“Brain Training” – by Gary Smolker

“We don’t see things as they are,

we see things as we are.”  – Anais Nin, essayist

Training

I spent six hours on Friday, November 4, 2016, taking courses California lawyers are required to take, including 4 hours of legal ethics, 1 hour of competence issues (formerly known as Prevention, Detection, and Treatment of Substance Abuse or Mental Illness) and 1 hour of elimination of bias in the legal profession – training my brain.

The legal education program I attended was presented by the Beverly Hills Bar Association in their offices at 9420 Wilshire Blvd, 2nd floor, Beverly Hills, CA 90212.

My Reaction

The program was very disturbing.

The presenter of the elimination of bias lecture and the four presenters of legal ethics lecture painted a picture of legally mandated conduct, which in my opinion, which will lead to substance abuse.

That is assuming what the presenter of “substance abuse lecture” said about environmental factors which cause substance abuse is correct and that is assuming that people do not understand the underlying cosmic bigger picture message [which had nothing to do with “elimination of bias”] presented by the lecturer on the “elimination of bias in the legal profession” in the lecture on “elimination of bias”.

A Large Number of Attorneys Are Substance Abusers!

We were told/taught that large numbers of attorneys are substance abusers but we were not told why they became substance abusers or how they became substance abusers and/or to what extent literally following conduct mandated by Rules of Professional Conduct results in attorneys becoming substance abusers.

Which Comes First: (a) Drinking, or (b) Unethical Conduct?

After listening all day to the presentations, I wondered: Which comes first, [1] drinking or [2] prohibited non-professional conduct?

I also wondered how many of the listeners to the “elimination of bias” speaker’s lecture had any idea of the what she was really talking about.

“The fool wonders, the wise man asks.” – Benjamin Disraeli, statesman

Pain Is 60% Emotional.

The “Substance Abuse” presenter emphasized that to escape pain people drink and people take drugs.  They are doing so to escape from pain.

The person who presented the “substance abuse lecture” told us that alcoholism is a disease;  that the likelihood of becoming an alcoholic is 60% genetically determined and is brought about 40% of the time by environmental factors.

After the program, a hypnotherapist friend of mine with whom I discussed the program told me:

Pain is 60 percent emotional.

Hypnotherapy is used to reduce pain.

The success in reducing pain is in the belief and motivation of people to re-frame their perception of their pain.

Under hypnosis, you train your brain to not feel so much pain.

Two of the major scripts used in hypnosis for reducing pain are:

• The Control Room, where you actually visualize turning down your own scale of the volume of your pain on a machine.  Number Zero being not feeling any pain.
• The Glove Anesthesia, which is a freezing numbing visualization of the pain once you have visualized moving that pain from wherever it is in your body into your hand and fingers, and then submerge your hand in deep snow or ice.  Cold is numbing.

Alcohol and drugs are numbing too.   But, just for a few minutes.  Taking drugs and/or drinking alcohol leads to being in a vicious circle you cannot come out of.

You forget the pain in your mind for a few moments but it is not really gone so it resurfaces stronger.

Once you take on the habit of “alcohol or substance abuse”, it becomes an addiction.

Being an addict means that nothing can stop you from harming your health.

Unhealthy habits deliver different types of rewards into your neurological system.

Mainly, serotonin and dopamine are biochemical active emotional control responses brought into your neurological system to make you temporarily happy and comforted.

In her presentation, the substance abuse presenter told us: over time, it takes more and more alcohol and more and more doses of drug to get the same response.

My Takeaway

A Full Life Doesn’t Live Itself

Text on billboards lining our highways and byways sponsored by bourbon manufacturers state, “A FULL LIFE DOESN’T LIVE ITSELF.”

I agree with that statement.

“Education is civil defense against media [and advertising] fallout.”  – Marshall McLuhan, philosopher

The six hours of legal education lectures I attended on on Friday (November 4, 2016) focused on how to interpret that message.

Competence Issues – formerly known as Prevention, Detection and Treatment of Substance Abuse or Mental Illness

Presented by Joelie Jacobson, M.A., L.M.F.T.,P.P.S., Hazelden Betty Ford

I am unmarried man who has three adult daughters; two of my daughters are single.

I found Joelie’s lecture very practical and relevant to me.

