The Immunse System and a New Theory of Cognition

In Fritjof Capra's essay on the Immune System's intelligence, he notes the web-like spreading of the immune system throughout our body:

"Instead of being concentrated and interconnected through anatomical structures like the nervous system, the immune system is dispersed in the lymph fluid, permeating every single tissue. Its components - a class of cells called lymphocytes, popularly known as white blood cells - move around very rapidly and bind chemically to each other. The lymphocytes are an extremely diverse group of cells. Each type is distinguished by specific molecular markers, called "antibodies", sticking out from their surfaces. The human body contains billions of different types of white blood cell, with an enormous ability to bind chemically to any molecular profile in their environment. According to traditional immunology, the lymphocytes identify an intruding agent, the antibodies attach themselves to it and, by doing so, neutralize it.

Recent research has shown that under normal conditions the antibodies circulating in the body bind to many (if not all) types of cell, including themselves. The entire system looks much more like a net- work, more like people talking to each other, than soldiers looking out for an enemy. Gradually, immunologists have been forced to shift their perception from an immune system to an immune network." (Capra)

This reminds me very powerfully of the way in which the fungi spread themselves throughout the ecosystems in which they take root. Stamets describes this complex spread as such, "Covering most all landmasses on the planet are huge masses of fine filaments of living cells from a kingdom barely explored. More than 8 miles of these cells, called mycelia, can permeate a cubic inch of soil. Fungal mats are now known as the largest biological entities on the planet, with some individuals covering more than 20,000 acres." (Stamets) Not only is this simply an amazing interconnected web of living micro-filament, Stamets describes this as the "essential wiring of the Gaian Consciousness".

Something I have noticed in my experience and observations of reality is a pattern of fractalized pattern. "As above, so below," is the basic idea but this concept appears throughout science, mathematics, and everywhere in nature. Try checking out the Fibonacci sequence:

Week Four Inquiries

Questions?

• Is there a drug around for just about everything?
• Can we raise our levels of dopamine ourselves?
• How do you think chimps and humans diverged as species?

a) There surely appears to be an effort by the pharmaceutical companies to manufacture a drug for every unsightly, unwanted, or inconvenient physical and psychological manifestation. Often times the disease isn't really a disease but rather a physical expression of stress - a release of energy (flowing of Qi) such as in the case of 'restless leg syndrome'.
Upon performing a Google search of 'restless leg syndrome', I came across this thread of people discussing various exercises, supplements, dietary changes, and drugs that have helped reduce symptoms or eliminate the restless leg. The search also pulled up hundreds of advertisements for drugs and methods such as "The Cure" and "All Calm". In TCM, there is a clear connection between muscle spasms and Liver Blood deficiency. This could be treated in a variety of ways in TCM without the use of pharmaceutical chemicals. I find the resistance to the simple and holistic approach offered by TCM to be almost completely based in ignorance. There aren't commercials selling acupuncture on television like there are for drugs to cure RLS. If, there were, we might see a flood of people rushing to Eastern and Alternative medical doctors.

b) We can alter our chemistry and we have a much more powerful effect on ourselves than we realize. In one person's explanation of placebo, they emphasize the archetype of the 'doctor' as being a contributing factor:

"The placebo effect illustrates the effectiveness of the physician's role in 'healing' a patient. Past research show that a patient's high opinion of the physician prescribing the treatment as well as the doctor's personality can invoke the placebo effect. Furthermore, research has shown that an amiable doctor with a positive outlook of a drug treatment would induce the placebo effect.

The power of the placebo is more readily explained as a function of the individual because the placebo effect can rely on the amount of faith an individual has for a given treatment. One suggestion is that placebo effects may be due to anxiety reduction. Stress and anxiety adversely affect the body and increase an individual's focus on symptoms. A decrease in the body's stress and anxiety level by a well-known doctor alleviates the patient's worry and pain leading to a 'curing' of the symptoms. It has been shown that placebos may be more effective among highly anxious people because the adverse effects interact with the physiological processing. There is evidence that there might be an alteration in the body's endogenous opioid release. Pain relief in patients provided via placebo, may be caused by a release of endorphins in the brain. Endorphins are the body's own morphine-like painkillers. Within the nervous system, there are specific pathways that modulate pain when stimulated by these endorphins. As a patient anticipates symptom relief, the expectation of receiving an active substance, alone, may be activating the pain pathway thereby reducing symptoms. The presence of a substance probably activates the pain-inhibition because unaware of the treatment group, the patient is led to believe that they have received an active substance." (1)

