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Words from the Editor This is my first year as Convenor of the Scholars, and I am truly honoured to be taking the helm from my experienced predecessors. As the old adage goes, there is a first time for everything, so let me start by proudly presenting to you our first volume of the Scholars’ Journal in the year 2015. This is the brainchild of many different contributors, without whom you would not be able to be reading this very page. Therefore, we owe our heartfelt gratitude to the continuous support of Dr Chan, to the guidance and advice from our teacher advisors, to our contributing writers, and of course, all of you for taking the time to give this a read and providing constructive feedback. This Journal comprises of works majorly from our new Scholars, and we have strived to provide a diverse range of fields - from science to philosophy to literature, all in the hope of initiating your thoughts and opinions, and your desire to know more. As Scholars, we do not claim to be superior in amassing knowledge, we do not assume ourselves as the provider of answers. Instead, we ultimately aspire to bringing thought-provoking queries and issues to the forefront of your awareness, so you can formulate your own response. After reading our articles, if you still wish to do a little more research into our topics, even as simple as doing a Google search, we will consider our Journal to have achieved its purpose. As Plutarch once said, “The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.� The inspiration to learn comes from all corners of our lives, and we hope it can come from our Journal as well. Happy reading! 5A Karen Wong Editor and Convenor 2014-2015
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Table of contents I. Feature: Discrimination II. The Graveyard of Dreams III. Life with Dreams
4-5 6 7-9
IV. ‘It’s time to question bio-engineering.’
10-11
V. The Cove
12-14
VI. 《故友。顧祐》
15
VII. Moral Luck – Is It Unlucky to be Bad?
16-17
VIII. Selfie
18-20
IX. The Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics –
21-22
Common Sense or Not? X. The Last Journey
23
XI. Popperian Falsificationism: The Making of
24-26
Scientific Knowledge XII. The Affair
27-29
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by Karen Wong 5A
In light of the recent police shootings of unarmed black men, the ensuing grand juries’ decisions not to indict the officers, and the widespread protests that followed in the United States, one issue was particularly prominent – the disputed matter of racial equality and stereotypes. In a separate incident, where three Muslims were killed over a parking disagreement in the Chapel Hill shootings, a debate also emerged – the issue of religious freedom and hate crime. What these two issues have in common is the potential existence of discrimination, be it racial or religious. According to Article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.” So instead of expressing my solitary views on this broad and extensive subject, below are what diverse figures through the ages have to say on discrimination. “I believe discrimination still exists in society and we must fight it in every form.” ― Andrew Cuomo “Racism, xenophobia and unfair discrimination have spawned slavery, when human beings have bought and sold and owned and branded fellow human beings as if they were so many beasts of burden.” ― Desmond Tutu “Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It’s beyond me.” ― Zora Neale Hurston
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“Defeating racism, tribalism, intolerance and all forms of discrimination will liberate us all, victim and perpetrator alike.” ― Ban Ki-moon “Discrimination has a lot of layers that make it tough for minorities to get a leg up.” ― Bill Gates “Ignorance as a deliberate choice, can be used to reinforce prejudice and discrimination.” ― Ian Leslie in his book Curious: The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends On It “Free your mind of the damaging clots of bias, being kind only to your own kind isn't kindness at all” ― Constance Chuks Friday “Reducing a group to a slur or stereotype reduces us all.” ― DaShanne Stokes “People will see that the planet is now smaller than at any time in history, that mankind should bid farewell to arrogance and indifference, to ignorance and discrimination, and understand that we share the same small piece of land. It will be a time to rediscover each other, to share what is good in life, to look each other in the eye and link all ten fingers.” ― Ai Weiwei “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” ― Martin Luther King, Jr. “No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” ― Nelson Mandela “I say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over.” ― Jimmy Carter 5
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The Graveyard of Dreams With heavy hearts, we trudge along The boulevard of despair and the graveyard of dreams We wander the pathway and listen to screams As ghosts of the past mourn with dolorous songs Gone are the idyllic lush green gardens The towering trees and the gentle seaside breeze As soft bristles of grass disappear with the shrinking seas We can do nothing but watch the soil harden Seeds of kindness and humility were once sown They sprouted and grew They blossomed and bloomed Till they could no longer hold their own For how could they triumph over The rising thorns of hypocrisy The vultures of prosperity That mercilessly consume and devour They say prosperity brings peace and harmony Yet we are left with nothing but lament For a bauhinia trampled by hooves of development And a city drowned in pernicious cacophony Now we ask: Can you hear our elegy?
