Ever watch a dog dream? Twitching, yelping, barking. I have often wished I could know what they see, what they think. Oh, you don't think dogs think? Think again. Don't believe that dogs have emotions? Flat wrong!
Dogs experience joy, sadness, anger, and fear, just like us. Doesn't that make them mostly like us?
So, what do dreaming dogs see?
I bet it's stuff like running free in a pasture, playing catch, squirming their back against the grass, or maybe feeling delight watching you come in the front door yet again.
You know, the same things we dream about.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Commercializing our souls
Are you tired of being told how to live your life? Are you exhausted by trying to keep up with the latest gadgets, fads, and fashions? I am.
I’m tired of being told I am not fit enough, not friendly enough, don’t smell good enough, have teeth that aren’t perfect, don’t have enough sex, that my erections aren’t good enough, that if I was a real man that I would make more money.
If you’re female, it’s worse: you don’t smell right (anywhere at any time), you wear the wrong clothes, you’re too fat, your relationship isn’t good enough, you aren’t sexy enough (whatever the hell that means), and of course if only your hair looked like hers, you too would be happy.
Who’s admonishing us? Our corporations and the vastly successful advertising and marketing engines that fuel their sales. They dictate what’s normal, what’s new, what’s everyone else wants, what you should want, what you should look like, and how you should act. If I see one more clique of obnoxious, rich, complaining pretty people who spend their days partying and sucking money out of you and me watching them, I’m going to wretch. When did we lose our senses?
Take the Kardashian phenomenon. What exactly does this family produce? Avatars, apparitions, fantasy. They sell the idea that if you look like they look (which can be achieved by using their products), do what they do (which they show you on all their TV series), and act like they act (like entitled, shallow women and men), then you will be happy. It’s all about money. It’s always about money.
But make no mistake, we buy it hook, line, and sinker, or they couldn’t sell anything to anybody. They prey upon our most sensitive nerves, the ones that drive us toward acceptance and love, and they strike against our biggest fear: rejection. Most of what we choose to do, choose to buy, and who we choose to hang around with is driven by the fear of rejection and the desire for inclusion. We will even delude ourselves in the hope that if we pretend to be different, then we will be loved.
How sad.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Overpopulation: the basic evil
One in six in our world struggles to have enough to eat, I heard on the news. That’s more than one billion people! Oh yes, there are plenty of other problems to address: global warming, air pollution, loss of ocean habitats and marine species, war, poverty, peak oil and energy shortages, the rise of deadly strains of diseases, water shortages, and so on. The mind boggles!
I fear we have been attempting to smother brush fires without examining what fuels them. The larger question is: what underlies these daunting challenges?
Overpopulation, the population bomb.
In 1950, the world’s population was a mere 2.5 billion people. By 2010, we had grown to 6.8 billion, and in 2050, there will likely be 9.3 billion of us. Each of those 9 billion will have the same basic needs. And each will compete to survive as the world and its resources shrink.
Overpopulation, the population bomb.
In 1950, the world’s population was a mere 2.5 billion people. By 2010, we had grown to 6.8 billion, and in 2050, there will likely be 9.3 billion of us. Each of those 9 billion will have the same basic needs. And each will compete to survive as the world and its resources shrink.
Humans are special animals: we can suppose theoretically, our language is elaborate, we consider both past and present, our imaginations are active, our aptitude unmatched. But the rest of our nature, our biological selves, is still primitive and driven by needs that are of the “when push comes to shove” kind. But I am willing to bet that if we don’t start applying our “special” talents to address the fundamental issues of overpopulation and environmental savagery, Mother Nature will take care of herself at our expense. It’s not nice to fool with her, you know. We are her guests and are bound by history and contract to tend her gardens like the excellent shepherds that she had hoped we would become.
What can we do about it? There are a few ideas that seem notable because they are possible. We can put robust effort towards family planning, providing education, support, and condoms to those who cannot sustain additional children. We can approach solar power technology full bore. We can set the world example for clean energy (Europe is way ahead of us on that one). How about putting the NASA nerds on that task, rerouting them from their latest extraterrestrial water hunting expeditions? We could demand that our auto industries make electric-only cars by the year 2020. It’s very possible, even if they would have it otherwise. We might require 100% recycling, setting yet another example for how such things can be done. We could require all buildings to meet highly restrictive, green building codes. We might require all homes built to have solar and wind electricity generation. WE COULD DO IT! The list goes on.
