sjefSat, Mar 15, 2008 ParanoidMystic, Thanks for playing.
The 50's may have been total garbage, but can you really claim people are in a better state now? Obesity is at an all time high, and the (american) public school system is severely fucked. At any rate standards of education and general physical health were better back then.
'Naval gazing' is useless to those that don't believe this world is nothing but shit. It may need a significant amount of fixing, but anyone who places that beyond reach and sees themselves content to lead an existence which leads to no development isn't helping.
People find 'deep understanding' in all kinds of places, unfortunately it's generally not the right place, and their truth is only a placeholder for what could be achieved if they were aware of the greater truths being held from them. I wouldn't want to suppress greater understanding from anyone, quite the opposite. I also wouldn't want to see them falling into the traps provided by religion, drugs, or anything else that when used in the wrong proportions can lead to a state of mental slavery.
If you believe that the future is pure information, well fine. Have your virtual worlds.
Personally I don't see why I'd have to be satisfied with immersive sensory illusion as an existence. I enjoy exploring this world thanks, and I'd like to see it fixed, it's resources used efficiently, and it's people united in a common goal of the advancement of our kind. A logical extension of this would be expansion into space, and the exploration of other worlds.
Would you deny our descendants that, and have them settle for a virtual surrogate?
I'm not going to disagree with Ghandi, although I don't see how that statement you have quoted can be proven scientifically. I just don't believe that ultimate truth can be found through the shallow process of drug-induced 'self-reflection'. dimitridb's comment has already quite neatly expanded on that with a view similar to mine.
As for the PS to my initial ranting, I'm sticking with it. I think this site has an extremely high potential as a space for the advancement of concepts that will improve our condition, and I don't want to see it slide into becoming just another mediocre niche social netjerk.
The pace has slowed, and the ratio of rubbish to good content has crept up recently. That may be relative, but I know I'm not the only one that feels that way about it. People are coming in and not coming back because they aren't seeing the value in what's here. My statement is a call to consider that.
meika, I don't think our economy will completely shift away from large scale industry, but as long as it means more efficient use of what we have, the bigger the shift to distributed manufacturing the better. You're right that peoples' lack of input is a real problem. Hopefully the fabject culture will be a real stimulus to people to take a participatory attitude in decisions about much more than just their possessions or immediately available goods.
I wonder how long it will take for one-way space retirement flights to come available, can so see that becoming an industry...
ParanoidMystic, Thanks for playing.
The 50's may have been total garbage, but can you really claim people are in a better state now? Obesity is at an all time high, and the (american) public school system is severely fucked. At any rate standards of education and general physical health were better back then.
'Naval gazing' is useless to those that don't believe this world is nothing but shit. It may need a significant amount of fixing, but anyone who places that beyond reach and sees themselves content to lead an existence which leads to no development isn't helping.
People find 'deep understanding' in all kinds of places, unfortunately it's generally not the right place, and their truth is only a placeholder for what could be achieved if they were aware of the greater truths being held from them. I wouldn't want to suppress greater understanding from anyone, quite the opposite. I also wouldn't want to see them falling into the traps provided by religion, drugs, or anything else that when used in the wrong proportions can lead to a state of mental slavery.
If you believe that the future is pure information, well fine. Have your virtual worlds.
Personally I don't see why I'd have to be satisfied with immersive sensory illusion as an existence. I enjoy exploring this world thanks, and I'd like to see it fixed, it's resources used efficiently, and it's people united in a common goal of the advancement of our kind. A logical extension of this would be expansion into space, and the exploration of other worlds.
Would you deny our descendants that, and have them settle for a virtual surrogate?
I'm not going to disagree with Ghandi, although I don't see how that statement you have quoted can be proven scientifically. I just don't believe that ultimate truth can be found through the shallow process of drug-induced 'self-reflection'. dimitridb's comment has already quite neatly expanded on that with a view similar to mine.
As for the PS to my initial ranting, I'm sticking with it. I think this site has an extremely high potential as a space for the advancement of concepts that will improve our condition, and I don't want to see it slide into becoming just another mediocre niche social netjerk.
The pace has slowed, and the ratio of rubbish to good content has crept up recently. That may be relative, but I know I'm not the only one that feels that way about it. People are coming in and not coming back because they aren't seeing the value in what's here. My statement is a call to consider that.
meika, I don't think our economy will completely shift away from large scale industry, but as long as it means more efficient use of what we have, the bigger the shift to distributed manufacturing the better. You're right that peoples' lack of input is a real problem. Hopefully the fabject culture will be a real stimulus to people to take a participatory attitude in decisions about much more than just their possessions or immediately available goods.
I wonder how long it will take for one-way space retirement flights to come available, can so see that becoming an industry...