In the News (from MIT News): “Many organisms — mammals, birds and insects, for instance — also form cooperative social structures that allow resources to be defended and shared within a population.

“But surprisingly, even microbes, which are thought to thrive only when able to win the battle for resources against those nearest to them, have a somewhat sophisticated social structure that relies on cooperation, according to MIT scientists. These researchers have recently found evidence that some ocean microbes wield chemical weapons that are harmless to close relatives within their own population, but deadly to outsiders.

“The weapons are natural antibiotics produced by a few individuals whose closest relatives carry genes that make them resistant. The researchers believe that the few antibiotic producers are acting as protectors of the many, using the antibiotics to defend the population from competitors or to attack neighboring populations. …

“This makes cooperation involving antibiotics doubly surprising, because the ability to produce antibiotics is a classic example of a ‘selfish’ gene that ought to increase the fitness — or reproductive rate — of the individual carrying the gene. In a strictly competitive environment, the microbe would use this advantage against its closest relatives. But now it looks as if this competition is modulated by social interactions where antibiotics produced by a few individuals act as ‘public goods:’ items that benefit the group, rather than just the individual.

“This differentiation of populations into individuals that produce antibiotics and those that are resistant is one of the first demonstrations that microbial populations engage in a division of labor by social role. This observation also provides an explanation for why so many genes are patchily distributed across genomes of closely related microbes. At least some of these genes may be responsible for creating tightly knit social units of bacteria in the wild.

“’It’s easy to imagine bacteria in the environment as selfish creatures capable only of reproducing as fast as conditions allow, without any social organization,’ says Otto Cordero, a CEE postdoc who is a first author on the Science paper. ‘But that is the mind-blowing part: Bacterial wars are organized along the lines of populations, which are groups of closely related individuals with similar ecological activities.’”

My Comment: This is not surprising because the developed egoism makes it necessary to unite for the sake of defense. So, as a result of the crisis, we find that in order to survive we need to unite above and contrary to our individualistic egoism.
[88000]

Related Material:
Cooperation Over Competition
Unknown Laws Of Nature Are Responsible For The Self-Organization Of The Biosphere
Evolution Is Based On Cooperation Rather Than Competition

Filed under: Egoism, News, Science, Society - No Comments →

In the News (from Rice University): “In the face of mounting evidence that cancer cells communicate, cooperate and even engage in collective decision-making, biophysicists and cancer researchers at Rice University, Tel Aviv University and Johns Hopkins University are suggesting a new strategy for outsmarting cancer through its own social intelligence.

“‘We need to get beyond the notion that cancer is a random collection of cells running amok,” said Herbert Levine, co-director of Rice’s Center for Theoretical Biological Physics and co-author of the cover article in this week’s Trends in Microbiology that pulls together dozens of recent discoveries about the social behavior of cancer cells. ‘These cells lead sophisticated social lives.’

“Article co-author Eshel Ben-Jacob, a senior investigator at CTBP, said, ‘Cancer is a sophisticated enemy. There’s growing evidence that cancer cells use advanced communications to work together to enslave normal cells, create metastases, resist drugs and decoy the body’s immune system.’ …

Ben-Jacob said cancer cells have been shown to cooperate to elude chemotherapy drugs, much like bacteria that communicate and act as a team to resist attacks from antibiotics. He said some cancers appear to sense when chemotherapy drugs are present and sound an alarm that causes cells throughout a tumor to switch into a dormant state. Similar signals are later used to sound the “all clear” and reawaken cells inside the tumor.

“‘If we can break the communication code, we may be able to prevent the cells from going dormant or to reawaken them for a well-timed chemotherapeutic attack,” Ben-Jacob said. “This is just one example. Our extensive studies of the social lives of bacteria suggest a number of others, including sending signals that trigger the cancer cells to turn upon themselves and kill one another.’”

My Comment: Cancer is a body in the body. Our body is a community of cells bound to a single idea to mutually support life. But there is the disease of cancer: Some of the cells, due to their increased egoism, become separated from the other cells of the body and begin to see them as enemies, as a foreign body that needs to be attacked and devoured. Cancer is a breakdown in the program of cells whose increased egoism does not feel the body as their own. This is like us who are unconscious of nature as our own home and who wish to destroy it for its passing good. As cancer cells kill the body and then die from lack of habitat, so are we heading towards death as we are killing our planet.
[87938]

Related Material:
Everything Is Against Us
The End Of The Familiar World
Unhealthy Mutations Of Egoism

Filed under: Crisis, News, Science - 1 Comment →

In the News (from 12160.info): “What was revealed in the audit was startling: $16,000,000,000,000.00 had been secretly given out to US banks and corporations and foreign banks everywhere from France to Scotland. From the period between December 2007 and June 2010, the Federal Reserve had secretly bailed out many of the world’s banks, corporations, and governments. The Federal Reserve likes to refer to these secret bailouts as an all-inclusive loan program, but virtually none of the money has been returned and it was loaned out at 0% interest. Why the Federal Reserve had never been public about this or even informed the United States Congress about the $16 trillion dollar bailout is obvious – the American public would have been outraged to find out that the Federal Reserve bailed out foreign banks while Americans were struggling to find jobs.”

