About That

One more note in this trilogy: This, That and The Other. That directs our attention to the environment. However, the notion of the environment as something separate from the self is a paradigm with implications I must challenge once again. 

A video produced by the IPCC in 2023 ends with the slogan "Our climate. Our future" demonstrating a sense of responsibility (good) barely emerging from a sense of ownership, management, use and control (maybe not so good). Whose climate was it before we showed up? Who will be responsible for it when we are gone, and then whose future will it be?

We need to see the world first as a whole within which humanity is one species among millions, a problematic late arrival rushing to the sixth mass extinction with a presumption of entitlement. Meanwhile microplastics accumulate in our brains, another unintended consequence of our ingenuity. 

We have a choice. We could aspire instead to belong with respect and restraint to a regenerating world where happy children play for seven generations and more.

I've said all of this before. You can read it again in earlier notes.

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Some environmental thoughts from past blogs:

Belonging to the Earth: Nov 2021

While Heaven Thaws: Jan 2022

Make a Plan: March 2022

Cousins of Wolves: Aug 2022

Spring Again: March 2023

Seeds: March 2023

Paving Paradise: March 2024

I Wonder

Here is the promised sequel to This, That and The Other. I was going to write about this (the self), but noticed after the first sentence that I was already fully engaged in the other (what I make of it). So what follows is entirely what I make of the self. If you are looking for an exposition on the actual self, you are on your own.

I know. It's hard. You don't want to do it on your own. Neither do I. So I read some books by Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, Robert Sapolsky, etc. But when I did that, I got what they made of it rather than the actual self. I keep yes-butting, reminding myself "never sell your soul for a theory". 

I continue wondering. I look closer for the self within systems of organs, tissues, cells, organelles, molecules, atoms, electrons, protons, neutrons, up-quarks, down-quarks, antiquarks, the Higgs boson (remember the God particle), wavicles, and such: that train of thought still leaves me wondering. I don't see myself in there.

We bring God into this because theologies are older than the Higgs boson and demonstrate the point very well. If we knew God we might know ourselves better. But don't tell God what to be because God is what God is in spite of what we think. Maybe God is not the omnipotent champion of our tribe who will ensure victory over the unbelievers, who, by the way, are in possession of something we want. If we don't sell our souls for that theory, good for us. Maybe God sees us as friends who are tragically stuck in a false idea of who we are. 

I wonder.
That's what I make of myself. 
I am a wonderer.

This, That and The Other

One of my readers will recognize the title of this note because it was her idea, another phrase like 'here and there' or 'now and then', redirecting our attention in saccades to simplify and get a complete picture bit by bit. OK, let's go with this, that and the other.

Reality can be deconstructed in a variety of ways. For this note and perhaps a few to follow, I choose these categories: the self (this), the environment (that), and what we make of it all (the other). 

To begin, notice that paying attention to one thing means ignoring all the rest, at least for the moment. Take for example apostle John's assertion that the origin and totality of things is the WORD, ignoring that a word is a symbol in which we store meaning and that meaning derives from experience and that experience requires sentience that emerges from the singularity only after billions of years of random events in an arbitrary universe. John was ignorant of semiotics, mathematics, physics, cosmology, chemistry, biology, evolution and all the other conceptual schemes I left out. His world (not his reality, but rather what he made of it) began a few days before Adam, who, according to legend, appeared in an instant, awake and full of words. Not very likely, but we can believe anything if we try.

I stopped trying about grade 11 when I learned that before the word arrived, almost everything was already here. The word is an emergent phenomenon generated by an organism that came late in the story and may be gone in an instant. 

Let's be humble about words. When we are done with deconstruction, we have to put the pieces together as best we can to have a coherent idea of reality. This and that is far more than the other we describe with our humble words, our 'isms and 'ologies.

But we can have some fun trying.

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Some interesting this and that.

Global Fossil Fuel Emissions Increase in 2024: Global Carbon Project, Nov 2024

Canada's Climate Plan is Working: Gov Canada National Inventory Report, March 2025

Now and Then

Out for a walk yesterday, we encountered a pair of robins doing what comes naturally at this time of year. They were not interested in us, except to keep clear because people are scary. I suspect that there was not much thinking going on with the birds. A robin's little brain is good for migration, mating, evading people; but all of that is inherited instinct. Daniel Dennett (no longer with us) would call it Darwinian behaviour, reflex built into the neural network through evolution with little experience or imagination or reason involved. 

