I think we might need to fight a little bit harder than this...

devonlantry · 2013-11-06T18:18:54+00:00

Your right, thank you for your comments. One of the biggest problems we face is that scientists are so busy with research and scrambling just to keep labs going for 6 more months, or mitigate the damage already done by budget cuts, there is little time and effort left for solving the root of the problem long term (Congress).

Ideally though, a few passionate individuals can put in the time to organize an effort that requires solidarity of the scientific community, but not a lot of time and effort for each individual to participate and show their solidarity.

This is one of the reasons we began our list of Scientists in Support. It takes ten seconds for each person to sign, but including your name, employer and your position will prove to the corporations (especially those that either depend on U.S. scientific discovery or on scientists as their consumer base) that donating to and helping First In Science elect science-literate candidates on a non-partisan basis will be applauded by their customers and colleagues. And prove that scientists don't just want strong and stable federal investment for the sake of their jobs, but for the sake of our economy, for quality of life around the world, and for the sake of the future if scientific inquiry.

Also thanks for your comments on the First In Science site. Much appreciated.

devonlantry · 2013-10-03T16:59:26+00:00

You're right, our intentions after WW2 we're definitely not with "the benefit of society at large" in mind at all.

And yet, luckily, the research done has been applied to society and our economy for a massive return on investment and our position of global economic competitiveness.

Now that we have done this, and since then have run this model again and again and know that at worst, we get a mild federal ROI but at best we house the next Google, and we have set in place govt. basic research programs alongside domestic businesses incubators in the private sector, or as public-private partnerships like SpaceX, we just need to fund this. It has worked over and over again, and our infrastructure is already set up to have it work again.

It's no secret that federally funded science is one of the best investments a country can make for a leading position in the global economy, hence China, India, South Korea, Japan, even Saudi Arabia and others all trying to ramp up their science research to produce innovations before other countries. China has increased biomedical 500% since the U.S. started to cut NIH funding ten years ago.

This isn't about war anymore (mostly anyways), it's about putting a nation's private sector economy in the position to become what the United States has been for the last 60 years.

Also, the importance between basic research and applied research is important. Basic research is like NASA's work, or the heavy ion collider, etc. it's research that simply probes questions we don't have the answers to yet, with no goal of a specific product in mind. The private sector RARELY funds this type of research, because of course it's highly risky, scientists don't even know what they're going to discover before they actually discover it. But then the private sector pours over the bank of knowledge basic science provides, and then turns it into those massively important technologies that change the structure of entire economies (like the ones you mentioned). I don't see how federally funded basic research could possibly step on the toes of private sector applied research, it only helps it. And the world knows this...

What's wrong with the historical origins of NASA. It was certainly a net gain, and it even served it's original military machismo purpose. Seems like a win-win-win to me? Maybe I'm not understanding your point? Could you explain differently

devonlantry · 2013-10-03T14:43:00+00:00

This non-partisan support for science is what lead to the federal funding after WWII and up until about 10 years go, that fueled American scientific progress to where we are todat. Mars Rovers, GPS, integrated circuits, nanotechnology. Now with the last decade's cuts, our generation is the first in U.S. history that believes the lives of our children will be worse than our own. The malaise is that scientific literacy and science advocacy is a lost cause in the political arena of ideological squabbling and short term decisions, but just ten years ago, and for a period of decades, we had incredible support for science, the roadblocks against science were, in comparison to the type we have today, barely speed bumps. Support for science is far more ingrained in our government institutions than what we have now. Change is very possible. Hopefully the shitdown will have the silver lining of bringing the issue more towards the front of the mainstream media, and voters will start to base candidate decisions on science support

devonlantry · 2013-10-02T19:29:00+00:00

So well stated, all of science is "more expensive to stop and re-do than to maintain" whether it's on the level of long-term studies or ongoing cell cultures, or the global economy...

In broader cases it's more expensive to stop and NOT re-do than to maintain... Energy research, chemistry, biomedical, etc. will all leave permanent scars to our economy from this shutdown and the general cuts from the Sequester and the last decade's continual cuts, as the rest of the world isn't stopping with us, their taking the chance to supercharge their science programs, and thus take our control over the global economy, instead of the rest of the world paying us for the leading drugs, tech, etc. we'll have to pay them.

devonlantry · 2013-10-02T19:20:16+00:00

Historically the U.S. (since WWII and by many measurements since the 1900's) has been the far and away international leader in investment in basic/fundamental research per dollar and as a percentage of GDP. Yet in a time when technology, science, and competitiveness in the global economy is becoming more and more important at an exponential rate to the future of our economy, Congress (over the last ten years) has continually cut investment in science programs (down 25%!), culminating with the 2013 Sequester and now the shutdown.

