Eyes”

Parody of “Two Princes” by The Spin Doctors

2

21

Magnetism

N.S. Cool J. – “Opposites Attract”

Parody of “Insane in the Brain” by Cypress Hill

22

Wind

Wind Dee – “Wind Is In Your Hair”

Parody of “Groove Is In The Heart” by Deee-Lite

23

Blood and Circulation

AB+ – “Blood Stream”

Parody of “Love Shack” by The B-52’s

24

Chemical Reactions

Chemical Reactions – “Don’t Try This at Home”

Parody of “State of Attraction” by Paula Abdul

25

Static Electricity

The Sticky Socks – “Static Electricity”

Parody of “Turning Japanese” by The Vapors

26

Food Web

Food Webby Web – “(It’s The) Food Web”

Parody of “Who Am I (What’s My Name)?” by Snoop Dogg

27

Light Optics

Queen Lighteefa – “B.E.N.T.”

Parody of “U.N.I.T.Y.” by Queen Latifah

28

Bones and Muscles

Steppenbone – “Bones in my Body”

Parody of “Born to be Wild” by Steppenwolf

29

Oceanography

Gulfstream Girls – “Deep Ocean Currents”

Parody of “California Girls” by The Beach Boys

30

Heat

LeHot – “LeHeat”

Parody of “Le Freak” by Chic

31

Insects

UB Buggy – “Jah Mon, Insects Rule”

Style Parody of UB40

32

Balance

Torquer – “Balance This”

Parody of “Get Off This” by Cracker

33

The Sun

Deep Yellow – “My Favorite Star”

Parody of “Highway Star” by Deep Purple

34

Brain

En Lobe – “Whatta Brain”

Parody of “Whatta Man” by En Vogue with Salt-n-Pepa

35

Forests

John Cougar Loggincamp – “Second Growth”

Style Parody of John Mellencamp

36

Communication

Mary Chapin Communicator – “How Can We Communicate”

Parody of “He Thinks He’ll Keep Her” by Mary Chapin Carpenter

37

Momentum

Momentisey – “The Faster You Push Me”

Parody of “The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get” by Morrissey

38

Reptiles

No music video – the commercial-free PBS version of the episode, however, had a brief spoof entitled “Cold Blooded”.

Parody of “Hot Blooded” by Foreigner

39

Atmosphere

Warm -n- Wetta – “Fresh Aire”

40

Respiration

Ali Veoli – “What A Pair”

Style Parody of Tatyana Ali

3

41

The Planets

No music video

42

Pressure

PSI Garden – “Pressure”

Parody of “Spoonman” by Soundgarden

43

Plants

Rhoda Dendron – “Cross Pollination”

Parody of “Human Behaviour” by Bjrk

44

Rocks and Soil

Sedimentary Fools – “Rocks Rock Harder”

45

Energy

The ERG’s – “N-R-G”

Style Parody of the Beastie Boys

46

Evolution

Evolver – “Survival”

Style Parody of Veruca Salt

47

Water Cycle

J.A.C. – “Water Cycle Jump”

Parody of “Jump” by Kris Kross

48

Friction

Grace Slip – “Friction Happens”

49

Germs

Dose of Soap – “Just Wash Your Hands”

Parody of “Don’t Turn Around” by Ace of Base

50

Climates

Climate Report – “Whether the Weather”

Parody of “Lucas With The Lid Off” by Lucas Secon

51

Waves

Big Amplitude – “Baby I Love Your Wave”

Parody of “Baby, I Love Your Way” by Big Mountain (originally by Peter Frampton)

52

Ocean Life

James Baleen – “Power To The Plankton”

Style Parody of James Brown

53

Mammals

Fake Fur – “Jennifer’s A Mammal”

Parody of “Institutionalized” by Suicidal Tendencies

54

Spinning Things

House of Spin – “Spin Around”

Parody of “Jump Around” by House of Pain

55

Fish

Salmon Dave – “I’m a Sole Man”

Parody of “Soul Man” by Sam & Dave

56

Human Transportation

Carpoolio – “Move Groove”

Parody of “Fantastic Voyage” by Coolio

57

Wetlands

Maria and the Mudflaps – “Where The Land is Wet”

58

Birds

LL Bloo J. – “Talkin’ Bout Birds”

59

Populations

Shirell Crow – “All We Need To Do”

Parody of “All I Wanna Do” by Sheryl Crow

60

Animal Locomotion

Bjorn Turun – “Loco Motion”

Parody of “Everything Zen” by Bush

4

61

Rivers and Streams

Talking Headwaters – “Take Me To The River”

Parody of “Take Me To The River” by Talking Heads

62

Nutrition

Knute Trishan – “Good Food”

63

Marine Mammals

Marina Cesealia – “Breathe Like Me”

Parody of “I Know” by Dionne Farris

64

Earthquakes

Mistah Richter – “Earthquake Rumble”

65

NTV Top 11 Video Countdown

Mudhoney – “Bill Nye The Science Guy Theme”

