The “Philosophical"—Mirrored in the Game of Airsoft
The "philosophical" enhances human meaningfulness in a world where meanings are invented/re-invented, created/re-created, and shaped/re-shaped by the human being himself who doesn't allow the Nothing to end up to nothing but finds in the Nothing an exciting challenge in the manner that a creative artist is challenged by the blank canvas on an easel. In this sense, human meaningfulness is something that authentically depends on human creativity. It shouldn't be misconstrued as something bestowed in a silver platter by a supernatural power. The reality is there is no such power. The power that humanity possesses emanates from her/him alone and this reality makes one's humanity exciting. In this excitement resides one's desire to improve and develop his/her talents and make good use of them to make the world a better place to live in.
This conception of the "philosophical" is reflected in the game of airsoft for the game's excitement is a re-creation of human meaningfulness. The game enhances such meaningfulness to the point of desiring to improve one's skills in playing the game: strategy-planning, tactical maneuvering, terrain-exploration, opportunity-discovery, teamwork-building, trial-and-error experimentation and behavior-observation. So that, in the game of airsoft, nobody relies on suerte. It's all skills through and through.
Yet, though there's a simulation of death in the game by way of being hit, such a situation still spells human meaningfulness even at the point of death for an event like that instantly becomes a lesson for you and for the others in the game. Besides, the event of being hit is also an expression of one's courage to do an honest act: Being able to shout "Hit!" after having been actually hit is a test of one's honesty which is a rare thing nowadays. In other words, since there are very few honest people in the present dispensation when so many call themselves God-believing, born-again Christians, honest people is a rarity. But what is amazing is you find many of them in airsoft games. Though it's not always the case for there are still legions of airsofters who are makukunat na zombies.
What makes the game of airsoft more meaningful and more into the enhancement of human meaningfulness than that which we find and experience in the actual Lebenswelt is, in the former, there is a very serious/sincere effort/endeavor to promote, institutionalize and defend HONESTY while in the latter, dishonesty/ palusot/ panggugulang /pandurugas is standardized. There is therefore an upholding of the "philosophical" mirrored in the game of airsoft; very much diametrically opposed to the actualities we find in this very "unphilosophical" world controlled and run most of the time by agents of irrationality, insanity, stupidity and barbaric inutility.
The Excitement is Humanizing—Not Bestializing: Where Appearance is not Reality
What actually appears in every game of airsoft is the trappings of violence: Guys--even gals--armed to the teeth; "weapons of death and destruction"; fierce eyes of suspicious warriors; silent and fast movements always going for the kill. You find them all in a war as well as in a wargame. The difference is: In a real war, appearance is reality; in a wargame, appearance is NOT reality.
In a wargame--particularly airsoft--the reality is that the protagonists are fun-loving aficionados of the exciting life--which is their definition of the good life--who have been burnt out and bored by the routine of weekday responsibilities in offices, board rooms, clinics, field works, production plants, school rooms, etc. Definitely none are warfreaks--in fact, it's even safe to say that these guys and gals are the most peace-loving denizens of the globe. Many are professionals: medical doctors, lawyers, engineers of all sorts, professors in universities/colleges, accountants, businessmen/women, artists, etc.
Yes, the whole set-up gives us the picture of military life: boots, uniforms, guns (BUG). But there is nothing military in the equality of treatment among airsofters who address each other "Sir"/"Ma'm" regardless of age, gender, race, and status in life and career. There was even a time in the recent past (it was a couple of years ago) when as a lone wolf I joined my eldest son who is a seasoned airsofter and member of the elite Special Warfare Airsoft Group (SWAG) to play in a big game in Naic, Cavite. I was assigned to join a team composed of Philippine Navy and Marine officers and soldiers and the leader of the group was a military doctor carrying the rank of a Rear Admiral (2-star General). I was sort of elated when in the course of a conversation, he addressed me "Sir". The natural but amusing reaction from a greenhorn like me was a feeling of elation with the idea that probably this guy thought I was a Vice-Admiral. Well, of course, I was just kidding. But on the serious side, I was really impressed that a real military officer did not hesitate to level himself with a simple non-military entity in a mil-sim (military simulation) event. (Constitutionally, that was quite accurate because during peace time, the civilian is supreme over the military.)
Well, yes, there are also real warriors who play the game of airsoft. But once in the gamesite, they must shed off their real identities and be gamers.
