Page 48 - 20120708 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - July / August 2012

Beyond the Super Computer BEYOND THE hospital setting, studies show that depressed eloquent histories, elaborate tapestries, SUPERCOMPUTER: patients' avoidance cues are nearly suicidal. equestrian statues, oil-on-canvas masterpieces, Those in the throes of depression receive far and heroic friezes testifying to their battles. "It SOCIAL GROUPS AS less care than others with a more cheerful is well that war is so terrible...", said one member of this species, "or we should grow too demeanor (H. Hall, 1989; Lerner, 1980; Tavris, SELF-INVENTION 1982: 233f). fond of it." The name of that Homo sapien was What causes depression in humans and MACHINES other vertebrates? Two factors...an isolation Robert E. Lee. Beating the opposition is central even in Continued from Page 47 which signals that one is socially dispensable peaceful commercial enterprise. Two decades (Raven and Rubin, 1983: 56f; Stolzenberg et al. ago the supercomputer company led by 1995: 85; Lynch, 1979; Lynch and McCarthy, Seymour Cray seemed invincible. But Cray's Comparator mechanisms in those who feel un-needed go a step further. They produce a 1967; Lynch and McCarthy, 1969; House et al. last enterprise was shattered well before his death, the victim of a new technology, the 1988; Pelletier, 1983; Sarason and Pierce, 1988; variety of subtle and not-so-subtle signals which drive others away, thus marginalizing the victim Cohen et al. 1992: 301; Durkheim, 1951: 217, microprocessor. This superchip made possible a silicon version of what bacilli long ago evolved- 241; Martin, 1968; Phillips, 1979; Phillips and as thoroughly as the bacteria whose quest has Lu, 1980); and the loss of control which -the massively parallel computer (Verity, 1995). failed (De Vries et al. 1994: 108; Bloom, 1995: indicates that one is not capable of coping--that As Cray Computer Corporation fell, Bill Gates' 47-49, 55-56, 60-66, 110-115, 325). the hypothesis represented by one's Microsoft rose. Cray had been admirably By contrast, those of us who've "personality" is inappropriate to current adapted to the environment of the mainframe. continuously had a handle on our fate: circumstance. The result: depressive humans But Gates was a creature of a new ecology--that * are blessed with chemical tonics like androgens and serotonin, which boost health, suffer the utility sorter's most extreme negative of the microprocessor-powered personal sexual appetite, and energy (Sapolsky, 1988); effects and are those most likely to die. computer. These are small scale battles compared (Depressive monkeys, rats, grouse, and * experience heightened acuity and numerous other creatures are subject to a similar independence of perception (Triandis 1993, fate.) to those which constantly unleash their brutalities across the face of this planet. Hollander 1958, Kandel and Hawkins 1992, Zoology, ecology, history, and current affairs Herskovits 1965: 39, Ezzell 1992); * become socially captivating (Thibaut RESOURCE SHIFTERS take over where the abound with examples of competing group and Riecken, 1995; Freedman, 1979: 68; utility sorters leave off. Those who demonstrate brains using their individual members as the ability to generate or accumulate resources Hurwitz et al. 1953; Torrance 1954); and are given even more. It may be yams and pigs modules, sensors, parallel distributed processors, and information pawns, * send out variants of the successful bacterium's chemotactic "gather round and among Polynesians, copper and blankets among experimental test components in relentless follow my ways," using such devices as postural the Kwakiutl (Benedict, 1934: 178; Johnson and battles for supremacy. The largest of them, we call nation states. These collective intelligences Earle: 1987: 168f; Harris, 1978: 94-98; Harris cues, verbal subtleties (Erikson et al. 1978), 1977: 104-108; Sahlins 1986: 308), cattle have frequently reengineered their body languages (Henley, 1977; Thayer, 1989: 22; Hurwitz et al. 1953; Strodtbeck, 1957; amongst the Masai and the Xhosa (Mostert, organizational blueprints as thoroughly as the bacterial colony retooling its genome. 