What Makes Us Unique

From my mind on books:

Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique
by Michael S. Gazzaniga

Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique by neuroscientist Michael S. Gazzaniga (Ecco, 2008) has a June 24 release date according to Amazon.

From the publisher:

One of the world’s leading neuroscientists explores how best to understand the human condition by examining the biological, psychological, and highly social nature of our species within the social context of our lives.

What happened along the evolutionary trail that made humans so unique? In his widely accessible style, Michael Gazzaniga looks to a broad range of studies to pinpoint the change that made us thinking, sentient humans, different from our predecessors.

Neuroscience has been fixated on the life of the psychological self for the past fifty years, focusing on the brain systems underlying language, memory, emotion, and perception. What it has not done is consider the stark reality that most of the time we humans are thinking about social processes, comparing ourselves to and estimating the intentions of others. In Human, Gazzaniga explores a number of related issues, including what makes human brains unique, the importance of language and art in defining the human condition, the nature of human consciousness, and even artificial intelligence.

Michael Gazzaniga’s homepage at UCSB

Gazzaniga's page at Edge

Participatory Management

Ricardo Semler built a company that breaks all the rules. He encourages his employees to play hooky, tells them not to bother with growth plans. Workers choose their own salaries, set their own hours, and have no job titles. Ridiculous? Inefficient? A recipe for chaos? Perhaps.

But over the past six years, Semler's company has increased its revenue from $35 million to $212 million. And with over 3,000 employees, it has virtually no turnover!

Here is a recent interview with this maverick entrepreneur:

Between Science and Mysticism

Where Physics and Mysticism Don't Meet

By Adrian Stuart

Can you change your reality simply by thinking about it? A popular opinion held by many spiritual people is that modern physics has made discoveries which validate these beliefs. But is this really the case?

Science and spirituality are often seen as being incompatible with each other. Like a dog and cat living in the same bag, trouble seems almost inevitable, and conversational injuries can be suffered at the hands of people with the best of intentions. Our intention here is to clarify some muddy waters not to take sides.

The concept of the inter-connectedness of all things is one which has appeared in spiritual writings for thousands of years. Perhaps one of the oldest and most poetic expressions of this sentiment can be found in the Hindu texts known as the Upanishads a collection of spiritual tales. In the Chandogya Upanishad (c. 800-900BC) we are told, You Are That, meaning that the individual person, the soul (Atman) is of the same substance and nature as the physical universe (Brahman).

Some believe that if we are of the same substance and nature as the rest of the universe, then we may be able to influence it in some manner through sheer will and concentration. Others believe that human beings are able to focus an energy, force or power from within themselves, causing it to radiate out into the cosmos and produce a result. The Scottish anthropologist Sir James Frazer (1854-1941), writes about this type of belief appearing in many cultures. In his book, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion, Frazer called this belief magical thinking.”

Read More: Here

The Tao of Democracy

Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All

by Tom Atlee

"Let us put our minds together and see what kind of life we can make for our children." -- Sitting Bull

'This book was written for all the people who want a better world than we have now. It is especially written for social change agents, community organizers, spiritually motivated activists, and the millions of people sociologist Paul Ray calls "cultural creatives" -- the co-creators of a new culture. If you happen to be someone who has left activism because it was too adversarial -- or if you feel called to be more active in response to the suffering, danger or tremendous possibilities you see in the world -- this book is for you, too. I wrote it as an invitation to everyone who is seeking to transform our human culture in conscious, collaborative, life-affirming ways.

Its purpose is two-fold. First, I want to introduce you to the co-intelligence perspective -- a vision of what intelligence might look like if we deeply understood wholeness, interconnectedness and co-creativity. Next, and most importantly, I want to explore how we might use the perspective of co-intel-ligence to transform our troubled democracy into a living system capable of creating a world that works for all, by generating the collective wisdom we need to creatively address our twenty-first century problems, opportunities and dreams.'

Read More: Here

Habitus, Change and Personality

From Psychology Today:

Second Nature

by Kathleen McGowan

Your personality isn't necessarily set in stone. With a little experimentation, the ornery and bleak can reshape their temperaments and inject pluck and passion into their lives.

Call it the cult of the ugly duckling. We devour stories of personal transformation: the uptight guy who learns to cut loose, the wallflower who becomes the life of the party. It's the staple of self-help books and romantic comedies—as well as the primary reason that people drag themselves to high-school reunions. ("Can you believe that guy who never talked is now a real estate mogul?")

But psychologists have long believed that major personality makeovers are impossible. In fact, the big themes of personality—whether you are shy or outgoing, relaxed or a worrywart—seem to be scripted at a very young age.

However, personality researchers have begun looking more closely at the smaller ways we can and do change. Positive psychologists, who investigate human talents, have identified 24 character strengths—familiar qualities we admire, such as integrity, loyalty, kindness, vitality—and are limning them to find out why these faculties come so naturally to some people. What they're discovering is that many of these qualities amount to habitual ways of responding to the world—habits that can be learned...

Read More: Here

On Cultural Evolution

From SEED Magazine:

Does Human Culture Evolve via Natural Selection?

By Paul Ehrlich

Biologists have a pretty good idea of both how flies become resistant to DDT and how humans and primates have diverged over time. That's because the mechanism underlying these processes is the same. Using evolution we can understand how organisms generally change their stores of genetic information (DNA and RNA), alter their observable characteristics, and diversify.

