Posts Tagged ‘Food’

About Autarky

Thursday, October 11th, 2012

The amount of local cooperative energy-companies in the Netherlands (in 2012) is increasing. It all has to do with the decrease of the price of solar-sells but there is more at stake.

Local energy-companies are part of a movement aimed at Autarky. Autarky is the quality of being self-sufficient.

The word Autarky comes from Greek αὐτάρκεια (autárkeia), itself from αὐτός (autós) = self and ἀρκέω (arkéo) which in its passive form means be satisfied, content or “Out of my own Power“.

Fractal Human Distribution Network

Fractal Human Energy Distribution Network

The need to become self-sufficient has certainly to do with the current economic-, ecological- and energy crisis. People are afraid that the supply of vital energy and food will suddenly stop or become priceless. This is not the only reason.

Some people think we are wasting our money, food and energy by producing nondurable throw-away goods in which the packaging is sometimes more important than the content. They want to create durable products and services. This is not the only reason.

Some people don’t trust the suppliers of their food and energy, their politicians and/or the caretakers of their savings, the banks, anymore. They believe that their food is intentionally manipulated, their savings are wasted, their country is sold out to the rich and their environment is polluted for just one simple reason, Greed, the opposite of “Being Satisfied”.

The people of the autarkic movement want to recreate the necessary functions (bank, energy, food, work, healthcare, government) themselves in a cooperative way in their own living context.

Atmospheric Energy Diagram

Atmospheric Energy Diagram

The local cooperatives  are now joining on a higher (mostly country) level and are  in need of a shared (real-time)infrastructure. The current infrastructure does not support flows that move between many participants (so called peer-to-peer-networks).

The current system is a Hierarchic Top Down System containing Huge Highways that are connected to Big Production-facilities. This makes it impossible to consolidate, share and distribute resources peer-to-peer on a local level.

The Electric Highway

The Top Down System has created Global Markets where the local production is sold  to the highest bidder.

The Global Markets are the playing field for advanced speculators that make a lot of money. After the deal is made the local production is transported to a far away destination. That is the reason why the Top Down Systems are integrated in world-wide Logistic Systems.

If we want to coordinate all the local initiatives we need advanced systems that Up- and download, control, predict, connect, share, balance and distribute vital local resources on the short and long term.

The Panarchy Cycle of an Ecology

The Panarchy Cycle of an Ecology

Examples of these systems can be found in “crowd funding“, “virtual power plants”  and “treasury management” (balancing many small amounts of Money at the short and long term).

In Nature we find comparable (Fractal) Distribution-Systems in the Lungs, the Arteries, Riverdelta, the Weather Cycle and Ecologies.

All of these fysical Flow Systems, that map 1 Resource-> on Many Resources or Many Resources->on 1 Resource,  are based on the third Law of Thermodynamics called Constructal Law.

Virtual Power Plant

Virtual Power Plant

In the philosophy of the Stoics and Cynics of Ancient Greece the perfect human was not only arete (“all-around excellent”) but also independent of every need. Arete was associated with a full life as a citizen of a city.

Later Spinoza (“On Human Freedom“), Rousseau and David Thoureau (Walden) have developed their own autarkic philosophy.

Autarky was the ideal of a complete man who needed no one and no organization. This ideal can also be found in Zen Buddhism, Taoist practise, Early Christians (Nazarites), the Catholic Order of the Franciscans and the Protestant Quakers.

In reality it is almost impossible to be completely self-sufficient as a lonely human being. We need others when we are young, sick and old and we need others because we are specialized (“Talented”). Autarky is a possible aim for a small community.

Resource Balancing in Nature (Lungs, RiverDelta)

Resource Balancing in Nature (Lungs, RiverDelta)

The religious, cultural and political movements at the left and the right aimed at living the “good life” (“Living Slow“) are converging in  the movement of the Cultural Creatives. The Cultural Creatives are the new Elite that is moving to the AND-state (Left AND Right).

