Examining Democratic Party failure to communicate with We The People. Food for thought.

Considering the Democratic Impeachment Managers 13 minute introductory video. Can we learn from failures to communicate? A healthy democracy demands an informed and engaged electorate, we won't get there wasting golden opportunities. For instance,

Every time you air reruns of Trump yodeling "election fraud" why aren’t there big legible subtitles and warming labels clearly stating the truth:  

*Claims of voter fraud have been countless!

*No substantive evidence for Voter Fraud has been brought forward!

*Over 60 Trump lawsuits were tossed out because of lack of evidence!

*No fraud, Trump lost!

Why wasn’t there a time clock running in the corner to help bring home the flow of events?  Also in conjunction with that, why not provide links to resources that are cataloguing the events unfolding in that video?  A shot of Trump sneaking back to the White House would have been worth gold!  What happened to those people during a particular moments?  We The People are curious.  Connect us with those stories!  

{For a few of those details, see the articles below the fold}

These are costly failures to communicate and connect with the American people!

We can’t afford missing them and helping Americans better grasp what was going on and why it's important for all patriots of a pluralistic democratic American society to stand up and voice our personal support for our American government and its rule of law.  

Why? If we aren't changing minds, we are losing.  We need to try reaching those angry (and dare I say brainwashed) souls with vandalism in their hearts, we need to help them appreciate how Trump defrauded them. 

YouTube channel, Philippe Berry

House manager Jamie Raskin introduced a 13 minutes video of the Jan 6 Capitol attack at Donald Trump second impeachment trial (02/09/21)

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77 Days: Trump’s Campaign to Subvert the Election

By Jim Rutenberg, Jo Becker, Eric Lipton, Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Martin, Matthew Rosenberg, Michael S. Schmidt and Najeebah Al-Ghadban - NYTimes.com

Dear Democratic Senators, 117th Congress: Help Us, Help You!

(Below the fold you'll find a complete list of current U.S. Senator mail & email addresses.)

Honorable Colorado Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper,

I’m terrified that, during this Impeachment Process (not trial!), the Democrats are once again going to fall short.  A Democracy depends upon a well informed and engaged public!  Yet, seems like what I receive from Democratic politicians is the same old boilerplate fundraising pitches.

  

Nothing that informs me.  Nothing to engage my passion.  Nothing to provide me with facts and good talking points that respond to the GOP's dishonesty and confronts their attacks on our government and its standards of plurality and democracy. 

Nothing that offers an action plan or makes me think I’m part of the Democratic team.  Nothing that makes me excited to participate.  Too often it really does feel like all you politicians want is my money.

That’s a problem because Democratic politicians are never going to accomplish real change without the power of the grassroots and masses of engaged voters at your backs, supporting and pushing.

We need to demonstrate to the once great GOP and their brainwashed supporters, that American standards of democracy, rule of law, honesty and FAIR PLAY are alive and kicking and that We The People loudly and clearly reject the Republican’s Trumpist Wing with its totalitarian obsessions.

Come on Senators, please help us, help you, save America.  Please, please step up your Democratic Party public relations game.  

Fundraising is critical but please realize: UNLESS YOU ARE CHANGING MINDS, AND INSPIRING ACTION, WE ARE LOSING ! ! !  Talk to us.

Sincerely,

Peter Miesler

aka Citizenschallenge

American citizen

Colorado voter

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Senators of the 117th Congress, Email & Addresses: 

(Terms for senators in Class I expire in 2025, Class II in 2027, and Class III in 2023.) 

The Case For Reality and Earth Centrism - Physical Reality~Mindscape divide

Moving on . . . {My "Hoffman playing basketball in zero gravity" project continues over at ConfrontingScience Contrarians.blogspot} now it's time for this site to start going its own way again.  I want to start by revisiting an essay I first wrote a couple years back and that offers the reasoning behind Earth Centrism and appreciating the Physical Reality~Mindscape divide. 

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This is written with engaged students in mind.  Especial those with writing projects related to defending the truths within Earth Sciences and physical reality.  Within these chapters you'll find a plethora of assorted references and links and context that will help inform, challenge and expand your own understanding and drive you to a better finished product.

