Keith,
I see that my estranged twin sister from China, Natalie, has
been writing
you again.
And I thank you for that History Channel episode, but Keith, you missed
the long beautiful bits in between, and have decided to favour the
images of scarcity and competition, so crucial to the survival of
corporatism.
Most evolution has developed because of environmental changes. Most
species today have heritable common genes, and as you know we are but a
few genes away from most other life here. That species disappear lately
has more to do with interference from humans.
I don't see the problem with inherent evolution being the standard.
Would you consider it ideal to be stagnant? Reality is about change, at
whatever pace it occurs. But massive DNA warfare, Keith? In this stage
of Earth's development/demise you have nothing to fear from nature or
the cosmos. The species are interdependent, and living peacefully with
their environment and more or less amongst themselves. No major
headlines about camels taking over penguin territory and slaughtering
their young, nor are any animals currently dropping nuclear bombs
anywhere. Nor are the bears or elephants wiping each other out. Where
you should be concerned is in following the money, and the wake of its
concentration--the destruction of your home world, your air, your
water, your food, and your ability to think realistically.
We have arrived at the point where we must address climate change
chiefly because of defying natural laws. Don't think you can pull any
old economist's lame excuse out of your hat and somehow get people to
believe that anything but a natural solution to restoration of our
former environment will work. Well, you can, but it's pathetic. And
it's stifling to evolution at every level.
You are obviously of the belief that because of our genes, we are
inherently competitive and exploitative. But this doesn't take into
account that we also come together for a full range of human needs,
curiosity, learning and preservation of the species. We have evolving
minds primarily because of awareness, not so much because of DNA.
Chemicals themselves are neutral--they have no awareness built in. But
the cells organization of the DNA simple sugars and proteins--that
remain unchanged over billions of years--is what is significant. The
need for life to reproduce is fundamental. And it is awareness that
pervades all life forms, dictating to the chemicals. Awareness spans
the neurons as synapses. There is nothing physical to a synapse. It is
merely a gap. A gap that organizes millions of neurons. A gap is home
of the higher mind. Now that's efficiency, effortless to boot. And it's
natural. Science cannot assign it a physicality nor read brain energy
from it--only from the areas of processing neuronal activity. Penfield
said that brain records, mind experiences.
Do you think that Mozart's mind was inspired only by competition? How
about your own?
Natalia Kuzmyn
Keith Hudson wrote:
Natalie,
Unfortunately we don't necessarily have the reality of any sort of
"splendid and perfect job of things since the beginning of
time" as you put it. We may have, if there's any sort of
Designer-God behind the scene. But, otherwise, the best reality we have
so far is of life starting in an opportunistic way just as soon as the
earth cooled down and allowed certain sorts of chemical reactions
involving carbon-based molecules to take place.
After then, once self-replicating molecules got going, every new
mutation
exploited what was available to its maximum possible extent -- no holds
barred. All types of bacteria do this and all species of plants and
animals do this. Each one expands either until it exploits its food
supply to the maximum possible extent and then crashes, or it is
moderated by the expansion of other types and species which compete
directly and indirectly for food.
At any one instant of time all is finely in balance -- as a
Designer-God
might have intended -- but, in fact, the whole ecosystem is constantly
changing with species going extinct and new species arising. The whole
of
evolution is a case of massive warfare of every type of DNA weapon
going
on between mutating entities. In our case, for example, now that
sabre-toothed tigers are absent, our immune systems (if we're lucky)
are
constantly evolving barriers against viruses and bacteria (and passing
on
the safety features to our children) while the latter (particularly
viruses, which mutate very quickly) are also constantly evolving in
order
to overcome our immune systems (or at least appropriate some of our
food
parasitically). Our "junk DNA" is littered with thousands of
remnants of immobilized viruses. We've even re-incorporated some of
these
ex-viruses as working parts of new operational genes.
In short, it's all a dog-fight. And if, at some future date, we get
into
space before the sun expands in a few billion years and fries us all,
and
subsequently we might find another planet with life-sustaining
potential,
we'll undoubtedly find ourselves in another dog-fight.
Keith
At 23:00 11/06/2010 -0700, you wrote:
Ed,
The vision need not be anything but the stuff of reality, which still
leaves us with what our minds will inevitably envision.
Reality is the only vision that is guaranteed to work. So, perhaps you
would agree that following the natural laws of the universe that have
done a splendid and perfect job of things since the beginning of time,
we
can realistically hope to rejoin the natural stream of evolution.
Any natural system such as that of our esteemed Earth, capable of
forming
and efficiently sustaining life and its necessary and interdependent
ecosystems for approximately 8 million species, has got to be the most
scientifically trustworthy model to implement, yet it continues to be
ignored--at least since, say, humankind started cooking its food or the
first economist started profiting from dismantling sustainable
economies.
We rely on natural law for every aspect of our being, from the most
impressive of technologies to our constant heartbeat, yet because we
have
continued to violate these laws at almost every turn of modern living,
we
mis-create anxieties and render our children defenseless or defensive
against a world fast losing touch with creativity and
fulfillment.
Nature's model is orderly, efficient, and essentially evolutionary. And
its example can be applied to every aspect of civilized life to restore
balance. A nation that follows natural laws would swiftly lead as an
example to other nations, precluding any disputes about correct
realities.
This is a huge undertaking, yet the facility with which we could
implement these laws would quickly unravel the complexities of existing
governmental systems. The will to do so depends either on necessity or
education. Hopefully the latter, by consensus, soon.
Natalia Kuzmyn
Ed Weick wrote:
I’m
not so sure that we need
another vision. Â There have been thousands of them since humankind
began.  They’ve begun with beautiful inspirational thoughts. Â
They’ve usually ended with repression and slaughter.  Christianity
began with the simple words of Christ and became a vast, repressive and
all controlling machine. Â In its essence, communism is built on the
simple and beautiful idea that the people who do the work should own
the
tools they work with. Â Out of that came Stalinist Russia. Â Instead of
more visions, what we may need is a stronger sense of realities of the
world we live in. Perhaps that’s not possible.  It could lead to
huge
fights over which sense of reality is the correct one and should
therefore prevail.
EdÂ
From: Arthur Cordell <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Cc: Futurework <[email protected]>
Sent: Thu, June 10, 2010 9:18:30 PM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] [Ottawadissenters] Great
foresight
Agree. We really need a positive image for the future. Economic
growth, development, regional expansion, etc. have all been seen to be
wanting at the least and more often seen to be destructive.
Â
What positive images have people come across.Â
Â
Arthur
Â
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]]
On Behalf Of Lawrence de Bivort
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2010 9:12 PM
To: [email protected]
Cc: Futurework
Subject: Re: [Ottawadissenters] Great foresight
Â
Good catch, Steve.
Yes, we have now become dependent and dominated by the very megasystems
that we have ourselves created. And they are too complex to understand
and too expensive to improve.
Â
But the game is not over, by a long shot, and we humans have many tools
yet in our toolbox. The main threat comes, I think, from those sunk in
despair because they lack the imagine to find solutions, and from those
so swallowed in anger that they lack the energy for anything else.
Â
Cheers,
Â
Lawry
Â
Â
Â
On Jun 10, 2010, at 9:18 AM, Steve Kurtz wrote:
Â
"We have geared the machines and locked all together into interdependence; we have built the great cities; now there is no escape. We have gathered vast populations incapable of free survival, insulated From the strong earth, each person in himself helpless, on all dependent. The circle is closed, and the net Is being hauled in."Â
   ~ From The Purse Seine, Robinson Jeffers, 1937
Â
Â
Â
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