「組織は好きではない．でも，組織がなければ生きられない． それならば組織の中でテキトーに生きてゆくしかない．」

　３０作品に及ぶシリーズで，世のサラリーマンの共感を呼んだ植木さんだが， 実は素顔とのギャップに大いに悩んだ．

　もともと寺の住職の息子．父は部落解放運動の闘士で，治安維持 法違反で入獄もした硬骨漢だった．故・青島幸男さんから「スー ダラ節」の歌詞を渡された植木さんは，「人生が変わってしまうかも」と悩ん で父に相談．「この歌詞は親鸞の生き方に通じる」と諭され， 歌うことを決意したエピソードは有名だ．

…
…家族やマネジャーには，こう言い残していた．

　何かあったら密葬にして，延命措置もしないでくれ――．

Almost all marmosets have chimeric blood, and half the males have chimeric sperm. Female marmosets almost always have fraternal twins.

Marmosets, small monkeys that live in South America, have long been a genetic enigma. Marmoset mothers almost always give birth to fraternal twins, which develop from two eggs and are thus genetically distinct. In 1962, scientists at Dartmouth Medical School discovered that almost all marmosets carry some blood-generating stem cells that began in their twin sibling.

Animals that carry cells from another individual are known as chimeras. Aside from marmosets, chimeras have been discovered in humans, cats and cows. But scientists have long thought that chimerism was a rare fluke.

Marmosets were different. Almost all of them had chimeric blood, and they were all healthy. It appears that they swap cells so often because of their peculiar development. In the womb, their placentas grow quickly and fuse, creating a network of blood vessels through which cells can travel from one twin to the other.

In 1991, Jeffrey French, a primatologist at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, set up a colony of marmosets. He and his colleagues have tracked their family history ever since. Recently one of his graduate students, Corinna Ross, set out to find a paternity test for marmosets. She developed a method much like the test used to identify human fathers. Small regions of DNA known as microsatellites are very prone to mutating, creating a kind of genetic fingerprint that's different from one family to another.

...
The discovery of rampant chimerism in marmosets led the Nebraska scientists to wonder if it affected how parents treated their children. Primates can recognize their offspring by distinctive odors. But a marmoset with chimeric skin would give off two odors -- its own, and that of its twin sibling.

The scientists found that mothers carried babies with chimeric skin less than they carried babies with only one set of skin cells. Fathers, on the other hand, carried chimeras over twice as much as non-chimeras.

...
“This changes how we think of marmosets as individuals, but it also changes how we think of the term at all," she said. A male mates with a female, who gives birth to his brother's offspring. “But most of his body also has his brother's genes. So what is he as an individual?"

THE FACTS For years, it has been said that people looking for an easy way to disinfect their soiled sponges, which can become remarkable germ magnets, can pop them in the microwave. The practice has become common. But is it effective?

In recent years, at least two studies have put the claim to the test, and both have confirmed it. The most recent, published in the December 2006 issue of The Journal of Environmental Health, found that microwaving kitchen sponges and other scrubbing pads for one to two minutes at full power could reduce levels of bacteria, including E. coli and other common causes of food-borne illness, by more than 99 percent.

A previous study in 1999 found that many bacteria are eliminated within the first 15 seconds of being heated by microwave, and that only E. coli survive longer than 30 seconds.

To avoid fires or overheating, the authors of the 2006 study recommended that only damp sponges and those without metal be zapped. But some experts say the practice poses a safety hazard and should be discouraged. Some news accounts have described cases in which kitchen sponges caught fire while being cooked by microwave.

Damage to an area of the brain behind the forehead, inches behind the eyes, transforms the way people make moral judgments in life-or-death situations, scientists reported yesterday. In a new study, people with this rare injury expressed increased willingness to kill or harm another person if doing so would save others' lives.

The findings are the most direct evidence that humans' native revulsion to hurting others relies on a part of neural anatomy, one that evolved before the higher brain regions responsible for analysis and planning.

...
The finding could have implications for legal cases. Jurors have reduced sentences based on brain-imaging results showing damage. The new study focused on six patients who had suffered damage to the ventromedial area from an aneurysm or a tumor. The cortex is the thick outer wrapping of the brain, where the distinctly human, mostly conscious functions of thinking and language reside. "Ventral" means "underneath," and "medial" means "near the middle." The area in adults is about the size of a large plum.

...
The researchers, from the University of Iowa and other institutions, had people with the injury respond to moral challenges. In one, they had to decide whether to divert a runaway boxcar that was about to kill a group of five workmen. To save the workers they would have to flip a switch, sending the car hurtling into another man, who would be killed.

They favored flipping the switch, just as the group without injuries did. A third group, with brain damage that did not affect the ventromedial cortex, made the same decision.

All three groups also strongly rejected doing harm to others in situations that did not involve trading one certain death for another. They would not send a daughter to work in the pornography industry to fend off crushing poverty, or kill an infant they felt they could not care for. But a large difference in the participants' decisions emerged when there was no switch to flip ― when they had to choose between taking direct action to kill or harm someone (pushing him in front of the runaway boxcar, for example) and serving a greater good.

Those with ventromedial injuries were about twice as likely as other participants to say they would push someone in front of the train (if that was the only option), or suffocate a baby whose crying would reveal to enemy soldiers where the subject and family and friends were hiding.

The difference was very clear for all the ventromedial patients, said Dr. Michael Koenigs, a neuroscientist at the National Institutes of Health who led the study while at the University of Iowa. After repeatedly endorsing killing in these high-conflict situations, Dr. Koenigs said, one patient told him, "Jeez, I've turned into a killer."

The other authors included Dr. Daniel Tranel of Iowa; Dr. Marc Hauser of Harvard; and other neuroscientists.

Some animals are surprisingly sensitive to the plight of others. Chimpanzees, who cannot swim, have drowned in zoo moats trying to save others. Given the chance to get food by pulling a chain that would also deliver an electric shock to a companion, rhesus monkeys will starve themselves for several days.

Biologists argue that these and other social behaviors are the precursors of human morality. They further believe that if morality grew out of behavioral rules shaped by evolution, it is for biologists, not philosophers or theologians, to say what these rules are.

...
Religion can be seen as another special ingredient of human societies, though one that emerged thousands of years after morality, in Dr. de Waal's view. There are clear precursors of morality in nonhuman primates, but no precursors of religion. So it seems reasonable to assume that as humans evolved away from chimps, morality emerged first, followed by religion. "I look at religions as recent additions," he said. "Their function may have to do with social life, and enforcement of rules and giving a narrative to them, which is what religions really do."

As Dr. de Waal sees it, human morality may be severely limited by having evolved as a way of banding together against adversaries, with moral restraints being observed only toward the in group, not toward outsiders. "The profound irony is that our noblest achievement ― morality ― has evolutionary ties to our basest behavior ― warfare," he writes. "The sense of community required by the former was provided by the latter."

...
Many philosophers believe that conscious reasoning plays a large part in governing human ethical behavior and are therefore unwilling to let everything proceed from emotions, like sympathy, which may be evident in chimpanzees. The impartial element of morality comes from a capacity to reason, writes Peter Singer, a moral philosopher at Princeton, in "Primates and Philosophers." He says, "Reason is like an escalator ― once we step on it, we cannot get off until we have gone where it takes us."

That was the view of Immanuel Kant, Dr. Singer noted, who believed morality must be based on reason, whereas the Scottish philosopher David Hume, followed by Dr. de Waal, argued that moral judgments proceed from the emotions.

But biologists like Dr. de Waal believe reason is generally brought to bear only after a moral decision has been reached. They argue that morality evolved at a time when people lived in small foraging societies and often had to make instant life-or-death decisions, with no time for conscious evaluation of moral choices. The reasoning came afterward as a post hoc justification. "Human behavior derives above all from fast, automated, emotional judgments, and only secondarily from slower conscious processes," Dr. de Waal writes.

However much we may celebrate rationality, emotions are our compass, probably because they have been shaped by evolution, in Dr. de Waal's view. For example, he says: "People object to moral solutions that involve hands-on harm to one another. This may be because hands-on violence has been subject to natural selection whereas utilitarian deliberations have not."

…
Dr. de Waal's definition of morality is more down to earth than Dr. Prinz's. Morality, he writes, is "a sense of right and wrong that is born out of groupwide systems of conflict management based on shared values." The building blocks of morality are not nice or good behaviors but rather mental and social capacities for constructing societies" in which shared values constrain individual behavior through a system of approval and disapproval." By this definition chimpanzees in his view do possess some of the behavioral capacities built in our moral systems.

"Morality is as firmly grounded in neurobiology as anything else we do or are," Dr. de Waal wrote in his 1996 book "Good Natured." Biologists ignored this possibility for many years, believing that because natural selection was cruel and pitiless it could only produce people with the same qualities. But this is a fallacy, in Dr. de Waal's view. Natural selection favors organisms that survive and reproduce, by whatever means. And it has provided people, he writes in "Primates and Philosophers," with "a compass for life's choices that takes the interests of the entire community into account, which is the essence of human morality."

But it was not always that way. Allan M. Brandt, a medical historian at Harvard, insists that recognizing the dangers of cigarettes resulted from an intellectual process that took the better part of the 20th century. He describes this fascinating story in his new book, "The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall and Deadly Persistence of the Product that Defined America" (Basic Books).

…
In 2004, Dr. Brandt was recruited by the Department of Justice to serve as its star expert witness in the federal racketeering case against Big Tobacco and to counter the gaggle of witnesses recruited by the industry. According to their own testimony, most of the 29 historians testifying on behalf of Big Tobacco did not even consult the industry's internal research or communications. Instead, these experts focused primarily on a small group of skeptics of the dangers of cigarettes during the 1950s, many of whom had or would eventually have ties to the tobacco industry.

"I was appalled by what the tobacco expert witnesses had written," Dr. Brandt said in a recent interview. "By asking narrow questions and responding to them with narrow research, they provided precisely the cover the industry sought."

Apparently, the judge, Gladys Kessler of Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, agreed. Last August, she concluded that the tobacco industry had engaged in a 40-year conspiracy to defraud smokers about tobacco's health dangers. Her opinion cited Dr. Brandt's testimony more than 100 times.

Now researchers have found that people with musical training have an easier time learning Chinese.

Writing in the online edition of Nature Neuroscience, researchers from Northwestern University say that both skills draw on parts of the brain that help people detect changes in pitch.

One of the study's authors, Nina Kraus, said the findings suggested that studying music "actually tunes our sensory system." This means that schools that want children to do well in languages should hesitate before cutting music programs, Dr. Kraus said. She said music training might also help children with language problems.

Mandarin speakers have been shown to have a more complex encoding of pitch patterns in their brains than English speakers do. This is presumably because in Mandarin and other Asian languages, pitch plays a central role. A single-syllable word can have several meanings depending on how it is intoned.

For this study, the researchers looked at 20 non-Chinese speaking volunteers, half with no musical background and half who had studied an instrument for at least six years. As they were shown a movie, the volunteers also heard an audiotape of the Mandarin word "mi" in three of its meanings: squint, bewilder and rice. The researchers recorded activity in their brain stems to see how well they were processing the sounds.

Those with a music background showed much more brain activity in response to the Chinese sounds.

The lead author of the study, Patrick C. M. Wong, said it might work both ways. It appears that native speakers of tonal languages may do better at learning instruments, Dr. Wong said.

ATASCADERO, Calif. -- During five years of psychotherapy at a treatment center here for sex offenders who have finished their prison terms, Bill Price, a pedophile who admits to 21 victims as young as 3, has constructed a painstaking plan for staying straight. A requirement of his treatment, the plan catalogs on five single-spaced pages the tactics Mr. Price has learned to stop molesting.

There are 42 so far, including avoiding places where children congregate, abstaining from alcohol, shunning the Internet and sniffing ammonia whenever he has a deviant thought.

"It was just like a hunt for me," Mr. Price, 59, a former Sunday school teacher, said of his sexual crimes. “I kept choosing children because they were easier prey; they were easier to deal with than women."

Treatment plans like Mr. Price’s, known as relapse prevention, have been a cornerstone of efforts to reform sex offenders for the past 20 years. Yet there is no convincing evidence that the approach works, or that others do either.

Similar to aspects of Alcoholics Anonymous, relapse prevention has sex offenders own up to wrongdoing and resign themselves to a lifelong day-to-day struggle with temptation. But one of the few authoritative studies of the method, conducted in California from 1985 to 2001, found that those who entered relapse prevention treatment were slightly more likely to offend again than those who got no therapy at all.

…
On average, the civil commitment programs cost four times more than keeping sex offenders in prison. But too little research has been conducted into how to treat sex offenders, experts say, putting psychotherapists and others working in civil commitment centers at a distinct disadvantage.

"It has never been regarded as a legitimate and recognized topic for research by psychologists,” said Robert A. Prentky, director of research at the Justice Research Institute in Boston. "There is a very strong undercurrent of disrespect for this area of research and perhaps even skepticism, frankly."

…
Reliable studies on the treatment of civilly committed offenders do not exist, since so few have been set free. Much of the research into the treatment of sex offenders has come out of Canada, where national criminal history records are easily accessible.

Canadian psychologists have studied not only treatment outcomes but also risk assessment, or determining who is likely to reoffend.

Combining findings from hundreds of smaller studies, R. Karl Hanson, senior research officer for the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness in Canada, has found that roughly 15 percent of convicted sex offenders are caught reoffending after five years and that those driven by deviant sexual interests, like pedophiles and exhibitionists, are the likeliest to do so.

Dr. Hanson’s research has also suggested that even lifelong offenders tend to stop, for the most part, by the time they reach their 70s.

He said various studies had shown that "most treatments don't work very well," but that, over all, treatment had a modest beneficial effect. One analysis that he published in 2002 found that 12 percent of offenders who got treatment were caught committing new sex crimes, compared with 17 percent of untreated offenders.

孟子は，孔子の時代より政治も人倫も混乱した戦国時代に生きた．彼は後世に 道を伝えるためにまず「郷原」（善人を装って人気取りをする人物）を排撃し， 狂者や狷者との交わりを求めた．

そんな孟子の姿に自分を投影していたのだろう．［吉田］松陰は「狂者」と進んで交わっ た．そればかりか，自分も「狂」であろうとしているようにさえみえる．

「道を興すには，狂者にあらざれば興すこと能はず．此（こ）の道を守るには， 狷者にあらざれば守ること能はず．その狂狷を渇望すること，またあに孔孟と 異ならんや」

これは『講孟余話』からの引用である．狂者でない限り，道（教え）を盛んに することはできないし，狷者でなければその道を維持することはできない．わ たしも孔子や孟子と同じくらい狂者と狷者を望んでいる──という意味である．

公共事業への依存度が高い建設会社などは，国土交通，農水，防衛など公共事 業を発注する中央官庁や，地方自治体のＯＢを長年にわたり受け入れてきた． 天下りと談合の関係が明白になったのが，昨年［2006年］の防衛施設庁の官製 談合事件．60歳以下の幹部技官なら一人につき年間11億円分，61〜63歳は同8 億8000万円分などの基準を設け，ＯＢを受け入れた企業に工事を割り振る「配 分表」を作成，技術系トップの歴代技術審議官が差配していた．

旧日本道路公団の技術系トップらが逮捕・起訴された橋梁談合事件でも，旧公 団の内部調査報告書は，組織的な天下りの斡旋の事実を認め，「 官製談合は天 下り確保が目的」と結論付けた．次官を頂点とするピラミッド構造の官僚組織． 出世レースの中で同期が次々と退職を迫られ，キャリア官僚なら，40代後半に なると早くも「肩たたき」が始まる．公共事業を発注する官公庁の技術系官僚 の再就職先の多くは受注企業だ．

ある中堅ゼネコンには，年度末が近づくと，役所から退職予定者の受け入れを 要請する電話が入る．給与は退職時と同額，役員の場合は送迎の車や個室の有 無，就業時間など細かい条件を双方で詰める．その結果は，企業が役所から提 出を求められる「人材割愛書」に記される．

「役所から受け入れを要請されても，企業の方からお願いした形になる．断れ ない怖さがある」と，別の中堅ゼネコン幹部がからくりを説明する．

「敵対した部族を破った場合は，車の轂より背丈の伸びた男は皆殺しにする． 女と従僕と轂に背丈の達せぬ子供は生かし，各戸に分配する」

十三世紀の漠北で一般的だったこの慣例は，現代人の目にはひどく残忍に見え るだろう．しかし，絨毯爆撃や原爆投下で何十万人もの老若男女をみな殺しに する二十世紀の戦争よりは，まだしも人間的な選別性があったのではあるまい か．

福田［赳夫首相］さんからも「立候補しろ」と誘われた．私が「政治家になる と，どうなるのか」と聞いたら，次のような答えだった．

「政治家は，朝早く起きて，夜遅くまで人と付き合って，人からお金をもらっ ても『ありがとう』と言っちゃいけない．『預かっておく』と言え」

It is the year 100,000 B.C., and two hunter-gatherers are out hunter-gathering. Let's call them Ig and Og. Ig comes across a new kind of bush, with bright-red berries. He is hungry, as most hunter-gatherers are most of the time, and the berries look pretty, so he pops a handful in his mouth. Og merely puts some berries in his goatskin bag. A little later, they come to a cave. It looks spooky and Og doesn’t want to go in, but Ig pushes on ahead and has a look around. There’s nothing there except a few bones. On the way home, an unfamiliar rustling in the undergrowth puts Og in a panic, and he freezes, but Ig figures that whatever is rustling probably isn’t any bigger and uglier than he is, so he blunders on, and whatever was doing the rustling scuttles off into the undergrowth. The next morning, Og finally tries the berries, and they do indeed taste O.K. He decides to go back and collect some more.

Now, Ig is clearly a lot more fun than Og. But Og is much more likely to pass on his genes to the next generation of hunter-gatherers. The downside to Ig's fearlessness is the risk of sudden death. One day, the berries will be poisonous, the bear that lives in the cave will be at home, and the rustling will be a snake or a tiger or some other vertebrate whose bite can turn septic. Ig needs only to make one mistake. From the Darwinian point of view, Og is the man to bet on. He is cautious and prone to anxiety, and these are highly adaptive traits when it comes to survival.

We are the children of Og. For most of the time that anatomically modern humans have existed -- a highly contested figure, but let’s call it a million years -- it has made good adaptive sense to be fearful, cautious, timid. As Jonathan Haidt, a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, puts it in "The Happiness Hypothesis" (Basic; $26), "bad is stronger than good" is an important principle of design by evolution. "Responses to threats and unpleasantness are faster, stronger, and harder to inhibit than responses to opportunities and pleasures." This is a matter of how our brains are wired: most sense data pass through the amygdala, which helps control our fight-or-flight response, before being processed by other parts of our cerebral cortex. The feeling that a fright can make us "jump half out of our skin" is based on this physical reality -- we're reacting long before we know what it is that we're reacting to.

…
The answer proposed by positive psychology seems to be: It depends. The simplest kind of unhappiness is that caused by poverty. People living in poverty become happier if they become richer --- but the effect of increased wealth cuts off at a surprisingly low figure. The British economist Richard Layard, in his stimulating book "Happiness: Lessons from a New Science," puts that figure at fifteen thousand dollars, and leaves little doubt that being richer does not make people happier. Americans are about twice as rich as they were in the nineteen-seventies but report not being any happier; the Japanese are six times as rich as they were in 1950 and aren't any happier, either. Looking at the data from all over the world, it is clear that, instead of getting happier as they become better off, people get stuck on a "hedonic treadmill": their expectations rise at the same pace as their incomes, and the happiness they seek remains constantly just out of reach.

According to positive psychologists, once we're out of poverty the most important determinant of happiness is our "set point," a natural level of happiness that is (and this is one of the movement’ s most controversial claims) largely inherited. We adapt to our circumstances; we don't, or can't, adapt our genes. The evidence for this set point, and the phrase itself, came from a study of identical twins by the behavioral geneticist David Lykken, which concluded that "trying to be happier is like trying to be taller." Contrary to everything you might think, "in the long run, it doesn’t much matter what happens to you," Haidt writes. Consider the opposing examples of winning the lottery or of losing the use of your limbs. According to Haidt, "It's better to win the lottery than to break your neck, but not by as much as you'd think. . . . Within a year, lottery winners and paraplegics have both (on average) returned most of the way to their baseline levels of happiness."

Can that possibly be true? Here we run into one of the biggest problems with the study of happiness, which is that it relies heavily on what people tell us about themselves. The paraplegics in these studies may well report regaining their previous levels of happiness, but how can we know whether these levels really are the same? You can compare relative happiness in the course of a given day, though that's not at all the same thing. Layard cites a study, by the Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman, reporting that people's top four favorite parts of the day feature sex, socializing after work, dinner, and relaxing. Their bottom four involve commuting, work, child care, and housework. But our absolute level of happiness is more elusive. Happiness "is something essentially subjective," Freud wrote. "No matter how much we may shrink with horror from certain situations -- of a galley-slave in antiquity, of a peasant during the Thirty Years' War, of a victim of the Holy Inquisition, of a Jew awaiting a pogrom -- it is nevertheless impossible for us to feel our way into such people. . . . It seems to me unprofitable to pursue this aspect of the problem any further."

That isn't, of course, the view taken by positive psychologists. Then again, the news that we're on a hedonic treadmill, so that we end up where we're always bound to end up, is so contrary to our fundamental appetites for exertion and the next new thing, that nobody can really accept it. So Lykken himself, the fellow who came up with the finding about the set point, went on to write a book about how to become happier. (It contained his favorite recipe for Key-lime pie.) Positive psychology has even devised a formula for how to be happy, where H is your level of happiness, S is your set point, C is the conditions of your life, and V is the voluntary activities you do. Ready for the secret of happiness? Here it is:

H=S+C+V

In other words, your happiness consists of how happy you naturally are, plus whatever is going on in your life to affect your happiness, plus a bit of voluntary work. Well, duh. The only vaguely surprising thing about this is how useful voluntary work can be to the person doing it -- and even that isn't really news. At the end of the nineteenth century, Emile Durkheim performed a huge cross-cultural study of suicide, and found, in Haidt's words, that "no matter how he parsed the data, people who had fewer social constraints, bonds and obligations were more likely to kill themselves." The more connected we are to other people, the less likely we are to succumb to despair -- a conclusion that isn't very distant from the common-sense proposition that lonely people are often unhappy, and unhappy people are often lonely.

The psychological study of happiness might seem to be something of a bust. Mainly it tells us things that people have known for a long time, except with scientific footnotes. In the end, the philosophy and the science converge on the fact that thinking about your own happiness does not make it any easier to be happy. A co-founder of positive psychology, Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi, made people carry a pager, and told them that every time it went off they should write down what they were doing and how much they were enjoying it. The idea was to avoid the memory’s tendency to focus on peaks and troughs, and to capture the texture of people’s lives as they were experiencing them, rather than in retrospect. The study showed that people were most content when they were experiencing what Csikzentmihalyi called "flow" --- in Haidt's definition, "the state of total immersion in a task that is challenging yet closely matched to ones abilities." We are at our happiest when we are absorbed in what we are doing; the most useful way of regarding happiness is, to borrow a phrase of Clive James's, as "a by-product of absorption."

The trouble is that asking yourself about your frame of mind is a sure way to lose your flow. If you want to be happy, don't ever ask yourself if you are. A person in good health in a Western liberal democracy is, in terms of his objective circumstances, one of the most fortunate human beings ever to have walked the surface of the earth. Risk-taking Ig and worried Og both would have regarded our easy, long, riskless lives with incredulous envy. They would have regarded us as so lucky that questions about our state of mind wouldn't be worth asking. It is a perverse consequence of our fortunate condition that the question of our happiness, or lack of it, presses unhappily hard on us.

　脳の前頭葉と側頭葉の血流低下と萎縮で起きる認知症は「前頭側頭 型」といわれ，うち８割が「ピック病」とされる．

　アルツハイマー病のような記憶障害が，初期はあまりみられないも のの，時に，周囲の状況を気遣わない行動や万引きが症状として出る人もいる． ただ，本人は善悪の判断がつかず，厚労省の若年認知症の研究班メンバーの宮 永和夫・群馬県こころの健康センター所長によると，欧米でも万引きなどの軽 犯罪がピック病の症状の一つとして報告されているという．

…
　昨年末には，別の病院で脳の血流検査を受け，前頭葉と両側の側頭葉に明ら かな血流低下がみられたため，「ピック病」の可能性が高いとされた．前頭葉 の機能を調べる心理検査の結果なども合わせ，宮永医師がピック病の「軽度と 中等度の間」で，発症は「2004年1月以前と考えられる」と診断した．

　このほかに，会計事務所に勤める東京都内の50歳代の男性も，近所の文具店 でボールペンや消しゴムなどを万引きする症状が出た．ひと月もしないうちに， 同じものを盗んだ．しかし，本人に盗んだ意識はなく，外出時に家族が付き添っ てトラブルを防いでいる．

　また，奈良県内の50歳代の放射線技師の男性は「仕事が難しい」と勤務先の 病院を休職した．散歩帰りに近所の家の畑から，野菜を毎日のように持ち帰る ようになり，苦情が来た．入院先でピック病と分かり，職場を辞めている．

　宮永医師は「万引き後に，ピック病と診断される人は少なくない」 と指摘．「病気が原因でやった行為なのに，社会的な名誉を失い，その後の人 生が大きく変わってしまうのは非常に残念だ」と話している．

　法のプロにも終生，倫理を磨いてもらいます――．昨年秋から半年間で5人 もの逮捕者を出した大阪弁護士会（Ｋ・Ｋ会長，会員3069人） が新年度から全会員に対し，「終身制」の倫理研修を義務付ける方針を固めた．

　これまでは弁護士歴30年以内を対象としてきたが，50〜70歳代のベテランば かりが事件を起こしたことを重視，3月の臨時総会で正式決定する．同弁護士 会は「明らかに異常事態．弁護士として恥ずかしい限りだが，自覚に任せるば かりでは……」と危機感を募らせている．

　同弁護士会によると，倫理研修は，依頼者からの預かり金口座の取り扱いな ど実例を交えた内容で，弁護士登録時と5，10，20，30年目に受けるよう義務 づけている．

　しかし，昨年［2006年］12月，依頼人から管理を委託された相続財産を着服 したとして，同弁護士会所属の57歳の弁護士が業務上横領容疑で逮捕されるな ど，同年9月以降，業務上横領容疑で3人，弁護士法違反容疑で1人，道交法違 反（酒気帯び運転）の現行犯で1人の計5人が逮捕された．逮捕されたのは57〜 73歳（逮捕時）の熟練弁護士だった．さらに，同年10月には，80歳と72歳の2 人が，法外な着手金を請求するなど弁護士倫理に反する行為をしたとして2〜6 か月の業務停止処分を受けた．

　日本弁護士連合会の推計によると，司法制度改革で将来，弁護士は現在の5 倍程度にまで増える見通しで，経営難の弁護士による不祥事増加も懸念される．

　こうした事態を受け，同弁護士会は登録後30年以降も，廃業しない限り，10 年ごとに倫理研修の受講を義務づけることにした．

　司法試験に合格した司法修習生は，司法研修所での講義のほか裁判所や検察 庁，弁護士会での実務修習など１年４か月の修習の後，司法修習の卒業試験に 合格して初めて法曹資格を得ることができる．昨年９月に実施された卒業試験 では，２００５年４月に司法修習生に採用された１４９３人が受験したが， １０７人が「落第」するという異例の事態が起きた．

　このうち「不合格者」は１０人．残る９７人は「合格留保」とされ，３ か月後に追試を受けたが，その追試でも６人が不合格になり，最終的に計１６ 人が法曹資格を得られなかった．卒業試験の不合格者は従来，ゼロから数 人．「受かるのが当然」とされてきた試験で二けたの不合格者が出たことは， 法曹関係者に衝撃を持って受けとめられた．

　不合格者数の増加の一因とみられるのが，修習生の増加に伴う「質の低下」 だ．

　修習生の数は１９９１年度までは年約５００人だったが，法曹人口の拡充を 図る司法制度改革の一環として年々増え続け，２００２年度に１０００人を突 破．２０１２年度には年間３０００人に膨らむ．最高裁は「今回の結果だけで は，不合格者急増の原因は分からない」と慎重な構えを崩さないが，「すそ野 が広がれば，レベルが落ちるのは当然」との見方は強い．

　そもそも司法修習の卒業試験は，落とすためではなく，「法曹として， 社会に送り出すための最低水準に達しているかどうかをチェックする最終関門 ．年度は違っても求めるレベルは変わらない」（最高裁人事局）という． しかし，今年度の受験生については，教官から「基本的な法理解が足りない」 という批判が少なくなかった．

　修習生の人数の増加が，司法修習の中核を占める実務修習の質を変化させて いる面も見逃せない．

　法科大学院（ロースクール）の修了者が受験する「新司法試験」が初めて実 施されたのは昨年５月．これに合格した約１０００人の実務修習が暮れの１２ 月から行われている．昨春にすでに始まっていた旧試験組の１５００人に加わ る形だ．この結果，受け入れ先の裁判所や検察庁，弁護士会は前例のない混雑 の中で修習生の指導に当たっている．

　東京地裁刑事部では，これまで一つの部で一度に受け入れる修習生は２，３ 人だったが，現在は８人程度を同時に指導している．部の数の多い民事部でも ほぼ倍増．荒井勉判事は「従来のように指導裁判官の担当する全事件を傍聴さ せ，判決文を起案させるマンツーマンの指導は無理．素材を厳選し，グループ ワークを取り入れるなど，質を保つ工夫をしている」と話す．

　さらに，法科大学院の修了生を対象にした新司法修習は，従来の１年４か月 から１年に短縮された．弁護修習を例にとれば，これまでの３か月間が２か月 に縮まり，否認事件の弁護を経験する機会は激減するという．日本弁護士連合 会司法修習委員会の酒井憲郎委員長は，「有罪の情状弁護の経験だけでは不十 分で，十分な指導ができない場合もある」と打ち明ける．

　法曹の質を確保するため，最高裁は今年から，卒業試験の落第者を対象 とする追試の廃止を決めた．従来は落第科目のみ追試で受験し直し，追加合格 の形で“救済”されてきたが，今後は１科目でも落第したら法曹資格を得られ ないまま司法修習生を辞めなければならない．再受験の道は残るが，１年浪人 して全科目に合格するのは容易ではない．新司法試験に合格した東京都内 の女性修習生（３０歳代）は「修習期間も短く不安は大きい」と危機感を口に する．

　今年の秋から冬にかけては，旧試験組と新試験組の約２５００人が来年度の 卒業試験を受ける．追試の廃止で，不合格者数が急増するのではないかと危ぶ む関係者は少なくない．ただ，人数が増えれば，一定数の不合格者が出るのは やむを得ない面もある．法曹人口の拡大に向け，法科大学院を含めた養成機関 は，質を伴った人材育成のための教育方法を模索すべきだ．

之の子霊骨有り

五州自ずから隣をなす

周流し形勢を究めよ

一見は百聞を超ゆ

智者は機に投ずるを貴ぶ

　　　　　（佐久間象山［吉田松陰の渡海を促して］）

An Eating Plan

With my then-limited knowledge of nutrition, I created an eating program for myself: three substantial meals a day with a wholesome snack between meals if I was hungry. No skipping meals allowed. I stripped my apartment of favorite binge foods, though I allowed myself one small treat a day. And I continued with my regular physical activity.

After a month of eating three big meals a day, I had lost seven pounds. And I continued to lose about two pounds a month (as my weight dropped, so did the amount of food I needed to feel satisfied) until two years later I was back to my normal weight.

As I have learned from talking with experts who treat eating disorders, the factors that precipitated my binge eating and the route I took to "cure" myself are strikingly similar to the precipitants among their binge-eating patients and the therapeutic measures used to help them.

It is important for everyone out there with this problem to know that help is available.

In a 2004 article in the journal CyberPsychology & Behavior, John Suler, a psychologist at Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J., suggested that several psychological factors lead to online disinhibition: the anonymity of a Web pseudonym; invisibility to others; the time lag between sending an e-mail message and getting feedback; the exaggerated sense of self from being alone; and the lack of any online authority figure. Dr. Suler notes that disinhibition can be either benign -- when a shy person feels free to open up online -- or toxic, as in flaming.

The emerging field of social neuroscience, the study of what goes on in the brains and bodies of two interacting people, offers clues into the neural mechanics behind flaming.

This work points to a design flaw inherent in the interface between the brain’s social circuitry and the online world. In face-to-face interaction, the brain reads a continual cascade of emotional signs and social cues, instantaneously using them to guide our next move so that the encounter goes well. Much of this social guidance occurs in circuitry centered on the orbitofrontal cortex, a center for empathy. This cortex uses that social scan to help make sure that what we do next will keep the interaction on track.

Research by Jennifer Beer, a psychologist at the University of California, Davis, finds that this face-to-face guidance system inhibits impulses for actions that would upset the other person or otherwise throw the interaction off. Neurological patients with a damaged orbitofrontal cortex lose the ability to modulate the amygdala, a source of unruly impulses; like small children, they commit mortifying social gaffes like kissing a complete stranger, blithely unaware that they are doing anything untoward.

Socially artful responses emerge largely in the neural chatter between the orbitofrontal cortex and emotional centers like the amygdala that generate impulsivity. But the cortex needs social information -- a change in tone of voice, say -- to know how to select and channel our impulses. And in e-mail there are no channels for voice, facial expression or other cues from the person who will receive what we say.

The office desk of Joel Surnow -- the co-creator and executive producer of "24," the popular counterterrorism drama on Fox -- faces a wall dominated by an American flag in a glass case. A small label reveals that the flag once flew over Baghdad, after the American invasion of Iraq, in 2003. A few years ago, Surnow received it as a gift from an Army regiment stationed in Iraq; the soldiers had shared a collection of "24" DVDs, he told me, until it was destroyed by an enemy bomb. "The military loves our show," he said recently. Surnow is fifty-two, and has the gangly, coiled energy of an athlete; his hair is close-cropped, and he has a "soul patch" -- a smidgen of beard beneath his lower lip. When he was young, he worked as a carpet salesman with his father. The trick to selling anything, he learned, is to carry yourself with confidence and get the customer to like you within the first five minutes. He's got it down. "People in the Administration love the series, too," he said. "It's a patriotic show. They should love it."

