#joernpallensen

According to the largest study of vegetarian and vegans to date: Vegetarians live on average almost eight years longer.

This conclusion correlates with findings in the study below, followed by the explanatory video:

“By the 1970s, the mortality rate from heart disease of Finnish men was the highest in the world, and so they initiated a country-wide program to decrease their saturated fat intake. Farmers were encouraged to switch from dairies to berries. Towns were pitted against each other in friendly cholesterol-lowering competitions. Their efforts resulted in an 80 percent drop in cardiac mortality across the entire country.”

Here’s my synopsis of what I’ve recently read:

Heart disease..
 is our leading cause of death. The 35-year follow-up of the Harvard Nurses Health Study was recently published, now the most definitive long-term study on older women’s health. Dietary cholesterol intake — only found in animal foods — was associated with living a significantly shorter life and fiber intake — only found in plant foods — was associated with living a significantly longer life.

 “Consuming the amount of cholesterol found in just a single egg a day may cut a woman’s life short as much as smoking five cigarettes daily for 15 years”.

More than 20 years ago, Dr. Dean Ornish showed that heart disease could not just be stopped but actually reversed with a vegan diet, arteries opened up without drugs or surgery. Since this lifestyle cure was discovered, hundreds of thousands have died unnecessary deaths. What more does one have to know about a diet that reverses our deadliest disease?

Cancer.. 
is killer number two. Ah, the dreaded “C” word — but look at this hopeful science. According to the largest forward-looking study on diet and cancer so far performed, “the incidence of all cancers combined is lower among vegetarians.”

After Dr. Ornish’s team showed that the bloodstreams of men eating vegan for a year had nearly eight timesthe cancer-stopping power, a series of elegant experiments showed that women could boost their defenses against breast cancer after just two weeks on a plant-based diet. See the before and after here. If you or anyone you know has ever had a cancer scare, this research will make your heart soar. Because there is real, true hope — something you can do to stave off “the big C.”

  COPD - (lung diseases)..
the third biggest killer , can be prevented with the help of a plant-based diet, and can even be treated with plants.
The Tobacco Industry knows as much.. –  hence the study ”Addition of Açaí [Berries] to Cigarettes Has a Protective Effect Against Emphysema in [Smoking] Mice.”

Seriously…

The Meat Industry, of course, employs the same tactics, like putting fruit extracts in burgers, or improving the nutritional profile of frankfurters with powdered grape seeds..

Alzheimer’s disease..
 is now our sixth leading killer. We’ve known for nearly 20 years now that those who eat meat – including chicken and fish — appear three times more likely to become demented compared to long-term vegetarians. Exciting new research suggests one can treat Alzheimer’s using natural plant products such as the spice saffron, which beat out placebo and worked as well as a leading Alzheimer’s drug.

Diabetes..
 is next on the kick-the-bucket list. Plant-based diets help prevent, treat, and even reverse Type 2 diabetes. Since vegans are, on average, about 30 pounds skinnier than meat-eaters, this comes as no surprise; but researchers found that vegans appear to have just a fraction of the diabetes risk, even after controlling for their slimmer figures.

Mood disorders..
 This year an interventional trial was published in which all meat, poultry, fish, and eggs were removed from people’s diets and a significant improvement in mood scores was found after just two weeks. It can take drugs like Prozac a month or more to take effect. So you may be able to get happier faster by cutting out animal foods than by using drugs.

Based on a study of 15,000 American vegetarians, those that eat meat have about twice the odds of being on antacids, aspirin, blood pressure medications, insulin, laxatives, painkillers, sleeping pills, and tranquilizers.

Related articles

*   Aggressive Cancers Hate Plant-Based Diets (wakingtimes.com)

*   Healthy Eating | Vegetarianism (yvonnebergeron.wordpress.com)

*   Veganism makes its way into black men’s diets | theGrio (thegrio.com)

  This essay was previously published at Joern’s blog, which is located HERE 

Hero image used from http://community.blog.de/2013/01/20/bilder-sagen-mehr-worte-15447037/

For those of you who are not familiar with this fascinating project, and should you think to yourself: What the heck is a “Blue Brain,”  here’s a very short introduction: It is an attempt to create a virtual brain in a supercomputer by reverse-engineering the mammalian brain, no less, and therefore not simply an artificial neural network, but a biologically realistic model of neurons.