My takeaway from Joelie’s lecture is

• Out of self-defense, I shouldn’t date or marry a woman who is an alcoholic,
• Chances are if one of a women’s parents or siblings is an alcoholic she will be or is prone to become an alcoholic too.
• Generally speaking, with carefully considered exceptions, I should not date or marry any woman who drinks more than one glass of wine at a meal or constantly drinks as part of  an active social life.
• In general it is highly likely such a woman is or will become an alcoholic.
• If a woman or a man has a high stress job and/or if a man or woman is an empathetic person and is constantly, day in and day out, exposed to people in emotional trauma and/or high stress or pain it is almost guaranteed as a result of the type of person he or she is and the environment he or she works in that he or she will turn to alcohol or take drugs to escape the pain he or she feels in his or her clients or patients and will turn into an alcoholic.
• I should warn my single daughters of the dangers of getting involved with a man who is an alcoholic or drug user.
• I should warn my single daughters of the danger of getting involved with a recovering alcoholic or drug user.
• I should warn my single daughters of the potential dangers of getting involved with a man who has a sibling or has a parent who is an alcoholic.

Joelie’s presentation of how terrible and how dangerous it is to be associated with an alcoholic, of how horrible and dangerous it is to become an alcoholic was very disturbing and alarming.

The take away message forcibly and persuasively taken away by me after listening to  Joelie’s lecture and to the lecture on elimination of bias in the legal professional and to the lectures on legal ethics was, to me, as a lawyer licensed to practice law in California: To comply with Rules of Professional Conduct, I must eliminate any bias I may have [for reasons of self-defense] against associating with alcoholics and substance abusers [people who need to have a drink or take a controlled substance] in my own life even though associating with such a person potentially will put me at a substantial risk of suffering great physical harm and emotional trauma!

High Levels of Stress and Trauma

Jolie explained that “chronic pain”, “high levels of stress”, and “trauma caused by adverse events” are environmental factors that drive people to have a drink and/or to take drugs which eventually results in them becoming alcoholics and drug addicts.

Jolie emphasized that escaping pain by abusing drugs or drinking alcohol in the long run does not work and is instead self-destructive.

A handout from the Betty Ford Center given to everyone at the program by Jolie states, “There is a growing body of evidence that, as a whole, drug therapies for pain management are largely ineffective.”

Secondary Stress and Trauma

Jolie explained that those attorneys and health care professionals who are highly empathetic who come in daily contact with people who are suffering high levels of pain are often driven to drink or drugs to escape the pain they suffer as a result of feeling the pain their clients/patients are suffering.  Side comment:  It is highly dangerous to be empathetic in such situations.

Neurocognitive Enhancement

According to the Betty Ford Center handout Jolie gave us:

Essentially we [Betty Ford Centers] help patients reshape and retrain the pain center of their brain.

We help them relearn how to focus their attention …

So, rather than focusing on the physical cause of the pain, our pain management program is based on neurocognitive enhancement – reshaping how the brain reacts to pain.

You do not need drugs to manage your pain. 

Our integrated treatment approach is safe and effective. 

Patients who complete our program tell us they literally feel reborn.  They find a freedom they never thought possible.

Disease

According to Jolie, alcoholism is a disease.  It is not curable.  It is only treatable.

Elimination of Bias in the Legal Profession

Presented by Pamela Tedeschi, Esq.

According to Pamela, “We don’t marginalize people like us.”

Women, Not Men, Have Vaginas

Side comment: Perhaps women having vaginas and men not having vaginas is one of the reasons women who marginalize men marginalize men and vice-versa.

Pamela told us:

• We carry on our historical ancestry.
• Cultural training and societal imperatives are positive and/or negative reinforcement.
• We don’t feel safe with things we are not familiar with.

Pamela urged us to challenge traditional biases

• Religious and cultural elitism
• Class system disenfranchisement
• Sexism – misogyny
• White privilege

Side comment:  Aren’t those biases the major factors that are driving the drama and suspense connected with the November 8, 2016 election of the next President of the United States, and what will determine the final outcome of that election?

Symbols

“Those who rule the symbols rule us.” – Alfred Korzybski, linguist

Lawyers Are Standard Bearers

Pamela said:

• We lawyers are standard bearers.
• What really makes a difference is being an excellent lawyer… seeking justice, fairness and equal protection.

Pamela didn’t say, but I think Pamela would agree:

If a lawyer does his or her work only to make money (bill clients) or only to win (whatever win means) that lawyer will not be happy.

The only way for a lawyer to be happy with “legal work” is to work on something the lawyer believes in, to do what you do as part of living a purposeful life.

I know a lawyer who defends unlawful detainer cases.

