Monday, July 15, 2002

Good Monday Morning! I am off to work in just a few minutes. I have finished the first ~180 pages of my new book. Yeah! See my other books at  The Time-binding Trust. At SynEARTH today ... All The Rules Have Changed! Barry Carter writes: Our social institutions are dying. The pain we feel is the pain of death and birth simultaneously, the death of one civilization and the birth of a new one. We have entered a period in which the conservative person who does not take risks and needs stability has become the risk taker, the radical, and the gambler. It is a period in which the one who refuses to change will surely be the one who will lose the most in the coming years. There is no going back to the way things used to be. Back to the basics is a failed policy. The future has already begun, and the trend is clear. Starting today you must have a completely new outlook on life. You must be responsible. You can no longer depend on employers, unions, or governments to look out for your economic well-being, to provide you with a job, retirement, social security, health care, or a safety net. From this day forward you and your global network of partners are responsible for creating work and wealth for yourselves. If you have no network you have no security. All of the rules have changed. The guarantees and promises made to you by Industrial Age society are null and void and will be breached. (07/15/02) An Idea Whose Time Had Come ? Peter A. Corning writing in 1997: The root of the problem, I believe, is a flawed vision of a human society as no more than a vast set of dyadic "transactions" between individuals in an essentially competitive arena, when in fact it is also a complex system of ongoing relationships and interdependencies, many of which are mutually beneficial, from the division of labor in production and reproduction to shared public roads and public order. Competition and co-operation are the "warp and woof" of human societies, to resurrect that old but still useful weaving metaphor. Evolutionary psychology (and its now politically-incorrect predecessor sociobiology) have tended to underrate the co-operative dimension of human societies. Our species is sui generis -- vastly more dependent than any other social species on economic "niches" that are created by the needs, wants and activities of others, and on joint efforts that produce both collective goods and divisible "corporate goods." Richard Alexander (1987) calls it "a system of indirect reciprocity." To cite one hypothetical example: suppose that two hunter-gatherers each are able to collect enough firewood at dusk to feed a campfire for half the night. If the two of them pool their hoards and share a fire, they will both have enough firewood to stay warm through the entire night -- and, equally important, to ward off potential predators. That's synergy, and human societies are rife with it. Not only is non-zero-sumness (synergy) very important in human societies but it casts our moral impulses in a very different light. Human nature (as best we can discern at this stage) is highly adapted to exploiting the human potential for socially-produced synergies, which necessitates fitting ourselves into a social order. ...  Is the time ripe for evolutionary ethics? I would argue that it has always been ripe, ever since Darwin. The difference now is that the continuing progress of the life sciences and behavioral sciences makes the case more irresistible. So the proper question is, are we yet ripe for it? (07/15/02 Amazing Science New York Times -- In Australia, researchers in quantum optics say they have "teleported" a radio-signal message in a laser beam, using the same kind of principles that enabled Scotty to beam up Captain Kirk. In rural Quebec, images of H. G. Wells's "The Island of Dr. Moreau" have alighted upon genetically altered goats whose milk contains a gene from the golden-orb weaving spider, enabling goats to produce milk containing superstrong spider silk. Meanwhile, two young British researchers invented a "tooth phone" — a microvibrator and low-frequency receiver that can be implanted into one's tooth, raising the possibility of a James Bond dental experience while undergoing root canal. All this and "cc" — the cloned cat produced earlier this year by Texas scientists — too. The whirlwind convergence of science fact and fiction raises the question of whether a sense of the impossible is becoming passé. "Science fact is rapidly outstripping science fiction," said Neil Gershenfeld, head of the new Center for Bits and Atoms at M.I.T.'s Media Laboratory, where a researcher is developing "paintable" computers with chips suspended in viscous liquid, making the idea of running to the hardware store to buy a few gallons of computer a distinct possibility. (07/15/02) Retiring Poor New York Times -- People in this age group — 55 to 64 — have had almost twice as much money invested in stocks over the last few years as the average American. But if that money took them higher during the boom years, raising their expectations for living easy and dying rich, they have since fallen farther. Unlike younger investors, older ones do not have room to ride out their losses, particularly those who, while swimming in capital gains, ignored the basic principle of shifting from stocks to less volatile investments as retirement drew near. Perhaps as a result, federal statistics show, the same age group has been entering the work force at a higher rate than any other in the last two years — or simply not leaving. ... "I feel so vulnerable," Mr. Black said. "Here I was with thousands of dollars in savings and here I am losing it like water running through my fingers." Gena Lovett, walking along Laguna Beach in California with a group of friends who, like her, are in their late 50's, said that she and her husband, John, 57, would not be able to contribute as much to their grandchildren's education. "Our retirement is one-half of what it was a year ago," she said. "And because John works for G.E., we have mostly G.E. stock. I suppose we should have diversified, but G.E. stock was supposed to be wonderful. John's simply not looking at retirement. We simply told our kids that we're spending their inheritance." (07/15/02) Preparing Ourselves and Our Children for Extinction Wiseman Daniel Quinn speaking in 1997:  In a recent semi-documentary film called Garbage, a toxic waste disposal engineer was asked how we can stop engulfing the world in our poisons. His answer was, "We'd have to remove everybody from the face of the earth, because humans GENERATE toxic waste, whether it be pathogenic organisms that we excrete from our bodies or whatever. We are toxic to the face of the earth." ... What is your gut reaction to this assessment? Please raise your hands if you agree that humans are inherently toxic. ... I understand that many representatives of the First Peoples are attending this conference. I hope there are many in this audience. Please raise your hand if you belong to an aboriginal people. Thank you. Now I'd like to ask you the same question I asked the whole group a moment ago. If you consult your traditional teachings, do you agree that humans are inherently toxic to the life of this planet? ... Those who know my work will know that you've just demonstrated one of my basic theses, that the people of my culture, whom I call Takers, have a fundamentally different mythology from the First Peoples, whom I call Leavers. In Taker mythology, humans are indeed viewed as inherently toxic to the world, as alien beings who were born to rule---and ultimately destroy---the world. As WE are currently ruling and destroying the world. In Leaver mythology, by contrast, the world is a sacred place, and humans are not perceived as alien to that sacred place but rather as belonging to it. In other words, in the Leaver worldview, people are no less a part of the sacred framework of the universe than scorpions or eagles or salmon or bears or daffodils. . . .   (07/14/02) Evolution and Ethics Peter A. Corning writing in 1997:  Can there be any doubt that ethics is a cutting-edge issue? We are daily assaulted by routine private acts of violence, chicanery and deception, as men and women (and children) make choices or act out compulsions with ethical ramifications. We are also daily witnesses to ethically-abhorrent political acts -- the Oklahoma City bombing, the gas attacks in the Tokyo subways, the assassinations of political leaders in Mexico and elsewhere, the brutal civil war in Bosnia, the tribal bloodbath in Rwanda, the ruthless destruction of Chechnya, and the prospective new acts of inhumanity that are almost certain to occur before this review is published. (07/14/02) 6:14:47 AM

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