Chapter 6: Dancing, Nutrition, Poker Machines, Philosophy and Quantum Mechanics

 

Three different type-faces have been used to try to differentiate three patterns.

 

We are patterns of molecules that grow from other patterns of molecules (called DNA). So how can we define our place within these patterns? Well, we can start anywhere because all of life’s patterns are linked.

 

At a Social dance-night, I suggested a change in the dance program. The reply was, ‘we have been doing it this way for 25 years and we are not changing!

 

Over the 10 years that I have been attending, we have lost many facilities, and perhaps it is time to see what changes are necessary to keep the Social Dance viable in the long-term.

 

Quantum Mechanics tells us that a subatomic particle has position and velocity and that measuring one affects the other, because our measuring stick, perturbs the particles.

 

The result of looking at this remark will bring some surprising philosophical patterns into the picture!

 

The subject of ‘Change Mechanics’ stresses that people, in general hate and resist any kind of change in their life, and this is hardly surprising as ‘resistance to change’ has been a fundamental part of our existence for the last 3,000 million years. Offspring are our agents of change!

 

‘Key to the Club’s success will be continuing to provide what our members want and need’ President’s address, Canberra Southern Cross Club News, Winter 2012.

 

Even sub-atomic particles are patterns! If we measure them, as particles, they turn out to be particles. If we measure them as waves they turn out to be waves.

 

Older long-term dancers often drop out (permanently) because they can’t cope with the dances after (what appears to be) mental degeneration. This is most distressing, and we have all noticed it!

 

This state of affairs is particularly deplorable as research exists that dancing, (of the nine pursuits considered) can ameliorate (at the least) or stop the progression of the problem. Further, research indicates that three conditions must occur simultaneously for benefit to occur, namely, social contact, physical exercise and mental exercise.

 

For Change to occur, we need (1) a ‘Change Director and (2) a ‘Change Agent’ to push it through in the face of the usual resistance to change, (3) a ‘Worthwhile Goal’ and (4) a ‘Carrot and/or Stick’ for ‘just in case it’s needed’.

 

Research has shown that the faster that you function and the more that you exercise, the ‘younger’ you are! Where ‘real’ age is some function of chronological age plus functional age plus biological age.

 

Currently we have the ‘Alzheimer’s epidemic’, the ‘Obesity epidemic’, the ‘Asthma epidemic’, ‘Heart problem epidemic’, ‘Cancer problem epidemic’, ‘Gambling problem’ etc. The first three are of very recent origin, whilst the next two are less that 100 years old. Would preventing these epidemics be a big enough ‘carrot’?Would public anger at the club’s use of poker machines be a big enough ‘stick’?

 

The Clubs around Canberra and Queanbeyan can be rated by a number of criterion. Firstly, consider free accessible dance floor and ‘live’ band or ‘canned’ dance music. Queanbeyan has two Bowling Clubs with large dance floors and bands, one or two nights a week.

 

Secondly, the Queanbeyan clubs, to which I refer, are ‘bowling’ clubs, whereas the Woden clubs (as an instance) are purely ‘social’ clubs. Thirdly, the Queanbeyan clubs are ‘poor’ compared to the Woden clubs (as an instance). Notice that the Canberra Southern Cross Club runs six venues!

 

Patterns are all around us and they only have ‘meaning’ when measured or ‘recognized’ in an appropriate way. The problem is to find that way!. The relationship between position and velocity, above, contains time, implicitly.

 

The patterns that surround us are time dependent, and often cyclical, such as the seasons which change throughout the year. We need to define who we are in time.

 

Our genes are still set in the ‘hunter gatherer’ era of about 10,000 years ago. When we needed food, we walked to find it. We cooked at low temperatures in skins heated by hot stones. The food was fresh (as there were no refrigerators although many seeds and fruits were dried), and we lived in caves on dirt floors that had been tenanted for tens of thousands of years.

 

We sat around a fire for warmth, for protection from wild animals, and heated the stones for cooking in it and talked and danced around it. The fire that was such a big part of our life, just as the sun was. Perhaps ‘devotion’ to fire became ‘hard wired’ into our genes, because if someone did allow it to go out, they may well have been eaten by predators and thus not have passed on their genes!

 

Also, clubs are allowed to trade in ‘addictive’ substances such as poker machines and alcohol with the government ‘looking over their shoulder’. Any ‘shortcomings’ in performance or dis-advantaging a particular segment of their membership should lead to questions being raised by our politicians.

