Curls, Coils and Curves: Spirals

            I was once confortable analyzing symbolism. However, I didn't know Italo Calvino. Only having begun the first section from the book Invisible Cities, I have not only felt stupefied by the overwhelming metaphors and analogies, but completely confused on what Calvino is truly intending to say. I focused on extracting key terms from each chapter and began to find the "hidden meaning" within these. I didn't only discover their was a pattern, but that every object and it's symbol can be connected to other symbols throughout the book. For instance, spirals, metals, musical instruments playing (violin), clocks, cocks, women (dancing-music), old men and astrolabes are constantly mentioned throughout every chapter. As well as the conjunctions and use of time (past, present, and future). 

             Spirals can represent a spiritual journey: an evolutionary process of learning and growing spiritually. This can be a clue to finding the significance of Invisible cities. Marco Polo is narrating his spiritual encounters. Then again, a spiral may signify: redundancy. In others words, repetition, but every time seen with different perspectives. In addition, spirals are what conforms the DNA structure of the helix. (This structure can be explained in Richard Dawkins: The Selfish Gene) Nevertheless, spirals, time (past, present, future, clocks, redundancy, etc...) and the constant appearance of old men have led me to one theory. Marco Polo's journey to the cities are not necessarily visits, but life chapters. This explorer might be narrating his life experiences when witnessing them in distinct ages of his life. This might explain the old men and the young men observing the cities in benches. This might also explain the clocks. 


"The city does not consist of this, but of relationships between measurements of its space and the events of its past..." (Cities & Memory-3) 


"Zora's secret lies in the way your gaze runs over patterns following one another as in a musical score where a note can be altered or displaced." 


"...he remembers the order by which the copper clock..." (Cities and Memories-4) 

            Perspectives: another aspect found in spirals. While reading "Cities & Desire –3" the idea of two paths, two perspectives, but one destination really caught my attention. 

"Each city receives its form from the desert it opposes; and so the camel driver and the sailor see Despina, a border city between two deserts." (Cities & Desire–3)


          Although the ship and the camel were both going to Despina, both had contrasting view points. The camel could only see skyscrapers and a raging metropolis, unalike the ship who only saw the "oases of fresh water in the palm trees' jagged shade...." (pg.18) 


"Zora's secret lies in the way your gaze runs over patterns following one another as in a musical score where a note can be altered or displaced."


          Zora and its patterns denote the conception of history, the past and what will be the future has happened before. The famous aphorism: "Those who ignore history are bound to repeat it." (George Santayana) reminds me of the spiral as well. Clocks, patterns, and signs are elements that define a spiral. They are repetitive, redundant, and synchronized, just like life. 


"The city is redundant: it repeats itself so that something will stick in the mind." (Zirma–Cities & Signs 2) 


         Calvino might be trying to say that "life will hand you lemons until you finally learn to make lemonade." In other words, the situations will be brought up until managed or dealt with correctly.




SPIRALS: they are the structure of life. From our birth, life turns, and death, the cycle repeats. From history, which might present itself within different perspectives, moments and people, but results are the same. Spirals are in our DNA. We are doomed to take its twists and turns. We are obligated to become the spirals. To live by their law. (Cities & Desires–2) 

Society Killed the Teenager

            "Has the god meme, say, become associated with any other particular memes, and does this association assist the survival of each of of the participating memes? Perhaps we could regard an organized church,  with it architecture, rituals, laws, music, art, and written tradition, as a co-adapted stable set of mutually -assisting memes."  (pg. 197)

              G-d hasn't necessarily made the human corrupt, but religion has. Has religion shaped our society, our values and our culture, even though we don't practice it anymore? Faith has been with humanity since the beginning, and our mentality has proceeded to G-ds "word" even if we don't acknowledge it. Today good deeds, especially unselfish deeds are known to be an individuals obligation in a community. This idea reminds me of the movie "Pass it Forward," and how principles are not only passed on by teaching, but are "contagious" if practiced at a close distance. Religious memes don't only alter our personality, but our life style as well.

