Incredible. I thought some of these were my ideas! I guess I was just a few years too late in thinking them! Pollan is the man!
Friday, January 22, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
More cool stuff
This is incredible. Compassion is a gene's way of helping itself. Because we naturally feel compassionate for family members, we help them before anything else. Because they are family, they share the gene and this helps the spread of the gene in the most direct way possible.
This happens all the time, just not in such raw form.
Think of about the plants animals eat. Have you ever wondered why the plants animals eat are 1. usually in great abundance in their natural habitat (undisturbed by humans) and (even more interesting) 2. are ideal for that animal's health.
This is absolutely crazy if you look at it blankly, but when you think into it, it begins to make sense in the same way compassion does.
Plants and the Animals which consume them have co-evolved for millions of years and have perfected every intricacy both in themselves and in their relationships with each other.
Anytime a co-evolutionary partnership like this occurs there are always two possibilities as to how it could have happened. Let me explain.
How is it that animals enjoy the most healthy food for them more than any other food in their environment? There are two ways it could have happened.
1. Some point in history, this animal gained a trait which made it use a common plant in it's habitat with optimum benefit. This does not just benefit the animal, but the plant as well. Because of this new trait, the animals which eat this plant which their body processes extraordinarily well will thrive and hence help the plant to spread and thrive and a relationship is formed which will last forever until outside circumstances change it.
2. Some point in history, a common plant in a specific area gained a trait which made it more healthy for a common animal species. The animal hence can live longer and it's population will thrive, helping this plant in the exact same way.
The extraordinary thing is that these two scenarios have opposite causes but their outcomes are exactly the same. Each evolutionary step provides a new relationship between two or more species which benefits both parties in numerous ways. Interspecies relationships like these are fool-proof evolutionary wonders. I focus much thought towards these interspecies anomalies. They fascinate me.
Compassion is an example of a totally different, yet equally magnificent, trait we find. The compassion we feel for family, the way cats will bathe each other, the way ant colonies work together... these are all very different anomalies. In these instances, organisms work together within their one species to thrive. These are self-serving traits. Yet, still, we find instances where these examples of seemingly self-serving instinct, do much to help other organisms. Why? In some cases it can be explained as simply as above, this trait which is on the surface self serving, helps the organism in a secondary way in that it helps another organism! Another relationship is found.
Our abundance of different species all working together is a wonder which we can hardly understand. Selfish as all organisms are, we still help each other without even knowing it, without even wanting it, because such is the nature of our evolutionary history.
This happens all the time, just not in such raw form.
Think of about the plants animals eat. Have you ever wondered why the plants animals eat are 1. usually in great abundance in their natural habitat (undisturbed by humans) and (even more interesting) 2. are ideal for that animal's health.
This is absolutely crazy if you look at it blankly, but when you think into it, it begins to make sense in the same way compassion does.
Plants and the Animals which consume them have co-evolved for millions of years and have perfected every intricacy both in themselves and in their relationships with each other.
Anytime a co-evolutionary partnership like this occurs there are always two possibilities as to how it could have happened. Let me explain.
How is it that animals enjoy the most healthy food for them more than any other food in their environment? There are two ways it could have happened.
1. Some point in history, this animal gained a trait which made it use a common plant in it's habitat with optimum benefit. This does not just benefit the animal, but the plant as well. Because of this new trait, the animals which eat this plant which their body processes extraordinarily well will thrive and hence help the plant to spread and thrive and a relationship is formed which will last forever until outside circumstances change it.
2. Some point in history, a common plant in a specific area gained a trait which made it more healthy for a common animal species. The animal hence can live longer and it's population will thrive, helping this plant in the exact same way.
The extraordinary thing is that these two scenarios have opposite causes but their outcomes are exactly the same. Each evolutionary step provides a new relationship between two or more species which benefits both parties in numerous ways. Interspecies relationships like these are fool-proof evolutionary wonders. I focus much thought towards these interspecies anomalies. They fascinate me.
Compassion is an example of a totally different, yet equally magnificent, trait we find. The compassion we feel for family, the way cats will bathe each other, the way ant colonies work together... these are all very different anomalies. In these instances, organisms work together within their one species to thrive. These are self-serving traits. Yet, still, we find instances where these examples of seemingly self-serving instinct, do much to help other organisms. Why? In some cases it can be explained as simply as above, this trait which is on the surface self serving, helps the organism in a secondary way in that it helps another organism! Another relationship is found.