Airsoft and the Will of a Warrior
In every human being hibernate an artist, a scholar and a warrior. But due to the exigencies of time and locale, in most instances, only one or two of these three aspects are developed to the extreme while the other(s) remain(s) in the sea of forgetfulness. In the context of modern reality dominated by science and technology, we have witnessed the flourishing of the scholar and the artist—to be more specific, the scientist and the technologist. I am talking here of what is tangibly seen on the externals. But in every advancement we experience is the persevering presence of the will that pushes progress onward. The accomplishments of the will may not be as tangible as those of the intellect which sustains the scholar and the feeling which moves the artist, but in all of these undertakings, the will cannot simply be left behind and neglected for it is the source of the artist’s and the scholar’s courage to go on with their dreams, desires and wishes. The will is the warrior in us. There is no point in living without the activation of the will.
When times seem hard and discouraging, it is the warrior in us—the will—that presses us on to continue, to pursue what the intellect has decided to be the best course of action and what our feeling has promised us to be satisfying. There is so much of wasted time and inactivity that lead to loss of precious opportunity and further failure because of the weakness of one’s will. And in the process, so many people suffer because of one’s inability to be decisive. Decisiveness is an act of the will.
In the game of airsoft, it is the will that is at the forefront. Decisiveness and the courage to carry out the decision made count the most. In the game of airsoft, the warrior in the airsofter is led out of the shell. As a microcosm of humanity, the airsofter as a strategist is a scholar and as a tactician is an artist. But to carry out a decision and deliver the kill in swift and calculated motion makes the airsofter a warrior. It is the will of the warrior that pushes the strategist and the tactician in the airsofter to achieve his/her goal, to reach his/her aim, to accomplish his/her objective as a team player in a particular game.
The game of airsoft is one most fitting training ground to enhance the will and hence the warrior in each of us. It also makes us realize the fact that we should acknowledge the importance not only of intellect and feeling but more than anything else of the human will.
It is the will of the warrior in us that grants us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change and bestows us the courage to change the things we can after the intellect and the feeling have given us the wisdom to know the difference. In the language of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, these are “the Apollonian and the Dionysian spirits” that interplay and interact for humanity to give way to the emergence of “the Ubermensch” and let the “Will to Power” take its course as we “Say yes to life” on a moment-by-moment basis within the limits of a reality that is in a state of “Eternal Recurrence.”
Let the game of airsoft be a most significant field to edify the will and hence honor the warrior in everyone of us.
* The author is an airsofter whose nom-de-guerre is Warlock.
© Ruel F. Pepa, 2010
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Friday, May 28, 2010
PHILIPPINE HIGHER EDUCATION, QUO VADIS?
I. Intensity in Education: A Dialectical Consideration
Education nowadays as well as the process within it is measured more in terms of extensity than of intensity. Hence, the more relevant burden of academic scholarship in the present era is to locate the concrete vantage point where extensity and intensity may fully be coordinated to effect the realization of the truly educated individual. The lopsided thrust of education and its required features focuses more on the superficial in the matter, manner and method that it possesses. This is in the area of extensity and the problem with the unilateral emphasis on it is the inadvertent isolation of intensity which capitalizes on depth and quality. At the end of the road, we find extensively "educated" individuals who are more particularly interested in the degrees attached to their names than in the essential depth of what they possess in the intellect.
Thinking aloud, it could be surmised reasonably that despite the presence of an array of multi-degreed academics, the general landscape of national life is still seen to be retrogressive and less promising. More realistically, the academe and real life do not match up and fit well together for what is taught in the academe are matters so artificial, real life does not need them and real life is so concrete the academe, replete with abstract notions peddled by "schizophrenic" professors, is just a superfluous nuisance.
The intensity of education lies in the fact that it should be a realistic reflection—a committed theorizing—on what is actually experienced in life. It should be a deeper exploration into the dynamics and mechanics of actual life-events interconnected among themselves and constitutive of a system that prevails at a certain moment of ongoing history. Such education can only lead to a better understanding not of the theory that expresses the understanding but of the practical life given interpretation by the theory. In this condition and situation, real authorities are a common sight and their contribution is not to the growing statistics of half-cooked doctoral degree holders but to the economic vibrancy, political stability, social empowerment and cultural intensification.
To be more specific at this point of the discussion, the dialectical notion of progress that characterizes authentic education as an intense reflection of actual practices in social life should permeate every process operationalized in it in the forms or instruction, reseach, and extension. In other words, dialectics operates not only in terms of extensity but in terms of intensity as components of the entire system complement each other to achieve a higher level of development.
