Two thousand years ago, people thought the Earth is the center of this universe and human was the only intelligent life form in this world. Later, people discovered the vastness of the universe and found the Earth is only one of the countless planets. Then, logically it becomes interesting to find whether there are some other intelligent life form in other planet.
Personally, I believe there are some other intelligent life forms existing at remote planets in the universe, just like us. However, I don't think we are able to find them and contact them, and vice versa. Human, as one species living on the Earth, faces the same fate as other species. Eventually, human species will start extinguish one day and the culture developed at that time may not reach the level to perform inter-planet journey in an efficient way, i.e., we are not able to go to other planet as described in the movies.
The other intelligent species at other planets face the same situation.
We are not alone, however, we are lonely from the sense that we cannot contact other intelligent life form in other distant planets.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
How to get accurate and balanced information in today's world?
Everyday, we get the information about the events happening in this world through different channels, such as news paper, radio, TV, Internet. It is impossible to witness these events in person; therefore, it is necessary for us to know what are happening through the media. However, media are produced by people based on the information they collect. There are several factors that may affect the accurancy of the information what they give us.
Firstly, the information they collect may not accurate or complete at the very beginning. In today's media market, different companies are competing against each other in order to get the eyeballs from the audiences. Hence, all the media are forced to provide the information to the public as quick as possible. Once something happens, the journalists working for different companies rush to the scene and start releasing information as soon as possible based on the information they can obtain at that moment. Therefore, the stories they tell may change as the time goes. For example, during the reporting of the Virginia Tech Massacre last year, the media was not able to provide the correct information about the exact number of casualties and kept telling different versions of the story.
Secondly, the information they give us is interpretated by the people working for the media. In the interpretation process, they inevitably add their personal opinions. Sometime, they even change the story by covering the truth. The extreme case is how CNN made news based on one picture, which was cut into half intentionally, for the event happened in XiZhang (Tibet) following 3.14. The right part of the original picture shows the rioters were throwing stones to the military trucks. What CNN did is to cut off the right part and only showed the left side with the trucks and then started making stories on the top of it.
Thirdly, the people who work for media even make the news based on nothing. Before America invaded Iraq, media kept telling the public that Iraq owned the MDW and chemical weapon by quoting the voice from the government instead of investigating the truth. Because their continuous effort for broadcasting the fake story, the public started to accept it as a truth until later the report from the government itself claimed that there was no any this kind of weapon at all in Iraq.
Because it is impossible for us to witness all the events in person, it is necessary to get information from today's media. However, it is very important to get the correct information from the stories provided by these media. In order to get accurate and balanced information about any event as much as possible, the public can do the following.
1) Do not assume the information given by media is always correct and complete, particularly for big event. It is better to wait for enough time, such that we can get enough information before making the conclusion or judgement.
2) It is good to obtain the information about the same event from different channels. You may first hear some news from the radio or TV. Then you can check the Internet to see whether they are telling the same story, or there is something conflicting in different versions. It is always a good strategy to look for information from different sources and verify each other.
3) Use individual's own judgement. Once the individual hears some news, it is necessay to look at the logic behind it. If the logic does not make any sense, the information we get may not correct or complete at that moment.
Actually, the public can not completely blame the media itself for the inaccuracy. Most of the time, media is driven by the desire of the public to get news as quick as possible. Therefore, all the media companies always rush to provide the information to the public under pressure. If the public are able to give media enough time to collect information and acknowledge the accuracy and completeness, the media itself will start changing the way providing and interpreting information eventually
Firstly, the information they collect may not accurate or complete at the very beginning. In today's media market, different companies are competing against each other in order to get the eyeballs from the audiences. Hence, all the media are forced to provide the information to the public as quick as possible. Once something happens, the journalists working for different companies rush to the scene and start releasing information as soon as possible based on the information they can obtain at that moment. Therefore, the stories they tell may change as the time goes. For example, during the reporting of the Virginia Tech Massacre last year, the media was not able to provide the correct information about the exact number of casualties and kept telling different versions of the story.
Secondly, the information they give us is interpretated by the people working for the media. In the interpretation process, they inevitably add their personal opinions. Sometime, they even change the story by covering the truth. The extreme case is how CNN made news based on one picture, which was cut into half intentionally, for the event happened in XiZhang (Tibet) following 3.14. The right part of the original picture shows the rioters were throwing stones to the military trucks. What CNN did is to cut off the right part and only showed the left side with the trucks and then started making stories on the top of it.
Thirdly, the people who work for media even make the news based on nothing. Before America invaded Iraq, media kept telling the public that Iraq owned the MDW and chemical weapon by quoting the voice from the government instead of investigating the truth. Because their continuous effort for broadcasting the fake story, the public started to accept it as a truth until later the report from the government itself claimed that there was no any this kind of weapon at all in Iraq.
Because it is impossible for us to witness all the events in person, it is necessary to get information from today's media. However, it is very important to get the correct information from the stories provided by these media. In order to get accurate and balanced information about any event as much as possible, the public can do the following.
1) Do not assume the information given by media is always correct and complete, particularly for big event. It is better to wait for enough time, such that we can get enough information before making the conclusion or judgement.
2) It is good to obtain the information about the same event from different channels. You may first hear some news from the radio or TV. Then you can check the Internet to see whether they are telling the same story, or there is something conflicting in different versions. It is always a good strategy to look for information from different sources and verify each other.
3) Use individual's own judgement. Once the individual hears some news, it is necessay to look at the logic behind it. If the logic does not make any sense, the information we get may not correct or complete at that moment.
Actually, the public can not completely blame the media itself for the inaccuracy. Most of the time, media is driven by the desire of the public to get news as quick as possible. Therefore, all the media companies always rush to provide the information to the public under pressure. If the public are able to give media enough time to collect information and acknowledge the accuracy and completeness, the media itself will start changing the way providing and interpreting information eventually
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Temperature Figures
Although there were some fluctuations in the middle, the main trend of average temperature of each decade is rising, from 13.8 Celsius degree in 1890 to 14.6 Celsius degree in 2005. There was a small dip at the beginning in the curve. Then the average temperature kept climbing gradually until 1950, followed by a down trend. From 1970, the average temperature of each decade started rising again until 2005, however, at a rate much higher than before. The fluctuation seems reasonable in the first half of this century. Nonetheless, the recent temperature rising is rapidly enough to warn us the emerging of Global Warming.
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