Dachshunds Dogs

 

Nuclear Bombs

 

Wild West Photos

 

Nuclear Monday

 

A Star Older Than the Universe

For as long as humans have contemplated the Universe, we’ve marveled at the vastness of it all. Was our Universe infinite? Was it eternal? Or did it spring into existence a finite amount of time ago? Over the 20th and 21st centuries, these existential questions for all-time have, one-by-one, fallen into the realm of science, and now have the best answers we’ve ever been able to assemble. 

As of today, in 2024, we can confidently state that we actually know how old the Universe is: 13.8 billion years old, marking time at the start of the hot Big Bang. If we could step back through time, we’d find that the universe as we know it was a very different place early on. Modern stars and galaxies arose from a series of gravitational mergers of smaller-mass objects, which themselves consisted of younger, more pristine stars. 

At the earliest times, there were no stars or galaxies, and even farther, no neutral atoms or stable atomic nuclei, going all the way back to the hot Big Bang. Today, astronomers and astrophysicists who study the early universe confidently state its age with an uncertainty of no more than ~1%: a remarkable achievement.      READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Sean "Diddy" Combs sells stake in Revolt, the media company he founded, amid sexual assault allegations (More) | Eight-time Grammy-winning songwriter The-Dream accused in lawsuit of rape and trafficking (More)

> Janis Paige, prolific Broadway and film actress, dies at 101 (More) | Brother Marquis, longtime member of rap group 2 Live Crew, dies at 58 (More)

> Three-time reigning champion Oklahoma to face off against Texas in 2024 NCAA Women's College World Series finals beginning tonight (8 pm ET, ESPN) (More)


Science & Technology
> AI models trained on human speech can be repurposed to analyze dog vocalizations; approach may help provide insight into animal communications (More)

> Researchers discover the twin of an atmospheric effect nicknamed "Steve"; the phenomenon is similar to the aurora borealis but appears as purple ribbons in the sky at dusk and dawn (More) | All about Steve (More)

> New model predicts the mechanics of knitted materials, a complex mathematical problem despite its age-old use in textiles; results may help develop new wearable electronics and improve manufacturing processes (More)

Business & Markets
> US stocks close higher (S&P 500 +0.2%, Dow +0.4%, Nasdaq +0.2%) amid interest rate uncertainty (More) | US job openings in April fall to 8.1 million, the lowest level in three years, while layoffs also fall (More)

> Microsoft and Google collectively lay off hundreds of employees in their cloud businesses as companies prioritize investment in AI (More)

> Appeals court rules VC firm Fearless Fund cannot issue grants solely to Black women, an approach the court says likely violates the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which barred the use of race in contracts; Fearless Fund to consider going to trial (More)

Politics & World Affairs
> Hunter Biden's gun case to continue today after opening statements and first witness called (More) | See previous write-up (More) | Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) brings felony forgery charges against three associates of former President Donald Trump for 2020 fake elector scheme (More)

> India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi on track for rare third term in narrower-than-expected victory as his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party loses outright majority (More) | Two people arrested in the UK after former Brexit leader Nigel Farage assaulted with milkshake while announcing his candidacy for upcoming elections (More)

> Rep. Andy Kim (D, NJ-3), Republican entrepreneur Curtis Bashaw win New Jersey Senate primaries; Kim and Bashaw will face off in November against indicted Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who filed to run for reelection as an independent (More)

SOURCE:  1440 News

Dems versus GOP

 

After 60 years of watching politics and politicians play the game throughout the USA and in Washington, DC, I am convinced that the DEMOCRATIC PARTY has by far the best UNIFIED party of the two...

Years ago, it was pretty obvious that each party had a different but cut and dry approach to how the government should be managed.

DEMS wanted

Large government

Government Welfare

High taxes

Regulated Corporations

Small military

GOP wanted

Small government

Minimal welfare

Low taxes

Minimal regulations on corporations

Large military

While there were differences, the two parties always got together to work out their differences and compromise.

COMPROMISING IS GONE...

