Did you think I was wrong when over a month ago I said this was not dead? Well, yes, it was... But it's not anymore! Is it a zombie blog? A ghoul? Which kind of undead is it? It needs to be one that can die and ressucitate repeatedly with my help, because this will certainly happen again sometime in the future!
Anyway, I've been through some changes in my life with which I'm still coping, but professionally things are good. I'm starting to get the hang of working without the immediate pressure of an approaching definite deadline, I concentrate better when I'm at the office, and I have a lot of fun. I've still got a long way to go to improve my productivity, but my first paper seems to be coming along nicely with the help of my supervisor and my super-supervisor.
Are you expecting anything more interesting than this? Whoops! I'm sorry but today's entry will just be an update on the state of my life and the state of the blog. But do not worry, we aren't done yet!.
Due to the aforementioned coping, I've revisited my past blogs,
http://tegid.wordpress.com/ (originally my msn space)
http://tintajaponesa.blogspot.com/ (the follow-up blog).
and I've found that, for being from so many years ago, there are some entries that aren't THAT bad. That has pushed me to post more, but I've decided to do part of the posting in Spanish. I won't be abandoning this blog, though, nor posting here the posts in Spanish.
I think I'm going to use tinta japonesa. Yes, I haven't used it in the last three years, and the title is terrible, but why increase the entropy of the internets? I don't know if it will be some sort of twin blog to this one or what (I doubt it), we will see.
-D-
Pd: Ah, yes! I'm going to recycle a habit I've seen I had in those blogs: beg for comments! Please comment! It really pushes me to writing if I know someone will read it! (Maybe this entry is not the best for commenting? Doesn't matter! Still begging)
Pd2: this entry will probably be very badly written because it was pretty much thought as I was writing and I haven't read it again, but I need to go to bed. Sorry!
lunes, 27 de diciembre de 2010
martes, 16 de noviembre de 2010
This is NOT dead
So, I haven't written in a while. Does it mean the blog has died already, after 3 entries? No, man! I get nice ideas to write every once in a while, but then I don't write them for one reason or another.
So here I am, writing today without any good ideas. I tried to recycle a bad idea I had some days ago but what came out was so bad I just deleted it. (It also repeated the topic of the last entry: religion).
So I'll just leave this here as testament that this blog has not been abandoned yet. (And to remind myself that I should write something. COME ON!!)
So here I am, writing today without any good ideas. I tried to recycle a bad idea I had some days ago but what came out was so bad I just deleted it. (It also repeated the topic of the last entry: religion).
So I'll just leave this here as testament that this blog has not been abandoned yet. (And to remind myself that I should write something. COME ON!!)
jueves, 23 de septiembre de 2010
Science, religion, and their grandmother.
[Disclaimer: this is a long entry, but I like it. Do you think I should split it into shorter entries? Anyway, I have tried to keep well-defined paragraphs, so they are almost independent and you can read whichever you feel like.]
Religion and science are perfectly compatible as long as religion doesn't try to explain how the world works and remains purely spiritual. Unluckily, most religions seem to not like that. Furthermore, the kind of religious systems that work like this are pretty sophisticated and many people won't accept them. Most people don't want spirituality, they want superstition, and any religion that caters to them is incompatible with science. It's a pity most religions want to keep a large base of believers and consequently adopt or at the very least accept superstitious elements in their dogma, many times standing against scientific advances. And no, I'm not talking about stem cells or other morally dubious (for some) research topics but about the obvious topics of evolutionary biology, archaeology and astronomy and others not as obvious like some treatments in medicine.
I used to think religion was a force that slowed social and (especially) moral changes in a way that was positive for society: by buying us the time to see which changes were actually good or bad, it allowed us to weed out some of the worst of them. I no longer think like that. First and foremost, because some of the changes religion allows seem awful to me, and also because it has delayed some advancements for far too long (centuries!). It may also be because, in the process of becoming a scientist, my life has centered more and more around knowledge. And religion has done the same thing with knowledge I thought it did with morals, with the very relevant difference that there is no weeding out to be done in scientific knowledge (or, rather, it is done by science itself). I now think that the possible moral benefit of religion on society, which had already become doubtful to me, is not worth stopping scientific advances that at the end of the day mean improving people's lives.
I left out of this moral element the elephant in the room: the bad deeds done by religious organizations themselves. It's not that they are not relevant, which they are: the possible positive influence in our morals is worth nothing if the religions themselves are working against it. No, I left it out because it has been commented to death, and also because I understand that this is not intrinsic to any religion. I do think it is inevitable when a religious organization becomes as big and powerful as the church, and it gives its members riches, power and an upstanding social position. At least some of the people in such an organization will try to cling to that power and position, perverting its message. What is the solution to this? Either a truly humble organization or a lot of smaller churches (preferably humble too). I understand why the pope doesn't don a monk's habit and live in poverty, I really do, but if there is people who do agree with me (and I believe they are a lot) why don't I see in europe some christian sect that has a humble leader, or hundreds of small congregations led by priests that have separated from the church (this only happens when they realy want to marry, which is fine to me and I think they should all do it*, but it doesn't seem like the best of reasons).
