Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Review of Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization by Paul Kriwaczek

This book review was written by Eugene Kernes   

Book can be found in: 
Intriguing Connections = 1) Get To Know The Peoples Of The World (Mesopotamian States), 


Watch Short Review

Excerpts

“These people were, unlike the others of their time, never slaves to tradition, never satisfied with what had gone before, but aiming for constant improvement.  In the course of some ten centuries, they tore down and rebuilt these constructions eleven times, an average of once every ninety years or so, displaying an impatience with the old and a welcome of the new on an almost modern American scale.” – Paul Kriwaczek, Chapter 2: Kingship Descends from Heaven, Page 24

“Whether based on a true disaster or not, there was another, more important reason for Mesopotamians to tell and retell the story of the Flood: it played a crucial structural role in the ancients’ view of their history.  To the Sumerians the Deluge was the boundary marker that separated the preliterate from the literate period, the age of folklore from the era of history.  More to the point, it was the gulf that lay between the time when all Mesopotamia followed Uruk’s cultural and ideological lead, and the following epoch when Sumer, the southernmost part of the Mesopotamian plain, was a land of separate city-states, each pursuing its own destiny.” – Paul Kriwaczek, Chapter 4: The Flood, Page 72

“The moral that Assyrian rulers took from the disaster was that their only safety lay in possessing incontestable military power.  War was too important to be left to the romantic heroism of kings and generals.  If traditional fighting methods could not even hold off a swarm of camel-riding sheep-herders, Ashur’s rulers would concentrate on designing and building a new kind of war-machine, one that nobody would be able to withstand.  Moreover, the only sure way to stop people migrating into Ashur was to take over their homelands and rule them with a rod of iron.  Empire was a necessity not a luxury.  If that caused them unpopularity, so be it.” – Paul Kriwaczek, Chapter 9: Empire of Ashur, Page 234


Review

Is This An Overview?

The inhabitants of Mesopotamia were ethnically diverse.  Various peoples wanted control of Mesopotamia which generated conflict.  Ancient conflict reflected in contemporary events.  Conflicts that devastated cities.  After various disasters, military power was changed.  Concentrated to protect, but also for conquest.  To prevent being conquered, they had become conquerors.  The political system contained citizen assemblies that were needed to approve decisions, no matter who the leader was.  The political system changed from city-states to centralized power, with formalized laws. 

The culture was based on continuous change, to continuously improve on what was.  Change everything from physical structures to belief systems.  There were even references to the flood that were used to explain the changing times.  When various aspects of society had been disintegrating, many had given up on the social system.  The flood symbolized rejection of what was before.  That power, culture, and ideology have changed. 

 

Caveats?

Understanding Mesopotamian history is made difficult by a lack of sources, and challenges in translating the language. 

History is useful when applied to contemporary events.  Showcased in this book by the connection of the various related historic and contemporary events.  The connections have mixed qualities, as the references can be interesting, but also distracting.   


Questions to Consider while Reading the Book

•What is the raison d’etre of the book?  For what purpose did the author write the book?  Why do people read this book?
•What are some limitations of the book?
•To whom would you suggest this book?
•Who is part of Mesopotamian history?
•How did conflict shape Mesopotamian politics?
•What were citizen assemblies for? 
•What was Mesopotamian culture? 
•What was the purpose of the Flood? 
•How was the Mesopotamian land transformed?  
•How does Mesopotamian history effect Saddam Hussein actions?
•What kind of language is Assyrian/Akkadian? 
•How did Mesopotamians clean their water? 
•How were the armies composed?
•What weapons were used? 
•How were items produced? 
•What kind of economy did the Mesopotamians have?
•How did the laws change?

Book Details
Edition:                   First U.S. Edition
Publisher:               Thomas Dunne Books [St. Martin's Press]
Edition ISBN:         9781250000071
Pages to read:          282
Publication:             2012
1st Edition:              2010
Format:                    Hardcover 

Ratings out of 5:
Readability    3
Content          3
Overall          3






Friday, March 8, 2024

Review of Candide by Voltaire

This book review was written by Eugene Kernes   

Book can be found in: 
Book Club Event = Book List (07/20/2024)
Intriguing Connections = 1) Want a Laugh?, 2) To Cooperate Or To Defect?


