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Different ways the Dominant/submission dynamic can be imposed on others or used to smuggle sexist stereotypes Top disease is a term once common in BDSM circles, but that I haven’t heard recently. However, I think it is quite useful to understand how some forms of bigotry are smuggled into BDSM, and the underlying attitudes that exist behind some violations of consent. I would define top disease as behaving as a Dominant with people who have not agreed to enter a Dominant-submission dynamic, or treating people as submissives without their consent. In its milder forms, top disease is quite common. It may just amount to people acting in arrogant and entitled ways, which may be just an annoyance. However, in its extreme forms it can lead to breaches of consent, abusive relationships, and the reinforcing of sexist stereotypes under the guise of BDSM. The following is my personal inquiry into the different types of top disease and their causes. The novice drunk with dominance The experience of dominating another person for the first time can be intoxicating. The devotion of the submissive is so real, so authentic, that a novice Dom may fall into the illusion that she does it because of him, not because she desperately needs to submit to somebody. A novice Dom may think that, if a woman submits to him, it’s because he has some magical power that he previously didn’t realize he had. So he may start prancing around and acting arrogant and bossy. It happened to me a long, long time ago. I remember walking into a party with a girlfriend in a collar, or spanking her in public, and how people in the party treated me differently, with a new kind of respect. I was a Dominant, with capital D. And, somehow, this was a public role, not just something that my girlfriend bestowed on me. But it all came crashing down the moment I decided to switch. Then I had to let go of that image to become a humble bottom. It felt like I was losing something. I feared that, once I was seen submitting, I will never get my Dominant badge back. Unfortunately, for many people in the BDSM scene, that’s the way it was. It’s part of BDSM culture, I guess. The Dominant or the Dominatrix dresses in a certain way, moves in a certain way, claims honorifics not just from the submissives, but from everyone around them. And people comply, out of respect for them, for their submissives, and for the BDSM culture. We feel that it’s just part of being polite, of respecting the other person’s identity. However, this attitude is at the root of the problem of Dominants treating people as their submissives, before they have consented to anything. Or them berating submissives for not “doing it right”, or for being “fake submissives” for not want to obey and pay their respects to them. In the end, it is all an illusion. BDSM roles are conventions, agreements based on who does what to whom to satisfy complementary desires. It is true that, for some people who see BDSM as a lifestyle, their role becomes an important part of who they are. Still, that role does not make sense outside a relationship or, at most, a close circle of like-minded people. The natural-born Dominant The natural-born Dominant - male or female - believes that dominance is something that emanates from their unique personality. Some of them even believe that other people pretend to be Dominants by “playing” in “scenes” which, as their name indicates, are mere theater, temporary masks that when are shed reveal a dull vanilla core. But not them. They are authentically Dominant. They are endowed with a particular energy, an essence that makes submissives fall on their knees before them. Of course, only true submissives would recognize them because, just as there are many pretend Dominants, there are many fake submissives who play games and cannot recognize the enormous depth of a life dedicated to Dominance and submission. The belief in the natural-born Dominant probably comes from the politically correct idea that homosexuals are born that way. This idea has been debated by science for decades (Roselli, 2018), ending in an inconclusive stalemate in which a “gay gene” was never found; instead, there seem to be a multitude of genes that predispose to homosexuality, but do not determine it (Ganna et al., 2019). If homosexuality can be determined from birth, then why not dominance and submission, which are other forms of sexual behavior? There may be some truth to this. Just like some children know that they are homosexual from an early age, some people recall having BDSM fantasies well before puberty. I had my first fantasies about spanking when I was 5. In my opinion, kinky tendencies and fetishes are imprinted by erotic experiences during childhood. The same could happen with homosexuality. The susceptibility to be imprinted with an attraction to a particular gender, objects or actions may be driven by certain genes. Imprinting can be a force as powerful as the genes to drive behavior. It makes no sense to be proud to be Dominant. There is nothing intrinsically good about beating people or ordering them around. It’s actually the opposite: these things can only be justified when people enthusiastically consent to explore them with you. The idea that Dominants and submissives can be real or fake has been largely rejected by the BDSM community as bigoted and narcissistic. Just like the idea that there is a “true way” to do D/s, sadomasochism or bondage. There are many ways of doing BDSM, which evolve and come and go in fashions. Likewise, some people come into BDSM following a mysterious drive from early in their life. Others are initiated by their lovers. It doesn’t matter. Everything is authentic when you connect with it. The BDSM expert BDSM, in any of its facets, is not easy. It requires a set of skills that are as difficult to learn as any gear-intensive sport, like rock climbing, scuba diving or sailing. Ultimately, BDSM is an art and, like any art, it has its geniuses and its incompetents. Therefore, it’s just natural that people who are good at it accrue a certain amount of recognition. There are, indeed, experts in shibaru, flogging, caning, needle play, wax play, and the different types of D/s. However, just like in any sport or art, recognition should come from others, not from calling yourself an expert. Unfortunately, there are no BDSM competitions; no art galleries or museums to anoint your art. There is just the testimony of your play partners. Hence, it is relatively easy for pretenders to engage in false advertisement. It is also easy to mistake arrogance and self-assuredness for domination. This leads to disappointments and, in the worse cases, abuse. Male supremacists: “Men are naturally dominant” Gender essentialism in BDSM is the belief that being Dominant or submissive are integral characteristics of a certain gender, and not roles freely chosen in a consensual agreement. Male supremacy is the ancient belief that men are better than women - stronger, braver, more intelligent, etc. The idea that a gender is better than the other has been debunked by science. Although there are differences between the sexes, they are relatively minor, obscured by differences between individuals, and easily overcome by training. One particular idea that comes from male supremacy is that men are - or must be - dominant over women, who should obey and serve them. A variant of this is the belief found in fundamentalist religions - Christianity, Islam and others - that God has ordered that wives obey and serve their husbands, each adopting stereotypical gender roles. The presence of these beliefs, even in developed countries like the USA and Europe, should not be underestimated. Most BDSM communities exist in progressive cities where these ideas are soundly rejected as sexist. However, they appear in some forms of domestic discipline in which the husband is entitled to sexual service from his wife, to her obedience and, most important, to punish her with spankings and other old-fashion corporal disciplines. If the reason a wife submits to domestic discipline is a religious belief, this brings into question whether she is consenting to it. In regular BDSM, consent is based on an erotic desire. If a wife obeys her husband and allows him to punish her not out of a kinky desire, but because of her religious beliefs, we could still say that she is consenting, I guess. But the situation starts to look uncomfortably real - it is no longer an erotic fantasy. If there are any elements of coercion or pressure from the religious community around her, then her consent starts to look problematic. Female supremacists: “Women should dominate men” There is also the converse gender essentialism: female supremacism. Some people who are into femdom (women dominating men) believe that men should serve and obey women. In a mirror reflection of male chauvinism, they believe that women are naturally superior to men, or that they deserve a privileged treatment. This supposed superiority often feeds on the fantasy that many submissive men have of the ideal Dominatrix: smart, conniving, cruel, selfish and amoral. However, there is a pseudo-feminist version of this belief. It goes like this: since men have been oppressing women for so long, it is only fair that now women should be empowered and start being served by men. This idea is so pervasive that it has started to infiltrate feminism, promoting attitudes of disrespect, exclusion and even hatred towards men. Women who adopt this attitude believe that the only way men can be tolerated is by accepting their place as inferior and subservient. Unfortunately, some submissive men eagerly adopt this attitude, and try to impose it on other men under the guise of defending feminism. For example, Amie Srinivasan writes in her book The Right to Sex: “Itziar Bilbao Urrutia, [is] a London-based, balaclava-clad, gun-wielding and skateboard-riding femdom who runs a fetish site called Urban Chick Supremacy Cell. […] Urrutia and her team berate men for their complicity in capitalist patriarchy, while restraining, pegging, and bleeding them (consensually, and for a fee, or “femdom tax”). Sometimes the men are made to recite feminists texts. In most femdom fetish porn, men are humiliated for failing to meet the demands of heteromasculinity: for being “sissies.” In Urrutia’s pornworld, men who are rich, successful and dominant are object of contempt; the sissies may be saved.” Likewise, the late and beloved Mistress Velvet of Chicago “began introducing black feminist theory into her sessions with clients,” making them read feminist texts as homework. All is good in BDSM as long as it is safe, sane and consensual, and there are no reasons to believe that the work of Urrutia and Mistress Velvet did not fulfill these requisites. However, there are two ways to view these practices. One is that these women considered these female supremacist ideas as universally valid, and they that used femdom to indoctrinate men about them. But this would impose these ideas on men outside their scene, denying their right to be vanilla (not submissive) or dominant. It would also contradict the basic claim of feminism of advocating equality between women and men. Alternatively, these female supremacy ideas could just be a fantasy shared between the Mistresses and their submissive men. In this case, they are not serious and could be viewed as a parody of real feminism. There is a certain danger in BDSM when we start to blur the boundary between fantasy and reality. Gender and racial oppression, and the fight against them, should be kept separated from erotic fantasies about sexual submission. Otherwise, we risk that they would not be taken seriously by general society. Besides, sub-space is a state of great psychological vulnerability that could be easily misused for ideological indoctrination. We would certainly be alarmed if a male Dominant tried to inculcate on his female submissives the idea that women are naturally subservient - as it often happens in Christian domestic discipline. Why should we have a different standard for femdom? Needless to say, being Dominant or submissive is not intrinsic to any gender, but chosen roles that manifest themselves in the presence of people who adopt the complementary role. Absent that, the default should be equality: treating others with respect as equals, and not infringing on their personal autonomy. Conclusions Ethical, experienced practitioners of D/s know when to be in role and when to be out of role. Needing the adoration of strangers is not dominance, it is narcissism. A Dominant needs the surrender of just one person: the one he has chosen as submissive. Dominating somebody requires a huge investment of energy and skill. It requires knowing the submissive intimately. Dominating is a gift, and good Dominants don’t squander it. So, if you see somebody prancing around, bragging about how good a Dominant they are, and demanding obedience from strangers, they probably suffer from some form of Top disease. I advise you to give them a wide berth. References Ganna A, Verweij KJH, Nivard MG, Maier R, Wedow R, Busch AS, Abdellaoui A, Guo S, Sathirapongsasuti JF, Lichtenstein P, Lundström S, Långström N, Auton A, Harris KM, Beecham GW, Martin ER, Sanders AR, Perry JRB, Neale BM, Zietsch BP (2019) Large-scale GWAS reveals insights into the genetic architecture of same-sex sexual behavior. Science 365:eaat7693. Roselli CE (2018) Neurobiology of gender identity and sexual orientation. Journal of neuroendocrinology 30:e12562-e12562.

Excerpt from my novel Games of Love and Kink. On their way back to Spain after skiing in the Alps, Cecilia and Julio have to share a hotel room. Cecilia is religious and prudish but, in the course of an intimate conversation, she discovers that she shares with Julio certain erotic fantasies. The idea that had started to form in her head was terrifying. But the temptation was irresistible. “But if I like it, it wouldn’t be bad.” Her heart was beating fast. She kept staring at the ceiling, not daring to look at Julio. “Hey… Are you trying to tell me something?” said Julio, pulling on her arm to make her look at him. “Do you want me to spank you?” She felt herself blush. She rolled to turn her back to him. “I’m so stupid! I shouldn’t have told you anything!” Julio grabbed her by the shoulder and shook her lightly. “Hey, I’m sorry! The last thing I want is for you to be ashamed of what you’ve told me. I’m so happy that you did! I just don’t understand what you want… Before we came into this room, you made it perfectly clear that you didn’t want me to touch you… And now you want me to spank you?” “Wouldn’t you like to?” “Of course I would! But I didn’t think that’s even a possibility.” “Well, it is now.” “Are you sure, Cecilia? Don’t you think it would be a sin?” “If it hurts, if I don’t feel pleasure, how could it be a sin?” “Look here, Cecilia, I know what you are doing. You are just going around inside your pretty head looking for excuses. I’m dying to do it, I assure you. But I promised you that tonight I wouldn’t try anything with you, so I will not mislead you. Whatever you decide, you must decide for yourself, don’t come to me afterward telling me that I tricked you.” It was true. Her own arguments failed to convince her. Guilt and desire fought each other inside her. “The thing is… if we don’t do it now, it will never happen!” she whined. “When we go back to Madrid, I will never see you again.” “Why not? Why shouldn’t we continue being friends? Maybe you should think about all this more calmly.” If she let this opportunity slip away, it would never come back. She would never find that husband that knew how to discipline her in a loving way. And Julio would never find another woman that would let him spank her. That made up her mind. She wanted to give him that present, left him with an unforgettable memory. Like the first time he made love with Laura. “Just a few slaps, on my pajamas, okay?” Julio was looking at her with a mixture of excitement and fear. “Okay. If you want me to stop, you only have to tell me, got it?” “Got it.” She couldn’t believe what was about to happen. Julio sat up in the middle of the bed with his back straight, leaning on a pillow and the headboard. He left his legs under the covers. “Lay down on my legs.” Cecilia kneeled on the bed to his right. She hesitated, and for a brief moment their eyes met. Julio’s face showed desire and a certain anxiety. No, she wouldn’t chicken out now. She let herself fall across his lap. Julio’s crossed legs made her butt stick up rather obscenely. She felt his warmth. His smell intoxicated her. Julio slapped her bottom. The thick fabric of the pajamas took all the force, so she felt only a blunt impact, not at all painful. “How was that?” “It didn’t hurt at all! Try hitting me harder.” “Let’s see…” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Julio raise his hand, which landed with force on her bottom. But, once more, the spank had no effect at all. Julio hit her a few more times with the same result. It was frustrating. It came as a sudden, unconscious decision. She grabbed the waist of her pajama and with one motion pulled her pants all the way down to her knees. * * * Julio was astonished to see that Cecilia had lowered her pants. He almost asked her to get up from his lap; almost told her that it had gone too far. He had promised her that he would not take advantage of her, and he took his promises seriously. But when he saw the bottom that Cecilia was offering him, he just couldn’t resist. He had often noticed that insolent plumpness under her ski jumpsuit, trying to imagine the exact shape hidden under her clothes. And now her buttocks were almost completely exposed to his eyes, because her panties had bunched between them. The naked skin seemed incredibly soft. Its pale color challenged him to turn it to pink. He took a deep breath, caught in his indecision. “What’s the matter?” she asked with a trembling voice. “Nothing… Is just… that you have such a beautiful bottom. May I touch it?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. His hand seemed to move by itself to touch that exquisite roundness. Her skin was as soft as he had imagined. It responded to his touch with goosebumps. “No, no! Just spank me!” She would not accept caresses, only slaps in which the pain balanced any pleasure she could feel. If he hesitated now, it would break the magic of the moment. He raised his hand high in the air and let it fall hard on her left cheek. The spank exploded like a firecracker. Cecilia squeezed her bottom, but did not complain. He immediately hit her on the right buttock. At the third blow, she couldn’t avoid moving her bottom to try to escape his hand. “So, now it hurts, doesn’t it?” “You bet!” she said in a faltering voice. “Go on.” His excitement was so intense that it went to his head, getting him drunk. His cock, hidden under the blanket, was hard as a rock. His mind shot up in a torrent of punishment images. Cecilia had been a naughty girl. She made a lot of trouble on the bus. Clearly, she deserved a good spanking. He decided he had to tell her. The punishment wouldn’t be complete without a good scolding. “So, you think this is funny, don’t you? Look, Cecilia, you had this coming a long way. You are a good girl, most of the time, but from time to time your wires get crossed and you throw some silly temper tantrums, like the one today on the bus. I couldn’t believe that you could be so selfish and arrogant. You need to be taken down a peg or two, so I’m going to spank your bottom bright red. Okay?” * * * The reprimand that Julio had just given her made her feel humiliated and a bit scared. Julio’s voice sounded quite stern. “Yes, I deserve a good punishment for the stuff on the bus and for being so unkind to you when you offered me to share the room. Don’t hold back, Julio.” “Oh, yeah? Well, then get yourself ready!” As if to emphasize what he’d said, Julio grabbed her hip with one hand while with the other he gave her a series of quick slaps, alternating between her cheeks. The sting was sufficiently severe to keep her from thinking about anything else. Still, the spark of pain elicited by each slap had an undeniable lining of pleasure, which merged with the perverse joy from the humiliating position in which Julio held her and the idea that she was being punished like a little girl. Soon she started wiggling her bottom from side to side, up and down, as her body hopelessly tried to escape the slaps. It was some sort of obscene dance that she performed following the rhythm that Julio marked with his spanks, like the monotone rhythm of a metronome precisely warning her when the next slap was going to land. The stings of pain acquired the inevitability of destiny. Neither of them said anything, each one completely absorbed in their task: to punish and to be punished. She only let out sighs and occasional moans… whether from pain or pleasure, she didn’t know. The spanks produced a loud noise on that reverberated on the walls of the room, minor explosions that for her were as alarming as the blows themselves. * * * Julio had often fantasized about a situation like this, but the reality far surpassed his imagination. The sensual movements of Cecilia’s body in response to every slap. The way she contracted the buttocks, then lifted them again to offer herself to his hand. Her groans, her moans… But most of all the beautiful pink color that her skin was taking, with a warmth that stuck to his hand with each slap. All these sensations surrounded him like an intoxicating cloud of pleasure, making him wish that that exciting game would never end. However, his body had other plans. Suddenly his cock seemed to take on a life of its own and pulsed in pleasurable spasms. Alarmed, Julio realized that he had gone too far. His ejaculation completed the sexual act that he had promised Cecilia he wouldn’t do. All he could think of was to keep her from knowing what had happened. He felt so embarrassed he just wanted to vanish. Horrified, he pushed Cecilia off his lap and jumped out of bed. Oblivious to his upset, his penis continued to pump semen into the front of his pajama pants. Squeezing it into his fist to hide it, he ran to lock himself in the bathroom. * * * Cecilia was left face down on the bed, not even caring to pull up her pants. Her heart was beating loudly in her ears. She was shaking. The contrast between the intensity of her interaction with Julio and her sudden loneliness filled her with confusion. She felt abandoned, rejected in the middle of that intimate act to which she had surrendered herself so completely. Without knowing exactly why, she started to cry. Coming out of the bathroom, Julio looked at her with surprise. “You’re crying! What’s wrong?” He rushed to the bed. He laid beside her and hugged her from behind. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t want to hurt you that much.” “It’s not that…” she sniffled. “Why did you leave so suddenly?” “Oh, it’s that! Well… it was that… I couldn’t hold it anymore… I went into the bathroom so you wouldn’t see me.” Cecilia sat up to look at him. “Do you mean that you have… ejaculated?” “Only a little.” She laughed, tears still filling her eyes. “So, that means that you got really excited.” “I think it was the most exciting thing I’ve ever done in my life!” “More exciting than making love to Laura?” “Yes, even more than that!” That made her proud. But immediately a crushing wave of guilt invaded her. “Oh, Julio! What have we done!” “It’s nothing, girl, don’t worry about it… You just have taken a pretty hard spanking!” “No, Julio, I can’t deny it! I enjoyed it as much as you did.” “Okay, so go to confession and that should take care of that.” “Oh, no, please! What am I going to tell don Victor? A guy spanked me and I liked it? I’ve spent years trying not to have to tell him about my fantasies!” “You never told him?” “I only confessed to having unchaste thoughts. He never asked for details.” Julio hugged her again. She felt a wetness touching her bottom, contrasting with the warmth of her skin. She reached to pull up her pants. “Please, wait,” Julio begged. “We should…” “Just for a second.” She laid still while he caressed her bottom, making her feel the warmth and the sting that the spanking had left. She knew that she should refuse, make him stop, but she felt a softness inside, a docility that made it impossible to deny his desire. “Your skin has become very soft,” he whispered in her ear. “Yes. You spanked me hard.” She wanted him to keep touching her, maybe even dare to go further. She would let him. She was enjoying it too much. However, it was he who pulled up her pants. “I’m sorry. I think I got carried away.” “Don’t be silly! I also enjoyed it. I like the warmth that you left on my behind.” “It was the most wonderful thing in the world. I only hope you won’t regret it tomorrow.” “I don’t know how I will feel tomorrow.” “It’s late. We better go to sleep. Do you mind if I turn off the light?” “No, go ahead.” Julio rolled on the bed to turn off the lamp on the bedside table. “Good night, Cecilia.” “Good night, Julio.”

