It’s about time I wrap up this “Who are you?” series. This time I’ll pass on a few observations from Lorna Marshall’s research of hunter-gatherers that may help demonstrate what I’m driving at. In my last post, Who are you? (Part IV), I pointed out how our ancestral old way just happens to mirror the […]
Continue reading…emergent property
Necessity is the Mother
If you’re unfamiliar with the neuroscience behind the illusion of free will, YouTube [Sam Harris on “Free Will”]. He does a good job of addressing the idea of free will, and points out enough compelling evidence to prove that free will is an illusion. Next, please YouTube [Sam Harris on His Debate with Daniel Dennett […]
Continue reading…The Harmless People
In the early 20th century, a few pioneers combed the back woods of rural Appalachia to document and record the last remnants of American roots music still unchanged by the cultural upheavals of the 20th century. This music later evolved into the folk, honki tonk, and country music of the 20th century. Similarly, Laurence Marshall […]
Continue reading…Natural Happiness
‘To like what I do rather than do what I like’ is a straightforward path to happiness. This motto helps prevent my expectations from dictating my life’s direction. No doubt, scripture (Buddhist, Hindu, Taoist, Biblical, etc.) first got me considering life this way, and life experience has since verified its truth (1). The previous post, […]
Continue reading…Who says chickens are stupid?
Who says chickens are stupid? Ignorant people, I assume. While this research reported in Science News isn’t about chickens per se, it probably would apply to chickens. I mean how much smarter is a pigeon going to be than a chicken? (Google [Pigeons match monkeys in abstract counting skills].) How much true difference is there […]
Continue reading…Counterbalancing I.Q.
The onion could be a metaphor for one’s lifetime. Each of us peel away layer after layer as daily experiences gradually turn into a lifetime. This maturing process helps to counterbalance any extreme characteristics we were born with. With each decade that passes, we see deeper and become more humble compared to our formative years. […]
Continue reading…Feeding the Worry Gene
Have you noticed how there is always something wrong? No matter how ideal circumstances are, something will go awry shortly. All this may be obvious, I suppose. What is less obvious is how the perception and experience of good fortune and misfortune are complimentary. As chapter 58 puts it, Misfortune, yet of good fortune its […]
Continue reading…Hold the Knowable
In my previous, Good Enough Is (p.356), I suggested that we have an innate need to pursue an important goal… something to hold in mind, to hunger after, and fill our mind space. I also put forward the view that this was an emergent property (p.121) of the basic hunter-gather instinct that drives life to […]
Continue reading…Good Enough Is!
Good enough is good enough, and naturally so. As chapter 46 notes, Therefore, in being contented with one’s lot, enough is usually enough indeed. Besides, isn’t this how nature plays out… step by step? Surely, this is the sentiment expressed in chapter 64, A thousand mile journey begins below the feet. This is how reality […]
Continue reading…Will-to-Live, Free or Otherwise
The drive to survive is shared by all living things from viruses on up. In some, if not all, forms of life, this plays out as a fear vs. need mediated survival instinct. Certainly, the survival instinct is a fundamental emotional drive in any animal I think of as having emotion. Naturally, there are those […]
Continue reading…“It’s the Economy Stupid”
Do you remember that pithy campaign comment from James Carville, “It’s the economy stupid”? I wonder if he knew how deeply universal economics is. Indeed, why don’t educators put this at the top of their list of the necessary education every child should receive? Could it be they don’t know? Economics is survival for all […]
Continue reading…And Then There Was Fire
I’ve always found pondering the how’s and why’s of life and the world to be irresistible. The mountain of historical and scientific information available certainly makes this challenging. Happily, a lifetime of inquiry may be paying off. I can see outlines of the big picture now. The constant difficulty lies in how mountains of detail […]
Continue reading…Upping the Ante
Have you noticed the ever-present urge to continue to up the ante? Not only that, but isn’t the sky often the limit? We can’t help but aim for the next step up, and when we reach it, that level becomes our new bottom line. Most of us are content for a while, but then we […]
Continue reading…Really, Have We No Clue?
As a child, I marveled at how everything seemed to work so well. The infrastructure and logistics to run society blew my mind, although I didn’t know that was the word for it. How the authorities dealt with all the sewage and garbage my hometown produced baffled me. I am still in awe that civilization […]
Continue reading…Naturally Unnatural, Naturally!
Occasionally I hear people opine on what is or isn’t natural human behavior. Doesn’t this depend on what part of the elephant (See Biology’s Blinders, p.2) one currently perceives? Elephant parables aside, I see this issue as emerging layers of reality’s onion. (See Tao as Emergent Property, p.121.) Let me sort this out… Like all […]
Continue reading…Ethics as an Emergent Property
(First Pass: “Chapter of the Week” 2011) Ethics is a curious cultural creature. What is ethical for one group may well be immoral for another. Certainly there are some ethical rules which span most groups, at least on the surface. ‘Thou shall not kill’ is almost universal, except for the many exceptions, e.g., it’s all […]
Continue reading…You Know
More than once, I’ve mentioned the likelihood that we put the cart before the horse when it comes to learning, understanding, and knowing. Over the last few years, I’ve become convinced that we only truly understand and learn what we already know intuitively. My suspicions began during our home schooling days as I began seeing […]
Continue reading…It’s Simply Nature’s Way
The Pope’s reference to suffering struck me. (Google [Pope Benedict stumped by Japanese girl’s question about suffering inflicted by the Tsunami].) Briefly, a young girl asked him, “Why do children have to be so sad?” Benedict admitted: “I also have the same questions: why is it this way? Why do you have to suffer so […]
Continue reading…Why God?
Why God? I have not heard this question asked much… if at all. Debate focuses mostly on whose God is true, the nature of God, or does God even exist. I suppose asking “Why do we believe in God” is a zoological inquiry of sorts. That is the place to begin… After all, we are […]
Continue reading…Playing With Dolls
I’ve been amused for years by society’s attempts to blame culture for things that are obviously biological. This is the old nature vs. nurture debate. Naturally, I could never convince others that nature was at least 50% responsible by reasoned debate alone. I suppose those who blame nurture and culture most vociferously, do so because […]
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