It has been worse and it can get better!

In 2019 a book was published entitled Epidemics and Society from the Black Death to the present. It was written by Frank M Snowden.  It is fascinating to learn that only half a century ago two infectious disease departments of renowned US universities were closed under the misguided belief that their job was done.  The fact that we are now in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, rates of measles and mumps are rising and even newer infectious diseases are appearing should shake us from that previous complacency.

Snowdon’s book suggests that infectious diseases, over history, have shaped society in ways that are as critical as other crises such as wars, revolution, famine, shortage of water, or economic collapse.  Given that, perhaps we need to give this topic a great deal more attention.  A table can help to put it in historical context (see below).  It certainly indicates that pandemics have been around a long time and highlights how deadly the Justinian plague, the Black Death, and the Spanish Flu were compared to all the rest.  It is salutary to realise that those who survived the killing fields of World War I also endured the deadly Spanish flu that followed it.  In case we thought our present generation was particularly blighted by disease it is worth remembering humanity has seen much worse days.      

A quick look at the WHO disease outbreak page today,  provides an urgent wake-up call. The war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo is suffering from more than Ebola (fatality rates of 90%). There is also a measles outbreak, and a circulating strain of polio that mutated from the live, weakened one in the oral vaccine. It is worrying to discover that the old enemy of humanity, plague broke out in Madagascar in the last five years. It is endemic in that country, but has been successfully brought under control by the concentrated efforts of International bodies and local government.  It is worth understanding the vocabulary used in discussing diseases.  I have to confess I only recently understood the difference between endemic, outbreak, epidemic, and pandemic.  For something that has impacted us all on so many levels, it is worth understanding these words precisely.

Between March and July of 2021 there has been an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus in Saudi Arabia.  Although only 810 deaths have occurred, this disease has an eye-watering fatality rate of 35% (Covid 19 is around roughly 2.5%).  In reading the information about this outbreak the WHO declares (WHO)

“Food hygiene practices should be observed. People should avoid drinking raw camel milk or camel urine, or eating meat that has not been properly cooked.”

You are no doubt relieved to hear that your personal risk of catching this disease from eating camels or drinking camel urine is low!  Camels can be easily avoided by most of us, but don’t feel too relaxed this MERS-CoV has demonstrated the ability to transmit between humans too. Indeed other species of animals and creatures are also perfectly capable of spreading diseases to humans.  Monkeys are responsible for the Monkey B virus with a horrendous fatality rate of 42%. Well, I say responsible but if we didn’t hunt, keep, kill and eat such animals we might be fine.  Bats are responsible for horrid diseases with huge fatality rates ranging from Marburg virus at 50% to the Nipah virus with a 75% rate.  Worryingly even the tiny simple Tsetsy fly can cause the African Sleeping disease which has a 42.5% fatality rate.  The cute sounding Dear mouse can cause Hantavisus pulmonary syndrome with a fatality of 36%.  Not to mention bird flu whose fatality rate is also in the region of 20-40%.  Then finally, to freak everyone out there is the Brain-eating amoeba which lives in warm fresh water and enters our body through our noses and results in a 95% fatality rate.  I suspect your feeling of relief at the start of this paragraph has just about dissolved by now.  

There is of course good news on many fronts and I’ll just mention three. 

• When the world collaborates and works together to fight a deadly virus, as in the case of Smallpox, it is incredible what the world can achieve. This virus caused 500 million deaths in its last 100 years of existence but a united humanity managed to eradicate it in 1980.  However, it did take 200 years from the discovery of a successful vaccine for this to happen.  The signs are that the world has been able to speed up this process considerably as shown by the recent Covid 19 pandemic.  However, without a unified approach communities left unprotected from any disease are not only more vulnerable to this disease but also provide a perfect breeding ground for new variants/viruses which can undo all that has been achieved. 

• The other good news is the range of treatments now available for so many of these contagious diseases and this has helped reduce the fatality statistics mentioned earlier.  Providing good timely medical treatment is such a no-brainer we should be supplying it to every human being in need. We should certainly not be allowing immune systems to be weakened through lack of food or access to safe water.  Prevention is not only extremely cost-effective it helps us use our medical interventions in a more targeted way.

• It is excellent to know that our own bodies have a system of defence that is truly breathtaking.  Our immune system has huge groups of cells designed specifically to defend the body from illness and infection. These are crack troops designed to fight pathogens, viruses, bacteria, and mutated cells that seek to do us harm.  We actually have two separate armies to defend us one innate and the other acquired through previous exposure. One army is excellent at attacking quickly, the second is battle-hardened troops who have successfully fought this enemy before.
  
  
  

        

Keeping your immune system functioning normally, via the right nutrition, is a simple preventative step that makes so much sense (mayo clinic advice).  Researchers have also found considerable evidence that positive emotions boost the immune system, while negative emotions act to suppress it. 

        The more you think about the human body and how all the major organs work to keep it healthy perhaps a similar pattern is necessary in a world community working to address the important problems we face.  Diseases can shape societies as history has shown but they also force us to think globally as one people on one planet. 