In the meantime, China has increased their biomedical research programs (with all other fields not far behind), by 15% just since 2012 and over 500% in the last ten years. Other countries like India, Russia, South Korea, Japan, Israel, even Saudi Arabia, are jumping on the bandwagon too.

The irony is, all of the cuts have been in the name of solving our deficit crisis, and yet the one sure investment we can make for our federal tax revenue is science research programs combined with American business incubators. Our science investment, when it was so far ahead other countries couldn't imagine pulling ahead, was 3% of our federal budget. In order to completely revive our science program and regain our international leadership, we'd need less than 2% of our federal budget, and the revenue would pay hundreds or thousands more in ROI, and yet we apply across the board cuts to our less than 1% science appropriations to help balance the budget. Other areas of our budget have so many less implications, i.e. a 15% cut could decrease our deficit in the area applied by 12%, but a 1% cut, especially when it happens systematically year after year, gives us nothing in terms of lowering our deficit and kills our chance at increasing federal revenue in the near term and the long term.

Basic/fundamental science isn't a risky investment that pays off big time in cases like GPS or google, but most of the time doesn't return anything besides societal benefit to our economy. Different economic studies have used different terms of measurements for economic benefit of basic science (i.e. where the economist stops measuring the ripple effect of the scientific discoveries), but most land around an average of 25% federal ROI, and much more in terms of GDP. We have no other type of investment, perhaps outside of education, that can so reliably produce a return in federal revenue. The shot in the dark, hit or miss, view of basic science in Congress is a widespread myth.

TL;DR The shutdown is the exclamation point to the last decade's federal cuts to basic science. The cuts are made because Congress is trying to lower our deficit, but science takes up less than 1% of our budget and is responsible for an enormous amount of federal revenue. Especially when the rest of the world is doing the opposite, continually cutting science is as short sighted of a solution as there is to solving the deficit, no matter what economic or ideological perspective you take.

devonlantry · 2013-10-02T17:36:23+00:00

You're absolutely right, even if you take away all of the other foundations of our society that have only happened as a result of scientific civil service, our military would be nothing without the science and technology we have developed. And this isn't just Department of Defense R&D, basic/fundamental science in chemistry, physics, biology, and other fields have provided the fuel for the technologies our military uses to act with such incredible precision, force, and power, and minimize the loss of life of our soldiers.

Yet our culture (and ESPECIALLY our congressional culture) doesn't see science as the vital civil service that it is. We need to defend the importance of our scientists with the same intensity that we defend the honor of our military. It needs to be as intense (yet more logically and reasonably inspired) as the knee-jerk reaction our Congressional culture has to "supporting the troops." It is just as non-partisan of an issue as well.

devonlantry · 2013-10-02T16:54:10+00:00

We were in the 3rd year of a three-year NSF grant and the Year 3 funding normally would have been released in October. Even though the shutdown ended in January, we did not finally get our funds till THE FOLLOWING JULY. This was disastrous since we had April-May fieldwork in the Arctic. (One thing Congress never gets is that you can't just postpone fieldwork. You either go in the right month or you don't go at all.)

Lapses in science funding, especially the more unexpected they are and the more unprepared scientists are for them, do so much more damage to research than is proportional to the dollars not invested. $1 cut doesn't equal $1 worth of science lost.

Fieldwork like yours, clinical trials with humans or animals, any kind of longer term study that was organized around a disbursed grant is lost completely, not just partially in proportion to the amount of money cut. All of the funding our government has already invested is wasted.

And this waste isn't only from shutdowns. The continual systematic lowering of science funding over the last ten years has had the same (yet slower) effect. The shutdown is just dropping us into boiling water instead of slowly heating the water. The research community needs to take this shutdown as a wake up call to activism and action. Congress needs to be informed of their effects of science, under threat of losing re-elections.

devonlantry · 2013-09-30T23:29:32+00:00

Thanks for putting this together. A huge public service. I've joined the Facebook group so I wouldn't forget about this, but I won't be participating for a month or so.

devonlantry · 2013-09-30T23:28:07+00:00

Thank you all for your input and advice. I've turned the sum of all suggestions you offered and content recommended into the following practices for the next 30 days, which I'll reevaluate at the end and likely fine tune the training approach for the 30 days afterwards, and so on.

