Ethereality

Preparing for our recent Robert Frost Dinner (26 March was his birthday), I found the following Frost poem in my 1967 anthology, a gift from my mother. Though written back at about the time I was born, this poem is a whimsical meditation that is just as germane to our current infatuation with information technologies and consumption of ethereal media such as music and cinema. Frost clearly dreams of being free of his physical body, the better to compose abstract verse. But he likens that state of freedom from the flesh to "evolution's opposite extreme", the jellyfish.

I like his use of the word "ethereal." To me it signifies something that is distinct from material reality; something in the realm of ideas, concepts, explanations, models of reality; that is, information. There's nothing supernatural about this meaning of ethereal. But it's a part of reality that is unique to living things with DNA that takes notes, and humans with their own kinds of notes, including poetry.

Etherealizing

A theory if you hold it hard enough
And long enough gets rated as a creed:
Such as that flesh is something we can slough
So that the mind can be entirely freed.

Then when the arms and legs have atrophied,
And brain is all that's left of mortal stuff,
We can lie on the beach with the seaweed
And take our daily tide baths smooth and rough.

There once we lay as blobs of jellyfish
At evolution's opposite extreme.
But now as blobs of brain we'll lie and dream,
With only one vestigial creature wish:

Oh, may the tide be soon enough at high
To keep our abstract verse from being dry!

Sam Harris: Science can answer moral questions | Video on TED.com

Sam Harris: Science can answer moral questions | Video on TED.com

We know and agree on the goals of human culture. We want collectively to survive and thrive and become all we can be; the same thing we want for our gardens and pastures. And just as horticulture is a scientific approach to gardening and animal husbandry, human culture could perfectly well be a scientific approach to getting what we want out of life. Neither specifies in detail how each plant or animal or human should behave. But it does specify how the gardener should behave in the face of threats to the health of the garden, and why, in each and every case. There is no reason to invoke the will of another in this; in the case of human culture, we do it for our own sakes and because we know how, and it’s time we admitted as much. This is what I believe Sam Harris is saying here.

The Poetry of Reality

John Boswell's remix series continues with a new video that focuses on Science as a human activity and the most effective method for gaining knowledge known to humankind.

The Unbroken Thread

So now there is a fourth "symphony of science" by John Boswell, this time with David Attenborough and Jane Goodall, with the poshumously peripatetic Carl Sagan. Here are some of the best lines:

"Those are some of the things that molecules do, given 4 billion years of evolution." [Sagan]
"Its a very wuzzy line and it's getting wuzzier all the time." [Goodall]
"Our planet is, as far as we know, unique in the universe; it contains life" [Attenborough]
"Its continued survival now rests in our hands." [Attenborough]

"There's an unbroken thread from those first cells to us." This is Sagan's line and it is taken as the theme of this symphony. That's what we've learned about the genetic code: that while it is ever changing, it is also eternal. It's as if a notebook was opened at the creation, and it has been gathering notes continuously ever since. The number of copies has expanded, seemingly without limit, though in practice there are of course limits, especially on each genomic variation. But overall, the notebook proliferates and each new note adds to the storehouse of information about what works and what does not work for life on this planet. And each individual has their own copy and makes contributions that are realized in new copies of the genome. Darwin may not have known about the molecular machinery, but he certainly grasped the essence of the situation when he wrote:

"There is grandeur in this view of life..as the Earth has gone on cycling... from so simple a beginning, endless forms most wonderful and beautiful have been, and are being evolved." -- Charles Darwin, 1872

A Universal Golden Rule?

I came across the figure on a facebook UU page. It's from a poster that can be obtained in larger sizes, presumably large enough to be able to read the different translations of the golden rule in the various faiths and philosophies. Or you can get the texts here. But the idea is plain enough. To me it echoes the message of a bumper sticker I like and have on my car, showing several of these symbols in a row that spells out "Coexist". I used to have a bumper sticker that says "Slow for Tailgaters," but replaced it with this one when I found it.

The quality of the drivers in Maryland disappoints me greatly. This week at the first stop light I come to on my way to work, there were two cars in front of me. The first in line was timid about turning on red, because of oncoming traffic. The second in line beeped his horn at the first car several times. Finally, the driver of the first car opened his door and got out, stood up, and looked back at the second car driver reprovingly. Whereupon, the second car pulled to the left around the first car and then made the right turn on red that he so fervently wanted, getting some rubber as he sped off. The standing driver of the first car stood there and watched him drive off, perhaps making a gesture at him, though I'm a bit foggy about that detail. By this time I was getting antsy and considering whether some additional horn blowing was called for! But then we were off into the morning rush hour traffic with reconsidered priorities.

I guess I'm just offering this as an example of coarse behavior that could certainly benefit from a more universal adherence to the golden rule in everyday life. It is so easy for selfish behavior to turn into anger and retaliation, and worse. Clearly it is anything but instinctive for us to exercise golden rule consideration for others. We need to be taught and to learn the advantages of that approach. Most faiths teach it, but sadly few individuals can see the advantage to it when faced with bad behavior.

