3/Mar/97

A person who has the same genetic information as you do looks and behaves exactly like you do. True or false?

4/Mar/97

A university admitting minorities only will improve the lives of the minorities. True or false?

True. Being free from prejudices and unreasonable social pressures will improve self-confidence of the students, and the graduates of such school will succeed in their lives, improving the social status of minorities.
Kenji

5/Mar/97

Population growth will cause miracles. True or false?

True. Think, for example, of surviving from a severe car accident. Although it may be improbable, it isn't quite impossible that something like that happens, and people would call it miracle if it does. As the population grows, more and more people will drive, and so the number of severe accidents increases. It will increase the number of people who survice from the severe accidents, but the probability of such an event occuring remains the same.
Kenji

6/Mar/97

Longer life expectancy means more peaceful society. True or false?

True. The risk of losing one's life in a violent situation becomes less and less negligible as the life expectancy becomes longer. People will inevitably avoid such situations because it is more economical to do so, and also the ones with tendency to do so only will survive.
Kenji

7/Mar/97

Cloning human is ethically wrong. True or false?

It depends on what kind of ethics you are talking about.
Kenji

8/Mar/97

It is nonsense to grade fine arts. True or false?

If you mean that the values of fine arts are not of scaler type, it is true. But I think arts can be compared in terms of how much the arts entertain their intended audiences.
Kenji

9/Mar/97

Music is a language. True or false?

True as it is an abstraction handled in our brains.
Kenji

10/Mar/97

Laughter is caused by fear. True or false?

This is probably true. Laughter is surely caused when we encounter strange and illogical remarks or situations which can be classified to be from the dark side.
Kenji

11/Mar/97

Something beautiful results from arms races. True or false?

True, if arms races here mean ones found in evolution of life.
Kenji

12/Mar/97

Your brain stops working if you do not practice speaking. True or false?

False, but I think that my brain has to be constantly stimulated to work properly, and since human brain is designed to work with other people, speaking surely is bound to be a good stimulation.
Kenji

13/Mar/97

You are a trustworthy person. True or false?

True, but only for myself.
Kenji

14/Mar/97

Common sense is designed for mediocre people. True or false?

True. What is known as common sense is usually saying something beneficial to mediocre people, as they are most common members of a given society.
Kenji

15/Mar/97

Brains invent mathematics and not vice versa. True or false?

True. We tend to believe that there is some mathematics behind creation of a brain, but it is only a reasoning by a brain given after the creation.
Kenji

16/Mar/97

Immune system, city and fashion are closely related. True or false?

True. Immunity is a dynamic system which defines a self out of the society of cells, which is like a city, and fashion is a manifestation of a self.
Kenji

17/Mar/97

Genetics as you know is like astrology. True or false?

False. However, many people seem to misconceive genetics, and believe in myths instead of established facts.
Kenji

18/Mar/97

Good deeds bring fortune. True or false?

True, because whatever you believe is good will be good to you.
Kenji

19/Mar/97

The occult results from lack of imagination. True or false?

True. Logical explanations of natural phenomena require much more imagination than occult ones.
Kenji

20/Mar/97

You are the one who makes the sun rise tomorrow. True or false?

True. Unless there is this specific observer of the event on Earth, it would rather look like Earth is revolving.
Kenji

21/Mar/97

Your body and mind are separated. True or false?

False. My mind is a process running on this body.
Kenji

22/Mar/97

Belief in telekinesis naturally follows from a property of our brains. True or false?

True. Our brains are structured so that they believe whatever exists internally in them can be externalized. This is one of the fundamental properties of our brains, for without this, human would have never discovered the use of instruments to alter the environment. Belief in telekinesis is just an extension of it.
Kenji

23/Mar/97

Electronic pets being popular results from equalitarianism. True or false?

True. Electronic pets enable people to become dominant, even if they are unable to do so in real life. Being dominant is a privilege granted to certain type of people only, which is an inherent property of human society originated from primate life style. But recent trend of equalitarianism has been giving everybody an illusion that anyone can be dominant (which is actually the driving force of capitalism). Electronic pets are there to satisfy these people's illusions.
Kenji

24/Mar/97

Nudity should be concealed from the eyes of children. True or false?

False. The eyes of children should be exposed to Nature.
Kenji

25/Mar/97

Human race is evolving. True or false?

False, and it is becoming more and more difficult for human to evolve as the world is becoming one.
Kenji

26/Mar/97

The Internet will destroy democracy. True or false?

True. You will be surprised to see how small number of people can pretend like a crowd in the Internet.
Kenji

27/Mar/97

Winners tend to keep winning. True or false?

True. Biologically speaking, when some animal lost a fight, it could mean that the animal had a physical problem, or maybe it was ill. So that it is a good strategy for such an animal to avoid fighting for a while. Conversely, if the animal won, it probably means it is in a good condition, and it should continue to fight in order to take advantage of the condition. This is a positive feedback.
Kenji

28/Mar/97

Some animals are more evolved than others. True or false?

False. Evolution is really a deviation from previous species, and saying that some animals are more evolved is like saying that they are more deviated from others. Which does not make sense since deviation is relative.
Kenji

29/Mar/97

It takes three days to get bored with a beauty, but three days to get used to an ugly person. True or false?

False. This statement gives people an impression that having a long-term relationship (especially marriage) with a beautiful person is not fruitful. What we have to think of is to which party this statement is of benefit. The answer must be very clear, and it is to not-so-beautiful people. So they tend to believe this statement and marry other not-so-beautiful people, and have not-so-beautiful offsprings, who are likely to believe the statement. Effectively, this statement is successful in self-replication, as most of the population consists of not-so-beautiful people to begin with and its effect is to preserve such population (and the sense of beauty).
Kenji

30/Mar/97

There is no clear distinction between machines and your body. True or false?

True. My flesh could become my body to my brain only through a process of learning. I think such learning was made by trying to control the movements of my body parts. Conversely, anything that can be controlled can be regarded by my brain as a part of my body.
Kenji

31/Mar/97

TV shows are not targeted for general public. True or false?

True for private TV stations. Their business model is that if their sponsors see the benefits of advertising on their shows, they succeed. The rating then becomes the most important factor, which does not necessarily reflect the actual percentage of viewers watching their shows, because the number of TVs for collecting the information is limited. The TV stations then can focus on those families whose TVs are equipped with the rating machines, which do not necessarily represent the tastes of the general public.
Kenji