Would you support the development of a “bionic” person?
Isn't a bionic person essentially a robot? So, why not? I don't really understand the point of developing a complete bionic human yet. Does it start as a real human? Is it a clone? I think the cloning issue brings up many smaller issues. I was reading about Dolly the sheep and saw she died young from what may or may not have been related to the fact that she was a clone. Cloning a complete human is irresponsible, if there are health issues involved. Well, hmm, I've been searching around the net.. and I guess I still don't fully understand what a bionic human is.
How would you rate “the control of artificial limbs by thought alone”?
That was a very inspiring article. It's like.. a physical, tangible experiment that proves we can control many things with our intent. It seems like that is obvious, if we want to close our own hand, we just do. But when artifical limbs are involved.. it seems more real. Like, yes, actually, it is us that controls our own bodies. From our hands to our health!
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Week 11
Acupuncture as effective energy medicine
http://www.acupuncture-dfw.com/energy.html describes acupuncture as "acting on the body’s own subtle energy system to clear obstructions and maximize the flow of energy and blood through the healing mechanisms of the body; including the nervous, endocrine and immune systems, which enhance the body’s own innate healing capacity and lead to an overall increase in energy and vitality."
I guess this is what is truly wonderful about acupuncture. It takes the resources we already have and just re-directs them. And that is what is great about TCM too. If acupuncture isn't enough, we have herbs to give their chemical reactions and their energy to the body. I remember seeing an "invasiveness" chart from Dennis' class. How the least invasive healing modality is meditation, and the most invasive is surgery. Acupuncture, herbs, pharmaceuticals, qi gong, etc. are all somewhere in between. It put healing modalities in a whole new light, and it made me realize that all medicine is essentially energy medicine. It all works with a range of energy levels.. from light to the energy is the densest (material) form.
What conclusions can you draw from Kirlian photography?
Michael analyzed my photograph briefly, and talked about feminine energy, deprogramming, stubbornness, and spirit guides. It was a little hard to understand what he was saying, as I've never done anything like this before. I looked up Kirlian photography on wikipedia, the research done on it, and various analyzations of it, and am completely confused by all of them. To be honest, it is hard to draw any conclusions. I think I will keep my aura photograph though, and look back on the experience with an open mind. And if my spirit guides, stubbornness, and strong feminine energy are truly present in my aura, then I am proud that is something I am projecting to the world.
Human intent as it affects health
Human intent is huge in terms of health. I know firsthand, when I used to get terrible stomach aches when I was 15, and one of the only things that ever helped was some sort of qi-gong type visual imagery that I half heard about and half made up on my own. My intent was to have a peaceful abdomen. And I would breath in white light and breath out dirty brown stuff (in my mind). Also, I remember being really little, and having the intent of being sick because I didn't want to go to school that day. I never liked lying, so I would amplify any sort of not-in-perfect-health feeling I was feeling that day, and use it as my excuse to stay home. I would usually really get sick on those days.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Week 10
I know I’m a “living system” because...
I know I'm living because I can understand myself. I can acknowledge myself with 5 senses. How do we know what else is living? Can a plant acknowledge itself? Maybe or maybe not, but it is still living. I think the term "living" really means progression. But then again, erosion is progression. Does that mean mountains are living? Are rocks living? So many questions! Not any substantial answers..
I am conscious of myself and other things, living or not. But a rock could not say the same (that we know of). So I will say I am living because I am conscious.
Biophysics and Oriental Medicine
Oriental medicine started with big ideas that summed up the basic principles of the universe. Western medicine started small and is expanding and attempting to understand itself through big principles. The more Western medicine is integrating with Eastern medicine, the more we see how biophysics has a role in Chinese medicine. We are studying the mechanisms of acupuncture and herbs, and figuring them out on a western/"biophysics" level. I see these two ways of looking at medicine as the yin and yang of the world. They may never fully merge, but they will always attempt to become closer to each other, while all the while still having individual integrity.
I know I'm living because I can understand myself. I can acknowledge myself with 5 senses. How do we know what else is living? Can a plant acknowledge itself? Maybe or maybe not, but it is still living. I think the term "living" really means progression. But then again, erosion is progression. Does that mean mountains are living? Are rocks living? So many questions! Not any substantial answers..
I am conscious of myself and other things, living or not. But a rock could not say the same (that we know of). So I will say I am living because I am conscious.
