Denial

This morning, Austin and I listened to an interview with Ajit Varki, the author of "Denial: Self-Deception, False Beliefs and the Origins of the Human Mind," on CBC Radio's The Current.

According to the Amazon book description, "It was not, the authors argue, a biological leap that set humanity apart from other species, but a psychological one: namely, the uniquely human ability to deny reality in the face of inarguable evidence - including the willful ignorance of our own inevitable deaths."

In the interview, we were introduced to the term, "anthropogeny," which is the study of human origins vs. "anthropology," which is defined as the science of humanity.

Following is Austin's refutation (bearing in mind he has not read the full published work) of Varki & Brower's theory.

Humans evolved from dietary changes which affected our biology and allowed our biology to evolve easier and survive. Varki & Brower's theory is, by design, non-refutable because it is self-fulfilling. If we deny their theory to be true, we have denied it and therefore we have substantiated it.

Changes to the human diet have contributed the most to human evolution. Humans are designed for running long distances over long periods of time. The animals humans were hunting couldn't cool down while running, so humans were able to outrun their prey by causing them to overheat. The animals would collapse from exhaustion and the humans would easily be able to eat.

Roughly guessing, human psychology (the first "why?" question) occurred around 10-20,000 years ago. My interpretation of Varki's theory is that human evolution is just a bunch of freak accidents. Psychology requires hardware (i.e. the human brain). Therefore, biology trumps psychology. In order to be able to move my hand, I need my hand. My brain can't move my hand without the hand, itself.

Take an example of a glass that has a capacity to hold water. What if you just kept on filling that glass with water? There would come a point when the glass couldn't hold any more water. We require hardware to be able to program it with software. Without human brains evolving to a bigger size and more complexity, we wouldn't have the psychological capabilities that we have now.

Human evolution is about the physical human brain, not human thought. If we suddenly started thinking, "Oh, we're going to die," then that's not a good survival strategy, because we would be too busy thinking about that to do anything else. This is where Varki's denial theory comes in. He says it's a freak accident, but I argue that there can be no freak accidents without the material required. We need a banana peel to be able to slip on one.

Varki has a very lessened view of Darwinism. If we suddenly evolved big brains, we would need the food to fuel them. However, if we were still vegetarians and we hadn't had a dietary change, we wouldn't have evolved. Today, it's fine for humans to eat a vegetarian or vegan diet because we can acquire the nutrients necessary, with minimal effort.

Other animals that may have evolved a big brain haven't had the diet to compensate the power demand. Dolphins eat a lot of protein, but they are always hungry and they are always moving, burning off calories. Dolphins are among the more complex-brained mammals. Tigers eat a lot of meat when they can, but they have to hunt and catch their food. The protein that tigers consume is quite high, though they can't express their ingenuity in the same ways that humans can. Tigers have claws and paws, dolphins have flippers and teeth. None of these appendages can be used to make tools and shovels, for instance.

Humans are able to more easily express our ingenuity, with tools and protection (ie. shelter and armour) and dexterity. Wolves, hunting in packs, can see beyond the present. Wolves and dogs have intelligence without dexterity. The existence of a brain doesn't equal good memory processing, cause-and-effect understanding, etc. Elephants have some dexterity and good memory.

Evolution requires both a freak accident (genetic mutation) and the material to be evolved.

Humans tend to view intelligence as the expression of it (ie. a tool), however dogs, for example, demonstrate their intelligence through their behaviour.

It's possible that chimpanzees could evolve to be more human-like, with bigger brains, if their diet changes to include more protein. The human brain consumes approximately 20-25% of our daily caloric intake. Most vertebrate species' brains consume 2-8% of food energy.

While I agree with Varki, that humans today are living in denial, I propose that human denial is a learned trait rather than an evolutionary phenomenon. Denial is not the evolutionary factor that set us apart from all other species.

Dog Days of Spring

Austin has been trying to figure out a way to get out for more exercise. It's been challenging, because (understandably) he doesn't want to be on his own, and his schedule often collides with mine.

Occasionally, he will comment about how nice it would be to have a dog, and if we had a dog, he would probably take the dog for walks a lot. Well, we aren't eager to bring a dog into our family at this time. Recently, I countered one of these comments with, "Well, there's a dog right next door! Why don't you ask our neighbour if you can walk her dog during the day while she's at work?"

