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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. References [1]
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