Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
I  hope it is a smooth and painless event!
  

    
China, anyone ?

On my watch list, for instance, Tiktok = national security threat ?

Or, Fentenyl = retaliation for the Opium War ?

Then there's China's economic warfare against the USAmerica – more
of a threat than, say, Russia's   ( petroyuan -vs- petrodollar, for
instance )

Next, Taiwan … 

 
  

    
Jon – The state of your hip & the state of the world are not two
separate things. I join the WHBC (Wellperns' Healing Beams
Coalition) in wishing your procedure every success & your recovery a
whole healing
  

    
Good luck, Jon!
  

    <scribbled by yesway Wed 11 Jan 23 22:32>
  

    
So as not to be strictly doom and gloomy about the prospects of
rewilding, I want to share this video of Douglas Tallamy(produced by
the Sonoma Land Trust). Tallamy is an author and
activist/naturalist.

<https://www.timberpress.com/authors/douglas-w-tallamy>

<https://homegrownnationalpark.org/tallamys-hub-1>

The video is a 1 1/2 hour presentation of the concept of acting on
E. O. Wilson's assertion that we need to set aside half of the Earth
for Nature.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qstt3davwWs>

You may have to wait for an ad to evaporate(30-40 seconds) 

I think it's worth a look. One of the few things that helps me sleep
is the fact that my granddaughter(12) has been swooped and shaded by
Condors at the Kern County ranch I grew up on. That effort to bring
back a species(people?) from the brink of human engendered
extinction gives me confidence that humans can get their heads on
straight about what's required. So does the work of Wes Jackson,
Amory Lovins, David Philips, and Allan Savory.  

Leopold, Wilson, Brower. These are historic figures too. Long term
thinkers, like Brand. Politics and technology are tools. We need to
use them to address real problems. We need to make restoring the
planet a rallying cause. More Greta. Less Meta.  
  

    
205 Scribbled for correction
  

    
Here’s to smooth surgery and swift healing, <jonl>. FWIW, word is
that <doctorow> just had both hips done and is back out on tour.

Hot takes on topics recently raised:

- TikTok’s reported threat to national security is rivaled by the
brutal reprogramming job it does to users’ dopamine/cortisol
circuitry and attention spans, IMHO. As a result, Eyal Nir’s seminal
neural receptor-programming manual for product design, “Hooked”
(https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjf2q
fls8H8AhWDjYkEHVoUAocQFnoECCEQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FHooked-How
-Build-Habit-Forming-Products%2Fdp%2F1591847788&usg=AOvVaw2H9ckSP3GlkpRkQBcPCH
YN) winds up looking like the punchline in the “To Serve Man” episode of The Twilight Zone -> “IT’S A *COOKBOOK*!!!”

- Cyborgs - Elon Musk’s vaunted Neuralink startup is either about to
start human trials after successful animal trials, or it’s under
investigation for torturing monkeys to death. Depends on what you
read! 
https://www.google.com/search?q=neuralink+torture
https://www.google.com/search?q=neuralink+human+trials+2022

- The war in Ukraine does seem to have congealed into
near-archetypal stasis between an immoral, ill-advised, brute-force
megalomaniac with a rotting army of press-ganged, poorly-equipped
and increasingly amateur soldiers and the stalwart and
globally-popular victim-state that is winning hearts and minds with
eye-watering resolve and winning battles with all the most powerful
non-nuclear weaponry its hands-off allies can get away with
delivering … if you can accurately call the horrific body count on
both sides and obliteration of Ukraine “stasis.” Wishing for an end
won’t bring either side to the actual end game. What happens when
Putin finally succumbs to his illnesses, court skullduggery or
internal rebellion? Do his successors just banging away?

