Who (the hell) Am I?

Humanism
1

I’m in one of those moods, spent my second day with a little one who’s just past his first 100 Holy Days. Splendid little chap. Those eyes! I met his big brother at two weeks old when his eyes were first focusing and it was very cool watching them learn more every day. How could I tell, from watching him, his eye movements, his focus, his facial expressing, and more signals, a few of who I couldn’t even describe - telepathy :wink:

But here I’m holding this little one for the first times and between everything else, there are those times when he’s intently studying my face. How could I tell, from watching him, his eye movements, his focus, his facial expressing, and more signals, a few of who I couldn’t even describe - telepathy :wink:

Then there’s lil B, 2 1/2 yrs, working parents, so he’s going to ‘school’ already, sure as heck better not call it Day Care - because it treated as a structure class. {It must be a horror for the little fella?} Well hells bells that’s the thing, he comes home after a full day, and says he had a good time and in the morning he’s ready to go back with a smile on his face and lets hang with my pals.

Half a year since I’ve seen him, figure he’d barely remember me. But I bet it’s a little like riding a bike, once we gain a genuine mutual bond based on love - it doesn’t matter how long the separation, after the first peddle or two, it all comes rushing back.

This is the stuff that sustains me within this world of increasing horrors and wanton belligerent ignorance driven to destroy rather than mend and nurture all that’s good about living on this Earth.

If I were to dwell on the futures these youngster have ahead of me, my body would spontaneously combust. Today is what matters, tomorrow will come soon enough, one thing for sure, if you want a decent tomorrow, you sure as hell better focus on living your todays to their best.

Tomorrow is full of wild cards. Horror will unfold, some as it goes with evolution, some places, some people, will be presented with a chance and challenges today insanity can’t get close to offer anyone anywhere.

2

Talk about another freaken cosmic giggle.

So I started this thread with something quite different in mind. But, sitting here, I need to paint the environment within which I’m typing these thoughts. But the moment, is among the golden ones that make life worth living, so I got all caught up in that sweetness.

Then when I try to post my thread with my title:

Who Am I ?

I’m slapped with a WARNING:

15 CHARACTER MINIMUM ON TITLES!!!

And I’m like W. T. F., gauntlet comes off and in an instant I’m ready to go at it.

What is with the 15 character minimum on titles,
ENOUGH WITH THE BIG BROTHER CONSTANTING NAGGING HOW WE SHOULD PROCEED !

Because inside as much as I like and appreciate the new layout and how the well the forum is operating, the nonstop big brother commentary is grating. That side panel constantly second guessing our choices But, I don’t like to make waves and do love this Discussion Forum, sadly it’s the best of it’s kind going, that I’ve come across. So I let it slide, appreciate what you have - it could be taken away. Then you’d have something to bitch and scream about.

Then after I blow my wad, I realize, oh yeah, that’s what I wanted to write about, all those different layers lurking within us, er, me.

I can only speak for myself, but I’d be shocked if most, or at least many, others don’t feel likewise. Within us is a kaleidoscope of layers, I used to think in terms of dozens of Russian Dolls, but as I learn more about brain and mind an studies of consciousness it’s too constraining. The memories that are laid down combine with other realities of our being, your individual spark, the filter through which you interpret reality, the environment, etc.

Given my circumstance, environment, it’s amazing the different characters that have sprung out of the font of who is me, myself and I.

Some aspects I abhor and strive to minimize and channeling into more constructive avenues. Still, I know circumstances will surely unleash each according to the moment.

That’s what life’s supposed to be about, getting to know yourself before you die, in all your glories and horrors and most everything else that lies in between. Did you pay attention? Did you try to do right by the people in your life?

If all you can do see people through hateful scared eyes, what does that say about you, yourself who ever that may be.

and so on and so forth, I’m past curfew, big day ahead, Nana and Napa and our weekend alone with our young boys, so I better call it good. Get the dogs outside for there last pee and get my ass to bed. But it’s been nice, weather is good, the moon has made a showing and it’s good to shoot the shit at the local hang out, even if . . .

2 Likes
3

Hugs you citizenschallenge

I would say that you are a human being with all the complexities, all the doubts, and all the uncertainties which characterize us.

People without any complexities, without any doubt, without any uncertainty make me afraid.

4

I did make a brief argument against the 15 character limit. I have used a one or two letter response, like “ok”, and in rare cases, I think it makes a point. But, like all rules, how do you add some clarity, like, “it’s okay to say ‘ok’ once every 4.7 months, just don’t make a habit of it”, or “You can title a thread ‘Q’ if you are referring to the Q’Anon conspiracy theory and if your opening post in well thought out”.

So, some programmer somewhere thought up the clever idea of programming that limit, then someone installing the software had to make a decision about using it, and setting a setting. So the admins had to spend a few minutes thinking about and make a decision by committee. Not really seeing any “big brothers” here.

If you’d like, we can remove all filters, and you’ll some advertisements that will leave you screaming for moderation. :slight_smile:

5

Your late-night posts can be your most interesting. Of course your science stuff is interesting too, just in a different way. One thing I did not plan correctly in life for was having grandchildren, so I always welcome the vicarious living of that through others. I’ve been to a few funerals and 50th wedding anniversaries that feature those young-ins giving their POVs, they are always honest, often humorous, and rarely consistent. They get to know you before they find out all the other garbage about navigating relationships, so they see a “you” that most don’t.

6

@ lausten
Thumbs up on both your posts

@ morgankane01
I like to think I am, but you should hear some of the poop tossed at me over the years.

