The App Game even an Epidemiologist would Love

Public Health has entered into the realm of pop culture in the past few years, driven forward by thoughts of the End.

As in the last Curtain Call, the Great Big Omega to the Beginning Alpha, that final stick of half-melted KitKat in that worn out Plastic Wrapper that is Life...

Meh, you get the picture.

Much of the "apocalyptic mood," if I may call it that has been obviously brought on by a combination of factors: A previous era of high economic growth followed by a world-wide recession, the advent of Islamic Terrorism and its decade-long effects on the Western world, oh and that 2012 Mayan Calendar End-of-The-World scenario.

Suffice it to say, it has made the public at large quite receptive to the genre of "Zombie Apocalypse" movies.  But it has also helped produce a number of fictional works that cleave closer to the reality of viral pandemics such as Steven Soderbergh's 2011 movie Contagion.

And now the latest entertainment entry comes from an small App game available for the IPhone and Android dubbed Plague, Inc.

Plague, Inc., is a real-time strategy game and brain-child of developer James Vaughan at Ndemic Creations that places the player in the roll of an infectious agent - Bacteria, Virus, Parasite, Fungus, Prion....Artificially Engineered BioWeapon, etc.

Your goal is simple, transmit yourself to the world's population and proceed to eliminate the human race in one gigantic pandemic.  

What makes the game particularly interesting to me is its limited application of epidemiological concepts for infectious diseases.   The three overall characteristics of your infectious agent are quite familiar: infectivity (how easy is it to transmit), severity (symptoms), and lethality (how deadly is it).  

The player is forced to strategize about the starting location, the mode of transmission, and the symptoms of the disease.  

Most of the world's nations are in fact represented on the map, each with unique characteristics regarding the type of public health responses they can mount against an epidemic.  For instance, it is much easier for your infectious agent to spread for instance in a place like South Africa or India than say Norway or Germany.  Climate, economic status, and major modes of transportation can limit the means by which your virus can spread.

Speaking of transmission, the player is also encouraged to develop a plan on how his or her infectious agent can be spread.  Options are quite typical - Birds, Mosquitoes, Rats, Livestock, and water/airborn options exist.

Finally, there is the "mix-and-match" symptom tree which allows you to customize your specific apocalypse.  You can copy the characteristics of well-known diseases such as H1N1 and SARS, or develop your own little combination.  A popular one i've heard of is Insanity mixed with Dysentery which causes much of afflicted population to start defecating in the streets.

Of course, your little imaginary world won't take this abuse lying down.  Like the Scientist in the Cinematic Trailer above (and yes for those who have played Deus Ex: Human Revolution, that is talented voice actor Elias Toufexis), you face an army of doctors, scientists, and public health specialists seeking to limit your spread and searching for that cure to put you down.

A constant news feed lets you know what the little humans are up to - whether they've caught onto the fact your virus exists, if they've started to try and stamp out your methods of transmission by say spraying for mosquitoes or killing birds, or if they've decided to close their nation's borders to protect their citizens.

Oh - and you kind of know your winning if the various world governments have decided to lift all bans on human experimentation in search for the Cure or.....started to isolate and execute the infected.


Now do I find it slightly Ironic that I am now using all that epidemiological knowledge accumulated in my brain to topple humanity's dominion of the Earth?   Sure.

Is it still fun? - You bet.    I encourage all to give this little simulator a shot.

Modern Science, Metaphysics, and Medicine: A Framework for Thought

No person living in this era of history can deny the overwhelming importance of science and technology to our daily lives.   The most recent technological revolution of the late 20th and early 21st centuries has ushered in a period of mass communication and information.   With cellphones, Blackberries, laptops, and the IPhone a human being can remain "plugged-in" 24/7 to the ever present flux of news, YouTube videos, Facebook Updates, Tweets, and yes even the occasional blog post.

This is our world - an environment shaped by the creative application of the physical laws of reality.   What we buy, watch, read, and eat are more often than not the products of our learning, the outcomes of our artificial interference with the cycles of nature.


For those who subscribe to the idea that time is merely the record of man's March of Progress, the scientific and technological revolutions would seem to imply that non-scientific forms of knowledge can and will eventually be dismissed as mere ignorance.  

