Recently, Grinding.be posted a response to a Daily Galaxy’s longevity articles’ counterpoint by Bioethicist Leon Kass, and the cultural barriers he’s creating to longevity.

A quote that guts me is “the finitude of human life is a blessing for every human individual.” I’ve heard these words before from my mother of all people, who is smart but has no social agenda such as Kass and his ilk. I’d love to live to a thousand to see what humans become and how they change. I am overwelmed with what humans have done in our past and wonder what we’re going to be like. My mother doesn’t share that interest - she wants to die happy, healthy and secure. A “good, long run” as they call it today. Granted, the medical discoveries in 20 years may not be enough to trans-humanize her, but she’s dying on the cusp.

The major problem with Kass’ words is “blessing for every human individual.” I’m fairly certain that many boys dying from bullet wounds, parentless in Sierra Leone do not share that belief. Whereas, ironically, the suicidal religious people we’re encountering throughout the world feel extremely blessed.

Setting the blessing aside, I have to ask - “what is Kass’ goal?” Kass and people like Kass have some sort of entrenched meme that locks them into thinking breeding-is-good and redemptive-death-is-good. But living intellectually free is bad. Kass’ is creating a cultural barrier, or perhaps simply participating in a cultural barrier, that restricts change. Through capitalism, such barriers cause high risk-vs-reward mechanisms, but in this case, I believe the rewards is much more than money and resources.

Kass’ approach is an inhibitor of wide-spread use of life-extension, and those who have the resources to circumvent the obstacles Kass and ilk propose will cause a have/havenot split.

Now, you can almost argue that there’s the root of human races in our current world: homo sapiens capitalis (Western people with long lives and surmounting technology and culture) and homo sapiens restrictis (a population restricted to geography by infrastructure and warfare).

Right now, it doesn’t take much to cross over - in fact, those who reason/strive/risk it out, leave their community to societies more tolerant and stable. Those left behind without the resources are stuck in worn-torn areas (Congo, Sudan, Sierra Leone). But even that risk adds Darwinistic competition to the human race.

If homo sapiens capitalis develops a technology that creates such life extension, and Kass-ites can prevent just enough access, the race will split.

And compete for resources.

That’s a little foreboding. However, the alternative is that if individuals were allowed to choose their evolutionary paths, if they could decide which of their genetic and memetic views would procreate. What’s strange, if you think about it, is that Kass is choosing. It’s just he’s fighting to prevent our right to choose as well.

Nuff said on this one.

I finished Dean Hamer’s the God Gene with an amount of gnashing of teeth. The book is light and easy to read, and seemingly logical until the last two chapters. I’ve begun to tire of books that get to their salient point in the first three chapters and then spend the rest of book not taking the logic further.

The God Gene is exactly one of these books. He proposes his hypothesis, and then goes to prove it. Well, the proof is, in my opinion, as logic as anyone can get it without a experimental sandbox that allows 200,000 years to pass in a second. However, once his final proof has been implemented, he doesn’t take the VMAT2 gene for a ride.

If we are godcoded, where does it take us? Outside the “god exists or doesn’t exist” argument, which Hamer refuses to tackle - a proof such as this could be used as a chain saw - but then he doesn’t take even the most logical discussions that are dealing with with genetic engineering today: should we allow this gene to continue self-propagation?

Importantly, the only tease he does deliver on is separate VMAT2 from religion - VMAT2 is supposed to make us susceptible to religious experiences, to feeling at one-with-the-universe. But he doesn’t address what causes religious asshatosity - in short, he fucking wimps out.

As a man who’s put his entire career at risk by publishing in the field of genetics challenging entire political parties’ dogma, he’s remarkably shy about not committing to the most obvious conclusions of his study. In short, it’s an oriental massage without a happy ending.

My Happy Ending
If there’s a gene that makes someone superiorly empathic with the world, one that transforms a persons behavior from the greedy, selfish cow-consumers that we are into caring entities who want to improve the all-life’s conditions, then why do we have those that believe it’s ok to kill?

Step into my thought experiment:
Once upon a time, Bob was just an average everyday man but after a vicious infection, he suffered from a fever that left him delirious for a day or two. In that delirium, his god gene fired off and he fever-dreamt that he could walk a new path and improved the world - that if other people followed him, the world would be a better place. God, you see, told Bob that by not eating omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, the world would be a better place.