Victoria Kwok 6G 6
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by Hubert Wong 3E Have you ever come across an event in waking world that happened in your dreams? Is it a coincidence or you have the ability to foresee the future? According to Dr. Eric Amidi’s Collage Theory of Time, the happenings are snapshots of our lives. Things that have happened and will happen in your life are laid out in a collage. Due to the limited capacity of your conscious mind, you can view only a small portion of it. When you are in deep meditation, you may see beyond now and into the future as your logical mind shuts down. So, the deeper the relaxation, the broader glimpse of the collage of events. “Conscious mind out of the way, you get a chance to have a glimpse at the events of your life that would be considered as your future in your waking life …” - Dr. Eric Amidi (Particle Physicist & Certified Hypnotist)
We dream because our brains are activated during sleep. If you get eight hours of sleep, you will dream for about 100 minutes, with longer and more vivid dreams occurring shortly before you wake up. Nevertheless, dream researchers estimate that approximately 95% of dreams are forgotten upon awakening. The reason why dreams are fragmented and illogical is that your conscious mind during sleep is no longer able to categorise the events of your life into a logical sequence. So, dreams are ambiguous, disorganised and difficult to remember. I have experienced nightmares that were so vivid that I woke up feeling anxious and frightened. In fact, it is extremely common especially for children who are emotionally more vulnerable than adults. However, studies show that most people who have frequent recurring of nightmares may have family history of psychiatric problems or are involved in a rocky relationship. Nightmares are also caused by sickness, stress, trauma and drugs or alcohol. Therefore, regular nightmares should not be neglected. There is another type of dream called lucid dream. The wonderful thing about this dream is that you know you are dreaming. Avid dreamers can choose either to wake up or remain in the dream and manipulate the dream just like a director directs a film. How fascinating it is! In an interview 7
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with Brandon Boyd, a famous composer and singer, he disclosed that whenever he was having a bad dream, he looked at his hands and snapped his fingers three times. Then, he would go lucid. By reminding yourself that this is simply a dream and developing some skills, ou can become a lucid dreamer. Apart from nightmares and lucid dreams, there are other types of dreams, namely daydreams, false awakening dreams, healing dreams, epic dreams, prophetic dreams, recurring dreams … The most incredible dreams are the mutual dreams. I thought this kind of dreams only happen in movies between husband and wife, or between mother and son. Actually, they happen in reality when two people with a very strong bond have the same dream on the same night. Mutual dreams may be spontaneous or ‘planned’ in that two people can work towards achieving one dream goal. As a matter of fact, dreams serve a plethora of purposes. Evidence indicates that dreams have the physiological and psychological functions to maintain good health. Experiments had been carried
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out among cats and monkeys, which revealed that the average lifespan of the animals with dreams is longer than their counterparts. Scientific attempts pinpoint that dreams contribute to longevity. Conversely, lack of dreams can lead to anxiety, nervousness, irascibility, illusion, increase in blood pressure and body temperature. Interestingly, dreams are important tools to understand who you are as your innermost feelings, hopes and desires are manifested in your dreams. Dream researchers suggest that dreams deserve careful scrutiny. Given a hundred dreams, they can analyse an individual’s psychological health. Whereas with a thousand dreams over a couple of decades, they can even depict the person’s mind. For instance, if you are too preoccupied with worries in waking, you are prone to struggle to run from monsters or attackers in dreams. What’s more, not only can dreams enhance one’s creativity, but they are also valuable in problem-solving and decision-making. Dreams inspire musicians to compose great pieces, artists to paint their stunning masterpieces, and writers to create striking stories. For example, Paul McCartney
dreamt
the
melody to his pop song Yesterday; Stephenie Meyer created
Twilight
after
encountering the characters in a dream; Robert Lowis Stevenson dreamt the plot for his famous novel; Elias Howe was inspired by a dream mechanical
which
made sewing
possible … Hence, your sleeping dreams become a source of inspiration and help you achieve your goals. The intricacy of dreams still bewilders many people. Yet, making dreams is indispensable whether the dream is an insightful one or a terrible one. Just recall those worth remembering and don’t bother with those weird ones that perplex you.
