Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2017 June 27

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June 27

Eligibility requirements for UC Board of Regents

What are the eligibility requirements to be appointed to the board of University of California Regents by the Governor of California? Does one have to be an United States citizen to be appointed or they can be permanent residents of the U.S. or be a Non-citizen US national, (e.g. American Samoan citizens)? Are the officeholders consider to be politicians and/or very important persons (VIP)? WJetChao (talk) 01:08, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

Regents of the University of California does not indicate any citizenship requirements. Depending on the definitions of "politicians and/or very important people," the answer is either yes, or no. DOR (HK) (talk) 14:15, 29 June 2017 (UTC)

Man of steel ad for Trump

Does anyone know what this "Man of Steel ad for Trump" is referring to here[1]? Could I find a clip of it on youtube? Scala Cats (talk) 01:48, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

"America Soaring", an ad run by Rebuilding America Now, got some media attention (e.g. "Donald Trump, Man of Steel" in the NYT). That ad does show "pensive workers in hard hats, all in super-slow motion", but not the exact slow motion images shown in your AM Joy clip. ---Sluzzelin talk 06:55, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

Oh. That's a shame. I was hoping The Donald was going to take up rugby league and try to win Man of Steel. That I'd love to see. Bigly. --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 09:59, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

Name of this law

It is often said that hospitals are required to provide service regardless of the ability to pay. Does this law have a name? Or is this simply a statement in the law code? How prevalent is this type of law? 50.4.236.254 (talk) 01:51, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

Duty to rescue? †dismas†|^(talk) 02:18, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

In the United States, this is regulated by the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. ---Sluzzelin talk 06:41, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

Thanks. The second link answers my question. I really like the Effects section. Like I expected, such a law does provide medical care for the uninsured but that means the hospital has to bear the burden of the costs! Denying medical care may seem uncompassionate, but from a fiscal perspective, it seems fair. Giving medical care to people who can't afford to pay is like giving away to moochers. Fortunately, this leads hospitals to treat patients first and then bill the patient for emergency room services. Though, there should be a requirement to notify the patient or his family that they will be billed. That way, they can refuse treatment on their own instead of being actively denied treatment. 50.4.236.254 (talk) 11:42, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

As to "how prevalent is this type of law", I think you will find that most countries either have universal health care or are not sophisticated enough to have comprehensive legislation that covers this type of thing, so it's quite rare. --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 12:23, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

Not law as such, but the Hippocratic Oath and its "decendants" form the basis of modern medical ethics - refusing to assist in cases of dire need is a profound breach of such ethical codes. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 06:40, 28 June 2017 (UTC)

What’s the point of anything if we’re all going to be dead someday?

??????????????????? Count Iblis (talk) 08:11, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

You might start with Quora where "What is the point of living if we are going to die and not remember anything?" gets 100+ answers. ---Sluzzelin talk 08:20, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

There is no point after you are dead, so live it while you are alive. manya (talk) 08:22, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

(edit conflict)See Hedonism. 94.195.147.35 (talk) 08:23, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

And Ecclesiastes 8¹⁵. 94.195.147.35 (talk) 08:30, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

Don't forget Nihilism... Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 11:47, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

Do you need a point? I think people are too goal oriented. I feel sad for people who go to a gym and work out so they get some exercise but don't enjoy it. Plus quite a large percentage of statisticians have never died so the chances look quite good in that profession :) Dmcq (talk) 12:26, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

Reincarnation.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 13:37, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

• This is the central question of Existentialism, which holds that unlike tools, which are created for a purpose, and beasts, which cannot question their nature, Humans are radically free, and do not have, but create their own essences, or purpose in life. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/existentialism/ μηδείς (talk) 16:55, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

Life is an illusion, and as such ultimately meaningless. But death is also an illusion; as conciousness is an intrinsic quality of the universe, there is never really any death to speak of, just an endless reconfiguration of matter and energy. Beyond the paradox? Joy, if you so choose... Earl of Arundel (talk) 09:45, 29 June 2017 (UTC)

What would be the point of anything if we were NOT to be dead someday? ;-)

Anyway. Philosophers answered you. Actually, death, and coping with it, is always a major issue in any philosophy, so just browse List of philosophies for their answer. I would name but 2.

According to one (don't remember which), the point of everything is to learn to die in peace.

ultimate pessimist/nihilist Emil Cioran did NOT commit suicide, although he contemplated the idea, because if life is so worthless, it is even not worth getting rid of it.