…
Surnow's parents were F.D.R. Democrats. He recalled, "It was just assumed, especially in the Jewish community" -- to which his family belonged. "But when you grow up you start to challenge your parents' assumptions. 'Am I Jewish? Am I a Democrat?'" Many of his peers at the University of California at Berkeley, where he attended college, were liberals or radicals. "They were all socialists and Marxists, but living off their family money," he recalled. "It seemed to me there was some obvious hypocrisy here. It was absurd." Although he wasn't consciously political, he said, "I felt like I wasn't like these people." In 1985, he divorced his wife, a medical student, who was Jewish, and with whom he has two daughters. (His relationships with them are strained.) Four years later, he remarried. His wife, who used to work in film development, is Catholic; they have three daughters, whom they send to Catholic schools. He likes to bring his girls to the set and rushes home for his wife's pork-chop dinners. "I got to know who I was and who I wasn't," he said. "I wasn't the perfect Jewish kid who is married, with a Jewish family." Instead, he said, "I decided I like Catholics. They're so grounded. I sort of reoriented myself."

While studying at Berkeley, Surnow worked as an usher at the Pacific Film Archive, where he saw at least five hundred movies. A fan of crime dramas such as "Mean Streets" and "The Godfather," he discovered foreign films as well. "That was my awakening," he said. In 1975, Surnow enrolled at the U.C.L.A. film school. Soon after graduation, he began writing for film; he then switched to television. He was only modestly successful, and had many "lost years," when he considered giving up and taking over his father's carpet business. His breakthrough came when he began writing for "Miami Vice," in 1984. "It just clicked -- I just got it!" he recalled. "It was just like when you don't know how to speak a language and suddenly you do. I knew how to tell a story." By the end of the year, Universal, which owned the show, put Surnow in charge of his own series, "The Equalizer," about a C.I.A. agent turned vigilante. The series was a success, but, Surnow told me, "I was way too arrogant. I sort of pissed off the network." Battles for creative control have followed Surnow to "24," where, Nevins said admiringly, he continues to push for "unconventional and dangerous choices."

Sherlock Holmes never said "Elementary, my dear Watson." Neither Ingrid Bergman nor anyone else in "Casablanca" says "Play it again, Sam"; Leo Durocher did not say "Nice guys finish last"; Vince Lombardi did say "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing" quite often, but he got the line from someone else. Patrick Henry almost certainly did not say "Give me liberty, or give me death!"; William Tecumseh Sherman never wrote the words "War is hell"; and there is no evidence that Horace Greeley said "Go west, young man." Marie Antoinette did not say "Let them eat cake"; Hermann Goring did not say "When I hear the word 'culture,' I reach for my gun"; and Muhammad Ali did not say "No Vietcong ever called me nigger." Gordon Gekko, the character played by Michael Douglas in "Wall Street," does not say "Greed is good"; James Cagney never says "You dirty rat" in any of his films; and no movie actor, including Charles Boyer, ever said "Come with me to the Casbah." Many of the phrases for which Winston Churchill is famous he adapted from the phrases of other people, and when Yogi Berra said "I didn't really say everything I said" he was correct.

So what? Should we care? Quotable quotes are coins rubbed smooth by circulation. What Michael Douglas did say in "Wall Street" was "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good." That was not a quotable quote; it needed some editorial attention, the consequence of which is that everyone distinctly remembers Michael Douglas uttering the words "Greed is good" in "Wall Street," just as everyone distinctly remembers Ingrid Bergman uttering the words "Play it again, Sam" in "Casablanca," even though what she really utters is "Play it, Sam." When you watch the movie and get to that line, you don't think your memory is wrong. You think the movie is wrong.

"For lack of a better word" spoils a nice quotation -- the speech is about calling a spade a spade, so there is no better word -- and "Play it again, Sam" is somehow more affecting than "Play it, Sam." But not all emendations are improvements. What Leo Durocher actually said (referring to the New York Giants baseball team) was "The nice guys are all over there, in seventh place." The sportswriters who heard him telescoped (the technical term is "piped") the quote because it made a neater headline. They could have done a better job of piping. "Nice guys finish seventh" is a lot cleverer (and also marginally more plausible) than the non-utterance that gave immortality to Leo Durocher. But Leo Durocher doesn't own that quotation; the quotation owns Leo Durocher, the way a parasite sometimes takes over the host organism. Quotations are in a perpetual struggle for survival. They want people to keep saying them. They don't want to die any more than the rest of us do. And so, whenever they can, they attach themselves to colorful or famous people. "Nice guys finish last" profits by its association with a man whose nickname was the Lip, even if the Lip never said it, just as "Winning isn't everything" has a higher market valuation because of the mental image people have of Vince Lombardi. No one has a mental image of Henry (Red) Sanders, the coach who used the phrase first.

The adaptive mechanism benefits both parties. The survival of the quotation helps insure the survival of the person to whom it is misattributed. The Patrick Henry who lives in our heads and hearts is the man who said "Give me liberty, or give me death!" Apparently, the line was cooked up by his biographer William Wirt, a notorious embellisher, who also invented Henry's other familiar quotation, "If this be treason, make the most of it!" But a Patrick Henry who never said "Give me liberty, or give me death!" or "If this be treason, make the most of it!," a Patrick Henry without a death wish, is just not someone we know or care about. His having been said to have said what he never said is a condition of his being "Patrick Henry." Certain sayings, like "It's deja vu all over again," are Berra-isms, whether Yogi Berra ever said them or not. "Je ne suis pas marxiste," Karl Marx once complained. Too late for that. Like Yogi, he was the author of a discourse, and he lives as long as it does.

Karl Marx has thirteen quotations (plus eight for which he shares credit with Friedrich Engels, who, interestingly, never felt it necessary to say "Je ne suis pas engeliste") in the compendious, enjoyable, and expensive "Yale Book of Quotations" (Yale; $50), edited by Fred Shapiro. Groucho Marx (no relation) has fifty-one quotations. The big winner is William Shakespeare, with four hundred and fifty-five, topping even the Yahwist and his co-authors, the wordsmiths who churned out the Bible but managed to come up with only four hundred quotable passages. Mark Twain has a hundred and fifty-three quotations, Oscar Wilde a hundred and twenty-three. Ambrose Bierce edges out Samuel Johnson in double overtime by a final score of a hundred and forty-four to a hundred and ten. And Woody Allen has forty, beating out William Wordsworth, Rudyard Kipling, and both Roosevelts.

Shapiro, a librarian at the Yale Law School, is an attribution hound, as is Ralph Keyes, a quotation specialist and the author of "The Quote Verifier" (St. Martin's; $15.95). "Misquotation is an occupational hazard of quotation," Keyes advises, and both he and Shapiro have gone to considerable trouble to track down the original utterances that became famous quotations and their original utterers. Keyes finds that quotations tend to mutate in the direction of greater pith. He offers the original words of Rodney King as an instance: "People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop making it, making it horrible for the older people and the kids? . . . Please, we can get along here. We all can get along. I mean, we're all stuck here for a while. Let's try to work it out. Let's try to beat it. Let's try to beat it. Let's try to work it out." This is the rambling outburst that became the astringent and immortal "Can't we all get along?" Keyes calls the process "bumper-stickering." It worked well for Rodney King.

Shapiro gives us results of similar detective work, and he offers additional scholarly fruit in the form of citations for the first appearance of many well-known terms, slogans, and catchphrases. "This book takes a broad view of what constitutes a quotation," he explains. The Internet has helped him out, and a lot of the stuff he has come up with is pretty irresistible. It is extremely interesting to know, for instance, that the phrase "Shit happens" was introduced to print by one Connie Eble, in a publication identified as "UNC -- CH Slang" (presumably the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), in 1983. "Life's a bitch, and then you die," a closely related reflection, dates from 1982, the year it appeared in the Washington Post. "Been there, done that" entered the public discourse in 1983, via the Union Recorder, a publication out of the University of Sydney. "Get a life": the Washington Post, 1983. (What is it about the nineteen-eighties, anyway?) "Size doesn't matter," a phrase, or at least a hope, that would seem to have been around since the Pleistocene, did not see print until 1989, rather late in the history of the species, when it appeared in the Boston Globe.

There are some neat finds and a few surprises (to me, anyway) in the Yale book. I did not know that Billy Wilder was the person who said that hindsight is always 20/20. "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch" is attributable to a journalist named Walter Morrow, writing in the San Francisco News in 1949. We owe the useful phrase "Sue the bastards!" to Victor J. Yannacone, Jr., identified as a U.S. lawyer and environmentalist. It was Jack Weinberg, of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, who first said "You can't trust anybody over thirty." Joey Adams gets the credit for "With friends like that, who needs enemies?" The phrase "You can't go home again" was given to Thomas Wolfe by the writer Ella Winter. It was the wonderful story writer John McNulty, and not Yogi Berra, who was responsible for "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded." "I'm not really a Jew. Just Jew-ish": Jonathan Miller, in "Beyond the Fringe." And the first person to call a spade a spade? That's right, it was Erasmus.

Shapiro has a good ear for the quote bites of contemporary celebrity culture, and the courage to set out on this endless sea. Donald Trump appears twice, for "Deals are my art form" and (in a section headed "Television Catchphrases") "You're fired!" Cherilyn Sarkisian LaPierre, known to most of us as Cher, is included for the lines "Mother told me a couple of years ago, 'Sweetheart, settle down and marry a rich man.' I said, 'Mom, I am a rich man.' " (The great Sonny Bono, on the other hand, is sadly missing and deeply missed. What about "The beat goes on"? "I got you, babe"? Jingles that got us through some unhappy hours.) Zsa Zsa Gabor, asked how many husbands she has had, said, "You mean apart from my own?" Tug McGraw, asked what he would do with the salary he was making as a pitcher, said "Ninety percent I'll spend on good times, women, and Irish whiskey. The other ten percent I'll probably waste." "I ate a whole chocolate bar" was Claudia Schiffer's comment after her retirement from the catwalk. There are separate sections in the Yale book for "Star Trek" (ten items, including "Live long and prosper" and "He's dead, Jim"; Gene Roddenberry has a section of his own), for "Advertising Slogans" (immediately following the section for Theodor Adorno, who would have grimly appreciated the irony and probably composed an incomprehensible aphorism about it), for "Sayings" ("No more Mr. Nice Guy": New York Times, 1967), for "Political Slogans," and for "Film Lines." I'm not sure that the sentence spoken by L. Paul Bremer III upon the capture of Saddam Hussein, "Ladies and gentleman, we got him," is all that deathless, but I'm quite pleased with the single quotation attributed to Richard B. Cheney, identified as a U.S. government official, and dated May 30, 2005: "The insurgency is in its last throes."

It is tiresome to encounter, for the millionth time (J. Joyce), George Santayana's tiresome mot "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" (manifestly untrue any way you look at it). And it is annoying to reread Alfred North Whitehead's pompous bouleversements: "There are no whole truths; all truths are half-truths"; "Everything of importance has been said before by somebody who did not discover it." But if sententious paradoxes get endlessly circulated, that is not the editor's fault. Wilde was an epigrammatic genius, it's true, but too large a dose may cause stomach upset. Shapiro is interested in the sociology of knowledge (which is precisely where the study of quotation belongs), so there are quotations from Robert K. Merton, George Sarton, and Talcott Parsons, but relatively less attention is given to other academic figures. (Stanley Fish does not appear, though it can't be for lack of material. Edward Said does.) There is inevitably a problem in the case of people who are the quotation equivalent of vending machines. Charles Dickens, for example, or Bob Dylan, who is represented by a list of twenty-seven quotations that will seem, to anyone who is a Dylan listener, hopelessly arbitrary. It should all be here, every line!

In fact, though it is ungracious to say, a lot of the fun of this fun book is in second-guessing the editor. Virginia Woolf's quotations include the first sentence of "Mrs. Dalloway" ("Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself") but not the equally famous last sentence of "To the Lighthouse" ("She had had her vision"). Franz Kafka, a deep mine of quotability, has just eleven entries, and it is disappointing that one of them is not "It is enough that the arrows fit exactly in the wounds that they have made." There are two quotations from William James on the subject of truth, but not the most elegant of his formulations: "The true is the name for whatever proves itself to be good in the way of belief." Guy Debord, a brilliant aphorist who coined the phrase "society of the spectacle," is represented only by a late and dubious quotation about quotations. ("Quotations are useful in periods of ignorance or obscurantist beliefs.") The section for Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. -- like his father an inexhaustible fount of one-liners -- lacks the always apt reminder that "certitude is not the test of certainty." The philosopher Sidney Morgenbesser, whose offhand remarks were celebrated enough to have been collected, is here only for his famous retort to a speaker who had said that although there are many cases in which two negatives make a positive, he knew of no case in which two positives made a negative ("Yeah yeah"). Samuel Beckett has only nine quotations, most of them from "Waiting for Godot." We miss his remark about what it will be like in the afterlife: "We'll sit around talking about the good old days, when we wished that we were dead." Goethe has twenty-six entries, including one that was new to me (the attribution, not the sentiment): "He can lick my ass" (1773). But a line from "Wilhelm Meister" that has given me resolve is not here: "Action is easy; thought is hard." We miss Henri Bergson's gnomic observation "The universe is a machine for the making of gods." There is a large woodpile of Robert Frost lines, but the couplet that ends "The Tuft of Flowers" -- "Men work together, I told him from the heart, / Whether they work together or apart" -- is not in it.

At the time, [Robert J.] Lang was in his thirties. He had been doing origami -- that is, shaping sheets of paper into figures, using no cutting and no glue -- for twenty-five years and designing his own models for twenty. He has always considered himself very much a bug person, but his earliest designs were not insects; in the nineteen-seventies, he invented an origami Jimmy Carter, a Darth Vader, a nun, an inflatable bunny, and an Arnold the Pig. He would have liked to have folded insects, but, in those years, bugs, as well as crustaceans, were still an origami impossibility. This was because no one had yet solved the problem of how to fold paper into figures with fat bodies and skinny appendages, so that most origami figures, even television characters and heads of state, still had the same basic shape as the paper cranes of nineteenth-century Japan. Then a few people around the globe had the idea that paper folding, besides being a pleasant diversion, might also have properties that could be analyzed and codified. Some started to study paper folding mathematically; others, including Lang, began devising mathematical tools to help with designing, all of which enabled the development of increasingly complex folding techniques. In 1970, no one could figure out how to make a credible-looking origami spider, but soon folders could make not just spiders but spiders of any species, with any length of leg, and cicadas with wings, and sawyer beetles with horns. For centuries, origami patterns had at most thirty steps; now they could have hundreds. And as origami became more complex it also became more practical. Scientists began applying these folding techniques to anything -- medical, electrical, optical, or nanotechnical devices, and even to strands of DNA -- that had a fixed size and shape but needed to be packed tightly and in an orderly way. By the end of the Bug Wars, origami had completely changed, and so had Robert Lang. In 2001, he left his job -- he was then at the fibre-optics company JDS Uniphase, in San Jose -- to fold paper full time.

…
The Japanese have been folding paper recreationally for at least four hundred years. For the first two hundred of those years, designs were limited to a few basic shapes: boxes, boats, hats, cranes. Folding a thousand cranes -- all of white paper, which was the only kind then used -- was thought to bring good luck. The principle was simple. The sheet of paper was the essence: no matter what shape it became, there was never more paper and never less; it remained the same sheet. Japanese folding probably didn’t spread directly to the West. There is no definitive history, although David Lister, a retired solicitor in Grimsby, England, and the author of more than a hundred essays on the subject, suggests that paper folding developed independently in countries all over the world. In the nineteenth century, schoolchildren in Germany, France, and England made paper horses with riders, and boxes to trap flies, and it is reported that paper folding flourished in Spanish villages and prisons.

In 1837, a German educator, Friedrich Frobel, introduced the radical idea of early-childhood education -- kindergarten. The curriculum included three kinds of paper folding -- "The Folds of Truth," "The Folds of Life," and "The Folds of Beauty" -- to teach children principles of math and art. The kindergarten movement was embraced around the world, including in Japan, where Frobel's simple folds merged with traditional origami. Japanese magicians of the time also began doing paper tricks as part of their conjuring. By the eighteen-sixties, Japan's isolationism was ending, and in the following decades those magicians travelled to Europe and the United States to perform. Suddenly, the kindergarten exercise appeared mysterious and wonderful. A square of ordinary paper creased and crinkled could come to life as a flapping gull; a sheet of parchment could take shape as a lion or a swallowtail. Professional magicians in Europe and the United States loved origami, and a number of them wrote books about it. In 1922, Harry Houdini published "Houdini's Paper Magic: The Whole Art of Performing with Paper, Including Paper Tearing, Paper Folding and Paper Puzzles." (He regularly did a trick known as "the troublewit," turning a piece of paper into an endless number of different shapes without any cuts.) In 1928, the stage magicians William Murray and Francis Rigney published "Fun with Paperfolding," with chapters on square folding, diagonal folding, and a complete paper-folding stage routine titled "How Charlie Bought His Boat."

In the mid-nineteen-forties, the American folklorist Gershon Legman began studying origami. Legman was a man of diverse inclinations: he collected vulgar limericks, wrote a book about oral techniques in sexual gratification, and is credited with having invented the vibrating dildo when he was only twenty. After becoming interested in origami, he made contact with paper-folders around the world -- most significantly, Akira Yoshizawa, a Japanese prodigy who, before being recognized as an extraordinary talent, made a meagre living by selling fish appetizers door-to-door in Tokyo. What made Yoshizawa extraordinary was that he presented the art for the first time as a medium that could be creative and expressive -- he devised tens of thousands of models, and was particularly famous for his gorillas. In 1955, Legman organized an exhibition of Yoshizawa's work at the Stedelijk Museum, in Amsterdam. Yoshizawa got even more notice the following year, when Robert Harbin published his book "Paper Magic." Harbin was the preeminent British magician -- he was the first to appear on television, and he developed the now classic "Zig-Zag Girl" illusion, in which the magician puts his assistant into a cabinet and saws her into thirds. His book, a best-seller, praised Yoshizawa, whose work was such a departure that it might have seemed that there was no further you could go with a single piece of paper and some folds.

In philosophy, you can be a "realist" or you can be an "idealist." You are a realist if you believe that the universe exists independently of our minds, and that it would be more or less the same even if we weren’t around to observe it. You are an idealist if you believe that reality is somehow mentally generated, that we "make" the world.

THE HUMAN TOUCH: Our Part in the Creation of a Universe, by Michael Frayn.
505 pp. Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt & Company. $32.50.

…
If the known world is our handiwork, just what are the constraints on our creative freedom? Surely, common sense tells us, there is a hard core of stubborn facts that we are powerless to alter. But Frayn, in one of his giddier moments, writes that "factual statements are specialized derivatives of fictitious ones." It is interesting, in this connection, to consider his superb 1998 play, "Copenhagen," which concerns a mysterious encounter between Werner Heisenberg, the father of the uncertainty principle, and the Danish physicist Niels Bohr. Heisenberg had been put in charge of Hitler's atom-bomb project. After the war, Heisenberg claimed that he had deliberately sabotaged the effort. Frayn rather brilliantly made the uncertainty principle a metaphor for the murkiness of Heisenberg's motives. Yet, a few years after "Copenhagen" was produced, documents were made public indicating that Heisenberg had almost certainly done his best to produce a nuclear weapon. Just when you've woven your story, up pops a pesky fact to bite you in the rear.

［ダイキン工業株式会社］創業者［山田晁］のモットーは「三切り」．見込み がつけば時機を失さずに「踏み切り」，将来性があるなら多少の犠牲を惜しま ない「割り切り」，最初の意図に反して不利とわかれば直ちに断念する「思い切り」．

The file, originally in the hands of the National Refugee Service, was turned over to YIVO in 1974 along with tens of thousands of other files from private Jewish refugee agencies.

It wasn’t until 2005 that YIVO received a grant to organize and index the 350 file cabinets worth of material it had warehoused in an off-site storage center. In the summer of that year, Estelle Guzik, a part-time volunteer, was sorting through files when she saw that a file jacket was missing the subject’s date of birth, said Carl J. Rheins, YIVO's executive director. He said that she opened it and saw that the children’s names were Anne and Margot Frank, and said, "Oh my God, this is the Anne Frank file."

YIVO kept the actual documents under wraps until yesterday because it was figuring out the complicated legal questions of confidentiality and copyright, Mr. Rheins said. The papers are now available to scholars at YIVO on West 16th Street in Manhattan.

The last items in the file date from June 1945 to mid-1946. They include a letter from Otto Frank’s brother-in-law Julius Hollander, who was trying to locate the Franks and arrange for them to emigrate to the United States. There is also a four-line notification that "Mrs. Edith Frank died; daughters are still missing."

What follows is a letter on Feb. 2, 1946, from Hollander saying that "Otto Frank said he wants to stay in Amsterdam" and no longer wants to come to the United States.

A professor who contends that nuclear fusion can be generated in a tabletop experiment has been cleared of research misconduct by Purdue University. But the refusal of university officials to answer any questions and their lack of detail in a statement released last week has left scientists to pore over the words like Kremlinologists, looking to divine meaning in what was said and what was not.

"I certainly feel vindicated, not only for myself but my entire group," Rusi P. Taleyarkhan of Purdue University said about a committee's findings.

A committee reviewing the work of the professor, Rusi P. Taleyarkhan, "determined that the evidence does not support the allegations of research misconduct and that no further investigation of the allegations is warranted," the statement said.

In 2002, Dr. Taleyarkhan, then a senior scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, published his contention that fusion can be achieved simply by bombarding a container of liquid solvent with strong ultrasonic vibrations. The vibrations, Dr. Taleyarkhan and his co-workers said, violently collapsed tiny gas bubbles in the solvent, heating them to temperatures high enough to meld hydrogen atoms together and release energy.

Fusion, the process that generates heat and energy in the sun, has long been dreamed of as an almost infinite energy source, because the hydrogen fuel can be made by breaking apart water. Most scientists do not yet accept Dr. Taleyarkhan’s claims, because the findings have not yet been replicated in other laboratories.

Forrest Gump: Will you marry me?
[Jenny turns and looks at him]
Forrest Gump: I'd make a good husband, Jenny.
Jenny Curran: You would, Forrest.
Forrest Gump: But you won't marry me.
Jenny Curran: You don't wanna marry me.
Forrest Gump: Why don't you love me, Jenny? I'm not a smart man, but I know what love is.

Jenny Curran: Run Forrest! Run!

Forrest Gump: My momma always said, "Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."

Mrs. Gump: You have to do the best with what God gave you.

Forrest Gump: Mama always said, dying was a part of life.

Forrest Gump: You died on a Saturday morning. And I had you placed here under our tree. And I had that house of your father's bulldozed to the ground. Momma always said dyin' was a part of life. I sure wish it wasn't. Little Forrest, he's doing just fine. About to start school again soon. I make his breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. I make sure he combs his hair and brushes his teeth every day. Teaching him how to play ping-pong. He's really good. We fish a lot. And every night, we read a book. He's so smart, Jenny. You'd be so proud of him. I am. He, uh, wrote a letter, and he says I can't read it. I'm not supposed to, so I'll just leave it here for you. Jenny, I don't know if Momma was right or if, if it's Lieutenant Dan. I don't know if we each have a destiny, or if we're all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze, but I, I think maybe it's both. Maybe both is happening at the same time. I miss you, Jenny. If there's anything you need, I won't be far away.

Forrest Gump: Mama said stupid is what stupid does.

Jenny Curran: His name's Forrest.
Forrest Gump: Like me.
Jenny Curran: I named him after his daddy.
Forrest Gump: He got a daddy named Forrest, too?
Jenny Curran: You're his daddy, Forrest.

Forrest Gump: When I got tired, I slept. When I got hungry, I ate. When I had to go, you know, I went.
Elderly Southern Woman on Park Bench: And so, you just ran?
Forrest Gump: Yeah.

Lieutenant Daniel Taylor: That's what all these cripples down at the VA talk about: Jesus this and Jesus that. They even had a priest come and talk to me. He said God is listening and if I found Jesus, I'd get to walk beside him in the kingdom of Heaven. Did you hear what I said? WALK beside him in the kingdom of Heaven! Well kiss my crippled ass. God is listening? What a crock of shit.

Jenny Curran: Hey, Forrest, were you scared in Vietnam?
Forrest Gump: Yes. Well, I, I don't know.
[EXT. Vietnam - Flashback - Night: Forrest looks up into the sky as the rain stops. Forrest removes his helmet. The stars emerge from behind the clouds.]
Forrest Gump: Sometimes it would stop raining long enough for the stars to come out. And then it was nice. It was like just before the sun goes to bed down on the bayou...
[EXT. Bayou - Flashback - Sunset: Forrest stands on his boat and looks at a deep orange and red sunset.]
Forrest Gump: There was over a million sparkles on the water. Like that mountain lake.
[EXT. Mountain Lake - Flashback - Day: Forrest runs along a highway. A lake reflects the mountains and the sky.]
Forrest Gump: It was so clear, Jenny. It looks like there were two skies, one on top of the other. And then in the desert, when the sun comes up...
[EXT. Desert - Flashback - Sunrise: Forrest runs along a desert highway. The morning light casts an orange glow over the desert.]
Forrest Gump: I couldn't tell where heavens stopped and the earth began. It was so beautiful.
[INT. Gump House - Morning: Forrest looks at Jenny. Jenny looks out the window.]
Jenny Curran: I wish I could have been there with you.
Forrest Gump: You were.
[Jenny reaches over and takes Forrest's hand.]
Jenny Curran: I love you.

Forrest Gump: What's my destiny, Mama?
Mrs. Gump: You're gonna have to figure that out for yourself.

Forrest Gump: So bye-bye, Jenny. They sendin' me to Vietnam. It's this whole other country.
[Jenny walks toward Forrest. She looks at the driver.]
Jenny Curran: Just hang on a minute.
[Jenny walks up to Forrest.]
Jenny Curran: Listen, you promise me something, okay? Just if you're ever in trouble, don't try to be brave, you just run, okay? Just run away.

Forrest Gump: You know what I think? I think you should go home to Greenbow. Alabama!
Jenny Curran: Forrest, we have very different lives, you know.
[Forrest looks down at Jenny. He pulls his Medal of Honor from around his neck.]
Forrest Gump: I want you to have this.
[Forrest places the Medal of Honor in Jenny's hand. Jenny looks up at him.]
Jenny Curran: Forrest, I can't keep this.
Forrest Gump: I got it just by doing what you told me to do.
Jenny Curran: Why're you so good to me?
Forrest Gump: You're my girl.
Jenny Curran: I'll always be your girl.

[Jenny has told Forrest that she has an incurable disease and the doctors don't know what to do]
Forrest Gump: You could come home with me, to my house in Greenbow, Jenny, you and little Forrest. If you're sick I'll take care of you.
Jenny Curran: Will you marry me, Forrest?
Forrest Gump: Okay...

What I Have Lived For

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.

I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy -- ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness -- that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sough it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what -- at last -- I have found.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.

Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.

This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.

米価審議会はある意味で，非常に勉強になった．
農民代表と消費者代表は利害が真っ向から対立するから，なかなか結論が出な い．
ところが，最終日の夜，壁の時計はいつまでも午前０時にならない．おかしい なと思ったら，時計の針が6時間ほど遅らせてあった．
そうこうしていると，審議会の世話人が答申案の文書を持ってくる．答申案は， 農民の意見はかくかくしかじか，消費者の声はこうこうと記したうえで，最後 の方に，農林省としては，こう考えるという結論が書いてある．
だから，答えは最初から決まっている．新聞記者はそれを知っていて，委員で ある私たちが答申内容を決めていないのに，結論が新聞に出たりする．
「おかしいじゃないか」と，私は随分と文句を言った．
そうすると，食糧庁が「皆さん，これで納得して下さい」と食事を出してくる． 食糧庁だから，コメでも何でも一番良い食材を使ったごちそうだ．当時はビフ テキなんて簡単には食べられなかった時代なのに，ぽんと出てくる．
全員でそれを食べて，納得したような気になって帰ってくるのが米価審議会だっ た．
そもそも，私が審議会で役所を批判すると，食糧庁の幹部が「加藤委員はひど い」と，こぼした．食糧庁は，私を委員に任命して味方に引き入れたつもりだっ たのだ．それなのに役所を批判するとは何事か，というわけだ．
私は「なるほど．審議会というのはヤラセだな」と悟った．
次に厚生省が事務方を務める社会保険審議会の委員をした．これも同じだった．
医者や患者の代表などが委員をしていて，三者三様で結論が出ない．やはり部 屋の時計の針は午前０時の５分前で止まったまま動かなかった．
不思議なことに，当時の審議会には岡山県の人が多かった．医師会の中心は岡 山県だ．審議会の会長を務める医事評論家の永野肇さんも岡山県で新聞記者を していた．厚生省の役人も岡山県出身者が多かった．みな，知合い同士だった．

…
税調会長になったときは，役所の言いなりにならないように注意した．役人は 必ず「会議でこういう発言をしてください」と振付けてるが，それを聞かない ことにした．
審議会の会長が役所の建物の中に専用の部屋をもらってはだめだ．部屋をもら うと，役人が一日中，「ご説明」に来て，説得されてしまう．
税調会長をしていたときは，大蔵省から私あてに電話がかかってきても，なか なか連絡が取れないので，大蔵省の担当者は困っただろう．

　公正取引委員会は2007年1月31日，企業合併を認めるかどうかを審査する指針（ガイド ライン）の改正案を公表した．合併後の国内市場占有率（シェア）より，業界 全体の寡占度合いを測る指数を重視する基準に緩和．同時に国際競争にさらさ れる業界は世界市場での寡占度を考慮し，国内シェアが高まっても合併できる ようにする．業界再編が進む可能性が出てきた．

　公取委は2007年1月31日，自民党の委員会に新指針案を示し，了承された． 2007年4月にも適用する．

　いまの指針では合併をほぼ無審査で認める基準は，合併後の国内シェアが 25%以下など厳しい条件をつけている．新指針はこのシェア基準を廃止し，業 界の寡占度指数だけで判断する．

国際性高い製品

　しかも業界によっては海外市場も指数に考慮する．これまでは原則，国内市 場で計算していた．国際競争にさらされる商品ならば世界市場で，主にアジア 地域の製品と競合するならアジア市場で指数をはじく．

　世界を舞台にした業界かどうかは公取委が判断する．輸送コストや関税障壁 が低く多国間で流通しやすい製品や，商品の代替性が高い製品を対象にする． 半導体や液晶，ソフトウエアは世界市場，鉄鋼はアジア市場が基準になると見 られる．

　そのうえで上位五〜十社ほどの寡占度が低い業界ならば，上位同士の合併で も問題ないと判断する．寡占度が高い業界でも，シェアが小さな企業を吸収合 併する場合は，ほぼ無審査にする．

　寡占度が高い業界で，そこそこ大きな企業を合併する場合はより審査を厳し くする．そのなかで問題の恐れは小さいとみなして簡単な審査で済ませられる 基準は，新指針でもシェア基準を併用する．合併後35%以下が条件となる．た だ，このシェア基準も海外を考慮する上，寡占度指数自体の条件も緩める．

　今回の改正案に照らして最近五年の合併例178件を見ると，ほぼ無審査にな る案件は3件から54件に増える．簡単な審査で済む案件を含めると48件から84 件に広がる．

　たとえば液晶テレビ業界を国内市場で見た場合，最大手のシャープはシェア 47%，上位五社の寡占度指数は2900となり，他者との合併は認められにくい． 国際商品とみなされれば，シャープの世界市場でのシェアは20%で指数も929と 大幅に下がるため，合併しやすくなる．

技術革新も加味

　新指針は合併による生産性向上や技術革新も考慮する．合併で大規模な研究 開発が進んで製品価格が下がるなど消費者の利益につながる場合や，新製品開 発で新たな市場を生む場合は，シェアや寡占度指数の上限を超えても合併を認 める．

　とはいえ経済産業省が当初求めていたシェア基準を35%以下から50%以下に引 き上げることは見送られた．国内産業にとっては大幅な規制緩和とはいえない． 一方，国際商品でも「すでに運用として海外も考慮されている面もあり，どこ まで前進するかは不透明」との見方もある．

「選択肢広がる」産業界一定の評価

　産業界は合併審査の新指針について，「再編の選択肢が広がるのはありがた いこと」（エルピーダメモリの福田岳弘最高財務責任者）とおおむね評価して いる．外国企業による日本企業の買収が容易になる「三角合併」が五月に解禁 されることも触媒となり，企業のＭ＆Ａ（合併・買収）は一段と加速しそうだ．

　半導体業界の競争力の尺度は国内ではなく世界シェア．家電などを制御する マイコンでは，ルネサンステクノロジとＮＥＣエレクトロニクスの合計シェア が国内だと六割を超えるが，世界では三割強に過ぎない．価格下落と国際競争 が進む中で，国内半導体産業の再編を促す可能性もある．

　ビール業界も「迅速な経営判断につながり，企業競争力が高まる」（キリン ビールの佐藤一博常務）と期待．「業界再編への追い風となり，各企業がさら に効率的な経営環境を検討する機会となる」とみている．

　世界再編が進む鉄鋼は合併の判断基準が国内からアジア全体に広がる可能性 がある．鉄鋼大手からは「より大きな市場で判断することは歓迎」との声があ がる．ただ，建設機械などに使う厚鋼板や，自動車など幅広い用途で使う熱延 広幅帯鋼（ホットコイル）は日本への輸入が少ないうえ，アジアでの日本企業 のシェアも高く，直ちに再編が加速する状況にはない．

　一方，国際競争の波にさらされていない分野への影響は限定的．製紙業界は 昨夏から再編機運が高まっているが，対象は国内の合従連衡であるため，「新 指針の詳細を見極めたい」という反応にとどまっている．

　日本企業のＭ＆Ａ件数は昨年，前年比1%増の2760件強と過去最高．金額も三 割増の15兆円と高水準だった．新指針の適用や三角合併の解禁で，企業の再編 意欲が高まるのは必至だ．

【寡占度指数】
ハーフィンダール・ハーシュマン指数(HHI)．合併対象以外のライバル者も含 め業界全体でどの程度寡占状態にあるかを測る．業界によって上位五〜十社ほ どを選び，各シェアを二乗して足す．シェアが高いほど寡占度が強まる事情を 考慮．高い数値ほど寡占的といえる．