Watch Short Review

Excerpts

“He was about to continue when he felt himself struck speechless at seeing the two girls embracing the dead bodies of the monkeys in the tenderest manner, weeping over their bodies, and filling the air with the most doleful lamentations.  “Really,” he said to Cacambo, “I didn’t expect to see so much generosity of spirit.”  “Master,” replied the knowing valet, “you have made a precious piece of work of it: you have killed the lovers of these two ladies.”  “Their lovers, Cacambo!  You must be joking; it cannot be; I can never believe it.”  “Dear sir,” replied Cacambo, “you are surprised by everything; why do you think it so strange that in some countries monkeys obtain the good graces of ladies?  They are one-quarter human, just as I am one-quarter Spanish.”” – Voltaire, Chapter XVI: What happened to our two Travellers with two Girls, two Monkeys, and the savages called Oreillons, Page 84

“”You are about to do a rash and silly thing,” said the king.  “I know that my kingdom is an insignificant spot; but when people are tolerably at ease in a place, I’d think it would be to their interest to remain there.  Most assuredly I have no right to detain you or any strangers against your wills: that sort of tyranny is repugnant to our manners and our laws: all men are by nature free; you have therefore the liberty to depart whenever you please, but you will encounter many great difficulties in crossing the frontiers.”” – Voltaire, Chapter XVIII: What they saw in the Country of El Dorado, Page 96

“Candide, however, had one advantage over Martin; he still hoped to see Miss Cunégonde once more, whereas the poor philosopher had nothing to hope for; besides, Candide had money and jewels, and though he had lost a hundred red sheep laden with the greatest treasure on earth, and though he still had in his heart the memory of the Dutch skipper’s villainy, yet when he considered what he had still left, and repeated the name of Cunégonde, especially after meal times, he leaned toward Pangoss’s doctrine.” – Voltaire, Chapter, Page 105


Review

Is This An Overview?

A looming fortune is within reach, only to be taken away by tragic events.  Tragic events can seem hopeless, only to stumble into a new fortune.  This book follows the oscillating fortune and misfortune of primarily Candide, and many other characters.  Many who had everything, became those with nothing.  While those who appear to have nothing, have a fortune.  Not just fortune that has reversals, but also social values.  Written as a critique on society, on how social perception of groups does not mean that the members behave in the manner they are expected to.  Those who are supposed to represent the civilized behave in a barbarous manner, while those who are supposed to be barbarian behave in a civilized manner. 

 

Caveats?

This is a fast-paced adventure.  Each chapter is short, without many details given.  Lack of details, but filled with meaning.

Transitions have mixed qualities.  There are antediluvian references, which would be better understood by those who know the various historic aspects of the era. 


Questions to Consider while Reading the Book

•What is the raison d’etre of the book?  For what purpose did the author write the book?  Why do people read this book?
•What are some limitations of the book?
•To whom would you suggest this book?
•Who was Voltaire?
•Who is Candide? 
•Who is Cunégonde?
•Why did Cunégonde study philosophy? 
•Who is Pangloss? 
•What is Pangloss’s philosophy? 
•How did Candide join the Bulgarians?
•What happened to Candide in camp with the Bulgarians? 
•In Holland, who was not charitable? 
•Who is James?
•What happened in Lisbon after the earthquake? 
•Who is the old woman?
•Who is the Baron?
•What did the Baron think of Candide idea for Candide and Cunégonde?
•What happened to the monkeys?
•Who is Cacambo?
•What happened with the Oreillons?
•What happened in El Dorado?
•What are the laws of El Dorado?
•What did the Candide take from El Dorado? 
•Who is Martin?
•How to explain the red sheep? 
•Who are the six dethroned kings? 
•What happened in Constantinople? 