There is one more thing: we must lower our expectations. More is not better, bigger is not better, and we Americans need to invert those delusions. We cannot stay mute or procrastinate on any of this stuff. It’s the bottom of the ninth inning, and Mother Nature is about to throw us a fast ball.
This was an article published in 2009 in The 15th Street News, written by the author of this blog, with minor changes made.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Best Movies of 2009
A SERIOUS MAN
BIG FAN
DEPARTURES
DISGRACE
Everlasting Moments
FOOD, INCGOODBYE SOLO
JULIA
SILENT LIGHT
SIN NOMBRE
SKIN
THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE
TRUCKER
YOU, THE LIVING
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
The Collective Psychosis
Jung argued that humans have a "collective unconscious", a universal and inherited part held deeply within each individual of a species. He thought it was structured with archetypes and archetypal ideas, similar in nature to Levy-Bruh's mythological motifs. Jung incorporated Darwin's theories of evolution into his notions, which makes him especially appealing to me.
Archetypes are manifested in imagery, dreams and visions. Some examples include the mother archetype that then guides the mother-child bond, the hero archetype, and so on. Our behavior and our lives are heavily influenced, perhaps even determined by these archetypes. Birth and death are controlled by archetypes. Even religious experiences are guided by archetypes.
Let's say Jung is right; that in each of us lies a set of patterns that are species-specific, guiding our choices and behavior. I think there might be a competing set of guidelines: the Collective Psychosis.
The Collective Psychosis might be the innate underlying lack of structure, the tendency of people to be unstructured, impulsive, and chaotic. It might also be called a Collective Entropy. It would be unstructured, and so it would have no archetypes.
All systems have both organizing and disorganizing tendencies. Maybe people who are psychotic are simply manifesting behavior underlain by disorder rather than order. Maybe psychotic individuals who hallucinate are connecting to the imagery of the collective psychosis. Maybe we taste the collective psychosis when we choose the forbidden, impulsively behave with abandon, or have scary and incomprehensible, fantastical dreams.
Maybe I'm full of shit.
Archetypes are manifested in imagery, dreams and visions. Some examples include the mother archetype that then guides the mother-child bond, the hero archetype, and so on. Our behavior and our lives are heavily influenced, perhaps even determined by these archetypes. Birth and death are controlled by archetypes. Even religious experiences are guided by archetypes.
Let's say Jung is right; that in each of us lies a set of patterns that are species-specific, guiding our choices and behavior. I think there might be a competing set of guidelines: the Collective Psychosis.
The Collective Psychosis might be the innate underlying lack of structure, the tendency of people to be unstructured, impulsive, and chaotic. It might also be called a Collective Entropy. It would be unstructured, and so it would have no archetypes.
All systems have both organizing and disorganizing tendencies. Maybe people who are psychotic are simply manifesting behavior underlain by disorder rather than order. Maybe psychotic individuals who hallucinate are connecting to the imagery of the collective psychosis. Maybe we taste the collective psychosis when we choose the forbidden, impulsively behave with abandon, or have scary and incomprehensible, fantastical dreams.
Maybe I'm full of shit.
For God's sake (and ours), please wake up!
I am not interested in how you feel. But I am intersted in how you think. There was a time, not too long ago, when we were sure that the world was flat, that demons possessed people, that if you ejaculated the day before the big game you wouldn't be aggressive enough. Actually, there are some out there who still believe these things. Is it me, or are we losing our critical thinking skills?
The quality of our thinking predicts our ability to solve problems and make rational choices. The lack of critical thinking predicts impulsivity, emotion-based choice-making, and learning by trial and error. Science has allowed us to move beyond trial and error learning to predicting, with ever-increasing acuracy, the consequences of our behavior. So, what do you thnk will happen if the Republicans get back in control?
Forget what anyone has told you about who is for what and why. Forget the commercials, the rants, the speeches by both parties. Ask yourself only one question, and then think through it: was I (and was the country) better off during Democratic or Republican administrations and congresses?
Think through it. Don't listen to your emotions, because emotions are not truth. In fact, emotions lie to us all the time. Emotions are respondent to our thoughts, not the other way around.
