Pale Blue Dot

Pale Blue Dot was a famous image taken by Voyager 1 from a distance of 6 billion kilometres, in which Earth appeared as a pale blue dot. This happened on February 14^th, 1990, now almost 35 years ago. We learned only this week Voyager 1 has now travelled over 25 billion kilometres, and this at a relative speed of 17 km per second away from us.

From a purely scientific point of view, we didn't absolutely need this picture. We knew perfectly well Earth would appear as a pale blue dot from such a large distance. However, as a scientist concerned about the world, Dr. Carl Sagan decided back in 1990 that it would be worth the trouble to take this shot.

Indeed, the meaning of this image can’t be underestimated. Knowing how something will look like is not the same experience as actually seeing it from such a distance, be it with a remote probe. Humankind took a radical change of perspective there.

Pale Blue Dot sheds feeble light on our extreme isolation and our extreme vulnerability in the universe, something Carl Sagan had extensively explained in his famous television series Cosmos.

I refer to my blog Voyager’s Amazing Tales. 

Picture: By NASA/JPL-Caltech - https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA23645.jpg, Public Domain, Link

The Yerkes - Dodson Law

On this Blue Tuesday, we may want to have a look at yet another work performance theory, namely the Yerkes-Dodson law. In its most classical representation, it shows work performance on the Y-axis versus arousal (stress level) on the X-axis. The curve typically has an ‘inverted u’-shape or bell shape. For complex tasks, the stress level tipping point (maximum) typically occurs at lower levels of stress than for simple tasks.

The scope of validity of the Yerkes-Dodson law may be a point of discussion among experts, but we all feel it corresponds to our own experience. We need a little bit of stress to come to good performance – we call this ‘flow’. However, when stress gets too high, we tend to get anxious, superficial, confused and we lose our concentration.

In a certain way this law pleads against additional pressure and against multitasking. Multitasking may be required when individuals need to achieve a certain productivity for the money they are paid. Productivity has become a major concern in labour market policies. Nowadays, you couldn't afford giving an employee a single task, although it could be better for his stress level.  Multitasking increases the complexity of work and increases our stress level. We will inevitably end up on the lower right-hand sides of the curves and show relatively poor work performance. Stress and all related inefficiencies seem to be unavoidable in this valley of tears. It may make sense to spare our colleagues and ourselves from more.

Let us further reflect on the Yerkes-Dodson Law at work and at school.

I refer to my blog: The Disconnected Worker.

Picture: Afbeelding van Enrique Meseguer via Pixabay

Poise, Bravery, and Hope

New Year’s resolutions usually aim at doing something, either more or less. We may intend to do more sports, eat less, smoke less, or even work less. Could we also aim at changing our attitude and state of mind to a certain extent? It may be needed in this time when everyone around us seems to be in deep despair about our future, whether it relates to work, war, immigration, climate, or the dangers of eating Christmas trees.

In this valley of tears, there is really a lot to worry about. Although there is always a slight irony in my blogs, our common tendency to be pessimistic is not totally unjustified. Our fears are triggered by the incredible rate at which everything changes. We are missing solid structures in our lives. The solid structures of religion, marriage, family, work often turn into liquids, and it sometimes looks as if we always need to restart reconstructing them like Sisyphus. It makes us extremely vulnerable. Even worse, pessimism may become self-fulfilling.

My New Year’s resolution would be to stay steadfast in the face of uncertainty. We can’t really decide never to be afraid. Fear is an emotion and usually catches us unexpectedly. We can however try to keep our poise and stay brave in the face of what is coming. The brave attitude is certainly less comfortable than the ‘run away’ or ‘blame it on the others’ attitude but it is the one which we regret the least later on. What keeps us going is the hope. The pessimists may be right but hope never dies.

Picture: pedestrian bridge in Tours, France 2019 ©Wim Lahaye

Ode to EYE

On December 17^th, 1994, exactly 30 years ago, on a dark rainy Saturday morning a few European young engineers gathered in the town of Ghent and signed a Declaration of Intent, which led to the birth of EYE six months later.

In my view, this was the most decisive moment in the genesis of EYE. At that time, I was president of the Young Flemish Engineers’ movement K VIV-Jongeren. Earlier in that famous year 1994, the Dutch young engineers of KIVI (Alex van der Veen, Roel Coppoolse) had come to Antwerp to convince us of starting a European Young Engineers’ movement. It didn’t take them long and soon we started editing a ‘Declaration of Intent’, together with Philippe Stas, Luc Bongaerts and with Jan De Strooper, the young VIK president.