When he represents a “poor” tenant who is being bullied and can’t paid this lawyer’s legal fee, this lawyer tells the landlord’s lawyer:

“I am working for free because I don’t like bullying.  I am committed to handle this case from womb til death do we part, I will not rest until my client wins this case.”

And he means it.  He doesn’t quit giving the case his all until the case is over.

Susan Sarandon

In a recent interview Susan Sarandon said she wasn’t going to vote for Hillary Clinton for President.

Ms. Sarandon explained, “I don’t vote with my vagina.”

In addition to saying she “doesn’t vote with her vagina”, Ms. Sarandon  also said:

“I am worried about the wars, I am worried about Syria.  I am worried about all of these things that actually exist.  I am worried about fracking.  I’m worried about the environment.  No matter who gets in they don’t address these things because money has taken over the system.”

There are many big money making people who are doing what they are doing solely for the sake of making money, they are doing the things the way they do them – without heart – solely to earn “more” money.

They feel they are entitled to make lots of money.

They are never happy.

They can never get or make enough money.

A friend of mine responded to Susan Sarandon’s comments as follows:

“I think Sarandon makes comments that show her to be in a bubble of unreality.  Money, among other things, has always been one of the drivers of the car of capitalism and democracy.  It obviously has its frailties as well as its benefits for our system and many other’s.  But her statements reflect her reasons for being a Bernie supporter – and a judgmental one at that.”

Safety and Security

Pamela urged the attorneys attending her lecture (a) to seek common values, and (b) to seek safety and security for themselves and others.

Easier Said than Done

Human nature:

• People are tribal.
• People are tribal for self-protection safety reasons.
• However, very few people are willing to commit to one another.
• Very few people are willing to be part of a team that compromises for the greater efforts of the whole, other than to participate in common core action to provide safety from attack from other people.

Knowledge Is Dangerous

People who want to treat pain by changing the focus of someone’s mind need to be strong and mature:

“What we learn at my school about human behavior is extremely disturbing and confusing.  If you are not strong enough or too young and too vulnerable it can be lethal.  One girl in my class hanged herself last week at 24 years old.  She was depressed.  Never talked to any one about it.

“Knowledge is a double edged sword.”

Human Warmth

“Sharing human warmth on all levels – as humans, we turn to others for validation, approval, cushions, and love as well as advice, thoughts and opinions.

“Business runs best when people commit to one another, the core values of whatever they are doing, and the willingness to be part of a team that compromises for the greater efforts of the whole.”

Legal Ethics

Presented by Edward O. Lear, Esq., Hon. Donald Miles, Dianne L. Karpman, Esq., Dominique Snyder, Esq.

Four hours of lectures were presented by a team composed of three lawyers who defend attorneys accused of violating Rules of Professional Conduct and one of the Five Judges in the State Bar Court of the State of California whose job is to decide whether an attorney accused of violating the Rules of Professional Conduct is guilty and punishment.

Takeaway

• The number one type of complainer bringing a complaint to the State Bar against an attorney is a client who just doesn’t want to pay attorney fees.
• Every attorney should read the Rules of Professional Conduct at least once a year.
• The job of the State Bar is to protect the public, not to punish attorneys.
• Lawyers are prosecuted for Rules of Professional Conduct violations to protect the public.
• The cover-up is always worse than the act.
• The explanation for conduct is sometimes more damning than the conduct.
• When defending an attorney accused of violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct, “Ignorance is a lawyer’s worse offense.”
• “Saying I didn’t know is not a defense or mitigating.  It is aggravating.”
• How you think is everything.
• Goals are nothing without action.
• Justice ought to be in the heart of the lawyer and in the heart of the law firm.

OPTIMISM is the belief there is a next time.

I am an optimist.

I look forward to listening to those presenters give another lecture in the future.

Accolade

All the presentations were full of practical valuable relevant information.

All the presenters did an excellent job.

Each one of them exuded a friendly attitude.

Each of their presentations exhibited their insight and intelligence.

Each of their presentations was a call to action.

There are a few inspirational words of encouragement I would have said if I was one of them.

Inspirational and Aspirational Things I Would Have Said If I Was One of the Presenters

“Strength does not come from physical capacity.  It comes from indomitable will.” – Mahatma Gandhi, statesman

“Our goals can only be achieved through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act.  There is no other route to success.”  – Pablo Picasso, artist

Most men succeed because they are determined to.