A few days ago, Austin went on a "training" walk with our neighbour, Allison, and her 7-year-old golden retriever, Ace. Allison talked about some of Ace's habits and some strategies she uses while walking with him. He was allowed off-leash for part of their hike.

Yesterday, Allison arranged with Austin for him to go to her house this morning and take Ace for a walk. I heard Austin say to her on the phone, "Sure, I'll put that into my calendar to do tomorrow." Austin had scheduled to take Ace out for a walk at 10:00am.

When I returned home around 9:00am, from dropping off A2 & A3 at their respective schools, I was surprised to find Austin already awake. He seemed a bit nervous and excited about his rendezvous with Ace. Austin explained to me that there were several things he was considering, including: did Allison remember to leave her door unlocked?, will Ace behave strangely/differently when Austin goes to his house when Allison isn't there?, how will Ace behave on the leash without Allison?

He couldn't wait until 10:00, and by 9:30 they were off. Austin said everything went without a hitch. He returned home at 11:15, absolutely beaming and animated. I laughed out loud as Austin described Ace's behaviour and mannerisms. This outing was the best medicine for both of them.

Here's an e-mail (dictated to me as I typed) that Austin sent to Allison, to let her know how things went on his first walk with Ace, alone:

"Hi Allison,

This is Austin.

Ace was amazing today. Really well behaved. A lot of slack leash and a lot of fun and exercise. We went down into the forest a bit and came back up, walked over to horse loop and walked horse loop, then came home. It was a really fun day and I'm looking forward to doing more walks with him.

We encountered a couple dogs who had been barking before we got there, and he was very well behaved around them. He didn't stiffen up or stop. He simply eyed them suspiciously.

We almost lost the ball in the biggest mud puddle on the walk. It was up to Ace's knees and about as big as your kitchen. He was fishing for the ball for at least five minutes. He tried going out and coming back in the way he came, possibly hoping it would pop back up where he lost it. I was amazed he actually found it in the end. I thought that ball was a goner. Since he had submerged his head up to his eyes, he looked like a raccoon dog. A very happy one, though! 

The mud was washed off by the rain and I towelled him off after we got home.

At first, when he was off-leash in the forest, when I threw the ball, he would drop it and leave it where it landed and have me go get it. Then, I tried just leaving the ball and he would eventually pick it up and bring it onto the trail and drop it in front of me.

He also got to know that if my hand went near my pocket, that would mean we would play ball.

I suppose, since we had the ball today, he didn't want any sticks. I tried throwing him a couple sticks, but he wouldn't go get them.

If you would like to do another training walk with me, I would be happy to do that. Today, I will be available after around 6:15pm when Aidan gets home from his voice lesson.

I hope you're having a great day.

-@U$+!N"

Nature School

Here's the Story of the Day, written by Danielle, class leader:

We had another gorgeous day out at Pacific Spirit Park, the fog brightening up throughout the day and sunshine peeking through the trees by the afternoon. I'm sorry for the confusion about the dates. The program usually runs in the first weekend of the month, but since the last month was the start of a new year and people were on holidays, I pushed everything back a week to accomodate that. The next session is on March 2nd.

We worked on bow drill kits for the first part of the morning, played around with a couple of primitive hunting methods and started looking a little more in depth at animal tracks and gaits. We also played some of the most intense and funniest blindfold tag games I have ever participated in. Blindfold games are a great way of tuning into using our other senses. As humans, our eyesight is our dominant sense and when we can see we tend to pay far more attention to our sight rather than what we hear, smell and feel. It's great to see the intensity and skill level of these games pick up as we learn to rely more on our other senses.

Just a reminder for everyone to bring their knives and bow drill kits out for the next class - Im looking forward to seeing you all there.

Cheers

Danielle

Austin was only one of two students in the class on Saturday. He, too, really enjoyed the blindfold games and described some of his strategies to me. For instance, he would sigh, then ever-so-quietly tiptoe away from where he was standing. The person trying to reach him, would move to the region from where the sigh originated, and only find empty space! She started to suspect that he had put the other player up to sighing to trick her.

Planning and preparation

Today, Austin is on a field trip to Fraser Valley Gleaners, to help prepare vegetables to be dehydrated to make dried soup mix for the needy around the world.

He infrequently joins a group of his age-peers for an outing, so this is special and he was quite excited yesterday. Since we would be leaving the house around 7:15am, I asked him to take his shower before going to bed last night. He insisted that he much preferred to shower in the morning, so I warned him that I'd be waking him up at 6:30 to give him enough time. He requested, instead, that I wake him at 6:00 so he also has time to pack. And so it was agreed.