How desire, arousal and sex are used for control and service in Dominance/submission BDSM and sexual desire BDSM is not always sexual but, for most of its practitioners, is an essential part of their sexuality. For sexual masochists, spankings, bondage and different forms of erotic pain are a big turn-on and sometimes required for their arousal. Likewise, inflicting pain elicits sexual arousal in sadists. This chapter, however, is about the converse: how sexual desire, arousal, and sex are used to control and subjugate a submissive in the particular form of BDSM called dominance/submission, or D/s. Pleasure can be a tool for control as effective as pain. For a lot of people, it may be shocking that some people agree to be used sexually for the pleasure of others, giving up their own pleasure in the process. This may seem abusive and exploitative. According to some feminist ideologies, women who submit do it because they have internalized the dictates of the patriarchy to service men. However, there are a lot of submissive men who put servicing and pleasuring their Mistress above their own desires. Because that is, precisely, their main desire. I believe that there no subconscious political forces in D/s. In my article The Origins of Dominance-Submission, I speculate that the desire to submit arises from the anxiety produced by shame, pride and societal pressures. In any case, we must keep in mind that in most cases the desire to submit sexually arises spontaneously in the submissive, and not from any kind of brain-washing by the Dominant. How sex can be used in dominance/submission (D/s) In another chapter, What Happens in a Dominance-Submission Relationship?, I listed seven basic practices of D/s. Here is how sex can be used in each them. Obedience - The most direct form of expressing sexual submission is by renouncing our natural inclination to feel pleasure and achieving orgasm. Once sexual arousal has started, we feel compelled to let it progress and grow until we achieve orgasm and release. But a Dominant can start and interrupt this process, dragging in on for as long as necessary to convey to the submissive his control. Obeying his commands is the first step in the process. Surrender can be expressed as the acceptance of pain, but also as the renunciation of pleasure. But it goes even further. Sexual desire and arousal are vulnerable states, so letting the Dominant have complete access to them is a deep form of surrender. Sexual pleasure is not always desirable. Being sexually aroused in the wrong place, - for example, in a public place in front of strangers - can be scary and humiliating. Service can simply consist of pleasuring the Dominant with oral sex or other sexual acts in which the submissive plays an active but subservient role. The submissive can also serve the Dom by becoming sexualized to increase his desire and arousal. Discipline - Obedience, surrender and service naturally lead to the development of a sexual discipline in which the submissive allows his sexuality be gradually tamed and molded by the Dominant. Punishment - A direct way to punish the submissive could be depriving her of sex for a period of time. A more subtle punishment would be to arouse her but not letting her achieve orgasm. Other forms of punishment can involve sexual acts that are degrading for the submissive and pleasurable for the Dom. Demeanor may involve dressing, posing and moving in sexualized ways to gratify the Dom. The submissive presents herself as a sexual object for everyone to admire. Mind-fucking can be done quite effectively by using sexual desire, arousal and need to orgasm to put the submissive into a state of defeat and surrender. This can be done by manipulating the mechanisms of sex to induce frustration - for example by prolonged stimulation with no hope of release. But even orgasm can be used for mental manipulation - for example, by making multi-orgasmic women climax repeatedly. In the following sections, I give specific examples of ways to use sexual control in D/s. Erotic dressing and public nudity One of the milder forms of sexual control is to use sexual shame and its tension with exhibitionism to sexualize the submissive. The taboo against nudity and being exposed can be used to evoke an intoxicating combination of fear, shame and exhibitionistic desire. BDSM centers on the body of the submissive - it is being restrained with bondage, hit or tormented to produce pain, or sexually stimulated. Alternatively, public attention can be focused on it by exposing it in erotic attire or in various levels of undress. Many submissives are exhibitionists, more or less openly. This is because sexualization evokes the same feelings of vulnerability as being beaten or tied up. Evoking sexual desire in others gives you the power to capture their attention and, at the same time, the vulnerability of being used by the mere fact of being watched. Exhibitionism exists in tension with the fear and shame produced by nudity. Of course, public nudity can have some unpleasant consequences is real life. That is why there are BDSM parties in which these things can be practiced in a public, and yet safe, environment. A submissive can arrive in a regular outfit and change into sexy paraphernalia, or have her body gradually exposed to the gaze of other by the Dominant. Provocative dressing may include erotic clothing - miniskirts, hot shorts, high heels, garter belts, stockings, lace bras and panties - or fetish gear - corsets, harnesses, leather, latex, pants with exposed crotch or bottom, etc. All this marks the submissive as a sexual object on display. Secrets under the clothes Other of games may involve secret manipulation of clothing in public. The most obvious one is to make a woman wear a skirt without panties. Depending on the length of the skirt, there is a risk that somebody would catch a glimpse of her bottom or pubis. Fear of public humiliation and the extra care dedicated to not getting exposed is a good mind-fuck. Likewise, wearing a tight shirt without a bra will expose breast and nipples at the limit of decency. Both submissive men and women can be ordered to lower their underwear to just below the crotch. This is pretty safe if wearing pants, but nevertheless will induce a feeling of exposure and hinder walking. There can also be hidden bondage. Women can have a rope tightly bound around the hips and between the labia. Men can have their penises and genitals bound. Private nudity In private, doing house chores while naked is an old favorite in D/s. Even better, the submissive can be made to wear high heels, a garter belt, stockings, gloves and… nothing else. Leaving exposed parts of the body that are usually covered is more sexualizing than mere nudity. Of course, sexy clothes can also serve to emphasize sexual service at home. Sexual jewelry Recently, a number of sexy objects to be worn in the genitals or the nipples have reached the market. Jewelry for women is designed to spread the labia or rub the clit, producing constant sexual stimulation. Other jewelry clamp around the nipples, keeping them erect and aroused. Men may wear straps around the penis and balls. One level up is sexual piercing, which is permanent. In women, the nipples, the labia and the clitoral hood may be pierced. Men may have the frenulum or the glands pierced. Many people do this just as a fetish. In a D/s context, sex jewels and piercings are worn at the request of the Dominant, as a constant reminder of the submissive’s surrender of their physical autonomy. Using sex toys for domination Dildos, butt plugs, vibrators (especially remotely controlled ones) and fucking machines can be used to establish sexual domination. I described their use and safety concerns in the chapter Sex Toys, so here I am only going to briefly explain how they are used in D/s. While a male Dominant is able to fuck his female submissive any time he wants, penetrating her with a dildo allows him to stimulate her vaginally without being distracted by his own pleasure. A dildo can also be worn under the clothes to send the message that the submissive is sexually possessed. Butt plugs that can be inflated inside the rectum to increase their invasiveness are particularly well-suited for D/s. Even better are the ones with articulated lobes that open inside the rectum. Some can even be locked with a key. In women, this acts as a sort of chastity belt, because vaginal penetration becomes impossible. All this emphasizes quite effectively that the submissive is sexually owned, because the stimulation of the anus and the rectum is unrelenting. Anal hooks and butt plugs with a handle in the base can be used to attach a leash or ropes for bondage. Tugging on the leash or the ropes sends sensations inside the anus, provoking an exquisite feeling of vulnerability. At BDSM parties and similar public settings where the submissive can be put on display, butt plugs with bright colored crystals at the base, or with an attached tail, can be used to make everybody aware of the plight of the submissive. This adds an element of humiliation, or simply advertises that the submissive is sexually owned. In D/s, vibrators allow Dominants to induce sexual arousal in their submissives very quickly, and to stop it equally fast. This is done in women by stimulating the clitoris, and in men by using vibrating rings around the penis. Turning the vibrator on and off at intervals, the Dominant can keep the submissive in a constant state of arousal and suspense. Vibrators that are controlled remotely are particularly well-suited for sexual domination. Stimulating the submissive when she least expects it can be a sophisticated form of mind-fuck. However, the Dominant must be careful that this doesn’t interfere with work or creates a dangerous situation - for example, while driving. Fucking machines take the idea of sexual domination to an extreme. They are often combined with bondage to induce strong feelings of helplessness and sexual subjugation. They can be used for pleasure, discipline or punishment. By controlling the size and shape of the dildo, the depth of penetration and the speed of thrusting, the Dominant can deliver a variety of overwhelming sensations. In multi-orgasmic women, they can be used to induce repeated forced orgasms, which can lead to altered states of consciousness. However, there are some safety concerns. Vaginal abrasion and even tears can occur without the submissive noticing them. Special caution should be used when using fucking machines in the anus, which is more fragile than the vagina. A fucking machine can produce hemorrhoids, especially if it is not adequately lubricated. A submissive should never be left strapped to a fucking machine unsupervised. Repeated orgasms and prolonged sexual arousal can lead to physical exhaustion, shortness of breath and panic attacks. Bukkake Bukkake consist in ejaculating over the face or the body of another person. It’s a fetish often portrayed in porn, usually involving several men. Because it is very visual, it is used by detractors of porn as an example of how it humiliates women. Of course, facials are also done on gay men. In BDSM, the degrading element of bukkake is one of the main reasons it is done. Judging from the happy, semen-covered faces of many women in Fetlife.com - a social medium for people into fetishes and kink - this act can also be very erotic for the receiver. Face fucking Rough oral sex is a common act of sexual domination. When the Dominant is a man, this may take the form of face fucking, which can be done to women or other men. While in a normal fellatio the person giving it is the active partner, in face fucking the receiver is ordered to just open the mouth. Then the penis is shoved into it and moved with the thrusts of fucking. Gagging, slobbering and drooling are considered a plus, since they emphasize the vulnerability of the submissive. Face fucking works best when the head of the recipient is braced against the bed or other furniture to prevent it from moving away from the penis. Bondage can also be added to increase passivity. Alternatively, the Dominant may grab the hair or the head of the submissive to retain it, or force it to move the ways he wants. There are gags that force the mouth to stay open, increasing the exposure of the submissive. A ring gag consists of one or two metal rings placed between the front teeth and held with a strap around the head. However, this has the inconvenience that the penis has to be inserted through the ring and rubs against it. A Jennings Gag is a device used by dentists to keep the mouth of their patients open. It consists of two metal bars that go behind the front teeth joined by a ratcheting hinge that can be released with a lever. Again, a thrusting penis may chafe against the metal bar or the front teeth. A better choice may be a type of gag consisting of a wedge inserted between the molars, held in place by a strap around the back of the head. There is nothing hindering the entrance of the penis in the mouth, and the front teeth are opened wide enough not to be a problem. Face fucking can be challenging for the receiver, who feels invaded and out of control. Some people have trouble breathing through their noses, particularly when receiving this rough treatment, so getting out of breath - to the point of passing out - is a potential problem. Another potential problem is that face fucking can easily induce vomit. If the submissive is laying face-up, the vomit can go inside the windpipe, presenting an asphyxiation hazard. Vomit is very acidic (it contains hydrochloric acid), so it can burn the throat and the mouth of the submissive and the penis of the Dominant. This can be prevented by a quick wash with plenty of water. Face sitting When the Dominant is a woman, rough oral sex can consist of face sitting. The woman straddles the head of the submissive, facing backwards toward the feet or forward, and places her pussy or her anus over the mouth and nose of her partner. The submissive is then ordered to lick, while the Dominant is free to move to expose her favorite bits to his or her attentions. As with face fucking, the submissive is immobilized in this position, his head trapped between the legs of the woman and her crotch. The feeling of subjugation can be increased by adding bondage. One important safety issue here is the ability of the submissive to breathe. Unlike face fucking, the top can easily block both the mouth and the nose of the bottom, even inadvertently. Indeed, face sitting is sometimes considered as a form of breath play. The risk of asphyxiation is increased by the fact that the Dominant is unable to see the face of the submissive. The safest way to practice face sitting is to release the pressure frequently to allow the submissive to breathe, and use this opportunity to communicate with him or her. Orgasm control and chastity Chastity and various forms of orgasm control are so important in D/s that I have addressed them in a different article, Orgasm Control and Chastity in BDSM.