“The bedrock of a strategy that can engage the world’s population in assuming responsibility for its collective destiny must be the consciousness of the oneness of humankind.” 

Bahá’í International Community

Recalibrating in Dangerous Days

I sit and breathe deep. I think of all those we have loved and lost these days. Has not all thought become strangely recalibrated? It feels like one of those seismic moments when the atomic bomb exploded, ‘Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds’. 

The poor have suffered disproportionately. Refugee numbers have swelled as the fear of fleeing is outweighed by the danger of staying in areas afflicted by conflict, famine, or drought. In response, the wealthier nations have pulled up the skirts of their borders to avoid being besmirched by the hordes. Old racial, religious, national, and sexual prejudices have harmonized with the selfish preoccupation finding vogue. Fashions fly in and fly out, but who would’ve thought that while we face a global pandemic these old poisonous siren calls would lure us onto familiar rocks once again. 

We’ve lost 3,9 million citizens, so far, to this new virus and yet there is little soul-searching as to the lessons learned.   Older problems causing even greater numbers of deaths each year are usually largely ignored. 

• Globally, at least 2 billion people use a drinking water source contaminated with faeces. We shouldn’t be surprised then that 850,000 of them die each year because they have no clean water.

• Nine million die each year in this world from hunger. 

• Seven million die each year from smoking. 

• Three million die every year from the consumption of alcohol. 

• At least 2.8 million people die each year as a result of being overweight or obese. 

• 4.6 million die each year just from air pollution. 

We have money-making industries that thrive despite causing millions of these deaths each year and I fear it is viewed as merely collateral damage. 

Nations have shown a perverse greed to protect only their own during this pandemic, allowing others to die from a simple lack of oxygen or access to a vaccine. There are lessons needing to be learned about how corruption plagues society. Of how even personal protection equipment can become a moneymaking endeavour for those with the wrong perspective but the right connections. How much money marshalled to face this pandemic threat has been swiftly side-tracked into the coffers of those whose greed exceeds their integrity. I fear we are suffering from a moral decay that has been eating into the vitals of human society for some time. It has lowered humanity’s immune response and as a result, opportunistic cancerous elements have been given free rein. 

Yet, I have a hope that the younger generation has a clarity the older population may have lost. They are not afraid to make the changes that we, who have been moulded for decades by this system, cannot. Whether it is admitting climate change, addressing injustice, or simply wanting transformative decisions on gun control, I find myself respecting this younger generation more and more. Astonished at how much they understand and how clear their thought processes are. Not tied into toxic habits that have twisted our own mindset. They are more united and more in touch with each other. They question these false gods of consumerism, materialism, and all the other ‘..isms’ that have dictated so many of the poor choices we have made. 

The world is tired of words it wants actions. It requires deeds that show we have found a way to live moral, responsible lives that contribute to the health of both this world community and our precious planet Earth

The Philosopher's stone turning copper to gold, thousands of years of endeavour

It’s been said that there are three signs of the coming of age of humanity. 

• transmutation of the elements - a scientific break through were every element can be made to acquire the density, form, and substance of each and every other element
• one universal language and script will be chosen this will be the cause of unity, and the greatest instrument for promoting harmony and civilisation.
• kingship, no one will accept to bear the weight of kingship. Kingship will remain with none willing to bear alone its weight. This will be a sign of wisdom among mankind.

The hunger for gold goes way back.  Tombs have been discovered in 1973 along the lower Danube valley in Bulgaria which turned out to be the largest and most ancient assemblage of gold artefacts in human history.  

Dated from the 5th Millennium (4560-4450 BC) there were 3000 gold pieces among 62 grave sites.  Obviously, mankind has long had a yearning for gold.  There is something about this shiny metal that retains its exciting golden glow despite burial, time or even being submerged at sea.  There are reasons so many cultures around the world used gold as their form of money.

Aristotle (384–322 BC) (who knew a lot!) defined the characteristics of a good form of money:  He reckoned it should have four characteristics. 

1. It must be durable. Money must stand the test of time and the elements. It must not fade, corrode, or change through time.
2. It must be portable. Money hold a high amount of 'worth' relative to its weight and size.
3. It must be divisible. Money should be relatively easy to separate and re-combine without affecting its fundamental characteristics.
4. It must have intrinsic value

Obviously gold satisfies all these important criterion.

Such was the desire for this metal that from the Bronze age there has been the practice of alchemy - a quest to transmute base metal like lead into gold.  Indeed in the third century BC Greek and Jewish scholars were able to study ancient scripts on alchemy in the great library of Alexandria.  Although most of these alchemists were charlatans who claimed falsely the ability to transform base metal in to gold, many were actually also wonderful chemists and scientists including Robert Boyle, Paracelsus and Isaac Newton.  Tradition said that the transformation could be carried out by the use of the Philosopher’s stone, a dense red waxy substance that, it was thought, enabled transmutation of lead to gold.  

In fact so worried did people become about alchemy, laws were routinely passed banning it. 