　政府はアジア太平洋経済協力会議（ＡＰＥＣ）の加盟国・ 地域に，特許の 出願書式の統一や審査結果の相互利用を提案した．日本企業が中国，東南アジ アなどで特許を取りやすくするほか，国際出願の手間や費用を省くのが狙いだ． 一国で特許を出願し，認められれば世界中で通用する「世界特許」の実現に向 けた布石の一つとする．

　オーストラリアのキャンベラで2007年1月24日開いたＡＰＥＣ知的財産専門部会で提案 した．2007年9月の経済閣僚会合での合意を目指すとしている．

　まずＡＰＥＣに加盟する21カ国・地域で，それぞれの特許当局に出願され た案件の審査結果の相互利用を目指す．ＡＰＥＣ域内の特許出願数は約135万 件と世界の約8割を占め，内30万件は二カ国・地域以上への重複出願．当局 同士で審査結果を相互に公開すれば，二カ国目の審査が円滑に進む．

　日本に出願されている約42万3千件のうち，12万6千件は他のＡＰＥＣ加盟国・ 地域にも出願されており，特に米国，中国，韓国への出願が多い．米，韓 とは審査結果の相互利用の年内開始で合意済みだが，中国など他の国・地域 に枠組みを広げ，日本企業の特許取得を後押しする．

　日米欧の三極で準備中の出願書式の統一もＡＰＥＣ域内に広げる．書式統一 が進めば，企業は書類を国・地域ごとに作り直す手間が省ける．国内で提出 した書類の翻訳だけで済めば，一カ国あたり百万円かかるとされる国際出願費 用のうち数十万円を節約できる．

　国・地域の特許制度の整備状況に差があるため書式統一などの目標時期は 示さない．日本としては制度の早期実現のため，途上国の審査官育成などを支 援していく．

日本が提案した特許審査協力
○審査結果の相互利用による重複出願の審査迅速化
○特許出願書類の書式を統一
○自国への出願日を海外でも適用する「優先権書類」の電子交換
○途上国が公開する特許情報を英語に自動翻訳
○先進国が途上国の審査官を育成

…
1650年に外部から日本を訪れた観察者なら，日本社会は，増え続ける国民が減 りゆく資源を争うなかて，破滅的な森林伐採が招く崩壊の危機に瀕していると 予言したかもしれない．なぜ，江戸時代の日本がトップダウン方式の解決策を 見出すことに成功して，森林乱伐を防ぐことが出来たのに対し，古代のイース ター島，マヤ，アナサジ，現代のルワンダ，そしてハイチは失敗してしまった のだろうか？…
江戸時代中・後期の日本の成功を解釈する際にありがちな答え──日本人らし い自然への愛，仏教徒としての生命の尊重，あるいは儒教的な価値観──は， 早々に退けていいだろう．これらの単純な言葉は，日本人の意識に内在する複 雑な現実を正確に表していないうえに，江戸時代初期の日本が国の資源を枯渇 させるのを防いではくれなかったし，現代の日本が海洋および他国の資源を枯 渇させつつあるのを防いでもくれないのだ．(p.51)

…
わたしたちは無意識のうちに，人間を単純に"善"か"悪"かに色分けし，ある人 物が徳性を備えているなら，その人物の行動のあらゆる面にそれが輝き出るは ずだと考える．相手のなかに高潔で賞賛すべき面をひとつでも見つけると，別 の面では違うとわかったときに困惑を覚える．人間は首尾一貫した存在ではな く，たいていは相互に関係のないさまざまな経験で形作られた特性の寄せ集め なのだとは，なかなか認識できない．(p.115)

…
政治家たちは，雑音の多い変動の中に隠されたそういうゆるやかな傾向のこと を，"這い進む常態"と呼ぶ．経済，学校，交通渋滞，その他あらゆる物事が， ただゆるやかに悪化していく場合，平均するとわずかでしかない前年の悪化を 認識するのはむずかしく，"常態"を形作る物事の判断基準が，感知できない ほどゆっくりと変化する．そういうわずかな年々の変化が長く続いて数十年経 たころに，初めて人々は，さまざまな条件が数十年前にはもっとずっと好まし かったこと，常態とみなしていた物事が少しずつ下降していたことに，衝撃と ともに気づくのだろう．

"這い進む常態"に関連したもうひとつの言葉に，"風景健忘症"がある．年々の 変化があまりにもゆっくりとしているので，周りの風景が五十年前とどう変わっ てきたのか，忘れてしまうのだ．(p.225)

…
ここまでの数ページの事例はすべて，問題の継続が一部の人にとって有利なせ いで，感知した問題の解決に社会が失敗する状況を明示していた．そのいわゆ る合理的行動と対照をなす，別の形の問題解決の失敗例として，社会科学者が” 非合理的行動"と見なすものがある．つまり，あらゆる人に害を及ぼす行動だ． そういう非合理的行動は，わたしたち個人個人が，価値観の衝突に引き裂かれ て生じることが多い．わたしたちは，深く根づいた執着のある価値観に基づい て，現状を好意的に解釈し，悪い面を無視してしまうことがある．"間違いへ の固執""石頭""否定的兆候から結論を出すことへの拒絶""思考停止もしくは停 滞"など，バーバラ・タックマンは，よく見られるこの人間の特性にさまざま な言い回しを適用する．心理学者は，関連の特性に"埋没費用の効果"という言 葉を使う．わたしたちは，すでに多額の投資をしてしまった政策を捨て去る （あるいは株を売り払う）ことに抵抗を感じるのだ．

宗教上の価値観はとりわけ深く根づき，破滅的な行動を招きやすい傾向にある．…

現代社会には，本来称揚されるべき価値観が意義を失ってしまうような状況が， そしてそれでもその価値観に固執してしまう事例が，数多く存在する．…

基本的価値観の一部が生存と両立しえなくなってきたと感じるとき，それを捨 て去るかどうかを決断することは，痛ましいほどの困難を伴う．(pp.234-236)

…
わたしたちがもし，どうしても石炭や銅を必要とするのなら，それを採掘する 際の環境対策費を，土を掘るブルドーザーや鉱石を精錬する溶解炉などと同様， 正当な必要経費と見なすべきだろう．石油産業や石炭産業がすでにやっている ように，鉱業界も環境対策費を金属の売り値に組み入れ，消費者に転嫁するべ きなのだ．(p.286)

…
その結果，西ヨーロッパやアメリカで操業する木材業者の中には，第三世界の 低コストの生産者との競争力ばかりではなく，自社の生き残り，あるいは（鉱 業界及び石油産業の用語を借りるなら）"社会からの操業許可"を気にするよう になった者もいる．いくつかの業者は，健全な操業方針を採用し，それを一般 市民に伝えようとしたが，結果的には，信憑性を欠いた自画自賛と受け取られ た．たとえば，多くの木製品や紙製品に，"当社は伐採した木一本につき二本 以上の苗を植えています"などという環境保護的な姿勢を謳ったラベルが貼ら れる．ところが，ある調査によると，そういう謳い文句八十件のうち七十七件 はまったく根拠がなく，三件は部分的にしか実証できず，ほぼ全部が疑義を認 める形で撤回された．企業がみずから行うそういう主張を，消費者が鵜呑みに しなくなったのは当然の流れだろう．(p.292)

…
要するに，環境面から見た大企業の業務慣行は，多くの一般市民の正義漢を逆 撫でするようなひとつの根本原理から形作られている．状況しだいで，少なく とも短期的には，環境を損ない，人々を傷つけることによって最大限の利益を あげるという原理だ．…

自社の利益のため人々に害を及ぼす企業に対して，当事者でない一般人が非難 の声を上げるのは，簡単だし，懐も痛まない．しかし，非難するだけではなか なか変化は生み出せない．企業が非営利の慈善事業ではなく，営利活動のため の組織であり，株主に対して，合法的な手段で最大限の利益を挙げる義務を負っ ているという事実を無視しているからだ．故意に利益を減じるような経営を行っ た場合，法律により，経営陣は"受託責任の不履行"に問われる．…

企業への非難は，もうひとつ，人々に害を及ぼすことが企業の利益になるよう な状況を作ったのが，突き詰めれば一般市民の責任だということを無視してい る．つまり，わたしたちは鉱業会に浄化を求めなかったし，持続不能な伐採に よって作られた木製品を買い続けた．長い目で見れば，直接的に，あるいは政 治家を通して，環境破壊的な経営方針を不利益かつ不法なものとし，持続可能 な環境対策を収益性の高いものとする力を持つのは，一般市民なのだ． (pp.306-307)

…
予言をはずした環境保護論者に対する寸言は，突き詰めると誤報への不満のよ うなものだ．生活のほかの分野，たとえば火事などの場合は，私たちは誤報に 対して常識的な態度をとる．政府や地方自治体は，かなりの経費を割いて，消 防のための設備や人員を維持しているが，小さな町などでは，めったに出動の 機会がないところもあるだろう．消防署にかかってくる通報の電話のうち，多 くが誤通報であり，また別の多くは火事そのものが小さく，消防車が現場に到 着する前に消し止められる．ある割合までなら，わたしたちはそういう誤通報 や"ぼや"を不快感なく受け入れる．出火してすぐの時点では，火事の危険性は 不確かで判定しにくいだろうし，急に火勢が強まったりすると，家屋や人名が 失われる可能性もあるからだ．正常な感覚の持ち主なら，何年も大きな火事が 起こらなかったというだけの理由で，地元の消防署を廃止しようなどとは考え ないだろう．また，小さな火事を発見して，消防車が駆けつける前に消火して しまった通報者を，誰も責めたりはしないだろう．すべての通報の中に占める 誤通報の割合が異様に高くなったときに初めて，私たちは何かおかしいと感じ る．許容できる誤通報の割合は，大火事の起こる頻度とその損害額を，誤通報 の頻度と無駄な出動の経費と比較して，釣り合いが取れているかどうかで決ま る．誤通報の頻度があまりに低い場合は，多くの住宅所有者があまりに慎重に 構えて，通報を遅らせすぎている可能性があり，結果的に被害が大きくなるこ ともある．

同じ理屈で，環境に関する警告の中にある程度の誤報が混じらないようなら， その警告のシステムは慎重すぎるということになる．多くの環境問題には数十 億ドルという経費がかかるのだから，穏当な頻度の誤報は正当化される．それ に，警告が誤りとなったその理由をたどると，そもそもその警告をもとに有効 な対策が講じられていたという場合も多い．(pp.344-345)

鵜は沈み

鵜は浮き

人は船の上

When he was twenty-four years old, Alfred Russel Wallace, the greatest field biologist of the nineteenth century, had his head examined by a phrenologist who determined that, while his "organ of wonder" was very big, his "organ of veneration," representing respect for authority, was noticeably small. Wallace was so struck with the accuracy of this report that, sixty years later, he mentioned it in his autobiography. It was wonder that drew him to nature, and an instinctive disregard for authority that made it easy to challenge an entire civilization's religious convictions, as he did when, in 1858, he dashed off a paper proposing a theory of evolution by means of natural selection. Unlike Charles Darwin, who spent twenty years keeping a similar conclusion to himself in private dread, Wallace didn't give a damn what people thought. This utter independence from public opinion is one of several reasons that he has all but vanished from popular consciousness.

Another is simple bad luck. Wallace grew up poor and was always an outsider in the gentlemen's club that constituted the scientific world of his day. When, in his youth, he sailed to the Amazon to seek his scientific fortune, his ship caught fire and sank on the way home, taking with it thousands of specimens, a number of live monkeys, and his dream of an easy life. Wallace never found steady work and was instead forced to make a living by his pen -- risky for a scientist with a restless imagination in a cautious age -- supplementing his income by working as a lowly test examiner. Most unluckily of all, Wallace, having completed his explosive paper on evolution, chose to send it to Darwin himself, who then kicked into high gear and brought out "On the Origin of Species" the following year.

Still another reason for Wallace's obscurity has something to do with that phrenologist. Wallace cracked one of the greatest scientific mysteries of all time but continued to believe throughout his long life that a stranger had read the riddle of his character by feeling the bumps on his head. Phrenology was one of several commitments -- like his campaign against vaccination and his credulous defense of spiritualist mediums -- that did not endear him to the scientific establishment, or to posterity.

...
But the final lesson came on the way home. Wallace's ship caught fire and sank, and he found himself, after four years in the Amazon, floating in an open boat in the Sargasso Sea, seven hundred miles from shore. He was without friends, having quarrelled with Bates halfway through the expedition. The boat that rescued Wallace almost sank, too, and at some point on the return trip, weak from multiple bouts of fever and contemplating his losses -- he had grabbed only a few notebooks, while his entire private collection, including several hundred species new to science, had gone down with the ship -- Wallace decided never to travel again.

His resolution was short-lived. After less than two years in England, he was ready to depart again. He was better known this time, and had proved himself both as a collector and as a surveyor. (His map of the Uaupes River remained in use for more than fifty years.) This earned him the backing of the Royal Geographical Society for a trip to the Malay Archipelago, the vast chain of islands that make up present-day Indonesia.

He arrived in Singapore in 1854; he was thirty-one years old and was to remain in the Far East for another eight years, amassing, according to Shermer's biography, an "almost unimaginable 125,660 specimens, including 310 mammals, 100 reptiles, 8,050 birds, 7,500 shells, 13,100 butterflies, 83,200 beetles, and 13,400 other insects, over a thousand of which were new species." The book that Wallace later wrote about this period, "The Malay Archipelago," is rich with the thrill and wonder of the hunt, as when he caught his first specimen of the butterfly Ornithoptera poseidon:

...
What followed has been called the "Delicate Arrangement." The term, drawn from a phrase used by Huxley's grandson, provides the title of a 1980 book by Arnold C. Brackman arguing that Darwin received Wallace's paper earlier than he acknowledged, incorporated aspects of it into his own work, and then sent it on to Lyell pretending that it had just arrived. Much poring over postmarks and manuscripts is involved in this argument, but the recent biographies all make it pretty clear that, at its root, this was primarily an instance -- perhaps the greatest -- of great minds thinking alike. But there's no question that Hooker and Lyell -- Darwin's friends, both of whom were powerful and wellborn members of the Royal Society -- took action to protect Darwin's "priority." And although Darwin wrote to Lyell that "I would far rather burn my whole book, than that he or any other man should think that I had behaved in a paltry spirit," he turned the matter over to Lyell and Hooker with enough hints to help them resolve things favorably for him. Lyell and Hooker arranged a reading, at a meeting of the Linnean Society, on July 1, 1858, of three items: the first was an unpublished sketch by Darwin written in 1844; the second was a letter he had written to a Harvard biologist in 1857 describing aspects of his theory; the final, making a sort of coda to Darwin, was Wallace's paper.

Wallace, still in the Tropics, did not even know about the meeting -- nobody told him until it was all over. When he found out, he expressed the humble satisfaction of a servant invited to eat at the master's table, writing to his mother, "I sent Mr. Darwin an essay on a subject on which he is now writing a great work. He showed it to Dr. Hooker and Sir C. Lyell, who thought so highly of it that they immediately read it before the Linnean Society. This assures me the acquaintance and assistance of these eminent men on my return home." One wonders what he might have written had he known the reason for such speedy publication. But later, when he had divined more of the circumstances, he retained his generosity, adding only that he wished he had been given a chance to proof his article.

...
In 1866, Wallace, never one to keep his opinions to himself, produced a pamphlet, "The Scientific Aspect of the Supernatural," which he sent to his eminent colleagues. In 1869, he published a review of a new edition of Lyell's "Principles." In it, Wallace explained the mechanism of evolution and defended the laws of natural selection that accounted for it, but he also expressed the opinion that "there yet seems to be evidence of a Power which has guided the action of those laws in definite directions and for special ends." This was one of the first public expressions of a mystical turn that Wallace called his "little heresy." Darwin, warned in advance, had written anxiously to Wallace, "I hope you have not murdered too completely your own and my child." Wallace never did abandon natural selection, but later generations came to find him an unfit parent. He did not conform to the pattern of the modern scientist, who, on seeing the evolutionary light, was supposed to shed any illusion about the supernatural. Wallace attempted to reconcile the two, and his reputation suffered accordingly.

It wasn't only spiritualism. In the eighteen-eighties, he campaigned against vaccination, arguing that doctors, as interested parties, should not be the ones to decide the question. On a speaking tour of America, in 1887, alongside talks on "Darwinism," he delivered lectures with such titles as "If a Man Dies, Shall He Live Again?" His answer was an unequivocal yes. When Wallace announced, "We are all of us, in every act and thought, helping to build up a mental and spiritual nature which will be far more complete after the death of the body than it is now," he sounded less like a scientist than like Keats, articulating his belief that the world is a school for the education of souls.

Yet through all this he continued to make serious contributions to science. In the eighteen-sixties, Wallace and Darwin carried on a heated debate about the role of sexual selection, and Wallace has often since been proved correct. In 1876, he published "The Geographical Distribution of Animals," which became a pioneering text in the important field of biogeography. Yet, the same year, he relocated his family because a dead brother had urged it via automatic writing. No wonder posterity was confused.

...
The generations that came after Wallace, extending into our own, have never known quite what to make of him. He remains today too theistic for the Darwinians and too Darwinian for advocates of intelligent design, with whom it is hard to imagine him having much patience. But his holistic impulses can still be seen in the work of naturalists like E. O. Wilson, who incorporated human nature into his theory of sociobiology (to wide scientific outrage) and who continues to dream of what he calls "consilience." Though Wilson is not a theist, forty per cent of American scientists, when polled, acknowledge a belief in some sort of divine power. And there are scientists, like Francis Collins, the head of the Human Genome Project, who have declared unabashedly that the genetic code is the language of God. Collins seems to intend that statement as more than a metaphor but to be disinclined, unlike Wallace, to attempt a scientific argument proving that it is.

The bottom line, according to Dr. Paulus and others, is that mind and body are integrated in the insula. It provides unprecedented insight into the anatomy of human emotions.

...
According to Dr. Craig, the insula receives information from receptors in the skin and internal organs. Such receptors are nerve cells that specialize in different senses. Thus there are receptors that detect heat, cold, itch, pain, taste, hunger, thirst, muscle ache, visceral sensations and so-called air hunger, the need to breathe. The sense of touch and the sense of the body's position in space are routed to different brain regions, he said.

All mammals have insulas that read their body condition, Dr. Craig said. Information about the status of the body's tissues and organs is carried from the receptors along distinct spinal pathways, into the brain stem and up to the posterior insula in the higher brain or cortex.

As such, all mammals have emotions, defined as sensations that provoke motivations. If an animal is hot, it seeks shade. If hungry, it looks for food. If hurt, it licks the wound.

But animals are not thought to have subjective feelings in the way that humans do, Dr. Craig said. Humans, and to a lesser degree the great apes, have evolved two innovations to their insulas that take this system of reading body states to a new level.

One involves circuitry, the other a brand new type of brain cell.

In humans, information about the body's state takes a slightly different route inside the brain, picking up even more signals from the gut, the heart, the lungs and other internal organs. Then the human brain takes an extra step, Dr. Craig said. The information on bodily sensations is further routed to the front part of the insula, especially on the right side, which has undergone a huge expansion in humans and apes.

It is in the frontal insula, Dr. Craig said, that simple body states or sensations are recast as social emotions. A bad taste or smell is sensed in the frontal insula as disgust. A sensual touch from a loved one is transformed into delight.

The frontal insula is where people sense love and hate, gratitude and resentment, self-confidence and embarrassment, trust and distrust, empathy and contempt, approval and disdain, pride and humiliation, truthfulness and deception, atonement and guilt.

People who are better at reading these sensations -- a quickened heart beat, a flushed face, slow breathing -- score higher on psychological tests of empathy, researchers have found. The second major modification to the insula is a type of cell found in only humans, great apes, whales and possibly elephants, Dr. Allman said. Humans have by far the greatest number of these cells, which are called VENs, short for Von Economo neurons, named for the scientist who first described them in 1925. VENs are large cigar-shaped cells tapered at each end, and they are found exclusively in the frontal insula and anterior cingulate cortex.

Exactly what VENs are doing within this critical circuit is not yet known, Dr. Allman said. But they are in the catbird seat for turning feelings and emotions into actions and intentions.

The human insula, with its souped-up anatomy, is also important for processing events that have yet to happen, Dr. Paulus said. "When you decide to go outside on a cold day, your body gets ready before you hit the cold air," he said. "It starts pumping blood to where you need it and adjusts your metabolism. Your insula tells you what it will feel like before you step outside."

The same goes for drug addicts. When an addict is confronted with sights, sounds, smells, situations or other stimuli associated with drug use, the insula is activated before using the drug.

"If you give cocaine to an addict, you are affecting their brain's reward system, but this is not what drives the person to keep using cocaine," Dr. Paulus said. The craving is what gets people to use.

There are several ways to pick a baby's sex before a woman becomes pregnant, or at least to shift the odds. Most of the procedures were originally developed to treat infertility or prevent genetic diseases.

The most reliable method is not easy or cheap. It requires in vitro fertilization, in which doctors prescribe drugs to stimulate the mother's ovaries, perform surgery to collect her eggs, fertilize them in the laboratory and then insert the embryos into her uterus.

Before the embryos are placed in the womb, some doctors will test for sex and, if there are enough embryos, let the parents decide whether to insert exclusively male or female ones. Pregnancy is not guaranteed, and the combined procedures can cost $20,000 or more, often not covered by insurance. Many doctors refuse to perform these invasive procedures just for sex selection, and some people are troubled by what eventually becomes of the embryos of the unwanted sex, which may be frozen or discarded.

Another method, used before the eggs are fertilized, involves sorting sperm, because it is the sperm and not the egg that determines a baby's sex. Semen normally has equal numbers of male- and female-producing sperm cells, but a technology called MicroSort can shift the ratio to either 88 percent female or 73 percent male. The "enriched" specimen can then be used for insemination or in vitro fertilization. It can cost $4,000 to $6,000, not including in vitro fertilization.

MicroSort is still experimental and available only as part of a study being done to apply for approval from the Food and Drug Administration. The technology was originally developed by the Agriculture Department for use in farm animals, and it was adapted for people by scientists at the Genetics and IVF Institute, a fertility clinic in Virginia. The technique has been used in more than 1,000 pregnancies, with more than 900 births so far, a spokesman for the clinic said. As of January 2006 (the most recent figures released), the success rate among parents who wanted girls was 91 percent, and for those who wanted boys, it was 76 percent.

...
Some people say sex selection is ethical if parents already have one or more boys and now want a girl, or vice versa. In that case, it's "family balancing," not sex discrimination. The MicroSort study accepts only people who have genetic disorders or request family balancing (they are asked for birth records), and a company spokesman said that even if the technique was approved, it would not be used for first babies.

Yet, as Arthur Allen makes clear in "Vaccine," a timely, fair-minded and crisply written account of "medicine's greatest lifesaver," not everyone welcomed Jenner's feat. Criticism came quickly, often in apocalyptic terms. The economist Thomas Malthus wrote that vaccination might lead to dangerous population increases. Ministers warned against interfering with the Lord's grand design. Others, meanwhile, objected to a process that injected foreign, perhaps poisonous, matter into the body. What possible good could come from polluting the bloodstream of a child?

For vaccine supporters, the answer was simple. Vaccination saved lives by stimulating the immune system to create protective antibodies against disease. The process wasn't foolproof, they agreed, and the hazards were real. Vaccines could be contaminated with deadly bacteria; some were too weak to be effective, others so strong they could kill. Yet in a world where millions were dying needlessly from smallpox, this seemed a small price to pay. Vaccination, like other great discoveries, involved risk and reward.

Antivaccine sentiment found fertile soil in the United States, where the ethos of individual responsibility often clashed with public health programs based on collective norms. As Allen notes, Americans remained suspicious of calls for mandatory vaccination. Indeed, one of the potent symbols of the early antivaccine movement was the limp "Raggedy Ann" doll, created in 1915 by a man whose daughter had died shortly after being vaccinated at school without parental consent. Authorities blamed a heart defect; her parents blamed the shot.

What kept vaccine opponents on the defensive, however, were the rapid breakthroughs in medicine and public health. Jenner's triumph was followed by a procession of other vaccines, for rabies, tetanus, yellow fever, diphtheria and more. A healthier diet, advances in sanitation and surgery, the development of antibiotics and DDT -- all combined to increase the average American life expectancy to 70 years from 47 between 1900 and 1955.

Allen sees two events in these years as crucial to the growing public acceptance of vaccines. When America went to war in 1941 following Pearl Harbor, the health of the troops became a primary concern. Determined to prevent the medical casualties of World War I, where the number of American soldiers killed by influenza (44,000) almost matched the number lost in battle (50,000), military officials made vaccination mandatory. "Yes, the shots hurt and even caused illness sometimes, but the soldier survived," Allen writes. "Returning from the war he wanted his children to have the same protection."

高校1年のとき，蓄膿の治療のため通った総合病院で医師に対する不信感が根 付きました．行くたびに違う医師が出てきて「手術が必要」「薬で治す」と違 う診断をする．診察中，ずっと無言の医師もいました．「医者はこんなにいい 加減でもできる」「患者が困っていても助けてはくれない」 と達観しましたね．後に医者になって，それが事実だと確認できましたが．

そもそも母が医者嫌いでした．母の父親は開業医だったのですが，母も親せき に預けられて育ったこともあって，二人の関係は難しかったようです．僕は母 から「医者は自分が一番偉いと信じ切っている」「他人の気持ちが全然分からない」と聞かされて育ち，すり込まれた感がありますね．

でも，祖父をはたから見てると，自由奔放なんですよ．一ヵ所で開業している わけでもなく，あちこち行って．船医になったり，法学部に入って弁護士にな ると言ってみたり．医者であるがゆえに自由気ままにやれる．医師免許のあり がたみですよね．社会が許している「抜け道」に見えました．

ほかの職業について具体的なイメージがあまりなかったこともあって，最終的 に医大に進みました．承知のうえで選んだ道だったのです．

八三年，奈良県立医科大学卒業．医師の世界へと踏み出していくと，胸にあっ た数々の疑問が現実のものになっていく．

医師国家試験の勉強は友達と合宿までして，一生懸命やりました． 試験は五択 のマークシート問題だけ．断定的な文章はまず誤りで，文末が「こともある」 だったらマル．字づらだけである程度分かる．ほとんどの人が満点に近かった と思います．「あんなに勉強するんじゃなかった」とみんな悔しがってました． 医師になる試験に実技も論述も面接もなくて，合格すれば何科の医者にでもな れる．更新制度もないから，腕が悪くても死ぬまで医者．こんなことを聞くと， 一般の人は驚くんじゃないでしょうか．プロ野球の入団試験では当然，五十メー トル走とか遠投なんかをやりますが，医師の場合，それはなし．なぜかという と，足が遅い人が困るから．そういう発想ですよ．

こうした実情を医者の側も明かさなかったし，一般の人たちも知ろうとしなかっ た．いい大学を出ているから，経験もありそうだからいい医者だろうと勝手に 思い込んで，思考停止している．医者の方はうまくそれに乗っかって，利用し てきたわけです．

Caro called Moses "America's greatest builder ," and perhaps the most distinctive service of the exhibition is to bring home the sheer scale of his achievement to a new audience. There are models of many Moses projects and exceptionally elegant color photographs, by Andrew Moore, showing the current state of those projects. The photographs are so beautiful that they make you yearn for a time when enhancing the public realm was a serious calling. Moses built the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the Triborough Bridge, the Henry Hudson Parkway, the Henry Hudson Bridge, the Southern and Northern State Parkways, the Grand Central Parkway, the Cross Island Parkway, the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, the Throgs Neck Bridge, the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, the Long Island Expressway, the Meadowbrook Parkway, and the Saw Mill River Parkway. He built Jones Beach State Park (an early masterwork), Orchard Beach, the Niagara and St. Lawrence power projects, the New York Coliseum, and the 1964 World's Fair. By his own count, Moses added six hundred and fifty-eight playgrounds and seventeen public swimming pools to the New York City park system. In Central Park, he added the Conservatory Garden, the Great Lawn, and the Zoo. He played a major role in the creation of Shea Stadium, Stuyvesant Town, Lenox Terrace, Park West Village, Lincoln Towers, Kips Bay Plaza, Washington Square Village, and Co-op City. At one point, Moses held twelve New York City and New York State positions simultaneously. He served under seven governors and five mayors, and a popular joke had it that Moses wasn't working for them so much as they were serving under Moses.

Even more significant, perhaps, than Moses's productivity is the fact that he was one of the first people to look at New York City not as an isolated urban zone but as the central element in a sprawling region. In the early nineteen-thirties, he would charter small planes and fly back and forth across the metropolitan area to get a better sense of regional patterns. His vision of New York was of an integrated system with an urban center, a suburban ring, and a series of huge public recreational areas, all connected by parkways. Although the Regional Plan Association had proposed looking at the metropolitan area that way in 1929, Moses was the only public official who both grasped regionalism as a concept and had the ability to do something about it -- which meant not only transcending local politics but also figuring out ways to pay for huge projects. He did this by establishing a series of public authorities, which allowed him to issue public bonds at favorable rates while leaving him with nearly as much autonomy as he would have had if he were running a private corporation. He moved among his various offices via a fleet of limousines -- the highway-builder never learned to drive. His home base was in the headquarters of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, a small building on Randall's Island, nestled under the Triborough Bridge, where he held court in lavish offices that were hidden from public view.

Every weekday, a truck pulls up to the Cecil H. Green Library, on the campus of Stanford University, and collects at least a thousand books, which are taken to an undisclosed location and scanned, page by page, into an enormous database being created by Google. The company is also retrieving books from libraries at several other leading universities, including Harvard and Oxford, as well as the New York Public Library. At the University of Michigan, Google's original partner in Google Book Search, tens of thousands of books are processed each week on the company's custom-made scanning equipment.

Google intends to scan every book ever published, and to make the full texts searchable, in the same way that Web sites can be searched on the company's engine at google.com. At the books site, which is up and running in a beta (or testing) version, at books.google.com, you can enter a word or phrase -- say, Ahab and whale -- and the search returns a list of works in which the terms appear, in this case nearly eight hundred titles, including numerous editions of Herman Melville's novel. Clicking on "Moby-Dick, or The Whale" calls up Chapter 28, in which Ahab is introduced. You can scroll through the chapter, search for other terms that appear in the book, and compare it with other editions. Google won't say how many books are in its database, but the site's value as a research tool is apparent; on it you can find a history of Urdu newspapers, an 1892 edition of Jane Austen's letters, several guides to writing haiku, and a Harvard alumni directory from 1919.

In 1990, Croskerry became the head of the emergency department at Dartmouth General Hospital, and was struck by the number of errors made by doctors under his supervision. He kept lists of the errors, trying to group them into categories, and, in the mid-nineties, he began to publish articles in medical journals, borrowing insights from cognitive psychology to explain how doctors make clinical decisions -- especially flawed ones -- under the stressful conditions of the emergency room. "Emergency physicians are required to make an unusually high number of decisions in the course of their work," he wrote in "Achieving Quality in Clinical Decision Making: Cognitive Strategies and Detection of Bias," an article published in Academic Emergency Medicine, in 2002. These doctors' decisions necessarily entail a great deal of uncertainty, Croskerry wrote, since, "for the most part, patients are not known and their illnesses are seen through only small windows of focus and time." By calling physicians' attention to common mistakes in medical judgment, he has helped to promote an emerging field in medicine: the study of how doctors think. There are limited data about the frequency of misdiagnoses. Research from the nineteen-eighties and nineties suggests that they occur in about fifteen per cent of cases, but Croskerry suspects that the rate is significantly higher. He believes that many misdiagnoses are the result of readily identifiable -- and often preventable -- errors in thinking.

Doctors typically begin to diagnose patients the moment they meet them. Even before they conduct an examination, they are interpreting a patient's appearance: his complexion, the tilt of his head, the movements of his eyes and mouth, the way he sits or stands up, the sound of his breathing. Doctors' theories about what is wrong continue to evolve as they listen to the patient's heart, or press on his liver. But research shows that most physicians already have in mind two or three possible diagnoses within minutes of meeting a patient, and that they tend to develop their hunches from very incomplete information. To make diagnoses, most doctors rely on shortcuts and rules of thumb -- known in psychology as "heuristics."

Heuristics are indispensable in medicine; physicians, particularly in emergency rooms, must often make quick judgments about how to treat a patient, on the basis of a few, potentially serious symptoms. A doctor is trained to assume, for example, that a patient suffering from a high fever and sharp pain in the lower right side of the abdomen could be suffering from appendicitis; he immediately sends the patient for X-rays and contacts the surgeon on call. But, just as heuristics can help doctors save lives, they can also lead them to make grave errors. In retrospect, Croskerry realized that when he saw McKinley in the emergency room the ranger had been experiencing unstable angina -- a surge of chest pain that is caused by coronary-artery disease and that may precede a heart attack. "The unstable angina didn't show on the EKG, because fifty per cent of such cases don't," Croskerry said. "His unstable angina didn't show up on the cardiac-enzymes test, because there had been no damage to his heart muscle yet. And it didn't show up on the chest X-ray, because the heart had not yet begun to fail, so there was no fluid backed up in the lungs."

The mistake that Croskerry made is called a "representativeness" error. Doctors make such errors when their thinking is overly influenced by what is typically true; they fail to consider possibilities that contradict their mental templates of a disease, and thus attribute symptoms to the wrong cause. Croskerry told me that he had immediately noticed the ranger's trim frame: most fit men in their forties are unlikely to be suffering from heart disease. Moreover, McKinley's pain was not typical of coronary-artery disease, and the results of the physical examination and the blood tests did not suggest a heart problem. But, Croskerry emphasized, this was precisely the point: "You have to be prepared in your mind for the atypical and not be too quick to reassure yourself, and your patient, that everything is O.K." (Croskerry could have kept McKinley under observation and done a second cardiac-enzyme test or had him take a cardiac stress test, which might have revealed the source of his chest pain.) When Croskerry teaches students and interns about representativeness errors, he cites Evan McKinley as an example. Doctors can also make mistakes when their judgments about a patient are unconsciously influenced by the symptoms and illnesses of patients they have just seen. Many common infections tend to occur in epidemics, afflicting large numbers of people in a single community at the same time; after a doctor sees six patients with, say, the flu, it is common to assume that the seventh patient who complains of similar symptoms is suffering from the same disease. Harrison Alter, an emergency-room physician, recently confronted this problem. At the time, Alter was working in the emergency room of a hospital in Tuba City, Arizona, which is situated on a Navajo reservation. In a three-week period, dozens of people had come to his hospital suffering from viral pneumonia. One day, Blanche Begaye (a pseudonym), a Navajo woman in her sixties, arrived at the emergency room complaining that she was having trouble breathing. Begaye was a compact woman with long gray hair that she wore in a bun. She told Alter that she had begun to feel unwell a few days earlier. At first, she said, she had thought that she had a bad head cold, so she had drunk orange juice and tea, and taken a few aspirin. But her symptoms had got worse. Alter noted that she had a fever of 100.2 degrees, and that she was breathing rapidly -- at almost twice the normal rate. He listened to her lungs but heard none of the harsh sounds, called rhonchi, that suggest an accumulation of mucus. A chest X-ray showed that Begaye's lungs did not have the white streaks typical of viral pneumonia, and her white-blood-cell count was not elevated, as would be expected if she had the illness.

