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(Inner) Travels

Posted on 1:34 PM by 4 8 15 16 23 42 and filed under

Einstein states in 1938, that:

“Humanity has every reason to place the proclaimers of high moral standards and values above the discoverers of objective truth. What humanity owes to personalities like Buddha, Moses, and Jesus ranks for me higher than all the achievements of the enquiring and constructive mind.”

Pretty strong, huh? I didn’t know that Einstein found religion more valuable than science. Apparently, Einstein has many statements supporting religion, but I thought that he would be kind of anti-religion as a very great scientist. This topic is very intriguing yet it is not the topic of this post. This post is about how I came across the quote above.

If you look at the (XX) posts published in this blog, you can easily realize that %90 of this blog is about Michael Crichton. I admit that I am a great fan of his work, but this time my adoration for him, multiplied. In Travels, only autobiographic book of Crichton, he tells the reader the milestones of his life, his challenging travels and what he gained from them.

When I came across this book at the university library, (I have previously tried to find it in bookstores but they don’t have it here) I got very excited. I realized that I haven’t really read an autobiographical or biographical book hence it was very different.

Why? I can explain this way, although I like reading classical thriller stuff, John Grisham, Dan Brown and of course Michael Crichton, as the characters are fictitious I get the idea that “these stuff wouldn’t happen in reality”. They are fun to read, but characters looked similar to me in every book.

One hero-type, one beautiful and smart woman, they get over the challenges together etc. After a while, I thought I had enough of these books for a while. So I read serious stuff like Guns & Germs and Steel, Fountainhead etc. Anyways, the idea of getting to know better such a creative mind, Travels seemed very exciting.



Travels starts by the medical studies of Crichton, why he studied medicine and why he didn’t practice the medicine. It is not common for one to get in to Harvard Medical School, struggle all along studies economically and mentally than after finishing the school never wanting to work as a doctor. He then continues with aspects of his life in Los Angeles, writing novels, and directing films. He progresses chronologically the important experiences of his life, thus his travels. He goes to roughly all the adventurous places in the world from Africa to New Zealand yet he shares what conclusions he reached after them.

The most interesting part, I think, is that the book is mostly about “inner travel”, the journey of one to his inner self. There are no such statements as “ Oh, dear Champs Elysées is really great, although I wanted escargot but the waitress got me wrong, Oh French people!” J I hope this is example I tried to give wasn’t cheesy, but I really want to emphasize the profoundness of this book.

Anyways, over time he is intrigued about psychic phenomenas like channeling, astral spaces, auras, energies etc. He experiences some of them, some of them not and he explains the details of his experiences. He experiences seeing auras and energies of people, talking to his dead father, and mediumship on some level. He is scientifically trained therefore his views on these matters are highly important. He is not someone who would accept anything without interrogating, but his experiences cited, represent something that cannot be explained, yet real. So should we accept them?

It’s a thought provoking question, of which I’ve never focused previously. I guess I always thought that some people had certain abilities (that KGB had focused on developing) but all this psychic stuff, kind of blah blah. Now I don’t know whether to believe or not. Before agreeing I need to see on my own. Thus I don’t deny them now.

Scientists generally find these unexplained events not true, fraud. One of the main reasons is that some of them are really frauds. Some practionners say that they are talking to dead, but they aren’t. Some say that they see your future, but they don’t see anything, etc. But that doesn’t mean that these phenomonas does not exist, according to Cricton. The same happens for science as well, he explains, Mendel fudged his data, Lazzarini faked an experiment to determine the value of Pi and so on. That does not mean that Science is fake.

After all, science does only answer “How Nature Works?” and not “Why nature works that way?” Humans have always searched for the meaning of their life, why do they exist. Science does not correspond to that answer and that’s why people are interested in psyche.

Probably that’s why Einstein said:

“Humanity has every reason to place the proclaimers of high moral standards and values above the discoverers of objective truth. What humanity owes to personalities like Buddha, Moses, and Jesus ranks for me higher than all the achievements of the enquiring and constructive mind.”

Crichton at the end of the book, summarizes his thoughts on this phenomenas, some of them he believes in, in some of them he does not, are to be taken seriously. He advises the reader not to take his word on this stuff, and go out for ourselves. If something does not work, try another. Be cautious of anyone seems interested in your money. Be cautious of someone who implies that he has the answer; the real answer is in you.

Whether his conclusions are right or wrong about this subject, the way he organizes his thoughts and his accomplishments seem amazing to me. He has lived a very different life and I am really sorry he has passed away.



Admiration, is the only emotion I feel towards him right now.

Thanks Michael Crichton.