66

Spiders

Foo Spighters – “This is A Spiders Life”

Parody of “This Is a Call” by Foo Fighters

67

Pollution Solutions

No music video

68

Probability

Steven Odd – “50 Fifty”

Parody of “Loser” by Beck

69

Pseudoscience

Dare L. Pseudo – “Pure Proof”

Parody of “100% Pure Love” by Crystal Waters

70

Flowers

Daisy Birdsenbees – “So Many Flowers”

71

Archaeology

Mob Barley – “Diggin’”

Parody of “Jamming” by Bob Marley

72

Deserts

Deserette – “Always Dry”

Parody of “You Oughta Know” by Alanis Morissette

73

Amphibians

P-Swamp All Stars with DJ Hoppy – “The Amphidelic Mothership Metamorphisis”

Style Parody of George Clinton the P-Funk All Stars

74

Volcanoes

Volcanque – “Lavaflows”

Parody of “Waterfalls” by TLC

75

Invertebrates

S. Khar Go – “Crawl Away”

Parody of “Runaway” by Janet Jackson

76

Heart

Vinny Vein and the Pumpers – “Gimme Back My Heart”

77

Inventions

En Vent and the Process – “It’s An ‘ing Thing”

78

Computers

La Binary – “One Zero 001″

Parody of “Be My Lover” by La Bouche

79

Fossils

Etchton Stone – “Fossil Man”

Parody of “Rocket Man” by Elton John

80

Time

The Tim E. Zone Experience – “Time Time Time Time Time…”

Parody of “Time Has Come Today” by The Chambers Brothers

5

81

Forensics

Krime Seen – “We Will Find You”

Parody of “We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions” by Queen

82

Space Exploration

The Space Princess of Galactic Grooviness – “Planets All”

Parody of “Set You Free” by Planet Soul

83

Genes

Alice in Genes – “It’s Called Genetics”

Parody of “Killing in the Name” by Rage Against the Machine’

84

Architecture

The Artist Formerly Known as Archie T. – “Makin’ Plans”

Parody of “All Mixed Up” by 311

85

Farming

Chris Ballew – “Farm Food”

Parody of “Peaches” by The Presidents of the United States of America, of which Ballew himself is a member

86

Life Cycle

Roberta Fungi – “Everything Has A Life Cycle”

Parody of “Killing Me Softly” by Roberta Flack

87

Do-It-Yourself Science

Nye & The Family Crust – “Do It Yourself Science”

Parody of “Hell” by Squirrel Nut Zippers

88

Atoms and Molecules

Third Nye Blind – “Atoms in My Life”

Parody of “Semi Charmed Life” by Third Eye Blind

89

Ocean Exploration

The Posies “Voyage of the Aquanauts”

90

Lakes and Ponds

The Foggy Boyz – “Found of Lakes and Ponds”

Parody of “Tha Crossroads” by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony

91

Smell

Turbinator Two – “Come On Use Your Brain (Smell This)”

Parody of “C’mon N’ Ride It (The Train)” by Quad City DJ’s

92

Caves

Batilda & Guano – “Cave Thing”

Parody of “Shake Your Groove Thing” by Peaches & Herb

93

Fluids

Weflo – “Drip it”

Parody of “Whip It” by Devo

94

Erosion

Earth, Wind & Ice – “Causing the Erosion”

Style Parody of No Doubt

95

Comets and Meteors

Halley Comet – “Got Me Looking”

Parody of “Shadowboxer” by Fiona Apple

96

Storms

Mighty Might Thundertones – “Stormin’”

Style Parody of Reel Big Fish

97

Measurement

The Meter Men – “Every Measurement You Make”

Parody of “Every Breath You Take” by The Police

98

Patterns

Downward Spiral – “Patterns of Joy”

Style Parody of The Prodigy

99

Music

“There’s Science In Music”

Parody of “The Time Warp” by Richard O’Brien

100

Motion

Slow Moe – “All in Motion”

Style Parody of Van Halen

Theme song

Aside from Bill himself, one of the most memorable things about Bill Nye the Science Guy is its theme song. The bass-heavy theme is set to a Hip hop beat with Bill’s name shouted throughout the duration of the song. The sound and speed fluctuations of the voice were accomplished through a vocoder and electronic pitch fluctuator. The theme song is credited to Mike Greene.

Production music

The show’s episodes consisted of several compositions from Associated Production Music, some featured tracks include:

“Act of Heroism (c)

“Blood in the Gutter” by Laurie Johnson

“Drama Impact #3″

“The Gunfighter” by Ennio Morricone

“Hit and Run” by Ralph Dollimore

“Killer Birds” by Gregor Narholz

“Saw Theme”

Many of these tracks were also featured in many Nickelodeon cartoons in the 1990s. Another common track used was the theme from the English show Dave Allen At Large, here used as the theme from “The Jackie Smazz Show.”

