Our readers share their thoughts on what we know about our brains, the so-called end of the world, and of course a new angle on meter maids and people’s parking woes.
Bags of Chemicals
Neuroscientist Michael S. Gazzaniga (“Write Brain,” A&E, Jan. 4) conceives of human beings as chemically determined robots with no will of their own. Were scientists required to take one or two years of epistemology, they would distinguish between science and what they as scientists believe.
Our knowledge of what we take for the material world is indirect and mediated (by the five senses). Within this manifestly partial, and therefore delusive, representation of what is real, neither the conscious mind nor the volitional self appears. Can we rightly infer that the volitional self does not exist? Or is it possible that the colorful representation all around us is not everything?
Our knowledge of ourselves and of our own minds is direct and immediate. Those of us who possess souls, volition, goodness and love directly observe ourselves being, doing, sharing and giving. Those who would claim they are bags of chemicals—robots—should speak for themselves.
Richard Flacco
Santa Cruz
Dump The Dumps
I stroll Manresa Beach almost daily, and I regularly see from one to three plastic bags of dog feces lying in the sand. Today I plucked one from the surf. Manresa is heavily used by dogs and their guardians, and I would like to tell the 99 percent who pick up after their pets and carry their waste to the trash how much I appreciate their thoughtfulness. People who bag their dogs’ waste and leave it lying on the sand are also considerate to the extent that they have made an effort to save other users of the beach from stepping in their pets’ excrement. However, these folks have apparently forgotten about the impact of the plastic bags and the feces within them on the coastal and ocean ecology, as well as the physical beauty of the shoreline. The Pacific Ocean is plagued by a vortex of plastic debris that has been estimated to be anywhere from the size of Texas to twice that size. The Atlantic and Indian oceans have their own huge concentrations of plastic. The adverse impacts of this plastic to the marine ecosystem, and even to humans, are far too complex to discuss here, but they are sobering.
My assumption is that some of the bags I see are retrieved by dog owners on their return trip down the beach and then taken to the trash; however, I know that not all of them are. To those of you who leave the bags behind, please take the next important step: deposit them in the trash. Thank you.
Rob Goodwin
La Selva Beach
Meter Misfire
[RE: “Tough Tickets,” Posts, Jan. 4], I agree and understand that, although frustrating, getting ticketed for an expired meter isn’t a big surprise. [But] I do share the negative sentiment towards some of our parking enforcement. Along with witnessing a meter attendant watch and wait for a meter to expire to issue a ticket, my girlfriend was recently issued a ticket in the Church Street parking garage when she had paid for time in her designated space. When she brought the ticket to the parking office and asked them why she got a ticket, they told her that the machine must not have processed her transaction yet. How is that possible if it instantly prints you a receipt? We then found a few other people with similar stories, one of whom didn’t have the time to clear it up and was wrongfully fined. Meters aside, there’s a problem, especially when the money collected goes to unnecessary traffic circles.
Jamie Schnetzler
Santa Cruz
Doomsday Yuks
Your timely article (“The End of The World As We Know It,” Cover story, Jan. 4), which I read super-fast (just in case, you know?), reminded me of a New Yorker cartoon that came out shortly after the last Doomsday prediction fizzled. It depicts a stereotypical end-of-the-world type (long white hair, flowing beard, gown) holding up a sign that reads, “The End Was Near.” Oh, those Mayans and their wicked sense of humor!
Tim Rudolph
Santa Cruz
CORRECTION
In last week’s Currents (“Phase Two”) we inaccurately implied that funding for the Performing Arts Center at the Tannery was imperiled because of the ruling affecting the Redevelopment Agency. That was wrong. Funding for the center is not dependent on redevelopment.
Also, in our cover story (“The End of the World As We Know It”) we misspelled the term that describes the change in the orientation of the earth’s axis over time. It is spelled “precession.” We regret the errors.