Some BDSM practices revolve around controlling orgasms, either by suppressing them or by triggering them at the whim of the dominant Permission to orgasm The most basic method of orgasm control is to establish that the submissive cannot orgasm unless she is given permission by the dominant. The submissive will beg for release for a while, until the dominant finally allows it. The permission could be given on the condition that the submissive does or says certain things, like accepting spanks or other forms of pain, or saying degrading things about themselves. Male dominants usually allow female submissives to cum relatively soon. Male submissives are not so lucky. For many dominant-submissives couples, permission to orgasm is always required when they are together. Some dominants may even require it when they are apart. There may also be a schedule for when the submissive is allowed to have an orgasm. Because orgasm is so difficult to control, breaking this rule is often a cause for punishment. A drawback of this practice is that many women find it difficult to get to orgasm, so if they are denied the opportunity when the time is right, they may never be able to do it. In this case, the dominant may quickly grant permission, but still have the rule in place so that he knows when she is going to orgasm - perhaps to facilitate it. Also, voicing out an incoming orgasm is slightly humiliating and a way to signal submission. With some playful training, this could even become a way to facilitate orgasms. Edging Edging is a sexual technique that consists of repeatedly coming close to orgasm without letting it happen, leading to long sessions of masturbation or intercourse. It has been reported to increase pleasure and trigger a more powerful orgasm when it is finally allowed to happen. Edging is practiced mostly by men, often when masturbating alone. However, in BDSM it is directed by the dominant during a scene. It can be done to both men and women. The reason why edging is more common in men is that the orgasm is normally associated with ejaculation, so it is easy to know when it has taken place. In women, strong arousal, pleasure and orgasm can become blurred while edging. Edging requires that both the submissive and the dominant can recognize the point of orgasmic inevitability, so that sexual stimulation can be stopped before reaching it. This may require some training. Orgasm denial Orgasm denial is similar to edging in that the submissive is sexually aroused, often close to orgasm, but climax is never allowed to happen. The BDSM scene ends without the submissive having reached sexual release. This causes him or her to continue in a mental space of submission and of baseline sexual arousal. Orgasm denial also conveys the message that sexual release is a privilege of the dominant, which is denied to the submissive. Or perhaps it is reserved as a reward. Both edging and orgasm denial work well when coupled with bondage, because this ensures that only the dominant can sexually stimulate the submissive. Again, orgasm denial can be problematic for women who have trouble climaxing. Ironically, for these women, it may also be a psychological relief by taking the pressure of the social imperative to orgasm. Then they may find it easier to climax when allowed to do so. Just putting orgasms under the control of the dominant can ease the ongoing insecurity and frustration caused by the difficulty to climax. When sexual frustration becomes part of the game, it loses its bite. Still, sexual control games that encourage orgasms may be more appropriate for these women. Ruined orgasms A ruined orgasm is one that occurs in such a way that it brings little or no pleasure. The basic way to do this is to provide sexual stimulation until past the point of orgasmic inevitability. Then the stimulation is stopped, so the orgasm occurs but in a blunted way, bringing little pleasure. In men, this means an ejaculation devoid of pleasure. Since it is followed by a refractory period, even the sexual desire goes away. Ruined orgasms produce a sexual frustration that is even more intense than orgasm denial. Orgasm denial maintains and even increases sexual desire, while a ruined orgasm leaves the man in an asexual state of no pleasure and no desire. Ruined orgasms are easier to give to men than to women because the female body has more resources to produce a satisfactory orgasm. The thighs can be clenched together to stimulate the clitoris. Even if this is prevented by tying the legs apart, pelvic muscles can be contracted in an almost invisible way. Orgasm can take place purely in the brain, without any genital stimulation. Therefore, a better way to ruin an orgasm is to deliver pain while the orgasm is occurring. But, be warned that pain would just increase pleasure in many masochists. In that case, mental distractions - like the dominant talking or having to answer questions - can work better. Ruined orgasm can have strong effects on women. They can even be painful. “I’m female and I have ruined orgasms from edging more often than I want. […] You climb that mountain only to find there’s no peak and you’re absolutely done for a while because you can’t edge more (too sore). It’s like sitting down to your favorite meal only to find you can’t taste it, and it still gives you heartburn.” Anonymous, Fetlife. Torment after orgasm Many dominance-submission practices are done with the implicit knowledge that the submissive is going to be sexually aroused by them. So, even if there is sexual denial, they will satisfy his ongoing sexual desire. However, if a man is made to ejaculate before any action starts, his refractory period would deprive him, not just of any further sexual satisfaction, but even of the sexual desire that motivated him to engage in the scene to begin with. Spankings, canings and floggings would be just pure pain. Sexual service would be done for the sole satisfaction of the dominant. If the ejaculation entailed a ruined orgasm, the entire scene would give the submissive no sexual pleasure whatsoever. Torment after orgasm works better for men than for women, because most women lack a strong refractory period. Still, making a female submissive climax before doing nasty things to her would deprive her of some of the kinky pleasure she might have obtained otherwise. Conditioned orgasm The technique of conditioned orgasms is based on the experiments of Ivan Pavlov on classical conditioning. He observed that dogs salivate when given food. He rang a bell while feeding them, and found that, after some repetitions, the dogs salivated just by ringing the bell. Here, food is called the unconditioned stimulus - it naturally induces salivation - and the bell sound is called conditioned stimulus - it only induces salivation after being coupled with the unconditioned stimulus. This basic experimental design was repeated many times, in different animals species and using different unconditioned and conditioned stimulus. Some savvy dominant came up with the idea that it might be possible to condition women to orgasm. The unconditioned stimulus would be sexual stimulation of the clitoris or the vagina, and the conditioned stimulus would be a special word said by the dominant. However, other things can be used as conditioned stimuli, like showing a particular object, or hitting in a particular way. Does it work? You would think that scientists would have tried this, but I could only find two fairly old studies, which somehow seemed to miss the point. The first (Letourneau and O'Donohue, 1997) was done in women, using erotic videos and an amber light as unconditioned and conditioned stimuli, respectively. As measures of sexual arousal, they used subjective ratings and vaginal pulse amplitude. The women said that they had become aroused by the amber light. However, there were no significant differences with control women, who were exposed to both the videos and the amber light, but at different times. I think that this control may not be valid because the control women still associated the amber light and the videos, albeit indirectly: they both occurred during at the doctor’s offices during the experiment. If both groups became conditioned to the light, this would render the statistical comparison between them not significant. The other study (Kantorowitz, 1978) was done in men (8 subjects), who were shown three pictures of naked women during the plateau, resolution and refractory phases, respectively, of masturbation sessions. They measured penile tumescence - the level or erection - with which they responded to subsequent presentations of the three pictures. While the photos had the same erotic power at the beginning of the experiment, after conditioning those that were paired with the plateau phase produced more tumescence and were found more erotic than those paired with the refractory period. A later review paper (Khan et al., 2011) suggested that orgasmic conditioning could be used “for treatment of paraphilias like fetishism and pedophilias.” This sounds too much like conversion therapy for my taste. It would be nice if this could be used to treat pedophilia, which causes lifelong trauma to abused children. But why do they want to eliminate fetishisms, which are mostly innocuous? What I hear in the BDSM community is that orgasmic conditioning works, at least in women. My impression is that only women who orgasm easily can be conditioned to climax on command, but other women can become very aroused when they hear the trigger word. Forced orgasms Forced orgasms are practiced on multi-orgasmic women, taking advantage of the fact that they have no refractory period. Typically, the woman is tied up and make to orgasm again and again by stimulating the clitoris with a vibrator, the vagina with a dildo, or whatever works for her. Past a certain point, the orgasm is no longer desired and, ironically, is experienced as unpleasant. This may be because of physical exhaustion or because she feels like she is losing control. As with other techniques of orgasm control, the dominant uses this one to emphasize his control over the body and the mind of the submissive. I have heard some submissive women reporting that they reach altered states of consciousness through forced orgasms. Chastity Chastity is refraining from sexual activity, which is important for many religions that consider sex immoral. It is also associated with the virtue of temperance in some philosophies, which extol chastity as a method to develop self-control. In BDSM, chastity is another way by which a dominant exerts control over the submissive by controlling his or her sexuality. Chastity in BDSM has a different meaning than in religion. Since kink has a sexual component, a submissive in chastity does not completely refrain from sexual activity, only from some aspects of it. Most often, chastity is understood as just refraining from orgasm. Indeed, the submissive may be sexually stimulated without allowing the release of orgasm in order to increase sexual desire and frustration. Male submissives may be allowed some types of orgasms - like prostatic orgasm from anal sex - but not ejaculation. Female submissives may be used for the sexual pleasure of the dominant - by being fucked vaginally or anally, for example - while not being allowed to climax from this. Likewise, male and female submissives may be ordered to perform oral sex - and may derive pleasure from it. In its milder forms, chastity is demanded for short periods of times in order to increase the sexual desire of the submissive before a sexual encounter with the dominant. Using this enhanced desire as a foundation, the submissive can then be manipulated with edging, conditioned orgasm, forced orgasms, and other forms of sexual control. In its more strict forms, the submissive is made to live in chastity for long periods of times, months, years, or for as long as the DS relationship lasts. BDSM chastity has become enormously popular lately, judging from the increase in advertisement for the devices used to enforce it: penis cages for men and chastity belts for women. However, chastity is often practiced just by trusting that the submissive will not masturbate. Many people practice chastity alone, without a dominant ordering them to do so. They do not do it as part of a religious practice, but because it arouses kinky feelings in them. Penis cages Penis cages are metal or plastic devices that wrap around the penis, locking it and the testicles with a padlock or with a built-in lock. The cages are made of bars or have a hole to allow urinating. The cage is small and curved to make an erection painful and impossible. Some cages even have spikes inside. Others are extremely short in order to compress the penis into the pelvis, making it look like a clitoris to add humiliation (“sissification”). In FemDom, it is common to make fun of the man for having a small penis, or by calling his penis a clit. By wrapping tightly behind the testicles, penis cages are impossible to remove once locked. The key is given to the dominant partner or, in cases where chastity is done outside a DS relationship, to an intimate friend called the “keyholder”. Modern penis cages have an electronic lock than can be operated at a distance from a cell phone or a computer. The news recently reported that some of these devices had been hacked, and the hacker demanded a payment in order the release the penis of the unfortunate owner. For uncircumcised men, an alternative to penis cages is a piercing in the prepuce that traps it over the glans, preventing erections. Chastity belts It is not clear to what extent the chastity belts worn by medieval and renaissance women were actually used. However, devices inspired by them are commonly used in BDSM, both by women and men. In women, their primary function is to prevent vaginal penetration. They are also supposed to prevent masturbating by stroking the clitoris. However, there is some controversy about whether a determined woman can get around this. It is possible to insert the back of a spoon or even a finger around the belt to reach the clit. Many women can also masturbate by clenching the thighs. The typical chastity belt has two straps. One cinches the waist. The other, attached to it at the front and the back, covers the crotch. This second strap has a plate that covers the pubis, with holes for urination. A hole over the anus permits defecation. Some chastity belts allow the attachment of dildos and butt plugs to their inside. Like penis cages, chastity belts lock with a padlock or built-in lock, or even with a remotely controlled mechanism. Of course, once the belt is open, the submissive has to be convinced to put it back on. More complex chastity belts have additional straps that go around the top of the thighs. Others look like shorts, with straps around the waist and the thighs and tough fabric in between, and a plastic plate covering the pubis. These are medical devices similar to straightjackets. They are more effective than conventional chastity belts to prevent masturbation by stroking the clitoris. However, this type of chastity belts need to be unlocked for urination and defecation. Prolonged wearing of chastity belts may produce chafing of the skin by constant rubbing of the metal straps, and urinary tract infections from improper cleaning. Why do people submit to orgasm control? We can find some common themes in all these methods of sexual control: surrendering sexual satisfaction to the dominant, being used sexually without sexual reward, self-denial of sexual pleasure, using sexual desire and sexual pleasure to control the body and the mind, increasing sexual desire without fully satisfying it, erotization of sexual frustration. We live in an increasingly sex-positive culture where everybody is supposed to be able to find sexual satisfaction. And the BDSM community is at the center of this sex-positive culture. So why do kinky people enjoy depriving themselves of sex? First of all, this proves that there is a BDSM desire that is different from sexual desire, although associated with it. Many kinky people develop fantasies about being spanked, tied up or subjugated from a very early age, and these go beyond the purely sexual. The desire for kink arises from psychological urges different from the sex drive. Perhaps they are rooted in mental tensions about desire, social interactions, shame, guilt, envy and frustration. One of the main drives for the desire for sexual subjugation is to seek relief from societal pressures for sexual accomplishment. Men are supposed to be better if they have a large penis, develop powerful erections, thrust powerfully during intercourse, and give women orgasms. One way to conjure the fear of not achieving these things is doing exactly the opposite: locking their erections away in a cage that makes their penis look small, and renouncing intercourse. Similarly, women base their sexual prestige on having numerous and powerful orgasms. So renouncing orgasms, or having them being controlled by somebody else, becomes a way to rebel against this pressure that threatens their self-image. There is also a basic contradiction in the dominance-submission dynamic. The submissive is supposed to serve and obey, but often ends up being the one being served by the dominant, who pleasures her and caters to her kinky desires. By denying orgasms to the submissive, both partners prove to each other that the relationship is truly about service and surrender. A lot of the current popularity of chastity may also be related to the NoFab culture, and beliefs about preserving sexual energy and the supposed benefits of abstaining from masturbation. There are also elements of psychological masochism in sexual control. Contrary to the traditional beliefs of psychologists, these may not be unhealthy at all. If confronting negative emotions in a positive way is healthy, then there is nothing wrong with dwelling on feelings of subjugation, humiliation, envy and frustration. It is healing to turn these emotions into something positive by endowing them with an erotic charge. Ultimately, what comes into play here are crucial existential issues. Our self-image, of body and mind. Our inability to live up to the expectations that we and others place on ourselves. Our relationship with our desires and our inability to fulfill them. The mirage of sexual pleasure, that comes and goes and still leave us unhappy. By giving up control, we renounce of these things and find ourselves free from them. References Kantorowitz DA (1978) An experimental investigation of preorgasmic reconditioning and postorgasmic deconditioning. J Appl Behav Anal 11:23-34. Khan MH, Mukhtar MZ, Bajwa M, Alwi M, Gul M, Niaz S (2011) Role of orgasmic conditioning and reconditioning in psychiatry. European Psychiatry 26:1546-1546. Letourneau EJ, O'Donohue W (1997) Classical conditioning of female sexual arousal. Arch Sex Behav 26:63-78.

