The Natural Origins of Supernatural Experiences
Altered states of consciousness are documented across cultures, from shamans to Silicon Valley coders. As different as these experiences seem, there are four neurological features they all have in common.
Jamie Wheal: So when you're considering non-ordinary or altered states one of the first questions is what do they feel like? What's actually going on in those places and spaces? And one of the challenges in coming up with a good and consistent answer, not just for a specific state like meditation or a flow state or a psychedelic the state, is what qualities do they all share? Because each of those communities of practice over decades, centuries and even the millennia have accumulated their own storytelling or content about what the state they access are, what they mean and where you're supposed to go through them. So for instance, if you were a Buddhist meditator you will be instructed in all sorts of stages and levels and progressions of non-ordinary states of consciousness ranging from waking state all the way to white light void to Buddha consciousness, et cetera.
I if I am a peasant farmer in India and I have a non-ordinary state experience I might experience Ganesh, the elephant God in a rice patty. If I'm a peasant in Mexico I might experience the version of Guadalupe Hidalgo. If I'm coder in Silicon Valley I might experience the matrix and code mode, this is ones and zeros streaming all night as I bang away on my keyboard. And the reality is is that underneath those experiences are far more alike than the wrapping paper, the narrator wrapping paper of what people see based on culture, custom and biography. And what we attempted to do was create a functional framework that lets us talk about these things as apples to apples and really see the similarities. And what we realize is that because of the neurobiology there are four qualities that tend to arise pretty consistently regardless of which door you go through to get into these non ordinary states. And they are selflessness, timelessness, effortlessness and richness or STER for short.
And selfishness tends to happen because the areas of our brain, specifically the prefrontal cortex but including additional networks that connect, often turn off or completely light up. Either way they knock out our everyday waking sense of self-consciousness and self-awareness. So we end up momentarily lost our inner voice, lost our inner critic, lost our Jiminy Cricket and we are in a state of not thinking about our thinking. Timelessness happens for a similar reason. As basically different parts of our brain light up and turn off our ability to calculate time gets knocked out because it is a comprehensive measurement, it doesn't just occur in one single location in the brain. So when we start knocking out parts of the networks we lose our chronometer. And all of the neurochemistry, brain focusing, attention, learning, dries our attention we drop out of daydreaming about the past or the future and we get absolutely sucked into the immediate present moment so a feeling of timelessness comes with it. The effortlessness is just it's no longer about what I'm trying to do, it's not about exerting a grit or willpower, which a lot of people have been talking about and writing about these days and it's literally almost in the biblical sense it's sort of not my will but thy will. I feel myself swept along and it can be I'm jus self-propelled and it feels awesome or it's terrifying but I don't have a choice. But either way it's not me plotting one foot in front of the other to get to a goal I've decided. So that's the effortlessness. And then the final bid is the richness. And that's arguably the whole shooting match because when I knock out my self-consciousness I don't have a voice inside my head second-guessing, filtering. When I'm not in the past or the future I'm just in the deep present, when I am effortlessly being propelled the next thing that consistently seems to happen is we have access to far more information than we do in our regular waking state. And that is when we go from conscious processing, which is very limited and narrow, to unconscious processing, which is faster and vaster.
And Dr. David Eagleman, who is at Stanford who's a friend and a colleague and a board member of ours at the Flow Genome Project, constantly makes that case that really it's as if our conscious mind is sort of like the headlines of tomorrow's newspaper reporting on the reality of today. And when we get into non-ordinary states because of all the shifts in brain function and hormones and neural electricity we have access to more of that information in real time and the results often feel supernatural. People in the past historically have assigned this to the gods, to their muses, to fate, to possession, to angels, you name it we pretty much exhaust the gamut of all the ways we could say this is just too much, this is too cool, it's too inspired, it's to inform to possibly be me. So we've assigned it super natural origins, but in reality we now know it might just be super hyphen natural. It's just us in an optimated state. It's big data for our minds.