*Fun fact: I read a while ago that rabbis have to marry because otherwise how can they give advice about marriage? I think this is awesome.
PS: Please comment! All these are really things I think about and I would like some possible answers to what I don't know. As an agnostic going from religious believer to possibly atheist or maybe even back to believer (seems more improbable every day) I'll probably know many arguments but I really want to read some new ones.
Religion and science are perfectly compatible as long as religion doesn't try to explain how the world works and remains purely spiritual. Unluckily, most religions seem to not like that. Furthermore, the kind of religious systems that work like this are pretty sophisticated and many people won't accept them. Most people don't want spirituality, they want superstition, and any religion that caters to them is incompatible with science. It's a pity most religions want to keep a large base of believers and consequently adopt or at the very least accept superstitious elements in their dogma, many times standing against scientific advances. And no, I'm not talking about stem cells or other morally dubious (for some) research topics but about the obvious topics of evolutionary biology, archaeology and astronomy and others not as obvious like some treatments in medicine.
I used to think religion was a force that slowed social and (especially) moral changes in a way that was positive for society: by buying us the time to see which changes were actually good or bad, it allowed us to weed out some of the worst of them. I no longer think like that. First and foremost, because some of the changes religion allows seem awful to me, and also because it has delayed some advancements for far too long (centuries!). It may also be because, in the process of becoming a scientist, my life has centered more and more around knowledge. And religion has done the same thing with knowledge I thought it did with morals, with the very relevant difference that there is no weeding out to be done in scientific knowledge (or, rather, it is done by science itself). I now think that the possible moral benefit of religion on society, which had already become doubtful to me, is not worth stopping scientific advances that at the end of the day mean improving people's lives.
I left out of this moral element the elephant in the room: the bad deeds done by religious organizations themselves. It's not that they are not relevant, which they are: the possible positive influence in our morals is worth nothing if the religions themselves are working against it. No, I left it out because it has been commented to death, and also because I understand that this is not intrinsic to any religion. I do think it is inevitable when a religious organization becomes as big and powerful as the church, and it gives its members riches, power and an upstanding social position. At least some of the people in such an organization will try to cling to that power and position, perverting its message. What is the solution to this? Either a truly humble organization or a lot of smaller churches (preferably humble too). I understand why the pope doesn't don a monk's habit and live in poverty, I really do, but if there is people who do agree with me (and I believe they are a lot) why don't I see in europe some christian sect that has a humble leader, or hundreds of small congregations led by priests that have separated from the church (this only happens when they realy want to marry, which is fine to me and I think they should all do it*, but it doesn't seem like the best of reasons).
*Fun fact: I read a while ago that rabbis have to marry because otherwise how can they give advice about marriage? I think this is awesome.
PS: Please comment! All these are really things I think about and I would like some possible answers to what I don't know. As an agnostic going from religious believer to possibly atheist or maybe even back to believer (seems more improbable every day) I'll probably know many arguments but I really want to read some new ones.
martes, 21 de septiembre de 2010
Well, isn't this nice?
Someone has commented on my lack of abbreviations/contractions in past entries (thanks Axel). My natural response to that would've been that I was taught to not abbreviate when writing in a formal context. But then I thought: is this context formal? Nah, I don't think so!
This comment, as incredibly interesting as it might be, is not enough to warrant an entry in this blog. What I really wanted to talk about is the unbelievable load of work I have only one week into my PhD. Where last month I only had to worry about my master's thesis, now I have to find time for 6 different tasks. Of course, they are smaller in how much time they each require, but greater in importance and, altogether, I think I have more work to do (besides the extra effort organizing and splitting my time among all the tasks).
I wouldn't complain about the workload, I think it's doable, but I'm disorganized and this is stressing me pretty much: enough to lower my efficiency to laughable levels. I have spent most of the past two days procastinating, and I hate it. I know I have a lot to do, and not doing it stresses me which leaves me unable to do it. Nice huh?
Hopefully my professor will give me some pointers tomorrow and I'll be able to break the vicious cycle.
This comment, as incredibly interesting as it might be, is not enough to warrant an entry in this blog. What I really wanted to talk about is the unbelievable load of work I have only one week into my PhD. Where last month I only had to worry about my master's thesis, now I have to find time for 6 different tasks. Of course, they are smaller in how much time they each require, but greater in importance and, altogether, I think I have more work to do (besides the extra effort organizing and splitting my time among all the tasks).
I wouldn't complain about the workload, I think it's doable, but I'm disorganized and this is stressing me pretty much: enough to lower my efficiency to laughable levels. I have spent most of the past two days procastinating, and I hate it. I know I have a lot to do, and not doing it stresses me which leaves me unable to do it. Nice huh?