Pope John XII issued a papal bill against counterfeiting currency by means of alchemy in 1217.  King Henry in 1403 banned alchemy in England.  Warnings about the Philosopher’s stone are found in the Canterbury Tales, published in 1478 (“any man may come upon that stone, I say, as for the best, let it alone”).   

Hunger for gold was pretty universal but can have dire consequences.  In 1532 when the Spanish arrived in Peru, the local Incas thought they were Gods and offered them gold as gifts.  The Incas referred to gold as the “sweat of the sun”. There is an account of the response such gifts had on the Spanish invaders from an Inca account. 

“They picked up the gold and fingered it like monkeys; they seemed to be transported by joy, as if their hearts were illumined and made new.  The truth is that they longed and lusted for gold.  Their bodies swelled with greed and their hunger was ravenous, they hungered like pigs for that gold.”

The Spanish Conquistador Franciso Pizarro captured the Inca leader Atahual and demanded a ransom of a roomful of gold for his release.  Despite gold flowing in huge amounts Pizarro reneged on the deal and put Atahual to death anyway.  The exquisite priceless golden artefacts were melted down into bars to be sent back to Spain. In addition, within  a few decades of the Spanish arrival, thanks in large part to the diseases they brought, the 16 million population of Peru was reduced by 93%.  The Spanish desire and hunger for gold had disastrous consequences for the native population of South America.

Perhaps the Philosopher’s stone was really Cinnabar, mercury II sulphide which was used in gold processing.  It certainly had the right colour.  

Cinnabar, mercury II sulphide

Mercury reacted with the gold in rocks to form a mercury-gold amalgam which was then heated, vaporising the mercury to obtain the gold.  It certainly did not transmute the base element into gold but its ability to extract gold from ore made it very popular and must have been an impressive sight.  Unfortunately, the fumes of the mercury were highly toxic and caused shaking, loss of sense and finally death to those exposed.  Being sent to a gold mine was a dangerous occupation as a slave and their lives were all too short.

The desire for gold has long afflicted governments as well as individuals.  In 1933, the president of the US, Franklin Roosevelt, outlawed the private ownership of gold coins, gold bullion and gold certificates of American citizens forcing them to sell all that they had to the Federal Reserve.  Those who did not sell their gold would receive a penalty of $10,000 and/or 5 to 10 years in prison.  The Federal reserve bought the gold for $20.67 per ounce and their reserves went from $4 billion to $12 billion as a result of the initiative.  The price of the gold also surged to $35 per ounce creating an instant profit for the government.  Fort Knox holds 2.3% of all the gold ever refined throughout human history.  

Fort Knox

Our hunger for gold is perhaps most clearly highlighted by the scale of one of the largest gold mines in the world. 

The Grasberg Gold Mine in Indonesia

Back to the seemingly ridiculous hunt for the philosopher’s stone and achieving the mythical goal of transforming base metals into gold. The problem is that every element has a certain number of protons defining it as Carbon, lead, Mercury etc.  Each element’s atom contains a set number of protons (positively charged) in its nucleus and an equal number of electrons (negatively charged) surround it.  For example, gold has 79 protons, copper has 29 protons, mercury has 80 protons and lead has 82 protons. So normal chemical reactions which involve only the interaction of outer electrons in various bonding arrangements with other elements were never going to be capable of transmuting one element into another.  The nucleus despite the heating, mixing, burning, boiling strategies, reactions with other chemicals was never going to change the number of its protons. That essential essence which defined the element, its very heart and soul, the nucleus would remain unaltered despite centuries of the best minds throwing themselves into the task.  For years we have, in fact, sniggered at these charlatans, the alchemists, and felt a vague embarrassment that such famous names as Isaac Newton or indeed Thomas Aquinas, could have wasted their considerable talents at such a dead end task.

The truth is far more startling.  Modern science has demonstrated the existence of radioactive substances.  These unstable substances are continually irradiating their surroundings with radiation in various forms of alpha particles, B-particles and gamma rays.  Those alpha particles are like charged chunks of the nucleus being thrown out.  The B- particles are fast moving electrons which come from deep inside the nucleus not from the outer shell electrons and the gamma rays are high energy beams of electromagnetic radiation (light, X rays, radio waves are all part of the electromagnetic spectrum but the gamma rays are the most powerful and carry the most energy).  So these elements automatically transmute.  

You find them naturally in the earth’s crust. Long-lived radioactive elements such as uranium, thorium and potassium and any of their decay products, such as radium and radon are examples. If you live in an area of granite you will be exposed to higher levels of radon, a radioactive gaseous element.  Some of these elements transmute slower than others.  In fact some have what we call half-lives (the time it take for half of the initial quantity to transform into a new element) of a tiny fraction of a second to others  like Tellurium-128 (128Te) with a half-life estimated at 7.7 x 10²⁴ years.  This is much more than a billion times longer than the current estimated age of the universe.  So by losing parts of their nucleus these can transform into other elements which are lighter than the original element.  

