Saturday, February 21, 2009

GMO and bees colony collapse disorder

This post is dedicated to hypothetical emergent connection of mysterious CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) to spreading of GMO crops (Genetically modified organisms). Recently the evidence of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) at the case of GMO corn was confirmed. I am rather convinced proponent of this connection from many following reasons, some of which weren't presented yet:
  1. The connection of GMO and food induced atopy and allergies and related problems is well known and experimentally proven in short term laboratory experiments in certain cases, too, although final confirmation in long term experiments is still missing here.

  2. The problem of CCD is relatively new, it's apparently related to some latest technology or environmental change, which has become widespread just recently. Although the other man made effects, like the global warming can play a negative role here, too, as they can increase a resistance of natural bee parasites, like Varroa destructor mites through winter period. It's not directly related to parasites specific to domestic colonies, though, as the wild bumble bees population suffers the same problem (it's just less apparent from obvious reasons) - so that the common reason must exist elsewhere.

  3. The symptoms of CCD are unspecific, they manifests like immunodeficiency syndrome, which can manifest itself by various symptoms (at the case of AIDS the reason of death is often quite harmless infection). The CCD agents in apparently hidden and nonspecific as well, as it manifest by various reasons in different locations. Whereas an instinctive reaction of bees is always the same, they tend to leave a bee-hive and escape from area contaminated.

  4. The CCD is linked to new bat "white nose syndrome" (WNS), which is probably manifestation of food allergy (long term rhinitis) as well. Many bat species are significant pollinators like bees) and they have dissappeared recently as well.


  5. The introduction of GMO into Great Britain in 1998 has caused a statistically significant step in generally increasing rate of food allergy, because GMO import was enabled in food market stepwise in legall act, i.e. not gradually in this particular case.



  6. The Cry1A / Cry1Ab proteins are always produced in mixtures in GMO, some of active proteins (Cry1B, Cry3Bb1, Cry9c, EPSPS) in GMO strands aren't completely specific to lepidopthera, they can affect a hymenoptera (i.e. the ants, beatles and bees) and other higher organisms as well and a various neglected toxicity synergies can exist here.

  7. With respect to GMO induced allergies, the active proteins Cry1A / Cry1Ab in GMO food are very similar to bacterial toxins, against which the immune systems of living organisms (including human and bees) are programmed. The Bacillus thuringiensis is very close to anthrax pathogens (Bacillus anthracis) both morphologically, both genetically, so especially high risk of coincidence in immune reactions (atopy, i.e. allergies) exists here.



  8. The correct function of immune system is based on correct distinction between healthy and pathogenic proteins. The higher number of foreign proteins is forced to distinguish, the higher risk of improper response can be expected.


    The increasing rate of food allergy is an civilization problem and it's related to increasing diversity of various components of food (proteins in particular). The first documented case is so called lactose intolerance, because the milk diet was introduced into populations rather recently. China is particularly notable as a place of poor tolerance, whereas in Mongolia and the Asian steppes horse milk is drunk regularly. Even eating of tropical fruits and ocean fish can increase an allergy levels, if we're not adopted to it (typically for inland inhabitants with traditionally low food diversity) .

  9. The low but permanent allergene concentration in food (GMO contaminated pollens at the case of bees) has a sensitization effect even for normal food components, because the correct function of biochemical pathways of adaptive immune system depends on temporary decrease of allergen concentration in reaction with specific antigen. If such decrease doesn't occur (for example because of human or bees are in permanent contact with GMO contaminated food every day), immune system continues in production of another various antigens, until their number and concentration isn't so high, they can initiate an accidental violent atopic reaction ("allergy") even in contact with proteins and various polutants, which can be considered harmless under common situation. After then the positive feedback is established under formation of permanent allergic reaction (chronical rhinitis or urticaria as an example).
An analogous problem can exist in connection to prolonged eating of meat of cloned animals, the cells of which are always genetically older, then the meat of normal young organism, so that the cummulation of prion metabolites, product of apoptosis, immunosupressive agents and mutagenic telomere changes in chromozomes may occur here. Meat of young clones correspond the meat of very old organisms with respect to their cellular metabolism, so they're less resistant to different infection, aging diseases and "Sudden Death Syndrome". As the result, higher unhealthy concentration of antibiotics, histamine and various antibodies should be expected in meat of cloned animals.

Every organism is programmed to certain life-time and food supplies during their million years evolution, the fast violation of such natural equilibrium can always have a unadversed effects to these equilibrium. The effects may appear negligible for humans, but they can lead to deadly synergies at the case of wildly living organisms (like the bees, bumblebees, house sparrows or bats), which are exposed to evolutionary pressure of life environment. These synergies can be considered as a manifestation of emergent phenomena from AWT perspective, as expressed by famous proverb: "A hundred times nothing killed the donkey".

Such reasons and connections are systematically underestimated by mainstream science, which tends to deal with apparent phenomena driven by single causual reasons and time arrow - not with holistic and parallelistic fuzzy logic based on many weak influences and various synergies interacting in hidden dimensions. The ignorance of multiparticle Aether concept is just a pronounced/condensed case of this apparent bias in scientific methodology from this perspective.