1992), and cash, Lamborghinis, and yachts in Freedman, 1979: 96; K.R.L. Hall, 1967: 270; the West. But most humans are inordinately Individual selectionists have two major McGinley et al. 1975; Mehrabian 1981), and drawn to the material indications of success. fallback positions to account for the otherwise status symbols (Sahlins, 1986; Veblen, 1934; Resources are shifted in great quantities Johnson and Earle, 1987: 219; Galbraith, 1976; difficult to explain--kin selection (the surrender Fraser, 1989: 50; Braudel, 1981: 333). to those like Microsoft's Bill Gates and Wal- of self to benefit those who carry genes like Mart's Sam Walton, who become the apotheosis your own) and reciprocal altruism (the In other words, the folks with the firmest of business success. People shower them with grasp on the challenges facing their group luxurious gifts. Hotels attempt to lure them with swapping of generous deeds). But a plethora of studies indicates that among humans, the become its opinion-makers. They are given the free rooms and restaurants with free meals. Men victims of elimination are the group members privilege of steering the collective mind. The bumblers and wrong-guessers either submit to and women of exceptional talent take pride in with the fewest family ties or close friends becoming members of their team. And, most (House et al. 1988; Severino, 1983; Pelletier, the leadership of others, or, if the community undergoes a severe lack of resources, succumb important, like the pay dirt striking bacteria 1983; Jarvinen, 1955; Arnetz et al. 1983; Cohen to disease or suicide. who find themselves the center of a crowd, and Syme, 1985; Broadhead et al. 1983; Berkman, 1984; Bloom, 1995: 60-65; Konner, successful humans become hubs of influence This concept and the empirical data from which it is derived run directly counter to (Johnson and Earle, 1987: 52; White, 1993; 1990: 27f; Catanzaro 1995: 393.). The self- sacrificers' pre-programmed renunciation does Freedman, 1979: 36; Bernays, 1928), the tenets of individual selectionism and current commanders of what primatologists call the not add a scrap of benefit to genes identical to neo-Darwinism. In many instances, the victims of self perceived failure damage or eliminate, social "attention structure" (Chance, 1967; their own, nor does it store up favors for the Tiger and Fox, 1971: 39f; Washburn and future. This makes accounting for the survival not only their own evolutionary interests, but also those of their kin. For example, a business Hamburg 1968: 471; Fossey, 1983: 64; of utility sorters ,and resource shifters in terms Altmann, 1967: 349). In short, their attitudes, of individual selectionism exceedingly difficult, failure can result either in suicide or other thoughts, and styles set the trend for the group. if not impossible. patterns of behavior equally damaging to both Success produces the equivalent of the spouse and offspring. The case of the bacterium's chemotactic attractant; failure Continued on Page 49 hospitalized is even more illustrative. Studies generates the counterpart of a chemotactic show that depressed patients become withdrawn repellant (Lipkin, 1995; Zullow and Seligman, NEW FROM THE MIND OF (Zuckerman, 1995), cranky, inarticulate, lacking 1990; Seligman, 1990: 187-198). As the old HOWARD BLOOM in wit, and deprived of verbal flexibility (E.E. Jones and Berglas, 1978; Paloutzian and song says, "Nobody loves you when you're down and out." Ellison, 1982; W.H. Jones et al. 1981). Even their facial gestures and body language drive THE INTERGROUP TOURNAMENT. others away (Altman and Vinsel, 1977; Raven, Everything from the subtle warfare between 1983: 253, 685; Argyle, 1989: 60; Kalin, 1993; Clore and Byrne, 1974; Gotlib, 1992; Myers colonies of sea anemones to the territorial machinations of wolf packs and the outright and Diener, 1995; Emmons, 1986; Myers, 1993; pillage inflicted by armies of ants indicates the Veenhoven, 1988; Seligman, 1990: 187-198; Bull, 1986: 121; Mehrabian and Williams, universality of intergroup strife. The forms of competition and bloodshed between troops of 1969; Kiritz 1971). The depressed also suffer monkeys or apes are nearly innumerable. And from a severe reduction of immune function. then we have those primates who have left us www.howardboom.net They become sitting ducks for illness. In a