We do not understand how cultures evolve nearly so well. The majority of human evolution does not involve changes in our DNA, but rather alterations in the gigantic library of nongenetic information, the culture, that our species possesses. This library is orders of magnitude larger than that of our genetic information, and the elements on its diverse shelves usually have meaning only in connection with other elements.

Indeed, there has been a long, bitter debate about whether it is sensible even to use the term evolution to describe changes in culture. After all, culture is composed of overlapping phenomena from languages, religions, institutions, and socially transmitted power relationships to the information embodied in artifacts ranging from potsherds to jumbo jets. The study of cultural change encompasses not only the disciplines of biology and the social sciences, but areas of the humanities as well.

Despite the great difficulties of building a comprehensive theory of cultural change deserving of the label of "evolution," progress in that direction has begun. We are finally starting to understand the patterns of culture change and the role of natural selection in shaping them. And since everything from weapons of mass destruction to global heating are the results of changes in human culture over time, acquiring a fundamental understanding of cultural evolution just might be the key to saving civilization from itself.

Read More: Here

See Also: Towards a Scientific Theory of Cultural Evolution
And: The Human Adaptation for Culture

Stages of Social Development

The Cultural Dynamics that Spark Violence, Spread Prosperity, and Shape Globalization

By Don Beck

Debates over globalization are but the surface-level collisions of the deeper tectonic plate-like cultural fault lines that remain hidden from view. The failure to both understand and deal with these evolutionary core value systems result in needless clashes over worldviews, constant threats of "us" vs. "them" or class-based violence, and expensive, politicized solutions that are both inappropriate and ineffectual. The WTO debates and conflicts in Seattle exposed these fault-lines.

But where are the integral, cohesive principles and processes that can bridge over the great, global divides? Who can untie the global knot? How can the positive elements within both capitalistic thinking and socialistic goals be meshed for the common good? Consider the Twelve Postulates, an integral initiative based on an understanding of the complex dynamics that forge and transform human cultures, communities, and countries.

Read More (PDF): Here

MetaLinking 2008/06/19

Bodymind_Dynamics

Managing the Self – “We all want to be seen as competent and likable. But sometimes we forget to take care of ourselves and are in danger of maintaining that very image. We all have a social persona—the way we've chosen to represent ourselves in the world. It's automatic, and it doesn't take much effort to maintain. It feels comfortable.”

6 Iconoclastic Discoveries About The Brain – “Neuroscience, like all other branches of science, is fraught with dogmatic ideas about its subject matter. A number of principles have emerged, principles that have been regarded as fundamental to our understanding of brain function.

The Psychology of Forgiveness – “The TED.com staff's favorite psychology research blog, the BPS Research Digest, reports on a study on forgiveness from the University of Sussex and the New School for Social Research. The study examines how groups which have committed atrocious acts against one another come to break the cycle of resentment and forgive.”

Insight Into Clinical Disorders Characterized By Low Serotonin Level – “New research by scientists at the University of Cambridge suggests that the neurotransmitter serotonin, which acts as a chemical messenger between nerve cells, plays a critical role in regulating emotions such as aggression during social decision-making.”

11 Definitions of Mindfulness – “Mindfulness definitely has exciting applications for use in psychotherapy. Depending on how you conceptualize it, there are certain commonalities between states induced and fostered by both mindfulness and psychotherapy. But what is mindfulness? Here are eleven definitions of mindfulness, mostly from cognitive psychologists, but also from a few Buddhist meditators.”

Wisdom Comes With Age, At Least When It Comes To Emotions – “Scientists have identified brain patterns that help healthy older people regulate and control emotion better than their younger counterparts. The study identified two regions in the brain that showed increased activity when participants over the age of 60 were shown standardized pictures of emotionally challenging situations.”

Podcast: “On Intelligence” – “Episode 38 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with Jeff Hawkins, author of On Intelligence.. Since he published his bestseller On Intelligence, he has devoted his work to his passion for neuroscience. His current company Numenta is developing software that models the hierarchal structure of the neocortex. In this interview we talk about the ideas in Hawkins book and how he is applying them to develop a computer model of cortical function.

The Power of Being Yourself – “Each individual brings a unique light into the world, however, often that light remains buried below the surface of the person others see in us. Discovering that light and letting it shine is one of the fundamental steps each individual must take to become a more whole person.”

Mindfulness: How is it Relevant to Psychotherapy? – “Why is mindfulness, as it has been conceived by Westerners, useful in psychotherapy? One compelling reason may be that it represents a new mode or vantage point, for most Western psychologists, from which to view their experience and the experience of their clients.”

Symmetry Of Homosexual Brain Resembles That Of Opposite Sex – “Swedish researchers have found that some physical attributes of the homosexual brain resemble those found in the opposite sex.”

Communication_Culture_Discourse

God vs. Science: Keeping Creationism out of School – “This summer, the Texas Board of Education gears up to possibly consider whether biology classes should include the "strengths and weaknesses" evolutionary theory — known as creationism to some. Biology professor and textbook author Kenneth Miller discusses the debate.”

New Media, New Voices – “This morning's session at the MIT conference on the Future of Civic Media focuses on new voices and new media. I'm giving the closing talk in the session, talking about the 10 projects that currently comprise the Rising Voices effort of Global Voices. It's a good fit, as our work on Rising Voices is precisely about figuring out ways that new media can allow new voices to reach a local and global audience.”

Are Friendships Based More on Proximity or Shared Values? – “Rather than picking our friends based on intentional choice and common values and interests, our friendships may be based on more superficial factors like proximity or group assignments. As reported in a recent issue of Psychological Science sitting in neighboring seats as a result of randomly assigned seat numbers when meeting for the first time led to higher ratings of friendship intensity one year later.”

