I don't know about other mammals, but one big factor that throws people off in YAH scenarios is the "Y" ... the "you" ... the human.
We can never understand where WE are unless WE know what WE are.
Dredd Blog has been criticized ad nauseum over the years for explaining that so long as we don't know what a human is, we will continue to be disoriented in the context of YAH.
Today, I will use the space program that has been ongoing for years and years to illustrate the point.
We landed on the moon on this date almost 50 years ago (July 20, 1969).
Only a few years ago we discovered that only 1% of our genetic material is human, and the other 99% of our genetic material is microbial.
Not only that, we also learned that the microbial cells in and on us keep us healthy and/or alive (see video and this).
Anyway, the space program was designed without our knowing the "Y" of "YAH."
So, how are we going to exist in space without 99% of ourselves?
Is that why our bones turn rubbery in space after awhile?
What microbes do we have to take with us, including backup systems, when we travel in space?
You ask yourself some similar questions now ... but watch the video and especially the Q&A following the lecture to give yourself ideas.
Dr. Bassler, in the video below, (watch it to find out some critical YAH information) explains that we have only very recently found out that the "Y" is not what we have though it was for a few thousand years (On The New Meaning of "Human", 2).
Got "Y" ?
The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.
Dr. Bonnie Bassler lecture, with a follow-up question answer session:
25:00 the language of bacteria has a basic word, with "carbons" (carbon atoms) added on to that basic molecule so as to make additional "words" used by different species of bacteria.
29:30 E. carotovora releases antibodies that it is immune to, so as to eradicate competition that are not immune to those antibodies.
39:00 many, if not all, bacteria use a word known by all bacteria, when communicating with other species of bacteria different from their own species.
57:25 Q&A session ... why did we just find this out 400 years after microbes were discovered using the first microscopes? "hubris ... snobbery ... dogma that only higher species have language, etc."
We humans seem to be various degrees of consciousness (whatever that is) encased in a balanced but decaying structures composed mostly of bacteria and other mutually beneficial organisms. We engage these carcasses in all sorts of activities (none of which means anything), mostly to waste energy; then one day our time is up and off we go. I'm not sure whether the consciousness part continues after the body is cast off.
ReplyDeleteTom
Tom
I do not like grouping the sane with the insane, the clueless with the aware, nor the bad with the good.
DeletePeople like Dr. Bassler do not deserve to be grouped with the scientist who was called the Unibomber.
The good people "we" are not the same as the bad people "we."
That's where the 'varying degrees of consciousness' comes in, Randy - to distinguish between the two on the slippery slope of awareness. i'd like to think they're a separate species, but instead they're just examples of psychopaths/sociopaths in our midst giving the rest of humanity a bad name.
ReplyDeleteTom
Gov. Brown struggles against deniers, says congress is useless, and urges city mayors to take up the cause (Gov. Brown blasts climate change 'deniers').
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile he is being sued for allowing Oil-Qaeda to poison the populace (On The Origin of "Conspiracy Theory" - 6 ).
He does not seem to be practising what he preaches.