SCIENCE – Page 15 – REVIEWS AND VIEWS OF LIFE

Psychological Unease

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Cosmic Serpent

Written by: Jeremy Narby

Narration by: James Patrick Cronin

JEREMY NARBY (AUTHOR, PHD ANTHROPOLOGY FROM STANFORD) — JEREMY NARBY (AUTHOR, PhD ANTHROPOLOGY FROM STANFORD)

Psychological unease accompanies Jeremy Narby’s erudite speculation about the meaning and origin of life in “The Cosmic Serpent”. The unease comes in two forms. One, is Narby’s seduction by hallucinatory experience. Young people in America are choosing to overdose rather than face today’s perceived reality. The other is Narby’s patterning of observations to create either a true or false belief. It reminds one of the potential of Einstein’s discovery of matter and energy equivalence. Einstein discovered falsifiable evidence of nuclear fission that holds a key to sustainable energy. He also opened the door to Armageddon.

Narby, like Timothy Leary, is educated at some of the best universities in the world (Leary at Harvard; Narby at Yale). Both have PhDs. Narby has a PhD in anthropology; Leary in Psychology. Few, if any, believe LSD (Leary’s hallucinatory drug of choice) offers insight to the origin and meaning of life. However, like Leary, Narby suggests hallucinatory drugs may be a pathway to understanding.

Regarding hallucinatory experience, Narby does not appear to have slipped into the bizarre behavior of a Timothy Leary; at least not yet. Narby is 59 years old. When Narby did his research, he was in his late 20s and early 30s. “The Cosmic Serpent is published when Narby is still in his 30s. Leary lived to be 76. Each passing year exaggerated Leary’s belief in the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs.

MIND PATTERNING Patterning is the human ability to see structure in disparate facts and events. Some say this is the sign of genius. Einstein is said to have formulated a theory of time by riding a train. Einstein’s insight came from thinking (patterning) how time is relative based on a person riding a train and a stationary observer watching the train pass. However, patterning also leads to incorrect conclusions like a person’s recollection of a crime. Human brains are shown to manufacture events and facts to make stories complete rather than necessarily accurate.

Narby’s articulate presentation of Peruvian shamanism tempts seekers of knowledge and experience to try something new. The temptation comes from different sources. One is genuine interest in understanding more about the world and our place and purpose in it. Another is the desire to believe that there is something more important in life than wealth, power, or position.

“The Cosmic Serpent” suggests that native cultures around the world offer insight to the origin and meaning of life because of common hallucinatory experiences. Narby suggests the hallucinatory symbol of a winding serpent is evidence of the configuration and importance of DNA; long before Watson’s and Crick’s discovery. The inference is that shamanistic hallucinations are not mere symbols but a truth of life. Narby’s inference is that seekers of life’s truth should listen to the experience of shamans and pursue shamanistic experience through the studied use of their methods.

SNAKE-DNA IMAGE — Narby suggests the hallucinatory symbol of a winding serpent is evidence of the configuration and importance of DNA; long before Watson’s and Crick’s discovery.

Narby argues that the scientific community needs to widen its view of the world. He believes DNA holds the secrets of nature’s existence. The question is whether youth and science should accept the risk of Narby’s patterned belief?

At the least, Narby makes one appreciate the importance of native culture. He may be opening a worthy field of scientific research. On the other hand, Narby may be creating false expectations that offer ignorance and escapism, rather than research and science.

INFORMATION MONITIZATION

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Who Owns the Future?

Written by: Jaron Lanier

Narration by: Pete Simoneilli

JARON LANIER (AUTHOR, INFORMATION AGE PHILOSOPHER,FUTURIST)

Society is at the threshold of change. Jaron Lanier writes about the information age in “Who Owns the Future”. Just as the industrial revolution, and two world wars mechanized human production, the computer and internet “informationizes” mechanical production. Lanier bluntly explains that human employment will decline in proportion to computerization of production.

Lanier is neither posturing as a Luddite nor abandoning the principles of capitalism. He suggests human beings need to understand their changing role in society. Lanier infers a failure to understand human’ role-change will compel disastrous reactions; i.e. reactions like the Luddites of the Industrial Revolution or socialist, fascist, and communist sympathizers of the post-industrial world.

Luddites during the Industrial Revolution–Workmen take out their anger on the machines.

Lanier argues that automation is replacing jobs at a faster rate today than in the 20^th century. Human nature does not change. Money, power, and prestige remain the motive force of human achievement.

Achievement in the past is based on productivity from the work of human hands with the assistance of mechanization. The days of human assistance in mechanization are steadily being reduced by computerization.

Lanier forecasts a future of abundance where the goods of life will be available upon request; without the assistance of human hands. No one knows how far into the future humans must travel to arrive at that age of abundance but Lanier suggests it will happen.

Lanier has an abiding faith in human beings’ ability to adapt and control technological change.

Lanier infers human initiated technology will continue to eradicate disease, and manipulate the atomized world to manufacture the necessities and desires of life. Replication machines will become common household appliances to manufacture diverse products, ranging from food to toothbrushes, to “goop” machines that extrude finished product.

HIGH SPEED GOO KNITTING MACHINE MANUFACTURED BY SONY–PRICED AT $30,000.