The one we are most probably aware of is uranium because it is used a fuel in many nuclear fission reactors.  Uranium 235 has a half live of 703.8 million years but by firing neutrons at an atom we can trigger a fission of the atom which divides into two other radioactive particles Krypton and Barium which releases more neutrons which triggers more fission of uranium 235.  This run away process can be controlled by having water or graphite to soak up excess numbers of neutrons and keep things running so that the amounts of energy produced can be used to produce electricity in a sustained controlled chain reaction.  We discovered that a change in the nucleus can be triggered by firing neutrons at elements and blasting apart the original element.  

This transmutation is happening not only in our nuclear reactors.  It has been estimated that 90% of the heat of the Earth’s interior is fuelled by decaying radioactive isotopes like Potassium 40, Uranium 238, Uranium 232 and Thorium 232 within the mantle of the earth. The world is obviously weirder than we can imagine!

But back to the creation of gold from base metals. Yes, It is indeed possible—all you need is a particle accelerator, a vast supply of energy and you can make gold. More than 30 years ago nuclear scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in California succeeded in producing very small amounts of gold from bismuth, a metallic element adjacent to lead on the periodic table. After mockery of those alchemists down through our turbulent history we can now announce that base metal can be turned into gold!  

The group used carbon and neon nuclei at incredible speeds and slammed them into foils of bismuth.  When they examined the results they found some atoms of Bi originally with  83 protons had lost four protons and become Gold with 79 protons.  In March of 1981 the Physical Review C journal published their exciting results. However, the amount produced was so small and the expenditure of energy to achieve it excessive.  Lest this seems churlish after achieving the long sought for conversion of base metal into gold, let’s put it in financial terms in the Scientific American journal’s words on January 31, 2014.

“Glenn Seaborg, who shared the 1951 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work with heavy elements and who died in 1999, was the senior author on the resulting study. “It would cost more than one quadrillion dollars per ounce to produce gold by this experiment," Seaborg told the Associated Press that year. The going rate for an ounce of gold at the time? About $560.”

Note: one quadrillion dollars = 1,000,000,000,000,000 dollars

So instead of getting closer to philosopher's stone we seem to have taken one big step forward and an even bigger one back.  We can now make gold out of base metal but it will cost much more to make than it is worth.  Disappointing I know, but science is getting closer than we think to an even more exciting goal that could change all that.  

The goal of nuclear fusion reactors is to try and bring together nuclei not blast a nucleus apart.  That releases huge amounts of energy and would create no radioactive waste as a by product unlike nuclear fission.  In fact, a couple of buckets of sea water a day would supply the world’s energy needs if nuclear fusion is achieved.  The interior of our sun regularly achieves fusion of the lighter atoms like hydrogen atoms  into helium.  Heavier metals like gold are only produced when a massive star reaches the end of its life in a supernova - the largest explosion that can take place in space.  In one way that is positive, nature has proven it possible but the conditions under which it happens is pretty extreme.  In order to turn copper into gold fission will simply not do.  Gold has 79 protons but copper has only 29 protons.  For that transmutation to take place nuclear fusion is necessary. So, if we can get fusion reactors to work we would be able to provide fuel for all the world’s needs and make as much gold as we like.  Mind you, if we we crack that fusion target and choose to use the energy to make gold it will probably reduce the value of gold itself.  After all, It is the rareness of an element that creates its value.

 the Wendelstein 7-X (W7X) stellarator

We are tip toeing closer to that goal of a working nuclear fusion reactor.  "Scientists at the Max Planck Institute in Germany have successfully conducted a revolutionary nuclear fusion experiment. Using their experimental reactor, the Wendelstein 7-X (W7X) stellarator, they have managed to sustain a hydrogen plasma – a key step on the path to creating workable nuclear fusion. " This was achieved earlier this year and another contender in Southern France (involving 35 nations) using a different approach is the ITER Tokamak which runs at temperatures 10 times that found in the core of the sun. The technology is advancing and it is hoped a fusion reactor will become the next big break through in energy production.  It is strangely comforting that being able to unite elements rather than divide them could bring a healthier and safer world.  It hints that unity among nations could likewise usher in a real transmutation of our global society even more elusive than turning copper into gold.

Spiritual illness, assaulting us all

It has been lovely having visitors in Malta. The island worked its magic and my mum’s lung infection healed in three days after having had three weeks of suffering in Northern Ireland. My mum and aunt are regular visitors, popping over in spring and autumn for usually three weeks. They are both over 80 full of energy and good humour. As we live in Sliema, they have instigated their own SAS style training. One day they will walk to George’s beach by far their favourite direction and the next day they head off to the Point and then around to the direction of the Black Pearl. They are creatures of habit and only stop twice. Once for ice cream and once for a large cappuccino. Walking from 11:30 AM to 4:30 PM is made more sustainable by regular bench stops and all their endeavours are fuelled by constant chat. You’d think after eighty years these two sisters would've said everything they had to say before now but even late at night they lie in bed laughing and reminiscing. Four years of such visits have become a lovely routine of life and they are touched by the huge ice creams served by the Maltese. “I like lots of ice cream”, my mum informs them. Huge towers of ice cream are obligingly constructed by easy-going shop assistants. There must be something about these two smiling ladies that brings out the goodness in most folk. But not all!!

