Josh Plovanic's Writings and Thoughts

Extraterrestrial Intelligence and Our Potential Relationship with It Joshua Plovanic December 5, 2015         Extraterrestrial intelligence has been the marvel of mankind’s imagination since we first conceived of its possibility in our universe.  Our entertainment and culture is flooded with conceptualizations and ideas about extraterrestrial beings and the many forms such intelligence can manifest itself. As our understanding of the universe has progressed over the centuries, the idea that there could be life elsewhere in the universe became ever more enchanting and, according to some theorists in Astrobiology and other fields of study, actually quite probable. Formulas have been developed, such as the Drake equation, which attempt to estimate the number of extraterrestrial civilizations in the universe. Although many in academia have concluded that there is a significant probability of intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations existing ...

Conscious Concepts and Ideas A possibility by Joshua Drew Plovanic Concepts and ideas can act as driving forces behind behavior and cognition. Sometimes the idea or concept can be an original conception or ideation. Other times someone else’s ideas are imprinted into the cognitive processing system of the brain and then take over the cognition and thinking of the person. Someone who ascribes to a particular ideology, whether political or apolitical, will have altered behavior to fit the ideology they ascribe to. For example, someone who ascribes to an ideology on the political left will often dress in a certain way, eat certain foods, listen to certain music, read certain books, watch certain movies, and engage in certain cultural activities. These activities are often uniform with other people who have been influenced by this particular ideology. The same is true for religious and philosophical belief systems. Once these belief systems are imprinted upon a human mind, the behavi...

Human Predators A Discussion by Joshua Drew Plovanic March 6, 2016 Predation is a natural occurrence within the animal kingdom. It stretches across species and occurs in every environment, climate, and ecosystem on earth. The act of one species preying upon another for sustenance naturally occurs because of the evolutionary process that led to the preying species to acquire the physiological, biological, and even neurological traits necessary to prey upon another animal. The physical traits of strength, agility, and speed, and often high intelligence and complex brain structure evolved in these species in order for them to be able to consume its food source. Some have theorized that animal predators have similar neurotransmitter response to the stimulus of hunting and pursuing kill as humans do. Many human beings do indeed enjoy pursuing and killing prey, and we get a dopamine rush from doing so. Some have also theorized that, since brain ...

The two sided nature of reality. There is almost always a dichotomy in conflict, whether it is darkness and light, good versus evil, left versus right, right and wrong, matter and antimatter, yes and no, and many others. For some reason, the universe was designed to have opposition and opposites. Every conflict usually has two opposing forces. Even if it doesnt start that way, eventually coalitions are formed and it usually boils down to two sides. The weaker powers often ali gn themselves with each other to take on the more urgent threat, even if those two sides have fundamental philosophical differences, like how the United states aligned themselves with the soviet union to take on hitler and the japanese. For some reason, dichotomy and two-sidedness are how nature plays out conflict and resolution to conflict. I dont know why it works this way, but it does.

This is a collection of a couple of articals I wrote on ideas. They are as deep as I can get right now. We've been under attack by ideas, and we have been for some time. It may seem like a radical concept to think that ideas can attack a nation, but since people are driven into action by ideas, it is the idea they ascribe to that is the problem, as people would not take action if they didnt have an idea to justify their action. Now when i say "idea," i am using the term generally to include ideologies and belief systems, as well as concepts such as hate and others. Ideology, Culture, and the systemization of human beings. Human beings are defined by their beliefs and constructs of reality. Their worldview is shaped by the ideas they have and their beliefs become part of their identity. Some beliefs can unify human beings into a system whose goal is to acquire more parts to the system and destroy opposing belief systems an...

I am going to tell you another another true story haha! At this point in my life I couldn't care less what anyone thinks anymore. I was sitting in my research methods class, a couple months before I completely lost my mind, discussing various subjects, and I brought up the possibility of engineering intelligence in a human being. The professor raised the serious ethical considerations of performing such an action. My belief is that altering brain chemistry in certain ways can  improve the intelligence quotient of an individual. Genetically engineering a human being to be hyperintelligent has serious ethical and moral qualms. Altering brain chemistry in certain way may improve cognitive and neurological functioning. While we discussed the possibility of engineering intelligence within a human being, it is different than engineering intelligence in a non-human system like a computer. On the same day, a girl in the class brought up the warrior gene concept to the class, say...

I'm going to tell you another true story. This one is about the correlation between severe physical, emotional, sexual, psychological abuse, including bullying, and psychosis. To start, I am going to define psychosis as a loss of touch with reality, when someone disassociates from the world because of the trauma he or she is dealing with. Victims often develop fear and paranoia and rage, and when they don't get help, they often act out in inappropriate or dangerous ways. Ofte n times, just one episode of psychosis can lead to the diagnosis of a severe mental illness like bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or others, and opportunities that many people take for granted, like military service and diplomacy, or law enforcement go out the window. In a sense, being abused or bullied can destroy someone's future, even if they survive the trauma. If there are any parents who read this, I just hope you teach your kids to be kind and respectful to their peers .Oftentimes they don...