Philosophy: Neurology: Astronomy:

 

An Essay on Continuity and an Awareness of Realities:

Responsibilities of Science

PART II of III

By Tetsuo Kaneko

Technical Adviser

Chiba-ken, Japan

 

Editor’s Note: The paper featured here is Part II of a three-part paper.

Part I was featured in the previous May-June issue of this Journal. - JP

 

 

A duty compensating for continue to enjoy the civilization

Dinosaurs had their history on the Earth obeying their DNA which lasted for several hundreds million years without efforts to make their history become long.  Although their bodies were sufficiently large, their behavior allowed the planetary environment to remain large enough and stable enough for keeping the equilibrium.  On the other hand, humans, i.e. Homo sapiens, are required by the industrialized civilization to make several portions in the brain, consisting of over 100 billon neurons, become active for establishing a gentle mind, which allows the behavior to be consistent with avoiding disturbing the stability of the planetary environment. 

    

The primary aim of human DNA must be focused on at least three attempts; an attempt is to protect the DNA itself with trying to establish a comfortable condition; another attempt is to produce the next generation with trying to gain benefit; the other attempt is to have an interest in making the next generation grow with trying to establish a convenient condition.  Then, the following generation is the future generation being the nearest adjacent to the generation having the DNA.  The primary aim of human DNA is very limited without involving far future generations.  Certainly, this limited aim is essentially acceptable for all the creatures except Homo sapiens.  

    

Human behavior is influential for the planetary environment.  For this reason, it is necessary to support an attempt to encourage cerebral activity to become independent of the primary aim of human DNA.  An attempt to avoid disturbing the stability of the planetary environment should be encouraged.  For continuing to enjoy the civilization, Homo sapiens must make efforts to become free from the deterministic destiny obeying human DNA.  Homo sapiens must make their cerebral activity perform for continuing to enjoy living on the Earth.

    

An attempt to freely enjoy industrially civilized activities for obtaining more comfort, more benefit, and more convenience with obeying human DNA begins persuading the current generations to think about disadvantages encountered by future generations.  An additional entropy caused by human behavior that actively obeys human DNA begins requiring the finite capacity of the Earth to limit the human behavior.  The primary aim of human DNA raises the risk of giving up protecting the equality between the current generations and far future generations by inducing a situation where future advantages cannot compensate for future disadvantages.  Ultimately, an image corresponding to the capacity of the Earth begins changing from being infinity to being limited.  Consciousness begins encountering a reality of the Earth showing the fact that the capacity of the Earth is limited. 

    

Fortunately, Homo sapiens must be capable of making cerebral activity gentle for far future generations continuing to enjoy living on the Earth.  The great function of nerve cells that allows new connections to be formed between nerve cells must allow Homo sapiens to be capable of becoming subjectively free from situations where obeying human DNA is strictly required.  Even if what human DNA has allowed the cerebral cortex to be developed can contribute to inducing negative situations, the developed cerebral cortex must allow cerebral activity to overcome negative issues caused by human DNA. 

    

If difficulties in protecting the equality between the current generations and far future generations depend on a specific situation where any decisions are subjected to the primary aim of human DNA, at least science should encourage the brain to have confidence in avoiding the situation.  The great function of nerve cells can help cerebral activity to create nonlinear responses that are free from the deterministic destiny obeying human DNA.  While making the quality of cerebral activity change by the aid of the great function of nerve cells, the brain must be allowed to go beyond the limitation coming from the primary aim of human DNA. 

   

Certainly, human DNA allows the cerebral cortex to be developed, and persuades Homo sapiens to succeed in gaining a specific technique that enables the central organ of nervous system to include nerve cells having modified DNA, which allows specific programs to proceed.  However, such a way does not directly and a priori allow the formation of neuronal network systems that support the will to continue enjoying the civilization.  An attempt to become free from neuronal network systems characterizing the nervous system originated by human DNA must be achieved only through cerebral activity inducing the great function of nerve cells. 