Our abundance of different species all working together is a wonder which we can hardly understand. Selfish as all organisms are, we still help each other without even knowing it, without even wanting it, because such is the nature of our evolutionary history.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Nature perfects itself
Evolution is fascinating to me. I think about evolution constantly and how things in this world came to be the way they are. I've recently learned of the work of Michael Pollan and the reason I love his work so much is because his ideas are exactly what I've been thinking for quite some time. When I first saw this video below I was knocked off my feet because what he was talking about is exactly what I've been thinking about for a while. What he gets at in this video is that plants have evolved through completely random genetic mutations to be more and more attractive to consumers who will eat their fruits or vegetables. (Their seeds essentially)
Why does this happen? Why do these traits which cause their fruits to be consumed spread? Because when the fruit is eaten, the seed is spread.
When a new trait/mutation comes along which causes a fruit to have a less attractive color to consumers, this new trait will likely not survive many generation. HOWEVER, if a new trait comes along which causes a fruit to have a more attractive color to consumers, this new trait will slowly but surely thrive because it helps the plant to reproduce.
When a new trait comes along which causes the seed to be more resilient to animal digestive systems, more seeds will make it out the other end and still be viable to produce plants.
When a new trait comes along which makes a plant's taste more desirable to consumers, they will eat it and spread it's seeds.
When a new trait comes along which makes a plant more healthy to consumers, the consumers who eat it will live longer and produce more healthy offspring who will eat more of these fruits and spread it's seed further.
The fruits and consumers co-evolve to create a perfect system.
Think about it in reverse.
When a trait comes along which makes consumers enjoy healthy fruits, the consumers who have this trait will become more healthy which means they will live longer and produce more and thrive. Eventually this new trait will take over the entire population of the species, but this usually takes a very, very long time.
These examples regarding the consumption of fruits and vegetables are only a few of many examples. The spread of pollen is another great example which Pollan gets at in this video. These ideas present the perfect example of the magnificence of evolution. This is how nature perfects itself for us.
Why does this happen? Why do these traits which cause their fruits to be consumed spread? Because when the fruit is eaten, the seed is spread.
When a new trait/mutation comes along which causes a fruit to have a less attractive color to consumers, this new trait will likely not survive many generation. HOWEVER, if a new trait comes along which causes a fruit to have a more attractive color to consumers, this new trait will slowly but surely thrive because it helps the plant to reproduce.
When a new trait comes along which causes the seed to be more resilient to animal digestive systems, more seeds will make it out the other end and still be viable to produce plants.
When a new trait comes along which makes a plant's taste more desirable to consumers, they will eat it and spread it's seeds.
When a new trait comes along which makes a plant more healthy to consumers, the consumers who eat it will live longer and produce more healthy offspring who will eat more of these fruits and spread it's seed further.
The fruits and consumers co-evolve to create a perfect system.
Think about it in reverse.
When a trait comes along which makes consumers enjoy healthy fruits, the consumers who have this trait will become more healthy which means they will live longer and produce more and thrive. Eventually this new trait will take over the entire population of the species, but this usually takes a very, very long time.
These examples regarding the consumption of fruits and vegetables are only a few of many examples. The spread of pollen is another great example which Pollan gets at in this video. These ideas present the perfect example of the magnificence of evolution. This is how nature perfects itself for us.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
A great, true quote
"If we don't halt population growth with justice and compassion, it will be done for us by nature, brutally and without pity - and will leave a ravaged world."
~ Dr. Henry W. Kendall, Nobel Prize Winning American Particle Physicist
~ Dr. Henry W. Kendall, Nobel Prize Winning American Particle Physicist
The Family
A husband, a wife, two or three kids. Quite idealistic? Well, it has been the standard unit here in America for much time, recently it's moved towards a unit with only one parent, or at least only one biological parent. It seems to me that many people, even my age, seem to aspire to have a family such as the first listed one. A husband, a wife, and two or three children.
Idealistic?
I say no.
It's clear we're coming to the point where there are too many people! Understand that no one group is the excess, but still there is an excess of people and people are having three, four, five, six children, divorcing, remarrying and sometimes having more offspring... the rate at which our population is growing will only become faster and faster. The population will continue to grow larger and larger, faster and faster and we cannot keep up with it. We as a species cannot say the next generation will take care of this problem (by being more responsible than ourselves!). If we continue like this... the next generation may not have the chance. Resources and space are limited and the structure of our society (and government) must constantly change to accommodate new numbers. It is essential that we create a stasis for the population size of our country and of the world.
When I was in the eighth grade, a teacher of mine said that couples who choose not to have children choose so out of selfishness. I hadn't realized that it was selfish not to contribute to the destabilization of society on Earth, not to hinder future generations with irresponsibility. I suppose the selfless thing to do would be continue down this path of certain destruction? All this for American tradition? For societal tradition? When will the people of this country and this planet come to their senses and leave expected tradition behind? It is a dangerous thing.
It is not an infringement on human rights to limit the number of children a couple may have, rather, it is an infringement on human rights to allow the people of the world to produce all the offspring they please and doom future generations.