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by Irma Tung 4B The above quote is taken from a renowned bioethicist Paul Root Wolpe. Nowadays, biotechnology is not merely about a tomato that has an exceptionally longer shelf-life than usual. It involves a variety of aspects, in which medicine is one of the most crucial. In this Digital Age, medical technology advances at a drastic rate. Meanwhile, everything has a cost – while we enjoy the endless benefits that biotechnology brings for us, we are also facing a challenge that appears in every other scientific discipline – ethical controversies. It is not solely a conundrum, but a heated debate that may never get to an end in the foreseeable future. In almost every science domain, conducting experiments is a definite way to obtain answers. However, clinical trials in medical biotechnology is an entirely different story from science experiments at school laboratories. It’s about redesigning actual living creatures. Humans have grown more and more powerful in overcoming physical barriers, to an extent that it seems boundless. However, in developing technology, there is always a risk that one may miscalculate or underestimate. Tampering with the power of nature may not be a truly wise decision. Hybrid forms of animals exist in large numbers in recent years – Zonkeys (zebra/donkey), Jaglion (jaguar/lion), Liger (lion/tiger). What is more, scientists can now place bioluminescent genes of jellyfish or corals into mammals, creating fluorescent cats, dogs and many more. Scientists have even developed organic robots, by literally implanting wires and computer technology into an insect to read and control their brainwaves, mostly serving for surveillance purposes. In other words, we possess the absolute power of redesigning any living thing we want by selectively breeding and genetic technologies. However, is the act of taking away the autonomy of animals actually justified? Perhaps not. We are altering and creating life for our own purposes. Should animals be “redesigned” to fit our needs, serve as a plaything, or even a slave? Although it is undeniable that these emerging technologies would lead to benefits – for instance, we could be able to save endangered animals by cloning – it seems that this unprecedented power to reshape the original behavior of nature, or, to manipulate living creatures may not be completely moral and ethical. 10
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When scientists become able to “rule” over animals, the next step would undoubtedly be on human beings. That brings us to an even more controversial debate in terms of bioethics. Take a look at the past ethical failures: 18-year-old Jesse Gelsinger suffered an unintended death in a gene therapy trial at the University of Pennsylvania. This raises many questions to ponder: Is there sufficient regulation of biological experiments or clinical trials on humans? How can we ensure that the volunteers for such experiments are eligible and not ailing? In the 2002 article in Epidemiology Review, Jeremy Sugarman, a professor of bioethics and medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, wrote, “It is critical to ensure that research is conducted responsibly throughout the entire study cycle, from the way participants are selected to the way data are entered, analyzed, and reported.” Speaking of medical biotechnology, stem cell research is the one of the latest fields that does not find any boundaries. In short, stem cells are a group of undifferentiated cells that can differentiate into specialized cell types. These “repair kits” are divided into two types: embryonic and adult stem cells. Some may say that stem cells bring tremendous hopes for humanity as they have an enormous contribution to treating a huge variety of diseases. However, obtaining stem cells, specifically embryonic stem cells, involves destroying embryos, fetal tissues, and other controversial matters. This brings us to some ethical problems: At what point does one consider life to begin at? Is it moral to destroy an embryo for curing patients? There is still a countless number of questions to answer. I believe that this topic is not a new one – but some scientists may have turned a blind eye to its significance. Whether the world can really accept biotechnology is still an issue that needs much consideration and contemplation. In biotechnical research, we must strike a balance between the perceived risks and potential benefits that the technology might bring. If not, when one finally reaches an epiphany, the world might have already transformed into some place that we can no longer recognize.
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by Adrian Kwong 4H
A word from the author: This short story was originally composed in an English assignment regarding the capture and slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan, for harvesting their meat. Although the need for environmental protection is a key message in this story, I have also crafted this piece to explore several other themes, principally why people are driven to commit evil due to mundane reasons, and struggle by the disadvantaged against the privileged.
