Supported Cognition or How We Forget

While grocery shopping today, I was suddenly overcome with forgetfulness. I'd gathered some fruits and vegetables and hunted down a few cans of this and that before I found myself gazing, rather blankly, at the display of just-add-water potato products (the au gratin potatoes, I will admit, were rather tempting).

Eventually, I wiped the drool from my chin, whipped out my cell phone and texted my husband. "Why am I here? I can't remember."

I threw some completely unnecessary items into the cart while waiting for his reply. (Chocolate cookies! Frozen fruit bars! These could have been my reason for shopping, couldn't they?) "What's that? The ingredients for chicken enchiladas? No problemma!"

I don't know about you, but I text for back up all the time.

My cell phone also doubles as GPS so that I don't get lost, logs me into Wikipedia for my especially stupid moments, delivers my email, and keeps track of my most important contact information. It also performs simple calculations, keeps my calendar and doubles as an alarm clock.

I would be very stupid without my cell phone.

We are all dependent upon "supported cognition" to keep ourselves moving forward in life. Calendars, calculators, computers, even to-do lists are all thinking devices, tools that keep us on track even as they reduce the load on our brains. Without these tools and supports we are much more limited in our capabilities.

We really are like computers with limited RAM; no matter how high our IQ, we can get overwhelmed when we have too much going on. But paradoxically, the more we off-load our cognition--the fancy word for thinking and other brain processes--the more we forget.

Honestly, I used to remember phone numbers like some kind of math genius. I'd make funny little equations or patterns out of them. Nowadays, I don't bother. If I want to be in contact with you, you are in my cell phone...why bother to remember in my puny little brain?

So here's a question: what work is your Inner Neanderthal outsourcing?

Maybe your laptop has completely replaced your ability to write in cursive? Maybe LL Bean makes all your cold weather gear? Maybe Safeway does all your gardening? Maybe your accountant keeps you on the right side of the law? Or perhaps your handy husband keeps nature from reclaiming your house?

Is there anything you're outsourcing that your Inner Neanderthal will want to grab back and preserve in the event of sudden, cataclysmic climate change?

What if you find you've forgotten those essentials? What if everyone you know and trust has forgotten?

It's not a big deal when we blank out in the middle of grocery shopping. But it's undoubtedly a big deal if we have collectively forgotten how to produce food and suddenly find we need to remember.

What do we collectively want and need to make a point of remembering? What ideas, skills and technologies do we want to assure are present in the future? What will ensure the survival of our grandchildren and our grandchildren's grandchildren? What will make their lives sweet, productive, bearable? What will keep them from harm and give them the tools they need to live good, healthy, happy lives?

I often ask people, "What 100 things would you pack for the ice age?" And by that, I really mean what 100 really, really important concepts, skills, ways of knowing, principles, ideas or technologies do you want to make sure get carried along through history? What 100 things, if we left them behind, would surely plunge the world into the Dark Ages?

Obviously, I need a cell phone to keep living the life I've got, but in the event of an ice age, I'd probably start with fire, followed by a toothbrush...Or maybe I'd start with the toothbrush; I've got this little obsession, you see...

Scientists Shocked by Sudden Events in Antarctica

Rapid climate change reached a whole level this week when scientists discovered that the Wilkins ice shelf, which at 6,180 square miles is the largest on the Antarctic Peninsula, has begun to disentegrate. Over 450 square miles have broken off since late February, including one 25-mile long iceberg. The world will know within the next few weeks whether Wilkins will collapse altogether.

``We predicted it would happen, but it's happened twice as fast as we predicted,"' scientist David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) told Bloomberg.com. In 1993, Dr. Vaughan predicted that the Wilkins Ice Shelf would be lost within 30 years if trends in global warming continued.