I don't mean to disrespect the robins. Their tiny brains serve them well. But they learn very little, and they have no foresight or imagination or reasoning. Robins don't obsess  about a nest full of eggs hatching into hungry little birdies needing to be fed, and then decide to stay single because the family thing is too much bother. It's all about now. Then will look after itself. They see a potential mate and go into their dance. They see us coming on the sidewalk, and fly off to dance elsewhere. They find a likely place to build a nest following a blueprint written in their genes. I recall years ago, when a robin claimed our front porch for nesting and spent hours attacking his reflection in the window because he was programmed to defend his territory against rival males. To give him credit, that usually works; but in this case, not so clever.

Dennett postulated several other potential modes of mental activity given a sufficiently well-developed brain. Skinnerian behaviour involves trying something out at random, and if it works, do the same thing next time. Popperian thinking imagines likely outcomes of possible actions, and then tries what is most promising. Gregorian thought makes use of tools (language, books, videos) for gathering and transmitting knowledge and evaluating it critically. 

The birds may get as far as learning from first-claw experience. Good for them. But it takes a human brain to access the past and make a rational plan for the future based on accumulated wisdom, i.e. first-hand experience plus all the rest: myth, legend, history, all the books in the library and bytes on the Internet. Furthermore it takes a lazy self-absorbed human brain to think like a bird when accumulated wisdom is available. So in my opinion, if a human is so obsessed with the task at hand (getting elected by ignoring the real cost of energy) that the future doesn't come into it (preventing climate disaster), that birdbrain should get out of the way when actual humans are deciding what to do. 

Apologies to the birds. 

Apologies to grandchildren who are already suffering the consequences of a century of human ignorance. 

Apologies in advance to great grandchildren who may decide that having a family isn't worth the bother in a world that is unravelling...

...unless we value then enough to pay what we owe now.

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The Insanity of Carbon Capture Deception: Just Have a Think, March 16, 2025

CO2 Pipeline Leak in Mississippi: CBC News, March 16,  2025

Carbon Pricing 101: David Suzuki and Ian Hannington, April 2024

Axe-the-Tax Poillievre: CBC News, Jan 2025

Climate Action is Less of a Priority. Trump Isn't Helping: Kyle Bakx, CBC News, March 15, 2025

Predictions of Future Global Climate: UCAR

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research: take a look before it gets Trumped

Here and There

The birds are back, pairing off and looking for nesting sites. A persistent broody pair inspecting the artificial evergreen-and-holly wreath on our front door reminded us to put the winter decorations away and reclaim our territory. I know, there were birds here for ages before people invaded and put up plastic imitations of nature. But we need our space. The birds are welcome to nest in the trees and bushes. The ersatz foliage belongs to us. Still this wouldn't be home without birds close by. We leave them an offering of food and water to help out while a sparce winter softens to verdant spring.

On my mind today is the us-them contest over space. What's here is ours. What do we do when they want what's here? Do we forget that not so long ago they were here and we (or our ancestors) were busy taking over, chopping down forests, displacing pesky wild things, building the suburbs, because we could, because we were smart and people are important and birds are just birds.

Now, how does it feel when we-here are the target of Pecunious Seizer over there, the aspiring emperor who wants what we've got (water, minerals, oil, a green and pleasant land), and might just take it because he can?

I don't do much these days but change the wreath on the front door and think a bit between naps. Between naps I have been considering the roots of the us-here vs them-there dichotomy. It isn't new. Competition was part of the natural system before there were people, living things taking up available space with their prolific fertility and crowding out other species. But cooperation was no less part of that dynamic, going back as far as the evolution of eukaryote cells from bacteria and archaea. All complex life on earth, plants and animals, arose from this early symbiogenesis. We are stronger together, and that is one of the fundamental life principles, some would say The Transcendent Principle that we name God.