Industries will become more automated and less dependent on human employment. Lanier suggests now is the time for society to understand the change. As means of production reduces the need of human hands, the contribution humans make to society will increasingly become information based.

Lanier begins to explain the concept of information monetization. This is something that exists today but is mistakenly understood as something that is free.

Examples are Facebook, Google Search, Amazon.com, Microsoft Windows 10, Apple ITunes, governments, and other organizations that Lanier calls Siren Servers.

Nothing is free. The price humans pay is information about themselves, their needs, desires, habits, interests, etc. Every phone call, every web search, every email, every purchase made tells Siren Servers what product they can sell, what price they can sell it at, and how much money, power, and prestige they can accumulate.

Lanier suggests that the concept of Siren Servers should be expanded to include defined populations, common-interest groups, and individuals. Lanier argues that information humans now give for free be monetized. Every person that produces information that increases another’s money, power, or prestige should be compensated.

Employment continues to be an integral part of living life. Compensation is proportioned based on others’ use of provided information. It does not eliminate unemployment but it offers a more broadly applicable potential for employment. It does not eliminate poverty or extreme wealth, but it offers potential for broadening the middle class. More significantly, it does not demand the impossible; i.e. a change in human nature.

Though not addressed in this book, Lanier does believe there is a circumstance where information should be provided for free.

He argues the experience of Taiwan, in the Covid19′ pandemic, offers an example of free information that helps society. Taiwan created an open platform for Covid19 to allow the general public to enter information about their infection, masks that they are wearing, and where they are located. Of course, a key to their success is testing kits to determine infection. American can learn from this. It offers a pragmatic way of safely returning to work.

There is a slippery slope aspect to Lanier’s idea. The slippery slope is the intrusive requirement of government regulation inherent in any system based on information contribution.

In the case of the Covid19 pandemic, the idea would be for the platform to inform the public; not to be used by a central government to direct people’s decisions. It remains an opened Pandora’s box that only leaves hope.

Congress is asking how far down the road of “1984” should a nation go before becoming a creature of totalitarianism?

If the government is in control, numerous questions rise. Who decides what information is being used by another and what the rate of pay should be? One may argue that is a fault of any economic system but how far down the road of “1984” would a nation go before becoming a creature of totalitarianism?

The point is that human nature does not change. Though Lanier may be absolutely correct in societies’ transition from industrialization to computerization, people remain greedy, power-hungry, and hubristic.

Can democratic capitalism resist totalitarianism in an Information Age? America’s two most current Presidents suggest otherwise.

Both Obama and Trump expanded the potential of “executive action” that bypasses congressional oversight.

Also, Lanier’s age of abundance presumes technology will keep pace with human needs, desires, and habits. Global warming, rare earth monopolies, and population increases suggest otherwise.

“Who Owns the Future” is an insightful view of the modern world. Unlike those who revile modernity and pine for a return to an idealized past, Lanier offers an alternative. Lanier strikes one as a Socratic seer of modernity.

Link below is a synopsis of Jaron Lanier’s history: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2001/dec/29/games.academicexperts

TRAUMA’S EFFECTS

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

Written by: Bessel van der Kolk, MD

Narration by: Sean Pratt

BESSEL van der KOLK (DUTCH PSYCHIATRIST, SPECIALIZING IN ATTACHMENT, NEROBIOLOGY, AND DEVLOPMENTAL ASPECTS OF TRAUMA’S EFFECTS ON PEOPLE)

Dr. Bessel van der Kolk argues that trauma has a neurological connection between mind, body, and time. Kolk offers numerous examples of patients who suffer from the trauma of war, rape, accident, and childhood experience to support a belief that “The Body Keeps the Score” and human consciousness pays the price.

In a limited sense, Kolk’s argument is convincing. The limited sense is in one’s definition of trauma. Trauma that clinically demonstrates disconnection between mind, body, and time, as proposed by Kolk, is a credible argument. However, Steven Pinker suggests a part of Kolk’s argument seems overdrawn. Steven Pinker is an American psychologist, cognitive scientist, and linguist. He is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University.

Steven Pinker is an American psychologist, cognitive scientist, and linguist. He is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University.

Pinker argues that human beings become who they are from genetics and life experience, largely exclusive of parenting. In contrast, Kolk suggests parenting plays a significant role in a child’s consciousness as a mature adult. Kolk argues that the trauma of parental abuse, neglect, and egoistic child’ indulgence form mind-body-time’ disconnects that profoundly affect mature adults. Kolk’s parenting arguments fly in the face of studies cited by Pinker that suggest less than one percent of a parent’s upbringing makes a difference in a child’s adulthood.

This may be a distinction without a difference if one accepts Kolk’s references to experience and sociological studies that show juvenile delinquency is credibly correlated with childhood trauma from incest, neglect of basic human needs like food or water, or hyper-vigilant (smothering) parental attention to children who sometimes just want to be left alone. Presumably, children in that type of hostile environment do not represent the general population.

What Kolk argues is that trauma often becomes an imprinted mind /body’ experience that disconnects from time. Modern acceptance of PTSD in veterans of combat offers evidence for Kolk’s argument. The generally accepted definition of PTSD by the American Psychological Association “…is an anxiety problem that develops in some people after extremely traumatic events, such as combat, crime, an accident or natural disaster.”