Consciousness can be explained as the integration of several functions of the brain Question 1 - How does the brain produce consciousness? I would define consciousness as the property of our mind by which we are aware of our surroundings, body sensations, and what we are doing. It also tells us that we exist as minds that have thoughts, memories and emotions. In the scientific worldview, everything that happens in our mind is the product of the activity of the brain. However, some philosophers like David Chalmers sustain that there is something mysterious and ineffable about consciousness, which science will never be able to explain as brain activity. Is this a leftover from a belief in the soul and other religious ideas? Or is there something special about consciousness that is forever beyond the reach of science? Question 2 - Are animals conscious? If so, are there differences between human and animal consciousness? When we look at our cat or our dog, we get the feeling that they are aware of the world the same way as we are. However, most people would have trouble believing that simple animals like clams, corals, barnacles, snails or flies are conscious. If you chose to believe that these animals are conscious, then you would have a hard time explaining why plants are not conscious. And if you chose to believe that plants are conscious, too, then you are well on your way to panpsychism: the belief that everything is conscious. Then you will face an even harder problem: explaining how our consciousness and the consciousness of a rock are different. On the other hand, if some animals are conscious and others are not, then something must have happened during evolution that gave rise to consciousness. Which leads to the next question… Question 3 - How did consciousness emerge during evolution? Some people argue that consciousness has no adaptive value, that it is superfluous for natural selection. They think that consciousness is an epiphenomenon: something secondary that occurs alongside mental processes. According to that view, the appearance of conscious beings like us is just a fluke of evolution. Is that true? Sensory consciousness In order for us to function in the world, our brain must integrate different sensory modalities into one unified model of the word. When we look at a girl playing guitar, we intuitively know that the sound we hear comes from the guitar we see, and that the movement of her fingers produces the sound. Vision and hearing are spatial senses that assign a particular place to a particular perception. The mind places what we see and what we hear in the same common perceptual space. Touch is also spatial, and it is also integrated with vision and sound into that perceptual space. Interoception is the sensations that we receive from inside of the body. They tell us the position of our limbs, the level of contraction and relaxation of our muscles, the state of our viscera, whether something hurts, etc. It is comprised of several senses: balance, visceral feelings, cold, heat, pain and itch. Since we know in what place of our body we feel a certain sensation, interoception is also spatial. And since we must move our body in the world that we perceive through our external senses, interoception has to be integrated into the same model of the world generated by the external senses, vision and hearing. All our perceptions (except smell) converge in the thalamus, a region at the core of the brain. The thalamus sends nerves to the primary sensory areas of the cortex, such as the visual cortex in the back of the brain or the somatosensory cortex just behind the central sulcus. These primary sensory areas send the information to other areas of the brain, where they get progressively integrated and placed in the perceptual space. Importantly, the brain also attributes a certain importance - or “valence” - to a perception, by assigning an emotion to it. Thus, perceptions may be classified as scary, angering, sexually arousing, interesting, etc. Sensations that lack emotional valence are eliminated from awareness, while those with high emotional content are given a central place in the mind. This makes sense because it is critical for our survival that perceptions are set in a hierarchy according to the danger they represent and their relevance for the task that we are trying to accomplish. Creating this model of the world that unifies all our perceptions is the basis of our awareness. But this is just a first layer of consciousness. We share this ability with other animals with a complex nervous system. There is an evolutionary advantage in constructing a unified model of the world. Otherwise, the animal would not be able to make sense of the world and act inside it. Which takes us to the next building block of consciousness. Motor consciousness As I explained in another article, agency is a property of all living beings by which they are able to generate internal causes. In simple terms, living beings do stuff. Plants do stuff by growing. Animals do stuff by moving because, unlike plants, they have muscles. In addition, complex animals have a nervous system that allows them to gather information from the world and plan their movements. Animals do not just perceive the world, they move and do things. They search for drink, food and mates. They escape predators. They care for their offspring. They do that by planning movements using the same model of the world created by the perceptual aspects of consciousness. The central sulcus is a deep gash in the brain that, together with the lateral fissure, divides the cortex into a frontal and a posterior part. Roughly speaking, the posterior part of the cortex is in charge of processing sensory information and the anterior part is in charge of planning action. In humans, the anterior cingulate cortex and the prefrontal cortex are in charge of motivation and making decisions about what to do next. From there, movement is planned by the motor cortex, just anterior of the central sulcus, and finessed at the cerebellum. Then motor commands are sent to the muscles, down the spinal cord and through the motor nerves. However, there is another kind of motor function that has great importance in humans: that of the mind searching and manipulating its own contents. It may be looking for a specific memory, imagining something or dealing with abstract concepts. While animals focus on the outside, we spend a considerable part of our lives inside our heads. The creation of the self The self appears when our body becomes an object in the perceptual space created by the brain to integrate the sensations from different senses. The body has to be in that perceptual space all the time because everything we perceive is from the body. Moreover, when we plan or execute a movement, what moves is the body. Movement will become uncoordinated without a careful feedback between movement and perception. Because of the critical importance of that coordination, the body is not just another object in the perceptual space: it is at the interface between the perception of what is outside (exteroception: vision, hearing, touch, etc.) and what is inside (interoception). Therefore, awareness of the body takes a central role: it becomes the self [1,3]. This is a primordial self that humans share with other animals with a complex nervous system. It is a “protoself”, as neuroscientist Antonio Damasio calls it. Extended Consciousness Extended Consciousness is a concept developed by Antonio Damasio in his book The Feeling of What Happens [5], which proposes a hierarchical theory of consciousness. Everything I have described so far is what Damasio calls “Core Consciousness”. Here is how he describes Extended Consciousness: “Extended consciousness goes beyond the here and now of core consciousness, both back and forward. The here and now is still there, but it is flanked by the past, as much past as you may need to illuminate the now effectively, and, just as importantly, it is flanked by the anticipated future.” Antonio Damasio, The Feeling of What Happens [5]. Just like core consciousness gives rise to the protoself, extended consciousness gives rise to the “autobiographical self”: “The autobiographical self relies on the consistent reactivation and display of selected sets of autobiographical memories.” Antonio Damasio, The Feeling of What Happens [5]. Shame, pride and the construction of the ego I propose that what we call the ego - or the super-ego in Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis - arises when the autobiographical self is colored by two important human emotions: shame and pride. These emotions evolved when human survival became dependent on our ability to cooperate with each other. They indicate changes in our social status. If we fail to cooperate or we act selfishly, we are shamed and our social status decreases. If, on the other hand, we do something beneficial to the group, we are praised and our social status increases. Shame and pride change our self-esteem, which is essential for our internal well-being. As our autobiography gets highlighted by instances of shame and pride, we build an image of who we are and how we expect ourselves to behave. That is our ego. I think that the ego is an important part of the autobiographical self but not identical to it, because we can construct images of ourselves that are free of judgment and thus independent of shame and pride. Self-directed theory-of-mind Theory-of-mind (not to be confused with a theory of the mind) is a unique faculty of humans that allows us to model the minds of other people [11]. We refer to it when we say “I know what you are thinking”. Not only it models what other people know, but also their emotions. When we talk about “walking in her shoes”, we are referring to using our theory-of-mind to imagine the feelings of another person. Theory-of-mind is far from infallible and may generate problems. It works reasonably well when applied to people with minds similar to our own, less well when applied to people of different cultures, and quite badly when we apply it to animals to assume that they think like us (anthropomorphism). It is also at the core of many superstitions - when it leads us to believe that inanimate objects and natural phenomena have minds and can be treated as human beings. According to neuroscientist Bud Craig (an expert in pain and interoception), the radical changes from core consciousness in animals to extended consciousness in humans are due to the development of a specialized part of the cortex called the anterior insula, during the evolution of primates [2,4,7]. The right anterior insula has the function of creating hypothetical perceptions of the internal state of the body (proprioception). If I imagine what it would feel like to have a headache, it is my right anterior insula doing the work. Because of its ability to imagine feelings, the right anterior insula may play an essential role in theory-of-mind. Craig also proposes that the neuronal links between the anterior insula and the anterior cingulate cortex - an area of the brain that mediates decision and action planning [9] - play a key role in consciousness. Indeed, the capacity of the anterior insula to imagine feelings may serve to provide emotional depth to our autobiographical memories and to what we imagine may happen to us in the future. The anterior insula also mediates empathy because it allows us to imagine what others are feeling [8]. As I said at the beginning, an important aspect of consciousness is that it lets us know that we exist as minds that are able to have thoughts, memories and emotions. This awareness of having a mind may be the result of applying theory-of-mind to our own mind. Neuroscientists Michael S. Gazzaniga (who studied split-brain patients) and Joseph E. LeDoux (an authority in emotions) propose that there is a module in the human mind that they call “the interpreter”, whose function is to construct a continuous narrative of what is happening in our minds. This may be theory-of-mind applied to ourselves. Unfortunately, the interpreter is often wrong. Maybe its accuracy can be improved by training ourselves to observe our minds more objectively with techniques like mindfulness. Cultural consciousness Constructing our autobiographical self, our ego, and the ongoing interpretation of our own mental activity are cognitive functions. As such, they are highly dependent on our beliefs and our values. And those values are framed by the culture in which we live. Therefore, it is true that our culture influences our consciousness. However, by the same token, it is also true that the more educated and mindful we become, the more our consciousness becomes free of illusion and negative feelings. Far from being determined by our genes or our environment, human consciousness is malleable and trainable. There is plenty of evidence that we can influence the most basic mechanisms of our consciousness by taking drugs or with practices like yoga, mindfulness or meditation. With the right knowledge and hard work, we can truly change our minds. Answer to question 1: How does the brain produce consciousness? Everything the brain does contributes to consciousness. We experience life as a series of mind frames - like the pictures in a movie - which are made of perceptions, emotions, ideas, and self-awareness that come from very different places in the brain. The way we divide our minds between the conscious and the unconscious is largely illusory. There are only perceptions that are important enough to be noted and remembered and those that are pushed away because they will just clutter our mind [6]. Consciousness is not mysterious, ineffable, or unitary. It does not exist independently from the contents of the mind. Answer to question 2: Are animals conscious? If so, are there differences between human and animal consciousness? Animals with complex nervous systems, like mammals and birds, have core consciousness. Most other animal species (insects, clams, snails, worms, corals, jellies, sea urchins, sponges, etc.) are unconscious automatons because they lack nervous systems complex enough to produce a sophisticated representation of their bodies in their environment. They have only a series of pre-determined behaviors in response to specific stimuli, like the computers that run self-driving cars. Other animals (fish, lizards, octopi) are somewhere in between. The boundary between what animals are conscious and what animals are not, is fuzzy. However, only humans have extended consciousness, an ego, theory-of-mind, an interpreter, and cultural consciousness. Of course, since evolution is a continuum, as we move closer to humans we see some of these properties gradually emerging. For example, a rudimentary theory-of-mind has been detected in chimps [10]. Surprisingly, some primordial extended consciousness seems to be present in animals that are not in the direct evolutionary lineage of humans, like dolphins, elephants, parrots and crows. This suggests that extended consciousness is not an evolutionary fluke but an important adaptation that will come up over and over again in the roulette of mutation and natural selection. Answer to question 3: How did consciousness emerge during evolution? Consciousness is not an epiphenomenon but the logical result of the need to integrate perception and movement into a common model. The same need for integration of perception and action arises when we design a robot or a self-driving car. Furthermore, a representation of the body as a key object that needs to be protected gives rise spontaneously to the protoself. The evolutionary advantage of effective cooperation, and the need to share and store large amounts of information, are sufficient to explain the emergence of extended consciousness in humans. In a way, it is an indirect consequence of other adaptive properties of the mind such as social emotions, autobiographical memory and theory-of-mind. These properties are so closely linked to extended consciousness as to make it inevitable. Consciousness is a natural phenomenon. It is time that we leave behind mystical ideas that it is some mysterious essence that exists separate from matter. Consciousness, like life, becomes even more beautiful and awesome as we understand its amazing complexity. References Craig, A D. Human feelings: why are some more aware than others? Trends Cogn Sci 8: 239-241 (2004) Craig, A D. How do you feel--now? The anterior insula and human awareness. Nat Rev Neurosci 10: 59-70 (2009) Craig, A D. The sentient self. Brain Struct Funct 214: 563-577 (2010) Craig, A D. Significance of the insula for the evolution of human awareness of feelings from the body. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1225: 72-82 (2011) Damasio, A R, The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness. 1999, San Diego, New York, London: Harcourt, Inc. Dennett, D C, Consciousness Explained. First ed. 1991, Boston, Toronto, London: Little, Brown and Co. Gogolla, N. The insular cortex. Curr Biol 27: R580-R586 (2017) Gu, X, X Liu, K G Guise, T P Naidich, P R Hof, J Fan. Functional Dissociation of the Frontoinsular and Anterior Cingulate Cortices in Empathy for Pain. J Neurosci 30: 3739-3744 (2010) Isomura, Y, Y Ito, T Akazawa, A Nambu, M Takada. Neural Coding of "Attention for Action" and "Response Selection" in Primate Anterior Cingulate Cortex. J Neurosci 23: 8002-8012 (2003) Krupenye, C, F Kano, S Hirata, J Call, M Tomasello. Great apes anticipate that other individuals will act according to false beliefs. Science 354: 110-114 (2016) Penn, D C, D J Povinelli. On the lack of evidence that non-human animals possess anything remotely resembling a 'theory of mind'. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B, Biological sciences 362: 731-744 (2007)

