Eternalism vs. Secularism by Neal A. Maxwell: Brief Overview and Analysis

Recently my brother in law Ned told me about a great discourse written in 1974 by the late Neal A. Maxwell, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the LDS church, titled Eternalism vs. Secularism (full-text here).

I believe he emailed me a link to the talk which I skimmed, but when I ran into him at a family function some days or weeks later he produces a hard copy for me which I, of course, I set aside with intent of reading at some later point. Days and weeks passed by and then, one day at church, I took the talk out and began reading it. I was amazed by the amount of compelling truths packed into one discourse. It struck me that today most discourses tend to be a bit more simple, for lack of a better word. Of course that's a generalization and I don't mean anything negative by pointing that out, but it seems to me that the Brethren, as we're apt to call our church leaders, have really gone back to the basics; I assume this trend has to do, at least in part, with the fact that the church has grown so much and so rapidly that one must be aware of the global audience and the fact that the essential elements of the Gospel are what allow people to get on and stay on the path. Those who have eyes to see and ears to hear can and will find more to study and ponder both in the scriptures and through resources such as online backlogs and ulterior discourses both from and outside of the LDS faith.

My (superficial) analysis (direct quotes from the talk are italicized):
Eternalism focuses on changing the individual by teaching him correct principles. Secularism tends to deal increasingly with adjustments outside man.

We've all heard the concept that society tries to change a man from the outside in while Christ, or the Truth, changes man from the inside out. That's sort of the way Elder Maxwell frames this talk. If secularism is a sickness, or drug, that essentially moves man farther away from the truth or happiness, then Maxwell sees society as both the drug that causes the addiction and the recovery center that fixes it.

For the purpose of this brief discussion, eternalism is defined as that view of man and the universe which not only acknowledges, but exults in, the existence of a Heavenly Father, his Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, who have authored and implemented a redeeming plan for mankind. Secularism is herein defined as that view of man and the universe which is essentially irreligious with regard to the existence of God and cosmic purpose for man, but which is not necessarily irreverent with regard to man and his worth.

The purpose of this article is not to put down sincere secularism, for it was the Savior himself who, when queried by his disciples about others who were doing good, observed generously, “For he that is not against us is on our part.” (Mark 9:40.) But there are significant differences involved in these two distinct approaches to the problems that confront man, and these differences have serious implications for the individual.

In other words, eternalism is the truth while secularism is man's best, but it doesn't rely on God. This doesn't mean all secular approaches are necessarily evil but simply points out that they cannot succeed on the long run because they rely on the faulty, imperfect nature of men (the arm of man).

The short-fall of secularism (with its frequent failure to answer satisfactorily the long-range “cost effectiveness” questions concerning what really benefits man), in fact, calls attention to itself. Errant or random do-goodism has so often been sincere but has ended up being ineffective or is reminiscent of “straightening deck chairs on the Titanic.” The wrong kind of help isn’t really helpful; it is often harmful, for “solutions” become problems. Good motives and good ideas can produce laudable results, but sometimes such combinations can also produce the results (now decried by almost all) such as we see, for instance, in our public welfare programs. According to one writer, “Many liberal urban economists and sociologists plainly and simply started to question whether welfare is really good for people …” and “urbanologists have been having similar qualms over the effect of welfare on the family structure. …” (Saturday Review, June 3, 1972.)

The section above reminds me of the endeavor in which I am involved in professionally, namely education. There are so many good, well-meaning individuals at the political, academic and local levels who sincerely want to make a difference. Their minds and intentions are then put to work, with the backing of BILLIONS (that's right B-B-Billions!) of dollars, and the results? Sketchy at best. The bottom line is that we are still improving our students scores incrementally on tests, etc. but there are fundamental issues that secularism is not willing to address such as the disintegration of families, the impact of sexuality and violence in the media, lack of parental support and love, etc. Bless the hearts of those individuals in all corners of society (health care, law, medicine, etc.) who stand up and do their best in spite of the terrible odds that students will become increasingly more degenerate, apathetic and generally ungodly until our country falls behind in terms of education and overall economic viability.

The new secular “moral geometry” with its fluid lines, alien angles, and restless points, rejects the idea of divine design in the universe, but then naively seeks to muster righteous indignation in behalf of the disadvantaged—but without any corresponding concern over the need for non-economic morality—the very values necessary to make indignation righteous!

Chronic, unmitigated, and wide economic disparity (featuring both the greedy, insensitive rich and the idle, grasping, envious poor) clearly does contribute to the sin of the world. Nor are secular prophets on record for as long, or as often, as are the religious prophets in describing the obligations we have to the poor. Thus, while there are often (as between eternalism and secularism) shared concerns, there is also a very sharp divergence in terms of the solutions proposed.

I love that line about the greedy rich and the envious poor. It is commonly held that it's easier to remain ethical and godly as a middle (lower to upper) class citizen because one does not have too much nor too little. I imagine the rich guy in his fancy car scornfully gazing upon the poor and the dude pounding a 40 oz. in front of the TV...either way you're blinded. This isn't to say that there aren't wonderfully righteous good people at every point of the economic spectrum, but individuals who push for hardcore welfare are obviously not really looking to solve some of the basic issues afflicting society. There is that eternal principle of work at play.

Even so, secularism simply seems to assign a higher value to leisure. Though we all need some leisure, secularism often finds itself trying to reduce the necessity for work without showing corresponding concern as to the purposes to which leisure time should be put—except more idleness or pleasure-seeking. Once it is taken, however, a first step toward hedonism compels a second step, and then a third, and so on.

Eternalism focuses on the individual and on those processes in which the individual is taught correct principles and then is given optimum opportunity to govern himself [awesome line!]. Indeed, nowhere does the contrast appear to be more stark between the basic approaches to man’s problems than in the focus of eternalism on the individual as the basic human reality (and next the family). Where reform and desirable change are concerned, eternalism opts for conditions that facilitate true individual growth, letting the consequences of any successes ripple outward. Secularism tends to want to deal increasingly with systems, governments, labels, groups, etc.—with adjustments in the things outside man, apparently hoping that, somehow, changing the external scenery will change the things inside man. Of this latter approach, it was a wise Edmund Burke who warned:

“… society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more of it there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.” (Leo Rosten, A Trumpet for Reason, Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, 1970.)