    

Characteristic DNA of a creature subjects the creature to the requirement for maintaining concentration on an interest in only convenient consequences obtained in a limited or special condition.  As a result, the characteristic DNA allows the creature to survive in the limited condition.  Human DNA subjects Homo sapiens to the requirement for maintaining concentration on an interest in only convenient consequences obtained in a limited or special condition.  However, everyone knows that it is not always reasonable to assume the continuous use of any specific techniques or any specific treatments with obeying comfortable words telling conveniences obtained in a limited condition.  Fortunately, the brain is capable of making consciousness become free from obeying human DNA.  Moreover, the great function of nerve cells that has enabled many great breakthroughs must allow networks of nerve cells to be modified for overcoming any difficult situations encountered by obeying human DNA, while helping new connections between nerve cells to be formed.  If the brain, being the central organ of nervous system, is made to better function, Homo sapiens can be allowed to continue to enjoy living even in the limited environment, while gaining new and suitable consciousness. 

    

The brain has a tendency to generate the consciousness that is concentrated on an interest in only linear responses to expectations, so that the brain should be aided in having an opportunity to encounter images being the nearest to the realities of objects.  Then, the consciousness must be helped to accept flexibility that allows the brain to consider unexpected nonlinear events. Depending on the flexibility, the possibility of minimizing the probability that unpleasant nonlinear responses occur should be raised, and the possibility that the unpleasant nonlinear responses contribute to an increase in entropy should be minimized.  However, unless science continues to make efforts to investigate and research the possibility that unexpected nonlinear responses occur, science should be blamed.  Then, both the opportunity to minimize the probability of making the nonlinear responses occur and the opportunity to minimize the increase in entropy must remain lost.  

    

Consuming energy always accompanies the occurrence of additional entropy.  While consuming energy, preventing the additional entropy from occurring is impossible.  This is the fact known as the Second Law of Thermodynamics.  If consciousness makes Homo sapiens have the right to increase entropy on the planet, science should predict circumstances resulting from increasing entropy.  Unless science predicts them, science is blamed for neglecting to play a role for protecting the equality between the current generations and future generations.  Science must aid the future of Homo sapiens to become optimistic with the future of the Earth. 

    

Certainly, the Earth is not a closed thermodynamic system.  However, an additional entropy that exceeds a critical amount can prevent creatures from living easily.  A collision of a large meteorite to the Earth allowed the extinction of the dinosaurs to occur.  The high kinetic energy carried by the meteorite was consumed by the collision, and as a result, an additional entropy symbolized by the diffusion of dust and energy was made to occur beyond the critical amount attributed to the collision of a meteorite.  While avoiding sensitively nonlinear chain events, an additional entropy made to occur by the consumption of energy should always be minimized below the critical amount dependent on the characteristic of a corresponding event.  Hence, science must aid everyone to ask what amount of energy consumption is allowable for accompanying an acceptable amount of additional entropy in order to protect the equality between the current generations and far future generations. 

    

The use of energy and the use of technology have positively and greatly contributed to the development of technological civilization so far.  However, many examples can be found as the fact that unexpected negative nonlinear responses to the use of specific technologies have been accompanied, i.e., the fact that an unacceptable increase in entropy has been made to occur in particular ways.  Either science or philosophy must contribute to preventing entropy from increasing unexpectedly and freely.  Attempts to continue enjoying the civilization become the aim of the civilization.  The ethics for continuing to enjoy the civilization is subjected to the requirement for preserving at least the equality between the current generations and far future generations.  If at least science does not contribute to developing the ethics and to the consciousness that allows of enlarging awareness, an aim of science will lose a meaning.  