*3 am. I step on the pedal one more time, but the needle of the speed gauge still stands, disappointingly, at 100 km/h. Looking at the rearview mirror, I see myself under a blinding light, the same glowing yellow as I’d seen in Trinidad and Tobago. I know they are following me, if only because they don’t want my example to be followed. If my fellow conservationists are to be trusted, being followed is scary the first time, but you get used to it. Is that barbed wire? And are those looming triangular shadows just trees? If that dark knife tip lying before me is really a warning sign, I’m nearing the cove. If I can see the fishermen slaughtering the dolphins, cracking their spines open—and if I can stomach the sight and get it on video— Taiji’s affront to life in the darkness will be placed under the light. ** I look at Rose’s picture, empty my cup of coffee, and check the last bit of gasoline helping me go on. It’s my first time in Japan, and I take the moment to survey my surroundings. A tree hangs above the path in front of me like a gavel, under the silky black gown of night. I’d better enjoy the view when I can—if everything goes well, it 12
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will be my last time here. Isihara promised a million pounds if the drugs are found in Richardson’s car. Certainly cleaner work compared to taking out gang leaders and two-bit militants—same rabble-rousers to be taken care of, none of the blood. The wife doesn’t understand why I don’t just quit. Does she think Rose’s college education is free? The girl is doing environmental science or some such in college— better build up a nice pond to swim in later if you’re going to take something useless like that. I focus my attention on the car again, and when I drive on, noticing a cliff near the cove arched and raised like a bench, I hope this will be my last job. *I’m almost there. I can see orange words of warning pierce the dark shadows over the road more and more frequently. As I hear the waves resonate in the ears, I can feel the ocean. The end of the road is upon me now—the past few days of trips up here have found me just the right place to record the hunt. I pick up my long-range video camera and stand, and aim it like a torch. Through it, I see the ageless rocks, ceaseless waves, the steadfast cliff guarding the vibrant life about to be targeted by aging men, surrounded by rusting nets, stabbed with brittle spears and piled onto half-broken canvas. I feel the orange light closing in behind me, but feeling the tree bark rub against my leg and the leaves focus my sight on the far cove, I am secure in the knowledge that he won’t possibly find me, whoever “he” is. ** Richardson’s run-down car is parked right in front of me, the exhaust pipe panting—an irony for red-green troublemakers like him, and the lights flickering, having long since lost their function. The door is open and a widely-spread map of Taiji on the verge of falling out. Unusual, for a tidy man like him. I pick up speed, nearly tripping on the wet grass as I advance towards the car. The sooner—and quieter—I put the drugs in, the sooner Isihara can arrange for a police search, and the sooner I get the money and go. And I won’t ever have to do this again. I must stop this fantasizing and watch where I’m going—those trees nearly fenced me off to that dock-like plank of rock. *What are these noises I hear? Chap following me must be up to no good, but it’s far too late to turn back. I’ve heard from Jonah—oops, that’s Dr Richardson, Director of the Marine Protection Fund to me—that they love using trumped-up charges to discredit us. As I take out my phone to read the time, and focus the white glow of the video camera on the cove, I realize that if I stream the killing live on video, it’ll be too late for them to stop me, even if they could frame me with murder. That computer-illiterate Jonah Richardson would never think of that! 13
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**I can hear a smartphone—is that voice reading to itself a video-sharing site’s web address? Isihara told me to finish Richardson off if he resorts to any effort to stream the killing live. I had wanted this to be a clean job, but if it’s one million for Rose and the wife, and my last job... it will have to be done. Isn’t he just a rabble-rouser anyway? My sight is obscured as abandoned leaves fall and return to earth, but I load my black pistol and try my best to aim it at the source of the voice… a surprisingly feminine voice at that… *I feel just a bit shaken at the start, but then I realize I’ve just been shot. As I fall I smell salt—the blood that has plunged before me, or the water of the sea? And do they not share the same origin? For you have come from ashes and you will return to ashes, you have come from the sea and you will return to the sea… **Rose!
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《故友。顧祐》五甲
梁珈瑋
你我如紅豆相依 如鳳蝶相親 願莫离别 永伴随 春露泫泫 嫩蕊隨心嫣然綻放 夏日炎炎 艷陽隨意怡然發亮 秋風颯颯 碧緞隨風嗒然起舞 冬月瑩瑩 清影隨雲黯然飄逝 凡此種種 映影歷歷 如沫如露 一現即逝 韶光荏苒 江河盡涸 空留思憶聲雨跡 唯剩夢漪斷絲連 流下愛痴的淚 瀉下相擁的痛 但願莫惦念 永安好
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by Karen Wong 5A Suppose there are two drunk drivers careening on the road in their cars. Drink driver A, after a few groggy swerves and near misses, makes it home safely without damaging anything. Drink driver B drives in the exact disoriented way, but a girl was crossing the street at the same time, so the driver hits her, and the little girl dies. Is driver B more morally reprehensible than driver A? It seems that due to luck, fate, destiny or probability (from the theologian to the scientist, however you would like to name it), uncontrollable circumstances bring about entirely different outcomes, even though the initial actions and motives may have been the same. This is known as moral luck, a term first coined by Sir Bernard Williams in 1981, and expanded upon by other notable figures such as Thomas Nagel to become a modern moral theory. So what makes moral luck so special? As you may know, there are two mainstream thoughts on the judgement of morality –consequentialism and the categorical imperative. The former proposes that the end justifies the means, while the latter places the worthiness of a person’s motives above all else. Moral luck, as it happens, highlights the clash between the two concepts, the grey area where it doesn’t seem fair to judge the rightness of an action with one simple moral yardstick. 16
