Thursday, January 27, 2005

MIRRORS OF THE SOUL

DO NEURONS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?

[cross-posted at cul's "RATBOY'S ANVIL": January 26, 2005: "Monkey see, monkey do"]

Is Evolution All Biological? Or Cultural, Too?

There's this notion that we evolved consciousness due to physiological changes in our brains, aeons ago. But our ancestors and relatives among hominids and simians share many of the same innovations. Why don't they have Tivo, like us?

There's another notion that there exists among us humanoids a kind of racial consciousness, or group mind. Some people call it the great unconscious, a vast aquifer connecting us all, down there in the bottom of our minds, a sort of animal thing, but more evolved. Other people believe it's a higher, more transcendant thing, like the starry skies above, where our minds join in cosmic harmony.

We tend to theorize like this when we don't have quite enough information to really nail something down: Just enough to get us ruminatin'. But, that's what we do. It's a human thing, man, you wouldn't understand. The question of precisely how, and when we evolved or invented or received language, I mean speech, is one that may never be resolved, definitively. But get it we did, however, whenever; and we were never the same: In the beginning, there was the Word. And then all this OTHER shit. It enabled us to begin building these bridges between minds, and to act together, across centimeters or miles, nanoseconds or millenia, to build what we superciliously refer to today as civilization. And civilization made higher and higher technologies possible, which made communicating and working together, teaching and learning more widespread and more powerful. So, are we still evolving? Physically and mentally? Individually and collectively?

Some of us are, one way or the other. Where the rubber meets the road to Nirvana, though, is in some mental or physiological thingie that turns on this: Mirror neurons, which enable us to not only mimic, but to experience and learn from the words and actions of others. Our brains actually respond physiologically to things we see other people do, in exactly the same way as they do when we are carrying out the same acts. As if we were capable of instantaneous recording, storage and playback of whole physical routines from the real world, in our tiny minds.

Now, some of us are cheap Chinese VCRs, that only record and play back grainy copies of what we've seen and heard. But some of us are multi-media computers, capable of analyzing, changing, improving, and passing on the improvements to others. I wonder if there isn't some physiological or cultural thingie that makes some of us act like sheep or monkeys, and others act like leaders or artists? Is this a glitch, or an evolutionary switch? Is it like autism, or more like neanderthalism? A brain defect, or a "great leap forward" in physical or cultural evolution?

I'm not sure if it matters exactly what it is, or what causes it. Not so important as recognizing it, and doing something about it. If you look around you, you can see that the world is dominated by monkeys and sheep. Most people are scarcely capable of leadership or creativity. Whether they are physically or mentally disabled, or somehow less evolved, as they say in Aspen, culturally or biologically, they are in danger of being left behind. And the evolved ones are in danger of being subsumed, or wiped out by them. Clearly, we are at a great juncture in human evolution. Clearly, the throwbacks recognize this, instinctively, if not intellectually. Clearly, I say, because we can see that they are taking steps to gain and hold a dominant position over more evolved people. What is not clear is what the more evolved will do about it. Right now, they seem to be navel-gazing, or self-destructing. This will not win any evolutionary or social struggles.

If you are one of these less-evolved people, biologically or culturally, you should and probably will find someone to lead you in this struggle to secure your dominance. If you are more evolved, you must take a creative leadership role in moving society in the evolved direction, or leaving it. Otherwise, evolution will cease at this point, and the neanderthals will simply phase themselves out, or blow themselves up. What are YOU going to do?

"MIRROR NEURONS and imitation learning as the driving force behind "the great leap forward" in human evolution"

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SUICIDE ISN'T PAINLESS

OR IS IT?

No Postcards From The Edge

Hard to find good information on this subject. Obviously, no one has ever come back with success stories. On the Internet, you have the "ethical suicide" or "death with dignity crowd," basically ministering to the terminally ill. Then you have the professional Satanists offering a variety of final home remedies, in grisly detail. There are also bogus sites, trying to suck you in and then help you out. Can't imagine how that works. I guess some people might really just be looking for help.

If you're just looking for a non-prescription, easy-to-swallow, perfectly legal, easy to get pill that gently puts you to sleep, forever, you're out of luck. Even if did exist, and you could get it, you'd still be leaving more than a hundred pounds of rotting meat behind. Not to mention the blood, vomit, urine and/ or feces you let loose with during or after death. And somebody will have to clean that all up. Kind of a drag.

Then there's the embarrassment. A friend, neighbour or family member, maybe a co-worker or a schoolmate will have to find your horrid, stone-cold, stinking corpse, and deal with it. A bunch of cops, firemen, paramedics, coroners, undertakers, dogfood butchers, whoever, will troop in and out of your final resting place, cursing and mocking you, manhandling you into a dirty old van like roadkill. And some obsequies will be necessary. Even for a suicide. No chance of simply slipping off nice and quietly, into the void.

If you have anybody who actually loves you, they'll hate you. If not, well, it'll be a short funeral. If you have kids, they'll be marked for life. A lot of suiciders are children of suicides. It is a bit of a curse, that keeps on giving. I wonder if fathers think of all this, as they drive their cars out in front of a big truck, which drives the steering wheel through their chest, destroying their heart. And others'. Selfish. Thoughtless. No?

Still, there is some attraction to the notion of drawing a line, making a clean break, cutting everything neatly off. A final solution. Some resolution, at last. If it is an illusion, you'll never know it, right? At least the bullshit comes to a screeching halt.

Or does it? Maybe it just gets worse. Maybe only your body dies, but your consciousness lives on, trapped in a rotting shell, forever. Certainly, you won't be going to Heaven, or any sort of a better life. There are rules. Even in death, you can't escape the goddamned rules. Even in death, the indignities go on, perhaps. Is it worth the risk? Or should one simply suffer on, swallowing more horseshit every day until death occurs naturally, by choking on all the shit? A bright prospect. It makes that rotting alive thing seem cozy. At least you'd be alone, in your dark, cold, damp hole in the ground. Except for the insects. Wonder if you can feel them, eating you?

Maybe drugs or drink are a better solution: Self-medication, they call it. If a permanent, insensate fog, devoid of all thoughts and feelings could be entered into, that might do just as well. A slower kind of suicide. It doesn't work all that well for mothers. One has these unfortunate moments of lucidity, not to mention the hangovers. And the kids, staring at you. Well, I wouldn't worry about that. Not here. Not now.

So, all in all, I'd say that old man Sartre had it right; Huis Clos. Sans issue. Pas de sortie. C'est la vie, non? Alors, garcon, un bock!

Damned morbid out, tonight! Even morning would be better. Shall we check it out?

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