Biophysics and Oriental Medicine
Oriental medicine started with big ideas that summed up the basic principles of the universe. Western medicine started small and is expanding and attempting to understand itself through big principles. The more Western medicine is integrating with Eastern medicine, the more we see how biophysics has a role in Chinese medicine. We are studying the mechanisms of acupuncture and herbs, and figuring them out on a western/"biophysics" level. I see these two ways of looking at medicine as the yin and yang of the world. They may never fully merge, but they will always attempt to become closer to each other, while all the while still having individual integrity.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Week 9
My E-Prime Day
Today I woke up to noise at an hour of which is normally and legally considered to be 8:00am PST. I brewed some seemingly stale coffee and drank part of it before pouring it down the kitchen sink drain. I then dressed myself and walked to AIMC Berkeley, the building at which I am currently enrolled in various classes to eventually obtain a degree from. My clinic shift started at 9:30am, but as I noticed more than a few student names on the clinic sign up sheet, it appeared I had no patients to treat. I then mosied into the herb room to find a few people I would assume to call my friends seemingly talking to each other, so I sat down and listened in before interacting with them. Then I wrote down a raw herb prescription for myself and my seemingly congested chest. A classmate of mine then asked if I could insert a few needles in him for an acupuncture event, so I did just that in a small clinic room of the downstairs portion of AIMC. I observed the school day keeping on keeping on as it usually does, with what I thought of as two long classes and a break for eating lunch food in between. Bruce Robinson appeared to turn what registers to me as 74 years old today, so our class attended an event held in a room upstairs. Bruce seemed surprised to see us yelling "surprise." After school was over, I received a ride to the library from a person whom I would consider a friend. Then I walked to the BART station with a different supposed friend. Then I walked to Tully's to buy what I assumed to be good-tasting coffee beans. Then I walked to the apartment that I am currently residing in. It seemed my boyfriend had cooked us both a dinner consisting of fish, rice and broccoli. After eating, I recall observing us both eating about 8 plums each! Then I clicked on various website addresses before ordering a few different things that I would assume to make useful birthday gifts for people whom I care about. Now I am doing what appears to be typing on a web page that soon will be viewable by many.
Can I synthesize East and West?
Maybe! I mean, hopefully. I see this as a perfect goal of mine as an acupuncturist, and the ultimate goal of Chinese medicine as a whole. I think people have been saying that Eastern and Western thinking have been merging for a while now. It's exciting when you first hear it, but then you realize that it's been happening all along, just at a very slow pace. But really, I feel we are all synthesising East and west, by doing Eastern medicine in the West.
Today I woke up to noise at an hour of which is normally and legally considered to be 8:00am PST. I brewed some seemingly stale coffee and drank part of it before pouring it down the kitchen sink drain. I then dressed myself and walked to AIMC Berkeley, the building at which I am currently enrolled in various classes to eventually obtain a degree from. My clinic shift started at 9:30am, but as I noticed more than a few student names on the clinic sign up sheet, it appeared I had no patients to treat. I then mosied into the herb room to find a few people I would assume to call my friends seemingly talking to each other, so I sat down and listened in before interacting with them. Then I wrote down a raw herb prescription for myself and my seemingly congested chest. A classmate of mine then asked if I could insert a few needles in him for an acupuncture event, so I did just that in a small clinic room of the downstairs portion of AIMC. I observed the school day keeping on keeping on as it usually does, with what I thought of as two long classes and a break for eating lunch food in between. Bruce Robinson appeared to turn what registers to me as 74 years old today, so our class attended an event held in a room upstairs. Bruce seemed surprised to see us yelling "surprise." After school was over, I received a ride to the library from a person whom I would consider a friend. Then I walked to the BART station with a different supposed friend. Then I walked to Tully's to buy what I assumed to be good-tasting coffee beans. Then I walked to the apartment that I am currently residing in. It seemed my boyfriend had cooked us both a dinner consisting of fish, rice and broccoli. After eating, I recall observing us both eating about 8 plums each! Then I clicked on various website addresses before ordering a few different things that I would assume to make useful birthday gifts for people whom I care about. Now I am doing what appears to be typing on a web page that soon will be viewable by many.
Can I synthesize East and West?
Maybe! I mean, hopefully. I see this as a perfect goal of mine as an acupuncturist, and the ultimate goal of Chinese medicine as a whole. I think people have been saying that Eastern and Western thinking have been merging for a while now. It's exciting when you first hear it, but then you realize that it's been happening all along, just at a very slow pace. But really, I feel we are all synthesising East and west, by doing Eastern medicine in the West.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Week 8
Newton’s Three Laws and me
I. Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it. I kind of think of this as how when something drastic and/or powerful happens in my life, then I change. I change what direction I'm going, and I either speed up or slow down. Like how time seems to stop when a death occurs. Time doesn't really stop (or does it?), but I stop, WE stop. One is living their life in one direction at one speed, and an external force is applied, and they stops.
