BILGE WATER: that big gas bubble under the Gulf of Mexico

June 30th, 2010

I did not want to get involved but now one of my children asked me questions so it is a different matter!

As some of you know I SHOULD understand what is going on.  I was director of Research for the Louisiana Geological Survey, helped organise the LGS response teams to the Exxon Valdez spill, was  Professor of Petroleum Geology at LSU, owned a company [Carbon System's] that specialized in locating methane gas bubbles prior to setting drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, educated lawyers on the way oil and gas is generated, and generally studied the distribution of biogenic material on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico.

Firstly, there is NO huge gas bubble under the Gulf of Mexico that is ready to explode and cause a catastrophic Tsunami.
Secondly, oxygen depleted ‘dead zones’ exist at depth in all of the Oceans and the one’s in the GOM have been studied for a long time.
Thirdly, the clathrates containing methane in the GOM have the same origin as those existing at depth in all Oceans of our Earth and they are a water bottom phenomenon.
Fourthly, methane gas in petroleum reservoirs are mostly petrogenic methane formed by organic matter passing into and through the oil-window at depth.  This petrogenic methane is either dispersed in the inter-grain space in most sediments, or accumulate in traps where they form a top layer in the water-oil-gas accumulations in reservoirs.
Fifthly, biogenic gas, formed from bacterial degradation of organic matter at the surface and at SHALLOW depths, can form biogenic methane gas pockets of sufficient size to explode – but only if there is a sudden pressure release such as penetrated by shallow drilling when placing a drilling rig on the sea floor.  This is known to have cause destructive effects in the GOM in the past and is the reason why shallow drilling testing was/is done as part of the required hazard and environmental program prior to issuing a drilling permit by the State.

The Deepwater Horizon disaster is spewing out a lot of methane gas and this will have an adverse effect on the chemistry of the seawater and all life contained therein.  The bacteria in the seawater are more interested in the oil as a food source and hopefully will speed degradation of the hydrocarbons over time.  I certainly agree with Professor Kessler that there is a lot of methane being produced and it possibly is  ‘the most vigorous methane eruption in modern history’, however, it’s overall effect on Earth’s biocoenosis will be negligible.  It’s effect is felt primarily on people who are loosing wealth.  Because of the permanent ocean current-flow in the GOM those principally effected were predicted to be at the onset, and now are, the people of Mississippi, Alabama and north-western Florida, with minor effects on Louisiana.  If a hurricane hits coastal Louisiana that will change, especially in the brackish marshes which rely on daily tidal flushing for their vigour.

The following is un-scientific opinion.  Regarding the Federal Government policy of stopping all drilling I think the ruling was unwarranted – because the event was caused by human error.  The MMS was supposed to have had rules and regulations in place to fore-stall such an event as this Deepwater Horizon spill.  Clearly more is needed.  From the hundreds of eMails, interviews and discussions I have seen and read, those of ‘drillers’, and the few technicians on the Deepwater Horizon rig, seem to be the more knowledgeable.  It appears  that the disaster was caused by technical  people on the rig not reporting problems up through the system, those higher up in the system not understanding the potential disaster that could await; and, by some British Petroleum managers not being scientifically savvy enough and/or cautious enough.

George F. Hart

Future technology for the taxonomist.

July 4th, 2010

I have always been an admirer of IBM’s technology starting with using the old 360-370 machines and even on a rare occasion helping to repair a 370. IBM is one of the few corporations left that continues with the tradition that understanding basic scientific research is important  to the future of capitalistic endeavor.

Developing a tool that can provide accurate, fast and cheap DNA and RNA sequencing will be the principle break-though for biological taxonomy in the 21st century. I can imagine no other tool that will be of more importance to humankind’s immediate future in medicine, botany, zoology, sociology or any branch of life sciences. However, delivering a complete genome analysis for $100-$1,000 using nanopore technology, whilst a significant breakthrough, is not in itself the key. The key is to make nanopore DNA/RNA decoding units very cheaply! They need to be so cheap that every scientist that needs one can have one. They need to be as readily available as a good research microscope, and at base prices in the $1,000-$5,000 range with available software for data analysis similar to those currently found associated with scanning electron microscopes, X-ray machines and hydrocarbon well logging software.