However, a blood test to measure her electrolytes revealed that her blood had become slightly acidic, which can occur in the case of a major infection. Alter told Begaye that he thought she had "subclinical pneumonia." She was in the early stages of the infection, he said; the virus had not yet affected her lungs in a way that would show up on a chest X-ray. He ordered her to be admitted to the hospital and given intravenous fluids and medicine to bring her fever down. Viral pneumonia can tax an older person's heart and sometimes cause it to fail, he told her, so it was prudent that she remain under observation by doctors. Alter referred Begaye to the care of an internist on duty and began to examine another patient. A few minutes later, the internist approached Alter and took him aside. "That's not a case of viral pneumonia," the doctor said. "She has aspirin toxicity."

Immediately, Alter knew that the internist was right. Aspirin toxicity occurs when patients overdose on the drug, causing hyperventilation and the accumulation of lactic acid and other acids in the blood. "Aspirin poisoning -- bread-and-butter toxicology," Alter told me. "This was something that was drilled into me throughout my training. She was an absolutely classic case -- the rapid breathing, the shift in her blood electrolytes -- and I missed it. I got cavalier."

Alter's misdiagnosis resulted from the use of a heuristic called "availability," which refers to the tendency to judge the likelihood of an event by the ease with which relevant examples come to mind. This tendency was first described in 1973, in a paper by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, psychologists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. For example, a businessman may estimate the likelihood that a given venture could fail by recalling difficulties that his associates had encountered in the marketplace, rather than by relying on all the data available to him about the venture; the experiences most familiar to him can bias his assessment of the chances for success. (Kahneman won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002, for his research on decision-making under conditions of uncertainty.) The diagnosis of subclinical pneumonia was readily available to Alter, because he had recently seen so many cases of the infection. Rather than try to integrate all the information he had about Begaye's illness, he had focussed on the symptoms that she shared with other patients he had seen: her fever, her rapid breathing, and the acidity of her blood. He dismissed the data that contradicted his diagnosis -- the absence of rhonchi and of white streaks on the chest X-ray, and the normal white-blood-cell count -- as evidence that the infection was at an early stage. In fact, this information should have made him doubt his hypothesis. (Psychologists call this kind of cognitive cherry-picking "confirmation bias": confirming what you expect to find by selectively accepting or ignoring information.)

After the internist made the correct diagnosis, Alter recalled his conversation with Begaye. When he had asked whether she had taken any medication, including over-the-counter drugs, she had replied, "A few aspirin." As Alter told me, "I didn't define with her what 'a few' meant." It turned out to be several dozen.

Representativeness and availability errors are intellectual mistakes, but the errors that doctors make because of their feelings for a patient can be just as significant. We all want to believe that our physician likes us and is moved by our plight. Doctors, in turn, are encouraged to develop positive feelings for their patients; caring is generally held to be the cornerstone of humanistic medicine. Sometimes, however, a doctor's impulse to protect a patient he likes or admires can adversely affect his judgment.

In 1979, I treated Brad Miller (a pseudonym), a young literature instructor who was suffering from bone cancer. I was living in Los Angeles at the time, completing a fellowship in hematology and oncology at the U.C.L.A. Medical Center. "You look familiar," Brad said to me when I introduced myself to him in his hospital room as the doctor who would be overseeing his care. "I see you running with two or three friends around the university," he said. "I'm a runner, too -- or, at least, was."

I told Brad that I hoped he would be able to run again soon, though I warned him that his chemotherapy treatment would be difficult.

About six weeks earlier, Brad had noticed an ache in his left knee. He had been training to run in a marathon, and at first he thought that the ache was caused by a sore muscle. He saw a specialist in sports medicine, who examined the leg and recommended that he wear a knee brace when he ran. Brad followed this advice, but the ache got worse. The physician ordered an X-ray, which showed an osteosarcoma, a cancerous growth, around the end of the femur, just above the knee. Several years earlier, the surgical-oncology department at U.C.L.A. had devised an experimental treatment for this kind of sarcoma, involving a new chemotherapy drug called Adriamycin. Oncologists had nicknamed Adriamycin "the red death," because of its cranberry color and its toxicity. Not only did it cause severe nausea, vomiting, mouth blisters, and reduced blood counts; repeated doses could injure cardiac muscle and lead to heart failure. Patients had to be monitored closely, since once the heart is damaged there is no good way to restore its pumping capacity. Still, doctors at U.C.L.A. had found that giving patients multiple doses of Adriamycin often shrank tumors, allowing them to surgically remove the cancer without amputating the affected limb -- the standard approach in the past.

I began administering the treatment that afternoon. Despite taking Compazine to stave off vomiting, Brad was acutely nauseated. After several doses of chemotherapy, his white-blood-cell count dropped precipitately. Because his immune system was weakened, he was at great risk of contracting an infection. I required visitors to Brad's room to wear a mask, a gown, and gloves, and instructed the nurses not to give him raw food, in order to limit his exposure to bacteria.

"Not to your taste," I said at the end of the first week of treatment, seeing an untouched meal on his tray.

"My mouth hurts," Brad whispered. "And, even if I could chew, it looks pretty tasteless."

I agreed that the food looked dismal.

"What is to your taste?" I asked. "Fried kidney?"

I had told Brad when we met that I had studied "Ulysses" in college, in a freshman seminar. The professor had explained the relevant Irish history, the subtle references to Catholic liturgy, and a number of other allusions that most of us in the class would otherwise not have grasped. I had enjoyed Joyce's descriptions of Leopold Bloom eating fried kidneys.

Brad was my favorite patient on the ward. Each morning when I made rounds with the residents and the medical students, I would take an inventory of his symptoms and review his laboratory results. I would often linger a few moments in his room, trying to distract him from the misery of his therapy by talking about literature.

The treatment called for a CAT scan after the third cycle of Adriamycin. If the cancer had shrunk sufficiently, the surgery would proceed. If it hadn't, or if the cancer had grown despite the chemotherapy, then there was little to be done short of amputation. Even after amputation, patients with osteosarcomas are at risk of a recurrence.

One morning, Brad developed a low-grade fever. During rounds, the residents told me that they had taken blood and urine cultures and that Brad's physical examination was "nonfocal" -- they had found no obvious reason for the fever. Patients often get low fevers during chemotherapy after their white-blood-cell count falls; if the fever has no identifiable cause, the doctor must decide whether and when to administer a course of antibiotics.

"So you feel even more wiped out?" I asked Brad. He nodded. I asked him about various symptoms that could help me determine what was causing the fever. Did he have a headache? Difficulty seeing? Pressure in his sinuses? A sore throat? Problems breathing? Pain in his abdomen? Diarrhea? Burning on urination? He shook his head.

Two residents helped prop Brad up in bed so that I could examine him; I had a routine that I followed with each immune-deficient patient, beginning at the crown of the head and working down to the tips of the toes. Brad's hair was matted with sweat, and his face was ashen. I peered into his eyes, ears, nose, and throat, and found only some small ulcers on his inner cheeks and under his tongue -- side effects of his treatment. His lungs were clear, and his heart sounds were strong. His abdomen was soft, and there was no tenderness over his bladder.

"Enough for today," I said. Brad looked exhausted; it seemed wise to let him rest.

Later that day, I was in the hematology lab, looking at blood cells from a patient with leukemia, when my beeper went off. "Brad Miller has no blood pressure," the resident told me when I returned the call. "His temperature is up to a hundred and four, and we're moving him to the I.C.U."

Brad was in septic shock. When bacteria spread through the bloodstream, they can damage the circulation. Septic shock can be fatal even in people who are otherwise healthy; patients with impaired immunity, like Brad, whose white-blood-cell count had fallen because of chemotherapy, are at particular risk of dying.

"Do we have a source of infection?" I asked.

"He has what looks like an abscess on his left buttock," the resident said.

Patients who lack enough white blood cells to fight bacteria are prone to infections at sites that are routinely soiled, like the area between the buttocks. The abscess must have been there when I examined Brad. But I had failed to ask him to roll over so that I could inspect his buttocks and rectal area.

The resident told me that he had repeated Brad's cultures and started him on broad-spectrum antibiotics, and that the I.C.U. team was about to take over.

I was furious with myself. Because I liked Brad, I hadn't wanted to add to his discomfort and had cut the examination short. Perhaps I hoped unconsciously that the cause of his fever was trivial and that I would not find evidence of an infection on his body. This tendency to make decisions based on what we wish were true is what Croskerry calls an "affective error." In medicine, this type of error can have potentially fatal consequences. In the case of Evan McKinley, for example, Pat Croskerry chose to rely on the ranger's initial test results -- the normal EKG, chest X-ray, and blood tests -- all of which suggested a benign diagnosis. He didn't arrange for follow-up testing that might have revealed the source of the ranger's chest pain. Croskerry, who had been an Olympic rower in his thirties, told me that McKinley had reminded him of himself as an athlete; he believed that this association contributed to his misdiagnosis.

As soon as I finished my work in the lab, I rushed to the I.C.U. to check on Brad. He was on a respirator and opened his eyes wide to signal hello. Through an intravenous line attached to one arm, he was receiving pressors, drugs that cause the heart to pump more effectively and increase the tone of the vessels to help maintain blood pressure. Brad's heart was holding up, despite all the Adriamycin he had taken. His platelet count had fallen, as often happens with septic shock, and he was receiving platelet transfusions. The senior doctor in the I.C.U. had told Brad's parents, who lived nearby, that he was extremely ill. I saw his parents sitting in a room next to the I.C.U., their heads bowed. They had not seen me, and I was tempted to avoid them. But I forced myself to speak to them and offered a few words of encouragement. They thanked me for my care of their son, which only made me feel worse.

The next morning, I arrived before the residents to review my patients' charts. Rounds lasted an hour longer than usual, as I insisted on double-checking each bit of information that the residents offered about the patients in our care.

Brad Miller survived. Slowly, his white-blood-cell count increased, and the infection was resolved. After he left the I.C.U., I told him that I should have examined him more thoroughly that morning, but I did not explain why I had not. A CAT scan showed that his sarcoma had shrunk enough for him to undergo surgery without amputation, but a large portion of his thigh muscle had to be removed along with the tumor. After he recovered, he was no longer able to run, but occasionally I saw him riding his bicycle on campus.

Scientists studying stroke patients are reporting today that an injury to a specific part of the brain, near the ear, can instantly and permanently break a smoking habit. People with the injury who stopped smoking found that their bodies, as one man put it, "forgot the urge to smoke."

The finding, which appears in the journal Science, is based on a small study. But experts say it is likely to alter the course of addiction research, pointing researchers toward new ideas for treatment.

...
"One has to be careful not to extrapolate too much based on brain injuries to what's going on in all addictive behavior, in healthy brains," said Dr. Martin Paulus, a psychiatric researcher at the University of California, San Diego, and the San Diego V.A. Medical Center. Still, Dr. Paulus said, the study "opens up a whole new way to think about addiction."

The researchers, from the University of Iowa and the University of Southern California, examined 32 former smokers, all of whom had suffered a brain injury. The men and women were lucid enough to answer a battery of questions about their habits, and to rate how hard it was to quit and the strength of their subsequent urges to smoke.

They all had smoked at least five cigarettes a day for two years or more, and 16 of them said they had quit with ease, losing their cravings entirely.

The researchers performed M.R.I. scans on all of the patients' brains to specify the location and extent of each injury.

They found that the 16 who had quit easily were far more likely to have an injury to their insula than to any other area. The researchers found no association between a diminished urge to smoke and injuries to other regions of the brain, including tissue surrounding the insula.

"There's a whole neural circuit critical to maintaining addiction, but if you knock out this one area, it appears to wipe out the behavior," said Dr. Antoine Bechara, a senior author of the new paper, who is a neuroscientist at the Brain and Creativity Institute at U.S.C. His co-authors were Dr. Hanna Damasio, also of U.S.C., and Nasir Naqvi and David Rudrauf of the University of Iowa.

The patients' desire to eat, by contrast, was intact. This suggests, the authors wrote, that the insula is critical for behaviors whose bodily effects become pleasurable because they are learned, like cigarette smoking.

The insula, for years a wallflower of brain anatomy, has emerged as a region of interest based in part on recent work by Dr. Antonio Damasio, a neurologist and director of the Brain and Creativity Institute. The insula has widely distributed connections, both in the thinking cortex above, and down below in subcortical areas, like the brain stem, that maintain heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature, the body's primal survival systems.

Based on his studies and others', Dr. Damasio argues that the insula, in effect, maps these signals from the body's physical plant, and integrates them so the conscious brain can interpret them as a coherent emotion.

The system works from the bottom up. First, the body senses cues in the outside world, and responds. The heart rate might elevate at the sight of a stranger's angry face, for example; other muscles might relax in response to a pleasant whiff of smoke.

All of this happens instantaneously and unconsciously, Dr. Damasio said -- until the insula integrates the information and makes it readable to the conscious regions of the brain.

Dr. Roselli, a researcher at the Oregon Health and Science University, has searched for the past five years for physiological factors that might explain why about 8 percent of rams seek sex exclusively with other rams instead of ewes. The goal, he says, is to understand the fundamental mechanisms of sexual orientation in sheep. Other researchers might some day build on his findings to seek ways to determine which rams are likeliest to breed, he said.

The appetite for such beliefs appears to be rooted in the circuitry of the brain, and for good reason. The sense of having special powers buoys people in threatening situations, and helps soothe everyday fears and ward off mental distress. In excess, it can lead to compulsive or delusional behavior. This emerging portrait of magical thinking helps explain why people who fashion themselves skeptics cling to odd rituals that seem to make no sense, and how apparently harmless superstition may become disabling.

The brain seems to have networks that are specialized to produce an explicit, magical explanation in some circumstances, said Pascal Boyer, a professor of psychology and anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis. In an e-mail message, he said such thinking was "only one domain where a relevant interpretation that connects all the dots, so to speak, is preferred to a rational one."

Children exhibit a form of magical thinking by about 18 months, when they begin to create imaginary worlds while playing. By age 3, most know the difference between fantasy and reality, though they usually still believe (with adult encouragement) in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. By age 8, and sometimes earlier, they have mostly pruned away these beliefs, and the line between magic and reality is about as clear to them as it is for adults.

It is no coincidence, some social scientists believe, that youngsters begin learning about faith around the time they begin to give up on wishing. "The point at which the culture withdraws support for belief in Santa and the Tooth Fairy is about the same time it introduces children to prayer," said Jacqueline Woolley, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas. "The mechanism is already there, kids have already spent time believing that wishing can make things come true, and they're just losing faith in the efficacy of that."

...
Yet in a series of experiments published last summer, psychologists at Princeton and Harvard showed how easy it was to elicit magical thinking in well-educated young adults. In one instance, the researchers had participants watch a blindfolded person play an arcade basketball game, and visualize success for the player. The game, unknown to the subjects, was rigged: the shooter could see through the blindfold, had practiced extensively and made most of the shots.

On questionnaires, the spectators said later that they had probably had some role in the shooter's success. A comparison group of participants, who had been instructed to visualize the player lifting dumbbells, was far less likely to claim such credit.

In another experiment, the researchers demonstrated that young men and women instructed on how to use a voodoo doll suspected that they might have put a curse on a study partner who feigned a headache. And they found, similarly, that devoted fans who watched the 2005 Super Bowl felt somewhat responsible for the outcome, whether their team won or lost. Millions in Chicago and Indianapolis are currently trying to channel the winning magic.

...
For people who are generally uncertain of their own abilities, or slow to act because of feelings of inadequacy, this kind of thinking can be an antidote, a needed activator, said Daniel M. Wegner, a professor of psychology at Harvard. (Dr. Wegner was a co-author of the voodoo study, with Kimberly McCarthy of Harvard and Sylvia Rodriguez of Princeton.)

"I deal with students like this all the time and I say, 'Let's get you overconfident,' " Dr. Wegner said. "This feeling that your thoughts can somehow control things can be a needed feeling" -- the polar opposite of the helplessness, he added, that so often accompanies depression.

Magical thinking is most evident precisely when people feel most helpless. Giora Keinan, a professor at Tel Aviv University, sent questionnaires to 174 Israelis after the Iraqi Scud missile attacks of the 1991 gulf war. Those who reported the highest level of stress were also the most likely to endorse magical beliefs, like "I have the feeling that the chances of being hit during a missile attack are greater if a person whose house was attacked is present in the sealed room," or "To be on the safe side, it is best to step into the sealed room right foot first."

"It is of interest to note," Dr. Keinan concluded, "that persons who hold magical beliefs or engage in magical rituals are often aware that their thoughts, actions or both are unreasonable and irrational. Despite this awareness, they are unable to rid themselves of such behavior."

Q. And just how do they do that?

A. As you know, a human sperm needs to swim through the female reproductive tract for something like 15 minutes to get to the egg . They have a kind of built-in motor that permits them to do that. When sperm get to the egg, they need to crash through the ovum's membrane to deposit their DNA there .

The way that happens is that at the end of its run, this ion channel brings the sperm calcium, which changes the shape of its tail and turns it into a kind of whip . The sperm is then propelled into hyper drive -- pushing it into the egg with 20 times the force of normal swimming . Now, if this ion channel is blocked, there can be no fertilization.

ベル研究所の入り口に大きな彼の胸像があり，下に彼の言葉が刻んである．
「時には踏みならされた道を離れ，森の中に入ってみなさい．そこではきっと あなたがこれまで見たことがない何か新しいものを見いだすに違いありません」

1948年，トランジスタ誕生のニュースを聞いて，私はいち早く真空管の研究を 離れ，将来性に富む半導体研究に移った．新しい研究分野を開拓すれば，二流 の研究者でも一流の論文が書ける．企業においても二流の経営者が生きるには， 新分野開拓が好ましい．限られた市場のシェアの争奪戦では，敗者なくして勝 者はあり得ないが，拡大する新分野では，参加者すべてが勝者になり得るので ある．

ところで，この日本国憲法の施行は何としても戦後の最も重要な出来事の一つ であろう．君主主権から民主主権へ，天皇大権中心から国会中心の政治体制へ， 富国強兵から戦争放棄へと，180度転換したのである．戦時中の言論統制や特 高（特別高等警察）の取り締まりなどには，われわれはうんざりしていただけ に，この民主国家の基本法が記された日本国憲法は誰が書いたにしても，多く の知識人の心を捉えた．ただ基本的人権や婦人参政権など通常は戦いで勝ち取 るのであるが，ここでは負け取ったということが民主国家日本の最大の弱みで あり，これが今なお尾を引いているのではないであろうか．

…
トランジスタはその革新性と影響力において二十世紀最大の発明と言っても過 言ではない．これを通じて，私が学んだことは，真空管をいくら研究しても， 改良してもトランジスタは生れてこないということ．すなわち，われわれはと もすれば，殊に安定した社会では，将来を現在の延長線上に捉えがちになる． しかし変革の時代には，今までにない革新的なものが誕生し，将来は創られる といえるのである．ここでは，創造力が決定的な役割を演ずることはいうまで もない．

Now Mr. Martel, 39, a former French cultural attache in Boston, has set out to change this. In "Culture in America ," a 622-page tome weighty with information, he challenges the conventional view here that (French) culture financed and organized by the government is entirely good and that (American) culture shaped by market forces is necessarily bad .

"My first idea was to compare France and the United States," he recalled, "but when I arrived in America, I realized things were much more complicated. The United States is a continent, and you can't compare a continent with a small country or a decentralized country with one that is highly centralized."

As a result this book deals only with creativity and arts financing in the United States. But perhaps surprisingly, given the mixture of fear and disdain that American culture stirs among many French intellectuals, his approach is not polemical. He neither defends nor attacks the United States; he simply describes the American way of culture.

"The idea is to see how a 'counter-model' works ," he explained over tea in a Paris hotel. "If the aim is to fight American cultural 'imperialism,' we need to know it from the inside. If we want to modernize our own system, which needs new resources, it is useful to see how things can function without huge public investment."

Laughter may be universal, but what provokes it is not. Even within a culture, humor can change drastically over a relatively short period . This truth is abundantly documented in "City of Laughter," Vic Gatrell's study of comic prints produced in London during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a period he deems the golden age of satire.

Amotz Zahavi , a biologist at Tel Aviv University, proposed a way for honesty to prevail. His idea was that honesty won out only because lying carried a relatively large cost . His theory eventually led to elaborate mathematical models and experiments that confirmed it.

Roosters attract hens, for example, with their large red combs. Hens benefit from choosing mates in good condition, because their chicks will tend to be in good condition as well. The bigger and brighter a comb, the better condition the rooster is in.

Theoretically, a weak rooster could fool hens by growing a deceptively large comb. But it costs a weak rooster more than it does a strong one to build a big comb. This tradeoff leads to honest signals from weak and strong roosters alike.

"The mystery of why there is honesty was suddenly solved," Dr. Ellner said. "All the big problems fell away."

But if they had explained why deception did not win out, why did it continue to thrive? "We couldn't explain all the dishonesty ," Dr. Ellner said.

Dr. H. Kern Reeve, an evolutionary biologist at Cornell, said that "deception is popping up with a surprising frequency ."

Even crustaceans can lie. Male stomatopods dig burrows, to which they try to attract females. Some males choose to try to evict other stomatopods from their burrows and take them over. These conflicts are dangerous because stomatopods can deliver crushing blows with their claw-like appendages. But the stomatopods rarely come to blows. Instead, males raise themselves up and extend their appendages, like a boxer raising his gloves. The sight of big appendages causes smaller stomatopods to back down.

Yet even the biggest, meanest stomatopod has his moments of weakness. Like all crustaceans, they must molt. A freshly-molted stomatopod has a soft, tender exoskeleton. Even in this vulnerable state, however, males will still raise up their claws in a bold crustacean bluff.

Dr. Rowell recently created a more complicated model of animal signals that may explain why deception is so common. Previous models examined only a single animal sending a signal to a single receiver. But real signals are rarely so private . "They're not happening in a one-on-one situation," Dr. Rowell said. "They're really happening in public ."

A signaler may have different relationships with different listeners. In some cases, honest signals are best. But eavesdroppers may be able to use honest signals for their own advantage .

To capture this extra layer of complexity, Dr. Rowell built a mathematical model with two receivers instead of one . The signaling animal could choose to be honest or dishonest. The receivers could respond to the signal as an honest one or a dishonest one. Working with Dr. Ellner and Dr. Reeve, Dr. Rowell discovered that honesty and deception could reach a stable coexistence in the model . The signalers could sometimes be dishonest, and yet the receivers continued to believe the signals despite the deception.

Dr. Rowell and his colleagues published the details of their model in the December issue of The American Naturalist.

"It's really important," Dr. Nowicki said of the study. "They're coming up with new angles that could explain how you could have more deception and keep it stable."

Dr. Rowell argues that real-world cases of deception, like bluffing, support the model. When a male green frog or stomatopod bluffs, other males have to decide whether to heed the signal or to ignore it and attack. Attacking is risky, because it is possible that the signaler is not bluffing.

"The challenger isn't willing to take that gamble," Dr. Rowell said.

The model also showed how deception could be used against eavesdroppers . Green frogs -- along with many other frogs and toads -- attract females with a distinctive mating call . Dr. Ellner's rough translation of their call: "I'm looking for female frogs, and if you come on my lily pad, I'll show you a good time."

In most cases, male frogs follow up on their mating calls by courting the females they attract. But sometimes they attack instead. This deceptive reaction may be a way for the males to cope with other males that eavesdrop on them . Such eavesdroppers, instead of holding onto their own territory, sneak around and try to intercept females attracted to the mating calls of other males.

If males are always honest in their mating calls, they may lose out to sneaky males. But if they attack, they can ambush the sneaky males and drive them away . Natural selection thus favors deception, despite the fact that the frogs sometimes attack potential mates. The females, meanwhile, are better off trusting the mating calls than ignoring them.

Grand rounds are not so grand anymore .

For at least a century at many teaching and community hospitals, properly dressed doctors in ties and white coats have assembled each week, usually in an auditorium, for a master class in the art and science of medicine from the best clinicians. Before us was often a patient who sat in a chair or rested on a gurney and two doctors, one in training and the other a professor or senior doctor at the hospital. In a Socratic dialogue, they often led the audience in a step-by-step deciphering of the ailment.

But in recent years, grand rounds have become didactic lectures focusing on technical aspects of the newest biomedical research. Patients have disappeared. If a case history is presented, it is usually as a brief synopsis and the discussant rarely makes even a passing reference to it.

Now grand rounds are often led by visiting professors from distant hospitals and medical schools. Sometimes, manufacturers of drugs and devices pay the visitor an honorarium and expenses, a practice that has drawn criticism. And the Socratic dialogue has given way to PowerPoint. These rounds are often useful, but certainly not grand.

Some graduate students grind out their dissertations in late-night sessions, alone with their thoughts in the wasted fluorescent glow of a windowless lab. Others spend those same hours drinking in bars, "discussing" their thesis over a round or drinks or three.

Leonard Lee , a recent graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, managed to do both at the same time. A few times a week for about six months, Mr. Lee spent his evenings at an on-campus watering hole, either the Thirsty Ear or the Muddy Charles, buying fellow patrons beer, as part of a study of taste.

In an interview Dr. Lee, now an instructor at the Columbia University business school, swore that this exercise was not a ruse to meet women or an effort to stick M.I.T with his bar tab.

And he has a published paper to back him up: "The Influence of Expectation, Consumption and Revelation on Preferences for Beer," appearing in the December issue of Psychological Sciences, one of the field's leading research journals.

In the study, Dr. Lee and two M.I.T. researchers, Shane Fredrick and Dan Ariely , found that they could change beer drinkers' taste preferences by telling them about a secret ingredient in a beer before they drank it .

In previous studies, psychologists had found that putting brand labels on containers of beer, soft drinks and other products tended to enhance people's subjective ratings of quality. But the new experiment demonstrates that this preference involves more than simple brand loyalty. It changes the experience of taste itself.

"It's a clean demonstration that what we think is going into our mouth actually changes what we taste, down to the level of the taste buds themselves ," said Michael Norton , an assistant professor of business administration in the marketing department of the Harvard Business School who did not take part in the research.

In a series of experiments, Dr. Lee approached bar patrons and asked them whether they wanted to participate in a beer taste test, with free beer. Few refused; 388 young men and women tasted two beers each, one a regular draft of Budweiser or Samuel Adams, and the other the same beer with a few drops of balsamic vinegar added.

Most beer drinkers say vinegar would worsen the drinks , previous work had found.

But Mr. Lee found that about 60 percent of the patrons in the blind taste test -- they did not know which beer contained the vinegar -- actually preferred the balsamic "M.I.T. Beer."

Another group of tasters learned which beer was which after they had tasted the beers but before making their choices, and they, too, preferred the M.I.T. Beer by about the same margin as the blind-test group.

But knowing which beer had the vinegar before swigging soured the experience. About a third of the patrons who were told the identities of the beers beforehand chose the M.I.T. brew.

Dr. Lee said that the study showed that the experience of taste involved not only the sensation of a blend of ingredients, but also the "top-down" influence of expectations. Previous research with brain imaging had shown that expectations could change the trace of activity of people's brains when tasting drinks.

Asking someone out on a date might seem a little less intimidating if the competition weren't so good looking. So here is some good news: maybe it isn't.

Researchers have found that men and women consistently overrate the attractiveness of other members of their own sex.

Writing in the current issue of Evolution and Human Behavior, Sarah E. Hill , a graduate student in psychology at the University of Texas, Austin, theorized that purely as a matter of evolutionary advantage, there might be merit in giving romantic rivals more credit than they deserve.

"In mating -- as in any social competition -- those who underestimate their opponents ultimately increase the risk of defeat because they are unprepared for the competition ," Dr. Hill wrote.

People who overrate the attractiveness of others, the study said, may work harder to maintain or improve their own appearance to keep current partners or attract new ones. They may also be discouraged from wasting time seeking out mates who are out of reach .

But there is a flip side, the study said. Overestimating rivals may erode self-confidence and lead people to seek less desirable partners . They may also spend too much time worrying about their own attractiveness.

For the study, the researchers showed 123 men and 159 women photographs of students of the opposite sex and asked them to rate the students as prospective sexual or long-term partners. They then showed the same photographs to members of the same sex and asked them to assess how attractive those people would be to members of the opposite sex.

On average, men rated other men a third higher than women did. Women rated other women a quarter higher than men did.

The differences did not occur when the volunteers were asked to rate the people on characteristics that did not involve attractiveness, including how politically involved they thought the person was.

Scientists who study relationships have long focused on how couples handle love's headaches, the cold silences and searing blowups, the childcare crises and work stress, the fallouts over money and ex-lovers.

But the way that partners respond to each other's triumphs may be even more important for the health of a relationship , suggests a paper appearing in the current issue of The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The study found that the way a person responds to a partner's good fortune -- with excitement or passive approval, shared pride or indifference -- is the most crucial factor in tightening a couple's bond, or undermining it.

People who gamble are more likely to suffer from a variety of health problems, including heart and liver disease, a new study finds.

The researchers looked at three kinds of gamblers, whom they described as pathological, problem or at-risk, and found that all of them tended to report more medical concerns than the general population.

The pathological gamblers had the highest number of reported problems. But even occasional gamblers raised some red flags.

"Taken together," the researchers write in Psychosomatic Medicine, "these findings indicate that even a moderate amount of gambling (five or more times a year) is associated with some decreased health functioning ." Benjamin J. Morasco , now with the Portland VA Medical Center in Oregon, led the study when he was at the University of Connecticut in Farmington.

Perhaps the knottiest problem, though, has been deciding what scientific evidence or testimony should be considered in the first place.

For years, the standard was "general acceptance" by scientists , which a federal appeals court enunciated in 1923 in Frye v. United States , a case involving lie detectors. The court ruled that lie detector technology had yet to win wide acceptance and barred its use.

Though the court noted that it was difficult to say "just when a scientific principle or discovery crosses the line between the experimental and demonstrable stages," the Frye standard prevailed until 1975, when Congress codified federal rules of evidence .

In these rules, the test became not wide acceptance, but whether the scientific, technical or other specialized information would assist the judge or jury in reaching a decision and whether witnesses seeking to testify about it had enough knowledge or expertise to make a valuable contribution.

Critics of this standard say it flooded courtrooms with junk science , as people with good (or seemingly good) credentials but bad ideas took the stand before judges and juries unable to differentiate between credible scientific claims and those with only an aroma of scientific respectability.

Eventually, in 1993, the Supreme Court spoke on the issue , in a case involving accusations that the drug Bendectin caused birth defects. In that case, Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals , the court returned to the Frye "acceptance" standard but added new criteria , including whether the information had been tested or could be tested or whether other scientists had examined it in a process called peer review. (The court upheld the verdict that Bendectin was not guilty, but by then litigation had driven it from the market.)

The court elaborated on Daubert in 1998, in General Electric Company v. Joiner, ruling that judges could reject evidence if there was simply too great a gap between "the data and the opinion proffered."

空理を玩[もてあそ] び，実事を忽[ゆるがせ] にするは学者の通病[つうへい] なり

貧乏人の子沢山で，すでに12人子供がいる男に，13人目が生れてしまった．そ の子の名付け親が見つからなくて探しに出たところへ，神様がやって来て，名 付け親を引き受けてやろうと申し出る．ところが，それが神様だと知った貧乏 人は断る．金持ちと貧乏人がいるこの世を，そのままにしているような神様は お断りというのがその理由だった．

次にやって来たのは悪魔で，自分を名付け親にすれば，子供を金持ちにした上， あらゆる快楽を得させてやると約束する．しかし貧乏人はこれも断る．理由は 悪魔が人を騙したり，そそのかしたりするからということであった． そして3番目に現れたのが，「誰でもかれでも一様にする」死神 で， 貧乏人は大喜びで，死神を名付け親に選ぶ．(p.134)

…
北の話が子供の人数を12とか13とし，数に細かいのも，サン・テグジュペリが 『星の王子様』で，「大人ってのは『数』が好きなんだよね」というように， 話に「もっともらしさ」を与えようとする理詰めの配慮かも知れない．イギリ スの批評家Ｃ・Ｓ・ルイスも言っているように， おとぎ話とは「たいていの子 供が嫌いで，たいていの大人が好きなもの」だからだ．(p.166)

Maybe the pivotal moment came when Steven Weinberg , a Nobel laureate in physics, warned that "the world needs to wake up from its long nightmare of religious belief ," or when a Nobelist in chemistry, Sir Harold Kroto , called for the John Templeton Foundation to give its next $1.5 million prize for "progress in spiritual discoveries" to an atheist -- Richard Dawkins, the Oxford evolutionary biologist whose book "The God Delusion" is a national best-seller.

... Carolyn Porco, a senior research scientist at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo., called, half in jest, for the establishment of an alternative church, with Dr. Tyson, whose powerful celebration of scientific discovery had the force and cadence of a good sermon, as its first minister.

She was not entirely kidding. "We should let the success of the religious formula guide us ," Dr. Porco said. "Let's teach our children from a very young age about the story of the universe and its incredible richness and beauty. It is already so much more glorious and awesome -- and even comforting -- than anything offered by any scripture or God concept I know. "

She displayed a picture taken by the Cassini spacecraft of Saturn and its glowing rings eclipsing the Sun, revealing in the shadow a barely noticeable speck called Earth.