“Humans are the stuff of the cosmos examining itself”

Carl Sagan

Henry Markram, director of the Blue Brain project, is a professor and brilliant neuroscientist with dual South African – Israeli citizenship, now working at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland.

Later on in this article, you will find an interview with Markram, but first let me tell you about my personal Odyssey.

I am an atheist, – and “militant ” at that, – but like scores of fellow atheist, I am having certain scruples.

As far as considering the belief in supernatural beings to be bordering on the idiotic, I am fine. Also, I totally and emphatically reject the notion that atheism in any way equals immorality.

[ In fact, if you will excuse my French, it makes my hemorrhoids itch to learn from The Skeptic’s Dictionary, that according to Article IX, Sec. 2, of the Tennessee constitution, “No Atheist shall hold a civil office.” Ok, – I can’t imagine this article has any practical implications in this day and age.

Anyone out there to tell me otherwise. ]

I can go along also, with notions of a purposeless Universe, existing in and of itself, seemingly having come into existence out of “nothing”. I am not, however, an atheist as defined by English poet Francis Thompson, a man who believes himself an accident. Well, actually, “I,” as defined by individual self, may very well be an “accident”, and one lucky son of a gun, but here you should understand “himself” less as any one being, and more as awareness per se.

Over the years, and as a student of psychology, I developed an allergy towards New Age woo-woo, although, initially, I thought it was only a matter of time before evidence would emerge,  to the effect that consciousness constitutes the ground of being.

However, the more I probed this mystery, the more skeptical I became, and eventually   I rejected philosophical idealism. As for philosophical materialism / physicalism, according to which consciousness is merely an epiphenomenon, having accidentally come into existence, this position has always appeared to me as the dumbest of all. I mean, what is the point of there being a Universe, not knowing it is a Universe, – in fact, unaware of existing at all?

That’s just it, you tell me, there is no point, and you may well be right, despite this being counter-intuitive to the innermost feelings of most of us.

I am not a dualist either. I will not go into philosophical detail about why that is, – let’s just say I simply dislike the idea of a playground for God and Angels, the spiritual realm, and a less subtle, material world for lesser creatures. That may be an oversimplification of dualism, and there are other dualisms, e.g. Platonic, Taoist, – but that is another story.

So, – not (philosophical) idealism, not physicalism, not dualism. My working hypothesis, instead, is to view consciousness as being somehow hardwired into the fabric of nature and as being the inevitable “end-result” of existence, –  a part of the “genetic” setup of the “physical” world “out there”, from the “beginning.”

( Excessive use of citation marks meant to emphasize the necessity / unavoidability of speaking in space-time dependent vocabulary. )

This essential role of consciousness in the Universal setup may then be understood not necessarily as an indispensable player in the Universal scheme from the beginning, but more as a top-down causation potential, a “hardwired” potential, meaning: Because of the very potential of there being awareness, it was guaranteed and destined to “happen” / evolve.

Thus, the emergence of consciousness in the physical world may be viewed, not as “most surprising and incomprehensible, because we know no reason that nature would not have remained forever unconscious and motionless” – (Louis De Broglie, in “New Perspectives in Physics”), – but as inevitable and a Universal birthright.

To be sure, we have yet to explain “the easy problems of consciousness” (Chalmers), or, if you like, the “how” problems. The “hard problem” / “why”- problem turns out to be the easiest: There is self-awareness simply because the Universe is naturally inclined to become conscious.

Anyway, even after having consulted with the founding fathers of quantum physics, many of whom thought deeply about the ( fundamental.) role of consciousness in the physical world, – I came to the conclusion, that no credible evidence for this was anywhere to be found. At the end of the day, I was left with one single argument , – the absurdity of a Universe unaware of itself: Without awareness, no joy, no appreciation.

Granted, – no misery either.

Ok, – so this is of course in no way a scientifically valid argument, but I cannot help thinking: Would a Universe totally unaware of itself and devoid of any meaning not be such an incredible waste.

It was pleasing to my ears, and indeed my heart and soul, therefore, when I heard no other than Henry Markram suggesting in a video, that “The Universe may have evolved the brain to see itself, to become aware of itself”.