Funding

National Science Foundation (1993-1997)

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (1993-1997)

The Boeing Company (1993-1997)

Ore-Ida (1996-1997)

Intel (1995-1997)

Corporation for Public Broadcasting (1993-1997)

Viewers Like You (1993-1997)

Video Game

A computer game for the series, titled Bill Nye the Science Guy: Stop the Rock!, was released in 1996 for PC and Macintosh by Pacific Interactive. In the game, a large meteoroid called “Impending Dum” threatens to make a catastrophic collision with the Earth. A team of scientists develop a laser satellite-controlling computer system called MAXX to destroy the meteoroid; however, MAXX develops a personality of its own (in an obvious parody of the sentient computer HAL from the film and novel 2001: A Space Odyssey) and refuses to save the planet unless Earth’s scientists can solve seven science riddles. Nye Labs decides to take on MAXX’s challenge, and the player, depicted as the newest member of the Nye Labs team, is asked to solve these riddles before Impending Dum hits (represented through an in-game timer). The game featured a fully explorable Nye Labs, as well as video cut scenes featuring Bill Nye and other Nye Labs scientists. However, the characters and cast members from the TV series, sans Bill Nye and a few others, do not appear in this game, instead being replaced by game-exclusive Nye Labs team members and new actors.

References

^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0343449/

See also

Bill Nye

The Eyes of Nye

Almost Live!

Universe of Energy – an attraction at Walt Disney World’s EPCOT Center starring Bill Nye.

Stuff Happens (TV show)

External links

Bill Nye, the Science Guy at the Internet Movie Database

Bill Nye the Science Guy at TV.com

Bill Nye, The Science Lab Official Site (billnye.com points to the same site)

v  d  e

PBS Kids shows

Current shows

Angelina Ballerina   Barney & Friends   Betsy’s Kindergarten Adventures   Between the Lions   Bob the Builder   Caillou   Curious George   Dinosaur Train   Franny’s Feet   It’s a Big Big World   Mama Mirabelle’s Home Movies   Martha Speaks   Sesame Street   Super Why!   Sid the Science Kid   Thomas and Friends   WordWorld

PBS Kids GO!

Arthur   Cyberchase   DragonflyTV   Design Squad   The Electric Company (2009)   FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman   Maya & Miguel   Postcards from Buster   WordGirl

Past shows

3-2-1 Contact   Adventures from the Book of Virtues   The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon   The Berenstain Bears (2003) *  Bill Nye the Science Guy   The Big Comfy Couch   Boohbah   Captain Kangaroo   Charlie Horse Music Pizza   Clifford the Big Red Dog *  Clifford’s Puppy Days *  Dragon Tales *  The Electric Company (19711977)   Gerbert   George Shrinks   Ghostwriter (19921995)   The Huggabug Club   In the Mix   Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks   Jay Jay: The Jet Plane *  Katie and Orbie   Kidsongs   Kratts’ Creatures   Lamb Chop’s Play-Along   Liberty’s Kids   Long Ago & Far Away   The Magic School Bus ?  Mark Kistler’s Imagination Station   Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood *  Newton’s Apple   Noddy   Pappyland   PBS Kids Bookworm Bunch   Peep and the Big Wide World?   Powerhouse   The Puzzle Place   Reading Rainbow*   Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat *  Shining Time Station   Square One Television   Seven Little Monsters   Teletubbies   Theodore Tugboat   Tots TV   Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?   Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?   Wimzie’s House   Wishbone *  Zoboomafoo *  Zoobilee Zoo   ZOOM *

Note

This list does not include shows from networks airing PBS Kids shows that are not funded directly by PBS, such as shows created by and funded by local PBS affiliates.

See also

PBS network shows   Educational television

* = No new episodes are being produced; reruns still airing on many major PBS stations or on PBS Kids Sprout.

= Not distributed via PBS, but by American Public Television.

= Airing (as of 2010[update]) on Qubo Channel.

? = Airing (as of 2010[update]) on Discovery Kids.

= Airing (as of 2010[update]) on This TV.

= Airing (as of 2010[update]) on Smile of a Child TV.

Categories: PBS network shows | 1990s American television series | Science education television series | American comedy television series | CBS network shows | Disney Channel shows | Television series by Buena Vista Television | 1993 television series debuts | 1997 television series endings | Television spin-offsHidden categories: Articles needing additional references from February 2010 | All articles needing additional references | Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2010 | All articles containing potentially dated statements

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1. M Goldstein 02/08/2010

Chaos is one of Physics Foibles. As Godel revealed – maybe we can’t prove everything!! Science is full of riddles.

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Home Page > Law > SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH LAW

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH LAW

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Posted: Jan 14, 2010 |Comments: 0
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        SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH LAW

The intellectual thinking of man, since time immemorial, has resulted in the development of science and technology. The principles of science and technology have developed in response to differing objects of interest. Science and technology have had a great impact on the way we live. Law has tried to regulate the use and abuse of science and the extent of its application. The major question however is whether we are well equipped with the laws to regulate the use of such technologies.