- And Satya Nadella is deciding how many zeros to tack onto MSFT’s
already multibillion-dollar bid for Open AI and ChatGPT. Plugging
that thing into the world’s business-operating system (and, by
extension, its business practices and corporate culture) will Change
Shit Forever in ways that none of us can accurately anticipate. 

https://www.google.com/search?q=microsoft+and+open+ai&source=lnms&tbm=
nws

Picture Clippy on meth. Multiply it by a googol. Now give it to
corporate hierarchies that range from Fortune 100 manufacturers,
banks, and monopolies down to comically dysfunctional corporate
barnacles that make “Office Space” look like a documentary. 

Good times are ahead!

(Slipped by <yesway> whose post prompts me to recommend the
inspiring work of Marc Buckley, a guy I worked with last year. His
“Inside Ideas” podcast interviews some of the smartest thinkers on
the forces currently putting humanity out of - and back into -
balance with nature: https://www.youtube.com/MarcBuckleyEarth)
  

    
Followup to Shanta Stevens' long previous contribution - this one
also segmented as multiple posts.

***
Regarding the extreme epidemic of Opioid Use Disorders in the US &
elsewhere... Ironically, there are "psychedelic" & "oneirophrenic"
medicines that have shown some utility in treating Opioid Use
Disorders... particularly, ibogaine & psilocybin have shown the most
promise in this regard (there are also indications in some but not
all studies regarding LSD, DMT/Ayahuasca, Ketamine & others that
could possibly also be used similarly)
<https://universalibogaine.com/ibogaine/>
<https://www.journalofsubstanceabusetreatment.com/article/S0740-5472(21)00443-8
/fulltext>
<https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36263479/>
<https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0269881114552713>
<https://www.iceers.org/first-ever-clinical-trial-with-ibogaine-for-opioid-depe
ndency/>
<https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/news/ibogaine-demerx-atai-mhra-clinical-tr
ial/>
<https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-08085-4>

However, looking for a medicine to provide the cure in of itself is
actually a large part of the Western problem... and this blind spot
may be part of the root cause that has led so many people in the US
towards this epidemic crisis of opioid use disorders... although a
medicine may be able to provide an interrupt for a cycle of abuse...
it is the integration practices before, during & after such a
session that can provide context for what is likely be an extremely
unfamiliar experience for most people... that context integration
can really make a profound difference in people's lives and
determine whether or not they actually find healing...

Psychedelic integration: An analysis of the concept and its practice
<https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9386447/>

One of the original pioneers of Ibogaine as a treatment for
substance use disorders was Howard Lotsof, who championed the cause
from the day when it cured him of a heroin addiction in 1962 until
his death in 2010 (at the age of 66, from liver cancer)... consider
this perspective from 1996:
<https://web.archive.org/web/20110112210601/http://www.ibogaine.desk.nl/ibogain
e_trauma.html>

"Ibogaine appears to offer a unique tool to both the patient and the
clinician to allow the elimination of physical withdrawal
characteristics and the accessing of repressed memories in a non
threatening manner by which the majority of patients can gain an
understanding of the trauma underlying their chemical dependence and
to achieve accomplishments necessary to give them a sense of self
worth without which it would be more difficult to break the cycle of
substance use disorders. Most important, for many of the patients,
Ibogaine allowed them to understand the benefit and role required of
a psychosocial support structure including medical professionals,
counselors, self-help organizations and the ability to tap into
their own inner strength to allow normalization into and survival in
a prohibitionist society."
  

    
_Why Ibogaine Is Not the Answer to the Opioid Crisis_
<https://chacruna.net/ibogaine-opioid-crisis/>

"Ibogaine clearly illustrates the error behind the implicit goal of
the so-called psychedelic renaissance, which is to mainstream these
therapies. If the idea is that we simply place ibogaine into the
nightmare of the American treatment industry and its predatory
capitalism, it would be an attempt to try to resuscitate an industry
that is proven to be ineffective, cruel, and capricious.

What makes ibogaine a bad fit in the treatment industry is also its
biggest advantage: the expansiveness of time. The experience just
takes so long. In Gabon, the centuries-old consumption of iboga (the
plant source of ibogaine) has given rise to the elaborate, rich, and
varied spiritual practice known as Bwiti. In both of our travels and
participation in this tradition, we have experienced a deep honoring
of the individual, intensive care, and extensive time given by the
entire community.

