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Evolution is basically just applied game theory. Protein synthesis is basically nanotechnology which is basically self-replicating information systems. Combine the two and you can explain just about everything about living systems.

You can learn these two relatively simple concepts in a few days. Everything you learn about biology afterwards will be filling in details. Most students who spend years in biology classes understand neither.

If you learn the game theory behind evolution, you will understand much more than biology. Human psychology and behavior, individual, social, economic, and political can be understood as a set of iterated game theory scenarios. You cannot truly understand history or society until you can see them in terms of game theory principles.

In markets with well-defined property rights, there is a trend towards synergy of explicit and implicit motivations. For example, Apple, BMW, or Wal-Mart want to make stuff I want, and they are usually rewarded for making stuff I want. There is also synergy between the values of producers and consumers — both Apple and I want to make stuff I want.

In politics, there is a trend for reverse-synergy between explicit and implicit values. Politicians and bureaucrats may want to fix poverty, pollution, corruption, and terrorism, but they are rewarded for making all these things worse. The worse the problem becomes in the voters mind, the larger the politician’s power and scope for action. The more efficient a democracy, the more it tends to reward those who re-direct resources away from problem-solving activity and toward towards vote-generating activity. In an inefficient or indirect democracy, someone who is a good problem solver can win though the support of a minority which directly rewards success, whereas in a popular democracy, the ability to get votes will tend to triumph over the ability to achieve campaign promises.

What most people fail to understand is that the intentions of politicians and voters are irrelevant – whether they are good or evil, the outcome depends only on what kind of behavior is incentivized. Studies show that most voters are altruistic, not selfish — and this is very destructive. Selfish voters tend to vote based on their own evidence and reward problem solving. Altruistic voters tend to vote based on campaign platforms, have no empirical basis to evaluate a candidate’s proposals, and no incentive to follow up on outcomes.

• Late 2013: The media reports that organized crime, tax evaders, and “terrorists” are using Bitcoin.
• Early 2014: Politicians call for investigation of claims that Bitcoin is being used to facilitate illegal activities. The rhetoric is ratcheted up over the course of the year.
• Late 2014: Bitcoin transactions have grown exponentially for several years. The world’s established financial institutions cannot compete with the lower costs of unregulated financial markets and pressure governments to act.
• 2015: Western governments raid and shut down all the major BitCoin exchangers and effectively kill the currency. Operators are put away for lengthy sentences, while others are found to have cooperated with authorities for some time.
• 2020′s: Bitcoin (or something very much like it) revives on a small scale as an underground currency and slowly grows over the next two decades.
• 2020-2030: The US empire collapses. The EU has already fallen.
  China tries, but fails to replace the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. People hoard gold, but governments prevent it from being effectively used as money.
• 2030′s: 3D printing takes off. Established industries attack unlicensed home printing as a violation of their IP. The major non-affiliated (“pirate”) pattern markets are blocked from handling financial transactions, and for a while, a pirate industry matures.
• Late 2030′s: Something very much like BitCoin resurges. This time, it has a killer app: micro payments for 3D printing patterns. Ubiquitous encryption prevents governments and corporations from monitoring transactions and hoarded gold provides the base for monetary exchange.
• 2040′s: With much of the economy being conducted in unregulated 3D pattern markers and most transactions being conducted over BitCoin, the tax base collapses.
• Late 2040′s: Governments seize fiat-denominated savings in a desperate power grab, but fiat money is now worthless compared to an untraceable currency like Bitcoin. Governments attempt to seize real assets to replace lost income, but are met by large-scale protests backed by homemade 3D printed weapons. Mass chaos and violence follows.
• 2050′s: Stability re-emerges, as new judicial systems evolve backed by anonymous transactions. Large states become increasingly irrelevant.
• Late 2050′s: The last stand of centralized governments: politicians call in the military in an attempt to rebuild the surveillance state and kill digital currencies for good. Assassination markets, long used in organized crime, are turned against politicians, as the populace fights back.

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See also:

“….IT security specialist David Veksler and writer Tim Swanson discuss alternative digital currencies currently being developed and deployed including cryptocurriencies like Bitcoin and Litecoin. In addition, cyber security and hacking issues in China are reviewed.”