Is Religion Really Such a Powerful Social Force? – “Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Wheaton College English Professor Alan Jacobs argues that religion is overrated as a social force. My SciBling Razib has already written a lengthy response.”

The birth of the computer: George Dyson on TED.com – “Historian George Dyson tells stories from the birth of the digital computer -- from its 16th-century origins to the hilarious notebooks of the first computer engineers. Dyson, a dedicated archivist and crate-digger, has found some stories that haven't been told for 50 years.”

Ken Wilber’s Foreword to Sex, God, and Rock and Roll, by Stuart Davis –“A new foreword has been uploaded to the Writings section of KW.com--be sure to check it out! And if you haven't already, notice that all pdf's can now be downloaded from the site, by simply right-clicking the arrows next to each title.”

God And Religion: Is It All In Our Heads? – “Science will never be able to prove or disprove the existence of God or any higher power. Isn’t this the cornerstone of faith, after all: a belief that needs no proof? Or perhaps, maybe the proof has been in our brains the whole time.”

Resource: Digital Research Tools Wiki – “My Rice Colleague Lisa Spiro (whose blog on digital scholarship rocks) and others have put together a fantastic wiki of digital research tools, including lots I have yet to try out and many that have been mentioned here, especially in light of the discussion about edupunk…”

Religious Case Against "Belief"? – “I recently came across a new book by that title (but without the italics and quotation marks). Here's the link at Amazon. The author is James Carse; he's a professor emeritus, of religion, from NYU. I found the title (and the idea it reflects) intriguing, so I picked it up and glanced through it, and later I looked it up on Amazon to see what the reviewers were saying.”

VIDEO: Bank of Common Knowledge - knowledge generation and transmission among citizens – “I discovered this scintillating project on the WMMNA blog by Regine Debatty, which provides an overview of sensitive and promising practices emerging from Platoniq’s work with volunteers in Spain.”

Environment_Health_Sustainability

The Origin of Life on Earth: New Research – “Darwin-like god ponders what the nature of life will be like. From Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. The origin of life presents a number of fundamental difficulties to science. One of these is the seemingly irreducible complexity of life itself. For instance, DNA codes for the molecules that are essential to life. Some of these molecules, however, are the very enzymes that help DNA code for molecules. It is difficult to imagine DNA works without these enzymes, but the enzymes exist in a cell because, in part, of the activities of DNA.”

Criminalizing Natural Health, Vitamins, and Herbs – “The website from which this video is taken is Health Freedom. I believe the topic is important enough for those of us who value freedom of choice in natural healing and alternative medicine and nutrition. The Codex Alimentarius is a threat to the freedom of people to choose natural healing and alternative medicine and nutrition. Ratified by the World Health Organization, and going into Law…”

Medical Research On Ice: Antarctic Study Will Measure How Humans Physically Adapt To Extreme Environment – “New medical equipment recently delivered to the Antarctic station Concordia will help understand how our bodies physically adapt to this extreme environment -- knowledge which could help prepare for a future human mission to Mars. ESA is currently looking for a candidate with a medical background to support projects at the research base”

Lander returns close-up pictures of Martian dust – “The Phoenix lander has returned the highest-resolution pictures ever taken of dust and sand on the surface of another planet as it prepares for its primary mission of searching for signs of life on Mars, NASA scientists said on Thursday.”

Sustainability and development require participation – “Achieving sustainability without participation is an impossibility!! One of my key arguments regarding an eventual transition to a new form of society that is based on peer to peer as its core logic, which I consider a ‘conditional inevitability’, is a hypothetical but hopefully likely attempt, to a new global reform towards a green/natural capitalism. My general argument is that such an attempt at sustainability, is precisely what will create room for more participation, and therefore, for a maturation of peer to peer processes and mentalities, until that time as they are ready to become the dominant logic themselves, with the market (but not infinite growth capitalism), as a subsystem.”

The Nexus of Peak Oil, Climate Change and Infrastructure – “The creation an efficient, effective and fair U.S. climate policy is utterly important, and overdue. But, argues Dynamic Cities Project founder Bryn Davidson, unless we take Peak Oil into consideration, we may end up in a situation that pits energy security against climate change concerns.”

Environment day calls for end to carbon addiction – “The United Nations urged the world on Thursday to kick an all-consuming addiction to carbon dioxide and said everyone must take steps to fight climate change.”

Largest City Solar Initiative gets greenlight in San Francisco – “San Francisco has made solar energy a top priority with the passage of the Solar Energy Initiative Program - the largest solar energy subsidy program of any city in the United States.

Global Impact Of Urbanization Threatening World's Biodiversity And Natural Resources – “A new study has examined the effect of staggering urban growth on nature and people that finds if we don't improve urban planning now, we may lose some animals, plants and natural resources for good.”

Life, Liberty, Water – “As climate change and worldwide shortages loom, will people fight over water or join together to protect it? A global water justice movement is demanding a change in international law to ensure the universal right to clean water for all.”

Polity_Justice_Organization

VIDEO: Child Labor in Mexico, Beyond – “The World Day Against Child Labour raised awareness of the plight of child laborers around the world -- most of whom are impoverished and have no chance for a formal education.”

U.N. Officials Visit Darfur to Assess Security – “Members of the U.N. Security Council are in Sudan's Darfur region Thursday for a first-hand look at the conflict there. Five years of fighting have killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions.”

