New post to Room 3

 

41. Future humans are our babies

Posted by T. T. and P. R. in December 2020.

Professor Maciej Nalecz (1922-2009) [1] was a Polish scholar who had been mainly involved in the field of biomedical engineering, and was also a member of a nuclear-free-world movement named The Pugwash Conference, to which the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in 1995 when he served as the chairman. This means that his whole life was dedicated on the one hand to saving the life of each individual and, on the other hand, to saving the whole of humankind.

 In 1975, Maciej Nalecz  established the Institute of Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering in Warsaw, and he had been involved in its administration until almost the end of his life. Since 1988, the construction of new institute buildings housing research labs and additional facilities had continued progressively. Every time I visited there, he would show me the latest new  development and he would proudly say, “This is  my baby!”. He fostered these offspring and loved them as if they were his own children.

 As part of the first phase of the construction of the institute buildings, an auditorium and a hotel with 20 rooms were built for hosting international seminars. Actually, more than 100 international seminars had been held there, inviting more than 5,000 participants from more than 40 countries during the first 20 years. Now his babies have grown up and are taking unique rolls in international cooperation within the field of biomedical engineering. After his death in 2009, his name was given to the institute, as the  Nalecz Institute of Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering.

 Future humans will be born and will grow up  in future societies, fostered by their parents and cared for by surrounding future people. More than that, new babies born in the future will inherit a rich cultural legacy, succeeded from past generations. Our generation can create a part of this legacy to be gained by new babies in the distant future. If we can create everlasting nuclear-free-world-peace, it can undoubtedly be a great gift to the new born babies in the distant future. Practical technologies which could help to create a safe, stable, society in which to live can also be great gifts.

 If we can feel that future humans are our babies, we would love them quite naturally, and we would want to gift them without expecting any return. Future babies might then grow and inspire goodness, packed in the inherited legacy, including our gifts, so that a wholesome and rich life can  be enjoyed. More than that, they could be motivated to dedicate their own life to ensure that further distant future humans do not suffer from the temptations of self-centredness. Such a speculation will not necessarily be an over-optimistic view, because, Professor Nalecz demonstrated that his beloved ‘baby’ had actually grown up and carried out positive, thoughtful rolls, as he had dreamed. 

 

 Note

[1] Maciej Nalecz, Polish name: Maciej Nałęcz, Polish pronouciation: [ˈmat͡ɕɛj ˈnawɛnt͡ʂ].

Beauty with peace in a day: Hamingbird with rainbow

Dear Prof. Togawa,

I have read again your "Love Future Neighbors" with lot of thoughts. Yes, Reach Across Time to Save Our Planet is critical.

Just thought to share this special picture, not just because it is beautiful with garden. It is touching my heart to share about the story behind this rainbow 🌈 with hamingbird. In the photo, we can sense the peace and see the flowers, more attractive is the pretty rainbow with a hamingbird flying on the top right position and seems kissing the rainbow.

The background story is as: one day in the Summer with quite warm weather about 26 degree, a little hamingbird entered our sunroom with a skywindow. The bird has been flying everywhere trying to get out of the hot sunroom. But unfortunately the bird only knows to fly to the high and bright skywindow with glass, where there is no way to exit. It must be over hours when we saw the bird as it is starting being exhausted. We grapped a ladder and used a plastic container to hold bird and then took it out from sunroom to lay the bird on the outdoor ground. The hamingbird didn't move as it lost life. After few minutes, the hamingbird seems recovered from exhausting and suddenly fly to leave.

Then in the following beautiful day without raining, we captured that picture: the hamingbird flying with rainbow. Is the same hamingbird flying back and it also bring rainbow to show us?

From here I am more thinking about human being living together with other creatures and our environment. A peaceful world with all kinds of creatures should share our world for our today and our future with our future neighbors including all creatures and environment.

 

40. The Conversion of St. Paul 

Posted by T.T. and P.R. in October 2020

Paul the Apostle, or simply St. Paul, initially followed the traditional Hebrew faith but became an apostle of Jesus Christ through conversion. Before this conversion, he persecuted some of the early disciples of Jesus. He was on the way from Jerusalem to Damascus to carry out further persecutions, when Jesus appeared to him in a bright light. Paul was converted by this event and he became one of the most important figures of the Apostolic age. Thereafter he enthusiastically taught the Christian faith and wrote many epistles which have formed the largest part of the New Testament.

When Abraham Lincoln was elected as President of the United States of America, he had an enemy; Edwin Stanton. He hated Lincoln and ran the bitterest of campaigns throughout the election process. But, in selecting members of cabinet, surprisingly, Lincoln chose Stanton to be the Secretary of War. Lincoln’s action had the effect of ‘converting’ Stanton, who subsequently  dedicated his full support to Lincoln’s politics, and he led the Unionists to victory in the Civil War.

President Donald Trump has been opposing worldwide environmental movements. He has been consistently arguing for a sceptical view of global warming. Then, he announced the withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris agreement on climatic change mitigation, for which more than 190 nations and governments had already signed. However, it will still be possible to ‘convert’ him if many people worldwide genuinely appeal to his better side, and if people will truly pray and hope for his conversion to dedicate himself to save our Planet.  If this is achieved, he will be regarded as a real hero, his name will remain and have prominence in history, and future people will love him with a fullness of admiration.