They don’t believe in the old Competitive Ideologies (Socialist, Capitalist, Religious, Liberal, Nationalist, Conservative, Globalist, etc..) but want  to focus on the Shared Collaborative Values between all Humans. We all need Love, Food and Shelter.

The Stoic Zeno shows the Doors to Truth and False

The Stoic Zeno shows the Doors to Truth and False

Autarky has always been a major political aim of countries. Autarky is about the possibility to control your own future and to become independent of other powers that could use your dependency to tell you what to do to get what you desperately want.

At this moment the shortage of fossil fuels, especially oil and gaz, is used to influence the policy of other countries and is the cause of local conflicts in the Middle East.

China is buying all kinds of vital materials to make sure their economy will not become dependent on others. If they will succeed and nobody doubts about that, they will become the economic controlling power of the world.

Reaching a state of local autarky, being satisfied with what your environment provides you, has become the aim of the wordwide sustainability movement.

Total autarky is possible when you want to live as a stoic or a survivalist. Most people accept a more simple living, move off-the-grid and build autonomous buildings that make use of  renewable energy.

Allotment Garden

Allotment Garden

Others start to farm in their own backyard, join an allotment garden or move back-to-the-land and practice sustainable agriculture.  To handle their surpluses and shortages independent  local markets are created that make use of  alternative currencies.

A strive for (regional) Autarky pushes the need to innovate to a higher level because not all regions contain the right materials, knowledge or experience to realize everything everybody needs. To become fully Autarkic the Production and Consumption Systems in the Region have to be based on simple concepts and parts that are available everywhere. Simple concepts are concepts that are easely copied.

The only way to combine Simple and Complex concepts is to use the Concept of Self-Reference (Fractals). The only way to make use of parts that are available everywhere is to make use of the Simple Building Blocks of Nature. A good example is the use of algea in food processing.

The concept of Autonomy not only plays an important role on the many levels of human (personal, organization, country) and animal society (Competitive vs Collaborative (Ants)). It is also a major subject in the research of (Second-OrderCybernetics (Control Theory).

Self Reproducing Systems

Self Reproducing Fractal Systems

Second Order Cybernetics is concerned with the Control of the System of Systems (the Meta-System). Hierarchy is not the solution to this problem because it leads to the logical problem of Infinite Regress (“Turtles on turtles on … all the way down”).

The Meta-System is controlling, reproducing and balancing itself by a Fractal Feedback-Cycle that moves Backwards (Consumption) and Forwards (Production).

The concept of Self-Reproduction is called Autopoiesis or Autocatalysis. The Design Philosophy of Cradle to Cradle is a good example of Autopoiesis.

A System is an Autarky if all its Levels are capable of Self-Reproduction.

If a human wants to become self-sufficient he has to accept and develop his own talent and find complementary people so he is able to create a Self-Reproducing Unit.

The smallest Self-Reproducing Unit in Human Society is the Family living in one House. This House has to produce more than enough Energy and the Garden has to produce more than enough food to support the Family.

Garden City (Culemborg, the Netherlands)

Garden City (Culemborg, the Netherlands)

If we cluster all these Self-Reproducing Families/Houses & Gardens in a small City the chances are high that the combined talents of the families will be able to supply every profession needed if the people of the city want to Live a Simple Life.

It is also possible that the surplusses and shortages of the families can be compensated by creating a Market on the level of the small City or one level higher, the Region.

An Autarkic Movement becomes an Aggressive Competitive Nationalistic Movement when the Citizens of the Country feel that their Country is plundered by outsiders and their Leaders promise to get it all back by expanding the Space to Live (“Lebensraum“) to facilitate everything that is needed.

This happened when Germany was preparing for War after the enormous reparation payments of 132 billion gold marks to the Winners of World War I.

The Autarkic Movement could also become a Peaceful Cooperative Social Movement like the Movement of Gandhi in India when the people accept the Good Life they already live and want to share the surpluses with others who are in a worse state.