Once Bob returned to something that passed for sanity, he thought, “Wow, I gotta tell everyone about my excellent experience.” Bob’s friends listened - well, most wrote him off as a looney, but one or two listened and followed his suggestions. Bob, tho, is a man with a mission and goes forth and spreads the good word about not eating fatty acids. Bob anoints himself as the Great Bobbolama and stops eating. Bob becomes thin, lean and driven with his new diet - he writes a book, creates a website, markets himself effectively. Proceeds from his book, allows him to travel and talk to more people, and everywhere he goes, he’s deliriously thin from the lack of food.

Others see this optimistic guy, who’s traveling and smiling all the time and says, “Wow, he’s so successful.” Some media mogul with a talk show has a last minute opening in her schedule, and lacking for someone credible, invites Bob on. His book hits the markets’ top ten list and suddenly the Great Bobbolama’s a millionaire with an entire industry of people who aren’t eating essential amino acids.

Fat people, who really have no intention of losing weight, buy the book for a brief emotional warm fuzzy feelgood experience. Some of them lose weight for a variety or reasons, but in their mind, the book has made them a better person. These thin and smiling people are plastered on billboards all around the world. One appears to have a modicum of talent and parents stupid enough to sign a contract: she changes her name to Jennifree and a new media teen age popstarlet is born.

And then, some scientist publishes a book countering Bob’s Evil Amino Acid fever-addled theory, informing the world that starving one’s self is not a diet but will kill you. The thin people who aren’t dead yet denounce the scientist, the media invites pundits from both sides, the debate heats up. A has-been teenage media starlet is hospitalized and publicly warns society not to follow Great Bobbolama’s words.

The Great Bobbolama releases a press release inferring Jennifree, who was once his chosen follower, is now a heretic to the cause. Some other no-name schlep, who has been pudgy all his life, decides that killing Jennifree is the only way to get Jodie Foster to notice him.

Bob denounces schleps’ actions, but because he’s stammering from the lack of nutrition, stammers at a crucial moment which the media interprets that he’s secretly pushing his followers to kill non-Bobbite believers. Suddenly the hordes who have starved themselves into stupidity transform into suicidal deathtards bent on destroying all of those that challenge the Great Bobbolama’s words.

The Great Bobbolama, facing a choice of skinny death or surviving as a rich fucking cult leader, decides that sneaking a cheeseburger or two on the side is worth the cause. He officially, and irrevocably denies the deathtard activity because it’s damaging his sales (he’s moved onto an entire line of “The Great Bobbolama Says…” selfhelp books, with videos and celebrity endorsments) - but the damage is done. The cult splinters: the peaceful orthodoxy starvationists and the “I may not be fat, but I’m more loyal than you” aggression monkeys. Both are convinced that they are the one-true-followers of the Great Bobbolama.

After years of aggressive denouncements, and deaths of more media starlets, the Great Bobbolama announces he’s going to mend the rift between the two schisms. The orthodoxy, who’ve literally been starving for this fucker, feel betrayed, and decide it’s better that the Bobbolama die than to kiss and makeup with the aggression monkeys. So, on the eve of the Great Bobbolama’s attempt to heal the rift, his own preisthood kills him, pointing fingers at the other side.

The Power of Belief
I propose that the god gene triggers when a person needs something irrational to believe in when his physical and emotional condition causes himself to doubt the reason he exists. If this irrationality - either denial, just simple stupidity - allows one to appear successful, then others will imitate his/her success. The act of imitation places the original as a prime mover and therefore a position of authority. The pattern of successful branding is predictably repeatable, thus there will be followers. Since followers are human, language imprecise, and half the people in this world are below average intelligence, and people get off on telling other people what to do: some followers will do really stupid things like kill people.

Geez, that was simple - why couldn’t Hamer taken a chapter to say that?

For a while now, I’ve been following the talks over at Ted.com. I honestly don’t care why Teddites are doing what they are doing, but they are doing COOL things. Their talks are a little more and a little less than cutting edge - and they are wise, innovative, and probably some of the best efforts to mass communicate excellent achievements that occur in today’s society.

Ted has shocked me, like with the computer interface or raw data analysis demos, and it’s humbled me, especially when listening to the successes in Africa, their long climb from destruction. The most salient has been Jeff Hawkins Discussion about a Real Brain Theory. Hawkins is the genius behind handheld computing, in my opinion, and while he’s always going to known for that, unless his Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience is able to achieve what he expects to achieve.