Even in palaeobiology the study of fossil material can be advanced by such tools. I think there are places in the Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian where it is possible to find fossilized material in which the original organic material is not completely degraded to the level that all of the DNA has been destroyed. To sequence what remains of the DNA of such finds could lead to a huge understanding of past life.

The following video gives some background information:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKi30ai35mU

See the Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group research site:

http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/nanopore/

http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/gpu/

gfh 04/06/2010

The purpose of life: happiness or usefulness?

May 13th, 2010

Notes for a debate on July 24th, 2010.

By Professor  George F. Hart  with contributions by Bill Ross

Any discussion of the purpose of life by a western scientist must include the views of Ayn Rand [1905-1982] and how purpose, group and individual rights, and capitalism impact upon the question. Anne Rand is a persistent character in the lives of Laissez Faire capitalists. She was a Russian philosopher, writer, novelist who wrote “Atlas Shrugged” and developed the hypothesis of objectivism. Her relevance is the important influences she had on capitalistic theoreticians. In her hypothesis of objectivism she expounds:

  1. Reality exists independent of consciousness.
  2. Individual persons are in contact with this reality through sensory perception.
  3. human beings can gain objective knowledge from perception though the process of concept formation and inductive and deductive logic.
  4. The proper purpose of one’s life is the pursuit of one’s own rational self-interest
  5. The only social system consistent with this moral happiness is full respect for individual rights, embodied in pure Laissez Faire Capitalism.

Until recently it was only the last statement I disagreed with, because my world-experience indicated that other economic systems besides capitalism promote individual rights, and allow people to live together within a peaceable social gamodeme. That satisfying one’s own self-interest made a person happy, and this personal happiness was the purpose of life, was logical and acceptable to my personable id. However, upon reflection I realize that I have been happy only very few times in my entire life. Some of these occasions I remember well: when I was married, when each of my three sons was born, when I realized that my grand-daughter would live. Most of the other good occasions were times of satisfaction not happiness: when I was the first student ever to achieve a particular academic standard at Darlington Grammar School, when my wife and I got our first car, when I successfully completed a 350 mile walk up the Wild Coast of South Africa with Patsy-Anne Phillips. [I love the heart-felt, intimate sharing.  Rare amongst humans].With the wisdom that comes with experience I now know that these periods of happiness and satisfaction were self-reinforcing. Self-reinforcing behaviour can arise from the accumulation of experiences and alter future decisions: they affect how I will personally react with reality in the future. Happiness and satisfaction have little to do with the purpose of life and can have evil consequences. Hitler was happy at learning that France had capitulated and set in motion the elimination of more Jewish people [he did not dance a jig as reported – that was a looped movie giving the impression of a jig!]. Is a man allowed to use his strength to bring personal happiness by brutality? The hungry man is free to pursue food but is he allowed to steal and kill if he and his family are destitute and without food. Many would steal and kill for the happiness that food can bring to a starving family. Government regulates to curtail this sort of happiness so that the strong only use their strength in actions that do not intrude upon someone else’s individual rights: the golden rule of the social gamodeme. For a moral person – a person socialized to societal norms – happiness must be achieved without hurting or intruding on others ... but what of the conflict between belief systems. The religious fanatic seeks happiness in perpetuating his belief, in expanding it until it encompasses or eliminates all within its potential grasp by the sword if necessary …. all for the happiness of the mythical concept of heaven; and, in some groups, having sex with a bunch of virgins. Is contentment the quest for a society in which different racial groups are physically separated and one is the inferior to the other as with apartheid? Good points, but again for this discussion I would ask that we define the ‘purpose of life’ for persons living within the social norms of his or her society.  As morality and social norms can be relative, achieving a purposeful life can vary significantly by society. But I will refer to Joseph Cambell once again where he insists that ‘happiness’ is achieved by living and archetypical life.  In other words you can define happiness – or deep satisfaction – as a man if you: prove your courage [rights of passage] to other men, contribute to your community e.g. help kill a buffalo – here you can prove your courage and contribute in one hunt., love a woman, and be loved figuratively and literally, bear  or sire children and …deal with the devastating angst of an unexplained cosmos i.e. adopt a spiritual paradigm.  I recall my finest moments of happiness when I’ve navigated the perilous straits of life and come out the other side with successes in these archetypal areas.  The dramatic successes are best remembered but are tempered by painful memories of battles lost, expectations sashed and inexplicable bouts of disillusionment – the loss of life’s spark. The milieu of life’s highs and lows is romanticized in literature and popular culture and it’s how we ‘process’ our pasts to ‘make the most ‘ of our history.  The low times are not so romantic while we’re living through them.  The self-reinforcing affects of successes carry you through the tough times and give you the courage to try again.  We’re lost when we loose that life-force called confidence.  We have all  lost and regained it a few times.

