Yes, mariner had signed off. There is no new insight into Armageddon; it is moving along as expected. But mariner suffers from empty time as a very hot weather pattern hangs around making gardening and any activity outside the front door verboten. So, to soak up a bit of empty time, mariner writes a post.

A new direction in science has entered the science magazines: extinction and consciousness, Do the scientists know something we don’t know? It is claimed that extinction is a good thing and is part of the evolutionary process – which could not exist without it. In other words, there comes a time when Earth doesn’t need dinosaurs anymore, or humans, either. Planet Earth simply can’t afford to maintain a status quo because of requirements arising from the Solar System and the limits of static consumption.

What would many species eat when all the Maryland crabs are gone? Crabs aside, 20,000 species have become extinct during the industrial era of humans. From another perspective, migrating creatures already are modifying their alternative environments if they can. Whales have a tough row to hoe right now. It wouldn’t be hard to argue, “Alright, we’ve had the humans too long – the biosphere is shifting.” If resources are disappearing, it’s time for extinction of the cause: Homo sapiens.

But would Homo disappear? Perhaps not. Many, many species have changed dramatically as climate and topography have shifted. Consider the aforementioned whales – they used to live on land and needed legs. If a species can change to survive, it will. What will humans become given their large sense of consciousness and creativity? Ever seen a minion? Ever seen a sex doll? Ever seen a chromosome grow on an AI circuit?

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Consciousness is included because the new insight into consciousness is that it is not a separate phenomenon from physical existence, that is, it is not some will o’ the wisp decision tree that is not bound by physiological behavior. A leading suggestion is that even gnats have consciousness, and frogs and earthworms. One wonders whether earthworms have fantasies. We shall find out. On the human level, it questions whether religious or other alternative realities actually exist or are the result of physiological need.

Ancient Mariner

This is another of those days when the mind is blank. It’s one of the side effects of living in Chicken Little’s henhouse where TV news broadcasts and political documentaries are not allowed.

One is forced to deal with unrelated, unnecessary thoughts that have no real world value. For example, has the reader ever been on a farm, perhaps playing softball or having a picnic – and a cow across the fence stands still, watching you intently, not even twitching an ear? What is that cow thinking? The cow’s thoughts certainly aren’t rationalizing what actually is happening in context; what could possibly hold the cow’s interest in what the humans are doing?

Humans often are not aware of the extent to which other animals have unique mental faculties. For example, did the reader know that robins have amazing eyesight that can identify very small objects as much as 40 or 50 feet away? A few days ago, mariner was sitting on the porch when he saw a robin land on the electric service line to the house; the line was about 30 feet in the air. The bird sat there several minutes until suddenly, like an arrow, it flew to the ground in a straight trajectory to the end of the yard where it snatched an earthworm! There aren’t many humans that have such accurate vision – let alone fly.

Some birds have remarkable sympathy, maybe even enough to qualify as a democrat. There is a documentary showing two crows in separate but adjoining cages. There was a small slot in the common side. When only one crow was fed, it shared its food with the other crow by passing it through the slot. When the roles were reversed, the same sharing occurred.

In another experiment, a rat was put in a cage that required a procedure of several steps before it could open the door to its food. It tried fruitlessly to open the door. Then the rat was shown a video of another rat who knew the steps. After watching it once, the rat went straight to the door and opened it.

Maybe humans depend on the frontal lobes too much.

Ancient Mariner

Another chapter from a book mariner wrote 25 years ago about what’s important and forgot he wrote it! Must not have been important . This chapter continues the theme of what is important in different stages of life.

