I am a systems, and computational neuroscientist at MIT.
Primary research work is on the neurophysiology and computational modeling on visual attention, eye movements and executive functions, and the theory of neural networks.
Interests span math, science, history, politics, economics, and philosophy.
Wow!
(via @DrYohanJohn )
#Psychiatry #Psychotherapy #MentalHealth #History #US #SovietUnion #Bystander #SocialOrder
Folks, please help me buy a mega mansion by the end of this week, I am promised that I could get a lunch salad for free in return. Thanks!
Good day to remind everyone of the guy who will be feted, mourned, and deified nationally and internationally as a "Grand strategist", "Mr. Realpolitik", 'Statesman", "Great Man of History" etc., etc.,
Everyone knows about the Vietnam war, and what happened in "Indo-China", much less so around the same time what happened in South Asia from 1970-71. Remains one of the toughest books I have ever read.
#Bangladesh #Kissinger #Nixon #Pakistan #India #History #Geopolitics #TheBloodTelegram #Genocide
The great man is giving a talk today/Sunday at 4pm here at MIT.
Come if you can and are in the Boston area.
#PSainath #India #Journalism #History #Politics #PeoplesArchiveOfRuralIndia #PARI #Boston
There are many posts today about Climate Overshoot Days. August 2nd, today, is the global day for 2023 when the earth's ecosystem's ability to renew/recover itself has been overshot by "our'' consumption and destruction of it.
Think of it like the Doomsday Clock that the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists used to show how close we are to destroying the world with nuclear weapons. The double whammy of nuclear annihilation and global warming (ech boiling) looms.
How is this climate overshoot day calculated?
Climate overshoot days is estimated by multiplying the number of days in a year (365) with the ecological footprint of a nation (measured per capita as global hectares) divided by the “global biocapacity” of 1.6 global hectares (Gha) per person. This global biocapacity limit, defined as of 2018, ensures we are living "sustainably", i.e., like decent human beings ought to. If the ecological footprint is greater than the global capacity, the number we get is the number of overshoot days in a year.
Find below a summary chart of climate overshoot days.
It is a fun way to show how significant a threat “we” pose (so that the more educated and enlightened societies will ponder about it?). It’s noble, and concerned, but I don't see what actions it prompts. Maybe, I should try to cultivate optimism.
In the meanwhile, here are some facts/observations/omissions evident from that chart.
1/5
#ClimateOvershootDays #GlobalWarming #Inequality #EcologicalFootprint #EcologicalCatastrophes #PoliticalEconomy #GlobalNorth #GlobalSouth #Europe #US #SouthAsia #Africa #Justice
Another day, another paper (published June 5th) highlighting the abjectly gross, abjectly disgusting, and abjectly unfair world that continues to be perpetrated with utter disregard.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-023-01130-8
Even with the business-as-usual increase in emissions etc., the Global South (85% of the world) is expected to shoot way below the 1.5 deg Celsius target and with net zero targets, far below a 1 deg Celsius increase. It is highly likely it will shoot somewhere in the middle (which is well within the "agreed" limits and implies they are acting on their end of the bargain to create a sustainable planet for human habitat).
Meanwhile the Global North (15%) will continue what can only be described as a monstrous, criminal, and genocidal civilizational enterprise even if it pushes for net-zero. "We" simply are not in this together. There is not even a "we" here.
Need I even say more than the graph below?
If the rich countries were to even pay a small percent of the reparations mentioned in the article for the ecological crises (not to mention reparations for their colonial past) and that's the least they can do, they will literally go bankrupt!
It seems self-evident that its entire existence and wealth is derived from loot, plunder and pillage of peoples and nature. But if you say so, you are not only considered a raving madman on the soapbox, but also an idiot who doesn't understand how the world works or ought to work.
And I hope no one is deluded, in that the Global North will not offer a penny in reparations, or even express remorse for the way it operates. When remorse is usually expressed, it is usually how its own habitat and neighborhood is becoming worse and will most certainly deflect the blame, and responsibility onto the "Other" (nations, immigrants etc.,).
Paint me an utter pessimist, but the Global North has nothing of value to offer to the rest. The best it can do is to "do absolutely nothing" for a few decades, which is not going to happen either.
#GlobalWarming #ClimateChange #GlobalSouth #GlobalNorth #EcologicalCrises #Inequality #PoliticalEconomy #Morality
Some countries are disproportionately responsible for climate change damages and should compensate those remaining within fair shares of the 1.5 °C carbon budget. This study presents a procedure to quantify the level of compensation owed in a ‘net zero’ scenario where all countries decarbonize by 2050.
H/T @DrYohanJohn for this
https://twitter.com/goodside/status/1666598580319035392
Here's what Bing chat did for the same🤣 :
Hits too close to home with my favorite sport! 🤣🤣
(from a friend through this tweet: https://twitter.com/nocontextbrits/status/1633102540047892483)
