uniquelibrary@earthlink.net Dear Steve Lohr, Living within the box "Wall Street's Math Wizards" must externalize blame. Their model is wrong but not because of panicky people. Mathematical models failed to take into account the reality that financial instruments in the final analysis must be based on actual assets that exist in reality as objects within the biosphere. The variables neglected include an out of control debt spiral based on never ending growth within a closed finite biological system experiencing catastrophic environmental degradation world wide at a rapidly increasing pace. A system based on endless growth must then change it asset base from one based on valuable tangible assets (natural resources) to one based on intangible assets. How does one value an intangible asset? Assume I have five dollars and I am hungry. Will I spend my five dollars on a loaf of bread or on renting a Disney movie? Intangible assets value is that price that the market will bear not the value the seller believes it to be. The cognitive bias' of the "Wall Street's Math Wizards" included: Anchoring bias - the tendency to rely too heavily on one piece of information when making decisions; Attentional bias - inclination to neglect relevant data when making judgements of a correlation or association; Authority bias - the tendency to value something according to an "expert" opinion; Belief bias - an effect where someone's evaluation of the logical strength of an argument is biased by the believability of the conclusion; Blind spot bias - the tendency not to compensate for one's own cognitive biases; Confirmation bias - the tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions; Expectation bias - the tendency to believe, certify, and publish data that agrees with expectations, and to disbelieve, discard, or downgrade data that conflicts with expectations; Exposure bias - the tendency to express undue liking for things merely because they are familiar; Extraordinary bias - the tendency to over value an object because it is "special"; False consensus bias - the tendency to overestimate the degree to which others agree; Framing bias - the tendency to describe or approach an issue or situation too narrowly; Hindsight bias - the inclination to see past events as being more predictable than they actually were; Ingroup bias - the tendency to give preferential treatment to an individual identified as belonging to the same social sub-group; Notational bias - a form of cultural bias in which symbols are mistaken for real things; Omission bias - the tendency to judge harmful actions as worse, or less moral, than equally harmful omissions (inactions); Optimism bias - the tendency to be over-optimistic about the outcome of planned actions; Positive outcome bias - a tendency to overestimate the probability of good things happening; Overconfidence bias - the tendency to be overconfident in one's own abilities; Projection bias - the tendency to assume others share similar thoughts, beliefs, values, or opinions; Restraint bias - the tendency to overestimate one's ability to show restraint; Status quo bias - the tendency to like things as they are; Selection bias - the tendency to distort data arising from the way data is selected; Self-serving bias - the tendency to claim more responsibility for successes than failures; Separation bias - the tendency to conceive of oneself as independent of the environment; Specialist's bias - the tendency to look at things through the lens of one's own specialty, blinded to any broader point of view; Zero-risk bias - preference for reducing a small risk to zero over a greater reduction in a larger risk Sincerely, Lawrence Turner Lawrence, Thanks for writing and for the thoughts, especially the dissection of cognitive biases. Good thoughts. Best, Steve Lohr ********************************************************* Dear Sir: I am a philosophy student at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. In perusing Google for the sake of some preliminary research, I stumbled across your website, and must say I am quite intrigued by your project here. It has long been my contention that the institutionalized manipulation of images and phenomena (i.e. mass media forms, Capitalist systems, etc.) has resulted in a corruptive metaphysical rift between appearances & reality that serves as the postmodern culture's greatest threat. I appreciate any input that you might be able to give on this subject, and may I just say that I greatly respect the collective efforts you're making toward a human renaissance that we so desperately need these days. Best regards, Brian J. Rose ********************************************************* Dear Charles Eisenstein, Your synthesis of the reasons that we, humankind, have become so far removed from our "natural" state, separation from nature, is right on the mark. In linguistics a deeper understanding of human conceptualization of reality can be found simply by the way we use words. Your multi-lingual capabilities sparked the realizations that you have come to. I can see a paradigm shift in human thinking is beginning to take hold in Western thinkers as we realize that our conceptualization of reality has driven us away from the actual truth of reality. Several years ago an emotional crisis brought on by personally uncontrollable events affecting my children shook my psyche to the core and caused a reevaluation of our entire manner of living. I have always been a critical thinker and an individualist that questioned the herd mentality. Thinking differently from the herd made me want to understand what made me different and why people thought and conceptualized the way they did. So I began my journey. People are so conditioned by their culture that they fail to even realize that they have been conditioned. So I felt the need, as have you, to awaken the sleepers. Naturally it feels good to find individuals that think along similar lines. When I began this