... In the end it was Dr. Tyson's celebration of discovery that stole the show. Scientists may scoff at people who fall back on explanations involving an intelligent designer, he said, but history shows that "the most brilliant people who ever walked this earth were doing the same thing." When Isaac Newton 's "Principia Mathematica" failed to account for the stability of the solar system -- why the planets tugging at one another's orbits have not collapsed into the Sun -- Newton proposed that propping up the mathematical mobile was "an intelligent and powerful being."

It was left to Pierre Simon Laplace , a century later, to take the next step. Hautily telling Napoleon that he had no need for the God hypothesis, Laplace extended Newton's mathematics and opened the way to a purely physical theory.

"What concerns me now is that even if you're as brilliant as Newton, you reach a point where you start basking in the majesty of God and then your discovery stops -- it just stops ," Dr. Tyson said. "You're no good anymore for advancing that frontier, waiting for somebody else to come behind you who doesn't have God on the brain and who says: 'That's a really cool problem. I want to solve it.' "

"Science is a philosophy of discovery; intelligent design is a philosophy of ignorance ," he said. "Something fundamental is going on in people's minds when they confront things they don't understand. "

... Before he left to fly back home to Austin, Dr. Weinberg seemed to soften for a moment, describing religion a bit fondly as a crazy old aunt.

"She tells lies, and she stirs up all sorts of mischief and she's getting on, and she may not have that much life left in her, but she was beautiful once ," he lamented. "When she's gone, we may miss her ."

Dr. Dawkins wasn't buying it. "I won't miss her at all ," he said. "Not a scrap. Not a smidgen ."

Mark Hallett, a researcher with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, said, "Free will does exist, but it's a perception, not a power or a driving force. People experience free will. They have the sense they are free."

"The more you scrutinize it, the more you realize you don't have it," he said.

That is hardly a new thought. The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer said, as Einstein paraphrased it, that "a human can very well do what he wants, but cannot will what he wants."

Einstein, among others, found that a comforting idea. "This knowledge of the non-freedom of the will protects me from losing my good humor and taking much too seriously myself and my fellow humans as acting and judging individuals," he said.

...
That is especially true when it comes to quantum mechanics, the strange paradoxical theory that ascribes a microscopic randomness to the foundation of reality. Anton Zeilinger, a quantum physicist at the University of Vienna, said recently that quantum randomness was "not a proof, just a hint, telling us we have free will."

...
In the 1970s, Benjamin Libet, a physiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, wired up the brains of volunteers to an electroencephalogram and told the volunteers to make random motions, like pressing a button or flicking a finger, while he noted the time on a clock.

Dr. Libet found that brain signals associated with these actions occurred half a second before the subject was conscious of deciding to make them.

The order of brain activities seemed to be perception of motion, and then decision, rather than the other way around.

In short, the conscious brain was only playing catch-up to what the unconscious brain was already doing. The decision to act was an illusion, the monkey making up a story about what the tiger had already done.

Dr. Libet's results have been reproduced again and again over the years, along with other experiments that suggest that people can be easily fooled when it comes to assuming ownership of their actions. Patients with tics or certain diseases, like chorea, cannot say whether their movements are voluntary or involuntary, Dr. Hallett said.

In some experiments, subjects have been tricked into believing they are responding to stimuli they couldn't have seen in time to respond to, or into taking credit or blame for things they couldn't have done. Take, for example, the "voodoo experiment" by Dan Wegner, a psychologist at Harvard, and Emily Pronin of Princeton. In the experiment, two people are invited to play witch doctor.

One person, the subject, puts a curse on the other by sticking pins into a doll. The second person, however, is in on the experiment, and by prior arrangement with the doctors, acts either obnoxious, so that the pin-sticker dislikes him, or nice.

After a while, the ostensible victim complains of a headache. In cases in which he or she was unlikable, the subject tended to claim responsibility for causing the headache, an example of the "magical thinking" that makes baseball fans put on their rally caps.

"We made it happen in a lab," Dr. Wegner said.

Is a similar sort of magical thinking responsible for the experience of free will?

"We see two tips of the iceberg, the thought and the action," Dr. Wegner said, "and we draw a connection."

...
The belief that the traditional intuitive notion of a free will divorced from causality is inflated, metaphysical nonsense, Dr. Dennett says reflecting an outdated dualistic view of the world.

Rather, Dr. Dennett argues, it is precisely our immersion in causality and the material world that frees us. Evolution, history and culture, he explains, have endowed us with feedback systems that give us the unique ability to reflect and think things over and to imagine the future. Free will and determinism can co-exist.

"All the varieties of free will worth having, we have," Dr. Dennett said.

"We have the power to veto our urges and then to veto our vetoes," he said. "We have the power of imagination, to see and imagine futures."

...
Other philosophers disagree on the degree and nature of such "freedom." Their arguments partly turn on the extent to which collections of things, whether electrons or people, can transcend their origins and produce novel phenomena.

These so-called emergent phenomena, like brains and stock markets, or the idea of democracy, grow naturally in accordance with the laws of physics, so the story goes. But once they are here, they play by new rules, and can even act on their constituents, as when an artist envisions a teapot and then sculpts it -- a concept sometimes known as "downward causation." A knowledge of quarks is no help in predicting hurricanes -- it's physics all the way down. But does the same apply to the stock market or to the brain? Are the rules elusive just because we can't solve the equations or because something fundamentally new happens when we increase numbers and levels of complexity?

...
Why can't computers say what they're going to do? In 1930, the Austrian philosopher Kurt Godel proved that in any formal system of logic, which includes mathematics and a kind of idealized computer called a Turing machine, there are statements that cannot be proven either true or false. Among them are self-referential statements like the famous paradox stated by the Cretan philosopher Epimenides, who said that all Cretans are liars: if he is telling the truth, then, as a Cretan, he is lying.

One implication is that no system can contain a complete representation of itself, or as Janna Levin, a cosmologist at Barnard College of Columbia University and author of the 2006 novel about Godel, "A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines," said: "Godel says you can't program intelligence as complex as yourself. But you can let it evolve. A complex machine would still suffer from the illusion of free will."

...
Dr. Wegner said he thought that exposing free will as an illusion would have little effect on people's lives or on their feelings of self-worth. Most of them would remain in denial.

"It's an illusion, but it's a very persistent illusion; it keeps coming back," he said, comparing it to a magician's trick that has been seen again and again. "Even though you know it's a trick, you get fooled every time. The feelings just don't go away."

One of the most comforting versions of the American dream includes becoming not only rich, respected and glamorous, but also a soft touch: generous with time and money, a philanthropist-mensch, a nurturing prince or princess of industry.

But if a paper published last week in the journal Science is any measure, that impulse to share does not come naturally to anyone who is thinking about money, even unconsciously.

In a series of experiments, psychologists found that subconscious reminders of money prompted people to become more independent in their work, less likely to seek help from others or to provide it. They became reluctant to volunteer their time and stingy when asked to donate to a worthy cause.

"Everybody says that if they had the money, they'd give more away, they'd do what Warren Buffett did," said Kathleen D. Vohs , lead author of the study, referring to the financier who recently donated more than $30 billion of his assets to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

"Well, we thought that that was a nice thing to bring into the lab, to test in a variety of ways," added Dr. Vohs, a psychologist in the University of Minnesota school of management.

Her co-authors were Nicole Mead of Florida State University and Miranda Goode , a graduate student in marketing at the University of British Columbia.

In one experiment, involving 52 undergraduates, the students unscrambled sets of jumbled phrases. One group untangled phrases that were often about money like "high a salary paying." A second group solved word puzzles that did not refer to money.

The researchers then had the students work on a difficult abstract puzzle that stumps most people and offered to help if the students wanted it. Those who had been thinking about money worked on the problem an average of more than five minutes before asking for help, almost 70 percent longer than the others.

By "priming " unconscious thoughts in similar ways, the researchers found that students with money on their minds, while clearly self-reliant, were less likely than peers who had not been primed to lend assistance: twice as slow to help a confused student on a word problem and about twice as cheap when asked to donate to help needy students.

Having money on the mind even caused the students to put more distance -- literally -- between themselves and others. Instructed to place two chairs together to meet another student, they put the chairs about 47 inches apart, compared with 31 inches for the students who had not been prompted.

The researchers say this effect of money is plainly evident in everyday life. People with resources do not recruit friends to help run a party. They hire a caterer. Students with money do not give a moving party with pizza. They hire a mover.

Researchers at the University of Michigan's Life Sciences Institute have discovered that C. elegans can become dependent on nicotine . The tiny worm (above, magnified) is stimulated by the chemical, becomes tolerant of it with continued exposure and even gets withdrawal symptoms when it goes cold turkey.

　信託部門買収の基本合意を一方的に破棄されたとして，住友信託銀行が旧Ｕ ＦＪホールディングス（現 -- 三菱ＵＦＪフィナンシャル -- グループ）に損 害賠償を求めた訴訟は2006年11月21日，三菱ＵＦＪが住友信託に和解金２５億円を支払 うことで和解した．大手行同士が異例の法廷闘争に突入して約２年４カ月．一 連の騒動は，本格的な企業合併 -- 買収（Ｍ＆Ａ）時代を迎えつつある日本社 会に，「破談の代償とは何か」という課題を残した．

　「円満解決です」．21日午前，東京 -- 霞が関の東京高裁１６階の和解室 から出てきた両行代理人の弁護士らは口をそろえた．

　三菱ＵＦＪの畔柳信雄社長も同日の全国銀行協会長としての記者会見で， 「円満かつ全面的に解決したのは最善の結果」と話した．住友信託幹部も「よ うやく和解にこぎつけることができた」と胸をなで下ろす．

　旧ＵＦＪを，リスクを冒してまで住友信託との統合をけって旧三菱との統合 に走らせたのは，巨額の不良債権問題だった．だが，三菱ＵＦＪ，住友信託と もに不良債権処理や公的資金の返済に区切りをつけ，今となってはそれも過去 の話．双方とも「法廷闘争が長引けば，企業イメージが悪化するだけ」と和解 の道を探り始めた．

　しかし，突っ張りあってきた中でどちらも自分からは降りられない．株主代 表訴訟で訴えられる危機感も増すなか，和解案を東京高裁が先月下旬に示した のは「渡りに船」だった．

　和解金額の２５億円は，住友信託の一審での請求額の４０分の１，二審と比 べても４分の１だ．畔柳社長は「早期に円満かつ全面的に解決する金額として は妥当」と会見で述べた．金額以外の具体的な和解内容は明らかにされていな いが，Ｍ＆Ａの専門家の間には，今回の金額が「同様のケースでの目安になる」 との見方も出ている．

　Ｍ＆Ａに詳しい池田裕彦弁護士は「統合準備にかかった実損額を超す賠償が 認められたことには意義がある．金額も双方にとって公平感がある」と指摘す る．

　一方で，和解金の算定根拠は具体的に示されず，中川秀宣弁護士は「日本で は独占交渉権が侵害された場合の損害がいくらであるのか明確でなかった．今 回の訴訟で示された金額の根拠を解明していくことが必要だ」と話す．

In "The Chain," a chirpy British film comedy from 1984 about moving house, the foreman of a team of movers is taking evening classes in philosophy, and is prone to metaphysical musings while lugging heavy pieces of furniture. On the way to his first job of the day, he recites what he has learned to his workmates: "What Descartes is saying is 'I think, therefore I am.'''

"Am what?" someone asks.
"Just am."
"Can't just be am. You gotta be am something."

...
Descartes's dualism is certainly not quite what it is often taken to be. In the 1994 best-seller "Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain," the neurologist Antonio Damasio reports that Descartes believed in an "abyssal separation between body and mind . . . the separation of the most refined operations of mind from the structure and operation of a biological organism." This is actually the opposite of what Descartes believed. He held that we "experience within ourselves certain . . . things which must not be referred either to the mind alone or to the body alone," and that these arise "from the close and intimate union of our mind with the body." In his best-known writings, Descartes stressed the differences between matter (which occupies space) and thought (which does not). But he also maintained that, in human beings, mind and body are mysteriously and inextricably combined, as he tried to spell out in letters to Princess Elizabeth. (She kept pressing him on the point.) He could not explain how it is that mind and body are united, but he was sure that they were.

Most economics departments are like country clubs , said James J. Heckman , a Chicago faculty member and Nobel laureate who earned his doctorate at Princeton. But at Chicago you are only as good as your last paper.

...
It was also the first of many Friedman controversies. -- One finding of the book was that the American Medical Association exerted monopolistic pressure on the incomes of doctors; as a result, the authors said, patients were unable to reap the benefits of lower fees from any real price competition among doctors. The A.M.A., after obtaining a galley copy of the book, challenged that conclusion and forced the publisher to delay publication. But the authors did not budge. The book was eventually published, unchanged.

...
In 1962, Mr. Friedman took on President John F. Kennedy 's popular inaugural exhortation: Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country. -- In an introduction to his classic book Capitalism and Freedom , -- a collection of his writings and lectures, he said President Kennedy had got it wrong: You should ask neither.

What your country can do for you, -- Mr. Friedman said, implies that the government is the patron, the citizen the ward; and what you can do for your country -- assumes that the government is the master, the citizen the servant. Rather, he said, you should ask, what I and my compatriots can do through government to help discharge our individual responsibilities, to achieve our several goals and purposes, and above all protect our freedom. --

Can you have your cake and eat it? Is there a free lunch after all, red wine included? Researchers at the Harvard Medical School and the National Institute on Aging report that a natural substance found in red wine, known as resveratrol, offsets the bad effects of a high-calorie diet in mice and significantly extends their lifespan.

Their report, published electronically today in Nature, implies that very large daily doses of resveratrol could offset the unhealthy, high-calorie diet thought to underlie the rising toll of obesity in the United States and elsewhere, should people respond to the drug as mice do.

Resveratrol is found in the skin of grapes and in red wine and is conjectured to be a partial explanation for the French paradox, the puzzling fact that people in France tend to enjoy a high-fat diet yet suffer less heart disease than Americans.

The researchers fed one group of mice a diet in which 60 percent of calories came from fat. The diet started when the mice, all males, were 1 year old, which is middle-aged in mouse terms. As expected, the mice soon developed signs of impending diabetes, with grossly enlarged livers, and started to die much sooner than mice fed a standard diet.

Another group of mice was fed the identical high-fat diet but with a large daily dose of resveratrol. The resveratrol did not stop them from putting on weight and growing as tubby as the other fat-eating mice. But it averted the high levels of glucose and insulin in the bloodstream, which are warning signs of diabetes, and it kept the mice's livers at normal size.

Even more strikingly, the substance sharply extended the mice's lifetimes. Those fed resveratrol along with the high-fat diet died many months later than the mice on high fat alone, and at the same rate as mice on a standard healthy diet. They had all the pleasures of gluttony but paid none of the price.

...
The mice were fed a hefty dose of resveratrol, 24 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. Red wine has about 1.5 to 3 milligrams of resveratrol per liter, so a 150-pound person would need to drink from 1,500 to 3,000 bottles of red wine a day to get such a dose. Whatever good the resveratrol might do would be negated by the sheer amount of alcohol.

国語は，書くこと，話すことを重視するあまり，読む力が軽視され，その結果 として，古典的な文学作品が教科書から消えてしまい，漢文教育は衰退したま ま，改善の兆しがない．中学の英語では，ほとんど会話しか教わらない．その 結果，中学卒業生が，主語，述語，目的語を読み取れず，文章を論理的に理 解できなくなっている．

…
少人数学級の効果については，米国で，1985年ごろから実験と調査があり，そ の効果が実証されている．日本では，2001年での国立教育政策研究所の調査で は，20人学級になると，30人，40人の学級に比べて，算数や理科で，学力が向 上するとの調査報告があった．

…学ぼ う算数』を使用した公立小学校の学力調査である．
この教材編集には筆者も携わったが，この教材を使用した東京都内のある公立 小学校の4年生のクラスでは，昨年行われた区内の学力調査で段トツの成績を 上げ，この学年の平均点も区の中でトップに近かった．ところがクラス編成も 変わり，使用をやめた今年の調査では，この小学校の平均点は区の平均以下に 戻ってしまった．逆に昨年からこの教材を使用した都下の別の公立小学校では， 都の学力調査で，市内21校中20位だった順位が今年は5位に上がった．特に， 同教材を中心に使ったクラスの平均点は，東京都でトップの文京区をさらに20 点も上回った．教科書が改善されれば，学力が上がるのである．

…
筆者が労働経済学者と共同で，私立大学経済学部の卒業生を，大学の入学試験 で数学を選択したグループと選択しなかったグループに分けて，卒業後の所得 を調べたことがある．その結果，明らかに，共通一次試験導入以降の入学者に ついては，数学受験者の平均所得の方が107万円も多かった．さらに，転職に 際しても数学受験者は，より高い所得で移っている．数学受験者の場合，たと え親の学歴が低くても，平均所得が高かった．数学の学習によって，就職の際 の選択肢が広がることが所得増につながると見られる．論理的な思考能力の高 まりも関係しているかもしれない．いずれにせよ，数学学習は親の所得に関わ らず高い所得を得る手段になり，階層の固定化を防ぐ役割も果たすのである．

…
教科書と並んで学力向上を妨げているのは，生徒を観察して，教師が主観的に 教科の成績をつける制度である．現在は，観点別評価，すなわちテストで測れ る到達度（知識・理解）のみでなく，生徒の関心・意欲・態度・思考・判断， 技能・表現にも成績をつけ，その合計を，学期末の教科の点としている．客観 的に測定不可能なものに，教師が主観で点数をつけること自体が問題であるう えに，それをもって，数学や国語の成績をつけられるのでは，通常の勉強をす る気をそぐことになろう．これが，絶対評価とよんでいる評価の実態なのであ る．

これまでも，小学校については絶対評価である学校が多く，小中学校で観点別 評価を行っている県も多かった．そして，教室で手を挙げる回数で点数が決ま るなど，その弊害が指摘されていた．事実，文部省が観点別評価の内申書への 導入を全国拡大した1994年を境に，中学校での生徒間暴力事件が2倍に増加す るなど，生徒に与える過大なストレスが問題視されている．

98年に栃木県の公立中学校で，女性教師が中学1年生の男子生徒にナイフで刺 されて死亡する事件があった後のある新聞の群馬版に，「私たちの見えない悲 鳴に気づいて下さい．私たちはキレる寸前です．…一日も早く無意味な推薦制 度と内申書の悪用をやめて下さい」という中学3年生の投書が載っている．

ゆとり教育から決別するには，絶対評価という名で行われている，主観的評価 制度を廃止することも，必要な改革である．ゆとり教育政策によって，機能不 全に陥ってしまった日本の教育システムを，本来のものに再生させるかじ取り を，安倍政権に期待したい．

On a rainy afternoon in June, Eric Poehlman stood before a federal judge in the United States District Court in downtown Burlington, Vt. His sentencing hearing had dragged on for more than four hours, and Poehlman, dressed in a black suit, remained silent while the lawyers argued over the appropriate sentence for his transgressions. Now was his chance to speak. A year earlier, in the same courthouse, Poehlman pleaded guilty to lying on a federal grant application and admitted to fabricating more than a decade's worth of scientific data on obesity, menopause and aging, much of it while conducting clinical research as a tenured faculty member at the University of Vermont. He presented fraudulent data in lectures and in published papers, and he used this data to obtain millions of dollars in federal grants from the National Institutes of Health -- a crime subject to as many as five years in federal prison. Poehlman's admission of guilt came after more than five years during which he denied the charges against him, lied under oath and tried to discredit his accusers. By the time Poehlman came clean, his case had grown into one of the most expansive cases of scientific fraud in U.S. history.

...
The sentencing judge was William Sessions, the same judge to whom Poehlman denied all allegations of misconduct at the injunction hearings four years earlier. He told Poehlman to stand and receive his sentence: one year and one day in federal prison, followed by two years of probation .

先祖伝来のモアイ像がイースター島民の手で倒されたことを思うとき，わたし の頭に浮かぶのは，ロシア及びルーマニアの共産党政府の崩壊時にスターリン とチャウシェスクの像が倒された光景だ．ロシアやルーマニアの例と同じく， イースター島民たちもまた，長きにわたって指導者への不満を募らせていたに 違いない．パロの言い伝えにあるように，石造の所有者の敵によって一体ずつ 倒されたものはどれだけの数になるのか，また，共産主義の終幕に見られたよ うに，憤怒と幻滅から生れた激情で一気に破壊された石造はどれだけあったの だろうか．もうひとつ，わたしの頭をよぎるのは，1965年にニューギニア高地 のボマイという村で，悲劇的な文化の末路と宗教の排斥について聞かされたと きのことだ．現地に派遣されたキリスト教の宣教師は，私に得意げに語ってみ せた．自分がいかにして改宗したばかりの先住民たちに指示を出し，”邪教に まつわる遺物”（換言すれば，先住民たちの文化と芸術を継承する遺産）を滑 走路に集めさせて，火を点けさせたか．そして，先住民たちがいかに従順に言 うことを聞いたか…．ひょっとすると，イースター島の武官も，追随者たちに 似たような指示を与えたのかもしれない．(pp.176-177)

戦闘にまつわる人肉食の痕跡がアナサジ社会に残っていることは，それだけで も興味深い話題となる．人肉食は，一般的な認識でいうと，たとえば，1846年 から47年にかけての冬，カリフォルニアに向かう途中のドナー峠で雪に囚われ たドナー隊のように，あるいは，第二次大戦下，レニングラードで包囲攻撃に さらされた飢えたロシア人たちのように，非常事態に置かれた人間の命がけの 行為だが，非常事態とは無関係な人肉食の存在も，近年取り沙汰されている． 事実，この数世紀の間にヨーロッパ人が初めて接触した数百の非ヨーロッパ社 会において，人肉食が行われていたという報告がある．具体的には，戦死した 敵の死体を食べるものと，自然死した親族の死体を食べるもの，この二つの型 がある．わたしが過去40年にわたって仕事をともにしてきたニューギニア人た ちは，自分たちの人肉食の習慣を平然と語り，われわれの西洋式の埋葬習慣で は親族を食べないこと，つまり，”死者に敬意を表さずに葬ってしまう”こと を知ると，露骨に嫌悪感を示した．また，わたしの下でとても熱心に働いてく れたあるニューギニア人は，1965年，死んだばかりの有望な義理の息子を”摂 取”する式に参加するために，わたしのところの仕事を辞めた．考古学的に見 ても，これまで発見された古代人類の骨のなかには，状況からして人肉食を示 唆するものが数多く見受けられる．
ところが，多くの，もしくはほとんどの欧米の考古学者は，自身の社会におい て，人肉食は忌避すべきものだと刷り込まれているので，自分の敬愛と研究の 対象となる人々がそんな風習を身につけているという考えにも強い忌避感を覚 え，事実にふたをして，そういう指摘を人種差別主義者の中傷とみなす．そし て，非ヨーロッパの探検家たちがこの風習について語ったことを，信頼度の低 い伝聞情報として，ことごとく退けてしまう．(pp.240-241)

特に，悪い意味でもよい意味でも重要な人物が，1549年から1578年に至る大半 の歳月をユカタン半島で過ごした司教，ディエゴ・ランダだろう．ランダは， 一方で史上屈指の悪しき文化破壊行為に打って出て，”異教信仰”粉砕の名分 のもとに，マヤ文字で書かれた書物を全て燃やしてしまった．その結果，マヤ 文字の書物はわずか4点しか現存していない．(p.251)

わたしたちは，軍事の成否は食料の供給よりむしろ武器の質で決まると考えが ちだ．しかし，食糧供給の実情を改善することで，軍事の成功率が確実に上昇 することもある．(P.260)

要するに，アイスランドがヨーロッパで最も深刻な生態学上の被害を受けたの は，ノルウェーとイギリスでは慎重だった移民たちがアイスランドに上陸した とたんに分別を失ったからではなく，ノルウェーとイギリスの経験則では，一 件緑豊かなアイスランドの環境に潜む脆弱性に対応できないという事実に気付 くのが遅すぎたからだ．(p.318)

第二に，ノルウェー人は頭を白紙の状態にして，つまり，グリーンランドの問 題に虚心坦懐に取り組むつもりで新天地へ乗り込んだわけではない．歴史上の 全ての入植者と同じく，ノルウェー本国やアイスランドで数世代にわたって培 われた自分たちの知識，文化的価値観，生活様式の嗜好を胸に深く抱いてきた のだ．彼らは自分たちを，牧人であり，キリスト教徒であり，ヨーロッパ人で あり，何よりノルウェー人であると考えていた．…そうやって考えてみると， 純然たる経済的見地からは決して最善のエネルギー利用とはいえないウシや北 の狩場や教会に，彼らが資金と労力を投入したのもうなずける．グリーンラン ドでの難題を克服する力となった社会的結束が，一方では彼らの足を引っ張っ たわけだ．…不適切な条件のもとで人々が最も頑迷にこだわる価値観というの は，過去に，逆境に対する最も偉大な勝利をもたらしたものでもあるのだ．… 第三に，ノルウェー人たちは，他の中世ヨーロッパのキリスト教徒たちと同様， 非ヨーロッパ人の異教徒を軽蔑し，そういう相手とうまく付き合うだけの経験 を持たなかった．ヨーロッパ人がそういう差別意識を持ち続けながらも，自分 たちの利益のために先住民を利用するすべを身につけたのは，1492年のコロン ブスの航海に始まる探検の時代を経た後のことだった．(pp.432-433)

But Schauer asserts that the law does something more by the use of generalization, that it can exemplify certain values, equality, for example. Treating like cases alike is seen by many as an element of justice. But Schauer notes that treating unlike cases alike is probably closer to core values of the law. When the Declaration of Independence states, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal," the statement is descriptively invalid but proscriptively necessary to the implementation of individual rights. It is a rule which states that certain distinctions among human beings, however relevant, will be treated as irrelevant.

Chapter 3 introduces the attorneys for both parties. Complaints about the explosion of lawyers and the differences between graduates of full-time day law schools and those lawyers who attended part-time night schools was noted in a 1921 "major report" (p.13). Dean of the Columbia Law School in 1922, Harlan F. Stone, decried the "increasing numbers of men of mediocre" skill in the profession and stressed the duty of law schools to "dissuade the man of ordinary ability" from starting the study of law (p.13). Some argued that college preparation should be required since many candidates knew little of "literature, history, and American traditions" (p.14). Critics of the times contended that the practice of "ambulance chasing" was the result of an oversupply of new lawyers with "immigrant backgrounds, Catholics, and Jews" (p.15).

［1971年］8月28日，政府はついに1ドル=360円の固定相場でのドル買いをやめ た．二週間近くでドル買い介入額は約四十億ドルに達していた．

12月のスミソニアン合意で，円は1ドル=308円へと切り上げられた．360円に対 する切り上げ幅は16.8%．水田蔵相の通訳として日米交渉に同席した．コナリー ［米国財務長官］が18%，水田さんは17%以下と譲らない．

「昭和初期に金本位制に復帰した際，円の切り上げ幅は17%．日本は不況に陥 り，井上準之助蔵相は暗殺された」．そんな論理が通用するか分からなかった が，「オーケー」という．コナリーは多めの切り上げ幅を吹っかけていたのだ． 一方，水田さんも佐藤栄作首相から「20%まではやむなし」と任されていた． 後年それを知ったボルカー［次官］は「もう3%は頑張れた」と悔しがった．

These standards reduced the number of maternal deaths substantially. In the mid-thirties, delivering a child had been the single most dangerous event in a woman's life: one in a hundred and fifty pregnancies ended in the death of the mother. By the fifties, owing in part to the tighter standards, and in part to the discovery of penicillin and other antibiotics, the risk of death for a mother had fallen more than ninety per cent, to just one in two thousand.

But the situation wasn't so encouraging for newborns: one in thirty still died at birth -- odds that were scarcely better than those of the century before -- and it wasn't clear how that could be changed. Then a doctor named Virginia Apgar, who was working in New York, had an idea. It was a ridiculously simple idea, but it transformed obstetrics and the nature of childbirth. Apgar was an unlikely revolutionary for obstetrics. For starters, she had never delivered a baby -- not as a doctor and not even as a mother.

Apgar was one of the first women to be admitted to the surgical residency at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, in 1933. The daughter of a Westfield, New Jersey, insurance executive, she was tall and would have been imposing if not for her horn-rimmed glasses and bobby-pinned hair. She had a combination of fearlessness, warmth, and natural enthusiasm that drew people to her. When anyone was having troubles, she would sit down and say, "Tell Momma all about it." At the same time, she was exacting about everything she did. She wasn't just a talented violinist; she also made her own instruments. She began flying single-engine planes at the age of fifty-nine. When she was a resident, a patient she had operated on died after surgery. "Virginia worried and worried that she might have clamped a small but essential artery," L. Stanley James, a colleague of hers, later recalled. "No autopsy permit could be obtained. So she secretly went to the morgue and opened the operative incision to find the cause. That small artery had been clamped. She immediately told the surgeon. She never tried to cover a mistake. She had to know the truth no matter what the cost."

At the end of her surgical residency, her chairman told her that, however good she was, a female surgeon had little chance of attracting patients. He persuaded her to join Columbia's faculty as an anesthesiologist, then a position of far lesser status. She threw herself into the job, and became the second woman in the country to be board-certified in anesthesiology. She established anesthesia as its own division at Columbia and, eventually, as its own department, on an equal footing with surgery. She administered anesthesia to more than twenty thousand patients during her career. She even carried a scalpel and a length of tubing in her purse, in case a passerby needed an emergency airway -- and, apparently, employed them successfully more than a dozen times. "Do what is right and do it now," she used to say.

Throughout her career, the work she loved most was providing anesthesia for child deliveries. But she was appalled by the poor care that many newborns received. Babies who were born malformed or too small or just blue and not breathing well were listed as stillborn, placed out of sight, and left to die. They were believed to be too sick to live. Apgar believed otherwise, but she had no authority to challenge the conventions. She was not an obstetrician, and she was a female in a male world. So she took a less direct, but ultimately more powerful, approach: she devised a score.

The Apgar score, as it became known universally, allowed nurses to rate the condition of babies at birth on a scale from zero to ten. An infant got two points if it was pink all over, two for crying, two for taking good, vigorous breaths, two for moving all four limbs, and two if its heart rate was over a hundred. Ten points meant a child born in perfect condition. Four points or less meant a blue, limp baby. The score was published in 1953, and it transformed child delivery. It turned an intangible and impressionistic clinical concept -- the condition of a newly born baby -- into a number that people could collect and compare. Using it required observation and documentation of the true condition of every baby. Moreover, even if only because doctors are competitive, it drove them to want to produce better scores -- and therefore better outcomes -- for the newborns they delivered.

Around the world, virtually every child born in a hospital had an Apgar score recorded at one minute after birth and at five minutes after birth. It quickly became clear that a baby with a terrible Apgar score at one minute could often be resuscitated -- with measures like oxygen and warming -- to an excellent score at five minutes. Spinal and then epidural anesthesia were found to produce babies with better scores than general anesthesia. Neonatal intensive-care units sprang into existence. Prenatal ultrasound came into use to detect problems for deliveries in advance. Fetal heart monitors became standard. Over the years, hundreds of adjustments in care were made, resulting in what's sometimes called "the obstetrics package." And that package has produced dramatic results. In the United States today, a full-term baby dies in just one out of five hundred childbirths, and a mother dies in one in ten thousand. If the statistics of 1940 had persisted, fifteen thousand mothers would have died last year (instead of fewer than five hundred) -- and a hundred and twenty thousand newborns (instead of one-sixth that number).

Copernicus may have dislodged man from the center of the universe, but the anthropic principle seems to restore him to that privileged position. Many physicists despise it; one has depicted it as a "virus" infecting the minds of his fellow-theorists. Others, including Witten, accept the anthropic principle, but provisionally and in a spirit of gloom. Still others seem to take perverse pleasure in it. The controversy among these factions has been likened by one participant to "a high-school-cafeteria food fight."

In their books against string theory, Smolin and Woit view the anthropic approach as a betrayal of science. Both agree with Karl Popper's dictum that if a theory is to be scientific it must be open to falsification. But string theory, Woit points out, is like Alice's Restaurant, where, as Arlo Guthrie's song had it, "you can get anything you want." It comes in so many versions that it predicts anything and everything. In that sense, string theory is, in the words of Woit's title, "not even wrong." Supporters of the anthropic principle, for their part, rail against the "Popperazzi" and insist that it would be silly for physicists to reject string theory because of what some philosopher said that science should be. Steven Weinberg, who has a good claim to be the father of the standard model of particle physics, has argued that anthropic reasoning may open a new epoch. "Most advances in the history of science have been marked by discoveries about nature," he recently observed, "but at certain turning points we have made discoveries about science itself."

...
In the past century, physicists who have followed their aesthetic sense in the absence of experimental data seem to have done quite well. As Paul Dirac said, "Anyone who appreciates the fundamental harmony connecting the way Nature runs and general mathematical principles must feel that a theory with the beauty and elegance of Einstein's theory has to be substantially correct." The idea that "beauty is truth, truth beauty" may be a beautiful one, but is there any reason to think it is true? Truth, after all, is a relationship between a theory and the world, whereas beauty is a relationship between a theory and the mind. Perhaps, some have conjectured, a kind of cultural Darwinism has drilled it into us to take aesthetic pleasure in theories that are more likely to be true. Or perhaps physicists are somehow inclined to choose problems that have beautiful solutions rather than messy ones. Or perhaps nature itself, at its most fundamental level, possesses an abstract beauty that a true theory is bound to mirror. What makes all these explanations suspect is that standards of theoretical beauty tend to be ephemeral, routinely getting overthrown in scientific revolutions. "Every property that has at some date been seen as aesthetically attractive in theories has at other times been judged as displeasing or aesthetically neutral," James W. McAllister, a philosopher of science, has observed.

Yet in a little known story, the Nobel Prizes , the first of which will be announced on Monday, almost never came to be, largely because of the unsophisticated way Nobel drew up his will. It was flawed and legally deficient because he lived in many places and never established a legal residence. Nobel resided for many years in France, made intermittent visits to a home in Sweden and amassed assets in many countries before dying of a stroke at his villa in Italy.

...
The reason for the peace prize is less clear. Many say it was to compensate for developing destructive forces. But his explosives, except for ballistite, were not used in any war during his lifetime , Tore Frangsmyr wrote in a portrait of Nobel published by the Swedish Institute in Stockholm in 1996.

