but DO YOU BELIEVE this ? in the future .......

[vystral]

Human society will eat itself alive. Just watch.

[azuro]

i guess we're heading there... trek future i mean. its like gene created a prophecy. its like those handphone... it was first seen in Tos rite? now its a reality. so all those nuke war, retalliation, what ever war there is... its gonna gone through. one thing abt it is that bush admin is doing all they can to destroy civillization and culture. war will then change beliefs and wisdom.... man will soon come to a common view of the world.... one way or the other. we would have the trek future... or the matrix.... but eating one another... thats not so cool. we passed that era already. god help us. :p

[Soulreaper]

Not to sound offensive, but I just can't stand the hopelessness of comments like "we're doomed" "humans suck" etc.

 

What kind of an attitude is that?

 

All it takes is only 1 man to change the world, so things don't really require that much attention.

 

All it takes on a individual level is incredible little;

Be the best you can be, do the best you can do.

Stop polluting, don't just carelessly throw things around, assume responsability of you and your next of kin - everyone can do that, and it doesn't require squat.

These are just small examples, out of a billion possible things possible to do and be.

 

For all the people already planting a firm foot in their graves (yes that means everyone from age 18 and up...it's incredible the amount of people already dead around their 20's but not buried until after age 65...) - is that the message you are going to give to your children? Your grandkids, your neighbours, friends, family, the world?

 

Are you ready to look your child in the eyes when it finally asks you: "Daddy, why is everything so bad?"

"Well sweetheart, daddy couldn't do no better, see, daddy was too lazy and had already given up. Daddy didn't want to raise a finger in order to prepare the meeting between the world and you, but I think I love you anyway!"

 

See, nothing is doomed lest one makes it and percieves it that way.

 

This was just a raw example, but it should be enough to get those gears up and running.

A lot of things may be "bad" but there are lots and lots of things that are truly wonderful and good.

 

I personally don't believe the world will "go to Hell" because it first takes a huge amount of people in order to haul it in there.

I believe people aren't too hot on that final cut.

 

So the question becomes... are YOU one of them pulling the world in the "BAD" direction?

Or, are you just "helplessly" standing by?

OR..... are you doing your job as a human being, adding to what could be and should be?

 

I claim that ALL humans are born with the responsability to steward us as a whole - however occasionally there are quitters who couldn't stand up to the most important task ever given them - namely, themselves (which in turn becomes the World).

 

I'll leave this as it is - it shouldn't be necessary for me to go on further about this.

 

but hey I'm a believer! ;)

 

Come join the club!! It's FREE for all, doesn't cost you a penny!

 

;)

[VonHelton]

but hey I'm a believer! ;)

 

......You couldn't leave her if you tried?

 

(soft rock band, The Monkees)

 

:p

 

 

[Soulreaper]

(Hahaha, I know) True, I could never leave "Her" and what I mean by that well.. go figure!

 

 

[Oma]

people have always sucked' date=' people suck at the moment, and people will continue to suck in the 24th century and beyond![/quote']

So true - and if we didn't suck (being mean and selfish) then we wouldn't have gotten as far as we have today.

And have you ever wondered about the expression: "being humane"? It sounds so hypocritical (hypo = under).

[vystral]

All it takes is only 1 man to change the world' date=' so things don't really require that much attention.[/quote']

 

hahahahahahaha....I haven't laughed that hard in a good long time. Thanks for that. *wipes away a tear of laughter*

[Weyoun]

All it takes is only 1 man to change the world' date=' so things don't really require that much attention.[/quote']

 

hahahahahahaha....I haven't laughed that hard in a good long time. Thanks for that. *wipes away a tear of laughter*

I like a good amount of cyniscism, but it has been true in the past. We have had some good leaders. We have had some bad people too. I mean, it only took Hitler.... But anyway, I agree with both sides of this one, to some extent.

[elderbear]

All it takes is only 1 man to change the world' date=' so things don't really require that much attention.[/quote']

 

hahahahahahaha....I haven't laughed that hard in a good long time. Thanks for that. *wipes away a tear of laughter*

 

And here I thought you believed that ONE man, the Son of Man, did change the world ... or did I confuse you with somebody else? Cynicism doesn't become a believer. Choose ye this day whom ye shall serve, cynicism or the future!

[elderbear]

people have always sucked' date=' people suck at the moment, and people will continue to suck in the 24th century and beyond![/quote']

So true - and if we didn't suck (being mean and selfish) then we wouldn't have gotten as far as we have today.

And have you ever wondered about the expression: "being humane"? It sounds so hypocritical (hypo = under).

 

But you're wrong. Not 100%, but mostly wrong! How do I know? Mathematics tells us that you're wrong - game theory demonstrates that over the long term, cooperation works to improve things for everybody.

 

The social sciences will clobber your statement pretty hard, too. Our abilities to cooperate, to bond, to care, to love, to empathize - these are what make civilization possible. Without the positive, we wouldn't be where we are today. We'd be a bunch of male dominated clans waging mortal warfare against each other with primitive tools.

 

To be "mean and selfish" (to "suck") may pay off in the short term, but it damages the common pool resource of social good will and harms society. It also breeds more meanness and selfishness. It is utterly destructive in the end.

 

But few people are simply and utterly mean and selfish. Most of us combine the bad with the good. So it is better to "Be the change you wish to see in the world" (Gandhi), than to degenerate, to be degenerate.

 

You gonna be part of the solution or part of the problem?

 

;)

[Heimdall]

We are just animals... We still have our instincts and it's not in our nature to "live peacefully ever after". With a more and more crowded planet, conflicts are inevitable.

 

We wouldn't have made the technological advances we have today, if it wasn't for peoples urge to kill each other. When it comes to finding out new ways of killing each other, the ideas never seems to run out.