Like most thinking people I've spent plenty of time wondering about the "body-mind problem."    

You know, that constant inner dialogue, the me, myself and I.  This body I inhabit and all those conflicts between good angels and bad angels, and willpower, and this body made me do it, and all the rest.  

As if that's not enough, there's that amazing incomprehensible world out there, outside of me.  What is it?  Can I believe what I see?  Who am I?  Why am I?  Does the world dissolve when I fall asleep.  What keeps it together when I’m not watching.  Where's the line between my mind and the world around me?  The questions can be endless and I've been playing with them since my earliest memories.  

Now at 65, I'm happy to report that the admonition 'seek and ye shall find,' is true.  Stay true to yourself, be honest to the facts, do your homework and you can have those questions resolved to your heart’s content.  It's an emergent thing, and the process requires a driving curiosity and a constant diet of information and learning about all aspects of our Earth and her history, along with our humanistic sphere, our lives, ways'n means, fears, gods and other beliefs.

I've come to learn that our deepest mysteries are simpler than people love making them out to be.  That's why I've kept working the problem and striving to do a better job of telling my story.  Then over the summer of 2018 it came together and I wrote my Hallelujah chorus, well the first draft.

I shared it with some friends and they did get caught up in the story and listened with interest, still when finished, it left them a bit perplexed rather than enlightened.  Okay? Fun interesting read, now what am I supposed to do with it?  What is it actually about?  And so on.  

‘it’s about perspectives and how we process the information that’s flowing through our senses.’  

Though, along with some suggestions, I was invited to enlarge it for a formal presentation to a small local skeptics group.  Working on it, it occurred to me the bio provided much needed context that helped the heart of my story make more sense to folks who had never considered such a perspective.  Then, the group dissolved and the talk never happened.  Now, I share it with you.

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Thinking on it some more I know that it's about much more than that.  

It's about grasping for an appreciation of DeepTime, Evolution, and the dance of life and geology that created this world we were born out of and will die back into.  Something that offers individuals a path to understanding their own place in time and the universe within a sane reality based over-arching perspective.

Something that offers peace in the face of our individual mortality and that eternal question of “Why?”.

Something that offers spiritual fulfillment through a visceral appreciation for how time and life on this Pale Blue Dot created us through this Earth that we inhabit today and that we will return to upon finishing our short dance across life’s stage.  Why isn't that cosmic gift enough?

Something that can offer rationalists and atheists a sense of our own spiritual fulfillment - (in contrast to the faith-shackled's nonstop trumpeting about praising a God that in reality is merely a reflection of their own EGOs.)    

Something that offers us Children of the Intellectual Enlightenment the inner moral foundation and spiritual fortitude to step up and lovingly, constructively, challenge and confront those sad brainwashed souls eye to eye.  If we aren't changing minds, we are losing.

All of us have them in our lives, why not discover ways to ask them how they live with the cognitive dissonance inherent within their “my way only” religions and rejection of scientific facts? 

Before I get to the Earth Centrism, I think I need to look at some of the origins of my own individual perspective, in order to set stage for my story. 

4/4_Hoffman, Objects of Consciousness - conclusion

 Defending Physical Reality.  Because, apparently somebody needs to.  

Feel free to copy and share.

(Aka, Hoffman’s crusade against appreciating reality.)

Objections and Replies (authors conclusion)

Here we summarize helpful feedback from readers of earlier drafts, in the form of objections and replies.

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(Hoffman and Prakash) Conclusion 

Hoffman starts out with an example of how the framing of questions (and  scenarios) limits the quantity of potential understanding.

Hoffman:  Belief in object permanence commences at 3 months of age and continues for a lifetime. 

Object permanence beginning at 3 months?  It’s a dreadfully impoverished description of what’s happening within an infant.  

An infant is born with senses in place, if under developed.  With a mind like a sponge, soaking in everything it can, processing on-the-fly and waking from every nap refreshed and with senses and brain a bit better connected than before and ready to soak in yet more.

A sense of object permanence starts developing right after birth, beginning with an awareness of, and bonding with, its parents and other intimate caregivers and builds out from there.

