MR.RAJESH just keeps imparting one surprising, fascinating insight after the next. SELECTIVE AMNESIA—I Contain Multitudes—changes the way I thought about the world & has changed who I think I’m.
I refer to I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong, a popular science book and web series,on the subject.
I know Ed Yong's work from his COVID reporting (Pulitzer winner, if I recall), but I haven't read or watched his series. Will check out the video - thanks for the link!
You have opened my eyes to read more , but in some sense our multitude are significantly diminished because most of our gut biomes have shrunk due to industrialization of food . I have recently discovered fermented millets or Ambali a way to enhance our biomes . Extending that it would be interesting to examine the diversity in our thinking, has it expanded or shrunk due. Social media and abundance of info has crowded our thoughts ….
That's an interesting parallel - physical monoculture (processed food → shrinking microbiome diversity) mirroring cognitive monoculture (social media → shrinking thought diversity).
I didn't get into the trajectory here (how things have changed), just the I/Us paradox. But this is worth exploring: maybe we're simultaneously discovering we're composites and becoming less diverse composites than we used to be. That would be an ironic twist.
Fermented millets - good for you and your bacteria. Win-win composite.
Great read. Reality is also dots if you really look. There is a theory that we are a part of a simulation by a higher multiverse. So I and me and the biome are all an illusion anyway 🤔
Welcome to the newsletter and thanks for the comments.
On simulation theory: maybe we're all code running in a higher universe's computer. But even if that's true, you and I still have to decide what to eat for lunch, and our bacteria still have opinions about it. The dots-within-dots go all the way down (or up), but at some point you're still in the kitchen making choices.
Even an illusory "I" still has to figure out which borrowed scripts to keep and which ones to edit or reject.
Though I'll grant you this: if we're in a simulation, whoever coded the gut microbiome has a dark sense of humor about agency.
Nice! reminds me of Vipassana which mentions we are but an agglomeration of particles/waves - the difference vs. inanimate objects which are also particles/waves is that we have a soul / brain combo that resides in this particular configuration that we happen to exist in. Indeed if the brain takes its guidance from the gut microbiome, wonder how the soul plays a role. Wish modern science would catch up sooner to make this clearer to understand
I think science and soul are different categories - science tells us how the gut-brain signals work, but it can't tell us what makes this particular configuration of particles me rather than just a bio-chemical process. That's metaphysics.
The Vipassana angle is probably closer: just see clearly. Notice the sensations arising and passing. Notice the thoughts arriving uninvited. The seeing itself doesn't solve the soul question - it just reveals that "I" is less solid than we assume.
Which brings us back to where we started in a previous conversation: reality observed clearly vs. reality deconstructed. The oxymoron works because we can hold both - the composite is real, the "I" pointing at it is real, and neither cancels the other.
MR.RAJESH just keeps imparting one surprising, fascinating insight after the next. SELECTIVE AMNESIA—I Contain Multitudes—changes the way I thought about the world & has changed who I think I’m.
I refer to I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong, a popular science book and web series,on the subject.
https://youtu.be/UOymDhGxS9Q?si=wY3zTYgBwzW7aPNa
I know Ed Yong's work from his COVID reporting (Pulitzer winner, if I recall), but I haven't read or watched his series. Will check out the video - thanks for the link!
Read the book. Much better
You have opened my eyes to read more , but in some sense our multitude are significantly diminished because most of our gut biomes have shrunk due to industrialization of food . I have recently discovered fermented millets or Ambali a way to enhance our biomes . Extending that it would be interesting to examine the diversity in our thinking, has it expanded or shrunk due. Social media and abundance of info has crowded our thoughts ….
That's an interesting parallel - physical monoculture (processed food → shrinking microbiome diversity) mirroring cognitive monoculture (social media → shrinking thought diversity).
I didn't get into the trajectory here (how things have changed), just the I/Us paradox. But this is worth exploring: maybe we're simultaneously discovering we're composites and becoming less diverse composites than we used to be. That would be an ironic twist.
Fermented millets - good for you and your bacteria. Win-win composite.
Great read. Reality is also dots if you really look. There is a theory that we are a part of a simulation by a higher multiverse. So I and me and the biome are all an illusion anyway 🤔
Welcome to the newsletter and thanks for the comments.
On simulation theory: maybe we're all code running in a higher universe's computer. But even if that's true, you and I still have to decide what to eat for lunch, and our bacteria still have opinions about it. The dots-within-dots go all the way down (or up), but at some point you're still in the kitchen making choices.
Even an illusory "I" still has to figure out which borrowed scripts to keep and which ones to edit or reject.
Though I'll grant you this: if we're in a simulation, whoever coded the gut microbiome has a dark sense of humor about agency.
Totally true. My programer gets mixed up from time to time and I have to fend for my lunch myself while the programmer is shopping 😂
Nice! reminds me of Vipassana which mentions we are but an agglomeration of particles/waves - the difference vs. inanimate objects which are also particles/waves is that we have a soul / brain combo that resides in this particular configuration that we happen to exist in. Indeed if the brain takes its guidance from the gut microbiome, wonder how the soul plays a role. Wish modern science would catch up sooner to make this clearer to understand
I think science and soul are different categories - science tells us how the gut-brain signals work, but it can't tell us what makes this particular configuration of particles me rather than just a bio-chemical process. That's metaphysics.
The Vipassana angle is probably closer: just see clearly. Notice the sensations arising and passing. Notice the thoughts arriving uninvited. The seeing itself doesn't solve the soul question - it just reveals that "I" is less solid than we assume.
Which brings us back to where we started in a previous conversation: reality observed clearly vs. reality deconstructed. The oxymoron works because we can hold both - the composite is real, the "I" pointing at it is real, and neither cancels the other.
Still drawing shapes. Still seeing them repeat.