The Hippie Conservative

I have taken the time to post a Recommended Web Browsing column here on The Revolution. The sites selected are the blogs that I feel deviate and exceed the norm' from the typical writing you might find on your average blog search. Yet somehow, simply "posting a link" does not quite do justice for the bloggers behind these fantastic sites. So from time to time i may try and entice you to sample some of the scrumptious tid-bits of writing that is being written by these men and women. This one is a must see

The Hippie Conservative

A website review doesn't really compare to The H.C.'s ability to present a new and exiting view on politics and human psychology. The best complement i can offer might still fall short of this uncanny ability to dismantle an issue and serve it up in a new flavor. If objective information was like calories, then The H.C.'s style would be like cheesecake. (Mmmmm.... food metaphors.....). Every post is packed full of links to his resources. There is always a broad selection of links that favor sides of the argument at hand. Ahhh objective writing, its like a drug to me.... and on that note please consider me a blog dealer and take a drag of this site.

The Hippie Conservatives current posts are a three part series entitled How they control us, which is all about how media and government use information and terminology to manipulate the masses. Very eye-opening. Other favs' of mine include The H.C.'s Analogies, which are stories from his past in which The H.C's draws a life lesson from the strangest experiences, ultimately making his readers appreciate the little stuff in life. The H.C.'s also makes some guest appearances on the web television show Studio 1714, (Clips are available on his blog.)

Like I said before in the beginning of this post i could go on, but it really isn't the same as just reading for yourself. So once again i will encourage you to visit http://www.thehippieconservative.com/, maybe subscribe to his RSS feed if you like what you see, maybe you'll find a new way to look at the world, that most of us take for granted.

Mind over matter

Discovery Magazine just published its 100 greatest discoveries of the year, and as far as I'm concerned number #11 should have taken the cake.

A neuroscientist named John Donoghue of Brown University has managed to implant a tiny 100-electrode array into a paralyzed man's primary motor cortex. This is the part of the brain that controls voluntary movement. What this little implant does is interpret the brains electrical impulses, then convert and send them into a series of high-tech signal processors and computers. The computers then translate the mans thoughts into movement of external devices.

According to the article, after the first day of fiddling with this implant, the paralyzed man was able to master this technique. He could "...move a computer cursor, play a video game, open e-mails, draw a crude circle, operate a television remote control, and even move a prosthetic hand and arm....using nothing other than his will."

The potential for this technology is endless, perhaps someday a man with no legs could operate prosthetics just like they were his own. Then there is the way this tech could apply to operating equipment, robotics, with no external movement, driving, flying you name it. The time is coming, and I'm sure I'll see it in my lifetime.


The scary thing is neural pathways can be thought of like a two-way street, and if a computer can receive and translate your electrode impulses into motion, it could potentially send information in. If a computer can translate thoughts that means it can speak the language of the brain. Maybe the time will come (cue dramatic music) when implants prevent us from doing certain behaviors, filtering out impulse patterns that represent bad behavior, (rape murder). Or on a worse case scenario, controlling an individuals like a puppets. If this is part of the package that comes with this technology, I doubt you and I will ever read about it in any public print.

The Brain

The human mind is an amazing organ, by far the most complex organ in the known universe, yet so user friendly, any idiot can utilize it. The mind can be programed to preform the most complicated external task, while still maintaining, the complete organization of your entire bodily function. This post will dive into some of the human brains wonderful features as well as some of the unusual.

I am quite sure that there are many people who just drift through life and never question anything, going through the daily motions. Maybe that's fine for some, but I am not content to be a passenger on this voyage called life. I cannot just placidly look out the window as my chauffeur takes me on my way. I must ask, how is it that this car moves, how does the engine work, how does my driver manipulate the controls to get the desired results, how can I manipulate the controls. How can i drive this vessel. Good news for me, because it is within every one's ability to grasp the wheel and steer. Yet before we start out on the road, lets take a quick drivers training course and familiarize ourselves with some of the controls.


Reason and Automation
The automation portion of the brain handles basic functions that your not even aware of, signaling the heart to beat, breathing, digesting, and the like. Fortunately for us, automation handles these bodily duties without every consulting higher reason. Since the automation portion of the brain controls all the bodily function, this leaving you free to focus on whatever you want. I'm sure that if the opposite was true, most of us would forget to do breathe several times a day.

Automation contains many learned things as well, language, memory, motor skills. Maybe you've taken for granted the complex symphony of muscle movement that is necessary to walk. This is due to the fact that few of us can remember far back enough to reflect on what is was like to learn this daily task. Learning to play a musical instrument is a perfect example of how higher reason delegates its responsibility to automation in regard learned behaviors. Initially the muscle movements are slow, and one struggles, every motion must be calculated. Then with time after the correct movements are repeated enough, the automation portion of the brain is programed and takes over, and thus one can preform a complex task without any conscious effort.

The automation portion can also be reprogrammed. Sometimes automation is programmed poorly with bad habits. Memory is a good example of this, as well as speech impediments. (that are not the result of physical issues) Go take a look at any memory builder book, (you can find them at almost any book store.) Thought patterns that are typically handled by automation can be reprogrammed as well. Depression, Obsessive compulsive disorder, eating disorders. Generally these are thoughts patterns that have been programed in a manner that is not beneficial. For more information on this type of "Re-wiring", check out my post on the subject look up cognitive behavior therapy

The mind has a safety mechanism in regard to automation. For example one cannot make your heart stop beating with thought alone. Perhaps this is not only practical, but due to the fact that it is automation that was never learned. To summarize, if it was learned, it can be relearned.

Consciousness
Who are you? What part of the Brain is the "YOU"?
The concept of self is one of the most fascinating features of the brain. I like to define the concept of self as: An organism's with an awareness that has evolved to the point of being aware of itself.

Yet there is a more precise definition. I suspect that you are like me, in the sense that most likely you feel that there is an "I" that is control of your decision making; pushing buttons evaluating incoming information from your senses. This is not true, as science learns more, they are discovering that this notion of an "I" is an illusion. The concept of self is really a storm of neurons strung about the brain all competing for immediate attention. When one neuron shouts louder that the others, the sensory data is evaluated the brain concocts the single self impression. (-time magazine, Jan 27, 2007).

Maybe its hard to grasp this concept, yet if we think about it in simpler terms that we can relate to, this concept becomes a bit more clear. If i asked you: What is it that you drive to work?, you would say "A car". You would not say "I drive a gasoline fueled automobile that uses combustion to convert kinetic energy into torque." If i asked you; "What is that creates the illusion of control? You would not say " I am the result of a billion neurons constantly competing priority to be recognized." If the concept of self was compared to a car, the car itself would be our body, the neurons would drive the car, yet a different neuron or group of neurons would be in control every second. The concept of self is how the passenger of the car relates to the driver, no matter which neuron is driving, you feel as if it is your driver. (maybe that doesn't simplify anything, lol! but what the hell, its worth a try.)

Sometimes the brain is to complex for it's own good, so next time i will discuss some of the anomalies that arise from such fancy engineering. Addiction, egomania, mass hysteria, schizophrenia and many, more stay tuned!

Nietzsche

One of my major inspirations in philosophy was Friedrich Nietzsche, if you ever have the chance to pick up one of his books I'm sure you won't be disappointed. Nietzsche, in my opinion, is the all time king of one-liners. So please enjoy some of his wonderful insights.


"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything."

"The irrationality of a thing is no argument against its existence, rather a condition of it."

"The visionary lies to himself, the liar only to others."


"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."

"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."

"The most perfidious way of harming a cause consists of defending it deliberately with faulty arguments."