journey they were few and far between, but I have found as time goes by more and more individuals thinking along similar lines. This gives me hope that we will not entirely trash our home, the Earth, before it is to late. Sincerely with respect and appreciation, Lawrence Turner Yes, there are more and more, and I find the shift is accelerating. What was once thought crazy is now common sense. Charles ********************************************************* Dear Dr. Francis Collins, I read about you today and your stand that science and the existence of God are not incompatible. I was a born again Christian who lost my faith. Jesus came to me one evening with a blazing sword of light and I saw that the sword was the sword of knowledge. The path to God lies through knowledge. To know God one must embrace critical thinking and one must strive to gain knowledge. God did not give man a brain so that man could sit around and let that brain atrophy. My mission and yours is the same. Thank you for speaking up and taking a stand. God bless you. Sincerely Lawrence Turner Thanks for your message. I certainly agree that God intended for us to seek knowledge -- and through it to learn more about both the natural world, and about Him. Francis (Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute) ********************************************************* Dear Mary Kay Blakely, Recently I stumbled upon your article in a old file folder. When I read your article "Psyched Out" in October, 1993 I clipped it and saved it. Up until that point, in 1983, I slavishly blamed myself for my political disease - agoraphobia which Kurt Vonnegut identified as afflicting people who lack the essential emotional "damping apparatus." Up until that point I blamed my lack of willingness to deal with other people on myself. After reading your article I realized that I had been emotionally battling within myself because I have never fit comfortably within a social group that revolved around a social institution such as school, church, service club, etc. I always felt these organizations had social injustices being carried out within the group to get the individuals in the group to conform to the group norm. This would not be bad in and of itself except the group norm always seemed to gloss over some contradictory aspect of the groups ideological mission as opposed to it's actual acts on the ground. They all seemed to be hypocrites as wrong was seen as right - whatever was expedient sufficed. I first started looking at things as if I might not be the crazy mal-adapted one after reading your article. Ten years later I began to resist the wrongs visited upon American society by the Valium Theory of Journalism. Today I just want to thank you for the thoughtful insightful article that helped me on my journey through life. Thank You Sincerely, Lawrence Turner Dear Lawrence, I can't thank you enough for your thoughtful letter. I'm now teaching at the Missouri School of Journalism - working with some very bright, very idealistic young people who often feel discouraged that the words we fling Out There have no impact. I'm always insisting that the flinging is all that should matter - what readers do with the words/ideas is entirely their own business. Writers can never know, never expect to know, what difference they make. Your wonderful note suggests that "words matter". Thanks so much for writing. If you don't mind, I'll share your thoughts with my students. All best, MKB ********************************************************* Dear Mr Hirschhorn, I am one of the signers of the Architects and Engineers for 911 Truth petition. I have a BA in Architecture and I am a contractor. The problem is that Americans can not believe that 911 was done with the approval and understanding of elements in the federal government that went as high as Dick Cheney. Americans are having a hard enough time as it is believing that the systems and institutions that are now in place are actual making them better off. To believe that the federal government is no longer concerned with the welfare of the average American is to reject everything the federal government claims. Americans have been conditioned since being children (especially those that attended public schools), that the federal government is all about solutions, "fixing" things and is a servant of the American people. In truth the American people have become servants of the federal government - which does not like uppity servants. When someone does claim the government is not concerned with the overall welfare of the American people but with the performance of the stock market and the continued existence of the current economic/political system designed to enrich the controllers and owners of huge corporations then that person is labeled an unpatriotic lunatic fringe conspiracy theorist even though it is clear to anyone that actual pays any attention to what is actually going on. Therefore to accept that elements of the federal government, a god to many programmed and conditioned people, might actually harm the American people on purpose is heresy. Don't forget - they used to burn heretics at the stake. A sincere and truly patriotic American who hates to see "the grand experiment of America" collapse into corporate fascism, Lawrence Turner Your views are correct; you would enjoy my book Delusional Democracy and many of my numerous articles dealing with politics and government. Joel ********************************************************* I can't believe you find the time to run a business, family and such a connected website... I can't believe all the links work! Its an interactive dream come true! So many good links... and I can't believe I actually found a like-mind on the subject of quarks, leptons, and bosons... I've been thinking on that for my sci fi writing. You've made a difficult grieving/self-doubt time for me very inspired and motivated, just when I need it. Thank you for being there