Notes & Bibliography

(For full citations of works cited indicated in the Notes only by the author’s last name and year of publication, see the Bibliography.)

Notes

1.  Nancy Segal’s “Entwined Lives” (Segal, 1999).  Is not about cloning per se, but about identical (genomic) twins.  Precisely this, however, makes it a more useful reference vs. the more recent books about cloning, which address either questions about technology or near-term social issues.

BioQuagmire speculates about a time when the technology of cloning has been perfected and aging is no longer a problem, when an infrastructure exists to bring to life those who will find it more fascinating to have sprung from a particular former life, than a diverse family tree.  Genealogy is one of the most widespread and popular interest areas on today’s Internet.  Here, we explore a new dimension of that, in which a future person can relate to a ‘past life’ with far more clarity and appreciation than any who would like to think that they have been ‘reincarnated’.

2.  In “What Dreams May Come” (in both the 1978 book and the movie later based on it), Richard Matheson’s two main characters are portrayed as soul mates.  The book suggests that the pair have also shared earlier past lives, foreshadowing the outcome of expecting to share future ones by of reincarnation.  This raises the question of what a soul might be, and how two people might indeed be soul mates in the deepest sense.

a.  The book described immediately above, titled “Entwined Lives” (Segal, 1999), points out that identical twins have tremendous similarities in personalities, traits, tastes and so forth.  Twins separated at birth still manifest these similarities to an very high degree, even if there are great differences in culture, language, family composition, social level, and other such factors.  If we were to look for any one factor in a person which seems most definitely to establish their uniqueness and characters throughout life, in defiance of differences in life experience, the genome seems to be the most promising candidate.

b.  A rather bold answer then, setting aside mystical or religious notions, to the question, “What is one’s soul?” might be “One’s genome!”  And, we might ask, “Might this mean that two persons with the same genome would in any way be describable as soul mates?  Here, for reasons to be explored in the next subparagraph, the answer seems most definitely to be “No!”

c.  “Why not?” you might ask.  The answer is easy.  Consider two persons with personalities that are strongly dominant, as a consequence of genomic dispositions.  What do dominant people do, when closely coupled?  The usual answer is that they compete!  There may be jealousies and other conflicts.  In the end, they may fight.  Isn’t it possible they might find a level of synergistic cooperation?  Yes, of course.  Twins experience intense feelings of loss when one of them dies, but (on the other hand) do they ever have a feeling of “I can’t live without you!” for each other?  This feeling would seem to be requisite to any description of soul mates.  Identical twins seem unlikely to fit the bill.

d.  Now consider an alternate case, two people who seem to live wingtip to wingtip, in great harmony, so that they even seem to shut everyone else out.  One develops a new interest, and the other jumps right in.  Their lives are filled with an endless string of adventures.  As old age comes and one of them dies, the other is almost always close behind.  Can this be just random, accidental, or is it the result of a will to be together?  Probably nothing quite like that, but it is plausible to suggest that such a couple has a balance, a blend of personality types that rests upon a deep, genomic compatibility.  Their soul mate experience of life may in many ways be related to genomic harmony.  Their two uniqueness’s fit together almost perfectly.

e.  To conclude this rather lengthy note, a major premise of this story is that it is reasonable to describe two people as soul mates who have a unique genomic balance that predispose them to develop a highly synergistic life partnership, and it is reasonable to project development of a equivalently synergistic partnership between twins of a pair like this, after having been brought to life as described in the story, where they are aware of the ‘soul mate’ life of their earlier twins, as well as the personal philosophies of those persons, their life goals, etc.

3.  “Crucial Conversations” (K. Patterson, 2002) is a book principally directed toward the improvement of communications and higher harmony among coworkers, but in a more general way it relates to the broadest scope of human relationships, including those of an intimate and soul mate nature.  Highly recommended reading.

4.  Daniel Goleman (Goleman, 2006), Howard Bloom (Bloom, 2000) and others (Pinker, 2002), (Gladwell, 2005)… (additional citations would be endless) represent (to this author) an explosion of thinking concerning the pathway by which humankind has arrived at its present state, and the road onward if it is to escape the obstacles that lie between it and what it might become (if it survives).  By attributing, to Glenda, an awareness of all this work and what might follow in its footsteps over the next two centuries, we project an awesome foundation of understanding based on which she might be an ideal surrogate parent for bringing the twins of a matched couple to life.

5.  In his book Emotions Revealed written for a lay audience (Ekman, 2003), Paul Eckman brings many decades of research in expressions of the human face into a practical focus for those who want to be able to discern with remarkable speed and subtlety what kinds of feelings that person is experiencing.  These are in no way a means of mind reading, since a range of feelings is involved and they could apply to so many kinds of ideas that they are only a rough gauge to help guide one’s actions, but, they serve as red flags as to pitfalls, opportunities, and so forth.