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The Next 100 Years

Posted on 2:29 PM by 4 8 15 16 23 42 and filed under ,
Although, I kept on blogging about the books I've read previously, I think it helps to organize the information in my head, and it’s pretty informative. This post is about the most recent book I've read.
Couple of years ago, reading in English was not very easy for me, that's why I was reading easy-reading thrillers. That strategy worked very well for me, I started reading mostly thrillers. These science-fiction, thrillers are generally entertaining, makes your English a lot better, though they are only slightly informative. That's why, nowadays I am more oriented to serious books , difficult to read comparing to thrillers, needs a lot of attention but in the end you end up with very valuable real information.
The title of the George Friedman’s most recent book is interesting, huh? What if we could make assumptions about the future? And what if we were right in our assumptions?
The Next 100 years, deal with this question, only on politics though. The basic assumption of the author is that although future may seem really complex and chaotic thinking all the possibilities, it actually is not. In a simple example, say 2 players are playing chess. Although it seems like player move in many different moves, he cannot, they have fewer moves to play if they think rationally. Similarly, from a political aspect, it may seem like nations or states may go to many directions in the next hundred years, they cannot, they only can move in several directions (if they want their own survival as a nation)
So author states that he can make a prediction, an approximation on how the future will be, and analyzing possible moves of nations, like in a chess game. He adds that it is only a prediction, he doesn’t expect to be right %100 right on them, though if his grandchild’s sees that he was right in some major breakpoints, he would be very glad.
The logic seems reasonable to me. Plus interesting!
The major events that 21.century will observe are:
A crisis in 2020 caused by Russia: Russia vs. Europe &US.
Every war in history happens because of political and economical uncomfortabile situation. World War 1 happened, because Germany and its allies were excluded by the new economic order created by Atlantic Powers. They wanted a bigger share of the economical profits. And they caused a war.
WW2 happened because German nation needed a redefinition. Economically and politically uncomfortable, they caused a war.
In the same context, according to Freidman, Russia who was a world force before the collapse of USRR, wants to regain its power. Eastern Europe and Caucasia are the most important regions for the Russian strategy.
Friedman thinks, Russia will need a redefinition of the region, so a war in 2020s will happen. US will support Poland and Turkey as counterforces to Russia, because they are in great strategic importance and have been US allies for a long time. The war will result by the defeat of Russia and USA will be stronger than ever.
American Crisis: 2030s
He states that there are cycles of Economic depressions in American history. A crisis, a failed presidency and new system has always been part of the last centuries for us, and it will be similar for the next ones. So around 2030s he expects a great economic crisis for Usa, so for the world ( He doesn’t think that this actual crisis, is a major one!)



2040-2060 World War between Turkey, Poland , Japan and USA
In the Russia against others war, Usa will try to fight the Russians by creating or supporting regional powers. Poland, and Turkey will benefit that, he explains why specifically these countries with historical and geopolitical facts and seems reasonable from a point of view.
On the other hand, he thinks that China will collapse, seen as a potential major power China is actually so dependent to other economies mostly to USA, that it will never have the resources to independent economical aspects. Plus, he emphasizes the cycles of the Chinese history. More clearly, China has always had time periods when the government encourages foreign capital, and after a while another government abandons this strategy and dictatorships rules. I’m not sure if I could explain sufficiently, though the main point according to Friedman is that China will divide and so will not be a world force.
On the other hand, the division of China will strengthen Japan, which is the second largest economy of the world. Despite the fact that Japan is a economically strong country, it is trapped in its boundaries, in a geographical dilemma. It will try to expand his influence and become a stronger force.
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The parts about Turkey interest me a lot, since I am a Turk. Though there are many arguments that I don’t agree.
Author emphasizes that Turkey, the successor of the Ottoman Empire, is the most likely candidate to influence the Islamic world and become a regional power. Turkey has a geographical position highly important and can expand to many directions. All these arguments seem reasonable, but the author( who is an American who interprets the news) assumes that Turkey will be on a moderate-Islamic axis. This is the hottest issue, some see this Islamic orientation as a threat to actual modern and secular system, and some see it as a fact that we shouldn’t be worried about. What Friedman suggests seem to me, like Turkey will be an Islamic state in order to increase its influence in the region.
What about Ataturk?
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was the leader and founder of the Turkish republic. He offered a view oriented towards the west, denying some Islamic hierarchical foundations and built a modern state.
And as I mentioned previously, the current conflict is generated from the possibility of ignoring last century’s work ( i.e. Secular state) and heading towards an Islam oriented state.
I hope it does not happen.
Analyzing current Turkish foreign strategy, Friedman may be right in his conclusions. But I don’t think he takes account the recent history of Turkey and principles of Ataturk’s revolutions. I don’t think Turkey can sacrifice these, in order to influence the Islamic world even Middle and South East Asia.
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ANYWAYS, Turkey and Japan will be allies and Poland supported by Usa and Europe will be the enemies. This wear will occur in 2040-2060s and as the technology advances, the war will not be ground-based but mostly-space based. Consequently this war will not result as many deaths as WW2.
Throughout this war, world will face to many technological advances, but space based solar energy will be the one that shapes the future.
War will result by the defeat of Japan and Turkey and this time the real Golden Age of America will begin. Usa which has the power to control the oceans, will this time have the power to control the space.
2080’s Mexico rises again
Today many states in Usa have Hispanic population. In Border States to Usa, like California and Texas the Mexican-American population is already abundant comparing to other ethnical identities. As the demand for labor increases in the next century, Mexican population will continue to augment in the Usa, especially in border states. Texas and California were once Mexican states and Friedman accentuates that fact a lot.
The increase in population will result to increasing Mexican influence in the area and therefore the increase in Mexican identity. The Mexican origin population will reach to a point where the Border States will try to gain independence and/or reunite with Mexico. These attempts may be supported by terror acts, but in the end, the power will shift from Usa to Mexico.
Conclusion
His argument is that Europe has ruled the world for the next 5 centuries and North America will rule for the next 5 centuries. With the increase of Mexican population in Usa, North America will still continue to rule the world, but the force balance will slide from Usa to Mexico.
Whether his assumptions are right or wrong, Friedman puts out a valuable view of future. His arguments about the future, reminded me all the history classes that I took since primary school. We all learn in history class, “why this happened?” and if our assumptions are right in analyzing the past, our predictions about the future would be appropriate, right?
Although, I don’t agree completely with the Turkey part, since I am a Turk, I think he may be right in his predictions. Anyways it is very entertaining to think about the future.