The Antarctic Peninsula has warmed by 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit during the past 50 years — several times the global average. During the past 30 years, several Antarctic ice shelves have retreated. Six of collapsed altogether, including Prince Gustav Channel, Larsen Inlet, Larsen A, Larsen B, Wordie, Muller and the Jones Ice Shelf.

Although the Wilkins ice shelf is bigger than Connecticut, its disentegration is unlikely to affect sea levels because the Antarctic Peninsula is not over land; rather, it floats in the water.

However, David Vaughan of BAS warns, “Climate warming in the Antarctic Peninsula has pushed the limit of viability for ice shelves further south – setting some of them that used to be stable on a course of retreat and eventual loss. The Wilkins breakout won’t have any effect on sea-level because it is floating already, but it is another indication of the impact that climate change is having on the region.“

Antarctica combined with Greenland holds enough ice to raise sea levels by 260 feet.

Clean Underwear or Toothbrush?

When I was in 7th grade, I broke my jaw. So for more than a month, my mouth was wired shut. I cleaned my teeth by swishing hydrogen peroxide around in there. Ewww!

So today, I am completely, neurotically, insanely dedicated to brushing my teeth.

Recently, my middle school-aged daughter riddled me this: if you had to choose between a toothbrush or clean underwear, what would you choose? She was clearly horrified by my answer.

What about you? In a world of limited resources or high stress, if you were forced to choose between clean underwear and a toothbrush, which way would you go?

Ready, Set, Survive!

In the event of an ice age, the first thing I would pack is Gortex. Lots and lots of Gortex.

Hunger, thirst and danger I can live with. But not damp. Or cold. So, I'll confess: I already have a few bolts of Gortex stored in the closet, ready to run with me when the glaciers descend from Mount Rainier.

Sometimes I wonder whether we'll have electricity for sewing, and if not, whether there is some special hand-stitch that will ensure sealed edges on this fabric. Truly, I dream about this from time to time.

And since it's time for true confessions, let me say, I believe my Gortex will be the most hotly contested item in my will when I die, like Methusala, at the age of seven hundred and three.

What about you, what's the first thing you would pack in the event of an ice age?

I know. It's unlikely you have an answer to this crazy question. But think about it. Seriously.

BUSINESS-AS-USUAL THINKING
When I asked the smartest woman I know what one technology she'd take in the event of an ice age, she instantly said her cell phone. "The grid will probably be down," I said. "It won't work once your battery dies." She thought about it for a moment and said, "I'll take extra batteries." It could work. At least she'll be able to order in for pizza and bottled water.

When answering the very first Inner Neanderthal Survey question, over 50% of you said you'd to take an airplane to Mazatlan or Hawaii in the event of an instant ice age. The staff at the Marriott could be waiting with open arms for the mad flow of refugees, I suppose.

Really, if you answered that way, you're not alone. I recently discovered a little book by David de Rothschild (kind of sounds like he could buy a solution to climate change, eh?) called The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook.

When I opened it up to check out the "77 Essential Skills to Stop Climate Change--or Live Through It" I found shocking advice. Shocking! "Green your ride," it says.

Are you kidding me? I may be the only person on Earth who remembers the pre-Katrina gas lines and traffic jams, but I'm sure that your Prius, if it's able to 4-wheel it across ice and through floods, will eventually need gas before you arrive at your equatorial destination. And fossil fuels (not to mention roads) are going to be hard to come by.

In fact, every manufactured product that relies on extensive infrastructure for distribution is going to be bottlenecked in its place of origin. (For real survival advice, check out 98.6 Degrees: The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive by Cody Lunden instead.)

VICTIMS OF OUR BRAINS
We are ALL thinking that tomorrow will be just like today in the most fundamental ways. Even if tomorrow happens to come with an ice age or a flood or a drought or a fight to the death for the last drop of clean, fresh drinking water.

It's the most natural thing in the world. It's actually how the human brain works.

