Meerkats organize themselves in large family groups, called troops.
These troops wage war regularly with neighboring troops both in defense
of their home territories, and when they are seeking to acquire more
territory – usually forcibly taken from another meerkat troop.
This occurs when either their territory has become insufficient due to
weather,or the population of the troop has increased beyond the capacity
of their homeland to to adequately sustain them.
As in human-waged wars, death occurs frequently during and after
battles. Meerkats and humans die slowly and painfully from battle
wounds. Defeated troops suffer the loss of shelter and food.
Carefully considered and strictly speaking, these meerkat behaviors
fall under the human definition of patriotism as devoted love, support,
and defense of one's country. Love is defined as a feeling of warm
personal attachment or deep affection. Country is defined as the land of
one’s birthand any considerable territory demarcated by topographical
conditions by a distinctive population.
Meerkats possess systematic knowledge of their physical world, which
they gain through observation and experimentation. Additionally, every
meerkat kit is the pupil and responsibility of every elder relative in
their troop.Depending on which definition of science one chooses, one
could claim that meerkats practice science.
If pregnancy is the result of an unsanctioned liason, the imprudent
female meerkat is normally forcibly expelled from her troop. Shunning
follows expulsion. Miscarriage or the death of her young are the
expected reality for the unchaste female meerkat.If the troop continues
to shun her after she has lost her kits,then her survival chances become
virtually extinct.
Morality can be defined as conformity to the rules of right and
virtuous conduct, and chastity.
Under these definitions of human construction, I can see that meerkats
are practitioners of science and strict morality; they are patriotic beings
that participate in inter-troop wars; and that human beings construct
categories to organize that which they have observed into a humanely-
relational framework.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
More Nature and Nurture
For both humans and animals, I wonder how much of the overall feeling of well-being comes from the body's biological response to, and interchange with the vibrational component of music. How much of that feeling comes from a mind/consciousness/spirit's creative act of making music. Are their limits to the potential creative change occurring within the being as a result of being exposed to another's music?
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Music - Nature or Nurture
Music, however we define it, significantly impacts us and our experience of life. Can you imagine a life lived without any music? Is it even humanly possible to live without music? What is the function of music biologically? What is the evolutionary relationship between humans and music? Between all sentient life forms and music? Is human music really so unique from other animals music?
Whales, birds and other non-human beings are obviously not using music to increase sales, or, as far as I know - to overtly worship their Gods. I think that some create songs as tools to motivate themselves, or make music purely for pleasure, and often, to increase the odds of successfully mating - just like we humans do. Is there an absolute difference between how humans and some other animals use music, make songs, or is it only a matter of perspective? And how do we define or differentiate between music and songs - birds, whales, and wolves all sing, but their songs are not composed of linguistical lyrics.
Research shows that certain musical activity produces endorphin surges. Brain scans show that the feeling of euphoria you get when listening to music is accompanied by activity in the same parts of the brain that respond to the rewards of food, sex and psychoactive drugs. Is expressing and/or experiencing music such a vital component of human life because of the way it makes us feel? Are other sentient musically potent beings also experiencing neuro-biological music feedback? Do we all make music because it feels so good?
Erich Jarvis and Duke University Medical Center colleagues published a study in 2006 (Journal of Neuroscience, vol 26, p 9010. They found "increased dopamine levels in male songbirds when they sang. The levels were especially high when the birds sang to a female. Dopamine, the "feel-good" neurotransmitter, is important for learning. It is not yet clear what role it plays in birdsong, says Jarvis, but he suspects that its primary function is to induce reinforcement learning and that its secondary function may be to create a feeling of euphoria."
Some wild apes are known to regularly drum on naturally resonant objects. Some researchers think that, like whales, chimpanzees groups have distinct cultural practices of drumming and vocalising. Cognitive scientist Josh McDermott's study of monkeys, they choose lullaby-like songs over techno music. The research shows that this had more to do with a general response to tempo than any discernment of style. When offered the choice between a soundtrack of 60 clicks a minute and one of 400 clicks per minute the monkeys opted for the low-tempo track. For wild animals, potentially life-threatening fights, storms, vehicular encounters, etc. occur in nature as rapid sequences of sound. So were the monkeys' choice of lullaby nature or nurture?
I think it is pretty clear, that for us and other beings, music is both nature and nurture. Until empirical evidence can prove which came first, and how much of our attachment and response to music is nurture, and how much of it is nature, it remains a question for the philosophers.