Now, it is perhaps a bit surprising to hear a modern-day top scientist speculate along such metaphysical lines, which left me thinking: Wouldn’t it be great if he himself would elaborate on this fascinating thought, which, to me, makes perfect sense. It certainly poses a lot of questions too, but if true, it would allow me to be just the kind of atheist I wish to be: A non-believer of Deities, but humble observant of the Universe’s apparent natural inclination towards self-awareness, towards progress, and, possibly,  perfection?

With encouragement from Hank Pellissier, I emailed Henry Markram, asking if he would briefly answer a few questions, and whilst busy chasing carrots to fund the Blue Brain project, he kindly responded as follows.

JP: How is the idea of the Universe evolving consciousness to become aware of itself compatible with a purposeless, accidental Universe, as seems to be the most common belief among scientists?

HM: Purposeless things can accidentally result in something interesting as well and when they do, they take on a purpose that did not exist before.

JP: How is the idea of the Universe evolving consciousness to become aware of itself compatible with the view of consciousness as simply needed in order to manage an increasing number of complex and competing neural sub-populations?

HM:  I doubt consciousness is needed for guiding anything lower level. It is a consequence. It does however create a bubble around each of us that acts as a straight jacket for assigning causality and meaning to interactions and ignoring most of the universe.

JP:  Besides being useful – e.g. better and less costly ways of treating brain diseases – is it outlandish to see your project as an extension / expansion of the-Universe-becoming-aware-of itself?

HM: No, it is not outlandish, it is the most evolved thing humans can possibly do.

JP: You are building a model of the brain within 10 years, and a complete virtual brain within how many years?

HM: I said 10 years some years ago, because I believe it is technically and scientifically possible. It however depends on getting enough funding. If we don’t, it will take much longer. We are moving fast, but no where as fast as we could be moving. It is all possible by around 2020 if we have enough funding.

JP: Can you give us an update on your current progress?

HM: We believe we understood many key principles of how the brain is designed and put together that now allow us to build larger and more detailed unifying models, faster and faster. We are just making it easier and easier to replicate the biological brain in software. I am wasting a lot of time chasing carrots to fund the project.

—

Now, my interpretation of what Henry Markram is saying is something like: Never mind if the Universe is / was pointless and just sort of “happened”, ‘cause that is no longer the case. Purposeless things – (random quantum fluctuations.) – have a potential for meaningfulness, and anyway, we, as sentient human beings, are taking charge! – and we will read purpose , meaningfulness and value into existence as we please.

Come to think of it, is that not the essence of being a transhumanist.

In an article in Seed Magazine,  Markram is quoted for saying, cryptically: “If we build this brain right, it will do everything” – which prompted me to ask him, in a second mail, if he would also answer my 30 million dollar question…

—

JP: I regret not having asked you more directly, whether Blue Brain will attain self-awareness. I believe you’ve said something like: “Given sufficient complexity, consciousness will somehow emerge”? You are also quoted for saying: “When I say everything, I mean everything” !?

HM: This is misunderstood. I mean everything that we can measure and describe can and should be integrated into unifying model.

What I said was that “if consciousness emerges from a model of the brain that captures all the detail that we can measure, then we will understand how the brain gives rise to consciousness. If not, then we will know that it takes more. Very pragmatic.

—

Again, a somewhat cryptic answer, but my interpretation is this: Yes, it is possible to put a ghost into a machine, – Blue Brain will attain self-awareness, – it is “only” a question of what it takes.

It all makes sense. If human self-awareness has emerged from electrochemical interactions in our heads, – in other words: if we are just a pack of neurons, it would seem logical that we can also put a ghost into a machine. Paradoxically, this apparent debunking of consciousness is also what makes it plausible that Blue Brain will become aware of itself,  precisely because there IS no such thing as an immaterial ghost there in the first place!

If, on the other hand, – as noted by Tom Lehrer, author of the Seed Magazine article, – we assume that some sort of ‘soul’ pervades the brain, – the Blue Brain project will fail.

In any case, a self-aware Universe seems assured.

* hero image http://spacecollective.org/Chelsea/2789/the-brain-and-magnetic-structures