The conversion of St. Paul will not need to be interpreted as a transcendental event, but it might be regarded as a fundamental aspect of human nature. Although conversion will be difficult when the subject adheres tightly to go in one fixed direction, after conversion, they will go into the other direction more firmly and passionately.

 

39. John Calvin and Sherlock Holmes

Posted by T.T. and P.R. in September 2020

 John Calvin is the religious reformer who lived in the 16 century. Although the Copernican theory of the heliocentric universe appeared in Calvin’s lifetime, he never abandoned the belief of the Biblical geocentric universe. He preached that only God can govern the motion of all the stars that revolve around us in a day, moving with  tremendous velocity and maintaining a beautiful harmony with no collisions [1].

In the story of A Study in Scarlet, Dr. Watson happened to meet Sherlock Holmes, and they decided to share rooms in a London dwelling. Watson found that Holmes’ enthusiasm for certain studies was remarkable, and yet he was ignorant of others, such as the Copernican Theory. He argued that, “If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to my work.“

Although the above observations seem to be somewhat unusual, they still suggest a fact that a person can spend a rich life without having even a very basic scientific knowledge. In the present world, the complete volume of basic knowledge is tremendous, and everything has to be included in the obligatory education curriculum so that each person has to bear a heavy load, sacrificing even the best period of life.

As a result of the continued cultural progress and expansion, the amount of basic knowledge will inevitably increase in the future. If the present style of education is continued, the total amount of basic knowledge will become unbearably voluminous. Thus, future people will have to reduce the amount of obligatory knowledge, so that even a very basic knowledge, such as the composition of the solar system, will have to be removed from elementary textbooks. At the same time, everyone will be recommended to reserve a vast vacant space in the brain where truly  vital knowledge can be stored instead of useless basic knowledge.

Then, future people will be released from old-style education which structures every brain into a uniform shape. In the remote future, everyone has the right of lacking common sense, believing that superstition is not criticized and relying on science is not obligatory. Imagination and reality can be dwelling together in each person. The life style of Calvin or Holmes is not regarded as unusual.

[1]. Randall C. Zachman, Reconsidering John Calvin, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK, 2012.

 

New post to Room 2

38. Good Samaritan

Posted by T.T. and P.T. in July 2020

The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-35) is probably the most widely known parable from Jesus. There was a traveller on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho. He was attacked by robbers, lost everything, and was left half dead. A priest and a Levite came along, but they merely looked at him and then just walked away. A Samaritan came upon the traveller and took care of his wounds. Then, he put the man on his donkey, took him to an inn, and asked the innkeeper to take care of the wounded traveller, agreeing to pay everything himself.

In the world of the mind, the parable can be extended in a time scale from the present to a remote future. Suppose a person in the remote future were to be attacked by people from the present time, with many valuable items, such as the beautiful nature with its rich resources, were to be stolen, and he was left half dead. Then some bystanders were to pass by, but no one took care of the injured person. Although the injured future traveller earnestly longs for someone to come along to help him, a rescuer just like the Good Samaritan, the end is still uncertain.

Our planet Earth is now in danger from the attack by robbers. Most of the valuable property that should belong to remote future people is being stolen by present people. To save planet Earth, a rescuer must appear as soon as possible. They should do everything necessary solely for the future people without expecting any return, just like the Good Samaritan. Only by the love for future neighbours can such a purely altruistic deed become a reality. 

Although a Good Samaritan who loves future people seldom appears in a sermon in a Christian church, the Good Samaritan story can be interpreted as a reality of saving future people regardless of their beliefs or whether they are theist or atheists, so that anyone who wants to care for future sufferers will accept the Good Samaritan story. By such a simple mental exercise, the Good Samaritan story as a parable in a specific religion will turn into a common cultural legacy, accepted by anyone who earnestly hopes for contentment in future generations.

37. William Hamilton’s worries about the future of the human genome

Posted by T.T. and P.T. in May 2020

William D. Hamilton (1936-2000) was a significant evolutionary biologist who received the Kyoto Prize in 1993.  He gave much thought to the future of the human genome and, in particular, he was seriously worried about the progressive degradation of humankind in the distant future due to the accumulation of deleterious mutations. Curiously, many evolutionary biologists at that time did not think this was a serious possibility and, therefore he was sometimes regarded as a pessimist.

A genome which characterizes a species is not perfectly stable but instead it varies through a series of mutations as it passes from one generation to the next. Most mutations cause adverse effects on the survival of the specie, but they are mostly removed by natural selection in the wild environment. However, modern medicine tends to keep alive those humans having deleterious mutations, so that the process of natural selection is weekend or even eliminated. Thus, by the accumulation of deleterious mutations, degradation of humankind can indeed occur after many generations, as Hamilton had warned.

