Noosphere

I've been interested in this concept of a noosphere for a long time. I think Timothy Leary pointed out that that the number of networked computers on earth was approaching the average number of neurons in a human brain. With a person linked to each of these devices I felt that we were looking at the birth of a new prigoginic level of organization. A mind made up of other minds. That is to say, a global consciousness that was bigger than any one mind. Weather patterns and geology are mechanical. Ecosystems are biological. Networks are psychological. So, I took some time to reflect on the parallels between global mass media and psychology. How was the global information network like a human brain. Moreover, how had global thinking changed since the advent of this global network? Polarity was one theme I encountered in the last 30 - 40 years. I wondered if the opposing viewpoints organizing in the world were analogous to the right brain / left brain polarity in the mind. Do these competing viewpoints become part of a decision making system in the Gaian mind? In the human brain the corpus colosum handles communication between the right brain and left brain. It coordinates there perceptions of the data they recieve and relays the conclusions to the other half. I wondered if we could expect the rise of a "mediator mind" in the global network... a bridge...

So back in the message board days, I started this thread to get some thoughts together. It was interesting but, the group was much too eager to turn it into a political conversation. Of course politics is polarized, but it is only one theater of polarity. Everytime I see a poll which comes out nearly 50/50 on public opinions, I think back to this idea.

Clearly a noosphere is emergent, but what is its nature? When I get my review of Schizmatrix together, I'll have more to say on that topic...

Gospel of Thomas

The Gospel of Thomas Collection -- Translations and Resources

In my recommended reading list, I've mentioned the Nag Hamadi Codex several times. Philip K. Dick's VALIS is based on the writings from that discovery which are more or less a time capsule of early Christian thought. Dick grants the ideas contained in the codex a near sentient status as living information (logos.) The Gospel of Thomas found me in high school through Joseph Campbell's Power of Myth series with Bill Moyers. He references it briefly and quotes only one section but it caught my attention because it was familiar but where it differed from the Gospels of the New Testament it was profound. I make no judgements about the validity of the gnostic interpretation or the orthodox interpretation of Jesus's teachings, but I've found gnosticism to be very enlightening... or at least thought provoking with regards to accepted Christian bias (both for and against.)

Campbell's quote was, "Jesus said, 'Whoever drinks from my mouth will become like me; I myself shall become that person, and the hidden things will be revealed to him.'" (108) The Gospel of Thomas is different from the four Gospels of the Bible in that it is not narrative... it is simply a collection of things Jesus said. Many of the sayings are corroberated in the accepted Gospels... a few liek the one above is not. Scholars do suspect that the Gospel of Thomas from Nag Hamadi may pre-date the accepted Gospels by a hundred years or more and may provide the most accurate record of Jesus's wisdom. Remember that the Nag Hamadi texts were burried in the 400s to prevent their discovery and have not been tampered with in any way since. Scholars estimate the Gospel of Thomas may have originally been set down in 160 AD. It's not a long read. If it strikes your fancy, or you're just curious, Elaine Pagels has written a book which astutely examines the text and its signifigance.

Tongue Tied

Tongue Tied

Clearly, I'm making up for a week's worth of neglect today. But when there's nothing to talk about, there's nothing to talk about. I did have three books to finish, a baby on the way and some serious home re-orientation to accomplish... Not to make excuses, obviously when there's something to write about I can always find the time.

Have I mentioned that I really hate political correctness? I mean I hate it almost as much as I hate insensitivity and racism. I don't believe in pulling punches, if something needs to get hit, you should pound it. Through some convoluted web surfing I stumbled onto Tongue Tied. A passionate backlash to all acts of legally backed thought policing. Using the ACLU or any defamation league to curtail freedom of speech or thought is horrific.

It's a brilliant ploy... Using people's own inherent decency to make them feel indecent. Political correctness is a distraction in the war on prejudice. It serves to highlight differences and make divisions where none should be. More over it artificially suppresses thought through guilt which can never be a permanent solution to the problem. It's like stitching a wound closed without disinfecting first. The problem festers beneath the surface and poisons the whole body. The most overlooked aspect of the whole PC program is that it demeans the majority through guilt in order to prevent the marginalization of a few. This always sets up a really nasty backlash for the future. Anyway, some of these news stories on this site are hilariously absurd. I feel less sympathetic to people's "mental anguish" with every story.

Someone once said America is populated with Whiners and Busy-bodies (two of my personal pet-peeves) and the politically correct movement encompasses both.

Information Warfare

This article (below) also illustrates an insidious trend I keep noticing in all life-style oriented articles. When it comes to the environment, politics and social trends. Newspapers tend to capitalize on the fact that people only read headlines in many cases. You spot an article like this in your paper and read the first part and come away with one impression... however if you read the whole article you'll find the hard hitting stuff at the very end. The headline will scream, "DOOM" and in the last paragraph, the article will say, "all experts in the field disagree." You can't accuse the article of outright bias or slant, because they actually show both sides, but they give more credit to one side (in spite of the actual facts) with the formatting. It's Graphical Bias... This new phenomenon relies on the rise of GUI in computers and its affects on readers styles of skimming information. Generally people do not read every article in a paper, or all of every article they do read. When we were taught to write informative papers in school we were asked to clearly state in the introduction what we intend to discuss. That way the reader knows what information he/she will be getting. However, in the papers, the introduction only outlines what the writer wants you to take away from the article.