There is another reason not related to our irresponsible and out of control population growth. It is not right to be birthing biological children while children without a home, without parents need a home and parents. Until there are no children left to adopt, I believe anybody wanting to start a family should adopt. It isn't right to create new human beings while others already existing need help desperately.
A husband, a wife, two or three biological children? No way. Not for me, and hopefully you'll give it some thought as well. Societal expectations like these are dangerous, think about it.
Idealistic?
I say no.
It's clear we're coming to the point where there are too many people! Understand that no one group is the excess, but still there is an excess of people and people are having three, four, five, six children, divorcing, remarrying and sometimes having more offspring... the rate at which our population is growing will only become faster and faster. The population will continue to grow larger and larger, faster and faster and we cannot keep up with it. We as a species cannot say the next generation will take care of this problem (by being more responsible than ourselves!). If we continue like this... the next generation may not have the chance. Resources and space are limited and the structure of our society (and government) must constantly change to accommodate new numbers. It is essential that we create a stasis for the population size of our country and of the world.
When I was in the eighth grade, a teacher of mine said that couples who choose not to have children choose so out of selfishness. I hadn't realized that it was selfish not to contribute to the destabilization of society on Earth, not to hinder future generations with irresponsibility. I suppose the selfless thing to do would be continue down this path of certain destruction? All this for American tradition? For societal tradition? When will the people of this country and this planet come to their senses and leave expected tradition behind? It is a dangerous thing.
It is not an infringement on human rights to limit the number of children a couple may have, rather, it is an infringement on human rights to allow the people of the world to produce all the offspring they please and doom future generations.
There is another reason not related to our irresponsible and out of control population growth. It is not right to be birthing biological children while children without a home, without parents need a home and parents. Until there are no children left to adopt, I believe anybody wanting to start a family should adopt. It isn't right to create new human beings while others already existing need help desperately.
A husband, a wife, two or three biological children? No way. Not for me, and hopefully you'll give it some thought as well. Societal expectations like these are dangerous, think about it.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
From devout Christian to cocky Atheist and Back
An interesting and rare story, and it is mine.
A bit more than three years ago I became very interested in the heated web debate between Atheists and Christians. Atheism was a hotter topic online, and in general, then as "The God Delusion" and "God is not Great" were released around that time. I, at the time a devout Episcopalian, did much searching, reading, and thinking and ultimately came to the conclusion that Theism did not make sense. To a limited extent, I felt that religion, as many atheists put it, was a disease.
I held these beliefs for about two years. Where before I fiercely defended my beliefs as a Christian, I was at this point that cocky, arrogant, smart alec Atheist who, in a most domineering way, is always pushing their beliefs on everybody he or she knows. These kind of people, and I was one, feel that some urgency in the global religious (specifically Christian) situation exists, and promote their ideas with conviction not only because they feel obligated to do so due to this imaginary urgency, but also as a matter of defense from the harshness of Christians who do not approve... most of whom are probably "Holiday Church Goers" at any rate. I don't know where this kind of rash thinking originated, but the only source for it which I can see is from seeing it in others. That is, this mindset fuels itself in a circular fashion from person to person. Almost like a cell, this way of thinking cannot spontaneously generate, instead it comes from existing promotion of these thoughts by others.
About a year ago, after two years of being that kind of person, I began to do some deeper thinking. I began to think about how I felt about religion before, about how I felt about God, how I felt about Church, how I felt about the Bible, how I felt the principals of Christianity. For this, I softened up a bit. Then one day, I found myself thinking about the obligation of Christians to worship God... this is something I've always had a hard time with and was the primary factor in my becoming an atheist... while thinking about this, something triggered a correlation in my mind which I'd, to my amazement to this day, not seen before. I thought about the gratitude a person feels when someone saves our helps to save their financial state, their house, their front lawn, their car, their children, their life. I thought about the obligation that a person feels to make it up to them.
Weather we like it or not, the existence of a god is a possibility. If a god does exist, this entity has made everything possible for us; without their creating us, we would have no love, no leisure, no aspiration, no hope, no interest, no enjoyment. Not only would we have nothing, but we would also be nothing. If no God exists and everything here does exist, then we owe to chance... and there's no sense in paying our gratitude to chance. But if God is responsible, then we owe him everything, regardless of weather he asks us or not. At this point I was a Christian again... a true 'born again' in my opinion.