Learning to use its eyes, focus, turn towards sounds, touch and smell, and tiny muscles always fidgeting, tiny fingers, hands, arms, the legs, feet, toes - the wonderful progression from nonstop flailing to coordination, then lifting itself, then the nose dives while figuring out the muscular choreography needed to make crawling happen.  Then, it’s on to walking and potty training.  

All that is part of understanding object permanence which Hoffman treats like a bad thing.  

In the infant's life, physical reality makes sure that the lessons of object permanence are build into the awareness of that little body, as well as mind.

Grasping the physical reality of object permanence and then learning how to manipulate it, is a prerequisite for becoming a balanced healthy person. 

Those who can’t achieve such innate understanding become helpless and useless, confined to a life dependent on others taking care of them, or left to die.

Pretending away object permanence may be a fun intellectual mind-game for the bored, but it’s no space any person wants to exist within.

It inclines us to assume that objects exist without subjects to perceive them, 

“It  inclines  us  to  assume”  Let's unpack that ...   

3/4_Hoffman, Objects of Consciousness, questions + replies (18-21)

Defending Physical Reality.  Because, apparently somebody needs to.  

Feel free to copy and share.

This is the third installation of my review of Hoffman/Prakash’s responses which are attached to their 2014 Objects of Consciousness paper, specifically #18 to #21.  The open source Q and A was copied and pasted, complete, no edits.  I simply added my two cents worth.

I don’t pretend to be any sort of scholar or self made expert, not even, this is a student’s exploration and discovery.  Since I like homework more than most, I want to make my trail of discovery and adventures in critical thinking available for busy students who relate to these themes and want to better understand the dark art of scientific deception for fun, power and profit.

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00577

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Objections and Replies (#18 - #21 of 21)

Cc: The objections are printed in blue, author’s responses in mauve, my comments in dark green.  Supplementary information is clearly marked.  Most titles are linked to original sources.

Hoffman:  Here we summarize helpful feedback from readers of earlier drafts, in the form of objections and replies.

(18) Their treatment of the combination problem is worth reading. There is however a very large problem with their model: It relies on the Cartesian product of X1 and X2 (this is right after Conjecture 3). The Cartesian product is not conducive to real combination (this problem is all over mathematics, by the way—mathematicians don't care about it because they only care about high level abstractions). In section Objections and Replies, where they discuss objections to their model, they discuss this very objection (objection 10). 

Unfortunately, their resolution to this objection is mere handwaving: But as the conscious agents in the combination continue to interact, the decisions become less and less independent. This is mere wishful thinking. The authors have no reason to believe this less and less business and they've given the reader no reason to think this either. In fact, if this less and less business were true, their model wouldn't require the Cartesian product in the first place. Frankly, this objection and their failure to handle it guts their model. 

In this same paragraph, in the next couple of sentences, the authors just assert (using proof by blatant assertion) that in some undefined limit, a true new conscious entity emerges. This makes the complex presentation of their model otiose. Why not just write a haiku asserting that the combination problem is not a problem?

The limit we speak of (for the emergence of a new combined conscious agent) is the asymptotic limit. Asymptotic behavior is a precise technical concept in the theory of Markov chains (see, e.g., Revuz, 1984, chapter 6). 

The defining characteristic of a Markov chain is that no matter how the process arrived at its present state, the possible future states are fixed.

“Precise technical concept” - but is it proof when there’s no accompanying physical evidence?

Diary - Biden's inaugural address and Amanda Gorman's poem

I know I’ve grown a bit cynical, but we all still need our aspirations, me too.  Besides, like a wise old lady told me long ago, hope is a survival strategy in hopeless times.  Guess that’s why I’m feeling good about having today’s inauguration ceremony exceed my expectations by a long shot, because it was realistically hopeful, while outlining the challenges, as explained by a competent compassionate adult.

I think back on four years ago and that vulgar braggadocios embrace of ‘Me First’ thinking, fueled by an utter disregard for honesty, coupled with xenophobic thinking and hatred for our government, along with emotional fear driven anger.  From day one, it was a no brainer that trump was going to turn out more disastrous for America than we could ever imagine.  So it has come to pass.

In contrast, today President Biden’s inaugural address turned into an valuable civics lesson that set out to remind us American’s of our better values and that it’s always been a struggle, as Biden said,

I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy these days.

