We are sentient beings and the miracle of our consciousness relies upon unique patterns of “dead” matter.  The belief held by billions of humans that the spirit energizes this dead matter does not diminish how amazing the formation of our physical vessel (body) really is.

Science has taken the first small steps towards an understanding of our DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), the biological computer, if you will, that controls how we are made.  The critical discovery was that DNA is basically layers of patterns built up from 3 atomic scale particles: electrons, protons, and neutrons.  These particles combine in various patterns to create 3 specific elements: carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen.  These 3 elements combine in various patterns to create 4 molecules (nucleotides): adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine.  Our DNA has 6.4 billion of these nucleotides attached to a carbon/oxygen framework and organized into 20,000 to 25,000 discrete patterns called genes.  These genes, which comprise about 1.5% of the 6.4 billion nucleotides, are the code for the production of about 2 million proteins.  These proteins guide cell differentiation into all tissue types, and the processes that, with the input of food, grows, maintains, and controls our body.  The remaining 6.3 billion nucleotides are thought to be associated with various biochemical activity, gene expression, chromosome architecture, and epigenetic inheritance.

So, what does all this have to do with the vertebra in the picture above?  Well, everything.  Humans are now smart enough to write a program (code) that can guide a machine to replicate this shape.  However, the program and machine are not guiding the synthesis of the calcium bone matrix from digested food, or integrating nerves, tendons, and ligaments.  In addition, the program and machine are not providing a vertebra that grows in proportion the developing body.  And as complex as all this is, bones are simple structures compared to soft tissue structures like organs.

Here is another thought.  Our 25,000 genes are made out of 50 million nucleotide pairs.  If a nucleotide pair is considered equivalent to 1 line of computer code, all of our genes together would contain about half the amount of code that control the computers in a modern, premium car.  Although we apply all of our smarts to these programs, cars are primitive compared to our body, and definitely not sentient.

At a philosophical level, this begs the question:  How could a randomized, unguided, trial and error assembly of 3 elements become such a beautifully elegant and efficient atomic level, life creating machine?

Despite all the knowledge we have accumulated, we are still profoundly ignorant about such things, about everything in fact.  This is not a bad thing and nothing to be ashamed of.  It merely tells us that there is infinitely more to learn.  At this point in our technological evolution, we are like a child who touched a hot stove and learned a profound lesson.

At the very core of our being is a pattern of 4 nucleotides that drive us to question, to explore, and to understand.  All we need is to do is to look within us without intellectual prejudice and predetermination, and then have the courage to embrace what we learn.

C2013 Michael Krozer

Technology prognosticators think that they can see the future.  They like to tell us with gravitas that as computer interfaces get smarter and artificial intelligence gets better, humankind will become very comfortable verbally interacting with their machines.  Responding with impatience and escalating hatred to the type of computerized voice prompts we now find on telephone response trees will be a thing of the past.  Oh joy, if I only live to see the day.

What the tech gurus miss is that we joyfully interact with all manner of inanimate things, all the time.  Some of these things don’t contain a single transistor, computer chip, or bit of code.  Their being so completely stupid is the very thing that makes them so beautiful and endearing to us, or at least to me.

Take my pressure cooker for example.  It is an elegant, shiny piece of formed stainless steel and plastic that does one thing perfectly, and I love it for that.  Sure, like all of our relationships, the Cooker, I’ll call her, requires attention and maintenance.  Her valves need to be cleaned, her seals need to be checked and lubricated, and care must be taken not to lose the little giggler weight because if you do, all is lost.

Several times a week, I take Cooker out of the bottom cabinet, say, “Hi there beautiful”, rinse her off, rub her down, and load her up with a bit of water, potatoes, beets, squash, or whatever, that I need cooked in a hurry.  I slide her onto the stove, lock down her top, and turn the gas burner on high.  In no time she starts to hiss and spit, her way of showing delight in doing what she was created to do.  But sometimes Cooker gets cranky and refuses to snap into pressure mode.  To get her back into the mood, I cajole her, ask her what’s wrong, shake her a little, tweak her relief valve a bit, and turn up the heat.  This combination brings her around every time.  When she’s happy, I’m happy.

So there you have it you tech gurus.  We don’t need to wait for no stinkin’ smart computers.  We are pleasantly interacting with all kinds of things that have absolutely no brains and end our encounters feeling oddly, fulfilled.

C 2013 Michael Krozer

Here are some lessons from my furry friend worth emulating.  She has the uncanny gift of knowing what to do and when to do it in order to get the humans in her life to give her what she needs.  No small feat for a half-wild outdoor cat.  She learned well from her father who was the supreme master of the following strategies.

FIRST, look confident.  Look like you deserve what you are going to ask for.  If you appear unsure, the “giver” will doubt your worthiness and deny you.

TWO, always be punctual.  Make sure that you are around if and when the goodies are being offered.  How many times has we missed an opportunity because our face was not there to be seen?

THIRD, develop a good “poor me” expression that you can use strategically to get something extra.  If done right, this tactic will not show weakness.  Your goal is to set up a “sympathy” response in the giver.

FORTH, be clever.  Remember what works and what doesn’t, and what tactic you used and when.

FIFTH, always have more than one benefactor.  Just don’t make this obvious , especially to your carefully cultivated, primary benefactor.   For example, it is okay to have a second job, just keep this private.

C 2013 Michael Krozer

Maybe you have had a bad day.  Maybe you faced emotionally charged issues or made a mistake that was embarrassing to you.  Maybe you didn’t behave properly in a social situation, or you have a deadline looming.  Three hours after you close your eyes to sleep, you are wide awake staring off into the darkness, your mind racing, anxiety building.  Why?

In my opinion, it is because you believe there is nothing you can do about it at that moment.  Since there is no action that you can take, the feeling of helplessness and delay amplifies your anxiety.  So what to do?  Do something useful that is fitting for the situation you are in.  Always have a note pad and pen handy by your bed that you can find and write on.  If something is troubling you, make a list of things you need to do tomorrow that will help solve your problem.  Relax and sketch out some ideas that may come to you that never occurred to you during the day.  Make notes about the thing that is troubling you summarized in just few words.  Don’t be judgmental at this moment; just let your thoughts flow.

It is precisely because your mind is not distracted at night that it looks inside itself and starts spewing out all sorts of things.  This can become a very creative time if you can train yourself to channel your mind’s nighttime energy.  With practice, this can be done, and you may actually start to look forward to the private, uninterrupted time with your inner being that daytime distractions are now preventing.

c 2012 Michael Krozer