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Perhaps you would have come to a decision rather quickly on the first scenario, so here is a different case. Person A lives on the same floor as another family. Yesterday, the family confronted person A for playing his music too loud on a boom box, complaining that it was a nuisance. Today, as person A comes home from work, he switches on his music to full blast in a vindictive streak, deliberately choosing a song that would make most people gnash their teeth in aggravation. What person A doesn’t know is, the sudden blast of screeching and wailing happened to scare off a robber planning to burgle the empty home of the family. Notwithstanding the possibility of the example, the situation here is reversed. An act of selfishness happens to bring great fortune to somebody else. Would you rather person A didn’t do it in the first place, and let the family come home to find their valuables all gone, or would you give him the benefit of the doubt since the saved possessions are much more important than the childish desire for revenge? As you can see, the idea of moral luck has many different variations, each one requiring more soul-searching than the last to deliver judgement – actions carried out with the best of intentions result in catastrophe, a seemingly harmless prank causes injury, or a self-serving act unintentionally benefits others. Therefore, moral luck further complicates the already controversial subject of moral judgement – bringing the factor of chance into play as well as our free will. Does, or even should, chance play a role in determining if an action is righteous or unjustifiable? Personally, I believe chance does play a part in real life, and therefore also in moral judgement – the ever-present fickle mistress despite all our deliberate efforts to bring our desired results. However, every situation is different, and there are forever exceptions to the rule, so there cannot be clear-cut verdicts for every situation we encounter. If one grain of sand does not make a heap, nor two grains of sand, and so on, then following this reasoning a thousand grains of sand shouldn’t make a heap either. This flawed logic proves that not everything is either right or wrong, with nothing in between, and we should pay heed to this before giving condemnation or praise. To conclude, you may not have understood the title before reading this article, and even after reading the article you may have more questions than answers, but at this note I leave you with this very conundrum to ponder about – is it simply unfortunate to be bad, or even bad to be unfortunate? 17
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by Natalie Fung 5G
Welcome to the world of selfies and welcome to the age of millennials. Yes, I do take selfies, yet I am not alone. Currently, there are over 31 million Instagram selfies and a whopping 91% teens have posted at least one selfie online. Recently, the word “selfie” has been hailed as the most prevalent word on earth, and has even entered the authoritative Cambridge dictionary. Most people, mainly adults or the Lean In Generation, consider selfies “an evolving dark side of social network”; some even call it “the worst thing on earth”. These people feel that selfie-posting teens are excessively obsessive and conceited of themselves. Hence, they come to a conclusion that “social network full of narcissists is a boring one”. However, instead of criticising selfie, I am going to defend that selfie is not at all a bad thing.
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To begin with, selfie is a catalyst of boosting self-esteem. Ever since human race evolved, we have lived in the social culture of no pride, only humbleness. If one is to act too confidently, he/she will definitely be described as cocky and thus, isolated. This has resulted in seven out of ten girls believing that they are not good enough. 51% boys feel the same as well. In fact, over 85% earthlings feel negative, feel glum and feel dissatisfied with themselves. What do these figures show you, ladies and gentlemen? They show that we need change, we need a booster for self-esteem, a booster for pride, a booster for confidence. And the booster is selfie. Through taking photos of ourselves, we can choose how we look, where we are shot, at what angle our photos are taken so on and so forth. Simply we are at full control of ourselves. In a world where identity formulation is essential yet pride is not advocated, selfie is of great importance for adolescents to explore themselves, present themselves and ultimately validate themselves. According to a survey by renowned phone company Samsung, 15-20% people take selfies because they enjoy being good-looking. Additionally, just recently in November, the first ever women who
completed Marine Infantry combat training took a selfie of themselves as they were proud of having done something glamourous to the world. They were confident. They desired to present themselves. They wanted recognition. With such empowerment of ourselves, we will be more resilient to challenges as well as adversity. By taking selfies, we think we are okay, we think we are fine, we think we are simply capable. Hence when confronting obstacles, we will be perfectly suitable as our self-esteem acts as a cushion for all the hardships. 19