More important, dynamite helped in mining, digging canals, making roads, building the St. Gotthard tunnel through the Alps between Italy and Switzerland, and completing other construction projects. According to Mr. Frangsmyr, Nobel said his factories would put an end to war more quickly than peace conferences because "when two armies of equal strength can annihilate each other in an instant, then all civilized nations will retreat and disband their troops."

...
Swedes were astonished that Nobel prepared his will unaided and without consulting the executors of his estate and the institutions that he entrusted to make the awards. He even left his fortune to a nonexistent foundation that his executors had to create posthumously.

Nobel's disregard for legal advice in writing his will reflects what he wrote in dealing with a legal matter , according to Mr. Sohlman: "Lawyers have to make a living, and can only do so by inducing people to believe that a straight line is crooked. "

...
Many say the committees have stumbled a few times in choosing winners and omitting others. The names depend on the critic.

Honoring Dr. Egas Moniz of Portugal with a Nobel in 1949 for discovering the therapeutic value of a lobotomy in certain psychoses is perhaps the most egregious mistake ever made by a prestigious biomedical awards committee.

An editorial in The New York Times enthusiastically endorsed the award, and The New England Journal of Medicine said lobotomy successes suggested the birth of "a new psychiatry."

Years before the prize, lobotomies had been performed on a number of patients, including John F. Kennedy's sister, Rosemary. The prestige of the Nobel Prize accelerated the use of lobotomies, including among famous hospitals in many countries. The procedure proved worthless.

Two other dubious awards were made in successive years: those in 1926 to a Dane, Johannes Fibiger, for a misleading discovery about cancer and in 1927 to an Austrian, Dr. Julius Wagner-Jauregg, for discovering that injecting malaria parasites had value in treating syphilis affecting the brain . The treatment did not work and could be dangerous.

On a snowy Saturday night in January 1974, after their curtain calls, 19 of Broadway's best dancers gathered at the Nickolaus Exercise Center on East 23rd Street. They all sat in a circle on the floor. A tape recorder was turned on.

For the next 12 hours they spoke about their lives, telling stories of divorce, child abuse and the plight of the professional dancer. These tales, shaped by the choreographer Michael Bennett, would become the foundation of "A Chorus Line," one of the most successful musicals of all time.

The dancers who told their stories that night sold them to Mr. Bennett for $1 each. And though Mr. Bennett later arranged for them to receive royalties from the show -- at times up to $10,000 a year -- they have always questioned whether they have been fairly compensated and acknowledged.

Now a revival of "A Chorus Line," which opens at the Schoenfeld Theater in Manhattan on Thursday night, has reopened some of these old wounds, particularly after the dancers realized they would receive no money from this latest production because of those agreements.

The revival is being produced by the executor of the Bennett estate, John Breglio, who is also one of Mr. Bennett's heirs. A longtime theatrical lawyer, Mr. Breglio said he had no authority to renegotiate an agreement Mr. Bennett made with the dancers three decades ago.

"I only know what Michael intended by the words on that document, which are crystal clear," he said. "I'm bound to uphold the terms that Michael agreed to."

The legality of the arrangements is not an issue. "At one point, when we were young and stupid, we kind of signed our lives away, and they exploited that ," said Wayne Cilento, who played the role of Mike in the original production. But reflecting the feelings of some of the other dancers, he added, "We were the authors of the show, and we should have been paid accordingly."

The question of authorship on any collaboration can be tricky. There is no doubt that the dancers provided most of the stories, and in some cases large chunks of their words show up verbatim in the show. There is also no doubt that it was primarily Mr. Bennett who took 20 hours of interviews and had the vision to shape them into a groundbreaking musical.

"There never would have been 'A Chorus Line' without Michael," said Kelly Bishop, who told her story in the character of Sheila, "but there never would have been 'A Chorus Line' without us, either."

In the end, the tapes, which contain almost all the raw material of "A Chorus Line," remain the most comprehensive record of the musical's inception. Locked in a safe deposit box for much of the last 32 years, they had been heard by a few people until Mr. Breglio recently permitted a reporter to listen.

The tapes begin with that session in January 1974. Mr. Bennett, at the time a 30-year-old virtuoso choreographer, starts by saying he has been toying with an idea for a show called "A Chorus Line."

He then describes his plan for the evening. "I really want to talk about us, where we came from, why we're dancers, what the alternatives are, why we think we're in this business."

"I don't know whether anything will come of this ," he adds. "We'll just talk. "

The dancers respond, one by one, to questions, much as in the musical itself, which takes place at an audition. The answers get longer and more personal as hours go by. Twelve of the 16 surviving attendees of that first taped session were interviewed for this article, and most said that while another gathering and one-on-one meetings worked similarly, that first night was the most intense.

Included on the tapes are recordings of scriptwriting sessions. Mr. Bennett can be heard portraying each dancer in turn, reading the transcripts of their life stories, while Nicholas Dante, a young dancer, prompts him with questions. James Kirkwood, a novelist and playwright, would eventually get writing credits with Mr. Dante on the book; Marvin Hamlisch and Ed Kleban would write the music and lyrics.

Later that spring, Mr. Bennett called the dancers for auditions, at which some first discovered that they had to compete against others to play themselves. Not all of them made it. Mr. Bennett began staging the first of two workshops of "A Chorus Line" at the New York Shakespeare Festival, now the Public Theater, in August 1974.

At a rehearsal break during the first workshop, the performers were handed release contracts, under which they would give Mr. Bennett rights to use all the interviews in exchange for $1. The document stated that real names could not be used in connection with the stories without consent.

"I knew it was wrong ," said Priscilla Lopez, who told her own story in the character of Diana Morales. "But I thought, 'If I don't sign this, I'm not going to be a part of it.' "

Immediately, some felt they had made a mistake. Andy Bew, who was at the taping sessions but not involved with the show after that, recalled being contacted by a representative of Mr. Bennett, who asked him to sign. Calls from the other dancers quickly followed.

"I remember getting calls: 'Don't sign! Don't sign!' " he said. "I think they were concerned that they weren't really going to be taken care of."

In the end, everyone signed the releases. Some were afraid of what would happen if they did not; some revered Mr. Bennett so much that they would do anything he asked. "People were falling in love with Michael," said Donna McKechnie, who played the central role of Cassie and would later be briefly married to Mr. Bennett.

Tony Stevens, who along with Mr. Bennett and another dancer, Michon Peacock, organized the first taping session, said that the willingness to sign also came out of the dancer mentality. "When you ask an actor to do something, their first response is to ask 'Why?' " he said. Dancers, on the other hand, do not ask questions; they just perform.

After the production moved to Broadway in 1975, Mr. Bennett asked his lawyers to draw up a new arrangement that divided the 37 dancers and actors involved with "A Chorus Line" into three groups. Group A artists had given their stories at the original tape sessions and/or were part of both workshops; Group B had participated only in the tape sessions; Group C included those in the show who had not been with it from the early stages .

This new agreement split among them a half-percent of the production's weekly box office gross revenues, as well as a similar portion of the income from subsidiary rights; it gave the 19 dancers in the A Group double the shares of everyone else. In all, Mr. Bennett gave the 37 dancers roughly a tenth of his own royalties from the original production and around a third of the rights income he was entitled to as the show's conceiver, director and choreographer. He also received a share of profits and rights income as a producer.

This kind of agreement was new because the extensive workshop process was new; a similar, but less generous agreement that was hammered out for Mr. Bennett's next musical, "Ballroom," has become standard on Broadway.

For a few dancers in the taped sessions, like Steve Boockvor, this arrangement was a gift: "None of them left with a charmed life, none of them came in with a charmed life," he said of the other dancers. "It was all Michael." If Mr. Bennett manipulated them at times, he added, "well, he created a masterpiece." Mr. Boockvor, the inspiration for Al, did not make it through auditions.

The show won nine Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for drama. When it closed on Broadway in 1990, it had drawn gross revenues of more than $280 million worldwide. But the careers of many of the dancers did not take off after "Chorus Line."

Some became choreographers or teachers. Cameron Mason, the original Mark, moved back to his hometown, Phoenix, and started a housecleaning service. Sammy Williams, who won a Tony for his performance as Paul, left show business for more than a decade to work as a floral designer.

Mr. Bennett died of an AIDS-related illness in 1987. His will bequeathed the tapes to Mr. Breglio and to Bob Avian, who was a co-choreographer of the original production and is directing this revival. The will stated that if the actual tapes were used for commercial projects (a documentary, for example), half of those profits would be divided among the people interviewed on them. Mr. Breglio and Mr. Avian would split the other half.

Beneficiaries of the estate, which was reported to be worth $25 million, included Mr. Bennett's brother, Frank Di Figlia; Mr. Avian and Mr. Breglio; Gene Pruit, a friend; Robin Wagner, the set designer of "A Chorus Line"; and an AIDS research foundation.

When the dancers heard there would be a revival, most assumed they would receive royalty payments, with several recalling that Mr. Bennett once told them that the A and B groups would have a piece of any "Chorus Line" production in the world.

But they were puzzled by a letter Mr. Breglio sent last autumn asking permission to use their real names on any future projects that would entail publication of the tapes themselves. E-mail messages and phone calls went back and forth among the dancers, some of whom had not been in contact for years.

"We're basically advising one another to hold off," said Ms. Bishop, who has recently been working as a featured character on the television show "Gilmore Girls."

In the end, only three people gave their consent, including Mr. Boockvor and his wife, Denise Pence.

The original dancers began examining the release form and the agreement, some for the first time. When they consulted lawyers, they discovered that the royalty agreement covered the original production and that show's subsidiary rights. According to the terms of that document, the 2006 revival fits neither category.

Mr. Breglio said the only way the arrangement could be changed is if all of the interest holders in the Bennett estate agreed to have the interviewees' royalties taken out of their shares.

The original dancers are continuing to meet with lawyers, but acknowledge that they are in a tough place.

Like almost all the other dancers, Ms. Lopez, who went on to act in television shows, films and, occasionally, other Broadway musicals, said she loved her experience in "A Chorus Line" and, with the exception of the 1974 contract, would not trade any of it. But, she added, "There's a part of me that says, 'I've had enough.' "

Some of the courtrooms are not even courtrooms: tiny offices or basement rooms without a judge's bench or jury box. Sometimes the public is not admitted, witnesses are not sworn to tell the truth, and there is no word-for-word record of the proceedings.

Out of Order: Town and Village Justice Nearly three-quarters of the judges are not lawyers , and many -- truck drivers, sewer workers or laborers -- have scant grasp of the most basic legal principles. Some never got through high school, and at least one went no further than grade school.

But serious things happen in these little rooms all over New York State. People have been sent to jail without a guilty plea or a trial, or tossed from their homes without a proper proceeding. In violation of the law, defendants have been refused lawyers, or sentenced to weeks in jail because they cannot pay a fine. Frightened women have been denied protection from abuse.

These are New York's town and village courts, or justice courts, as the 1,250 of them are widely known. In the public imagination, they are quaint holdovers from a bygone era, handling nothing weightier than traffic tickets and small claims. They get a roll of the eyes from lawyers who amuse one another with tales of incompetent small-town justices.

...
But The Times reviewed public documents dating back decades and, unannounced, visited courts in every part of the state. It examined records of closed disciplinary hearings. It tracked down defendants, and interviewed prosecutors and defense lawyers, plaintiffs and bystanders.

The examination found overwhelming evidence that decade after decade and up to this day, people have often been denied fundamental legal rights. Defendants have been jailed illegally. Others have been subjected to racial and sexual bigotry so explicit it seems to come from some other place and time. People have been denied the right to a trial, an impartial judge and the presumption of innocence.

In 2003 alone, justices disciplined by the state included one in Montgomery County who had closed his court to the public and let prosecutors run the proceedings during 20 years in office. Another, in Westchester County, had warned the police not to arrest his political cronies for drunken driving, and asked a Lebanese-American with a parking ticket if she was a terrorist. A third, in Delaware County, had been convicted of having sex with a mentally retarded woman in his care.

...
When they stray badly, the Commission on Judicial Conduct -- a panel of lawyers, judges and others -- can do little more than try to contain the damage.

Some 1,140 justices have received some sort of reprimand over the last three decades -- an average of about 40 a year, either privately warned, publicly rebuked or removed. They are seriously disciplined at a steeper rate than their higher-court colleagues.

The destruction of the Sherman might well have been forgotten were it not for official North Korean historians, who insist that the true hero of the great defense of the nation against the American imperialist buccaneers wasn't the officer Pak but, rather, a man named Kim Ung-u, a tenant farmer who begat a son named Kim Bo-hyon, a leader of the anti-Japanese resistance, who begat a son named Kim Hyong-jik, another freedom-fighting scourge to the colonial oppressor, who begat a son named Kim Song-ju, who became a partisan leader, and -- begetting himself all over again under the nom de guerre of Kim Il Sung -- fulfilled his family's destiny and the nation's by finally driving the imperialist foe from Korea, establishing the supreme revolutionary state of North Korea and begetting a son named Yuri, who also re-begat himself, as Kim Jong Il.

These are the generations of the Kims that virtually every North Korean knows, at least sketchily. They make for a stirring tale of patriotic patrimony, yet the battlefield exploits that North Korea's court hagiographers attribute to Kim Il Sung's ancestors are entirely fictitious, and his own are fantastically exaggerated. In the nineteen-thirties, in Manchuria, where his father had run an herbal pharmacy, Kim Il Sung did fight as a Communist partisan, and for a time he even led his own small band of guerrillas there, distinguishing himself sufficiently to earn the highest honor from the Japanese -- a price on his head. But at the outset of the Second World War he retreated to the Soviet Union, and he spent the rest of the war years at a Red Army garrison near the Siberian city of Khabarovsk, where Kim Jong Il was born (hence the Russian name, Yuri). Although North Korean historians say that it was Kim Il Sung and his fighters who defeated the Japanese, and not the Americans, he didn't return to Korea until a month after its liberation, and he arrived in the uniform of the foreign occupier, as an officer in the Soviet Army. In fact, what is most remarkable about Kim Il Sung's ascent to the position of absolute power which he soon enjoyed in North Korea, and which Kim Jong Il has inherited by dynastic succession, is that there was nothing about his lineage or early career that marked him for such a future when he turned up in Pyongyang in 1945. As Dae-Sook Suh, a Korean-American historian of North Korea and biographer of Kim Il Sung, observes, "Contrary to the efforts to build Kim's image as a person coming from a long revolutionary tradition and dedicated parents, his image may be more resplendent if he is described as he was: 'a dragon from an ordinary well,' so to speak. At least that would be closer to the truth."

In North Korea, however, the truth has never been a matter of fact so much as an expression of the Kims' whim -- father and son. The great preponderance of this so-called truth is a confection of outright lies -- not merely false but, more perniciously, a form of unreality, imposed with such relentlessness and violence on a people hermetically sealed from any alternative sources of information that it has become their only reality. A North Korean who does not believe the state's every claim is left with the void of dumb disbelief, for it is impossible in Kim Il Sung Nation -- as the North is sometimes described in its own proclamations -- to find anything else to believe in. "The people are my god," Kim Il Sung said, but it is before his towering statues that the people bow down and weep, his name that they must not take in vain, and his teachings that they must live by -- even now -- lest they be destroyed.

With a few mouse clicks, consumers can order tests that promise to tell them if they are at risk for particular diseases, to trace their ancestry back to the time of Genghis Khan, to help choose which antidepressant would be best for them, to identify the sex of their fetus as few as five weeks into pregnancy and to give advice on diet or exercise.

About two dozen companies, most started in the last few years, now offer tests, which generally cost from just under $100 to several hundred dollars. Usually, consumers receive a kit requiring them to swab the inside of their cheek to obtain a DNA sample, which they mail back to the company.

Some of the companies say their business is growing quickly. "People are beginning to take a whole lot of interest in preserving their own health,'' said Kim Bechthold, chief executive of NeuroMark Genomics , which offers a test that it says determines whether a person is at risk of depression after experiencing life's traumas.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 -- Everyone knows that with the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor , the number of female Supreme Court justices fell by half. The talk of the court this summer, with the arrival of the new crop of law clerks, is that the number of female clerks has fallen even more sharply.

Also in the Guide, The Race for the U.S. House Governors' Races. Just under 50 percent of new law school graduates in 2005 were women . Yet women account for only 7 of the 37 law clerkships for the new term , the first time the number has been in the single digits since 1994, when there were 4,000 fewer women among the country's new law school graduates than there are today.

Last year at this time, there were 14 female clerks, including one, Ann E. O'Connell, who was hired by William H. Rehnquist , the chief justice who died before the term began. His successor, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. , then hired Ms. O'Connell.

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. , who joined the court in January, hired Hannah Smith, who had clerked for him on the appeals court where he had previously served. So by the end of the term, and counting Ms. O'Connell twice, there were 16 women among the 43 law clerks hired by last term's justices.

After years in which more than a third of the clerks were women, the sudden drop was a hot topic this summer on various law-related blogs. Word of the justices' individual hiring decisions spread quickly among those for whom the comings and goings of law clerks are more riveting than any offering on reality television.

Who are these young lawyers who are the subject of such interest? They do not, contrary to myth -- propagated in part by law clerks themselves -- run the court . They do play a significant role in screening new cases, though, and they help their justices in preparing for argument and in drafting opinions .

While their pay is a modest $63,335 for their year of service, a Supreme Court clerkship is money in the bank : the clerks are considered such a catch that law firms are currently paying each one they hire a signing bonus of $200,000 .

In interviews, two of the justices, David H. Souter and Stephen G. Breyer , suggested that the sharp drop in women among the clerkship ranks reflected a random variation in the applicant pool.

Nazi parents found it easy to turn their children into conscientious little monsters. In some countries, young men are raised to believe that they have a moral obligation to kill their unchaste sisters. Gruesome examples like these suggest that morality is a matter of nurture rather than nature -- that there are no biological constraints on what human beings can be persuaded to believe about right and wrong . Marc Hauser disagrees. He holds that "we are born with abstract rules or principles, with nurture entering the picture to set the parameters and guide us toward the acquisition of particular moral systems ." Empirical research will enable us to distinguish the principles from the parameters and thus to discover "what limitations exist on the range of possible or impossible moral systems."

A survey of more than 2,600 surgeons and medical specialists reveals wide variations in doctors' willingness to disclose errors and in the ways they would present the details to patients .

The authors of the survey presented hypothetical but clinically realistic medical errors to the doctors to determine how they would disclose the mistake, whether disclosure was different if the error was less apparent to a patient and what factors were associated with disclosure. The survey results were published Aug. 14 in The Archives of Internal Medicine.

The hypothetical errors were all mistakes that would cause some degree of serious injury. Some were apparent -- like leaving a sponge in a surgical patient -- and some were less so, like misreading chart data.

When the error was obvious, like an improperly written prescription that led to an overdose, 81 percent of doctors said they would definitely disclose the error to a patient .

But when presented with an error less apparent, only 50 percent thought it was worth mentioning . One example was a blood chemistry reading that had been overlooked. If it had been noticed, a serious complication would have been prevented.

"It isn't that doctors routinely make a conscious decision to conceal errors," said Dr. Thomas H. Gallagher , the study's lead author and an associate professor of medicine at the University of Washington.

But when an error is less obvious, he continued, "the doctor is thinking about what the patient really needs to know to understand what happened."

"Doctors worry about telling patients too much, scaring them unnecessarily," Dr. Gallagher said.

Surgeons were more likely than other medical specialists to believe that an error would result in a lawsuit, but they were also more likely to report that they would definitely disclose an error .

At the same time, they would disclose less information than medical specialists , and they were less inclined to use the word "error." Over all, 56 percent of doctors would mention the problem, but only 42 percent would disclose that the problem had been caused by an error.

Doctors had a spectrum of opinions about how much information to disclose and how specific that information should be.

Half of them said they would disclose specific information about what the error was, while 37 percent would offer only a partial explanation. The remaining 13 percent would reveal no details at all unless the patient asked .

When presented with just the errors that were less apparent, almost one-fifth would volunteer no information at all. Only 8 percent would be silent about more obvious mistakes.

Almost all doctors surveyed said they would apologize, but only about one-third chose an explicit apology ("I am so sorry that you were harmed by this error ") while two-thirds would offer a general expression of regret ("I'm sorry about what happened ").

According to the authors, some malpractice insurers encourage doctors to apologize in the belief that this may help prevent lawsuits or encourage smaller settlements when suits are filed.

There are fascinating stories behind every advance in medicine, be it hand washing or brain surgery. But the 70-year history behind the creation of a vaccine against human papillomavirus , which causes cervical cancer, is more fraught than most with blind alleys, delicate moments, humor and triumph.

Although cervical cancer is being beaten in rich countries thanks to Pap smears, it is still a great killer of the world's poor. Fulminating tumors that can hemorrhage the womb or burst the intestine make death every bit as agonizing as it was for our great-grandmothers. Even in wealthy countries, aggressive forms appear in rare cases, forcing women barely in their 20's to get hysterectomies.

For all of those women, the new vaccine approved in June by the Food and Drug Administration could be a lifesaver. But creating it was no easy task. It took decades for scientists to even figure out the cause: the papillomavirus, named for the papilla, or bud, that the tumor creates .

Species as different as birds and whales have their own papillomas. There are more than 100 human strains. Many are harmless. Some cause warts on hands, noses or genitals, and some cause cancer. As a result, blame has been laid on origins like toads, witchcraft and God's anger at promiscuous women.

Against that background of superstition, the two newest vaccines use technologies that sound almost like science fiction.

Gardasil, made by Merck, uses a yeast to grow the proteins that form the outer shell of the virus; every batch of 360 proteins almost magically assembles itself into a soccer ball exactly mimicking the shell's shape.

Its rival, Cervarix by GlaxoSmithKline, produces the same protein, with the same power, in an insect virus grown in a broth of caterpillar ovary cells.

But each step forward to those techniques was a triumph of hard science over the pseudoscientific myths that for centuries surrounded the disease .

The first was posited by a doctor in Florence in 1842 . He noticed that prostitutes and married women died of cervical cancer, but nuns almost never did. Though he might have discerned that it was sexually transmitted, he was thrown off by another fact: nuns often died of breast cancer. His conclusion was that nuns' corsets were dangerously tight.

One may laugh, but prominent American scientists made a similar error in the 1970's , noting that many women with cervical cancer had a history of genital herpes. Instead of realizing that it was a coincidence, they erroneously concluded that the herpes virus was the cause. And they were closer to the mark than 1950's researchers, who had blamed smegma, which builds up under the foreskin of men who do not wash.

Research that could have led them in the right direction was done in the 1930's by Dr. Richard Shope of the Rockefeller University, who on a hunting trip heard a friend describe seeing rabbits with "horns," which were actually large warts.

Dr. Shope asked his friend to send some of the horns. He then ground them up, filtered them through porcelain that let only tiny virus-size particles through, and injected the filtrate into other rabbits, which grew horns in turn.

"Incidentally, that's where the jackalope myth comes from ," said Dr. William Bonnez , who was part of the University of Rochester's vaccine development team. (Jackalopes, jackrabbits with antelope horns, are made by taxidermists and appear on things like postcards from Wyoming. But references to horned rabbits go back centuries, and their condition probably stemmed from papilloma infections.)

Dr. Shope's work showed the cause was a virus, but it was not until the 1980's that DNA amplification allowed a German researcher, Dr. Harald zur Hausen, to pin down papilloma as the cause .

"That was really the pivotal point," said Dr. Douglas R. Lowy, chief of the cellular oncology laboratory at the National Cancer Institute and part of a team whose subsequent work led to the vaccine. "Before that, the field suffered from the boy-who-cried-wolf phenomenon , as in people would say, 'Last year you said it was herpes virus, now you say it's papilloma; why should we believe you?' "

In the interim between Drs. Shope and zur Hausen, another line of inquiry was going on. Researchers were stumped as to why cervical cancer was so rare among Jewish women .

It had been noted as far back as 1901 that at Leeds General Infirmary and London Hospital, cancer of the cervix "was seldom or never met with among the numerous Jewesses," according to a Lancet article of the time.

More pseudoscientific myths arose trying to explain that . (The Lancet writer, whose thesis was that salt caused cancer, believed that Jews were protected by avoiding bacon.) But it took the founding of Israel, drawing Jewish women from all over the world, to debunk them.

The long-held assumption that circumcision was protective was disproved by high cancer rates among Muslim women, who had circumcised husbands, and by relatively low rates among Soviet Jewish women, who often did not . Another myth, that abstaining from sex during menstruation helped prevent the disease, was dispelled by comparing Orthodox women who abstained to others who did not. As with non-Jews, the apparent risk factors for the few Israeli women with the disease were multiple sexual partners and poverty.

Work by Dr. Joseph Menczer of the Wolfson Medical Center in Israel showed that genes were the crucial factor. A protective configuration of the p53 gene is much more common among Jews, except for those from North Africa, the one subgroup likely to contract cervical cancer.

In the 1980's, with many teams in hot pursuit of a vaccine, a stumbling block emerged. Human warts contain very little virus.

In Rochester, Dr. Bonnez's solution was to approach veterinarians treating dairy cows, which grow grapefruit-size warts loaded with virus. He still has a block of 20-year-old cow warts in his freezer.

First, he had to make a blood test for the virus. A control group of people who had never had sex was needed. Once again, nuns were at the fore of cervical cancer research. The Sisters of St. Joseph in Rochester were "really very supportive," Dr. Bonnez said, answering questionnaires about their sexual histories and giving blood samples.

"People were snickering, ha-ha, nuns, no sex, " he said. "But having a base control group of 50 subjects -- that led me to realize the bovine approach was wrong. "

Instead, said Robert Rose, an immunologist working with Dr. Bonnez, the Rochester team tried grafting bits of foreskin collected from hospital circumcisions and infected with genital wart extract into mice lacking the ability to reject foreign tissue. The resulting cysts contained enough human virus to work with.

Ultimately, the two vaccines were the fruit of the labors of dozens of scientists. A patent battle involving the National Cancer Institute, the University of Rochester, Georgetown University and Queensland University in Australia was resolved after 13 years when Merck and Glaxo signed royalty agreements with all four.

Grigory Perelman , a reclusive Russian mathematician who solved a key piece in a century-old puzzle known as the Poincare conjecture , was one of four mathematicians awarded the Fields Medal yesterday.

But as with previous honors, Dr. Perelman refused to accept this one, and he did not attend the ceremonies at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Madrid.

Marriage, new research confirms, can be good for your health .

Marital Status and Longevity in the United States Population (Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health)Researchers surveyed more than 80,000 Americans and found that people who never married were 58 percent more likely to die during the course of an eight-year study than their married peers.

Compared with people living with their spouses at the start of the study, those who were divorced or separated were 39 percent more likely to die during the follow-up period, and widowed people were 28 percent more likely to die .

While previous studies have shown a link between social connectedness and longer life, this study was large enough to suggest specific causes of death. The researchers used data from the 1989 National Health Interview Survey and death certification data from 1997. The paper will be published in September in The Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

The correlation for marriage, however, did not apply in cases of cancer and pulmonary disease . The researchers did not include gay couples or unmarried heterosexual couples living together.

The study's co-author, Richard G. Kronick of the University of California, San Diego, suggested that "it may be that there is something physiologically protective about being married ."

Dr. Kronick also suggested that people who are healthier are more likely to marry, and that marriage itself does not reduce risks .

"There is not a message here that people ought to run out and get married to improve their health," Dr. Kronick said. "Many single people and people who never marry lead long and happy lives."

For most of its existence, the field of psychology has ignored fame as a primary motivator of human behavior: it was considered too shallow, too culturally variable, too often mingled with other motives to be taken seriously. But in recent years, a small number of social scientists have begun to study and think about fame in a different way, ranking it with other goals, measuring its psychological effects, characterizing its devoted seekers.

People with an overriding desire to be widely known to strangers are different from those who primarily covet wealth and influence. Their fame-seeking behavior appears rooted in a desire for social acceptance, a longing for the existential reassurance promised by wide renown .

These yearnings can become more acute in life's later years, as the opportunities for fame dwindle, "but the motive never dies, and when we realize we're not going to make it in this lifetime, we find some other route: posthumous fame ," said Orville Gilbert Brim , a psychologist who is completing a book called "The Fame Motive." The book is based on data he has gathered and analyzed, with the support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

"It's like belief in the afterlife in medieval communities, where people couldn't wait to die and go on to better life," Dr. Brim said. "That's how strong it is."

...
In a 1996 study, Richard M. Ryan of the University of Rochester and Dr. Kasser , then at Rochester, conducted in-depth surveys of 100 adults, asking about their aspirations, guiding principles, and values, as well as administering standard measures of psychological well-being.

The participants in the study who focused on goals tied to others' approval, like fame, reported significantly higher levels of distress than those interested primarily in self-acceptance and friendship .

Surveys done since then, in communities around the world, suggest the same thing: aiming for a target as elusive as fame, and so dependent on the judgments of others, is psychologically treacherous.

　今年も甲子園の熱い戦いが終わった．改めて思うのは，野球にはミスがつき もの，ということ．ミスをした後の気持ちの切り替えができたかどうか，で明 暗を分けた試合が多かった．

　「試合中に，ミスしたことの反省なんかしなくていい」．スポーツメンタル トレーナーの高畑好秀さんは意外なことを口にする．「原因を探ってもマイナ ス思考になるだけ．外的なものに要因を求める方が効果的」

　例えば，エラーをしたら「グラブのせいだ」，暴投をしたら「マウンドが荒 れていたから」と考えた方が心が軽くなる．

　ミスの後は，より積極的になることが大切．「もう一度，オレのところに （打球が）来い」と大声を出すくらいがいい．同時に，同じプレーでエラーを しなかった自分をイメージする．ミスの直後は脳内が混乱状態になり，ミスを 認めないという心理が強く働く．これに乗じて，ミスしたプレーをイメージの 中であたかも成功したようにすり替える．これを何度か繰り返すと「自分は本 当にミスをしたのか」と思えてくる．

　ミスした直後は，周囲から自分が切り離されたような錯覚に陥りやすい．こ ういう時には「タイム」をとって試合の流れを切り，チームの一員であること を再認識させることが必要になる．高校野球でおなじみの「伝令」にはその効 果がある．

　甲子園に出場した日本最南端の高校として注目を浴びた八重山商工（沖縄）． 監督はエースのふがいなさに「死ね」という強烈な言葉を伝令に託して発奮を 促した．ただし，これは監督とエースが親子ともいわれるほどの間柄だったか らこその言葉．窮地にある選手に対する指示は，よりシンプルに「結果を考え ずに自分の最高のプレーをした感覚を思い出せ」くらいが最適だ．

In surveys conducted in 2005, people in the United States and 32 European countries were asked whether to respond "true," "false" or "not sure" to this statement: "Human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animals ." The same question was posed to Japanese adults in 2001 .

The United States had the second-highest percentage of adults who said the statement was false and the second-lowest percentage who said the statement was true , researchers reported in the current issue of Science.

Only adults in Turkey expressed more doubts on evolution. In Iceland, 85 percent agreed with the statement.

Grisha Perelman , where are you?

Three years ago, a Russian mathematician by the name of Grigory Perelman, a k a Grisha, in St. Petersburg, announced that he had solved a famous and intractable mathematical problem, known as the Poincare conjecture , about the nature of space.

After posting a few short papers on the Internet and making a whirlwind lecture tour of the United States, Dr. Perelman disappeared back into the Russian woods in the spring of 2003, leaving the world's mathematicians to pick up the pieces and decide if he was right.

Now they say they have finished his work, and the evidence is circulating among scholars in the form of three book-length papers with about 1,000 pages of dense mathematics and prose between them.

As a result there is a growing feeling, a cautious optimism that they have finally achieved a landmark not just of mathematics, but of human thought.

"It's really a great moment in mathematics," said Bruce Kleiner of Yale, who has spent the last three years helping to explicate Dr. Perelman's work. "It could have happened 100 years from now, or never."

In a speech at a conference in Beijing this summer, Shing-Tung Yau of Harvard said the understanding of three-dimensional space brought about by Poincare's conjecture could be one of the major pillars of math in the 21st century.

Quoting Poincare himself, Dr.Yau said, "Thought is only a flash in the middle of a long night, but the flash that means everything ."

But at the moment of his putative triumph, Dr. Perelman is nowhere in sight. He is an odds-on favorite to win a Fields Medal, math's version of the Nobel Prize, when the International Mathematics Union convenes in Madrid next Tuesday. But there is no indication whether he will show up.

Voters in Kansas ensured this month that noncreationist moderates will once again have a majority (6 to 4) on the state school board, keeping new standards inspired by intelligent design from taking effect .

This is a victory for public education and sends a message nationwide about the public's ability to see through efforts by groups like the Discovery Institute to misrepresent science in the schools. But for those of us who are interested in improving science education, any celebration should be muted.

The human body may seem to change little over the years, but beneath this deceptive calm, cells are in constant flux as old ones are discarded and new ones appear . How do the new recruits know where they are meant to go?

Biologists at Stanford University say they have discovered a coordinate system in human cells that defines their position in the body . This seems to be the first time a cell-based positioning system has been reported for the adult body of any animal, though positioning systems that guide cells in embryogenesis are well known.

The coordinate system, if confirmed, may shed light on processes like wound healing and lend some hope to the prospect of regenerating human tissues from mature cells, as happens in animals like newts and salamanders, rather than from stem cells, the goal of cell therapy.

Coffee is not usually thought of as health food, but a number of recent studies suggest that it can be a highly beneficial drink . Researchers have found strong evidence that coffee reduces the risk of several serious ailments, including diabetes, heart disease and cirrhosis of the liver .

Among them is a systematic review of studies published last year in The Journal of the American Medical Association, which concluded that habitual coffee consumption was consistently associated with a lower risk of Type 2 diabetes . Exactly why is not known, but the authors offered several explanations.

Coffee contains antioxidants that help control the cell damage that can contribute to the development of the disease. It is also a source of chlorogenic acid, which has been shown in animal experiments to reduce glucose concentrations.

Caffeine, perhaps coffee's most famous component, seems to have little to do with it ; studies that looked at decaffeinated coffee alone found the same degree of risk reduction.

Larger quantities of coffee seem to be especially helpful in diabetes prevention. In a report that combined statistical data from many studies, researchers found that people who drank four to six cups of coffee a day had a 28 percent reduced risk compared with people who drank two or fewer. Those who drank more than six had a 35 percent risk reduction .