The subject Law, Science and Technology is of great relevance today when Courts have become ”activists” and there has been a tremendous advance in science and technology. The need for sharpening the evidentiary techniques employed in Courts with the help of science and technology cannot be denied. At the same time, one has to be conscious of the limitations. The limitations of both science and the law and the need for both to join hands to strengthen the court-systems by legally admissible scientific evidence must be considered.

MEANING AND DEFINITIONS

v SCIENCE

The word “Science” comes from the Latin word scientia, meaning “knowledge” or “knowing”. According to Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, the definition of science is “knowledge attained through study or practice,” or “knowledge covering general truths of the operation of general laws, esp. as obtained and tested through scientific method [and] concerned with the physical world.”

In other words, science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge. This system uses observation and experimentation to describe and explain natural phenomena. The term science also refers to the organized body of knowledge that people have gained using that system. Less formally, the word science often describes any systematic field of study or the knowledge gained from it. Perhaps the most general description is that the purpose of science is to produce useful models of reality. Most scientific investigations use some form of the scientific method. Science as defined above is sometimes called pure science to differentiate it from applied science, which is the application of research to human needs. Fields of science are commonly classified along two major lines:

-Natural sciences, the study of the natural world, and

-Social sciences, the systematic study of human behavior and society.

v TECHNOLOGY

The word “technology” comes from the Greek word technologia, which means the systematic treatment of an art, form or skill or a manner of accomplishing a task especially using technical processes, methods or knowledge. In other words, the term technology refers to the application of science, especially to commercial or industrial objects.

v LAW

A rule of conduct established and enforced by the authority, legislation, or custom of a given community, State, or nation. In essence, law is the tangible and intangible context that links individuals to the community. In addition, it defines responsibilities of individuals to society as much as it defines and protects individual rights. In short, it is a pillar of good governance.

INTER-RELATIONSHIP OF SCIENCE AND LAW

Today’’s high technology society forces the two professions (law and science) to interact in a wide array of cases. Legal disputes involving patents, product liability, environmental torts, regulatory proceedings and criminal cases are some fields of such interaction. Further, law and science encounter each other in the laboratory through a number of actions governing intellectual property, research misconduct, etc. The fact-finding agendas of the two disciplines have frequently begun to overlap, if not merge. Because there is a general lack of understanding of each culture, these interactions often lead to a cognitive friction that is both disturbing and costly to the society. Scientists are distrustful of the lawyers and legal proceedings and prefer not to venture into the courtroom. The scientific community that believes that its methods and procedures are above legal scrutiny and questioning often frustrates lawyers. Lawyers and scientists seldom speak the same language. Each should develop a better understanding of the principles and methods of the other’’s profession. Bridging the gap between the two cultures is a challenge that this conference seeks to address.

Science and technology seek knowledge through an open-ended search for expanded understanding, whose truths are subject to revision. Law, too, conducts an open-ended search for expanded understanding; however, it demands definite findings of fact at given points in time. The meeting of these two disciplines in the courtroom magnifies the differences between the two cultures. Even the search of truth does not serve the same aims and may not be subject to the same constraints and requirements.

The Courts today deal with complex cases relating to highly sophisticated crimes where criminals take care to erase all evidence of their involvement. In such cases, modernized, scientific and highly sophisticated methods are required to trace the involvement of criminals. A report published in the New York Times (August 7, 2008) stated that with a new analytical technique, a fingerprint can reveal much more than the identity of a person. It can also identify what the person has been touching: drugs, explosives or poisons, for example. Such a laboratory technique can have a wider application in crime investigation. The chemical signature could also help crime investigators trace out one fingerprint out of the smudges of many overlapping prints if the person had been exposed to a specific chemical.

Then there are serious cases of medical negligence and related torts where rival parties seek to rely on expert evidence. Even in the field of environmental pollution involving toxic substances, there is serious difficulty in finding out the levels of danger, the extent of actual and latent damage to humans and environment, and there are uncertainties in accepting the technology installed by the polluter to conform to environmental standards. In some civil cases where handwriting, forgery, or paternity issues are involved there is extensive use of scientific techniques. The Courts are thus dependent and, in fact, compelled to analyse evidence of experts examined on each side. There is again the difficulty of evaluating the conflicting expert evidence adduced by the contesting parties in an adversarial judicial process. However, none can deny that expert witnesses retained by parties often are partisan. In such cases, the technique of “Hot Tubbing” must be embraced. The Australians discovered the technique of “Hot Tubbing” to improve expert evidence. In this procedure, also called concurrent evidence, parties still choose experts, but they testify together at trial-discussing the case, asking each other questions, responding to inquiries from the judge and the lawyers, finding common ground and sharpening the open issues. According to UCLA law professor Jennifer Mnookin, “‘Hot Tubbing is much more interesting than neutral experts.”

DEVELOPMENTS TILL DATE AND THE RECENT TREND

In this era of genomics, of crime prevention and of conviction the following questions need special attention:

Is the legal profession ready for this new information?

How would these techniques benefit the justice delivery system?

Is our society ready for the implications that genomics brings to every facet of our lives?