Around 8:45pm last night, I was mixing up a banana bread recipe so Austin could take it with him to share. Austin wanted to show me part of "Journey to the Edge of the Universe," and suggested that we could watch the movie together while the banana bread was baking. I countered that he really should be focussing on getting a good night's sleep and he pointed out that I need my sleep, too.

A moment later, however, he was busily rushing about the house, asking me questions like, "Where's my Oscar the Grouch shirt?" "Where's my backpack?" and otherwise collecting objects near the front door. We talked about his footwear and I tried to convince him to wear runners, but his runners are a size too small. If you don't know this about Austin, he likes to wear Crocs ... all seasons ... everywhere. Fraser Valley Gleaners had instructed our field trip coordinator to ensure the teen volunteers would be wearing close-toed shoes. I found their website this morning, and it specifically states, no "CROCS," but I didn't know this for sure, last night. Anyway, Austin agreed to pack his rain boots, so hopefully they'll be acceptable for today.

Something really significant took place in this flurry of activity. Austin planned and prepared ... on his own! He fully took control of making sure he packed what he needed, and he even covered self-care, including showering and planning what to eat and drink. He wanted to be sure that he would have enough to eat before leaving, to keep him from feeling hungry before noon (when they are scheduled to finish working). The only thing that appeared to be missing, was teeth-brushing, but hopefully he did that, anyway.

Austin prepared reminders and checklists and taped them to the fridge and the front door, and placed his bag packing list on top of his partially-packed backpack. To each checklist, he taped a pen which could be used to check off completed items. Here are photos of his lists and reminders:

"Eat Nana's apple sauce + bananas + cranberry juice + milk DO IT!!! (signed) Austin"

"Bag list:

Transformers packed ⧠

iPad packed ⧠

iPad charger packed ⧠

Phone packed ⧠

Spare clothes packed ⧠

Dreadwing packed ⧠

Encyclopedia packed ⧠

Are you wearing your proper clothes ⧠

Somno Pro ⧠"

"Did you do these things

Complete breakfast list ⧠

Shower ⧠

Bag list complete ⧠

Finish did you do these things list ⧠

If complete proceed to vehicle"

He was so excited this morning, that he woke up two hours early and was having his shower by 4am!

I'm really proud of Austin for being so organized and taking initiative. He thought about everything he would need to include an overnight at Nana & Papa's house. And this morning, when I was dropping him off to his ride, he even reminded me that he needed Nana and Papa's phone numbers in his phone.

Great job, Austin!!! I'll miss you today and tonight. Have a wonderful time.

Family analogy

Austin and I had a good talk tonight. We used a "talking sword," so we wouldn't interrupt one another. It's a plastic toy sword that we tossed across the living room to each other, when we switched speakers.

The conversation was about his learning, my hopes and dreams for him, and a few tangential topics.

At one point, he came up with an analogy I really liked.

"Mom, you should try to stop thinking about yourself and dad as two separate people, and start seeing you more as one. It's like you are a cloud looking down on a lake and thinking, 'You have more water than me," when the lake is getting it's water from you!"

This was his insightful feedback after I talked about how grateful I was that dad works so hard and has a really good job, and how much more we might be able to do and afford if I were also working.

Austin asked me who would look after him, Aidan and Aaron if both parents were working full-time. I told him someone else would, to which he promptly responded, "No. Because there's no river in this system. There's only a cloud, a lake and the air in between them." He says the air represents A1, A2, A3 and Iain.

I really like this analogy, and it's even growing on me, as it hits me on new levels. We talked about how clouds hold more water than we can easily imagine (remembering the podcast we listened to on the boat). We had listened to a short recording of "How much do hurricane's weigh?" from NPR's Krulwich on Science.

The Making of the Fittest

The Making of the Fittest DVD (HHMI). A trilogy of short films revealing the evolutionary process in action:

Natural Selection and Adaptation:

The rock pocket mouse. A very good example of Darwin’s theory. This video took place in New Mexico. Scientists did a study on these mice that had adapted to life on black lava flows against a bare desert. The lava flow is about 1,000 years old.

Predators of the mice are owls, rattlesnakes, foxes, hawks, jackals and coyotes. Most of these predators rely primarily on sight to catch their prey.

There was a black mutation in the gene and that mutation wasn't weeded out because of the background they were on, so the mutation spread. The mice with the normal (light-coloured) fur gene died out, and the ones with the black fur did not.