See the PDF for the document signed by our doula and midwife. Text below:

Summary:

We are so excited to welcome our little girl into the world and look forward to working with you during this special time! It is our intention to have an unmedicated natural delivery without intervention of any kind. My husband David will be coaching me through my labor. We also have a Doula, Alison, who will be with us throughout the birth to support us further and help us achieve the best experience we can given our circumstances. As natural unmedicated births take great commitment, relaxation, and concentration to achieve we hope that you will be respectful of our needs for a comfortable environment. By this we mean a calm, quiet, dimly lit room, with few interruptions. I wish to have freedom of movement and to eat and drink as needed during my labor and delivery to help me assume a comfortable relaxed state. I plan to use various natural methods of pain relief; please do not offer me any pain medication during my labor.

Stage One:

• I understand that monitoring is necessary, but I would prefer it to be done as little as possible. I am happy to have a vaginal examination on arrival at the hospital. After my initial exam I would like to limit my exams to every 6 hours to prevent the introduction of infection into the birth canal. When status checks are required I prefer the use of a speculum only, no gloved hands.
• My husband and are strongly opposed to the use of ultrasound technology. If the baby needs to be monitored please use stethoscope or fetoscope monitoring only.
• It is our position that labor is best and safest when it is allowed to begin and commence on its own at its own pace. To that end we are opposed to striping the membranes or early rupture of my membrane, or any other natural or unnatural methods of inducing or augmenting labor.
• I’d like the option of returning home if it is determined that I’m not in active labor.
• I understand that it is common practice in your hospital to administer a heplock upon admission, to facilitate optimal comfort I’d rather forgo it. Feel free to ask me to sign a waiver.
• Based on our research we find Cytotec (aka. Misoprostol) to be a dangerous drug, we will NOT accept its use under any circumstance. We will be happy to sign a waiver to this effect.
• If augmentation is necessary, I would like to try non-pharmacological methods before resorting to meds. If my midwife, OB, and I agree that pitocin is required, I request that it be administered following the low dose protocol and increased in intervals no closer than every 30 minutes, allowing my body an appropriate amount of time to adjust to each dose increase.

Stage Two:

• I plan to be as active during the pushing stage as possible, including choosing productive positions. I have scoliosis so please allow me to determine what is comfortable for me given my unique anatomy.
• It’s important to me to listen to my body throughout this experience. Please allow me to determine when to push and for how long. It won’t be necessary for me to have counting or cheerleading although positive encouragement and status updates are always welcome.
• I would like to be allowed to progress free of stringent time limits as long as my baby and I are doing fine.
• It is my preference to allow for natural perennial tearing rather than have a routine episiotomy.
• During crowning please inform me of when to stop pushing and provide perennial protection in the form of counter pressure to help prevent/minimize tearing.
• Should an episiotomy be deemed medically necessary because I or the baby is in emergent distress it is my preference to have median episiotomy.

Stage Three:

• Upon delivery please place the baby on my abdomen. I hope to allow for immediate breastfeeding if the umbilical cord length allows.
• Allow for a natural breast crawl by the baby rather than a placed latch. Current research is showing that baby achieves the most optimal latch this way.
• We aspire to have a natural delivery throughout including the delivery of the placenta. Please do not tug on the umbilical cord or rush the delivery of the placenta. Breastfeeding will be established as soon as nature provides to facilitate uterine contractions. If placental delivery needs to be moved along because of medical concerns first try natural methods before moving to more aggressive tactics.
• Under the very rare circumstance that I should need a blood transfusion I want to receive a transfusion directly from my husband. He and I share the same blood type.
• Barring emergencies please allow my husband to cut the cord and have final say over when the cord can be clamped. We believe that delayed cord clamping and cutting will give our baby the best start in life by allowing her to have full blood volume. No clamping until the cord stops pulsing and has lost all color.
• Please allow for skin-to-skin contact for our family for several hours before providing non emergent care to our daughter. We feel this is an important time for family bonding and to establish breastfeeding.
• We hope to keep the placenta so please save it for us.
• After I deliver the placenta please do not administer routine pitocin, only if it is determined to be medically necessary and you have exhausted non-pharmaceutical options first.

Baby Care:

• As very involved parents with nontraditional views we want one or both of us by our child’s side at all times, even in an emergency.
• We do not want the administration of drugs including ointment to the eyes, vaccines, vitamin injections, pacifiers, bottles, etc. We do have vitamin K drops that we would like administered to our daughter instead of the standard injection. One drop containing 500 mcg should be administered every other day per The Cochrane Collaboration’s recommended oral dosing schedule. We will be happy to sign a waiver to forgo any of these standard procedures.
• When bath time arrives please bathe our baby with water only, no soap. Sponge off blood or fluids with water and rub in vernix. Vernix is the best lotion nature can provide!
• It is our intention that our daughter receives breast milk only, no formula, sugar water, or water under any circumstances.

