Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Liver means heart and heart means joy


It's pretty much all downhill from here, for Thassa the hyperthymic cloudwalker. Whether it's downhill for you and me (and the next generations of real humans) too, remains to be decided. Or so we we may hope. Tuesday's news from Boston does not bode well, for that. But tomorrow's? We'll see. [Tips for Resilience in the Face of Horror: http://shar.es/JGgkY] Thassa will actually have a good time in Boston soon, so let's not get ahead of ourselves.

"The problem lies in the hubris of the designing parents..." Indeed. I never tire of quoting Mr. Emerson: "You're trying to create another you, one's enough." More than enough, too frequently... 

Continues at Up@dawn
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Some of my highlighted passages in today's Generosity:

He's deeply depressed by the thought: true happiness may depend on the weather. And in the next breath, he's depressed that it might not. One of his happiness manuals claims that weather and mood strongly correlate, but only until people are cued to notice it...

They stand there awkwardly, two more victims of natural selection, caught between negativity bias and the eternal belief that the future will be slightly better than the present.

And the beauty of germline engineering is that the fixes are inheritable! In a few decades, we're going to be doing everything that way . . . 

The chemicals swarm into a face, at which the screen splits repeatedly, filling up with patent lawyers, philosophers, a clergyman, a science writer, a senator-judge, and several geneticist-businessmen— those who need to safeguard innovation and those who need to save us from it.

A lot of us might be willing to pay $50K for meaningful connection with another living thing.

I agree; no patent should be allowed to prevent progress. The only thing profit is good for is reinvesting in research. I want a world where the one real source of wealth-- genetic possibility-- is common knowledge and accessible to everyone.

And no group wisdom can possibly condemn these parents for plotting their daughter's lucky escape [from colon cancer, via preimplantation genetic diagnosis].

"Walk on air against your better judgment."

He wants what anyone wants. He wants this thing he can never have, this effortless glow...

Reality has become programming's wholly owned subsidiary.

Information may travel at light speed. But meaning spreads at the speed of dark.

But I never thought your whole mood thing is like... a disease?
-"Life is the disease. And believe me: you do not want the cure!"

Liver means heart and heart means joy...

I know the kind of novel I loved to read, back before fact and fable merged... The kind that invents itself out of meaningless detail and thin air. The kind in which there's no choice like chance.

Various permutations of this gene network correlate with conte3ntment, joy, and even... exuberance. Ex uberare-- the pouring forth of fruit.

All good science pauses.

What we really want is to be happier. And most people think they will be, in the future. Keeps us in the trenches, I guess.

By now, the idea is a commonplace: only that massively parallel computer, the entire human race, is powerful enough to interpret the traffic that it generates... 

And despite the worst that environment can contribute, her body pumps out the standing gladness that should be every human's birthright.

...a debate with an Australian Nobelist in literature who believes that scientific investigation has killed the world's soul.



3 comments:

  1. I think the pun in this story is that the liver in our body takes care of all the bad stuff so our bodies can continue to party on. So in a way it is sort of a cleansing.
    --
    I do believe I have this symptom of Thassadit's* mind frame. Though I wouldn't go as far as to say I'm happy and cheery all the time, but I have no reasons what so ever to be down about anything. I mean this in a way that I feel like I am losing touch with the term 'stress'. Why worry? There's no point in worrying about anything because it will all play out no matter what your feelings are. So my thoughts about the feelings of stress or worry are useless. Of course I could show concern for something but a situation wouldn't dwell on my mind that would hinder me from a clear mindset. As I stated in my introduction in the beginning of the semester, my motto is F- it. Not that I completely disregard any situation I find difficult to encounter but more of a forget about it/ oh well/ screw it/ nothing I can do about it mind frame. If there were any issues that were within my power, then I would have no reason to complain and fix them immediately rather than procrastinate and have it dwelling on my mind that might be inducing this so called 'stress'.

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  2. The attitude you describe sounds like Stoic indifference, which definitely has its place. But are you really HAPPY? When we meet Thassa she doesn't just "party," she effuses and exudes and lives, through every pore of her being. She "gives all to the present," takes an active interest in people, perceives deeply, cares passionately. She doesn't just say "ftw"... I think you should sign up for Happiness 101, Vincent.

    But don't stress about it.

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  3. I'm not sure about the exuberant quality that you are referring to, but I am content. I looked up stoic indifference and was very surprised that it describes my mindset almost to the exact detail. Is it possible to be happy with indifference or impassiveness? I do give the pleasure of joy or happiness to others in my spare time just because I know what it feels like to receive random acts of kindness or performing something funny just to lighten someone's day. I guess the term HAPPY is still a broad term. That would be a very interesting class, but I graduate in the summer. :( I would be obliged to just sit through the lectures haha

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