Atlas of Political Correctness

An appreciation of Cloud Atlas. (Spoiler alert!)

I recently happened across the 2012 film "Cloud Atlas", which must be one of the baggiest films ever made. Even reading the plot on the Wikipedia page leaves one befuddled. Yet it was great fun to watch, clearly an actor's feast and treasury of tropes and cultural references, six films packed into one. It is typical for science fiction films now to have huge ambitions and let plots go wild, sacrificing coherence for short-term motivation and effects. No reference to 2001 here- that would have been a harsh comparison, and overly optimistic.

The ensemble of actors get to play many roles, some have parts in each of the six stories set in different time periods. But no one crosses type. The good characters are always played by one set of actors, the bad guys by the other set. Nurse Noakes of the prison-like nursing home, in an inspired bit of cross-dressing, is played by Hugo Weaving, who also plays the killer Bill Smoke and the future executioner Boardman Mephi, among others. This helpfully keeps at least the good-guy/bad guy valence coherent, even as the rest of stories hop-scotch about wildly in time and place.

And what places! There is a matrix-like high-tech future dystopia, and even more dystopian low-tech lord-of-the-flies future beyond that, a seventies streets-of-San Francisco, Victorian shipping, wartime England, and the present. A grab-bag of well-worn settings, vivified by enthusiastic acting and propulsive, if perforated, plots.

Everything is confused. This DVD cover hints at the sprawling mess the Wachowski brothers attempted to bring to the screen.

So what is it about? Each story has a basic good versus bad armature, whether of vast world-spanning oppression countered by a Zion/Keanu Reeves-style resistance, an oil industry plot to blow up a nuclear reactor, countered by a journalist, or an evil Hugh Grant who tries to lock up his brother in a nursing home, which the latter escapes in a crazy escape and chase sequence. The various worlds / times are tenuously linked by readings from their respective pasts. The farthest future uses a climactic speech from the Zion-like resistance as its scripture. The Zion resistance watches the nursing home caper for entertainment. And so forth. The real connections, however, are the politically correct tropes of contemporary movie making. The heroes are all good, the villains are all bad, and each is ready identified (cue music) whatever the age we may be in.

The relentlessness of this good/bad dichotomy easily knits the whole thing together even without an identifiable plot, yet is also a glaring philosophical weakness. We watch movies to be uplifted and gain some hope in a difficult world, and generally expect and deserve a happy ending. But films such as these prompt the question of why... Why are bad people so common throughout the ages? Why do they dominate epoch after epoch, world after world, when every single person in the audience is cheering for the good characters, not the bad? Isn't there something deeper to be said? Indeed, isn't this easy, Zoroastrian / Manichean dramatic dichotomy damaging to a mature understanding of the world and of ourselves?

If we simply cheer for the good, and from such flacid moral exercises believe we are good, doesn't that lead right to the moral blindness that these movies try so strenuously and earnestly to "address"? Doesn't it contribute to various unwoke blindnesses like white priviledge and American exceptionalism? Unless we interrogate our own involvement in evil, the needs and compromises we routinely make, which lead through the many white-washed, green-washed, and theo-washed institutions of greed and tribalism to all the bad effects we decry in the world around us, we have not gotten very far.

• Language of fascism.
• Our position as most feudal country in the developed world.
• Lessons in Ebonics.

The Silicon Age

This magical element brings us the modern age- in computation, and in power.

In geologic terms many regard the current epoch as the Anthropocene, based on our various far-reaching (and often obscene) effects on earth's biosphere and geology. But where are we in the sequence of cultural epochs, starting from the stone age, and continuing through the bronze and iron ages? This somewhat antiquated system of material culture-based divisions seems to have petered out with the iron age, about 500 BC. What came after? There was certainly a technological hiatus in the West (and perhaps elsewhere) around the dark ages, where iron remained the most advanced material, though one might make a case for concrete (a Roman invention, with extensive use in antiquity), glass, or porcelain as competitor, though the latter never had the broad impact of iron.  The industrial age was perhaps founded on steel- the new material that brought us well into the twentieth century, until we hit the atomic age, an age that did not age well, sadly, and seems to be headed for the scap heap- one that will be radioactive for eons.

Now we are clearly indebted to a new element- silicon. That it is the magic ingredient in computers goes without saying. But now it is also providing the power for all those computers, in its incarnation as solar cells, as well as light for our lives, as efficient LEDs. It is incidentally intriguing that silicon resides just one row down, and in the same column, from the central element of life- carbon. They have the same valence properties, and each have unusual electronic properties. For silicon, its magic comes from being a semiconductor- able to be manipulated, and in switchable fashion, from conducting to insulating, and back again. A magic that is conjured by doping- the peppering-in of elements that have either too many valence electrons (phosphorous; n for negative) or too few (boron; p for positive). Too many, and there are extra electons that can conduct. Too few, and there are positive charges (holes) that can conduct similarly.

Charge and electrochemistry across the p-n junction.

