[Paleopsych] inner judges:let's get the logic straight

Thu Dec 16 02:16:10 UTC 2004

Nazi concentration camp guards could spend
their days killing Jews and then go home to
play affectionately with their children.

Compartmentalization, perhaps to the point
of insanity.

Steve Hovland
www.stevehovland.net

-----Original Message-----
From:	Paul J. Werbos, Dr. [SMTP:paul.werbos at verizon.net]
Sent:	Wednesday, December 15, 2004 5:11 AM
To:	The new improved paleopsych list; paleopsych at paleopsych.org
Subject:	Re: [Paleopsych] inner judges:let's get the logic straight

At 12:20 AM 12/15/2004, HowlBloom at aol.com wrote:

>If the theory put forth in my first book, The Lucifer Principle: A 
>Scientific Expedition Into the Forces of History, is at all correct, 
>evolution has riddled us with self-destruct mechanisms, mechanisms that do 
>away with us when we are not a part of the solution, we are part of the 
>problem.  By shutting us down, our self-destruct mechanisms shunt 
>resources to those who have a handle on the crisis at hand and snatches 
>the goods away from those who cana??t get a grip on things.   She turns on 
>those who contribute to the neural net, to the complex adaptive system, to 
>the collective learning machine-just as she hands out bio-prizes to useful 
>citizens of the iimmune system, lymphocytes and bio-punishments to 
>citizens whose specialization is momentarily irrelevant.  Evolution, 
>biology, physiology, or whatever you choose to call our stress mechanism 
>and her grim reapers do this to maximize the intelligence of the 
>collective enterprise.  In the case of the immune system, some are made 
>wealthy and vigorous, and some are made weak and imporvished so that the 
>overall system can defeat invaders.
>
>
>
>The key determiner of whether you are of value or not seems to be the 
>extent to which you feel you have control.
>
>
>
>Is the fact that,
>
>
>
>a??The pressure of meeting a work deadline can produce a sixfold increase 
>in the risk of suffering a heart attack over the course of the following 
>day. And competition at work could double the ongoing riska??
>
>
>
>an example of a self-destruct mechanism at work?  Has evolution done what 
>my second book, Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind From The Big Bang 
>to the 21st Century, claims?  Has it seated inner judges within us to 
>determine who wins and loses the competition and who is and is not up to 
>the challenge-of-the-day?  Howard
>
>
>
>Retrieved December 15, 2004, from the World Wide 
>Web 
><http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996786>http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996786
>
>   Stressful deadlines boost heart attack risk 00:01 14 December 04 
> NewScientist.com news service The pressure of meeting a work deadline can 
> produce a sixfold increase in the risk of suffering a heart attack over 
> the course of the following day. And competition at work could double the 
> ongoing risk, according to a new study.  Previous research has shown that 
> intense anger, sexual activity and emotional stress can all lead to heart 
> attacks.

There is a big disconnect between the original study or data and the 
proposed extension.

The proposed extension suggests, in effect, that folks who respond with 
zest to the challenge
of VC dominion on Wall Street will survive, while podunks out in 
Pennsylvania will die off.
But where do they have more of these deadlines she talks about?

Does not the desire to conquer and be in control -- the "Nietzscheian 
imperative" --
encourage more venting and manifestation and cultivation of angers in all 
forms?

What's weird to me is when people endorse that perversion of the human way 
of life,
and somehow claim that they are advancing the agenda of Jesus Christ.

The real question for psychology is how people can live with such obvious
glaring internal inconsistencies. At a first cut, you could call it 
tolerance of cognitive dissonance.
But there is more to it than that.

>But this is the first time having an intense work deadline has been 
>singled out as a trigger for heart attack over such a short 
>timescale.  a??This is potentially important for patients and for Swedish 
>work law,a?? says lead author Jette MA?ller of the Karolinska Institutet 
>in Stockholm, Sweden. a??Changes in the labour market organisation have 
>created more stress and people should be aware of the impact on health.a?? 
>She cites workload, lower job security and increased competition in the 
>workplace as factors.  The study questioned nearly 1400 heart attack 
>survivors from the Stockholm area, aged 45 to 70, about the period leading 
>up to their first heart attack. They were compared with a control group of 
>about 1700 people who had not had a heart attack.  The volunteers were 
>asked questions about their work over the last year and over the days 
>immediately before their heart attack. The questions included whether they 
>had been criticised for their performance or lateness, been promoted or 
>laid off, faced a high-pressure deadline at work, changed their workplace 
>and whether their financial situation had changed. Money worries  The 
>results show that intense pressure over a short period increased the risk 
>of a heart attack more than a build up of stress over an entire year, and 
>that the heart attack can follow very soon after this spell of increased 
>pressure. Amongst the heart attack group, 8% had faced a significant event 
>at work less than 24 hours before their attack.  However, long-term 
>changes also play a part. Taking on extra responsibility at work over the 
>last year - if viewed negatively by the participant - increased the chance 
>of a heart attack by almost four times in women and over six times in men. 
>And a deterioration in financial situation tripled the risk of a heart 
>attack amongst women.  Subscribe to New Scientist for more news and 
>features  Related Stories Downsizing raises risk of death in workers  23 
>February 2004  Science graduates live long and prosper  01 August 
>2003  Unfair bosses make blood pressure soar  24 June 2003 For more 
>related stories  search the print edition Archive Weblinks Social 
>Epidemiology Research, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm  George Fieldman, 
>Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College  Journal of Epidemiology and 
>Community Health George Fieldman, an expert in cognitive therapy and 
>health psychology at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College in the 
>UK, says the sixfold increase in risk caused by meeting a deadline is 
>massive, but not surprising.  He points out that previous research has 
>shown that a persona??s chance of suffering a heart attack is higher on a 
>Monday morning. He adds these studies can help to pinpoint the stress risk 
>factors for heart attacks. a??It is difficult to unpick the details of 
>what constitutes stress for different people in different situations,a?? 
>he says.  The study shows that stress at work can pose a very real and 
>immediate threat to health, Fieldman says, and adds: a??I must remember to 
>take it easy.a?? Journal reference: Journal of Epidemiology and Community 
>Health (DOI: 10.1136/jech.2003.019349)  Katharine Davis
>
>
>
>----------
>Howard Bloom
>Author of The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the Forces 
>of History and Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind From The Big Bang 
>to the 21st Century
>Visiting Scholar-Graduate Psychology Department, New York University; Core 
>Faculty Member, The Graduate Institute
>www.howardbloom.net
>www.bigbangtango.net
>Founder: International Paleopsychology Project; founding board member: 
>Epic of Evolution Society; founding board member, The Darwin Project; 
>founder: The Big Bang Tango Media Lab; member: New York Academy of 
>Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American 
>Psychological Society, Academy of Political Science, Human Behavior and 
>Evolution Society, International Society for Human Ethology; advisory 
>board member: Youthactivism.org; executive editor -- New Paradigm book series.
>For information on The International Paleopsychology Project, see: 
>www.paleopsych.org
>for two chapters from
>The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the Forces of History, 
>see www.howardbloom.net/lucifer
>For information on Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big 
>Bang to the 21st Century, see www.howardbloom.net
>_______________________________________________
>paleopsych mailing list
>paleopsych at paleopsych.org
>http://lists.paleopsych.org/mailman/listinfo/paleopsych
 << File: ATT00021.html >>  << File: ATT00022.txt >> 