and for the laughs. Kelly Pickel ********************************************************* Dear Dr. Lewis, Greatly appreciated you letter to the editor of the Los Angeles Times. I am a past graduate of Cal Poly and I find it unfortunate that no longer is ancient history considered important. History, especially world history of all periods, shows mankind how much effort has been made by our predecessors in an attempt to create civil societies. There are many important lessons to be learned and it is wrong headed to summarily reject the early experiences of Western civilization and other societies of the human race as no longer relevant. I would suggest that the history faculty member you mention would like his/her students to have a similar viewpoint to the one he/she holds. Thank you for at least trying to shine the light of enlightenment. Sincerely Lawrence Turner Bachelor of Architecture 1987 Mr. Turner, Thanks for your kind words. I hope that your experience at Cal Poly was as good as mine. Best, George Lewis. ********************************************************* Gretchen, When I was raising two children by myself, running a real estate brokerage and starting up a construction business my life was out of control. I laughed for the first time in months when I saw a greeting card with a frog on a Lilly pad that had snagged a 747 with his long sticky tongue. At that point I realized I had "bitten off more than I could chew." When I feel pressed for time I do not enjoy what ever it is that I am doing. If I do not feel pressed for time then most of the time whatever I am doing is more enjoyable. Living life is a process and having the time to enjoy the process of living is all that anyone can ask of life. To our political and cultural leaders I would like to say that being in step with prevailing American popular culture, the cult of materialistic consumerism, cheapens all human life by causing people to focus on the competition for the acquisition of material wealth while failing to satisfy the deepest human craving of living life to the fullest every moment of every day. Lawrence Turner Dear Lawrence, Thank you so much for writing to us and sharing your life experiences and your message to our leaders. I like how you describe the desire to live life to the fullest as being the deepest human craving -- I think that's really true. Best regards, Gretchen ********************************************************* Dear Dante Zappala, I read the editorial in today's Los Angeles Times that you wrote. I wish your family well and am saddened at the death of your brother. Your brother's death is a tragedy that you rightly see as a failure of the American people to exercise their faculties of critical thinking. The death of your brother was a preventable tragedy. Something is deeply wrong with Americans when they can so cavalierly accept death and destruction, a means to an end, as an acceptable way of life. Violence might as well be worshiped by Americans as it seems to play a ever increasing role in ‘entertainment'. I never felt this war was right in the first place. I do not believe war solves problems, it only creates pain, suffering and destruction. George Bush is a heretic and a mouth piece for the American aristocracy. As a teacher you understand the need to educate the populace. There are many who believe as I do, but we are shouted down by mass media that only exists to sell more product. Do not get me wrong, I love America. But I do not think that Americans should be used as pawns in American aristocracy big game of chess. Lawrence Turner Lawrence, Thank you for your reply. We must begin to heal with the love of country in our heart. Those that are shouting from the sidelines do not see the damage they have caused to all of us. God Bless, Dante ********************************************************* Carol, Thank you for writing the article published in the Los Angles Times Saturday April 23. Our culture has gone insane glorifying violence. I have a few thoughts on the subject that may interest you. www.unique-design.net/library/violence.html Lawrence Turner You are most welcome. We need to help our whole culture look in another direction for answers. Thanks for the link. Carol Jago ********************************************************* Dear Professor Kirk, I read your article in the Sunday Times and found it amusing, straight to the point and absolutely correct. I applaud you for standing up to the propaganda machine of the drug companies and politicians. If we are all crazy, and Sally Satel has her way, then the future of humanity could easily become that which is portrayed in the movie Equilibrium. Thank you for standing up to the true madness and speaking out. Lawrence Turner Lawrence, I appreciate you kind note. Stuart Kirk ********************************************************* Dear Bill, I just read the Voices piece you wrote in the August issue of National Geographic. I am writing in support of your work. I agree wholeheartedly with everything you wrote, which does not happen very often. You see the problem that human civilization is facing, as do I, and understand, physically, what it will take to undo the damage that we have already done to the Earth. You mention community, which America is sorely in need of. Perhaps I am wrong but it seems that the close nit community that Americans long for has been usurped by the commercialization of everything. People used to gather and talk. Now they sit and watch television as spectators of life as opposed to the living of life. And if they do gather and talk there can be no disagreements about what is truly important. What seems to now be truly important to nearly everyone is the pursuit of wealth, the acceptance of fantasy as reality and what celebrities do and think. Polite company is never negative. This makes it very hard for me to find people that I can communicate with. I find some with similar ideas on the internet but I