Gary S. Smolker, publisher, movie reviewer, social commentator
The Gary S. Smolker Idea Exchange
www.garysmolker.wordpress.com

Gary Smolker, fashion blogger
Dude's Guide to Women's Shoes
www.dudesguidetowomensshoes.com

Copyright © 2016 Gary Smolker, All Rights Reserved

“Superhumans” by Gary S. Smolker

Where Are We Going?

Many of the  intelligent people I know believe Donald Trump will become the next President of the United States.

Other intelligent people I know believe Hillary Clinton will become the next President of the United States.

One very intelligent person I know told me Donald Trump will win the election in a landslide.

Another intelligent person I know told me Hillary Clinton will win the election in a landslide.

Hermann Goring, Nazi Party Minister of Propaganda

“People can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders.  That is easy.  All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and demonize the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.  It works the same in any country.” –  Hermann Goring, Nazi Party Minister of Propaganda

Both president candidates are applying Goring’s Principle in their bid to become the next President of the United States of America.

• Presidential Candidate Donald Trump has told the American Voting Public that America is under attack by terrorists, immigrants, and globalization.
• Donald Trump’s running mate Vice-Presidential Candidate Mike Pense has told the American Voting Public that America is under attack by people who want gender equality, people who women to have the right to have an abortion, and by people who want the right to sue for discrimination based on race, national origin, gender, or religion.
• Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton has told the American Voting Public that America is threatened by the values and social policies that Presidential Candidate Donald Trump is promoting and desires to  to implement.

To Vote Is To Exist – Life Is A Participation Game

Donald Trump’s candidacy for President of the United States caused more Americans to register to vote than anything else in the history of the United States.

Donald Trump stirred up the emotions of many people who had never registered to vote to such a high degree, to such a high feverish pitch that they registered to vote for the first time in their life and now intend to vote for the next president of the United States.

Donald Trump has made them realize that their vote counts.

Donald Trump has single-handedly compelled people to feel that they must participate in the selection of the next president of the United States.

The Impact of Khizer Khan’s Speech on (1) Donald Trump, (2) the Election of the Next President of the United States, and (3) on the Status of the Republican Party

All effective communications have an emotional arc —

The stronger the emotional arc the stronger the communication.

I have asked my closest friends to answer two questions:

1. Is the outcome of the U.S. Presidential contest between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton going to depend solely on the response of the voting public to the speech Khizer Khan gave at the Democratic National Convention, on the last night of the Democratic National Convention, the speech he gave on July 28, 2016?
2. Is that one speech going to be the fulcrum of the election?

 

A Brief History of Humankind

I recently finished reading a book written by Yuval Noah Harari titled “Sapiens – A Brief History of Humankind.”

In “Sapiens”, Harari points out how things have changed over time; why things change, why things changed, what happened that caused things to change; how long it took for things to change in the past and how long it takes for things to change today.

In “Sapiens”, Harari also discusses sociological, psychological and biochemical factors that effect human happiness.

Understanding What Is Going On In the World from Historical, Biological, Biochemical, Sociological, Psychological, Ethical, Political, Economic and Moral Perspectives

There are uniquely humankind issues that impact everyone (me and the rest of the world):

Intrinsic Sense of Fairness

“We all have an intrinsic sense of fairness, even though we don’t live that way.  And you don’t want to violate that too often without it eroding you.  When you don’t respond to the condition of the world, you pay for it.” – Milton Glaser

Each Person Has A Biologically Predetermined Limit of Happiness

In Harari’s book, Harari discusses the impact the biochemical system a person is born with will have on the amount of happiness and gloom that person will encounter throughout their life.

That leads me to consider the ideas that here might be a biological force controlling the way the American public feels about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

Perhaps the next person elected to be President of the United States has been predetermined by biology (the biochemical mood control system) of the people who go to the polls to vote.

Some People Are Perpetually Unhappy

I have been around people who were constantly unhappy, people who were always complaining, people who were always unsatisfied and gloomy.

Before reading “Sapiens”, I noticed that those people were incapable of being happy for a sustained period of time.

After reading “Sapiens” I began to realize that those unhappy perpetually gloomy people might be perpetually gloomy because they have a biochemical system that is designed to keep them in a perpetual state of gloom.