As the last century has shown us, nothing could be further from the truth.

Parallel to the rise of scientific innovation has been a blossoming of spirituality and religious participation, an increasing distrust of scientific institutions as tools of corporate/military/political groups, and an ever growing interest in alternative systems of thought.  

It is that last bit I'd like to focus on.  The category may sound a little vague - precisely because it covers a vast field of activity such as feng shui, qigong, yoga, meditation, divination, reincarnation, and of course traditional medical systems.

Many of these practices have their foundations in what we could properly call metaphysical ideas.

This is where the "trouble" begins, as some would claim these foundational concepts are nothing but the remnants of outdated proto-scientific learning at best or foolish superstition at worst.  Supporters and enthusiasts on the other extreme of the spectrum might counter that these metaphysical truths are the building blocks of non-Western scientific thought.  Therefore, the practices cited above should be considered as comparable or complementary (or even superior!) to procedures derived from Western science. 


Instead of uncritically dismissing or accepting either viewpoint, I would like to propose a different sort of action.   Namely, a more nuanced examination of this issue - one that properly defines just what exactly is being compared and what claims are being made.

Of special interest in this endeavor will be an examination of the field of medicine across different cultures. 

Medicine holds a very special place in my heart,  It is one of the few human activities where the theoretical understanding of nature is joined with the most practical goals of human experience - longevity and happiness!

In many ways, the discipline of medicine extends beyond the boundaries of the natural sciences.  The goals of medicine are directly tied to each patient's own cognition as to what constitutes a good quality of life.  These particular worldviews are furthermore informed by diverse influences such as philosophy, spirituality, politics, and socioecnomic factors. 


Whew - that's all a big mouthful.  To put this in a more condensed form:

1.) Medicine is a critical discipline because it deals directly with one's most personal possession: your Body - the thing you use to experience the rest of the world.

2.) Although medicine's procedures are well rooted in modern biology and chemistry, the practice "on the ground" must usually take into account a lot of other pieces of data that are outside of the natural sciences.

These are usually defined as the social determinants of health - the economic, behavioral, and cultural factors which effect a population's health status.

ie:  The Context of Human Life.

Given the unique intersection where Medicine sits in our everyday lives, I do intend to focus on its activities more than say astronomy or metallurgy in this blog's examination of science and culture.

Gentle reader, I do hope you enjoy and stick around for the ride!

Crisis Brings Inspiration

...He sits by the river, surrounded by his friends and students, as they discuss the events of their home state.   The greed and power of the three aristocratic families had laid the great ducal house low.  Their avarice was repaid in turn by a rebellion from a nefarious retainer, which plunged his country into war.

And when the dust settled, here he now was in self-imposed exile away from the land of his birth.   Despite his wisdom, he had wandered through all the great states with little to show for it.

The world was collapsing as the drumbeat of war could be heard in every land.   

Although nurtured by his convictions, the Great Teacher could not help but wonder - What indeed was the Way?  And who would restore All Under Heaven?

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Concentrate...concentrate... the ritual was everything.

The formulas must be recited properly, the chants must be sung, the mantras must be uttered.

With the correct performance of the sacrifice, as flesh and flowers burnt within the sacred fire, the universe would conform to the will of the sacrificer.  

At least that was people used to believe.   Now, a new set of wise men had arisen, ones who disdained the worldly benefit the priestly caste offered through their sacrifices.  

These men, who intimately knew the procedures and the formulas, spoke of another reality.   The hidden meanings and connections of ritual actions to the universe and to the life of a man were laid bared to them.

No amount of wealth, women, and sons would ever free a man from the endless cycle of death and rebirth.   Only wisdom can bring deliverance.....

__________________________________________________________________________________

The old man now stood before the assembled jurors of his polis, his home city, who had the power of life and death in their hands.

Those who condemned him spoke of the man's corruption of the youth, his relationship with the hated Thirty Tyrants who had been an enemy of democracy, and the introduction of foreign gods that would undermine the social fabric of his cty.

He was a gadfly of the marketplace, the incessant interrogator whose constant questioning revealed the ignorance of all.