The liberal institutional democracies [LID's] have a superimposed economic system on the political system, the purpose being to provide a fair distribution of resources so that individuals can pursue their individual quest for happiness. “The role of the government is strictly limited to the enforcement of an individuals right to his own life, liberty and the pursuit of his / her own happiness”. What about sharing, caring and the better well-being of all people? Is the happiness and contentment of the group more important than that of the individual? Whereas, people have an individual right to work for a successful life, they do not have a right to abuse this individual right by becoming increasingly obsessed with power or profit. I am an elitist and believe elitism is an admirable humanity trait in that it recognises that some are better than others in some or many aspects of their ability. However, elitism which fails to include the general good and uses ability to influence and control the lives of others in ways that are not advantageous for the overall cultural gamodeme are not pursuant of the purpose of life. It can lead to sorrow for other people: to the development of an underclass of working poor alienated from happiness, to greed, crime and corruption. So what is the purpose of life? We agree that an elitist, pursuing happiness without regard for his fellow human beings is a dark individual, indeed. Most  societies ostracise such individuals and stab them with the label ‘selfish’ or ‘hedonist’.  Again, if society can successfully socialize their citizens to regard helping others or contributing to society as a good thing, then in their pursuit of happiness they will feel compelled – either innately as Cambell implies – or via social indoctrination to include a social contribution as part of the formula for happiness.  This  is the paradox of the ‘pursuit of happiness’.  It is always interpreted to mean happiness to the exclusion of others, whereas properly socialized individuals will view such a pursuit as a shallow, ultimately empty endeavour.  In effect, a properly socialized citizen puts tremendous value in receiving an acknowledgement that they have contributed to society.  An interesting question is where or not this is innate [part of the human archetypal essence] or an invention of social evolution?

Historically western liberalism is rooted in a faith in human freedom and Locke’s  trinity of natural rights: the right to life, liberty, and property. These rights can provide happiness and contentment but are they connected with the purpose of life? The Declaration of Independence asserts that “men are created equal”; but this is equality only of opportunity, the right for a person to go as far as effort and ability will carry: the right to a meritorious system of political and economic thought. Equality is not equated with the idea that everyone should go equally far, handicapping the elite and the more capable and industrious, and allowing an unlimited support by the State for those who are less successful. The American Constitution does not allow for the elitist to be pillaged to support those of lesser wealth or position. It is the concept of “the purpose of life as individual usefulness” where the quality of a support for the less able or less successful comes from not from the pursuit of happiness.

The 18th century idea of charity generally carried the stigma of inferiority by both the giver and the receiver. We can replace the concept of charity by that of purposeful usefulness. To be relevant is to be counted, to be useful. John Adams expressed it well.

There is a voice within us, which seems to intimate that real merit should govern the world, and that men ought to be respected only in proportion to their talents, virtues and services… Few men will deny that there is a natural aristocracy of virtues and talents in every nation and every party, in every city and village”.

Jefferson’s agreement with this view is expressed in a letter to Adams from Monticello, dated October 28, 1813.

I agree with you that there is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talents… The natural aristocracy I consider as the most precious gift of nature, for the instruction, the trusts and government of society. And indeed it would have been inconsistent in creation to have formed man for the social state, and not to have provided virtue and wisdom enough to manage the concerns of the society”.