People Are Born with Emotional Limits Defined by Genetics

According to biologists (reports Harari) whether you are a happy person or a gloomy person is determined by a genetic lottery:

“On  a scale of one to ten, some people are born with a cheerful biochemical system that allows their mood to swing between levels six and ten, stabilizing with time at eight.  Such a person is quite happy even if she lives in an alienating big city, loses all her money in a stock-exchange crash and is diagnosed with diabetes.  Other people are cursed with a gloomy biochemistry that swings between three and seven and stabilizes at five.  Such an unhappy person remains depressed even if she enjoys the support of a tight-knit community, wins millions in the lottery and is healthy as an Olympic athlete.Indeed, even if our gloomy friend wins $50,000,000 in the morning, discovers the cure for both AIDS and cancer by noon, and makes peace between Israelis and Palestinians that afternoon – she would still be incapable of experiencing anything beyond level seven happiness.  Her brain is simply not built for exhilaration, come what may.

“Biologists maintain that happiness is determined mainly by biochemistry, but they agree that psychological and sociological factors also have a place.  Our [emotional state] has some freedom of movement within predetermined borders.  It is almost impossible to exceed the upper and lower emotional boundaries …. Someone born with an average level of five happiness would never be able to dance wildly in the streets.

“History can change the external stimuli that cause serotonin levels to be secreted, yet it does not change the resulting serotonin levels, and hence it cannot make people happier.

“Money, social status, plastic surgery, beautiful homes, powerful positions – none of these will bring you happiness. Lasting happiness comes only from serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin.”

Unhappiness Can Be Created & Happiness Can Be Undermined by Unreasonable Expectations

Happiness is determined by expectations.

Human expectations determine level of happiness as does biochemistry.

Being happy with what you have is far more important than getting more of what you want.

“Today the media and fashion industry expose us to a totally unrealistic standard of beauty.  They search out the most gorgeous people on the planet and then parade them constantly before our eyes.  No wonder we are far less happy with the way we look.

“If you were an eighteen year old youth in a small village 5,000 years ago you’d probably think you were good looking because there were only fifty other men in your village and most of them were either old, scarred and wrinkled, or still small kids.  But if you are a teenager today you are a lot more likely to feel inadequate.  Even if the older guys at school are an ugly lot, you don’t measure yourself against them but against movie stars, athletes and supermodels you see all day long on television, Facebook and giant billboards.”

By the way, I want to be around people who exude positive energy.

I do not want to be around people who exude negative energy.

The Cognitive and Ethical Component of Happiness

Happiness for many people consists in seeing their life in its entirety as meaningful and worthwhile.

As an example, take the work involved in raising a very young child.  According to Harari:

“Our values make all the difference to whether we see ourselves as ‘miserable slaves to a baby dictator’ or as ‘lovingly nurturing a new life.’  As Nietzsche put it, if you have a why to live, you can bear almost any how.A meaningful life can be extremely satisfying even in the midst of hardship, whereas a meaningless life is a terrible ordeal no matter how comfortable it is.”

Emotional State of Mind of People in the United States

We are living in a very “depressed society” in which many people feel inadequate.

I recently read one study that said one in ten people have had drug issues.  More than 23 million Americans have had a drug problem at some point in their lives, and most aren’t getting professional help.

I read another study that said one in seven adults have had an alcohol problem in the last year.

US vs. THEM

The current political contest in the United States between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton appears to me to be a call to arms of  “Us” vs. “Them” in which each United States presidential candidate is preying upon current emotional and social tensions in the United States.

A Brief History of “Us” vs “Them” Race Relations

According to Harari “Homo sapiens [humans] evolved to think of people as divided into us and them.  ‘Us’ was the group immediately around you, whoever you were, and ‘them’ was everyone else.”  Emphasis added.

According to Harari throughout history, subjugated people who adopted to the culture customs and habits of their Imperial masters continued to be discriminated against and that it took decades, if not centuries, for the dominant imperial elite to accept ‘them’ as part of ‘us.’

“Worse yet, even when subject people were successful in adopting the imperial culture, it could take decades, if not centuries, until the imperial elite accepted them as part of ‘us.’  The generations between conquest and acceptance were left out in the cold.  They had already lost their beloved local culture, but they were not allowed to take an equal part in the imperial world.  On the contrary, their adopted culture continued to view them as barbarians.”

The Human Spirit

Mahatma Gandhi

In “Sapiens” Harari reminds us: In the late 19th century, educated Indians who were taught/educated by their British masters were discriminated against.  Mohandas Gandhi, for example, who had studied law at University College London and became a qualified barrister, was thrown off a train in the British colony of South Africa, while bedecked in coat and tie, for insisting on traveling in first class instead of settling for third class, where “colored” men like him were supposed to sit.

Clennon King

Continuing on the topic of  race relations, in “Sapiens”, Harari reports: In 1958, Clennon King, a black student who applied to the University of Mississippi, was forcefully committed to a mental asylum.

