Planning Ahead

Hidden away from the world, there is a massive, highly secure, impenetrable vault, 425 feet deep in a frozen mountain on a distant remote island in the Norwegian arctic archipelago of Svalbard close to the north pole. Few people have even heard of these islands. Almost no one ever ventures there.
This hidden vault is impervious to terrorist attack, to earthquakes, to blizzards, to storms, fire, flood, global warming, or nuclear holocaust. Even a direct hit by a medium sized meteor would not penetrate it. Nothing can touch it. It is hidden by its obscurity almost as much as it is hidden by its remoteness, or by its depth inside the mountain. It is so far from the rest of the world of human life, that it might as well be a vault on the moon, or maybe another planet.

What is kept here in this vault so deep under a mountain near the north pole? A very special treasure. something worth more than gold, silver, platinum or diamonds. One that may one day be called upon to save all of mankind.

Seeds. That's right, seeds. It is the Svalbard Global Seed vault. There is room in its massive secure chambers for 4.5 million vacuum-sealed samples of different kinds of grains, and beans, and all manor of plants and crops. Stored for posterity against a potential biological catastrophe.

It turns out that over the 6,000 years of our civilization, we have been growing crops and trying to genetically tune the food crops to the specific types that we eat, but in the process of excluding the ones that don't suit our tastes or our growing season or the wetness or dryness or acidity levels of our soil in any particular region, we have inadvertently eliminated a lot of the biological diversity in the plants that grow on the Earth. And since humanity now inhabits almost every corner of the globe, there are few untouched non-agriculturally tended areas that grow free and wild as nature intended.

For example, potatoes, like many plants now, have become specialized. Ireland is famous for it's potato crops, but soon they will have eliminated all but one type of potato growing there. So it has now become genetically fragile. If any disease or infestation should affect it, it lacks the natural resiliency of genetic diversity to defend against it. In other words, nature normally takes care of these things by simply having a lot of different species of potato, and so if one dies out because some new potato disease wipes them out, there are others that will survive because they were just different enough to out-maneuver that problem.

But, in developing agriculture over the centuries, we have changed the equation that life has been using to survive for millions of years. We have been methodically eliminating all the other types of genetic examples of potato in favor of the ones that produce the most money for crop owners. The largest, fastest-growing, longest growing season, most insect repellent, etc. The cheapest to grow. In our CURRENT environment.

However, species of bugs and diseases are always evolving, and because they are simple organisms, they evolve quicker. If a disease or a bug variation comes up that feeds on the one type of potato we have left, it could potentially wipe that species off the map, and we would lose an important staple of our diet. This risk is there for all crops in the world. Also, there could be major disasters such as floods, fire, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, etc. that could wipe out entire regions of the Earth taking important crops with them.

Potatoes originated in the Andes. So that is where we need to go to collect the widest variations of potatoes for preservation since they have been there the longest, and therefore have had the most opportunity to develop genetic diversity. That way, if future scientists need to create a new hardier strain of potato that can overcome some new biological problem, they will have a large sample of genetic diversity to work with to develop the new strain. Think of it as a palette of colors for an artist to paint with. The range of colors you can create are extremely limited if you are missing the basic colors like yellow or red to mix in.

Planning ahead for disaster on a global scale is what these biologists are doing. They have been quietly going around the world collecting samples of every possible kind of grain in Ethiopia, or bean in South America, etc. and processing them and storing them for posterity in that huge vault near the north pole. They are selfless, unsung heroes doing a valuable essential job. There would normally be a temptation in many governments to cut a program like this to cut taxes and win votes. But thankfully, more visionary, long-term thinkers are at work here.

But I think we should expand the vision further. I think we should be doing the same thing with animals and all species of life, not just plants. Maybe we could freeze the embryos of everything from chickens to elephants. From dogs to dragonflys. Even people. We have sperm and embryo banks for people. Why not expand that concept to include all species and store them in a similar vault. But maybe at the other pole this time. Bury it in a vault deep under Antarctica. That way, it is not on property owned by any one country. It's probably unwise to let one country have exclusive care of the future of all life on the planet. A vault like that is probably impervious to any force in the world except the force of politics.

There are roughly 30 million species of animal life on Earth. It will take some time and some effort. We should probably get started. If we could cut the war in Iraq short by just one week, that would probably pay for the whole project. Think of it as a kind of Noah's Ark.

It occurs to me that we should also have a similar vault for our collective knowledge just in case something happens. For one thing, in the event of a major catastrophe where we might have to begin again, we'll need instructions on how to use the stored cells to regenerate the various species and re-grow the plants to repopulate and restore the Earth again.

