Fruit Flies Have Free Will by Louis Evan Palmer

If there is only one ultimate source, and the Theory of Everything has been trying to posit that for many years, then everything that exists is made of that "suchness". In some cases, we may call it a substance but it is more than that. And if that source has awareness and consciousness then everything that issues from it will have awareness and consciousness. And if that source has free will and is the embodiment and enabler of free will then everything that issues from it will have "free will".

In that context, the conclusion by a group of scientists studying fruit flies that they are manifesting free will is not unbelievable. In fact, it should follow that in every case where there are two or more possibilities then there is an opportunity for free will. It may be the case that even at the atomic level, we will find that the "choices" being made by the electrons and protons and other particles are not governed by purely stochastic processes.

At what point would the awareness or consciousness of something become observable to a person? Does aggregation plays a part in consciousness & awareness? Or interaction?

Perhaps consciousness is nothing more than a conversation between two awarenesses. In some instances, maybe the concept of a dance is more appropriate but where it is the interaction, or the feeling of interaction, that gives an impression of consciousness.

This can help explain the fleeting nature of consciousness and its specificity - you are consciously aware of only one thing at a time. It may be that humans may only observe consciousness at a certain level of aggregation or through interaction which may also be governed by the level of aggregation.

In that scenario, an individual bee has one consciousness, a hive has another. One person, one consciousness; a crowd of people, another.

Or within an individual - the organs themselves; for instance, a heart may have one consciousness, a liver or stomach another, a brain another; the whole organism another consciousness again; two people in love another, etc. etc.

A tree one consciousness, a grove another, a forest yet another. The Earth as a whole manifesting a whole Earth consciousness. Similarly for the Sun and the solar system.

Maybe fruit flies will help to lead us out of an "only humans have free will" ghetto and towards a deeper awareness & understanding of our bonds both imaginary and real.

Fruit Flies Have Free Will, The Way It Can Be, Louis Evan Palmer, http://twicb.blogspot.com
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Copyright 2007 Louis Evan Palmer lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have been published in numerous publications.

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• OAKLANE WOODS - Amazon Kindle Book
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• 40 POEM FRAGMENTS - Amazon Kindle Book

The Free Trade Lie by Louis Evan Palmer

In the dogma of the marketeers, free enterprise and unencumbered trade is the elixir of prosperity and the guarantor of freedom. In reality, it is no such thing.

A great debt is owed to Chalmers Johnson in clearly and unequivocally exposing this truth in his book "The Sorrows of Empire". As he points out, "... none of the world's twenty-four reasonably developed capitalist nations... got where they are today by following... globalization doctrine." (pg 262, Metropolitan Books, 2004)

In fact, those countries, led by the United States, preach and pontificate to the poorer nations, telling them self-serving falsehoods while denying them the same growth and maturation techniques that they used; what Chalmers Johnson categorizes as "kicking away the ladder".

Yet, "between 1790 and 1940, the United States was probably the most highly-protected economy on earth" (pg 263).

Thus, for 150 years, with the multitudinous resources and advantages that the United States had, it still had to protect its industries and infrastructure.

The devastation caused by this facile false doctrine to countries like Argentina and Indonesia is appalling and criminal. Surely, the War Crimes tribunal should enlarge its scope to encompass economic war crimes as well because only the term "war" can adequately describe the malice and impact these "policies" have had. And it is very premeditated.

In 1981, the United States decided that action was needed to "discredit state-assisted capitalism" such as practised in Japan and South Korea. It was nothing more than ensuring subservience and economic peonage. At the same time, America embarked on a campaign to "weaken the sovereignity of Third World nations". This is the type of aggressive war that was declared illegal at Nuremberg except that as an economic war, it is currently allowed.

"Economic war" and "trade policies" may sound clinical and somewhat harmless but in practice, it means grinding poverty for millions while vast wealth accrues to an ensconced elite and their minions. In addition, most of the people in the wealthy nations will not see any of these ill-gotten gains. Instead we see criminal overlords, skilled in subterfuge and misdirection, posing as cultured and educated, while stealing from and impoverishing hundreds of millions. We see speculation gone wild, infiltrating every facet of our economy, obfuscating every attempt at rational discourse as its purveyors create phony wealth and exchange it by whatever means necessary for real wealth.

The Free Trade Lie, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com
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Copyright 2007 Louis Evan Palmer lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have been published in numerous publications.

BUY BOOKS BY LOUIS EVAN PALMER

• OAKLANE WOODS - Amazon Kindle Book
• TALES TOLD TO A TREE - Amazon Kindle Book
• 40 POEM FRAGMENTS - Amazon Kindle Book

The Blessings of Imprecision by Louis Evan Palmer

It's safe to say that many dialogues or debates would benefit from more imprecision. Imprecision aids in gaining a strategic perspective. It also aids in discarding less pertinent detail which can reduce clarity rather than enhance it.

