Everyday Junglist
Bio
Practicing mage of the natural sciences (Ph.D. micro/mol bio), Thought middle manager, Everyday Junglist, Boulderer, Cat lover, No tie shoelace user, Humorist, Argan oil aficionado. Occasional LinkedIn & Facebook user
Stories (568/0)
Could Love Actually Be a Net Negative for Humanity
Introduction I am not one to complain about tests being too hard. In fact, generally speaking, the more difficult any given challenge, the more compelling I find it. Even for me however to "write a personal reflection that explores the complexities of love" is a challenge for which I must cry uncle. To find something interesting, and more importantly, something which has not been said a million times before, by a million other people a million times more talented than me, about a topic that may the most thought and written about in the history of humanity, is likely not possible for a person of my limited abilities. That said, since I am already sitting here at the computer and fully committed to writing something, and since I have also decided that no matter what the outcome I will submit it to the above referenced challenge, I must go on, and if you are a are a fan of intellectually stimulating run on filled ramblings, then I invite you to read on. What is to come will no doubt not exactly fit the criteria of the aforementioned challenge for which this piece is being penned. However, in the spirit of difficult challenges I challenge the judges and you the reader, to try and find a way to make it fit. If I am up to the challenge surely you can be too.
By Everyday Junglist3 months ago in Humans
Analogy Does Not Recapitulate Reality
The Possibility of Analogy Does Not Necessarily Correlate with the Probability of Reality I take a hard line against the currently (and formerly) in vogue position of equating human beings, particularly their brains, with computers. To me it is obvious that no such equivalence exists despite decades of suggestions otherwise. The number of analogies between various structures/functions of the human brain and those of a computer/computer system are as large as the number of neurons estimated to comprise said brain. The prevalence of these analogies often makes us forget that they are only that, analogies. They are not based in scientific fact, but instead are based in the imaginative capacities of the organ which is the topic of these comparisons. The possibility of analogy is however often confused with the probability of reality. Those things for which we can analogize more are thought to be more accurate representations of the real relationships of the things being compared. Therefore, because there are so many analogies possible between how (we hypothesize) a human brain works and how a computer works, it must be true that a human brain is very similar to, or exactly like, a computer. The point of analogies is (or should be) to help clarify/deepen our understanding of a thing through a comparison of that thing and/or it’s attributes with another (usually similar but not always) thing. We suggest that the first thing is like the other because of x, y, and z and the comparison allows us to see the thing we are trying to clarify our understanding of in a different way. To ‘see’ it anew. In no way however is the analogy an argument (it is not an argument and should not be viewed as such) as to the actual similarity (in point of fact/reality) of the two things. It is for illustrative purposes only and carries no truth value or “reality bestowing” power. Analogies are powerful, but they are not all powerful. They can clarify but they can also mislead. We must not confuse our ability to create analogies with our ability to clearly see, study, and understand reality.
By Everyday Junglist4 months ago in Poets
Inverse Simplified
Top To Bottom Author's postscript: I am appending this postscript only because apparently Vocal also has a 5 word minimum for all published works. The in addition to the 600 word minimum it has for most published works, except for during some challenges and in the Poets community where it is normally 150 words, or something like that. Get rid of the stupid word count minimums already Vocal. Gheesh. How many times do I have to keep dumping on you about this before you will finally listen? In order to write the worlds simplest inverted poem less than five words will almost certainly be required.
By Everyday Junglist4 months ago in Poets
Immunity from Evil
I wrote a piece a few years ago where I asked the question if it were possible for an evil man to be as critically self aware of his nature as a good man? I recently reposted it here. I encourage you to read that piece first as it provides some background and perspective for the following discussion. Here I ask a slightly different, but similar and related question. Are there any religions in which it would be impossible for a truly evil person to participate? How one "participates" in any given religion varies almost as widely as their basic moral tenets. For purposes of this piece I simply mean be recognized by other "members" of the religion as a "member in good standing" or as a "true believer" or "true adherent" of the given religion or faith tradition. Obviously since the person is actually evil, for almost all religions, save perhaps Satanism and maybe a few others, this would have to be by deception. So the question really boils down to this, Are there any religions which by their very nature, their very structure, would absolutely prevent an evil person from "participating" by deception? Or, another way to phrase it, are there any religions absolutely immune from deception by an evil person?