It is clear that the new Democratic Strategy is to SILENCE the opposition to the extent that the conservatives or GOP never again controls the Presidency or the Congress or the Supreme Court or the Judicial System in general.

Over the years, the Democratic Party has not only UNIFIED THEMSELVES with this goal but they have managed to get mainstream media to support their efforts as well.

The GOP has not even come close to that kind of unity, influence, power, and control.

While there may be many Dems that are leaving their party because they do not like this new direction, they are becoming independents rather than GOP Republicans.

That should tell us something...

NOW...  not only have the Dems got control of the media but they have control of our education system as well from K-12 and well into many of our colleges and universities.

SMART MOVE...

When these students become voting aged Americans they are already indoctrinated into the Dem's way of thinking.

Additionally, many of our companies support the Dems as well as many of our millionaires and billionaires.

This is STRANGE because many of these billionaires used the conservatives and their views to help get themselves wealthy...  because the Dems want to take money away from the wealthy and give to the poor to increase (by lowering the value) the middle class.

That attitude just does not make sense, but it is happening...  George SOROS, along with Bezos, Gates, and Zuckerburg have aligned their wealthy with the Dems...

BUT...  even more disastrous and more to the point the GOP (Republicans) have not been able to stop this from happening.

The GOP is politically impotent.

They deserves to lose their power and control and be SILENCED and CENSORED by the Democratic Party.

Right now...   only Donald Trump is keeping that from happening and he is beginning to LOSE as the deck is stacked against him...

Gym Cat

 

Quantum Physics Simplified

Quantum mechanics is simultaneously our most powerful and weirdest scientific theory. It’s powerful because it offers exquisite control over the nanoworld of molecular, atomic, and subatomic phenomena. It’s weird because, while we have a complete mathematical formalism, we physicists have been arguing for more than a century over what that formalism means. In other words, unlike other physical theories, the mathematics of quantum mechanics has no clear interpretation. That means physicists and philosophers have been left arguing about which interpretation makes the most sense. Sometimes the idea of “simplicity” is invoked to answer that question.

The “simplest” explanation
There are two main parts of the quantum formalism. The first is what’s called the dynamical equation. This part gives us a mathematical description of how undisturbed systems evolve. We physicists love our dynamical equations — things like Newton’s equations for particles or Maxwell’s equations for electromagnetic waves. In classical physics, the dynamical equation was pretty much the end of the story. Nothing else was required and we came to think of those equations as existing “out there.” They were timeless laws of physics that never required any reference to what physicists were doing.     READ MORE...

Lift Off

 

James Webb Telescope Photos

 

The Last Great Democratic President

The biography for President Kennedy and past presidents is courtesy of the White House Historical Association.

John F. Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States (1961-1963), the youngest man elected to the office. On November 22, 1963, when he was hardly past his first thousand days in office, JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, becoming also the youngest President to die.

On November 22, 1963, when he was hardly past his first thousand days in office, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was killed by an assassin’s bullets as his motorcade wound through Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was the youngest man elected President; he was the youngest to die.

Of Irish descent, he was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May 29, 1917. Graduating from Harvard in 1940, he entered the Navy. In 1943, when his PT boat was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, Kennedy, despite grave injuries, led the survivors through perilous waters to safety.

Back from the war, he became a Democratic Congressman from the Boston area, advancing in 1953 to the Senate. He married Jacqueline Bouvier on September 12, 1953. In 1955, while recuperating from a back operation, he wrote Profiles in Courage, which won the Pulitzer Prize in history.

In 1956 Kennedy almost gained the Democratic nomination for Vice President, and four years later was a first-ballot nominee for President. Millions watched his television debates with the Republican candidate, Richard M. Nixon. Winning by a narrow margin in the popular vote, Kennedy became the first Roman Catholic President.

His Inaugural Address offered the memorable injunction: “Ask not what your country can do for you–ask what you can do for your country.” As President, he set out to redeem his campaign pledge to get America moving again. His economic programs launched the country on its longest sustained expansion since World War II; before his death, he laid plans for a massive assault on persisting pockets of privation and poverty.