My Comment: This is how egoism manages public property “for the benefit of their country and the people!”
[87769]

Related Material:
Three Times Global GDP
The World Is Ruled By Those Who Have The Power To Create Money
The Dollar Today Is Dead, The U.S. Bankrupt

Filed under: Crisis, Economy, Egoism, News - 1 Comment →

In the News (from Ereport.ru): “Moody`s Investors Service has slashed its growth forecasts for the advanced and emerging nations in the G-20, citing an increase in the downside risks to global recovery.

“In its latest Global Macro-Risk Outlook 2012-2013 update, the ratings agency says real growth in the G-20 economies will be about 2.8 per cent in the 2012 and 3.4 per cent in the following year. This is a respective 20 basis points and 10 basis points lower than Moody`s predicted in April.

“According to the agency, the main risks to global growth are the deeper than expected recession in the eurozone, the danger of a hard landing in major emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil, an oil-price supply-side shock caused by resurfacing geopolitical risks and the potential for sudden and sharp fiscal tightening in the US next year. …

“Moody`s group credit officer for sovereign risk Elena Duggar says: ‘In our view, fiscal consolidation efforts, weak consumer and business confidence, banking and household sector deleveraging, persistently high unemployment levels and real-estate market weakness will continue to constrain growth in advanced economies.’

“The ratings agency also predicts G-20 emerging economies will grow by about 5.2 per cent in 2012 and 5.7 per cent next year. This is ‘materially lower’ than the 6.6 per cent seen in 2011 and the 8 per cent achieved in 2010.

“Duggar says: ‘We are revising downwards our forecast for these large emerging market economies, where the weaker external environment and decelerating domestic demand are causing a slowdown in growth momentum.

“‘We continue to expect that the slowdown in advanced economies and volatile capital flows will suppress growth in emerging markets.’”

My Comment: There is only one question: Is the speed of the deepening crisis faster or slower than the speed of thought of politicians? If the crisis overtakes the opportunity to reflect on what is happening, the world will plunge into the darkness of war, famine, and natural disasters. If nevertheless, they will be able to interpret the events and threats and rise above their egoistic calculations (or rather failures), then we will pass the crisis with small losses and begin to build a new economy in the new society.
[87375]

Related Material:
Apocalypse Tomorrow
A Terrible Infection Spreads Around The World
A Finale Is Approaching

Filed under: Crisis, Economy, Mutual Guarantee, News, Unity - No Comments →

In the News (from LifeScience): “Microbes possibly feeding on the remains of an ancient forest may be generating billions of tons of methane deep beneath Antarctic ice, a new study suggests.

The amount of this greenhouse gas — which would exist in the form of a frozen latticelike substance called methane hydrate — lurking beneath the ice sheet rivals that stored in the world’s oceans, the researchers said.

“If the ice sheet collapses, the greenhouse gas could be released into the atmosphere and dramatically worsen global warming, researchers warn in a study published in the Aug. 30 issue of the journal Nature.

“’There could be tons of methane hydrate beneath the Antarctic ice sheet,’ said study researcher Jemma Wadham of the University of Bristol’s School of Geographical Sciences. ‘If you start to thin that ice cover, that hydrate starts to become unstable and turns into gas, and that gas can go into the atmosphere.’ …

“The team suspected that icy, silt-laden sediments trapped beneath the continental glacier could house such extremophiles. That’s because the sediments, possible relics of an ancient Antarctic forest and ocean, could provide a carbon-rich food source for methane producers. But drilling up to 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) through the ice to find out was extremely expensive and difficult.

Instead, Wadham and her colleagues sawed chunks of sediment from the fringes of an Antarctic glacier, where the ice was much thinner. They melted the ice and identified the methane-producing microbes living in the sediment.

“They also placed the slurry in a cold, dark, oxygen-free environment for two years, and measured how much methane the microbes produced at several points in time.

“Combining that information with models of Antarctic conditions and geology, the researchers estimated how much of the greenhouse gas could form over millions of years under Antarctica.