By Everyday Junglist4 months ago in Humans
Can an Evil Man* be as Critically Aware of his Nature as a Good Man?
Typically it is supposed that all good men possess similar key attributes. They have the ability to rigorously and thoroughly reflect on the nature of themselves. They fully comprehend the impact on others of their decisions and appreciate their role in contributing to or reducing the suffering of others. They feel deeply the emotions needed in order to achieve a correct understanding of these things. Emotions like empathy, sadness, guilt, shame, and others. They recognize that most people seek to maximize their experience of positive emotions and minimize the experience of negative ones. Thus they act in ways which seek to achieve this balance in the greatest number of people. They also recognize that all people are unique and all situations different. The optimum emotional balance for one person in a certain situations may vary with other persons in different circumstances. They are flexible enough to adjust accordingly to those differences and wise enough to understand when a certain balance should be aimed for given the circumstances.
By Everyday Junglist4 months ago in Humans
Yeti Encounter
The Yeti came out of nowhere. The wind was howling and all I could see was blowing snow and ice and blackness and then suddenly it was there right in front of me. The creature had to be at least twelve feet tall. It's fur was white as purest snow, but matted and coated in ice. Disturbingly, blood could been seen, no doubt from a recent kill, dripping from the giant fangs which protruded from its bear-like face. When it roared the blood flew from its mouth splashing in rivulets on the snow, melting it partially where it landed and turning it from white to red. I was so close that some of the blood splattered across my face. I could taste the iron in it as it dripped down along into the corners of my mouth. I spat out the acrid blood and immediately reached for my sidearm. Fortunately I had just removed my gloves as I had stopped to light a fire or surely I would have had no chance. I drew the gun as quickly as possible and fired off three shots in quick succession. The noise was deafening as it echoed off the canyon walls. The creature fell back just as an avalanche, triggered by the noise of the gun crashed down upon us both. We fell together, tumbling down the side of mountain carried away by the rushing snow mixed with mud and rocks. I blacked out then and awoke five days later. Still alive.
By Everyday Junglist4 months ago in Fiction
Meaning and Purpose
When God revealed himself to me and confirmed that there was a purpose to each persons’ existence I was elated. All of us were put on this earth to accomplish a specific goal. To fulfill our destiny all we need do was complete this God given task in the place and time allotted for us. I had struggled for so many years with the question of meaning in my life but now had been given the ultimate gift, the knowledge that life is not just some random series of chaotic events unfolding around us in space and time over which we have no control. Rather, our fate was predetermined by God. We would spend all of our days constantly striving to complete the objective God had planned for us from the moment of our birth. Nothing was meaningless. Each day we moved closer to fulfilling our true purpose.
By Everyday Junglist4 months ago in Fiction
The Problem of Evolution in a Simulated Universe
I have been spending a considerable amount of time lately (2018) thinking about various aspects of different simulated universe hypotheses. One topic that arose in a recent post piqued my interest, how to account for evolution by natural selection in a simulated universe. I wish to address the issue from the most common simulation hypothesis perspective, what I call the simulation hypothesis 1 (SH1) type universe. In SH1 scenarios both the universe and ourselves are 100% simulations. In other words we are 100% simulated beings living in a 100% simulated universe. Immediately it seems a concern reveals itself for evolution by natural selection implies that there be a ‘natural’ world for the selection by fitness to occur in. In SH1 there is nothing natural, everything is simulated so how could evolution actually function in such a universe?
By Everyday Junglist4 months ago in Futurism