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Moreover, though some people say that selfies hinder interpersonal interaction, it is not actually true. Instead, selfies act as lubricants for interpersonal relationships. The reason? We share our selfies. As suggested by Swedish proverb “Shared happiness is doubled happiness, shared sorrow is half sorrow”, sharing selfies is just like sharing books and DVDs, and thus allows other people to undergo the sharer’s adventures and experiences, bringing with them augmented joy and lessened despair. Now, let us put aside the President Obama’s selfie—that is too controversial. But, let us take a look at the selfie taken by Aki Hoshide, a Japanese astronaut. He has recently taken a self portrait in the International Space Station with the earth as background. If we take a step back, why has he done so? Simply because he has wanted to share such fascinating scenery to the world at large. In addition, for the word-known Pope Francis, who took a selfie with youngsters, and has since been crowned “modern” and “accepting” for his willingness to share with teenagers the joy of taking selfies. As such, it is more than evident that selfies are beneficial to relationships among people. Moving on, selfies actually have substantial practical uses. Commerically speaking, it is not hard to find businesses featuring selfies with garments or other commodities donned by models. Also, some businesses even take it further by encouraging customers to take selfies. An example is Jamba Juice, which holds the “Share Your Selfie” Contest, in which participants are required to take smoothie selfies. Furthermore, selfies can be used to promote altruism and kindness. For Donate a Phone App, Johnson and Johnson donates 1 US dollar for each selfie submitted by the public. Also noteworthy is the representation of social affairs by selfies. In the United States, for instance, Fedoras for Fairness posts selfies with people wearing fedora hats as a metaphor to promote women’s rights. In Philippines, people who are discontented with the train fare hikes take selfies to protest against the rise. Therefore, selfies indeed are practically benign. All in all, selfies are not bad at all. They are merely our own presentations of ourselves, not arrogance, not narcissism. As Harvey Fierstein said, “Allow no one’s definition of your life, define yourself.” Yes, we millennials do take selfies and we are proud of it. 20
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by Tong Wong 5J Suppose one day after the watching weather forecast you decide to look up the word ‘hotness in the dictionary. Hotness, in the dictionary, means ‘high temperature’; but as you are trying to seek the real meaning behind the word ‘temperature’, you ends up getting ‘the degree of hotness’ – you are running into circular definitions. Obviously the dictionary does not do a good job in helping the spread of scientific knowledge. But as a collection of vocabulary the dictionary reflects our perception of ‘heat’ and ‘temperature’ of the world around us. For thousands of years human has lived in a world where the perception of heat and temperature comes from our senses – when the object is hot, we say it processes heat; and temperature, as an indicator of ‘hotness’, is of course, equivalent to heat. We define heat in such an intuitive way that matches perfectly with our daily experiences. Yet, the circular argument remains unsolved: what precisely are heat and temperature? This question can be answered by the zeroth law of thermodynamics. The definition may seem intuitive. But think of a similar situation. Suppose A and B are friends, B and C are friends, it does not imply that A and C are friends. Hence, there must be something fundamental yet not intuitive in the concept of temperature, and it is precisely this quality that makes ‘degree of hotness’ quantifiable. In fact, the zeroth law establishes thermal equilibrium as an equivalence relationship, in short, the zeroth law divides thermodynamic systems into distinct groups. When object A belongs to a group of a particular temperature, it cannot be included into that of another temperature – in other words, the establishment of the zeroth law of thermodynamics allows objects under the same temperature to be tagged uniquely, in comparison with objects with a different temperature. Hence, the quantity ‘temperature’ can be regarded as a labelling process. Let’s reconsider the examples above. Suppose we can define a quantity called ‘friendliness’ and people with the same friendliness can befriend each other. However, as stated above, when A and B 21
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are friends and B and C are friends, A and C are not necessarily friends with each other. In other words, when A and B have the same ‘friendliness’ while B and C have the same ‘friendliness’, A and C may not have the same ‘friendliness’. Hence the quantity friendliness is not well defined in this case and it is virtually meaningless. By comparing the two cases of ‘temperature’ and the hypothetical ‘friendliness’, the eighteenth century physicist James Maxwell’s dictum that ‘All heat is of the same kind’ is exemplified. The zeroth law of thermodynamics is not a matter of common sense, but a statement that has profound implications on the formulation of thermodynamics. In addition, the zeroth law of thermodynamics justifies the use of empirical temperature scales, which use of suitable systems such as temperature to provide such a labelling. We can, in fact, put a thermodynamic system (the thermometer) with an object so that they can achieve thermal equilibrium, and mark the readings of the thermometer as temperature; and do the same for other objects. This implication, in fact, matches with our common sense – before the zeroth law of thermodynamics is postulated, we have used mercury-in-glass thermometers and the alcohol-in-glass thermometers since the 17th century to measure temperature, when we only thought temperature as the ‘degree of hotness’. Indeed, the zeroth law of thermodynamics provides deeper insights into the daily common sense that we all deem as normal and logical. This is indeed one of many appealing features of physics – apart from being useful in describing natural phenomena, physics can also describes seeming common sense with profound and new insights, and even blow you mind at times!