This broad definition is expanded by Kolk in two significant ways. One, those suffering from PTSD are riven with anxiety by a trauma that is stuck in time, i.e., time that stands still. Kolk explains that a PTSD sufferer recalls a past trauma as though it is happening now, and his/her body reacts in the same way it did when the trauma first occurred. The body’s chemical and hormonal reaction is the same as though the past trauma is happening now.

CHILD SOLDIERS OF MEXICO'S DRUG GANGS — CHILD SOLDIERS OF MEXICO’S DRUG GANGS (Kolk’s second significant expansion is belief that children experience the equivalent of PTSD from parents’ psychological and physical abuse during their children’s childhood.)

Kolk’s second significant expansion is belief that children experience the equivalent of PTSD from parents’ psychological and physical abuse during their children’s childhood. A child’s chemical and hormonal response to recalled childhood trauma repeats itself. In some, time stands still when trauma is recalled, and the body repeats its physiological response. However, evidence is more anecdotal than scientifically measurable.

MASS MURDERERS-Psychiatric interviews rely on patients’ remembrance of things past which are historically unreliable. Sociological surveys cannot be done without the bias of a person or group that designs the questions that are to be asked of the person that answers the survey.

Kolk infers that the psychological maladies of adults can be significantly reduced by better parenting. The difficulty one has in accepting this argument is that documentary proof is in anecdotal evidence from psychiatrist interviews of patients and sociological surveys of defined populations, both of which are inherently biased. Psychiatric interviews rely on patients’ remembrance of things past which are historically unreliable. Sociological surveys cannot be done without the bias of a person or group that designs the questions that are to be asked of the person that answers the survey.

Kolk may be correct but there is enough reservation in the Psychiatric community to deny Kolk’s request for a psychiatric diagnosis of Developmental Trauma Disorder for children.

This is a frustrating issue because there are unquestionably millions of children that are abused and neglected in the world. These children are often not treated for their psychological problems because insurance is not available for un-diagnosed patients. If Kolk is correct, a diagnosis would be a first step in developing a course of medical treatment that is at least partially covered by insurance.

There is also the tangential argument made by psychologists like Steven Pinker that do not believe parenting has much to do with how children grow into adults. Nevertheless, one’s heart goes out to those children that are abused by their parents or are deprived of the basic needs of life.

POWER OF IDEAS

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Written by: Scott L. Montgomery, Daniel Chirot

Narration by: Stephen McLaughlin

SCOTT L. MONGOMERY (AUTHOR, AMERICAN GEOLOGIST, AFFILIATE FACULTY MEMBER UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON)

DANIEL CHIROT (AUTHOR, PROFESSOR OF RUSSIAN AND EURASIAN STUDIES @ UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON.)

“The Shape of the New” is about the power of ideas. Scott L. Montgomery (a geologist and professor) and Daniel Chirot (a winner of a Guggenheim Fellowship for Social Sciences) write about three ideas rarely argued in polite conversation; e.g. economics, politics, and religion.

Montgomery and Chirot capsulize the importance of their subject by paraphrasing Victor Hugo’s line in “Les Miserable”. “One can defeat an army but not an idea”. (The actual quote is: “An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.)

The essence of the author’s augment is that Smith’s, Marx’s, and Darwin’s ideas are seminal beliefs that define the modern world.

Among others, Montgomery and Chirot profile the ideas of Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Jerry Falwell, and Sayyid Qutb. Each represents ideas that are part of modern world socioeconomic and religious thought. Smith’s, Marx’s, and Darwin’s ideas largely standalone, but Hamilton, Jefferson, Falwell and Qutb rest on the shoulders of others.

Adam Smith (1723-1790, Scottish economist)

KARL MARX (BORN TRIER, GERMANY 1818-DIED LONDON, ENGLAND 1883)

Marx’s dialectic suggests capitalism is just a phase in an economic cycle that will evolve into communism.

CHARLES DARWIN (1809-1882) FOUNDER OF THE THEORY OF THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES.

Hamilton grasps the importance of centralized control of money and national debt to support mercantilism, and free enterprise. Jefferson tempers Hamilton’s nationalist control with arguments for states’ rights that reflect on concerns raised by Smith, and then Marx, about unregulated economic power.

JERRY FALWELL (1933-2007, AMERICAN EVANGELICAL SOUTHER BAPTIST PASTOR, FOUNDER OF THE MORAL MAJORITY)

Jerry Falwell begins the evangelical Moral Majority that decries homosexuality and abortion, and posits belief in salvation only through faith in a Christian God.

SAYYID QUTB (1906-1966, EGYPTIAN AUTHOR,EDUCATOR,ISLAMIC THEORIST,POET,AND LEADING MEMBER OF THE MUSLIM BROTHEHOOD)

SAYYID QUTB (1906-1966, EGYPTIAN AUTHOR,EDUCATOR,ISLAMIC THEORIST,POET,AND LEADING MEMBER OF THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD) Qutb (pronounced “kootube), like Falwell and Christianity, believes only in his faith, a Mohammedan God.

Smith’s, Marx’s, and Darwin’s ideas play out in religions and nation-states that deeply influence the modern world.

Hamilton, Jefferson, Falwell, Qutb, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, and other leaders adopt, adapt, and distort Smith’s, Marx’s, and Darwin’s ideas; figuratively leading humanity to heaven and hell.