I'm getting quite tired, so I am going to paste some more highlights and, hopefully, I can come back and add some more commentary.

Because eternalism sees man in just that perspective—eternal—it of necessity concerns itself with things that appear to be either trivial to—or which fall within—secularism’s zone of indifference. In a sense, eternalism sees the individual and his potential as one might view an acorn and the subsequent forest. Secularism sees the individual as a very important and very real, but temporary, phenomenon in the cosmic landscape—which leads inevitably to other values and emphasis. When life-style takes the form of “me” and “now” rather than “us” and “always,” apparent consequences are inevitable.

But we cannot tame those bureaucracies unless we first tame our appetites, for a bloated bureaucracy is merely a manifestation of citizen appetites, demands, and the subsequent need for external controls.

Eternalism lays great stress on the innocence of the newborn (see D&C 90) and on the importance of helping that individual “streamlet” (at its source) to have identity, belonging, and purity as it rolls forward in life, joining the larger stream of humanity. Secularism, however, becomes fascinated with the need for vast purification plants downstream, designed to purge the individual and to “reprogram” him.

Anyway, this is a great talk, a true gem and one that rings just as true today as it did thirty-five years ago or so. I leave you with this: if one wants to change the society or world in which he lives, start by changing the interior man. I know that within me reside some of the illnesses that affect society as a whole in that the psychological and spiritual weakness that reside in the hearts of men are what manifest on a global scale. So, as Michael Jackson put it, "I'm startin' with the man in the mirror...oh yeah!" I think he might have been referring to his physical appearance though judging by all the plastic surgeries. OK, that just destroyed any credibility this blog may have been striving for...ha! Actually, know I'll know if anyone actually read this far! Back on a serious note, I think anyone reading this sort of blog understands this truth and realizes that the essential work for the individual sits with the individual: the work must be performed daily in one's own soul, own family, at work...all of those seemingly insignificant little choices about what one thinks about, says, how one responds to others, etc. these minuscule moments make up eternity. By the way, sorry about the font changes...I'm too lazy to mess with the HTML.

CITATION:
Eternalism vs. Secularism
Neal A. Maxwell, “Eternalism vs. Secularism,” Ensign, Oct 1974, 69

Hello friends!

I am very sorry that I have not made the time to post here more often lately. I could make excuses and talk about how busy I've been getting my research done and spending time with my family, both of which are true, but I could have made time to stop by here. Both my bro-in-law and a friend of mine have sent me some great reading materials which I am yet to write about, but that'll be coming soon.

In the mean time, I hope all is well for you and your loved ones. Our mortal lives are passing by us in this very moment. I find images of space often help ground me and help me see past the illusions that I and others create that obfuscate the truth (money, prestige, ego, false emotion, etc.) So, I leave you with this:

First artificial DNA a step towards biological computers

I've been hearing about this for years. I really think one of these discoveries is going to begin the exponential march toward a "Brave New World."

By Jonathan M. Gitlin | Published: July 08, 2008 - 11:22AM CT

It has been over 50 years since the discovery of the double-stranded nature of DNA, and over that half-century and more we have learned a lot about deoxyribonucleic acid, from the fact that it organizes into a double-stranded double helix all the way to having sequenced the entire DNA of humans and a range of other organisms. Now, according to a paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a team in Japan has created the world's first DNA strand made from artificial bases.

As information storage systems go, DNA is not bad. Just four different bases (adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine) are all that's needed to code for 20 different amino acids, using three base codons (e.g. AUG). In fact, the four-base, triplet codon system has the potential to be able to store information for more than just 20 amino acids; there are 64 potential combinations, so several amino acids have multiple codons, along with three stop codons that tell the cellular machinery involved that the sequence is done.

Along the way, people have looked at DNA and thought that it ought to be possible to use DNA to store nonbiological data. Better still, it can pack that information into far smaller packages than is possible with solid state memory or even the densest hard drive platters. There have also been experiments that use DNA sequences to perform parallel processing, as we covered last year.

But we needn't be limited to the four complementary bases, and that's just what has been shown by a Japanese team, who have published details of their creation of an artificial DNA strand. All the components of their DNA product are nonnatural, yet they spontaneously form right-handed duplexes with the corresponding opposite base, and these bonds have very similar properties to those of natural DNA.

The hope is that this artificial DNA could have a range of applications in the real world, from the aforementioned DNA computing proposals, along with using DNA to store data, to using it in nanotech settings. Artificial DNA has similar physical properties to common-or-garden DNA without being degraded by enzymes such as DNase (which is found everywhere), a factor that would make it quite useful for any kind of biomedical setting.

Mind/Brain Controlled Robotics

I'm sure for those who simply stumble across this blog, it may look like someone doesn't know if they are writing a spiritual blog or a tech blog. Why not both? In terms of what is happening here in this world, on this planet (semantics), the outcomes of what is happening between man (mind, body and spirit) and what we are creating technologically is, and has been for the last century or two, "speeding up" for lack of a better phrase. We went from the wheel to the assembly line to genetic decoding and controlling robotics with our brains in what amounts to no time. Just a skim through what you read below will help one realize that we are surely on the precipice of some very new territory in terms of civilization. Anyway, check it out.

For Future of Mind Control, Robot-Monkey Trials Are Just a Start

In May, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh said they had taught two monkeys to grab small amounts of food with a mechanical arm using their brains. The future of brain-machine interfaces, however, could veer toward the as-yet-unknown possibilities of human movement. (Video Still by Andrew Schwartz/University of Pittsburgh)

By Erik Sofge

Published on: July 7, 2008

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The Force, it appears, may be with us sooner than expected. A study in the journal Nature this spring all but confirmed the latest evolution in the hard-charging, heady field of cybernetics: Monkeys can control machines with their brains. In the experiment, conducted by neuroscientists at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, a pair of macaque monkeys with electrodes implanted in their brains were able to quickly learn how to operate a robot arm as though it were their own, successfully fee ding themselves more than half the time. Aside from building a fleet of potentially potbellied test subjects, however, could this apparent breakthrough bring mind control to human prosthetics anytime soon? Or could it mean even more?