The people of the United States of America, more than any other country I know, share the common attribute amongst many of it’s people of helpfulness. We Americans do help one another – it is one of our greatest strengths. It is easy to say that this attribute makes us happy but it is more than that, much more. It is part of the individuality of our nation that helping others – being useful to others – is something we do. It is one of the purposes of many of us: I claim it is the main purpose and it is a purpose that can bring happiness to both the giver and the receiver. Is this character trait disproportionately  linked to Americans?

Like Agassiz, in my own life I had no time to become wealthy but choose another route through life. I have helped others to become wealthy and some of those have found happiness, not so much in the accumulation of riches and power, but in providing help to others: their purpose of life became to be accountable, to be useful to humankind. Their life experience developed a personal morality that recognises the use they could be to society.

COMMENTS.

Comment: 01-dw

The issue produces many questions and, for me, no conclusions.

First, I suspect most people think that happiness is a state that is different than the dictionary definition. I think that we perceive happiness as a state of exhilaration which can be sustained for a long period of time.

If one were able to determine whether we should live a happy or useful life it still leaves the question: so what? And how do you measure such things. How do you determine if someone is happy. Do you go by their description and is that description for the moment, the past day or so, last week, last year? What is the period of time used for measuring happiness or, do you consider what you know or perceive of that person in addition to what they say to determine if they are happy? When you learned that your grand-daughter would live, was that happiness or extreme relief and great pleasure that all had worked out. How long must an emotion last for us to say it is how we are generally. What level of emotion must be attained before it can be declared the true emotion? Can you be happy yet vicious in your business practices. Is it legitimate if one is happy after repossessing their house from a family that could not afford the rent because they lost their job. Can one say they are happy yet be very dissatisfied with their partner or boss.

And what exactly does useful mean? Helping an old lady across the street? Fighting against the war? Fighting in the war? If fighting in the war is useful then does that mean that fighting against the war is not? Is one useful if they go to work each day but do nothing else toward the betterment of society?

Why must the debate be based on an either/or proposition? If I have felt happy at times but those times are insignificant in relation to the times I am content, discontented, angry, upset, depressed, fearful, uncertain or just neutral am I happy or something else?

Is it useful to give a penny to a homeless person seeking help or must one give a greater amount to be truly useful? And what if you give nothing in hope of forcing the government to recognise a serious social problem and do something about it? Is the latter a useful act though the beggar may suffer?

If we execute someone who has killed, is that a useful act or should we, as a society, have done something much earlier for that individual in hope of preventing such an act thereby being really useful?

And what combination of the two would be acceptable: 20% happy, 80% useful? fifty-fifty? and on and on and on.

What’s the purpose of the debate? To resolve a very difficult issue, to wonder about something that has no resolution or is it mental masturbation?

?Great questions and musings….  My own view of happiness on a yearly, monthly, daily basis is evolved greatly over my lifetime.  I used to think of happiness in dictionary terms (i.e, the joy of riding a roller coaster, the belly laughs between good friends over a drink), but now I have a much longer view.  I want to be happy.  Why not?  I choose to try to be happier over time.  I study what makes me happy and try to increase those activities and thoughts.  I see extreme happiness highs as rare, but delicious and I work toward achieving them over fairly long periods of time.  If I have an idea for something and work toward achieving it (mostly at work) I achieve some level of anticipatory happiness every day I feel I make progress toward that goal.  I become ‘in love’ with the idea.  The downside, is that if, on any given day there is either no progress or the dream is in jeopardy of dying, then I become more or less depressed.  This makes goal-setting sort of a high-stakes activity for me.  I set myself up for an extreme high or a bad fall.

I tell myself that I’m ‘saving up’ a series of highs that I can put in the proverbial memory bank so that over a lifetime I can feel the warm glow of those peak moments.

This is my simple plan…. Sometimes I think its working because I really do achieve many of my goals.  I may be deluding myself though because in the middle times between my highs I’m often not ‘living in the moment’.  Time is passing and I’m living in some future state of anticipation.  It doesn’t always work for me either.  I sometimes simply, intolerably and inexplicably lose my ‘spark’, my inspiration to achieve and I can go a few days trying to regain that ‘reason to strive’.  That’s when I usually tell myself I’m working too hard, begin looking for distractions, play more tennis, get together with friends, take long walks, etc.  But these episodes reinforce the ineffable mysteries of life and the perils of trying to live life on a plan (note my romantized explanation… very satisfying).