Book Details
Author Full Name:  François-Marie Arouet
Alternative Title:    Candide, or Optimism
Introduction and Notes Author:   Gita May
Translator:              Henry Morley
Translator, Revisor: Lauren Walsh
Original Language: French
Translated Into:       English
Publisher:               Barnes & Noble Classics
Edition ISBN:         9781411431898
Pages to read:          154
Publication:             2003
1st Edition:              1759
Format:                    eBook 

Ratings out of 5:
Readability    3
Content          3
Overall          3






Monday, March 4, 2024

Review of Inadequate Equilibria: Where and How Civilizations Get Stuck by Eliezer Yudkowsky

This book review was written by Eugene Kernes   

Book can be found in: 
Book Club Event = Book List (08/03/2024)
Intriguing Connections = 1) To Cooperate Or To Defect?, 2) When Intelligence Goes Wrong



Watch Short Review

Excerpts

“A critical analogy between an inadequate system and an efficient market is this: even systems that are horribly inadequate from our own perspective are still in a competitive equilibrium.  There’s still an equilibrium of incentives, and equilibrium of supply and demand, an equilibrium where (in the central example above) all the researchers are vigorously competing for prestigious publications and using up all available grant money in the course of doing so.  There’s no free energy anywhere in the system.” – Eliezer Yudkowsky, Chapter 2: An Equilibrium of No Free Energy, Page 31

“Then why don’t you just walk up to the decision-maker and tell them about the bias?  Because they wouldn’t have any way of knowing to trust you rather than the other five hundred people trying to influence their decisions?  Well, in that case, you’re holding information that they can’t learn from you!  So that’s an “asymmetric information problem,” in much the same way that it’s an asymmetric information problem when you’re trying to sell a used car and you know it doesn’t have any mechanical problems, but you have no way of reliably conveying this knowledge to the buyer because for all they know you could be lying.” – Eliezer Yudkowsky, Chapter 3: Moloch’s Toolbox, Page 42

“This brings me to the single most obvious notion that correct contrarians grasp, and that people who have vastly overestimated their own competence don’t realize: it takes far less work to identify the correct expert in a preexisting dispute between experts, than to make an original contribution to any field that is remotely healthy.” – Eliezer Yudkowsky, Chapter 4: Living in an Inadequate World, Page 106


Review

Is This An Overview?

In an efficient market, in an efficient civilization, the individual cannot do better than the collective power of the many who have a lot more available information.  Even if the individual has information that others do not, the individual cannot make an improvement, gain any benefits by fixing the problem, and cannot exploit the system.  Common problems within adequate systems are supposed to be resolved by the community, as good ideas have already been tried by the community.  The collective might not get the exact answer, but no individual can predict the average value of the error, the average value of the change.   

Alternatively, there are inadequate systems in which individuals can do better that the community, as problems exist but do not get resolved.  Civilization gets stuck with inadequate equilibria as they are systemically unfixable.  There are various reasons for how an inadequate system, an inadequate civilization can develop. 

Central decision makers can prevent others from fixing the problem.  Decisions makers are not the beneficiaries.  There is asymmetric information as decision makers cannot know what or whose information to trust.  Systems might be inadequate, but that does not make them exploitable as there are many competitors trying to benefit from available opportunities, a competitive equilibrium.  To improve the system would require large scale coordination action, but they are difficult to facilitate.

 

How To And Not To Think About Inadequate Systems?

Wrong guesses and false cynicism do exist.  Different systems are dysfunctional in different ways.  No individual is better at everything, but individuals can be better at somethings and worse at others.  There is a lot of variation in expert views.

Although there are inadequate systems, just assuming inadequacy can make people see inadequacy in everything with a lot of arguments.  Concluding inadequacy from a problem is not an adequate rule.  Even though systems have inadequate equilibria, a blanket distrust of inadequacy arguments does not get far.  Civilization cannot be beat all the time, but its good to be skeptical and check for inadequacy. 

 

Caveats?

The explanations can be improved.  The organizational quality is mixed.  There are practical examples and abstract reasoning.  The abstract reasoning and conversations can become confusing.  There are parts that would be better understood with prerequisite knowledge.   

This book is based on the dichotomy of perfect and imperfect information theory, an improvement on them.  Tailored to reduce the strictness of perfect information.  