What Montgomery and Chirot do is return to original texts of Smith, Marx, and Darwin to show how their ideas penetrate Hamilton’s, Jefferson’s, Falwell’s, and Qutb’s thoughts and actions. As Smith’s ideas are more widely disseminated and read, America’s economic policy changes. The world’s economy evolves.

Falwell and Qutb reflect on unleashed sectarian beliefs consequent to Darwin’s idea of evolution. If there is no God, then what in life is not permitted? Qutb disapproves of Gamal Abdel Nasser’s westernization of Egypt because it violates the Quran and Muslim Arab identity.

Gamal Abdel Nasser 1918-1970 (Egyptian politician, 2nd President of Egypt 1954-1970).

Montgomery and Chirot note that much of the religious right is reactionary. The religious right challenges the socioeconomic belief of Smith’s sectarian vision of the invisible hand. To a Christian, the invisible hand can only be God’s hand. Marx and Darwin’s science only has relevance if it fits God’s plan.

To Qutb, the true path for humankind is through the word of the Koran. The authors question the good works of the evangelical movement when it infringes on human freedom and ignores scientific evidence. On the other hand, the authors note that religion plays an important role in the history of morality. Many question the direction of evangelicals but religions continue to shape morality in good and bad ways.

China’s rapid advance may not be exactly what Marx predicts but it is a kind of capitalist evolution that incorporates some of the tenants of communist centralized control.

Just as Deng’s and Xi’s interpretation of Marxism distorts communism, Keynes’ and Hayek’s belief in free enterprise distorts Smith’s economics.

Darwin’s view of evolution is morphing into arguments for genetic manipulation to create more perfect human beings. One questions whether this is a step toward Nazism or nirvana.

As Victor Hugo notes, “An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.” Montgomery and Chirot have written an informative and interesting history of “..Big Ideas and How They Made the Modern World”.

In the end, “The Shape of the New” is a tribute to the importance of a liberal education. One may be a genius, but without a liberal education genius is often so narrowly focused, it leads to societal destruction.

GLOBAL WARMING

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

Written by: Elizabeth Kolbert

Narration by: Anne Twomey

ELIZABETH KOLBERT (AUTHOR,AMERICAN JOURNALIST,PROFESSOR AT WILLIAMS COLLEGE)

Homo sapiens are the only species that has the capacity to change events to conform to plan.

Elizabeth Kolbert argues that the fate of life on earth is subject to the randomness of nature’s cataclysmic events and the will of society.

“The Sixth Extinction” recounts the history of five worldwide extinctions. In recounting that history, Kolbert and most scientists suggest there is a pending sixth extinction. The difference between the first five and a presumed sixth is the birth and maturity of humankind.

To some listeners, this story is tiresome. It is tiresome because the future seems so far away. It is tiresome because some think it a hoax. It is tiresome because humans are an adaptive species. It is tiresome because some believe it is God’s plan. It is tiresome because science says extinction is a part of evolutionary science.

TRUMP’S VIEW ON CLIMATE CHANGE: trump and climate change

A fatalist might read Kobert’s book and think it implies a “…Sixth Extinction” is inevitable, regardless of one’s belief. President Trump and other “do-nothings” sing “Be Happy, Don’t Worry”. There is nothing that can be done; so why try?

The truth is– much can be done to abate the consequence of wild fires, hurricanes, and other cataclysmic events.

Cities can be hardened against flooding.
Forests can be better managed.
At risk populations can be permanently relocated. It’s a matter of recognition of threat and political will to mitigate environmental consequence.

hurricane

global warming evidence In spite of, earth’s rising average temperatures, melting icebergs, and seashore flooding, the story of extinction offers no sense of urgency.

Some believe wildlife extinction is a part of the natural order of existence; others, a cataclysm of human-caused events, while coreligionists believe it is a part of “God’s” plan. And finally Kolbert and others believe science will provide a solution for humans to escape extinction.

Kolbert’s book is popular, and is awarded the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction because she writes well and has a point of view that offers hope for the future of humanity. She infers science will provide a plan for humans to escape extinction. On the one hand, Kolbert decries the death of bat species, the acidification of earth’s oceans, and the loss of coral reefs. On the other, she suggests human life prevails because it has shown capacity to change.

TRUMP AND CLIMATE CHANGE — The real fear that Kolbert, and many other journalists, scientists, and politicians talk about, is that society will not respond to manmade degradations of earth’s environment soon enough to delay an inevitable “…Sixth Extinction”.

Kolbert infers artificial preservation of endangered species is a fool’s errand in the face of habitat destruction. After all, what is the point of preserving a species in a zoo or in a frozen state of animation if natural habitats are destroyed?

SPECIES EXTINCTIONS — Another way of interpreting Kolbert’s theme is to argue that loss of life’s diversity is a consequence of earth becoming an island of sameness. She calls loss of diversity is an island of sameness because environmental degradation introduces the same bacteria, the same pollutants, and the same adaptive needs to survive.

Biodiversity becomes less possible because of the interconnectedness of continents, consequent to international travel and species introduction to all continents of the world.

One may argue this is the fault of human civilization. That seems wasted intellectualization. The advance of civilization naturally induces loss of biodiversity. But, Kolbert’s theme suggests interconnectedness is only a proximate cause of loss of biodiversity. She argues it does not have to be a cause for a “…Sixth Extinction”.