Israel and Hamas agree to Gaza truce – “An Egyptian-brokered cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip that could ease a crippling Israeli blockade of the coastal territory will begin Thursday, Egypt and Hamas said.”

From refugees to ‘envirogees’? – “Scott Thill at Alternet has published an article on the social impact of climate change. The article goes as far as coining a new term: ‘envirogee’. The implication seems to be that ‘refugee’ has a certain amount of baggage, being intrinsically associated with political persecution. We are entering an age, mainly due to climate change, but also because of other cheery current/future phenomena such as peak oil, in which the traditional definitions of refugee will need to change to retain relevance. The article is certainly polemic in tone, but I think it does the job of provoking thought on what the world is going to look like in the not too distant future and how our understandings of human movement, human rights, national boundaries and so on.”

Zimbabwe suspends aid groups and detains diplomats – “Zimbabwe indefinitely suspended all work by aid groups on Thursday and police held a group of U.S. and British diplomats for several hours after they visited victims of political violence ahead of a presidential vote.”

Activists Hijack Train In U.K. – “According to the UK Guardian, climate change activists boldly stopped and boarded a train loaded with coal that was on its way to Britain’s largest power plant (the above link to the article also contains video footage).”

Accused 9/11 mastermind welcomes death penalty – “The accused al Qaeda mastermind of the September 11 attacks stood in a U.S. military court on Thursday, sang a chant of praise to Allah and said he would welcome the death penalty”.
Highest Ever Levels Of Post-traumatic Stress Found In Uganda - Uganda has the highest rate of post-traumatic stress and depression ever recorded, following extremely high of civilian exposure to violence and poor healthcare, a study published in BMC Psychiatry says today.

President says EU force closing eyes to Chad rebels – “Chadian President Idriss Deby on Monday accused the European Union protection force (EUFOR) in eastern Chad of "closing its eyes" to the killing of civilians and refugees by advancing anti-government rebels.”

Karzai Threatens Troop Buildup on Pakistan Border – “Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Sunday that he may send soldiers into Pakistan to fight militant groups operating on the border separating the countries. His comments are likely to heighten tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan.”

What Does a Spirituality that is Authentic and Integrative Do?

From Integrative Spirituality:

There is a new spiritual movement that trancends and includes not o­nly the Interfaith movement it also trancends and includes the best of todays progressive Eco-spirituality, Women's spirituality, Integral spirituality, Participatory spirituality (P2P) and Evolutionary spirituality movements. If fact, it strives to include the best of all religions without their worst. In some ways it is a child of the Internet generation where all human knowlege is rapidly becoming accessable, yet it is far, far more than just a new synergy of spiritual data.

Integrative Spirituality is drawn from the totality of humanity’s wisdom. It's a revolutionary, integral and integrative experential process that can support your personal spiritual practice by including the best of all religions without their worst. It is also an awe inspiring spiritual adventure that will help you release your fullest capacities to succeed in today’s complex world by improving your relationships to yourself, others and to the Great Mystery and Wholeness that unites all things.

Integrative Spirituality is an open source, meta-spirituality that also transcends and includes the best of today's progressive spiritualities such as Eco-spirituality, Women's spirituality, Integral spirituality, Participatory spirituality (P2P) and Evolutionary spirituality. Integrative Spirituality can help you spiritually evolve within any denomination that you might currently be involved in --- without your having to leave that denomination!

Read More: Here

Latest Issue of The Integral Leadership Review Online

The Integral Leadership Review Vol. 8 Issue 3 is now published! Among the interesting articles featured are: a continuation of the discussion between Mark Edwards and Russ Volckmann, a critical response from Steve McIntosh, a conversation with Robb Smith, CEO Integral Institute, and other quality articles.

Description from the website:

The Integral Leadership Review is the world’s premier publication of integrated approaches to leadership. It serves leaders, professionals and academics engaged in the practice, development and theory of leadership. The Integral Leadership Review offers a comprehensive framework that provides insights and tools leaders can utilize to solve problems. Appropriate guidance is a key to solve the challenges of the world. Today’s approaches are fragmented, incomplete, and inadequate for the world’s multidimensional, multilayered global issues.

Read the full issue: Here

New Research Shows How Culture Influences Brain Function

As mainstream science begins taking seriously the cultural context of bodymind development and functioning, we may see 'a coming together' of more flexible and pluralistic methodologies (epistemic practices) - accompanied by more integrative discussions about the 'constructive' nature and limits of human knowledge and cognition.

From Science Daily:

People from different cultures use their brains differently to solve the same visual perceptual tasks, MIT researchers and colleagues report in the first brain imaging study of its kind. Psychological research has established that American culture, which values the individual, emphasizes the independence of objects from their contexts, while East Asian societies emphasize the collective and the contextual interdependence of objects. Behavioral studies have shown that these cultural differences can influence memory and even perception. But are they reflected in brain activity patterns?

Read More: Here

Often, scientific paradigms must create the conditions for their own transformation before they take seriously the claims of non-scientific thinking.

Here are the conclusions of the research mentioned above:

"We were surprised at the magnitude of the difference between the two cultural groups, and also at how widespread the engagement of the brain's attention system became when making judgments outside the cultural comfort zone," says one researcher.

How do these differences come about? "Everyone uses the same attention machinery for more difficult cognitive tasks, but they are trained to use it in different ways, and it's the culture that does the training," Gabrieli says. "It's fascinating that the way in which the brain responds to these simple drawings reflects, in a predictable way, how the individual thinks about independent or interdependent social relationships."