Ultimately I feel that this all boils down to our own capacity to directly affect the quantum reality surrounding and swimming within us through conscious or unconscious intention and emotional energy. Most people have yet to realize that they generate a series of electromagnetic fields around them which have direct effects on the atoms that make us up and move around us. See the film 'What the *&$@# Do We Know?' for a detailed explanation. There are many explanations and scientific studies that support this view. It is only a matter of time before it trickles through the collective mind.




c) How do I think Humans and Chimp diverged? Slowly and over mind-distortingly long periods of time, such that it makes the time that we have been assuming ourselves as the supreme authority over all of Creation a complete blip in the greater dream of it all.

I think that the process took much longer than we can truly understand and that there was a lot of experimentation, dead-ends, and unexpected leaps in genetic expression. It is a miracle that this process exists at all. Why is there even an argument about whether or not evolution is a valid explanation for how we came to be? It is so beyond understanding and beauty that it can still be considered of 'divine will' or whatever people are choosing to defend.

We are animals that have slowly arrived at a state of such high vibration and frequency that we are about to invert on ourselves in self-reflection and ever-new expansion.

Week Three Assignments

1. Genetic similarities between the humans and the chimpanzees; I find this to be ultimately irrelevant to what comes down to the fact that we are so interconnected with the Earth and the rest of life around us that is becomes a waste of energy and an avoidance of intimate and deep connection by searching for statistical and measurable reasons for this inherent connection.

2. The Cell Quiz (see previous posting)

3. Human Genetic Evolution -
I find the article on spontaneous generation to be extremely fascinating:

From the time of the ancient Romans, through the Middle Ages, and until the late nineteenth century, it was generally accepted that some life forms arose spontaneously from non-living matter. Such "spontaneous generation" appeared to occur primarily in decaying matter. For example, a seventeenth century recipe for the spontaneous production of mice required placing sweaty underwear and husks of wheat in an open-mouthed jar, then waiting for about 21 days, during which time it was alleged that the sweat from the underwear would penetrate the husks of wheat, changing them into mice. Although such a concept may seem laughable today, it is consistent with the other widely held cultural and religious beliefs of the time. (1)

How wonderful to see the pre-scientific methods at work!

I also find it fascinating that we have developed ways of thinking and problem solving that allow us a seemingly more accurate view of the world. Interestingly beyond this, we still hold onto certain ideas and views of the world unless we are given a certain kind of evidence of anything different. It is as though we require encouragement and permission to refresh our world-view and fit it into the ever-evolving world. We require authority and proof from outside of ourselves to validate ideas of ourself and our world.
With so much information moving so quickly at this time, we can gain access to a very rapidly evolving world-view by taking in new information, checking it with the old information and then synthesizing an entirely or subtly new world-view.

Another question that comes to mind with regards to evolution is: how are we continuing to evolve? What is the impulse, the drive, the stressor that is pulling us into the future of ourselves?

On the Topic of Food

"Folks like Chris Kilham, aka “The Medicine Hunter” (profiled in the NY Times ) who have studied with many indigenous cultures are setting the tone for a resurgence of wild food, permaculture and the healing power of plants. Americans are crippled with drug dependencies from the fervently prescribed antibiotics for viral infections (virus are not bacteria) to seriously strong antidepressants and anti-psychotic prescriptions for mild episodes of depression and anxiety. The endless pursuit of youth sends men to Viagra and steroids and women to diet pills and Botox. All the while, food is the last consideration for many. Blaming things like higher price of organics, or unpalatable taste of vegetables, the time it takes to prepare a healthy meal compared to the 60 second microwaveable (un)conventional ersatz nutrition, Americans get sicker and wonder why. Our faint relationship with where our food actually comes – and why – has displaced a nation.

Mono cropping, the most prominent American farming method is rife with challenges that largely outweigh the benefits: pressure on the soil razes the land, non-cyclical crop rotation harbors more insects and pest, uses more resources, and produces nutritionally inferior food because the soil is too taxed, losing its mineral content.