On the research track of brain-computer interfaces—direct neural
connections that allow brain signals to operate a device—the robo-joystick monkeys look awfully familiar. That’s because Pitt released similar results in 2005, with a different kind of robotic arm used to grasp and retrieve food. And as far back as 2000, electrode-implanted monkeys at Duke University moved a robot arm—again, to reach for food—with their minds. Scientists at Duke ran similar experiments in 2003 and, this past January, showed off a rig that let an owl monkey on a treadmill control the walking movements of a 200-pound humanoid robot in Japan.

As interesting (if repetitive) as each of these incremental achievements are, the endgame for mind-machine interfaces is nothing short of astonishing. In the years to come, this technology could lead to prosthetics that react perfectly to a user’s thoughts, or devices that move in ways we never imagined, responding to mental commands faster than our own bodies can. The future of hyperspeed brain control outside of the lab may come littered with more pratfall than promise—even the field’s leading neuroscientist offered plenty of caveats and insisted, like his peers, that one or two major breakthroughs in other fields are still needed to open up the devices to everyone. But if the recent run of mind-bending success in this field is any indication, the big breaks can come faster than expected.

Building Postprosthetic Cybernetics

For Miguel Nicolelis, a professor of neuroscience at Duke University Medical Center, the backbone of mind-machine interfaces is the ability to analyze neural activity. Sure, the system demonstrated at Pitt in May accessed information from 100 neurons at once. But Nicolelis’s lab has managed five times that amount, with data coming from up to 10 different brain structures. “We’re able to look at brain dynamics on a scale that no one else has been able to,” he says. “You’re transferring information into motion. When more neurons are recorded, it allows you to extract many more parameters from the brain, to look for more elaborate output.” The result is more fine-tuned movement for devices—and more data recorded from a given subject—to help researchers analyze the relationship between brain signals and physical activity.

More neuron data paths could also improve the capacity of monkeys (and, some day, humans) to not only send outgoing commands to a device, but also process incoming signals. Nicolelis and his team have created what he calls “brain-machine-brain” interfaces wherein monkeys respond to feedback from a device. In some cases, the test subjects show surprising amounts of so-called “brain plasticity”—the mind’s adaptability to new kinds of movements. According to Nicolelis, that’s more promising and less abstract than it might sound.

Current prosthetics, even devices as advanced as Johns Hopkins superstar Proto 2, rely heavily on brain plasticity. A user might train himself to close a prosthetic pincer by shrugging his shoulder, and his brain adapts, with the shrug-grasp motion eventually becoming second nature. Proto 2 can respond to signals from residual nerves on the surface of a limb or in the user’s chest, but the feedback it provides is something of a sleight of hand (no pun intended). Without a direct connection to the brain, the best it can do is simulate the sensation of pressure or heat wherever the electrodes come into contact with the body. So the surface of an amputated limb might seem hot, or the embedded electrodes in a subject’s chest might feel a poke. But it’s up to brain plasticity to associate that sensation with the warmth of an open fire or the tactile feedback of a tennis ball.

With a physical neural connection, Nicolelis believes that brain plasticity can be achieved quickly and with greater precision than current prosthetic control systems. “When you link the brain to a device, it could allow scaling in force and time—things that, today, your body can’t do,” he says. So the brain would not only respond to data from sensors in the bionic limb, but would account for unfamiliar amounts of speed and force. For sci-fi fans, the implications don’t need spelling out: prosthetics that are faster and stronger than normal limbs, with roughly the same level of control as their flesh-and-blood predecessors. Without a closed neural loop, it would theoretically take much longer to become accustomed to an enhanced arm and fold it into normal brain activity. The key to cybernetic devices that restore function and increase it rests with the humble electrodes currently popping out of monkey skulls—and the loads of data therein.

Technological Advancement

I personally see technological advancement as a sign of ever increasing spiritual and psychological progress. This DOES NOT mean positive spiritual progress, but progress in terms of our understanding of how create and manifest our subconscious and imagination. In many ways, humankind taps into greater and greater power as we near THE end. All of the new technology really represents new knowledge and knowledge, as we all know, can be used for good or for evil. I often think about how our progress in terms of artificial intelligence, genetics, and nanotechnology will eventually result in our demise.

This little video demonstrates something of relative insignificance yet, at the same time, it's so surreal and "cool," for lack of a better term, that is really makes one think of how far we've come. My boss at work told me about writing his first computer program using hole punched cards. We've come a long way since then!


Holographic Google Earth from Nicolas Loeillot on Vimeo.

Top 10 Mysteries of the Mind and More of My Ranting

I just read this article and had to laugh. Of course scientists can't figure out the answers to some of these questions. While there are physiological reasons and scientific explanations to questions such as why we sleep, there are also spiritual aspects to the brain/mind. The answers to these questions are accessible to those who pray, study and and ponder, or meditate, on them and on the meaning of our lives. Asking why we dream is actually very similar, if not the same, as the last mystery that the article brings up: what is consciousness? These are questions of a spiritual, mystical, esoteric nature and perhaps the answer from the most common of people a thousand years ago would provide us with more insight than a doctor of psychology could today even with all of her learning and scientific understanding. Perhaps I might be accused of being anachronistic, but I'm starting to feel more and more that that's OK.

In this, the modern age (the age of information as we proudly declare it to be) we continually layer on falsities and pride so that the true nature of our own consciousness becomes a mystery to us. I want to join the ranks of those disciples who sincerely want to strip away or "unlearn" much of what we've been taught either consciously or unconsciously in this life. In Matthew 10:39 the Master and Lord Jesus declared: "He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." (This is similarly said in Matthew 16:25 and Luke 9:24.) In Luke 17:33, Jesus said, "Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it." We must remember that the person/thing we think of as ourselves is just a shell. The further we can move beyond, or transcend, what we take for granted as oursleves, or our lives, we begin to see that much of what is considered real is just an illusion. For example, I have asked myself the question, "Who am I? What am I? Am I the body I see in the mirror? Am I the thoughts I think in my head? Am I the emotions I feel, such as anger, love, sadness, or fear? Or am I something beyond all of this?"