This year their visit was somewhat marred by unexpected events and I feel duty-bound to expose them because I fear they are happening to other elderly in our communities. When walking at Saint Julians up the pavement from MacDonald's a young tall English man shouted, “Excuse me, Excuse me!” and pushed his way past as he raced through the crowds. My mother was shoved into a nearby wall and the damage to her forearm was considerable. 

The Englishman didn't stop to see the fruits of his rudeness and was already pushing others ahead shouting “Excuse me, Excuse me!”  I’d like to think that if he’d seen the painful results of his lack of manners, he would've been horrified at what his thoughtless action caused . I'd like to think that, but I'm not sure. 

Later in the week I took my mum and aunt to Gozo and they loved the bus tour of the island. It was the return journey that caused challenges. Waiting for the 222 bus from the ferry to Sliema, a crowd of young people raced up and down the pavement next to the bus stop. They obviously felt that with the odd car/taxi parking in spots they would be better positioned to get a seat on the bus by being in the right place. So herds of people ran from to one spot  to another only to move again when the cars/taxis cleared. Knowing my aunt and mother would not be able to stand for the whole bus journey I began to feel a frisson of fear.  They suddenly seemed so much more vulnerable in this frenzy of activity. The bus came and the driver stopped almost in front of my aunt and mother. I was relieved to see my mother enter safely but within a few seconds a group of people surrounded us and with much pushing and shoving fought to get on the bus. My poor aunt was practically lifted off her feet by the press of the mob. Despite my best efforts to shield her, the momentum of the crowd pushing to get on board could not be held back. Shouts from the bus driver had no effect and my fear grew. My aunt was carried along by the crowd and was terrified and in some pain. The pressure only eased when two dozen of the most anxious to board had pushed past and grabbed seats. When I was able to follow her on board, all the seats including those for the elderly were taken. I found my mother seated and the seat beside her occupied by a large German man. Approaching him I asked if my aunt could sit beside my mother. He told me he was saving the seat for his wife who had yet to get on board the bus. I remonstrated with him that due to my aunt’s age she could not afford to stand all the way to Sliema. He replied in a determined fashion that his wife was 65 years old. I found myself in an awkward conversation with a complete stranger where I pointed out that an eighty-year-old should have priority over 60-year-olds. Reluctantly, he rose to allow my aunt to sit but sullenly and with great sighs of annoyance. 

I know it is probably just me but do general everyday manners seem in short supply these days? Have the elderly among us become like canaries in the mine flagging up the toxic nature of society’s selfishness? I'm not sure where I'm going with this but surely society makes rules to protect the vulnerable, the young, the sick and the elderly. It does so because our civilisation is built on such principles. They are the bedrock of our society and speak of the priorities that should be in place for all members of the community. Bad manners undermine that foundation. The insidious selfishness that fuel such behaviour has to be tackled. All of us have to set ourselves higher standards. Acts of kindness fuel the same in others but harmful selfishness can also become endemic to a society. We must guard against such infection as it is a sign of spiritual illness and influences all who are its victims even those who observe it and come to see it as normal.

It reminded me of two seemingly unrelated incidents.  I taught animal management for three years in a College in Northern Ireland.  One lesson was on animal abuse and we covered the new legislation that if for example a dog is admitted to a vet's with clear signs of abuse there is an obligation for the vet to inform social services immediately.  Why?  Because there is now a known link between cruelty to dogs in a home and cruelty to children in the same home.  The person who mistreats a pet will usually have no qualms about abusing children under their roof.  In fact the link is so strong that authorities are using the treatment of pets to flag up those danger zones for children.  

My second point was a neighbour of ours in Rhodes, Greece.  He was an architect and he called at our door one evening as his mother-in-law had badly injured herself and he had decided to move her into his flat until she recovered.  Unfortunately, they lived on the third floor and there was no lifts. He had called because he wondered if one of my sons could help him lift her up the stairs.  My son Lewis, was delighted to oblige and only complained that their staircase steps were too small for his feet.  It is hard having size 12 feet and being over six foot when you are only 14.  This architect was involved in the tree planting association on the island and also would feed all the cats in the neighbourhood on a daily basis.  My father teased him one day, watching him put out piles of dried cat food at the street corner while cats ran in great numbers from all directions.  My father shouted from the balcony, "Well, you have earned your place in heaven!"  To which the elderly architect replied with a smile, "perhaps I will be allowed in cat heaven anyway". The thing which shouldn't have surprised us was that the person who cared about the environment, cared about his family and about the animals in his neighbourhood also was kind to his neighbours.  

These things have ever been linked.  Just as our cruelty radiates out to all in our vicinity (including our pets) so too our inherent kindness illumines those we come into contact with.  May you be that light for those around you.

"Words must be supported by deeds, for deeds are the true test of words."

