Posted on 10/13/2010 5:16:24 PM PDT by James Oscar
Yes of Course.
James
J: I had never thought of human evolution in quite those terms, it is really kind of cool.
MA: Very cool indeed.
J: Thank you for taking the time to give such a detailed explanation. It makes a few things a lot clearer for me.
MA: Good
J: You know, MA, that I have closed all my e-mail accounts where readers were giving me feedback.
MA: I understand.
J: It got a bit repetitious and, in all honesty, this project is winding down. I hope that our friendship can remain however - it is lots of fun knowing you.
MA: James, you are always welcome in my home and you can use my cabin any time you choose. After all you have done so much work up there you should own some sweat equity by now. But it will good to see you move on to something new. You have probably wasted your time writing about me.
J: MA I have never thought that you fully understand how well known and respected you are on the Internet. It is my opinion that your writings from the last seven years will be quoted for some time to come.
I would not have missed this series of articles for the world. This project was started on a whim, grew to be an all-consuming effort for me and it is now my prize possession. Not to mention Kate and the change she has made in my life.
MA: That is good to hear James.
J: But I would like to touch on a few subjects that have been asked by my readers, would you mind?
MA: Be glad to help.
J: I titled this project as “The Coming Wave” due to the first conversation we had up at the lake. What I would like to do now is to go back and address that issue in great detail.
When I was writing the first article in this series I tried to give a rough image of your worldview and your vision for the future. I did a terrible job transmitting that information and as a result several websites that were hosting my work were flooded with complaints.
Now that I have laid a better foundation on which to build that conversation, I would like to explore your concept of the “Coming Wave” with you.
MA: It seems a perfect day to do so.
thank you for the ping.
Mother Abigail led an amazing effort to analyze SARs at that time, and her intuition on Ebola was prescient.
Why can’t we govern the country this way ?
Could not agree more.
James
MA: No.
J: When we spoke at the lake for the first time your opinions were very new to me and, in all honesty, somewhat shocking.
I had never known someone with strong religious beliefs who also believed in evolution.
MA: It is not as unusual as you might think James. In fact the more you study the workings of the universe the more you find yourself in awe of the beauty.
J: And you feel that man is subject to both evolution and to God's will?
MA: James, why would you think that evolution is not God's will?
J: Well I don't know. Isn't evolution a physical system that functions independently?
MA: So is the morning dew and so is the rainbow. But to insist that the Creator did not create the operating system for his work is a bit naive.
J: Operating System?
MA: Why yes, evolution, gravity, electromagnetism and sex are all part of the big picture that makes this rare and wonderful experience not only exist, but change and constantly evolve. If you ever study fractals you can see that there may even be simple patterns or elements used over and over in varying magnifications. Sort of like building blocks but way more complex.
And, of course, we know now that the condition we once called chaos is all smoke and mirrors.
Chaos is simply highly complex rhythms that, at this time, are beyond our understanding. And James this is not a sermon about not knowing God, but simple mathematics.
We know for a fact (thank you Mitchel Feigenbaum) that the mathematical process whereby an orderly system moves into the realm of chaos is highly structured and a mathematically beautiful rhythm.
Then we lose our way. The rhythms are just too complex. That does not mean they don't exist, because they do - just that we do not have that level of perception yet.
J: Perception. I see. Actually I have done some reading that has helped me understand why you always site order vs chaos as an example of perception.
I have very limited math skills, but I can understand the significance of being able to predict events right up to and a little ways into chaos. It is way cool reading.
MA: Extra cool James.
Many thanks for the ping. I have been out of town until yesterday and am catching up on your thread. My best to Mother Abigail.
There have been a number of readers who have requested direct links to the first three articles. Here below you can access them.
This is a discussion board for scientists, however it is free and easy to register (very nice administrators), and it is a site you should have saved in your favorites just in case the SHTF. Here you will be getting the straight dope.
James
Article #1 http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?s=c8d75930eb6602cebe6804dc5e621d7a&t=114481
Article #2 http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?s=c8d75930eb6602cebe6804dc5e621d7a&t=128997
Article #3 http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?s=c8d75930eb6602cebe6804dc5e621d7a&t=139635
J: That makes very good sense to me MA.
J: So when you speak of being worried about challenges to our continued population growth (as a species) you are using that predictability?
MA: Very much so James. While we may be the overwhelmingly dominate species on this rock, it would be sheer vanity to believe that we exist out of the normal natural processes of life. It just is not true.
Our species is subject to all the forces that influence, regulate and contain population growth - we are not Gods. However it is our ability to understand and react to those forces that is our strong suit.
J: What kind of forces are you talking about?
MA: Well the most basic dynamic is simply this:
Is the birth rate larger than the death rate? If the answer is yes then you are in an era where the species is expanding.
J: Haven't we always expanded as a species?
MA: No, not at all. We have had a number of events that we call bottlenecks. A population bottleneck is where a significant percentage of any species is either killed or prevented from reproducing.
There have been a number of these events in our history, but the time-line, severity and number of bottlenecks is a very hotly debated subject. It depends a lot on which gene you backtrack.
But there is a general consensus that we might have been reduced to perhaps only 5,000 reproducing females around 70,000 years ago.
That is a very large event and the genetic implications of such a bottleneck are equally significant.
...
MA: Of course James, we are not above the biological forces that regulate all life.
J: MA I have a bit of a faux pas to admit to you.