Transcendent experiences that were once attributed to gods, angels, muses, or even possession, are now being demystified by neuroscience. Jamie Wheal, Director of Programs at the Flow Genome Project, explains that each culture has unique rituals and narratives when it comes to non-ordinary experiences of consciousness or ‘altered states’, whether that’s mediation, flow state, psychedelic experiences, or others. A farmer in India, a peasant in Mexico, and a coder in Silicon Valley will all have vastly different ways of approaching altered states, and will give vastly different descriptions once they come out the other side – perhaps they saw a vision of Ganesh the elephant God, received a message from the Virgin of Guadalupe, or produced a brilliant line of code while in a Matrix-like binary blur. However, those experiences are more alike than we think. Jamie Wheal and Steven Kotler devised a functional framework so they could compare non-ordinary experiences across cultures. Here, Wheal explains that they identified four common elements of altered states of consciousness, which they coined as STER: selflessness, timelessness, effortlessness and richness. Jamie Wheal and Steven Kotler's book is Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work.
Jamie Wheal and Steven Kotler's book is Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work.
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How New York's largest hospital system is predicting COVID-19 spikes
Northwell Health is using insights from website traffic to forecast COVID-19 hospitalizations two weeks in the future.
- The machine-learning algorithm works by analyzing the online behavior of visitors to the Northwell Health website and comparing that data to future COVID-19 hospitalizations.
- The tool, which uses anonymized data, has so far predicted hospitalizations with an accuracy rate of 80 percent.
- Machine-learning tools are helping health-care professionals worldwide better constrain and treat COVID-19.
The value of forecasting
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTA0Njk2OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMzM2NDQzOH0.rid9regiDaKczCCKBsu7wrHkNQ64Vz_XcOEZIzAhzgM/img.jpg?width=980" id="2bb93" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="31345afbdf2bd408fd3e9f31520c445a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1546" data-height="1056" />Northwell emergency departments use the dashboard to monitor in real time.
Credit: Northwell Health
<p>One unique benefit of forecasting COVID-19 hospitalizations is that it allows health systems to better prepare, manage and allocate resources. For example, if the tool forecasted a surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations in two weeks, Northwell Health could begin:</p><ul><li>Making space for an influx of patients</li><li>Moving personal protective equipment to where it's most needed</li><li>Strategically allocating staff during the predicted surge</li><li>Increasing the number of tests offered to asymptomatic patients</li></ul><p>The health-care field is increasingly using machine learning. It's already helping doctors develop <a href="https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/early/2020/06/09/dc19-1870" target="_blank">personalized care plans for diabetes patients</a>, improving cancer screening techniques, and enabling mental health professionals to better predict which patients are at <a href="https://healthitanalytics.com/news/ehr-data-fuels-accurate-predictive-analytics-for-suicide-risk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">elevated risk of suicide</a>, to name a few applications.</p><p>Health systems around the world have already begun exploring how <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7315944/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">machine learning can help battle the pandemic</a>, including better COVID-19 screening, diagnosis, contact tracing, and drug and vaccine development.</p><p>Cruzen said these kinds of tools represent a shift in how health systems can tackle a wide variety of problems.</p><p>"Health care has always used the past to predict the future, but not in this mathematical way," Cruzen said. "I think [Northwell Health's new predictive tool] really is a great first example of how we should be attacking a lot of things as we go forward."</p>Making machine-learning tools openly accessible
<p>Northwell Health has made its predictive tool <a href="https://github.com/northwell-health/covid-web-data-predictor" target="_blank">available for free</a> to any health system that wishes to utilize it.</p><p>"COVID is everybody's problem, and I think developing tools that can be used to help others is sort of why people go into health care," Dr. Cruzen said. "It was really consistent with our mission."</p><p>Open collaboration is something the world's governments and health systems should be striving for during the pandemic, said Michael Dowling, Northwell Health's president and CEO.</p><p>"Whenever you develop anything and somebody else gets it, they improve it and they continue to make it better," Dowling said. "As a country, we lack data. I believe very, very strongly that we should have been and should be now working with other countries, including China, including the European Union, including England and others to figure out how to develop a health surveillance system so you can anticipate way in advance when these things are going to occur."</p><p>In all, Northwell Health has treated more than 112,000 COVID patients. During the pandemic, Dowling said he's seen an outpouring of goodwill, collaboration, and sacrifice from the community and the tens of thousands of staff who work across Northwell.</p><p>"COVID has changed our perspective on everything—and not just those of us in health care, because it has disrupted everybody's life," Dowling said. "It has demonstrated the value of community, how we help one another."</p>The scent of sickness: 5 questions answered about using dogs – and mice and ferrets – to detect disease
Could medical detection animals smell coronavirus?