LINKS

Dutch Report about Local Energy Companies (in Dutch)

About the house that produces his own energy (Passive House)

The Complete Book of Self Sufficiency

About Close-Loops Systems

About Smart Grids

About Anti-Fragility

About Fractal Distribution Systems

Jerry Rifkin: About the Distributed Economy

The John Seymour School for Self Sufficiency

About Entrainment

About the EU Policy of Smart Specialization of Regions

About Darwin and Collaboration 

About Artificial Life

About Smart Technology

About the Thermodynamics of Living Systems

About Worldviews (How to find Complementary People)

A City is an Organism

About the Viable Systems Model of Stafford Beer

About Garden City

Gandhi’s view on Capitalism

The Autarkic Dreams of Germany

 

A City is an Organism

Saturday, February 12th, 2011

The System of Life is growing in size and in complexity, and so do the infrastructures sustaining it.

In the age of social media and online marketing, it’s become increasingly difficult to discern the truth from the hype when it comes to weight loss supplements. LivPure, a product that claims to help individuals shed excess pounds, has generated a significant amount of attention and discussion. However, many consumers have raised concerns about the authenticity of LivPure reviews and the safety of this weight loss solution. In this article, we’ll delve into the LivPure reviews, the science behind it, and whether it’s a safe option for those seeking to lose weight.

Understanding LivPure

LivPure is marketed as a natural weight loss supplement designed to support fat burning, appetite suppression, and increased energy levels. It has gained notoriety through aggressive online advertising and a presence on various social media platforms. While it may seem like a promising solution, it’s essential to evaluate its claims and consider the science behind it.

Fake Hype or Real Results?

One of the primary concerns surrounding LivPure is the authenticity of the reviews and testimonials shared by supposed users. Many individuals have accused the brand of employing deceptive marketing tactics to create a false sense of credibility and success. Some common red flags include:

An abundance of overly positive reviews: LivPure seems to have an unusually high number of glowing reviews and testimonials, which can be indicative of fake accounts or incentivized reviews.

Unrealistic before-and-after photos: Some before-and-after photos associated with LivPure reviews appear to be manipulated or fabricated, further raising doubts about the product’s authenticity.

Lack of scientific evidence: LivPure often makes bold claims about its effectiveness without providing scientific studies or credible sources to support these claims.

Consumer Reports Investigation

Consumer Reports, a trusted and reputable source for unbiased product reviews, has conducted an investigation into LivPure. Their findings reveal that LivPure has failed to provide adequate scientific evidence to support its weight loss claims. Additionally, there have been numerous complaints from consumers who experienced adverse side effects, such as digestive issues and jitters, after using the product.

Is LivPure Weight Loss Safe?

When it comes to the safety of LivPure for weight loss, it’s crucial to exercise caution. While some of the ingredients used in the product, such as green tea extract and caffeine, have shown potential benefits for weight management, LivPure’s specific formulation may not be safe for everyone.

Potential side effects of LivPure may include:

Increased heart rate and blood pressure due to caffeine content.
Digestive issues, including nausea and diarrhea.
Anxiety, restlessness, and jitteriness.
Insomnia or disrupted sleep patterns.
Moreover, the lack of transparency regarding LivPure’s ingredients and potential allergens can pose a risk to individuals with allergies or sensitivities.

Conclusion

In the world of weight loss supplements, it’s essential to approach products like LivPure with skepticism and critical thinking. The excessive hype and lack of concrete scientific evidence, combined with numerous reports of adverse side effects, should raise serious concerns among consumers. It is advisable to consult with a healthcare professional before using LivPure or any similar product, especially if you have underlying health conditions or are taking medications.

Ultimately, the safety and efficacy of LivPure for weight loss remain questionable, and consumers should prioritize well-established, evidence-based methods for achieving their weight loss goals, such as a balanced diet and regular exercise. Always be wary of products that seem too good to be true, and rely on reputable sources like Consumer Reports for unbiased product evaluations. Your health and well-being should be your top priority.