The skeptic, or he that has not been initiated into even the simplest of mysteries, might be baffled by this. "You're a human being man! Get a hold of yourself!" But what is human being? Then there is the next level of understanding: "You're a son (or daughter) or God." Now this is true and it is so simple even a child can undertand this "mystery" if we may call it that. But as we grow older this statement can lose it's meaning or, perhaps better stated, it can lose it's gravity. So, if I'm a child of God, what now? The answer is that we must shed the ego, or lusts or desires of this world and begin seeking after a higher level of being. If we seek out the principles of a higher, or more noble nature, and live those principles or laws, we begin to prepare oursleves to enter into a higher state or dimension. Although we must wait until we shed this mortal coil to move to the next level, our eyes, or our understanding, begins to open and we begin to see things for what they really are. As we shed the ego, the desire, we begin to make room for holy things to enter our temple, or body/mind, and we cast out the, spirits of lust, envy, anger, greed and so forth.

Now these are not just words or thoughts. These are truths. One can actually DO this, but it is work. It requires focus every day, every hour, indeed every moment. I find myself being sucked back into the illusion when I get angry, or I see someone gaining great wealth, and I begin to feed the desires of this world that abide within me. This is why daily study, prayer/meditation is so important. Within our families we have the chance to do service, to show love, to sacrifice, everyday but we often think of service as something we do primarily to strangers, in a soup kitchen, etc. but I believe that the greatest moments of potential spriritual growth happen in every moment and most of our "moments" are at home and work. So THE work is to be done NOW and when we fall short, we slip, we lose focus, we pray to God, our Father in Heaven, in the name of the Son, to forgive us and we can begin the work again and slowly, but surely, begin to work out our salvation by weeding out those aspects of ourselves that are not truly us and move closer to our true self. Where is the Kingdom of God? Christ said it is within us. The more I ponder that statement the less fear I have about where I will eventually end up but, simultaneously, the more I realize that the process is work and must be done and there's no such thing as waiting for something, such as death, to bring it on. Thanks to the Savior, though, I am allowed to "mess up" as long as I do my very best and that, my friends, is the hard part. So, let's work at doing our best in every moment.

WHY DO WE SLEEP?
This is a very superficial and, obviously, brief treatise on the subject of why we sleep, and while I may not agree with all of the semantics, it's a good place to start if you've never delved into the subject. It might seem strange, or funny, or like a lot of mumbo jumbo, but remember that all things are related and that EVERY aspect of reality is spiritual. How can the physical world, for example, not be spiritual when all things were created spiritually? How can sleep not be spiritual when us, our lives, our bodies, are all spiritual? What's the point of separating things as being physical or spiritual? Of course when we use the term "spiritual" we do so to refer to things that cannot be seen, or of a religous nature, but the more we separate ourselves from spirituality the more we risk believing the false doctrine that certain things aren't as important as others because they're not spiritual. Watching TV, for example, is a spiritual experience, but what kind of spiritual experience? Negative, evil, nuetral, positive/uplifting? Hmmmm...kind of makes me wonder how much time I'm utterly wasting of my finite life in this world OK, enough rambling:

What Happens While We Sleep: A Spiritual Perspective

The human body [bodies] has never truly been separated from the higher realms of light, despite one's waking experience. At night, this body rejoins its higher counterparts that are the non-physical energy bodies, and a more seamless union of different aspects of one's being takes place than can normally occur during daytime functioning.

The body is a miracle of organization and intelligence in which life is continually renewed and energy continually replenished so that the total organism can continue to live. Sleeping involves part of this renewal, and is a process through which the higher vibrations of light are permitted greater access to the physical body because the emotional and mental components of personality that are often limiting factors in the awake state are no longer present while one sleeps. Although dreaming produces mental and emotional content and therefore creates emotional states, the content of these is part of the sleep state itself and not a barrier to the energies that would restore, heal, and rejuvenate.

The quality of sleeping has a great deal to do with the amount of restoration that can take place. Deep sleep produces not only different brainwave patterns, but also permits a greater influx of light energy into the cells and tissues so that toxins can be removed and greater energy can be infused on a cellular level. This does not happen in any kind of conscious way although one can become conscious of it as well as every other act the consciousness partakes in while the physical body slumbers.

Irreducible complexity and the case for INTELLIGENT DESIGN

I was watching TV earlier, flipping channels actually, something I rarely do since I have a DVR, when I stumbled upon a Christian television show about the complexity of life. It was obviously pro-intelligent design, and I was immediately arrested by it due to the high production values and the caliber of the individuals interviewed. Anyhow, I combed the net a bit to bring back some of the main ideas and concepts that were discussed. I'm obviously a bit biased, but I came away from it with a stronger sense of how I.D. can be PROVEN.

According to Dr. Stephen Meyer says that "...neo-Darwanism will not survive the biology of the information age..."

He also asks, "Where did the information in DNA come from?" Yeah, why don't we ask that question when we're teaching the youth of our nation? Oh yeah, because we like to pretend that those questions don't exist AND because people can't seem to talk about such topics without getting upset, angry, sad, elitist, or religiously intolerant. Too bad, because the avoidance of such issues may be the downfall of our nation.

From this point on, most of the info I am pasting in comes from Wikipedia (to keep things as objective as possible). Although I did find ideacenter.org, a pro-ID site. This is not intended to be a thoughtful, full developed post (do I ever do that?!) but simply a spring board or catalyst to get people, including myself, to do more reading and study on biology and how it relates to our understanding of existence and of God.
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Irreducible complexity

(IC) is an argument made by proponents of intelligent design that certain biological systems are too complex to have evolved from simpler, or "less complete" predecessors, through natural selection acting upon a series of advantageous naturally occurring chance mutations. It is one of two main arguments intended to support intelligent design, the other being specified complexity.^[1] It is dismissed by the scientific community^[2] and intelligent design has been referred to as pseudoscience.^[3]

Biochemistry professor Michael Behe, the originator of the argument of irreducible complexity, defines an irreducibly complex system as one "composed of several well-matched, interacting parts that contribute to the basic function, wherein the removal of any one of the parts causes the system to effectively cease functioning".^[4] These examples are said to demonstrate that modern biological forms could not have evolved naturally. Critics consider that most, or all, of the examples were based on misunderstandings of the workings of the biological systems in question, and consider the low quality of these examples excellent evidence for the argument from ignorance.