This is not a call to use Bwiti as drug treatment or for any other
purpose removed from its traditional intent in Gabon, but simply
points to its artistic and vigorous celebration of that
expansiveness of time. It is just an example of what emerges when
released from the constraints of efficacy in terms of time, expense,
and result. This type of co-created celebration, play, spiritual
technology, and performance art as healing art, could be one of
those expressions that replaces treatment. It should be treated with
that kind of reverence because ibogaine is a big deal, and so are
human beings."
  

    
Meanwhile, as I pointed out in my previous post, the pharmaceutical
side of the psychedelic medical industry will continue to attempt to
produce research chemicals which they will pitch as the magic bullet
to kill everyone's demons, and people will continue to line up for
the off chance that they are able to find the desired effect! Please
pardon my extreme skepticism, for I dearly want people to be well. I
must admit that in my understanding of the copious evidence: the
cure will still require work by not only the individuals, but also
their families, communities, governments & other institutions
becoming more life-affirming, in general. I do love the way of life
practiced by the Bwiti, but not everyone is fortunate enough to be
familiar with how to participate in such communities built around,
"self-empowering mutual aid!" Obviously, each of us only really has
control over our own selves, so that's a great place to start... &
perhaps we can build coalition strength after each of us has
improved our own personal foundations?
  

    
FWIW, the scientists who are synthesizing these non-psychedelic
research chemicals derived from psychedelics, in the belief that
they will produce favorable results are not necessarily wrong... 
<https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2021/12/07/us-government-will-test-i
bogaine-as-an-addiction-treatment/>

"The reason psychedelic drugs have been found to alleviate symptoms
of depression and PTSD in clinical trials, it is thought, is due to
signaling of the 5-HT-2A receptor, which sparks what's called
neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity helps the brain form new neural
connections, which is believed to generate rapid and sustained
positive mood effects. In studies, psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy
has provided almost immediate reductions in depressive symptoms
after a single high dose and antidepressant effects that last as
long as six months in some participants.

Olson says that the root of many neuropsychiatric conditions,
including addiction, is the atrophy of neurons in the prefrontal
cortex. But drugs that trigger neuroplasticity are like Miracle-Gro,
helping the brain rewire healthy neural pathways."

Cameron, L.P., Tombari, R.J., Lu, J. et al. A non-hallucinogenic
psychedelic analogue with therapeutic potential. Nature 589,
474--479 (2021). 
<https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5pp1d1vm>
  

    
But not only do our brains need better fertilizer, they also benefit
from permacultural environments and to be tended with care by
ourselves & others. Meanwhile, not everyone has access to such
treatments with sacred entheogens (even if they are available in
your area, they may currently be cost prohibitive); and even if you
can't find a Bwiti temple in your neighborhood, you can still
nurture your own growth through some form of "self-empowering mutual
aid!" Not everyone is familiar with what that looks like, unless
they have been through an experience of emergency management &/or
disaster relief. But perhaps that's a good place for us to start? It
even worked in Texas during the Snowpocalypse of 2021!
<https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/23/mutual-aid-texas-storm/>
<https://grist.org/justice/solidarity-not-charity-mutual-aid-groups-are-filling
-gaps-in-texas-crisis-response/>
<https://www.shareable.net/podcasts/fire-and-water-mutual-aid-in-the-aftermath-
of-the-texas-freeze/>

We don't have to wait for a national disaster to engage in such
activities of "self-empowering mutual aid!" For some people it
involves creating music & art & dance. For other people, it may be
community gardening or a wilderness survival adventure group.
Certain people may prefer to study martial arts, learn a meditative
tradition, perhaps even attend religious ceremonies, or otherwise
engage in spiritual practices with others in their community. Many
people benefit from team sports or other competitive play, while
some prefer cooperative skill-sharing or charitable volunteer
projects. There are many other specific therapeutic forms useful for
recovery listed in the article I highlighted above concerning
psychedelic integration. Part of the point that I am leaning into is
that healing the individual is extremely difficult within a sick
society. And there is a long tradition of promoting "victim
self-correction as a panacea" throughout human history. However, I
have also seen glimmers of hope that humans are able to evolve
beyond the horrors of the Anthropocene towards something that some
people have started calling the Symbiocene... and although this
transition will also certainly still pose many challenges... I
believe we can strategically align our forces towards the production
of mutually beneficial results! 