Why large groups of people often come to the same conclusions
Study confirms the existence of a special kind of groupthink in large groups.
- Large groups of people everywhere tend to come to the same conclusions.
- In small groups, there's a much wider diversity of ideas.
- The mechanics of a large group make some ideas practically inevitable.
The grouping game
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ1NDE2Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMjI2MzA4OX0.RLrswIWbuEzHNqsw0F7EUrp9jPn7OulLPqCxcZT11ik/img.jpg?width=980" id="159b8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0feb15d2d7dde144c710c2f4f1e5350c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="2767" data-height="382" />Some of the shapes used in the experiment
Credit: Guilbeault, et al./University of Pennsylvania
<p>The researchers tested their theory with 1,480 people playing an online "Grouping Game" via Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform. The individuals were paired with another participant or made a member of a group of 6, 8, 24, or 50 people. Each pair and group were tasked with categorizing the symbols shown above, and they could see each other's answers.</p><p>The small groups came up with wildly divergent categories—the entire experiment produced nearly 5,000 category suggestions—while the larger groups came up with categorization systems that were virtually identical to each other.</p><p><a href="https://www.asc.upenn.edu/news-events/news/why-independent-cultures-think-alike-its-not-in-the-brain" target="_blank">Says Centol</a>a, "Even though we predicted it, I was nevertheless stunned to see it really happen. This result challenges many long-held ideas about culture and how it forms."</p><p>Nor was this unanimity a matter of having teamed-up like-minded individuals. "If I assign an individual to a small group," says lead author Douglas Guilbeault, "they are much more likely to arrive at a category system that is very idiosyncratic and specific to them. But if I assign that same individual to a large group, I can predict the category system that they will end up creating, regardless of whatever unique viewpoint that person happens to bring to the table."</p>Why this happens
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ1NDE4NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMjkzMDg0Nn0.u2hdEIgNw4drFZ2frzx0AJ_MAxIizuM98rdovQrIblk/img.jpg?width=980" id="d3444" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5da57d66e388fad0f1c17afb09af90a7" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1440" data-height="822" />The many categories suggested by small groups on the left, the few from large groups on the right
Credit: Guilbeault, et al./Nature Communications
<p>The striking results of the experiment correspond to a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-019-0607-5" target="_blank">previous study</a> done by NDG that investigated tipping points for people's behavior in networks.</p><p>That study concluded that after an idea enters a discussion among a large network of people, it can gain irresistible traction by popping up again and again in enough individuals' conversations. In networks of 50 people or more, such ideas eventually reach critical mass and become a prevailing opinion.</p><p>The same phenomenon does not happen often enough within a smaller network, where fewer interactions offer an idea less of an opportunity to take hold.</p>Beyond categories
<p>The study's finding raises an interesting practical possibility: Would categorization-related decisions made by large groups be less likely to fall prey to members' individual biases?</p><p>With this question in mind, the researchers are currently looking into content moderation on Facebook and Twitter. They're investigating whether the platforms would be wiser when categorizing content as free speech or hate speech if large groups were making these decisions instead of lone individuals working at these companies.</p><p>Similarly, they're also exploring the possibility that larger networks of doctors and healthcare professionals might be better at making diagnoses that would avoid biases such as racism or sexism that could cloud the judgment of individual practitioners.</p><p>"Many of the worst social problems reappear in every culture," notes Centola, "which leads some to believe these problems are intrinsic to the human condition. Our research shows that these problems are intrinsic to the social experiences humans have, not necessarily to humans themselves. If we can alter that social experience, we can change the way people organize things, and address some of the world's greatest problems."</p>Octopus-like creatures inhabit Jupiter’s moon, claims space scientist
A leading British space scientist thinks there is life under the ice sheets of Europa.
- A British scientist named Professor Monica Grady recently came out in support of extraterrestrial life on Europa.
