Sunday, April 19, 2009

Why Mental Depression Evolved in Humans

Humans can get depressed. So can mammals, and that's about it as far as I know, of the animals that can get depressed. There may be more. So why do we get depressed, why did we evolve this negative mental condition. Well here's my theory. We live in a negative ion world. We "feel more energised" in a negative ion environment than in a positive ion environment. In fact, negative ion generators are available that purport to elevate your mood and your activity. So why does a positive ion environment make us lethargic. Here's my theory. When the weather turns cloudy and rainy, the ion environment turns from negative to positive, making us lethargic. So why is this beneficial to humans. Well let's say that the weather seems a bit cloudy and our ancestor "Claude" doesn't feel like leaving the cave to hunt today. The positive ions made him lethargic. His buddies, don't seem at all bothered by the change in the weather, and in fact a eager for the hunt. So Claude stays in the cave, and his buddies go out for the hunt. Claude's buddies get caught in a storm, catch cold, then pneumonia and die. Claude's "positive ion genes" survive (as do all the other "Claudes" in other caves,) and are passed into the gene pool as a predisposition to lethargy when the ion environment turns positive.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Our 1994 Earthquake Experience

During the 1994 Northridge Earthquake my wife Patrice, my son James, and myself all had a most unusual experience. Because of this I've always been concerned with an earthquake that might happen at night. For this reason I bought plug-in emergency lights that automatically turn on whenever there is a power outage. I placed these lights strategically throughout our home. On the night of January 14, 1994 our little boy was freaked-out and came into our bed to sleep. I awoke, about 5 minuets before the earthquake, and for some strange reason went into the family room. I was seated opposite our bookcases, when the shaking started. Then, as if a bomb went off, I watched as all my books came flying across the room toward me. I was crawling across the books when my wife and son appeared in the room. I said "Let's get outside." It was a cloudless, moonless night. At first we were puzzled as to why any of the neighbors weren't coming out of their houses. As we stood there in silence I was struck at the sight of a streetlight swaying against a stationary celestial background. Then I saw something that first puzzled, then frightened me. I saw a black line in the sky that ran roughly in a north south direction from horizon to horizon. It was extremely regular with fuzzy sides. The stars were visible behind this line, but just barely. At that moment I realized that the night sky isn't black, as I had always thought, but a deep shade of blue. I became frightened because I thought I was hallucinating. My wife Patrice noticed it too, and she said, "What is that line in the sky?" I was greatly relieved that she saw it too. "I don't know what it is" was my reply. Patrice asked if it was the Milky Way, and I said, "No the Milky Way is bright, and this line is dark."

To this day I still don't know what this "line in the sky" was. I've read that there are "piezoelectric effects" during earthquakes that can cause magnetic disturbances that can cause clouds to instantly form over fault lines. However, this line was perfectly regular, and stretched from horizon to horizon.

I have called Dr. Lucy Jones at Cal-Tech, and told her about this line that we all saw. Lucy was nice, but had no explanation or interest. I have spoken with Dr. Michael A. Persinger. He basically treated me like a wacko.

I'm writing this here to create a record for some future earthquake researcher who may have an explanation for what we all saw.

We all also feel privileged to have witnessed this extremely rare and unknown phenomena.

The U.S. Drug Problem Can be Solved in Three Months

If you ever worry that the drug problem in America will become something that will completely overwhelm our government's ability to control it, this post should help you sleep at night. America's drug problem can be solved in less than 90 days at ZERO cost to the taxpayer. It's just this simple. Let's say there's a drug bust, and $4,000,000 in cash is seized. Let's say 40 narcotics officers were involved. Here's what you do.

1.) Offer every person arrested a "Get Out of Jail Card," If, and only If they sign a statement that they freely give up all the drugs confiscated, AND any money seized.

2.) Divide $4,000,000 by 40 and give every participant in the drug bust $100,000 TAX FREE.

The benefits of this approach are:

1.) You will have narcotics officers working day and night on their own time to make a bust.

2.) Taxpayers won't have to pay the costs of incarceration and prosecution.

3.) In about 3 months a whole lot of drug dealers will be getting poorer, AND a whole lot of people will be wanting to become narcotics officers.

4.) Additionally, because the drug dealers know they won't be going to jail once caught, they'll be less likely to engage in a shoot-out when apprehended.

The Library at Alexandria Still Exists

The Library at Alexandria was renown as a repository for all the Western World's knowledge. Surely it had to be run by people with superior intellect. History records that several small fires occurred at the library before the last and final destructive fire. It would seem reasonable to assume that the people who laboriously copied and maintained the world's knowledge would have realized that papyrus manuscripts were not an ideal medium for preserving knowledge. Surely these learned people copied the manuscripts onto clay tablets, or some more durable other medium than papyrus. Additionally, these same librarians would have kept these "contingency copies" in a location that was not in the immediate vicinity of the old library. Therefore, I propose that somewhere near Alexandria there exists a cache of ancient knowledge that duplicates the original Library at Alexandria.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

The Civilization Gene

Why did human civilization happen? Nobody really knows. Could it be that we are "genetically predisposed" to act together, in concert, to create civilization, and our social and economic interactions?