Whales, birds and other non-human beings are obviously not using music to increase sales, or, as far as I know - to overtly worship their Gods. I think that some create songs as tools to motivate themselves, or make music purely for pleasure, and often, to increase the odds of successfully mating - just like we humans do. Is there an absolute difference between how humans and some other animals use music, make songs, or is it only a matter of perspective? And how do we define or differentiate between music and songs - birds, whales, and wolves all sing, but their songs are not composed of linguistical lyrics.
Research shows that certain musical activity produces endorphin surges. Brain scans show that the feeling of euphoria you get when listening to music is accompanied by activity in the same parts of the brain that respond to the rewards of food, sex and psychoactive drugs. Is expressing and/or experiencing music such a vital component of human life because of the way it makes us feel? Are other sentient musically potent beings also experiencing neuro-biological music feedback? Do we all make music because it feels so good?
Erich Jarvis and Duke University Medical Center colleagues published a study in 2006 (Journal of Neuroscience, vol 26, p 9010. They found "increased dopamine levels in male songbirds when they sang. The levels were especially high when the birds sang to a female. Dopamine, the "feel-good" neurotransmitter, is important for learning. It is not yet clear what role it plays in birdsong, says Jarvis, but he suspects that its primary function is to induce reinforcement learning and that its secondary function may be to create a feeling of euphoria."
Some wild apes are known to regularly drum on naturally resonant objects. Some researchers think that, like whales, chimpanzees groups have distinct cultural practices of drumming and vocalising. Cognitive scientist Josh McDermott's study of monkeys, they choose lullaby-like songs over techno music. The research shows that this had more to do with a general response to tempo than any discernment of style. When offered the choice between a soundtrack of 60 clicks a minute and one of 400 clicks per minute the monkeys opted for the low-tempo track. For wild animals, potentially life-threatening fights, storms, vehicular encounters, etc. occur in nature as rapid sequences of sound. So were the monkeys' choice of lullaby nature or nurture?
I think it is pretty clear, that for us and other beings, music is both nature and nurture. Until empirical evidence can prove which came first, and how much of our attachment and response to music is nurture, and how much of it is nature, it remains a question for the philosophers.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Human and Economic Statistics of Iraq War
Massachusetts Taxpayers pay $3.9 BILLION for cost of Iraq War in FY 2007.
For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:
1,132,002 Adults with Health Care
or
419,065 Scholarships for University Students
or
1,416,290 Children with Health Care
Global Poverty Facts:
•12% of world’s population uses 85% of the world’s water.
•51% of world’s wealthiest bodies are CORPORATIONS.
•225 of richest individual's combined annual income equals 47% of world’s wealth.
From: MCLA 2007 Hunger Banquet
The U.S. spends $16.67 BILLION in Iraq EVERY MONTH.
1/6th of war expense would provide 50+ years of stable U.S. Social Security System - without cutting benefits or raising contributions of individuals.
U.S. national debt was $5.7 trillion when Bush took office.
$2 TRILLION higher as result of war.
$800 BILLION increase under Bush before the war.
U.S. troops injured in Iraq is 15 times the number of fatalities.
52,000 returning veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
40% of 1.65 million troops already deployed owed disability compensation from U.S. government.
Combined health-care & disability costs exceed $600 BILLION in present-value terms.
FOR IRAQ:
Death statistics from first 40 months of war estimated between 450,000 - 600,000.
150,000 classified as violent deaths.
Total population of 28 million.
4 million displaced.
2 million fled Iraq.
50% of Iraq’s doctors killed or left Iraq.
Unemployment at 25%.
Baghdad has less than 8 hours of electricity a day.
From “The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Costs of the Iraq Conflict.”
Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in economics, professor of economics at Columbia University.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/12/7634/
For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:
1,132,002 Adults with Health Care
or
419,065 Scholarships for University Students
or
1,416,290 Children with Health Care
Global Poverty Facts:
•12% of world’s population uses 85% of the world’s water.
•51% of world’s wealthiest bodies are CORPORATIONS.
•225 of richest individual's combined annual income equals 47% of world’s wealth.
From: MCLA 2007 Hunger Banquet
The U.S. spends $16.67 BILLION in Iraq EVERY MONTH.
1/6th of war expense would provide 50+ years of stable U.S. Social Security System - without cutting benefits or raising contributions of individuals.
U.S. national debt was $5.7 trillion when Bush took office.