- Europa, the sixth largest moon in the solar system, may have favorable conditions for life under its miles of ice.
- The moon is one of Jupiter's 79.
Neil deGrasse Tyson wants to go ice fishing on Europa
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-media_id="GLGsRX7e" data-player_id="FvQKszTI" data-rm-shortcode-id="f4790eb8f0515e036b24c4195299df28"> <div id="botr_GLGsRX7e_FvQKszTI_div" class="jwplayer-media" data-jwplayer-video-src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/GLGsRX7e-FvQKszTI.js"> <img src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/thumbs/GLGsRX7e-1920.jpg" class="jwplayer-media-preview" /> </div> <script src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/GLGsRX7e-FvQKszTI.js"></script> </div>Water Vapor Above Europa’s Surface Deteced for First Time
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9c4abc8473e1b89170cc8941beeb1f2d"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WQ-E1lnSOzc?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>From NASA to your table: A history of food from thin air
A fairly old idea, but a really good one, is about to hit the store shelves.
- The idea of growing food from CO2 dates back to NASA 50 years ago.
- Two companies are bringing high-quality, CO2-derived protein to market.
- CO2-based foods provide an environmentally benign way of producing the protein we need to live.
The basic idea
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ0NTM3Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxOTc4NzE1MX0.qxFjO6GkVVEjS_VEKy4pIkrmv-gknDbBgTHourWFUcc/img.jpg?width=980" id="20397" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="fa52d13cbf404456d0a5be77ff2e091e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1089" data-height="898" />Credit: Big Think
<p> The basic mechanism for deriving food from CO<sup>2</sup> involves a fairly simple closed-loop system that executes a process over and over in a cyclical manner, producing edible matter along the way. In space, astronauts produce carbon dioxide when they breathe, which is then captured by microbes, which then convert it into a carbon-rich material. The astronauts eat the material, breathe out more CO<sup>2</sup>, and on and on. On Earth, the CO<sup>2</sup> is captured from the atmosphere. </p>Drawing first breath
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ0NTM3NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NDQyNjAwMH0.3b4FuXhLwAqGtXzFu2dw8Gec6phKp3bxkajLOJKFOYE/img.jpg?width=980" id="03d4b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a5131ef8090c05af83989905de39c53d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1000" data-height="780" />Credit: NASA
<p> NASA's investigation into using CO<sup>2</sup> for food production began with a 1966 report written by R. B. Jagow and R. S. Thomas and published by Ames Research Center. The nine-chapter report was called "<a href="https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19670025254" target="_blank">The Closed Life-Support System</a>." Each chapter contained a proposal for growing food on long missions. </p><p> Chapter 8, written by J. F. Foster and J. H. Litchfield of the Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio, proposed a system that utilized a hydrogen-fixing bacteria, <em><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC247306/" target="_blank">Hydrogenomonas</a></em>—NASA had been experimenting with the bacteria for several years at that point—and recycled CO<sup>2</sup> in a compact, low-power, closed-loop system. The system would be able to produce edible cell matter in way that "should then be possible to maintain continuous cultures at high efficiencies for very long periods of time." </p><p> At the time, extended missions that would benefit from such a system were off in the future. </p><p> In 2019, and with its eye toward upcoming Mars missions, NASA returned to the idea, sponsoring the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/centennial_challenges/co2challenge/challenge-announced.html" target="_blank">CO2 Conversion Challenge</a>, "seeking novel ways to convert carbon dioxide into useful compounds." Phase 1 of the contest invited proposals for processes that could "convert carbon dioxide into glucose in order to eventually create sugar-based fuel, food, medicines, adhesives and other products." </p><p> In May 2109, NASA announced the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/spacetech/centennial_challenges/co2challenge/winning-teams-design-systems-to-convert-carbon-dioxide-into-something-sweet.html" target="_blank">winners</a> of Phase 1. The space agency concluded acceptance of <a href="https://www.co2conversionchallenge.org/#about" target="_blank">Phase 2</a> entries on December 4, 2020.</p>Approaching the Finnish line