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Comment: 02-fl

Mill’s “Utilitarianism” should be read e.g. “On the present occasion, I shall, without further discussion of the other theories, attempt to contribute something towards the understanding and appreciation of the Utilitarian or Happiness theory, and towards such proof as it is susceptible of those who know anything about the matter are aware that every writer, from Epicurus to Bentham, who maintained the theory of utility, meant by it, not something to be contra-distinguished from pleasure, but pleasure itself, together with exemption from pain”. When most philosophers talk about “happiness” what they really mean is something very like your definition- usefulness or utility. That doesn’t mean that we can’t have a good discussion about the topic. but we have to be exceedingly careful in the terms we use. We can’t casually say that happiness and usefulness are opposed. The more I think about it, the more I like using Mill as a touchstone: the big sticking point about utilitarianism, grossly stated as “the greatest good for the greatest number”, is why should you or I care more about the greatest good for the greatest number than we care about the greatest good for our family? Our greatest “happiness” comes from their good, not the world’s good. Right or not right? Mill’s utilitarianism is a good reading and can direct focus on some critical topics.

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Comment: 03-am

I agree with your conclusions in the last two paragraphs.

Yes, helping others is a fine purpose for us. As you said, it brings happiness to both giver and receiver. But it conflicts with Ayn Rand’s tenet of pursuing one’s own rational self-interest. I’ve always had this problem with Objectivism. To me, the the whole ‘looking out for #1′ vibe taints the rest of Objectivism.

Mostly, her other observations make sense to me — reality exists separately from consciousness and our perceptions can lead to objective knowledge of reality via logic, blah blah. That’s all very Spockian (Mr., not Dr.), and appeals to my scientist core.
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Comment 04 – ss

In what you have compiled already you do touch upon a very simple premise that comes from Jewish philosophy, which is that you will not find happiness in life unless you first find a way to be useful. Thus, in that sense, there is no debate to be had.  The purpose of life is to be useful but, by being useful, you will find happiness as a result.

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Synthesizing life

May 21st, 2010

So what did The J. Craig Venter Institute do?

    Synthesized an exact replica of a string of DNA from Mycoplasma mycoides over 106 bases long and placed it within an empty cell membrane from a different species of the genus Mycoplasma [M. capricolum]. The cell functioned like a normal living organism. This is a significant achievement because long DNA molecules tend to break during manipulation. Previously a much smaller genome was built and implanted into a pre-existing cell membrane.

It has taken 10 years of Craig Venter’s effort to achieve this goal and it represents only a very small milestone in humankind’s future ability to create synthetic life. There are two main avenues to pursue from now on.

  1. Synthesized a cell membrane and cell contents, exclusive of the DNA polymer molecule, and repeat the experiment. This achievement will mean humankind can completely synthesize a living cell.
  2. Catalogue the DNA bases responsible for specific genetic traits in a specific species [this is currently an ongoing project at many research institute] and build an organism that has specific traits completely different from any other know form of life.

The aim is for scientists to be able to do these two activities routinely and at this stage humankind will have a marvellous control over prokaryotic living systems. Such knowledge will have vast potential for humanities colonization of our Solar System and beyond. I estimate it will take another 10 years to reach this goal.

Currently, science is taking a different approach to eukaryotic living systems. The approach is to catalogue the DNA bases responsible for specific genetic traits and alter a pre-existing germ cell [either the male or female gamete or both] to produce a zygote that is abnormal to the species in terms of its traits. This approach is moving along rapidly and has been achieved at a minor level e.g. photosynthetic hair. Success depends upon understanding [cataloguing] the base-pair to trait relationship in specific species; and, successfully inserting and/or removing base-pairs from gametes. The related investigation pertaining to somatic [body] cells also is progressing and can have far reaching effects on the health of individuals and the curing of disease.