6.  Pandemics are a possible, even likely hazard to future as well as past epochs of humankind.  Books on those of the past, for example by Janice Bailie et al (Bailie & Pettit, 2008), Gina Kolata (Kolata, 1991) and John Barry (Barry, 2004) about the 1918 flu, warn us of what one might be like.  A recent movie, Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America (2006), dramatizes a worst case for Asian Bird Flu in our present world, and serves as the basis for fictional portrayals of future disasters in this story.

7.  A striking series of recent books, including “Freethinkers” (Jacoby, 2004), “The God Delusion” (Dawkins, 2006), “Breaking the Spell” (Dennett, 2006), “The End of Faith” (Harris, 2004), and “The Lucifer Principle” (Bloom, 1995), indicates a shift of perspectives concerning endlessness from those of a primarily mystical kind to more realism-based ideas.  Far from signifying a loss of drive toward endlessness (of individual identities), these books open the doorway to new thoughts on the subject, such as are explored in this story.

8.  The ideas of globalization, as discussed in such books as “The World Is Flat” (Freidman, 2005), “Three Billion New Capitalists” (Prestowitz, 2005), and “China, Inc.” (Fishman, 2005), outline the changes which are already reshaping the world’s economies, raising questions about the validity of the American Dream with its vision of a wealthy lifestyle for all.  Yet, regardless of impacts of global warming, peak oil, and unrestrained population growth, such dreams die hard.  The portrayals of general population attitudes toward anti-aging research and cryonics are rooted in perceptions of a world as described in this story, a world which is all too likely to be well on its way to becoming a reality.

9.  Sustainability is a blanket term covering a multitude of pitfalls.  In his book “Collapse” (Diamond, 2005), Jared Diamond sets the stage for a penetrating vision of what may lie ahead, based on the history of many previous failed civilizations and present-day trends.  “An Inconvenient Truth” (Gore, 2006) brings the focus to global warming, and “Peak Everything” (Heinberg, 2007) looks beyond “peak oil” to other similar limitations in world development.  Together, these and other parallel publications point to severe stresses in the next few decades, if not centuries.  In that context, the future as projected in the present story may be reasonably on target.

10.  The location given in the story corresponds to that of an enormous resurgence discussed in a 1963 publication of the National Speleological Society (Helwig, 1963).  Briefly quoting from the article:

The average daily flow of Big Spring is about 240,000,000 gallons, making it the largest single-outlet spring in the United States.  (Some calculations follow as to rate of bedrock removal, then with the following conclusions) We can then arrive at a figure of 175 tons/day, in agreement with Bretz (1956).  One hundred and seventy-five tons/day, 640,000 tons/year, or enough bedrock being dissolved each year to form a cave passage 30 feet high by 50 feet wide by one mile long.

The coordinates given on the box’s hinge pins correspond closely to the top of a hill close to the resurgence, as described in the story.  The general location of the story was chosen to place it in a region of the Ozarks similar in character to that described, and to add plausibility to the idea of extensive underground excavations.

11.  “Travelling” by Thomas Donaldson is a unique writing that explores many important principles at the heart of identity.  The story is included here as Appendix B and is also published as part of a collection titled “LifeQuest”, available via Amazon.Com.

12.  The description of B’s interview process is patterned after a form of assistance called peer-based conflict coaching, where the coach promises absolute confidentiality and abstains from expressing opinions or giving advice.  The outcome is (1) the coachee arrives at approaches to resolution that are far more likely to be optimum, and (2) there is higher level of commitment to pursue the course of action chosen.  Interesting to note, many of the principles involved here are elegantly set forth in a book cited earlier, “Crucial Conversations”, (Footnote 3, see above; K. Patterson, 2002)

13.  Extremely high resolution x-ray tomography by Xradia (as described at their webpage at):

http://www.xradia.com/solutions/multi-length-scale-imaging.php

This is an indication of what to expect as this technology continues to unfold.  A recent excerpt (2011) from that URL is particularly illuminating:

Xradia's multi-length scale solution supports imaging from 40 mm FOV at ~30 micron resolution all the way down to 15 micron FOV at <50 nm resolution. This supports complete 3D mapping of the internal characteristics of samples in a variety of research and engineering applications such as Hierarchical Framework Multiscale imaging in life science research, computational analysis in materials science studies, oil and gas drilling feasibility analysis and semiconductor package failure analysis.

