evolution
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On perspective.
If we didn’t believe that the passage of time allows us to make a better world, then why would we try?
Book of Shem, Christianity, climate change, climate destabilization, club-winged manakins, cycles of time, cyclical time, David Kishik, death, direction of time, entropy, ents, evolution, evolutionary pressure, extinction, fall of man, global warming, good stewards of the Earth, hebrew, Hinduism, human evolution, improvement, Judaism, male nipples, manakins, mythology, optimism, originalism, perspective, progress, religion, Sapiens, the myth of progress, time, time’s arrow, tree communication, tree people, treents, trees, why do men have nipples, why does time move forward, Yuval Noah Harari -
On attentiveness and names.
Some kids are exceptionally attentive to their environment … but we tell them they have an attention deficit.
abuse, ADD, adderall, addiction, ADHD, amphetamine, attention deficit, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, chemical dependence, chemistry, childhood abuse, childhood development, childhood trauma, crystal meth, crystal structure, deficit, developmental biology, dirty drop, dirty urine, disease names, diversity, doctors, drug chemistry, drug test, drug testing, evolution, Fruitless, Fruity, gene names, genetics, hedgehog, human evolution, hyperawareness, hypervigilance, incarceration, jail, jail poetry, mass incarceration, medicine, methamphetamine, names, naming genes, neurodiversity, parole, Percy Jackson, pharmacology, poetry in jail, probation, protein structure, reading, self-medication, sensitivity, sensitivity to environment, SHH, Sonic Hedgehog, Sonic Hedgehog mutation, stimulants, teaching in jail, teaching poetry in jail, The Lightning Thief, trauma, urine screen, War on Drugs -
On ‘The Overstory.’
Trees made our world livable. Will we show gratitude … or destroy all the forests, wrecking our own chances of survival in the process?
AI, algorithms, artificial intelligence, atmosphere, bees, biomass, book review, brains, carbon, carbon cycles, chemical communication, climate, climate change, cognition, Collapse, communication, computers, consciousness, cycle of life, deforestation, Earth, Ecology, environmentalism, environmentalist, evolution, extinction, forest, Fruitful Labor, global warming, Go, greenhouse gases, Jared Diamond, Mike Madison, nature, neural networks, neurology, neurons, old growth forest, origin of consciousness, oxygenation, plant communication, Richard Powers, robots, science fiction, smartphones, speed of life, sunlight, tech, technology, technology addiction, The Overstory, The Overstory review, tree communication, tree talk, trees, vegan, Walden, woodlands, woods -
On nature.
Nature heals, but we yank the world away from people in need.
boaters, boats, cell block, concrete, contraband, domestic violence, drug use, evolution, finding a way to survive, forest bathing, Greazy, Grow, growing a tree in jail, heroin, human evolution, human instincts, incarceration, instincts, instinctual behaviors, instinctual urges, jail block, jail boats, jail poetry, life inside jail, mass incarceration, medicine, methamphetamine, nature, nature bathing, nature walks, opiates, our man, Our Man Grows an Orange Tree, plants, poem, poetry, prison poetry, stress, teaching poetry, teaching poetry in jail, withdrawal -
On loneliness.
It’s well known that loneliness wrecks brains … so why are we imposing it on the people we expect better behavior from?
addiction, animal welfare, biomedical research, coke, cooperation, crime, crime deterrence, Daniel Weary, David Grimm, dendritic growth, evolution, evolution of cooperation, health risks of incarceration, heroin, imposed loneliness, incarceration, isolation, jail, John-Michael Bloomquist, lab animals, lab mouse, laboratory animals, loneliness, loneliness epidemic, mass incarceration, meth, mice, mouse, neuron growth, parole, parole officer, parole violation, pot, probation, punishing defectors, punishment, rehab, rehabilitation, research animals, science, Surgeon General, The Prodigal’s Return, Vivek Murthy, War on Drugs -
On animals that speak, including humans.
Tom Wolfe & Noam Chomsky both claim that no other animals are capable of anything like human speech … while scientists are finally learning to listen.