Definitions

The term "irreducible complexity" was originally defined by Behe as:

A single system which is composed of several interacting parts that contribute to the basic function, and where the removal of any one of the parts causes the system to effectively cease functioning. (Darwin's Black Box p39 in the 2006 edition)

Supporters of intelligent design use this term to refer to biological systems and organs that they believe could not have come about by any series of small changes. They argue that anything less than the complete form of such a system or organ would not work at all, or would in fact be a detriment to the organism, and would therefore never survive the process of natural selection. Although they accept that some complex systems and organs can be explained by evolution, they claim that organs and biological features which are irreducibly complex cannot be explained by current models, and that an intelligent designer must have created life or guided its evolution. Accordingly, the debate on irreducible complexity concerns two questions: whether irreducible complexity can be found in nature, and what significance it would have if it did exist in nature.

A second definition given by Behe (his "evolutionary definition") is as follows:

An irreducibly complex evolutionary pathway is one that contains one or more unselected steps (that is, one or more necessary-but-unselected mutations). The degree of irreducible complexity is the number of unselected steps in the pathway.

Intelligent design advocate William Dembski gives this definition:

A system performing a given basic function is irreducibly complex if it includes a set of well-matched, mutually interacting, nonarbitrarily individuated parts such that each part in the set is indispensable to maintaining the system's basic, and therefore original, function. The set of these indispensable parts is known as the irreducible core of the system. (No Free Lunch, 285)

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Biological Machines Are God's Inventions (tabernacles of clay):

FAQ: Aren't "biological machines" too different from human-made machines to be considered examples of designed machines?

The Short Answer: No, biological machines provide a good analogy to human designed machines for us to consider both designed. Both do work, and both are often build upon similar designs.

The Long Answer:

From physics, the definition of work is W=F*d (F=force, d=distance). Based on this understanding, the bacterial flagellum as well as cilia perform work: they exert a force and thereby provide mobility. In the literal sense of the word, these are machines: they exert a force over a distance, which is work. Additionally, these machines have many specialized parts that are will integrated with each other, all of which are required to perform the function of mobility (this gets at the idea of IC). This is very much in line with the concept of a machine. Therefore, we suggest that these are true examples of machines in biology and not just mere collections of molecules. These function exactly as man-made machines.

The similarity between cellular machines and human machines is well-reflected in this quote from Bruce Alberts, president of the National Academy of Sciences: "We have always underestimated cells. … The entire cell can be viewed as a factory that contains an elaborate network of interlocking assembly lines, each of which is composed of a set of large protein machines. … Why do we call the large protein assemblies that underlie cell function protein machines? Precisely because, like machines invented by humans to deal efficiently with the macroscopic world, these protein assemblies contain highly coordinated moving parts."
(Bruce Alberts, "The Cell as a Collection of Protein Machines: Preparing the Next Generation of Molecular Biologists," Cell, 92(February 8, 1998): 291) It should also be noted that intelligent design theorists are not the only ones who see 'machine' analogies in the microbiological realm. The bacterial flagellum and the rotary engine provide an excellent comparison of a human-designed machine and a designed machine in biology. As one researcher wrote, "More so than other motors, the flagellum resembles a machine designed by a human" (David J. DeRosier, Cell 93, 17 (1998)). The mainstream literature is rife with references to "molecular machines," (visit the PubMed Search Engine and search for "molecular machines") and rotary motor enthusiasts, unrelated to intelligent design, have found that "Nature Always Does it First" because of the similarities between the bacterial flagellum and the non-Wankel rotary engine.

The intricacy of the bacterial flagellum dispels any notions that they are not like carefully designed machines: "The eukaryotic flagellum is a complex biochemical machine that moves cells or moves materials over the surface of cells, such as in the mammalian esophagus, oviduct or in protozoa. It is composed of over 250 polypeptides that must be assembled into a number of different structures and each structure must be attached with an exact periodicity along the microtubules. Once the flagellum is assembled, each of the components must act in concert and in three dimensions to produce a complex waveform. This review provides an outline of the composition and function of the different structures found in the flagella of Chlamydomonas."
(Susan Dutcher, "Flagellar assembly in two hundred and fifty easy-to-follow steps" Trends in Genetics, Volume 11, Issue 10)

Move Over U.S., Here Comes China...

The Post-American Technology World

By Bruce Sterling June 08, 2008 | 7:25:02 AM

(((I've read enough of these Sputnik-panic engineering reports to be mighty skeptical of them... mostly because they're put together by engineering schools and their answer is always "more engineers.")))

(((But, if you assume this data isn't entirely massaged, it's quite interesting. It's bad news for American tech predominance, as American tech commentators naturally howl aloud, but China's effect on the REST of the tech world is calamitous. The original Communist Sputnik-terror champs, the Russians, don't even *exist* in this competitive world. And as for Japan, the guys who were supposed to clean America's zaibatsu Japan Inc clock 25 years ago, they're in a tailspin that makes America's look like a cakewalk.)))

(((Furthermore, none of China's neighbors seen to thrive much by China's predominance, which to me suggests some kind of instant-noodle anti-China league in the near future. Unless the likes of Malaysia and Indonesia are eager to become economic colonies.))

Link: TPAC - Technology Policy and Assessment Center at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

What's New

HTI 2007 Final Report is Released

A new study of worldwide technological competitiveness suggests China may soon rival the United States as the principal driver of the world’s economy – a position the U.S. has held since the end of World War II. If that happens, it will mark the first time in nearly a century that two nations have competed for leadership as equals.

(((Howls of pain and woe from the Yankee engineeriate:)))

http://www.manufacturingnews.com/news/08/0516/art1.html

The surge of China past the United States as the global technology powerhouse should be a "Sputnik" moment, but it isn't proving to be. For the most part, federal officials and politicians have been silent. As the economy heads into a downturn, both political parties "are jumping all over each other for the instant fix -- the tax rebate," Porter observes. " 'Problem is all solved. Congratulations!' Wow. I think long term there are things that are not amenable to that solution."