Gem fr (talk) 14:40, 29 June 2017 (UTC)

To quote that great philosopher Conan the Barbarian: "I have known many gods. He who denies them is as blind as he who trusts them too deeply. I seek not beyond death. It may be the blackness averred by the Nemedian skeptics, or Crom's realm of ice and cloud, or the snowy plains and vaulted halls of the Nordheimer's Valhalla. I know not, nor do I care. Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content." Iapetus (talk) 08:44, 30 June 2017 (UTC)

That is good. And of course in the film he told us what is best in life ;-) By the way his statement in the film is supposed to be based on one attributed to q:Genghis Khan but unfortunately like many good quotes the attribution is disputed. Dmcq (talk) 12:39, 1 July 2017 (UTC)

The nature of a life depends on the nature of life itself, which is hardly less mysterious. But why does a person feel and what does a person feel; what is a person? We understand that memory is encoded in a particular structure, the hippocampus, or sometimes, on scraps of paper. The access to old memories makes us feel like a person. But what if we could access someone else's memories? That is readily accomplishable; there are those working on a prosthetic hippocampus currently who think they can accomplish it. (I think they go badly astray for paranormal reasons I should not detail here; I've ranted on too often...) But if you remembered someone else's memories in place of their own, wouldn't you feel you were them? What is the difference? And if you forget everything, does that mean you died when you forgot it? If you forget anything, does that mean you died when you forgot it? One conclusion I would make is that consciousness is atman and therefore that death is not actually the end of anything. Wnt (talk) 00:52, 2 July 2017 (UTC)

My view is that if you forget everything you become the beginning of everything. Count Iblis (talk) 01:09, 2 July 2017 (UTC)

I interpret that to mean that you think consciousness is a finite state machine and that all finite state machines in the same state are the same. But are finite state machines in a different state different? If a person is not the same person from one moment to the next, I think this is not a very useful definition of person. Also, I disagree that human memory is truly the same as finite state memory, because I'd fairly convinced it can be accessed before it is written, leading to causality violations; these may act as boundary conditions that link the universe with an external source of consciousness. Wnt (talk) 10:50, 2 July 2017 (UTC)

What? Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 11:39, 2 July 2017 (UTC)

@Sagittarian Milky Way: Suppose you start with the assumption that precognition occasionally happens. Now note that consciousness is inherently a paranormal phenomenon -- there is no equation you can write that 3 O2 + h\nu + 15 kJ = you really feel it, you're not just saying that, it's not just an unconscious reflex.... (I know consciousness is often described as an emergent phenomenon, which means essentially nothing; potentially, the encoding of "ideas" is so unrelated to physical states that abnormal phenomena are possible, sort of like how people study "magnetic monopoles" in toy systems; but I don't know if that applies) Note that essentially all paranormal phenomena can be explained in terms of precognition (you sensed Aunt Maisie pass because you remembered the time she died from when you heard later on that day). Now precognition on the macroscopic scale is (at least) rare, and dangerous (cf. Cassandra; things that will happen because advance knowledge of them has pushed the flow of 'random' events to bring about that outcome. However, precognition becomes more relevant when considered on the microscopic scale, when there is only a short delay from when something is remembered until when it is recorded. (Laozi: Foreknowledge is Tao blossoming; it is also the flower of folly. The truly wise seek the center, not the surface; take the fruit, leaving the flower. Accept one and reject the other.) Imagine you pull a ticket out of a machine, read a number from it, then put the ticket back in the machine, which sends the number five seconds into the past. What number does it read? Is that random or deterministic? Neither; it is free will, generating information that did not come from the past. If spacetime is the solution to a mathematical equation, such a causality violation is a boundary condition determining what it is. Take the time reverse of this process and you have qualia. (Both processes may be two-way, but the entropic constraint is much less on one than the other; free will is indeed compromised by time travel or macroscopic precognition) Now this has much in common with a dualistic belief; it supposes that what is "really special" about human consciousness projects outside the ordinary universe we know, and may even link it with others according to some entirely different set of laws - once you get to the causality violation, none of our physics tells what will happen with it. Note also that a succession of parallel universes may be viewed as a divine process of Creation. Wnt (talk) 00:00, 3 July 2017 (UTC)

Gurkha Error

Hello I checked an article about Gurkha and I disagree with a small portion of the Article. The information which is there related to Gurkha soldier recruitment is incorrect. The Gurkha regiments whether they are from India or The UK, they recruit only ethnic Gurkhas as soldiers. Tharus and Madhesis are not Gurkhas. This information is wrong and needs to be corrected. I am not sure who edited that article but it's incorrect. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Theeverest (talk • contribs) 08:19, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

Anyone can edit the article - you can do it yourself if you can provide a good source for your statement. Alternatively, you could raise it on the article's Talk page, where those who have worked on it are more likely to see it. However, the official recruitment documents do not specify ethnic groups - any Nepali can apply. Wymspen (talk) 08:51, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

This is currently a debated topic in India and Nepal, which have a difficult relationship. To simplify, the Gurkhas are soldiers in the Indian army who were recruited from Nepal (in other words, the Nepali army). That is the modern definition. There is currently no ethnic definition for Gurkhas. If you use Gurkha as an ethnic term, you are referring to Indian people who speak Nepali. The Medhesis were mentioned specifically in the issue above. The Medhesis people have been settling in Nepal. When they join the Nepali army, they are not instantly transferred to the Indian army. They are part of the Nepali army, the Gurkha. I mentioned that this is a debated topic because it came to a head last year when the PM of Nepal visited Delhi. Nepal, opposed to the incoming immigrants, banned Medhesis from joining the Gurkha. He was asked why they made the ban and replied that the ban was on Medhesis immigrants who were not yet citizens. He also asked why India didn't enlist the Medhesis in their own army. There are still a few good articles about the interaction without heavy slant towards India or Nepal, such as this one. 209.149.113.5 (talk) 12:47, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

