Green Oasis

Humanist Mama is gearing up for Darwin Day this Thursday. (Both Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were born 200 years ago on February 12^th.) Among other great resources, she pointed out Understanding Evolution, an excellent introduction to evolution created at Berkeley. Most people, myself included, don’t really understand what evolution is and how it works. The site explains evolution from the ground up, looks at some common misconceptions, and has lesson plans to inspire our next generation.

Richard Preston gave a fascinating talk about the complexity of the redwood ecosystem. I recently had an opportunity to visit a grove of ancient bristlecone pines. It inspired awe to visit living things who are probably older than Christianity and will outlive me and all of the people that I’ll ever know.

I find it fascinating that we aren’t simply a human being or even a colony of coöperative human cells but a symbiotic superorganism.

I’m on candy-bowl duty here at the house while Lacey takes the girls around trick-or-treating. I’ve observed that I’m biased with the candy. I want to give out more candy to kids who I think are cute. And I had a really hard time not giving more candy to the four attractive teenage girls (approximately 16–17 years old) in matching babydoll outfits with short skirts. Biology influenced psychology in action!

Francis Crick discovered the secret structure of DNA while on LSD. He was accustomed to using low doses of the drug to increase mental function which reminds me of the juice of Sapho from the David Lynch film based on Frank Herbert‘s Dune. Mentats were human computers.

Unlike computers, however, Mentats are not simply human calculators writ large. Instead, the exceptional cognitive abilities of memory and perception are the foundations for supra-logical hypothesizing. Mentats are able to sift large volumes of data and devise concise analyses in a process that goes far beyond logical deduction: Mentats cultivate “the naïve mind”, the mind without preconception or prejudice, that can extract the essential patterns or logic of data, and deliver useful conclusions with varying degrees of certainty. (Mentat)

In the imaginary world of Dune, Mentats used the juice of Sapho to increase their considerable abilities even further. Perhaps LSD was Crick’s juice of Sapho allowing him to see the essential pattern of the DNA molecule by laying aside preconceptions and self-critical thoughts.

It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
It is by the juice of sapho that thoughts acquire speed,
the lips acquire stains, the stains become a warning.
It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
(Mentat Mantra)