Responding to ever more urgent demands, he took vigorous action in the cause of equal rights, calling for new civil rights legislation. His vision of America extended to the quality of the national culture and the central role of the arts in a vital society.

He wished America to resume its old mission as the first nation dedicated to the revolution of human rights. With the Alliance for Progress and the Peace Corps, he brought American idealism to the aid of developing nations. But the hard reality of the Communist challenge remained.

Shortly after his inauguration, Kennedy permitted a band of Cuban exiles, already armed and trained, to invade their homeland. The attempt to overthrow the regime of Fidel Castro was a failure. Soon thereafter, the Soviet Union renewed its campaign against West Berlin. Kennedy replied by reinforcing the Berlin garrison and increasing the Nation’s military strength, including new efforts in outer space. Confronted by this reaction, Moscow, after the erection of the Berlin Wall, relaxed its pressure in central Europe.

Instead, the Russians now sought to install nuclear missiles in Cuba. When this was discovered by air reconnaissance in October 1962, Kennedy imposed a quarantine on all offensive weapons bound for Cuba. While the world trembled on the brink of nuclear war, the Russians backed down and agreed to take the missiles away. The American response to the Cuban crisis evidently persuaded Moscow of the futility of nuclear blackmail.

Kennedy now contended that both sides had a vital interest in stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and slowing the arms race–a contention which led to the test ban treaty of 1963. The months after the Cuban crisis showed significant progress toward his goal of “a world of law and free choice, banishing the world of war and coercion.” His administration thus saw the beginning of new hope for both the equal rights of Americans and the peace of the world.

For more information about President Kennedy, please visit the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum.

Learn more about John F. Kennedy’s spouse, Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy.

Nude Photogreaphy

Concrete Homes - 3D Printer

 

Challenges to the US Energy Grid

No other energy source has seen more rapid growth in the United States over the past half a decade than solar power. But soaring solar installations have begun to distort the power distribution and transmission systems in the top solar-producing states such as California, creating challenges for utilities and the grid.

Battery storage could help alleviate these challenges, and although it is also surging, it is still lagging behind solar capacity additions.

It is no wonder then that despite a continuous decline in U.S. coal power generation, the share of coal in America’s electricity mix is still above 15%, more than any renewable energy source.

All renewable energy sources combined—wind, solar, hydropower, biomass, and geothermal—surpassed coal-fired generation in the U.S. electric power sector for the first time in 2022. But coal still holds about a 16% share of electricity generation, more than wind’s share of around 11%, hydropower’s 6%, or solar power’s 4% share of the electric generation mix.  READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Minnesota Vikings sign wide receiver Justin Jefferson to four-year, $140M extension, the most lucrative non-quarterback deal in NFL history (More) | Larry Allen, Pro Football Hall of Fame offensive lineman, dies at 52 while vacationing in Mexico (More)

> American YouTuber MrBeast passes Indian music label T-Series to become the platform's most-subscribed channel with 269 million subscribers (More)

> Pop music legend Cyndi Lauper, 70, announces her "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" farewell tour with 23 stops across North America (More)


Science & Technology
> Engineers develop generative AI model to help multipurpose robots learn new movements and tasks in unfamiliar environments; applications include basic motions like flipping a spatula or turning a wrench (More)

> Physicists create a Bose-Einstein condensate out of molecules instead of single atoms for the first time; the phenomenon occurs when more than 1,000 ultracold molecules act as one giant quantum mechanical object (More) | Watch a simple overview of the effect (More)

> Researchers discover fungus capable of breaking down plastic polyethylene, the most common type of plastic pollutant in the world's oceans (More) | Mapping the world's plastic pollution hot spots (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 +0.1%, Dow -0.3%, Nasdaq +0.6%); Dow falls on weaker-than-expected US manufacturing data (More) | New York Stock Exchange resolves temporary technical glitch that caused volatility in at least 40 stocks, including Berkshire Hathaway (More)

