Really Early Onset Alzheimer Syndrome

Posted on 2016-07-15 by arjaybe
Public domain

Public domain

In a previous post, I referred to some research that seemed to indicate that there is a link between having a cynical and distrustful personality and later getting Alzheimer disease. As I explained then, this does not mean that being cynical causes the disease. All it is is a correlation. If anything, it might mean that the same underlying cause leads to both the cynicism and the dementia.

Now there is some more research that seems to indicate that at least one form of hereditary Alzheimer syndrome is beginning to affect the brains of its carriers much earlier in life. There is evidence of brain shrinkage as early as age three in some children with the APOEe4 gene mutation. This mutation is known to make its carrier fifteen times as likely to get dementia as non-carriers. It’s alarming that about fourteen percent of people carry this mutation, and it seems to be implicated in 20-25 percent of Alzheimer cases. Researchers stress, though, that genetics increase the risk, but do not guarantee the result. alzheimer-boy Interestingly, the APOEe4 gene mutation is also known to make people more susceptible to disease in general. Might it be that we’ll be able to prevent at least some Alzheimer cases by treating some childhood infection? If so, then might it be possible that we’d also see a reduction in cynical, distrustful people?

Mind you, given the implications of potentially altering people’s personalities, and possibly their politics, what are the odds that there will be a huge campaign against the treatment? Or is that too cynical?

rjb

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In defence of Creative Commons – TechnoLlama

Posted on 2016-07-10 by arjaybe

As you know, my novels are published with a Creative Commons license. I use Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (CC-BY-SA), but there are other variations, depending on how you want to share your work.  TechnoLlama, a blog I follow, has a piece on the resurgence of antipathy toward Creative Commons.  (TechnoLlama by Andres Guadamuz is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.)  That license is the same as the one I use, with the addition of the NonCommercial part.  That means that Andres doesn’t want people re-using his work for commercial purposes, while I don’t mind if they do.

From TechnoLlama:

It is hard to imagine nowadays, but for a few years during the last decade Creative Commons was relentlessly attacked by some content owners, copyright maximalists and collective societies.

However, I have noticed a resurgence in criticism of Creative Commons.

Creative Commons has been extremely successful since its creation, and we must welcome debate and input about things that can be improved. At some point CC was seen as anti-establishment, a direct attack on copyright from clueless academics and pirates. After the open access movement gained traction, an interesting transition occurred, CC became a part of the establishment.

I’m glad that Creative Commons came along when it did. It took the copyright that is automatically applied to creative works and gave it greater scope and flexibility. Now, thanks to CC, I can share my work under my terms, while still retaining the power and authority of copyright. Before CC the only option was to declare the work Public Domain, relinquishing copyright.

Follow the link for the original article.

Source: In defence of Creative Commons – TechnoLlama

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For the Love of Trolls

Posted on 2016-07-04 by arjaybe

Theodor Kittlesen – Public Domain


Troll: One who posts a deliberately provocative message to a newsgroup or message board with the intention of causing maximum disruption and argument — Urban Dictionary

Trolls. Don’t you just love them? Internet trolls, I mean. I guess the other kind might be okay, too. The ones made of stone, with diamond teeth. Or so Terry Pratchett says, anyway. His troll, Detritus, is quite personable, if somewhat dangerous with a crossbow. Although I wouldn’t like to meet the type who live under bridges, as in Billy Goats Gruff. Not unless I had a brave billy goat along, anyway.

But internet trolls? What’s not to love? They toil away, night and day, in their mothers’ basements, bringing clarity and accountability to the internet. While the rest of us spend all our time reaffirming our biases, agreeing with people we find agreeable, they dedicate themselves to rooting out our complacency. They hold up our assumptions to the cleansing light of scrutiny, forcing us to look at our shallow lives in that pitiless light. At least, that’s what they say when they’re challenged. I don’t know if it’s true. As far as I know, they might just be dyspeptic twits trying to dilute their own unhappiness by spreading it around. And I don’t know about their mothers’ basements, either. Surely that can’t be true for all of them, can it?

Trolls aren’t the stupid moaners they make themselves out to be, either. Some of them are actually quite intelligent, by internet standards. Not only do they have to have the wits to concatenate words into sentences, they have to do so on topic, and in such a way that they cause optimum discomfort. That means that they have to understand what we’re saying, and then they have to be able to cogently and succinctly offend us. As many of us as possible, as much as possible. A talented troll can disrupt an ongoing conversation and divert it onto their chosen path with just a few well-chosen words. But to the best of them, that is just a means to an end. The real purpose of their unwelcome attentions is to wake us up to our hypocrisy. All their bad manners and their virtual bad breath and acrid body odor are gifted to us in their altruistic mission to make the internet a better place.

You’ve got to love them for that, right?

Unfortunately, we don’t get to enjoy the benefits of their hard work here on Green Comet. We’re too small. There are not enough of us to be worth their while. Their gifts are better used in service of the much larger numbers to be found elsewhere. That’s unfortunate, but I think we should take solace in the fact that our loss is the internet’s gain.

rjb

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