Is our society struggling with the ethical and social issues thrown up by the new biology such as human cloning, use of animals in biomedical research, etc.?

With the rapid progress in science, are laws in their present form really able to deliver justice efficiently or is some rethinking in the form of new laws or amendments to existing laws required?

Before any major changes can be effected, all stakeholders have to sit together and look for the answers to these unsolved problems. This contact which was missing in India became a reality when the first ever conference of this kind was held. This conference, who’’s Chairman was the erstwhile President of India; Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam formed the basis of the ”Hyderabad Declaration on Impact of New Biology on Justice Delivery System”. These deliberations of law were co-organised by the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) and NALSAR University of law. The deliberations brought together the Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts, representatives from various Commissions like the Law Commission and the Human Rights Commission, Directors of the National Law Schools and other legal luminaries, lawyers, scientists, doctors, bio-industrialists, NGO’’s, police investigators, journalists and a couple of participants from abroad. Inter alia the meeting emphasized the following:

To establish a Human Genetics Commission to provide technical and strategic advice about the current and emerging issues in Human Genetics, and a consultative mechanism for development oh National Genetics Policy and guidelines in that area;

To establish an Ethics Committee to assess ethical, legal and social issues raised by research on human genome and use of DNA databases;

To statutorily define status of human embryo so that research on embryonic cells is done under statutory control and regulations;

To devise a mechanism to establish links with the International Community of Dispute for resolution of new issues in new biology;

To suitably amend the Patents law to strike a fair balance between public and private interests in case of patents that assert property rights over genetic material.

IMPACT OF SCIENCE ON INVESTIGATION

Science is a compelling and commanding weapon in the armoury of administration of justice. Forensic Science is a science pertaining to law. In particular, it works as the branch, which is used mainly in criminal investigation and findings of which can lead to arrests and convictions. Undoubtedly, scientific investigations generate evidence in favour of the victims and against the accused. Forensic Science helps in providing the identity of the culprit or the accused who willingly or unwillingly, in most of the cases, leaves the mark of his crime, thereby making the job of the investigator much easier in proving the culpability with the aid of Forensic Science.

Forensic Science provides scientific study for investigation of crime. The growth, development and use of Forensic Science in detection of crime in developed countries are tremendous and increasing with new techniques. The area of Forensic Science in India has not been properly looked into, as it ought to have been and more so when the average acquittal rate is alarmingly high. Therefore, in our country, also, the necessity and importance of Forensic Science hardly needs any emphasis. The lack of understanding and appreciation of the importance of specialists in general, by non-specialists, in all fields, cannot be denied. The field of Forensic Science is no exception. Many a time, neither the judge, nor the lawyer nor even the police appreciate fully, the advances or the extensive, promising potentialities of the science and the fusion of new technologies, methodologies, modalities and research. Multitask and multi-professional nature of Forensic Science needs an inter-professional approach, which is, many a time, lacking. Therefore, sincere and serious efforts are required to be made to eliminate personal and professional bias of the involved personnel and professionals.

Forensic Science in criminal investigation and trial is principally concerned with materials and circuitously through materials, with men, places and time. It embraces all branches of science and applies them to the purposes of law. The scientific examination by Forensic Scientists adjoins a missing link or strengthens a weak chain of investigation.

Systematic uses of Forensic Science provide significant assistance in answering the following questions:

(i) How was the crime committed?

(ii) When was the crime committed?

(iii) Who committed the crime?

Law-enforcement agencies refer to Forensic Experts to help solve mysterious situations concerning human life and thereby, provide help and useful contribution to the criminal courts in the journey for search of truth in criminal trials. Forensic Science deals with various aspects, including routine post-mortem to sophisticated tracking piece like DNA analysis.

Unfortunately, techniques and methodology with necessary materials used extensively in Western countries has not successfully clicked in India because of a variety of reasons, the major one being the investment of huge finance. This science is also, at times, useful in finding out the truth in some of the civil cases.

The prosecution mainly calls Forensic Scientists as expert witnesses. The practice of the defense producing Forensic Scientists or the courts consulting on their own listed experts is not very much in vogue. In fact, there is an acute need to bridge the communication gap that presently exists between lawyers, judges and Forensic Scientists. An independent analysis and evaluation of the scientist’’s data and any subsequent testimony that may follow again depends on the judges” familiarity and understanding of the principles of Forensic Science.

In Western countries DNA test and profile is widely employed. In a country like ours, the need of such a test and profile may, hardly, be emphasized. In many developed countries, DNA test, genetic testing techniques and “racmization” — testing based on systematic examination of teeth and bite-marks has proved to be very useful. “Racmization” technique is currently used in Japan and Germany. It has potential to replace the traditional method that took into account the eruption and/or fusion and falling sequence of teeth. A fusion of such knowledge of Forensic Science and newly developed techniques will, undoubtedly, not only provide proper perspective and dimensions, but will also lead to detection of crime, and be a great help in search of the truth. It will be useful in the prevention and control of crimes and will provide required assistance to the parties to civil disputes, as well.