Farmers face another devastating challenge – the threat of genetically modified (GM) seeds unintentionally pollinating their crops. We know little about the long-term effects of GM food on the body – or our ecosystems. We do know the effects on the bank accounts of companies like Monsanto. Creation of “terminator” seeds force farmers into a continual dependence on a corporate-run seed bank to do what nature has been doing forever. In her documentary The Future of Food, Debra Koons Garcia details the genetically modified (GM) food “business” and what’s left of the North American farmer. GeneWatch.org estimates that there are over 30 million acres of GM crops in the U.S. alone – almost ten percent of our total crop land (primarily soy, corn, canola and cotton) endangering farmers like Percy Schmeiser (he's Canadian) who are being sued for the inevitable effects of cross-pollination from crops like the Monsanto RoundUp Ready canola, which found its way into Schmeiser’s fields and forced him into a losing legal tangle with Monsanto, having to pay them for seeds he never wanted in the first place."

(this has been quoted from an article on Reality Sandwich)

Prokaryotes, Eukaryotes, & Viruses Quiz

Question 1: Viruses are not alive. They require a host cell in order to activate their genetic material.
Question 2: The Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum is mainly involved in the production proteins
Question 3: Golgi Apparatus is NOT involved in transport & signaling... trying again - they are processors of the proteins produced by the RER
Question 4: Correct...
Question 5: Correct...
Question 6: Correct...

Humans are Animals? Uh oh!

Last year, an article in the Guardian focussed on the genetics discovery that humans and chimpanzees are 99.4% genetically identical in the most 'critical DNA sites'.

Interestingly, when we humans first classified chimpanzees in 1775, we classified them under the same genus as ourselves - Homo. It appears as though we decided to arbitrarily separate ourselves from our chimp cousins and created the genus "Pan" in 1816 to place the chimpanzee species under.

Through genetic science-technologies, we have been able to redetermine our closeness to our animal relatives, forcing us to acknowledge our own animal nature and to raise our respect for and the rights of the chimpanzees. We are now considering bringing the chimpanzees back into the Homo genus.

I feel that this is only appropriate, especially if it is genetically accurate. I am of the spirit of the Native American people's belief that we are ALL relatives and should treat all our relations with love, respect, and compassion. This includes plants and trees, the Earth itself, and of course all creatures. Why we would presume to be distinct and separate is really only a phase of our development as beings. I feel that we are growing out of this and 'scientific' discoveries such as these are only reflections of our own return to the Circle of Life. The only question I have remaining is, how much will the Human race have to change before it can live peacefully with itself and the rest of the Planet and Cosmos?

Science Effecting Our Culture?

How does science affect our culture?

In this country, I feel that science has become an authority-holding machine for technological and political abuse upon the masses of increasingly less educated American people. Simultaneously, science is an art of methodical, careful observation and inquiry that lies within each and everyone of us, guiding us towards greater understanding of ourselves and our realities in the light of accurate and elegant truth.

I see science as a manic young adult, unable to center itself around a consistent set of codes and values. I feel that this may have a lot to do with the socio-economic system that we have created modern day, western science through and into; we have created a profit-driven, compete-or-die environment that encourages science without moral or ethical considerations. For example, in the case of 'pharming' genetically modified plants for the purpose of saving lives and helping poorer countries, while an apparently altruistic and well-intentioned investigation and technological solution, has serious implications with very seriously harmful effects on the future of our food supply and our own genetic material.

In the article Down on the Pharm, in the Guardian earlier this year, the science journal Nature Biotechnology offers it's observations of the trend made by scienctists with regards to genetically modified plants/foods, sayng, "It seems an industry in which the PhD is the intellectual norm is either incapable of learning a simple lesson from the past or cannot bring itself to act appropriately, despite what it has learned previously ... This position is not anti GM - we should be concerned about the presence of a potentially toxic substance in food plants. After all, is this really so different from a conventional [drugs] manufacturer packaging its pills in candy wrappers?"

This is exactly my concern, that the genetic material that was not intended for and was not tested for in human organisms or other living organisms, would inadvertently end up in places where it should not or was not expected to be. I feel that it is a struggled enough to seek out food that is not tainted with petrochemical pollution let alone food that has genetic-pollution! The risk of contamination is way too high and scientists have for too much power to be so arrogant as to equate proteins in genetically engineered food-products to that of proteins produced by own own bodies; Professor Julian Ma, the leading researcher in a genetic engineering project in south London that is attempting to engineer tobacco plants to produce a protein that is useful in making a cheaper version of an antiviral drug, displaying wonderful ignorance or arrogance or both, stating, "The advantages they [Genetically Engineered Plants] offer simply cannot be equaled by any other system. They provide the most promising opportunity open to us to supply low-cost drugs and vaccines to the developing world."

