PBS’s award-winning program Nature recently aired a fascinating two-part series on mating called What Females Want and What Males Will Do. The latter episode documented the captivating behavior of several species and the lengths males will go to propagate their genes – from jumping spiders that dance and “sing” to drumming monkeys to intricate courting displays by birds.
It proved that complex communication is not limited to human beings, nor is the art of performance. In that vein, I believe that one day research will show the capacity for cognitive processes is not limited to mankind. In light of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, I do hope humanity becomes increasingly humble about its own abilities and will seek to better understand, and hold sacred, the nature of all life on Spaceship Earth.
While analyzing animal behavior is infinitely interesting, so is the examination of human consciousness. Great strides have been made in exploring the depths of the oceans and the expanse of the universe; yet fully understanding the three-pound hominid brain and its intricacies still remains an intriguing challenge.
In mid-April, the University of Arizona’s Toward a Science of Consciousness Conference aims to shed light on “how the brain produces conscious experience, a question which addresses who we are, the nature of reality and our place in the universe.” Downtown’s collective intelligence quotient will skyrocket with the conference’s national and international attendees and presenters, an aggregate encompassing “scientists, philosophers, psychologists, experientialists, artists and others” descending on the Tucson Convention Center. Click here for Heather Woodward’s story on the conference.
If science does eventually suss out some of the inexplicable questions, I suspect we’d find more mysteries behind the answers.
It proved that complex communication is not limited to human beings, nor is the art of performance. In that vein, I believe that one day research will show the capacity for cognitive processes is not limited to mankind. In light of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, I do hope humanity becomes increasingly humble about its own abilities and will seek to better understand, and hold sacred, the nature of all life on Spaceship Earth.
While analyzing animal behavior is infinitely interesting, so is the examination of human consciousness. Great strides have been made in exploring the depths of the oceans and the expanse of the universe; yet fully understanding the three-pound hominid brain and its intricacies still remains an intriguing challenge.
In mid-April, the University of Arizona’s Toward a Science of Consciousness Conference aims to shed light on “how the brain produces conscious experience, a question which addresses who we are, the nature of reality and our place in the universe.” Downtown’s collective intelligence quotient will skyrocket with the conference’s national and international attendees and presenters, an aggregate encompassing “scientists, philosophers, psychologists, experientialists, artists and others” descending on the Tucson Convention Center. Click here for Heather Woodward’s story on the conference.
If science does eventually suss out some of the inexplicable questions, I suspect we’d find more mysteries behind the answers.