    

Science should gently aid consciousness in carefully avoiding making unexpected and unpleasant events and situations appear, even if the events and the situations belong to a category characterized by no awareness.  Science should help consciousness to be continuously and gently adjusted both for avoiding situations losing fairness between generations including far future generations and for preserving the planetary environment and ecology.  Nobody knows how many unknowns are making everyone’s brain lead to non-awareness.  The fact that the Earth encounters an ice age during the passage of the Solar System through a galactic spiral arm [1-3] had belonged to the category of non-awareness before Shaviv’s research [1] and Veizer’s research [2] were done.

 

No matter how carefully attempts to avoid possibly negative events are made, what unexpected and unpleasant nonlinear responses occur is not negligible.  Despite this, efforts to find any unexpected things or events belonging to the category of non-awareness are easily neglected, and as a result, any problems are allowed to occur.  Such issues can be found in large numbers.  

 

Pollution and concerns resulting from the use of DDT

DDT's insecticidal action that was discovered by Swiss chemist Paul Hermann Müller has a high efficiency as an agricultural insecticide.  DDT's insecticidal properties allowed the use of DDT to effectively contribute to a program of the World Health Organization (WHO) to eradicate malaria worldwide.  DDT was very effective in reducing malaria morbidity and mortality.  The effectiveness of DDT is complete and excellent.  However, unexpected and unpleasant nonlinear responses to the use of DDT can be found. 

    

Widespread agricultural use was allowing DDT to generate resistant insect populations involving resistant mosquitoes.  Epidemiological studies done recently indicate that DDT can cause cancers of the liver, pancreas and breast.  DDT can also contribute to the occurrence of leukemia, lymphoma and so on.  Breast milk contaminated by DDT can allow infants to have neurological abnormalities.  DDT can be directly genotoxic with the potential to induce enzymes to produce other genotoxic intermediates and DNA adducts.  DDT and its metabolite DDE (dichlorodiphenyl-dichloroethylene) perform a specific behavior being similar to estrogens to trigger hormonal responses in animals.  DDT exposure damages the reproductive system and reduces reproductive success.  DDT, through DDE, increases the risk of making eggshells become so thin that egg breakage can be caused, leading to bird populations being decreased.  DDT is a persistent organic pollutant that is readily adsorbed to soils, which can act as long-term sources of exposure contributing to terrestrial organisms.  Through the behavior of animals connected to the food chain, DDT is transported from warmer regions of the world to the Arctic.  DDT’s lipophilic properties allow DDT to have a high potential to accumulate in body fat through the food chain or through directly taking in.  DDT is very resistant to metabolism; its half-life is about 6 years in humans.  DDT is toxic to a wide range of living organisms, including marine animals. 

    

In 2001, an international environmental treaty was signed as the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.  Despite this fact, DDT is still one of many tools that are used to fight malaria that remains a major public health challenge in many countries.  For many malaria-prone countries, the convention exempts public health use within WHO guidelines from the ban on using DDT.  However, the treaty aims to restrict the production and use of DDT and also to eliminate other many persistent organic pollutants.  While respecting consciousness born in the brain, the brain is capable of making cerebral activity become objective freely from the consciousness.  The Stockholm Convention has been ratified by more than 170 countries.

 

Pollution and concerns resulting from the use of PCB

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are organochlorides with 1 to 10 chlorine atoms and have 209 configurations.  The production of PCBs has been banned and PCBs must be eliminated by 2028 according to the Stockholm Convention.  However, PCBs continue to be used as coolants and insulating fluids in old transformers and old capacitors, as well as in old fluorescent light ballasts. 

 

PCBs are fluids that have electrical insulating properties with high dielectric constants, and have very high thermal conductivity and high flash points.  They are chemically fairly inert, being extremely resistant to oxidation and reduction, so that they have low flammability.  The excellent properties of PCBs allowed PCBs to be widely used as plasticizers in paints, stabilizing additives in flexible PVC coatings of electrical wiring, pesticide extenders, cutting fluids for machining operations, reactive flame retardants, lubricating oils, hydraulic fluids, heat transfer fluids, waterproofing compounds, casting agents, and so on. 

