Ken Christenson
Author's posts
Feb 05
A Wonk’s Pause-3 (how democracy might be reinvented with a better understanding of Humans and Nature)
[WonkPauseBreakthrough-2.0]: Unlike any genetically coadapted species, technologically adapting Human kind must comprise many variously specialised individuals, and this has profound implications for how we do politics. Genetic evolution works both upon a population’s physical traits as well as upon its behavioral traits, and we must look very closely at behaviours when we come to talk …
Dec 16
A Wonk’s Pause-2 (how a compromised Human Creativity came to be, and its consequences)
Our ‘inner-life’ has a stronger resemblance to our ‘outer reality’ than Nature’s genes have to their outer reality (organisms); so much so that our imaginations even spill over this presumed inner-outer divide as overt ‘playfulness’. Is this why we become easily ‘attached’ to our thoughts? And why we humans, as a species, cannot be trusted to merely ‘think …
Dec 13
A Wonk’s Pause-1 (how Human Creativity is a compromised redux of Nature’s Creativity)
I was at a local Green Party meeting the other day1 where we were all asked to identify ourselves and to say something about why we wanted to be involved in the upcoming election campaign. (I’m the sign delivery volunteer.) I tried to respond thoughtfully, which takes time as you know, but when this Old-Guy, …
Nov 22
Extractivism vs Adaptationism, a False Choice
As you can see from reading other postings on this website, my understanding of population evo-ecology doesn’t allow me to see humans as having a ‘place’ within coevolving Nature, not just because of the faster-than-Nature evolution of technology but mostly because of technology’s niche-transcending capacity.1 Modern humans are not a species (hence the quotation marks …
Jun 10
Tangled yet Vital Relationship between Buddhism and the Scientific Mind
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
Once you See It you Can’t Un-See It (précis)
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
Yes, I still have questions. Do you?
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 …
