What’s piqued my interest these last few days is the design of research methodology. The current research paradigm in the West still glows with the logical empiricism of early 20th century thought, divided into qualitative and quantitative research. Very limited methods of measurement and analysis are accepted. Thus, Science is rather lopsided, as it’s only getting one part of the story.
Looking at Science, with a capital S, as an entity or person (or for this article- a system!), how research is conducted can tell what information exchange is taking place between Science and the rest of the world. The research paradigms that scientists work with are the channels, the points of contact, through which information comes through. It determines how Science knows.
On this blog and forum we discuss how we, as human individuals, communicate with other persons and our environment. We can have discussions about how societal institutions, such as Science, receives information from its environment also.
From there, we can be creative in imagining ways to develop more contact points and information channels in systems. It would be like broadening the senses of systems, enabling more wholeness in communications and interactions. Imagine what that would be like! For Science, I think it would be developing different ways of measuring. Or rethinking what measurement is (how do we branch off into the environment?). If alternative or more ways of measurement were developed these would be the additional contact points. It would be like opening more windows in a very stuffy house. Time for an afternoon breeze to blow through…

So, I’ve decided to read a book that’s irked me off for a while: Thumbs, Toes, and Tears: And Other Traits that Make Us Human by Chip Walter. But I started reading it in the bookstore, and saw another opportunity to dissect something….and to feed my book addiction, of course.

From the back cover:

Among the countless attributes that separate us from the rest of the animal kingdom, six stand out–our big toe, opposable thumb, oddly shaped pharynx, and our ability to laugh, kiss, and cry. Though seemingly unconnected, they are actually closely linked, each marking a fork in the evolutionary road where we went one way and the rest of the animal kingdom went another.
Drawing on complexity theory, the latest brain-scanning techniques, and new insights from fields as diverse as anthropology, artificial intelligence, and robotics, Thumbs, Toes, and Tears reveals a creature that was shaped as much by its social relationships and internal self-image as by its ability to walk upright, make tools, and use language.

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Saw this video on TED talks today….about the cultural adaptations of crows to human environments…interesting although I’m not a huge fan of this presenter’s criteria of intelligence. And the notion that in order for the negative attitude surrounding crows to change, they must become useful to humans. Well…boo to that for obvious reasons.

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“I believe it’s naive to think modern technology is simply a tool. Rather, it’s a social system that springs from and also yields a particular relationship with the world.” -Christopher Manes

A somewhat scientifically controversial idea put forth by Harvard entomologist E.O. Wilson, the biophilia hypothesis is the idea that humans evolved as creatures intricantly enmeshed with the intracies of nature, and this affinity is embedded in our genotype. According to this idea, humans have an intrinsic need for meaningful contact with other life-forms.

David Harmon takes this idea a step further: “I suppose we are waiting for a cultural analog of the biophilia hypothesis, one which does not merely claim that cultural diversity is ‘interesting’ but one that explains why contact with cultural diversity makes us fully human.”

From this article in Journal of Clinical Investigation: www.jci.org/112/9/1291
Here are some snippets I thought were REALLY interesting:

“Until recently, bacteria were considered to live rather asocial, reclusive lives. New research shows that, in fact, bacteria have elaborate chemical signaling systems that enable them to communicate within and between species. One signal, termed AI-2, appears to be universal and facilitates interspecies communication.

Not only is AI-2 produced by a wide variety of bacteria, it is also detected by many or possibly all of them.

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For a while on my blog we’ve been talking about delusions of separateness and the pathologies it creates. What I’ve been thinking about lately is: what caused this initial delusion of separation from the rest of the world? What was that switch? A few have identified some of the trends, ideologies, and philosophies that push our minds deeper into human isolation, such as Cartesian dualism, elements of the Enlightment, Judeo-Christianity and the biblical myth, patriarchy, industrialization, Western individualism and objectivism, and others. What we see over the last few thousand years is a trend in fragmentation and inequality in societies, and therefore, in their people.

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From an interview by Derrick Jensen with Thomas Berry:

“How does the wind speak to us? A biting wind on a winter’s day tells the person of harshness and the challenge of existence. It wants to make a person strong. And the softness of a summer breeze tells us of the compassionate dimension of the universe.

“People say,’Oh, that’s poetic. That’s romantic’. But that’s the most scientific thing there is. If someone says to me, ‘I don’t hear the voice of the wind,’ I say, ‘You better learn.’

Why are we paying attention to interactions with other species?

By paying attention to how we communication and interact with other-than-human persons around us, we are helping to create emergent co-intelligent system in our bioregions–and ultimately, globally.

A natural system evolves and merges with larger supersystem when information or intelligence on that level is integrated. It then becomes an emergent system, functioning as a dynamic organism capable of intelligent self-regulation and adaptation.

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(by SallyVon Vleck in Issue 5 of Gatherings)

The Council of All Beings is a ritual that grew out of the Despair and Empowerment work and the philosophy of deep ecology of Joanna Macy, Jonathon Seed and others. The purpose of this ritual is to look at the world through another species’ eyes and share this perspective with others in the circle. Some participants will play the role of humans and listen to what the other species have to say. Through sharing our concerns for the planet we are able to get in touch with the interconnectedness of all beings. Through that interconnectedness we find the power and strength to work toward healing the planet. For more understanding about the Council of All Beings, I recommend a book called “Thinking Like a Mountain” by Joanna Macy, John Seed and others. As John Seed explains in the introduction to “Thinking Like a Mountain”,

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