There is so much of math and science, and geology, and biology, and medicine, and technology, and literature and art and music and poetry even - to be saved for posterity. From architecture, to bridge-building, to space science, to MRIs, to History, to languages, to Zoology. There are millions of books about millions of topics, in hundreds of languages, that are worthy of saving. I think we should have it in magnetic (disk) as well as optical (CD's) as well as microfiche (film) as well as printed forms. So that if the technology exists to read it, it is all accessible and convenient, but if the technology does not exist, then as least a printed version is available. Obviously, the paper/books would have to be stored at temperature and humidity levels that allow it to be preserved indefinitely.

Also, "Rosetta Stone" translations would be necessary too. Tables that translate an identical message into as many different languages so that all the materials are readable and so that all the languages are preserved as well.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we never have to use these treasure troves of our life and civilization on planet Earth? And wouldn't it be a horrible thing if we DID have to use it, but it didn't exist?

If I had the means, I would start this great project myself. Some things are just necessary.

At some point in the future, it might make sense to create these repositories of our plants, our animals, and our knowledge off-planet. Say on the moon, or Mars. or on Ceres (a large asteroid relatively nearby) It might make sense as a way to ensure the survival of what is on Earth, and also help stage the outward expansion of our life and culture and species into the galaxy.

There are other places on other planets. Perhaps there are some places that have nothing there now but that we could bring life. Who knows? Maybe that's what happened here.

What They're Saying About Canada

Here is what some right-wing pundits are saying about Canada:

ANNE COULTER: They better hope the United States doesn't roll over one night and crush them. They are lucky we allow them to exist on the same continent. We could have taken them [Canada] over so easily.

[ALAN] COLMES: We could have taken them over? Is that what you want?

COULTER: Yes, but no. All I want is the western portion, the ski areas, the cowboys, and the right-wingers.

COULTER: They don't even need to have an army, because they are protected, because they're on the same continent with the United States of America. If we were not the United States of America, Canada -- I mean, we're their trading partner. We keep their economy afloat.

ELLIS HENICAN [Newsday columnist]: We share a lot of culture and a lot of interests. Why do we want to have to ridicule them and be deeply offended if they disagree with us?

COULTER: Because they speak French.

CARLSON: Without the U.S., Canada is essentially Honduras, but colder and much less interesting.

CARLSON: We exploit your [addressing Canadian Member of Parliament Carolyn Parrish] natural resources, that's true. But in the end, Canadians with ambition move to the United States. That has been sort of the trend for decades. It says something not very good about Canada. And I think it makes Canadians feel bad about themselves and I understand that.

CARLSON: Canada needs the United States. The United States does not need Canada.

