LIMITS OF HUMAN COMPASSION

THE WEEK (2010) 2/18

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You see a child that is drowning and you know that if you go into the water, you will ruin your 200 dollar shoes. So will you go save the child? Overwhelmingly, most people will jump and save the child.

Now many children are suffering thousands of miles away. Will you

contribute 200 dollars to save these children. The answer is usually

“no.” Why? The brain seems to work on the basis of the visceral emotions. You can see the child, you feel responsible. On the other hand, the masses of children thousands of miles away is

too overwhelming and too abstract to respond.

If we can identify a dog that is far away and yet you feel for it, is that we became bonded with the emotion of the dog and we will give money.

22/ Vegetative humans are assumed to not be aware of their condition. Using an fMRI, researchers using a fairly defensible research protocol

found that this was the case. However, about 5 patients were alive and aware inside their bodies. One can only imagine a hellish existence. They cannot be revived at this time in history. Should they be

“interviewed” if they want to die?

Climbing a big mountain can cut weight and it can last for up to 6 months after coming down from the mountain.

To avoid hating your spouse, such terms as “we” rather than “I”

can help couples to bond.

Using a random sample of individuals 15 to 50 found that about 1 to 2

percent were addicted to the internet. Depressed and lonely people gravitate to the internet

NEWSWEEK (2010) 2/15

16/ China will now begin to assert itself more in the world as the USA is

overwhelmed with financial problems.

20/ Weisberg, Part of our financial problem is that we have been won over by Reaganomics. That is we can have what we want and we don’t have to pay for it. Reagan left office with a 3 trillion dollar debt. Today, that would be something like 9 or 10 trillion dollars. However, don’t blame it all on that President. We want our cake and don’t want to pay for it.

Congress and other presidents went along with the wishes of public and passed many UNFUNDED mandates. In other words, they passed the goodies, but not the tax to pay for it.

21/ Samuelson. We need to gently raise taxes and cut government services. The biggest items are the military, Medicare, Medicaid, and social security. If we do not do this, we will slough off into a 2nd world country.

This means we have to cut back on wars, cut social security entries to 70 years of age, and cut back on the amount Medicare, Medicaid, pay out. Whoever does this will save the country and lose their elective office.

Pfefer/ Slow down layoffs.

Of course, one must lay off workers in dire emergencies, but much of the time, across the board cuts and other worker saving strategies can be used.

Layoffs mean that workers lose confidence in their corporation, are more likely to be depressed, more likely to commit suicide, and related

pathologies. Further, it does not help that the CEO and the board make

millions of dollars a year. It is now over 500 times the average workers. In 1970, it was 28 times the average worker.

To make matters, worse layoffs occur when the company is profitable.

TIME MAGAZINE (2010)

2/23/

Invading Species.

One thing that will do an ecosystem a lot of damage is put a new species in it by accident or to kill off to many of another species.

In 1859, rabbits were accidentally place in Australia. Today there are

10 billion of them. 1935, Caine toads were into Australia to kill beetles.

They do. They are dumb and reproduce quickly. They have a bag of

poison on their backs. So they look pretty harmless. So a predator kills one and gets the poison in their system and dies. The toads keep reproducing to hundreds of millions.

1990’s , pet snakes are released in the Everglades. They now overwhelm the area.

2009, in the UK, vicious gray squirrels are killing off the charming red ones.

2010, huge Asian Carp are overwhelming Lake Michigan. They are fast and they eat the food of other more desirable fish.

WHO LIVES THE LONGEST

JAPAN AND MCAU at 84.4 years. The shortest is Angola. The USA is in the middle with 78.1 . The top 5 causes of death in USA is accidents, cancer, birth defects, homicide, and heart disease.

POINEZEK

52/53

We like reality television and they are cheap to produce. They very first one was SURVIVOR and it is now in its 20th season.