Some studies show that cardiovascular risk also decreases with coffee consumption. Using data on more than 27,000 women ages 55 to 69 in the Iowa Women's Health Study who were followed for 15 years, Norwegian researchers found that women who drank one to three cups a day reduced their risk of cardiovascular disease by 24 percent compared with those drinking no coffee at all .

「費用は着手金十万円，残額の四十万円は，毎月十万円の分割，支払いは二回 怠ると辞任するというので，仕方なく十万円を払って妻の自己破産を頼みまし たよ．でも金がなくて一回目は支払えず，請求があったので，翌月にあるだけ の金，九万円を払いました．すると約束違反だ，辞任すると言ってきたので， あわててとりあえず四万円を振り込みました．ところがその四万円をすぐ送り 返してきて，辞任は変わらない．約束違反だから十九万円も返さないというの ですよ」というひどい話だ．

しかしこれが事実だとしても，それだけをもって直ちにその弁護士の行為が違 法とまでいえるかどうかは分からない．こんな話を聞けば弁護士会や司法書士 会の執行部であれば，直ちに取り締まりの強化を考えるだろう．

しかし，これまでもそうであったが人間の欲望は強く才能も豊かで，こうした 詐欺まがい暴利行為は，取り締まりをいくら強化しても形を変えてまた現れて くる．むしろ顧客誘致の方法，広告表現の内容を規制する方がはるかに効果的 だ．

つまり市場競争を活性化させて，需要者，消費者の選択の力で，市場から追い 出してしまう方が効果的でもあるし確実である．

司法書士会，弁護士会は価格明示義務を課した広告規制をするべきだ．

「費用は着手金十万円，残額の四十万円は，毎月十万円の分割，支払いを二回 怠ると辞任し，それまで支払った費用の返還には応じない」と，ホームページ， つまり広告に明示しておけば，相談者，山野さんの場合のような問題は生じな い．

価格をめぐるトラブルは間違いなく減少する．お寿司屋さんですら最近は，回 転寿司に押されて料金を明示するようになったのに，弁護士や司法書士でサー ビスの価格を明示する事務所は今でも少ない．

価格交渉力の弱い消費者をいかに保護し，損害を回復するか，市場取引におけ る正義と衡平をいかに実現するか，これこそが消費者金融市場改革の焦点となっ ているのに，その問題解決の担い手である弁護士や司法書士自身が，自らの契 約においては「価格交渉力の弱い消費者」の立場を考慮せず，専門家としての 自らの強い立場を利して依頼人との価格交渉を有利に図ろうとするのは不正義 そのものではないか．

多重債務者問題においては，消費者金融業者の広告が常に問題となる．ＴＶ広 告の全面禁止を主張する道学者風もいるが，問題とされるべきなのは広告その ものではなく，その広告表現の内容なのだ．

消費者金融業者の広告中に利息制限法金利の明示を義務付けるとか，多重債務 者への国の救済機関，法律扶助協会の存在を何ポイント以上の活字で明記する よう義務付けるとか，こうした規制が必要なのである．

広告そのものではなく，広告内容の規制をすることは弁護士にも司法書士にも 必要であり，「価格交渉力の弱い消費者」に対し，取引における価格という要 素を広告中に明示することを，それぞれの団体が，その所属会員に義務付ける ことは差し迫った課題ではないか．必要情報の事前開示，告知が不正を防止す ることになる．

…
消費者は，それらの価格広告を見て債務整理のサービス価格の相場というもの を知ることができる．

価格広告は，司法書士，弁護士にとって決してマイナスではない．消費者の立 場に立った司法書士事務所，法律事務所はホームロイヤーズを筆頭に，ＩＴＪ 法律事務所，アディーレ法律事務所，いずれも一人事務所からわずか数年の内 に，所員数十名をを擁する大事務所に発展している．

これを見て，心中ただならぬ思いをしている司法書士，弁護士は，少なくはな いが，彼らは，依頼人の需要を満たし支持されているからこそ発展成長してい るわけである．不正でもあれば依頼人からの支持を持続させることも，まして や成長していくこともできないだろう．

さて，相談者の山野さんは結局，法律扶助協会の援助を受けて自己破産をする ことになったが，「法律扶助協会のあることなど誰も知りませんよ，なぜ弁護 士はそれを教えてくれないんだろう」と言っていた．

法律扶助協会の援助についても，弁護士や司法書士の広告に明記するよう義務 付ければよい．…

宗教とは とんでもない与太話を
本気で説くほどの狂人を
真面目に信じる 愚者らのお笑い

小泉靖国参拝は，亡霊のような旧軍人や旧皇族，帝国軍人の中国においての蛮 行を思い出させてくれたばかりではなく，今ではその口をぬぐって被害者面を している戦前の熱狂人民，軍国少年たちの戦争責任問題を浮かび上がらせても くれた．

…
敗戦によってドイツの場合には「第三帝国が『国家』としては全面的に解体し てドイツ連邦共和国というまったく新しい国家が誕生したのに対し，日本では， 国家の中核（＝国体）である天皇制が政治的な役割は縮小されたものの基本的 に維持され，新憲法もその第一条で，天皇が国の象徴であることを明記してい る…」（「日本とドイツ：二つの戦後思想」仲正昌樹68頁）．

Microscopic examination of Rita's red blood cells provided a clue. They were enlarged, with unusual structures, described as macrocytic. A common cause of this is pernicious anemia resulting from a shortage of vitamin B12 or folic acid , both necessary for the production of red blood cells. But Rita had no neurologic signs of pernicious anemia or any other systemic disease that would cause a lack of B12 or folate.

Her doctors were stumped.

Enter Dr. Earl Lipman, a close friend of Bob's and an outstanding internist and diagnostician, who identified the culprit over the phone.

Earl asked, "Does Rita make her own gefilte fish? "

"Yes."

"Does she ever taste the raw fish before adding salt? " Earl continued.

"Yes."

"She most likely has a fish tapeworm ."

The fish tapeworm -- a beast, stubborn as a dog with a beef bone -- is reluctant to move, tightly gripping the wall of the small intestine with its two suction cups. The worm requires a powerful purging medicine to persuade it to leave its cozy cave and exit the gut into the light.

Dr. Charmane I. Eastman , director of the Biological Rhythms Research Lab at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, said she had found one way to virtually eliminate jet lag from , say, a New York-Milan flight.

It involves resetting your body clock with small doses of the hormone melatonin for three days before flight time -- combined with going to bed an hour earlier each day -- and then taking in bright light, natural or artificial, after arriving in Italy about six hours later . She recommends using a light box, widely used to treat the "winter blues."

...
"Airline captains are the master jet-laggers," said Dr. Mark R. Rosekind, president and chief scientist at the consulting firm. "We've done surveys of pilots to see how they manage alertness. They're not doing the stuff that works."

What does work? "Napping and caffeine, among various solutions ," said Dr. Rosekind. "When I was at NASA, we did a study involving 26-minute naps and we found they boosted performance by 34 percent and alertness by 54 percent. Naps of less than a half-hour work.

"Using a combination of nap and caffeine is better than using them separately, if you can believe it. It takes 15 to 30 minutes for caffeine to kick in. So you do the two together. All it takes is a cup of coffee -- not even a pill. By the time the caffeine is working, your nap is over ."

DALIAN, China -- Tucked away in the back of this coastal city's export-oriented manufacturing zone is a place that can only be described as a modern mummification factory .

A hand after it was stripped to expose nerves and blood vessels.

Inside a series of unmarked buildings, hundreds of Chinese workers, some seated in assembly line formations, are cleaning, cutting, dissecting, preserving and re-engineering human corpses, preparing them for the international museum exhibition market.

"Pull the cover off; pull it off," one Chinese manager says as a team of workers begin to lift a blanket from the head of a cadaver stored in a stainless steel container filled with formalin, a chemical preservative. "Let's see the face; show the face."

The mastermind behind this operation is Gunther von Hagens, a 61-year-old German scientist whose show, "Body Worlds ," has attracted 20 million people worldwide over the past decade and has taken in over $200 million by displaying preserved, skinless human corpses with their well-defined muscles and sinewy tissues.

But now with millions of people flocking to see "Body Worlds" and similar exhibitions, a ghastly new underground mini-industry has emerged in China.

With little government oversight, an abundance of cheap medical school labor and easy access to cadavers and organs -- which appear to come mostly from China and Europe -- at least 10 other Chinese body factories have opened in the last few years. These companies are regularly filling exhibition orders, shipping preserved cadavers to Japan, South Korea and the United States.

Fierce competition among body show producers has led to accusations of copyright theft, unfair competition and trafficking in human bodies in a country with a reputation for allowing a flourishing underground trade in organs and other body parts.

仏も昔は人なりき　我等も終には仏なり

　　　三身仏性具せる身と　知らざりけるこそあはれなれ （後白河上皇撰『梁塵秘抄』）

仏も昔は凡夫なり　われらも終には仏なり

　　　いづれも仏性具せる身を　隔つるのみこそ悲しけれ（白拍子祗王『平家物 語』）

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."

"The state is made for man, not man for the state. I regard the chief duty of the state to protect the individual and give him the opportunity to develop into a creative personality."

幕末村落社会の変質

島村伊三郎殺害事件は単純な博徒同士の縄張り争いではない．その背景にある ものをこれまで見てきた．一つには，支配体制の根幹ともいうべき支配領主の 腐敗と弱体化があった．
複数の領主が一村を分給している錯綜する支配．個別領主の財政窮乏から来る あの手この手の収奪．それに加えて朝廷と幕府の権威をあわせもつ日光例幣使 による入魂金等のゆすり，たかりは，助郷村々を経済的に直撃したのみならず， 街道沿いの人々からお上への畏敬と信仰を失わせることにもなった．
一方では養蚕業の隆盛にともない街道と舟運の発展が顕著となり，村落社会が 大きく変質しはじめた．ヒトとモノの流動が激しくなり，ふと村を出る「不斗 出者」が激増し，これを桐生在郷町などの絹業の町が吸収したが，なかには無 宿となり博徒の群に投ずる者も少なくなかった．錯綜し弱体化した領主支配と， 蚕で繁昌，消費になれた村落社会──ここから必然的に帰結するものは，頼り にならない領主に代わって，なにかことが起こったときは，村の顔役が調停す るという揉め事の手っ取り早い解決法であった．こうして無宿や博徒にとって は絶好の生息エリアとなった．(pp.30-31)

…
百姓町人の敵討ち

兵農分離で刀を取り上げられたはずの百姓町人が剣術を学び，刀を使い戦うこ とは，そう珍しいことではなくなった．江戸はもとより在村の道場の多くは， 百姓町人をお得意先に繁昌していたのである．
この時世の流れを物語るのは，百姓町人の間に見られる敵討ちの流行である． 江戸の情報や藤岡屋が丹念に記録した事件の中に，百姓町人の敵討ちがかなり 認められる．(p.66)

…
磔死ノ命下ル，忠恩ヲ謝シ因リテ曰ク，凡ソ重罪ヲ犯ス者ハ，誅死ニ甘ンジ， 而シテ痩死ニ甘ンゼズ，某監内ニ在リテ監故数人ト目見ユ，意甚ダ之ヲ怜レ， 邇ク者ニ游リニ当ル，或ハ此輩恨ミヲ銜ムニ因リテ然ル乎，誠ニ能ク旧弊ヲ一 洗シテ繋者ヲシテ咸ナ願フ所ヲ得サシムレバ，遮幾クバ災ヲ銷シ，従容トシテ 檻車ニ就カン(p.165)

…
忠治の講じた『孝経』の一節とは，開宗明義章第一のすべてではないであろう． おそらく「夫れ孝は徳の本なり，教の由ひて生る所なり．復り坐せ，吾れ汝に 語げむ．身体髪膚は之を父母に受く，敢て毀傷せざるは，孝の始なり．身を立 て道を行ひ，名を後世に揚げ，以て父母を顕すは，孝の終なり．夫れ孝は親に 事ふるに始まり，君に事ふるに中し，身を立つるに終る」の一節であろう．
忠治に身近な伊勢崎藩領分の村々には郷学が置かれ，学ぶ村人も少なくなかっ た．その郷学では孝経が主要なテキストであった．(p.187)

…

［忠治の辞世］

見てはらく　なして苦敷　世の中に

　　　　　せましきものは　かけの諸勝負

見て楽ぞ　成して苦しむ　悪業の

　　　　　今罪きへて　蓮台に乗る

やれうれし　壱本ならで　いく本も

　　　　　かねが身に入る　年の暮かな(pp.193-194)

…
［忠治の師僧貞然の辞世］

あつかりし　ものを返して　死出の旅(p.197)

「むずかしいことを やさしく

　やさしいことを ふかく

　ふかいことを おもしろく」（井上ひさし）

Researchers in Germany said Thursday that they planned to collaborate with an American company in an effort to reconstruct the genome of Neanderthals , the archaic human species that occupied Europe from 300,000 years ago to 30,000 years ago until being displaced by modern humans.

Long a forlorn hope, the sequencing, or decoding, of Neanderthal DNA suddenly seems possible because of a combination of analytic work on ancient DNA by Svante Paabo, of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and a new method of DNA sequencing developed by a Connecticut company, 454 Life Sciences.

The initial genome to be decoded comes from 45,000-year-old Neanderthal bones found in Croatia, though bones from other sites may be analyzed later. Because the genome must be kept in constant repair and starts to break up immediately after the death of the cell, the material surviving in Neanderthal bones exists in tiny fragments 100 or so DNA units in length. As it happens, this is just the length that works best with the 454 machine, which is also able to decode vast amounts of DNA at low cost.

As Mr. Ridley notes, Crick was in middle age when he embarked on his career of scientific discovery, in contrast with the many scientists who make their marks when young.

Crick forged his own path through life. Mr. Ridley dwells only briefly on Crick's heterodox views and experimental way of life. He seldom read newspapers, because working in intelligence had convinced him that most stories never reached the press. He experimented with marijuana and LSD, Mr. Ridley reports.

Crick and his wife Odile held lively parties and enjoyed the company of their many bohemian friends, like John Gayer-Anderson, who made pornographic pottery.

"Though they did not have an explicitly 'open marriage,' Francis was an incorrigible flirt," Mr. Ridley writes, "and Odile at least affected not to mind."

Crick refused to meet the queen when she visited Cambridge's new Laboratory of Molecular Biology because he disapproved of royalty, and he declined a knighthood. He deeply disliked religion, saying once that Christianity was all right between consenting adults but should not be taught to children.

He refused to attend weddings or funerals, though he was always up for the party afterward. He resigned from Churchill College when it decided to build a chapel like any other Cambridge college.

When Mike Kreidler was an optometrist in Olympia, Wash., he railed against trial lawyers. He believed that aggressive trial lawyers were the reason he faced rising insurance premiums.

Dr. Kreidler, now in his second term as Washington State's insurance commissioner, has changed his mind. He has decided that the problem is not the lawyers - although they have contributed - but also the insurance companies .

"I came full circle," he said. "I started out with a strong bias against trial lawyers and lawsuits, and now I see the trade-off and I have both sides, the trial lawyers and the insurance companies, mad at me ."

The high price of medical malpractice insurance is a notoriously nebulous and highly politicized subject. Insurers and doctors contend that the insurance is more expensive because of a surge in jury awards and settlements. Consumer advocates and their political allies assert that insurers have raised rates because they can, arguing that insurers' claims have slowed significantly while premiums have shot up.

A study to be released today by the Center for Justice and Democracy, a consumer advocacy group in New York, may add fuel to that debate. The study, compiled from regulatory filings by insurers to state regulators, finds that net claims for medical malpractice paid by 15 leading insurance companies have remained flat over the last five years, while net premiums have surged 120 percent .

From 2000 to 2004, the increase in premiums collected by the leading 15 medical malpractice insurance companies was 21 times the increase in the claims they paid , according to the study. (The net totals in the study are calculated after accounting for reinsurance.)

Of the 15 companies examined, 9 are mutual insurers owned by their policyholders, 3 have publicly traded stock but are part of larger conglomerates and 3 are publicly traded and focus primarily on medical malpractice. The stock prices of those three companies have each risen more than 100 percent since May 2002.

"In recent years, medical malpractice hasn't been unprofitable but it's been phenomenally profitable ," said Jay Angoff, the former state insurance commissioner of Missouri and a consultant on the study.

Insurance industry officials not only disagree with Mr. Angoff and the study, they discredit the methodology. They say that it is unfair to compare the premiums that insurance companies charge with claims paid, because it often takes 8 to 10 years for the claims to materialize, so companies have to set aside extra reserves.

"It's a meaningless comparison that no respectable actuary would consider," said Lawrence Smarr, president of the Physicians Insurers Association of America, the trade group representing physician-owned insurance companies.

Industry officials instead look at incurred losses , which include what insurance companies pay in claims as well as what they set aside for reserves to pay for future claims. The study, for its part, emphasizes that incurred losses are not payments the insurer has made but rather are estimates of claims.

The reason malpractice insurance premiums are on the rise, Mr. Smarr says, is claim costs have risen as juries have awarded higher awards to plaintiffs , and insurance companies have used those claims as the justification for settling more cases.

"The real problem is claim severity ," he said. "It means that juries are awarding higher amounts and jury verdicts drive the potential cost of the claim so that makes settlements rise."

According to the association's data, collected on a voluntary basis by its membership, 70 percent of malpractice cases closed in 2003 were dismissed, 24 percent were settled, 5 percent were tried and found in favor of the defendant and 0.8 percent were settled in favor of the plaintiff.

But it is that 0.8 percent that drives the costs, according to advocates for a national limit on what juries can award in medical malpractice cases. The uncertainty and the emotional circumstances of claims drives more settlements, regardless of the merit of the cases.

"We have a proven record of the fact that the premiums will come down when you get strong liability reform - that's why we're pushing caps on noneconomic damages," said Edward Hill, the president of the American Medical Association.

Insurance companies set rates, collect premiums and then estimate how much they will need to pay in claims. While they wait to pay those claims, they invest the money. A variety of reasons, including poor investment performance and rising reinsurance costs have contributed to rising costs.

Insurers look at incurred losses, which include money set aside for future reserves, as well as ratios that include the administrative and legal cost of underwriting new business. The most commonly cited profitability measure is the ratio of all the costs of doing business - underwriting, legal and administrative - to the premiums earned .

Mr. Angoff contests the use of the combined ratio, which is based on "overwhelming estimates." He also examined the incurred-loss ratio for the leading 15 insurers and found that it fell by almost 25 percent from 2000 to 2004 to 51.4 percent, meaning that the companies took in almost twice as much in premiums during that time as they paid out in claims .

"The argument that they have to raise rates because their incurred losses are going up, I don't buy it," Mr. Angoff said, "because incurred losses are estimates and the estimate of future losses can only rationally be built on their paid losses."

The numbers in the study, said the Connecticut attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, "cast a completely different picture than the public or many public officials have assumed."

"They have the potential to alter the debate fundamentally from seeming to cast the rapacious personal injury lawyers as the complete culprits and the insurers as innocent bystanders with doctors as victims to the insurers as equally responsible, if not more so," Mr. Blumenthal said.

Dr. Kreidler of Washington State is also not convinced that runaway juries are the sole cause for large rate increases. "Focusing exclusively on capping noneconomic damages will have a marginal effect on premiums and it will not have a pronounced dramatic impact ," he said. "I think we should be doing something to make the tort system cheaper and making medicine safer."

Some insurance executives agree. "Malpractice insurance has changed how medicine is practiced," said William R. Berkley, chairman and chief executive of the W. R. Berkley Corporation, which underwrites particularly risky malpractice areas. "Part of it is good for patients; doctors are more careful. The problem is the cost."

�@ 一流メーカー工場労働者の場合：今時ヤミ金と任意整理

…
借金は，武富士をはじめとして，プロミス，アコム，ディック，レイク，アイ フル，ニコス，三和ファイナンス，ワールド，ニッシンと合計十社，おなじみ のサラ金の勢ぞろいである．

…
質問に答える相談者の目線が落ち着かない．相談を長年やっていると，この人 は何か隠しているなということはすぐに分かる．ただこれをいきなり問い詰め ても，心を閉ざすだけとなる．

毎日，資金繰りに追われている多重債務者の相談を受ける司法書士や弁護士は， まず聞き上手になることが重要なのだが，資格者の多くがこのような才能に欠 けているように思われる．資格者の一方的にしゃべりまくるという傾向，簡単 に結論を出してそれを押し付けるという傾向は，実は私にもある．

それで三十分ほど事件の概要を聞いて，私が大まかな方向を定め，それから担 当の女性事務員を同席させて，相談者からさらに事情を聞くことになる．

相談担当者は出来れば家計をやりくりし，住宅ローン支払い中で，元気で明る い金に細かいミドルクラスの主婦がいい．生活感のない人では，なかなか暮ら しの痛みを共感することが難しいのだ．その点どんぶり勘定に慣れた資格者で は，家計設計再建の相談もできない．債務整理は経験が何よりも重要だ．

…
四十分ほどして相談者が信頼感を抱くようになると，「実は……」と，いよい よ事の真相が明らかにされる．相談者は東京のヤミ金六社の返済に追われてい た．相談にやってきたのは，「実は」その返済に行き詰まったからだ．

…
…今年から，当事務所ではヤミ金については刑事事件として，すべて債務者に 所轄警察署に行ってもらい，警察の助力を得て自分で解決してもらうことにし ている．

そこで支払期限の迫った二社には，私がすぐに電話をして取立てを止めさせ， そこも含め全六社につき真岡警察署の生活安全課に被害届を出すよう相談者に 手続きを説明した．同時に真岡警察署にもヤミ金被害者が訪問する旨伝えた ．

…
…そして二日後，相談者が警察を訪ねると，既に捜査の端緒が切られていて取 り立てはやみ，ヤミ金二社からは過払い金四十万円，六十万円が戻ってきた．

桂木は沈黙を続けた．本当は他の部署に異動したかったが，希望通りの部署に 行かせてもらえる保証はない．むしろ人事に対する「造反者」として，み せしめに手形決済センターのような日の当たらない部署で一生を送らされる可 能性が高い．都銀とはそうした組織なのだ．(上巻p.29)

「わたしは，十八で高校を出ると，あのチラシ配りから始めたんです．…桂木 さんは，どうやったらお客さんがチラシを受け取ってくれるか分かります か？」
問いかける木村の全身から，一匹狼でのし上がってきた男の自信が漂ってくる． 「男性は相手の目を見て，目にめがけてビラを差し出す．女性は胸の前に 差し出す．そうするとたいてい受け取ってくれるんです」(上巻p.241)

話し合いは終始，日本デルフィア側のペースで進んだ．
交渉スケジュールも日本デルフィア側が一方的に宣言し，木村側がそれをその まま呑んだ．木村側が是非買収したいという姿勢であるのに対し，日本デ ルフィア側は，売却候補は他にも複数あることを匂わせ，強気の姿勢を押し通 した．これはM&Aの交渉戦術の基本だ．また，山一證券の社員が「ちょっ と，それは…」と難色を示すと，たちどころに桂木が「それは，M&Aの基本ルー ルに反します」と相手の無知を皮肉るような一撃を放った．
（あーあ，我ながら性格悪くなってきたなあ…）
桂木は心の中で何度か苦笑した．(上巻p.245)

…
桂木にはミルケンがそれほど悪いことをしたとは思えない．
「色々な思惑が絡んでるからなあ」
橘は考え込む顔．「ジュリアーニ（連邦検事）は次のニューヨーク市長を狙っ て，金持ちのミルケンをやっつけて大衆にアピールしたい．ウォール街のエス タブリッシュメントは，自分たちの領域を蚕食してくる成り上がりのどレクセ ルを叩きつぶしたい．議会はアメリカの不景気をLBOのせいにするため，ス ケープゴートを探している．…そんなこんながなけりゃ，刑事裁判まで行 く話じゃなかっただろうね」
「なるほど…．アメリカの正義と民主主義も，結局その程度のものってこ とですか」
桂木の言葉に橘は頷いた．(上巻pp.291-292)

…
モルガン・スペンサーが主に販売していたのは，社内でAMIT(American Mortgage Investmentの略）と呼ばれる商品だった．これは異なった価値を持 つ住宅抵当証券を集めて投資信託に仕立て，日本企業に売る．日本企業はその 半分を数日後モルガン・スペンサーに売り戻す．このとき，例えば日本企業が 投資信託を十万口，総額一億ドル保有していれば，五万口を売り戻すが，その 五万口は九千万ドルの価値がある値段の高い抵当証券のプール部分を売り戻す． しかし，日本企業は帳簿上，どの部分を売ったかは明らかにせず，当初購 入した投資信託全体の平均価格は五万口当たり五千万ドルなので，九千万ドル 引く五千万ドルで四千万ドルの利益を計上する．
これは粉飾以外の何物でもない．しかし，バブル崩壊後の日本は， 損失を抱え，それを何とか先送りしたい企業で溢れていた．投資信託の満 期が来れば，件の日本企業は四千万ドルの損失を計上しなくてはならないが， それは例えば二十年後であり，その頃までには日本の株価が復活するか， 関係者は退社していると彼らは考えていた．
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モルガン・スペンサーは日本企業の会計処理には関与せず，さらに「この 取引は合法で，モルガン・スペンサーは一切違法なことはしていない」という 念書を顧客に差し入れさせていた．(下巻pp.77-78)

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不来方の お城の草に寝転びて
　　　　　空に吸われし 十五の心（石川啄木）（下巻pp.94-95)

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（…いったいぜんたい，日本の証券会社はどんな社員教育をしているんだ！） 盛岡駅に向かって歩きながら，藤崎は呆れていた．
（まったく，買うほうも買うほうだが，売るほうも売るほうだ…）
藤崎の脳裏に，かつてファースト・スイス証券に応募してきた若い男の顔が浮 かんだ．
ある日経証券会社の国内支店に勤務する二十代後半の男だった．自分は営業で 関東一になったことがあると表彰状を見せ，昂然とした顔をした．見るからに 教養のなさそうな顔だった．藤崎が営業のコツは何かと尋ねると，男 は客の金で自分が相場を張るのだといった．客の取引口座を勝手に動 かし，自分の判断で株の売買をするという．結果はすべて事後報告． 損を出したときはどうするんだと訊くと，客に電話して「すみませーん． 次は頑張りまーす」と一言いって，相手の返事も聞かずに電話を切るのだとい う．藤崎はその場で男を不採用にした．(下巻pp.97-98)

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面接官はその大学のOBで，大蔵省，日本産業銀行，新日製鐵などに勤務する三 十代半ばから四十代の日本人六，七人．
「大蔵省，日本産業銀行，新日製鐵，か．日本屈指のエリートたちだね．」
「それで彼らが，大学を出てどうしていきなり外資に就職したんだと，し きりに訊くわけです」
元ヤングVPは東京大学卒業後，米系商業銀行の東京支店に数年勤務し，モルガ ン・スペンサーに入社した．
「へーえ，そんなこと訊くの」
桂木は，多少驚いた．
「そういう人たちって，勤務先からMBAコースに派遣してもらって，また勤 務先に戻って秘書課とか企画部とか組織の中枢で働いてるから，転職するとか 外資で働くなんて夢想だにしないと思うんです」（下巻p.107)

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「こうした暴挙を繰り返すナイジェリア政府と結託したアメリカの石油会社を 支援するファイナンスを行うことは，反社会的行為だとわたしたちは考えます」 中年の日本人男性は，桂木を真っ直ぐ見詰めていった．
桂木と広報担当の女性は，予め打ち合わせた通り「お話の趣旨は理解した． ニューヨーク本社に報告・相談の上，対応する」と答えた．こうした人権・ 環境関係団体が何か申し入れてきたときは，まずはじっくり話を聴くのが 基本である．(下巻p.123)

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翌日からは，大日本航空とニューヨークのローン・トレーディング・チームの 間に立ち，ローン譲渡契約の取りまとめの作業に入った．…
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作業は順調に進み，十一月の最終営業日である二十九日金曜日に譲渡を実行す ることになった．
橘から電話が入ったのは，実行日の三日前だった．
「…フィー・スプリットに関して，ローン・トレーディング・チームが強硬な んだ」
フィー・スプリットとは手数料配分のこと．桂木と橘は，三百万ドルの内十分 の七を投資銀行本部に，十分の三をローン・トレーディウング・チーム（債券 本部）にと提案していた．
「いくらくれっていうわけですか？」桂木が訊いた．
「こっちが三で向うが七だってさ」
「まったく！相も変わらず，いいたいことだけはいってきますね」
投資銀行内部のフィーの捕り合いは，野犬の喧嘩だ．
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橘は何やら思案している様子．
「桂木君さ，実行日を一週間遅らせられないかな？」
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翌日，桂木は大日本航空と大永銀行に頼み込んで，実行日を一週間ずらすこと にした．
桂木がその旨を社内メールで伝えると，その日のうちに橘からメールが入った．
「RE: US$300MM Loan buy back by Dainihon Airlines（大日本航空の三千万 ドルのローン・バイバックの件）」
短いメールだった．宛先はローン・トレーディング・チームのヘッドと担当者 で，桂木にはＣＣで入っていた．
「残念ながら顧客の都合で本件は不成立となった．これまでの貴チー ムの努力に感謝し，また別の機会にディールをやりたい｣
桂木はぎょっとしたが，橘の考えていることは何となく分かった．
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まもなく，橘から電話が入った．
「相当がっくりきているみたいだよ」
橘の声に嗤いが滲む．「まあ，二百十万ドル取れるかもしれないと思ってたの が，一気にゼロだから無理もないか」
「橘さんもワルですねえ」
「これで連中も，欲張りすぎるとどういう目に遭うかよく分かっただろ」
「この後どうします？」
「来週，桂木君のほうから彼らに電話して『実はあの後，大日本航空と大 永銀行の担当者と毎晩のように銀座で飲んで説得した．あとちょっとで上手く 行くかもしれない．ただ，俺としてもこれだけ苦労したんだから，フィーは七 割貰えなければやらない』といってくれるかな」
「分かりました」
「たぶん飛びついてくるだろ．三百万ドルの三割だって九十万ドルだ．ローン・ トレーディングなんてたいして儲かる仕事じゃないし，秘書を入れて三人しか いないチームには結構な額だよ」
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翌週──．
桂木がローン・トレーディングのヘッドに電話すると，相手は一も二もなく， フィーは三割でいいから是非やらせてくれ，（あらがわ）の経費も持つといっ てきた．(下巻pp.159-162)

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桂木は感情を一切顔に出さず，冷淡にいった．こういう話の場合，そのほ うが説得力があり，相手に恐怖感を与えられる．
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こうした交渉では，嘘をつくと後で辻褄が合わなくなって自分の足を引っ 張ることになりかねない．嘘をつかずにいかに上手く相手を脅すかが，アドバ イザーとしての腕の見せ所だ．
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話を終え，携帯電話を鞄の中にしまいながら，桂木は可笑しさがこみ上げてき た．
（考えていることが全部顔に出てるんだからなあ）
早速翌日，産銀の部長から連絡があり，売値を半分近くまで下げてきた．
「トラブルよりも波風立てず穏便に． 頑張っても，昇給・昇格にたいして違 いはない」というサラリーマン根性である．
（ちょっとはもったいつけて，二，三日してから連絡すりゃいいのに） 桂木は苦笑して，産銀の部長との電話を終えた．(下巻pp.221-222)

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受話器を置きながら，桂木は心の中で唸った．
（昨日，帰りの飛行機の便を訊いたのは，こういう意味があったのか…）
こちらがいくらまで出せるか見極め，再度の値上げをいってくる可能性も 考え，出発ぎりぎりのタイミングで電話してきたのだった．
（自分も日本人相手ならまず負けないが，世界にはまだまだ凄い奴がいるもの だ…）(下巻p.233)

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昨年八月に発表された三行統合は，企画，財務・主計，店舗，大企業， 国際，ＩＴ，市場，人事など二十の小委員会が設けられ，統合の話し合いが進 められていた．桂木はインベストメントバンキング業務の小委員会で産銀の代 表者になっている．
状況は，雑誌の記事の通り，泥沼の抗争劇の様相を呈していた．
統合発表の記者会見で三行の頭取は「たすき掛け人事はしない」「出 身行にこだわらず適材適所の配置をする」と口々にいったが，状況はそれと百 八十度反対だった．…そもそもユニットを九つに分けること自体，ビジネス上 の必要性からではなく，三行で三ユニットずつ分けるためだ．…
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部長から平行員に至るまでの人事も，徹底した三で割るたすき掛けである ．どうしても三で割れないときは，各行とも貸し借り表を作って 「うちはシンガポール支店の日系企業グループで譲ったから，ロンドン支店の 英国企業グループでポジションを一つよこせ」という具合に取引している． (下巻pp.281-282)

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銀行で働いていて非常に嫌だったのは，中小の顧客に対して経済的合理性 のない取引を強要しなくてはならないことだった．その典型が「両建 預金」である．取引先に融資し，それを預金させる．顧客は融資と預 金の金利の差額分損をする．支店の収益が目標に足りないときや周年行事 の際には全店両建一色になり，支店長や副支店長は｢お客さんにしっかり両建 てをお願いしろ」と朝から晩まで行員たちを叱咤した．当然客はいい顔をしな いし，それまで築いてきた信頼関係まで損なわれた．両建て以外にも銀行 は，融資をしている強い立場を利用し，ことあるごとに取引先に理不尽な要求 を呑ませていた．…
邦銀の体質は今もほとんど変わっていない．この三月にやまとFGが取 引先約三千五百社に対する奉加帳方式で一兆円増資を達成したが，こ れなどその典型である．支店レベルでも，客から金をむしりとる手段が両 建預金からデリバティブに変わっただけだ．
（りずむの行員たちも『貸し剥がし』やリスクの高いデリバティブの 売込みをやらされてきたんだろう…．）(下巻p.348)

スーパーテリトリー

…生き物の種のなかには，雌や雄がなわばりを守り，侵入者を追い払うものが 多数ある．ところでそのなわばりだが，時には餌が十分に確保でき，一つがい の配偶者とその子を保護するのに必要な面積よりも，はるかに大きいことがあ るのだ．…
金満家は自分と家族を保護するためというより，その富と地位を見せびらかす ために大邸宅や館を建てる．宮殿のような大邸宅を建てて維持していく経費が， その持ち主の富を競合者や仲間に向けて宣伝しているのだ．動物の多くの種に ついても同じことで，大きな縄張りは雄の優秀さの象徴として，すぐれた配偶 者の注意を惹く．雌がまず豊かで大きい縄張りに落ち着くことは，すでに観察 された事実である．(pp.59-60)

