Brain Gene

April 7, 2015 “The law is whatever is boldly asserted and plausibly maintained” - Aaron Burr

…..and so it is with the law of nature - JB

“Genes do not specify cognitive or behavioral outputs.  Genes are the information for building proteins which carry out functions inside the cells of the body.” - Fisher, et al

There are 2,000 genes of our total of 20,000 that code for proteins related to the function of the mammal central nervous system - one of these genes makes us human.

Once our mammal HOX genes establish our nervous system architecture,  one gene remains, launching a cascade of chemical events resulting  in our susceptibility to being humanized.  the events of this cascade are triggered by a single gene. This gene  codes for “Protein Zero” ( like “ground zero” - a foundational event or place).  The PTM ( post translational modification) of this molecule propels us toward our humanness -language, tool use, altruism and reasoning.

The majority of human brain components are shared with all mammals but humans have a larger neocortex.  If the only thing separating humans from apes and other mammals is our neocortex, it follows that human genes coding for the neocortex must also code for language, reasoning, and tool use.

JB Single-Gene (FOXP2) Theory - witchcraft as heuristic:

Uniquely human function is initiated by post-translational modification(PTM)  of nucleotides  coded by  genes  conserved across all mammal species. There is a single gene unique to humans but there are many thousands of PTMs unique to humans.  The key to our humanity is Post Translational Modification of RNA and histones in postpartum maturing cortical neurons-until age 20.  At birth we may as well be a chimp, as our cortical neurons have yet to be post translated inducing humanity.

1. Methylation of histone H3 @ pyramid cells:         tool use
2. Phosphorylation of tasiRNA @ granular cells:     language
3. Acetylation of tRNA @inhibitory cells:             reasoning
4. Hydroxylation of siRNA @ non-spiny bipolar cells: mythmaking / Religion
5. Malonylation of LncRNA @ double bouquet cells:     tribal intensity
6. Proteolytic Cleavage of G2phase chromatin @ cajal-retzius cells: music
7. Deamidation of cisNAT @ spiny stellate cells :             painting
8. Ubiquitin Modification of S-phase chromatin @ chandelier cells: altruism

Once again for effect:

“Genes do not specify cognitive or behavioral outputs. Genes are the information for building proteins which carry out functions inside the cells of the body.”   

