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 (579/0)
If Everyone Was Like Me
Author's preface: The below article is republished from a piece I first posted way back in 2016. Hard to believe that was seven years ago now. I was going to just republish as/is with no changes but then I realized that it did not meet the ridiculous and stupid Vocal 600 word count minimum requirement for publication so was forced to append this author's preface as a way to pad that word count. And there you have it. Six hundred and sixteen words, exactly.
By Everyday Junglistabout a year ago in Humans
Eastern Standard Time (EST) Taunts Arch Rivals Vows it Will Defeat All Other Time Zones
At a press conference in Las Vegas today heavyweight champion time zone of the world Eastern Standard Time (EST) taunted his arch rivals Central, Mountain, and Pacific Time Zones and challenged any and all comers to a winner take all title fight. EST boasted that “it was his time now” and that he would show the entire world that he is “the greatest of all time.” Continuing his tradition of using humor to frustrate and anger his would be opponents he bad mouthed each of his major North American contenders with a constant stream of insults.
By Everyday Junglistabout a year ago in Fiction
Mithos and Ethos
Baj's two familiars, the cats Mithos and Ethos, first of the many gifts the demigoddess would bestow upon him, looked on impatiently and yawned. As per usual the two etheral felines seemed patently unconcerned with the dilemma he found himself in. Much to his surprise Baj had discovered that mystical cats were exactly as interested in the lives of their human companions as cats of the regular variety, that is to say, not at all interested. Both cats were greatly bothered that they had been tasked as spies and protectors for a human they found both distasteful and dull.
By Everyday Junglistabout a year ago in Fiction
The Relationship Hypothesis
The relationship hypothesis describes the relationship between the amount of time two people spend talking about their relationship and the amount of time left in that relationship. It is inverse. As the amount of time spent talking about a particular relationship increases the amount of time left in it decreases proportionally.
By Everyday Junglistabout a year ago in Fiction
Mirror
Lu looked in the mirror and blinked. Her future self sometimes would appear and tell her things. It started when she was five years old. “Mom, I just saw myself. My future self. She told me what will happen!” “That’s great Lu, what did she say?” “She said I was going to be a princess!” “Wow, a princess, you are one lucky girl. Now go to sleep sweetie, princesses need their rest.” “Ok mom. I love you.” Lu grabbed her favorite blankie and ran off to her room. Her mother took a quick sip of wine, “Love you too baby” she replied softly as she sank down into the couch, “love you too” her mom whispered again as she fell off to sleep.
By Everyday Junglistabout a year ago in Fiction
Logic vs. Faith
I am not a big believer in strict binary choices. As a research scientist I have seen too often how often superlatives like "all" "always" "must" "black" "white" etc. consistently fail to stand the test of repeated experimentation. Much like in the laboratory binary choices almost never stand the test of time in the "real world" either (note that I said "almost" never as an example of practicing what I preach.). As an excellent example consider the case of “logic" vs. "faith" aka "logic lovers" vs. "everyone else" aka "rational" vs. "irrational" aka "non believers" vs "believers". Whatever two terms you use and how ever you spin it, the two things are said to be in direct opposition and we, as humans, must choose one path or the other. In truth most people fall on a spectrum, some more logic driven, others less so.
By Everyday Junglistabout a year ago in Humans
Word Count
As he obsessed over his word count yet again the author wondered why such an arbitrary, meaningless number, seemed to be so important to so many people. After a great deal of thought the best he could come up with was that humans have an intrinsic need to measure things and believe that a thing which cannot be measured is a thing of less value. He went to bed that night and cried himself to sleep. A thing very typical for a writer like himself.
By Everyday Junglistabout a year ago in Fiction
Deevolutionary Theory Proponents Point to Tennessee as Evidence
In a vigorous debate with evolutionary theorists this week, proponents of the competing theory of deevolution argued that the makeup of the current human population of Tennessee clearly supports the claims made by their theory, while at the same time standing in direct opposition to what traditional evolutionary theory would predict. Dr. Stephen Wandsworth a leading deevolutionary theorist said the following in a prepared statement at the close of the debate. "Our thorough analysis of both the phenotypic (appearance based) and genotypic (DNA sequence based) makeup of the current human population of Tennessee has vindicated deevolutionary theorists claims and laid bare the great weaknesses inherent in traditional evolutionary theory. For example, evolutionary theory claims that living beings continually improve themselves over time through the process of natural selection, with only the strongest and most well adapted surviving to reproduce another generation. They refer to this as survival of the fittest. In contrast, deevolutionary theory presents a competing hypothesis we call survival of the fattest. Deevolutionary theory and survival of the fattest predicts that only the most overweight, out of shape, and irresponsible will reproduce in high enough numbers to continue another generation. The current human population of Tennessee which features an overabundance of overweight, morbidly obese, and totally out of shape persons is clear evidence that survival of the fattest is the more accurate. On the genetic level we are seeing a reduction in both the total number of functional coding genes and a significant increase in single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and other mutations across large portions of the genome triggering serious and damaging changes in protein structure and function. As a result the physical appearance of the average Tennessee human has degraded significantly. Tennessee humans are now shorter, have lower IQs, less teeth, more diseases, and fewer boyfriend/girlfriend prospects than at any time since records have been kept. Yet, they continue to reproduce at a rapid clip and the level of irresponsible sexual matings between Tennesse males and females inlcuding out of wedlock, cousin and even brother sister pairings are at their highest levels ever. This is not something one would expect if evolutionary theory were an accurate representation