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ブルーギルの成魚の雄は，体が小さいこともあれば大きいこともある．大きい 雄は繁殖の縄張りを守って雌に求愛するが，小さいほうはその期間中求愛に参 加し，大小両者とも，雌が大きい雄の縄張りに産んだ卵に精子をかける．小さ いほうの雄の色と動きはむしろ雌に似ており，身体の大きい雄は他の大きい雄 を退けるくせに，小さい雄は追い払わない．
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私たちはこれば「騙し」ではなく，事実三者を皆満足させるような繁殖上の協 定ではないかと考える．この二つの形態の雄はどちらも，それぞれ捕食や食物 摂取その他のさまざまな制約に直面するだろう．だが両者とも生き延びて繁殖 できるのだとすると，子のなかにこの二つの形態をそれぞれもっている個体が 何匹かずつ混ざっていたほうが，子孫の生存と繁殖の確率を高めることになる． したがって雌は，二つの形態の雄たちが，両方とも揃っている縄張りを選ぼう とするだろう．つまりそうした雌を惹きつけるため，優勢で体の大きい雄は， 小さい雄をパートナーとして受け入れるのに違いない．それぞれの理由こそ異 なれ，小さい雄も雌も大きい雄に対して服従行動をとるわけだから，その信号 が似通っているのも不思議ではない．事実彼らが伝えようとしているメッセー ジは，まったく同じなのだ．(pp.72-73)

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要求によるテスト

だがいったいどうすれば，社会的絆の強さと質について信用できる情報を集め られるのだろうか？ そもそも相手が得をするような行動なら，相手は自分の 利益のために引き受けてくれるものだ．だから相手がどれだけ献身的なのか， それを確実につかむには，相手の損になるような行動を要求する，この一手し かない．自分の得になるような行動なら，誰しも喜んで受け入れるにきまって いるが，自分が不利になるような要求を受け入れるのは，互いの絆をほんとう に大事にするものだけのはずだ．(p.186)

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危険を呼びこむことによる威嚇──弱いパートナーの武器

お腹をすかしたアラビアヤブチメドリのヒナも，人間の赤ちゃんと同じように 大声で鳴き叫ぶ．…
普通一般の説明では，こうした鳴き声は親にヒナの居所を知らせ，ヒナが空腹 なのを知らせるのだということになっている．ところがそれにしてはヒナの鳴 き声は，親が近くにいて子の居所をちゃんと知っているときに，もっとも大き いことが多いのだ．この意外な事実は，ヒナの鳴き声が実際には誰に向けたも のなのか，それを聞いた親がなぜヒナの面倒を見ざるをえなくなるのかを教え てくれる．私たちの信じるところでは，その鳴き声は実は猛禽か捕食者に向け たものなのだ．ヒナたちはそれこそ「ネコさんネコさん，こっちにおいで！ 僕らはここにいるんだぞ．母さんたちが餌をくれるまでは，誰にこっちの居所 を知られようとかまうもんか！」と言っているのだ．餌をもらうやいなやヒナ は泣きやむ．つまり自分たちのみを危険にさらすことによって，ヒナは親に給 餌を強要しているのである．…
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しかし鳴き叫ぶということは事実危険な行為であり，またそうあるべきなのだ． なぜならその危険が本物でなかったら，いくら子が鳴き声で脅迫したって，母 親が言うことを聞くはずがないからだ．だから時にはヒナや子猫が取って食わ れることもあるだろう．ねらう捕食者がゴマンといるケープノウサギやガゼル の子は，危険が大きすぎて鳴き声を武器に使うわけにはいかない．彼らは音も たてずに隠れがにじっとして，母親がときたまやってきて乳をくれるのを待っ ている．そうしてみると子の鳴き声など聞かなくても，母親がその居所を見つ けられるのは明らかだ．(pp.197-199)

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要するにチメドリたちは，利他行動をとる機会を競い合い，その競争のあまり， 他の仲間が群の利益のために尽くそうとする行為に，あろうことがしばしば邪 魔さえ入れるのだ．つまり個々のチメドリは，一見群が受ける実際の利益より， 種に利益をもたらす行為の方に重きをおいているらしい．だからチメドリの利 他行動を理解しようと思うなら，群全体の受ける利益より，むしろ「利他者」 が利他行動によって何を得するのかを見極める必要がある．
ここで重要なのは，群の同じ性のメンバーが競いあうのは，何をおいても繁殖 の機会という究極の生物学的要求をめぐってであるのを念頭におくことだ．そ の競争にもかかわらず，彼らのあいだでは直接の戦いはめったになく，群のな かの葛藤は利他行動上の競争で解決されることが多い． …
そうはいってももめごとは起こるもので，解決はぜひとも必要だ．そこでもと もとは戦いの代用として進化した威嚇の，そのまた代用がぜひとも欲しい．直 接の威嚇ではないが，争いに勝てる個体の能力に密接な関係のある行動なら， 威嚇の代用になる．だからチメドリたちは，われもわれもと見張りに立ち，仲 間に餌を与え，危険を冒すなどの利他行動に傾ける努力を見せびらかして，戦 いに勝つ力と仲間としての頼もしさを，互いに誇示しあうのだ．利他行動こそ は，その利他者の能力を具体的に示す信用できる指標なのである． (pp.230-231)

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優位の雄が位の劣る雄たちに自分の雌との交尾を許すのは，その群に彼らがい てくれなくては困るため，ある程度譲歩する必要があるときだ．群の各メンバー の地位というものは，その群内の力の均衡と，隣の群とのあいだの力の均衡の 両方によるものだと，私たちは考える．(p.238)

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私たちが，1973年に共同の塒（ねぐら）を「情報センター」とする考えを発表 して以来，この考えを支持するたくさんの研究や実験が行われ，現在では広く 受け入れられるようになった．(p.312)

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問題は，言葉による言語に信憑性を保証する構成要素が含まれていないところ だ．言葉のうえで嘘をつくのはいともたやすい．第6章で見たとおり，ここに は非言語的発声の信憑性と正確さに代わるものは何ひとつない．だからこそ言 語が進化したのちも，人類の社会は非言語的なコミュニケーションを決して捨 ててしまわなかったのである．(p.346)

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利他主義と道徳的行動

人間と動物の違いは，動物が具体的利益を増進するため本能的行動をとる一方， 人間が動物にはないような精神的道徳的動機をもっているところだと考えてい る人が多い．ところが私たちは，チメドリやその他の動物のなかにも，人間な ら崇高な道徳的規範の表れと考えられるような行動を見てきているのだ．チメ ドリたちは仲間にたいして，たいへん思いやりがある．食べ物は進んで分け合 い，何かのときには危険を冒してでも助けにかけつけ，群のために長時間見張 りに立ち，他の個体の子であるヒナに餌を食べさせる．しかも近親相姦を避け， 仲間の見ているところでは交尾しない．このような「利他的」「道徳的」な行 為は，それを行う個体の相対的な成功度を増すことになり，だからこそチメド リたちはそれを実行するのだと，私は信じている．
また人間のあいだでも，道徳的で倫理にかなった行動と生涯の成功とには相関 があると私たちは思う．私たちの信じるところでは，他の条件がすべて等しけ れば，その社会の道徳律に従った行動をとる者，いやそういう行動をとる余裕 のある者は，とらない者に比べて成功しがちなのだ．ではいったい道徳的倫理 的な善と実利的善とは，どこが違うのだろう？
その区別は，実は行動に関する人々の理解が限られているために生じる，人為 的なものだと私たちは考える．たとえば人々は利他的な人間を定義するとき， 報酬を期待しないで他を助ける者と言うけれども，報酬とか利益とかが必ずし も物質的な形をとるとは限らない．利他的な行動は明らかに，その行動をとれ る者の能力を表わしもするし，人にもそう感じられるのだ．私たちの誰でもが 皆，財産や所有物の一部を寄付するようなゆとりを持っているわけでもなく， 人を救うため自分の命をなげうつことができるわけでもない．…
だからといって私たちは，人を救うために進んで危険を冒す者が皆，実は自分 の利益増進のために芝居を打っているか，心で冷笑しながらそのふりだけして いるかだと，主張しているわけではない．私たち人間の奥深くには，時に他人 のため自分の命をなげうつような，自然選択に植えつけられた動機がある．け れども平均すれば，利他者は失うより得るほうが多いのだ．事実，自己犠牲だ けが，人間特有の危険行為というわけではない．スポーツのなかには，まった く危険なものがゴマンとある．自動車レースはその最たるものだし，登山や宇 宙飛行，地球上の未知境の探検などもそうだ．けれどもそれに成功した者は， 有名になれるのだ．
有名になるために資源を費やし，自らの健康や命を危険にさらす者も，仲間の ために資源を投げ出し，自らの健康や命を危険にさらす者も，その社会の法則 や需要に応じた信望を得る点では同じだ．普通私たちは信望や尊敬を自然の成 り行きとし，利他行為の報酬というふうには考えない．人々はとかく利他行為 が利他者にもたらす利益よりも，利他行為に伴うコストの方を強く意識するも のだ．これは実際に死んでしまうケースよりはるかに数も多く，その行為がな ければ助けもこなかったに違いない自殺未遂より，死にいたった自殺行為のほ うが生々しく記憶に残るのと同じことである．
多くの文化が崇める愛国主義も，別な形をとった「利他主義」である．国を愛 することを強調するような教育制度に加えて，実際に国を守る必要があるとき には，危険を避けようとする者が社会的地位を失うような雰囲気が醸しだされ るものだ．けれどもいったん戦場に到着したとたん，直接の動機は社会の評判 より戦友たちの評判に変わる．よりぬきの戦闘隊の指揮官に，部下の兵たちが 命をかける動機は何かたずねたとしよう．すると挺身行為を促す最も強い力は， 戦友に卑怯者と思われるリスクと恥だという答えが返ってくるにちがいない． 戦うべき大目的があるわけでもない傭兵ですら，戦いに命をかける．彼らの動 機は単に仲間の評判だけなのだが，それでも英雄的行為をやってのけるに十分 な動機になりうるのだ．(pp.350-352)

娘を連れ去った弁護士に有罪判決

　離婚した元妻と暮らす長女(9)を無理やり連れ去ったとして，未成年者略取 罪に問われた横浜市の弁護士Ｗ・Ｓ被告(48)に対し，福岡地 裁は2006年3月27日，懲役3年，執行猶予5年（求刑懲役3年）の判決を言い渡し た．

　共犯に問われた名古屋市に住む実父の無職Ｗ・Ｈ被告(74) は懲役2年，執行猶予3年（求刑懲役2年）とした．

　谷敏行裁判長は「『長女の親権を何としても得たい』との思いから，現職の 弁護士でありながら法を無視した手段に出たことは到底許されない」と指摘． 「元妻とは親権を争わない意向を示した．今後，法曹界の処分も予想される」 と，刑を猶予した理由を述べた．

　判決によると，両被告は探偵事務所員2人と共謀し，2005年昨年10月4日朝， 福岡市で通学中の長女をレンタカーに押し込み，名古屋市のマンションまで連 れ去った．

　正則被告は神戸，福岡両地裁で裁判官を務めた後，1997年に弁護士登録した． ［なお，この動静を調べていた探偵社の探偵も逮捕されていた．］

ヤミ金急増の背景

さて，1990年代末にかけて自己破産者が急増した．そのころ，宇都宮弁護士率 いるクレサラ対策協議会や被害者の会，民商クレサラ相談などの活躍が，マス コミをにぎわした．司法書士も自己破産分野に進出してきて，破産手続きのコ ストも徐々に下がってきていた．

一方，闇の多重債務市場では，今は弁護士会から追放された有名弁護士を初め とする整理屋提携弁護士の活動もあり，自己破産大量生産がピークに達しつつ あった．

その自己破産者の大量発生と，10年に一度しか自己破産できないところに目を つけた違法業者が，自己破産者をもっぱらターゲットにして少額（5万円〜7万 円）の貸付を始める．

これが今で言うヤミ金の始まりであった．

［2006年］4月12日のサンケイスポーツの社会面に，以下のような記事が掲載 されていた．この事件はテレビでも報道された．

「安い費用で自己破産の手続をします──．そんな誘い文句で，わらをもつか む思いの多重債務者を集めていたニセ弁護士が捕まった．大分県警生活環境課 と別府署に弁護士法違反（非弁活動の禁止など）の疑いで逮捕されたのは，別 府市光町の法律相談所経営，上野戸喜男(74)と同市鶴見の事務員，西山信子 (48)の両容疑者．

二人は法律相談所の上司と部下だった．調べでは，二人は昨年5月から今年2月 にかけて，大分県の多重債務者の男女6人に自己破産の手続を教え，必要な書 類を作って報酬50万円を得るなどした疑い．"被害"に遭ったのは20代〜50代の 女性4人と30〜50代の男性2人の計6人．上野容疑者は一人一人に，サラ金など との取引履歴や資産目録，免責申立書など自己破産手続に必要な約20種もの書 類を作成．6人全員分の書類が裁判所に受理された．さらに申立受理後に行わ れる破産審尋などには"サポート"として同行し，書類の補足説明や不足資料の 提出などを行っていた．別府署によると『6人のうち数人は免責が確定してい る』という．

ニセ弁護士の仕事場は二階建て木造アパートの一室で，上野容疑者の自宅も兼 用．従業員は西山容疑者のみ．高収入の弁護士宅とは思えない"事務所"で，上 野容疑者は一人当たり約15万円で必要書類を作成していた． 通常，弁護士や司 法書士などの専門家に依頼すると30万円以上かかるのが相場．捜査関係者は 『県内の多重債務者の間では「安く手続ができる」と好評だったようだ』と， その人気ぶりに驚きを隠せない．相談した多重債務者からは感謝こそあれ，苦 情は出ていないという．

そんな"敏腕弁護士"も最後にはボロがでた．昨年9月，6人の一人である30台女 性が借金の取り立て対策で，上野容疑者を頼ってやってきた．困り果てた上野 容疑者は女性と別府署に相談に訪れた際，『法律相談所 上野戸喜男』との名 刺を同署員に手渡した．『相談内容が法律のプロとは思えない…』と不審に思っ た同署が内定を開始，今回の事件が発覚した．別府署によると2人とも容疑を 認めており，余罪や動機などを追及している．上野容疑者は一人暮らしで『法 律は独学で学んだ』と供述しているという…」．

この逮捕を不当違法とは私は思わないが，庶民感情からすれば何とも割り切れ ないという思いをだれでも抱くだろう．

原料面では「優先塩素」の問題があった．塩ビの原料はエチレンと塩素である． 当社は茨城県の鹿島で三菱油化（現三菱化学），旭硝子，鐘淵化学工業（現カ ネカ），旭電化工業（現ADEKA)と化学コンビナートを形成し，共同出資会社で 塩素を生産していた．塩素は各社が一定量を引き取った後，残った分を当社が 優先的に引き取る契約になっていた．

この契約は当初，信越化学に有利な「権利」だったが，当時は不利な「義務」 になっていた．鹿島の塩素を使うより，海外からエチレンと塩素で作った塩ビ の中間原料を輸入する方が安くなっていたのである．私は「契約締結時と今と では原油相場など経済環境が激変している」と主張し，見直しを求めた．

だが他社は「一度決めた契約は守るべきだ」と反対し，交渉は暗礁に乗り上げ た．

私は難局打開のために契約改定案を練るとともに，鹿島で原料を調達できなく なり，生産が停止する最悪の事態も想定し，米国から原料や塩ビ製品を輸入す る準備も進めた．何があっても顧客企業には迷惑をかけられないからだ．万一 の場合も考え，訴訟対策も怠らなかった．小田切社長も私を連れて主要な取引 金融機関を訪問し，当社の方針を説明して下さった．

万全の準備を整えてから契約改定案を他者に届け，優先塩素の引き取りを辞退 する意思を伝えた．他社も我々の並々ならぬ決意と準備を察したのだろう．当 社の主張に耳を傾ける姿勢に転じ，引き取り義務解消に合意していただいた． 他者の社長，役員のご協力に今でも感謝している．

そのような中で90年代には，それまでにあった司法書士の裁判書類作成権限に 着眼して，自己破産手続の援助をする司法書士たちが登場する．司法書士会の クレサラ対策部門に所属する司法書士たちは，宇都宮，木村両弁護士率いるク レサラ対協の指導下にあった．それとは別に，自己破産の手続費用が高すぎる し，依頼者や消費者に手続の費用を明示しないのはアンフェアーであると考え る一部の司法書士たちが本来の登記業務の傍らで自己破産や弁済調停などに取 り組むようになった．

当時は，自己破産の手続費用は，弁護士で一人一件，60万から80万円とも言わ れていた．司法書士の場合でも，その半額，30万から40万などと言われていた． 大量に生み出されるカード破産者を相手のビジネスは，手間のかかる訴訟事件 に比べて定型的で，面倒がないから，まだ顧客の少ない退職裁判官や退職検事， いわゆるヤメ検ヤメ判弁護士たちにとって効率的で収益性の高いビジネスであっ た．

バブル崩壊をはさんだ30年間，増大するカード破産者，家族崩壊，離婚，自殺， ホームレス…供給側の成長に対応していない消費者側に必然的に生ずる犠牲に 対し，業務独占と独占価格による高報酬でこたえてきたのが日本の法律家たち であった．

独占資格者や公務員に多い，淡い社会主義への幻想に包まれた反産業主義商人 蔑視意識は，消費者信用市場への敵意と観念的規制願望によく表れている．金 貸しといえば，罪と罰に出てくる高利貸しや，ユダヤの商人の姿が頭にひらめ くのだろう．サラ金を叩くばかりの発想では，消費者信用市場は決して健全な ものとはならない．

寸にして断たざれば尺の憾みあり，尺にして断たざれば丈の憾みあり．一木と 雖もその根が深く地中に蟠きょするに至っては，これを倒すことは容易ではな い」──粛軍演説より

集団には集団の生理があり，その生理は言葉を媒介として論理に転換する．集 団の生理が特異であればあるほど，論理は普遍妥当性を欠き，集団以外の世界 では"横車"として映る．齋藤［隆夫］が感得したものは，軍部が，最早，独自 の集団生理を保ち，端倪すべからざる政治性を発揮していることであった． (pp.22-23)

［五・一五事件の］青年将校が，革新のプログラムを持たずに，空疎な言論を もてあそんだ末に直接行動に出たのはなぜか．齋藤は，その根拠をわが国の国 民性に求めている．
「…左傾といい，右傾と称しまするが，進み行く道は違いまするけれども，帰 するところは今日の国家組織を破壊せんとするものである，唯，一つは愛国の 名によってこれを行い，他のひとつは無産大衆の名によってこれを行わんとし ているのでありまして，その危険なることは同じことであるのであります．」 (p.34)［齋藤隆夫「粛軍演説」］

戦後，福岡三区から選出された某代議士が，「追加予算」を「オイカヨサン」 と読んだり，東京に着くを「タダイマチャクタン（着炭）」という電報を打っ たとかで，新聞や週刊誌に「着炭代議士」という綽名をつけられた．
齋藤の甥にあたる古橋藤太夫が「おじさん，そんな人でも代議士がつとまるん ですか」と聞くと，齋藤は「そんなことをいうものじゃない」とさえぎり，言 葉を続けた．
「おまえなあ，人間というもんは，学問があるから立派というもんではない． あの人は立派な人だよ．九州の石炭人夫の荒くれもんを何百何千人とあご一つ で自由にする．腕力だけではない，人をひきつけるものを持っておる．字を知っ ておる，おらんなんて事は次の次だ．あの人は議員仲間でもいったん言い出し たらテコでも動かん人だよ．それでも，それが筋道を通して話すと，"わかっ た"という．納得した以上は，けっして志をかえることがない．立派な人間だ よ」(p.45)

寺内陸相と永野海相は，その足で広田［弘毅］首相を官邸に訪問，「行政機構改革案」 を提示した．これは「政府側にとって全く寝耳に水の出来事」（『広田弘毅伝』） であった．ことに，外交官出身である広田には，中央地方行政機構改革案とし て各省の統廃合は容認しうるにせよ，外務省と拓務省の合併，朝鮮・台湾・南 洋等に関する行政事務を一括化して内閣に所属させるといった案は，顔を逆撫 でされる思いを伴うのが当然である．この案の行間から，かねてから軍部が外 務省の非力を嗤い，外務省は「害務省」か「皆無省」だと触れ歩いている声が 湧いてきたことだろう．(p.51)

さて，これからが「切腹問答」となるのだが，大木［操『舞台裏の生き証人は 語る・激動の衆議院秘話』）］の手記は簡潔ながら緊迫した時間をリアルに描 いている．
「（浜田［国松］老は）最後に一段と声を張り上げ鋭く陸相を指して"これ以 上は登壇することができない，速記録を調べて僕が軍隊を侮辱した言葉があっ たら割腹して君に謝する，なかったら君割腹せよ！"と絶叫して演壇を離れた． 万雷の拍手と嵐のような歓声が浜田老の肩に注がれた．全く歯切れのいい世紀 の名台詞であり，これが切腹問答の劇的シーンのすべてである．…」
…
当の浜田は，霙の降りしきる夜，小さな身体を火鉢で暖めながら「殺されたと て仕方あるまい．信念をいっただけだ，ナーニ…人生七十過ぎまで生きている のはプレミアムだ」と，訪ねていった花見達二（当時，読売新聞政治部記者） に語ったという．(pp.63-64)

「金なし」「風采なし」「演説ベタ」が，齋藤の選挙につきまとう三題噺であ る．もうひとつ，つけ加えると「親分なしの子分なし」である．往年の政治記 者・林泉は「齋藤の演説は議会用，永井柳太郎のは選挙用であった」と述懐し ている．永井は「西にレーニン，東に原敬」などの名文句を国政上で吐いたが， 選挙でも立て板に水の演説ぶりだった．ひきかえ齋藤は「寸にして断たざれば 尺の憾みあり，尺にして断たざれば丈の憾みあり」とか「人間は感情的の動物 である．国民の忍耐力には限りがあります」とか，聴く人の肺腑を衝く言句を 必要なときに必要な箇所に配置する才能はむしろ天才的といってもよいくらい である．そのかわり選挙演説は下手で，例の首をユラユラさせながら，憲法だ の国際法だのを，聴衆がわかろうがわかるまいが喋ってゆく．そのため，「齋 藤さんに応援に来てもらうと落選するから」という声が民政党の間にも立った ほどである．
それにもかかわらず，選挙区における人気は抜群であった．道路の修理や架橋 の陳情にゆくと，「ワシは国政を論ずる代議士である．兵庫県の小さな利益の ためにワシを使ってはならん」と追いかえしてしまう人なのである． (pp.87-88)

そんな紆余曲折を経ているうちに，ドイツの情勢がかわった．街路に貼り出さ れていた反ソポスターが一枚も見えなくなった．ヒトラーとスターリンの利益 が一致し，「独ソ不可侵条約」の話が始まったのだ．すでに「ドイツ駐在ドイ ツ大使」と綽名をつけられ，ドイツにべったりだった大島大使はこの様変りに 気がつき，これを本国に打電したが，日本のインテリは「ファシズムとコミュ ニズムが結合するなんてナンセンス」という常識から一歩も出られなかった． その結果，大島・白鳥の両大使の電報はことごとく「笑うべき流言浮説の類」 として退けられたのである．
…
八月二十一日，「独ソ不可侵条約締結」のニュースが世界を駆け巡った．…
日本の政府部内の動揺も一入であった．畑俊六侍従武官長（のちに陸相）は 「真に青天の霹靂にして，独の不徳も亦悪むべきものあり──道義上よりすれ ば，真にひどき仕打なりというべし」と書き，軍務局長になったばかりの武藤 章は「ヒトラーのような伍長の成り上がり者は信用が置けんね」と激しい声を 矢作一夫に投げつけた．…
二十八日，平沼騏一郎は総辞職の声明を発表した．
「欧州の天地は複雑怪奇なる新情勢を生じたので──従来準備し来った政策は これを打ち切り，さらに別途の政策樹立を必要とするに至りました」 (pp.143-145)

「日本軍は支那の領土を占領しても，支那人の心までは占領できない」［蒋介 石］(p.161)

齋藤は「改造」論文で，まず「古来から平和論が唱えられ，平和運動の絶えた ことがない」が，一体，この「何人も真っ正面から反対できない平和論は正し いのか」と問いかけ，過去三千四百二十一年の間に平和であったのは二百六十 八年だけではないかと，数字を挙げて平和論を粉砕する．そのうえで，なぜ 「平和が実現されないか」を問い，これは人間の行動が「生存欲」にもとづく ものだからだと展開，個人も国家も生存欲をみたそうとするから弱肉強食の競 争がおき，正義の名において戦争がはじまるのだと説く．
「国際間には戦争を外にしても正義争いの絶える時はない．国際正義というこ とも屡々唱えられる言葉である．しかしながら，一体，正義とは何であるか． 何を標準にして正義を定むるのであるか．およそ，この世において絶対的なる 正義があるであろうか．（中略）国民の側より見ればその所属国家の利益とな るべき行動は，悉く善であり，正義であり，不利益となるべき行動は悉く悪で あり，不正義であると断ずるより外に途はない」 …
「国家競争は道理の競争ではない．正邪曲直の競争でもない．徹頭徹尾力の競 争である．世に然らずと言う者あれば，われわれはこれを偽善者の言として黙 殺するのみである．時の古今と洋の東西を問わず，世界の人傑と言われる政治 家と呼ばるる者は，口に平和と唱えながら自ら平和を破っている．口に侵略を 攻撃しながら自ら侵略の陣頭に立っている．彼らの唱うる一切の言論はすべて 自己の行動を道理づけんとするところの偽善に他ならない」(pp.163-164)

「余は政党員である．三十年来政党生活を続けて居るが，近頃，我が国の政党 ほど意気地のない政党は見たことがない．昭和七年の五・一五事件以来，政党 の息は銷沈し，勢力は失墜して，官僚からは嘗められ，国民からは軽蔑され， 政党本来の目的も使命もいずれのところに消え失せたか分からない」
なぜそうなったか．過去数代の内閣はいずれも官僚中心の内閣であるが，この 内閣から入閣の声がかかると，政党人が"伴食大臣"でも腰をかがめて飛びつい てゆくからである．
では，官僚政治はどうしてよくないか．
「要するに彼らはあたかも温室育ちの生物と同じく世の荒波にもまれたる体験 なく，常に役所の窓から世の中を眺めているから，真に国民の実生活がわかる わけはなく，したがって国民的同情心に至らざる所があるのは争われない事実 である」(p.165)

［「支那事変処理方針への質問演説」が大騒動を巻き起こしている最中］その 日は，齋藤の末娘の愛子の雙葉高等女学校の受験日にあたっていた．母と娘が 控え室で面接の順番を待っていると，ほかの付添の母親どうしが「議会であん なことを演説なさって，これからどうするおつもりかしら」と話しあっている のが耳に入った．齋藤母娘はその人たちから顔を見られるのが辛く，母の乙女 はそれとなく新聞をひろげて娘ともども身体を隠したのだった．もっとも母親 の乙女は，試験官から演説について問われた場合の回答を娘の愛子に授けてい る．…彼女はすぐさま娘を呼び，「明日，面接のときにね，お父様について訊 ねられたら，"父は国民のいいたいことをいったのですから正しいと思います" と答えるんですよ」といいつけている．(pp.182-183)

「我輩の進退について各方面の人々から懇切なる勧告を受けたるに依り，十分 考慮してみたが，結局，当初の所信を覆すことは出来ない．いやしくも国民を 代表して国政協賛の大任を荷うところの議員が憲法の保障する言論自由の議会 に於て，国民の問わんとするところを問い，国民の聞かんと欲するところをい わしむるために政府に質問したるに，政府はこれに答えず，議長は誤って速記 録を削除し，これを公表せず，これに乗じて一部の人々は殊更に我輩の論旨を 曲解して悪声を放ち，平地に波紋を起こして議会政治を撹乱せんとするに当り， これを顧慮して議員の職を抛つが如きは国民に対して忠なる所以でないのみな らず，断じて憲政を擁護する途ではないと確信する．同僚諸君の好意の勧告に 応ずる能わざるは甚だ遺憾であるが已むを得ない次第である」［懲罰委員会の 準備の書面］(p.198)

社会大衆党は議員数三十四名．誰一人，青票［齋藤懲罰反対票］を投じたもの はなかった．浅沼稲次郎，河上丈太郎の有名代議士を先頭に「賛成」投票した もの二十三名．…
結局，社会大衆党の棄権者は十名になるわけだが，あとでこの行為が党内で問 題になり，三月十二日には十名の代議士が脱党して無所属になった．なんとも シマラナイ結果である．政界スズメの失笑を買ったのはいうまでもない． (p.219)

程なく，齋藤は「除名」の心境を七言絶句にあらわしている．

「世界を日本化するとか，日本的世界を建設するとか，この種の空名に陶酔す る者，これを称して世界知らずの誇大妄想狂という」（翼賛会一役員の論説を 読みての感想）
「臣道実践，職域奉公，食糧増産，勤労奉仕その他これに類する宣伝，決議， お題目を高唱することを以て忠誠奉公の実おわれりと思うべからず」
「話．蝿が水車に乗りて足を動かし，自分の力に依りて水車が運転するものと 思う．今日は時局に便乗して実際役にも立たぬ事を宣伝し自分の力によって時 局が進展しているように思っている…」(p.237)

…もうひとつ，マキとツルの人間関係が形成された．過酷な条件の中では，ひ とりでは勿論，人間どうしが対立しても生きてはゆけない．そこで出来たのが "マキ"（巻と書くという説もある）で，地主と小作，網元と漁師が血よりも濃 い関係を結ぶのである．いや，そのような利害関係ばかりではない．たとえば 「耳寄りな話」は「こんないい話は人にいうなよ」という形で"マキ"の中だけ に伝えられる．血縁・地縁を超えた，いわば情報共同体の形成である．フラン スのマキ団はコルシカ島の産物だが，コルシカではマキはブッシュ（叢）とい う意味であり，やはり情報共同体の役割をしているのがおもしろい．
ツルは技術の系統である．但馬地方は地味が悪いので"出稼ぎ"が出るが，その 代表が但馬杜氏である．この人たちは自分が作る酒の味をグループ以外の人に は絶対に伝えないという伝統があった．(pp.262-263)

…政友会の代議士を当選させるのもマキ・ツルの共同体を守る必要から出たも のであるし，民政党の齋藤隆夫に「代議士は郷土のために働くものではなく国 家のために働くものである」と言い切らせたのも，マキ・ツルの情報共同体に 住むものの向上意識の代償作用と，私は見ている．(p.264)

正木［定］は昭和六年九月の県会補欠選挙に民政党から出馬して当選，以後三 十八年四月まで県会議員をつとめた．その生涯をほとんど齋藤とともに過ごし たわけだが，齋藤の「国会議員に必要なのは見識ですよ．代議士が大臣になり たい，幸せになりたいでは国は滅びますよ」という言葉をいまも抱き続けてい る．(p.266)

昭和十九年に入ると日本の敗北は決定的になった．六月十五日，米軍は遂にサ イパン島に上陸．七月十八日，同島の日本軍は全員戦死と発表される．同日， 東条内閣総辞職．一日おいて小磯国昭大将に大命降下．もはや誰が首相になろ うと，日本の上層部には戦争を継続する意志はなくなっている．海軍はミッド ウェー海戦の後から「何時，いかに敗けるか」の研究をしているし，陸軍参謀 本部の酒井縞次中将（陸大教授）は戦争終結時の処理について克明な研究を重 ねている．宮沢俊義の話によると，終戦の一年前くらいに，芦田均が宮沢の研 究室に飛び込んできて「敗戦になるにきまっているが，そうなると戦犯や憲法 改正の問題が出るので，その法的見解を鳩山一郎に話してやってもらいたい」 と頼み込んだという．
知らされなかったのは国民だけだった．…(pp.279-280)

但馬の"神様"が茫然としたのだから町民の虚脱も無理はない．このとき"神様" の話を聞きにゆこう，と言い出したのは岸本浩三たちだった．翌十六日，川で 獲った鰻を手土産に宗鏡寺を訪れる．齋藤は万年床の上に胡坐をかいていた． 今しがた甥の古橋藤太夫が帰ったところである．古橋の「アメリカは日本をど うするでしょうか」との問いに「天皇は殺さないよ，統治に必要だからね．ア メリカが破壊したいのは家族制度だよ．日本人が団結するとこわいから．それ から教育にも手をつけるだろうね．なにしろアメリカは国内で日本占領の研究 を積んでいるからね」と答えている．そのあと，ソバ粉に熱湯を注いでつくる ソバガキを二人で食べた．これが大政治家が甥にできるもてなしであった．
…
［岸本］「先生，日本が敗けてこれからどうなるんですか？」
「まずいねえ，キミ，まずいねえ」
…
獣医の北原芳男が「戦争が終わったんですからまずいことはないじゃないです か」と，問い返すと，齋藤は小さな眼をキラリとさせていった．
「いや，まずいんだよ．戦局を上御一人の名で結んだのがまずいんだよ」
齋藤がいいたかったのは責任の所在ということである．政治を 「統治[ガバーン ]」と「支配[アドミニストレーション]」にわけるなら議会制民主主義は ガバーンである．戦局を結ぶのに天皇の存在を利用したとなると，日本のガバー ンは何であったのか，それを齋藤は東京の空にむかて問うている．これでは， いつまで経っても負託の責任に生きる政治家は育たないではないかと，考え続 けていたのである．あるいは，尾崎咢堂の「日本には徒党はあっても政党はな い」という言葉が耳の奥で鳴っていたのかも知れない．(pp.284-286)

The funniest bit of satire in the movie is the regular meetings, in a lugubrious K Street pub, of three friends who call themselves the MOD Squad. (The initials stand for "merchants of death.") Besides Nick, there's the beautiful wine-and-spirits spieler (Maria Bello) and the patriotic and gleefully murderous gun spokesman (David Koechner). The sin lobbyists are proud of their public misdeeds; they boast of their outrageous shucks while competing in lethality. Nick, with his twelve hundred deaths a day caused by cigarette smoking, wins hands down.

こうしてこうすりゃこうなるものと知りつつこうしてこうなった（都々逸坊扇歌）