Dear Blogger...

I must say I was surprised when I realized that it has been a month and a day since my last post. And that wasn't even a real post. I must apologize for my neglect. Please forgive me!

My life has been wonderful(ly busy). I am happy. I stay busy (which is the reason for my negligence).

Recently, I have been trying to decide whether to switch my major from Electrical Engineering to Chemical Engineering. I think that I would like to get into nanotechnology and solar energy. That's where the future is going, and I find it really fascinating. I have been doing well in my Chemistry class. I would like to get onto a research team in the Chemical Engineering Department. I think it'll probably be a while before they'll let me on (I've asked several professors). I need to get more experience. But I applied to be a TA for Chem 105, so we'll see how that goes!

I recently started a new group on Facebook called iSayHi. Here's the description I put on there:

You know that awkward feeling when you're walking toward someone you don't know on campus and you're the only two around. You're both terrified of each other, both trying to decide "should I say hi, or just walk by?" Lots of the time it's the later of the two.

Or, when you're in line at the check-out just waiting there, and someone comes up behind you. You both stand there awkwardly waiting, wondering "should I say hi, or wait for time to pass by?"

Or, in the Library, or at class, or at the bank? The list goes on and on of times where things can feel awkward with people you don't know. And it's so easy for us to just think, "I'll most likely never see them again, why bother?"

iSayHi is simply a group of people who want to lighten the mood of their surroundings. Essentially, we're just committed to smiling, waving, and talking with people in these awkward situations.

Who knows, you may make a new friend, or you may never see them again. The point is, either way, you'll likely brighten their day and influence their lives for the better.

Members of iSayHi aren't super courageous. Sometimes it can be hard to break the ice in these awkward situations, but, as a good friend of mine often says: "They're normally just as afraid of you as you are of them." Generally, it's not that they don't WANT to talk with you, so why not take a stab at brightening their day.

I can personally say that doing this brightens my day as well! It makes me happier, and the stresses of school go down as I include in my busy life the brightening of others.

iSayHi members aren't crazy. Don't make things MORE awkward by making a big deal of it. We're being friendly, not freaky. For example, if I am nervous when walking by someone on the sidewalk and I pass by them without saying "hello, how are you." Then, 3 seconds later decide that I should have said hello, it would probably be kinda crazy of me to turn around and say "Oh! HI!!!" So, the principle isn't "Say hi to every single person you come within 20 feet of." It's more like "be friendly to everyone you can." Please be normal friendly people.

On a religious note, the Lord will trust you more with errands to run for Him, if He knows that you'll brighten the mood of someone who's been praying for a sign that someone cares.

I hope you feel that you can join this group and improve the mood of your surroundings. I promise that if nothing else, your mood will improve, and you'll become braver and braver with time.

Please share stories and experiences, and invite people to participate in brightening their surroundings and joining iSayHi.

I feel pretty good about it! I am actually taking it pretty seriously. I want to make a difference in the lives of other people. So, in an effort to get the attitude into more people's minds, I'm in the process of designing a logo (if you have ideas, please let me know!) and we're going to put it on bracelets, t-shirts, and fliers. I would like it to take off, where lots of people are just trying to be happier people and helping others to be happier.

What else has gone on in my life, Blogger, since I last posted on you? Well, I'm directing a portion of a Broadway review called "Sing for Something." It's raising money for cancer research. The potion I'm directing is about 10 minutes of Les Miserables. I'm enjoying it pretty well.

There's something else that has happened that's wonderful, but I want to save that for it's own post. So, other than that, I think I'm all through with that! I hope you're well!

Apologetically yours, (And THAT'S the Bright-side of life)

Kent

Food Rules

The "Rules" in this book were pretty common sense (especially for those of us familiar with the Word of Wisdom). There were some quite interesting points in the rules though. A good hour read. It gave me a desire to improve my eating habits. The assignment was as follows:

1)Complete the reading assignment for the book Food Rules – An Eater’s Manual: Entire book.