Harking back to Moses, I think of the ten commandments in these terms. The zeroth commandment, the default instinct inherited from reptilian ancestors and before, is take care of yourself. Most of the other commandments were about looking after each other, because we are stronger together. Centered between concern for self and regard for the other, we find the commandment to submit to God. The God of Moses was largely about laws, supervision, judgment, reward and punishment. If law restricting self-interest feels like oppression, that burden is lightened by empathy (compassion, altruism, generosity, mercy, forgiveness, love) instincts that have evolved through our mammalian heritage as we have become human over the ages. But primitive reptilian self-interest persists along with compassion. When pressed, we may revert to aggressive selfishness. This is part of our inheritance from 'nature red in tooth and claw'.

As adversaries we are in perpetual danger and use much of our time and resources in attack and defense, without comfort, safety, peace. As friends, we prosper. Love is grand. Because we love, humanity has thrived. Because we love, we specialize and cooperate and increase our productivity. Because of love, we are so technologically advanced that other organisms cannot evade our defenses or attacks. We eat and are not eaten. We live long and prosper. And now, in a crowded world, running out of land and resources, we-here compete with them-there to win the spoils of war for us-here whom we love best. We are predators still beneath a veneer of civility, and our prey is the neighbour we love less who has what we want.

So we have this trichotomy of principles tested by the ages: self-interest, regulation, and care for others. Unregulated competition would, I think, be a dead end because the world is finite, unlike greed. On the other hand, love without regulated competition would terminate progress toward a better world. The best of all possible worlds would be one with regulated competition and cooperation among friends and an expanding circle of friends growing to include pets and wild things and the entire system within which we have evolved. This we can have unless selfishness Trumps everything.

Nice day, 10°C and cloudless. Let's go for a walk and say hello to the returning birds. Since nothing is growing yet, maybe an apple and some raisins on the patio would be appreciated.

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Canada Must Resist Anti-Democratic Crusaders: David Suzuki and Ian Hannington

Time to Be Good

Another election coming on a wave of nasty. You may have seen the attack ad in which Mark Carney is caught with a momentary ambiguous expression that looks vaguely untrustworthy, and the entire scene is washed in bloody red hinting that this guy is dangerous.

Poor conservatives. They are confronted with an opponent whose career has been conscience in action, while they have nothing to show for years in opposition but insults, slogans and complaints. So they search video archives for fleeting instances in which Carney wasn't so pretty, and then drown out the public perception of who he is by repeating 'sneaky' over and over. Poor conservatives.

Liberals, what do you do when the opposition appears to be succeeding in its campaign of distrust, fear and anger. Well you respond with your own appeals to distrust, fear and anger mixed with a bit of evidence: Poillievre caught repeating the same words as Trump spoke on various themes making a convincing case that Pierre is miniMAGA.

Come on, you guys. If you want respect, show some respect. If winning is on your mind, have you considered the prize? The winner gets the blame for everything that happens going forward, and the loser wins the privilege of criticizing, yelling insults and obstructing parliament, and all of this goes on for five years or until the winner loses. What sort of idiot would want to play that game. Is this what we get to vote for?

Governing Canada is not a game. If governments were about principles and policies for the benefit of people, if governments worked out issues by rational consideration of pros and cons from diverse perspectives, if thoughtful candidates reasoned with the public, then Canadians would be the winners and there would be no losers. 

But that would be democracy, and we aren't there yet. We're not going to get there if we surrender our minds to Russian trolls on social media or robocalls from AI chatbots equipped with emotional intelligence and adaptive language. They are among us, and they are already smarter than we are. World War III will be fought by credulous ignorant pawns repeating plausible lies and conspiracy theories, no bombs, no guns, just ordinary people offering themselves up in service to the most convincing fantasy.

But we can dream. Maybe someday voters will get wise. Maybe then politicians will behave as if Mum is watching and try to be good instead of doing whatever it takes to win. 

Election coming. 

Time to be good...
for a change.

Vote Wiser

The liberal party of Canada is about to choose a leader. Several candidates have been presenting themselves as the best person to deal with Trump, as if the only issue is the crazy adversary next door. Meanwhile, looking ahead to the federal election, we see the conservative leader unsure whether to throw his darts at Trump or Carney, and the liberals  suggesting that Poilievre is a miniMAGA. Insinuations, insults, reducing the debate to distrust of personalities: is this how we decide who to vote for in a modern democracy?