 

Despite the excellent properties of PCBs, unexpected and unpleasant nonlinear responses to the use of PCBs can be found.  PCBs belong to a class as persistent organic pollutants, and the extremely slow destruction of PCBs due to their chemically high stability elongates the duration of environmental toxicity.  In the natural environment, PCBs have long half lives estimated as 8 to 15 years

 

The coplanar group members of PCBs have the 2 phenyl rings in the same plane.  This molecular structure is similar to polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans.  The PCBs having the molecular structure are regarded as contributors to overall dioxin toxicity.  Although PCBs having noncoplanar structures are not regarded as these contributors, some neurotoxic and immunotoxic effects are found at high levels of contamination.  If the destruction of PCBs occurs by chemical, thermal, and biochemical processes, their partial oxidation allows the risk of generating extremely toxic dibenzodioxins and dibenzofurans to be raised.

 

Each PCB readily penetrates skin and has high solubility in fats.  This fact allows PCBs to be easily absorbed into the body and to be stably accumulated in the body.  Moreover, PCBs show to cause cancers.  When PCBs work as imitation of the estrogen compound, they can cause uterine cancer, cervical cancer, and so on.  When PCBs work as inhibition of estradiol, they can cause serious developmental problems including sexual, skeletal, and mental development issues.

 

The serious incident that made the contamination of rice bran oil with PCBs occurred in Japan in 1968 resulting in a mass poisoning, known as Yusho disease.  Yusho disease gave health problems to over 14,000 people. Common symptoms included dermal and ocular lesions, irregular menstrual cycles and lowered immune responses.

 

In open sources, such as plasticizers in paints and waterproofing, the use of PCBs was already banned.  In totally enclosed systems such as transformers and capacitors, PCBs still continue to be used.  However, the risk of leaking from containers cannot be neglected since the containers can suffer from fire or erosion.  The fact of contaminating the soil with PCBs having leaked from transformers exists.  Fortunately, the will to control environmental contamination was already established by the Stockholm Convention.  The brain can confirm confidence in making cerebral activity become independent of consciousness born in the brain. 

 

Diffusion of Freon and concerns resulting from the use of Freon

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) called Freon commercially have been widely used.  They are organic compounds that contain only carbon, chlorine, and fluorine atoms and have respective formulae CClmF4-m and C2ClmF6-m (1≤m≤3).  CFCs are allowed to have suitable boiling points caused by intermolecular attractive forces, and the boiling points make them suitable as refrigerants.  The CFCs are allowed to be useful solvents due to the polarity of their molecules.  Although the CFCs have volatility, they are far less flammable than methane.  The CFCs having low toxicity, low reactivity, and low flammability are allowed to have various applications such as refrigerants, blowing and foam-blowing agents, propellants in aerosol applications and in medicinal applications, and degreasing solvents.

 

Despite the desirable properties of CFCs that have enabled CFCs to be used widely, an unexpected and unpleasant nonlinear response to the use of the CFCs appears as the depletion of the ozone layer.  The Montreal Protocol was ratified in 1987 to prevent liberated atoms (Cl radicals) of chlorine from depleting the ozone layer.  The Protocol is an international agreement for attempt to stop depleting the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances that are responsible for ozone depletion and by eventually eliminating the substances.

 

The necessity of transitional CFCs replacements can allow hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) to be used as refrigerants, solvents, blowing agents for plastic foam manufacture, and fire extinguishers.  The molecules of HCFCs consist of carbon, chlorine, and fluorine atoms in addition to hydrogen atoms.  The HCFCs have less degree of ozone depleting potential in comparison to CFCs.  However, their ozone depleting potential cannot be neglected.

 

CFCs and HCFCs transported into the stratosphere after being emitted at the surface are exposed to ultraviolet radiation.  After CFCs and HCFCs absorb photons of ultraviolet radiation, chlorine atoms (Cls) are liberated from the CFCs and the HCFCs. Each chlorine atom liberated from them continues to destroy a number of ozone molecules through cycles of catalytic reactions.  