seldom find them among my neighbors. What is truly needed is, as you say, an entirely different outlook on the living of our lives. I have been and always will be a conservative, I conserve what I have. I try to get by with less. I grow much of my own fruit and vegetables. (My neighbors think I am crazy, why work so much when you can buy it in the supermarket?) I attempt to be as efficient as possible so as not to waste or use things I really do not need to. (Pesticide free since 1990.) I commute as little as possible. Anyhow my effort makes me feel good about what little I am doing but people seem to think I am crazy because I do not leap for the brass ring. How can people, such as you and I, possibly by heard through the clutter of millions of messages telling Americans that if they only buy this or that then all their dreams will be fulfilled? Commercialization of everything reaches to the major flaw in all humans - ego. I do what I do because I can not lie to myself. My ego requires that I be truthful with it. I want to help solve this ego problem humans have of accepting lies as reality. To that end I have posted a few pages on the internet in the hopes that people will begin to awaken from the fantasy of man as the lord of nature. Sincerely Lawrence Turner Many thanks for your words and for your example. I'm not sure we ever will cut through the clutter of our culture; it's nice to be able to do so at least in our own lives. But I think that local food is one of the finest ways forward - people seem to "get it" almsot instincitvely Bill McKibben ********************************************************* Hello my name is Nate Hibler, and I am working on a research paper about prisons. The entire prison system, hopefully after my research, I would like to come up with a set of alternates penalties for lesser offenses. Like I said, I really enjoyed your site, and hope you continue. thanks. ********************************************************* I have stumbled upon a great website, and I am amazed at the generosity of its creator. I have found a great tool for the expansion of the welfare of others, and of myself. Thank you! Rich Grear This web site is not a commercial web site and is presented for educational purposes only. This website defines a new religious ideology to which its author adheres. The author feels that the falsification of reality outside personal experience has created a populace unable to discern propaganda from reality and that this has been done purposefully by an international corporate cartel through their agents who wish to foist a corrupt version of reality on the human race. Religious intolerance occurs when any group refuses to tolerate religious practices, religious beliefs or persons due to their religious ideology. This web site marks the founding of the religion aptly named The Truth of the Way of Life - a rational religion based on reason which requires no leap of faith, accepts no tithes, has no supreme leader, no church buildings and in which each and every individual is encouraged to develop a personal relation with God through the pursuit of the knowledge of reality in the hope of curing the spiritual corruption that has enveloped the human spirit. The tenets of The Truth of the Way of Life are spelled out in detail on this web site by the author. Violent acts against individuals due to their religious beliefs in America is considered a “hate crime.” This web site in no way condones violence. To the contrary the intent here is to reduce the violence that is already occurring due to the international corporate cartels desire to control the human race. The international corporate cartel already controls the world central banking system, mass media worldwide, the industrial military entertainment complex of America and is responsible for the collapse of morals, the elevation of self-centered behavior and the destruction of global ecosystems. Civilization is based on cooperation. Cooperation does not occur at the point of a gun. American social mores and values have declined precipitously over the last century as the corrupt international cartel has garnered more and more power. This power rests in the ability to deceive the populace in general through mass media by pressing emotional buttons which have been preprogrammed into the population through prior mass media psychological operations. The results have been the destruction of the family and the destruction of social structures that do not adhere to the corrupt international elites vision of a perfect world. Through distraction and coercion the direction of thought of the bulk of the population has been directed toward solutions proposed by the corrupt international elite that further consolidates their power and which further their purposes. All views and opinions presented on this web site are the views and opinions of individual human men and women that, through their writings, showed the capacity for intelligent, reasonable, rational, insightful and unpopular thought. All factual information presented on this web site is believed to be true and accurate and is presented as originally presented in print media which may or may not have originally presented the facts truthfully. Opinion and thoughts have been adapted, edited, corrected, redacted, combined, added to, re-edited and re-corrected as nearly all opinion and thought has been throughout time but has been done so in the spirit of the original writer with the intent of making his or her thoughts and opinions clearer and relevant to the reader in the present time. Fair Use Notice This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of criminal justice, human rights, political, economic, democratic, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the United States Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information see: www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Copyright © Lawrence Turner All Rights Reserved