IMPACT OF SCIENCE ON THE JUSTICE DELIVERY SYSTEM

Common view is that the Indian justice administration system is slow. However, the major question is, is it the primary problem with Indian justice delivery system? The key issue is, is it is delivering justice at all in majority of cases? If a machine is faulty and makes bad products, then if one speeds up the machine, it will deliver more of those bad products. Therefore, if we speed up a malfunctioning Justice Administration System, it will simply toss up more of injustice. Is that the goal of any justice delivery system?

In the words of Justice Shayamal Kumar Sen, “The investigation process needs to be hastened; otherwise the criminal justice system will suffer”.

Justice Sen urged that research and development should be initiated in a way that would ensure that crime at the grassroots level is detected immediately and an effective management system should be introduced.

According to M P Singh, vice-chancellor, West Bengal National University Of Juridical Science, new techniques should be introduced as it will help in crime detection and the infrastructure should be developed in a way that will not only give momentum to effective criminal delivery system but will also hasten the entire long drawn process of investigation.

IMPACT OF SCIENCE ON COURT AND COURT PROCESSES

Science is not new to the Indian courts. Towards the end of 1989, one low-end computer was installed in Supreme Court of India for caveat matching. Immediately thereafter, in 1990, Justice GC Bharuka, as a sitting Judge at the Patna High Court initiated the process of court computerization. On his transfer to Karnataka in 1994, he undertook to introduce ICT (Information and Communucation Tecnologies) in the entire judiciary of the state of Karnataka.

Presently all the courts upto the taluka level are computerized. All the judicial officers and court staff are trained. There is complete automation from filing of a case to grant of a certified copy. Digital production of under-trial prisoners by video-conferencing is made possible. Through website, causelists of the Supreme Court of India, High Courts, district courts and various Tribunals is made available online, a day before.

SCIENCE AND GREY AREAS OF LAWS

v SPACE LAWS

Simply put, Space law is a part of International jurisprudence related to outer space. It follows customary practice in defining outer space, the region 100 km beyond the earth’’s surface.

With the advancement of science and technology, things that were once considered impossible are now increasingly becoming possible and even fashionable. No one, some six decades back would have thought of going to space, let alone marrying in space. Thanks to science, this has now become a reality. For $2.3 million, a person can cement bonds from 62 miles straight up. Japanese company First Advantage, along with former X-Prize contender Rocketplane Global, is teaming up to offer weddings in space.

According to a LiveScience article, Rocketplane Global “is developing the XP Spaceplane for private suborbital spaceflights. The four-seat spaceship is slated to be about the size of a fighter jet and designed to carry two jet engines and a rocket engine to reach space.”

Besides shelling out $2.3 million, a person has to undergo four day’’s worth of training for the one-hour ceremony. Training includes safety procedures, weightless maneuvering, and to explain to one’’s family why they were not invited.

Not only this, Sapporo Breweries, the Japanese beer maker established in 1876, is brewing beer from barley descended from seeds that spent five months on the International Space Station ( ISS).

According to a CNN article, “The project is part of biological studies of the adaptability of plants to environmental changes and the impact from stresses such as space travel.”

If successful, the study will bring the world one-step closer to growing crops in space. In addition, fortunately, right now, scientists cannot tell the difference between the ISS grains and homegrown barley.

However, in order for commercial space activities to grow, there must be an attractive legal environment. Unfortunately existing space law consists mostly of some inter-governmental treaties that are quite inappropriate for business.

Space is just another place where humans are going to live. In addition, because space is almost limitless humans are going to live there in vast numbers in the future. In other words, it will become a completely new habitat. Today most activities in space are government ones because getting to and from space is so expensive. Once travel from orbit is cheap enough, as on earth, individuals, private companies and organizations will carry on most activities in space. At that time space activities will involve almost every industry, be it catering and drinks, fashion and entertainment, or law.

An attractive legal environment is needed to enable operating companies to plan passenger services and place orders for the vehicles that they require, and for manufacturers to finalize vehicle design details and raise the investment that they need in order to put the vehicles into production.

Sovereignty over outer space is another debatable issue that needs to be resolved.

CYBER LAWS AND JURISDICTIONAL ISSUES

With the advent of internet, a whole new category of crime that includes fraud, theft of services and data, copyright infringement, destruction of data through computer sabotage (viruses) and acts causing inconvenience to agencies comprising sensitive, secret or confidential functions has come up. Chances of use of the web as a forum for publication of defamatory content has increased multifold and there is a need for a clear, coherent expression of the law in this area.

Hacking time theft (stealing someone else’’s internet time) pornography, sending threatening e-mail, defamatory e-mail, hacking e-mail, e-mail bombs, etc. are the main areas of cyber crime.

The people who commit cyber crimes are mostly those who have white-collar jobs, unlike usual criminals. They can even be high school kids. The territory that a cyber crime can stretch across is immense. It can go over continents

The principles that govern the exercise of criminal jurisdiction are based on the assumption that “crime” is a territorial phenomenon. Cyber crime makes these principles problematic in varying ways and in varying degrees. Unlike real-world crime, it is not physically grounded; it increasingly tends not to occur in a single sovereign territory.