The presiding judge ruled that a black person must surely be insane to think that he could be admitted to the University of Mississippi.

World Boxing Champion Muhammad Ali

In Sports Illustrated’s “Muhammad Ali – The Tribute” in an article written by George Plimpton, dated May 17, 1965, titled ‘THE WORLD CHAMPION IS REFUSED A MEAL”  Plimpton reports as follows:

“The young heavyweight champion of the world stopped for a bite to eat on the Florida-Georgia border – and was told to eat out back with his kind.”

According to Plimpton:

While on a bus trip, in his private bus, from Miami to Chicopee Falls, Mass. (where he intended to do his prefight training) the champ’s trainer Bundini Brown said, “Let’s stop and eat.”

They stopped in a parking lot at a truck stop near the Florida-Georgia border.

Bundini led a procession across the lot to the restaurant.  Four reporters walked with Brown.

Brown sat down at the counter, reporters sat on each side of him.

The manager came out from behind the counter.  “I’m sorry,” he said.  “We have a place out back.  Separate facilities,” he said. “The foods just the same.”  He talked to the reporters as if Bundini was not there.

The reporters began intimidating the manager, whipping whispered furious words at him.  He stayed calm, tapping a grease stained menu against his finger tips.  “In this county – Nassau County – they’d be a riot,” he said simply.

Bundini said: “The heavyweight champion of the world and he can’t get nothing to eat here.”  He spoke reflectively, and he spun around on his stool and stood up.

The screen door squeaked again and slapped shut.  the champion stood in the room leaning forward slightly and staring at Bundini.  He began shouting at him. “you fool—what’s the matter with you—you damn fool….You clear out of this place, nigger, they don’t want you nigger….”

First Lady Michele Obama

At the opening night ceremonies of the Democratic National Convention, First Lady Michele Obama said the United States is the Greatest Country on Earth, and is the greatest country in the history of mankind.

She pointed out that she, a black woman and her black children and black husband United States President Barack Obama are today living in the “White House”, a house built in the past by black slaves.

Rich vs. Poor

According to Harari: “Throughout history, the upper classes always claimed to be smarter, stronger and generally better than the underclass. They were usually deluding themselves.  A baby born to a poor peasant family was likely to be as intelligent as the crown prince.”

A Humane Society

According to Harari:  Our late modern world prides itself on recognizing. for the first time in history, the basic equality of all humans.

“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, government medical programmes throughout the world, national health insurance programmes and national constitutions worldwide recognize that a humane society ought to give all of its members fair medical treatment and keep them in relatively good health.”

 

American Police Forces

The news media and social media today portray American police forces as having descended into a lawless “Wild West Culture” where whoever shoots first lives.

Recent videos on social media and a broadcast new shows have recently shown videos of  White Police Officers in Minnesota and Louisiana using what appears to be unprovoked excessive force against black men [Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge on July 5, 2016 and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota on July 6, 2016 — shooting and killing those two black men without apparent provocation in what appears to be cold blood murder in the past two weeks.

CAUTION:  Until we know the “whole story” we will not fully know what happened in those shootings.

Be that as it may, in the past two weeks White Police Officers have been ambushed, shot and killed in Dallas, Texas and in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Most Americans believe that race relations in the United States are at the worse level in recent times.

Some scholars argue that if the real numbers of number of blacks killed by police vs. the amount of violent crime in black neighborhoods were discussed that it would be obvious that the “Black Lives Matter Movement” is doing a disservice to black men and women and to everyone else in the United States by wrongful portrayal of a select few instances of the police using excess force to indicate and support the argument police are picking on black men – to the contrary, when the number of actual uses of  force by the police against black men and women is way below what crime and population statistics would justify.  The “real facts” indicate that police (in general) are not racist.  See http://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/the-danger-of-the-black-lives-matter-movement/

A Brief History of Mental Abilities & Scope of Knowledge

In “Sapiens” Harari also reports mental abilities have substantially changed from what they were in pre-agricultural times — when humans lived in hunter-gatherer societies – to what they are today.

According to Harari:

The mental abilities required of everyone to survive in the age of foraging was way above the mental abilities required for people to survive today.  In the age of foraging – in hunter-gatherer societies – the average forager had deeper and more varied knowledge of his and her surroundings, the natural world, and how things work than people do today.

Today, most people in the developed world do not need to know much about the natural world to survive.  Instead people need to know a lot about their own tiny field of expertise, and rely blindly on the help of other “experts” to “survive.”