 

First, the reaction between a chlorine atom Cl and an ozone molecule O3 results in a chlorine monoxide molecule ClO and a oxygen molecule O2.  Second, the reaction between the chlorine monoxide ClO and an ozone molecule O3 results in the chlorine atom Cl and two oxygen molecules.  After these two reactions, the chlorine atom works as a catalyst and is not lost.  On the other hand, the two ozone molecules are converted into the three oxygen molecules after the two reactions.  A single chlorine atom allows such reactions to be repeated.  The duration for which a single chlorine atom keeps on destroying ozone molecules through cycles of catalytic reactions in the ozone layer may be estimated as up to two years.  On average, a single chlorine atom can decompose 100,000 ozone molecules before it is removed from the cycles of catalytic reactions.

 

After oxygen molecules absorb photons having wavelengths that are shorter than 240 nm, the oxygen molecules can be allowed to dissociate into oxygen atoms.  After ozone molecules absorb photons having wavelengths between 200nm and 310nm, the ozone molecules can be allowed to dissociate into oxygen atoms and oxygen molecules.  Ultimately, the ozone layer absorbs 97–99% of ultraviolet radiation having wavelengths between 200 and 310 nm, and prevents the ultraviolet radiation from passing through the Earth's atmosphere.

 

Unless the diffusion of CFCs and HCFCs into the atmosphere is prevented, the depletion of ozone allows more of ultraviolet radiation to reach the Earth's surface.  The depletion of ozone allows ultraviolet radiation exposure to increase, so that its depletion raises the risk of inducing skin cancer and cataracts, damage to plants, and reduction of phytoplankton populations in the ocean's photic zone.  In September 2006, the largest Antarctic ozone hole was recorded over the Southern pole.  The necessity to improve such situation is notable.  When the brain encounters images being the nearest to realities of the ozone layer, the brain is capable of generating the will to make cerebral activity become objective independently of consciousness born in the brain.  The will to eliminate CFCs, HCFCs and other organic compounds depleting ozone has been already established by the Montreal Protocol.  

 

Concerns resulting form mathematical finance established by the use of stochastic process

In financial market systems, stochastic processes are powerful and effective mathematical tools for modeling fluctuations of prices of financial securities symbolized by stocks, bonds, etc.  If there is no factor that strengthens a tendency to make prices fluctuate in a particular range, it is reasonable to assume that fluctuations in prices follow a Gaussian distribution. Then, the fluctuations can be described as stochastic processes that enable the mathematical modeling of the Brownian motion.  In fact, attempts to model the fluctuations as the stochastic processes has enabled fair and desirable prices of financial securities at a particular time to be estimated objectively and effectively.  At an arbitrary time, the "real" probability P reflecting the distribution of the market prices of all the securities for the buy-side community and the "risk-neutral" probability Q used in derivatives pricing for the sell-side community can be estimated in principle by the mathematical procedures established through applying the stochastic processes. Developing the mathematical procedures can allow mathematical finance to become effective and attractive.  Certainly, the mathematical finance helped to succeed in establishing desirable situations where financially attractive results were allowable for being obtained efficiently. 

 

Financial market systems can sometimes encounter unexpected and unacceptable incidents that strengthen a tendency to make prices fluctuate in an undesirable range.  Then, unexpected and unpleasant nonlinear responses to the incidents must make the mathematical procedures for the mathematical finance collapse.  Although derivative pricing strategies have been developed, at least the financial crisis of 2007–2010 allowed their credibility to be damaged.  According to the mathematician Mandelbrot, fluctuations in security prices can be rather modeled better as Lévy alpha-stable distributions dependent on the time interval length to the power a bit more than 1/2.  The fluctuations do not simply follow a Gaussian distribution.  Moreover, fluctuations must depend on financial consciousness in financial communities.  The financial consciousness must depend on economic situations, political-financial strategies, financial crises, etc.  A hedged position can become no hedged at the worst times, and as a result, the use of derivatives can result in large losses with the use of leverage.  The 1997 East Asian financial crisis and the 1998 Russian financial crisis allowed the mathematical finance of Long-Term Capital Management to not function.  Certainly, several instances of massive losses in derivative markets were encountered even in the 2000s, and then, the relations between large and globalized investments and an aim of the society having a tendency to strengthen an interest in finance allowed the whole of globalized economy to suffer from chain reactions and allowed globalized financial crises to ensue.