The researchers went on to show that the effect was greater in those individuals who identified more closely with their culture. Within both groups, stronger identification with their respective cultures was associated with a stronger culture-specific pattern of brain-activation.

These findings help elucidating how individual psychobiology intra-acts and interacts with our linguistic heritages, semantic repertoires (memes), symbolic environments (culture) to generate specific types of decision-making and behavior. [cf. Spiral Dynamics Integral]

ABOVE IMAGE: Brain activity in East Asians and Americans as they make relative and absolute judgments. The arrows point to brain regions involved in attention that are engaged by more demanding tasks. Americans show more activity during relative judgments than absolute judgments, presumably because the former task is less familiar and hence more demanding for them. East Asians show the opposite pattern. (Credit: Image courtesy Trey Hedden)

Going Deeper

From Integral Options Café:

Ego States as Subpersonalities

It seems that nearly every theory of psychology has its own version of subpersonalities, whether they refer to them by that term or not. The Jungians have complexes. Psychosynthesis has actual subpersonalities, and may be the source of the term. The Freudians have ego states. To be fair, John G. and Helen Watkins (creators of ego state theory and therapy) are not traditional Freudians, but they are firmly entrenched in the psychoanalytic tradition and use many of its terms in their theoretical work.

The description I want to post here is one of the best definitions of subs/parts/ego states that I have read anywhere, revealing many of the fine details of how these other "selves" function in us.

Read More: Here

The Neurodynamics of Consciousness

By Diego Cosmelli, Jean-Philippe Lachaux, and Evan Thompson

One of the outstanding problems in the cognitive sciences is to understand how ongoing conscious experience is related to the workings of the brain and nervous system. Neurodynamics offers a powerful approach to this problem because it provides a coherent framework for investigating change, variability, complex spatiotemporal patterns of activity, and multiscale processes (among others). In this chapter, we advocate a neurodynamical approach to consciousness that integrates mathematical tools of analysis and modeling, sophisticated physiological data recordings, and detailed phenomenological descriptions.

Read More (PDF): Here

Directionality in Evolution?

From Living the Scientific Life:

Evolution is a random process -- or is it? I ask this because we all can name examples of convergent evolution where very different organisms arrived at similar solutions to the challenges they are faced with. One such example are the striking morphological similarities between sharks (marine fishes) and dolphins (marine mammals). Thus, based on observations of convergent evolution, one is tempted to hypothesize that, even if evolution itself is random, the "end result" of evolution is not. In fact, this is the central premise of an interesting book by Simon Conway Morris, Life's Solution (Cambridge University Press, 2004), where he postulates that ''the evolutionary routes are many, but the destinations are limited''.

This is in direct conflict with the late Stephen Jay Gould's hypothesis that a far different evolutionary outcome would occur if we could only replay the "tape of life". So which is it?

Read More: Here

Modeling the Demands of Interdisciplinarity

Toward a framework for evaluating interdisciplinary endeavors

By Zachary Stein

I suggest there are two key factors that bear on the quality of interdisciplinary endeavors: the complexity of cognition and collaboration and the epistemological structure of interdisciplinary validity claims. The former suggests a hierarchical taxonomy of forms of inquiry involving more than one discipline. Inspired by Jantsh (1972) and looking to Fischer's (1980) levels of cognitive development, I outline the following forms: disciplinary, multi-disciplinary, cross-disciplinary, inter-disciplinary, and trans-disciplinary.

This hierarchical taxonomy based on complexity is then supplemented by an epistemological discussion concerned with validity. I look to a handful of philosophers to distill the general epistemological structure of knowledge claims implicating more than one discipline. This involves differentiating between levels-of-analysis issues and perspectival issues. When all is said and done, we end up with a “language of evaluation” applicable to interdisciplinarity endeavors. Ultimately, this suggests an ideal mode of interdisciplinary endeavoring roughly coterminous with Wilber's (2006) 'Integral Methodological Pluralism'.

Read Full Article (PDF): Here

Do All Languages Have a Common Ancestor?

From TED.COM:

After speaking at TED2007 on elegance in physics, the amazing Murray Gell-Mann gives a quick overview of another passionate interest of his: finding the common ancestry of our modern languages.

Watch Murray Gell-Mann's talk at TED2007 on Beauty and Elegance in Physics: Here

Breaking the Galilean Spell

By Stuart A. Kauffman

Even deeper than emergence and its challenge to reductionism in this new scientific worldview is what I call 'breaking the Galilean spell'.

Galileo rolled balls down incline planes and showed that the distance traveled varied as the square of the time elapsed. From this he obtained a universal law of motion. Newton followed with his Principia, setting the stage for all of modern science. With these triumphs, the Western world came to the view that all that happens in the universe is governed by natural law. Indeed, this is the heart of reductionism.

Another Nobel laureate physicist, Murray Gell-Mann, has defined a natural law as a compressed description, available beforehand, of the regularities of a phenomenon. The Galilean spell that has driven so much science is the faith that all aspects of the natural world can be described by such laws.

Perhaps my most radical scientific claim is that we can and must break the Galilean spell. Evolution of the biosphere, human economic life, and human history are partially indescribable by natural law. This claim flies in the face of our settled convictions since Galileo, Newton, and the Enlightenment.

Read More: Here

Reactivity to Climate Change

Jan Inglis is a specialist in developmental and integral approaches to complex social issues and director of the Integrative Learning Institute. The Integrative Learning Institute offers coaching, consulting, and training to individuals and organizations committed to comprehensive social change.

