Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Intelligence At Stake

Scientists at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) just announced the discovery of molecular mechanism E2F, a DNA-binding protein that affects cell growth. Professor Nick La Thangue of Oxford University who supervised the project explains the unique properties of the potential cancer killer: "With the molecular flag on one shoulder, E2F goes into cell kill mode. With the flag on the other, it goes into cell growth mode."

Plenty of molecules come in two forms, identical except for the fact they are mirror images of each other. Scientists refer to them as left- and right-handed forms. One enduring quirk of nature is that the handedness of molecules matters, in some cases with profound consequences.

During the 1960s, Thalidomide was recommended to pregnant women to cope with morning sickness. As an unhappy result, more than 10,00 children are estimated to be born with major defects. The drug was administrated as a mixture of left- and right-handed molecules, but scientists now know that only one form addressed the morning sickness, the other caused the birth defects, probably by interfering with the activity of genes in the developing baby. The double helix of our DNA happens to be right-handed, as are the amino acids it is made of.

In 1988, Pakistani physicist Abdus Salam said in a lecture commemorating Paul Dirac, the failed engineer turned scientist who married quantum mechanics with relativity, "There is a growing confidence today that the electroweak force (from Steven Weinberg's November 1967 paper on elementary particle physics) is the true "force of life" and the Lord created the Z particle to provide handedness for the molecules of life." ("Massive, The Missing Particle That Sparked the Greatest Hunt in Science", pages 86,87).

The book by Ian Sample, science correspondent at the Guardian, has lots of fascination inputs that would buttress support for Intelligent Design (ID), a version of the theological argument that suggests "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." The ID inherent in the complexity in nature is used to demonstrate the existence of God. However, non-intelligent instances of religious leaders scrapping for a fight with politicians in power, or utilising church funds to finance whorish music videos, make one wonder whether the designer or the design is flawed.

16 comments:

  1. How about our very own designer soon to meet the final designer? Flawed as well?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He neither believes nor denies the existence of heaven/hell, so in his vocabulary, he is the only designer of the red dot.

      If Aubrey de Grey is successful in his aging cure, then it would be the perfect antidote for him.

      Delete
    2. Me thinks both the designer and design are flawed in the case of NS , aided by the FTs and accelerated by the winning FCF framework.

      What do you think?

      http://alvinology.com/2013/10/04/on-alex-liang-a-singaporean-who-gave-up-his-singapore-citizenship/

      Delete
  2. Are Singaporeans Very Smart?
    -----------------------------------------------
    Is it the Singaporeans’ duty to subsidize the PAP government?
    Is it true that it is not the PAP government’s job to subsidize (or help) the Singaporeans?
    Is it true that we pay PAP Ministers, millions of dollars in salaries so that they can tell us that it is not their job to help Singaporeans?
    Are Singaporeans daft?
    You tell me lah!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Who Is Smarter - Singaporeans or PAP?
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Let's say in GE 2016, Workers' Party win 60 seats in parliament.
    Let's say Workers' Party then becomes the government.

    Then let's suppose President Tony Tan nominates 60 pro-PAP NMPs (Nominated Members of Parliament) into Singapore parliament.
    So even if Workers' Party has 60 seats in parliament.
    They will not be able to implement any changes because PAP MPs + pro-PAP NMPs will be able to out-vote them?
    Just like the 6.9 million population white paper.

    Is the above true?
    Can this happen?
    I really don't know.
    What do you think?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think then they will call the army.

      Delete
    2. I think then they will call the army.

      Delete
    3. How many generals are already in the Singapore parliament?
      How many generals in NOL and SMRT?
      Army has been called in a long time ago.
      LKY was thinking 20 years further than any Singaporean.

      Too bad about the quality of Ministers that LKY has been mentoring though.
      Either the mentoring has been lousy or the mentor did not really have anything of value to teach.

      Delete
  4. I remembered this in the Organic Chemistry text about mirror images: Everything has a mirror image except possibly a vampire ! How, sinister and coincidental !

    ReplyDelete
  5. When Singaporeans do national Service;
    We are just doing our patriotic duty for Singapore.

    When PAP Ministers do something for Singaporeans;
    Why is it that Singaporeans are free loaders and have a subsidy mentality?

    Why Singaporeans never ask PAP Ministers the intelligent question:
    What do I get if I vote for you?
    What's in it for me?

    Why are we so careless and anyhow give out million dollar salaries to people who don't want to serve and help Singaporeans?
    Are we really that daft?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ya hor!
      I should ask my MP, "How does it benefit me if I voted for you?"

      Delete
  6. Making cancerous Mr. Hyde behave like a good Dr. Jekyll, is like making evil PAP behave like a good PAP when you put enough vote proteins into the parliament that only you know you can use as your "only" leverage that Singaporeans have today.

    That, is the real intelligence at stake on this island.

    ReplyDelete
  7. When LTA's standard response to traffic congestion is PAY, one has to wonder what intelligence there are left by PAP to solve long term congestion? Those damn roads have not changed for the past 10years and all they can only think of is raising ERP fares.

    If ERP gantries have become such an easy way of collecting money, what incentive is there for Transport Minister or LTA to solve problems? What is there to prevent it from making the situation worse in order to justify more gantries?

    Where are the statistics to prove that more car drivers have switched to public transportation? What % of increase is that over the past 5 years? Show us the breakdown, hello? And why are they pushing more people to take public transport if they can't even solve the overcrowded-ness caused by the in flow of people? Have their buses and trains truly increased proportionately? And if the switch is so successful as the MSM have claimed, then why the need to raise ERP to solve congestion?

    Where are the intelligence here?

    ReplyDelete
  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  9. At stake is the Wellbeings of the People
    due to the Mis-use and Abuse of intelligience.

    patriot

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My apology for the Spelling
      Mistake in the Word 'intelligence',
      in my Above Comment.

      patriot

      patriot

      Delete