Here's another question: do you want to line the pockets of the rich, including big business and Wall Street, or do you want to reign in the excess and provide for the everday person like you and me?
Think through it. What evidence do you NEED to conclude an answer?
The quality of our thinking predicts our ability to solve problems and make rational choices. The lack of critical thinking predicts impulsivity, emotion-based choice-making, and learning by trial and error. Science has allowed us to move beyond trial and error learning to predicting, with ever-increasing acuracy, the consequences of our behavior. So, what do you thnk will happen if the Republicans get back in control?
Forget what anyone has told you about who is for what and why. Forget the commercials, the rants, the speeches by both parties. Ask yourself only one question, and then think through it: was I (and was the country) better off during Democratic or Republican administrations and congresses?
Think through it. Don't listen to your emotions, because emotions are not truth. In fact, emotions lie to us all the time. Emotions are respondent to our thoughts, not the other way around.
Here's another question: do you want to line the pockets of the rich, including big business and Wall Street, or do you want to reign in the excess and provide for the everday person like you and me?
Think through it. What evidence do you NEED to conclude an answer?
Monday, September 20, 2010
Love?
We humans are never distant from our deepest desires, and none is more compelling than to create a consummate connection with a fellow traveler, a spiritual partner on a train bound for bliss, with whom we share a life of treasures as well as a blanket when the wind blows cold. We require profound connections with others, Psychology informs us, to preserve our emotional and physical health. Before describing what love is, let’s declare what love is not.
Mature love is not dependency. Dependency occurs when someone requires the caretaking of another in order to function, to feel whole. This bargain strikes a balance wherein one feels powerful and needed while the other is esteemed because they are “cared” for. Because of these shackles, neither can grow emotionally. Dependent love is a form of mutual indentured servitude.
Love is not cruel. Some have learned to demonstrate their “love” with emotional or physical meanness. While its origins may be understood, such behavior is absolutely incompatible with love, and ought never to be tolerated, not for a second. Unfortunately, it is possible to be accustomed to anything, even misery.
Love is not lust. Contrary to the longstanding adage, lust is the blind condition, not love. The hormonal and neurochemical storm we call infatuation is nature’s way of promoting pair-bonding and procreation. Alas, it blinds us to the “true” nature of our partner. This snowstorm does not subside immediately, so it’s wise to not make commitments early in the game. Think of it this way: if infatuation is the appetizer, then love is the seven-course meal. Hors d'oeuvres may be tasty and easy to consume, but the main course is ultimately filling, even if it does require some effort to accommodate.
So what is love? Love appears when your partner’s growth, development, and well-being are as important to you as your own. In your commitment towards this goal, you are obliged to exhibit effort. Love is not an emotion; it is ultimately a set of decisions you make. As partners weave their love into fabric, kindness must prevail over being right, and impulsivity must give way to perseverance. In these ways, the fabric of love grows more resistant to tearing.
Love ain't easy, but it is the closest we can get to another. I would argue that it is therefore worth the effort.
Love ain't easy, but it is the closest we can get to another. I would argue that it is therefore worth the effort.
(This first appeared as a column in a newspaper in 2009, written by the author of this blog; small changes were made)
Sunday, September 19, 2010
The Frozen Hereafter
Like all of you, I have no special knowledge about what lies beyond death. I do know that when you freeze body tissue, it destroys the cells. It rips them apart. Lifeless, shredded icicles, those cells. Cryogenic suspension is but a euphemism. I can, however, foresee several situations where freezing one’s body becomes a fitting choice.
Salesmanship can make this seem an attractive choice. Joints that freeze (different from aging knees) want you to think that eventually science will catch up to them and repair your frozen cells, one by one, and make all things right again. My expert friends tell me it’s never gonna happen—strictly sci-fi reanimation lore. They want your money. But if it were possible, I want to have only my head frozen, because my eyes, voice, and brain are my best features, and the savings would be substantial.
On occasion, your relatives will decide to freeze you, but apparently this applies only to famous and/or rich folks. Ted Williams is trembling in his grave, and it’s not from the cold. I bet he finds all the decisions his family made on his behalf disconcerting. Can dead people feel disconcerted? I want to donate my body to the OU College of Medicine and just before I die I want to swallow some notes like, “You will soon have a new and interesting experience” and “Get back to work, you plebe!” then have some first year medical student open me up in Anatomy lab, like a human fortune cookie. Now, that thought comforts me.