Interestingly, the article states that the same protein Ma is trying to engineer tobacco to generate, is already produced by algae. Algae is an extremely fast-growing, high-protein, high-nutrition, and water-cleaning living-food source that is very easy to grow. Here is a list of the potential uses of algae as taken from Wikipedia:

• fertilizer
• energy source
• pollution control
• nutrition
• bio-fuel - a much more viable source than any other veggie-fuel
  
• other uses, i.e. - green pigment, food stabilizer (carrageen), sewage treatment

I wonder why researchers like Ma, who are apparently so concerned with helping developing nations are not developing ways for them to produce massive amounts of algae for water-sewage treatment and nutritional resource?

I see Ma's assumption of his extremely detailed, specialized, and expensive science as extreme arrogance that is fueling ignorance of the simpler and already nature-based solutions available. Science influences our culture in many ways, often from an ivory tower. It is only when more people from all areas of society begin to engage in the scientific conversations and research that we can ensure a more coherent and integrated conversation, that balances the influence of profit and tenure-driven science.

Human Energy Structure

"With progress in modern science, we are becoming more and more aware that the human organism is not just a physical structure made up of molecules, that we are electrochemical and electromagnetic beings." (Human Energy Systems, Jack Schwarz, 1980)

One of the articles disucssed in class this week concerned itself with the growing awareness of the detrimental and harmful effects of electromagnetic radiation from electronic devices/machines. They call the continously growing quantity of electromagnetic radiation - "electronic smog", saying that it is the cause or at least partial contributor to such illnesses as influenza, asthma, and other respiratory diseases.

In alternative healing practices and in many Eastern medical understandings, the human organism is not simply dense material that can be mechanically manipulated/affected, rather it is a highly sensitive vibrational field of various energies ranging from extremely subtle to materially dense.

One energy worker, Jack Schwarz, who is described as: Jack Schwarz, pioneer in the holistic health field-educator, philosopher, N.D., author, minister, and humanitarian ... He was known as a Western Yogi for his self-regulation abilities (biofeedback and voluntary controls), active meditation techniques, human energy fields abilities (aura and rays), human energy centers abilities (chakras), optimal and alternative health (medicine), teaching of the importance of energy and radiance, spirit, mind, brain, and body studies, healing, and humanistic psychology (Aletheia Foundation), describes the human energy structure more than thirty years ago. Such 'alternative' understandings of the human organism are only now just beginning to make their way into the mainstream understanding.

It is my great desire to assist in the unfolding of this knowledge to the world by studying it, practicing it, and eventually teaching it to those around me.

Taking the concept presented in the article further, with an explanation from Jack Schwarz about quality/aspect of the human organism to be capable of attracting energies to itself through what Schwarz calls the 'paramagnetic fields', I want to ask the questions, are we disrupting our ability to attract nourishment from the Earth and Cosmos by filling our environments with 'electronic smog'?

"In energy fields, when we go beyond the atomic level, we get to the electromagnetic level. Beyond that is the paramagnetic, which is different from the Earth magnetism, where we see that positive attracts negative, that is, that opposites attract. Rather, in paramagnetic fields, like attracts like, so that if we radiate out a certain frequency of energy with a certain amplitude, this will attract energy of the same frequency and amplitude. If we are radiating energy from our bodies, we thereby attract from the environment an equal particle of the same frequency and same amplitude." (Human Energy Systems, Schwarz, 1980)

Gratefully, we have scientists and doctors doing research into these areas and I hope to contribute to this level and area of medicine as best I can.

Bio - Introduction

ALOHA!

I am Michael E. Brown, a creative healer and student of medicine, Truth, and Love.

This blog is and will become the archive of my intellectual meanderings through the study of Biology in a basic integrative science course at Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine College of Berkeley.

I am very excited to make use of the blog technology as a format and tool for the sharing of knowledge. I have some experience with web-design, and blogging that you might enjoy perusing.

May you enjoy this unfolding more than I do.