Awesome day, one of the biggest compliments is no break down cause the parents are gone. Besides being a compliment to Nana, Napa, it’s also a compliment to their parents raising kids who feel secure.

Would love to write more, but sleep is more important at this point.

s

7

In another thread @anandhaqq wrote the following that touches on something very near to the thoughts that originally triggered this thread.

Though I agree with some of these sentences, I don’t agree with his interpretation. I look at it from an evolutionary perspective and believe it’s a window into the human brain and consciousness. Over the past week+ I’ve spent literally dozens of hours watching another infant develop, along with watching the progress of another infant I had held and walked around with and interacted with all told easily a couple hundred hours worth during his first year and a half.

The human brain is a sponge and everyday new layers of memories and structure are laid down, one on top of the other. Then consider brain’s structure. Here I start running into my limitations, I’ve got something at the tip of my grasp, a sense of consciousness growing out of the mind interacting with the world and every moment of thought, which is of course in direct interaction with its environment and circumstances.

We act differently to different people, because that’s how it must be. Would it be appropriate to deal with your child, wife, boss, employees the same way? I think not.

You aren’t living thousands of different lives, our life is complex and we live thousands of different aspects of the same life that is you, which is the accumulation of all the days and experiences that you’ve lived. Those with richer experiences and learning inevitably live richer lives, like a diamond with extra complex facets cut into it.

8

A more appropriate question is “what the hell am I?” Unequivocally you are a member of the evolving species of humans, the most advanced species of primates.

The fact that you and the majority of American educated don’t know is a testimony to the American education system with roots in the 18th century system of education developed by the Jesuit order.
Felix%20Adler%20quote%20image (3)

9

Now there’s an example of the self-obsessed Abrahamic Mindset. :wink:

Fair enough.

Thanks for asking, I’ve been chewing on that one, even more than the God question. If you’re curious, check out:

10

But you answered your own question. We are but one of the surviving 8.7 million abiogenetically evolved species from the original bio-chemical interactions in a hospitable dynamic environment.

There is nothing mysterious about it. Life is a natural phenomenon that emerges when bio-chemical conditions are favorable.
It is quite possible that life started in several different places on earth, but persisted and evolved via natural selection in only one or a few possibly two places (On land and in deep ocean).

There is plenty evidence of life in some of the most inhospitable places on earth. Several species of extremophiles require extreme conditions to survive and would perish in all other milder environments on earth.

Iceworms at the poles must remain at freezing temperature or they “thaw out and melt”!

11

Ouch, does that come from another TED talk?

I hadn’t heard that 8.7 million figure before. Fun with bean counting.
eh :thinking:

https://www.ibol.org/phase1/8.7-million-species-who-cares/

Eight million, seven hundred thousand species (give or take 1.3 million).

That’s the new estimate of the total number of species on Earth, based on an “innovative, validated analytical technique” that dramatically narrows the range of previous estimates (5-100 million). The study, published by PLoS Biology, prompted different reactions from two eminent biologists — Robert May and Daniel Janzen. Now read on . . .

… In [this issue of PLoS Biology], Mora et al. offer an interesting new approach to estimating the total number of distinct eukaryotic species alive on earth today. They begin with an excellent survey of the wide variety of previous estimates, which give a range of different numbers in the broad interval 3 to 100 million species. I have favoured a number between 2 and 10 million, and if I had to buy a ticket in a sweepstakes, I’d have chosen 5 million.

Mora et al.’s imaginative new approach begins by looking at the hierarchy of taxonomic categories, from the details of species and genera, through orders and classes, to phyla and kingdoms. They documented the fact that for eukaryotes, the higher taxonomic categories are “much more completely described than lower levels”, which in retrospect is perhaps not surprising. They also show that, within well-known taxonomic groups, the relative numbers of species assigned to phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species follow consistent patterns. If one assumes these predictable patterns also hold for less well-studied groups, the more secure information about phyla and class can be used to estimate the total number of distinct species within a given group.

In this way, Mora et al. arrive at a global total of 8.7 million eukaryotic species, with a standard error of ±1.3 million. Most are terrestrial, with 2.2 (±0.2) million being marine.

This is higher than my earlier “best guess”, but I like the simplicity of this new method. …

12

Well yes, but it was posited by Robert Hazen.
In his specialty they already identify minerals as mineral species.

IOW it is the interaction of mineral species that produced abiogenetic bio-molecules and it is their dynamic speciation that produced the emergence of genetic life .

All living things are an assembly of atoms and molecules arranged in patterns with emergent dynamic properties that we have named “life”.

13

Would love to see the context.

Yes, and he introduced the notion, and the proof, of mineral evolution to science and the public.
But his abiogenetics has more to do with the formation of the citric acid cycle which is the foundation of life. I image one could say the citric acid cycle was the origin of biological evolution. It probably wasn’t invented only once, still only one iteration survived to create biological evolution that filled our Earth.

(mind you this is a little dated, Oct 25, 2013, still it’s a good start.)

1 Like
14

IMO, this dynamical evolution from purely non-genetic chemical (atomic) interactions to part-genetic bio-chemical (molecular) interactions to genetic organically patterned interactions (life) is all in proper context of abiogenesis.

I agree that organic life may have originated in several places but only one (possibly two) places of origin offered a sufficient hospitable environment that natural selection created gradual diversity and variety to continue

15

Totally agree with every word. Makes me happy to know people like you.

1 Like