At the interface between n and p doped zones something amazing happens- a trapped electrical charge that forms the heart of both transisters and solar cells. The difference in composition between the two sides sets up conflicting forces of diffusion versus charge. Electrons try to diffuse over to the p doped side, but once they do, they set up an excess of electrons there that pushes them away again, by their negative charge. Holes from the p doped side likewise want to migrate over to the n doped side, but set up a similar zone of positive charge. This zone has a built-in electric field, but is also insulating, until a voltage going from p to n, which squeezes this zone to smaller and smaller size, making it so narrow that charge can flow freely- the diode effect. The reverse does not work the same way. Voltage going from n to p makes this boundary zone larger, and increases its insulating power. This, and related properties, gives rise to the incredibly wide variety of uses of silicon in electronics, so amplified by the ability to do all this chemistry on precisely designed, microscopic scales.

Solar cells also use a p-n doping regime, where the bulk of the silicon exposed to the sun is p-doped, and a small surface layer is n-doped. When a photon from the sun hits the bulk silicon, the photoelectric effect lets loose an electron, which wanders about and meets one of two fates. Either it recombines with a local atom and releases its photon energy as infrared radiation and heat. Or it finds the p-n junction zone, where it is quickly whisked off by the local electric field towards the positive pole, which is all the little wires on the surface of solar panels, taking electrons from the n-doped surface layer. The p-n interface has a natural field of about 0.6 volt, which, when ganged together and scaled up, is the foundation for all the photovoltaic installations which are taking over the electric grid, as a cheaper and cleaner source of electricity than any other. Silicon even plays a role in some battery technologies, helping make silicon-based solar power into a full grid power system.

Solar power is scaling to provide clean energy.

Silicon gives us so much that is essential to, and characteristic of, the modern world. Like carbon, it is very abundant, not generally regarded as rare or precious. But that doesn't mean it lacks interest, let alone importance.

• Green hydrogen- a way to use all that excess solar.
• Generic drugs from India and China: rampant fraud.
• Meanwhile, an outstanding article describes the slow destruction of US pharmaceutical and public health capabilities.

The Music in my Head

Brain waves correlate with each other, and with cognitive performance.

This is a brief return to brain waves. Neural oscillations are low-frequency synchronized activity of many neurons, from the low single Hz to 50 or 100 Hz. They do not broadcast information themselves, as a radio station might. Rather, they seem to represent coalitions of neurons being ganged together into a temporary unified process. They seem to underlie attention, integration of different sensory and cognitive modes, and perhaps subjective "binding". A recent paper provides a rare well-written presentation of the field, along with a critical approach to correlations between waves coming from different places in the brain. They also find that strength of oscillatory coupling correlates with cognitive performance.

The issue they were trying to approach was the validity of cross-frequency coupling, where a rhythm at one frequency is phase-coupled with one at a higher frequency, at some integer difference in frequency, like 1:2. (In other words, harmony was happening). Such entrainment would allow fundamentally different cognitive processes to relate to each other. They study two different types of correlation- the straight frequency coupling as above, and a phase-amplitude coupling where the amplitudes of a higher frequency oscillation are shaped to resemble a lower frequency wave. This resembles AM radio, where the high-frequency radio signal "carries" a sound signal encoded in its rising and falling amplitudes, though its frequency is completely stable. This latter form of coupling was more difficult to find, analyze, and in the end failed to have significant functional consequences, at least in this initial work.

Cartoons of cross-frequency couplings (CFC, aka harmonies) that were investigated.

The authors' first goal was to isolate gold-standard couplings, whose participating waves come from different locations in the brain, and do not (respectively) resemble contaminating similar waves inherent in the complementary location. After isolating plenty of such cases, they then asked where such phenomena tend to take place, and do they correlate with function, like performance on tests. They used resting brains, instead of any particular task setting. This makes the study more reproducible and comparable to others, but obviously fails to offer much insight into waves as they are (if they are) used for critical task performance. Resting brains have an ongoing hum of activity, including a well-known network of waves and frequency couplings called the default mode network. Going past the authors' statistical analysis of maximally valid correlations, they found a variety of "hubs" of cross-frequency coupling, which had an interesting nature:

"In α:β and α:γ CFS, the α LF hubs were observed in PFC and medial regions that belong to the default mode network [29] or to control and salience networks in the functional parcellation based on fMRI BOLD signal fluctuations [94–96]. This is line with many previous studies that have found α oscillations in these regions to be correlated with attentional and executive functions [14–19]. In contrast, the β and γ HF hubs were found in more posterior regions such as the SM region and the occipital and temporal cortices, where β and γ oscillations are often associated with sensory processing"
Alpha, beta, and gamma are different frequency bands of neural oscillations. CFS stands for cross-frequency coupling. LF stands for the low frequency partner of the coupling, while HF stands for the high frequency partner or source. PFC stands for the prefrontal cortex, which seems to be a locus of relatively low frequency brain waves, while the sensori-motor (SM) regions are loci of higher-frequency activity. This is interesting, as our brains are generally filters that gather lots of information (high frequency) which is then winnowed down and characterized into more abstract, efficient representations, which can operate at lower frequency.