As the Oracle had foretold, the old stonecutter was the wisest of all men - for he understood his lack of wisdom as well as others' pretensions to knowledge.   

And for this unwanted revelation....he would have to die.

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Crisis is a Wellspring for new Ideas.   Or to put it another way, Crisis creates a situation where old behaviors and thoughts must be re-examined to overcome a problem.

The three scenarios above speak of periods of Crisis, not just for an individual, but for a society as a whole.

The established Order of the world in each situation is falling apart.  Traditional methods and deeply held assumptions are unable to resolve the growing discontent.

And here, in these moments of Crisis, do we see the birth of Philosophy and all her children - from political organization, the natural sciences, art, and literature.

Yet, there is one thing that must be recognized - All of these Crises that afflicted the 3 societies are not the same.

China, India, and the ancient Greeks all faced different Challenges......  

1.) In Ancient China, the accelerating decay of the Zhou Dynasty brought about a political crisis.  Relationships that seemed natural and ordained by Heaven itself were now thrown into chaos.

This provoked the Question:  Where is the Way?   

Where is the Way by which the Empire and All Under Heaven might be restored?  How might this be accomplished?



2.) The later Vedic era of India saw a growing discontent amongst the lower castes over the emphasis placed by the brahmins, the priestly class, on their traditional rituals.   Geared toward "this-worldly" benefits such as the acquisition of wealth, sons, and the destruction of enemies, the Vedic rituals gave little answer or comfort to those who sought a deeper meaning to life.

This religious crisis provoked the Question: What is the Self?

Who or what is this Self which thinks, loves, hates, and dies?  And what is this Self's relationship to the Universe?  What is our Final Destination?

3.)  As the youngest of the Mediterranean civilizations, the ancient Greeks found themselves exposed to a variety of different explanations for the creation of the world.  The Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Phoenicians, and many others all had their religious beliefs - which often conflicted.

Undaunted by these circumstances, the denizens of Greece began to examine their world directly, seeking to understand the fundamental substance that was the basis for all reality.

However, it was the unjust death of a simple stonecutter from Athens that sparked the expansion of this inquiry to all activities of life.

This moral crisis provoked the question of: What is Being?

 What is the arche, the source or root of all things that exist?   How do our Ideas exist?  Do they have an independent reality of their own?

These Questions would fundamentally shape the approach and modus operandi of each civilization in their examination of the human, natural, and spiritual worlds for centuries to come.

About Fortress of the Three Enigmas

Greetings!  And welcome to the Fortress of the Three Enigmas!

FOTE is a blog that covers news and issues in neuroscience, religion, philosophy of science, metaphysics, mythology, politics/history, public health, medicine, and the intersection of medicine and science with society.

And any other 5-minute pop culture tidbit I feel like throwing in.  ;-)

Or to put it more precisely - this blog is devoted to the idiosyncratic tastes of its owner, which ranges across a wide breadth of fields and issues.

If there's any particular methodology beneath the string of posts to come, it will arise out of three principles:

• Comparability - I've always been fascinated by cross-cultural differences.  Whether its in the form of social organization, religious structures, philosophical assumptions, scientific theories, political models, etc., one can easily find vast differences in the approach to these topics the moment a person steps out of one cultural milieu and into another. 

          Part of the fun is trying to understand just what exactly is going on in the minds of that Other Group.
         
          What is it that they are perceiving?   How are they handling challenges that their counterparts face?
        
          What assumptions inform their actions?  Are their solutions transferable to other groups?

          Do they even recognize or acknowledge the situations we might call problematic as problems?

• Hospitality - No matter how much a person may seek a form of Neutrality in relating or expressing different viewpoints, he or she is bound to fall short.  We are only human after all.

          In light of this fact, I would  prefer to say this blog abides by the principle of Hospitality.  

          I obviously possess a viewpoint, limited by my own experiences.   However, that does not
          prevent me from being generous, charitable, and hospitable to ideas that I disagree with.

          .....Within reason of course.... ;-)

• Fun! -  Many of the subjects discussed are things I am genuinely passionate about.   So I hope a little of that rubs off on whomever is reading this blog.