In 2008 the point was reached where more than 50% of the world population lives in cities. That percentage is growing. By 2030, over 60% of the world’s population – nearly five billion people – will be living in urban area.

The System of Life is generating Super Organisms and the City is one of them.

Urbanization is only a relatively recent phenomenon. As far as we now know urbanization started in Mesopotamia around 4000 – 3500 BC.

For the Ancient Mesopotamians, the cities were the centers of life. Their beginning of time was not a Garden of Eden, but rather an ancient site called Eridu, which they believed was the first city ever to be created.  The creator of Eridu was Enki, the God who came out of the Deep Waters of the Ocean  (the Abzu). The city of Eridu was destroyed by the Great Flood in 3117 BC.

Every time one of the Rulers of a City took control over many Cities and a State was created with a new Center, the Capital. In the Center of the Capital the Palace of the Ruler was situated. What we see is an Expanding Pattern in which the same Structure repeats itself all the Time.

Initially the two life-essential resources for cities were Water and Food.

As Cities grew and as technology evolved, the supply of these resources became dependent on energy for processing, for pumps and for transportation. In the process, cities and their resources evolved into a system of life energized by the individuals that populate cities, and fuel its dynamics.

mexico-city

Mexico-City

Kleiber's law

Kleiber's law

About the Law of Kleiber

The Law of Kleiber shows that Bottum-Up Structures are more efficient than Top-Down Structures.

It also shows that Big Structures are more efficient than Small Structures. The Law is applicable from the level of the Bacteria to the Level of the City and higher.

These two statements are a contradiction until we realize that there are two ways of looking at the same structure. One view is the Top-Down View. The other is the Bottom Up View. When we look Down we see a huge Hierarchy and start to believe that Big is Beautiful.

When we look Up we see that all the work is done by Small Cooperative Components starting at the Bottom with the Bacteria.

The Law of Kleiber is explained by the fact that all the organisms (including the Cities) contain the Same Fractal Structure.

Bacteria exchange their DNA

Bacteria exchange their DNA

About DNA

In the Beginning the Chemical Soup generated Self-Reproducing Chemical Factories. These Factories combined into bigger Factories by exchanging and combining their Factory-Designs (DNA-parts).

Every time when the Factories fused they became more Efficient, Bigger, Stronger, Older and therefore more Competitive. When the Factories became more Competitive they started to Protect themselves against the other Factories.

To Protect themselves the Multi-Cellular Systems began to Sense in Many Directions and became better and better in Predicting the Future.

One of our Ancient Ancestors is the Sponge which is a static Cluster of Bacteria. Scientist have detected that the DNA of the Sponge has a lot in common with the Human DNA. The Sponge contains the Basic Fractal Structure, the Tube.

In a later stage our Ancestors developed something we call a Brain. The Brain is used to Sense the Now and Predict the Future.

The Human is a Moving Sponge who is able to Imagine. With his Imagination the Human is capable to Change the Future (and the Past).

Sponge

The Sponge, the Tube, is the Basic Structure

One of the Bilateria: The Octopus

The Octopus is a Sponge with a Brain.

About Innovation

The Law of Kleiber can be explained by the principle of Self-Reference (Similarity,  Fractals).

The Small Structures at the Bottum combine into comparable structures on a higher level.

What we don’t see is that the structures on every level can be decomposed in the Same (DNA-)Components with a different Scale and a different Name.

Innovation is nothing but a  Combination of  the Components in many different ways until all the combinations are made.

At that moment One of the Combinations becomes the new DNA and a new Level is explored.

Life explores every possible path.

About Cities

A City is a Combination of Houses.

A City protects a Cluster of Houses. A House protects a Cluster of Humans and a Human protects a Cluster of Organs.

All the way down to the Bacteria,  Cooperative Clusters are formed that give the participants a more Secure Way to Live.