“Hundreds of billions of tons of carbon may lurk in methane reservoirs below the continent, the study found. That dwarfs the 600 million tons of carbon released through natural methane emissions like wetlands, livestock, burning of biomass and agriculture every year.

Methane is a potent global warming gas, capable of trapping 20 times more heat than carbon dioxide, though it lingers in the atmosphere for much shorter periods of time. …

“But if the ice sheets crack and disappear, which may happen due to climate change, the methane could slip free from that watery cage and enter the atmosphere rapidly.”

My Comment: What will the future bring?
[87378]

Related Material:
Dennis Meadows: On The Future
A Science About The World
Why Did The Big Bang Happen?

Filed under: Crisis, News - 2 Comments →

In the News (from The Telegraph): “‘Poverty is returning to Europe,” Jan Zijderveld, the head of Unilever’s European business told the Financial Times Deutschland in an interview

“’If a consumer in Spain only spends €17 when they go shopping, then I’m not going to be able to sell them washing powder for half of their budget.’

“Unilever has already started to change the way it sells some of its products. In Spain, the company sells Surf detergent in packages for as few as five washes, while in Greece, it now offers mashed potatoes and mayonnaise in small packages, and has created a low-cost brand for basic goods such as tea and olive oil.

“’In Indonesia, we sell individual packs of shampoo 2 to 3 cents and still make decent money,’ said Mr Zijderveld. ‘We know how to do that, but in Europe we have forgotten in the years before the crisis.’

My Comment: This is how the crisis will destroy unnecessary production and leave us within the limits of reasonable consumption. Also, the unemployed will force society and the government to find them a useful activity: integral education.
[87258]

Related Material:
Europe: The New Economic Reality
The Debt Crisis Is Returning
Housing Problems Have Caught Up With Europeans

Filed under: Crisis, Economy, Education, Integral Upbringing, News - No Comments →

Opinion (Ronald Wright, from About.com): “The film, based on Ronald Wright’s insightful nonfiction book, A Short History of Progress, presents convincing arguments that technology if not used appropriately and in moderation can lead to adverse conditions and the collapse of civilization – if not the actual demise of humankind.

“Wright, who is interviewed in the film, points to ‘progress traps,’ or instances in which human know how, belief systems or technologies that have solved short term needs have actually had adverse effects.

“One example, presented as a dramatic reenactment in the film, is the prehistoric hunt for woolly mammoths – it was progress when our ancestors figured out how to hunt efficiently, killing two beasts at a time instead of one, but when they figured out how to slay the whole herd by driving them off a cliff, they killed off their entire future food supply, and put their survival in jeopardy. That’s a progress trap that anyone can understand. And, that the same sort of dangerous behavior persists today is raised by Jane Goodall, who points out that humankind’s continued exploitation of Earth’s resources and the wasteful consumption exacerbated by ever increasing use of technologies that are deemed as progress, is simply not good for the future evolution — or survival — of the species.

“Surviving Progress is filled with information and presents a wide range of arguments that call for a reconsideration of the notion of progress. The film covers a smorgasbord of concerns that are presented as a nourishing mixed salad of reenactments, graphics and on camera interviews. It is an intellectually stimulating and provocative film that raises more questions than it answers. The essential question is a valid and challenging one: Is humankind sufficiently evolved to be able to handle its know how and not allow the misuse of technology to eventually destroy civilization? That’s a question that should be considered by everyone.”

My Comment: Today, we are outgrowing these errors due to the current crisis. It is hoped that it is understood that the egoistic economy has come to an end, and it should change to the economy of happiness in equal abundance for our bodies and in unlimited development for our souls.
[87099]

Related Material:
The Movement Towards Integration
What Hides Behind The Illusion Of Progress
Progress Is Like A Package Deal With Egoism

Filed under: Crisis, Economy, News, Society, World - No Comments →

In the News (from The Wall Street Journal): “As Europe’s leaders struggle with a five-year-old economic crunch that has saddled Spain with the industrialized world’s highest jobless rate, young Spaniards are increasingly embracing such bottom-up self-help initiatives [time banks] to cope. …

“Besides time banks, they include barter markets springing up in barrios, local currencies designed to spur the flagging retail economy, and charity networks that repurpose discarded goods. …

“The growth of time banks revives a concept pioneered by 19th-century anarchists and socialists in the U.S. and Europe, who wanted to test their philosophy that prices of goods and services should more closely reflect the labor involved in producing them. …

“The Valladolid Time Bank, started by the city government just before the crisis started, has attracted more and younger members with the crumbling of Spain’s economy. The new unemployed appreciate the bank’s egalitarian ethos, says 32-year-old administrator Juan Manuel Primo. ‘Everyone’s hour has the same value here,’ he says: An hour’s labor by a seamstress is worth as much as that of a lawyer. …

“’Having a network of support like this is really important at a time when you’re vulnerable,’ says Alessandra Melis, 30, who recently lost her housekeeping job after her employers were themselves laid off. She has been using the bank to get rides for her errands around town, in exchange for offering cooking lessons and dog walking services.