CARLSON: I think if Canada were responsible for its own security -- you would be invaded by Norway if it weren't for the United States.

~~~~~~~~~

Now here, on the other hand, is a word from a US Naval officer fighting alongside Canadians in Afghanistan:
From: Mike Jansen (Maysonet) Subject:: US Naval Officer speaks up Date: 13 Dec. 2007 Oh Canada !
Subject: FW: US Naval Officer speaks up One American's View -

David Meadows is a retired US Navy Captain and the author of numerous books and articles on military subjects.This message was on the U.S. Military.Com website.

David Meadows ~ April 27, 2006 On April 22, 2006 four Canadian soldiers were killed in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb. Respects and heartfelt sadness go to the families of those heroes who stand alongside the U.S. In the Long War half a world away. While we focus on the war in Iraq, the fighting continues in Afghanistan where side-by-side the U.S. And one of its most loyal allies, Canada, engage the re-emergence of the Taliban.

Canada is like a close uncle who constantly argues, badgers, and complains about what you are doing, but when help is truly needed, you can't keep him away: he's right there alongside you. We have a unique relationship with Canada. We have different political positions on many issues, but our unique friendship has weathered world wars, global crises, and the ever-so-often neighborhood disagreement.

Canada has been with us since the beginning of the Global War on Terrorism. In February 2006, without fanfare Canada, leading a multinational force combating growing Taliban insurgency, increased troop strength in Afghanistan to 2,300. With the American military stretched thin against rising instability in both Iraq and Afghanistan, an ally that increases its troop strength is inspiring and deserves our respect.

Katrina was another example of our close family-like relationship. Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005. Two days later, the Vancouver Urban Search and Rescue Team rushed from British Columbia, Canada to Saint Bernard Parish, Louisiana. In this Parish of 68,000 Americans, the first responders were Canadians. Overall, within the devastated Gulf Coast area, it appears Canada was the first responder outside of local efforts. They worked 18-hour days, going door-to-door alongside Louisiana State Troopers, rescuing 119-Americans.

While FEMA ramped up to surge into the catastrophe; while the administration and Louisiana fought for the politically correct way to respond; Canadian aid was already at work. The Canadian Forces Joint Task Group 306 consisting of the warships HMCS Athabaskan, HMCS Toronto, NSMC Ville de Quebec, and CCGC William Alexander sailed to the Gulf Coast to deliver humanitarian supplies. They stayed, working alongside U.S. Navy and Mexican warships, to provide aid to Katrina victims.

Katrina was not an anomaly of our close relationship. When Hurricane Ivan devastated Pensacola, Florida in October 2004, Canadian humanitarian help was there also. Canadian power trucks roamed the streets and countryside helping restore electricity where Americans had a unique experience of running into workmen who only spoke French.

Canada took a lot of undeserved flak for failing to leap into Operation Iraqi Freedom when our administration sent us galloping across the desert. But Canada remains one of our staunchest allies in the war. When United States military forces were fighting up the highways in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Canada quietly increased troop numbers in Afghanistan and continued Naval operations with U.S. Warships in the Persian Gulf. I was at the Pentagon on 9/11, stationed on the Joint Staff. During the early hours after the attack, the United States closed its air space and ordered every aircraft within our borders to land immediately at the nearest airfield.

Canada immediately stood up an Operations Support Post. With civil aviation grounded, aircraft destined for the United States were forced elsewhere. Most landed in Canada. Re-routed travelers and flight crews were hosted at Canadian Forces facilities in Goose Bay, Gander, and Stephenville, Newfoundland; Halifax, Shearwater, and Aldershot, Nova Scotia; Winnipeg, Manitoba; and, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Canada rapidly mobilized its forces. Within hours, the Canadian Navy was on alert with ships preparing to cast off immediatelyfor any U.S. Port to help victims of the 9/11 attacks.

Canada's Disaster Assistance Response Team prepared to deploy from Trenton, Ontario. Canada dispersed CF-18 fighter aircraft to strategic locations throughout Canada. No politics. No negotiating. No questions. They were just there. Canada would have fought any adversary that approached the United States that day.

Canada has been such an integral partner with the United States in the Global War on Terrorism that on December 7, 2004 when President Bush awarded the Presidential Unit Citation to Commander Joint Force South for combat success in Afghanistan, he was also recognizing the secretive Canadian Joint Task Force 2 commando counter-terrorism unit. The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded 30 Bronze Star medalsfor heroism in combat to Canadian Forces personnel. Some of those 30 died in action. Many of the others were wounded. These Canadians earned this American medal for heroism fighting alongside Americans.

When we recall our own dead heroes, we must remember that these warriors gave their lives not only for Canada, but also for the United States. Canada is more than a neighbor. It is a close family member with the gumption to disagree with its brother to the south but always be there when disaster strikes and America needs help. For that, I salute you, Canada, and extend my respect for the sacrifices given by members of the Canadian Forces.

~~~~~~

I remember a few years ago when Bush said that Britain was America's greatest ally and it's best friend. I remember how hurt and insulted Canadians felt. I thought at the time that if I were the president, I would get on the plane and go straight to Canada and get in front of a large crowd of Canadians and I'd say this,

"I said in a speech recently that Britain is America's greatest friend. And I meant it. Do you want to know why? "
"Because Canada is not a friend."

"Because Canada is MORE than that. Canada is FAMILY!"

That's what I would have said. But hey, that's just me.

Dualism

First, let's have a definition. According to the dictionary, the philosophical and theological meanings of the term are that it covers the concepts of mind vs body, or spiritual vs material, or good vs bad. Let's set aside the good vs bad definition for the moment and focus on the other two.

From a mind vs body perspective, I think there has been a great deal of twisting of faces and wringing of hands over the years about whether the mind can conquer the body. The general underlying and commonly understood concept is that there is a constant struggle between the body and the mind, in that the body wants to do evil and that the mind is the higher level being that must override the base impulses of the body.

There is a powerful scene in Frank Herbert's book, "Dune", where the Reverend Mother of the Bene Gesserit is testing young Paul Atriedes' humanity by holding a poisoned dart at his throat while he holds his hand in a box under great pain. He can feel that the flesh is being burned off his hand, and he is in great agony, but yet he knows that if he withdraws his hand, then he will feel the sting of the Gom Jabbar at his thoat and he will die instantly from the poison. So this is a test of his mental willpower to control his body's natural urge to pluck the hand from pain and damage in order to avoid certain death. To withstand damage and pain for a higher purpose.