II. The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force acting on it and is inversely proportional to its mass. The direction of the acceleration is in the direction of the applied net force. I know this one too well. Like when I am tired and feeling lazy, it takes a lot of effort to get me off my butt. Myself really wants to be on my butt, so the heaviness and resistance is directly proportional to whichever external force is trying to get me up (say, my mind telling me it's laundry day), and inversely proportional to the mass of myself!
III. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This reminds me of when I am in an argument with someone (or have witnessed an argument), and someone starts "attacking" the other arguer on a personal level, there is always an equal and opposite re-action, an attack back on the other person.
Our “Energy Efficient” Culture
To be honest, I am still confused about the concept of energy efficiancy. I tend to think in terms of abundance, and feel like it would make more sense to work with the energy needs/wants of the world, instead of turning against them and attempting to "conserve" as much as we can. Working with the energy needs is a more circular idea, and trying to conserve seems so linear. We can try to conserve all we want, but someday will come when there won't be anything left. I've heards there are people working towards the goal of trying to convert water into a perfectly clean fuel source. If energy is neither created nor destroyed, it would only seem logical to put time and effort into ideas that convert energy into a form that humans, animals, and the earth can all value.
I. Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it. I kind of think of this as how when something drastic and/or powerful happens in my life, then I change. I change what direction I'm going, and I either speed up or slow down. Like how time seems to stop when a death occurs. Time doesn't really stop (or does it?), but I stop, WE stop. One is living their life in one direction at one speed, and an external force is applied, and they stops.
II. The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force acting on it and is inversely proportional to its mass. The direction of the acceleration is in the direction of the applied net force. I know this one too well. Like when I am tired and feeling lazy, it takes a lot of effort to get me off my butt. Myself really wants to be on my butt, so the heaviness and resistance is directly proportional to whichever external force is trying to get me up (say, my mind telling me it's laundry day), and inversely proportional to the mass of myself!
III. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This reminds me of when I am in an argument with someone (or have witnessed an argument), and someone starts "attacking" the other arguer on a personal level, there is always an equal and opposite re-action, an attack back on the other person.
Our “Energy Efficient” Culture
To be honest, I am still confused about the concept of energy efficiancy. I tend to think in terms of abundance, and feel like it would make more sense to work with the energy needs/wants of the world, instead of turning against them and attempting to "conserve" as much as we can. Working with the energy needs is a more circular idea, and trying to conserve seems so linear. We can try to conserve all we want, but someday will come when there won't be anything left. I've heards there are people working towards the goal of trying to convert water into a perfectly clean fuel source. If energy is neither created nor destroyed, it would only seem logical to put time and effort into ideas that convert energy into a form that humans, animals, and the earth can all value.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Week 7
"Ordered chaos" - does this sound familiar?
It sounds familiar from my own head... from when my Dad and I would contemplate the universe many years ago on a nothing-better-to-do Saturday night. I think Pi is a good example of ordered chaos. It's so completely random- no pattern at all (chaos), yet it is always the same number (ordered). Fractals, too. Chaos co-existing within order. They are completely different concepts and separate entities, but you really can't find one without the other. It's hard to think of an instance where they are not interrelated at all. It makes sense in terms of big-picture-like Eastern theory. Yin and Yang, everything is balanced. Even the four basic principles of yin-yang theory hold true in ordered chaos theory. Can chaos and order ever not co-exist? They seem to balance each other out quite nicely.
Fractals as patterns of complex systems
Are fractals chaotic? They seem so orderly. I guess the world is one big fractal. Actually, the universe. It is one big universe(s), with smaller clusters of galaxies, which contain galaxies, which contain stars, which contain solar systems, which contain worlds, which contain continents and cultures.. and cities and families in houses, and there are anthills with different cultures/kinds of ants, whom all have no idea this whole universe is existing. It seems like a common system- that everything is interdependent on everything else. And all of the smaller webs of interdependence rely on the bigger systems of interdependence, even if they don't realize they do.
Consciousness out of chaos?
I think of consciousness out of chaos as being somewhat intuitive. As a collective consciousness, that is. We all have our own consciousness and we all have different lives, but as a world we have one big consciousness. Kind of like fractals. Like when a big natural disaster happens, the collective consciousness of the world is to help those involved. I remember reading somewhere that in controlled experiments, twins have similar consciousnesses. They would divide them into two different rooms, and while looking at each of their brainwaves on computers, show only one of them stimulating colors and sounds. Both would have roughly the same, stimulated brainwaves at the exact same time. This could be a small example of collective, chaotic consciousness.
