tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post2563280277905464248..comments2023-11-22T01:14:54.298-08:00Comments on amor mundi: Animal "Uplift"Dale Carricohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02811055279887722298noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-36213615699206504972010-03-02T09:40:35.316-08:002010-03-02T09:40:35.316-08:00> Tennessee Williams, anyone?
http://www.youtu...> Tennessee Williams, anyone?<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghM5FRLj8AMjimfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04975754342950063440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-86310026639164717352010-03-02T09:26:07.999-08:002010-03-02T09:26:07.999-08:00[I]t was not too long before these rattish observa...[I]t was not too long before these rattish observations became<br />extrapolated to humans. Faced with escalating violence<br />in US cities during the 1960s, two US psychosurgeons, Vernon Mark<br />and Frank Ervin, in research funded by US law enforcement<br />agencies, argued that the riots may have been precipitated<br />by individuals with damaged or overactive amygdalae, and that<br />a potential treatment would be to amygdalectomise selected<br />'ghetto ringleaders' [:-0]. Some 5-10 per cent of US citizens,<br />they claimed, might be candidates for such psychosurgery.<br />(This magic percentage range will crop up several times in<br />what follows.)<br /><br />An indication of the candidates proposed for such operations is<br />provided by an exchange of correspondence between the Director of<br />Corrections, Human Relations Agency (_sic_), Sacramento, and<br />the Director of Hospitals and Clinics, University of California<br />Medical Center, in 1971. The Human Relations expert asks for<br />a clinical investigation of selected prison inmates 'who have<br />shown aggressive, destructive behavior, possibly as a result<br />of severe neurological disease' to conduct 'surgical and<br />diagnostic procedures. . . to locate centers in the brain which<br />may have been previously damaged and which could serve as the<br />focus for episodes of violent behavior' for subsequent surgical<br />removal.<br /><br />An accompanying letter describes a possible candidate for such<br />treatment, whose infractions whilst in prison include problems<br />of 'respect towards officials', 'refusal to work' and 'militancy'.<br />He had to be transferred between prisons because of his<br />'sophistication' . . . he had to be warned several times . . .<br />to cease his practicing and teaching Karate and judo. He was<br />transferred for increasing militancy, leadership ability<br />and outspoken hatred for the white society . . . he was identified<br />as one of several leaders of the work strike of April 1971 . . .<br />Also evident at approximately the same time was an avalanche<br />of revolutionary reading material.' To which request the<br />Director of Hospitals and Clinics replies, offering to provide the<br />treatment 'on a regular cost basis. At the present time this<br />would amount to approximately $1000 per patient for a seven-day<br />stay . . .' Cheap at the price."<br /><br /><br />Tennessee Williams, anyone?jimfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04975754342950063440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-60046351648197025232010-03-02T09:26:08.000-08:002010-03-02T09:26:08.000-08:00Unlike the present generation of cognitive enhance...Unlike the present generation of cognitive enhancers, there is<br />no doubt that Ritalin 'works', as in the testimony of the<br />children. . . quoted above, though none of these is perhaps<br />as poignant as the American child quoted in the pro-Ritalin<br />literature who spoke of 'magic pills which make me quiet and<br />everybody like me'. Children who are calmer at home and school<br />are easier to parent and to teach. However, Ritalin no more<br />'cures' ADHD than aspirin cures toothache. Masking the psychic<br />pain that disruptive behaviour indicates can provide a<br />breathing space for parents, teachers and the child to negotiate<br />a new and better relationship, but if the opportunity to do<br />this is not seized, we will once again find ourselves trying<br />to adjust the mind rather than adjust society. . ."<br /><br /><br />There is some truly appalling (at least by today's standards,<br />though not perhaps in all circles, even today) information<br />in Rose's book about the history of neuro-technological<br />interventions.<br /><br />pp. 227ff.<br /><br />"With the advent of newer technologies. . . came the prospect<br />of more direct physical intervention into neural processes,<br />always of course in the interests of the patient. A forerunner<br />was the Portugese neurologist Egas Moniz, who in the 1930s<br />developed a procedure for the treatment of schizophrenia and<br />related conditions which involved removing the entire frontal<br />lobe (lobotomy) -- later refined into doing no more than severing<br />the tracts that connected it with the rest of the cortex<br />(leucotomy). Moniz's patients were said to be calmer and more<br />tractable after such treatment, and he was awarded the Nobel Prize<br />for it in 1949. . . By 1949 some 1200 patients a year were<br />being lobotomised in Britain, whilst in the US the flamboyant<br />Walter Freeman (not to be confused with his son, the<br />neurophysiologist Walter J Freeman) demonstrated his skill at<br />leucotomising unanaesthetised patients, using an ice-pick driven<br />through the orbit of the eye, in front of -- presumably --<br />admiring student audiences.