2)Consider the supporting questions posted on Blackboard.

1.How can you align Pollan's basic premis - "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." with current world populations growth patterns?

2.How do current global issues related to food availability and nutritional quality relate to Doctrine and Covenants 89?

3)Your task is to write a two-page, double-spaced, typed essay addressing the question:

Summarize some of the key economic, agricultural, and ecological implications associated with large scale implementation of Michael Pollan’s advice to “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

Food Rules Exploration Topic

Societies, throughout the history of the world, have changed and morphed to become what they are today. In the book “Food Rules,” the author, Mr. Pollan, suggests “food cultures are embedded in societies and economies and ecologies” (89). As our society changes, our food culture follows suit. The Lord issues us this warning about our food culture: “In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation” (Doctrine and Covenants 89:4). Let it not be suggested that the entire food industry is designed by the evil one, however, it is important to note that the motivator behind much of where and how we get our food is not altogether to get the most healthy things into our bodies. Mr. Pollan's answer to this is “Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly Plants” (xv). Considering where our world is concerning food, a large scale implementation of this concept would have dramatic effects economically, agriculturally, and ecologically.

Currently, a “Western diet” consists of “lots of processed foods and meat, lots of added fat and sugar, lots of refined grains, lots of everything except vegtables, fruits, and whole grains” (Michael Pollan, xii). Historically, people with this kind of diet commonly suffer from “so-called Western diseases: obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.” (Pollan, xii). There couldn't be a more convincing case that this type of diet is not good for the body. To preserve health in our diet, there needs to be a change.

If a change, what kind? Mr. Pollan outlines sixty-four eating “rules” that he believes are the change we need. These rules can be separated into three categories (stated earlier): “Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants” (xv). Let us consider what this concept is. Essentially, the concept “eat food” refers to the difference between “real food” and processed foods. “Not too much” deals with our relationship to food. The conceptual phrase itself is self-explanatory, simply don't over eat. And thirdly, “Mostly plants” gives us a guideline of proportions to the types of food that is most healthy for us.

If we were to implement these concepts, and change from our diet linked to diseases to a diet linked to healthy life (Pollan, xiii), there would be some major ramifications surrounding our current economical, agricultural, and ecological status. There are over seventeen thousand new products on the shelves at groceries stores every year (Pollan, 5). This alone should show us some of the enormous affect a change would present. That's dietary scientists, food processing factory workers, and many more, who would be negatively affected if people chose to stop buying their products. Agriculturally, it would be a huge blessing, at least those who don't sell to large food processing companies. Moving from buying factory processed “food” to right-off-the-stem food would dramatically increase the demand for agricultural growth. As far as ecology is concerned, it seems that the implications of change within that realm would be too numerous to cover. With the rise in demand of “real food,” more crops would be planted and less factories would emit pollution. Focusing on the rule 24 which states “eating what stands on one leg [mushrooms and plant foods] is better than eating what stands on two legs [fowl], which is better than eating what stands on four legs [cows, pigs, and other mammals]” (Pollan, 55) would be a big change from the enormous amounts of meat we eat, which would increase the mortality rate of the animals we currently consume. The affects of this change would go on and on!

The revealed truths of our health code, referred to as the “Word of Wisdom” recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 89, are uniquely connected with these concepts. As science improves, it seems to draw closer and closer to confirming what the Lord has revealed through the ages. The Word of Wisdom encourages rule 24 discussed earlier, along with the majority of the other rules (with the strong exception of rule number 43, which encourages the consumption of wine at dinner).

To sum things up, the economical, agricultural, and ecological implications of a large scale implementation of Michael Pollan's advise to “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants” would be both positive and negative on different levels, for different individuals. Though study of health science is still a relatively new science (Pollan, xi), it is wise to give it some credence. However, we can trust that the Lord knew what he was doing when he put the world together and eat the natural things of this world.