The benefits and challenges of post-menopausal sex “To many women the menopause marks the end of their useful life. They see as the onset of the end, the beginning of old age. They may be right. Having outlived their ovaries, they may have outlived their usefulness as human beings. The remaining years may just be marking time until they follow their glands into oblivion.” Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask), by David Reuben, MD I hope this outrageous paragraph makes you laugh instead of getting you upset. For my wife Lilith Blackwell and I, it has become a family joke. We thought it would be a good way to start this article because it shows how misogyny and ageism combine to marginalize older women. It seems to be built on one of the nastiest ideas of the Patriarchy: that women are only valuable inasmuch as they serve a reproductive function. Reproductive success consists of having lots of offspring who live long enough to have lots of offspring. This last part is crucial for humans because it takes a lot of effort to get a child to survive to reproductive age. In turn, that requires strong social bonds in the tribe. In humans, sex evolved away from its strictly reproductive function to become a way to form those bonds. In my article, The Seven Enigmas of Sex, I argue that this explains some strange quirks of human sexuality, like hidden ovulation, orgasms, sexual shame and kinks. Menopause is uniquely human One of these quirks is menopause. Unlike what Dr. Reuben says in the quote above, it does not represent the end of the useful life of a woman. It does not even represent the end of her sexual life. Since sex serves primarily to establish a social bond in humans, it is natural for women to continue to have sex after menopause, just like it is natural for them to have sex when they are not ovulating. Contrary to was first believed, menopause does not represent the gradual deterioration of a woman’s reproductive ability caused by aging. This is what happens in most mammals, but in women it is different. They have menopause, which consists of a cessation of menstrual periods that occurs relatively quickly, on average between 49 and 52 years old. At the same time, there is a decrease in the secretion of female hormones (estrogen and progesterone) by the ovaries. This decrease starts well before menopause, during perimenopause, when women start experiencing symptoms like hot flashes and mood swings. In some women, they may persist after menopause. Other mammals do not have menopause, except for some species of toothed whales. As female mammals age, their estrous cycles become more irregular and frequent, but they do not stop like it happens in women. According to the grandmother hypothesis, menopause is a specific physiological mechanism that evolved so that women could stop having children and devote their energy to taking care of their grandchildren. Since human children are labor-intensive, taking 12 to 16 years to reach sexual maturity, the best evolutionary strategy for reproductive success is not to have many children, but to ensure that the ones you have reach adulthood and have their own offspring. Therefore, menopause doesn’t happen because a woman should be already dead. Instead, is a mechanism that prepares a woman for another function in the last period of her life: to serve as a repository of the knowledge of the tribe, to become a teacher, healer and helper of younger women and men. Most women remain sexually active after menopause In men, sexual desire and arousal are driven by testosterone. When it declines with age, so does male sexual desire. In women, things are much more complicated. Desire is controlled by the female sexual hormones, estrogen and progesterone, but especially by testosterone. Yes, even though testosterone is considered the male sex hormone, women also produce it in lesser amounts. Because of that, even when estrogen and progesterone decline with menopause, many women experience the same or even higher sexual desire. For example, read this article by @Vicki Larson, an expert on the sexuality of mature women, or the articles by @MonalisaSmiled about how her high libido pushes her to have extramarital affairs. In our society, sexual repression, misogyny and ageism combine in a toxic mixture to attack any expression of sexual desire in aging women. The body of an old woman is derided as utterly undesirable, much more so than the body of an old man. And yet, older women can be sexy and beautiful. Their experience and lack of inhibition in bed can lead to amazing lovemaking. We need to do some serious pushback against the societal de-sexualizing of older women. Giving up sex is a legitimate option Still, for many women, sexual desire decreases - or even completely disappears - after menopause. They may find certain bodies beautiful, just not in a sexual way. They also feel less desire to have sex and to masturbate. Becoming asexual is a good choice for some. Sex-positive culture has led to increasing acceptance of asexual and demisexual people of all ages. Giving up sex may be the best option if: You are single. Why bother going into the dating scene when you know it would be frustrating, time consuming and possibly unpleasant? Your partner has also lost sexual desire. Sexless marriages or romantic relationships - called “companionships” - are enriching and satisfying for many. While it is true that sex provides a strong emotional bond, maybe you and your beloved are already bonded. Human touch is a biological and psychological need, but it doesn’t need to be sexual. Kissing, hugging and cuddling can keep alive the romance. What is not ethical is to impose chastity on somebody who still wants a sex life. Sexual exclusivity in monogamy is predicated on each partner providing sexual satisfaction to each other. But that doesn’t mean that if one partner gives up sex, the other is obliged to do the same. The right thing to do in that case would be to switch to ethical non-monogamy. This is still frowned upon by society, and this repressive view can lead to the breakup of perfectly good relationships, cheating, or plain garden-variety unhappiness. It is important to note that low libido can be a symptom of depression or other health issues. It may also indicate that there are problems in your relationship. Powering through waning desire However, there are many good reasons to continue to have a sex life, even without strong sexual desire. For example: Your sexuality is an important part of your life and your self-image, so you might miss it even if you no longer feel sexual desire. Sex keeps you healthy by making your body secrete estrogen, testosterone, oxytocin, endorphins, adrenaline and other good stuff that promotes bonding and happiness. Sex is great exercise, increasing your heart rate and keeping your pelvic floor strong. You love your partner and want to continue to satisfy him (or her) sexually. Sex makes you feel beautiful and young. It is great to feel desired. For these reasons, you may want to continue to have sex, even when you don’t feel the fire in your loins anymore. You can encourage your sexual desire by watching pornography. Alternately, erotic and romantic literature work better for a majority of women. Others swear by audio-porn: recordings of a man with a sexy voice talking dirty to you. Of course, in women of all ages it helps to remove the physical and emotional barriers that sap their sexual energy, like stress, an excessive workload and relationship problems. The technical name for low libido in women is ‘Hypoactive sexual desire disorder’ (HSDD), and is defined as the persistent absence of sexual thoughts or fantasies and lack of desire for sex that is associated with distress and cannot be attributed to medication or a medical problem (Kingsberg and Simon, 2020). There are attempts to develop medication to treat HSDD. Flibanserin (sold as Addyi) is a mixed agonist / antagonist of serotonin receptors that was initially developed as an antidepressant (Simon et al., 2018). However, it has been widely attacked in the media for its disappointing efficacy and many side-effects dizziness, somnolence, insomnia and nausea. Bremelanotide (sold as Vyleesi) is an agonist of the subtype 4 of melanocortin receptors (Pfaus et al., 2021), which release of dopamine in the medial preoptic area of the hypothalamus. A clinical trial (Kingsberg et al., 2019) found that it increased sexual desire. Testosterone increases the libido of women, just like it does in men, but at much lower concentrations. It increased sexual desire, arousal, pleasure and orgasm in women, with few masculinizing side-effects (Pinkerton et al., 2021). Its use to treat HSDD was approved by an international panel of experts (Davis et al., 2019). However, it is still unknown if it has long-term effects on the cardiovascular system, cognition and cancer. Feeling sexual desire is not a prerequisite for sex. Desire (feeling horny) and arousal (getting turned on) are independent of each other, even though we may feel that if we are not horny we cannot get turned on. It is possible to get turned on by simply starting to have sex. A low libido does not prevent you from getting sexually aroused, experience pleasure and have orgasms. It's just a matter of getting started. And then, in retrospect, you will be glad that you had sex. Based on that, you can construct a rational sexual desire in which you don't feel the same need to fuck as when you were young, but you know it will be nice, and you anticipate the pleasure and connection that you will feel. Lube is your new best friend However, all that is predicated on sex being pleasurable. The ugly reality, for many post-menopausal women, is that intercourse becomes painful. Though good sex does not require penetration, a large majority of women (69.9%) find vaginal intercourse “very appealing”, almost the same percentage as men (71.3%) (Herbenick et al., 2017). The majority of women interviewed for that paper (52.6%, men 52.1%) had vaginal intercourse during the last month. In another study (Herbenick et al., 2018) that included both pre-menopausal (53%) and post-menopausal (45%) women, 51.8% of them had orgasms at least half of the time with vaginal intercourse. Therefore, the majority of women prefer vaginal intercourse for sexual satisfaction. One reason why intercourse is painful is the lack of natural lubrication. Women secrete this ‘egg white cervical mucus’ through the Bartholin’s glans, located around the entrance of the vagina, and also from the vagina itself. However, lack of estrogen after menopause causes a substantial decrease in these secretions. The solution is easy: use personal lubricant. There is vast market for lubes, with lots of choices. Of course, you must avoid products that cause allergies to any of the partners. It’s also a good idea to screen for parabens and other toxic chemicals. If you use silicon sex toys or condoms, use only water-based lubes. Vaginal estrogen to avoid painful penetration However, lube was not enough for my wife. Vaginal intercourse was always her favorite form of sex, but after menopause, penetration became increasingly painful. Half an inch in, she’d cry out in pain and ask me to stop and wait. After a while, the pain would go away and we could continue. The anticipation of pain made sex unattractive for her. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can be a solution. It consists of taking estrogens and progestogens, sometimes with the addition of testosterone. Progesterone prevents the endometrial thickening and risk of cancer produced by estrogen. Although the benefits of HRT vary between women, they include reduced mortality in the first 10 years after menopause, with reduced coronary disease, osteoporosis and dementia (Lobo, 2017). However, the first results of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) in 2002 “showed that HRT had more detrimental than beneficial effects” (Cagnacci and Venier, 2019), causing a drop in its use. Still, the WHI showed that HRT has beneficial cardiovascular effect in early menopausal women. Vaginal estrogen could be used to treat vaginal pain during intercourse. Lack of estrogen after menopause causes the vaginal walls to thin, making them sensitive to pain. The same happened to the walls of the urethra, explaining why postmenopausal women have more urinary tract infections (UTIs). Vaginal creams and suppositories delivering estradiol have only a local effect, avoiding the side-effects of HRT. My wife consulted with her doctor, who gave her a prescription for Imvexxy, a vaginal insert containing 10 micrograms of estradiol. However, Imvexxy is not cheap. A full treatment requires daily insertions for two weeks and a bi-weekly insertion thereafter, which adds up to hundreds of dollars, even with insurance. At first, our insurance refused to pay for it. A less expensive treatment can be achieved using generic formulations. For example, generic estradiol cream costs $74 at CVS. My wife didn’t like the idea of using over-the-counter medications for this purpose, however, and she finally managed to convince health insurance to pay for part of her treatments. One of the “benefits” of the private healthcare system of the United States is to put your sex life in the hands of complete strangers whose main concern is profit. The treatment was worth the fight, however. By the end of the second week of daily applications, pain with intercourse was almost completely gone. My wife was dancing around the bedroom chanting, “It didn’t hurt! It didn’t hurt!” Sex on a schedule Hopefully, vaginal estradiol will also help with UTIs, which are another major concern for my wife and many other post-menopausal women. To prevent them, my wife’s physician prescribed a prophylactic dose of antibiotic before sex. My wife also takes D-mannose and drinks lots of water beforehand so she can pee after sex. We both shower and clean our genitals with chlorhexidine, a non-irritant antiseptic. Since sex requires so much preparation, it no longer can be spontaneous. That is okay. We became used to sex-on-schedule since our daughter started school. Most mothers find that caring for an infant makes your libido plummet. It also feels weird to have sex with a child in the house who may require your attention at any moment. And you have to keep quiet. When our girl started first grade, I stayed home from work in the morning, once a week, so we could have some private time while she was at school. It worked much better than we expected. Making love, as it turned out, can be great when you anticipate it and can turn your attention away from your child. Scheduled intimacy also provides a stage for the cuddling and conversation that reinforce bonding and counters the stress of everyday life. Even now, some 15 years later, we continue our weekly schedule. Conclusions When a woman is young, sex can be an imperious need driving a large part of her life. As she matures, desire may wane, but the quality of sex improves as she gains more experience. When menopause kicks in, sex becomes more and more challenging, but still can be worth fighting for. One of the frontiers of sex-positive culture is to fight against the de-sexualization of older people, especially women. Sex is one of the great joys of life. It helps us stay healthy and keep our bodies from aging. It deserves attention and a bit of work. This article was written with lots of input, help and love from my wife.

You are in the army, and you are ordered to take part in a coup. What would you do? Just a few days from now, on February 23, it will be the 40th anniversary of a coup (known in Spain as the 23-F) that tried to reverse Spain’s transition to democracy and bring the country back to a Fascist dictatorship. Given the ongoing debate about whether the January 6th assault on the Capitol was a coup, it is interesting to reflect on what happened in Spain that day. A chess game that I never got to finish On the evening of February 23, 1981, I was playing chess in the army barracks near the city of Burgos in northern Castile, Spain. Suddenly, somebody came into the room with alarming news: “You guys wouldn’t believe what just happened! I was listening to the radio transmitting the transfer of power in Congress, when these Guardia Civil came in shooting. They have taken everybody hostage!” “Everybody” meant the entire government, the Senate, and the Parliament. The country was decapitated. Spain’s transition to democracy You may wonder how could it be that the entire government, Senate and Parliament were all gathered in same place. To explain that and what the coup meant, I need to recap what had happened in Spain in the previous five years. On November 20, 1975, general Francisco Franco died. He had been the dictator of Spain since winning the Spanish Civil War on April 1st, 1939. Franco left as successor Juan Carlos the Borbón, the last heir of a dynasty that had ruled Spain for hundreds of years. He was crowned king Juan Carlos the First in December. King Juan Carlos was a secret democrat and had made plans with Adolfo Suárez, a member of the fascist Falange party, to engineer a peaceful transition to democracy. In June 1976, king Juan Carlos named Adolfo Suárez President of government. Suárez immediately set to work to create a peaceful, legal transition to democracy, something that had never been done before, anywhere in the world. To do that, he had to work with the existing, unelected Congress to change the laws. The entire process was done democratically. The Spanish people voted in a referendum to approve a law to transition to democracy. That law set the stage for democratic elections, which were won by Unión de Centro Democrático (UCD), a centrist party quickly created by Adolfo Suárez. The Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE), founded in the 19th century, trailed close behind. The Communist Party of Spain (PCE), which had fought Franco throughout the dictatorship and had just been legalized, won a bunch of seats as well. Another new party, Alianza Popular, positioned itself to the right of UCD. The pro-Franco parties won no seats. In December 1978, another referendum approved the new Spanish Constitution, which transformed the country into a democratic monarchy similar to that of other European countries like Holland and Sweden. Although Adolfo Suárez stayed President, during the next two years his management of the economy drew sharp criticism from the left (PSOE and PCE), the right (Alianza Popular) and even from inside his own party, UCD. There were even rumors that Suárez had lost the trust of the king. Finally, UCD orchestrated the ousting of Adolfo Suárez to elect a new President from inside the party, Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo. To do that, a confirmation hearing had to be held in the Congress, with the attendance of government, Senate and Parliament. Given the importance of the event, it was being broadcast live on TV when Guardia Civil lieutenant coronel Antonio Tejero and his troops barged in. You can watch the video here. It’s 33 minutes long, but the key footage is the first 3 minutes. The coup viewed from the army’s barracks At first, I was in denial. This couldn’t be happening. These people could not be real policemen, there were probably terrorists in disguise, from the ETA or some other group. But, as I gathered around the radio with the other soldiers, the importance of what was happening landed on me. There were more alarming news: in Valencia, a region in eastern Spain, general Milán del Bosch had ordered a curfew and had sent tanks into the streets. Nobody doubted that he was supporting the coup. We were serving in a tank brigade. Were we next? Sure enough, we heard the trumpets call “generala”, the main alarm. We were each given an automatic rifle and several magazines of live ammunition. My squadron had troop carriers, heavily armored all-terrain vehicles with six wheels, and a powerful machine gun operated from the inside. They could move on roads up to 80 mph, much faster than any tank. They were the perfect weapon to take over a city. The drivers lined up the vehicles in the yard and set up radio connection. We were ordered to turn off the radios and wait in our rooms. Nobody knew who’s side we were on. I hadn’t read as much about the Spanish Civil War as I have now, but I had heard that those that were caught in the army had to serve for years. I have been there thirteen months, since January 1980, and was just a couple of weeks from discharged. That was all that I could take. Before being drafted, I had finished five years in college with a degree in biochemistry and I was looking forward to do a doctorate in neuroscience. I would not spend the rest of my youth in the army, supporting a dictatorship. I’d rather die. I was serious about it, and so were many of my comrades. We often discussed politics, although we were not supposed to. The five-year transition to democracy had been a thrilling process, and everybody had clear political ideas. We would not take part in the establishment of a new dictatorship. We were heavily armed. If we were ordered to shoot civilians, we might as well turn our weapons to our officers. That could well mean death; other soldiers may decide to shoot us. But at least we would have died for the right cause. The sergeants knew what we were thinking. They moved nervously about and averted our gaze. I started forging a more elaborated plan. If were ordered into the armored troop carriers, I would hijack it as soon as we hit the road. I was a corporal, so with any luck I would be in charge of the vehicle. I would tell the driver to take us to the French border. Once there, we would surrender to the French authorities and ask for political asylum. Chances were good that many of my comrades would agree with the plan. If necessary, we would shoot with the machine gun anything that stood in our way. The French border was one or two hours away, so we could make it. Then again, we might die in the process. Soon it was night. I laid on my bunk bed, fully dressed, boots on, a harness with bullet magazines weighting me down, the gun by my side. Somebody turned on the radio, really quiet. Then