II. Academic Credibility Getting Lost in the Jungle of Absurdity
This is the most infamous idiocy we now encounter in less-credible Philippine universities and colleges: academics possessed with the guts to brag their graduate and/or post-graduate degrees as if these are the end-all of their existence—unmindful of THE WEIGHTIER SUBSTANCE OF SCHOLARSHIP expected of the schooling that they spent to get their degrees. This circumstance is further complicated by bestowing these people with the title “Professor.” On a closer look, the worst is, almost none of them have actually produced serious writings and research studies of scholarly worth much less, being quoted and/or cited in prestigious refereed journals and volumes of deep sophistication.
The eyes of pride and arrogance light up as these pretenders are addressed “Doctor” or “Professor.” But in reality, their conceit and haughtiness emanate from the higher salaries they get by virtue of the academic degrees they boast. They are the paper tigers of the academe. The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) is the only institution that recognizes their importance (if they are truly important); not the more trustworthy scholars and scholarly societies based in more credible academic locales. No reason is therefore engendered to persuade “the authentics” to offer lectureship stint to “the pseudos.” The real won’t dare.
This condition in the Philippines has been so rampant and hence alarming. In the face of this reality, “academic excellence” claimed by most universities and colleges has gone equivocal and hence meaningless.
III. Basking Under the High-Noon Sun of Hardcore Delusion
Some second-rate private universities and colleges in the Philippines are now levitating under the magical spell of the Commission on Higher Education’s make-believe power after these institutions have been granted an autonomous status by the latter. Hubris is the most appropriate term for the spirit that has possessed them. A certain type of delusion has overpowered their leaderships in the belief that they are now in league with the illustrious Ateneo and De La Salle. What a horrendous hallucination!
The irony of the present circumstances is they are in a state of unequalled “high” despite the hard reality that they cannot actually lay a solid claim to an array of distinguished honest-to-goodness scholars from among their stockpiles of “doctored” degree holders. Ateneo’s and De La Salle’s doctorate degree holders are authentic scholars who have produced academic outputs of high scholarly worth published in notable scholarly journals, local and international. Ateneo’s and De La Salle’s academic scholars have read papers and lectured in prominent conferences and forums, local and international.
But the present situation of these mediocre institutions is still salvageable given the condition that they will soon wake up to reality. Face-to-face with reality, they can soberly locate themselves right at the place where they can start off: the call to challenge genuine scholars and the guts to weed out incompetence in their faculty ranks.
IV. A Postscript for Serious Rumination
The following quote from a letter by a certain Michael Riggs (http://freeenergynews.com/Directory/Beware/Bearden_Bogus_PhD/#Comment_mcriggs) is worth reflecting as it challenges us to reconsider a lot of misguided thoughts on higher education:
“While one may not agree with me, the definition of a diploma mill is an educational facility where one meets minimal, structured, educational requirements in order to acquire a degree. While I do not wish to belittle the efforts of those who have gone through the prescribed educational processes required, by say, the top 100 universities, I would say that based on the end result, our top-rated universities definitely meet the definition of diploma mills, including any "top" university you wish to select. Let me explain why I would say this.
Modern-day academia, (and thus the university system) is an unbroken loop of self-regulating, self-perpetuating, self-promoting, ego-centric elitists where the prime qualifications for maintaining "impeccable credentials" is to hold the faith, retain those concepts learned by rote, and be able to repeat them as taught. And I'm supposed to be impressed? Keep in mind, once you attain that Ph.D, you don't have to accomplish one single thing, and you don't have to make any contribution in understanding our world in order to be considered one of the establishment elite. Within academia, it is sufficient to theorize some minor facet of a known and familiar science, do some tests, document the same, and then,( and this is the key element,) do whatever it takes to get your results published. After all, publication to physicists and scientists is the ultimate goal. Never mind that your obscure work will never be read, never mind that your determinations are meaningless. Just get published. Ride the current and don't make waves. And this approach is meaningful and superior?
The only thing that should matter to anyone is the end result. The result of our newly graduating Ph.D's is that they have the basics, but until one may contribute to our collective knowledge, or successfully accomplish a breakthrough, then all they have done is spend time in a specified regimen.
Our current educational system is stagnant, and is turning out stagnancy. That is why we are doing the same old things with brighter, newer equipment.”