The perpetrator of a cyber crime may physically be in Country A, while his victim is in Country B, or his victims are in Countries B, C, and D and so on. The perpetrator may further complicate matters by routing his attack on the victim in Country B through computers in Countries F and G. The result of these and other cyber crime scenarios is that the cyber crime is not committed “in” the territory of a single sovereign state; instead, “pieces” of the cyber crime occur in territory claimed by several different sovereigns.

Cyber crime is a primary example of cross-border crime, and so, it raises the issue of jurisdiction. This is a tricky issue. Acts on the Internet that are legal in the state where they are initiated may be illegal in other states, even though the act is not particularly targeted at that state. Jurisdiction conflicts abound, both negative (no state claims jurisdiction) and positive (several states claim jurisdiction at the same time). Above all, it is unclear just what constitutes jurisdiction: is it the place of the act, the country of residence of the perpetrator, the location of the effect, or the nationality of the owner of the computer that is under attack? Or all of these at once? It turns out that countries think quite differently on this issue. The cyber crime statutes of numerous countries show varying and diverging jurisdiction clauses. Since internet allows transactions between persons of various jurisdictions, an international agreement (to be crystallized into a convention, later) is required for any regulation. However, in arriving at a uniform law, varying standards adopted by jurisdictions across the world and the point of balance adopted by them have to be kept in mind.

Jurisdiction is a highly debatable issue as to the maintainability of any suit that has been filed. Today with the growing arms of cyberspace the territorial boundaries seems to vanish thus the concept of territorial jurisdiction as envisaged under S.16 of C.P.C. and S.2.of the I.P.C. will have to give way to alternative method of dispute resolution.

In addressing the issues of what problems were posed by cyber-crime, Mr. Corell noted that the scope of international cooperation is limited by international agreements and by the national law of the State from which information has been requested. There are also differing priorities between developed and developing countries. These differences complicate international cooperation and expand the gap between the two groups.

There is no authoritative, comprehensive elaboration of the principle of universal jurisdiction concerning cyber-crime, he said. There are different views concerning the offences that constitute crimes under international law that are subject to universal jurisdiction. There are also different opinions with respect to the significance of the obligation to prosecute or extradite, as contained in various treaties, as evidence of universal jurisdiction. Whether States are not only permitted, but also required, to exercise jurisdiction with respect to crimes under international law, is also subject to different opinions.

CONCLUSION

The magnetism of science has always captivated members of the legal profession. People look up to science to rescue them from the experience of uncertainty and the discomfort of difficult legal decisions, and are constantly disappointed.

The notion of what constitutes science and what it would take to make law more scientific varies across time. What does not vary is our constant return to the well. We are constantly seduced into believing that some new science will provide an answer to laws dilemmas, and we are constantly disappointed.

In the words of Senior Advocate K.T.S. Tulsi — “There is no doubt that [science] is going to overtake the law enforcement agencies by storm. No one will be able to avoid it. It is like standing on the shore and asking the waves of the sea not to come. What is required is a proper debate about the real value of [science] and whether it fits into the overall picture and what use could be made of it by the investigators.”

REFERENCES

v BOOKS AND ARTICLES

A Convergence of Science and Law. A Summary Report of the First Meeting of the Science, Technology and Law Panel: National Research Council. Science and law blog: August 8, 2008. Fingerprints” Chemical “Footprints”? Science and law blog: August 11, 2008. “Hot Tubbing”: Old wine in New Bottles for Expert Witnesses. The New York Times: August 7, 2008, Kenneth Chang. Law, science and technology collaboration: Justice M. Jugannadha Rao-Chairman Law Commission of India. Kolkata Newsline, Thursday, February 01, 2007. A profile of forensic science in juristic journey: Justice Jitendra N. Bhatt. Do space laws need to be modified? S Bhatt Space weddings. I do. I really do. Carol Pinchefsky, 7 July 2008. Tara Blake Garfinkel, Jurisdiction Over Communication Torts: Can You Be Pulled into Another Country’s Court System for Making a Defamatory Statement Over the Internet? A Comparison of English and US Law, 9 Transnat’l Law 489, 492 Bryan P. Werley, Aussie Rules: Universal Jurisdiction over Internet Defamation, 18 Temp. Int’l & Comp. L.J. 199, 219 Para 1.16 of the British Law Commission Report on Defamation and the Internet, cited from (visited on 7th August, 2004 1996 US Dist LEXIS 8435 (SDNY 19 June, 1996), cited from R. Matthan: The Law Relating to Computers & the Internet, p. 2 (New Delhi: Butterworths, 2000). In this case, the defendant was an Italian, who had, using an Italian server, set up a website, under the name “Playmen”. The court had earlier issued a permanent injunction against the defendant from using that name in any magazine sold, published or distributed in USA. The court accepted that it could not order the website to be shut down as that would amount to asserting that every court in the world had jurisdiction over all information providers on the internet In info age, time for cyber savvy cops. Uma Karve. October 5, 2002. Learning the law, Indian Express. Karina Sudarsan Beware! Cyber Criminals are on the prowl, Navhind Times,March 17, 2002; by Shaikh Jamaluddin. 10 Myths of Electronic Security, Banking Frontiers September, 2002; Rohas Nagpal, Asian School of Cyber Laws. I”ll be watching you! Times of India, December 19, 2002; Zahra Khan, Times News Network. Approaches to Cybercrime Jurisdiction; Susan W. Brenner, University of Dayton – School of Law, Bert-Jaap Koops Tilburg University – Faculty of Law (TILT). Challenge of borderless ”Cyber Crime” to International Efforts to Combat Transnational Organized Crime Discussed at Symposium, 14 December, 2000. Towards Speedy, Inexpensive, Transparent and Accountable Justice; Justice GC Bharuka, 4th November, 2007.