$2 TRILLION higher as result of war.
$800 BILLION increase under Bush before the war.
U.S. troops injured in Iraq is 15 times the number of fatalities.
52,000 returning veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
40% of 1.65 million troops already deployed owed disability compensation from U.S. government.
Combined health-care & disability costs exceed $600 BILLION in present-value terms.
FOR IRAQ:
Death statistics from first 40 months of war estimated between 450,000 - 600,000.
150,000 classified as violent deaths.
Total population of 28 million.
4 million displaced.
2 million fled Iraq.
50% of Iraq’s doctors killed or left Iraq.
Unemployment at 25%.
Baghdad has less than 8 hours of electricity a day.
From “The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Costs of the Iraq Conflict.”
Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in economics, professor of economics at Columbia University.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/12/7634/
Monday, April 14, 2008
Mass Transportation, an American Possibility?
Effective implementation of a mass transportation system must be a priority in any plan to reduce global hydrocarbon pollution.
My vision for America's clean, reliable, economic, and efficient mass transportation system includes:
1. Self-sustaining small communities provide their own food and energy with easily
accessible centrally located population hubs.
2. Mass transportation systems provide access between self-sustainable population
hubs and small communities.
3. Local hydroponic and organic food production replace mega-agribusinesses.
4. Each community would draw from one or more power sources, efficiently designed to maximize the potential of each micro and macro-environment.
Wave powered energy, solar energy from Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, tidal energy, geothermal energy, wind power, passive and active solar systems, combined solar-hydrogen energy production, photovoltaic cells, hydropower, biomass energy, the Tesla Coil, compressed air engine and other alternative energy driven transportation vehicles are known commodities that could flourish in a supportive environment bolstered by proper public and private policies and funding.
We must acknowledge the connections between regressive policies, unsustainable behaviors, global environmental changes and threats to planetary health and security.
A biocentric world-view could address these problems through rapid implementation of policies that provide tangible economic incentives for choosing environmentally sustainable products and services.
My vision for America's clean, reliable, economic, and efficient mass transportation system includes:
1. Self-sustaining small communities provide their own food and energy with easily
accessible centrally located population hubs.
2. Mass transportation systems provide access between self-sustainable population
hubs and small communities.
3. Local hydroponic and organic food production replace mega-agribusinesses.
4. Each community would draw from one or more power sources, efficiently designed to maximize the potential of each micro and macro-environment.
Wave powered energy, solar energy from Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, tidal energy, geothermal energy, wind power, passive and active solar systems, combined solar-hydrogen energy production, photovoltaic cells, hydropower, biomass energy, the Tesla Coil, compressed air engine and other alternative energy driven transportation vehicles are known commodities that could flourish in a supportive environment bolstered by proper public and private policies and funding.
We must acknowledge the connections between regressive policies, unsustainable behaviors, global environmental changes and threats to planetary health and security.
A biocentric world-view could address these problems through rapid implementation of policies that provide tangible economic incentives for choosing environmentally sustainable products and services.
Blackwater Stats
Continuing from today's discussion - Notes from congressional report on Blackwater October 2007
“A top Army sergeant is paid $51,100 to $69,350 a year in salary, housing and other benefits, a Blackwater contractor (often a retired sergeant) receives six to nine times as much. The U.S. government pays Blackwater $1,222 per day for one Blackwater “Protective Security Specialist...amounts to $445,891 per contractor” per year.
“Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., R-Tenn., noted that Army Gen. David H. Petraeus’ annual salary amounts to less than half of what some high-ranking Blackwater security officials in Iraq earn.”
Robert Scheer, The State Dept.’s Murderous Guardians
“A top Army sergeant is paid $51,100 to $69,350 a year in salary, housing and other benefits, a Blackwater contractor (often a retired sergeant) receives six to nine times as much. The U.S. government pays Blackwater $1,222 per day for one Blackwater “Protective Security Specialist...amounts to $445,891 per contractor” per year.
“Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., R-Tenn., noted that Army Gen. David H. Petraeus’ annual salary amounts to less than half of what some high-ranking Blackwater security officials in Iraq earn.”
Robert Scheer, The State Dept.’s Murderous Guardians
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Legislators of the World
"The acknowledged legislators of the world take the world as given. They dislike mysteries, for mysteries cannot be coded, or legislated, and wonder cannot be made into law. And so these legislators police the accepted frontiers of things."Ben Okri
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