 

Natural disasters that occur while involving factors independent of the will to prevent them are reasonable objects against which insurance is introduced.  Unpleasant variations in security prices that have a tendency to depend on the will to control them are unsuitable objects against which insurance is introduced.  This is a valuable awareness that is established by an inductive lesson resulting from the financial crises.  To avoid serial crises, the brain is certainly capable of making cerebral activity become independent of the consciousness enjoying attractive possibilities. 

 

Pollution and concerns resulting from the use of mercury and mercury compounds

Minamata Convention signed in October 2013 is an international will to restrict and regulate the utilization of mercury in an efficient, effective and coherent manner.  The Convention is an international treaty designed to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds.  Despite having established the current will for prohibiting mercury poisoning, mercury and mercury compounds are very useful and precious for making specific techniques available in many fields, including medical, agricultural, dental, and industrial areas.  Mercury can be used for amalgam dental restorations and can be used also as electrodes for producing caustic soda.  Specific mercury compounds can work as catalysts for chemical syntheses of organic compounds such as acetaldehide, acetone, etc.  Moreover, the use of mercury and mercury compounds allows the production of various items such as cosmetics for whitening, fluorescent lamps, electric batteries, antiseptic agents, anti-mildew agents for agriculture and for indoor paints, etc.  

 

Methylmercury was one of the organomercury compounds frequently used as an anti-mildew agent for seeds thrown on agricultural fields.  Organomercury compounds have medically useful properties being antiseptic and antifungal.  One example is thimerosal being a compound called mercury((o-carboxyphenyl)thio)ethyl sodium salt, and another is merbromin being a compound called dibromohydroxymercurifluorescein and is known commercially as mercurochrome.  Merbromin, which was a popular antiseptic agent for minor cuts and scrapes, is used as a biological dye to mark tissue margins and as a metal dye in industrial dye penetrant inspection to detect metal fractures.  Thimerosal has mainly been an effectively antiseptic and antifungal agent in various vaccines for preserving them, and it was used to prevent contamination of bacteria in creams, jellies, nasal sprays, eye drops, contact lens solutions, immunoglobulins and so on.

 

Although mercury and mercury compounds have long been known to be toxic, their careful utilization has been allowed to result in precious effects.  Despite this fact, unexpected and unpleasant nonlinear responses to their utilization cannot be ignored.  A humanized situation where human ethics that are subjectively, economically, industrially, or unconsciously optimized persuade industrial discharges of mercury to be done into rivers and coastal waters can make it allowable to generate large-scale public health crises due to mercury poisoning that results in Minamata disease.  Ultimately, the will to accept the Minamata Convention on Mercury was an international necessity and was established. 

 

Industrial discharge of methylmercury into Minamata Bay and its tributaries allowed the tragedy of acute methylmercury poisoning to occur in Minamata, Japan.  A similar tragedy due to methylmercury poisoning occurred in Niigata, Japan also.  The contamination of Minamata Bay with methylmercury was, moreover, worsened by the methylation reaction that transforms inorganic mercury into methylmercury.  Inorganic mercury discharged into the environment is mathylated by activities of anaerobic organisms that live in aquatic systems such as bays, lakes, and rivers. 