Kolbert’s argument reminds one of the Serenity Prayer:

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can,

And the wisdom to know the difference.”

CHANGING EVENTS TO CONFORM TO PLAN

“The Sixth Extinction” notes that human beings are the only species that shows the capacity to change events to conform to plan.

What humanity needs is the political will to mitigate the causes of human environmental pollution. It is not that a “…Sixth Extinction” will not occur, but human beings need not be the proximate cause.

WIRED TO CREATE

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Wired to Create: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind

Written by: Scott Barry Kaufman, Carolyn Gregorie

Narration by: Nick Podehl

CAROLYN GREGORIE (SCIENCE WRITER FOR THE HUFFINGTON POST)

SCOTT BARRY KAUFMAN (AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGIST, AUTHOR, SCIENCE WRITER)

The book “Wired to Create” is an internet sensation. It began as an article in the Huffington Post; written by Carolyn Gregorie. Based on the article, she co-writes a book with psychologist Scott Kaufman. The book is promoted as a loss leader (no charge) to attract customers to Google e-books and other internet savvy vendors. The book’s popularity is in the argument that intelligence is only one characteristic of a creative mind. With IQ as only one characteristic of creativity, the field of human subjects who fit the definition of creative is broadened.

PICASSO'S BULL'S HEAD — PICASSO’S BULL’S HEAD

Scientists, inventors, artists, sales people, mechanics, technicians, sports stars, and other unnamed categories of people are “Wired to Create”. This is no revelation. It is not unusual to find friends or acquaintances that are able to think in three dimensions, rotate objects in their mind, come up with solutions to complex problems, or create art out of ordinary things. Some of these creative people are great explainers; others are introverted and non-communicative. Some recall events in perfect detail; others only remember broad outlines. Some create art out of nothing; others say nothing about art but build cathedrals.

ST. SERNIN, TOLOUSE, FRANCE — ST. SERNIN, CATHEDRAL IN TOLOUSE, FRANCE

Kaufman and Gregorie identify some characteristics of creative minds. There is the ability to hold opposing concepts in mind while rendering something never thought of before; i.e. like a work of art that shows planes of a human face from every angle in two dimensions. There is a disruptive quality in a person with a creative mind. That disruption is often seen in school students who cannot sit still, are always talking, and are constantly interrupting class activities. It is the creative teacher who handles the disruption to gain participation of all students, including the disrupter.

Kaufman and Gregorie mention famous creative geniuses like Einstein, Edison, Wozniak, and Jobs who exhibit creativity in varied but similar ways. Einstein may rise above the others because of a creative universality but each exhibit a passion and intensity for what they think and do. Edison and Jobs are super salesmen; Wozniak is a tinkerer; Einstein is a conceptualizer. To varying degrees each practices the others’ skills.

“Wired to Create” notes that creativity is not restricted to either introverts or extroverts. Creativity encompasses all sociological categories. Creativity comes from persistence and resilience; driven by passion.

MIND DECONSTRUCTION AND RECONSTRUCTION OF EVENTS — (Competing theories of learning suggest human brain interaction with environment is too complex to measure; i.e. the way the brain reacts when stimulated by the environment is, at best, an evolving mystery.)

THOMAS EDISION (1847-1931, AMERICAN INVENTOR, BUSINESSMAN CONSIDERED BY SOME TO BE AMERICA'S GREATEST INVENTOR) — THOMAS EDISION (1847-1931, AMERICAN INVENTOR)

The authors note the many failures of creative people; e.g. people like Edison and J. K. Rowling. The authors note that only a handful of Edison’s thousands of patented inventions were successful.

J. K. ROWLING (MOST FAMOUS FOR THE HARRY POTTER SERIES)

Rowling had many publishers turn Harry Potter down until one publisher accepted her work. The tortured personality theory of creativity is addressed by the authors but it is only one of many factors that make people think what they think and do what they do. As noted with Einstein, Edison, Wozniak, Jobs and Rowling not all creative people are aberrantly affected by hyper activity, repeated failure, or intense focus. Kaufman and Gregorie imply some creative people may have tortured personalities but correlation is not causation.

PAUL GAUGUIN (1848-1903, PAINTER, SCULPTUR) — PAUL GAUGUIN (1848-1903, PAINTER, SCULPTOR)

Gauguin is financially unsuccessful as an artist in his lifetime because of the public’s rejection of his work. Gauguin’s paintings are sold for millions today. Kaufman and Gregorie imply creativity is no guarantee of money, success, or happiness. Gauguin’s lack of success may have led to use of drugs but it seems as likely that penury and failed acceptance, rather than misunderstood creativity, is the proximate cause of death. Taking drugs is a malady of the uncreative as well as the creative.

Vincent van Gogh, a contemporary of Gauguin, commits himself to an asylum in which he paints one of his most revered works of art, “The Starry Night”. However, like Gauguin, van Gogh is never financially successful. Gauguin and van Gogh succumb to the stresses of life; not because they are creative but because they are poor and unable to cope with their perceived failure.

VINCENT VAN GOGH (ONE OF MANY RENOWNED SELF PORTRAITS BECAUSE VAN GOGH COULD NOT AFFORD MODELS.)