A House is a Body. It supports the Body but it also contains all the Bodily Functions.

If we provide the House with these Bodily Functions the House becomes more Sustainable. It is possible to regenerate the Waste that the Humans produce into Energy just as the Liver is doing in our Body.

If we Cluster the Bodily Houses into a City and we provide the City with the same functions of the Body we are able to create structures that are independent of the input of external Top-Down Sources of Energy and Food.

If we are able to detect the DNA of the House and the DNA of the City we are able to Compose new Types of Houses and Cities that are Adaptable, Scalable,  highly Sustainable and are also in Balance with Nature.

It will also be  much more easy to Destroy or Move buildings and cities to another Place without the production of Waste.

looking-to-toledo1

Toledo (Spain)

About Synchronization

In the Miedeval City the Major Cycle was the Cycle of the Seasons. In the Modern City we have become almost independent of the Cycles. We import Food and Energy out of every place in the World.

It takes a Lot of Energy to transport the Food and Energy and Many Places on Earth are dependent on a small amount of other Places that contain the Sources of our always increasing Need to Survive the Effects of our Environment.

When a lot of People (The Slaves) are dependent on a small amount of people (The Masters), the Masters start to dominate the others and increase their Power until Eternity. Power is the most important Addiction of the Humans.

The problem becomes bigger when we realize that many people are producing Food and Energy but are themselves not able to use the Food and the Energy they are producing.

The independence of the Cycles has created a huge unbalance. This unbalance is not only visible in the City but in every place on Earth that is providing Energy and Food to sustain the Modern City.

The only solution to this problem is to create self-sustaining (autarkic) Cities that are able to supply their own food, water  and energy.

Paris

The kernels of Paris

When we want to restore Balance we have to Synchronize the Cycles in the City.  This can be done with the help of Smart Technology (Sensors, Actuators, Analytics) but we can also make use of very old fashioned techniques that were used in the Middle Ages.

When Humans communicate from the Heart and focus on the same subject, the Humans start to Synchronize. They become a  Group.

The most important structure in the Miedeval City to Synchronize its inhabitants was the Building of the Heart, the Church.   The Church was always situated in the Center and was visible from a long distance. The Church was also the only place where people were always Protected.

The Human Heart is doing the same thing as the Church is doing in the City. It connects the Mind with the Organs of  the Body and the Pericardium provides one of the major Rythms of the Human Body.

If we want to Synchronize the City we have to create a Center where People are able to Commun(e)nicate about the Shared Goals of the City. The most important way to share can be found in the Human Culture. The Centres have to contain all the ways Human Culture is performed.

chartres4

The Spiraling Spiral in the Memory Palace of Chartres, the Symbol of the Fractal Universe

About the Memory Palace

Art, Music and Singing were United in the Medieval Cathedrals. The Medieval Cathedrals also contained all the Knowledge (The Memory Palace)  that was needed to understand the Universe.

If we want to Synchronize the Modern City we have to build Modern Cathedrals in the Center of the Center and use them as Places to Commune, to Educate, to Make Music, to Dance and to Sing.

We have to design them as Modern Memory Palaces (Simulators) to teach the Masses about the Fractal Universe and give them Feedback about the State of their own Environment.

sagrada-familia-barcelona-projection

The Sagrada Familia in Barcelona (Antoni Gaudi)

LINKS

This is a  presentation about The City as an Organism

Why the Tube is such an Important Structure

About The Law of Kleiber

Why Innovation is a Combination of Combinations

An Interview with Geoffrey West of the Santa Fe Institute about the Law of Kleiber

About Thermo-Economics

About the Autarkic City

About Cybernetics

About Synchronization

How Gaudi used a Machine to design the Sagrada Familia

About Machines that generate Architectures

How the Heart Synchronizes the Body

About Super Organisms

About Smart Technology

About Addiction

About the Master/Slave-relationship

About the Heart

Why the Cathedral contained all the Knowledge that was Needed

About the start of Civilization

How the Hedge Funds are Starving a 100 Million People

Friday, April 25th, 2008

The Banking Business has created the Credit-Crunch. The Banking Business has created the Great Depression. The Banking Business has created many Bubbles. The Banking Business has advised people to buy shares while they knew the shares were highly overvalued. Now the Banking Business is stimulating the Food Crisis in the World.