It was interesting that the black fur appeared only on the mice backs and heads, not on their bellies. The dark fur was not needed on their bellies, in order for the population to survive.

The scientists explained that, if the mutation gave the mice a 1% advantage of survival on the dark lava flows, it would take 1,000 years for 95% of the population to have dark fur. A 10% advantage would cause an evolutionary change in a population, within 100 years.

The Birth and Death of Genes:

On December 26, 1927, a Norwegian expedition (Norvegia) to Bouvet Island, an island at the edge of Antarctica, discovered a scaleless fish, later named crocodile fish or ice fish.

This was a very intriguing and special genetic discovery. The ice fish almost looks like an albino fish, crocodile-like. This fish has no red blood cells, because of a genetic mutation. The fish looks weird and disgusting. Its skin is translucent and it’s possible to see its brain and heart and optic nerves through its skin. This is primarily because the fish has no scales.

With no red blood cells or hemoglobin (the protein that delivers oxygen to the cells of the body), scientists wondered how blood could flow in the ice fish. The ice fish can survive without hemoglobin because of the high oxygen content in the frigid waters in which it lives.

Art Devries discovered antifreeze proteins in the 1990s, in fish that live in waters with a temperature of -1.8 degrees celsius. These proteins resulted from an accidental mutation of the ancestral genes.

Natural Selection in Humans:

This video highlighted the work of Tony Allison, who studied the connection between sickle cell disease and malaria in Kenya.

Dr. Allison took many blood samples across Kenya and detailed maps showed the correlation between sickle cell disease and malaria, near Lake Victoria and the coast. Sickle cell disease appeared in very low frequencies in the high country of Nairobi, where malaria is not a problem.

We learned the meanings of homozygous and heterozygous. Tony Allison explained that genes are lined up on chromosomes and humans have pairs of them, with the exception of the sex chromosomes. The chromosomes can be the same or different. If they are the same, they are homozygous and if they are different, they are heterozygous.

It was discovered that carriers of the sickle cell gene, were seemingly protected from malaria. The sickle cell mutation compromises the ability of the parasite to reproduce. Protection from malaria comes at the cost of more sickle cell disease in the population.

Tony Allison believes this proves that human evolution is taking place in our living population. And this is evidence that environment is the catalyst, rather than genetics alone.

Presidential Debate #3

This morning, Austin and I watched the third presidential debate. This debate topic was foreign policy and was mediated by Bob Schieffer.

Following are some of Austin's observations:

1. Romney describes Russia as a geopolitical foe. This led us to look up the definition of geopolitics: "a combination of political and geographic factors relating to something." Austin feels that labelling Russia as a geopolitical foe is not a very good way of making them an ally.

2. Austin thought the funniest part of the debate was when Obama responded to Romney's accusation that navy spending was too low ("our Navy is smaller now than any time since 1917 ... The Navy said they needed 313 ships to carry out their mission. We’re now down to 285. We’re headed down to the — to the low 200s if we go through with sequestration..."). Obama: "Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets (laughter)... We have these things called aircraft carriers where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines." This was a bit condescending of Obama, but Austin found it humorous. And, according to the transcript, so did the audience, who had taken a vow of silence (oops!).

We looked up the meaning of sequestration: "The action of taking legal possession of assets until a debt has been paid or other claims have been met."

3. Austin thought Romney said, "When I'm President of the United States," too often, as though it's going to happen.

4. Romney stated, "Well, my strategy’s pretty straightforward, which is to go after the bad guys, to make sure we do our very best to interrupt them, to — to kill them, to take them out of the picture." Austin: "He doesn't know who the bad guys are."

5. Austin feels that Obama could have done better. He spent too much effort focussing on Romney.

6. An example of China not playing by the trade rules (Romney): "I was with one company that makes valves in — in process industries. And they said, look, we were — we were having some valves coming in that — that were broken, and we had to repair them under warranty. And we looked them up, and — and they had our serial number on them. And then we noticed that — that there was more than one with that same serial number. They were counterfeit products being made overseas with the same serial number as a U.S. company, the same packaging. These were being sold into our market and around the world as if they were made by the U.S. competitor."

Austin: "This is proof of how bad China's trade practices are."

I mentioned FIPA to Austin, with a brief description of the Canada-China trade agreement set to be put into place this Halloween. Austin's response: "Really bad idea."