Yesterday we watched an interesting TVO interview of Margaret Atwood, Democracy Under Her Eye, in which she described (among other things) a map of modes of governance. At the top she put Tyranny, at the bottom Chaos. At the left, there is the Left, and at the right, ... you guessed it. Her idea is that Tyranny is approachable from either the Left or the Right. So is Chaos. Neither side gets the high ground. So far, so good.

Of course she didn't elaborate because it was an interview and there were other questions to answer. We might look closer at her map. 

If I'm not mistaken, Tyranny means absolute control and Chaos would be absolute absence of control. Tyranny could be further characterized as autocracy, oligarchy, monarchy, fascist, totalitarian, draconian, communist (subjugation of the individual by the collective), the majority disrespecting minorities, elitist, cronyism. Chaos is similarly diffuse: egoism, lawlessness, anarchism, anarcho-primitivism, insurrection, revolution, disruptive activism.

The distinction between Left and Right is also unclear; but we might clarify by adding other dimensions. Progressive vs conservative, cooperative vs competitive, thoughtful vs dogmatic, collectivist vs individualist, rational vs intuitive, responsible vs free, nationalist vs globalist, skeptical vs gullible, evidence based vs fanciful, concern for present well-being vs the future. We would find the Left and Right laying claim to these characteristics in various degrees and combinations. 

A map with four poles joined by two spokes is too simple. Reality is more like a wheel with many pairs of opposites on the rim joined by many spokes along each of which a government may be positioned dynamically depending on the issues at hand. This wheel has no hub, no centre, since no government stands midway in each dimension. It's complicated. Using the terms Tyranny, Chaos, Left and Right could lead to lazy partisan politics, insults, slogans, attack ads, easy labels to distinguish Us (the enlightened righteous) from Them (the evil unenlightened). The labels are distractions. Ignore the cynical rhetoric.

We should look closer.
We can vote wiser.

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David Frum on Trump and America's Place in the World. Sean Speer, The Hub Canada, March 4 2025

Stuff I'm Reading

I just finished 'The Certainty Illusion' by Timothy Caulfield, and now I'm not sure of anything. 

My next book is one I have already read and mostly forgotten. It is "Value(s): building a better world for all" by Mark Carney. As I recall, it isn't an easy read, although its key ideas are worth the trouble, even more relevant than in 2021 when it was published. Just knowing Mark Carney better is worth the trouble given his emerging importance in Canadian federal politics. 

A synopsis of "Value(s)" is available free at SoBrief.

If you want to know what Mark Carney thinks, you could spend some time with his book as I intend to do once again. If you want to know what I think, read the rest of this note. It won't take so long. Tiny mind.

We have the tools we need to keep the planet from unravelling. Let me do what Moses did and list some 'commandments' or rather Existential Principles that will make things go better.

0. Take care of yourself. If you don't do this, you don't get to do anything else. (I will call the dentist on Monday.)

1. It is what it is. Life is beautiful but hard. (I put this in because I have another toothache. Brush and floss or not. Expect consequences.)

2. Take care of others. We don't survive or thrive by taking care of ourselves alone. (How about universal dental care?)

3. Truth awaits forever in the questions. (Why am I having more pain after the root canal? I thought the nerve was gone.)

4. Think bigger. It's not all about us. (Do elephants get big toothache?)

5. Think longer including future generations. (OK kids. No candy for you. You're going to live long and prosper, if you keep your teeth.)

6. Risk action based on what you know, and learn from consequences. (I took acetaminophen and naproxen. Stopped aching for awhile.)

7. Extremes are dangerous. Find the sweet spot between opposing imperatives. ('Sweet' may be the wrong word given the tooth pain.)

8. Be good. What is good for us may be bad for them. It goes better for everyone when they belong among us. Grow the circle. (Our friends at the candy store are going to go broke. I should keep eating chocolate.)

9. Learn from the past, but don't get stuck there. Things could be better. Make them better. (I think I will get it pulled rather than paying for another root canal.)

10. There's more. Up to you. Add to the list. 

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Stuff Dave's Been Reading: Just Have a Think, March 2, 2025

A Viral Political Meme: Big Think