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Home Page > News and Society > Journalism > Virginia Execution Flies in Face of Science

Virginia Execution Flies in Face of Science

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What do you feel about the US Supreme Court’s decision to allow the execution of a Virginia woman, the first woman to be executed in that state in over a century, to go ahead, and the refusal of the governor of the state to commute her sentence to imprisonment?

Watching the hit television series The Tudors, the way Henry VIII lopped off heads, hung people, disemboweled them while still alive, or burned them at the stake often for no more reason than that they offended him in some way is pretty shocking.

In many ways we’ve come a long way from those days, at least in some regions of the world. Yet the execution of a woman in the state of Virginia for a crime in which the two other participants were given sentences shows how little so many of us understand about why humans do the terrible things they do.

The governor of the state Robert McDonnell defends his decision with the statement, “After numerous evaluations, no medical professional has concluded that Teresa Lewis meets the medical or statutory definition of mentally retarded.”

The sad fact is that from a scientific standpoint the current standard is hopelessly out of date for determining why a person did what they did. Mental retardation isn’t the issue. To make it the sole issue simply doesn’t take into account modern brain research, which has advanced leaps and bounds in recent years.

That Lewis committed a heinous crime isn’t the point. What matters is that here we have an individual who at her center bears the divine image and likeness—who is in her essence the self-expression of God.

Because of her particular genetic makeup combined with her life circumstances (and who knows what other contributing factors?), who Lewis is in her true being became overpowered by her false egoic self and its flip side that Eckhart Tolle in The Power of Now calls the “pain-body.”

No one in their right mind commits this kind of act. For this to happen, the individual simply isn’t functioning from a brain that’s in a state of balance and harmony.

This is no “bleeding-heart liberal” point of view and isn’t up for debate: it’s hard science. If you place sensors on the head of a person like this and read the brain activity into a computer, you can map the total imbalance that results in just this kind of crime. In such a state, the individual is simply incapable of acting rationally. But once balance the lobes and hemispheres of the brain and everything changes.

There’s a book that takes cases such as college campus shootings and explains just what happens in a person’s bain when they do this kind of thing.

The author of the book, Lee Gerdes who is CEO of Brain State Technologies™, has documented with inmates the huge imbalances in the brain of violent criminals—and also shown what a massive difference there is, documented by prison authorities, in inmates’ behavior when they have received brain training.

It’s a great shame that despite almost six centuries passing between Henry VIII and those who are in positions of power in society today, ignorance of why people do what they do still dominates.

For no one who understands the brain—who has taken the time to research for themselves what technology is showing us and what it can accomplish to change lives—would ever sanction the execution of this woman.

If you want to understand crimes of this kind, why people “go postal,” or what happened at Columbine and other schools, I recommend Lee Gerdes’ book Limitless You—The Infinite Potential of a Balanced Brain. As the editor of the book for Namaste Publishing, publishers of Eckhart Tolle, I recommend you read it because it’s totally eye-opening.

To see what actually happens inside a person that drives them to cold-bloodedly murder their fellow humans—people with whom they are essentially one, since we are all grounded in the universal source we call God—is simply revelatory.

The day surely needs to dawn—and it cannot be too soon—when we will recognize that the purpose of life is for the divine to manifest itself in our human form.

This is an evolutionary process that requires all of us to bring our best gifts to help each other flesh out in everyday life what’s true of us in our essence.

Help to become who they really are, not punishment, is especially called for when a person is hampered in some way, such as with severe brain imbalance.

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David Robert Ord -
About the Author:

David Robert Ord is author of Your Forgotten Self Mirrored in Jesus the Christ and the audio book Lessons in Loving–A Journey into the Heart, both from Namaste Publishing, publishers of Eckhart Tolle and other transformational authors. He writes The Compassionate Eye daily, together with his daily author blog The Sunday Blog, at www.namastepublishing.com

We invite you to check out David’s daily author blog -http://www.namastepublishing.com/blog/author/david-robert-ord.

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