we heard king Juan Carlos speak. According to the Constitution, if the government was incapacitated, all authority reverted to him. And he was ordering Antonio Tejero and Milán del Bosch to be arrested as soon as possible. He was against the coup. I cried quietly. Some of my fellow soldiers did, too, and probably many people all over Spain. The day after I was not over yet, though. Tejero still held the entire government hostage, and Milán del Bosch controlled a large chunk of Spain. Since the time of Franco, the Spanish Army was divided geographically into Capitanías Generales, each under the orders of a Lieutenant General. Milán del Bosch was one. If more of these generals turned against the king, the coup could still succeed. Or there could be another civil war. The Spanish Civil War, which produced near a million deaths in a country of twenty million people, started with a failed coup. Nobody knew who’s side our Lieutenant General was on. He hadn’t taken sides yet. But when the new day dawned, the king was firmly in control. With relief, we returned our guns and ammunition to the armory. In a weird stroke of luck, I had been arrested, which meant that I had to stay inside the barracks cleaning the floors. My comrades were made to march up and down the yard. The officers seemed upset, maybe because they wanted to coup to succeed? Alone in the barrack, I could listen to the radio while I mopped the floors. A bunch of journalists had spent the night outside the Congress in Plaza de las Cortes in Madrid. Famous sport journalist José María García was on the radio, transmitting the news with the same rapid-fire, overexcited voice that he used to report a soccer match. General Alfonso Armada volunteered to walk to the door of the Congress to negotiate with Tejero. I knew of Armada: he was the mentor of Juan Carlos when he was still the Prince and had arranged a meeting between him and my father, who was the founding president of the Spanish university by mail, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia. However, it later came to light that Armada had also been planning a coup and wanted to talk Tejero into supporting it. But Armada had in mind a coalition government with independents and politicians from UCD, Alianza Popular and PSOE. Tejero wanted a return to the Franco regime. He refused Armada’s offer. However, the soldiers of the Guardia Civil inside Congress had radios, too. They had listened to the message of the king and the news of the coup unraveling all over Spain. One by one, they walked to the back of the Congress building, jumped out of a window and surrendered. José María García announced each policeman who jumped out of the window like a goal in a soccer match. I mopped the floor and cried. Dissecting the 23-F coup Several books have been written about the 23-F coup. I really liked Anatomía de un Instante (The Anatomy of a Moment) by Javier Cercas. In it, he recounts what happened inside Congress. The first hour is common knowledge in Spain because it was transmitted live on TV and recorded. The camera operator was ordered to turn it off, but he convinced the policemen that the red light meant that it was off. That’s how we know that everybody in Congress dove to the floor when the Guardia Civil came in shooting. Only three people dared to stay sitting up: Adolfo Suárez; Santiago Carrillo, the secretary general of the PCE, and general Gutiérrez Mellado, Suárez Minister of Defense. Gutiérrez Mellado even went to confront Tejero, ordering him to surrender his weapon. Tejero pushed him. Adolfo Suárez, Gutiérrez Mellado, Santiago Carrillo, Felipe González (the leader of the PSOE who later became President) and other notorious politicians were taken to a separate room. They knew they would be the first to be shot. The most dangerous part of coup happened near Madrid, in the División Acorazada Brunete. Several officers rebelled, gathered their troops and went to surround the king’s palace. They wanted to take him hostage as well, to prevent him to take command. However, the king was prepared and sent his own troops to defend the palace. Keep in mind that when I say “troops” I mean men drafted into military service, just like I was. Would they shoot other fellow soldiers? No way. The Guardia Civil is a peculiar Spanish institution, a sort of militarized police force in charge of keeping order outside the cities. These days they operate as a highway patrol, coastguards and border guards, among other things. Tejero’s police officers had been indoctrinated for months, but their loyalty was rather tenuous. So strong was the drive to reverse course and cancel the new Spanish democracy that not just one, but three different coups had been prepared during 1980: led by coronel Antonio Tejero, general Milán del Bosch and general Alfonso Armada, respectively. It is unclear to what point they knew about each other. The bold maneuver of Tejero precipitated the other two coups. Armada was going around saying that he spoke in the king’s name. He said that didn’t want a return to dictatorship but to “redirect” democracy by fixing the economy and probably illegalizing the Communist Party and some Catalan and Basque parties advocating independence from Spain. There had been plenty of warning Tejero, together with National Police captain Ricardo Ynestrillas, had already plotted another coup on November 1978. It was called Operación Galaxia because it was planned in the Cafetería Galaxia in Madrid. It never went very far because two of the officers that participated in the meeting informed their superiors of the plot. Tejero and Ynestrillas were given very light sentences - seven months and six months, respectively - and kept their military ranks. This allowed Tejero to plot the 23-F coup and sent the message that planning a coup in Spain was not a risky business at all. With three coups being planned simultaneously, Spanish intelligence had to know about it. That the government was not alerted shows that either military intelligence was an accomplice of the coup, or that it was extremely inefficient. The take-home message is that when coup plotters are not punished severely, they will attempt the coup again. As a minimum precaution, coup plotters should be separated for life from the military or the police. Coups can have serious consequences. The Spanish Civil War produced from half a million to a million deaths. The coups of Augusto Pinochet in Chile and by the Argentinian military junta resulted in tens of thousands of people being tortured and killed. Therefore, a coup is a more serious crime than murder and should be punished by life in prison. The aftermath Two weeks later I was granted leave from the army, just in time to participate in a giant demonstration in Madrid in support of democracy. Millions of people filled the streets. We couldn’t march anywhere because the whole place was full with the crowd. Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo was inaugurated President, but his mandate didn’t last long. He lost the elections of 1982, which put PSOE in power. Those were the first of three consecutive elections won by the socialists, who stayed in power for 12 years. Alfonso Suárez became a national hero, celebrated for his masterful transition to democracy. He founded another party, Centro Democrático y Social, with little success. He developed Alzheimer’s disease in the 90s and died in an institution. The Madrid airport is named after him. Antonio Tejero, Milán del Bosch and Alfonso Armada were sent to jail. However, there was popular discontent about the privileged treatments that they received, with their luxurious cells and unlimited visits. Could a coup happen in the USA? There have been military coups in Western civilization ever since Gaius Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon to send his troops into Rome. It would be fooling ourselves to believe that the USA is immune to that. However, perhaps because they orchestrated coups in other countries and know how destructive they are, the American military has a strong culture of obeying the Constitution and the civilian change of command. As we were watching the mad crowds invade the Capitol on January 6th, my wife keep asking me: “is this a coup?” “As long as the army is not involved, it’s not a coup,” I answered. However, if the Trump rebels had managed to take hostage members of Congress and the Senate, a situation similar to the 23-F in Spain would have ensued. Trump was still President and with no authority coming from Congress, who had the power? Who would had ordered the rescue of the hostages? In situations like that, an intervention from the Army is extremely dangerous. Because, once the Army is in control, how do we know they will give the power back? Some general may had gotten into his mind the same thing that general Armada was planning in Spain: a coalition government with members of both parties and independent “technocrats”. But, once you let the fragile mechanisms of democracy unravel, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men may not be able to put Humpty-Dumpty together again.

Having sex as you age to stay healthy and enjoy life Last year I played When I’m Sixty-Four on my birthday. I have been listening to that Beatles’ song since I was 14, wondering how I would be when I finally arrived to that age. Now, fifty years later, I think I would surprise my former self if he could see what I have become. I still free-dive, like I did when I was a teenager, although I prefer to play it safe and use scuba if I can. I ski the double-black diamond slopes and I lead 5.8 rock-climbing routes. I just retired from a moderately successful scientific career and I am starting a new one as a writer. None of that is in the Beatles’ song - I do a bit of pulling weeds from my garden, but I don’t have grandchildren sitting on my knees. Who could ask for more? And I am still a sexual being. That’s what I want to talk about in this article, in the hope that it could help other men as they age. Women age differently from men, particularly when it comes to sex. They go through menopause. I will address that in another article. Testosterone keeps you healthy Some people talk about andropause, the male equivalent of menopause, but changes in sexuality with age are hardly comparable between men and women. While menopause is a drastic change in female hormones taking place in a couple of years, men experience a gradual decrease in testosterone. In the 90s, it became fashionable in politically correct circles to call testosterone a poison, an underhanded way to put down men. The argument behind this was that, because testosterone mediates aggression, it was to blame for the increased violence of men and for their abuse of women. However, this science paper (Albert et al., 1993) argues that, unlike what happens in other mammals, aggression in humans is ‘defensive aggression’, found in both sexes and all ages, and therefore independent of testosterone. Fortunately, calling testosterone a poison seems to have gone out of fashion lately. In reality, testosterone is key for men’s health, both physical and mental. As we age, it helps us maintain bone density, muscle mass, strength and mobility (Rodrigues Dos Santos and Bhasin, 2021; Snyder et al., 2018). It also has effects on the brain - when we lack it, we may lose motivation and may even become depressed. And, of course, testosterone is what keeps alive our sexual desire. As our testosterone declines with age, we feel less attraction for women (or men, if you are gay) and less desire to have sex. We may also have fewer spontaneous erections, and they may be weaker and last less. Given all that, you may think that an easy solution might be to get some testosterone injections. However, doctors are weary of doing this for fear that testosterone might increase the risk for cardiovascular disease and prostate cancer. A large study (Snyder et al., 2018) that documented the many benefits of testosterone administration in a large sample (788 men) of older men (~72 years old), also detected an increase in plaques in the coronary artery. The link to prostate cancer is much weaker, however. Another scientific paper (Slater and Oliver, 2000) shows that the observed correlation between testosterone and prostate cancer is indirect: it is because men with high testosterone tend to be more sexually active and catch more sexually transmitted diseases, which are a direct cause of prostate cancer. Hence, unless your levels of testosterone are pathologically low, it is better to avoid testosterone injections. Cultivating desire To be safe, it is better to maintain healthy levels of testosterone by natural means. This includes the usual advice for good health: avoid being overweight, sleep well, reduce stress and exercise regularly. Having sex and masturbating go a long way to maintain your testosterone levels and prolonging your sex life. Some people may disagree with this. Many of us have had the experience of having to go without sex, or even masturbating, for several days, and that increases our sexual desire. Doesn’t this mean that our testosterone increases as well? One scientific study (Kraemer et al., 1976) used a sample of 20 young men (20-28 years old), who kept a diary of their sexual activity for two months and gave blood samples every two days to measure their testosterone levels. The study found that testosterone increased every time they had sex. Moreover, testosterone levels fell after three days of sexual abstinence, indicating that sexual abstinence lowers testosterone. Another study (Jannini et al., 1999) examined 83 men that were treated for sexual impotence with medication or psychological or mechanical therapy. Those who achieved sexual activity had increased levels of testosterone, but not those who remained impotent. Putting all this together, we can conclude that staying sexually active as you age not only keeps your sexual drive alive but also improves your physical and mental health by making your body produce more testosterone. Sex also releases other hormones and neurotransmitters that improve our health, like oxytocin, adrenaline and endorphins. As my title says, when it comes to sex as you age, it’s use it or lose it. You are not a dirty old man The problem that many heterosexual men have as they age is that, when their wives or female partners go through menopause, they lose their sexual desire. It doesn’t happen to all women, of course. For many, sexual desire stays the same or even increases after menopause. But when it goes the other way, it can certainly be a problem. Your wife has every right to become asexual, but doesn’t mean that you need to follow her there. Not only your sexual life has an enormous value by itself, but it may be critical to keep you healthy and help you fight aging. Perhaps this is the time to consider non-monogamy? “But I am too old for that!” you may say. After many decades in a monogamous relationship, how are you going to join the dating scene again? Well, yes, it may take some work, some negotiating with your spouse, and some shifting of attitudes, but it is entirely possible. I have done it, although I have to admit that I draw on many years of experience being polyamorous. The first thing you need to do is to fight against is the ageism embedded in this society that tells you that old men have no business being sexual, and even less dating younger women. That makes them “dirty old men”, creeps bend on exploiting women for their own sick pleasure. Because women only like young men with six-pack abs, right? What makes you think they’d want to have sex with somebody like you? Haven’t you look in the mirror recently? Please don’t fall into that trap. You have a lot to offer women. Like experience, lack of judgment, empathy, sense of humor, wisdom and compassion. If you look around, you’ll see that a lot of younger men are not all that hot. And many of them do not know how to treat women right. If you take care of your body by eating well and exercising -which you should do anyway, if you want to avoid an early grave-, your body may be quite attractive despite of your age. And if you have learned to be patient, wise and compassionate, that may be exactly what lots of women are looking for. Just don’t go around with an exploitative mentality. Be ready to take no for an answer. Be flirty and seductive, ask politely, and move on if they reject you. You will probably date older women, with bodies that have endured the same ravages of time as your own. Give them the same respect and compassion that you expect them to give you. Learn that sex happens on a higher plane, more mental than physical, where pleasure, humor and connection can be found beyond mere physical appearances. If dating doesn’t work for you, or you want to stay monogamous, then masturbate. Do it intentionally, not mechanically, dedicating to it time, energy and attention. Maybe it’s time to move on from your cock to other parts of your body, like your nipples or your prostate. The best orgasms of your life may still be in your future… who knows? Don’t be shy to use pornography to keep your sexual desire alive. The sexual tension it awakens may also increase your testosterone. However, I found that good erotic literature works best to light the fire in my imagination. Who is afraid of the big, bad Viagra? Another strange contemporary myth is that medication to treat erectile dysfunction is unhealthy, ineffective, or somehow politically incorrect. None of that is true. I don’t have erectile dysfunction. I started thinking about using Viagra reading the book Master of O, a BDSM erotic novel by Ernest Greene. In it, a dominant man takes Viagra before a kinky scene to impress his submissive with a powerful, long-lasting erection. The idea had its appeal, so asked my doctor for a prescription. I was quite impressed with the results, and so were my lovers. It is not true that Viagra is a sexist drug that only benefits men. Heterosexual women who like stiff cocks have lots of reasons to sing its praises. Here is the scientific background. Viagra (sildenafil), Cialis (tadalafil) and Levitra (vardenafil) belong to a group of drugs called phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) inhibitors. PDE5 is an enzyme that breaks down cyclic-GMP, a nucleotide that acts as a second messenger inside cells. In humans, penile erection is maintained by blood filling the corpus cavernosum, two large bodies in the stem of the penis. This requires cyclic-GMP, so when it is degraded by PDE5 the erection is lost. Thus, PDE5 inhibitors are able to increase the intensity and duration of an erection. They have no effect on the brain and therefore do not increase sexual desire. In fact, without an additional sexual stimulus, PDE5 inhibitors do not produce an erection. Still, feeling your cock getting rock-hard is quite an effective psychological stimulus, for you and for your sex partners. The effect of PDE5 inhibitors can be felt within two hours. In my experience, the effect of Cialis lasts two days or even longer. These drugs generally have mild side effects, but these can be serious in people with cardiovascular or eye diseases, so they should not be taken without consulting with a doctor. I recommend that you stick to the lower dose that produces an effect. I don’t think that PDE5 inhibitors produce dependence - meaning that they become necessary for an erection. Quite the opposite: by repeatedly filling your corpus cavernosum to its full capacity, they may help keep your penis from shrinking as you age. Conclusion Old age is an inevitable fact of life. Ultimately, we all need to accept our irreversible decline. But, as living creatures, it is almost an obligation to fight it all the way to our death. I find beauty in this tension between acceptance and struggle. I cling to life even as I know it is futile and that I will lose in the end. Life is a process. Death is the only destination. And what better way to express the love of life than to have sex?