If Caesarean is Required:

• Please allow my husband to be with me through the entire procedure. If our baby is in distress my husband will accompany the baby and I would like my doula to stay with me for support until the procedure is complete.
• I wish to have a two-layer closure rather than a single layer closure. This will hopefully be the first of several births to come and it is my understanding that a two layer closure will best facilitate a VBAC for subsequent children.
• I’d like the baby to be given to my partner as soon as she’s dried, if appropriate.
• If the baby is healthy I hope to breastfeed my baby in the recovery room.

We Appreciate Your Support in our Birth Experience. Thank You For All That You Do!

The main cause of violence in America is that America has a culture of violence. It is everywhere — in our movies, cities, laws, and homes. It is not the weapons themselves nor any admiration for the weapons that is responsible for our worship of violence, but the fact that almost everyone believes that conflicts of interest are inherent to human interaction. Today, violence and destruction are more deeply seeded in our culture than ever before in the history of America. It is instilled in us when we grow up in violent households, go to violent schools, face violent peers, and experience the politics of violence as adults.

By “violence” I do not refer primarily to crude physical violence, although there is still plenty of that. I refer to the violence done when any parent, schoolyard bully, teacher, policeman, preacher, government bureaucrat, or politician says: “you must do this or else.” I refer specifically to the philosophical worldview implied in that statement: that human values inherently conflict with each other, and therefore men must extract values from each other by force.

The only thing necessary for the violence to end is for people to recognize that there is no conflict of interest between rational men. Everyone, from parents to businessmen to judges must accept the fact that men should and can gain values from each other by voluntary exchange rather than force. We must fully accept, integrate, and apply the simple idea that force is not a moral or practical means to gain the cooperation of other people.

If we raised our children to believe this for the first few years of their life, the violence in our homes, schools, laws and foreign wars would end.

The full, resting squat position

I first learned about squatting through “Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way” book. Squatting is one of the exercises the book recommends to build muscles for birth as well as an alternative birthing position. What most people knows as “squatting” is the partial squat — where only the ball of the foot touches the ground. This position cannot be held for long because it requires continual muscle tension. For the full “resting” squat, you must plant your feet flat on the ground with your buttocks resting on the backs of the calves. Try it. You feel off-balance, right? That’s because a life of sitting on chairs and wearing shoes with heels (including most men’s shoes) has shortened your Achilles tendons and left many muscles underdeveloped.

While “civilized” people who have office jobs and read blogs rarely squat, it is still very common in the developing world. In China (where I live), you will often see people squatting while working or eating. The majority of people across the world also squat on the toilet. Is that because they don’t have money to pay for western-style toilets and chairs?

Squatting for health:

from http://www.bengreenfieldfitness.com/2012/04/why-you-should-squat-to-poop/

Actually, it turns out squatting offers numerous health advantages for all kinds of activities. First, you must realize that human beings did not evolve to sit on chairs and toilets. This matters because the unnatural position we use while eating and defecating sitting down causes various health problems including:

• Appendicitis
• Bladder Incontinence
• Colitis and Crohn’s Disease
• Colon Cancer
• Constipation
• Contamination of the Small Intestine
• Diverticulosis
• Gynecological Disorders
• Endometriosis
• Hysterectomy
• Pelvic Organ Prolapse
• Rectocele
• Uterine Fibroids
• Heart Attacks
• Hemorrhoids
• Hiatus Hernia and GERD
• Pregnancy and Childbirth Issues
• Prostate Disorders
• Sexual Dysfunction

Yeah.

Squatting for birth:

Squatting also happens to be the ideal position for birth. Lying down to give birth is a very recent “innovation” due to the replacement of midwives with doctors in the last century. Lying flat for birth reduces blood flow to baby and placenta, increasing the risk of fetal distress, whereas squatting maximizes the spaces between the pelvic bones and puts pressure on the cervix. Unfortunately, after a life time of sitting and wearing heels, most women cannot maintain a squat without extensive exercise.

Squatting for back pain:

About a year ago, I went to a social event which required me to stand while talking to people for several hours. Although no exercise was involved, the effort of just standing for an extended time caused such a strain in my back that I was in pain for weeks. Most adults have experiences some sort of back pain and assume that this one of the costs for the privilege of walking upright. In fact, the reason back pain is so common in the West is because we spend most of our time sitting or reclining rather than walking and squatting.

Farewell to the chair?

So we need to change our ideas about birthing position and toilet design, but what about chairs? Chairs for common use (rather than as thrones for public display) only because common with the European Renaissance.