Baha'i Writings

Reader - final installment

This is the fourth of a science fiction series ( to read the first three click on hyperlinks below)

Reader part 1

Reader part 2

Reader part 3
Reader part 4

Masters in Intuitive ability ‘Readers a social history’ – by Cherry Godwin

(published postumously -  in her memory)

It has long been cited that readers emerged as a byproduct of brain transplant technology. According to Wentzky (2024) by not replacing the entire brain organ it allowed the brainstem of the recipient and the transplanted brain to communicate. This rudimentary brain communication contributed to the development in offspring of telepathic abilities, Smith and Stevens (2027). These studies have fuelled some to dismiss those who develop intuitive tendencies as genetic errors, medical mistakes or even as waste byproducts. Of course, the scientists involved in such transplants have clearly argued that such gross simplifications are an erroneous distortion of the facts.

They have instead concentrated on the insights, the reader’s ability, brought to neuroscience in general. The stigma suffered by readers was nothing new. The inquisition/expulsion/targeting of ‘the different’ had historical parallels in terms of race/religion/disability.  Historically speaking, this ever-enduring fear of others has given rise to not only persecution but numerous wars for millennia. Race riots, religious clashes, the growth of terrorism and a growing divide between the rich and the poor fuelled upheavals right up to the beginning of the 22nd century.  The situation might have escalated further had it not been overtaken by two external events which decimated human society.

1.   The pandemic on a global scale changed human interactions both socially and internationally. The loss of life had not been experienced since the Spanish flu of 1918 that killed 40 million. One early impact had been a social isolation that became necessary to avoid contagion. Almost no aspect of human interaction was left unaffected. Even the handshake that most primitive of greetings (developed to restrict the sword arm of your potential enemy) did not survive. Communities became more rural as larger numbers perished in urban settings. International travel became less common.

2.   Severe climate change sped up the pace of this deterioration in transportation. Due to sea levels rising, more than had been predicted, coastal regions including almost all the worlds major ports (Hubs of cargo transportation) were inoperable. Speeding up of the earth’s engine meant there were more intense storms/dust/volcanic eruptions/earthquakes/droughts and floods. The atmosphere (Due to holes appearing in the ozone level) no longer protected the population from increased UV rays. Nor did it aid communication systems as solar flares regularly knocked outside satellites. Even communication at microwave level (WiFi) was impacted.

These global changes transformed society. The fear of others combined with poor communication systems and poor transport routes triggered the rise of opportunistic political groups. Scientists called for a rational approach to the challenges but were seriously damaged by the discovery that climate change had been fuelled by the very technology developed in their ranks.

Social anthropologists on recognizing the changing structures of human society began groundbreaking studies of the grass root communities beginning to emerge. Such close social groups, isolated in rural settings, began to exhibit customs and mannerisms that reminded the researchers of much older tribal societies. Not only, much more self-subsistent in nature but also demonstrating increasing social interaction at the micro-community level. Many published papers showing parallels with pre-industrial tribal groups.

In a society where seas became the main barriers between communities the emergence gradually of three Superstates (named after the three seas that separated them) seemed organic. Technologically society developed in scientific hubs and progressed quickly. Scientific knowledge had not been lost during pandemic and climatic changes. Careful data storage meant that when scientific communities could flourish (as in Superstate funded Hubs) the explosion of technological breakthroughs startled everyone. Transplant technology was just one field, which benefited from these hubs but there were others. In fact, it was precisely due to the massive restructuring that scientific cross discipline collaboration became rampant. This brought new fields of research. One such crossover between fields was between neurologists studying brain transplant development and those social anthropologists investigating new community dynamics. When presenting results of readers telepathic abilities in close proximity to others, anthropologists pointed out that in some very close-knit communities of non-readers there seem to be a growing intuitive link between members who had prolonged exposure to each other. This included sensing of moods, being aware of small and subtle changes in behaviour or habits. This coincided with a dramatic drop in suicide rates. It almost seemed as if social isolation could be inversely linked to the health of the community.

One social anthropologist pointed out that in ancient tribes if a witchdoctor cast a spell on a troublemaker within the community the following social exclusion would invariably cause the victim subjected to such isolation to die. The neurologists wanted to know if isolation had been linked to suicides in other societies. Exposure of such a link became evident in many societies from the rural isolated Australian outback areas in the 21st-century to elderly living in inner-city areas of France. 

Neurological studies of twins, highlighted instances of links built up via genetic similarities and close proximity in the womb. Again it repeated and reinforced earlier studies that actually brain communication was a result of enough close physical exposure.  Brains were evidently designed to communicate in huge swathes of ways that far exceeded our previous understanding. Science’s inability to spot such phenomena was largely a result of ‘not looking’. Once attention was turned to this feature, all sorts of evidence began to emerge. When females live in close proximity, their menstrual cycle is quickly gets in sync. Couples who live together in close proximity for many decades flagged up coincidence of thoughts and insights that were just milder versions of the readers abilities. The brain’s plasticity continued into adulthood and enabled unexpected linkage.