First, we are completely bounded by the limits of our imagination. And it's really, really hard to imagine an ice age, much less an instant ice age descending with speed and violence (to borrow a phrase from Fred Pearce, whose book, With Speed and Violence: Why Scientists Fear Tipping Points in Climate Change, is totally worth a look-see).

And second, our brains have the best auto pilot technology on the planet. It keeps us from actually thinking about breathing, blinking, sex...all the elements of survival. We are like just like the fish, who, as they say, don't know they live in water until they're flopping around on the dock.

The mission here at Inner Neanderthal is to support you in addressing these two barriers. Why?

First, because I care. And more important: it's only when we can imagine together what will really change about our lives that we will be able to really change our lives.

A NEWLY PURCHASED WEAPON
I was terribly inspired by the individual who responded to the First Inner Neanderthal Survey question "What one thing would you pack for the instant ice age?" with: "A newly purchased weapon to protect my family and cans of gasoline."

It's not entirely clear to me whether this survivalist meant that (s)he would purchase a side arm to protect the family AND the gasoline a la Mad Max, or that (s)he would purchase said weapon to protect the family and would also bring along cans of gasoline, but it's a great answer in both cases!

First and foremost, it recognizes that times of extreme changes are fraught with instability and danger. 9-1-1 won't be taking our calls; we'll need to protect ourselves, and we will have a deep, primordal instinct to protect our progeny.

And, this brilliant answer captures our truest auto-pilot reality: we are so dependent upon fossil fuel that, even in the face of its most dire consequence, we still won't be able to live without it! We are way, way, way past addiction, baby! We simply cannot imagine life without gasoline.

What do we need for surivial? Air, water and fuel.

Some of us, of course, also need a few dozen bolts of Gortex.

It's not just the weather!

We are learning from global warming that we humans shape the weather. But we've known for a long time that the weather also shapes us--what we wear, how we live, and even what we believe.

In ancient times it was common for people to believe that weather was a function the gods. Floods, storms, volcanoes were all signs of distress in the heavens. Sacrifices and sacraments could appease the gods and change the course of the seasons, it was hoped.

Are we really so different? Maybe. Click Here to take the Inner Neanderthal survey on religion and spirituality.

But plenty of Christians believe that wild weather is the prelude to the Armageddon or the Rapture. And plenty of Indigenous Peoples still engage in seasonal rituals to entice the rains to fall, the sun to shine, and the crops to grow. Personally, I'll confess to plenty of superstitions...ideas and icons that I've collected from around the globe.

With global warming already melting ice and permafrost and changing lifestyles around the world, it's time for us to consider what climate change means for our humanity. What does global warming mean for our spirit? For our spiritual practices?

As the weather gets more and more confusing, wild and dangerous, will we become more superstitious, more fervent in our worship or our rituals, more suspicious of strangers who believe differently from us? Or will we become more rational, purposeful and scientific?

As water becomes more scarce and flood and drought threaten the food supply, how will we respond?

As this video reminds us, the weather isn't just the weather. The climate isn't separate from us. We are wrapped up together with our environs, not unlike the ancients who prayed to sun gods, sacrificed to the volcanoes, and carried talismen to honor the wind, water and lightning.

There's a Little Bit of Spirit in Everything We Do

I was born in the Chinese Year of the Dragon.

What could be better? The astrological promise of this sign is power, luck, success and well-being.

Plus Chinese dragons are fascinating to look at...strong, intricate, colorful, mystical. So when a particularly exquisite and colorful dragon caught my eye at the one and only East West Cafe in Tacoma, Washington and the waiter said I could take it home, I was thrilled.

But as I ate, I found it increasingly difficult to imagine that the waiter was really empowered to give away the art...And I was a little worried about the consequences of hijacking such a powerful creature, even by accident.

So, I simply enjoyed my Garlic Prawn and said goodbye to the lucky dragon on the way out.

And then I got to thinking...what do I really know about this ancient symbol?