            Since we were toddlers, we were convinced that the only way to feel accomplished is to follow the life cycle that humanity had drawn out for us. It hasen't occurred to us that we might not need to conform part of the conventional family unit, capitalist economy or customs. Nevertheless, we have been doomed to live up to these standards with the fear of going hungry, dying alone or becoming no one.

            Education is another meme that although, may be interpreted differently among distinct minds, the result is in fact identical. People are born with common sense, well that can be considered an attribute of selfishness. However, under curriculum standards, society has defined intelligence with mathematical skills, memory capacity and so on. "The differences in the ways that people represent the theory are then, by definition, not part of a meme." Is intelligence a meme if there is a global definition for it? Isn't success a meme as well? One, as an individual might live upon one's definitions, however when living in a world of 7 billion people, there is only one definition and one opinion.

           Happiness: a state of mind where one is content of oneself. In other words, this happiness can only be achieved if memes do no longer exist. To live up to society's rules, impedes oneself of becoming oneself. It means becoming partially selfish and respect society's laws, but live pass them. This also reminds me of the great saying of today: SOCIETY KILLED THE TEENAGER. For teenagers are people who have resisted to memes, but humanity rises, defeats and clones.


Key Terms:

1.) Cultural mutations: To reposition cultural characteristics. 

2.) Psychological appeal: Interest of the brain. 

3.) Imitation: The process in which memes replicate. 

4.) Idea-meme: "An entity that is capable of being transmitted from one brain to another."

5.) Meme: The "cloner" of the human culture. 

Women: The Source of Human Empowerment

                                                 "What's in for the workers?" (pg. 173)

                Richard Dawkins recalls the Darwinian theory of Superior Gender Roles. Alike ants, humans are not only divided into two different sexes, but into two main classes: the bearers and the carers. "The bearers are the reproductive males and females. The carers are the workers–infertile males and females in the termites, infertile females in all other social insects. Both types do their job more efficiently because they do not have to cope with the other. But from whose point of view is it efficient?"

(This video portrays how in some cultures, women are viewed as bearers taking advantage of the carers) 

                Although gender roles aren't as rigorously defined today, women are still considered the bearers and men the carers. As women give birth, clean, cook and take care of the children, men are off to work, maintaining the household financially. This is where the chauvinism of society comes in. Most men believe a woman's chore is effortless and meaningless. When men have to deal with more complicated affairs, such as making business deals. The typical American housewife in the 50's and 60's was trained since she was a little girl to greet her husband with food and a warm smile. Some people "feel that the queen is having it all her own way, manipulating the workers by chemical means to her own selfish ends, making them care for her own team brood....The opposite idea is that the worker's 'farm' the reproductives, manipulating them to increase their productivity in propagating replicas of the workers genes." Who is taking advantage of who?


             In some cultures women are treated as royals. They are overly pampered, whiny and haughty. Nonetheless, in Eastern cultures, women bow down in their husbands presence. They are to never speek up or make requests. Women are seen as minorities. This mentality was considered to be a global state of mind up until 1970's.   If it weren't for women civilizations wouldn't have developed. Women are the educators of the world. It is for this race, that the human is what is it today. This statement may seem like a compliment, but it may also be a burden.


            Dawkins reveals that the workers (men) "may be actually more closely related to the brood than the queen herself." (pg.174) He supports his hypothesis with the theory of the "sex ratio," and how the differences in quantities of gender offsprings change the mother's relationship to her offspring..."A gene that finds itself in a queen's body can propagate itself best if that body invests equally in reproductive sons and daughters. But the same gene finding itself in a workers body by making the mother of that body

                The women's rights speech has been cliched, and declaring that women have obligations as a breeder is insurgent. Even though women today believe that raising an offspring is for the old fashioned, it is the only way for the human species to survive. However, the question that will always come up when thinking about this topic is: is chauvinism in our genes? Are some cultures more sexists for survival reasons? The environment and physical characteristics of a race might stimulate a fast process for extinction. Is chauvinism in our genetics?

Key Terms: 

1.) Selfish Herd: a group of selfish singles. 

2.) Reciprocal altruism: Helping others for personal benefit. 

3.) Cave Theory: Warning one's specie of danger for self protection.

