You know how we often ponder how it has become so visciously partisan?

[TalkingDog]

well... it's weird, but.... sunspots

http://www.helium.com/items/2122034-scientists-research-warns-humanity-may-be-facing-vortex-of-death

Professor Raymond Wheeler, from the University of Kansas, at first almost stumbled into the frightening data. The connection was initially discovered by noted Russian scientist Alexander Chizhevsky during 1915: solar storms trigger conflict, wars and death. A vortex of death.

Chizhevsky found after intense research that the rise and fall of solar activity—interacting with the earth's magnetic field—causes mass changes in human's perspective's, moods, emotions and behavioral patterns. All are affected by sunspots and solar flares.


Building upon the Russian scholar's research, Wheeler applied a numerically weighted ranking system during the 1930s to separate wars and even individual battles assessing them on length and severity.




Real guy, real research, real correlation. If people's ethical/moral behavior can be changed (temporarily suppressed) with the application of a EM field (as has been shown in a recent study), you gotta wonder if all those EM pulses from sunspots are affecting us in ways we haven't recognized yet.

[Bluerthanblue]

1. I can't dismiss this as foolishness-

If you look back through history, many of our most turbulent times have coinsided with some strange natural events.

[TalkingDog]

2. At this point, a strong correlation is just that.

We still have a lot to learn about how electromagnetic energy affects our brain function.

[Bluerthanblue]

5. oh, I understand that- and agree.

I heard a radio segment recently about flamingos which had ended up in Siberia in the winter. Part of the discussion talked about studies which show that migration is thought to be directed by electromagnetic energy which is tied to the earth's poles, and that the theory that for some reason, on occasion the 'wiring' went awry, and caused the birds to fly north rather than south.

It was another interesting example of how much we have yet to learn and understand.

[PVnRT]

3. Uhhhh OK

Here are the last 11 cycle peaks Reference:
Cycle 13 - January 1894
Cycle 14 - February 1906
Cycle 15 - August 1917
Cycle 16 - April 1928
Cycle 17 - April 1937
Cycle 18 - May 1947
Cycle 19 - March 1958
Cycle 20 - November 1968
Cycle 21 - December 1979
Cycle 22 - July 1989
Cycle 23 - March 2000

In fact, the minimum of Cycle 15 is only a year before the start of WWI - the maximum of that cycle occurred well after. How does this explain that? I'm sure one could probably run some numbers and find a similar correlation to solar minima. The fact someone spots a pattern is meaningless. Our brains have evolved to find patterns everywhere.

The article makes definitive statements - "All are affected by sunspots and solar flares" - without any discussion of the mechanism by which they do so, aside from some hand-waving about magnetic fields affecting our brains, with little citation beyond that.

Solar cycles do affect the Earth - auroras, satellite interference, geomagnetic storms. Saying that they're somehow responsible for mass psychosis and violence is well beyond a stretch. Historical events take years to develop, driven by all kinds of causes, yet somehow they coincide with solar activity? Right.

By the way, citing someone as "not a crackpot" because they've been nominated for a Nobel Prize is not exactly a winning endorsement. Anyone can nominated - Bush was nominated many times, Kissinger won one, and numerous scientists who have won the Nobel Prize were borderline lunatics. Check out William Shockley, Kary Mullis, Phillipp Lenard and Brian Josephson for starters.

[TalkingDog]

4. I actually am only interested because of the recent study using EM fields

to dampen the "moral center". I never suggested causality... only an interesting correlation.

Since you seem to be keen on rigour... it's rather disingenuous to hold the researcher to a standard you won't follow yourself. You can't cherry pick data. One example that does not fit the pattern does not disprove a pattern.

And by the way.... I didn't write the article. Nor do I endorse it wholeheartedly. So if you have "issues" with the language and content, take it up with the author please.

[PVnRT]

6. It was an example I thought of off the top of my head

So, no, I'm not being disingenuous, I'm asking a legitimate question with an example as a highlight.

This is the study you're referring to. Yes, it's interesting, but the subjects were exposed to an extremely specific magnetic pulse (either 1 Hz or 10 Hz for differing periods of time). Furthermore, in the discussion, they say:

"Participants continued to judge accidental harms (neutral belief, negative outcome) as more permissible than intentional harms (negative belief, negative outcome) and attempted harms (negative belief, neutral outcome) as more forbidden than nonharms (neutral belief, neutral outcome)...Consistent with prior estimates, we found that TMS to the RTPJ reduced participants' use of beliefs (by ~15%) but did not block the use of beliefs completely."

This seems to contradict what your linked article is asserting, that somehow increased magnetic activity caused by increased solar activity causes us to suddenly get more violent and crazy. It looks like TMS may have some therapeutic benefit to moral development, but there's no evidence that natural magnetic fields do anything to organisms that lack a natural compass.

If you didn't want any kind of discussion of this article, you shouldn't have posted it.