In this short piece, published in Issue 5 of the Integral Review, Jan talks about the integrated issues of human perception, culture and climate change:

Reactivity to Climate Change - by Jan Inglis

'For many years, public discourse concerning climate change seems to have been divided into two main camps: those who did believe it was occurring and cited experts and years of research that proved the planet was warming up, and those who did not believe that these indicators were anything more than isolated events. A subtopic of the former position also divided into two camps: those who thought climate change was due to human causes and those who thought it was just a natural cycle. These debates have preoccupied attention, polarized local and global consideration, and failed to contribute to any coordinated responses. Instead, they seem to have prevented or at least distracted a process in which such responses could be initiated. The structure of these arguments has largely been conceptual and
factual.'

Read More (PDF): Here

[See Also: Jan's article in the June 2008 issue of the Integral Review]

The Evolution of Bodymind

A couple weeks ago science writer Carl Zimmer spoke at Downstate Medical Center in New York about his recent articles in the New York Times relating to how the human “mind” evolved. Zimmer thinks we can learn a lot from bacteria, fruit flies, hyenas, and our own kids.

Below is his lecture in its entirety:

Are There Neural Correlates of Consciousness?

By Alva Noë and Evan Thompson

In the past decade, the notion of a neural correlate of consciousness (or NCC) has become a focal point for scientific research on consciousness. A growing number of investigators believe that the first step toward a science of consciousness is to discover the neural correlates of consciousness.

Indeed, Francis Crick has gone so far as to proclaim that ‘we…need to discover the neural correlates of consciousness.… For this task the primate visual system seems especially attractive.… No longer need one spend time attempting … to endure the tedium of philosophers perpetually disagreeing with each other. Consciousness is now largely a scientific problem’.

Yet the question of what it means to be a neural correlate of consciousness is actually far from straightforward, for it involves fundamental empirical, methodological, and philosophical issues about the nature of consciousness and its relationship to the brain. Even if one assumes, as we do, that states of consciousness causally depend on states of the brain, one can nevertheless wonder in what sense there is, or could be, such a thing as a neural correlate of consciousness.

Read More (PDF): Here

Consciousness-in-Action

Toward an Integral Psychology of Liberation & Transformation

When attempting to engage the wide range of social, environmental and psychological issues of our time, people have tended to adopt a particular orientation towards what they believe are the determining factors and possible solutions to such problems. And often, these problem-solving orientations (worldviews) are based on specific individual and group developments and personal experience.

For example, many change-agents intently work for community empowerment, social and economic justice, and institutional change, while others focus their attention more on personal growth, loving relationships, and spiritual development. Some believe change happens from the inside out; others are convinced we will be happier only when external life conditions improve and justice prevails for all. And all of us, undoubtedly, aspire to a better life and a better world.

Alternatively, in his writings and public talks around the world, Raúl Quiñones-Rosado inspires and educates potential change-agents to take a deeper and more integral perspective on the issues by introducing a set of key concepts and principles he calls "consciousness-in-action”.

In his book, Consciousness-in-Action: Toward and Integral Psychology of Liberation & Transformation (2007), Raúl Quiñones-Rosado outlines this unique approach to personal change and social transformation. By exploring implications for helping professionals, educators, community organizers, activists and others committed to social change, Consciousness-in-Action offers an integral-pragmatic view of well-being and development in the context of institutional and internalized oppression.

Here is the offical description from the website:

Consciousness-in-Action describes an approach to personal and social change in the context of oppression — society’s major hindrance to well-being and development. Drawing from psychology, sociology, social and integral theories, and over thirty years of contemplative practice and work in communities-of-struggle, this book proposes an integral framework for human well-being and development, a psychosocial analysis of the impact of identity-based power, and a liberatory-transformative praxis for transcending internalized superiority and inferiority rooted in racism, sexism, Eurocentrism, classism, and other forms of institutional oppression.

Consciousness-in-Action offers an alternative to prevailing dichotomous thinking and fragmented approaches aimed at personal or societal change which lack a larger, integral view of the whole and its dynamic nature. In so doing, the book emphasizes the impact of multiple, simultaneous oppressions on the integral development of persons, communities and societies, while it also asserts the vital role of social group identity development and other psycho-spiritual developmental processes on the path to liberation and transformation.

Learn More about this Innovative Approach: Here

[ Also: Read Bonnitta Roy’s review of the book in the latest issue of the Integral Review: Here ]

And be sure to attend one of Raul's upcoming public presentations: 2008 Association for the Advancement of Psychosynthesis Conference, Vermont College/Union Institute & University, Brattleboro, VT, June 27-29; & the 1st Integral Theory Conference, JFK University, Pleasant Hill, CA, Aug 7-10.

Integral Review June 2008 Issue Published!

The latest issue (Vol 4, No.1) of the Integral Review has now been published. The Integral Review is an online, peer-reviewed journal that publishes original transdisciplinary, integrative and critical research on a wide range of applied and creative issues. Read the full issue online: Here

From the website:

Integral Review publishes a transdisciplinary and transcultural range of works that, taken as a whole, model integral ways of perceiving, thinking, researching, and serving the world we live in. As its title suggests, IR provides thinkers, researchers, and practitioners from around the world with a forum that encourages crossing conventional boundaries and scales. We believe this feature is essential for cross-fertilizing thought, research, and praxis for change in our societies and our relations.