 

A new theory, a new point of view or a better way of doing things should not conflict with the known provable facts but should embrace them, as well, as being able to predict new outcomes that can be tested.

 

‘Alzheimer’s epidemic’: from above, research exists that dancing can ameliorate the progression.

‘Obesity epidemic’: In the Palaeolithic, this would not have occurred because the ‘addictive’ salt, fats and carbohydrates were in short supply.

 

Heart problem epidemic’: again, no processed foods and plenty of exercise and sunshine.

 

‘Cancer problem epidemic’: is a little less obvious. Before the present oxygen atmosphere with its ozone layer that stopped much of the radiation, bacteria had developed the ability to repair damage caused by these particles (or waves). We still have that ability within our cells, provided that they get adequate nutrition. Also, we have other means of dealing with cancer through eating the foods from the Palaeolithic. (Foods that Fight Cancer, by R. Beliveau and D. Gringas)

 

‘Gambling problem’: we will probably always have ‘problem’ gamblers, but why are so many ‘ordinary’ people being ruined by poker machines? My current dancing partner has a brother that lost ‘half a million’, and my previous dancing partner lost her marriage when her husband lost ‘4 houses’. Is it due to the actions of the casinos and clubs? If it is, should politicians manage better?

 

From above, the Queanbeyan clubs are ‘poor’ compared to the Woden clubs (as an instance). In other words, are the ‘rich’ Clubs (1) providing less of the services that the members need, or (2) more efficient at producing income.

 

(1) The ‘poor’ Clubs (at least those mentioned), provide more dance facilities, and only government oversight can regulate to determine the level of dancer’s access across the clubs. Sufficient (low-cost) dancing activity keep people out of high maintenance dementia beds!.

 

(2) being more efficient is good for everyone, but being more efficient at extracting profits through the poker machines is not, and I suspect that the larger clubs are using some degree of ‘psychology’ to achieve this. Perhaps the makers of the machines are building in excessive ‘glitz’!

 

In the Palaeolithic cave, the fire was the centre of attraction (as outlined above) with religious (and perhaps genetic) overtones with the dark sleeping quarters at the back. The Canberra Southern Cross Club has a restaurant at the front, with general seating in the far end and no dancing or band facilities. This is a ‘dead’ area. The poker machine room is glitzy, bright with lights and noise. The whole room is ablaze like a fire! This equates to the Palaeolithic ‘fire-place’! And, people are drawn to this bright noisy place because that is where the action is, as well as it possibly being ‘in their genes’ (literally!). BUT, there is absolutely nothing to do there but to play the poker machines!

 

To repeat, a new theory, a new point of view or a better way of doing things should not conflict with the known provable facts but should embrace them, as well, as being able to predict new outcomes that can be tested.

 

Here is the prediction! We need to move the ‘centre of attention’, from the poker machine area to the dance floor area by providing seating with music and dancers to watch (and emulate!). People need to be involved physically as well as mentally and socially. The Hellenic Club does this on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It is well known that the club’s don’t make money out of dancers because they can’t drink alcohol and dance properly and safely!

 

The poker machine area should be painted a restful colour, such as green, with subdued room lighting and the machines with their ‘sound’ turned off and their lighting ‘downplayed’. The result would be people moving to the dance floor and the number of ‘problem’ gamblers reduced. People can still gamble if they want to, just as they could give their money away to passers-by, but the ‘push’ to the machines has been replaced by a ‘pull’ away to the ‘healthy’ dance floor.

 

A trial of this nature would take only a few days and be cheap to implement. I can’t imagine many people sitting in the gloom watching some numbers come up with a sticker saying ‘this machine pays back 90% of the money that you put in (in the long-term)’! Even I remember the time when these stickers were (actually!) used on the A.C.T. machines! What happened to them?

 

This gradation would provide a level of ‘mix’ of ‘drab’ versus ‘glitz’ that our politicians could judge to be an acceptable point of compromise between the clubs and government, and form the basis of legislation.

 

These changes, using the ‘carrot’ to draw people to the dance floor and the ‘stick’ to prompt the less committed gambler away from gambling is easy to legislate for. It would only need a government sponsored person to oversee everything: provision of an accessible (even moveable) dance floor, a bit of ‘glitz’ and ‘canned’ music on a continuous basis.

 

I feel that I should apologize for the round-about derivation of something that is so obvious (in retrospect), but this often happens when ‘we see the light’. But, so much of our modern living competes with who-we-are in reality that a ‘workable’ solution is often obscured, or requires a ‘balance’ with other solutions.