I’m not an expert in ergonomics, but I suppose that sitting in a chair certainly has practical benefits. It allows for a better view of the surroundings, better access to operate machinery, and probably requires less calories. Are these benefits relevant to the modern office worker plugged into on a computer terminal all day? I don’t know. The important thing is not to rely exclusively on the chair (or couch or bed) to support one’s body. Ultra-comfortable ergonomic designs work against us when they allow the muscles that support the back and neck to atrophy. Every now and then, you must let your muscles and tendons do the job they were designed for.

“Mais où est Dieu dans tout cela?”
“[Sire,] je n’ai pas eu besoin de cette hypothèse.”
- Pierre-Simon Laplace

If you ask a pre-modern, pre-scientific person why he believes in God, he would probably mention the need to explain some natural phenomena, living or geological, or perhaps offer some ontological justification. If you ask a modern person, you are likely to get an explanation in terms of social goals – the need to justify or discourage various kinds of actions and attitudes.

If you ask a pre-modern, pre-democratic person why there needs to be a State, he would probably mention some specific purpose such as the need for defense against foreign threats. If you ask a modern person about the need for a government, he would probably first mention the need to enforce certain socially desirable activities and prohibit undesirable ones.

It seems to be that the justifications offered for religion and the State today are essentially the same. People believe that (1) an agent is needed to create and enforce the desired “natural” order and (2) that this agent is immune or excluded from the conditions giving rise to this need.

For example, it is believed that all entities require a creator, but the creator is excluded from this requirement. Likewise it is believed that people cannot peacefully coexist without a monopoly on the use of force, but that the States themselves can coexist without a single ruler over themselves.

If you offer a religious person a naturalistic basis for ethical behavior, or a natural explanation of the universe they will usually not try to disprove your argument on an empirical basis, but ask you to refute their arbitrary claims. For example, they will say that life itself is not a valid basis for a moral theory because it does not include a justification for their ethical doctrine (sacrifice, altruism, etc). Likewise, the instability of empty space due to vacuum energy cannot be a justification for the universe because it does not explain their version of “theological nothingness.” Arbitrary claims like this are impossible to disprove by empirical evidence. What argument can be given to someone who dismisses what we know to be true because it conflicts with what he wants to be true?

If you explain to someone who supports the State how a non-monopolistic, private agency could better accomplish some state-run function, they will usually not refute the argument directly, but ask you to refute their arbitrary assumption that only a coercive, monopolistic agency can full-fill that role. For example, if you explain why a private education would function better, they would not address the evidence directly, but ask how those who have neither funds nor charitable support could obtain an education – as if the State-run system is funded by magic, without either funds or electoral support. Their basic assumption is that voluntary cooperation is not possible to human beings in meeting certain kinds of values – but that the State is exempt from that same requirements.

The purpose of the above is not to convert the uninitiated but simply to point out how two popular memes have adapted to the Age of Reason by evolving from empirical to non-empirical, non-testable justifications.

Our bodies have been shaped by our environment to make the best of the resources available to us. Our genotype (the DNA) only develops a healthy phenotype (our body and mind) in response to the environmental inputs it evolved to thrive in. The trouble with our modern, industrial lifestyle is that it is very different from the environment our bodies evolved to thrive in.

As a result, most of us are plagued by chronic illnesses that our ancestors never dealt with. If they survived childhood illnesses and accidents, our primitive ancestors could expect to live almost as long as us without the help of any modern comforts.

What are the sins of the modern lifestyle?

• We eat terrible, non-human food: our bodies are adapted to handle a diet of mainly whole animal carcasses, leafy greens,nuts & berries, whereas modern man eats a diet full of grains and starches – full of carbohydrates that were a rare delicacy for primitive man.
• We evolved to eat whatever food is available and to handle occasional fasts no to gorge ourselves multiple times a day on substances engineered to directly trigger our pleasure hormones.
• We evolved to tone our bodies with hours of daily activity, but today we fight every exertion with door to door transportation.
• Most people who try exercise programs follow stressful, repetitive and boring workouts which can be counter-productive and do not match the natural workouts our bodies adapted to.
•  We evolved to handle occasional intense stresses (chasing prey and escaping predators) but we are overwhelmed with constantly stressful modern workplaces and hectic schedules.
• The substitution of a physiologically proper diet with highly processed modern foods and toxic, synthetic sweeteners has destroyed our health as well as our sense of taste: we can no longer taste or appreciate the natural sugars and flavors in many foods.

So, why Paleo?

• Eat stuff your body is adapted to thrive with
• Rediscover the natural taste of foods
• Get the athletic body your ancestors had