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The Last Journey Noiselessly the wind howls, Blowing through the desolate land. A shriveled leaf joins the flying sand, A rag doll tossed by an invisible hand. The shriveled crops bow before the gale, Fluttering like an untrimmed sail. Who can stand ‘gainst the unseen force, Stronger than an ox, faster than a horse? A lone traveler struggles on, No wind can put out the fire within. Battling with the relentless wind he carries on, Determined to seek for the land beyond. Alas, all fires can be quenched; will broken; spirit crushed. For he is nothing but a man, of flesh, of blood. Ruthlessly the onslaught carries on, The wind now aided by Thirst and Hunger. Battered, the body stops. Overcome by fatigue, it stumbles to a halt. Weary of the long journey it falls, Never to rise again. A gay boy embarked on this odyssey; A gaunt hunched man finished it. But at last he shall find rest. No more shall sorrows trouble him. A hand is offered; He takes it and greets Death. Walking side by side like old friends, They start their last journey, To the Alpha and Omega, To the Beginning and the End.
Shaun Lee 3D
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by Derrick Ng 6F Any high school student can tell you about the ‘scientific method’: First, we carry out a careful observation of the empirical world and come across a phenomenon requiring an explanation. We then make a ‘guess’ or hypothesis to explain what we have observed. This hypothesis will have certain consequences which we can use to make predictions of future phenomena. Then, by conducting experiments, the hypothesis is either confirmed or proven false. If falsified, the hypothesis is rejected and another hypothesis is put forward to explain the phenomenon; on the other hand, if it is verified, the hypothesis acquires a status of a theory which, when general enough and adequately supported by other experiments, can become a scientific law. Although the above view of science appears to be logically sound, just like anything else it is not without flaws when placed under scrutiny. In the process of making a hypothesis, we use induction to go from particular to general. For example, whenever we put a metal in a circuit, it conducts electricity, and there are no recorded cases of metals not conducting electricity when put into a circuit. Hence, by observation we
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hypothesise that all metals are electrical conductors. One major problem with this is that when we reason inductively, a ‘leap’ is required – we make generalisations from things we have observed to things we have not observed. . Hence, how many observations we should make before we are entitled to make a generalisation? Up until the eighteenth century, it was commonly believed by Europeans that all swans are white. There were innumerable confirming instances of this belief and no disconfirming instances. Yet some black swans are discovered in Australia. By now we should realise that no number of confirming observations can verify a universal generalisation, given that we do not have an omniscient god’s eye view of the universe. Since scientific evidence is mostly, if not entirely, based on empirical observations, by principle it is impossible to prove that a theory is true, due to the problem of induction. This is when Karl Popper came up with his brilliant idea: since we cannot empirically prove anything, we should instead focus on proving them false. The scientific method advocated by Popper is based on conjectures and refutations, where scientists apply their creative imagination and intuition to conjecture and to frame testable hypotheses. The scientific community would then try to falsify these hypotheses by making predictions, further observations and measurements. If the conjecture is falsified, it is refuted and scientists will seek alternative. But if the conjecture turns out not to be shown to be incorrect, then it remains a conjecture and an undefeated one. Persistently undefeated conjectures will generally be accepted – though provisionally, for it is always possible that in the future it will be replaced by better theories. Science hence moves forward by incorporating more and more persistently undefeated conjectures. Yet, notice how Popper’s view of how scientist work practice only supplies us with a picture of how scientists come to acquire ‘negative’ knowledge (knowledge of what is not the case). It does not give us a picture of ‘positive’ knowledge. For example, all scientists focus on falsifying that all are white through empirical investigation. Scientists then possessed the ‘negative’ knowledge that it is not true that all swans are white. Despite this, Popper’s falsificationism more or less revolutionised our view of science – it compels the scientific community not to waste time on ‘verifying’ theories but to put more attention on exploring the shortcomings of currently accepted theories, and rejecting any form of scientific dogma or orthodoxy. For instance, in testing the hypothesis that water boils at 100°C, instead of mindlessly boiling pan after pan of water and never conclusively proving anything, one should look for circumstances in which water does not boil at 100°C. The challenge then is to find justification for why water boils at a lower temperature at high altitudes. Now one is in a better position to 25
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test new hypotheses and make real scientific progress. Popperian falsificationism also draws the line between statements belonging to the empirical sciences and unscientific ones – be it of a religious or metaphysical nature. Here, falsifiability of the statements or theories is set as the demarcation criterion, where what is unfalsifiable is classified as unscientific, and the practice of declaring an unfalsifiable theory to be scientifically true is pseudoscience. For example, the theory that combustion is the release of a substance called ‘phlogiston’ is a testable (falsifiable) theory because it entails that a burnt substance will decrease in weight after burning. But the astrological theory that Capricorns will prosper in their personal relationships on Wednesdays is not testable. For even if the marriage of one Capricorn to another ends on a Wednesday, the astrologer who has made the prediction can always say that the end of the relationship is for the best and that both parties will find greater happiness in the future. Doing this seems to make the astrological claim unfalsifiable, hence making astrology a pseudoscience (since it claims to be a science). By contrast, scientific knowledge are made up of testable theories that have withstood our best falsification efforts; and because these theories can always be superseded by other better ones, scientific knowledge are not ‘absolute’ in any sense – but only temporarily accepted as the ‘truth’ as they are the best we have for the time being. In conclusion, natural science is a system of knowledge of the natural world largely based on empirical observation and constructed using reason (deductive, inductive) and imagination (or intuition). Falsificationism as proposed by Popper has revolutionised our view on how science develops and progresses over time (the scientific method) and the nature of scientific knowledge itself. Hopefully, with the progress of time and the efforts of humankind, science will eventually come towards a grand unified theory, as all scientific theories merge into an overarching explanation about the universe that brings everything into harmony.
