That's the end of that conversation then

Recently I have become increasingly frustrated with people who, on hearing I am doing a PhD in physics, say "Well that's the end of that conversation then" or something similar (flying cars included).

The overt implication of this is to that they are saying that they couldn't possibly understand. But what they are actually saying is either:

1) They don't believe that I am capable of explaining it to them at a level they can engage with.
2) They are just not interested (or possibly they are scared).

I actually find both of these very rude. Firstly I am developing the ability to explain my work at an appropriate level to different audiences. When people do show an interest they might learn something which they may even find interesting and exciting. But I'm no evangelist, I'm not going to try and persuade them they should be interested.

Whoever I meet I am able to engage them with and show an interest in what they do (for at least a short while, depending on what it is). Often I am very interested and enjoy these interactions.. Whether it be a study of the portrayal of Victorian social constraints in Hardy, or the econometrics of development, or human rights law, or selling polystyrene cups to petrol stations. Why should physics be any different? Personally I think that what I am doing is both important and exciting. Ignorance is excusable, rudeness is not.

That said, when people do ask the question, "What do you do?" I will no longer reply that I am doing a PhD in Physics but "I am working to create a clean and unlimited energy source for the future".

Semi secret, semi self-obsessed

I have removed the facebook import of this blog so that I can safely post here without the whole world knowing I just wrote something. This blog has been dormant a while, so I'm guessing it gets checked rarely if at all but perhaps some people savvy with feeds will read this. And new stalkers could still find it if they trawl carefully enough.

I still feel self conscious about the self publicity, self obsessed nature of a blog, especially as my life now is probably not as interesting now as when I was travelling. But I may have some things to say, as new environments and new experiences always give us new perspectives. So I don't mind a few close friends reading here if they are interested. And I think blogs are becoming more socially acceptable with the advent of facebook.

I was also toying with a more anonymous outlet for some of my more crazy-controversial-devil's-advocate-test-the-water-speculations but that isn't getting the readers I thought it might. So I may also post some of those here toned down and with appropriate this-is-not-my-actual-opinion disclaimers.

So give me a shout if you're reading this. Or I may plough on and post some stuff anyway, if I don't get distracted by life. And if for some reason facebook still imports this post I will feel rather stupid!

Postscript: 9/9/08

I've decided it is better to be less secret, less self obsessed and more read.  And the controversial stuff has yet to materialise so I am re-enabling the facebook import!

China, Tibet, Cockles

I have been having some interesting conversations with my Chinese housemate recently. She does not fit my stereotype of an informed Chinese student rebel who is concerned about human rights abuses and resents the government. Perhaps it shows just how effective their propaganda is, but I welcome the different perspectives, as it is always refreshing to challenge our own perceptions. Are we just as subject to propaganda?

This article is an exploration of different perspectives, conceptions and starting points. I cannot claim to have a detailed or balanced knowledge of the Tibet issue. This is about how our perceptions are easily coloured even without such a depth of knowledge.

Her first argument is that politics should not impede on the Olympic games. Tibet is an internal Chinese matter that is not the business of the rest of the world. She compares government quenching riots to the riot police that were deployed in France race riots last year. The Tibetans are having a race riot, killing innocent Chinese. Barring of journalists is just 'The Chinese way'.

Such world events are always politicised, and the Olympics has always been so (think Munich) Sport cannot take place between countries without diplomatic relations. And the Tibetan protestors know that such a high profile event is a great opportunity to highlight their cause and likely force the Chinese government's by embarrassing them. They do it because they can successfully amplify diplomatic pressure on China's human rights record. People believe that a flagship event such as the Olympics should embody certain 'good' values.

I argued that China has chosen to engage with the world and therefore must play this diplomatic game. China has economic power and this is why it won the Olympics in spite of concerns about human rights. The rest of world (whilst not whiter than white) can choose to express its disapproval of human rights abuses through a boycott. In diplomatic relations far removed from the possibility of military force, sport forms one of many diplomatic levers.

In general, she feels 'The World' is always against China: In unfair trade agreements, in visa restrictions, in western investments in China that are exploitative. She does not see Chinese economic strength as a benefit arising from engaging with the world economy. She does not see that China is fairly good at fighting for itself on the world stage, and uses its economic muscle to cause others to turn a blind eye to the human rights record. She does not see that China owns a huge chunk of American debt by choice.

One example that highlights to me the intransigence of our different perspectives was the story of the 20-30 Cockle pickers who died last year in Morecoombe bay. From my point of view, the story is a tragedy in which illegal Chinese immigrants died whilst being exploited by a gang - the public outrage this led to a new bill covering gangworkers. To her, it was an example of British emergency services leaving people to die simply because they were Chinese. Clearly the reporting of this story that we had heard was very different.

