Jun 10
In this perilous decade of transition, for both Humans and Nature, an awakening mind must not underrate the evolutionary value of a wandering and occasionally fixating mind. A human mind cannot be creative if it doesn’t wander freely, and regularly; and must even hold onto hypotheses long enough to ignite the curiosity, and ultimately the …
Feb 27
Fourteen reasons to view humankind as separate from the co-evolved Natural World: Principles of population evo-ecology to which humans do not conform 1. — genetic structures evolve only in response to a functional shift. That is, structures do not change until environmental change calls for intergenerational adaptation by Natural Selection. https://www.extremophilechoice.com/2022/06/20/young-buddha-part-1-overturning-the-mortal-conformity-of-structure-and-function/ 2. — opportunism means behavioral flexibility, but …
Nov 11
In case you’re wondering why I haven’t posted on my https://www.extremophilechoice.com/ blog lately, it’s not because I’ve lost interest in species conservation, rewilding, or looking at any other issues through the lens of Natural History. I just don’t have anything to say lately that I haven’t already said in these pages. I know most blogs …
Feb 09
“The devil of complacency is in the ignorance of detail.” This is another post that I’ve resurrected, and updated, from four years back, because it places the Extremophile Choice hypothesis in the context of the broader, and not the currently fashionable, ecological discussion. The original has earned more attention from ecological nerdom than many of my other blogposts, so …
Jan 09
I’ve updated this post from four years ago because it seems to speak in voices everybody can identify with. Jennifer Jacquet: Survivor guilt may also exist at a species level. That humans have helped bring on other species’ end times is not an easy feeling to deal with. Small farms on the tattered edges of second- …
Dec 11
I started writing this on December eighth, my brother’s birthday, but also Bodhi Day, which is taken to be Gautama’s enlightenment day in the Buddhist calendar. In Japanese, this day is called ‘Rohatsu’, and it’s celebrated at the end of a week-long Zen meditation period, or ‘Sesshin’. I’ve been practising Zen meditation for 20 years …
A blog series exploring what it means to be Human in the Natural World. (Basically, a condensed version of the book ‘Darwin, Dogen, and the Extremophile Choice’.) [MANY OF THESE ENTRIES ARE ALSO TAGGED TO BE SKIPPED OVER ON A FIRST READING]
Oct 01
A blog series of poems and commentary asking the question “Can love of Natural systems ever be personal?” (The answer is yes, no, and maybe.)
Jun 04
[If you came across this post in the TWO BUDDHAS sequence, it’s a diversion that belongs with the main sequence of uncategorised posts; just skip it and go on to the next post.] Many of us are trying to make sense of the desperately apathetic response to the greatest challenge of ALL human history revealed …
Aug 28
The average citizen doesn’t follow science close enough to appreciate the threat of climate change, let alone study science close enough to sort truth from misinformation in today’s social media free-for-all. It is the responsibility of government to pay attention to experts, to set policy according to their advice, and to tell constituents the truth. …