> GameStop shares close up 21% after trader Keith Gill, known as "Roaring Kitty" on social media, posts screen shot showing possible $116M stake in company (More) | Stericycle shares close up 15% on news of Waste Management acquiring the medical waste disposal company for $7.2B, including debt (More)

> Skydance Media, Paramount Global reportedly agree to terms of a merger deal valued at $8B, with official announcement expected in coming days; Paramount's annual shareholders meeting takes place today (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> President Joe Biden to issue executive order today reportedly granting border agents authority to turn away migrants with asylum requests after reaching daily average of 2,500 migrant encounters (More) | South Korea plans to suspend 2018 military pact with North Korea due to trash balloon dispute (More)

> Mexico elects Claudia Sheinbaum, 61, as country's first female president; the former Mexico City mayor secured more than 58% of the vote in the presidential election (More) | India begins counting votes in its general elections (More)

> Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) files for reelection as an independent; Menendez is currently on trial for federal bribery charges (More) | Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D, TX-18) announces pancreatic cancer diagnosis (More)

SOURCE:  1440 News

Rituals and Routines

 

Every morning, after feeding the cats and taking my thyroid pill, I use my Keurig machine and make a 12-ounce cup of coffee using McCafe coffee pods.  Into that cup of coffee, I pour in three teaspoons of Sugar Free French Vanilla Cappuccino Mix.  I usually have 3-4 cups of coffee while watching FOX News.

I watch Fox News not because I am a Republican but because I am an American who does not want to listen to biased news from the liberal media outlets.  I used to watch CNN and CBS but not since I found out that were censoring out conservative news.

I don't want to government or a media outlet telling me how I should think or what information I should hear or not hear.

You find it interesting to know that I am a card-carrying Kennedy Democratic who left the party after I did not like the direction the democratic party was heading into.

My views are LIBERAL while also conservative and I am not a fan of the Democrat Progressive movement.

After my morning coffee and intake of news, all of which takes about 90 minutes, I begin gathering material for both my blogs for the next day.  My two blogs are Reflections (poetry) and Journal (interesting news and stuff).  In my poetry blog, I may type up a poem from my past library or just write one that morning.

The journal blog takes a little more effort because in addition to finding interesting news articles that interest me, I also intersperse more creative stuff like videos and photos.

This usually takes me to the noon hour and will be the first time that I will eat anything.  It might be scrambled eggs, sausage and grits or a tuna sandwich, a pimento cheese sandwich, yogurt, or raisin bran cereal.

My afternoons are spent working my novels, watching some kind of mindless TV series or movie, or out working in the yard or talking with neighbors.

Bear in mind that my daily rituals and routines are interrupted with doctor visits that might include visits with:  Oncology, Dermatology, Cardiology, Dentist, ENT, or our family physician.  Sometimes, my wife has a procedure where she will need a driver - those are usually in the mornings.  

Ever since my wife retired with me in 2015, I have had the responsibility of cooking my own food.  So, my afternoons or early evenings could be devoted to cooking something.  When I do cook, I make enough to last 3-5 days so minimize my time in front of the stove.

I have prepared myself all sorts of soups, spaghetti, lasagna, casseroles, pies, cakes, bread, chilis, omelets, quiches, meatloaf, stews, etc.  I try to always incorporate onions, garlic, bell peppers, mushrooms, potatoes, celery, rice, noodles, and carrots in most everything I make.  Sometimes after cooking those items, I will use a submersible blender to create a soup stock of sorts.

At night, I will return to working on my novels while the cats sit with me on the couch, laying on either side of my legs.

While I might get a tad distressed over the national or global news, it is not something I stress out about.  I may write down my opinion and publish it on my journal blog but being 76 years old, I am simply too old to give a shit about the direction of this country.

I served my country in the military for 6 years and paid my dues in the marketplace for 45 years.  I pay my taxes every year and will always support whoever the President might be...  but, now that I am retired, I have no vested interest in what happens to this country.

I do not say this tongue and cheek because by the time something serious happens like China invading the USA, I will be dead.