  14.  Jeff Hawkins, in his book “On Intelligence” (Hawkins & Blakeslee, 2004), offers a profoundly new way of looking at neural function in the brain, where the brain develops association path networks looking outward into the lower level perceptual  networks of the brain, recognizing objects by a process of matching what the brain already knows and what it sees.  This suggests a possible difficulty in brain repair; that a recognition hypersensitivity could be created by over-activating these pathways.  Modeling a brain electronically to initially synchronize this recognition process might turn out to be an essential step in restoring memories within a biobrain, on the assumption that this is feasible at all.

15.  Paolo Soleri, in the late 1960’s, set the world of architecture on fire with the idea that entire cities could be consolidated into single, massive structures, thereby bringing about great efficiencies in energy conservation and a closeness of community that were almost an opposite of what was becoming urban sprawl.  His book, “City in the Image of Man”, is still a landmark work, of great importance.  The prototype city of the future he started, midway between Phoenix and Flagstaff in Arizona continues to develop, a hub of this kind of thinking in the world or architecture.

Visit http://www.arcosanti.org for more.

16.  “Nothing’s Impossible” served as the basis for descriptions of IM’s in BioQuagmire, and many of the terms in BioQuagmire were borrowed from it.  The story is included here as Appendix C and is also published as part of a collection titled “LifeQuest”, available via Amazon.com.

17. “The Box” was written in the 1980’s, but has not previously been published.  It is included here as Appendix D, and is also available as a series of PowerPoint slides at:

http://www.lifepact.com/thebox.pdf

(file ~ 32 mb)

18.  “Going” by Robert Silverberg is a novelette brilliantly foreshadowing emergence of cyberconsciousness.  An informal copy, with synopsis and comments, is online at:

http://www.lifepact.com/going.htm.

On Amazon.Com one can find used copies of “Going” within collections like “Born with the Dead”, for as little as one cent (plus shipping).  It takes shopping, but for those who find this piece of fiction as fascinating as the author, the effort might be worthwhile.

 19.  Jeff Hawkins’ “On Intelligence” (Hawkins & Blakeslee, 2004) was previously cited, but in this example (page 193 of the First Edition), under “What is Consciousness” , there is a telling example of lack of cognitive capacity on the part of  scientists claiming to have knowledge of consciousness, who at the same time exhibit mystical, vitalistic perceptions of it.  As personal cyberconsciousness develops, Hawkins may be warning us that a “psychofundamentalism” movement could develop where the “Would it really be me?” question takes and holds center stage.  Go to  http://redwood.berkeley.edu/ for updates on Hawkins’ present work, an outgrowth of his earlier Redwood Neuroscience Institute efforts.

Bibliography – Sources

Bailie, J., & Pettit, D. A. (2008). A Cruel Wind: Pandemic Flu in America 1918-1920. Murfreesboro, TN: Timberlane Books.

Barry, J. M. (2004). The Great Influenza; The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History. New York: Penguin.

Bloom, H. (2000). Global Brain. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Bloom, H. (1995). The Lucifer Principle. New York: W. W. Norton.

Dawkins, R. (2006). The God Delusion. New York: Houghton Mifflin (Bantam in the UK).

Dennett, D. C. (2006). Breaking the Spell. New York: Penguin.

Diamond, J. (2005). Collapse. New York: Penguin.

Ekman, P. (2003). Emotions Revealed. New York: Henry Holt.

Fishman, T. C. (2005). China Inc. New York: Scribner.

Freidman, T. L. (2005). The World Is Flat. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Gladwell, M. (2005). Blink. New York: Time Warner.

Goleman, D. (2006). Social Intelligence. New York: Bantam.

Gore, A. (2006). An Inconvenient Truth. New York: Rodale.

Harris, S. (2004). The End Of Faith. New York: W. W. Norton.

Hawkins, J., & Blakeslee, S. (2004). On Intelligence. New York: Henry Holt.

Heinberg, R. (2007). Peak Everything. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers.

Helwig, J. (1963). Some Armchair Thought on Big Spring (p100-104, 1963 Speleodigest). Pittsburgh, PA: Pittsburgh Grotto, National Speleological Society.

Jacoby, S. (2004). Freethinkers. New York: Henry Holt.

Kolata, G. (1991). Flu: The Story Of The Great Influenza Pandemic. New York: Touchstone (Simon & Schuster).

Matheson, R. (1978). What Dreams May Come. New York: Tom Doherty Associates.

Patterson, K. e. (2002). Crucial Conversations. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Pinker, S. (2002). The Blank Slate. New York: Penguin.

Prestowitz, C. (2005). Three Billion New Capitalists. New York: Basic Books (Perseus Group).

Ratliff, E. (March 2007 Edition of Wired Magazine). The Thinking Machine, Page 104.

                Soleri, Paolo (1979) The City in the Image of Man.  (Visit  arcosanti.org for availability and more details.)

Segal, N. L. (1999). Entwined Lives. New York: Penguin Group.