Imprecision is the balm of diplomacy; the vital truth about diplomacy is that it is not war. So, when we see diplomats being demeaned and derided, particularly, for their imprecision, then we know we are on the way to conflict, the way of force.

Death counts is one area of public debate where imprecision will often help. Here, the numbering systems of primitive societies, that is, one, two, many, is more useful. Clearly, we still want people who are experts and can derive as objective and accurate an accounting as possible but we must acknowledge that many agendas drive these number counts. Not the least of which is how much reliable relevant information is available.

But, when the toll gets high, it is sufficient for most discussions to simply state that a very large number of persons perished. The indisputable reality is that such a loss of life is a massive tragedy and that "we" should respond as quickly and effectively as possible - to prevent, to detect, to protect, to prosecute. But for the public or the body politic, the fuzzy broad truth is enough, a morass of numbers and maps and charts will not enlighten the matter

The general how and why is useful to uncover but without getting bogged down in too many specifics. As in, at a high-level, a root cause for genocide is having a group, or groups, of people who are considered less than human. This can be from the point of view that a specific group is considered not fully human or a given group considers itself so superior to other groups as to render them subhuman by comparison.

Who feels this way and why or the merits of their arguments should not be part of this discussion which is that any diminishment of a person's treatment and rights under the law and by society can, in a worst case scenario, lead to genocide or enslavement (which is a kind of "living" genocide).

Another powerful weapon in the arsenal of manipulation and victimization is fear-mongering. While wars have been waged purely for gain, wars can become virulent in scope and menace when fear is successfully invoked. When that happens, there will be many offerings at the temple of the Cult of the Enemy.

Also noteworthy, is an emphasis on differences, say ethnicity or religion or classes or castes, and a slew of associated, wide-ranging postulates which serve to create and maintain an adversarial stance between these groups.

Specificity is a hallmark of repression and arbritrary rule. It allows for the segregation and branding of society. It allows for the differential application of the law and its protections. It permits targeted sanctions based on involuntary membership. The imprecise way of categorizing people is merely to say they're all humans. All. And further, that they have the same rights. Same. All.

It's a necessary simplication which is closer to the true sense of what a majority want for our society than any of the various details that may be used to "clarify" society's meaning but which instead confuse and detract and, ultimately, jeopardize our freedom and security - for a divided, hostile and suspicious world cannot have lasting peace.

The Blessings of Imprecision, The Way It Can Be, Louis Evan Palmer, http://twicb.blogspot.com
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Copyright 2007 Louis Evan Palmer lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have been published in numerous publications.

BUY BOOKS BY LOUIS EVAN PALMER

• OAKLANE WOODS - Amazon Kindle Book
• TALES TOLD TO A TREE - Amazon Kindle Book
• 40 POEM FRAGMENTS - Amazon Kindle Book

The Urge to End History by Louis Evan Palmer

The urge to end history gets posited in various ways, in isolation, in volleys, as ultimate desolation, as eden remade, but its main attribute is that the desired state we will find ourselves, if we're alive, is one in which no appreciable change will any longer occur. Stripped of rhetoric, it's a conclusion to the human journey on this planet, a solid self-sustaining stasis.

This resolution, which some fervently want, is the emergence of a national or global community where major sources of confrontation have been addressed or, more likely, negated.

They are Utopians and whether that Utopia is good or bland, it will be certain and orderly. And this is not a bad thing except for the fact that Utopians with power seem to differ from Utopians without power. Utopians with power seem to be revolutionists at heart and they are the ones who will make history even when they are seeking to end it... in their favour.

Most people are happy with steady, incremental progress and peace. The history they want is unspectacular. But the pushy people who inhabit the corridors of power and whisper in the ears of those who command the armies & the weapons are not satisfied with patience and peace, they seek advantage and they seek dominion.

These are the people who muse about a clash of civilizations or armageddon or startling new weapons that can assure full-spectrum victory. These are the people who constantly wage every kind of war, large and small, against everyone. The methods they use to attain the peace they envisage deforms society to the extent that what is protected in the end is a twisted perverse version of the peaceful community that we began with.

We have to be careful what we give to our leaders since they can fashion it into something quite different. It is safer and more accurate for us to agree that history will never end and that we must live together peacefully. It is much more dangerous to slide into the "dream" that we can somehow end history to our liking.

The Urge to End History, The Way It Can Be, Louis Evan Palmer, http://twicb.blogspot.com
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Copyright 2007 Louis Evan Palmer lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have been published in numerous pub

BUY BOOKS BY LOUIS EVAN PALMER

• OAKLANE WOODS - Amazon Kindle Book
• TALES TOLD TO A TREE - Amazon Kindle Book
• 40 POEM FRAGMENTS - Amazon Kindle Book

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