The Science and Technology Festival is currently taking place on the grounds of UWI, Cave Hill under the Graduation tent, it ends today (18th March 2023). The festival is being organized by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Smart Technology and the Faculty of Science and Technology at Cave Hill.
It is a good idea for parents and guardians to expose children to the event anticipating where global demands for skills is headed. For details of the event see the Ministry’s Facebook Page. The event is showcasing the innovation and inventions of Barbadian students up to University level’
Looking back over 12 months of human folly as we do at this time each year, is a perilous exercise. It can shake one’s faith in the long-term viability of our species. Economic chaos, religious and ethnic conflict, the threat of nuclear war—what a mess. And yet, in defiance of both evidence and reason, I cling to the conviction that human beings have a spark of the transcendent within us, and we are part of the unfolding of something wonderful and mysterious. Here and there, I see encouraging signs and portents. Did anyone else notice, for example, that last year bacteria learned to live on arsenic?
An ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination – Voltaire
If we believe popular consensus that anarchy is based on mob rule – then what constitutes democracy? This question comes at a time when Western democratic societies have finally declared their global triumph and ‘the end of history,’ – but where there has never been a more pressing need for greater clarity and understanding of the functions of mainstream politics in the context of late-modern political discourse.
At the start of the 18th century the battle between religion and science raged with nothing much changing in the last [200] years with each entity still striving for the soul of Western societies. While the church ministered to a constricted spiritual life, secular society came to embrace the material world as the primary reality, materialism as the dominant value, and ultimately economic growth as the primary human purpose.
It was during this period that the dualistic Enlightenment philosophies of Hobbes & Locke set the stage for modern government where the Hobbesian view claims that “the state of nature was a state of war… nasty and brutish” while the Lockean view saw “social contract as the mechanism by which not only life would be preserved but more importantly, (property) possessions, along with the right to own them.”
There is an obvious paradox here for Hobbes: for one of the over-riding central issues brought to the fore is what happened when we shifted from a medieval world view marked by the logic of complementarity, (where the politicians at that feudal stage were really congresses of feudal overlords) and the (modern Parliaments of today are nothing more than the assemblies of rich merchants, lawyers & doctors) – so that both the moral and the material can cohere together based on a modern world view marked by the dualistic logic of polarized opposites. So today we are forced to choose between a purely spiritual/moral view or a purely humanistic/materialistic view based on historical antecedents.
Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal – Albert Einstein
Credit: Reality Sandwich Website
Ours is a day where we have gone from muscles to missiles spending billions on armament and trifles. Ours is a day when an astronaut can fly all around the world in less time it took Lindbergh to fly across the Atlantic. Ours is a day where you can eat breakfast in London; lunch in N.Y. City and dinner in Mexico City. Ours is a day when man is exploring outer-space but cannot live on earth together. Ours is a day when in one generation science has replaced God; artificial intelligence has replaced men and now scientists will have the creative power to make whatever “species” in whatsoever image or likeness they choose.
We have entered the final “age” where the “gods” of science will have to stand up and be counted. This is the last battle between quantum science versus the existence of a Creator God – an oxymoronic maze of order and disorder termed “on the edge of chaos”.
As of Friday 21st May 2010, social scientists now find themselves with a new dilemma on their hands. Is this finally the “genie” out the bottle? What have we unleashed? And what does the “creation” of a “synthetic” life form mean for 21st century mankind? Will we be able to final fuse AI with synthetic biology to create the ultimate “robot” – a sub-human specie that bears grave and inalterable consequence for the billions on planet earth. This is not “Sci-Fi” but the realm of reality and possibility.
New England Journal of Medicine states there is "good reason to be cautious." - Click on Image
According to the Barbados Government Website the incidence of cervical cancer in the Caribbean is increasing at a rate of 33 new cases annually. It seems that this is a very unflattering statistic which is four or five times higher than that of North America. Last year Dr Eltora Bennett, an obstetrician and gynaecologist reported that the cases of cervical cancer were not declining. She urged the women to engage in early screening, what is commonly referred to as the getting a ‘pap smear’ to protect against cervical cancer.