Recently, another biologist, Gert Korthof, investigated Hamilton’s arguments on the degradation of the human genome in the future, and he wrote an extensive review, now available  in a website entitled William Hamilton’s worries about the future of the human genome (first published 2011, updated 2017). He discussed the particular problem posed by Hamilton, and he searched for possible solutions based on the use of modern technologies considering many detail. finally, he concluded that we cannot correct the accumulation of deleterious mutations by technological fixes.

Korthof’s conclusion states that the continual advances in medical care aimed at maintaining the welfare of present humans inevitably undermines the welfare of  future humans due to the accumulation of deleterious mutations. If we genuinely hope to gift a healthy genome to future humans, we will have to make sacrifices in our lives to the same extent as occurs by natural selection. In order to achieve that, present humans should be purely altruistic, ‘as a lover who sacrifices their own life to save their beloved’.

It is not only in the accumulation of deleterious mutations that the fate of future humans may be adversely influenced by the activities of present humans. Indeed, although it is mostly not acknowledged by present people, their culturally achieved welfare is often gained at the cost of future people.

Our humankind is now massively challenged by the dilemma of needing to choose either to benefit all individuals or whole generations in the future.

36. I Am A Wolf Myself, After All
Posted by T.T. and P.R. in May 2020

A comic writer and illustrator, Maki Sasaki, wrote a children’s book entitled I Am A Wolf Myself, After All. The Japanese wolf is actually an extinct species. But, in the story, a young male wolf has survived and remains. He strolled around several communities where there were various animals, looking for children that were like him, but could not find any. Finally, he decided to live alone, feeling insecure, somewhat ironically. The image below is the cover of the book.

The cover of Maki Sasaki I Am A Wolf Myself, After All, Fukuinkan Shoten, 1973.

If an individual human from the remote future were to visit us here, in the present, she or he will be regarded by us as an alien, and they will inevitably be isolated from our present human society. This future human will observe our society, and no doubt will soon discover the fact that present humans only enjoy their lives with others who are also living at the present time. After searching endlessly for some friends to live together with, the future human will have found no possibilities to live among the present human society in the present world.

If humans do survive until the remote future, they  will be our descendants who are genetically and culturally closely related to us. They will live on the same planet earth as we do. They will breathe the same air as us and consume the same natural resources. They will keep many cultural resources in common with us. However, we always neglect them and we are always indifferent to their very existence. We seldom try to send any message to them. We don’t prepare any single gift for them. We don’t try to share our possessions with them. 

However, if we repent for our present-centred lifestyle and seriously worry about the future human, we can have hope for the future. Now, we must avoid extinction of the humankind. Our gift to the future human is to give them the opportunity of birth and we can give such a big gift as this to the people in the remote future. We can imagine their joyful smiles. Comedy writers will no doubt create magnificent stories including those from the remote past to the remote future, with clever illustrations which will amuse people in all generations.

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35. The Iriomote Cat 

Posted by T. T. and P. R. in Aplril 2020

The Iriomote cat is a critically endangered species,  living exclusively on the Japanese island of Iriomote. The island has an area of only some 300 km², with most parts covered in thick greenery, like a jungle in the tropical zone. Also living there are very many other animals, constituting a unique ecosystem in which the Iriomote cat occupies the top of the food chain. Although many zoologists have investigated the wild life of the Iriomote cat, the details are not yet fully known.

A biologist and medical scientist, Prof. Naoki Suzuki, attempted to observe the natural wild life of Iriomote cats by using robot cameras which can sense an object and take pictures automatically. Prior to introducing this technique, he learned as much as he could about the living habits of the Iriomote cat in detail from residents, and he also investigated by himself, spending many years on the island. He found that one habit of the cat is that they look into all of the  hollows of tree trunks in order to find food or to utilise it as a nest. To try to capture this, he placed a robot camera inside a hollow, and succeeded in getting nice pictures of a cat looking into a hollow, as seen here.

Photograph: Naoki Suzuki ⓒ. Reprinted with permission by  Professor Naoki Suzuki.

 

In 2017 Naoki Suzuki published a book entitled Island of Miracles – Animals of Iriomote island from Seibundo-Shinkosha. It contains very many photographs of Iriomote cats and other animals. In the last chapter, entitled The future of the Island of Miracles, he wrote that “The future of this island lies not in the hands of the animals ...  but in the hands of our human beings.”

Our Planet Earth is almost an island of miracles. Until fairly recently, it contained rich ecosystems which had evolved uniquely on this Planet. Now, humans  have become widespread throughout the planet and therefore are having a more dominant influence on every aspect of nature, both positive and negative. Thus the future of this island does indeed lay in the hands of humans. However, the human race is now almost becoming a critically endangered species. It seems that humans are not clever enough to secure their own existence for millions of years ahead. We have to remove our prejudice of being at the top of an ecosystem and we should recognize our lack of wisdom to preserve our own nature.

We might now ask, how will future people look back into our life habits? They will look at us suspiciously, almost in the same way as the Iriomote cat in the above picture. They will undoubtedly know of their own historical background, in that their very existence, together with the existence of their environment, had lain in the hands of past people, especially in the hands of people living in 21st century.