At this point I said I couldn't proceed with the argument without having more facts to hand about the night in question: How far progressed was the situation when the emergency services were called? What information did they receive? What resources were available to them? From this information I could form a judgement about if the emergency services had acted appropriately.

Now whilst I accept that there is no such thing as absolute objectivity and the BBC news reporting is not perfect, this would often be my first reference in a question about a news story. In this discussion it could not be considered to be objective. A few Google searches from different (English language) news sources (and Wikipedia) brought no answer to my questions above and no mention of the allegation. I still await a news source to be shown to me which contains the allegation she made. With Google translate I might even have a bash a reading some Chinese ones.

Suddenly you find there are no starting points from which to begin a debate, no common ground to agree on. What I thought was my balanced, open, free thinking mind is viewed by another as dogmatic. If you question your own views with an open mind, you may admit that you are falling back on a perceived truth. And it is revealing. Somewhere we all put our faith in something.

The last first?

Our trip to Quitaraju wasn't quite as successful as previous ones - As the 5th expedition our bodies were getting tired and I had a passing fever which stopped me getting to the Alpamayo col camp. Two of my friends did, but even they didn't make it to the summit. When we got back from that trip we decided it would be our last trip into the mountains - there is a limit to how long and how far you can push your body and going beyond it wouldn't be sensible. So the two of us that are left have been using up our last few days at the beach and doing a bit of surfing. 5 months is a long time to be away, and I am ready to come home now. I know that I'm not the type to catch the wanderlust and become a perennial traveller. I'm looking forward to having roots and work to focus my energies on.

People keep saying to me that I've packed a lot into my gap year, and looking back, I suppose I have - but none of it felt rushed. And in the main, I wouldn't change the things I've done or the way I've done them. The highlights for me have been learning Spanish and climbing the mountains. Others have used the phrase "trip of a lifetime" - but I don't like this phrase because for me the implication is that I will never do anything as exciting again. It's all about your horizons - and each time you do something new they are expanded a little bit further.

Looking back, it is hard to overestimate how much a trip like this can mature you and give you confidence. Before I came, I was nervous about travelling solo in an unknown culture across a language barrier. But now these things are familiar and not daunting. There is plenty more of South America to see - now that I have some Spanish I am keen to visit Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Columbia, Mexico... But although I still have many places I want to explore, travelling will be less daunting, and I don't need to prove anything to myself. Travelling now holds less firsts, though of course there are many challenges in other parts of life which I feel ready to take on. I also know myself better and have greater discernment in deciding the things I want to do.

So this will be my last entry from South America. Whether my new life as a PhD student is interesting enough to keep me blogging is an open question.

Earthquake

Yesterday evening an Earthquke of magnitude 8.0 on the Richter Scale hit Peru, with the epicenter near Pisco. 70% of Pisco is in ruins according to BBC news. The current death toll is at 350 and likely to rise. I was in Pisco and Ica myself just a few weeks ago. Lima felt the earthquake very strongly and people were scared but damage and casualties there could have been a lot worse.

Here in Huaraz we felt it for about 30 seconds but it was fairly mild and there was no damage or casualties here. I was sitting playing chess in the very nice Cafe Andino and we felt the building move. At first I asked "Is that the wind?" but quikcly realised it couldn't be. We then started headed for the "Zona segura en caso de sismos" which every well built building should have marked - but by the time we got there it had passed. After a few minutes everyone went back to their coffees. We didn't actually realise until today how serious it was when we heard the news.

So myself and my friends are all fine. Whether we will be affected by ongoing problems remains to be seen. However, any inconvience to us is nothing compared to the devastation of the lives of many thousands south of Lima.

FC

Vallunaraju, 5686m

So we made it up another 5000er, Vallunaraju. There were some spectacular views from the summit - we spent an hour there to enjoy them .


(More) Pics from the last few trips


One of our number is heading home on Friday, but I should have time for two more trips. Certainly next week we are heading out on a long trip to climb one more 6000er - with a 2 day walk in its a long way - but we will get great views across to Alpamayo - "The most beautiful mountain in the world".

After this the question is whether we will have the motivation and mental energy for another trip - each trip is an expedition in itself and quite draining. But when we look back on our time here I am sure we will be happier if we did climb one last mountain in our last week, so we should try to find the energy.

Tocllaraju, 6032m

We made it up Tocllaraju without any major problems. We had a high camp on the glacier at 5100m with spectacular views. We set of 2.30am in the morning, so most of the hard work was done in the dark and we were on the summit by 10am. Of the 5 groups on the mountian that day, it was gratifying to be first on the top - especially as a queue formed for a tricky step and steep bit near the top - as we abseiled down others were waiting to go up. Photos to come.

Off today for another 5000er - a new friend has arrived and needs to acclimitise before we atempt another 6000er.