Or wipe out all life, or drive humans to extinction, but it could destroy our civilization Let’s drop the hyperbole and start thinking rationally. To help, I classify doomsday scenarios into five types of catastrophes. Then I examine how likely is each one. Type 1 catastrophe - The Earth is destroyed When doomsayers cry “the Earth is in danger!” surely they don’t mean it literally. I hope they are not that stupid. Earth is a planet, the third from the Sun, and destroying it would take some extremely unlikely event. For example, the Sun exploding. We know that his would happen eventually, but it is billions of years in the future. In a culture in which a hundred years is a very long time, this is the least of our worries. Other events that may destroy planet Earth is collision with a large interstellar object moving at extremely high speeds. Since kinetic energy equals mass times the square of the velocity, a relatively small body can be highly destructive if it moves very fast. However, the chances that it would come into the Solar System with the right trajectory to hit the Earth are vanishingly small. A black hole coming close to the Solar System could also destroy the Earth. However, we don’t know of any black holes close enough to us to be a threat. Small black holes could be invisible, but they have a relatively short life due to Hawking radiation. Neutron stars can be destructive due to their concentrated gravitational forces. However, there doesn’t seem to be any neutron star close enough to us to be a threat. It’s a wild cosmos out there, full of terrifying monsters. However, the Earth has survived five billions years. Events that may destroy it in the near future are vanishingly unlikely. And, of course, none of this has anything to do with the climate crisis. The Earth is not going anywhere. And, if it is, we are completely powerless to save it. Type 2 catastrophe - The biosphere is destroyed What the doomsayers mean when they cry “save the Earth!” - I guess - is not save our rocky planet, but the crust of life encroaching on its surface. The technical name for it is the biosphere, although I like the name Gaia coined by James Lovelock in his famous hypothesis. It states that the biosphere is a system in a steady state, but far from chemical equilibrium; hence, it meets the criteria put forth by Ilya Prigogine to be considered a living being. The Gaia hypothesis is wildly misunderstood by proponents and critics alike, but I will not explain it in more detail here (I did in my article The Secret of Life). I bring the Gaia hypothesis up just to point out that, if the biosphere is alive as a whole, it can die. Gaia - or the biosphere, if you prefer - got started three or four billion years ago, when life became so abundant on Earth to change the chemistry of its atmosphere, its oceans and even some of its rocks. Lots of things happened to the Earth in that enormously long period of time - almost one third of the age of the Universe, 13.8 billion years. At one point, the Earth got almost completely covered with ice - Snowball Earth - just like planet Hoth of Star Wars. At another, some of the oceans became so hot that you would be scalded alive if you tried to swim in them. The figure below shows changes in Earth temperature during the las half billion years. There have been four long glaciation periods, separated by warming periods in which global temperatures spiked as high as 8 degrees Celcius above average. I am not trying to minimize the dangers of global warming, just to point out that it is not likely that it would destroy the biosphere. The worst-case scenario is the runaway greenhouse effect. In it, a positive feedback loop is established in which planet warming release greenhouse gases, which increase global warming until the temperature becomes extremely high. For example, gaseous water is a greenhouse gas, so if global temperatures get to be high enough to start a huge evaporation of water from the oceans, this could lead to a runaway greenhouse. Water will also migrate to the stratosphere, where it would be cleaved into hydrogen and oxygen, that then would get lost into space. The end results would be Earth looking like Venus. The biosphere is unlikely to survive this scenario, although we know that, once life has gotten started, it can adapt to very extreme environments. However, I think that a runaway greenhouse is not likely because, if it was, it would have happened already in the Earth’s past. Bad as it is, our alteration of the atmosphere is minor compared to that produced by huge volcanic eruptions and asteroid impacts in the past. In fact, when life started on Earth, its atmosphere was made of greenhouse gases like CO2 and methane. And yet, it got cooled down. I suspect that the homeostatic mechanisms - negative feedback loops - that have kept Gaia alive for three billion years are powerful enough to compensate what we are doing to the atmosphere. Scientists agree… The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has also stated that "a 'runaway greenhouse effect'—analogous to [that of] Venus—appears to have virtually no chance of being induced by anthropogenic activities. […] [This] would require ten times the amount of CO2 we could release from burning all the oil, coal, and natural gas in Earth's crust." Wikipedia. Therefore, I doubt that global warming will destroy the biosphere and wipe out life from Earth. The probability of that happening is higher than planet Earth being destroyed, but still extremely low. Type 3 catastrophe - Homo Sapiens goes extinct Even though Earth’s biosphere has survived for more than three billion years, this has not been a walk in the park. On multiple occasions, there have been die-offs that wiped out a majority of the species on the planet-the extinction of the dinosaurs being just the most famous one. In fact, we are currently in the midst of an extinction event caused by human activities. It is not primarily due to climate change (yet), but to the wholesale exploitation of the Earth’s land and oceans to produce food and consumer goods. So, if species are going extinct, wouldn’t ours be one of the first to go? Aren’t humans fragile and sensitive to the environment? Well, no. We are one of the most adaptable and resilient large animals in the planet. We conquered almost every terrestrial ecosystem, even before the Agrarian Revolution and the establishment of civilizations. Today, human beings represent a large fraction of the biomass of the planet. How is this important? Couldn’t we all just die in a short period of time? For example, there could be a disease like Covid-19 that wipes us all out. Again, no. There is strength in numbers. The more humans there are, the more chances there are that there would be individuals with genetic immunity to a disease. Also, the fact that we have colonized most terrestrial environments on Earth gives us an advantage, because there is a high chance that somewhere there would be the right environmental conditions for a few humans to survive. Remember, for Homo Sapiens to become extinct, all 8 billions of us would have to die. In fact, as current global villain Vladimir Putin has reminded us, climate change is not the biggest threat to the survival of humanity. Nuclear war is worse, far worse. A full nuclear exchange between Russia and the USA would immediately kill millions, if not billions, of people. It would render most of the Northern Hemisphere inhabitable with a nuclear winter. The resulting radiation would induce mutations in our collective genome, causing hereditary diseases for thousands of years. And yet, I think our species would survive even nuclear war. Maybe in New Zealand. If we can keep those nukes in their silos, I’ll give our species a high chance of surviving climate change. Type 4 catastrophe - Civilization is wiped out In this type of catastrophe, Home Sapiens survives, but not our civilization. We go back to being hunter-gatherers. To recapitulate, our species has existed for 250,000 years. Then thousand years ago, the Agrarian Revolution took place, which started cities and the accumulation of written knowledge. Our current scientific, industrial civilization is just 200 years old. Hence, humans have lived as hunter-gatherers for 96% of the lifetime of our species, and without science and industry for 99.9% of that time. From that perspective, our civilization has existed for just a blip of time. There are no guarantees that it would last. Major disruptions in the environment - like those likely to result from climate change - could destroy the fabric of society, make agriculture impossible and send us back to the hunter-gatherer state. I know that a lot of people secretly pine for this. They have romanticized primitive societies with the Myth of the Noble Savage. They think that tribal societies live a life of innocence, free from the patriarchy, consumerism, capitalism, racism or whatever is their favorite modern demon. Nothing is further from the truth. Accounts like those of Napoleon Chagnon, who spent many years living among the Yanomami of the Amazon, tell a different story. This tribal society is highly patriarchal and hierarchical, and practices frequent warfare, rape, physical abuse of women, and murder. In his book The Better Angels of Our Nature, psychologist Steven Pinker present overwhelming evidence that modern society is far more peaceful, humane and egalitarian than any other society in human history. We’ll be far worse living as hunter-gatherers than we are now, for sure. If you disagree, there are still tribal societies in the world, go live with them! Besides, hunter-gatherer societies can only live with a much lesser population density than we have now. Hence, to go from our modern society to a tribal way of living, most humans on the planet would have to die. Therefore, devolving from our civilization to a hunter-gatherer way of living is a highly undesirable outcome. How likely is that climate change would completely destroy our civilization and take us to a pre-agrarian state? Well, certainly more likely than types 1-3 catastrophes. In his book Collapse, UCLA professor Jared Diamond studies several civilizations that declined and disappeared. These include Easter Island, the mutineers of the Bounty in Pitcairn Island, the Anasazi, the Mayas, the Norse in Greenland, Rwanda’s genocide and Haiti. Some of these are stories of societal decline because of environmental degradation. The Norse became extinct in Greenland because their culture prevented them from adapting to an extremely harsh environment. Rwanda and Haiti are examples of the violence brought about by overexploitation of nature, but not of complete societal collapse. But even the Anasazi and the Mayas failed to fully revert to hunter-gatherers. Therefore, it is unlikely that this will happen to our global civilization. Instead, we may revert to a period in history in which we lose many of the comforts to which we have become accustomed. Type 5 catastrophe - Western civilization disappears At the risk of sounding politically incorrect, I’ll say that our modern civilization resulting from the Renaissance and the Enlightenment is the most humane, egalitarian and rational of all past and present civilizations. It is often called the “Western” civilization, even though it has been largely adopted by Asian countries like Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. It also incorporates cultural elements from India, China and many other countries around the world. It is characterized by the following values: Democracy - political power resides in the people, who elect the government and legislative bodies. Science as the ultimate method to acquire knowledge and develop technology. Freedom - everybody is free to do as they please, as long as this is not in conflict with the freedom of others and respects the interests of the community. Freedom of religion and freedom from religion - people are free to practice the religion of their choosing, or not practice any religion at all. Egalitarianism - everybody should have the same rights and obligations regardless of race, gender, language, religion, etc. Capitalism - everybody has a right to personal possessions, free enterprise, and to develop their wealth within a framework of fair rules. Socialism - the State is the guarantor of freedom, safety, health, education, fairness in economics, and wealth distribution. The political tension between capitalism and socialism, and their alternation in power through democratic elections, has created the successful modern states. These values are far from universal. Islamic theocracies like Iran and Saudi Arabia do not abide by values 1 through 5. Dictatorships like China, Russia and Cuba do not uphold values 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6. In fact, few countries completely abide by all these values, but many have them as their stated goals. Why do I need to dwell on this? Because many people who have grown up protected by these values not only take them for granted, but are set to destroy them. For them, “Western civilization” is a bad word, something that reeks of colonialism and cultural superiority. While it is true that the history that has brought us to this place is full of terrible crimes and genocide, this is not because of these values. Quite the opposite: it has been the awareness of these historical injustices what has convinced us to adopt these values. They were won with the sacrifice of countless men and women. It would be a terrible loss if we lose the civilization that has been so difficult to build. And yet, the loss of our democratic values is the most likely outcome of the climate crisis. Our civilization is built, not just upon these shared values, but on the enormous collective wealth brought by science, technology and stable and effective political systems. If our means to produce food, build cities and provide education and medical care collapse because of unsurmountable environment catastrophes, our civilization will collapse to be replaced by the wars and tyrannies of the past. Why consider the different types of catastrophes? This may seem like a futile exercise. Bad stuff will happen and we need to prevent it, that’s all we need to know-you may say. I think that we are past the point of debating whether anthropogenic climate change is happening - despite the many remaining stubborn skeptics. It is happening, no question. What we need to decide is what are we going to do about it. Let me point out a few things that definitely are not going to work: Abandoning science and technology in search of a rural, agrarian utopia. Wanting everybody to become vegan. Recycling, limiting traffic speed, reducing travel, and other bromides that shift the burden from the government and corporations to the regular citizen. We need to do some of this, but it cannot be the bulk of the solution. Criticizing Western civilization, or American culture, and other forms of self-flagellation. Writing endless streams of articles explaining how the Earth is going to be destroyed, the environment is doomed, and humans are going extinct. As I said above, none of this is going to happen. What we are facing, in all likelihood, is a Type 5 catastrophe - the destruction of Western civilization. In the worst-case scenario, we may face a Type 4 catastrophe that leads us back to tribal societies. However, I think it would take a full-blown nuclear war to get to that point. If the problem we face is the destruction of Western civilization, we are not going to solve it by destroying Western civilization. If we want to solve the climate crisis, we need to do some serious push back against people who are using it to further their private agendas. Like anti-capitalists pining for a Marxist utopia that has nothing to do with protecting our atmosphere. Or vegans and animal liberationists that want to convince us that all we need to do is to stop eating meat. Or writers who have figured out that doomsday articles are a goldmine - the more pessimistic and guilt-inducing, the better. The only way forward is science and technology. We are too far along this path to try to turn back. Without modern systems of food production and distribution, millions of people would starve in a matter of weeks. The world population is simply too large for any other system to work. In fact, technology is already providing the means to de-carbonize. We can get enough energy for our needs from solar, wind, geothermal and other renewable resources. We can all switch to driving electric cars and, hopefully soon, flying in electric airplanes. The coup de grâce would be nuclear fusion, a technology that looks enticingly close. If we can get such a large source of cheap energy, we could use it to capture CO2 out of the atmosphere and the oceans put it back underground. We also need to reduce the global population. Luckily, this has proven easier that it looked in the last century. All it takes is to make contraception and abortion freely available to women, and to increase their freedom and standards of living. No Chinese-style, Draconian family control measures are necessary. And tell the people claiming that population decline is a crisis to shut up. What is lacking is the political will to recognize the climate crisis once and for all, and start applying solutions. Conservatives are much to blame, of course, but also progressives that keep using climate change to further agendas like the ones I listed above, instead of trying to find common ground with rational people in the center and the right. If we want conservatives to stop saying crazy things, we should stop saying crazy things ourselves. Climate change is not going to destroy the Earth or drive humans to extinction. So let’s stop the hyperbole and start a truly rational discussion. Copyright 2022 Hermes Solenzol