I'm still not 100% 'with' the idea that all of the Bible is the word of God, I think of God more as a parent figure, and if we make relevant correlations between what the Bible says and what Parents say... well, you can think about it and I'm sure you'll see what I mean. I think that pretty much explains what 'hell' is for me. But keep in mind, parents don't like to admit to their children that they're wrong, however they still do exaggerate, fib, even lie to them. While if I were to say the same about God, many would respond that God is great, God is good, Lying is a sin and he would never do such... but when parents do exaggerate, fib, even lie, it is always for the better of the child, it is always by their (the parents') judgment the good, the right thing to do, and it's purpose will be understood after childhood. A parent won't fess up to this before then and, in my experience, parents and their children are in an agreement, conscious or sub-conscious, that Mommy and Daddy are always right. I believe that God is the same way and this is for our own good. We are all still kids in this spiritual spectrum and what we question today we will fully understand later when we are in a different position, when we are no longer the ignorant children we ALL are today. Understand this does not mean I believe God is lying about what he wants us to do, about we what he expects of us... what parent does that? Correlations between one thing understandable and another incomprehensible are useful tools, but ONLY when they are absolutely complete, equal, and relevant.
To the question "Do you believe in God?" that my honest answer still would be "No" is with great regret, however I cannot force myself to believe something, I cannot decide what I believe. Know that it is possible to be an Atheist, an Agnostic, and a Christian all at once. I'm the only one I know of, and in a way, I hope there are others like me out there.
A bit more than three years ago I became very interested in the heated web debate between Atheists and Christians. Atheism was a hotter topic online, and in general, then as "The God Delusion" and "God is not Great" were released around that time. I, at the time a devout Episcopalian, did much searching, reading, and thinking and ultimately came to the conclusion that Theism did not make sense. To a limited extent, I felt that religion, as many atheists put it, was a disease.
I held these beliefs for about two years. Where before I fiercely defended my beliefs as a Christian, I was at this point that cocky, arrogant, smart alec Atheist who, in a most domineering way, is always pushing their beliefs on everybody he or she knows. These kind of people, and I was one, feel that some urgency in the global religious (specifically Christian) situation exists, and promote their ideas with conviction not only because they feel obligated to do so due to this imaginary urgency, but also as a matter of defense from the harshness of Christians who do not approve... most of whom are probably "Holiday Church Goers" at any rate. I don't know where this kind of rash thinking originated, but the only source for it which I can see is from seeing it in others. That is, this mindset fuels itself in a circular fashion from person to person. Almost like a cell, this way of thinking cannot spontaneously generate, instead it comes from existing promotion of these thoughts by others.
About a year ago, after two years of being that kind of person, I began to do some deeper thinking. I began to think about how I felt about religion before, about how I felt about God, how I felt about Church, how I felt about the Bible, how I felt the principals of Christianity. For this, I softened up a bit. Then one day, I found myself thinking about the obligation of Christians to worship God... this is something I've always had a hard time with and was the primary factor in my becoming an atheist... while thinking about this, something triggered a correlation in my mind which I'd, to my amazement to this day, not seen before. I thought about the gratitude a person feels when someone saves our helps to save their financial state, their house, their front lawn, their car, their children, their life. I thought about the obligation that a person feels to make it up to them.
Weather we like it or not, the existence of a god is a possibility. If a god does exist, this entity has made everything possible for us; without their creating us, we would have no love, no leisure, no aspiration, no hope, no interest, no enjoyment. Not only would we have nothing, but we would also be nothing. If no God exists and everything here does exist, then we owe to chance... and there's no sense in paying our gratitude to chance. But if God is responsible, then we owe him everything, regardless of weather he asks us or not. At this point I was a Christian again... a true 'born again' in my opinion.
I'm still not 100% 'with' the idea that all of the Bible is the word of God, I think of God more as a parent figure, and if we make relevant correlations between what the Bible says and what Parents say... well, you can think about it and I'm sure you'll see what I mean. I think that pretty much explains what 'hell' is for me. But keep in mind, parents don't like to admit to their children that they're wrong, however they still do exaggerate, fib, even lie to them. While if I were to say the same about God, many would respond that God is great, God is good, Lying is a sin and he would never do such... but when parents do exaggerate, fib, even lie, it is always for the better of the child, it is always by their (the parents') judgment the good, the right thing to do, and it's purpose will be understood after childhood. A parent won't fess up to this before then and, in my experience, parents and their children are in an agreement, conscious or sub-conscious, that Mommy and Daddy are always right. I believe that God is the same way and this is for our own good. We are all still kids in this spiritual spectrum and what we question today we will fully understand later when we are in a different position, when we are no longer the ignorant children we ALL are today. Understand this does not mean I believe God is lying about what he wants us to do, about we what he expects of us... what parent does that? Correlations between one thing understandable and another incomprehensible are useful tools, but ONLY when they are absolutely complete, equal, and relevant.
To the question "Do you believe in God?" that my honest answer still would be "No" is with great regret, however I cannot force myself to believe something, I cannot decide what I believe. Know that it is possible to be an Atheist, an Agnostic, and a Christian all at once. I'm the only one I know of, and in a way, I hope there are others like me out there.
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