I know the forces that divide us are deep and they are real.

But I also know they are not new.

Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we are all created equal and the harsh, ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, and demonization have long torn us apart.

The battle is perennial.

Victory is never assured.

And

We can see each other not as adversaries but as neighbors.

We can treat each other with dignity and respect.

We can join forces, stop the shouting, and lower the temperature.

For without unity, there is no peace, only bitterness and fury.

He made no grand promises, admitting there were tough days ahead, but that’s life.  Then he pointed out the obvious, only by pulling together can we hope to steer this boat to safer waters.  He gave the impression that a sane compassionate, competent person was finally in charge again.

Since young Amanda Gorman’s poem was likewise spot on in tone and text I’ve added the text to her Inauguration Poem below Biden's.  I think it’ll be something worth referring to every once in a while.  

Lady Gaga sang the National Anthem, Jennifer Lopez sang This Land is Your Land & America The Beautiful, and Garth Brooks sang Amazing Grace.  All did outstanding jobs, hitting the notes that brought some tears.

President Biden's Inaugural Address

CSPAN - JANUARY 20, 2021

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Inaugural Address by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.

Courtesy of the White House

2/4_Hoffman, Objects of Consciousness, questions + replies (13-17)

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00577

This is the second installation of Hoffman/Prakash’s responses which are attached to their 2014 Objects of Consciousness paper, specifically #13 to #17.  I haven't changed any of their words, simply added my two cents worth.

I don’t pretend to be any sort of scholar or self made expert, not even, this is a student’s exploration and discovery.  Something to share with other interested students.  Since I like homework more than most, I don’t mind sharing the fruits of my hours' worth of effort. 

I want to make my trail of discovery and adventures in critical thinking available to others with whom these themes resonate - especially those who also possess a desire to defend serious science against the current onslaught of strategic deception for fun, power and profit. 

Objections and Replies (13-17 of 21)

Hoffman:  Here we summarize helpful feedback from readers of earlier drafts, in the form of objections and replies.

Cc:  The objections are printed in blue, author’s responses in mauve, my comments in dark green.  Supplementary information is clearly marked.  Most titles are linked to original sources.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Some Elements of an Evolutionary Theory of Perception

Perceptual Systems, Historical Background, Innate And Learned Classical perceptual phenomena, Broad theoretical approaches, Current research/future developments.

Sources, science.jrank.org

Ecological approaches to perceptual learning: learning to perceive and perceiving as learning

Agnes Szokolszky, Catherine Read, Zsolt Palatinus, et al., 2019

The Essential Elements of an Evolutionary Theory of Perception

Eric P. Charles, 2017,

The evolution of early symbolic behavior in Homo sapiens

Kristian Tylén, Riccardo Fusaroli, Sergio Rojo, et al. PNAS 2020

The Evolution and Fossil History of Sensory Perception in Amniote Vertebrates

doi.org/10.1146/annurev-earth-082517-010120, March 21, 2018 

Evolutionary Specialization of Tactile Perception in Vertebrates

Eve R. Schneider, Elena O. Gracheva, and Slav N. Bagriantsev, 2016

Evolutionary Psychology and the Emotions

Leda Cosmides & John Tooby, Handbook of Emotions, 2000

The evolution of modern human brain shape

Simon Neubauer, Jean-Jacques Hublin and Philipp Gunz, 2018:

Intrinsic Multiperspectivity: Conceptual Forms and the Functional Architecture of the Perceptual System

Rainer Mausfeld, PhD.

Perceptual Worlds and Sensory Ecology

By: Stephen Burnett, PhD, Nature Education Knowledge 3(10):75

Ch.17. A Hierarchical Model of the Evolution of Human Brain Specializations

H. CLARK BARRETT.

Surroundings and Evolution Shape Human Sight, Smell and Taste

by: Andrea Korte, February 19, 2017

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(13) In section Evolution and Perception, the authors' argument seems to be: Argument 1: (1) Natural selection favors fitness in perceptual systems. (2) Fitness is incompatible with truth. (3) Therefore, natural selection favors perceptions that do not see truth in whole or in part.