Albert Einstein: “If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live. No more bees, no more pollination … no more men!

Friday, February 20, 2009

AWT and socioeconomic structures

This post is a reaction to defensive stance of many objectivists, monetarists in particular, which are getting into conceptual troubles with contemporary financial crisis. Aether model of particle density fluctuations enables us to understand the mutual relation of socioeconomic structures, the dual character of communism and free market society in particular. By AWT free market society or "laissez-faire" capitalism, as proposed by some subjectivists corresponds the primitive communism society, which is behaving like thin sparse gas with high degree of symmetry (i.e. the space time of low number of spatial dimensions on behalf of temporal ones). Such particles are moving here rather freely and they're collide mutually via low distance interactions by simple and transparent set of individual probability driven rules.

When population density of such particle system increases, an emergent spontaneous symmetry breaking occurs and the energy/value spreading (i.e. the economy) of this system becomes driven by less or more apparent and global microscopical structures (i.e. (mem)branes of foam), which are obtaining a nested hierarchical structure gradually. When the system becomes sufficiently dense, the scope of foamy structures determines the motion of all particles - participants of this system by totalitarian way.

When social pressure inside of such system exceeds certain limit, a new emergent structure of individual density fluctuations inside of such dense system appears, which is serving as a promoter of subsequent phase transition, so called social revolution, which has often avalanche like character. And the whole social cycles repeats again, until society doesn't exhausts its sources. After then the social transition goes by opposite way back into free market or primitive communism economy.

While the analogy of social evolution and phase transitions is quite apparent, just common ignorance of Aether model has prohibit the scientists to model the evolution of society by easy, general and transparent way. This is the reason, why Aether concept was ignored both left, both right camp ideologies, because no ideology can like ballanced, duality based approach of AWT. It's a pity, as it would help to understand the physical mechanism of social crisis, wars and financial instabilities better. For example AWT explains origin of macroeconomic cycle by limited speed of information spreading through society or it explains wars as a consequence of social gradient in space-time, not just in space: the situation, when some country becomes richer or poor fast is much more dangerous, then stabilized neighbourhood of poor and rich countries. As the result, sociology and economics are still in very rudimentary stage of general understanding of human society, despite of high number of less or more formal models, which are trying to describe their subject locally.

From above model follows, AWT considers communism as a dual case of free market society, because utopistic character of both social systems depends on altruistic belief in human ability cooperate fairly without tendency to abuse system. It means, here's nothing wrong on communism or "laissez-faire" free market economy, with the only subtle, but crucial problem: both theories are ignoring social interactions and the "selfish" tendency of people to follow shortest path of energy density gradient due limited speed of information. As the result, both socioeconomic structures requiring support of high level social structures, i.e. government and their interventions to remain free and stable.

By AWT free market is a boson state of society, based on utopistic belief in human ability cooperate fairly without tendency to abuse system, by the same way, like communism. It's a dual ideology to communism. Paradoxically both they can survive just under adequate care of government - the more stronger, the more superfluous the social relationships are expected to be, so that the ratio of profit and taxes converges to 1:1 with increasing of money density exchange and Lafer curve becomes symmetric. Because people are simply undisciplined and self-seeking individuals - that's all. Therefore the tax freedom day defines well the overall state of macrosocioeconomic evolution.

Here's still subtle spontaneous CP symmetry violation, as the free market exhibits a rudimental set of principal microeconomic rules (the principle of supply and demand equilibrium in particular), while communism is only subjectively driven, which makes it more viable from evolutionary reason. Free market operates with current prices only, it doesn't reflect past or future by itself - so it's principally unstable and it undulates between financial boom and crisis. While these undulations may appear fatal for someone, they can drive the evolution of social system forward, until the external sources of society aren't depleted.

On the other hand, communism is dissipating it's sources by short distance interactions, so it behaves well under low energy density conditions, being more primitive. Centrally controlled system handles better long-term problems, like global warming or the life environment protection, because free market economy cannot evaluate well the price of extinct species, until they're not significant for economy (as a source of cancer cure, for example, or various biotechnologies). From this reason, society evolution converges to mixed arrangement, not pure communism or free market economy, despite of wishfull thinking and occasional propaganda of their opponents.

Now we could ask - whether free market didn't exist a well before the very first government has appeared? Yes, it did - but the energy density of such free market exchange was very low with compare to the present state, so its behavior was analogous to primitive capitalism. Now the civilization has collapsed into rather dense money and energy exchange state, so that the free market relationships can persist in very short distance interactions inside of families and close sectarian groups.

The contemporary financial crisis illustrates clearly, the keeping of bursa and highly derived financial products of advanced economy requires the strong patrolling role of state as well. And who didn't realize it is just an dangerous idealist. Most of political troubles of modern civilization were caused just by ideologies supported by various idealists, both proponents of free market society, both communism. Shooting the fanatics is probably not a really good way to expand tolerance, but we do need to keep pushing.