_Exiting the Anthropocene and Entering the Symbiocene,_ by Glenn
Albrecht & Gavin Van Horn
<https://humansandnature.org/exiting-the-anthropocene-and-entering-the-symbioce
ne/>

"E.O. Wilson, and before him, Erich Fromm, gave us the concept of
'biophilia' as something to hope for in human nature. Our
instinctual love of life and life-like forms would/could prevail
over necrophilia and possible ecocide. However, although "bio" means
life, it is often seen in the context of a reductionist science that
pulls things apart and isolates particularities. I now offer
'sumbiophilia' (the love of living together) as an addition to
biophilia. Since we evolved within a pre-existing ecological matrix
as an intensely social species and lived in relative harmony with
all other life forms, sumbiophilia must also be deeply ingrained
within us. If I am correct, then exiting the Anthropocene and
entering the Symbiocene, will be a satisfying experience for most
humans. As the politics of sumbiocracy play out and we live by
symbiomimicry in all our technologies and habitats, the Earth will
breathe a huge sigh of relief."
  

    
Furthermore, I believe that this echoes the references I made in my
previous post to the work of Bruce Damer (& David Deamer, et
alia)...
<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341641546_The_Hot_Spring_Hypothesis_f
or_the_Origin_of_Life_and_the_Extended_Evolutionary_Synthesis>

"The hot spring hypothesis scenario and empirical evidence behind
it... suggests how evolution originated and predicts the nature of
the first evolving chemical systems and their path to living
cellular communities. This path begins with a primordial form of
niche construction, adds a network effect, adaptation through
distribution across a landscape, and a resulting stepwise evolution
of polymer systems which ultimately combine to support the
transition into the first living cellular communities. The
meta-system which enables this process is the aggregation of simpler
individuals, sharing of resources across aggregations, and growth
and evolution at the level of the aggregation to drive increasingly
robust innovations within the individuals. After rise of living
cellular forms within these aggregations they remain dependent and
indivisible from their surrounding microbial communities.
Evolutionary theory has historically rested heavily on the study of
animals, interpreting their behavior as individuals competing "red
in tooth and claw" to pass on their genes. Yet from its origin and
for most of its evolutionary history, life has been dominated by
niche construction and networks of resource sharing between
collaborating organisms, primarily microbial consortia. Animals are
completely dependent on grazing on the products of these consortia
to act out the drama of their lives. It therefore behooves science
to consider that perhaps life, and evolution itself, actually rests
on a platform more broadly based on niches and collaborative
networks than the strict competition between individuals struggling
to pass on their genetic lines."
  

    
World Economic Forum ranking future risks for MMXXIII.  It's pretty
much all climate (and its secondary effects), all the time, for as
far as the eye can see.

https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Global_Risks_Report_2023.pdf
  

    
Via email from Michael Bravo:

Seeing all that poetry on the war, here's a link to an anthology you
all might appreciate and possibly haven't heard about - it's called
ROAR, for somewhat unwieldy Russian Opposition Arts Review, is now
in the fifth issue and has been started shortly after the war began.
Link to the current issue is
<https://roar-review.com/ROAR-Fifth-Issue-d0cb719ab6af43808cc914809a207483>; prior issues can be found under Archive (mix of languages). It's being edited and produced by an international team of volunteers, so forgive some haphazardness.
  

    
Thanks for that last link-- the first entry I read in it is pretty
interesting, though I only saw the translator's name, not the
author's.

