Before the 2008 financial shock and stock market crash, our speaker, Martin Squibbs (Humanist Community member and leader) had little knowledge or understanding of our monetary, financial and investment systems. Since then, he has tried to learn about these areas as best he can. During this process, he discovered that consumer debt growth (considering households and government as consumers) can contribute directly, with some delay, to corporate profits and so to stock market value. After analyzing the USA ‘s macro economic history from 1950 to the present day, he concluded this has very likely been the case in the USA to a significant degree since 1980. Thus, he suspects, as we reduce our unsustainable levels of consumer debt growth, it is likely that corporate profits, earnings, and stock market value will be substantially reduced.
Reality and our Memories of it A theory of Memory and Mind, and its Implications
Martin Squibbs
October 20, 2013
Martin Squibbs
I have introduced my theory regarding the form and nature of our minds and ourselves in previous talks. In this talk I want to focus on it and clarify it.
At its core, I propose that our brains not only hold our memories of our past, our knowledge, and our future; they actually form these memories in the first place. In fact, I propose the brain is the only place in reality where such memories are formed, exist and can be found. And we, ourselves, exist and live within our brain surrounded by this “world” of memories. I wish to consider the processes by which we form these and other different types of memory, along with distinguishing between our emotional and objective worlds. I wish to recognize the language and measurement systems we have abstracted from our memories in order to compare, consider, store, share and better understand them, and what methods we employ for storing and sharing them. Finally, I wish to consider some of the scientific and ethical implications of my theory, if it’s true. That is, beyond Philosophical curiosity, what difference does this theory make; to ourselves, to our human worlds, to life, and to reality as a whole? How does it help us to live more ethically, more truthfully, more joyfully, and with greater integrity?
Dealing with Life
We remember them, wonderful, true,
Who gave us life, would see us through
We remember their love, kind and warm,
That’s cherished our worlds since we were born
And others too, of civilized means
Who created each country from fields of dreams
Who took the bitter anger of hate
And transformed it into a civilized state
And yet still more, with science in mind
Their dream, mysterious reality to find
They fill up time, with a Universe to know
Their job, true knowledge, to gently grow
Then those with a vision to improve our lives
With creative tools, and so they strive
To shape our science into technology new
And so, with computer, I write to you
And so many others, that live for our sake,
With the grain they grow, and the bread they bake
From constructing our houses, to packaging our tea
They’re shaping the dreams of the few into reality
And let’s not forget, the warrior soul
In honor and bravery, lies their role
From visions cruel, disturbed in offense
For their children above, they fight in defense
Yes, let us remember this human mind
Filled with this history of human kind,
And its dreams and its futures yet to come
Of so much work yet to be done
But my point, my friends, goes beyond these tales.
To nature, real, within which they are held.
So let us not forget where these minds persist
Within this body of life, is where they exist
Within this brain, with its billions of cells
Within this body, which poops and smells
Breathing in life, beating with heart
Walking on Earth, from the start
Relying on tree, and river, and vale
To know of now, and tell its tale
So for all the heroes remembered above
And joy and sadness, and fear and love
For all the stories we each proudly hold
Of dreams anew and pasts untold
They all depend on this living creation
Family, friends, company and nation
We must protect living nature real
To keep alive these worlds in which we deal
Our Phenomenal Human Mind, Core Values, Common Sense, Agreed Truths, Shared Visions, and Getting Real
Martin Squibbs
April 14, 2013
Martin Squibbs
The relatively new fields of cognitive science, neuroscience, memory investigation and more, are finally uncovering the nature and form of the human mind. The home of self, source of emotion, recorder of past, discoverer of knowledge, imaginer of future, master of Philosophy, conjurer of the super natural, and builder of civilization – the container, no less, of our entire personal world. As science uncovers this phenomenon of human consciousness, what practical benefits might these insights offer to humanity? Will they help us to better achieve social justice, to develop more effective economic systems, and to return, if possible, to a healthy and thriving material balance with the natural environmental? What are we coming to realize as human beings, and might it lead us to become a more civilized, joyful and healthier species on Planet Earth?
Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, Psychology, and the study of Memory and Consciousness are all focusing on understanding the nature, behaviour and living reality of our home; the human mind, living within our human brain. Weighing 3lb, being 6.5″x5.5″x3.5″ in size, having 2% of our body’s weight, consuming 20% of our body’s energy, containing around 100 billion neurons and establishing around 100 trillion connections, the human brain is, or should I say most likely you are, perceiving and reading and interpreting these words within its neural networks right now.
What does this relatively new form of life, this highly self aware and complex human brain, bring to Earth, to our Solar system, and to this Universe as a whole, so far as we know? And how do we find joy within it and do well by it? I intend to share new scientific insights into the structure and processes of our memories in mind, and then offer some of my own thoughts and theories regarding the very nature and form that our human minds take within reality as a whole, and in doing so, seek to propose some answers to these questions.
Humanist Community member Martin Squibbs recaps (from his Nov. 13, 2011 Forum talk) his discussion of money as a measure of exchanged human value and an estimate of real wealth. He will then seek to explain as simply as possible how the U.S. economy operates, based upon its fiat banking system, and review some of its 20th century history, in order to put its highly unbalanced state today in an historical perspective. Finally, he will consider the possible future paths it may follow to regain its balance, and some precautions we may ourselves consider in order to be prepared for such possibilities.