Caning is one of the practices most appreciated by connoisseurs of BDSM Caning consists of hitting the buttocks with a special stick called a cane. This causes a particularly erotic kind of pain. It is practiced following a strict ritual that comes from traditional British schools and has disciplinary connotations. Caning is quite old. It was one of the favorites practices of Donatien, Marquis de Sade, after whom sadism was named. He experienced it during his education at a Paris college and later adopted it for his personal pleasure. Even today, caning is used in the legal systems of Singapore, Malaysia, and other countries where corporal punishment is still customary. Canes Traditionally, canes are made of rattan, an elastic, hard and thin type of wood. Nowadays, they are also made of fiberglass, aluminum and other materials, but none has come to surpass rattan, which has excellent flexibility and just the right density. Some people use bamboo for caning, but I find it too rigid, and its knots spoil the marks left by the strokes. Likewise, canes made of aluminum and other metals are too rigid. Fiberglass can be even more flexible than rattan. However, it is also heavier, resulting in painful canings. The thickness of the cane varies from a quarter of an inch to half an inch, and its length from a foot and a half to three feet. Deceivingly, thinner canes tend to cause more pain than the thicker ones, since they concentrate the energy of the blow on a smaller surface of skin. In the judicial canings that I mentioned before, thick rods are used that cause very different effects from those we are discussing here. They can be extremely painful, produce bleeding, and even leave permanent marks. How painful is a caning? The idea of being caned often terrifies novices to BDSM. In Fifty Shades of Grey, the protagonist, Anastasia Steely, examines several canes in the "Red Room" and decides that she will never submit to such cruel punishment. While caning is one step up from spanking in pain intensity, it’s less painful than paddling, belting, flogging and, of course, whipping. The pain caused by a cane stroke is different from the impact of a hand, a paddle, a belt or a flogger. It feels like a sharp cut in the skin accompanied by a duller muscle ache. The two phases of pain are experienced quite well with a caning: the sharp first pain followed, half a second later, by the dull, hot second pain. The pain can be intense at first, but it soon declines to a sensation of warmth. Warming up the buttocks with a light spanking decreases the pain of a caning by increasing blood flow to the skin and its thickness. Caning a cold bottom can be surprisingly painful. A caning session can range from being extremely pleasurable, to being considered as a severe punishment. This depends on the force of the strokes, their number, and the masochist’s fondness for pain. Caning is considered a high-intensity sadomasochistic game, but enjoyed by those who receive it. How to give a caning Caning is an art that requires knowledge, skill and creativity. The cane is not a stick with which you just hit the bottom, but an instrument that must be used taking advantage of its flexibility. This requires a quick twist of the wrist that is perfectly coordinated with the slower movement of the arm, thus bringing the cane in contact with the skin at high speed. The flexibility of the rattan can be tested by swaying the cane in the air until you hear it buzz, a sound that provokes expressions of terror in many bottoming partners. The most effective strokes are given with the end of the cane - the last 3-4 inches - because that’s the part of the cane that moves at the highest speed. To inflict the most pain and leave a prominent mark, it is better to strike just one buttock at the time. Hitting both buttocks with a good length of the cane is less painful, but it has a good psychological effect. Hitting with the tip of the cane can be very painful and produce bruises, even bleeding, unless it is done with little force. It is relatively easy to break a rattan cane. This tends to happen when the cane is used in a blunt way instead of swaying it, taking advantage of its flexibility. Also, aim for the surface of the skin and not the inside of the muscle. The idea is to deliver a quick impact and let the cane bounce back. Again, use your wrist more than your arm. Canings are usually given on the buttocks. Other parts of the body can be hit as well, but this is generally more painful. Sometimes, the back of the thighs are caned in addition to the bottom. Heavy masochists endure canings to the front of the thighs, which is extremely painful. Caning the soles of the feet is called bastinado. Normally, this is done by hitting the arch of the feet, and not the bony parts of the heel or the ball of the foot. One traditional form of bastinado consists of light, continuous strokes. If this is done for a long periods of time, it inflames the feet and makes walking painful. Hard hitting of the soles of the feet is a form of torture. Caning marks The cane leaves characteristic marks on the skin: two perfectly parallel red streaks separated by a pale band of the width of the cane. This pattern is produced because the skin directly under de cane is pushed down, while the skin to the sides is stretched. This pulling of the skin inflames the capillaries of the dermis, which leak red blood cells (erythrocytes) into the surrounding tissue. When caning is administered following the traditional ritual, these marks cross the buttocks horizontally, parallel to each other, from the top of the buttocks to the thighs. Sometimes the same mark crosses the crack from one buttock to the other, other times there are separate marks on each cheek because a stroke has been focused on just one buttock. Depending on the severity of the caning and the characteristics of the recipient's skin, these marks last from less than an hour to several days. In some people, they gradually fade into blue and yellow bruises. These colors result from the degradation of the hemoglobin of the erythrocytes to bilirubin. They are usually appreciated by the top and the bottom partners, who will display them with pride to whoever can appreciate them. The caning ritual Ritual is an important part of caning. Strokes are usually given in multiples of six: “six of the best.” The caner and the person being hit agree beforehand about the number of strokes, who will do the counting, and whether the number will be said before or after a stroke. The usual way is for the caner to say the number of each stroke after delivering it. But he can also say the number before hitting, causing the receiver to flinch in anticipation. If the bottom does the counting after each blow, having to do it while in pain is humiliating, and this gives the caner the opportunity to judge the intensity of the pain by her tone of voice. If the bottom counts before each blow, this gives her control over the pacing of the caning, so it’s a good tactic to use with beginners. However, having to call the stroke adds an element of self-inflicting pain, which has a strong psychological effect. A light caning consists of six strokes. Twelve strokes are quite common. Heavy masochists can endure 24, 36 and 48 strokes. The Marquis de Sade once got 200 strokes. A caning session typically lasts from 5 to 15 minutes. In schools, canings were delivered over clothes, but sadomasochists prefer canings on the bare bottom. This increases the pain, the feeling of vulnerability and the humiliation. It is quite erotic to raise a skirt and to lower the panties to the middle of the thighs. Positions for a caning The traditional position to receive a caning is bent over a table or a desk, hands and forearms resting on it, legs together and straight. Less often, a caning can be delivered while kneeling, laying down or grabbing the ankles while standing. The bottom is warned that leaving the position after a blow would result in it not being counted. There are good reasons why bending over is the ideal position for a caning. The buttocks are at the same height as the hands of the caner, which facilitates hitting. Standing allows the caner to swing the cane horizontally, which is easier to control than hitting up and down. Bending over stretches the skin and exposes the sitting spot, just above the crease between the buttocks and thighs, which is the ideal place to hit. Standing while grabbing the ankles, or crossing the arms behind the knees, are extremely exposed and humiliating positions for a caning. The skin of the bottom is fully stretched and, if naked, the anus and the genitals are on full display. However, there are several issues that make this advisable only for experienced players. The person being caned is out of balance, so it is difficult not to break the position or avoid falling over. Spreading the legs and bracing the head against furniture can help. Another issue is that in this position it’s easy to hit the genitals with the cane, which is far more painful than a regular caning. If the person being caned is a man, hitting the testicles can be dangerous. They can be tucked out of the way of the cane using rope or underwear. For an additional psychological thrill, the person being caned can be made to wait in the position for some time before the caning. The vulnerability in anticipation of the pain can be quite intense. Alternatively, the position can be maintained after the caning is over. This prevents rubbing the buttocks to relieve the pain and exposes the marks of the caning to everyone who wants to see them. Caning for pleasure Aside from the traditional, punishment-like canings, the cane can be used in more pleasurable ways. One of my favorite techniques consists of swinging the cane with rapid and continuous oscillations and bringing it in contact with the skin. This way, the stokes are very fast, but superficial and with low energy, so that the skin receives a continuous soft massage that heats and reddens it. By varying the amplitude, speed and pressure against the skin, this fast caning can be modulated from a pleasant, soft massage to a painful, fast whipping, and everything in between. I have induced orgasms in women using this technique. The fast caning technique can be used to massage different areas of the body, like the trapezius of the shoulders, the sides of the spine, the calves, and the soles of the feet. But remember to never hit bones or tendons, only the muscles. Why do people like caning? There is something about caning that make people fall in love with it once they try it, either as a top or a bottom. Perhaps is the elaborate ritual, with its strong discipline connotations. Masochists praise the particular kind of pain - I have witnessed several women orgasm from a caning. Experienced caners boast their skills in leaving perfectly parallel marks, or in setting up the pace and the communication with the bottom. Caning has a particular rhythm to it, a cycle of preparation-pain-recovery-preparation for the next stroke. In summary, caning is a nice technique to master for any aficionado to sadomasochistic games. For those ready to move one step up from hand spankings, I recommend it over belting, flogging or paddling. Caning is highly erotic, no matter if it is used for pleasure or punishment. Copyright 2022 Hermes Solenzol

This has been my quest for self-knowledge, self-transformation and meaning I started developing my philosophy of life when I left Christianity when I was 15. That was not an easy decision. Spain was still under the National-Catholic dictatorship of general Franco, my father had a prominent government position, and I had spent my childhood being indoctrinated by the conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei. I call my philosophy of life “inner work”, because I see as an active, ongoing process of self-discovery and self-transformation. Some people call that a spiritual path. I used that in the title, but I understand “spiritual” as a quest for meaning free from supernatural beliefs. I discarded those during the crisis that led me to leave religion, committing myself to a view of the world based on evidence and rationality. Still, I felt a strong drive towards mystical experiences. I believed that I could achieve some kind of illumination - Nirvana, Satori - that will open my eyes to the hidden meaning of the universe and, therefore, to my life. It started with yoga practice when I was in college. Pretty soon I had my first mystical experiences: an upward flow of energy inside my body accompanied by feelings of elation and revelation. They left me befuddled, trying to explain them in a scientific materialistic way. I found guidance in Siloism, a school of spiritual and political ideas that grew in Argentina and Chile out of the teachings of Gurdjieff, Buddhism, Krishnamurti, Robert Desoille and spiritual schools from all over the world. The Siloists were left-leaning politically. In fact, many of them had to leave Argentina and Chile and take refuge in Spain because they were prosecuted by the dictatorships that had taken over those countries. It was exactly what I was looking for: humanists who believed in finding rational explanations for spiritual experiences. They showed me that the mystical experiences I had could be reproduced with a particular type of meditation. They also made me write my biography and showed how to interpret. With them, I learned and practiced the directed daydreaming technique of Desoille. Their practice consisted of exercises done in group that challenged me physically and emotionally. At the same time, they taught me an interesting vision of consciousness and the mind that laid the basis for my learning of neuroscience. Disagreements with the direction Siloism was taking led me to abandon it and to start practicing Zen. I got in touch with disciples of the Zen teacher Taisen Deshimaru, who had moved to Madrid after the death of their teacher. Soon I got a job in a pharmaceutical company in Paris, so I had the opportunity to practice in the original dojo of Deshimaru in that city. Then I came to the USA as a postdoc at the National Institutes of Health in suburban Washington, DC. There I continue to practice Zen under the guidance of Eido Shimano Roshi. He taught Rinzai Zen, while the Deshimaru disciples taught Soto Zen, so I learned from both traditions. Upon my return to Spain in 1989, I officially became a Zen Buddhist. At the same time, my scientific career had led me to become a neuroscientist. It was not an easy path. Disappointed with the poor state of science in Spain, I moved back to the USA with a job at the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles. That didn’t work out very well, and I ended up becoming faculty at UCLA. All the time I was trying to understand myself with the combination of neuroscience and the inner experience provided by Zen meditation. In 1991, I got married in two ceremonies, one Jewish and the other Zen Buddhist, officiated by Mirei Piault, a disciple of Deshimaru with whom I had started my practice. In Los Angeles, I went to retreats directed by Maezumi Roshi. However, Zen practice was losing meaning for me. I continued calling my myself a Buddhist in the secular sense proposed by Stephen Batchelor. In 2016, while attending a meeting of the Mind & Life Institute in San Diego, I decided that my ideas had become too different from Buddhism to continue calling me a member of that religion. Several other things had become part of my spiritual path. Back in 1986, when I first came to this country, I had discovered the rich BDSM community in the USA. I was trying to understand some dark sexual desires I had felt since my childhood. Practicing BDSM and polyamory were unexpected sources of self-knowledge. They helped me to understand the traumas of my childhood and to grow emotionally. It complemented Zen to help me find my inner center of gravity. Speaking of gravity, another source of spiritual growth has been rock-climbing, a sport I started practicing in Spain when I was 18. Living in California provided many great opportunities to grow as a climber. Together with other outdoor sports - free-diving, skiing, kayaking, cycling - it put me in touch with my fear and taught me self-reliance and love of nature. I started writing in 2010. Well, truth be told, I did some writing before that, but it was that year when I totally fell in love with the novel I was writing. I would come home after a long day of work at the lab and sit down at my computer until the wee hours, unable to part company with my characters. They were parts of my subconscious that came to life to speak with their own voices of things I had lived through. On weekends, I would forgo climbing and diving to explore the next steps in the plot. I retired in 2020, just as the Covid-19 pandemic was starting. I still do some science work, but just as a volunteer. The bulk of my time is devoted to developing my writing career. What motivates me to write is that I don’t want the things I have learned through my life to die with me. I found that writing fiction is a wonderful way to explore my inner world. Writing about science and philosophy lets me test and develop my ideas. One of the most important things I learned is to not just have a series of ideas, but a practice that involves my emotions and my body. It’s not good to live inside our heads. Meditation, yoga, climbing, BDSM and polyamory created challenges that made me grow emotionally, tested my self-knowledge and brought me out of complacency. Only by training at the different levels of being it is possible to achieve a true self-transformation. For me, everything starts to come together in a harmonious understanding of the world and myself. I don’t claim to be illuminated, but I am happy with myself and everything I have learned. My main challenge these days is to find the new steps I want to take before I inevitably run out of time and die.

Here are some of the best articles I have read about the tragedy unfolding in Ukraine Eyewitness accounts Let’s start with two eyewitness accounts of the tragedy in Mariupol. They should be required reading for everyone. The first is from Mykhailo Pasichnyi, a surgeon who worked day and night to care for the injury and the dying in a hospital in Mariupol: https://medium.com/@mykhailo.pasichnyi/i-havent-seen-injuries-so-severe-in-my-38-years-career-as-a-surgeon-fcbb885cb1cf The second is from a Demenkova Anastasiia, a young woman with a pregnant sister. Both of them went to a local hospital to take care of the wounded. The article has numerous heart wrenching pictures of Mariupol, before and after its destruction by the Russian Army. Fortunately, they could escape with their families. The sister gave birth safely in the city of Vinnytsia. https://medium.com/@demenkova.sia/nobody-will-ever-be-psychologically-okay-after-surviving-mariupol-23afe39307f6 What I find truly moving in both articles in the matter-of-fact way they describe the most horrible scenes. Sometimes, overstatement is the only way to convey the unspeakable. Ukrainian and Russian expatriates Here is a great article by Katya Korovkina, an Ukrainian woman, published early in the war (March 8). It has pictures and links where you can send money to help. I used one of them to send $100 to the Ukrainian Army. https://medium.com/@katya_korovkina/8-horrifying-myths-about-russian-ukrainian-war-559f46e24d4f Alexie Sorokin is a Russian expatriate now living in the USA. His accounts of how he left Russia and is unable to talk to his friends and family there are quite moving. Here is his translation of a communique titled “What Russia Must Do to Ukraine” that is truly hair-raising about the fascist intentions of Putin. I have also seen this reported in the Spanish newspaper El País. https://alexeisorokinstories.medium.com/russias-intentions-are-ever-more-ominous-aca20c9f9e23 Military reports Dark Energy Articles explains how the battle for Slavyansk will determine the future course of the war: https://medium.com/@darkenergyarticles/the-battle-for-slavyansk-the-fate-of-the-war-depends-on-it-df641f759204 Halen Allison is a former US Marine intelligence analyst who publishes military-style war reports on Ukraine. He is worth following. Here are two of the most recent: https://halenallison.medium.com/russia-ukraine-intsum-05apr22-1-1730-eastern-2330-kyiv-89f267f7886b https://halenallison.medium.com/russia-ukraine-intsum-04apr22-1-1340-eastern-1940-kyiv-5084ff4cc061 Sean Kernan explains how a battle to take Odessa is not likely to turn out well for Russia: https://seanjkernan.medium.com/a-russian-invasion-of-odessa-would-be-catastrophic-for-russia-746fe90c9ade In this article, JG Estiot explains how the use of drones and other information technology is changing warfare and contributing to the unexpected success of the Ukrainians. https://medium.com/world-events/how-ukraine-is-changing-warfare-579922ad101d In another article, he lists the 20 miscalculations Putin made in Ukraine. https://medium.com/world-events/20-russian-miscalculations-in-ukraine-332b4e893751 My fellow Spaniard Enrique Dans has this interesting article explaining how Elon Musk’s Starlink is helping Ukrainian civilians escape Russian bombs: https://medium.com/enrique-dans/what-the-apps-ukrainians-are-downloading-tell-us-about-their-situation-2dd8d8404a1b Also, check this article in The Guardian about how a few drone operators on bicycles managed to stop the Russian convoy heading for Kyiv in the early stages of the war. They are part of an independent military unit called Aerorozvidka, that uses crowdfunding and personal contacts to develop their own drones. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/28/the-drone-operators-who-halted-the-russian-armoured-vehicles-heading-for-kyiv Historical background and outlook Lester Golden is currently living in Latvia. He is a professor who speaks eight languages and is extremely well-versed in Russian and European history. In this article (March 25), he explains why the Russian Federation risk breaking up if its army is defeated in Ukraine: https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/russia-ukraine-and-unrealistic-realists-8e5e73d262ea Here are some of his other articles in Medium that I haven’t had time to read yet: https://medium.com/illumination-curated/ukraines-citizen-vs-russia-s-serf-army-4f6177d5fe20 https://medium.com/politically-speaking/the-menu-in-the-russia-ukraine-restaurant-bad-vs-worse-a6c4c309a652 https://medium.com/politically-speaking/putins-geopolitical-lebensraum-1d2403c27d8a https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/putins-empire-restoration-project-in-ukraine-f050a8ecc604 Greg Satell writes a great summary of the political events in Ukraine leading to the current situation: https://greg-satell.medium.com/there-are-important-lessons-we-should-learn-from-the-war-in-ukraine-1d8f82832a59 Ken Briggs explains the history of the Russian empire. https://kenbriggs.medium.com/the-fall-of-the-last-european-empire-2451ebb038a9 Music Pink Floyd has released their first new song in 28 years, Hey Hey Rise Up (Spotify link), dedicated to Ukraine. David Gilmore, the vocalist and guitarist of the group, has a Ukrainian daughter-in-law and grandchildren. The song is sung in Ukrainian by Andriy Hlivnyuk, from the Ukrainian band "Bumbox". Here is the link to the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/saEpkcVi1d4 I read that the song Bayraktar (Spotify link to the version from Big City Germs) is a popular song encouraging the Ukrainians to resist the invasion. The Bayraktar is the Turkish drone that has destroyed many Russian tanks. This is the YouTube video with Ukrainian soldiers singing Bayraktar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6rZD6njd-s Here is the English version in YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh2blc8aDjY Let’s hope things turn out well for the Ukrainians and this tragedy ends soon!