As far as all the illegal immigrants in this country, I am convinced that they are not interested in EAST TENNESSEE...  and I doubt they are really interested in any region of Tennessee since most of the residents of this state own rifles and handguns and many of us have carry permits.

Tennesseans don't take kindly to STRANGERS...

My day(night) always ends drinking a cup French Vanilla Cappuccino...  and it does not bother me at all to have to wake up 2-3 times during the night to urinate.

Artist

 

The Quantum Universe

Arrows of Time
As far as we know, the fundamental dynamical laws are time neutral --- preferring no direction of time over another. Yet our universe exhibits a number of `arrows of time' --- general phenomena that distinguish directions in time. There is the thermodynamic arrow of time --- the fact that presently isolated systems are mostly evolving towards equilibrium in the same direction of time. There is the electromagnetic arrow of time --- electromagnetic radiation is retarded. 

There is the psychological arrow of time --- we remember the past, experience the present, and predict the future. There are the arrows of time supplied by the expansion of the universe and the growth of inhomogeneity. And then, there is the quantum mechanical arrow of time defined in Copenhagen quantum mechanics by the direction in time the wave function of a subsystem is reduced on measurement. The papers below in various ways show how arrows of time arise in quantum cosmology from asymmetries in quantum conditions that specify our universe even though the dynamical laws are time neutral.   READ MORE...

Senator John Kennedy

 

The Trump Verdict

 

From George SOROS to his son, to OpEds from Newsweek, CNN, NPR, MSNBC et al, there is widespread belief among the LIBERAL MAINSTREAM MEDIA that all the Democrats have to do to keep Donald Trump from winning the Presidency is refer to him as a CONVICTED FELON.

In a few weeks when that sinks in, most of Trump's supports will leave him and while they will not vote for Biden, they will not cast a vote at all.

TO THIS I SAY BULLSHIT...

Who am I?

I am a 76 year old NOBODY is who I am and it is because that I am a nobody that my thoughts can align with the feelings of the general public.

Let me draw you attention to Bonnie and Clyde, the story of Robin Hood, Zorro, and many movies that have focused on the banding together of people when they feel like the system is rigged against them and they need a hero to fight back for them.

The Trump Verdict that it is now being referred to was bogus.  The charges were outlandish.  Past the statute of limitations misdemeanor's supposedly committed to influence an election.

Despite the fact that all 34 counts will be reversed upon appeal, let's look at some of the facts.

• A  biased DA
• A biased Judge
• A biased Jury
• A key witness that is a convicted serial liar

So, the more that the liberal Democrats and the liberal media refer to Donald Trump as a CONVICTED FELON, the more it will infuriate his supporters.   Not only that, but people who are not Trump Supporters do not like that the JUSTICE SYSTEM has been weaponized against another American.

Once the public sees the legal system has been used against him, support will come out of the woodwork to get him into office.

FINALLY...

Once the general public realizes that Biden is 81 years old and that there is a good possibility he will not be physically fit during the next four years.  Kamala Harris will take over for him and I doubt that many Democrats actually want the possibility that she might become President...

This fear is far greater than any fear potentially presented by Donald Trump...

You need to seriously think about what's at stake and stop thinking that the general public IS STUPID.

Wealth of Nations

The Wealth of Nations

Eamonn Butler's Condensed Wealth of Nations is available to download here.

The book's broad themes
The first theme in The Wealth of Nations is that regulations on commerce are ill-founded and counter-productive. The prevailing view was that gold and silver was wealth, and that countries should boost exports and resist imports in order to maximize this metal wealth. Smith’s radical insight was that a nation’s wealth is really the stream of goods and services that it creates. Today, we would call it gross national product. And the way to maximise it, he argued, was not to restrict the nation’s productive capacity, but to set it free.

Another central theme is that this productive capacity rests on the division of labour and the accumulation of capital that it makes possible. Huge efficiencies can be gained by breaking production down into many small tasks, each undertaken by specialist hands. This leaves producers with a surplus that they can exchange with others, or use to invest in new and even more efficient labour-saving machinery.