I would (how shameless it somehow feels to even have an opinion)
agree with about the climate crisis being THE crisis--except that it
will remain insoluble without addressing the many other crises of
division, inequality, got-mine-ism, and human short-sightedness. For
me, yes, the biosphere's continuance is the fundamental ground. But
we got here because of all the rest of our human frailties and
run-amok talents, and to change those dynamics of what humans value
and do is as necessary to a solution as any miracle of engineering
or alternative power-production. 
  

    
Another 2022 trend: it seems clearer now that globalization of trade
has peaked. There's serious, ongoing effort to partially undo it.

Most obviously with Russia. Europe was unprepared for this, but it
looks like they're doing fine for now, thanks to winter not being on
Russia's side:

The energy crisis and Europe’s astonishing luck
<https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2023/01/11/the-energy-crisis-a
nd-europes-astonishing-luck>
<https://archive.ph/FaZYK>

> A warm autumn postponed the heating season, allowing gas-storage
facilities to be filled to the brim. The present warmth has enabled
them to be topped up again (see chart)—a startling turn in the
middle of winter. All told, Europe has sucked out half as much gas
from storage facilities as at this point in the past two winters.
And forecasts suggest a mild end to winter.

> The good weather is not the only reason for cheer. Gas supply is
growing as new liquefied-natural-gas terminals begin work. A wet
autumn and windy winter have helped propel hydro and wind
generators. French nuclear plants, turned off for maintenance, are
slowly returning to the grid. “The stressors that caused the energy
crisis of 2022 are all relaxing at the same time,” notes Lion Hirth
of the Hertie School in Berlin. Power prices in Europe have fallen
back to levels last seen before the summer.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration is continuing and expanding the
Trump administration's efforts to put up trade barriers with China.
Though, in a more intelligent way?

Biden reverses decades of Chinese trade policy
<https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/26/china-trade-tech-00072232>

> The new strategy, which the Biden administration internally calls
its “protect agenda,” is being rolled out this fall and winter in a
series of executive actions. In October, the Commerce Department
issued new rules aimed at cutting off Chinese firms’ ability to
manufacture advanced computer chips. They will soon be followed by
an executive order creating new federal authority to regulate U.S.
investments in China — the first time the federal government will
exert such power over American industry – and an executive order to
limit the ability of Chinese apps like TikTok to collect data from
Americans.

> Congress is participating as well, drafting its own, bipartisan
versions of Chinese investment screening, potential rules on
American capital flows into China, and restrictions on TikTok and
other apps that hawks hope can be passed next Congress.

Apple will reportedly begin producing some MacBooks in Vietnam in
2023 as it shifts from China
<https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/20/apple-will-reportedly-begin-producing-some-mac
books-in-vietnam-in-2023.html>

It's far from a full separation. Container ships full of Chinese
goods keep crossing the Pacific, and the COVID lockdowns in China
showed that we'd be unprepared if there were reason for them to
stop.
  

    
The world splitting into regional trading blocks would be an
enormous change, and yet even that would be very far from the full
decentralization that we romantically imagine sometimes. I think of
it as sort of like camping. Sure, you might (with proper
preparation) manage to physically disconnect for a while, but it's
only until supplies run out, or you need a doctor or something.

It's sunny today here in California, but it looks like we're going
to disconnect from Monterey for a bit:

Monterey County Storm Update (January 12): Salinas River flood watch
<https://www.ksbw.com/article/monterey-county-storm-update-january-12-salinas-r
iver-flood-watch/42475828>

> In a press conference on Wednesday, Sheriff Tina Nieto announced
that the county is preparing for the Monterey Peninsula be cut off
from the rest of the state due to on-coming flood waters if the
Salinas River continues to flood.

> The Salinas River goes under Highway 68 and Highway 1 on its way
to the Monterey Bay. During extreme flooding, the river can block
people from moving on or off the peninsula by blocking both
highways. This last happened in 1995.
  