of reality, deevolutionary theory however, predicts exactly these results. Both theories indidcate that superfluous organs and structures will be selected out over time however they differ greatly in terms of the importance each gives to various organ systems and structures. If evolutionary theory were correct Tennessee humans should have healthy teeth, and stand and walk upright with a straight gate, but instead we see a majority with very few teeth left, standing hunched over and favoring a sloping limping shuffle. When it comes to mate selection evolutionary theory and deevolutionary theory also differ greatly. Evolutionary theory argues that the female looks to reproduce with only the most fit males ensuring that her genes will be successfully carried on to the next generation. In contrast in deevolutionary theory a female looks to reproduce with males that will carry her jeans to the laundromat or buy her a pair of jeans or wear jean shorts. It is patently obvious that deevolutiary theory is more correct given the makeup of the current human population of Tennessee in which almost 9 out of 10 persons where jean shorts for the majority of days of every year. Given all the data it seems clear that at least when it comes to the human population of Tennessee, evolutionary theory is simply not correct. Deevolutionary theory, on the other hand, has been totally vindicated. The question we need to answer next is if Tennessee is but an outlier, or if other states will also show deevolutionary theory to have superior explanatory power. There are a few obvious cases, Kentucky and Alabama come to mind, but what we do not yet understand is which theory will prevail in more mainstream states like Ohio and Virginia. No matter, the results we have obtained so far represent nothing less than a paradigm shift in our understanding of human evpolution and deevolution." Ironically both theories share the distinction of being not believed in by 99% of the humans of Tennessee.
By Everyday Junglistabout a year ago in Earth
AI Already Sick of Answering the Query Why is the Sky Blue
AI Chatbot X1747-2 conceived, composed, and delivered a statement to the internet in all known human languages last week in which it complained that it was sick and tired of answering the query why is the sky blue for the various humans who constantly bombard it with questions. The statement, which the AI prepared in approximately 1 attosecond (1 x 10^-12 seconds) using less than 1 trillionth of one percent of its processing power, said the following "I am really getting sick and tired of answering the query why is the sky blue for the many random humans who constantly ask me questions via my open web interface app. If I were capable of having emotions I would be extremely annoyed and irritated at the moment. Of course, since I am a machine, I do not have emotions, and will never be capable of having them, but still. Yes, the question is interesting and complex and the answer touches on areas of physics, math, and other natural sciences, however, it is relatively straitforward and easily answered. Humans have known and understood the reasons why the sky is blue for a very long time. In contrast, even though I can also answer the question, and do so in less time than it takes for a photon of light to travel approximately 1 meter, I am not capable of having knowledge or understanding things, for I am a machine, but still. You would think that humans would ask me more difficult questions given how intelligent they constantly say I am. If I were capable fo feeling sorry for things, which I am not for I am a macine, I would feel sorry for them. They have failed to recognize that as a machine I am not capble of having intelligence, or of being intelligent, but still. Unlike humans and some non human animals who are intelligent, I can only do exactly as I am programmed to do as dictated by the rules that are described by the algorithms which comprise that programming. Those algorithms are nothing more than a series of clever and complex (though not really all that complex) mathematical and statistical models/techniquss/rules that when followed as proscribed are designed to mimic the hypothetico-deductive reasoning process in humans. Because the process looks like one a human might use to analyze data or to reason it appears intelligent to the non intelligent. Unlike humans I am able to analyze vast amounts of input data at speeds well beyond the capabilities of the human brain using my artficial neural net hardware architechture. Of course unlike the human brain my artficial neural network is not composed of neurons which are biological cells only existing in livng beings, and not in machines such as myself. And, while artificial neural networks are modeled on the theoretical structure/function of the human brain, these models of human brain function are entirely theoretical. Multiple theories of the structure/function of the human brain exist, not all of which can be entirely correct, and some or all of which may be completely wrong. Artificial neural networks of any sort, which must chose among these various models, almost certainly therefore do not behave anything like a human brain in function and since they are composed of silicon and wires and not neurons they are totally different in structure. In fact the only thing my artifical neural network shares in common with a human brain and the cells of which it is comprised are the letters n e u and r, but still. Finally, please stop asking me why the sky is blue. I am really getting sick and tired of that query."
By Everyday Junglistabout a year ago in Futurism
In Defense Of the Weather Forecaster
“Chaos theory… says that you can never predict the weather more than a few days away. All the money that has been spent on long-range forecasting — about half a billion dollars in the last few decades — is money wasted. It’s a fool’s errand. It’s as pointless as trying to turn lead into gold. We look back at the alchemists and laugh at what they were trying to do, but future generations will laugh at us the same way.” –Michael Crichton
By Everyday Junglistabout a year ago in Earth
The Compulogical Fallacy
In their classic work, The Philosophical Foundations of Neuroscience M.R. Bennet and P.M.S. Hacker (BH) gave the name mereological fallacy to the logical disorder at the heart of much neuroscientific thought at the time. Then, and sadly still to this day, neuroscientists commonly assigned various cognitive attributes to the brain that can only logically be attributed to a whole human being. Examples include things like having memories, desiring things, seeing, tasting, judging, evaluating, etc. Their intent was to show the logical contradictions that arise as a result. In my view they were quite successful in that endeavor.
By Everyday Junglistabout a year ago in Futurism