“When a hair stylist who belonged to the bank had to shut down his slumping salon not long ago, he was able to count on meals and other necessities from members in return for cuts. …

“Spaniards are also bartering goods—say, books or furniture in exchange for fresh produce—at markets that are being organized in seemingly every neighborhood.”

“Carlos Bravo, a 35-year-old information technician who helped launched a small bank in central Madrid this year, says time banks have a different sort of value: helping urban Spaniards rekindle a sense of closeness among neighbors that facilitates asking for favors and other forms of mutual assistance. …

“‘Some economists worry that the rise of such informal systems of economic exchange is pushing more of Spain’s economy underground—out of the view of regulators and tax collectors, and effectively sending the country back in time developmentally. …

“Others, though, say the measures represent a significant stabilizing force in society. For ‘people who can’t find work, these kinds of possibilities of exchanges and mutual help can help make bearable a situation that otherwise would be unsustainable,’ says José Luis Álvarez Arce, director of the economics department at the University of Navarra.”

My Comment: This is the element of reciprocity, mutual aid, and it will exist as long as the state does not become sympathetic to the people and the entire society does not acquire the form of mutual help. For the time being, the government does not like such a tax-free exchange even if it helps people survive. The next step is to organize one’s own network of buying and selling goods and services without a hundred percent markup and middlemen.

Then, this network will dictate its prices and necessary goods to producers. This can bring the prices of essential goods to the minimum cost. Then, people can become responsible for volunteer service to the population, the city, and thus reduce all the municipal costs and consequently all taxes (levies) on the population, and people can organize studies for schoolchildren in groups, additional classes and clubs, etc.
[87093]

Related Material:
Hundreds Of Thousands Protest In Spain
Spain’s Unemployment Tops 5 Million
Spain’s Unemployment Rate Rises To 21.5%

Filed under: Crisis, Economy, Mutual Guarantee, News - No Comments →

Opinion (Michael Forrester, from TruthTheory.com): “French sociologist Emile Durkheim first used the term collective consciousness to label shared beliefs and moral attitudes that bind people together within a particular society. In a fragmented world populated with myriad beliefs and ethnic groups collective consciousness is more akin to a mosaic puzzle than to a coherent social fabric — a micro-concept. However, the coming integration of human interactions across the planet within a shared consciousness will be a macro-concept. …

“The earth itself and its inhabitants are currently ascending from its primal systems based on third dimensional governments and reptilian mindsets to conscious co-creation where singularity at the core of our universe will emanate constant ‘enlightened universal consciousness.’ Government systems cannot be part of this ascension process where the earth is currently completing its change from third to fourth dimensions.

“The ultimate and imminent collapse of these old systems of societal life, brought about by the masses and the government will create a new form of life on the planet, controlled by natural law. The man-made rules and regulations that are used to govern the people are necessary only as long as the people don’t know how to live in accordance with the natural laws of life. This trend is shifting fast and the turbulence that is gripping mankind is all part of it. Humankind is waking up, and there is nothing that can stop it now. Love will replace control as the dominating power of life on earth.”

My Comment: A growing number of researchers feel the need for the next stage of our development and see the future world in the “Kabbalistic” way.
[86935]

Related Material:
All Of Nature Is One Organism
How To Manage The Integral World
The Three Major Concepts Of Vernadsky

Filed under: Crisis, News - 1 Comment →

In the News (from Los Angeles Times): “Americans are throwing out nearly every other bite of food, wasting up to 40% of the country’s supply each year – a mass of uneaten provisions worth $165 billion, according to a new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council. …

“Food waste is the largest single portion of solid waste cramming American landfills. Since the 1970s, the amount of uneaten fare that is dumped has jumped 50%. The average American trashes 10 times as much food as a consumer in Southeast Asia, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.”

My Comment: If we felt “like one family,” as the current global crisis explains, hunger would be eliminated without increasing the production of food; absolutely unnecessary goods (70% of production), military spending, harmful drugs, etc. would disappear. It the Americans launched a campaign of mutual help within the country, they would have shown an example to all the countries of how without spending a penny from the national treasury to make everyone well fed and then “like-minded,” and so on.
[86636]

Related Material:
There Is Food, But No Desire To Share It
The World In Food Crisis
World Hunger Help Is Failing

Filed under: Crisis, Mutual Guarantee, News, Society - No Comments →