Kaufman and Gregorie broaden the definition of creativity. However, there seems little revelation in their suggestion that creativity comes from intense interest, average or higher IQs, hard work, and persistence in the face of rejection. Talk of left brain, right brain activity, and frontal lobe brain waves are unconvincing physiological origins of creativity. Play theory seems passé. Competing theories of learning suggest human brain interaction with environment is too complex to measure; i.e. the way the brain reacts when stimulated by the environment is, at best, an evolving mystery. Mysteries of the creative mind remain undiscovered.

THE VITAL QUESTION

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Vital Question: Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life

Written by: Nick Lane

Narration by: Kevin Pariseau

Nick Lane, a biochemist, offers a science driven explanation for the origin of life. A non-scientist listening to Lane’s book may be overwhelmed by technical jargon without some additional research. The additional effort offers a better understanding of Lane’s explanation for a chemical theory of life’s origin. Though Lane’s story is laced with biochemical terms, he occasionally uses words that are understood by all; i.e. he argues the beginning of life comes from rock, water, and carbon dioxide that interact with each other when energy is introduced.

Planet earth is estimated to be four billion plus years old. At earth’s earliest, rock, and water were present. With an earthen core of molten rock, carbon dioxide is created from the interaction between rock and water. Modern evidence of that interaction is observable in

THERMAL VENTS:

Those early elements lead to microscopic unicellular prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea) which have no nucleus (a center with a membrane), and only one chromosome (a genetic characteristic). Prokaryotes have DNA and an outer membrane with some of the elements of a bigger cell called eukaryotes.

PROKARYOTES AND EUKARYOTES:

Lane argues that over some period of time the constant motion of prokaryotes leads to a merge between one prokaryote and another to create a eukaryote; i.e. a new cellular formation with a nucleus (an internal element with its own membrane) and some added elemental features. One of the preeminent features of a eukaryote is its ability to become molecularly more complex; i.e. to become multicellular with multi-chromosome capability.

CHEMISTRY AS THE ORIGIN OF LIFE:

Lane argues, along with other biochemists, that the role of energy in the chemical creation of life is misunderstood until more recent times.

Lane reminds listeners of the physics law that says “energy cannot be created and cannot be destroyed”. With the growth of eukaryotes, energy became an integral part of cellular function. Adenosine Tri-Phosphate (ATP) became the power plant of the cell.

With a built-in energy source, a race began to create life with permeable cellular membranes that allowed molecular interior change and exterior growth. Interior changes included mitochondrial DNA.

Exterior changes included molecular bonding and sustained energy for evolution.

Lane also explains why sex is important for evolutionary survival. However, he doubts life can be extended beyond the age of 120 without taking the risks of genetic manipulation. Lane’s “…Vital Question” remains a question at the end of his story. If life is just chemistry, where did the first prokaryotes come from? If they came from the big bang, what was there before the big bang?

MOLECULAR BONDING AND ENERGY:

CELL MEMBRANE& ATP (ADENOSINE TRI-PHOSPHATE) TRANSPORT:

ATP, THE POWER PLANT OF THE CELL: BACTERIA AND ARCHAEA (PROKARYOTES)- AND PROTISTS (EUKARYOTES):

SPACE AND TIME

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

Spooky Action at a Distance: The Phenomenon That Reimagines Space and Time-and What It Means for Black Holes, the Big Bang, and Theories of Everything

Written by: George Musser

Narration by: William Hughes

GEORGE MUSSER (AUTHOR, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR SCIENTIFIC AMERICA)

“Spooky Action at a Distance” (also called entanglement) collapses the theory of space just as Einstein’s theory of relativity collapsed time. George Musser argues that experimental evidence suggests neither space nor time have form or matter in an Aristotelian sense. Aristotle explains the nature of things by suggesting an object perceived by the senses has form and matter. By Aristotle’s definition, both space and time are perceived by the senses; therefore they have form and matter. Einstein’s theory (experimentally confirmed) shows that time is relative which denies precise form or matter. Time changes based on an observer’s relative location, and the speed of observer and observed.

ALBERT EINSTEIN (1879-1955, Einstein’s theory (experimentally confirmed) shows that time is relative which denies precise form or matter. Time changes based on an observer’s relative location, and the speed of observer and observed. )

Musser notes that with the advent of quantum theory, in Einstein’s view, the same holds true for space because of the experimental proof of “Spooky Action at a Distance”.

John Stewart Bell and David Bohm note how elemental particles, separated by wide distances, can be manipulated to mimic or oppose each other’s spin. It is as though there is no space between two particles because the action occurs simultaneously; in other words, faster than the speed of light.

The ramification of this “Spooky Action at a Distance” is that space has no inherent meaning. Both space and time are a fiction created by the senses.

With Bell and Bohm, the apple still falls to the ground but it may have nothing to do with gravity but because of an unseen phenomenon; i.e. something that is non-local and unrelated to Newtonian locality’s cause and effect (maybe dark energy or dark matter that connects everything to everything).

Musser broadly explains this phenomenon as the difference between locality and non-locality in the cause and effect relationship of existence. With Newton, all action is presumed to be based on locality with gravitation of the earth causing an apple to fall to the ground.