 Analysis being carried out by World Food Program (WFP) estimates that about 100 million people have been pushed deeper into poverty by the high food prices.

The “Silent Tsunami” will affect more people on every continent than the real Tsunami in 2004. It will destroy more livelihoods and the nutrition losses will hurt children for a lifetime.

Everybody believes that Prices Rise when there is a Shortage of Something. The highest bidder takes all.

The main cause of the World Wide Food Shortage is Western Way of Producing, Selling and Wasting Food. We are Manipulating the Market and The Consumer but we are also destroying nature by fertilizers and genetical manipulated seeds. We are also throwing away a enormouss amount of food.

The Multi-Natioals produce genetic manipulated seeds, artificial fertilizers and artificial food. They control the Transportation, the Media, The Financial streams and the Governments (The World Bank). The multi-national food companies are making record profits.
 
The profit of Monsanto has doubled. Similarly, the Mosaic Company, one of the world’s largest fertiliser companies, saw its income rise more than 12-fold. The prices of some kinds of fertiliser have more than tripled over the past year as demand has outstripped supply. As a result, plans to increase harvests in developing countries have been hit hard.

The Farmers at the beginning of the production lines are mostly poor. They will not profit from the rise of the prices of their products. This is not something new. The Poor get poorer and the Rich get richer. They are blocked to enter the Market. They are also blocked to produce their own natural fertilizers and their own natural seeds. Most of them are now unable to be self-sufficient. They have to buy food and y are unable to pay for it.

When you are very rich you can play with “the Fundamental Law of the Market“. You can buy a lot of goods, store them and create an artificial shortage. This game is called Speculation. The Multi-Nationals are creating an artificial shortage.

A very advanced Speculation Game is called Hedging.

When you are Hedging you use the Power of Money to Move the market UP to a certain point you want it to reach. If your hedge works out fine you leave the market when it Moves DOWN. At that time you let the “Bigger Fools” pay for the Downfall. At this moment the Tax-Payers are paying for the Downfall of the Speculators in the Housing Business. The Hedge Funds have already found a new Target, Hunger.

At this moment Hedge funds are Moving into the Food-business and they are making Big Money.

Commodity speculation spread long ago from standard products like oil and gold to anything edible and available for trade on the Chicago Futures Exchange. These days there are futures contracts for everything from wheat to oranges to pork bellies.

The futures market is a traditional tool for farmers to sell their harvests ahead of time. In a futures contract, quantities, prices and delivery dates are fixed, sometimes even before crops have been planted. Futures contracts allow farmers and grain wholesalers a measure of protection against adverse weather conditions and excessive price fluctuations. They can also help a farmer plan how much to plant for a given year.

But now speculators are taking advantage of this mechanism. They can buy futures contracts for wheat, for example, at a low price, betting that the price will go up. If the price of the grain rises by the agreed delivery date, they profit.

Some experts now believe these investors have taken over the market, buying futures at unprecedented levels and driving up short-term prices. Since last August, this mechanism has led to a doubling in the price of rice-including the 500,000 tons that the Philippine government plans to buy in early May to address its own shortage.

Experts are already discussing what they call a “Super Cycle,” set off by constantly growing demand in China, and by farmers unable, in the long term, to keep up with that demand as they sow their seed and harvest their crops. The planet has only a finite amount of land for farming.

Greg Warner has worked in the grain wholesaling business for more than two decades. His office sits a block away from the Chicago Futures Exchange. He’s an analyst with the firm AgResource, and he says what is happening now in the wheat market is unprecedented.