Mid-life
Perhaps the hardest age game is the mid-life game. The mid-life game is important to folks from about forty-two to fifty-eight and being a true existentialist really helps. This is a strange and challenging game. As usual, what’s important is anything that’s not really important. What’s important is the hair that’s not there, the career that won’t happen, the young girl who isn’t interested, and the prince who won’t come. What’s important in this game is what the shopping malls, automobiles and other augmentations can do to hide the rapidly climbing years. You can’t look backward to vitality and forward to wisdom at the same time. But you remember the thirties games. To hell with wisdom. Naturally, it’s the wisdom that’s actually important about mid-life: you’re old enough to be wise and young enough to have the energy to put it to use.
The mid-life game has gambits (a word from chess that means going out on a limb), a technique which other ages don’t use very much. Some examples are: extramarital affair, divorce, changing career, obsessing about something that is not important, like immaculate lawns or golf, and even some scary gambits like alcohol and abandonment. Each gambit is a deliberate way of looking for what’s important. These gambits are dangerous because what seemed important before isn’t important any more and what’s important now may not be important later. That’s why it’s called a gambit. It is possible to come out ahead but it’s a chancy way to find out what’s important. Someone almost always gets hurt during these gambits — including you.
So much for looking back to the virile thirties. If you make it through the mid-life game intact, it’s on to wisdom.

Next: Sixties and seventies

Ancient Mariner

Mariner and his wife were enjoying a wonderful, sunny day with comfortable temperatures. “Why don’t we go on an outing”, his wife said. “You don’t have anything to do, do you?” Mariner said, “No.” (Of course they were lying; each had gallon job jars stuffed to overflowing). An ‘outing’ is an occasional adventure they take just to get out. Typically, they would look for small, out-of-the-way spots not on the normal tourist path. One time they decided to visit Oquawka, a river town in Illinois. When they arrived, the town had not made it through the COVID pandemic. Every store and business was closed except a riverfront restaurant.

Recently, they decided to visit a nearby historical spot: Athens, Missouri. The reader may remember that Missouri was okay with slaves but some of the population wanted to secede while the rest wanted to stay in the Union.  During the Civil war, Athens was a small town that suffered a battle between town citizens because some wanted to secede, others did not.

What makes Athens relevant is that the town is directly across the Des Moines river from Croton, Iowa. Iowa’s participation in the combat action of the Civil War amounted to a cannon ball that inadvertently made it across the river from Athens.

The Athens State Park is a pleasant visit. The grounds and few remaining buildings are well cared for. But the accounting of the skirmish between town residents made mariner think.

Whether Trump wins or not, could there be a release of ‘feelings’ that would entice riots, attacks on organizations supporting strong opinions, and even street fighting with guns?

Times certainly are a-changing.

Ancient Mariner

Another in the series taken from a book mariner wrote about 25 years ago. The book addresses the fact that what we think is important is not important. In the section about aging, this extract covers the thirties:

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The Thirties

What’s important about turning thirty is that it’s not important. Turning thirty is like getting a warning ticket from the traffic cop. No real fine, just a warning that a real ticket could happen soon. In fact, at thirty there are many professional and recreational games that present themselves and this is probably what seems most important. Otherwise, being thirty is like going through a second puberty — other than your vitality, you’re not worth a lot to anyone. You’re too old to be young and too young to be experienced.
The most fun is the singles game. The years around thirty are a hodgepodge of coed softball, amateur politics at the office, music, obligatory hours at work, weekends at a beachfront motel with someone, even someone who’s an acquaintance, and sports of all kinds. What’s important is singles bars, sports bars, sports cars and volleyball. The thirties game is important only for a few years but it burns plenty of energy. What’s important when you’re thirty is flaunting your maturity at the late teens and early twenties. You got your warning ticket, though, so you do not want to be older anymore. The thirties game is over when the potbelly emerges and the thighs thicken.
Some thirty year-olds play another game called marriage and kids. Oddly enough, this game passes the twenties and early thirties as rapidly as the singles game. What’s important is a partner who is predictable and dependable and both of you procreating more people to play the age game. While the singles game never lets you forget you’re growing older, the married with kids game lets you forget for a few years. Kids and secondary school make time stand still. The game is over when the potbelly emerges and the thighs thicken — or the kids bail out.

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Stay tuned for middle age.

Ancient Mariner