If it does, we’ll be in a wonderfully new wide world that will make life much better.

Alan Turing, once he applied some thought to it, basically made an implied behavior - effectively, if we can’t detect a difference between real intelligence and artificial or mechanical intelligence, then there’s no difference. This is a cheap shot, but a valuable cheap shot - if you can’t tell the difference between synthetic and real diamonds, then they are the same thing.

So that’s the goal, but what are the objectives? What’s the steps to achieve the goal? Hawkins has a plan - it’s of course, not the only plan, but he’s been the only one I’ve heard on in the last 4 years to bring something new in my opinion. Maybe I haven’t been reading the right literature, but it was great to stumble across this Ted Talk by Jeff Hawkins.

If you think about it, without computers, we never had a physical representation for Intelligence. Animals are obviously not as intelligent as us. Tractors, factories, mountains, weather, river… none of these things are something that compare to intelligence as we know it. We’ve had no models - until some guy got a railroad spike driven through his head and suddenly behavior & brains was inextricably linked. Since then, we’ve learned a hell of a lot more. The closest thing that comes to my mind is a book - but books “remember”, but the don’t think.

However, in fiction - and the odd religious text, books predict a future, or a “possible future” - except for escapist fiction (fantasy).

Computers, from games to spreadsheets, are prediction engines. Right now they are crude core functionality of input-output. This brings me back to Jeff Hawkins. Our brains are not computers with memory, or books, but prediction engines. We create the reality by embracing, learning, modeling and predicting - over time, our predictions become more accurate. We change our economy, fashion and lifestyle through predictions - from educated guesses to inventions.

More importantly, it doesn’t appear to be all that hard to understand after seeing some examples.

Last year, I searched for “mashup” on google and got zip. Now you search and you get tons. Gotta love that. Recently stumbled onto DJ Earworm and I’ve got to admit, we’re at a brand new stage of artistic development.

I’ve long believed that we will develop a new level of language once we can communicate using emotions. First we used crude hand signals, body language and grunts - the rudiments which has gone from cuneiform and kanji and evolved into txtmsgs and L33tsP34K. Thirty+ years ago, we starting samples and scratching. Earlier, I pointed out about WiiJaying.

Sound, especially popular music, convey an emotional role, almost engram of emotion that when you hear the music, the emotions come with it. Mashups allow those emotions to overdub on each other, weaving a complex structure.

First we had a songwriter who took an original folk tune and made a new song of it. For instance how Hank Williams music pulls from early tavern & bluegrass music.

Then we had remakes of those songs. All through the 40s, 50s, and 60s, it was incredibly popular to make entire albums with no original songs.

Then we had an incredible rise of original music - very rarely now we have remakes, but soon people began to sample other works, evoking the original emotions.

Now we’re to the point where full musical structure are woven full cloth of other emotional impacts - so emotionally, there’s an entire landscape of musical combinations.

Now, if we could only learn to communicate in these complex glyphs to convey complex emotional information without having spend time to remix them all. For example, I come home from work late one night and the wife glyphs at me that “she’s angry, why I didn’t call, and she had her heart set on our anniversary tonite being special” and I glyph back that “two employees are in the hospital, the car has a flat and I’m sorry” all at once.

One of the necessary steps of communication is the ability to get the “other” to empathize with you, and more importantly make it seem you’re empathizing with them - removing the “other” in the communication. If we were able to just give our emotions to others and receive - without the definitions of “otherness” (male-female, black-white, my body space-your body space, etc), we could immediately know where the other stands and recognize a common path.

DJ Earworm’s mashups take this to a truly new masterful level, overlaying all of the emotions to make some increble stuff - I highly recommend his “What’s my Name?” and “Stairway to Bootleg Heaven”.

Other sites, please recommend yours -

Smashup Derby’s Smells Like Billy Jean (watch out, more than slightly adult content here) Please note that the crowd loves to sing along on these, indicating that the emotion is common to all of the people in the audience. What is it about Smells like a Teen Spirit and White Stripes?

Strangely, I’m reminded of Simon and Garfunkel’s cover of Scarborough Fair with Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme with the 6 o’clock news.

Took the rest of us long enough to catch up, hell, that’s 40 years old now.

Sometimes we stand beside greatness. Nicole Bradford, the Global Director of Strategic Growth for Vivendi Games appears to be one of those great souls who knows the value of commitment, and how to sell a good idea.