Smith’s third theme is that a country’s future income depends upon this capital accumulation. The more that is invested in better productive processes, the more wealth will be created in the future. But if people are going to build up their capital, they must be confident that it will be secure from theft. The countries that prosper are those that grow their capital, manage it well, and protect it.

A fourth theme is that this system is automatic. Where things are scarce, people are prepared to pay more for them: there is more profit in supplying them, so producers invest more capital to produce them. Where there is a glut, prices and profits are low, producers switch their capital and enterprise elsewhere. Industry thus remains focused on the nation’s most important needs, without the need for central direction.

But the system is automatic only when there is free trade and competition. When governments grant subsidies or monopolies to favoured producers, or shelter them behind tariff walls, they can charge higher prices. The poor suffer most from this, facing higher costs for the necessities that they rely on.

A further theme of The Wealth Of Nations is that competition and free exchange are under threat from the monopolies, tax preferences, controls, and other privileges that producers extract from the government authorities.

For all these reasons, Smith believes that government itself must be limited. Its core functions are maintaining defence, keeping order, building infrastructure and promoting education. It should keep the market economy open and free, and not act in ways that distort it.

Production and exchange
The Wealth Of Nations begins with Smith explaining production and exchange, and their contribution to national income. Using the example of a pin factory, Smith shows how specialisation can boost human productivity enormously. By specialising, people can use their talents, or acquire skill. And they can employ labour-saving machinery to boost production. Then they exchange those specialist products, spreading the benefits of specialisation across the whole population.

How far and how fast the benefit spreads depends on how wide and efficient is the market. Often, employers try to rig markets in their own interests, and call on governments to help them. But the best interests of ordinary people are served if policymakers avoid such interventions and promote open competition.

The accumulation of capital
Smith goes on to say that building up capital is an essential condition for economic progress. By saving some of what we produce instead of immediately consuming it, we can invest in new, dedicated, labour-saving equipment. The more we invest, the more efficient our production becomes. It is a virtuous circle.

Thanks to this growth of capital, prosperity becomes an expanding pie: everyone becomes richer. But capital can be lost, through mistakes, or theft, or profligate government spending. Governments should aim to allow people to build up capital in the confidence that they will enjoy its fruits, and should be aware that their own taxation and spending will eat into the nation’s productive capital.

Economic policy
Just as individuals gain from specialisation, says Smith, so do nations. There is no point trying to grow grapes in Scotland, when they grow so plentifully in France. Countries should do what they are best at, and trade their products. Restrictions on international trade inevitably make both sides poorer. Legislators think too much of themselves when they believe that by intervening, they can direct production better than the market can.
The role of government

Smith is critical of government and officialdom, but is no champion of laissez-faire. He believes that the market economy he has described can function and deliver its benefits only when its rules are observed – when property is secure and contracts are honoured. The maintenance of justice and the rule of law is therefore vital.

So is defence. If our property can be stolen by a foreign power, we are no better off than if our own neighbours steal it. And Smith sees a role for education and public works too, insofar as these collective projects make it easier for trade and markets to operate.

Where tax has to be raised for these purposes, it should be raised in proportion to people’s ability to pay, it should be at set rates rather than arbitrary, it should be easy to pay, and it should aim to have minimal side effects. Governments should avoid taxing capital, which is essential to the nation’s productivity. Since most of their spending is for current consumption, they should also avoid building up large debts, with draw capital away from future production.

The Wealth of Nations today
Smith’s world was very different to ours, of course, before the Industrial Revolution changed everything. At yet, by showing how the freedom and security to work, trade, save and invest promotes our prosperity, without the need for a directing authority, The Wealth Of Nations still leaves us with a powerful set of solutions to the worst economic problems that the world can throw at us. The free economy is an adaptable and flexible system, which can withstand the shock of the new, and cope with whatever the future brings.

