410. Poem / Song "I Ran and Ran and Ran / When the Answer Was Under My Nose" Theme of the Origins Conference

I ran and ran and ran
When the answer was under my nose.
I ran around the world
and then I ran back home.
~Victoria, Fall 2005
(in state of panic attack, attempting to publish her first lengthy Question Reality manuscript)

Caption on Picasaweb:
I made this poem "I Ran and Ran and Ran / When the Answer Was Under My Nose / I Ran Around the World / And Then I Ran Back Home" during a very stressful time of my life. Fall Quarter of 2005 (my first quarter in the Earth Sciences Department at UC Riverside), when I was experiencing several panic attacks and a long bout of depression. I was learning very fast the process of publishing was non-merit based. Setting aside my past track record pills of bitter failure, it ends out this poem had been a prevailing theme of the Origins Symposium (April 3-6, 2009), and an overarching theme in all of science--sometimes solutions are under our nose and we can't perceive them, and while everyone is spinning their wheels, some clever dude or chic is perceptive enough to tweak definitions and discover the obvious. This occurred particularly in the themes of "origins of life," which was largely spearheaded by Paul Davies, and the "origins of eusocial systems, with emphasis of eusocial insects."

Caption for Images on Picasaweb:
A Major Theme of the Origins Conference. Not seeing the obvious, then discovering it. Origins of galaxies, planetary systems, life, eusocial systems, and consciousness. I ran and ran and ran / when the answer was under my nose / I ran around the world / and then I ran back home!

What was strange about this conference is that we as scientists and journalists were discussing the universal theme of origins and that there were very few--close to no one--who dared pinpoint exacting definitions of anything. What exactly defines a galaxy? What exactly defines a planet? What exactly defines life? A living organism? (Bruce Tiffney has the definition down pat: a sack of chemicals that interacts with its environment to survive, and it replicates itself through time, whether those chemicals be made out of carbon or iridium). Paul Davies was arguing that "we only have one set of life." We don't have another set of living systems (we're close to it, with machines!). I would argue though that humans are purposefully clumping a singular origin of life Humans defined it to be singular. You could define it as multiple origins if you wanted! How do you define consciousness? (I didn't watch all the talks, but it turns out that no one on the panel defined consciousness very clearly or very well). So on, and so forth.

I am sure I will have more commentary on this subject as I dig deeper into the notes....