 

Everything is just as it always has been, and that will probably not change in future......

[Oma]

people have always sucked' date=' people suck at the moment, and people will continue to suck in the 24th century and beyond![/quote']

So true - and if we didn't suck (being mean and selfish) then we wouldn't have gotten as far as we have today.

And have you ever wondered about the expression: "being humane"? It sounds so hypocritical (hypo = under).

 

But you're wrong. Not 100%, but mostly wrong! How do I know? Mathematics tells us that you're wrong - game theory demonstrates that over the long term, cooperation works to improve things for everybody.

First - sorry for not quoting all your text

Second - I do not think of selfishness as something short term.

And then we actually all act out of egoism - whether or not it is done consciously.

Examples:

- I don't go around hitting people since I wouldn't want anyone to hit me out of the blue (or at all).

- I behave well both due to the conscious (I want others to behave well, too) and the unconscious (I try to please my parents voice in my head - in short: I want peace of mind)

- I cooporate with others because I will gain from it (now if this was not the case nature would have NO cases of cooporation)

 

So if we were not selfish we would have acchieved nothing. In fact, we would be dead (at least if we still lived in the wild).

 

EDIT: Altruism, by the way, is not selfless....it is trying to keep others carrying similar genes to yourself alive.

If you are 1.0 x like you then your:

Brother/sister is 0.5

nephew/niece is 0.25

 

Of course, there's also the typical boyish fantasy of dying as a hero (yes, selfish, again!).

 

[mic]

25 years ago' date=' I thought that we would be on a hydrogen economy by now. Nuclear fusion reactors would be used for electricity and only use oil for plastics & lubrication. Then the wrong people gain power and research into the technologies that could elevate us is replaced with policies to stymie those innovations and support the continued use of oil to line the pockets of thier backers. Enough venting, I think things will get worse before they get better.[/quote']

 

 

Blame it on Bush and anti-earth propaganda...

I hate Bush and all his cronies I hate republicans, and all this corporations they are all responsible for mess we are now in, global warming and all.

:(

[bbbb]

In the future all will be orderly, structured and efficient. No chaos, corruption or disorderly behaviour. Then we'll go to space and fly rocketships in the vacuum of space.

[starscream]

at the rate this world is decaying, we will never reach their standard, but it is never too bad to hope ;)

[reddishes]

This is an interesting question. I hope that humanity will grow up enough that this will be our future. And yes, I DO mean grow up. Nations squabble like children sometimes, and aren't nearly as polite as small children are about it. I think that the ability to leave the concept of money behind would be wonderful for our mental health as a species. I've seen too many people grow older so quickly by working a job they hate in order to have what they and their families need to survive. It would be wonderful if money was abandonded and people could work at what they enjoyed but I think this might be a pipedream. It shows that I'm a bit of a cynic here, but I've considered what would happen if somebody actually invented a food synthesizer. TOTAL chaos. Worldwide chaos! First off, would the government allow it to be manufactured? It would collapse the entire economy overnight. Then they wouldn't be "in control" like they are now. And then there's the population ramafications. Give some to third world countries. Make sure everyone is fed. It's what I would want to do. But what happens in those countries when people are eating healthy and stop dying of starvation, malnutrition and diseases caused by malnutrition? There are many people in squalid conditions that don't believe in or will not use birth control. What happens 10 years down the road? Things have to be balanced, people educated, and conditions to be right for things of that nature to happen and not destroy us. Will it happen? I don't know, but I'm hoping....

[elderbear]

We are just animals... We still have our instincts and it's not in our nature to "live peacefully ever after". With a more and more crowded planet, conflicts are inevitable.

 

We wouldn't have made the technological advances we have today, if it wasn't for peoples urge to kill each other. When it comes to finding out new ways of killing each other, the ideas never seems to run out.

 

Everything is just as it always has been, and that will probably not change in future......

 

That's why I'm writing this in pictograms on a cave wall!

 

B)

 

Yes, we are animals - but we are self-reflective animals. If you'll recall, one of the basic requirements of a complex system (you've all read Gleick's Chaos, haven't you?) is for the output to be run through the input again. This leads to surprising and beautiful complex results. It leads to results that cannot be predicted with any degree of accuracy very much into the future.

 

Self reflection - the ability to think about our behaviors - and with different thoughts, to modify our behaviors and to live beyond instinct. Our mental/emotional/instinctual processes are by nature non-linear, complex systems.

 

One of the key premises of Rianne Eisler's The Chalice and the Blade is that societies don't always use technology for war and domination. We have a pretty good idea of societies that used technology to improve the human lot and were equalitarian - share and share alike.

 

In the short term, he who has the most swords lives. In the long term, the strategy of dominance and coercion does not generate enough creativity to build a lasting, creative, evolving society.

 

On the news today they were talking about a South African chimp in a zoo who smokes. Tourists love to throw him lit cigarettes. He inhales deeply and then blows smoke out his nose. He knows he's not supposed to do it - he tries to hide his cigarettes whenever he sees a keeper.

 

Animals can learn. Humans can learn better. 50,000 years ago homo sapiens didn't have any advantage over homo neanderthalis. We've come a long way, baby, and I hope we can evolve faster than we collapse!

[werecow]

H.R. Geiger said there are only two things in life that affect us ...sex and death...

[vystral]

We are a primal people.

[Soulreaper]

Only as primal as one BELIEVES in one's own mind.

 

What you think and believe becomes your reality.

 

I hate when people use lame excuses to excuse their own inabilties - and likewise to DEFEND their laziness.

 

I'm living proof that anyone can grow bigger than they ever thought possible.

 

This should technically be enough to get some gears going but time and again I'm proven otherwise, still I can't help telling people to grow up and face the truth - I'm a sucker for growth and idealism.