The High-Tech Indicator tells a consistent story over the past 15 years of China's authoritarian government setting its mind on achieving global technology and industrial dominance. "China's entire orientation is toward competing," says Porter. "We frown on planning and don't do much, but they have set their mind on it."

China's gains have been dramatic. The country has not stumbled once in 15 years. "There is no real sense that any kind of leveling off is occurring," says Newman. "Most industrialized countries reach a kind of equilibrium, but the study shows no interruptions in China's advance."

China is training more scientists and engineers and is generously funding their research endeavors. The United States is headed in the opposite direction. "The training of scientists and engineers has lagged, and post 9-11 immigration barriers have kept out international scholars who could help fill the gap," says the Georgia Tech indicator study.

The Georgia Tech "technology standing" measure of 33 countries is based upon four factors: national orientation toward technological competitiveness, socioeconomic infrastructure, technological infrastructure and productive capacity. Each of the indicators is based on a combination of statistical data and expert opinions.

China's ascendancy over 33 nations has "changed the world economic landscape in technology," says Porter. Its continued growth and dominance "won't leave much room for other countries."

Adds Newman: "It's like being 40 years old and playing basketball against a competitor who's only 12 years old -- but is already at your height. You are a little better right now and have more experience, but you're not going to squeeze much more performance out. The future clearly doesn't look good for the United States."

(((Unless you look at China's demographics, that is, because with that one-child policy, the Chinese are gonna get old -- like REALLY, REALLY old. Whereas the worst engineering problem the US has is that it shut off the taps of the brain-drain due to scary actions by 19 suicide pilots, then compounded its cornpone paranoia with organized Elmer Gantry anti-science stupidity.)))

(((How many engineers do you know who are rushing off to learn Mandarin?)))

(((Still, maybe China, now so puissant at nanotechnology, will surprise us all with a Chinese Singularity. Imagine all-conquering Vernor Vinge super-AIs that are Communists and speak Chinese. Wowsers.)))

The Power of the Will

The following is a comment I recently left on Spencer's blog post titled "Miracles":

Excuse the funky use of quotation marks you'll see later in this post. I put the big, bold ones at the beginning and end of my comment to Spencer. At the end I posted more of my thoughts along with some links to more reading about the will.

" "We are so easily distracted today..." I think your statement aligns with something I've been studying and pondering a lot lately which is the idea of "mindfulness." One of our greatest challenges is to calm our thoughts and emotions and listen to our truest voice, that part of us that communes with God. Is it the Holy Spirit? Yes. Is it the voice of the Son? Yes. Is it the voice of the Father? Yes. Is it our own voice? Yes. Our "best self," as President Hinckley often put it, is our truest self, that part of us, most often called our "spirit" in the vocabulary of the church, that is all too often suppressed as we are caught away in the business of this world. Obviously we must busy ourselves with temporal matters or our professional lives and households would fall apart, but we must never forget why we are here and what our main objective is. Our goal, as we know, is to return to the Father, and that requires constant mindfulness, constant diligence. Every day, every hour, and, as we progress, every MOMENT we must observe ourselves until our idea of "self" is no longer associated with our body, our thoughts, or our emotions but rather with the WILL of the Savior which is the will of the Father. It's one thing to begin to comprehend this but it is entirely another thing to begin the WORK that this goal requires.

I think members of our church, and many others for that matter, think that if we enter in the way, all we have to do is attend services and do this or that, and then we die and we gain exaltation. The reality, however, is that we enter in the way by developing faith, repenting, and being baptized but the real work comes in enduring. Enduring includes keeping all of the covenants and commandments. We will not keep them perfectly, which is why we require the grace of the Savior, the only being that ever reascended to the Father, thus opening up the possibility of resurrecting, BUT we must do everything we can, through the exercise of our will (thelema) which, of course, everything hinges and why the battle in heaven was fought and is what we continue to fight with now, in order to return to the presence of the Father. It is through the will we open ourselves up to the Son and once we are worth of His presence, we move closer to preparing for the presence of the Father.

For everyone it comes differently and at different times, but once one realizes that the work of salvation and exaltation must be done and must be done NOW, one begins to look at everything differently, including the role of the Savior, the nature and meaning of His sacrifice and atonement, and the time we have NOW, in this life, in this very MOMENT which is continually before us. As you read this, that MOMENT just passed, but NOW you are in the NOW...we are constantly in the NOW. So what are you doing NOW? What am I doing NOW? Until we live in the NOW and exercise our WILL to be one with our Savior's, we will continue to live under the confines of our own ego and the evil spirits of pride, lust, etc. that constantly seek to reside within us.

Wow. I did not mean to write that much. I think I'll pose this on my "other" blog.

Great post, thanks for sparking some thought. It's all about our WILL!"
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More thoughts....
The more I study, pray and meditate, the more fascinated I become with the importance of WILL POWER. Our will is one thing that I believe God never gave us nor will He take away. Our will is the core of who we are as spiritual, eternal beings, or intelligences. God is THE Perfect Will. Although I don't understand yet, somehow His perfect will helped bring us about in terms of our own possibilities of spiritual evolution. In the LDS church we often use the term "agency" to describe the will because it's a little more, I don't want to say accurate, but it's more clear I think in terms of comprehension for the average person because the term "will" is a little more general. Anyway, WILL POWER, the POWER OF THE WILL, AGENCY, etc. this is a vital concept and one we must understand and think about constantly if we expect to progress.

Another thing I touch upon in the comment below which I'd like to briefly flesh out is the idea of "mindfulness." Self-observation is a paramount for the man who desires to enlarge his soul and progress. We are not our thoughts. We are not our emotions. We are not our actions. Now, this is not to say that our thoughts, emotions and actions don't make us who we are. Follow me here. What I mean to say is that beyond everything we think of as ourselves, we are something separate. Is it our spirit? Well, beyond our mind and our body, yes. But is there something beyond even our spiritual body?

The following are teachings from Joseph Smith regarding the nature of man:

Intelligence Exists Eternally

"Is it logical to say that the intelligence of spirits is immortal, and yet that it has a beginning? The intelligence of spirits had no beginning, neither will it have an end. That is good logic. That which has a beginning may have an end. There never was a time when there were not spirits; for they are co-equal [co-eternal] with our Father in heaven. . . .

