Freud, the Big Bang, and the Origin of Life (2016)

©Antti Talvitie, 2016 (revised as noted)
Freud: Wikimedia Commons / Max Halberstad / Public domain

ABSTRACT
Freud, the Big Bang, and the Origin of Life

Antti Talvitie (aptalvitie@gmail.com) 

In 1924, Freud thought that the “the theory of the instincts is the most important but…the least complete portion of psycho-analysis” (Freud 1905, p 168, fn in 1924).  The paper addresses this matter and starts where Freud broke off his reflections about the origin of life in Beyond the Pleasure Principle: “…that living substance at the time of its coming to life was torn into small particles, which have ever since endeavoured to reunite through the sexual instincts.” In this paper, these words are placed in the context of the Big Bang beginning of the Universe, which is discussed and then related to concepts and processes in Freud’s theory.  Other theories about the origin of life are discussed briefly.  A hypothesis is then made that Freud’s constructs of life and death instincts are real, a viable fifth force, and absent from the present standard model of physics. They originated with the Big Bang. A companion hypothesis is that, after a supernova, the fifth force’s means of transmission (particles, if particles are used to transmit it) produced organic elements which when combined with an energy source, formed living eukaryotic cells by a process “of which we have no conception” (Freud’s words).  Simply, it is hypothesized that the fifth force ignited the formation of life and consciousness and their continued evolution. There was (cosmological) physics before biology. These hypotheses are discussed, and proposals are made to test them.

Freud as a Lamarckian (2021)

©Antti Talvitie, 2021
Freud: Wikimedia Commons / Max Halberstad / Public domain
Lamarck: Wikimedia Commons / Charles Thévenin /  Public domain

ABSTRACT

Freud as a Lamarckian

Antti Talvitie (aptalvitie@gmail.com) 

Memories, the writings of Freud, concepts about transgenerational heritance, neurobiology and (epi)genetics, and their therapeutic uses motivated this paper.  These issues go back to Freud’s 1895 groundbreaking paper Project for Scientific Psychology [Project] judiciously annotated by Freud’s translator James Strachey in 1954.

After reviewing the relevant theory and evidence, as well as the exogenous and endogenous forces that impinge on the psyche, it is asserted that not only are neurobiological factors heritable, but so are behaviors and traditions communicated non-verbally in cultural communities.  It is determined that Freud was a Lamarckian, as Ferenczi and Freud recognized in the 1910s, and others did later.  For Freud “… heritage of human beings comprises … memory traces … of earlier generations, [thus] the compass as well as the importance of the archaic heritage would be significantly extended”.

Rail factor and realism of the unconscious (2020)

©Antti Talvitie, 2020

Rail Factor and Realism of the Unconscious

Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 6 (2020) 100144

Antti Talvitie (aptalvitie(at)gmail.com)
Aalto University, Espoo, Finland

ABSTRACT

The paper reviews the spoken but unknown behavioral ‘rail factor’ that may bias travel forecasts toward rail, or favor investments in urban rail, foster economic development, or add to satisfaction of travel. The rail factor hypothesis is examined from cognitive and unconscious points of view.  The former is based on the mode specific constants in mode choice models, types of travel time data, values of travel time reductions, and citizen preferences in two urban transport corridors.  The unconscious view is based on Freud’s conception of the unconscious and his and others’ perceptions about rail travel and ‘knowledge illusion’. It is pointed out that the cognitive factors already broach the unconscious and its unobservable dynamics. The realism of the unconscious is related to the cognitive findings via a literature review of the most typical genres on rail factor research. 

Things planners believe in, and things they deny (1997)

©Antti Talvitie, 1997

Things planners believe in, and things they deny

Transportation, No. 24. Vol 1. pp. 1-31. 1997

Antti Talvitie (aptalvitie(at)gmail.com)

World Bank

ABSTRACT

The paper examines the economic theory of consumer behavior from the Modern Psychoanalytic point of view with a metaphor of (transport) planning as a backdrop. It is claimed that the utility maximization principle of economic theory, no matter how broadly interpreted, does not envelop the motivation of human behavior and that the economic explanation of the aims of human behavior, which disregards the "dark side" of man, will result in narrowly conceived plans and policies.