We discovered the Dutch had a national reality, whereas we Belgians lived in a regional country, where several organisations may co-exist in different regions. This difference between Belgium and the Netherlands proved to be fruitful in the long term. It required some diplomacy to develop a first declaration which would be suited for all European countries, and which would later become the basis of EYE. December 1994 was the moment the whole machine needed to get started; at the same time the moment we had invested so much time in. 

When the Declaration of Intent was signed, I referred in my speech to the symbolic nature of the town of Ghent, be it with some black humour. We had signed our treaty near the place where in 1576, the Pacification of Ghent had been signed between the states of Holland, Utrecht, Zeeland and a number of states in today’s Belgium. Only six months later, on June 16th, 1995, the first general EYE meeting took place. England, Finland, Germany and Ireland were among the first nations to join us.

Therefore, as this is also Beethoven’s birthday, let us play his Ode to Joy, the European Hymn!

I refer to EYE, the origins and to my blogs: “European Young Engineers” and “The Dream of the Silent” (Dutch).

Picture 1: Afbeelding van Niek Verlaan via Pixabay

Picture 2: Oldest EYE group picture in front of Gravensteen, Ghent, 17 December 1994

Let so much suffering not be in vain

"Tantus labor non sit cassus" is a sentence in the Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) sequence (form of poem – song). The cheerful subject is the end of man and the end of the world. The man who anxiously awaits his final judgment begs to be saved. The title sentence is a sort of warning, almost a threat: if at least a number of people are not allowed to be saved (including me), then the suffering of Christ will have been in vain. So don't let the first happen (and save me) lest the second happen. One might even recognize in the sentence a certain moral blackmail against God: if He does not save me and my peers, then He will have made the suffering of His own Son meaningless.

We can also apply it to the salvation of our world: "Let so much suffering not be in vain." The Church regularly points out that man is appointed to the management of nature and that he must be accountable for it. If man is letting the world perish by continuing his clear-cutting, then all the sacrifices made by Christ and his followers, including all the sacrifices made by climate activists, will have been in vain.

It can be good to be reminded of this every year. Do I consider the climate activists here to be the modern-day followers of Christ? In a certain way, yes. Of  course, the climate deniers also have their arguments, but in general I do advocate caring and good stewardship with our earth and it is a good time of the year to bring that up again.

I also refer to my blog: "Day of Wrath".

Afbeelding van Peace,love,happiness via Pixabay

The Art of Delegating

The work around us tends to multiply. Even and especially at peak performance in our work, we need to think timely of new employees and potential successors. If we don't train them in time we may get lost on our lonely island of work and be forgotten by mankind after our death. Workplaces don’t carve the names of the deceased in stone, not even in sand. Without successors it is not only us who will be forgotten but even the fruit of our work will disappear for good.

Breeding new successors requires trust. A successor can only continue your work if you took the time to make him/her familiar with your work. You also need to allow him/her to make a contribution to your work so that your work also becomes his/her work. Your successor also needs to trust you otherwise he/she will not take care of the continuity of your work. A successor doesn’t only need your knowledge, your skill or your craftsmanship. He/she also needs your motivation and your fire.

Therefore, let us slow down our current work a little and talk to potential successors. In the long run our work will not have slowed down and it will be our successors who will bring our work to completion and fulfilment.

Picture: Thorbeke Monument in the Hague via Pixabay.

The Legacy of Dag Hammarskjöld

63 Years ago on September 18^th, 1961, UN secretary-general Dag Hammarskjöld died in a plane crash near Ndola in Zambia. The plane crash happened in suspicious circumstances. The TV documentary “Cold Case Hammarskjöld” sheds some light on these circumstances, but the truth remains hidden in secret circles and may never be revealed. Whatever happened, Dag Hammarskjöld is a person worth remembering because of his unwavering integrity and his willingness to do the right thing. There is no doubt about his good intentions. He surely wanted to bring peace and justice to the people of central Africa.

His legacy also includes his writings. His book Vägmärken or Markings reveals a vulnerable soul, willing to bring sacrifices for the greater good of mankind. He was a man of great spirituality.

His death was predicting the misery central Africa would go through in the years after and up until this day. May his remembrance be a stimulus for bringing peace to this part of the world.

Beatus vir qui sperat in eo – Blessed is the man who puts his hope in Him.

I also refer to my blog: Truth and Justice are not found through Alliances