I've read a few books and many more placemats at Chinese restaurants. I feel a certain respect for the Chinese astrological system and the stories that come with it. I certainly understand why feng shi--the ancient art of placement--instructs us to turn the fire-breathing creatures away from the Wood elements.

But, it's not my religion and I certainly don't know anything of the cultural nuance surrounding any of the signs. Nor do I have any idea what might be offensive...perhaps I should have taken the dragon home from the restaurant after all?

From here it was a small leap to the question that's on my mind today. (Yes, I really do live a life of leaping from one idea to the next.)

In the event of sudden ice age--or for that matter, any other climate catastrophe that sends us running for cover--what religious objects, good luck charms, icons or talismen are we likely to take with us? Perhaps it will be on purpose, perhaps by reflex. Perhaps we will gather up some object because it is beautiful or meaningful to us, not really knowing what it will mean to the people we meet along the way.

What will these choices mean for us along the way? Over time? As we arrive in new cultures with different traditions and values? As we arrive in new places that have the same symbols but embue them with different meaning?

I am reminded of the book The Red Tent, as well as the Biblical passages it is based on. The women in this story insist on taking certain stones with them as they pull up their roots. The men demand that these idols be left behind. The women, who perceive them not as idols but as ritual objects, hide them and the stones begin a secret life that is eventually made public at great risk.

It doesn't seem so far fetched to wonder how we will protect our own spiritual lives in the face of disaster. We may have one answer if we are surrounded by those of similar mind and a different answer altogether if we are surrounded by those whose beliefs are radically different from our own. Where will we compromise? Where would we be willing to martyr?

In the event that the ice age arrives instantly (or tsunamis are roaring ashore or drought has sent us packing in a search for water), what religious or superstious icons are you likely to be bringing along? And importantly, how do you think your choices will be received when you arrive at your new destination?

Click Here to take a 3-question survey on religion and superstition on the go

Try This!

Thanks to my daughter, who shared this with me some years ago and keeps bringing me back to it.

Created by the Earth Day Network, it measures how much energy your day-to-day lifestyle really takes. You may be surprised!

http://www.earthday.net/footprint/index_reset.asp?pid=6293298617843219

Thermohaline and other minor details

Well, here's some happy news. When my favorite anthropologist recently said to me, "Why are you blogging about an ice age? Isn't it global warming?" I set out to see if perhaps I was misinformed.

And as it turns out, I am. Sort of. There is an instant ice age theory (more properly known as thermohaline interruption). But theory and reality have not yet converged.

Theory goes like this: the ocean's currents together with surface winds control the temperature of the ocean, and therefore, the climate. Currents form as denser, colder, saltier water falls to the bottom and is pushed around the globe by the landscape at the bottom of the sea. As hotter temperatures increase evaporation and therefore precipiation (freshwater) as well as melting of sea ice (also less salty), the exchange of water from the surface to the deep curents slows down, interrupting the normal process that warms the Earth as a whole. Voila, an ice age. At least in Europe and other locales attached to the Northern Atlantic.

Reality goes like this: it appears that surface winds blowing across the ocean are playing a larger part in ocean temperature than previously anticipated. So at least for now, sudden glaciation is less likely than certain other outcomes, my personal favorite being: "mass extinction events. "

Extinction of whom, I'd like to know? Humans?

Well, don't count us out. Wiki says: "Mass extinctions affect most major taxonomic groups present at the time — birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, invertebrates and other simpler life forms."

Perhaps the reticulated pythons and howler monkeys will go first and then I will be able to execute my beach-living-with-a-Jeep plan after all. That would be happy news, don't you think?
Most of you also seem to be expecting happy news.

Based on survey data so far, most of you are planning to fly off to warm places with family and friends in the event of a climatic catastrophe.

If you haven't yet taken the survey, click here and answer 5 easy questions. Look for the results in few short days--provided we haven't yet gone the way of the woolly mammoth. Click Here to take survey