Questions to Consider while Reading the Book

•What is the raison d’etre of the book?  For what purpose did the author write the book?  Why do people read this book?
•What are some limitations of the book?
•To whom would you suggest this book?
•What are efficient markets / civilizations?
•What makes markets / civilizations inadequate? 
•How do civilizations get stuck in an inadequate system?
•How can inadequate systems be fixed?
•What are the benefits or consequences of decision makers trying to change the system?
•Can systems be exploited?
•How to think about being better than civilizational results? 
•What is Moloch’s Toolbox?
•Why blame Moloch?
•What is Nash equilibrium?
•How do people tell the epistemic standards of others?
•How much effort does it take to resolve a civilization inadequacy problem? 
•What is Pareto-optimal?
•What does the price represent? 
•How can SAD be cured?  How did the author approach SAD ideas?
•Why are babies dying due to nutrition problems?
•What do scientist do?  What is the purpose of subclasses of scientists, the suggesters and replicators? 
•What research gets promoted? 
•What is a two-factor market?
•What is the value of a degree?
•Why and how to certify people?
•What do people want from medicine? 
•What are wasted votes?
•Which entrepreneurs do venture capitalists take?
•Why not use Velcro for shoes?
•Which candidates do newspapers follow?
•What is the Overton window?
•How do political decisions change?
•Do people trust the newspapers? 
•Should you defer to doctors? 
•What is modest epistemology? 
•Is there a problem with theoreticism?  How does theoreticism contrast with empiricism? 
•Is it better to be a hedgehog or a fox? 
•When to test a product?
•Does majority belief makes something true?
•What is status regulation?
•What is the typical mind fallacy? 


Book Details
Publisher:               Machine Intelligence Research Institute
Edition ISBN:         9781939311191
Pages to read:          162
Publication:             2017
1st Edition:              2017
Format:                    eBook 

Ratings out of 5:
Readability    4
Content          4
Overall          3






Thursday, February 29, 2024

Review of Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization by Neil deGrasse Tyson

This book review was written by Eugene Kernes   

Book can be found in: 
Book Club Event = Book List (10/19/2024)
Intriguing Connections = 1) What Makes Science A Science?




Watch Short Review

Excerpts

“Objective truths don’t come from any seated authority, nor from any single research paper.  The press, in an attempt to break a story, may mislead the public’s awareness of how science works by headlining a just-published scientific paper as the truth, perhaps also touting the academic pedigrees of the authors.  When drawn from the frontier of thought, the truth still churns.  Research can wander until experiments converge in one direction or another – or in no direction, a warning flag of no phenomenon at all.  These crucial checks and balances commonly take years, which hardly ever counts as “breaking news.”” – Neil deGrasse Tyson, Chapter One: Truth & Beauty, Page 8

“With systems in place to disseminate thought, such as scientific conferences, peer-reviewed journals, and patent filings, every next generation can use discoveries of the previous generation as fresh starting points.  No reinventing the wheel.  No wasted efforts.  This blunt and obvious fact carries profound consequences.  It means knowledge grows exponentially, not linearly, rendering our brains hopeless in our attempts to predict the future based on the past.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson, Chapter Two: Exploration & Discovery, Page 29

“Hidden bias can cause a persistent urge to see all that agrees with you and ignore all that does not, even when countervailing examples abound.  Among the many categories of how to fool oneself, the more pernicious is confirmation bias: you remember the hits and forget the misses.  It affects us all, at one level or another.  The antidote?  Dispassionate rational analysis.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson, Chapter Four: Conflict & Resolution, Page 80


Review

Is This An Overview?

People have different experiences, values, and priorities.  Differences that cause division and conflict.  With tribes formed by those who agree and share the same values.  A method to overcome the division and conflict would be to change how to think about the ideas.  To think about the ideas from above, a cosmic perspective.  Science and rational thinking provides that perspective.  Many disagreements disappear when data about the ideas is introduced.  Scientists are after the data, rather than opinions.

While scientific tools overcome human sensory frailties, scientists are taught to think rationally rather than emotionally.  Truth comes from repeated and consistent results, not based on authority nor on a single research paper.  Changing how ideas are interpreted based on tests and experiments.  Knowledge grows exponentially as previous research is used to develop new understanding.  While science seeks to change behavior through voluntary consensus, behavior on social media tends to coerce agreement.   