Her assumption is that to withdraw his hand despite the immediate consequences would mean he is given over to animal impulses, but to keep it in the box despite the pain indicates a higher mind function, and that the mind truly controls the body even in situations of great stress, and that therefore indicates that he is truly human. It is a painful and horrible test, but there is no actual damage to the hand, it is pain by nerve induction, but the illusion is what is important. After it is over, Paul says "I see the truth of it". Indeed.

But is this truth? Is the body evil, and the mind good? Is the mind's conquest over the body the ultimate expression of virtue?

Religions teach us that yes, this is true. The body has base appetites, to over-indulge in food, sex, pleasure, comfort, etc., and the mind is a higher-level form of the person, and it must conquer the body's tendency to sin, by strict adherence to a higher set of standards. It is the mind's job to resist temptations and not eat when hungry. To not pursue sex when it feels the urge. To resist drink when thirsty. To force the body to exercise hard and to work when it feels lazy and tired. A person of character and substance has complete control of their appetities and their urges.

I suggest that it is a little more complex than that. It occurs to me that the mind certainly has base urges itself as well as higher motives. And that the body also may possess some higher yearnings and might not only always seek the most primal pleasures. For the mind, there are lofty urges such as sacrifice, patience, generosity, courage, compassion, kindness, responsibility, and a sense of fairness, and many others. But there are also more base urges such as greed, selfishness, jealousy, envy, pride, arrogance, snobbery, ignorance, cruelty, etc. So the mind has both types of urges as well as some in the middle like curiosity, playfulness, humor, etc. And there are also special abilities such as art, music, mathematics, creativity, leadership, etc. There is, in fact, a full spectrum of good to bad to exceptional within the mind alone before ever going to the body.

And so it is with the body as well. The body may feel tired and hungry and thirsty and lazy, but it also has its higher moments when it wants to run and jump and climb and to be strong and to resist fatigue, overcome pain and disease, and perform despite the physical difficulties it faces. It is far more than the embodiment of base appetites.

Materialism vs Spiritualism
Materialism is not merely about the accumulation of possessions as many people think. It is much broader than that. It is about believing only in the concrete. The here and now. It is about resisting anything that is not irrefutably logical and instrinsically substantive and undeniably proven through empirical evidence. Materialism varyingly allows that there is a mind somewhere within the body although it exists at some higher aggregate meta-level than cellular or molecular. But it shuns the whole idea and concept of a spiritual world.

In other words a materialist may accept that some intangible things exist but that they exist as illusions, concepts, and affectations of the mind and imagination - but they steadfastly resist the notion that anything intangible exists on it's own - outside the mind. Like supernatural beings or powers. God, the devil, angels, demons, ghosts, miracles and magic, etc. These types of things are all unprovable, and utter nonsense to a materialist.

To this mindset, I would have to agree with Shakespeare when he said in Hamlet, "There is far more in heaven and Earth than is dreamed of in your philosophies."

First, let's look at what the "mind" is. A spiritual person might suggest that this surely indicates that there is a soul at work. A separate being, independent of the body that merely inhabits the body for a time and then moves on to its rewards in the afterlife.

However, a materialist view would see it as simply a higher-level functional layer of the body itself. In other words, when the brain has evolved to a point where it is complex enough, and there are enough synapses firing, then there is a phenomenon that manifests itself as consciousness. A certain self awareness. It is the result of a complex network of intersections of knowledge and decision-making abilities that behaves in ways that we interpret as intelligence. Creatures of less intelligence, less complex brain function, may act instinctively, and may act in self preservation, and they may have some tricks or tactics for hunting, etc., but they are limited in their development.

However, once there is sufficient levels of brain activity and complexity, then another level of ability emerges where the animal is now capable of developing speech, and becomes capable of abstract thought and can participate in conversations with others and useful interaction and eventually even creative endeavors such as art and music. But the assumption is that these higher level functions are entirely based upon the sophistication of the brain activity, and have nothing to do with a spirit or soul "inhabiting" or animating a body.

On some levels, the materialist view is seductive because it is solid. It is the limit of that which is logical and reliably provable. The spiritual argument seems fanciful and unsubstantiated. So why is there support for it, at all then? Is it merely wishful thinking? Is it delusion? Is it fantasy? Is it a hope that there is some meaning and purpose to life so that the struggle for good acts in life are rewarded in the afterlife?, or on the negative side, a hope that all this just cannot be for nothing?