 

In Minamata, tens of thousands of people have suffered from illness known as Minamata disease, and several hundreds people died due to the illness.  The occurrence of the tragedy depends principally on bioaccumulation.  Through food chains from bacteria to plankton, through macro-invertebrates, to small fish and to large fish, methylmercury is accumulated in organisms belonging to upper classes, although the concentrations of methylmercury in aquatic systems are extremely low.  The concentration of methylmercury in fish belonging to the top of the aquatic food chain reaches a level a million times higher than the level in the water. 

 

Fortunately, several pregnant women who consumed fish contaminated with methylmercury showed no symptoms.  The women, however, gave birth to infants with severe developmental disabilities.  An ion CH3Hg+ of methylmercury can form a covalent bond with the thiol (-SH) groups in the amino acid called cysteine, so that CH3Hg+ can be captured by the thiol (-SH) groups in a protein molecule containing cysteine.  This fact allows methylmercury to readily distribute with such protein molecules to all body tissues, crossing even the blood–brain barrier and the placental barrier.  This allows the potential of poisoning effects on the nervous system to be increased.  

 

Even when filled with grief, the brain can cause cerebral activity that respects consciousness objectively.  In the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, the delegates witnessed a Japanese girl who was a junior high school student disabled as the result of methylmercury poisoning in the uterus.  Shortly thereafter, the United Nations Environment Program was established.  This is one of the countermeasures to neutralize unexpected and unpleasant nonlinear responses to releasing mercury and mercury compounds into the environment.  

 

Mercury poisoning can result in several symptoms including sensory impairment of vision, hearing, or speech, disturbed sensation and a lack of coordination, and can result in damage to also the kidneys and lungs.  The fact that mercury toxicity inhibits the distractive metabolism of catecholamine causes a person suffering from mercury poisoning to experience a persistently faster-than-normal heart beat, high blood pressure, and so on.  Since mercury is highly reactive with selenium, activities of selenoenzymes such as thioredoxin reductase being one of selenium-dependent enzymes are irreversibly inhibited by mercury toxicity.  In the brain, tissues keeping the high rate of oxygen consumption, unless the antioxidant protection provided by selenoenzymes allows reactive oxygen species produced readily in nerve cells to be sufficiently reduced, the nerve cells die.

 

Continuous efforts to do scientific research reveal realities that require much sufficient care to treat things containing mercury.  In the medical field, thimerosal is no longer used as a preservative for routine childhood vaccines, except for its use in developing countries and except for some formulations of the inactivated influenza vaccine for children older than two years and other several vaccines that are not routinely recommended for young children.  In the body, thiomersal can rapidly be metabolically decomposed into thiosalicylate and ethylmercury, which has toxicology similar to methylmercury causing Minamata disease.  Merbromin has been superseded by other agents such as povidone iodine, benzalkonium chloride, chloroxylenol, etc. in order to prevent potential mercury poisoning. 

 

Science must continue to reveal the necessity to prevent air, foods, and medical items from being contaminated, as well as the necessity to reduce exposure to mercury.  Currently, there are few anthropogenic sources of methylmercury pollution.  However, anthropogenic pollution of the atmosphere with mercury can still be caused by the industrial use of mercury, such as caustic soda production, mercury production, and gold production via amalgam.  The pollution can still be caused also by the use of mercury-containing objects, the production of cement, the burning of waste and fossil fuels containing mercury, and so on.  Naturally, the burning of coal that contains inorganic mercury as its trace constituent contributes to the pollution.  The pollution occurs in the two forms such as mercury vapor and a trace constituent of fine dust particles in smoke.  Moreover, releases of mercury and mercury compounds in other forms such as a constituent of wastes, contaminated water, etc. allow of the occurrence of pollution.  In order to reduce exposure to mercury, science must firmly continue to help the international will to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds. 

 

Exceeded expectations that the planetary environment keeps stability against anthropogenic emissions of CO2

Dinosaurs, which existed for several hundreds million years, did not make any efforts to maintain the equilibrium in the planetary environment.  Even for Homo sapiens, the planetary environment had had enough size and stability for keeping the equilibrium, at least before civilization was worldwide and thoroughly industrialized.  The size and stability of the planetary environment are important factors for civilization, and make it allowable to preserve agriculturally useful fields as well as technologically useful fields. 