1. What is the source of the neuronal change resulting in language, tool use, etc?
2. Assume the FOXP2 gene codes for language and fine motor control required for mouth movement to form words.  FOXP2 is The Mythmaker, the only gene we need to be fully human.
3. To do:  Explore quantum effects in neuronal gene expression
4. Is the manufacture, vesicle-ization and transmission through synaptic membrane of neurotransmitters the only  or even the primary form of inter-neuronal communication?   Seems slow.
5. There are 1,000 different chemosensory odorant receptors in human olfactory system.  does this mean there are 1,000 different post translational modifications to a single protein or 10 proteins or 500?  One gene per protein?
6. To do: Subject mammalian vestibular hair “supporting type” cells to various pitches of sound from VHF to UHF to see if the sound ( electromagnetic radiation) induces support cells to become hair cells where hair cells have been damaged.  Birds are sensitive to the Earth’s magnetic effects using them to navigate, perhaps a bird’s proteomic tools for magnetic ( or is it electromagnetic?) perception also assist in vestibular hair regeneration.
7. Do birds have iron-rich protein storage enabling them to read Earth’s magnetic field for long-range navigation?
8. Was Picasso really radical in 1910 as he experimented with Cubism or simply a sly little magpie standing on the shoulders of truly radical Cezanne?
9. What is E sharp minor re: Bach.  Isn’t E Sharp minor simply F Minor?
10. Andy Warhol was a manipulator of American myth: Coke, comics, dollar bills,Campbell’s Soup, Liz Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Mao, Brillo, i.e. don’t touch it if it isn’t already famous.  He proceeded from famous brands to wealthy, obscure socialites, famous in their own minds  for 1,000 slapdash silkscreen portraits.
11. Perhaps there are many more acoustic insects than we know due to their ultrasonic song-pulse-chirp, inaudible to humans.
12. Are insect chirp rate and pitch coded by two different genes or are they two varieties of post translational modification of a single conserved gene - say the FOXP2?
13. A predatory mammal - lion, bear, wolf and 99.99% of all organisms, elicit zeeero sympathy-empathy-altruism for the small, weak, slow - i.e. to any life other than its own , all else is killable without conscience.  In humans this is called psychopathology.
14. The idea of water is a great one but don’t bet the farm on a single drop.  Humans respect numbers and effects not principles.
15. Perhaps there is an entirely separate bio-mechanism for protein translation and regulation separate from the effects of the DNA molecule or chromatin.  Genetics may not be the only game in town though it is the only one we can presently detect.
16. To do: Search for quantum signaling effects upon DNA / RNA. Genetic Central Dogma becomes a sideshow after performing its duties in cell division.  The cell divides followed by quantum effects managing histone architecture for tissue-specific products and process.
17. Try this: intracellular electromagnetic signaling-coding protein synthesis by color. Organelles send and receive signals re: protein synthesis and protein regulation via energy from the electromagnetic spectrum - visual range ( or UV or Infrared).  Green=excite, Red=inhibit, Cerise=delay 5 seconds, mauve=delay 10 seconds, chartreuse=delay two years.  Color combinations have signal meaning like the bands of color on a military uniform theater badge.
18. Do ribosomes detect and interpret electromagnetic radiation during protein synthesis to affect translated properties?
19. Explore: temperature induced intracellular signaling - effects of temperature on Ca2
20. Imagine our 20 billion neocortical neurons with no outer membranes - neural soup with each voxel ( a cubic millimeter) possessing its own designation, like a city name in this globe of smart goo. In each voxel there are 1,000,000 addresses.  signaling between all 10 trillion nodal points suffusing the goo, speeding up thought process by 1,000-fold and our depth of intelligence to infinity.
21. Investigate: Alignment of cascading effects for protein regulation: quantum, followed by electromagnetic followed by chemical, followed by electrical and then reverse this taxonomy of effect.  It is the sequence that creates meaning i.e. the syntax (  order of occurrence)  of causality not the grammar( the meaning) i.e. where this molecule fits.
22. The American home is an arena for the display and use of the artifacts, trinkets, totems and tokens honoring our prevailing myth of consumption: appliances, fixtures, fittings, cars, TV, bed, bedding and towels and factory produced food.
23. Roland Barthes misreads the meaning of bourgeois and petit bourgeois assuming that the characters of the bourgeois myth are willful or under the control of the bourgeois mind - they are not. These reifications of myth ( toasters, ball games) accrue in a culture like the conserved genes of flies ( and humans) with a contemporary residue of specificity.  The core remains the same ol’ - same ol’ structuralist mail slots filled by the mode- O- day thus not a target for disdain. Barthes disdains the bourgeois mind on every page of his “Mythologies”
24. “The intensity of your dudgeon is in inverse proportion to the validity of your case Mr. Lathrop - please calm down - revenge is a dish best served cold.” - Prof. Picault
25. Le Corbusier was the finest Cubist of them all.  He could swallow little Picasso, Metzinger, Gleizes, Leger, Gris, Duchamp - the whole circus in one bite.  Braquasso’s Cubism is “Cezanne for Dummies” The rest of the Cubist circus, save Leger, are copycats.  As one considers the source of Cubism, the case for Le Corbusier’s  preeminence becomes clear.