Bennett explained that despite the easy access to pap smears “we have been seeing about 30 cases of cancer of the cervix per year and that has been constant now” for more than a decade. Cancer of the cervix is a sexually transmitted disease linked to the human papilloma virus (HPV) but early detection through screening can lead to effective treatment. HPV can infect the genital area of men and women, including the skin of the penis, the area outside the vagina in women or the rectum. The incidence of the disease is unacceptably high in Barbados and that’s a fact, she said.
Dr. Bennett went on to explain in the October 2007 Nation Newspaper report that Barbados was moving ahead with the introduction of the Merck Pharmaceutical vaccine Gardisil. According to Dr. Bennet “arcisil prevents the development of the precursors to cervical cancer. In other words, it prevents women from developing cervical cancer. It immunises her against the human papiloma virus,” BU checked with a few local pharmacies and verified that the vaccine Gardasil is currently not available – Please note the spelling of the vaccine by the Nation Newspaper is incorrect!Continue reading →
The Budgetary Proposals 2008 were presented last week by Prime Minister David Thompson and there is one disappointment which we must highlight. The price of a barrel of oil closed last week at $147.00. It is not far-fetched that by year end the price of oil may cross $200.00 given the volatility in the world’s oil commodity market. Barbados like many countries around the world has built its economy on oil. This well known fact appears stupid when we consider that our island is surrounded by renewable energy inputs i.e. wind, sun and sea. The fact that Prime Minister Thompson did not signal that his government had engage in any significant policy initiative at the national level that would lead to a reduced dependence on oil is most distressing.
It is projected that in 2008 Barbados will spend an estimated $275 million dollars which equates to approximately 7% of GDP. While the amount may appear serviceable in the context of the Barbados economy there are some points to note. The amount paid for oil must be in hard currency. This means that the economy which relies on the fickle tourism product must continue to generate foreign exchange. The more significant point is as the price of oil rises; it will have a negative effect on our tourism. Airfares and cruise fares will become more expensive. If we were Prime Minister David Thompson we would be very concerned given our level of dependence on the black stuff.
After seven months in office the BU household is of the view that we must have some urgency on the need create an alternative energy plan.Continue reading →
The following was submitted by a member of the BU family. We have published with minor edits in the interest of creating greater public awareness on the importance for all stakeholders in Barbados to pursue a sustainable energy strategy. We are sure that Keith Headley (the son of the late Oliver Headley, solar energy pioneer), Bush tea et al can lead the discussion on behalf of the other non-technical members of the BU family. If the BU family member who made the submission wants to reveal his identity, we invite him to comment as well.
Barbados Underground
The information included in that attachment was part of a presentation by Professor M. Scottat the Future Centre on Dec.10, 2007. I invited him to speak to the stakeholders here (Barbados) because he knew what he was speaking about. I asked, “If I could arrange a meeting with the stakeholders here would you be willing to do a presentation for me?” He agreed.
I had met Prof. Scott briefly before but on this occasion, I learned what he did. He was amazed that Barbados had not made any strides in Solar- PV business. He felt Barbados could the leader in the Caribbean. I am confident he would do everything to assist Barbados.
Northern Ireland under the leadership of Peter Hain, commenced a project by offering grants to householders to install PV on their rooftops. The system worked like this:
Barbados has enjoyed the reputation for many years as a nation which was on the cutting edge of solar technology. The late Professor Oliver Headley of the University of the West Indies (UWI) was the pioneer who led the charge to position solar energy as a viable energy option. It appears that he gained more recognition for his work outside Barbados shores. Almost six years since his unfortunate demise, and his vision for the solar industry appears to have floundered. The sum representation of solar development in Barbados appears to be still anchored on the roll-out of solar water heaters. As far as we are aware there is no significant development anywhere in Barbados which is attempting to move the solar industry to the next level.