 

The brain, consisting of over 100 billion neurons, allows itself to freely create any arbitrary images, and cerebral activity enables Homo sapiens to make any transitions from desirable images to realities corresponding to images that occur technologically.  The size and stability of the planetary environment have accepted the will to require the inheritance left by ancient living things to contribute to brightening the civilization with many luminous things.  This combined size and stability has allowed many technologically-driven realities corresponding to desirable images to load the planetary environment.  Homo sapiens succeeded in increasing confidence both in attempts to suitably develop the technologically-driven civilization and in attempts to continue to enjoy freely brightening the civilization.  Thus, Homo sapiens has great confidence in the potential of technological solutions that are allowed by the use of scientific knowledge, limited only by the Second Law of Thermodynamics, and have great confidence in the potential of breakthroughs that will be achieved by the technical use of scientific knowledge. 

 

The cerebral cortex produced due to human DNA allows Homo sapiens to occupy the biologically top position of all the planetary creatures, while enabling the brain to induce great thinking power for overcoming any difficulties.  Certainly, Homo sapiens has a right to freely spend natural resources for allowing the technological civilization to function, while giving realities to their desirable images technologically.  The brain, having the great cerebral cortex, has great confidence in accomplishing any breakthroughs that give reality to an expectation that the planetary environment continues to have a sufficient size and stability while accepting great desires brightened by the technological civilization.  However, the brain begins to make cerebral activity independent of the great confidence.  Homo sapiens begins to perceive that unpleasant nonlinear responses to emissions of CO2 caused by the combustion of fossil fuels cannot be ignored [4].  Homo sapiens begins to notice the necessity to make efforts to preserve the equality between the current generations and future generations.

 

Helping to enjoy technological civilization is the principal aim of technology.  Despite this fact, the use of technology often makes us aware of the necessity of developing either ethics or philosophy for healthily enjoying the civilization.  Attempts to research unknown nonlinear responses to the use of technology and attempts to reveal images being the nearest to realities corresponding to the origins of the images are meaningful in order to help us consider the continuation of the civilization and about the equality between the current generations and far future generations.  Basically, daily experiences hardly ever help to predictably find unknown nonlinear responses to human activities and as well to understand them.  All the nonlinear responses of which no one is aware are always equivalent to nothing.  Being aware of them is valuable for enjoying the civilization in a healthy and responsible manner.  If science does not help reveal the realities of the unknown nonlinear responses, an aim of science that is expected is lost. 

 

No one can avoid the necessity of recognizing the meaning of the Second Law of Thermodynamics.  Everyone encounters the fact that no technology exists with respect to allowing a real situation to become free from the restriction expressed as the Second Law of Thermodynamics.  Despite this fact, there may be people who hope that a specific technology developed independently of scientific knowledge could be allowed to become free from the Second Law of Thermodynamics.  Unless science contributes to people who participate both in attempts to help the development of the consciousness for minimizing additional entropy connecting with unexpected and unpleasant nonlinear responses to human activities and attempts to help the continuation of the civilization, scientific investigations and research will not be respected. 

 

People can feel that the bright networks of light observed on the planet at night form the space station are beautiful images.  According to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, consumption of energy always results in an increase in the entropy of a system.  The consciousness that recommends considering the Second Law of Thermodynamics must ask whether the necessity of making the bright networks appear is absolute or not.

 

Editor’s Note: This concludes Part II of this three-part paper.

Part III will follow in the upcoming September-October issue of this Journal. - JP

 

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to think Dr. J. L. Bernhart for having valuable discussions about roles of science and giving valuable suggestions on the manuscript, and Dr. A. Kharrazi for having valuable discussions about climate change and sustainability.  

 

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