For those not in the know, the relevant article is Gurkha. --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 12:57, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

I'm not sure about the Indian Army, but recruitment of British Army Gurkhas does not involve the Nepalese Army at any stage. As the Indian and British Gurkhas were the same force before 1947, it seems likely that similar arrangements apply, but I stand to be corected on that. Peoples of Eastern Asia, Volume 8 (p. 454) says: "The Gurkhas are not a separate ethnic group but are drawn mainly from Tibeto-Nepali peoples, such as the Magar, Gurung, Limbu and Rai". Alansplodge (talk) 12:14, 28 June 2017 (UTC)

Hmm but as to the OP's specific comment, it does sound per 209's refer that at least for the Indian Army, there is some controversy over who can join

Tarai-Madhes Sadbhawana Party (TMSP) Chairperson Mahendra Ray Yadav demanded a rethink of the Indian policy that allows the recruitment of people from only the hill communities in the Gorkha regiments. “Entry of Madhesis should also be allowed,” Yadav told the Indian ruling parties.

Nil Einne (talk) 14:18, 28 June 2017 (UTC)

Your list (Magar, Gurung, Limbu and Rai) is four of the five (missing Chhetri) primary ethnic groups of Nepal. As for the British Army Gurkhas, they were Indian Army Gurkhas. They were Nepali. Some may technically be citizens of neighboring countries, but they are ethnically Nepali and most likely speak Nepali. 209.149.113.5 (talk) 18:35, 28 June 2017 (UTC)

Well, British Gurkha units are descended from units that were previously British Indian Army units 70 years ago. My point is that they are not connected with the Nepalese Army as you appeared to state. However, the crux of the issue is, can we prove whether or not Madhesi people are recruited into Gurkha regiments. The statement in our article that they are recruited is unsourced, and has been queried by the OP who believes that they are not. So we need to find a reliable source to settle the issue. Alansplodge (talk) 21:43, 28 June 2017 (UTC)

Swiss farinet

News sources are reporting that a complementary currency, the farinet, will be used in Switzerland. The denominations will be 1F, 5F, 10F, 13F, 20F, 50F, and 100F, each worth the same as the amount in Swiss francs.

My question is, what is the point of the 13F denomination? It is rather an odd and arbitrary choice, and there is no corresponding franc banknote.211.23.25.64 (talk) 09:01, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

Selection of note and coin denominations is an application of the change-making problem. For coins (in decimal systems) I've seen suggestions or a 37 cent, 27 cent or 18 cent coin, but not 13 as a suggestion for either coins or notes. It may be someone has has decided what kind of transactions this new local currency will be used for, and used that as parameters for the optimisation algorithm linked above. But what little information I can find doesn't explain their reasoning. -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 09:28, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

I finally found one reference. It mentions that 13 is a "tribute to the star flag", which I presume is the flag of the Valais canton (where these banknotes are issued) as that flag has 13 stars. The banknotes were also introduced on May 13, at 13:13. I suspect they also did it to attract attention and it seems to have worked, as other sources state that there is a shortage of the new currency and the 13 is, in particular, popular with collectors. No longer a penguin (talk) 09:37, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

Yes, and the stars represent the thirteen districts. And I agree that they also did it to attract attention, all part of the tourist marketing strategy. Note (as explained in the Italian article linked by Nlap) that the currency itself is named after the Valais' (and probably entire Switzerland's) most famous counterfeiter of money, the legendary Joseph-Samuel Farinet (remembered, not least, thanks to the novel Farinet ou la Fausse Monnaie by Ramuz who, in turn, is depicted on the current real and official 200 franc note. ---Sluzzelin talk 09:46, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

Right. And the 13F actually carries a picture of the flag. This is not a new phenomenon - the British post office issues stamps for some very obscure amounts. On investigation these usually turn out to correspond with entries on the current price list for posting items. A 99 pence coin has often been proposed as it corresponds to the "pence" part of the amount shown on many price tickets. 94.195.147.35 (talk) 10:20, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

Stamps are a bit different - all postal organisations have always issued stamps valued at the most used postal rates - and also for the amounts needed to make one rate up to the next one - so if the main rates are 67p and 53p there will probably be a 14p stamp as well (or at least a 10p and a 4p). Odd values for bank notes is very unusual. Wymspen (talk) 12:00, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

Speaking of stamps, in the US, after the price of a stamp changed to 3¢ in 1851, they introduced a 3¢ coin that continued in use for some decades. About 100 years later, when the Coca-Cola company found itself under pressure to raise its longstanding price of 5¢ for a small bottle, they actually asked the US government if it would introduce a 7½¢ coin, even though coins in fractions of a cent had not been issued since 1857. Probably fortunately for everyone else, the answer was no. --76.71.5.114 (talk) 06:56, 28 June 2017 (UTC)