It was soon demonstrated that intuitive links developed in communities and between individuals was actually a healthy community in operation. In fact, isolation and the lack of such contact was not only unhealthy but in some cases deadly. Studies of human brain communication began to let the scientific community put readers back into a continuum of mainstream abilities. Instead of being caricatured as medical waste, they were in fact exhibiting skills that human society needed to cultivate quickly. Living in a close-knit community was as important as a healthy diet. Such genuinely close-knit groups are more welcoming of others. This embracing of individuals, despite their abilities/or lack thereof was indicative of a society in the process of development. That intuitive ability allowed each member to learn from and contribute to their betterment of their society. In this environment social exclusion of readers by Superstate’s such as Pacifica could be seen as flawed as earlier ideologies supporting genocide. 

To choose to reject others led to to exclusion. Whatever steps taken in that direction began to descend into a sliding form of apartheid. It inevitably begins focused on one specific group but soon morphs into targeting more and more as unwanted. In fact, the question becomes less, ‘Who do we not want?’ but more, ‘who will we retain?’. Even those who supported the exclusion policies initially can find themselves in later years the target of these same expulsions. Such piecemeal dissection of society creates fear and confusion.  In these divided and fearful societies leaders become disproportionately empowered and corrupt.

In deciding which direction to take for the future, perhaps there are parallels to be found in the biology that gave rise to readers in the first place. Early organ transplants including heart, lung limbs etc involved heavy-duty immune suppressant medication to avoid rejection of the new organ. This had major side-effects and impacted considerably recovery statistics.  Eventually, science uncovered an effective solution. The Tissue Generated Linkage Technique (TGLT) which did away with the need for immune suppressants.  This involved recognizing that that it was the interface between donor organ and recipient that caused most of the problems.  By growing in situ manufactured tissue that diluted boundaries, the body could be fooled into accepting the new organ.  Organ rejection was all but eliminated and transplant technology proceeded at an incredible pace.

Brain transplants became possible and although highly controversial were carried out. The question of the hour was, ‘which was the human’. The brain being given a new body or the body, being given a new brain. Legislation was of the opinion that the higher organ (I.e. the brain) would have to be perceived as the human host. When the existence of the brainstem of the donor body became evident the legislation had to be revisited. If there are two sentient beings in the one body, which one constitutes humanity.  Before legislation could even be formulated science showed how quickly the new brain and brain stem began to communicate and indeed act as one. Such evident synchronicity seemed to preclude viewing them as separate entities. The brain sections, instead of competing to dominate each other, evidently approached proximity as a means of establishing a multitude of communication channels. Including the development of high-level neural linkages that neither had ever created before. It would seem rather than otherness or rejection of a foreign organ, the brains choose a more creative and inclusive path. Reaching out to this new organ with curiosity and openness.

This responsiveness of both parts of the brain to totally new possibilities of communication is perhaps an indicator of the general path an ever-advancing civilization should take. Inclusion, clear communication, working for the progress of the whole system, all of these, our brains indicated must be the priority.  Surely, when we contemplate the future of humanity these lessons must be embedded in all our interactions.

When killing is the best option

Murderers are a breed apart, one thinks.  Who in their right mind would take the life of another person?  Are they monsters? Do they not appreciate the preciousness of life, any life.  Yesterday, I had no sympathy whatsoever for those who take way that most fundamental human right, existence.

What changed my mind?  An incredible film entitled, ‘Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father’.  It is a documentary that chronicles the appalling confusion that followed the murder of a young doctor by an ex-girlfriend.  It is a film that touches your heart on so many levels and you know right from the start it will have no happy ending.  However, there is a scene where the victim’s father berates himself that he did not murder the ex-girlfriend.  He described how he planned it, thought through the method, how he would carry it off.  Instead of being appalled you, like me, will find yourself also regretting he did not carry out the killing.  On so many levels, it would have been just.  It would have saved yet another innocent life, apart from his son’s, it would have left him incarcerated for murder but undoubtedly it would have been the right thing to do.  His anguish comes from the fact that he did not commit a murder.

I reckon by now you are shocked that I am recommending murder as a just action.  Can there be any justification for such a step?  Well, think about it.  Imagine someone you loved, God forbid, was horrifically viciously killed at the hand of a sadistic killer.  Conjure up not only the unbearable loss of the person who makes this world joyous, but also factor in that the one who snuffed out that precious life is walking around free.   Perhaps you will even meet them in the supermarket.  You will have to wait from 1- 6 years (an average of four) before even the nightmare trial occurs.  Every day they walk free upon the earth while your loved one rots beneath it, lash upon your soul.  The justice system expects you to be civilised and await the cogs of justice to turn, to give them their sentence.  Meanwhile you must weigh up if you can swallow the impossible, endure what cannot be born, be patient and long suffering.  

Well, the honest news is you probably will do your best.  No one likes vigilantes.  Society requires laws.  The framework that upholds civil society and stops a chaotic free for all.   The even greater loss of life that revenge killing triggers.  Just because someone takes a life does not justify a reciprocal action.  The difficulty is those rational arguments will struggle with your own heart stopping pain.  If it becomes unbearable you will crack.