It sounds familiar from my own head... from when my Dad and I would contemplate the universe many years ago on a nothing-better-to-do Saturday night. I think Pi is a good example of ordered chaos. It's so completely random- no pattern at all (chaos), yet it is always the same number (ordered). Fractals, too. Chaos co-existing within order. They are completely different concepts and separate entities, but you really can't find one without the other. It's hard to think of an instance where they are not interrelated at all. It makes sense in terms of big-picture-like Eastern theory. Yin and Yang, everything is balanced. Even the four basic principles of yin-yang theory hold true in ordered chaos theory. Can chaos and order ever not co-exist? They seem to balance each other out quite nicely.
Fractals as patterns of complex systems
Are fractals chaotic? They seem so orderly. I guess the world is one big fractal. Actually, the universe. It is one big universe(s), with smaller clusters of galaxies, which contain galaxies, which contain stars, which contain solar systems, which contain worlds, which contain continents and cultures.. and cities and families in houses, and there are anthills with different cultures/kinds of ants, whom all have no idea this whole universe is existing. It seems like a common system- that everything is interdependent on everything else. And all of the smaller webs of interdependence rely on the bigger systems of interdependence, even if they don't realize they do.
Consciousness out of chaos?
I think of consciousness out of chaos as being somewhat intuitive. As a collective consciousness, that is. We all have our own consciousness and we all have different lives, but as a world we have one big consciousness. Kind of like fractals. Like when a big natural disaster happens, the collective consciousness of the world is to help those involved. I remember reading somewhere that in controlled experiments, twins have similar consciousnesses. They would divide them into two different rooms, and while looking at each of their brainwaves on computers, show only one of them stimulating colors and sounds. Both would have roughly the same, stimulated brainwaves at the exact same time. This could be a small example of collective, chaotic consciousness.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Week 6
Are all vibrations “good”?
Well, if they can cause destructive earthquakes... then maybe not. But really, what is "good" anyway? In class we talked about how some people are trying to understand the vibrations of different objects to prevent the destruction of them by earthquakes, wind, etc. On that same note, it could be really powerful if one day we could use the vibrations of different objects to release energy. If so much energy is stored in matter, that would be a way of tapping into it, right? To create an identical vibration with wind power could release a lot of that stored energy, and we could use it to do great things! So these vibrations... depending on how they are used... could be very good.
Resonance in my world
I have a very specific resonance. And I know people who have a broad range of resonances. I am picky about food, clothes, living situations, people I hang out with, etc. My sister is very un-picky about all of those things and more. Broadening my resonance(s) is something I am always striving towards, as I am less of a resonance chameleon than most. I remember when I first came to AIMC, I could tell who I would be good friends with, and who I would be just acquaintances with right away. It's held true for the most part, 2 years later. Is this science? Is it a genetic science? Can some one's resonance be tested?
I was thinking about the science of resonance in popular culture, and I believe it explains many cliches- "It was love at first sight" .. "You could cut the tension with a knife" .."She had bad vibes".. "We didn't mesh right".
Connections I can make between Energy and Qi
I have a hard time explaining the concept of qi to anyone, so I usually avoid it. To be honest, I don't totally get it myself. But, I mostly think of qi as transformative energy. It is energy, and it is more than energy. It is constantly changing. Energy can be stored in something, but qi is constantly coming through us and moving through things and constantly flowing, and constantly transforming. Qi is the manifestation of all that is.
Well, if they can cause destructive earthquakes... then maybe not. But really, what is "good" anyway? In class we talked about how some people are trying to understand the vibrations of different objects to prevent the destruction of them by earthquakes, wind, etc. On that same note, it could be really powerful if one day we could use the vibrations of different objects to release energy. If so much energy is stored in matter, that would be a way of tapping into it, right? To create an identical vibration with wind power could release a lot of that stored energy, and we could use it to do great things! So these vibrations... depending on how they are used... could be very good.
Resonance in my world
I have a very specific resonance. And I know people who have a broad range of resonances. I am picky about food, clothes, living situations, people I hang out with, etc. My sister is very un-picky about all of those things and more. Broadening my resonance(s) is something I am always striving towards, as I am less of a resonance chameleon than most. I remember when I first came to AIMC, I could tell who I would be good friends with, and who I would be just acquaintances with right away. It's held true for the most part, 2 years later. Is this science? Is it a genetic science? Can some one's resonance be tested?
I was thinking about the science of resonance in popular culture, and I believe it explains many cliches- "It was love at first sight" .. "You could cut the tension with a knife" .."She had bad vibes".. "We didn't mesh right".
Connections I can make between Energy and Qi
I have a hard time explaining the concept of qi to anyone, so I usually avoid it. To be honest, I don't totally get it myself. But, I mostly think of qi as transformative energy. It is energy, and it is more than energy. It is constantly changing. Energy can be stored in something, but qi is constantly coming through us and moving through things and constantly flowing, and constantly transforming. Qi is the manifestation of all that is.
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