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Everyday Junglist
Bio
Practicing mage of the natural sciences (Ph.D. micro/mol bio), Thought middle manager, Everyday Junglist, Boulderer, Cat lover, No tie shoelace user, Humorist, Argan oil aficionado. Occasional LinkedIn & Facebook user
Stories (585/0)
Are Psychedelic Medicines the Next Big Thing?
Author/Interviewer Preface: Charles Bogenberger is a 39-year-old entrepreneur with a BS degree in mechanical engineering, an MBA, and a former colleague. After college, he worked for a few years then returned to school to obtain his MBA. Post MBA he bounced around several marketing and sales roles before landing the job where I would meet him, business unit manager at a large company (which will remain unnamed). They felt his background was a perfect fit and had recruited him to run one of their testing laboratories in Battle Creek, Michigan. At that lab Charles oversaw a staff of 20 plus employees, doing primarily microbiological analysis of pathogens and other microorganisms of concern in foods and the environment. The last time I had seen him was almost two years ago there, only about two weeks before his departure from the company. He left on good terms, burnt out after almost two years at what is a very demanding job, both mentally and physically. When he informed me he was leaving I asked him about his plans for the future. He talked about "taking some time off", travel, and after that he wasn't sure. He had managed to save up a good chunk of money during his time in Battle Creek. There is not much to spend money on there in the best of times and this was particularly true during the time when Charles lived there during the COVID pandemic. Michigan had some of the strictest and harshest lockdown protocols of any state. The lack of ability to build a new network of friends in the area was another reason Charles chose to leave Battle Creek. I said my goodbyes at our last meeting, wished him luck, asked him to keep in touch, and that was that. We exchanged a couple messages during the two years since that time. That changed recently when I reconnected with him by text once again and asked him what he had been up to and what he was doing now. He told me he was doing well and that he had moved back to his hometown of Denver, Colorado. When I inquired as to what he was doing for work, how he planned to make money, he texted something I absolutely did not expect, "I'm growing psychedelic mushrooms." I was instantly intrigued, curious to learn how and why this formerly successful engineer/businessman had chosen to grow what is/was an illegal substance and how he hoped to make money (legally) by doing so. I found his story compelling and fascinating, and, after much additional discussion, together we hit upon the idea of an interview to share this unusual story with a wider audience. Below is a (lightly) edited version of that discussion which took place on February 14, 2023.
By Everyday Junglist4 months ago in Psyche
AI Continues to Transform Our Lives Through the Transformative Power of Transformation
AI has transformed so many lives already. How could it possibly be any more transformative? Personally I have seen my own life completely transformed since AI was first was dumbed down and redefined to mean modern computing and not anything actually intelligent. My city’s traffic light system has never run more smoothly, and the elevators in the high rises downtown move people up and down with greater efficiency then ever before. The skies above our airports are full of planes calmly preparing for on time arrivals, instead of plunging to their dooms two hours late like back in the old days before AI. Plus my phone is smart and so is my house. It seems like everything is transformed beyond my wildest imagination. AI is the ultimate transformer. AI-bots, transform and roll out!
By Everyday Junglist4 months ago in Poets
I Married a Dragon . Top Story - March 2024.
My wife is a polymath and highly accomplished research scientist who skipped high school to attend college at the age of 14 which speaks to her intellectual capabilities. She holds a masters degree in microbiology and immunology from the University of Virginia and has a long list of publications as both lead author and co-author in the peer reviewed scientific literature, including a most recent second authorship in the prestigious journal Science. She has worked with highly dangerous pathogens for much of her career, and is a recognized expert on Yersinia pestis (Bubonic plague), and Bacillus anthracis (Anthrax). Lest you think she is some pale skinned lab nerd who has spent her entire life locked in a lab chained to a bench, she has also been a field biologist. She worked for five years in the Daintree Rainforest in Australia chasing down the source of mycobacterium ulcerans, cause of a terrible skin disease that plagues indigenous populations there. The Daintree is often called the most dangerous forest in the world, and is not a place most people would want to visit for a day, let alone work in, five to seven days a week for five years.
By Everyday Junglist4 months ago in Humans
Jesus Saves at Temple Market
Jesus Christ, lord and savior to tens of millions of Christians worldwide, reportedly saved big at the temple market during his last shopping trip to the large Jewish temple market near his home in Nazareth. Though he has been permanently banned from the market for disrupting business by violently turning over money changer's tables during previous visits he still shops there regularly in disguise. The son of God saved close to fifteen percent off of regular prices on fish heads, mulled wine, and bread loaves by buying them from the clearance rack at the back of the temple and not near the front entrance where they are generally found at much higher prices. After leaving the store with almost 100 drachma remaining from his budget of 200 dinar Jesus was reportedly quite pleased with how much he had saved saying the following "They say give to Ceaser what is Ceaser's and give to God what is God's. Oh wait, I mean, I say that, or, I said that. Not sure exactly where I was going with that, but man did I save big today. I mean I saved a lot. Nice!" With that Jesus bowed his head, turned and walked away.