    
CNET Has Been Quietly Publishing AI-Written Articles for Months
<https://gizmodo.com/cnet-chatgpt-ai-articles-publish-for-months-1849976921>

You can read them here:
<https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Acnet.com%20"this article was
generated using automation technology and thoroughly edited">

They seem to be generic consumer finance help articles. Going after
Investopedia's traffic, maybe?

Much like with me-too lyrics websites, such things can sometimes be
useful (though unreliable), but the reference article market will
probably get saturated pretty quick, and then Google starts doing it
themselves.
  

    
Well, a fair amount of the journalism coming out of such
publications might as well have been written by bots even when it
(presumably) wasn't.
  

    
I feel the need for some handwavey futurist prediction, in a general
summary of what 02023 will look and feel like.

Mostly, quite like the other years of this decade.  There will be
some surprises, but they won't be unusual upsides. Likely they'll be
"pink flamingo" surprises that blindside stakeholders who have
agreed not to talk about what's actually going on.  "Gray rhinos,"
you know they're coming, they stomp you anyway.  That''ll be us.
  

    
Covid plague, continuing steadily worldwide, many casualties.  Some
upsurges of very old pandemics due to antivax sentiment.

Weather: quite bad, predictably worse, very expensive, lots of
damage in unexpected places and also the expected ones.  The trend
is repeat disasters in places already messed-up that were attempting
"recovery."

Inflation, quite high, because you can't deglobalize and carry out
supply chain trade wars without paying for that.

A "recession," whatever that means.
  

    

USA, crazytown in Congress, mostly social-media theatrics.  Also,
fake news, just phony stuff for the clicks, lulz and grifts.  The
increasingly customary gun-massacres.  Also, overdoses.  A distinct
lack of "greatness again" especially if you're into greatness-again.

Britain, continuing to decline from the bad decision of Brexitania,
continuing to lie to themselves about what they've done to
themselves.

Ukraine-Russia, I think there's more chance for a sudden de-facto
cease-fire than people want to imagine here. I wouldn't say that I'm
"optimistic" about the war stopping; it's just that endlessly
shelling trenches with no major movement on the ground doesn't make
much strategic or economic sense for either side.  They'd both do a
lot better worldwide with spy intrigue and culture war, they're just
not very good militarily.  They don't want to admit that, but maybe
somebody like Turkey could trick them into some face-saving
cease-fire scheme.

Iran, Venezuela, Ethiopia, Syria, already plenty bad places,
continuing plenty bad because nobody's addressing their  problems.
If your own problems spiral out of control and you hit the bottom of
the misery-barrel nowadays, this is what you're life is gonna look
like. You don't *die in a dramatic apocalypse* from it, you're just
miserable, like they are, but with your local characteristics. 
Also, nobody in deglobalized ethnonationalism cares or wants to help
you, or has any faith that you can improve or reform or normalize,
so you most likely won't.
  

    
Afghanistan, continuing to heroically defeat every military
superpower and being worse-off for it.  They're truly amazing.  Why
are there so many of them?  They're their own worst enemy.  The
world is becoming more like them than they're becoming like anybody
else.  They're our Taliban avant-garde.   Presumably the Chinese
will attempt to conquer them after a few years.  Everyone seems to
feel the need to try that and fail at it.

China: probably preoccupied with a massive epidemic.  Would likely
prefer to profit from a European war than start a new Asian one this
year.  Made too many enemies too fast, so we might see a charm
offensive.  Trade war intensifies, but not embargos across the board
all at once.

Brazil: paralytic government by elderly liberals who used to be
dynamic innovators way-back-when.

India, continuing to disappoint, lots of internal ethnonational
strutting nonsense that gains them nothing.  There will be more of
them than anybody else in any single country, though, so that's
something.

There are usually some small bellwether states that are dynamic
because of innovative policies and scale issues.  Qatar, Estonia,
Singapore.  I frankly don't see a lot going on there in 02023.  They
seem stymied.