If you do a google news search on this study, you'll get a list of articles in 30 or so major newspapers and the first line or two in the article. If you read all of them you will find no hint that there is any dissent on the validity of this study. Only that the study documents / shows / confirms the link between health problems and sprawl. You have to get to the end of the first page of the Washington Post article to get into any hint that the study may be flawed. A second page? is that an anachronism in the internet news world or what? I mean we have scroll buttons right? Article length isn't really an issue, the way it is in print newspapers. Why a second page? So you won't read it of course. Especially if theirideological intention is to weaken an opposing argument. Lets call this the "Second Page Technique". Another piece of journalistic kung fu here is the lead off criticism of the study. The libertarian Reason Foundation... is this a political issue? no so why exagerate teh fact that this group is libertarian? Because the media has a standing libertarian=wacko thing going. The hope is to get you to dismiss all criticism of the study as by some fringe group... hopefully you'll have made up your mind to support these findings and closed it to criticisms at this point, hopefully, you stop reading now... you won't get to Peter Gordon of USC LA's planning department... a qualified source of some kind. This is the "Fringe Taint Technique", using an overtly dubious counter argument to preempt a valid opinion. You can't read Mr. Gordon's comments without that nagging word "libertarian" hanging just outside of your perception. His comments are tainted as a result and therefor demeaned... if not ignored altogether.

When you marry these techniques to the "Ideological Headline/Introduction" there is little chance a casual reader will be able to defend him/herself against the bias. Like a perfect assasination, it looks saccidental too. On a point by point anaysis, it feels like a fair article since it covers all the viewpoints. But the subliminal effect is devastating. I'll be looking for other articles that use these techniques as well as new techniques to add to my museum of ideological weapons in months to come. If I am spotting them this easily, then they have to be pretty prevalant. Good luck out there... being informed is a battle!

Sprawl May Harm Health, Study Finds

Sprawl May Harm Health, Study Finds (washingtonpost.com)

Oh boy, the saving grace of this article is it's reality driven conclusion. I am staunchly anti-sprawl, but this study has so many holes in it it makes me sick. Sprawl seems, to me, to be another symptom of some human attitude and needs to be added to the list of ailments that afflict these people. Even at a basic capitalist level, sprawl is a symptom... an effect... not a cause. Right from the start I was wondering how long the people surveyed had lived in their current location. For example, my aunt moved to suburban Balitmore because of existing health problems. Additionally, the old myth that the suburbs alienate people and make then unsociable has got to be re-examined. Something is driving people to these suburbs in increasing numbers... surely they aren't rushing to have their gregarious tendencies crushed in anonymity. I think there is a distinct human drive to be anonymous. People want to be left alone. They work all day, all week and when five o'clock or friday rolls around... they want to escape. They want to snuggle up in their little nests and not have to deal with alien influences. They don't want telemarketters calling, they don't want door to door people coming by, they don't want to leave the house or yard... It's a decompression zone. American workers are very efficient at work. We have very high productivity here in the US and it's driven by our work ethic. When we're at work we give it our all. Long hours, short vacations, overtime. It takes its toll on us. So naturally when people leave their jobs, they want time to themselves. They WANT to drive 20 minutes away and seclude themselves.

Now another problem with this study is its failure to look at the work status of its surveyees. My dad, while not technically living in "suburbia" have lived outside of Baltimore since I was a small child. He worked very hard his whole life in the high stress investment business and developed heart and circulaiton problems but since his retirement these problems have decreased but his home is the same. Can we blame his health problems on his car-centric home situation or on his chair-centric/high-stress 35 year career?

Additionally, can we say for certain that the sprawl is to blame for poor air quality, or is it simply the lack of adequate vegitation to clean the air? Air quality inside urban areas is noticeably lower than in the suburbs to anyone. Unless the study is proposing the entire 350,000,000 population moves to rural areas (effectively boosting the alienation/isolation phenomenon) then I don't understand the point. New suburbs need years to re-establish significant tree growth. You don't just wave a wand and get trees.

Then there's the question of what a suburb is. There are lots of suburbs and lots of types or suburbs. In my experience, most suburbs are outside the municiple area of the associated city. So what are these people studying when they talk about Atlanta or Washington DC? I'm very familiar with Baltimore, and I know that the majority suburbs there are not even in Baltimore City. They are in Howard County, Baltimroe County, Carrol County, Prince George County, etc. By contrast, a city like Lexington, KY has an urban county government which makes the whole county a city... horse farms and all. Are we talking about gated communities? The typical cul de sac neighborhood, is not really a typically "poor" neighborhood, so which ones are hit hardest? and are they really sprawling suburbs?

Junk Science is too weak of a term for this study... it's rabidly irresponsible. Grasping at straws is more like it. The only thing this study should tell you is that more study is needed. And study done by people who do not have a predisposition against suburbanites. The problem is life. The sprawl and the health problems are results. My favorite part of this article is the note that the long held opinion that the suburbs are contributing to mental illness in their inhabitants, does not seem to show up. Which bolsters my opinion that the isolation and seclusion of the suburb is solving some mental stress for its inhabitants... not contributing to it.