Main themes of the book
The Theory Of Moral Sentiments was a real scientific breakthrough. It shows that our moral ideas and actions are a product of our very nature as social creatures. It argues that this social psychology is a better guide to moral action than is reason. It identifies the basic rules of prudence and justice that are needed for society to survive, and explains the additional, beneficent, actions that enable it to flourish.

Self-interest and sympathy. As individuals, we have a natural tendency to look after ourselves. That is merely prudence. And yet as social creatures, explains Smith, we are also endowed with a natural sympathy – today we would say empathy – towards others. When we see others distressed or happy, we feel for them – albeit less strongly. Likewise, others seek our empathy and feel for us. When their feelings are particularly strong, empathy prompts them to restrain their emotions so as to bring them into line with our, less intense reactions. Gradually, as we grow from childhood to adulthood, we each learn what is and is not acceptable to other people. Morality stems from our social nature.

Justice and beneficence. So does justice. Though we are self-interested, we again have to work out how to live alongside others without doing them harm. That is an essential minimum for the survival of society. If people go further and do positive good – beneficence – we welcome it, but cannot demand such action as we demand justice.

Virtue. Prudence, justice, and beneficence are important. However, the ideal must be that any impartial person, real or imaginary – what Smith calls an impartial spectator – would fully empathise with our emotions and actions. That requires self-command, and in this lies true virtue.

The argument of the book
Morality, says Smith, is not something we have to calculate. It is natural, built into us as social beings. When we see people happy or sad, we feel happy or sad too. We derive pleasure when people do things we approve of, and distress when we believe they are doing harm.

Of course, we do not feel others’ emotions as strongly as they do. And through our natural empathy with others, we learn that an excess of anger, or grief, or other emotions distresses them. So we try to curb our emotions to bring them into line with those of others. In fact, we aim to temper them to the point where any typical, disinterested person – an impartial spectator, says Smith – would empathise with us.

Likewise, when we show concern for other people, we know that an impartial spectator would approve, and we take pleasure from it. The impartial spectator is only imaginary, but still guides us: and through experience we gradually build up a system of behavioural rules – morality.

Punishments and rewards have an important social function. We approve and reward acts that benefit society, and disapprove and punish acts that harm it. Nature has equipped us with appetites and aversions that promote the continued existence of our species and our society. It is almost as if an invisible hand were guiding what we do.

Justice. For society to survive, there must be rules to present its individual members harming each other. As Smith comments, it is possible for a society of robbers and murderers to exist – but only insofar as they abstain from robbing and murdering each other. These are the rules we call justice.

If people do not help others when they could, or fail to return a good deed, we may call them uncharitable or ungrateful. But we do not punish people to force them to do good: only for acts of real or intended harm. We force them only to obey the rules of justice, because society could not otherwise survive.

Conscience. But nature has given us something even more immediate than punishment, namely our own self-criticism. We are impartial spectators, not only of other people’s actions, thanks to conscience. It is nature’s way of reminding us that other people are important too.

Moral rules. In the process of making such judgements on a countless number of actions, we gradually formulate rules of conduct. We do not then have to think out each new situation afresh: we now have moral standards to guide us.

This constancy is beneficial to the social order. By following our conscience, we end up, surely but unintentionally, promoting the happiness of mankind. Human laws, with their punishments and rewards, may aim at the same results; but they can never be as consistent, immediate, or effective as conscience and the rules of morality engineered by nature.

Virtues. Smith ends The Theory Of Moral Sentiments by defining the character of a truly virtuous person. Such a person, he suggests, would embody the qualities of prudence, justice, beneficence and self-command.

Prudence moderates the individual’s excesses and as such is important for society. It is respectable, if not endearing. Justice limits the harm we do to others. It is essential for the continuation of social life. Beneficence improves social life by prompting us to promote the happiness of others. It cannot be demanded from anyone, but it is always appreciated. And self-command moderates our passions and reins in our destructive actions.

Freedom and nature, Smith concludes, are a surer guide to the creation of a harmonious, functioning society than the supposed reason of philosophers and visionaries.

Optical Illusions