Learn More: Here

The Human Adaptation for Culture

Professor Michael Tomasello from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology’s Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, in Leipzig, Germany gave the inaugural annual public address for the School of Psychology entitled "The Human Adaptation for Culture".

Lying at the core of his argument is language and therefore culture is the product of remarkable and recently evolved faculty to understand other minds. Human beings are biologically adapted for culture in ways that other primates are not, as evidenced most clearly by the fact that only human cultural traditions accumulate modifications over historical time (the ratchet effect).

The key adaptation is one that enables individuals to understand other individuals as intentional agents like the self. This species-unique form of social cognition emerges in human ontogeny at approximately 1 year of age, as infants begin to engage with other persons in various kinds of joint attentional activities involving gaze following, social referencing, and gestural communication.

Listen to the PODCAST: Here

MetaLinking 2008/06/02

It has been well over a month since we have offered MetaLinking - mostly due to a strategic 'slow down' of our internet activities. The IRG has made substantial commitments to local community development projects - consulting and designing applications using an integral approach. These commitments have limited our recent public relations/blogging efforts considerably.

However, the IRG will continue to provide innovative and informative content for the readers of Integral Praxis. And, as always, we are OPEN to individuals who want to collaborate or conrtribute to this blog - helping to co-evolve a more post-formal, post-theoretical integral pragmatism & zeitgeist.

 

Bodymind_Dynamics:

Consciousness and Mental Life – “In Consciousness and Mental Life, Daniel Robinson argues for the foundational primacy of folk psychology over cognitive neuroscience. Robinson answers the question whether consciousness can fully be explained by the sciences of the brain with a clear no, for it lacks the very conception that urges humans to ask such questions -- mental life. In a very readable and highly witty way, Robinson manages to discuss most of the major positions and key players in the current debates surrounding consciousness."

Emotions can be unconscious and subliminally evoked

Moral Combat: Emotion and Reason

– “The moral dilemma is an agonizing staple of philosophy classes. A new study shows that its difficulty may be caused by a battle in the brain… The fMRI scans reveal the neural equivalent of competing moral philosophies, says Greene. The social-emotional part of the brain pushes people to obey seemingly universal moral rules, such as an edict against murder, while the reasoning part pushes them toward a utilitarian goal: the greatest good for the greatest number of people.”

VIDEO: Brain Science and the Future of Computers – “To date, there hasn't been an overarching theory of how the human brain really works, Jeff Hawkins argues in this compelling talk. That's because we still haven't defined intelligence accurately. But one thing's for sure, he says: The brain isn't like a powerful computer processor. It's more like a memory system that records everything we experience and helps us predict, intelligently, what will happen next. Bringing this new brain science to computer devices will enable powerful new applications -- and it will happen sooner than you think.”

Self-confidence: Unwitting Wits – “Modesty is one thing. But when you attribute your drawerful of trophies to mistakes, luck, and deception, it's a different thing entirely. So say those who describe Impostor Syndrome—the conviction that others grossly overestimate one's abilities. The "impostor" feels she doesn't deserve her accomplishments and fears that eventually she'll be unmasked as a fraud.”

Psychology's greatest case studies – “BBC Radio 4 have just broadcast a fantastic new radio series called Case Study that looks at some of the most influential, and most remarkable, case studies in the history of psychology.”

Models of cognitive control in prefrontal cortex – “In the May issue of Trends in Cognitive Sciences David Badre reviews different models of the cognitive controls in our prefrontal cortex that support flexible behavior by selecting actions that are consistent with our goals and appropriate for our environment. I thought I would pass on two nice graphics from the papers, showing the structures and models involved. They do make the point that we have a long way to go before figuring out how the system works.”

AUDIO: A Guided Tour of 'Your Brain' – “Two neuroscientists have written a book for a general audience to debunk misconceptions about how the human brain works. The result is the book ‘Welcome To Your Brain’.”

Communication_Culture_Discourse:

That’s why they embrace Islam – “…fellow anthro-blogger Martijn de Koning was awarded his doctorate at the Free University of Amsterdam last week. In his Ph.D. thesis he shows how Islam has become the most important frame of reference for Moroccan-Dutch youth to reflect upon who they are and what they want to be. In the late 1990s, the general perception was that young muslims were turning away from their religion. But things went differently, he says in an interview with Radio Netherlands. Young Dutch Moroccans are increasingly turning to their religion.”

3 Ideas That Are Pushing the Edge of Science – “Medical bots powered by sperm, clean fusion power, and two-dimensional time.” ---- Very cool science and very innovative minds.

Evolution and Atheism: A Fascinating Exchange - “Two old friends have left a fascinating set of comments on an earlier thread and I liked them so much that I'm moving them up here to make sure everyone sees them. I have known Henry Neufeld for about 15 years, since first meeting him in the Compuserve religion forum. I have known Sastra for probably 10 years, since meeting her in a religious debate channel on IRC. Henry is a Christian, a Hebrew scholar and the director of a Bible school; Sastra is an atheist and longtime activist. Despite those differences, they are two of the clearest thinkers I have ever known.”

The Ethics of Climate Change: Pay Now or Pay More Later? - "What should we do about climate change? The question is an ethical one. Science, including the science of economics, can help discover the causes and effects of climate change. It can also help work out what we can do about climate change. But what we should do is an ethical question."