4.) Never Break Ranks Theory: Helping others to become part of a group.
5.) Sucker: Helping others and gaining nothing in return. 
6.) Symbiosis: Mutual advantages from two individuals working together. 

7.) Cheat: Having no repercussions from "winning." 

8.) Evolutionary Stable Strategy: A strategy used to defeat others and survive. 

9.) Grudger: Interest in helping others who will help you in the future. 

Fooled

The Selfish Gene

Richard Dawkins

The Replicators

Like the lion, full of pride, humans believe they are the supreme specie on Earth. Although the warthog might have seemed small, weak and defenseless, it was witty and sneaky, just like the gene. 

“Even while the group is going slowly and inexorably downhill, selfish individuals prosper in the short term at the expense of altruists. The citizens of Britain may or may not be blessed with foresight, but evolution is blind to the future.”  (pg. 8)

Evolution is blind to the future. As machines of the gene, we cannot control the gene. In the other hand, the gene can control us and we will never know when, how or why. If we survive tomorrow it is due to the fact that evolution was in our favor. Nevertheless, when will be the day come when evolution will turn against us? Does the apocalypse and the extinction of the homo sapien sapien species rely on the gene? 

If selfish individuals only prosper in the expense of altruist, than its a cycle of taking advantage of others. However, if the gene is selfish, and only prospers by using others, and we are machines of the gene, than what are genes acquiring from our use? Other than using us as their host, what other benefit do we offer genetic codes? Do we offer them power? Nonetheless, we have no choice because we live by their design. Why have genes created a machine with a higher conscience? 

What is man? What is the meaning of life? Is it to overcome the genes empowerment over us? Considering our bodies are composed of them, why else would they build us a conscience? Does evolution reconcile on our level of awareness? 

The Bowler Hat

The Selfish Gene
Richard Dawkins


Immortal Coils


         "They are in you and in me; they created us, body and mind; and their preservation is the ultimate rationale for our existence. They have come a long way, those replicators. Now they go by the name of genes, and we are their survival machines." (pg.20)

          The human is selfish. Why is the human selfish? According to Dawkins, its because all animals are conformed of genes. Genetic codes, otherwise known as DNA, form our minds and bodies. These minuscular anatomies of proteins and nucleotides and bases, are what has brought the survival of man. Genetics and evolution created the world and all in it. We are genes, and genes are us, within Dawkins perspective. 

          
         The human race is known to be competitive, greedy, and vain. We manipulate others and find pleasure in gaining power. Can we blame all of these flaws on a complex chemical trait: the gene? Are we capable of using our animal instincts as an excuse for all of our mistakes? However, can genes take credit for all of our accomplishments? When humans built the first rocket or the Wall of China, was this due to the evolving gene within us? 

        


     Spiritual leaders such as Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr, Dalai Lama, and so on, prove that humans, despite other animals, can fight against the selfish traits of the gene.  Dawkins does not believe in G-d, but that the gene is our creator and we are the hosts of it in our bodies. (Many agnostic relgions believe that we have G-d inside us-this is the same as the gene.) Does this mean we are utterly controlled by these cells? Do we create our view of the world? Are our actions, our actions? Or, are these simply illusions created by the gene?

       Humans who are agnostic and believe in free will, live in a more liberated mentality than those who are atheist and believe humans are nothing but a pool of genes. While agnostic people aim to evolve into a purer being during the coarse of their life, “gene believers” are doomed live by design. (Picture on the left is a Sims Game)

     


        This idea reminds me of the Walt Disney movie “Meet the Robinsons” and the bowler hat. Those who wore it would become hypnotized by it. The hat did not have good intentions, and had a mind of its own. Genes are like the bowler hat. Those who wear it (humans who believe they are created by genes) will never discover that the genes are defining the person they are becoming. These people will accomplish the hat’s desires (animal instincts= selfishness).  

     
      Genes are not what defines the human being. They might have a powerful influence on us and other animals, but they will never be our entire person. Genes cannot make one feel love. Genes may lead us to undergo attraction, but they will never produce sympathy or sadness. We can define genes as builders and managers of our body, but never of our hearts.