a summary of some final thoughts from Ascent of Humanity
- We think of children as immature adults but we would be more accurate in thinking of adults as atrophied children
- Totalitarianism is the inevitable destination of a society completely obsessed of acheiveing complete control over reality
- The world of the rational is only one component of a functioning society
- Theology looks for the purpose of things as opposed to reason or cause
- We are not just here, we are here for a purpose, young people know it most certainly: we call that idealism. Broken to the lesser lieves we offer them, they react with hostility, rage, depression. All defining qualities of modern adolecensce
- The modern cell is an autocatalytic set where RNA, DNA, protiens and verious intermediate prodcuts all contribute ot each others success. We could have just as easily named the whole as a unity of life, or a smaller part, just as we could say in a human that our organs are alive or that our cells are alive or mitochondria are alive. True, none are viable on their own but neither are human beings. Without bacteria in their rumens, cows would be unable to digest cellulose and would quickly starve. Is the bacteria part of the cows or is it seperate? Is the discrete classicfication of organisims the source of confusion?
- The mandelbroit set is where C is a complex number and Zo=0, Zn+1 = Zn^2 + C // after a given number of iterations, the sequence of Z0, Z1, …Zn will either exceed the absolute value of 2 after which it either stays in the neighborhood of the origin or diverges into infinity. If C generates a sequence that does not diverge to infinity then it is in the mandelbroit set. There is no way of determining where that divergence will occur so mathematically we say, “After a particular # of iterations C is still part of the mandelbroit set” In other words, it is a reality that cannot be reduced. It seems to possess order and beauty because it is a fractal. The same happens in populations, growth and cells. Systems have emergent properties that will never reduce.
- Cold hard science has its place, but not as the prevaling dogmata of society, merely a segment of a mind, heart, soul almagamation.
- Spirit is an emergent property of matter. When death occurs, the emergent property of a soul may be associated with a bound energy and brings and enormous detangling. The detangling of embedded information and energy is thus equivalent to mass loss. The standard physics has no way for the mass measured to just disappear without being converted to over 9×10^16 joules, where does it go?
- Now we are discovering that at the very basis of life, no such “I” from the mind of Descartes, “I think therefore I am” does not exist! The distinction from this reality is an illusion.
- Two recent discoveries in biology: 1) life is at its basis cooperative 2)there is no absolute when trying to define the biological self
- Matthew Wood, Stephen Buhner and Elliot Cowan all have descriptions of non-deterministic plant worlds
- Feldenkrais, EFT, spinal network analysis and applied kineselogy all display hope for new medical approaches
- In 1906 Silvio Cessell in The Natural Economic Order proposed a “Free Money” currency that bears a form of negative interest called demurrage. A stamp must be attached occasionally to keep the money worthwile so it does not expire. J.M. Keynes even supported the theory. An in 1932, Worgl, Austria implemented it by requiring a maintenance stamp worth 1% of its full value. It was a huge success as economic activity boomed. It was outlawed by Austria’s central bank in 1933 because it was competing with the primary currency.
- Gurdjieff’s primary perscription for recovering mindfulness was “intentional suffering”, meaning an unwaviering intention not to avoid or escape the consequences due. On a psychological level, this closely parallels the internalization of the conomic costs.
- What would happen if you lost your willpower? Would you stay in bed until noon, lounge in front of the TV and descend into a vague never-ending spiral of indulgence? Perhaps this is not true human nature but a response to work. Why do we stay up late and dread waking up in the morning? We simply try to avoid the lives pre-calculated for us.
- Base your career decisions not on money, security or status but on what would I most love to give to the world.
- We think that art is self-expression which is strange historically. An artist used to be seen as a medium through with the divine operated. The artist was a servant of God.
- Language is more powerful than any other technology. Anything we accomplish, we do so through language. Quite often the purpose of our words is control rather than communciation.
- The entire world of modern human existence is builg on the interpretation of symbols.
- When the investment in something is large enough, we dare not ask ourselves if it has made us happy for fear of the answer.
- After staying in studying throughout school and spending sleepless nights as an intern, after all these sacrifices do you dare admit that you hate being a doctor? lawyer? etc…
- The realm of food is a way to practice being good to yourself.
- The conditioned self fears the freedom it so desires.
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