I would point out that there are some times where an event happens that suggests the presence of spirit, and the event is witness by multiple people or has some other empirical level of manifestation that convinces people that it is real although not solid, substantial, or reproducible. In my own experience there have been a couple of examples of this in my life. One happened in Delphi, Greece in August 1989. I stepped off the tour bus amidst the ruins of the ancient city of Delphi which I had never visited nor read about, but somehow, I knew every road, and most of the buildings. I knew where the bathrooms were, and the city treasuries, and the temple of Apollo, and the building that used to be the main marketplace - despite the fact that there was no evidence to suggest that today. Well, not without doing a lot of research. I knew everything about the place as if I had once lived there. I did have the feeling that I did live there at some point long long ago - very much like going back to visit a neighborhood you lived in when you were a child. And I certainly had the feeling that I had taught every day in the amphitheater there. The people I was travelling with were amazed at how much I knew about the place without having any maps or other sources of information. I had no idea this was going to happen. It was just as much a surprise to me.

Another event happened a few years later, which really gave me pause. I was taking a meditation class where we were encouraged to relax and open up our minds to any 'messages' or visions, or images that might come. I did have some thoughts about a surgical procedure that did seem to be highly relevant to the woman sitting to my immediate right. But the most surprising thing happened at the end of the session when everyone was leaving and as I was saying my thank you to the instructor, he told me that while we were in our session he had a vision and saw a man come into the room from behind me and walk up to me and stand directly behind me with his hands on my shoulders in a 'sponsoring' or protective way. He spoke to this apparition, and the apparition said that he was my older brother and his name was John. I told him that this could not be true because I have no older brothers. I am the oldest of three brothers. The instructor also told me about a ring he noticed on his finger. It was a gold ring with a square red gem with a small diamond chip and an initial "V" in it. That caught my attention. I have a ring exactly like that at home. It was a gift from my father when I was very young.

When I returned home, I called my mother to tell her about this apparent vision of a spirit claiming to me my older brother and about the weird coincidence with the ring. Instead of laughing it off as I expected, my mother suggested that I should ask my father about it. So I talked to my father and he reluctantly admitted that there WAS in fact another brother born two years before me, and that they had named him Johnny, but that he had died of a heart malfunction after about 6 months.

So, aside from shock of finding out about a brother I had who had died and I had never heard about before, here we have a case where there is externally corroborated evidence of things, or people even, that exist on some other level beyond either our own imagination or the physical corporeal level. Then add to these personal exeriences of mine, the cases cited in books like "The Case for Reincarnation" and "Life Between Life", which describes a case where a man under hypnosis regression therapy goes back to a previous lifetime and begins speaking in a language that a great deal of research discovered only existed between 200AD and 800AD. This is a rare viking dialect that died out completely over a thousand years ago, and is only know to a handful of advanced linguistics scholars in the world today, and the man did not have any access to such information.

Similarly, there was a woman who, while under regression, began speaking and writing in an ancient language that was only ever known to about 50 people in history. It was a special language developed and spoken by just the members of the royal family in Persia about 800 years ago and then disappeared after about 60 years. It was used as a way for the members of the royal family to send letters to each other and discuss affairs of state without being overheard or have their messages sabotaged by their political rivals and the military people whom they distrusted.

A spiritual level of existence seems the only logical explanation that fits all these observables. To deny that, despite the empirical evidence is to be just as blind and intransigent as the religious people who refuse to acknowledge things outside their philosophies.

So I would say that there is more than just the material world of everyday life out there. There are the mental realms of thought, and discovery, and creativity, and art and science, and there is apparently also some spiritual level where our existence persists beyond the physical body.

That does suggest we have a spiritual being or existance, but still does not guarantee that there is an anthropic God. An all-powerful, all-knowing human-like, but super-human super-natural being who watches our every move and judges our worth based on our actions in this life. But it does at least suggest that a spiritual level of reality exists, and so there is at least a 'place' or a level, or a 'realm' for a being such as God to exist in.

In the interest of intellectual honesty we would have to at least acknowledge that much. So, for me, the concept of Dualism, is insufficient. There are more than two levels, for us to exist on. We exist physically, we exist mentally (that aggregate meta-life abstract reality level), and evidently, we exist spiritually as well. I have read that we are not physical beings that occasionally have a spiritual experience, but rather, we are spiritual beings having a physical experience. But I remain open to new information and ideas.