 

Caveats?

This book is on applications of science across diverse topics.  Various topics that include those that are socially sensitive.  Some topics have been developed further by specialists within the topics, who have different interpretations of the claims. 

There is an idealism about science and scientists.  There is a recognition that scientists can corrupt research, but that the community can self-regulate.  The problem in thinking of the community as an ideal, can prevent scientists from considering how science can be corrupted, which exacerbates the corruption.  Ideally, scientists remove their emotions from their claims, but emotions provide logic with value.  Scientists are people, who have emotions.  Emotions that influence how data is interpreted.  The want to remove emotions, does not prevent emotions, but rather hides them.  Creating the hidden biases that the author recognizes corrupt science.

The subtitle is a bit deceptive.  The cosmic reference is not about astrophysics, but about science.  Science is the cosmic perspective.  There are some references on astrophysics, but that is not the purpose of this book. 

 


Questions to Consider while Reading the Book

•What is the raison d’etre of the book?  For what purpose did the author write the book?  Why do people read this book?
•What are some limitations of the book?
•To whom would you suggest this book?
•Why are there disagreements?
•How to overcome disagreements? 
•What is the cosmic perspective?
•What do scientists want?
•What is the effect of scientific tools?
•What to do about emotions?
•How to get to truth?
•How does knowledge grow?
•How does science change behavior?
•How does social media change behavior?   
•How not to fool oneself?
•What can limit the effectiveness of science? 
•What is pre-consensus?
•What is the effect of hidden biases?
•What is confirmation bias?
•What defines something as beautiful or ugly? 
•What are the features of a democracy? 
•What are labels? 
•Who did evolution reward? 
•How do monetary lotteries effect society? 
•How to understand risk and reward? 
•How do emotions change risk evaluation? 
•What should people eat? 
•What is speciesism? 
•What do animals think of humans? 
•What is the triple point of water? 
•How to tell the difference between the sexes?
•What determines skin color? 
•How do people define themselves based on region?
•How does canceling people effect society? 
•How do debate tournaments function?
•Is the law searching for justice? 
•Can eyewitness testimonies be trusted? 
•What is the purpose of scientific tools? 
•How many miscarriages are there? 
•What defines a disability? 
•How smart are animals?
•Do you want to live forever? 

Book Details
Edition:                   First Holt Paperbacks Edition
Publisher:               Holt Paperbacks [Macmillan Publishing Group]
Edition ISBN:         9781250861511
Pages to read:          218
Publication:             2024
1st Edition:              2022
Format:                    Paperback 

Ratings out of 5:
Readability    5
Content          4
Overall          5






Saturday, February 24, 2024

Review of The Secret Network of Nature: Trees, Animals, and the Extraordinary Balance of All Living Things-- Stories from Science and Observation by Peter Wohlleben

This book review was written by Eugene Kernes   

Book can be found in: 
Genre = Science
Book Club Event = Book List (08/10/2024)
Intriguing Connections = 1) Earth's Flora and Fauna, 2) How To Allocate Resources?


Watch Short Review

Excerpts

“Deer have a love-hate relationship with trees.  Deer don’t actually like forests, but we think of them as forest animals, because that’s where we find them most often.  Like all large animals that eat plants, deer have a problem: they can only eat vegetation they can reach.  And usually, the vegetation available to them has armed itself against herbivorous attack.  The usual arsenal of vegetative defensive weapons includes thorns and barbs, toxins, or thick, hard bark, but trees in Central European forest have developed none of these defenses.” – Peter Wohlleben, Chapter 4: Why Deer Taste Bad to Trees, Page 53

“Dead animals are often the cause of fights, and wolves lose out when brown bears turn up.  Then it’s best for the pack to head for the hills, particularly if they have pups, which a bruin could easily scarf down as a snack.  Ravens have a role to play here: they spot bears from afar and help wolves by alerting the pack to approaching danger.  In return, wolves allow ravens to help themselves to a share of the booty – something the birds wouldn’t be able to do without the wolves’ permission.  Wolves would have no difficulty making a meal of ravens, but they teach their offspring that these birds are their friends.  Wolf pups have been observed playing with their black companions; the young wolves imprint on the smell of the ravens and come to regard the birds as members of their community.” – Peter Wohlleben, Chapter 7: The Funeral Feast, Pages 88-89