On Wednesday, Ms. Bradford announced an initiative that game developers need to help students. In her eyes, an mine, it’s a match made in heaven: Good developers needs practical knowledge of Math, Science, Communication, and Art. Our schools need mentors from community members - role models - to help students learn practical skills.

But this is also self serving, and not just in the “We get smart students.” There’s a political battle going on, and just like when politicians point at Booze, or Drugs, or Iraqis, saying “America is under attack”. This battle frequently involves GAMES. We’re too violent. Or corrupting the youth. Or just plain not good for kids, because we all know that our children should play innocent games like Ring Around the Rosie, or Chess, or Cowboys and Indians.

Now, I know *I* may have a problem when I volunteer to present Heresy.com games to children, but others in our industry don’t. I can offer my services to the more enlightened teachers and schools, maybe academies or colleges.

Bottomline, Ms. Bradford rocks, and deserves our support. I encourage all of you to offer her your assistance.

So, congrats, Sleeper Cell on a Year Two!

Year one was basic intrigue, a dash of “it’s a Moslem thing, you wouldn’t understand” and a bit of Moslem vs. Moslem discussion or, more cynically, “My invisible friend Allah is bigger than your invisible friend Allah, die die die!” In year two, we have a undercover agent (”UC”) rising up in the ranks from a Sleeper Cell member, to a Sleeper Cell leader. We have an actual atheist discussion in Ep 1, and probably the best ending ever. Every TV show has the inconsistent story plot that hieghtens tension but makes no sense - Buffy had her falling in love with Vampires, Heroes will have powers that sorta make sense but dont, and Sleeper Cell has will Darwyn ever have a handler outlive him?

Not trying to get into plot points, the reason why I follow this is that I believe Islam to be superior form of the Monotheist meme. To be a Christian, you don’t need to go to church (anymore). To be a Moslem, even the most liberal, is to subjugate. As Islam modernizes, and the the Arabic world has access to luxury, they too will “change” what a “devout” Moslem is.

Humans in harsh circumstances NEED reasons to live, despite the evidence before them. If you lived in Johannesburg, and were a black person during the times of Aparthied, you too would adhere to reasons to live. Currently, in the Islamic realm of earth, life is not as easy as it is… say in Cuba or Canada or Denmark. Having a religion that demands obeisance of the human will, much like a twelve step program, to spend calories on positioning your mind to continue against odds is a superior meme.

A more impressive part of Islam is the fact that obeisance requires public acknowledgment - they must bow to Mecca 5 times a day, wear head scarves, not drink alcohol. These public action steel a person’s insecurity about what others think of you - and if you’re inoculated against being different: you’re behavior sets you apart, defines you and more importantly, defines others that don’t behave as you as lesser than you.

Also, Episode 1 of Season 2 has a great ending.

Questions you may be asking:
WTF is Sleeper Cell?
A TV show. On Showtime.

Where do I get Sleeper Cell?
Honest people buy Showtime. Dishonest people download torrents.

Why is a stupidity-free website talking about a very religious show?
Because it’s a good show - while the scenarios are not completely realistic, the discussions/dialog appears genuine, and it’s got enough intrigue to keep me watching. Plus the romanticizing of Islam’s image that the show is doing (”religion of peace”), is interesting to watch.

My guts went cold this morning with the knowledge of approximately 100 higher education employees were rounded up in Baghdad today. It’s a reactionary move, but I think we’re seeing a home jihadi version of Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451: kill the knowledge, kill the knowledge keepers.

We’ve seen this fire before: Communist Russia and Cold War America. Fervent indoctrination with a clear and concise enemy and a hallucination of a plan to get there: kill the intellectuals.

This warfare is suspiciously effective: without higher education, people will be limited in their experience. Start re-education, like Soviet Russia with Fatwas. Control the present to control the past, control the past to control the future.

We’ve seen this behavior before: in China, in Russia, in America (McCarthyism), in Cambodia. It’s the exact same behavior of Germany - a flawed final solution therefore it’s neither.

So why does it matter?
The denial of our intellectual capabilities threatens the extinction of humanity. We must leave this planet. We must adapt our form to more threatening environments. Intellectuals prefer not to fight back under the aegis that peace equals reason. Intellectuals must stop thinking that peace and reason are equivalent. Most intellectuals are “peaceful” because they avoid confrontation.

I entreat fellow thinkers that instead of thinking peaceful coexistence, think of mechanisms to burn out the fear and anger first to enact change.

We must move forward.