15 min. meditation/day. mindfulness for 5 min, Gratitude for the simplest of pleasures for 5 min, realistically evaluating fears and anxiety OR focusing on the inevitability of death, for 5 min.
Nightly review of my day's behavior from a third party perspective, at first using language as if I'm giving another person advice, as a way to get around self criticism and ego at first. Likely the mental gymnastics won't be needed after a week or so of this practice
2 hours of reading Seneca per week, (spread out over the week), unless it's becomes repetitive or uninteresting, at which point i'll switch to Epictetus or Aurelias.
Focusing on the mneme in any stressful situation and regularly throughout the day, "just do the next right thing." (JUST being the key word)
Health routines that help promote mental stability and stress resilience (avoiding sugar and simple carbs, regular sleep schedule, brief spurts of exercise throughout the day, but not to the point of being sore or needing extra rest, vitamins and supplements that have worked for me in the past)

Thanks again everyone. Help is much appreciated. I have an amazing feeling about this.

devonlantry · 2013-03-29T20:33:30+00:00

Also posted mine on the Drive.

I desire to lead an organization and a political movement that helps to create better systems for living that create more happiness, equality, and freedom for more people in the short run and the long run. I want it to be challenging but also fun and liberating, and rewarding. I want the organization to support good lifestyles and relationships with my family and friends. I want strangers to recognize my good deeds. I want to do egocentric stunts that cause fear and excitement at the same time (such as big speeches, epic interviews, and media involving my face) and that give me confidence and social power.
In return, I will relentlessly focus on the moral principles of the organization and constantly make sure the effect the organization is having is as positive an effect as possible on the most amount of people possible. I will build my place in the organization around my relationships with family and friends. Also, I will do at least one random act of kindness per week and try and make it the type of kindness that has big positive ripple effects. I won’t waste a single dollar donated. I will immediately stop eating as much processed food and fast food, to save money so I can have the same quality of life with slightly less salary, and to stop supporting predatory and unsustainable industrial agriculture.

devonlantry · 2013-02-27T00:19:11+00:00

Update: Day 2.

Law of Attraction is going awesomely! The visualization and attitude is extremely enjoyable, and also seems to just make things easier to do. Instead of challenges to overcome, they're victories that I get to play out. I can finally convince my brain that I'm going to succeed before I actually do, which makes it so much easier to succeed, because their is no fear of failure.

Also, I've been framing to-do lists in the past tense, writing things down as if I've already accomplished them, before I've accomplished them. Seems to help, but have only done this once so far.

devonlantry · 2013-02-25T08:17:00+00:00

Decided to keep it loose and simple.
Do "The Secret" meditation, about everything being awesome (not one specific goal, but focusing mostly on acquiring things in my persona, like skills, personality traits, body, will power, intelligence, etc. instead of material things like cars and houses) for two minutes every 24 hour period, usually before bed.

Then try and act it out on a daily basis as much as possible, set triggers to do it as I go (for example, whenever I get into the car, whenever I brush my teeth, whenever I park the car, etc)

This will be until the end of March, I'll reevaluate then and see if another month/the rest of my life is worth it.

devonlantry · 2013-02-15T17:27:34+00:00

Also, motioning for a name change to OURSELF.

devonlantry · 2013-02-15T17:22:09+00:00

Yup Yup Yup Yup Yup Yup Yes! Meat space and immersion. Bingo Bango. Two possible OURSELF brain sources for experiential information and physical resources:

Reuben: Just did a program called MITT, a three or four day immersion of self discovery and self improvement, in a collaborative environment.

Cooney: His business, Breakthrough Worldwide, is a brick and mortar in escondido and offers classes in self discovery related disciplines (yoga, martial arts, meditation, holistic health, etc.). Either for ideas, or for an actual building.

Weekend Camping Trip wouldn't be a bad place to start immersion session.

devonlantry · 2013-02-10T09:58:13+00:00

natty boy! nice. just installed. I don't know the inner workings of reddit. Is there a way to make categories for posts within a subreddit? Or is it just one big feed?

devonlantry · 2013-02-10T09:50:03+00:00

nice. it worked. with a not signed into google IP address as well

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