And does more correlation in the resting state mean better brain performance when doing tasks? These authors claim that yes, this is the case:

"CFS between θ–α with β–γ oscillations (θ–α: β–γ CFS) and CFS between β and γ oscillations (β:γ CFS) showed significant positive correlations with scores on Trail-Making Tests (TMTs), which measure visual attention, speed of processing, and central executive functions, as well as with Zoo Map Tests, which measure planning ability (p < 0.05, Spearman rank correlation test, Fig 8). Intriguingly, negative correlations with the test scores were observed for CFS of α and β oscillations with higher frequencies (α–β:γ) and for γ:Hγ CFS in the Digits Tests measuring WM performance.
...
These results suggest that in a trait-like manner, individual RS CFC brain dynamics are predictive of the variability in behavioral performance in separately measured tasks, which supports the notion that CFC plays a key functional role in the integration of spectrally distributed brain dynamics to support high-level cognitive functions."
RS refers to the resting state, of the subjects and their brains.

It is exciting to see this kind of work being done, gaining insight into information processing in the brain. It is an opaque, alien organ. Though it houses our most intimate thoughts and feelings, how it does so remains one of the great tasks of humanity to figure out.

• For fun, what do these frequencies sound like?
• We still need answers.
• ... not a corrupt whitewash.
• The fat blue line.
• Plus a few lies.
• Tables are turning.
• How did all these little Hitlers pop up?

Eating the Wild Things

Despite humanity's long tradition of eating wildlife, it is high time to rethink it as a practice. 

The coronavirus outbreak certainly gives one pause, and time to think about what we are doing to the biosphere and to ourselves. It also makes one wonder about the wisdom of killing and eating wildlife. I have been reading a book about a different disaster, the struggles of the crew of the ship Essex, back in 1820. This Nantucket-based factory ship was hunting whales in the middle of the Pacific when, in an ironic, yet all too-rare turn of events, a huge male sperm whale rammed and sank the mother ship as the smaller whaleboats were out killing its relatives. Months of drama, extremity, and cannibalism ensue, (for the humans), after which a fraction of the crew survive to tell the tale. It seems to us now bizarre, and beyond wasteful, that street lights in Nantucket were lit with whale oil, and that people would sail all over the world's oceans just to kill whales for the oil in their heads and blubber. Humans have an instinct for survival, and for the most concentrated source of various goods, and, whether under the colors of capitalism or simple greed, think little of externalizing costs, no matter how brutal and far-reaching, whether eating each other, "fishing out" some rich source of food, causing extinctions, or setting Charles island of the Galapagos ablaze in an inferno (another episode that occurs in this ill-starred history). One must be "hard" in this business of living, after all.

Well, we can do better. Now, two centuries on, we are still abusing the biosphere. Some ways are new, (climate change, plastics, insecticides), but others are old, such as over-fishing. Factory ships are still plying the great oceans of the world, vacuuming up wild animals so that we can eat them. And not just do they derange whole ecosystems and litter the oceans with their waste, but they also kill a lot of innocent bystanders, euphemistically called "bycatch"- sea turtles, albatrosses, dolphins, whales, etc. Albatross populations are in steady decline, from very low levels and heading towards extinction, for one main reason, which is the fishing industry.

This simply has to stop. It is a tragedy of the commons, on a collossal scale, all for the atavistic desire to eat wild animals. Human overpopulation, coupled with technology, means that no wild animals stand a chance in an unregulated environment- not in Africa, not in Brazil, and not in the international oceans. We are killing them by a thousand cuts, but do we also have to eat them, as the final indignity and form of waste?

If we want to save the biosphere from utter impoverishment, humanity needs a change of heart- an ethic for keeping the wild biosphere wild, rather than running it like so much farmland, or so much "resource" to be pillaged, whether "sustainably" or not. Obviously, eating meat at all is a fraught issue- ethically, and environmentally. But surely we can agree that wild animals, and wild ecosystems, deserve a break? Conversely, where we have so screwed up ecosystems by eliminating natural predators or introducing invasive species, we may have to kill (and yes, perhaps eat) wild animals in systematic fashion, to bring back a functional balance. Go to town on feral hogs, boa constrictors, Asian carp, etc. (But try to do so without poisoning yourselves and the evironment with lead.) The point is that we are stewards of this Earth now, like it or not, and ensuing generations over the next hundreds and thousands of years deserve an Earth with a functioning biosphere, with some semblance of its original richness.

• Lying is a weapon of war.
• It's the same old Pakistan.
• Astronomers take a whack at the virus.
• What to do after the protests. And then prohibit public employee unions from corrupting political campaigns. And then prohibit all other special interests from corrupting campaigns as well, for good measure.