How We Decide

This was such a fascinating book. I would most certainly encourage anyone to get a copy and read it! For this paper, I received a 23 / 25. The assignment was as follows:

Assignment:

1)Complete the reading assignment for the book How We Decide: Introduction, Chapters 2, 4, 5, 6.

2)Consider the supporting questions posted on Blackboard.

1.At the molecular scale, how does the brain process and apply information/experience to the decision-making process?

2.How does agency relate to this process?

3)Your task is to write a two-page, double-spaced, typed essay addressing the question:

In the context of making decisions – what does it mean to be human?

How We Decide

Making decisions is a basic task everyone participates in. Whether good or bad decisions, all the people of the world make them. What is it that influences us to choose to wear the blue button up shirt rather than the white BYU T-shirt? Why do we choose Welsche's brand of jam, as opposed to Smucker's? With all the decisions each of us makes each day, there must be some tool, mechanism, and a driving force which influences them. Also, in the context of making these decisions, what does it mean to be human?

To reach the answers to these questions, it will be helpful to understand the concepts surrounding the basic molecular functions of the brain. We know that it is within the confines of the brain that data is sent and process. The brain is the tool indecision making. Jonah Lehrer, author of the book, “How We Decide,” describes in very simple terms, how this process occurs. There are many parts to the brain, each serving unique functions, all working together toward a common goal: to make a human function properly. Mr. Lehrer states that there is a “single molecule, called dopamine, that brain cells use to communicate with one another.” (34) Additionally, Wolfram Schultz, a neuroscientist at Cambridge University “likes to compare dopamine neurons (those neurons that use dopamine to communicate) to the photoreceptors on the retina, which detect the rays of light entering the eye. Just as the process of sight starts with the retina, so the process of decision-making begins with the fluctuations of dopamine.” (35-36) “When these neurons are working properly, they are a crucial source of wisdom.” (42)

We can plainly see that the little dopamine neurons have a huge role in the decision-making process. It is the dopamine molecule that is sent to the ACC (Anterior Cingulate Cortex, the part of the brain dealing with errors, or surprises) to deliver a message of a surprise. (38) It is sent to the NAcc (Nucleus Accumbens, the part of the brain that deals with pleasurable feelings) to stimulate pleasure. (34) Among other things. Mr. Lehrer also speaks of the two general parts of our brain that contribute to our decision-making, the emotional and rational (these will be discussed later on.)

With this understanding, that our brains can be compared to a big science lab with thousands of chemical reactions occurring at a time, we may wonder whether our decisions are simply based on these chemical reactions, or if we have any control over how these chemical reactions take place. We know from ancient and modern scripture that agency is an absolutely critical part of our existence. The Lord, speaking to Moses, said "Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him." (Moses 4:3) Therefore, there is a mode, or mechanism by which we can exercise that agency and control the decisions we make. Mr. Lehrer speaks of this when he says “human emotions are built into the brain at a very basic level. They tend to ignore instructions. But this doesn't mean that humans are mere puppets of the limbic system... Thanks to the prefrontal cortex, we can transcend our impulses and figure out which feelings are useful and which ones should be ignored.” (115)

As aforementioned, the two main contributors to our decision-making are emotion and our rational. It is the prefrontal cortex which balances the two. With our agency, we, unknowingly, utilize the “transcending” function of the prefrontal cortex to make decisions based on our moral standards. Mr. Lehrer speaks on this saying the “ability to analyze the facts—to transcend our feelings, instincts, and impulses—is often seen as the defining element of human nature” (9) and “a crucial subset of decision-making [is] referred to as morality” (169) and “sympathy is one of humanity's most basic instincts.” (194)

This is what constitutes being human. It is utilizing all of the chemical reactions of the unique parts of the brain and the dopamine neurons and the rational and emotional aspects of our brain, to reach our goals, or exercise our agency in such a way as to attain our desires, whatever they may be. That's why we choose the BYU T-shirt and Welsche's Jam. The tool is our brain, the decider is our agency, the driving force is our desire.