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ0NTM2Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MTkyNDYzNH0.02upErPyJQO5YvKEmk-Hqrve4Prg_5cZHMaXBFCAbOQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="e593a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e2d8de8068bcd9f497f284d2fafc7b9c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1400" data-height="930" />Solein "meatballs"
Credit: Solar Foods
<p> We've <a href="https://bigthink.com/technology-innovation/protein-from-air?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" target="_self">written previously</a> about <a href="https://solarfoods.fi" target="_blank">Solar Foods</a>, a company backed by the Finnish government who <a href="https://solarfoods.fi/our-news/business-finland-greenlights-solar-foods-e8-6m-project/" target="_blank">recently invested</a> €4.3 million to help complete the company's €8.6 million commercialization of their nutrient-rich CO<sup>2</sup>-based protein powder, <a href="https://solarfoods.fi/solein/" target="_blank">Solein</a>. The company anticipates Solein will provide protein to some 400 million meals by 2025, and has so far developed 20 different food products from it. </p>In the air tonight
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ0NTM2NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY3MjQ4MjgxMH0.6VP4Aw_JzTG7lnuQeXiUnpAppJTdnsxVTuPdiUiW9oI/img.jpg?width=980" id="4b5a0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9e683650fd8175592794dff6ae0799bf" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1440" data-height="894" />Air Protein taco
Credit: Air Protein
<p> Another player, <a href="https://www.airprotein.com" target="_blank">Air Protein</a>, is based in California's Bay Area and is also bringing to market their own CO<sup>2</sup> protein named after the company. The company <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/air-protein-introduces-the-worlds-first-air-based-food-300955972.html" target="_blank">describes</a> it as a "nutrient-rich protein with the same amino acid profile as an animal protein and packed with crucial B vitamins, which are often deficient in a vegan diet." </p><p> The company recently <a href="https://www.greenqueen.com.hk/air-protein-bags-us32m-in-series-a-to-commercialise-climate-friendly-meat/" target="_blank">secured $32 million</a> in venture-capital funding. </p><p> Although Air Protein is actually flour—like Solein—the company is positioning Air Protein as offering "the first air-based meat," while Solein was announced first, and there's <a href="https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/food-and-wine/company-that-makes-meat-out-of-air-attracts-big-backers-20210108-p56sk0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">no public timetable</a> yet for the arrival of Air Protein products on store shelves. In any event, non-animal "meats" are a <a href="https://bigthink.com/technology-innovation/whopper" target="_self">hot market</a> these days with the success of Beyond Burger and Impossible Foods cruelty-free meat substitutes. </p>Striking oil
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ0NTM2Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MzE3NjA3NH0.1o05KthbzT9JokT7-0UzWDq4MiLIfXJIGfPddhLNKqk/img.jpg?width=980" id="a45ef" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="143316dcc3691fcce024e83a6cbaca3f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1440" data-height="959" />Deforestation for palm oil
Credit: whitcomberd/Adobe Stock
<p> Though Air Protein's promotional materials emphasize meat substitutes that will be derived from their flour, a <a href="https://youtu.be/c8WMM_PUOj0" target="_blank">TED Talk</a> by company co-founder Lisa Dyson reveals another Air Protein product that could arguably have an even greater impact by potentially eliminating the need for palm oil and the deforestation it requires — their CO<sup>2</sup> process can produce oils.</p><p><span></span>The company has already created a citrus-like oil that can be used for fragrances, flavoring, as a biodegradable cleaner, and "even as a jet fuel." Perhaps more excitingly, the company has made another oil that's similar to palm oil. Since palm trees are the <a href="https://www.ran.org/palm_oil_fact_sheet" target="_blank">crop most responsible</a> for the decimation of the world's rain forests, an environmentally benign replacement for it would be a very big deal. Dyson also notes that their oils could substitute morally problematic coconut oil, whose harvesting has lately been reported to often involve the abuse of macaque monkeys.</p>Putting carbon dioxide to work
<p> We know we have too much of the stuff, so finding a way of utilizing at least some CO<sup>2</sup> to create foods and other products that reduce the need for destructive commercial practices is a solid win for humankind. Harkening back to its NASA origins, Dyson notes in her talk that Earth, too, is sort of a self-contained spaceship, albeit a big one. Finding new ways to productively reuse what it has to offer clearly benefits us all. </p>