“What we normally have is a predictable group of sellers and buyers-mainly farmers and silo operators,” he says. But the landscape has changed since the influx of large index funds. Fund managers seek to maximize their profits using futures contracts, and prices, says Warner, “keep climbing up and up.”

He’s calculated that financial investors now hold the rights to two complete annual harvests of a type of grain traded in Chicago called “soft red winter wheat.”

Wagner is stunned by such developments. He sees them as evidence that capitalism is literally consuming itself.

One of the major players in this business is ABN AMRO. When somebody asked the manager of this business about ethics he answered that he was not interested in a discussion about this subject. “We are aware of the current discussions relating to agricultural commodities but we make the drills, but others have to do the drilling”.

The World Food Program is asking everybody to donate money. They need more money (775 million!) than the “real” Tsunami to solve the problems of the 100 million. The sad thing is that donating is helping the Hungry but is also helping the Rich. It helps them to sustain their Gamble.

In the end your donation will be payd to a very Rich Person who has enough money to buy an enormous amount of Food.

This also happens when Governement is “helping” the WFP. It is a very intelligent trick to move money from the Public Domain to the Private Domain. In the end You pay More and They Increase their Wealth. IT happened with the Credit Crunch. It happened with the Great Depression. It happens all the time.

Just like every Bubble the Food Bubble will also burst at a certain moment. It is not difficult to imagine when this will happen. It will happen when a very small part of the world is able to pay for the food.

The Bubble is already infecting the Economy of the Rich Countries. When a Very amount of people is able to buy Food the End State will be reached and the Prices will drop. At that moment The Hedge Funds will move into another area of (artificial) Shortage.

The poor people in the West are already unable to pay for the food. At a certain moment the Middle Class will feel the effects. When the Poor People in the Rich Countries will experience a Food Shortage they will Riot.

Just like the poor people in the Underdeveloped Countries are Rioting. When the Riots start in the Getto’s of the Big Cities the Rich will become Afraid. They will Ask for Protection of the Police or the Military. In the end they have to surround there homes with walls and create there own food supplies.

The rising prices not only affect the Poor. They also affect the Policy of the FED to stop the Credit Crunch. Higher prices stimulate Inflation and Inflation can only be stopped by an Increase of the Interest Rates. Higher Interest Rates will deepen the state of Depression.

Is this what the Investors really want?

The Ethics are not of My Concern. They are the Business of Somebody Else.

We Produce Weapons but we are not responsible for the Use of the Weapons.

We Fight a War but we are not responsible for the Killing of Innocent people.

We Advice people but we are not responsible for What we are Advicing them.

We Pollute the World but somebody else has to Clean Up.

We Use all the Resources of the Earth but somebody else has to Take Care of our Children.

In the advanced Western Civilization we just look at the Profit. Investors are playing their hedge in the Global Casino and just don’t realize that they are gambling away the daily food supply of the world’s poorest people.

In the old, “Savage”, civilizations the Decision Makers had to Evaluate their Decisions on the effect of Seven Generations. They Knew they needed Nature, their Neighbours and their Offspring to Survive.

Funny.

Every Company has turned itself into a Green Company. They want to “Save the Earth”.

Are the Poor People on this Earth not Included in their Policy?

I know Why. You Know Why. Money makes the World go Round?

My Advice:

Always Take Responsibility for Every Action.

We are all Part of an Ecology and someday the Ecology will React and You will encounter the same things Others are Experiencing.

Do You want to Live in an Environment where You are deprived of Food? I don’t think so. Nobody Wants that.

REFLECT BEFORE YOU ACT.

LINKS

About Ethics in Banking

Why all Organisms are Moving Memories

Monday, November 12th, 2007

Rodney Cotterill explains a lot about the structure of very simple bacteria. What he shows is that even bacteria have Emotions.

To agree with this we have to agree on a definition of the Emotions. Agreeing about “What an Emotion is” is one of the most complex discussions in Psychology. The discussion is so complex that there is really no discussion possible.