© Ruel F. Pepa, May 2010
Education nowadays as well as the process within it is measured more in terms of extensity than of intensity. Hence, the more relevant burden of academic scholarship in the present era is to locate the concrete vantage point where extensity and intensity may fully be coordinated to effect the realization of the truly educated individual. The lopsided thrust of education and its required features focuses more on the superficial in the matter, manner and method that it possesses. This is in the area of extensity and the problem with the unilateral emphasis on it is the inadvertent isolation of intensity which capitalizes on depth and quality. At the end of the road, we find extensively "educated" individuals who are more particularly interested in the degrees attached to their names than in the essential depth of what they possess in the intellect.
Thinking aloud, it could be surmised reasonably that despite the presence of an array of multi-degreed academics, the general landscape of national life is still seen to be retrogressive and less promising. More realistically, the academe and real life do not match up and fit well together for what is taught in the academe are matters so artificial, real life does not need them and real life is so concrete the academe, replete with abstract notions peddled by "schizophrenic" professors, is just a superfluous nuisance.
The intensity of education lies in the fact that it should be a realistic reflection—a committed theorizing—on what is actually experienced in life. It should be a deeper exploration into the dynamics and mechanics of actual life-events interconnected among themselves and constitutive of a system that prevails at a certain moment of ongoing history. Such education can only lead to a better understanding not of the theory that expresses the understanding but of the practical life given interpretation by the theory. In this condition and situation, real authorities are a common sight and their contribution is not to the growing statistics of half-cooked doctoral degree holders but to the economic vibrancy, political stability, social empowerment and cultural intensification.
To be more specific at this point of the discussion, the dialectical notion of progress that characterizes authentic education as an intense reflection of actual practices in social life should permeate every process operationalized in it in the forms or instruction, reseach, and extension. In other words, dialectics operates not only in terms of extensity but in terms of intensity as components of the entire system complement each other to achieve a higher level of development.
II. Academic Credibility Getting Lost in the Jungle of Absurdity
This is the most infamous idiocy we now encounter in less-credible Philippine universities and colleges: academics possessed with the guts to brag their graduate and/or post-graduate degrees as if these are the end-all of their existence—unmindful of THE WEIGHTIER SUBSTANCE OF SCHOLARSHIP expected of the schooling that they spent to get their degrees. This circumstance is further complicated by bestowing these people with the title “Professor.” On a closer look, the worst is, almost none of them have actually produced serious writings and research studies of scholarly worth much less, being quoted and/or cited in prestigious refereed journals and volumes of deep sophistication.
The eyes of pride and arrogance light up as these pretenders are addressed “Doctor” or “Professor.” But in reality, their conceit and haughtiness emanate from the higher salaries they get by virtue of the academic degrees they boast. They are the paper tigers of the academe. The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) is the only institution that recognizes their importance (if they are truly important); not the more trustworthy scholars and scholarly societies based in more credible academic locales. No reason is therefore engendered to persuade “the authentics” to offer lectureship stint to “the pseudos.” The real won’t dare.
This condition in the Philippines has been so rampant and hence alarming. In the face of this reality, “academic excellence” claimed by most universities and colleges has gone equivocal and hence meaningless.
III. Basking Under the High-Noon Sun of Hardcore Delusion
Some second-rate private universities and colleges in the Philippines are now levitating under the magical spell of the Commission on Higher Education’s make-believe power after these institutions have been granted an autonomous status by the latter. Hubris is the most appropriate term for the spirit that has possessed them. A certain type of delusion has overpowered their leaderships in the belief that they are now in league with the illustrious Ateneo and De La Salle. What a horrendous hallucination!
The irony of the present circumstances is they are in a state of unequalled “high” despite the hard reality that they cannot actually lay a solid claim to an array of distinguished honest-to-goodness scholars from among their stockpiles of “doctored” degree holders. Ateneo’s and De La Salle’s doctorate degree holders are authentic scholars who have produced academic outputs of high scholarly worth published in notable scholarly journals, local and international. Ateneo’s and De La Salle’s academic scholars have read papers and lectured in prominent conferences and forums, local and international.
But the present situation of these mediocre institutions is still salvageable given the condition that they will soon wake up to reality. Face-to-face with reality, they can soberly locate themselves right at the place where they can start off: the call to challenge genuine scholars and the guts to weed out incompetence in their faculty ranks.