Survival in the hunter-gatherer era required superb mental abilities from everyone.  “When agriculture and industry came along people could increasingly rely on the skills of others for survival, and new ‘niches for imbeciles’ were opened up.  You could survive and pass along your unremarkable genes to the next generation by working as a water-carrier or an assembly-line worker.”

Bionic Life

The last chapter of “Sapiens” is titled “The End of Homo Sapiens.”

I can’t wait to read that chapter.

In that chapter Harari claims: “…there seems to be no insurmountable technical barrier preventing us from producing superhumans.”  — prolonging life indefinitely, conquering incurable diseases, and upgrading cognitive and emotional abilities.

On page 405 of “Sapiens” is a photograph of Jesse Sullivan and Claudia Mitchell holding hands.  The amazing thing about the photograph is that Jesse Sullivan and Claudia Mitchell both have bionic arms operated by thought.

In “Sapiens” Harari reports:

Jesse lost both arms in a 2001 accident.  Today he uses two bionic arms.  The special feature of Jesse’s new arms is that they are operated by thought alone.

A similar bionic arm has recently been outfitted for Claudia Mitchell, an American soldier who lost her arm in a motorcycle accident.

Scientists at Duke University, in North Carolina,  have trained rhesus monkeys whose brains were implanted with electrodes, to control detached bionic arms and legs through thought alone.

“One monkey, named Aurora, leaned to thought-control a detached bionic arm while simultaneously moving her two organic arms.  Like some Hindu goddess, Aurora now has three arms, and her arms can be located in different rooms – or even cities.  She can sit in her North Carolina lab, scratch her back with one hand, scratch her head with a second hand, and simultaneously steal a banana in New York.  Another rhesus monkey, Idoya, won world fame in 2008 when she thought controlled a pair of bionic legs in Kyoto, Japan from her North Carolina chair.  The legs were twenty times Idoya’s weight.”

In “Sapiens”, Harari also reports on on-going development of a retinal prosthesis that may allow blind people to gain partial vision.  According to Harari: Present technology allows blind patients to orient themselves in space, identify letters, and recognize faces.

Harari concludes:

• Our ability to engineer the worlds inside our bodies and minds are proceeding at breakneck speed.
• We might fiddle with Homo sapiens to such an extent that we will no longer be Homo sapiens.

Past vs Contemporary Politics in Life in America

Democrats and Republicans

Past

In very oversimplified terms:

In contemporary American politics Democrats have wanted a more equitable society, even if it meant raising taxes to fund programs to help the poor, the elderly and the sick.  They still do.

Republicans, in the past and presently, on the other hand, do not want to raise taxes, even if that means many Americans will not be able to afford health care or be able to afford to go to college or to obtain a college level education.

Each political party a;ways protects the special self-interests of its members.

In the past: working class and poorer Americans have been Democrats and rich people and high income earners,whether by inheritance or otherwise, have been Republicans.

Present

Unemployment

Many middle class people with high enough earnings in the past to have afforded a home and a car and a vacation have lost their jobs due to their jobs having been “exported” over seas.

This economic dislocation has turned people who in the past were typically Democrats into Donald Trump supporters, into Donald Trump Democrats – even though Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican candidate to be the next President of the United States.

Terrorism, Gaming the Welfare System and Immigration

America is a country of immigrants and stereotypical beliefs and common myths.

In the past many Democrats have been strong supporters of immigration, treating “everyone” equally, universal health care and merit based “free education.”

However, recent terrorist attacks, “gaming of the welfare system” and (a) recent immigrants and (b) high tech temporary guest workers from foreign countries taking away high paying American jobs – has turned many Americans – including Democrats – against open immigration, against treating all immigrants equally, against treating members of all religions, religious beliefs, and political beliefs “equally.”

Equality and Freedom Are Contradictory Values

Equality can only be guaranteed by curtailing the freedoms of those who are better off.

The Economic and Political-Economic Reality of the U.S. Economy

A Staggering Percentage of Americans Are Too Poor to Shop

According to America’s Research Group (ARG) more than 20%, or 26 million Americans [the working poor] are too poor to shop.  These working poor work an average of two or three jobs and pull in less than $30,000 of annual income.

A Staggering Percentage of Americans Have Not Seen An Increase in Salary Over the Past Five Years

Nearly half of all Americans have not seen an increase in salary over the last five years; another 28% have seen their take-home pay reduced by higher medical insurance deductions.

Forty-seven percent of Americans wouldn’t be able to come up with $400 to pay for a doctor visit without reaching out to friends.