MA: And what would that be?
J; In my first article, where I was trying to summarize your views on this subject, I used the term “the thinning of the herd” - and was severely castigated on several of the sites that were posting my thread. It almost crashed my project.
MA: It is a very loaded expression James. Many very ugly ideologies are associated with this phrase. It implies human intervention and some sort of selection process - like in animal husbandry. Bottlenecks in species are not like that at all. Often it is just a function of geography or climate.
There are, of course, dominate trends in these occurrences. I had a brilliant colleague who put it this way: "Among the classical markers of a species in crisis are sexual dysfunction and disease." Now there are occasions where this is not the case but it is true in the large part.
Hi James,
Thanks for this post! What fun to read. And I will have you know that my grandmother won the nickle slots EVERY time she went to Vegas with my parents and her daughter. She was cheap as heck and this brought our family a lot of fun having her “gamble” and win every time.
The worst diseases on earth are in our nation-wide labs funded by the same “homeland security” that molests American women and children at the airports in the name of catching Islamic terrorists.
I fear we will be seeing these diseases released in the US and around the world. Some of the most viscious humans on earth are atheist “scientists” who have bought into the human caused “global warming” ideology. It involves population reduction to save mother earth which is a nice way of saying killing people.
We had one in Texas give a professional speech in front of his scientific peers who received a standing ovation after suggesting they could help save the earth by releasing the Ebola virus. Someone I know runs one of those operations/labs and I gave him the transcript of a scientist from the speech. The speech forbade recording devises so this guy had to take notes on what was said. He was horrified and so was my friend.
They tend to trust scientists but they can not blindly trust scientists anymore. The ethics of Western science has been cleansed from the Universities and it is the wild globalism (replacement of the wild west) now. Eugenics is fine and dandy.
James - I read a lot of the MA threads in the beginning. Could you add me to your ping list (I guess you have one)? If MA says more stuff I’d like to read it, thank you.
MA: Well to put a finer edge on it - reproductive dysfunction.
James, we mammals have evolved a behavioral and physiological response to any population crisis.
When a mammalian population becomes dangerously dense, there is a reversal of behavior. Co-operation is replaced by competition, dominance and aggression.
If this sound familiar to you - it should. Also in these times of population stress you will find infanticide and gross neglect.
The resulting stress and violence also impairs both the immune and the reproductive systems.
James that is why epidemics often complete the crash of the population.
In some mammal species, crisis and crisis response recur regularly, leading to cycles of population growth and relapse, oscillating about a fixed mean.
Here you can think almost any wildlife species - deer and coyotes are very much in the news now because of exactly these factors.
J: Is it true for humans as well??
MA: Well, in man successive advances in food production have made possible geometrically growing populations, and unlike animals, we can choose to check population growth by reducing the birth-rate, instead of raising the death-rate, as in other mammals.
However, even with a flood of abortions, China's single child policy, Europe's low birth rate and other measures we are still on a very sharp curve.
No we are very much in the same stew as our more furry friends.
James
MA: You got it. So just to bring us full circle and give us a chance to freshen our drinks - when I speak of perceptions of reality this is a prime example.
It is imperative that you be able to look back on the patterns that we know are factual and make reasonable projections or observations about our future.
J: While MA went to get us another round of drinks, I could feel the sugar rush fading away and just a hint of the Turkey Comma thing coming on. It was now dark outside and the fire was roaring hot. It is terribly frustrating for her to be able to explain all that in such a concise and reasoned manor while I spent weeks writing a bunch of dribble that is - honestly - a bit embarrassing at this point.
I understand what she is saying - how could you not. But I need more from her. She is not being as open as she once was with me about this.
I think I know why.
Sometimes a writer labors over his work and sometimes it is like the greatest joy on earth.
I would not, for any measure you could offer, change my trade. How I got to this point from an article about the revolution in the New Media is very odd, but none the less here I am in front of the fire in the high sierra desert with the most remarkable person I have ever known.
Because I write for so many science editors, it is fair to say that I have seen my share of bright bulbs. But the steel and wit of this woman defies any conceptions you might have about her age.
I told you the Turkey was getting to me - just was daydreaming about the task and not really doing the work. One of my less attractive traits.
I gathered my thoughts and chose my words.
J: MA when we first met at the cabin you told me that you had grave concerns about our near future as a species. Is that still your position?
MA: Yes it is.
James: When you try and discuss it with people do they think you are odd?
(I saw a look on her face that I am not certain I had ever seen - just a hint of a raised eyebrow and a small shadow of doubt quickly passed over her)
J; Because I believe that you see way more than you have ever discussed with me and that you are super careful not to disclose any of these premonitions/projections with anyone - because people are largely idiots.
MA: James, people are not idiots.
J: Yes they are MA, if you in any way upset their perfect little vision of reality they get defensive and nasty.
Now I am not saying the people who read your threads are like that but those folks are a very very small minority of the population
Your everyday Joe wants to hear about how hope and love always conquer and if you tell some people truths they do not want to hear - they will get violent.
That is why I say that. I am not telling you something you don't know. You live the recluse lifestyle and keep your own counsel because your true thoughts disturb people.
J: She looked at me very hard for a long time, not a pleasant experience to be on the receiving end of that gaze. I think in that moment the scientist in her was shining and it was doing a very careful examination of the specimen - and that speciemen was me...
Placemark.
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