“Spooky Action at a Distance” calls into question the need of space or proximity. It also raises questions about the speed of light as a limitation in the area of cause and effect; i.e. if “Spooky Action at a Distance” reflects instantaneous change; then cause and effect have no speed limitations. Parenthetically, the idea of inflation at the big bang is replaced by principle of spooky action.

Black holes are also re-imagined with the principle of “Spooky Action at a Distance”. Maybe black holes are the source of new galaxies being formed in other universes. It may be that this is still a cause and effect universe but a theory of everything escapes us at the moment because of its undiscovered nature.

One of many things that are interesting in Musser’s book is that Einstein may have been ahead of Niels Bohr in appreciating Quantum Theory even though the idea set Einstein on edge.

There is hope for an undiscovered truth that will bring the nature of things into a theory of everything that is more predictable than the probabilities of quantum mechanics. This may still be a “cause and effect” universe. Maybe Smollin is right and too much research and investment is committed to string theory at the expense of other “theory of everything” ideas.

Musser’s story reminds one of research done on Einstein’s brain. The size and number of dendrites and synapses of Einstein’s brain were found to be the same as in normal human brains. However, every human has glia cells in their brain that have a function that does not comport with normal electrical connections but still transmit information to the autonomic and cognitive functions of the brain.

Neuroscientists found that the glia cell-count in Einstein’s brain is higher than the average for most human beings. The glia cells were found to be the source of a different mind/body connection that transmitted information in a different way.

One wonders, is that why Einstein could see what others could not? Re-imagining is what Musser infers is needed in today’s physics’ departments.

A DELPHIC MAP

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Gene: An Intimate History

Written by: Siddhartha Mukherjee

Narration by: Dennis Boutsikaris

SIDDHARTHA MUKHERJEE (AUTHOR, INDIAN-BORN AMERICAN PHYSICIAN, SCIENTIST)

Siddhartha Mukherjee draws a Delphic map outlining the boundaries of genetic science and Homo sapiens’ future. (Interviewed on PBS March 31, 2020 regarding Covid19.)

Predictions for Homo sapiens’ future are “Delphic” in the sense of being obscure. Ancient predictions of the Oracle of Delphi are noted to have been subject to interpretation. The predictive quality of a Delphic map of genes involves the morality and ethics of manipulating heritable characteristics of humankind.

Picture this: an average life span of 150 or more years, cure for all known diseases of mind and body, elimination of known genetic causes for debilitating mental and physical deformities.

Now, picture this: loss of the ability to procreate, accidental creation of a new disease because of an unintended consequence of a manipulated gene, extinction of the human race caused by artificial enhancement of the genetic code.

Mukherjee notes that the science of genetics is rapidly reaching the point of modifying, and potentially creating, human life that has no known physical or mental handicaps. Mukherjee’s Delphic map is intimately drawn in vignettes about his family’s life, and particularly a brother’s loss of life from mental dysfunction; i.e. a brother that takes his own life as a result of schizophrenia. Through Mukherjee’s family vignettes, and stories of children with inherited medical maladies, he poignantly clarifies the seriousness of the subject.

Though genes are not the source of everything human life becomes, the science of the subject shows that human beings originated in Africa and grew to populate the world with humans from one original mother.

The science of genetics is changing medicine and society. Apocryphally, the Oracle of Delphi is a priestess rather than a priest who foretells the future. Once again, the future is scientifically acknowledged as dependent upon women.

Though human existence is dependent upon both nature and nurture, mitochondrial DNA comes from mothers while sex determination comes from fathers.

The significance of that discovery is that converting food to energy comes from mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which is only inherited from mothers. Without a mitochondrial Eve, there would be no human race (an ironic thought in view of the unequal treatment of women in the world.)

Mukherjee recounts discovery of DNA structure and how identifying the double helix in 1953 (by James Watson and Francis Crick) leads to mapping the human genome.

With a map of the gene, it becomes possible to manufacture drugs that attack medical and psychological maladies at a genetic level. Mukherjee shows how the history of Watson’s and Crick’s discovery defines western culture’s search for knowledge.

Mukherjee is not overtly critical of the two approaches but implies that corners are cut by the private sector in order to patent discoveries for new medicines that heal but also sometimes kill. (Something to be wary of in regard to Covid19.)

During President Clinton’s term of office, competition for gene sequencing leads to a private/ public race that exemplifies the difference between entrepreneurial and governmental pursuit of scientific discovery. The objective of the private sector is to win the race by any means necessary. The private sector’s primary objective is to create financial return on investment. In contrast, government focuses on methodology of discovery and accuracy of results, with societal reward as a primary objective.

This is somewhat analogous to what happened during WWII with the discovery and use of computers; i.e. one element of discovery is public and another is private. The difference is that computer discoveries indirectly relate to death and destruction while genetic discoveries directly relate to death and destruction. Each approach to scientific discovery, private enterprise and government research, have benefits and costs. What is at stake in the case of human manipulation of genes is the destiny of the human race.

Mukherjee reflects on the terrible consequence of family members, friends, or professional counselors who insist people who are lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, or questioning, can be socially engineered to be heterosexual. The insistence leads to psychological dysfunction and worse, the arbitrary murder of innocents; like the Orlando, Florida massacre in 2016.

