Abridged Repost: 13 Hours in Manhattan, 4 in Brooklyn

The following interview with Howard originally appeared 11/20/99. "The Global Brain" is still due in August of 2000
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I try to space events in order to respect the 10 years use I've gotten from my by-pass but can't always do it. The NY City Chapter of the Association for the Advancement of Philosophy and Psychiatry (NYCAAPP) met at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on the 14th and I bookended a meeting with Howard Bloom for later that evening.

THE NYCAAPP MEETING

First, 18 papers were given on evolution and psychopathology; all of us owe thanks to Don Mender, MD, and Bruce Levine, MD, for making arrangements and for getting seed money from the Yale New Haven chapter of AAPP. St. John's is a beautiful site but one showing needs for money and for guards. It appeared that only the squirrels are fat these days; as T. S. Eliot and John Donne and others have lamented, there are rats in the vestry. Some of them evolutionists.

hb:delightful lines, Jim. absolutely delightful!

Fifty-five registered, perhaps 40 attended at any one time. ASCAP, HBES, and PaleoPsych were represented by Nando Pelusi, Dori LeCroy, Linda Mealey, Paul Watson, and A. J. Figueredo.

Abstracts of the talks (including email for the speakers) are available in hard copy from Don at solzitsky@aol.com.

Thoughts about my friends:

--- Ladislav Kovdc liked my talk on Stu Kauffman and phase transitions because I used concepts from physics (he's a biochemist) to account for evolution, human behavior, sex roles, and morality as extensions of the same rules that govern the inanimate world.

--- AJ Figueredo and Beth Kirsner argued that depression helps us accept mates that take us instead of our insisting on the ones that we really want. Dismal thought but plausible. "Kindness" is high on the priority list for either sex and kindness consists of an inhibition of self interest and in ways that might be accomplished through or be caused by a sense of sadness or of unworthiness. Wish someone would get into "liveliness," perhaps as a display for health and mate attractiveness.

--- Lots of applause instead of lynching for my "active Darwinism" talk, that we seek and change our niches to suit ourselves and that much of this search is genetically synergized. My pet rat makes whatever I give her into a rat's nest and is no different from Ed Wilson in that regard. Both of them, like genes, weave their special order from the materials that can be found. I ran out of time and couldn't tell the NY audience that each of us is possibly more of a "twin" than is true for members of identical twins who had the distorting experience of sharing a womb. Probably just as well for my own liveliness.

--- John Sadler, a researcher in psychiatric genetics, asked the audience "Why bother with evolution instead of examining culture as an explanation of human behavior?" A.J. Figueredo answered him well, that EP does study culture but as an epigenetic outcome that sets the stage for further behavioral evolution.

--- Sadler is concerned that the "public" is alarmed and misinformed about research on genetics of human behavior. I'm not sure that's entirely true but he's right to worry. Segments of the public worry about genes just as segments worry about god(s). Still, public science needs a lot of toys and even a small determined minority threatens grant support and commanders time for angry telephone calls to scientists who want to think about genes.

--- Neat paper by Vilarroya from Barcelona about "bounded functionality," that evolution produces "satisficers" rather than optimal solutions. (Vilarroya was recovering from an accident, Don Mender read the paper.)

--- Awesome statement from Don Mender about quantum computers, interactive models of gene functioning (the "gene" may not always be the causal agent that we think), and reverse transcription (there are exceptions to Weissman's Central Dogma). He and Howard Bloom would be an awesome pair.

--- Nick Humphrey, Leaps of Faith: Science, Miracles, and the Search for Supernatural Consolation, Springer Verlag, 1996, did a 1st class analysis of the costs/benefits of placebo reactions.

Other things:
Dori LeCroy lost weight, seems happy, and looks great. She's working on her book of papers from the Hunter College Series this last summer and may put together another conference for 18 months in the future. Nando Pelusi --- a collaborator and friend for several years --- lost weight and I told him to start eating. He keeps his plate filled with music, talks, professional writing, and his key role at the Ellis Institute.

A VISIT TO HOWARD BLOOM

The NYCAAPP meeting ended at 5 PM and I left St. Johns with a tap-tap in the Z's engine. It got louder inching through Saturday night traffic on Park Avenue and the Village, I noticed the oil pressure gauge was inert. Engine temperature fine; the blasted thermostat was cool regardless of whatever heat that bearing felt. I got to Brooklyn, parked near Howard's 30 minutes early, discovered there was NO oil on the dipstick, found an Indian market that sold me 5 quarts of 10-40, and a fed 4 of them to baby with 10 minutes to spare before visiting Howard. She guzzled them without a burp, rolled over, and napped while I went to see Howard.

hb: nice writing.

The question in my mind, "Is a talk with Howard worth frying a bearing?" (It had been a year since our last meeting.) Even in the middle of the Village in a traffic jam, the answer was "Yes." I was on a Quest. Worry later about getting home.

hb: Thanks for the kind words on our visit. I enjoyed it immensely.

Howard --- God gave him more energy than height but Howard seemed a bit tired even during his prime time of the day. Nonetheless, three hours slipped past as we sidetracked across the universe, as best I could follow him.

--- The Global Brain is due in August. 500 pp. of notes, about 600 of text. Howard wanted all the notes printed because he's an amateur across a dozen scientific fields from which he's constructed his own rat's nest about life, its origins, and its organization. Wiley agreed to have a "Bloom" web site for his notes so the essentials will be in the book; the full version on the web. There is to be a tree of links on the web version from Howard's notes to the original research whenever possible. Perhaps one more Howard Bloom 1st! And one where students can explore for a lifetime.

--- His Chronic Fatigue Syndrome has been abating slowly but with periodic relapses. Howard at one point could handle no visitors and can now take in as many as 7 on some days.

--- He is proud of his photographic work but mentioned that someone had stolen his collection. He can, like many fit creatures, restore his display by printing more copies. The symbolism was evident and I wondered if I, too, were stealing from him by intruding into his time and health with my questions and what cost he would pay to recover his investment in my goals.

He said the "kind" thing, that he also benefited from my visit. My sense was that Howard occupies his own tree and is thrilled to share a branch in it. It's a tall tree and he gives hints for getting a hold but won't do the work for you. You're welcome to perch as long as you want but are responsible for handling your space and for sharing with others.

I left at midnight, he probably worked on the net another couple of hours, each of us on our quests.

The bearing happily settled after about 10 miles and I was home by 2.

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