Intelligence is eternal and exists upon a self-existent principle. It is a spirit from age to age and there is no creation about it. . . ." (HC 6:311.)

What I take from this is that beyond our spiritual bodies, or our spirits, we are intelligence. A spark of light that never started nor will ever end. Now, for those you who are not LDS or are unfamiliar with this concept, this is not something entirely unique to "Mormon doctrines" nor was Joseph Smith the first to teach this. This particular concept is ancient; indeed, this idea is older than ancient. I call it truth, but that's me!

Here's an excerpt from "Teaching of Joseph Smith" by Truman Madsen.

"CREATION AND COSMOS. Joseph Smith's teachings have been characterized by the word "eternalism": "Every principle that proceeds from God is eternal" (TPJS, p. 181). The "pure principles of element" and of intelligence coexist eternally with God: "They may be organized and re-organized, but not destroyed" (TPJS, p. 351). God created the universe out of chaos, "which is Element and in which dwells all the glory" (WJS, p. 351). "The elements are the tabernacle of God" (D&C 93:35). God is related to space and time, and did not create them from nothing. Change occurs through intelligence. The universe is governed by law. There were two creations: All things were made "spiritually" before they were made "naturally" (Moses 3:5). Through his Son, God is the Creator of multiple worlds. God is the Father of the human spirits that inhabit his creations. His creations have no end. (See Creation home page)"

So here's the cool part, but also the part that I am still trying to understand: God did not "create" us in the sense that there was nothing, and then bam! there we were. But, in some sacred way, God is the Father of Our Spirits. Through some miraculous and holy process, He endowed our eternal selves with something that made us His sons and daughters and set us in the way of eternal progression but with the express intent of always allowing us the right to choose for ourselves, which is our WILL...he didn't give us our WILL, nor would (could) He take it, because that's what allows us to become like Him IF we CHOOSE to. That's why Lucifer, the Son of the Mourning, fell and became the devil. He wanted to take away the will of God's other children, He wanted the glory for himself...his PRIDE, his EGO caused him, even one of the elect, one of the most advanced spirit children of our Father, to spiral down to "hell," to that place in which fear and all other negative emotions rule. He used his will to become Satan, the father of all lies.

We, on the other hand, chose to follow the plan of the Savior, the one we call Jesus Christ. The Holy One of Israel. The only begotten of the Father. THE Master. His plan was to give us the choice, to let us retain our agency, which is the only true way, and knowing we would use our will selfishly and allow fear, lust, pride, anger, etc. to enter into our hearts, would provide Himself as a sacrifice, a perfect sacrifice, to fulfill the natural law of justice that pervades the universe and thus ensure for us a way, if we choose, to reenter the presence of the Father BUT this time knowing good from evil (for initially, in His presence, we were like little children and didn't know the good from the evil nor had we ever had the chance to live in the world of dense matter with physical bodies) and thus to become like Him, beings of truth, light and love who tasted of the darkness but chose to cast it out completely and to become perfected.

Not all beings, however, choose this path. That is why we believe in "multiple levels" or heavens or dimensions or planes of existence. There are different glories for different beings. To become an exalted being, to become like our Father who, by the way, will always be our Father and our God (we don't believe in anyway that becoming like God makes us better than Him, etc.)...to become like Him requires that one cast away all imperfections and completely destroys the ego. The life and teachings of the Savior make it abundantly clear that He, Jesus, had aligned His will so completely with the Father that there was/is NO DIFFERENCE. They are ONE. And, if you recall, the Savior tells us that we must become perfect, even like unto Him and that we can become one with He and the Father.

I will add the scriptural references to this later, but I'm about to fall asleep, so I'll amend this later. If you made it this far, thanks! I hope that something I share here will be of assistance to you as you strive on the path. I have great compassion for all of my fellow beings and feel a strong sense of love and respect for my brethren of all faiths who strive to be true to themselves and to God.

The kingdom of Heaven is within!

Luke 17:

20 ¶ And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the ^akingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:

21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the ^akingdom of God ^bis ^cwithin you.

John 17: 11, 21

11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the ^aworld, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be ^bone, as we are.

3 Ne. 11: 27, 29, 36

27 And after this manner shall ye ^abaptize in my name; for behold, verily I say unto you, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are ^bone; and I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one.

It's been a while...

Between school, work, laziness, I haven't been here much lately, but I vow to put some time in here once I get my questionnaires out for the research I'm working on right now. Lately I have been thinking about (and trying to put into action) the following principles:

-will power/self-discipline
-self-observation/awareness
-charity/not judging others

The work associated with these principles is EXTREMELY difficult, as I think anyone who is striving to walk on the straight path knows. In one moment you may be very self-aware and in the next moment a particular thought or emotion knocks you completely out of focus and you find yourself unaware of your thoughts or actions which, of course, can lead to a poor choice which can range from a wayward thought or an unkind word. Practice, however, makes perfect and prayer and meditation are the best ways to remain focused and self-observant.

Time for bed! I don't know why I always do this on Sunday nights (it's the long naps I am often able to take after church).

The Gospel and Romantic Love

As I young man I was aware of the sacred nature of sexuality but, as is too often the case amongst our youth, only obtained a superficial understanding of the subject. In church the topic often came up, as it should, and we were warned of the sadness and affliction that arise when sexuality is abused. Now, years later, as I study the gospel and think about my own life and observe the goings on in peoples' lives around me, the true magnitude of the power and sacredness of human sexuality is coming into focus more and more. I now realize that the love between a man and woman, both in this life and in the life to come, holds power beyond our understanding and is a vital part of what is required to return to and become like our Father in Heaven.

I recently came across a magnificent discourse on the subject by Bruce C. Hafen titled, The Gospel and Romantic Love. This talk was given in 1982 at BYU. At the time Hafen was serving as President of Ricks College. I listened to the talk in MP3 format about four or five months ago and then, just yesterday evening on our way down to San Diego for Sarah's brother Rob's wedding, I listened to it again. Although the whole talk is wonderful, I'd like to share just one excerpt from the talk which is actually an excerpt from something written by D. H. Lawrence:

Never was an age more sentimental, more devoid of real feeling, more exaggerated in false feeling, than our own. . . . The [TV] and the film are mere counterfeit emotion all the time, the current press and literature the same. People wallow in emotion: counterfeit emotion. They lap it up: they live in it and on it. . . .