The simplest way to solve this discussion is to start with the meaning of the word Emotion. Emotion simply means “Movement“.

So an Emotion could be described as “Something that moves us” or “Something that shows to other People that we are Moved“.

We are moved by an Event, Something that Happens. Something that “Makes a Difference“.

An Event is a Change in our Environment or Context. This Context could be our Internal Environment (our Body, Pain) or our External Environment.

When you are a bacterium you are moving in an environment that contains Food. You need Food to produce Energy. The environment is not homogeneous. The concentration of food is different in the Space the bacterium is exploring. It even contains deadly food, Poison.

A bacterium like Escherichia coli  procures information by probing its surroundings, through the propulsion provided by its flagellum. In effect, this creature integrates incoming chemical signals during a few-second period of its travels, and adjusts its direction of advance accordingly. The integration is achieved through temporary chemical modifications to molecules located in the bounding membrane, which transfer nutrients to the cytoplasm, and also through changes to certain other molecules in the interior of the cell. Such integration is essentially a short-term memory mechanism”.

The bacterium is probing his environment. When he finds “food” he acquires “energy” and his mover, the flagellum, reacts. The process of intake and movement is a cycle.

The Cycle takes time (a few seconds, a delay, a Rhythm) and acts as “a short term memory“.  Memory is not stored in the body of the bacterium. The Memory of the bacterium is his Cycle.

When the bacterium finds Food he circles around. He is attracted to the Center. When he finds Poison, he moves away. When he moves away his flagellum rotates anticlockwise.  When he is attracted his flagellum moves with the clock. The bacterium shows spiraling behaviour.

The Bacterium LOVES Food and he HATES Poison. In between he is EXITED (Chaotic). He starts to Probe, to Explore, his Environment to find Food (Love) again.

The Emotional State of the Bacterium is a 100% correlated to the State of the Bacterium itself.

The Bacterium Is His Emotions.

When the Bacterium could be AWARE of all his INTERNAL states he would need many words to explain his emotions to us.

When we could show the bacteria that his states are “just” related to a few EXTERNAL states that are related to “the amount of Food in his environment” he could reduce THE AMOUNT OF WORDS to DESCRIBE his emotions to a few.

Cotterill shows that in time many new features (mostly Sensors) are added to the Organisms that followed the Bacterium in the process of Evolution but the basic structure of the bacterium stays in place.

I cite:

The ultimate evolutionary product was the brain itself, though there is not universal agreement as to why this structure actually developed. One obvious view is that it served to gather the sensory organs and their interneurons into a single unit, an alternative idea being that its precursor emerged at a primitive stage, as a device for coordinating the two sides of the body“.

The peripheral reflexes can act independently of the brain, but they can also be coordinated and sequenced by it. The main point to be grasped here is that the brain’s primary purpose lies in the need for inhibiting peripheral reflexes, when particularly sophisticated sequences of muscular movements have to be executed“.

The Brain is not Thinking. It is inhibiting Thinking.

We think independent of the Brain.

The Brain is INHIBITING our thinking when we want to override the Action Patterns that are stored in our Bodily Cycle.

We want to override our Experience when something happens and the Event is not related to our Goals.

Goals are related to Expectations and Expectations are something we, Mammals, are able to “calculate“.

We, the Mammals,  are able to create an Image of the Future. By the process of Abstraction we are able to generate “schema” or “actions patterns” that are imaginary.

When our Goals are violated we are just like the primivitive organisms able to permit the current movement, switch to  another, or stop altogether.

Just like them we have a choice but our choices are not only applicable to the real world.  We are able to switch between the real world and other worlds. The underlying system is comparable it just works on another level.

We, the organisms, are Moving Memories that ARE our Emotions. We are all looking for Love (Energy) and when we are without Love we start to Probe to find it again.

LINKS

Why an Event is not a Collision

About Deleuze and Events

About Deleuze and Ecology