26. Humans are but a minor cluster of dendrites growing from the universal mind among trillions of other living things. Humans are very late to the party but interesting and destructive guests,  poisoning one another as they burn the place down.  Humans need more conserved genes to manage their neocortex in ways that allow the existence of the others.
27. Note: L.A. is a different place than Los angeles. L.A. is hip,ironic,semitic, gay-ish, linked to New York City and the capitals of Europe.  Los Angeles is the vast sprawl, the 405 parking lot, the beaches, the aircraft industry, the colleges and universities, the endless banal housing, the power lines, LAX, etc.
28. @ Easter - On grief: A Religion with a foundation of grief is sick by definition.  “Good” Christians want to others to share in the Big Grief of crucifixion and they will shove it down your throat.  If you don’t swallow,  you will be exiled, jailed, marginalized.  People unload, or try to unload,  their grief onto others in convoluted, surprising ways.  An originating event, say crucifixion or untimely death in the family, may be 20 years or two thousand years in the past but still moiling like magma.  A trivial request or offhand remark eliciting a response dramatically out of proportion, launching a cascade of ill will, ill effect, illness, awkwardness, embarrassment and weirdness. One struggles to recall the original sadness to explain the envy of the grief stricken for those who don’t bear the burden.  the current toxic vapor stems from an uncontrollable compulsion to share, to unload, to lighten their perpetual unbearable weight.  “No one gets out of this room happy”  “Your happiness is a slap in our face.”  “Your good cheer is an assault that will be avenged.”  Grief seeks entropy.  the gradient between the grieved and the innocent is large and shall be reduced.
29. Myth, like important DNA is conserved and like DNA it is continually mutating.  there is a dialectic of conservation - mutation -synthesis.  the history of science is the story of the dissolution-evolution-transformation of myth.  the history of history is the mutation of the social order.  Gradual on the small scale i.e. barely noticeable frog boiling temperature change in the water we all swim in - the zeit   at the small end and wars and revolutionary Rock groups at the grand scale, WWII, The Beatles.  Conserved myth is language, birth-marriage-death ritual, money, education, religious dogma  Myth up for grabs: music trends, fashion in clothing, professional jargon, comedy, film styles.
30. Atonal music ensures grief - it is a most astringent sound.  Traditional 7 tone music from classical to rock to rap has always made an effort to seduce - there is always a sales pitch at work whether for the Catholic Church or for the latest pop song.  Bach , Mendelssohn, Handel, were great pitchmen for Christianity ( a pun!) There is seduction and sublime sexuality in the Romanticism of Beethoven, Mozart and Chopin. In 12 tone music and most other 20th century avant garde music, it’s straight grief -  no chaser.  Take your religion straight like a man.  Taste the bitter purity of Christian redemption, suffering, self-flagellation.  With Schoenberg, Bartok, Varese,Cage, Riley, Reich you become Christ.  You are nailed to the cross at your ears by dissonance.
31. The genes of the human limbic system must be much more highly conserved than those of the neocortex:  The highly conserved - neurochemical-electrical process, central nervous system bauplan, limbic system functions.  Moderately conserved: Structuralist mythmaking re: language, custom.  Up for grabs every day - the higher functions of the neocortex - qualities of sentience, what constitutes intelligence, subjects for emotional expression / repression, one’s individuality.
32. The Myth and the Lie: Myth: Americans are intensely socially stratified, more than citizens of 18th century France or England.  Lie: All men, all Americans, are created equal.
33. the Myth is what you cannot help believing. Myth is your core knowledge about the world, your culture, your entire milieu, your mind - This zeit-stuff controls your behavior at all times. You can’t help it any more than you can think in a language foreign to you.
34. The lie is what you consciously  tell yourself and others in order to align your comprehension of the myth with expressed social norms and religious dogma. The lie is a kid glove for the deadly myth. The glove doesn’t always fit.
35. Without myth there is no movement.  We would be frozen in fear and ignorance.  Without myth we have no model for the world, for our behavior, our belief, our being.  Myth is the matrix for exploration and we have little choice in the matter.
36. Many of Darwin’s thoughts about the mechanics of evolution have been proven wrong or trivial but the myth he created has fueled 150 years of fruitful scientific exploration.
37. So it is with the DNA myth.  No question that it delivers an important function but it most likely does not dominate causality as our myth now asserts.  We must now look elsewhere for deeper answers.
38. Myth is BTN ( better than nothing) Is post-translational modification a myth?  What is the difference between myth and truth.  All truth revolves around its own myth.  Myth is the core. Truth is the following inner layer wrapped around the Myth-core.
39. Is Newtonian mechanics a myth because Relativity holds water?
40. Don’t tell a cement contractor who has just poured a 50,000 square foot foundation slab that the Earth isn’t flat. If you are pouring concrete ( for anything other than the two-mile long Stanford Linear Accelerator) the Flat Earth Myth serves just dandy. If you are sailing to a new world it doesn’t tell the whole story.
41. Totem, Token, Talisman, Trinket are tools for myth reification.