. . . A young couple fall in counterfeit love, and fool themselves and each other completely. But, alas, counterfeit love is good cake but bad bread. It produces a fearful emotional indigestion. . . .

. . . The peculiar hatred of people who have not loved one another, but who have pretended to, . . . is one of the phenomena of our time. . . .

. . . [But there is a] profound instinct of fidelity in a man, which is, as shown by world-history, just a little deeper and more powerful than his instinct of faithless sexual promiscuity. . . . The instinct of fidelity is perhaps the deepest instinct in the great complex we call sex. Where there is real sex there is the underlying passion for fidelity. And the prostitute knows this, because she is up against it. She can only keep men who [want the counterfeit: and these men] she despises. . . .

. . . The [Chief Thinkers of our generation know] nothing of [this]. To [them,] all sex is infidelity and only infidelity is sex. Marriage is sexless, null. Sex is only manifested in infidelity, and the queen of sex is the chief prostitute. . . .

This is the teaching of the . . . Chief Thinkers of our generation. And the vulgar public agrees with them entirely. Sex is a thing you don't have except to be naughty with. Apart from . . . infidelity and fornication, sex doesn't exist. . . .

[However, the truth is that the Christian] Church created marriage by making it a sacrament, a sacrament of man and woman united in . . . communion, . . . and never to be separated, except by death. And even when separated by death, still not freed from the marriage. . . . Marriage, making one complete body out of two incomplete ones, and providing for the complex development of the man's soul and the woman's soul in unison, throughout a life-time. Marriage sacred and inviolable, the great way of earthly fulfilment for man and woman, in unison. . . .

. . . And this, this oneness gradually accomplished throughout a life-time in twoness, is the highest achievement of time or eternity. From it all things human spring, children and beauty and well-made things; all the true creations of humanity. . . . The will of God is that He wishes this, this oneness, to take place, fulfilled over a lifetime. . . .

. . . The oneness of . . . man and woman in marriage completes the universe, as far as humanity is concerned, completes the streaming of the sun and the flowing of the stars. [D. H. Lawrence, Essays on Sex, Literature and Censorship (New York: Twayne, 1953), pp. 96­111]

Spiritual Identity Theft

Excerpt taken from:

Robert C. Oaks, “Your Divine Heritage,” Ensign, Apr 2008, 46–50

From a devotional address given at Brigham Young University on March 21, 2006. For the full text in English, please visit http://speeches.byu.edu.

Spiritual Identity Theft

One of the great blessings of understanding our true eternal identity as a child of God is that our personal sense of self-worth can only be high. He loves each one of His children. We are each His son or daughter, with the potential to become like Him. In the gospel plan based on moral agency, we fail only if we make choices that lead to failure. But in that same light, we can make choices that will lead to our marvelous success. One of the great beauties of the gospel is that critical decisions are ours for the making.

Let us briefly discuss a significant threat to achieving our divine potential. Today we receive many warnings about identity theft. Some of you may have experienced the trauma resulting from this fraud. In our cybernetic world of trust and rapid transmission of medical, financial, and other personal data, we are vulnerable to exploitation of our identifying details. Theft of our numerical mortal identity can be costly and cause us a great deal of misery. But the theft of our eternal identity has much longer effects and more dire consequences. I am not talking about addresses, credit cards, or any other identifying numbers. I am talking about something much more basic and more important than who the world thinks you are. I am talking about who you think you are.

We know we are sons and daughters of God, with the potential to become like Him as described in His plan of happiness. We know this potential is achieved through our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and through obedience to the eternal laws and principles embedded in His gospel. We also know that Satan is totally dedicated to thwarting and derailing this marvelous plan-of-happiness knowledge and process. We know that one of his primary tools is to entice us to forget who we really are—to fail to realize or to forget our divine potential. This is the cruelest form of identity theft.

How does Satan do it? He is quite straightforward and predictable. First, he attempts to prompt doubts in our minds about our divine potential. He even cultivates doctrine in the world implying we are much less than we really are. He undermines our faith—and thus our confidence—in our ability to achieve our potential. He strives to bring us to a mind-set in which we believe that we, individually, are not good enough to ever achieve our celestial goals.

In this same vein Satan seeks to convince us that we are so bad that even the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ is not sufficient to reach down to our lowly depths and draw us up unto our Savior. He tempts us into paths that seem to verify his cynicism about our grand and glorious potential.

He then hedges his bets by surrounding us with the gaudy, glitzy filth of pornography and other forms of immorality and thus precludes our being led by the Holy Spirit. He is a clever fellow with many tricks to make us forget who we really are: sons and daughters of God with divine potential.

Remembering Who We Are

Satan does not want us to understand our divine potential, but the Lord certainly does. He has provided us with countless scriptures and prophetic promptings to help us counter and resist these satanic pulls. One of the most powerful of these promptings is found when Helaman, under the Lord’s direction, counseled his sons, Nephi and Lehi. He repeatedly admonished them to remember who they were and whence their marvelous spiritual heritage came: “And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall” (Helaman 5:12).

“Remembering” is a very important principle to help us keep in mind our true identity. This is why we partake of the sacrament each week: to renew our covenants we have made with the Lord in the waters of baptism, to remember Him and to keep His commandments, to refresh in our minds who we are and what our role is in God’s plan.

This is why we go back to the temple: to renew our covenants that we have made in those sacred halls and to remind ourselves of these covenants and obligations. When we thus remember these sacred obligations, Satan’s storms and attacks will not turn us from our quest—from pursuing our divine potential.

I pray that we may ever remember who we are: sons and daughters of a loving Father, who have the potential to return to His side and dwell with Him as celestial beings.

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My commentary:
I was struck by this discourse as I listened to it through the speakers of my car while driving to the university this afternoon. "Spiritual identity theft" is such an apt term for what is happening in our world. Satan, the negative force of the universe, is constanty attempting to steal our identities, to make us forget who we really are, to keep us from remembering our divine heritage and from whence we came.

In progress, I'll add to this later