By Everyday Junglist4 months ago in Poets
Could Love Actually Be a Net Negative for Humanity
Introduction I am not one to complain about tests being too hard. In fact, generally speaking, the more difficult any given challenge, the more compelling I find it. Even for me however to "write a personal reflection that explores the complexities of love" is a challenge for which I must cry uncle. To find something interesting, and more importantly, something which has not been said a million times before, by a million other people a million times more talented than me, about a topic that may the most thought and written about in the history of humanity, is likely not possible for a person of my limited abilities. That said, since I am already sitting here at the computer and fully committed to writing something, and since I have also decided that no matter what the outcome I will submit it to the above referenced challenge, I must go on, and if you are a are a fan of intellectually stimulating run on filled ramblings, then I invite you to read on. What is to come will no doubt not exactly fit the criteria of the aforementioned challenge for which this piece is being penned. However, in the spirit of difficult challenges I challenge the judges and you the reader, to try and find a way to make it fit. If I am up to the challenge surely you can be too.
By Everyday Junglist4 months ago in Humans
Analogy Does Not Recapitulate Reality
The Possibility of Analogy Does Not Necessarily Correlate with the Probability of Reality I take a hard line against the currently (and formerly) in vogue position of equating human beings, particularly their brains, with computers. To me it is obvious that no such equivalence exists despite decades of suggestions otherwise. The number of analogies between various structures/functions of the human brain and those of a computer/computer system are as large as the number of neurons estimated to comprise said brain. The prevalence of these analogies often makes us forget that they are only that, analogies. They are not based in scientific fact, but instead are based in the imaginative capacities of the organ which is the topic of these comparisons. The possibility of analogy is however often confused with the probability of reality. Those things for which we can analogize more are thought to be more accurate representations of the real relationships of the things being compared. Therefore, because there are so many analogies possible between how (we hypothesize) a human brain works and how a computer works, it must be true that a human brain is very similar to, or exactly like, a computer. The point of analogies is (or should be) to help clarify/deepen our understanding of a thing through a comparison of that thing and/or it’s attributes with another (usually similar but not always) thing. We suggest that the first thing is like the other because of x, y, and z and the comparison allows us to see the thing we are trying to clarify our understanding of in a different way. To ‘see’ it anew. In no way however is the analogy an argument (it is not an argument and should not be viewed as such) as to the actual similarity (in point of fact/reality) of the two things. It is for illustrative purposes only and carries no truth value or “reality bestowing” power. Analogies are powerful, but they are not all powerful. They can clarify but they can also mislead. We must not confuse our ability to create analogies with our ability to clearly see, study, and understand reality.
By Everyday Junglist5 months ago in Poets
Inverse Simplified
Top To Bottom Author's postscript: I am appending this postscript only because apparently Vocal also has a 5 word minimum for all published works. The in addition to the 600 word minimum it has for most published works, except for during some challenges and in the Poets community where it is normally 150 words, or something like that. Get rid of the stupid word count minimums already Vocal. Gheesh. How many times do I have to keep dumping on you about this before you will finally listen? In order to write the worlds simplest inverted poem less than five words will almost certainly be required.
By Everyday Junglist5 months ago in Poets
Immunity from Evil
I wrote a piece a few years ago where I asked the question if it were possible for an evil man to be as critically self aware of his nature as a good man? I recently reposted it here. I encourage you to read that piece first as it provides some background and perspective for the following discussion. Here I ask a slightly different, but similar and related question. Are there any religions in which it would be impossible for a truly evil person to participate? How one "participates" in any given religion varies almost as widely as their basic moral tenets. For purposes of this piece I simply mean be recognized by other "members" of the religion as a "member in good standing" or as a "true believer" or "true adherent" of the given religion or faith tradition. Obviously since the person is actually evil, for almost all religions, save perhaps Satanism and maybe a few others, this would have to be by deception. So the question really boils down to this, Are there any religions which by their very nature, their very structure, would absolutely prevent an evil person from "participating" by deception? Or, another way to phrase it, are there any religions absolutely immune from deception by an evil person?
By Everyday Junglist5 months ago in Humans
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