The third scenario is that you want to be frozen, have enough money to do so, but you are demented. This means that your family must despise you, because you are going to ice over their inheritance, right? I had a “demented” great uncle who was worth many millions. While alive, he spent none of it. When he died, he donated the entire sum to the Botanical Gardens in New York. This really pissed his family off. They had waited like jackals for his passing, believing he was keeping them from nirvana. The steam emanating from their ears at the reading of his will must have resembled the fog rising from a thawing corpse. I wonder if their hostility for him while he was alive caused his dementia to worsen, perhaps even creating their most terrible fear. In the meantime, they were consumed by their own hatred.We tend to create our own realities.
Sometimes control freaks want the deep freeze. These individuals are calmed by the notion that they really won’t die after all; they’ll just take a long, cold nap. And they get to call all the shots, even while resting in a tube. This of course involves some self-deception. People with control issues are full of self-deception. They run through their lives hoping that their fear of losing control, and beneath it their low self-appraisal, will be undetectable by anyone else. They are generally very unhappy, at a deep level, because their fears push all but the most passive away from them. Once in a while, those with control issues and self-freeze plans have a near-death experience, and this knocks them to their senses, making them cancel their rendezvous with liquid nitrogen. This is particularly true when the experience involves falling through thin ice on a Vermont lake in February.
(this was first used as an article in a weekly paper, written by the author of this blog)
Salesmanship can make this seem an attractive choice. Joints that freeze (different from aging knees) want you to think that eventually science will catch up to them and repair your frozen cells, one by one, and make all things right again. My expert friends tell me it’s never gonna happen—strictly sci-fi reanimation lore. They want your money. But if it were possible, I want to have only my head frozen, because my eyes, voice, and brain are my best features, and the savings would be substantial.
On occasion, your relatives will decide to freeze you, but apparently this applies only to famous and/or rich folks. Ted Williams is trembling in his grave, and it’s not from the cold. I bet he finds all the decisions his family made on his behalf disconcerting. Can dead people feel disconcerted? I want to donate my body to the OU College of Medicine and just before I die I want to swallow some notes like, “You will soon have a new and interesting experience” and “Get back to work, you plebe!” then have some first year medical student open me up in Anatomy lab, like a human fortune cookie. Now, that thought comforts me.
The third scenario is that you want to be frozen, have enough money to do so, but you are demented. This means that your family must despise you, because you are going to ice over their inheritance, right? I had a “demented” great uncle who was worth many millions. While alive, he spent none of it. When he died, he donated the entire sum to the Botanical Gardens in New York. This really pissed his family off. They had waited like jackals for his passing, believing he was keeping them from nirvana. The steam emanating from their ears at the reading of his will must have resembled the fog rising from a thawing corpse. I wonder if their hostility for him while he was alive caused his dementia to worsen, perhaps even creating their most terrible fear. In the meantime, they were consumed by their own hatred.We tend to create our own realities.
Sometimes control freaks want the deep freeze. These individuals are calmed by the notion that they really won’t die after all; they’ll just take a long, cold nap. And they get to call all the shots, even while resting in a tube. This of course involves some self-deception. People with control issues are full of self-deception. They run through their lives hoping that their fear of losing control, and beneath it their low self-appraisal, will be undetectable by anyone else. They are generally very unhappy, at a deep level, because their fears push all but the most passive away from them. Once in a while, those with control issues and self-freeze plans have a near-death experience, and this knocks them to their senses, making them cancel their rendezvous with liquid nitrogen. This is particularly true when the experience involves falling through thin ice on a Vermont lake in February.
(this was first used as an article in a weekly paper, written by the author of this blog)
Simplicity: the default mode for the fearful
This is my first blog entry; should I congratulate myself? I swore up and down I would never do it. I was sure that I would be misunderstood and misquoted (a narcissistic view that anyone would even read, let alone quote my blog), that I would spend inordinate amounts of time pondering and punching keys, that I would eventually reduce myself to yet another shadow voice in the great electronic void.