In my local town, in N Ireland, a young grammar school boy was playing in the school grounds when two older teenagers jumped the wall and beat him so badly he was left permanently brain damaged.  He had done nothing to instigate the attack, no provocation, no history of ill feeling.  Just two vicious thugs who thought it would be fun to beat the uniformed boy to a pulp.  They were subsequently sentenced to 6 months in juvenile detention.  A year later, the father of the severely disabled schoolboy met the two attackers giggling as they passed him in the main street of the town.  He went home and wept his pain, howled his anger to the skies but took no revenge.  Would you be able to do the same?

Years ago a friend of mine was subjected to horrific domestic abuse on the Greek island where we lived.  When she left to find sanctuary her husband was so enraged he punched me through my car window.  Filling assault charges in the local police station, availed nothing.  It would be years (and was) before it would be heard in court.  Meanwhile my friend and my family were vulnerable to this local bully.  Talking on the phone to my seventy-year-old mother in NI she became very concerned about the seriousness of the situation.  She also was alarmed that my young children might be targeted in his tactics of intimidation.  She then announced that if he killed me, she would be on the next flight to take him out.  I was amused at the venom in this tiny white haired ex-teacher who had never even committed a traffic offence.  I took her statement purely as an expression of her love and concern.  So it was startling this summer, when I found myself during a visit questioning her on whether she would have indeed carried out the murder.  My now, eighty two year old mother confirmed that there was absolutely no doubt about her carrying out the killing.  She was deadly serious!  I found it disconcerting because she is a warm loving righteous person.  So, if such a person can contemplate murder how many good souls rot in prison because the intolerable happened to them and killing became an easier option that letting a perpetrator live?

If our justice system acted efficiently and promptly such issues would rarely arise.  The shocking truth is that murder trials take years and in those years there are often more deaths and more pain.  

In Belgium, Marc Dutroux was convicted for car theft, muggings and drug dealing.  This was only the start of his criminal career.  He went on to the abducting and raping five young girls.  He liked to torture his victims and keep them in cages in his home.  When convicted for this crime he got a prison sentence of thirteen years.  Unbelievably, he was released, wait for it, for good behaviour after serving only three years.  This despite his own mother writing to the prison director to say he would continue to kidnap young girls if released.  Which, of course he did.  Inevitably, he kidnapped, tortured and sexually abused six more girls from 1995 to 1996, ranging in age from 8 to 19, four of whom he murdered.  The incompetence of the judicial system and the police in their handling of the killer brought 300,000 people onto the streets of Brussels in protest.  Despite the public call for judicial reform, Dutroux was held in prison without trial for a further 8 years!  He claimed he was part of an elite paedophile ring involving judges, police and parliamentarians.  Not bringing him to trial would obviously protect those other shadowy characters.  However, he was a killer and how much can we trust this vile man?  The delay was so long there was a discussion that Dutroux might have to be released as his human rights had been denied him.  Okay, are you feeling murderous yet?  Imagine how the parents of those violated, tortured children felt?  To rub salt in the wound, in 1998, Dutroux while was being moved from prison he managed to escape police custody for several hours.  Right by now even the gentle soul among you must be boiling in rage about now?  Fortunately, he was caught and is back behind bars.  His wife is free.  She who was told by Dutroux to feed two caged girls in their home and their dogs, while he was in prison.  She decided to feed the dogs but not the girls and they starved to death.  She now walks the streets of Brussels and those parents who have lost their innocent children know it.  Do you begin to feel the red mist of rage descend?  

Well, my point here is not to enrage you but to allow you to see that all of us are capable of murder under the right circumstances.  Whether that is driven by fanatical prejudice, a desire for revenge, to protect those you love – the list is endless.  The worrying point is when the good in our midst become murderers.  Our justice system (flawed as it can be), can handle a small percentage of vile vicious killers (albeit taking forever to do it) and it can imprison those who would take other’s lives (though the US tally of 2.4 million prisoners is extraordinary). When the system is so flawed and incompetent that the victim’s relatives can find no real sense of justice you have a system that instead of imprisoning killers actually contributes to the making of more!  The bad are ever with us, but when our judicial system makes even the good and long suffering bad, what exactly is its point?

There are no easy answers.  Of course the law must be upheld.  Caracas, Venezuela is an example where ‘tit for tat’ gang killings have tortured an entire city.  In wars killing becomes the main agenda and those whose joy is to hurt, control and destroy come into their own.  In a civilised society the structure is upheld by two pillars reward and punishment.  Those who take a life need to be severely punished and it should happen quickly and efficiently.  The legal system should not be allowed to draw the whole business out into a veritable cash cow.  The urgency of justice should not sacrifice the right of defence.  Even the guilty deserve their day in court.  But the innocent need the reward of an effective court system that respects their rights too.  The dead victims and their families too often end up bit players in a main show that crucifies them slowly and methodically week after week, month after month and even year after year.

If good people begin to kill there is something very wrong.  Our legal system should be designed to deal with those who break the law, commit a crime.  It should not take the innocent and twist them until they crack and become the killers the system is designed to take off our streets.

‘Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father’ is an extraordinary film and I urge everyone to watch it.  Be influenced by it and seek to change a badly flawed system.  The wonderful parents shown in the film forge their love and pain into a cry for justice for others.  They deserve to be heard.