Conquering Pandora

Avatar is a great, possibly a landmark movie, IMHO, and that of others and still others. It turns the tables completely on our history of science fiction about aliens, in which we express our fears of being exploited and conquered by an alien race, while demonizing them so we can deal with them as savages, should they appear. Think War of the Worlds, or Independence Day, The Matrix, or even Men in Black. In a stroke of genius, this movie asks "what would humans do" if they reached an alien world that was miraculously rich in "unobtainium" and populated only by simple aboriginal folk who do not even practice agriculture, to say nothing of high technology. Three guesses... Are we not the folks who corrupted the Golden Rule into: "do unto others before they can do it unto you!" It would be minutes before we began to mine the place; and to hell with the natives.

The movie is widely regarded as belonging to the genre of "Dances with Wolves," "Pocahontas," and other White Guilt stories in which an officer of the oppressing people "goes native' and joins the aboriginals in their struggle against his own people. The movie is also rich in references to American behavior on the world stage, especially in recent years, when questions arose along the lines of: "how did our oil get under their sand?" and when we concluded that the only acceptable response to a perceived risk was preemptive war.

Scientists play an interesting and typical role in Avatar, serving as enablers of war and exploitation even as they, themselves exploit the interests of others in support of their own fascinations. That's just as true on Avatar as it was in Peenemünde, Baikonur, Los Alamos, or Huntsville. One wonders if we can adapt to the apparent lack of others out there to exploit, or if we will go on girding to defend ourselves from perceived threats, as an excuse for exploitation, here on Earth and beyond it.

But the movie also made me think of that ultimate exercise in White European Guilt, the modern move to regard Columbus as a villain who upset the balance of nature in the New World by launching the extermination of Native Americans. And I know of no better expression of that view than a song by Tracy Chapman, called simply: America. Tracy never avoids or turns away from dark thoughts. She faces them and revels in them. Here are the lyrics and a link to the song. Tracy even manages to anticipate the theme of Avatar here, calling us down for our selfish motives as we begin to explore space.


AMERICA

You were lost and got lucky
Came upon the shore
Found you were conquering America
You spoke of peace
But waged a war
While you were conquering America

There was land to take
And people to kill
While you were conquering America
You served yourself
Did God's will
While you were conquering America

The ghost of Columbus haunts this world
'Cause you're still conquering America
The meek won't survive
Or inherit the earth
'Cause you're still conquering America

America
America
America

Your found bodies to serve
Submit and degrade
While you were conquering America
Made us soldiers and junkies
Prisoners and slaves
While you were conquering America

America
America
America

You hands are at my throat
My back's against the wall
Because you're still conquering America
We're sick and tired hungry and poor
'Cause you're still conquering America

You bomb the very ground
That feeds your own babies
You're still conquering America
Your sons and your daughters
May never sing your praises
While you're conquering America

America
America
America

I see you eyes seek a distant shore
While you're conquering America
Taking rockets to the moon
Trying to find a new world
And you're still conquering America

America
America
America

The ghost of Columbus haunts this world
'Cause you're still conquering America
You're still conquering America
You're still conquering America

© 2001 Tracy Chapman

The Pledge of Citizenship

Some Americans have problems with the content of The Pledge of Allegiance, and I'm among them, though I won't admit to any lack of commitment to my country or its founding principles. The Pledge always made me feel conflicted, for reasons I could never articulate well. Now there are some interesting ideas circulating about this, one of which can be summarized by the question: "Shouldn't the government pledge allegiance to the people rather than the other way around?" The following is a clipping from an article by Michael Lind that ran on 16 Nov 2009 at http://www.salon.com

"While a pledge of allegiance by the subject to the government is incompatible with American republican principles, a voluntary pledge of mutual support among the people who collectively create and own the government might be useful, if only as a succinct catechism of the American Creed. [With selected wording from the US Declaration of Independence,] if we replace the topical phrase "this Declaration" with a reference to the enduring principles of republican liberty, we might get something like this:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness; that to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundations on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. And for the support of these principles, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

"Call this purely voluntary pledge the Citizens' Pledge of Mutual Support for the Principles of the Declaration of Independence, or simply, The Citizens' Pledge. It would be addressed by Americans directly to one another, rather than to the flag or any other symbol of the state. Oh, and if you give a stiff-armed salute, you'll be sent to the principal's office.

Here's a suggested short "Pledge of Citizenship" that might be "memorizable" for voluntary recital on appropriate occasions.

We hold these truths to be self-evident:
that all men are created equal, and endowed with unalienable Rights;
that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness;
that to secure these rights, Governments are instituted;
that they derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.
In support of these principles, we mutually pledge to each other,
our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

And Then There Were Three

A third John Boswell composition on science has now appeared at symphony of science. It's a bit slower and moodier that the first two efforts I featured. All three are on the link you get clicking the title here. And it has also been announced that a collaboration with the great Jack White and friends at Third Man Records, in Nashville, TN led to release of a 7" vinyl single of the song "A Glorious Dawn," featuring a special etching of the Voyager Golden Record cover on the B-side. This makes for a great collector's item, and a novel way to experience the song as well. It was released 11/9, on Sagan's 75th birthday.

Ann Druyan and Jack White apparently collaborated on this so we can now breath a sigh of relief that there will not be legal problems concerning these remixes of Cosmos and other materials. You can go to the Third Man Records site to learn more about the release: http://www.thirdmanrecords.com/news.html

And to their store to order it: http://www.thirdmanrecords.com/store.html