Eduardo Stefani

I wrote my last article in the heat of the moment after reading the text I said, which is a summary about the conservative acts of the candidate for vice-president of our norther brother. I tried to pass my perception on, actually, something personal about the speeches we are listening to every day, as well as the whole culture, because both are showing a severe lack of quality.

After a few days, I think I was a little pessimistic. It give us the perception that everything is bad. I didn't want to insinuate that the world is loosing its way, but I was talking about western speeches, basically I have access to. My big questioning is how in a moment so technologically advanced and with huge general knowledge, we can be bought by cheap speeches. The minds seen to be unprepared to the correctly understand. Not who shows political or ideological trends, but regarding basic questions which must be overcomed for centuries, as the attempt to take creationism, as is the intention of some figures in power, including Brazil.

Beyond these perceptions, I wish to make a few comments:

I said that the big world wars collaborated to impoverishing world speech. Even though wars have been occurring during the entire history of mankind, we experimented with a good period of peace and construction of contemporary civilization during the last centuries. The big world wars, to some extend, brutalized men. Who didn't go, watched the collapse and destruction of all that they saw since they were children. Who went to war and came back alive, were brutalized, because of everything they saw. We had from this moment, the trigger for a lot of violence during the entire twentieth century and the reappearance of practices considered very wild for a civilized man. We can't forget after 2001, torture practices were frighteningly condoned.

It's a perception I have, specially as a conclusion of what I have been reading recently. Maybe I'm have been partial or even wrong, but we can't deny that we saw during the twentieth century the loss of some civilized habits we had developed during the last centuries.

On the other hand, my article seems nostalgic. I couldn't be nostalgic, because I have existed on this planet since the end of the romantic '70s. It's a tendency to say that the past is better and we are living in decay. It's true, because if we take some newspaper articles from the 18th or 19th century, we also read of the feeling that society is in decay, therefore I hope I haven't passed on a nostalgic message. In summary, the decay walks hand in hand with development and the challenge is to find the correct measure.

I quoted a film named “The Decline of the American Empire”. If you have net seen it, you must watch it, with its sensitivity and depth it shows what is happening to us. The decline comes from the individuality, low birth rate and many facts evident in the film. I confess I can't remember all the details and it deserves my attention one more time. It's curious, because there are eight academics, four men and four women. At a dinner, lubricated by wine, the subject is sexuality, trivia and after all something about Marx. Actually it's a welcome mix, but gives a notion which may result in the multiplier effect of a society emphasizing individuality and forgetting the society. At least in my understanding, the decline is hiding there, in an individualistic society. This paragraph deserves some articles to synthesize the messages and try to understand the impoverishment of out speech.

Also a hint of the movie “The Barbarian Invasions”!

I hope I could clarify some points I got as contradictory. It can cause a nice evening of warm discussions.

[], Eduardo Stefani - 30/10/2008

Thanks to a south-African friend's indication, I appreciated an article named “Sarah Palin'v War on Science” and it inspired me to write this text. Actually, it was the missing piece for me to resume some observation I have been doing these last months. The article describes the conservative level that the republican lady exudes in her speeches and I couldn't escape from an observation:

It's unbelievable how we have at present an incredible poor quality of speeches and a setback in some crucial concepts, specially to the western civilization, so advanced and owner of the modern reason. We must feel for the brilliant scientists, who witnessed an incredible scientific and civilizing advances. The optimism was so big, that on the turn of the century, they think we haven't anything to invent.

Maybe the beginning of those poor speeches began with the big world wars. They, in a sense, have collaborated to destroy the sense of advanced civilization built during many centuries. Maybe it has destroyed the dignity and faith of noble and sophisticated concepts. Mankind, after the medieval delay, could get a level of peace and intellectuality patterns, however in a short time we saw every thing destroyed with two big sweeping world wars who finished with any attempt of civilizing modes, specially in the last one, a personal war, of the common people and not only to the uniform men.

At the turn of the century, we saw science moving forward. On the Origin of Species, the notion of universe beyond our small globe, anthropology, sociology and the physical revolution. The discovery that we live on a planet resulting from millions of consecutive years of an evolution process.

From the cyclical destruction and creation process. From the appearing and hiding of species and entire areas. The reality around us. It's hard to escape from the fact that our world is made of sand and stone, even though we like to believe in the existence of other dimensions between our simple quotidian life.

The election process of north has been marked by discussion about basic religious concepts, brought up normally by conservatives or almost fundamentalists. Subjects which should have long been resolved, specially in that part of the globe, which has contributed so much to the western civilization's advances in the twenty century.

We must not limit ourselves only to religious subjects. On the table we always have terrorism as a psychological weapon to frighten the common people. Now the financial crises. Also something should have long been resolved with a modern international market. It seems we are going backwards and will not be a surprise if we have to discuss the navigation of dangerous seas.

Our level is too low. The speech is poor and futile. It does remember me a classical film named “The Decline of the American Empire”. The civilizing seemed languish when we pass to latch in futile, morons and poor concepts, or any mean we would like. When our concerns going to be cheaper and most important of the collective survival.

Is it the beginning of the end ? Are we loose front our evolution and we are to come back to old values ? How in a modern time are the minds purchased for fundamentalists with sticky speeches.

[], Eduardo Stefani – 28/10/2008

Link to the article: http://www.slate.com/id/2203120

I created my website in 2002. In the last six years I have been administering it, the boom was during the university, because I kept it updated daily and it turned like a reference between my science computer colleagues to download lectures, drafts or lessons given at room. Divided in several sessions, I posted pictures, news and what I really like, articles about several subjects.

The time gone, I finished the university and to keep my personal website updated got a challenge. I don't have anything to post, because the university subjects finished. Actually, it doesn't have audience, because my closest colleagues also finished the university and it has created a big vicious circle, which I stop to update and the audience goes out.

Then I decided to change my website to a blog. Now it will not be divided in sessions and all content will be based in posts. I like write too much and I would like to share some ideas with colleagues and potential helpers.

I don't want loose all content I posted in the old website, then I'll recover all articles, revise and finally put them into the blog. I also have a project to translate all of them to english. Some articles were written more than ten years and beyond another look about the same subjects, I'll leave the same subjects. We can tell I wrote some polemics articles and them can create a eccentric perception about me! Besides, I'll post comments. Maybe, it can save me from the bad understanding or comprehension about the historic moment of each subject.

I'll try to put all old articles online in the next weeks and to create an effort to write new ones.

Welcome to this new phase... Of my blog!

[], Eduardo Stefani - 31/10/2008