IV. A Postscript for Serious Rumination
The following quote from a letter by a certain Michael Riggs (http://freeenergynews.com/Directory/Beware/Bearden_Bogus_PhD/#Comment_mcriggs) is worth reflecting as it challenges us to reconsider a lot of misguided thoughts on higher education:
“While one may not agree with me, the definition of a diploma mill is an educational facility where one meets minimal, structured, educational requirements in order to acquire a degree. While I do not wish to belittle the efforts of those who have gone through the prescribed educational processes required, by say, the top 100 universities, I would say that based on the end result, our top-rated universities definitely meet the definition of diploma mills, including any "top" university you wish to select. Let me explain why I would say this.
Modern-day academia, (and thus the university system) is an unbroken loop of self-regulating, self-perpetuating, self-promoting, ego-centric elitists where the prime qualifications for maintaining "impeccable credentials" is to hold the faith, retain those concepts learned by rote, and be able to repeat them as taught. And I'm supposed to be impressed? Keep in mind, once you attain that Ph.D, you don't have to accomplish one single thing, and you don't have to make any contribution in understanding our world in order to be considered one of the establishment elite. Within academia, it is sufficient to theorize some minor facet of a known and familiar science, do some tests, document the same, and then,( and this is the key element,) do whatever it takes to get your results published. After all, publication to physicists and scientists is the ultimate goal. Never mind that your obscure work will never be read, never mind that your determinations are meaningless. Just get published. Ride the current and don't make waves. And this approach is meaningful and superior?
The only thing that should matter to anyone is the end result. The result of our newly graduating Ph.D's is that they have the basics, but until one may contribute to our collective knowledge, or successfully accomplish a breakthrough, then all they have done is spend time in a specified regimen.
Our current educational system is stagnant, and is turning out stagnancy. That is why we are doing the same old things with brighter, newer equipment.”
© Ruel F. Pepa, May 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
A MESSAGE FOR "DOCTORED" DEGREE HOLDERS
[The following is the full text of a letter written by a certain Michael Riggs in defense of Dr Tom Bearden's Doctorate Degree in Philosophy (PhD) awarded on the basis of the latter's life and work experiences as a distinguished scientist. It is worth carefully reflecting on the eye-opening wisdom of the many points Mr Riggs raises in the said letter.]
From: mcriggs
To: sterlingda@perentech.com
Sent: Friday, January 31, 2003 3:18 PM
Dear Sterling,
I envy those with enough time to delve into and discuss whether Dr. Bearden received a doctorate, and from where. I never had that luxury myself, but if you'll grant me a moment, I would like to address the idea of a "diploma mill."
While one may not agree with me, the definition of a diploma mill is an educational facility where one meets minimal, structured, educational requirements in order to acquire a degree. While I do not wish to belittle the efforts of those who have gone through the prescribed educational processes required, by say, the top 100 universities, I would say that based on the end result, our top-rated universities definitely meet the definition of diploma mills, including any "top" university you wish to select. Let me explain why I would say this.
Modern-day academia, (and thus the university system) is an unbroken loop of self-regulating, self-perpetuating, self-promoting, ego-centric elitists where the prime qualifications for maintaining "impeccable credentials" is to hold the faith, retain those concepts learned by rote, and be able to repeat them as taught. And I'm supposed to be impressed? Keep in mind, once you attain that Ph.D, you don't have to accomplish one single thing, and you don't have to make any contribution in understanding our world in order to be considered one of the establishment elite. Within academia, it is sufficient to theorize some minor facet of a known and familiar science, do some tests, document the same, and then,( and this is the key element,) do whatever it takes to get your results published. After all, publication to physicists and scientists is the ultimate goal. Never mind that your obscure work will never be read, never mind that your determinations are meaningless. Just get published. Ride the current and don't make waves. And this approach is meaningful and superior?
The only thing that should matter to anyone is the end result. The result of our newly graduating Ph.D's is that they have the basics, but until one may contribute to our collective knowledge, or successfully accomplish a breakthrough, then all they have done is spend time in a specified regimen.
Our current educational system is stagnant, and is turning out stagnancy. That is why we are doing the same old things with brighter, newer equipment.
