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About Me

Writer, translator, interpreter. Former marathon swimmer (unaided swim from Russia to Turkey in 1962). Author: "Project Nirvana" (Booksurge, 2005) and "Sentenced to Death" (Neva Publishing House, St. Petersburg, 2005). Reviews of "Project Nirvana" and "Sentenced to Death": "A wildly imaginative book…Amazing tales..." (Robyn Williams, ABC Radio National, "In Conversation"). "Patrushev's novel brings the visions of Orwell and Huxley together." (Michael McGirr, The Sydney Morning Herald). "Get engrossed into the atmosphere of a real adventure: true and deadly dangerous." EX Magazine.

Location:
Australia, Nsw, South Coast
Gender:
Male
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  • A comment on Conversation: What would the next Homo Sapiens look like? What kinds of characteristics would they have?

    Mar 29 2011: I see the next Homo sapiens (if he is to survive at all) as a photosynthesising plant/human hybrid: http://www.corbisimages.com/Enlargement/AACH001363.html
    That would take care of our fighting for food and water and land. We could really become “the solar being”. To achieve this goal (and it is not as practically impossible as it seems) we need about 100 years breathing space in our terminal battle with the Earth. To get this breathing space, we need to find a way to decrease population growth dramatically, as we can never change human behaviour quickly enough. I was in Asia recently (including Vietnam) and I am aware of the demographic (and consumption) tide threatening us from there, as well as the rampant and continuing consumption by the developed countries.
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    A reply on Talk: Isabel Behncke: Evolution's gift of play, from bonobo apes to humans

    Mar 29 2011: Isabel, keep up the great work! Only much later will the broad public recognise the importance of the bonobo heritage and the need for their preservation. They are really an iconic species in the light of the violence raging in their physical environment and prejudice against them in the academic environment and the public imagination. I wish you good luck!

  • A comment on Talk: Isabel Behncke: Evolution's gift of play, from bonobo apes to humans

    Mar 29 2011: Isabel, I think it was a very entertaining and instructive introduction to the topic of play as part of our primate heritage. Education experts now emphasize the importance of free play in children and adults as a gateway to creativity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play_(activity). There is of course the classic work by Johan Huizinga called Homo ludens http://www.amazon.com/Homo-Ludens-Johan-Huizinga/dp/0807046817 on play in general as a defining point of humanity.
    You obviously touched a raw nerve with some people judging by their comments (mostly positive!) What people also forget is that our commonality with bonobos vs common chimpanzee is a very hot and complicated scientific topic recently popularized rather brilliantly by Christopher Ryan, Ph.D. & Cacilda Jethá, M.D. in their book
    Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality http://www.sexatdawn.com/. A lot of academic hay was made by people like Napoleon A. Chagnon and others to prove that primitive societies were territorial and aggressive. Ditto our primate ancestors: Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence http://www.amazon.com/Demonic-Males-Origins-Human-Violence/dp/0395877431. There is no doubt that the post-agricultural past of humanity is full of blood and gore (as well as rampant and often violent sex). But it would be wrong to presume that this is our whole nature.
    It would certainly be naïve to think that we can go back to the “noble savage” or a “playful bonobo” in us very easily after thousands of years that have shaped us into what we are. But humans can be guided by the knowledge of our gentle and playful heritage just as we have been guided by the notions of nature “red in tooth and claw” and shaped mostly (but not entirely) by “demonic males”.
    I know this controversy will persist for a long time. For a playful look at it, see also: Save the Bonobos, save the Earth
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3blRhf-npgQ

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