Scargill

Archive for December, 2008

How many times have you had discussions as to whether or not people are born equal?
Personally I thought the argument in favour of NO was long-since won, but apparently not. Having managed to get part way through Stephen Pinker’s book "The Blank Slate" only to give up as it was a couple of inches thick and he’s not the most engaging writer, I happened to stumble upon a video in my favourite "hall of learning" – TED.

The video is embedded below in case you’re interested but in essence he puts a very clear case to say, well, NO, we’re not born equal or anything like it. Amazingly however the myth has persisted for largely political reasons – if we’re not equal, then that makes discrimination ok… or at least to some. Another burning reason to pretend we’re all equal is the title of Stephen’s book – the blank slate. If we’re all a blank state then it is perfectly legitimate to use social engineering to "perfect society".

Personally I’ve never accepted the premise that we’re equal. Firstly modern genetics tells us that some people are predisposed to various diseases and defects – so that’s the PHYSICAL side of equality out of the way. You can’t be equal if you’re more likely to die early or less likely to develop muscles than someone else…. which leaves the mental side. We’re animals, right? and we’ve all watched endless shows on TV that show fairly simple creatures who you would not expect to think beyond lunchtime, live their lives as if there was a purpose… birds migrate, deliberately, exactly, generation after generation. Do they plan this out with Google maps? No. Do they plan at all, I don’t think so. They use instinct, in other words some things are genetically imprinted on animals and are passed from generation to generation.

We are predisposed to verbal language, we are predisposed to swimming and walking…. this is not all LEARNED behaviour, there is something in there that tells us what to do – pre-programming if you like – and that means some will be better than others, not because of schooling or parenting – but because some will have more finely developed instincts than others.

In one example in his video, Stephen Pinker describes the comparison of identical twins separated at birth meeting up as adults wearing the same clothes, same hairstyle etc. It’s a stereotype but studies repeatedly show that in these circumstances, twins really DO retain similar if not identical mental characteristics despite wildly different upbringing and social lives. Quite the opposite is true of adopted children who may live in the same house with the same parents and same friends but end up wildly different as adults.

It seems to me that the evidence is crystal clear and irrefutable – we are not all born equal. I would not go so far as to endorse every word in the video, I can tell you that it is interesting and worth the button-press.

Over a month ago I made an appointment with my local doctor as I’ve an issue with arthritis – most likely due to spending too many years blowing away aliens at the keyboard. He referred me to Hexham General Hospital, with a note with a password on it.

I went to the hospital website to try to make an appointment and there were only 2 options, both on the same day, both at the end of December – that’s it  – not December at the EARLIEST, ONLY those two appointments, ever. Not good enough I thought. So, I rang up the booking people and spoke to someone. "Don’t worry" was the response – someone will come back to you within 2 weeks.

Well, 3 weeks later no-one had come back to me so today I tried the website. It’s not making ANY bookings now. Clearly that wasn’t an option so I rang the appointments line – and explained that we were now looking at a month or so since I went to the doctors and I’m still no further forward. This is obviously a private company and they blamed the hospital. So I asked who I could complain to and get some action.  I should go back to my own doctor and talk to the practice manager.

After some diversion I eventually spoke to the appointments person – and she’s going to talk to my doctor and come back to me.

This is starting to remind me of Orange……

Update January 2009 – FINALLY – an appointment this month with the NHS – stunning. But.. other than giving me a supply of helpful supports or fusing bones together, there is nothing they can do!

If you’ve never hear of Johnny Lee – watch this – I’ve ran his software for a number of his projects and they work – guy’s a genius – if the games designers have any imagination – expect some pretty impressive stuff just around the corner.