Axel Bruns on why Ning trumps facebook - “Very interesting critique of Facebook by Axel Bruns. After the critique in the first part, Axel focuses on why Ning solves a number of the outlined problems… Ning is anything but a walled garden. Its boundaries are immensely permeable in both directions - in the form of RSS feeds, Flickr photos, YouTube clips, and other materials, content can be drawn into Ning easily, but what happens on Ning is also instantly visible to users on the wider Web (there’s even a widget for posting Ning activity to Facebook), so that community interaction doesn’t have to stop where Ning stops. (That said, Ning sites can be set to ‘private’, though.) Ning can be just one element - a central hub, aggregator, forum, perhaps - in a federated network of personal and collective blogs, wikis, collaborative project sites, and there’s no requirement for all members of that federation to commit to it.”

Part of Ancient Egyptian Fertility Temple Found in Nile – “Egyptian archaeologists found the portico, or covered entryway, to the temple of the ram-headed fertility god Khnum while conducting the first-ever underwater surveys of the Nile.”

Environment_Health_Sustainability:

How People Influence Connectivity Among Ecosystems – “Ecosystems are constantly exchanging materials through the movement of air in the atmosphere, the flow of water in rivers and the migration of animals across the landscape. People have also established themselves as another major driver of connectivity among ecosystems. A new article looks at how human influences interact with natural processes to influence connectivity at the continental scale.”

Climate Change and Tropical Cyclones – “Just as Typhoon Nargis has reminded us of the destructive power of tropical cyclones (with its horrible death toll in Burma–around 100,000 according to the UN), a new paper by Knutson et al in the latest issue of the journal Nature Geosciences purports to project a reduction in Atlantic hurricane activity (principally the 'frequency' but also integrated measures of powerfulness).”

Playing Climate Change Catch-Up – “Global warming is not a problem for the future. We're already feeling the catastrophic effects today. Question is, is it too late to do anything about it?”

Chemists Create Cancer-detecting Nanoparticles – “Chemists have created the smallest iron oxide nanoparticles to date for cancer detection by magnetic resonance imaging. The magnetic nanoparticles operate like tiny guided missiles, seeking and attaching themselves to malignant tumor cells. Once they bind, the particles emit stronger signals that MRI scans can detect.”

Diamond-Like Crystals Discovered In Brazilian Beetle Solve Issue For Future Optical Computers – “Researchers have been unable to build an ideal "photonic crystal" to manipulate visible light, impeding the dream of ultrafast optical computers. But now chemists have discovered that nature already has designed photonic crystals with the ideal, diamond-like structure: They are found in the shimmering, iridescent green scales of a beetle from Brazil.”

Polity_Justice_Organization:

Darfur death toll could be as high as 300,000, according to UN official – “Two high-ranking United Nations officials suggested on Tuesday that the death toll in the five-year conflict in Darfur has risen to 300,000 people. A 2006 World Health Organization estimate placed the number of people who have perished in the Sudanese region from the combined effects of the conflict — including hunger, disease and violence — at around 200,000. But John Holmes, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, and Rodolphe Adada, the joint representative for the UN and African Union in Darfur, told the UN Security Council in New York City on Tuesday that the situation is getting worse.”

The question I have is, why is the international community still doing very little to help resolve some of the issues in this conflict? Are we waiting for it to sort itself out because we allow ourselves to label this conflict a “civil war”, and in doing so convince ourselves that it is part of some ‘internal’ Sudanese affair? What about our responsibilities as humans? From a species-centric moral vantage point, isn’t this conflict an ‘internal’ HUMAN affair? Of course it is not that simple because we must respect the political, cultural and intellectual boundaries of people – which means working within their systems and discourse traditions, while simultaneously evolving hybrid solutions and amalgamated strategies for prosperity, self-determination and legitimation, on the way to peaceful change. Learn more about this conflict Here and Here.

Why Rebel Groups Attack Civilians – “In civil war, rebel groups often target civilians despite the fact that their actual target is the government and that they are often dependent on the support of the civilian groups they attack. This may seem illogical, but there are rational reasons for this type of violence. Swedish peace and conflict researcher Lisa Hultman describes these reasons.”

Geopolitics and Geology Force Oil Companies to Explore New Options – “Crude oil and retail gas hit record high prices last week--more than $135 a barrel and $3.83 for an average gallon of regular. During a congressional hearing, lawmakers verbally pummeled oil execs for raking in profits while consumers endure pain at the pump. "Does it trouble any of you when you see what you're doing to us?" Sen. Richard Durbin (D–Ill.) asked industry officials hauled to Capitol Hill to testify on skyrocketing oil prices.”

The Way to A Just Foreign Policy – “The United States has some pivotal choices now that its brief time as the world’s sole superpower is drawing to a close. Becoming a good neighbor is one of them.”

Navajo Nation Pushes for Uranium Cleanup – “Despite the lure of potentially big money, the Navajo Nation has banned uranium mining on its reservation, which spans parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. In part, the decision reflects deep Navajo concerns about how past mining activities have damaged health and the environment.”

Brazilian Tribes Say Dam Threatens Way of Life – “Brazil's government wants to harness the hydroelectric power potential of the Xingu River to meet the country's energy needs. But the ancestral inhabitants of the Amazon fiercely oppose plans to build what would be the world's third-largest dam.”

Afghanistan Unveils Ambitious Development Plan – “Next month, Afghanistan will present a $50 billion strategy to rebuild the country. But given allegations of corruption, mismanagement and weak local governance, Western officials say the government still must prove it is capable of administering the five-year plan.” - "Most people agree that emotions can be caused by a specific event and that the person experiencing it is aware of the cause, such as a child's excitement at the sound of an ice cream truck. But recent research suggests emotions also can be unconsciously evoked and manipulated."