Hopefully my professor will give me some pointers tomorrow and I'll be able to break the vicious cycle.
jueves, 16 de septiembre de 2010
A good PhD start
Hello again! First of all, let me congratulate myself for writing a second post to my blog: it is more than most can say.
I will not offer you any well thought reflections or incredibly interesting snippets of knowledge. I have thought of some things to talk about over the last few days, but the ideas come and go so fast I cannot even take a note to remember them. Also, I am sleepy.
So I would rather just tell you about the first days of my PhD and why they have been exciting.
First of all, if I did not misunderstand what my supervisor told me (I really hope so!), in about a month I will be going to a congress for a short contribution (i.e. a poster) related to my Master's thesis. This is exciting, but I have known it for months now.
Yesterday my supervisor told me that we should take the first part of my thesis, complete it, and present it for publication as a scientific paper. She also said she is very busy this semester, but my scientific writing English is good enough that I should be able to start writing it by myself. The senior professor in the group will be giving me pointers. As you can imagine, I was really excited and very, very scared. But still, I thought 'well, my thesis is not all that, it is a pretty obvious result if you think about it', so it will be a low impact magazine, which is fine for a first paper.
Today, we had a meeting, we (well, the professors -supervisor and senior professor- did actually, because I am pretty much clueless) outlined what I should include in the paper. And when the senior professor went on to suggest a magazine, my supervisor interrupted and said she wanted to try the Biophysical Journal. And the senior professor was like 'Yeah, sure, it will be difficult but let's try, if we do it right it can have some impact'.
Now I am excited. This is one of the most relevant magazines in my field, with an impact factor over 4. For more relevant magazines you need to go to beyond the field into more general things: Cell, PNAS, Science, Nature...
Am I going to work hard? Yes, I am going to work hard. So hard.
PS: Please, please mercilessly critizize my writing, that is half the purpose of this blog. (But take into account I was half asleep while writing this).
I will not offer you any well thought reflections or incredibly interesting snippets of knowledge. I have thought of some things to talk about over the last few days, but the ideas come and go so fast I cannot even take a note to remember them. Also, I am sleepy.
So I would rather just tell you about the first days of my PhD and why they have been exciting.
First of all, if I did not misunderstand what my supervisor told me (I really hope so!), in about a month I will be going to a congress for a short contribution (i.e. a poster) related to my Master's thesis. This is exciting, but I have known it for months now.
Yesterday my supervisor told me that we should take the first part of my thesis, complete it, and present it for publication as a scientific paper. She also said she is very busy this semester, but my scientific writing English is good enough that I should be able to start writing it by myself. The senior professor in the group will be giving me pointers. As you can imagine, I was really excited and very, very scared. But still, I thought 'well, my thesis is not all that, it is a pretty obvious result if you think about it', so it will be a low impact magazine, which is fine for a first paper.
Today, we had a meeting, we (well, the professors -supervisor and senior professor- did actually, because I am pretty much clueless) outlined what I should include in the paper. And when the senior professor went on to suggest a magazine, my supervisor interrupted and said she wanted to try the Biophysical Journal. And the senior professor was like 'Yeah, sure, it will be difficult but let's try, if we do it right it can have some impact'.
Now I am excited. This is one of the most relevant magazines in my field, with an impact factor over 4. For more relevant magazines you need to go to beyond the field into more general things: Cell, PNAS, Science, Nature...
Am I going to work hard? Yes, I am going to work hard. So hard.
PS: Please, please mercilessly critizize my writing, that is half the purpose of this blog. (But take into account I was half asleep while writing this).
lunes, 13 de septiembre de 2010
Introduction
Welcome. This is a blog opened with the intention of writing for the sake of it, no matter how many people read or like it. Still, I hope I will be able to present some interesting ideas and explain engaging snippets of knowledge related (or maybe not, who knows) to the Ph D in biophysics I am doing.
That Ph.D. is exactly the reason I am starting this blog. Some friend posted on a social network this awesome Illustrated Guide to a PhD by Matt Might:
http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/
Which, as I said, I thought awesome. From there I continued to explore his blog, which contains lots of useful advice for PhD students. One thing he recommended was starting up a blog with the purpose of practicing writing. Which is important to me not only to practice my ability to transmit my ideas and knowledge in general, but also because even if English is not my mother tongue I will need to do most if not all of my PhD work in this language.
Which, as I said, I thought awesome. From there I continued to explore his blog, which contains lots of useful advice for PhD students. One thing he recommended was starting up a blog with the purpose of practicing writing. Which is important to me not only to practice my ability to transmit my ideas and knowledge in general, but also because even if English is not my mother tongue I will need to do most if not all of my PhD work in this language.
And here we are. I do not want to bore you, so I will stop here for today.
Have a nice day. I hope to see you soon!
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