<br /><br />These 'heroic' procedures (heroism is often ascribed to doctors<br />and surgeons when it might better be restricted to their patients)<br />declined toward the end of the 1950s, when newer generations<br />of psychoactive chemicals began to be developed. However,<br />psychosurgery, as it came to be called, lived on in other forms,<br />especially in the US in the treatment both of patients in<br />mental hospitals and of prison inmates. Thus there was<br />considerable interest in the observation that removing the<br />amygdala in rodents rendered them less 'aggressive'. . .jimfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04975754342950063440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-85355929477980927282010-03-02T09:24:30.065-08:002010-03-02T09:24:30.065-08:00> [Hughes] has said that prescribing ritalin to...> [Hughes] has said that prescribing ritalin to kids amounts<br />> to "cognitive enhancement" (in case you are wondering, I agree<br />> that some parents are right to want their kids to be prescribed<br />> ritalin, but that other parents are just as right to resist<br />> such prescriptions even against the strong advice of authorities).<br /><br />Yes, Ritalin (capital "R") is a Ciba-Geigy (Novartis) trade name,<br />methylphenidate (lower-case "m") is the generic name.<br /><br />For a sober (and sobering) account of mind-modification technologies,<br />the current state-of-the-art, the history, and the prospects, here's<br />a book I've recently been browsing in: _The Future of the Brain: The Promise<br />and Perils of Tomorrow's Neuroscience_ by Steven Rose (2005).<br />(I suppose many >Hists would dismiss Rose as a pinko, but of course<br />those same >Hists might say the same thing about James Hughes. ;-> )<br /><br />pp. 258ff.<br /><br />"Because a child diagnosed with ADHD [Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder]<br />isn't seen as being naughty or deprived, he neither needs to be<br />punished nor offered social support. Instead, he becomes a<br />medical problem. . . [F]rom the 1960s on, children. . . began to<br />be treated with a drug that enhances dopamine neurotransmission.<br />This is methylphenidate (Ritalin), patented by Ciba-Geigy (now Novartis).<br />[Its] effects are rather similar to those of amphetamine. . .<br />[B]ack then, amphetamine was widely known as 'speed', and viewed with<br />suspicion, rather as Ecstasy is now. . . When methylphenidate began<br />to be prescribed. . . it was claimed that instead of acting as<br />a stimulant, it had a calming effect on ADHD children, improving focus<br />and attention, reducing disruptive behaviour and benefiting school<br />performance. At first, this was regarded as paradoxical. . .<br /><br />[Before] long it became apparent that the drug affected 'normal' and 'ADHD'<br />children similarly. . . [T]he important thing is that the drug<br />seemed to work. Children on Ritalin are said to become less fidgety<br />in class and to show an improvement in 'behavior which is perceived<br />by teachers as disruptive and socially inappropriate'. No wonder<br />that ADHD soon began to be diagnosed on the basis of school-teachers'<br />reports and was observed to show a peculiar expression pattern, often<br />remitting at weekends and in school holidays. . .jimfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04975754342950063440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-43394223641263477182010-03-02T08:08:30.694-08:002010-03-02T08:08:30.694-08:00> I would imagine that David Brin is far too kn...> I would imagine that David Brin is far too knowledgeable<br />> about the history of science fiction to labor under the<br />> misconception that his are the only or the earliest works<br />> in which nonhuman animals are tinkered with so as to<br />> converse in a more or less human animal fashion in company<br />> with human protagonists in a speculative tale.<br /><br />Yes, let me offer yet another plug for a classic of the genre,<br />Olaf Stapledon's _Sirius_, about an "uplifted" dog. It can<br />be found paired with Stapledon's _Odd John_, a classic of the<br />superhuman genre, in this edition:<br />http://www.amazon.com/John-Sirius-William-Olaf-Stapledon/dp/0486211339<br /><br />I suspect that _Sirius_ offers a more sophisticated look at<br />the ethics of "uplifted" animals that most of what passes for<br />"serious" discussion of the matter.jimfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04975754342950063440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-64229734425784616412010-02-28T15:43:44.776-08:002010-02-28T15:43:44.776-08:00I got yer "Uplift" right here:
http://w...I got yer "Uplift" right here:<br /><br />http://www.luxurylaunches.com/fittings/kohlers_uplift_bathroom_cabinet_is_gadget_friendly.php<br /><br />...and even more entertainingly, here:<br /><br />http://www2.victoriassecret.com/commerce/onlineProductDisplay.vs?namespace=productDisplay&origin=onlineProductDisplay.jsp&event=display&prnbr=GK-221878&page=1&cgname=OSBRPBIOZZZ&rfnbr=4704<br /><br />I look forward to the inevitable trademark fight between the Transhumanist "Bio-Uplift" Project and Victoria's Secret, defending their "Biofit Uplift" line of bras.erickingsleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15782878667594739997noreply@blogger.com