Well, I plan on this being cathartic. I want to feel better. I wish to clear my cognitions and conscience while I rummage the piles of ideas hiding in my basement. So here’s my opening rant:
We live in a time of great possibility. We have the ability and chance to vector towards sustainable energy systems, reduce consumption, and use our brains to observe that American ideas and opinions aren't necessarily the brightest anymore. Our intentions, in case you haven’t noticed, are underlain by the crudest of desires for superiority and lavish lifestyle. We have been sold a bill of self-righteous goods, and we can’t do this anymore. Or can we?
I am growing more concerned about how stupid we are. We rank lower than ever in percentages of college graduates, math scores, and a host of measures that clearly display our ignorance. We rank higher than ever in divorce rate, teen pregnancy, and in a host of categories that exhibit our stupidity. We must like being ignorant and stupid. Or is is just simpler that way?
Twenty percent or more of people here believe Obama is either Muslim, was not born in America, or is promoting a fundamentalist Islamic agenda. An unknown percentage of Americans believe that Jesus will reappear in our lifetime, and that abstinence-only sex education will work (“just say no!”). It’s as if we believe that talking about something makes it more likely to be true.
At its roots, this is all about the desire for simple answers in a world of growing
complexities. Isn’t it oddly convenient to converge the world into a set of axioms born in the Middle Ages? Is it OK to believe that because the bible says God created the Earth in seven days that the Earth must be 6.000 years old? Yeah, it’s “ok”, it's your right to believe it, but it’s ignorant. Is it stupid to think that a political candidate who does nothing but criticize, who has no concrete plan to enact, will be a good choice? Yeah, it's your right to think this, but it’s stupid. Is it acceptable to hide you head in the sand just to protect a scant few more years living the “American Dream”, when reality shuts us down like a 7-11 selling beer to a minor? After all, it was all just a dream.
Last time I checked, dreams were subject to reality checks.
We have to understand why people want such simplicity. The answer is itself, simple: fear narrows our vision, demanding the easy answer, and we are a very frightened nation. We always have been afraid; that's where all the bravado and self-importance originates. It requires less time and less effort to believe such things and I fear our increasing laziness.
More next entry.
Well, I plan on this being cathartic. I want to feel better. I wish to clear my cognitions and conscience while I rummage the piles of ideas hiding in my basement. So here’s my opening rant:
We live in a time of great possibility. We have the ability and chance to vector towards sustainable energy systems, reduce consumption, and use our brains to observe that American ideas and opinions aren't necessarily the brightest anymore. Our intentions, in case you haven’t noticed, are underlain by the crudest of desires for superiority and lavish lifestyle. We have been sold a bill of self-righteous goods, and we can’t do this anymore. Or can we?
I am growing more concerned about how stupid we are. We rank lower than ever in percentages of college graduates, math scores, and a host of measures that clearly display our ignorance. We rank higher than ever in divorce rate, teen pregnancy, and in a host of categories that exhibit our stupidity. We must like being ignorant and stupid. Or is is just simpler that way?
Twenty percent or more of people here believe Obama is either Muslim, was not born in America, or is promoting a fundamentalist Islamic agenda. An unknown percentage of Americans believe that Jesus will reappear in our lifetime, and that abstinence-only sex education will work (“just say no!”). It’s as if we believe that talking about something makes it more likely to be true.
At its roots, this is all about the desire for simple answers in a world of growing
complexities. Isn’t it oddly convenient to converge the world into a set of axioms born in the Middle Ages? Is it OK to believe that because the bible says God created the Earth in seven days that the Earth must be 6.000 years old? Yeah, it’s “ok”, it's your right to believe it, but it’s ignorant. Is it stupid to think that a political candidate who does nothing but criticize, who has no concrete plan to enact, will be a good choice? Yeah, it's your right to think this, but it’s stupid. Is it acceptable to hide you head in the sand just to protect a scant few more years living the “American Dream”, when reality shuts us down like a 7-11 selling beer to a minor? After all, it was all just a dream.
Last time I checked, dreams were subject to reality checks.
We have to understand why people want such simplicity. The answer is itself, simple: fear narrows our vision, demanding the easy answer, and we are a very frightened nation. We always have been afraid; that's where all the bravado and self-importance originates. It requires less time and less effort to believe such things and I fear our increasing laziness.
More next entry.
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