The following is a direct link to the complete article published by Science magazine.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/rapidpdf/science.1190719v1.pdf

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/328/5981/958.pdf

Genetic ancestry testing

May 15th, 2010

Ancestry is about phylogeny : the lineage of ancestor-descendant that every human being manifests. It’s existence is not in question but the validity of the methodologies and the societal implications of this rapidly growing area of personal interest is beginning to be questioned. Today the American Journal of Human Genetics [86(5):661-673] published their report on ancestry genetics testing in which they address these questions. Firstly, ancestral genetic testing has little to do with phylogenic lineages in the sense understood by the palaeontologist i.e. spans > 5 million years. However, genetic testing is relevant to defining the ethno-cultural gamodeme an individual came from; and, how one’s ancestors got to the geographical location a person was born in. Secondly, discussion of genetic ancestry is beginning to move into the tricky area of ethics: this is where a vicious battle could take place, as currently the war between individual and group rights begins to focus at a more general level.

Paternal [Y-chromosome] and maternal [mtDNA] genetic testing can provide phylogenic information about the ancient gamodeme an individual’s ancestors came from. When the information is placed in a relative, as opposed to an absolute, time-scale this is the most general, valid, conclusion that can be made from genetic testing. More specific conclusions are possible where comparisons can be made to a database of many individuals in which the location of origin is known: this was the method used by the pioneers in the field such as Cavalli-Sforza et al.,1994,2001; Wells,2004,2007; and, Sykes,2002, amongst others. Rough absolute time scales are available for this kind of information.

When genetic tests are used for genealogical analysis the results, generally, are quite restricted and can directly link members of only two lineages: those of the fathers paternal grandfather etc., and the mothers maternal grandmother. The methods used can allow reliable conclusions to be derived about ancestry and are useful in determining parentage, and confirming oral and written genealogical hypotheses. The organisation www.ancestry.com specialises in this kind of analysis.

Between the reliable extremes of ancestral gamodeme and immediate genealogical determination is the gray area where conclusions are tentative and often based upon unsubstantiated hypotheses and conjecture; or, use non-scientific methodologies for data analyses. This gray area is the exciting area because it is open to scientific experimentation: Bryan Sykes’ book “Blood of the Isles” [2006] / “Saxons, Vikings and Celts” [2007] delves into this gray area and is an excellent example of what the gray area is and what can be done within it.

The second area, of ethics, is non-scientific and shows the beginning of intrusion of corporate world into individual choice and freedom with the focus on extracting money for interpreting services. It is a characteristic of American society that professional certification, provided by a non-educational organisation, is often required by law to perform a service. These organisations have often come about by a few individuals who either wish to build a personal empire, or, create a barrier of the kind “we are the knowledgeable and you are not”. Personally, I have always fought against such restrictive techniques because experience has shown that few bodies should have regulatory authority when it comes to knowledge. Most professional bodies do not need, themselves, to provide additional professional training: even though they may require it for continued membership e.g. professional accountants. Additional professional training is the job of independent educational institutions such as trade schools and universities; and, of training programs run under their auspices. Belonging to a body such as the Royal College of Surgeons, or the American Academy of Sciences, or Engineering is recognition of a certain quality of experience and is an obvious guideline when hiring someone for a specific purpose: however, it is up to the individual asking for service to determine whether or not to use a particular person or organisation.  As anyone who has been an expert witness will know, the American legal system does not tolerate incompetent experts: our lawyers are too cunning for that. For government to regulate so that only a member of a professional organisation can legally collect, provide or interpret information is, in my opinion, grounds for insurrection, rebellion and revolution. I have said before: “requiring a bit of paper from a private, non-independent organisation that espouses group superiority is detrimental to our educational system and individual freedom.” We must be vigilant and oppose the development of a system created by lobbying and political ineptitude, that restricts knowledge propagation and encourages financial greed and/or arrogance.

Comment: Professor George F. Hart, 10th, May, 2010.

i I have not yet read the full report so will only comment on the related topics, of interpretation and ethics, of genetic testing.  The following is an interesting related article.

http://media.jaapa.com/documents/14/genomics0510_3259.pdf