Mukherjee acknowledges genes are only part of what makes humans human. A most striking reveal is about LGBTQ and the genetic component of what makes humans one sexual preference or another; i.e. winners of the battle between inheritable XX (female) and XY (male) chromosomes show significant correlation with sexual preference.

TWINS: Though genetics are a major determinant in what humans are-environment plays a role. The role is complicated because one person’s response to outside stimulation can be entirely different from another’s even though they may be near genetic duplicates.

Mukherjee sites studies of twins raised in different parts of the country, with different families, having uncannily similar life preferences; presumable because they have the same genetic inheritance.

“The Gene” is an important book. Its importance lies in the dangers inherent in sciences’ ability to tamper with a natural selection process discovered by Charles Darwin in the 19^th century.

Modern humans have evolved over 200,000 years through a process of adaptive genetic changes defined by Richard Dawkins as immortal genes. The caution one must recognize is that when humans make decisions for other humans, the consequence is inevitably different from what is expected.

Humans may become extinct because of our environmental mistakes wrought by natural selection and nurture. However, one is equally wary of becoming extinct because of what society decides about gene modification by humans; for humans.

OLIVER SACKS

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: and Other Clinical Tales

Written by: Oliver Sacks

Narration by: Jonathan Davis, Oliver Sacks

OLIVER SACKS (1933-2015, AUTHOR, BRITISH NEUROLOGIST)

Neurological dysfunction is Oliver Sacks field of study and training. The irony is that a tumor attacks his brain to end his life. Of course, he was 82. But somehow, a tumor attacking Sacks’ brain seems an unfair marker for his passing. Sacks opens the eyes of many to the wholeness of being human when a neurological dysfunction changes their lives. Sacks is the famous neurologist who wrote one book that becomes a movie and several that become best sellers.

AWAKENINGS - STARING ROBERT DeNIRO AND ROBIN WILLIAMS — AWAKENINGS – STARING ROBERT DeNIRO AND ROBIN WILLIAMS

Sacks is famous to some based on the movie “Awakenings” that recounts an experiment with L-dopa to treat catatonia; a symptom believed to be triggered by Parkinson’s. Patients may spend years in a state of catatonia; i.e. a form of withdrawal from the world exhibited by a range of behaviors from mutism to verbal repetition. Sacks wrote the book, “Awakenings” to tell of his experience in the summer of 1969 in a Bronx, New York hospital. The success and failure of the L-dopa experiment became a life-long commitment by Sacks to appreciate the fullness of life for those afflicted by neurological disorders.

With the use of L-dopa, Sacks reawakens the minds and rational skills of patients that had been catatonic for years. In their reawakening, Sacks found that catatonic patients have lives frozen in time. Their mind/body interactions became suspended in the eyes of society. They were always human but they lost their humanness in neurological disorder.

PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPAIRMENT — Sacks first story is about an accomplished musician and teacher who appears increasingly forgetful. He appears to forget people’s names. He cannot identify objects that are given to him to examine. He figuratively mistakes his wife for a hat.

“The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat” is filled with stories of people with brain malfunctions that change theirs’s and other’s lives. The underlying truth of each story is that symptoms of neurological disorder mask the wholeness of being human. Sacks reveals that many people confuse what is seen with the completeness of what is an afflicted but whole human being. Sacks first story is about an accomplished musician and teacher who appears increasingly forgetful. He appears to forget people’s names. He cannot identify objects that are given to him to examine. He figuratively mistakes his wife for a hat. Aside from these bizarre symptoms, Sacks notes the patient is highly intelligent and is known as a great teacher of music.

GLOVE — He can identify all the parts of a face but is unable to associate the face with a name. When given a glove he examines it in parts. It has five pouches. It is made of a soft material. The pouches can hold things. But, it is only discovered as a glove when given clues about its use.

In examining “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat”, Sacks finds that the teacher’s mind works like a computer in that he sees the details of things without seeing the whole thing. He forgets names until he hears their voice because he cannot recognize faces. He can identify all the parts of a face but is unable to associate the face with a name. When given a glove he examines it in parts. It has five pouches. It is made of a soft material. The pouches can hold things. But, it is only discovered as a glove when given clues about its use. Sacks’ first story becomes a metaphor for the wholeness of human beings that have neurological disorders.

The music teacher relies on sound and other cognitive senses to fully interpret and appropriately act in the world. Sacks explains to the teacher’s wife that her husband’s neurological disorder is a part of who he is.

Sacks suggests the disorder may be ameliorated with drugs but an unintended consequence may be to destroy her husband’s extraordinary music and teaching ability. In the years of her husband’s life, he has unconsciously hidden a neurological dysfunction by using music as a method for routinizing his life. His wife notes that he always sings when he dresses himself with clothes carefully laid-out by his wife. He uses the rhythm of the song to properly dress himself.

Sacks writes of several more patients that circle the same theme. He notes that memory is a critical part of being human. When memory is lost humanness remains, but personal understanding of oneself is changed. Memory informs and affects action. When memory disappears, time is disjointed and experience is lost. On the one hand, lost memory makes one young again; on the other, friends are older than they should be and many things we know from experience are gone.

Sacks is saying never give up on patients with neurological disorders. They are whole human beings. The neurologist’s job, as with all who practice medicine, is “first, do no harm”. “The Man Who Took His Wife for a Hat” illustrates how seriously Sacks took his calling.

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