If today, Nicola Tesla were to manifest himself, he would be welcome at any university in the world, and in a teaching position. His credentials? No Ph.D. Yet he knew far more than his contemporaries, including those that would carry a Ph.D. behind their names today. In his own time, he stated to Einstein his disagreement on certain elements of Einstein's theory, the results of the Michaleson and Morley experiment, Max Planck, and Neils Bohr. His reasoning? "I think they are relying too much on theories and equations, and not enough on experimentation. . . . Today's scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments and they wander through equation after equation and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality." As Tesla told Einstein, "I base my theories upon experiments combined with mathematical formulae, instead of experimentation alone, like Thomas Edison, or mathematics alone, which Herr Einstein seems to prefer."
And speaking of Einstein. He was not a physicist when he turned out his most important work. He worked in a patent office as a clerk. Credentials? They certainly wouldn't meet muster in what the academic elite would require, but that wouldn't change the reality of his unique, and in some area, his superior knowledge.
Again, results. State of being. Acquisition and retention of knowledge. Is Dr. Bearden's state of mind equal or even far superior to those Ph.D's that are being churned out of our university system today? Let me answer it this way. Sterling Allan, Eric Krieg, or any others of his detractors could only get into this history books if they accomplished something spectacular, such as committed a mass murder. But you can rest assured that Dr. Tom Bearden in the decades, and centuries to come will be remembered and reflected on as a torch bearer of new knowledge in a number of scientific fields.
Why contact John Bedini in these matters? And why were John's replies a bit short? I can tell you. John has been exposed to such monumental elements of triviality and group stupidity, that if he ever had any patience with folks of such ilk, he's certainly lost it by now. Here's the secret to John Bedini. He doesn't have time for such meaningless triviality. John doesn't talk. John does. John has a big heart, and a mind that is a well-spring of knowledge. But his patience for stupidity and foolish endeavors which are nothing short of manifestations of jealous ignorance is zero.
In the jungles of Viet Nam, I met a gentleman of minor royalty who was serving in the United States army as a PFC. His proper title was "Sir ______. The difference between he and I? I slept in this _____hole here, and he slept in a _____hole over there.
Where you get your degree or how really shouldn't be the defining criteria, but what you do with your knowledge through accomplishment is what really counts at the end of the day. I can show you Ph.D's from the nation's most prestigious schools who couldn't jump-start a car. To hold a Ph.D from MIT and to have done little with it beyond hang it on a wall is more meaningful than what Dr. Bearden has done?
I dare say that if you brought in five physicists and engineers from each of the top 100 universities, for a total of 500 of the cream of physicists and EM engineers, and let John and Dr. Bearden teach them for one week, they would learn more about physics and EM theory and applications than they received in their entire educational process.
And you are concerned with credentials? Do as you wish. Others have their Ph.D's. Dr. Bearden has his. And you would know it was well-earned if you would spend just a few hours in his presence. Absolutely illuminating. His unique specialty is what psychologists call "abstract conceptualization." He has the unique ability to disassemble a new discovery or technology, and then determine what the operational concepts are which are at work. And the funny thing is, all his determinations are verifiable from selectively obscure determinations made by others. Dr. Bearden is an excellent example of a person who through education, independent learning, bench time, theory and application, as well as exposure and experiences, have earned the title and honor of being called, "Doctor."
While Dr. Bearden has repeatedly asked me to call him Tom, I'll keep addressing him as Dr. Bearden, as there could be no other appropriate address..
Thank you for your time,
Michael Riggs
SOURCE:
http://freeenergynews.com/Directory/Beware/Bearden_Bogus_PhD/#Comment_mcriggs
From: mcriggs
To: sterlingda@perentech.com
Sent: Friday, January 31, 2003 3:18 PM
Dear Sterling,
I envy those with enough time to delve into and discuss whether Dr. Bearden received a doctorate, and from where. I never had that luxury myself, but if you'll grant me a moment, I would like to address the idea of a "diploma mill."
While one may not agree with me, the definition of a diploma mill is an educational facility where one meets minimal, structured, educational requirements in order to acquire a degree. While I do not wish to belittle the efforts of those who have gone through the prescribed educational processes required, by say, the top 100 universities, I would say that based on the end result, our top-rated universities definitely meet the definition of diploma mills, including any "top" university you wish to select. Let me explain why I would say this.