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by Sue Yin 4I I Women were toys. He had lots. One at home, more in hotel rooms. He’d met some of them online. Attracted by their radiating youth. He couldn’t care less. He beat her, threatened her, stripped her of dignity. He checked her calls and messages. He kicked her out along with their 5-year-old daughter and sued her for adultery. He took all the money and the house. He couldn’t care less. “Daddy loves you,” he told the child firmly. The child shook her head. II She was beautiful and smart, she attracted men and she knew that. Nobody understood why she married him in the first place, though. He was job-less, bad-tempered and a snob. He tormented her so much he left bruises here, and there. Evidence she kept only to herself and her midnight tears. Mustn’t let the child know. There was this man she found quite flattering—he bought her flowers and treated her like a queen. It had been so long since she had felt loved. Maybe it was infatuation. She didn’t care. He swore he would protect her. III She knew something was fishy when he started leaving home early and returning well after bedtime. He would gently turn the doorknob, minimising the rasping sound as much as possible. She didn’t even stir. He would go into the shower, and her eyes would snap open like beacons of light. 27
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That night, she sneaked into the lounge and groped around for his suit, which he carelessly left strewn over an armchair. She sniffed the collar for any feminine signs. Undaunted, she overturned his pockets and fished out his wallet. Inside was a photo of a woman she had never seen. IV When he was with her he thought of no one else. He told her he loved her, that he didn’t care whether she had a child, for her he would sacrifice everything. His wife found out, eventually. He confessed and broke every promise he had ever made. He felt sorry; after all he really liked her. But he was a semi-famous professor at a semi-famous university—he had a reputation to fend for. That woman was just, well, dead unlucky. He gazed at his wife and hesitated. “She seduced me,” he declared without blinking an eye. V The child knew not of what her mother was going through. She only knew she had been parted with her comfy bed and five teddy bears. Daddy said he loved her, but she got confused because she couldn’t live with him anymore. That upset her. Daddy was so mean, why didn’t he give Mommy a frame? She saw her clutch a photo of the three of them tightly one night, boiling tears plummeting from her eyes. She must have desperately needed a frame to put the photo in. She heard that Mommy was going to give a “testomy” at a “coat”. I have a coat, she thought. VI “It’s not like I didn’t warn you,” she said matter-of-factly, a mouthful of potato chips. Her friend wept on the other side of the phone. She checked her nails. Still perfect. They hung up. So the situation could be summed up as: her friend married a bastard and was being sued based on an inconspicuous detail in a photo and a contract signed in the middle of the night. She was taking at least two Melatonin pills per day to ease the rising hysteria. 28
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It had nothing to do with her. She marvelled—at least her husband wasn’t like that. VII The judge blinked his bleary eyes. He still had seven cases to go through. And that was just for this afternoon. Later he had a date with his girlfriend. He didn’t know which tired him more. The desperate woman was shuddering behind the bars. The scales were tilted in favour of the man. The judge waved a dismissive hand. The jury pronounced a guilty verdict. She got away with a fine. Yet by the time the procedures were completed the story had washed the front pages of all newspapers and magazines money could buy. VIII “… Back to local news. A car accident occurred this evening in Kwai Hing. The police say that a 40-year-old woman named Stephanie Tang crossed Wing Yip Street and was hit by a lorry driven by 30-year-old lorry driver Chris Mak. Tang was pronounced dead at the scene and Mak was slightly injured. There were no other witnesses in this incident. It is unclear why this event occurred, but police investigators state that it may have been a suicide attempt.”
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