In my opinion, the much-vaunted supposed benefits of releasing nutrients by flames and recycling dead biomass through fire are myths that downplay the disruption caused to this sensitive ecosystem by people playing with fire since prehistoric times.  In the normal course of events, it is not fire that releases stored nutrients and makes them available to new plant growth in the form of ash; it is the billion-strong army of animal sanitary engineers that undertakes the drudgery of decomposition (and they are completely incinerated in large forest fires, because, unfortunately, the little fellows are thin skinned).” – Peter Wohlleben, Chapter 13: It Doesn’t Get Any Hotter Than This, Page 183


Review

Is This An Overview?

Everything in nature is interconnected.  A species effects the ecosystem around them.  A cycle of life as nutrients from the dead feed the living.  Many animals fight for nutrients provided by other dead animals.  Nitrogen is a reactive compound that enables the growth of vegetation, but is rare in nature.  Nitrogen can be provided by dead animals around them, or alternatively, the winds can carry it.  Nitrogen is a by-product of burning fossil fuels that can be carried long distances on the wind, to come down when it rains.  Trees have been aware of the emissions as they have been growing faster when emissions rose.  But growing too fast makes them vulnerable to fungi and other predators.  Fires have been a way to recycle dead biomass, but that also incinerates the natural sanitation army of animals that decompose and release nutrients.  Rain can provide sustenance, but heavy rain can carry away valuable soil and nutrients.

Animals communicate, between their own species and other animals.  Even vegetation has a communication method, a wood wide web.  Much like animals have defenses against predators, vegetation has defenses on those that prey on them.  Reproduction is attuned to winter losses, but humans can intervene to feed animals and prevent losses, which means more animals available after winter.  Increased population of a species effects how they compete with other animals, and how much vegetation there is.  Hunters have participated in feeding animals, to have more animals to hunt.  People can also protect animals, a desire usually fostered when people engage and connect with animals, such as through zoos. 

 

Caveats?

The ecosystem is complex.  Complexity that makes it difficult to understand how everything is interconnected.  This book shares some connections that are known, with different interpretations.  There are many connections not yet known or understood.


Questions to Consider while Reading the Book

•What is the raison d’etre of the book?  For what purpose did the author write the book?  Why do people read this book?
•What are some limitations of the book?
•To whom would you suggest this book?
•How is nature interconnected?
•How do wolfs effect the ecosystem?
•How do radio collars effect wolves? 
•Are wolves dangerous?
•How similar or different are the predatory behavior of wolves and bears?  How do they effect the ecosystem?  
•How do salmon effect trees? 
•What does nitrogen effect plants? 
•What do heathers and junipers signal?
•What is the effect of synthetic fertilizers?
•What are the benefits and dangers of rain? 
•Are deer forest animals?
•Does vegetation have defenses? 
•How do trees taste to deer?
•Why do ants protect aphids?  
•Which trees do beetles prey on? 
•How do wolves and ravens interact? 
•What types of camouflage are there?  How does camouflage work during the day and night? 
•How does artificial light effect moth behavior? 
•How does light effect the night?
•Who are attracted to light? 
•How do birds choose their routes? 
•How to crows react to being fed? 
•How to protect animals?
•How can zoos effect people? 
•How does bait effect a species? 
•How many types of animals and plants are there?
•How do fungi behave? 
•Can animals communicate?
•Can plants communicate? 
•What is the effect of fire?
•Are forests acquainted with fire? 
•How should dead biomass be recycled? 
•What is nature? 
•What happened to the megafauna? 
•How do humans effect nature? 
•How many species go extinct? 

Book Details
Translator:              Jane Billinghurst
Original Language: German
Translated Into:       English
Edition:                   First Paperback Edition
Publisher:               Greystone Books
Edition ISBN:         9781778400346
Pages to read:          236
Publication:             2022
1st Edition:              2017
Format:                    Paperback 

Ratings out of 5:
Readability    5
Content          5
Overall          5