42. We are no longer governed by politicians in Washington D.C. but by tech legions at Google, Microsoft and Facebook.
43. Any system designed by humans in order to make other humans seem to have more meaning to themselves is inherently corrupt ( though often entertaining and often fun! - most corruption is fun at first) i.e. it’s gonna cost you.  It will ultimately do the opposite of what you expected - you expected to be made whole and you were further diluted, obscured from yourself, minimized, put in your place filed away in your bourgeois mailslot - another brick in the wall.
44. To do:  Compare human junk DNA to the DNA of 10,000 species of microorganisms: bacteria, viruses, fungi, archaea to see if these microorganisms are using the human genome for their private storage facility - banking their DNA for future use.  Parasitic gene banking. One day they will return to your body and turn you into their private factory.  Keep immune system boosted.
45. Is junk DNA present to the same degree in every single human cell?
46. Is junk DNA simply DNA that is not coding at a specific organ tissue?  What cell type  was being investigated when the “junk” label was applied?
47. “Myth transforms history into nature.”-Roland Barthes…..See: Founding Fathers: Washington and Jefferson have been transformed but  not so much Adams, Hamilton, Madison, Monroe or Marshall.
48. African tribal myth 19th century: “Hey! our ritual works ! We dance, we chant and sick man gets better.  All is right with the world.  Modern scientific myth: “Hey ! our ritual works ! We irradiate and poison patient with chemo and cancer growth slows., sick woman gets better,  Myth functions,  all is right with the world.  In each case the patient was OK for awhile then died-as could be expected.
49. Our myths provide a safety net of shared belief that blots out the cold neutrality of the void.
50. Using a microscope and a diatholizer instead of a chant and a rattle does not mean you are not partaking of myth.
51. Science, like any bourgeois art, suffers from an obsession with detail.
52. One’s myth evaporates with age like the elasticity of neurons, leaving old folks a little sad as they see the fragile skein of their lives and the optimistic jitters of the young, whose myth has yet to coalesce.
53. Madness is seeing through the charade of myth-making prior to old age.  Old people are mad by definition due to the obsolescence of their faded generation's operative myths.
54. Schizophrenics are myth-resistant, thus,.....  out of their minds.  Their neocortexes spare them the effort of either personal myth making or respectfully addressing the myth of their milieu.
55. The Beatles dissolved both the myth of Elvis and that of Sinatra as they dried up the pond of Frankie Avalon, The Everlys, Dion, Neil Sedaka, Dion and the 4 Seasons. The Beatles reversed the signification of our myth of hair and thankfully, the myth that being serious was crucial to being successful.
56. The human neocortex is first and foremost  a myth making machine. The neocortex uses language, social behavior and memory to construct a functional myth that requires deep connection with prevailing mythical zeit.
57. Darwin was a mythbuster and a myth maker. He was great because, while dismantling one myth, Biblical Creation,  he created another, Evolution,  to fill its place.  Darwin’s theory has worked well for 150 years but is proving shaggy in the details.  That organisms evolve is rock solid - all mechanisms of causality are up for grabs with most of Darwin’s notions either disproven or on shaky ground.
58. Bioscientists live in fear of the vast realm of causality that would be laid open if we demythologized the role of DNA in biology’s gene-centered Central Dogma.
59. Don’t sniff your own myth - the tautology will make you delirious.
60. DNA and RNA are to cell function what the U.S. Constitution is to law practice. The Constitution establishes the ground rules that have guided countless legal cases as DNA has for myriad aspects of organ systems.  Think of organ systems as branches of law each governed by a library of its specific case law,  practices and traditions specific to it.
61. The DNA in the nucleus of each cell of our organ systems is a metaphor for the Constitution - the ground rules. Details are organ-tissue specific.
62. Our DNA is “The Constitution” present for reference and use in each of 37 trillion cells in a human body. Procedural details exist in each organ’s own “law library” read: It’s QUANTOME ( JB neologism) A quantome is like a genome but one million times as large, maybe 100 million and comprising quantum effects on nucleotides, cell compounds, elements, atoms, etc.  The word quantome is new not the idea that quantum events affect life process.
63. If ribosomes attached to RER (rough endoplasmic reticulum) are the site of protein synthesis are these RER-secured ribos also the site of post translational modification? or does PTM occur elsewhere,perhaps at other ribos floating closer to their point of use say at the tip of a neuron growth cone.
64. Are GABA and glutamate manufactured at dedicated ribosomes - one for each?
65. Must a neurotransmitter always arrive at the growth cone zone contained in a vesicle or do some arrive free-floating?  Do any arrive via microtubules?  Can vesicles travel within microtubules?
66. Whoever plays the most insufferable asshole or neurotic harpie in the movies is a shoe-in for big kudos and often an Academy Award.
67. Historic disasters exist in the cosmic ether as bubbles of residual energy that can be detected by certain people like an antenna detects a radio signal only it may be decades removed from the source event.  This might explain some of the popularity of Civil War reenactment. Beware of hovering grief.

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