Modern-day academia, (and thus the university system) is an unbroken loop of self-regulating, self-perpetuating, self-promoting, ego-centric elitists where the prime qualifications for maintaining "impeccable credentials" is to hold the faith, retain those concepts learned by rote, and be able to repeat them as taught. And I'm supposed to be impressed? Keep in mind, once you attain that Ph.D, you don't have to accomplish one single thing, and you don't have to make any contribution in understanding our world in order to be considered one of the establishment elite. Within academia, it is sufficient to theorize some minor facet of a known and familiar science, do some tests, document the same, and then,( and this is the key element,) do whatever it takes to get your results published. After all, publication to physicists and scientists is the ultimate goal. Never mind that your obscure work will never be read, never mind that your determinations are meaningless. Just get published. Ride the current and don't make waves. And this approach is meaningful and superior?
The only thing that should matter to anyone is the end result. The result of our newly graduating Ph.D's is that they have the basics, but until one may contribute to our collective knowledge, or successfully accomplish a breakthrough, then all they have done is spend time in a specified regimen.
Our current educational system is stagnant, and is turning out stagnancy. That is why we are doing the same old things with brighter, newer equipment.
If today, Nicola Tesla were to manifest himself, he would be welcome at any university in the world, and in a teaching position. His credentials? No Ph.D. Yet he knew far more than his contemporaries, including those that would carry a Ph.D. behind their names today. In his own time, he stated to Einstein his disagreement on certain elements of Einstein's theory, the results of the Michaleson and Morley experiment, Max Planck, and Neils Bohr. His reasoning? "I think they are relying too much on theories and equations, and not enough on experimentation. . . . Today's scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments and they wander through equation after equation and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality." As Tesla told Einstein, "I base my theories upon experiments combined with mathematical formulae, instead of experimentation alone, like Thomas Edison, or mathematics alone, which Herr Einstein seems to prefer."
And speaking of Einstein. He was not a physicist when he turned out his most important work. He worked in a patent office as a clerk. Credentials? They certainly wouldn't meet muster in what the academic elite would require, but that wouldn't change the reality of his unique, and in some area, his superior knowledge.
Again, results. State of being. Acquisition and retention of knowledge. Is Dr. Bearden's state of mind equal or even far superior to those Ph.D's that are being churned out of our university system today? Let me answer it this way. Sterling Allan, Eric Krieg, or any others of his detractors could only get into this history books if they accomplished something spectacular, such as committed a mass murder. But you can rest assured that Dr. Tom Bearden in the decades, and centuries to come will be remembered and reflected on as a torch bearer of new knowledge in a number of scientific fields.
Why contact John Bedini in these matters? And why were John's replies a bit short? I can tell you. John has been exposed to such monumental elements of triviality and group stupidity, that if he ever had any patience with folks of such ilk, he's certainly lost it by now. Here's the secret to John Bedini. He doesn't have time for such meaningless triviality. John doesn't talk. John does. John has a big heart, and a mind that is a well-spring of knowledge. But his patience for stupidity and foolish endeavors which are nothing short of manifestations of jealous ignorance is zero.
In the jungles of Viet Nam, I met a gentleman of minor royalty who was serving in the United States army as a PFC. His proper title was "Sir ______. The difference between he and I? I slept in this _____hole here, and he slept in a _____hole over there.
Where you get your degree or how really shouldn't be the defining criteria, but what you do with your knowledge through accomplishment is what really counts at the end of the day. I can show you Ph.D's from the nation's most prestigious schools who couldn't jump-start a car. To hold a Ph.D from MIT and to have done little with it beyond hang it on a wall is more meaningful than what Dr. Bearden has done?
I dare say that if you brought in five physicists and engineers from each of the top 100 universities, for a total of 500 of the cream of physicists and EM engineers, and let John and Dr. Bearden teach them for one week, they would learn more about physics and EM theory and applications than they received in their entire educational process.
And you are concerned with credentials? Do as you wish. Others have their Ph.D's. Dr. Bearden has his. And you would know it was well-earned if you would spend just a few hours in his presence. Absolutely illuminating. His unique specialty is what psychologists call "abstract conceptualization." He has the unique ability to disassemble a new discovery or technology, and then determine what the operational concepts are which are at work. And the funny thing is, all his determinations are verifiable from selectively obscure determinations made by others. Dr. Bearden is an excellent example of a person who through education, independent learning, bench time, theory and application, as well as exposure and experiences, have earned the title and honor of being called, "Doctor."
While Dr. Bearden has repeatedly asked me to call him Tom, I'll keep addressing him as Dr. Bearden, as there could be no other appropriate address..
Thank you for your time,
Michael Riggs
SOURCE:
http://freeenergynews.com/Directory/Beware/Bearden_Bogus_PhD/#Comment_mcriggs
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