We might very well be. Adam Smith described in "Wealth of Nations" how specialization leads to superior output, which in turn led to economic prosperity. He showed though "comparative advantage" that by each country producing what it produces best, and then trading with each other, the true wealth of nations was achieved. But this requires a conscious effort. What if these is an "unconscious effort" i.e. a "genetic predisposition to specialize." I think there might actually be a gene in humans that encourages us to specialize. Now I can't point to the genetic sequence, but I think I can point to evidence that such a "genetic predisposition to specialize exists. But first Let's examine the societal benefits of specialization. Originally we were hunter-gatherers operating in family bands of say 20 individuals. Half of whom were female. Probably a third of whom were children below the age of 12. That leaves about 7 males to go out to hunt. Now of course it is obvious that women specialized in the gathering and males specialized in the hunting. But let's ignore the gender based differences and concentrate just on the males. So every day 7 males go out to hunt the days fresh meat. After some time it becomes clear that Claude and Brute are the best hunters. Rock isn't quit as good a hunter, but he sure makes the best arrows. In fact, Rock is known to spend an enormous amount of time making the best arrows. You could say he's "obsessed" with arrow making. Thud, also not quite as good a hunter as Claude and Brute, makes the best bows. In fact, Thud is known to spend an enormous amount of time making the best bows. You could say he's "obsessed" with bow making. Now Gallute, also not quite as good a hunter as Claude and Brute, is terrific at finding prey. In fact, Gallute is known to spend an enormous amount of time tracking and figuring out where to find game. You could say he's "obsessed" with finding game. After some time during which each hunter makes his own arrows, bows, and tracks his own game, Claude and Rock decide they might be even better hunters if they allow Thud and Rock stay back at the encampment, making their bows and arrows, which Claude and Brute will then trade for, with their game. Thus each person specializes in their "obsession," and we take a small step toward civilization through the interdependence that specialization creates. It is my contention that each individual has their own passion (which in its uncontrolled form becomes an obsession) and because their passion causes them to excel its production, the benefits to the whole are realized, and that we all seem to have our own passion, unlike monkeys who only have a passion for bananas.

The gene of specialization exists, but I can''t point to it directly. The gene of specialization shows itself when when it becomes too powerful. The gene of specialization when uncontrolled manifests itself as "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder." In other words, OCD is a the urge to specialize, that exists within each of us, but in the individual with OCD, it's gotten completely out of hand. However, the OCD I believe was in us to varying degrees, as with Claude, Burte et. al. the OCD is only the urge to specialize that is unchecked, but when in its proper measure, this predisposition helps us form civilization by encouraging mutual interdependence and superior performance.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Alien Abduction Explanation

First, a few caveats:

1.) I believe that we are being visited by beings that are either not of this earth, or not of this time.

2.) I believe that aliens, do in fact, abduct humans and animals.

3.) I believe the United States Air Force, not the CIA, FBI, "The Government," or anyone else knows these facts.

4.) I believe the USAF thinks that the general dissemination of the fact that aliens do regularly visit, observe, abduct, threaten, and obstruct some military and space projects, would do great harm to our civilization, by calling into question the validity of religion, The USAF's ability to protect the homeland skys, and the U.S. governments complete bewilderment of the situation.

5.) I believe Admiral Forestall was murdered because he wanted to reveal these facts to the American public.

6.) I believe Travis Walton.

Why am I laying out this set of beliefs? Because I believe that most cases of of alien abductions are not cases of abductions but a distant memory buried deep in our infancy. O.K., you're going to laugh, but after you laugh, let my thoughts roll around in your head. First, Let's go over the typical abduction scenario:

I was asleep when beings with large heads and large eyes approached me. I was paralyzed, unable to move. A bright blinding light shown in my room. I was levitated out my bed, disrobed. The next thing I remember was waking up in bed, knowing that something had happened to me during the night.

Why are all these abduction scenarios always so similar?

Here's my theory.

For thousands of years we humans have been conditioned to sleep at night, and wake during the day. For thousands of years a baby slept next to the mother. Should the baby wake during the night, the mother would console the child, by pulling the child close to her and offering breast milk. The warm milk would work it's magic and the baby would fall back to sleep. This was the way it was since the beginning of humans, and the human baby was conditioned, programed, or genetically evolved to this sequence:

The baby would wake up, the mother would pull the baby close to her, the baby would receive warm milk, and fall back to sleep.

And this is the way it was for humans until about 1900. Electric light was introduced, and increased prosperity allowed the baby to sleep in if not his own room than at least the baby's own crib. Since 1900 when the baby awoke in the night crying, the mother would would turn on a light, pick up the child and offer breast or bottled milk. If the mother found that the baby's diapers needed changing, she most likely would change the diapers before putting the child back to bed. The introduction of the electric light to the night waking-up sequence, now changed to:

The baby waking up, the bright electric light being turned on, the baby receiving warm milk, the baby being disrobed, diaper changed, and the baby falling back to sleep.

So here's my theory. I propose that the "Alien Abduction Experience" for most people is actually the distant memory of a nightime diaper change when they were a baby.

Funny, I know. But think about it, the introduction of the bright electric light in the baby's eyes, together with a diaper change during the the night, both of these events being wholly outside of the entirety of human evolutionary history, may have lasting, shocking effect that later in life may be confabulated with an abduction experience.