Two-thirds of Americans have essentially zero savings.

Historically, Birthrates Have Been Lower in Bad Times

According to Harari:

“Humans like many mammals, have hormonal and genetic mechanisms that help control procreation.  In good times females reach puberty earlier, and their chances of getting pregnant are higher.  In bad times puberty is late and fertility decreases.

“To these natural population controls were added cultural mechanisms.  Babies and small children, who move slowly and demand much attention, were a burden on nomadic foragers.  People tried to space their children three to four years apart.  Women did so by nursing their children around the clock and until a late age (around the clock suckling significantly decreases the chance of getting pregnant).  Other methods included full or partial sexual abstinence (backed perhaps by cultural taboos), abortions and occasionally infanticide.

Economic Prospects and Current Birth Rate in the United States

TODAY: Low birth rates are associated with limited economic prospects.

Young educated people with little religious affiliation today are loath to have offspring when there are few viable opportunities for accumulating the wealth needed to raise children.

There are few opportunities for young people to accumulate wealth today.

Accordingly, the birthrate in the United States in 2015 dropped to a historic low.

The number of households with their own children in 2014 was 33 million down from 35 million in 2005., in the same time period the number of households had increased by nearly six million.

Age Based Income Disparities

Between 1979 and 2010, the incomes of Americans ages 25 to 29 have dropped nine percent, on average, while those over 65 have surged 28 percent.

In New York City, the percentage of 20-somethings working in low-wage industries has surged from 23 percent to 33 percent between 2000 and 2014.

In Los Angeles, more than half of Los Angeles County’s “young workers” – 57 percent of those ages 18 to 29 – are stuck in low-wage jobs that pay under $13.38 an hour, below the newly mandated $15 minimum expected to come into force by 2022.

The Reality of  Outrageously High Housing and Rental Costs

Young people today face the reality of outrageously high housing and rental costs.

Consider what is happening in supposed “youth magnet” New York City.

Despite a surge of high-income housing, between 2010 and 2015, Gotham rents for younger people increased 50 percent, while incomes for renters between ages 22 and 44 grew by 8 percent.

Postscript

In the future, I will add sections to this post on: (a) Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, (b) public reactions to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, (c) my critique of the political campaign strategies of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, (d) the “imbecile niche”/economic landscape and worldwide economy, (e) the difference between the views of Social Order of Republicans and Democrats, (f) history of the plight of women, declining fertility rates among modern day educated women and declining birth rates in the United States (g) social problems in America, (h) recent scientific progress leading to the creation of  superhumans, and (i) the next step in human history.

Ongoing Response to This Post

In response to subjects discussed in this post, a friend of mine recently asked me: “Have race relations been going in the right directions the past eight years?”

I replied:

Compare what happened (a) in Dallas and (b) in Baton Rouge in the last few days to what happened at St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in 1572.

FYI Regarding St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, 1572

On 23 August 1572, French Catholics who stressed the importance of good deeds attacked communities of French Protestants who highlighted God’s love for mankind.  In this attack, the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, between 5,000 and 10,000 Protestants were slaughtered in less than 24 hours.  When the pope in Rome heard the news from France, he was so overcome by joy that he organized festive prayers to celebrate the occasion and commissioned Giorgio Vasari to decorate one of the rooms with a fresco of the massacre (the room is currently off-limits to visitors).  More Christians were killed by fellow Christians in those twenty-four hours than by the polytheistic Roman Empire throughout its entire existence.

Religious Wars between Catholics and Protestants in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

All those involved accepted Christ’s divinity and His gospel of compassion and love.  However, they disagreed about the nature of this love.  Protestants believed that the divine love is so great God was incarnated in flesh and allowed Himself to be tortured and crucified, thereby redeeming the original sin and opening the gates of heaven to all who professed faith in Him.  Catholics maintained that faith while essential, is not enough.  To enter heaven, believers had to participate in church rituals and do good deeds.  Protestants refused to accept this, arguing that this quid pro quo belittles God’s greatness and love.  Whoever thinks that entry to heaven depends upon his own good deeds magnifies his own importance, and implies that Christ’s suffering on the cross and God’s love for humankind are not enough.

These theological disputes turned so violent that during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Catholics and Protestants killed each other by the hundreds of thousands.

By the way, I came across the above information about St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre and religious wars between Catholics and Protestants in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries while I was reading Harari’s book:  I found that information on page 216 of Harari’s book “Sapiens.”

Copyright © 2016 by Gary S. Smolker, All Rights Reserved