There is so much evil and stupidity in the world right now. I'm really on the fence about whether the survival of the human race would be a good thing or not, or whether I should even care. I'm not saying we should cause ourselves to go extinct. I'm just starting to wonder if I should care any more. Maybe we deserve it. We lie, cheat, steal, and trash the planet. We rape, we murder, we slaughter each other in wars. We fight for money, and land, and power. We slaughter each other over meaningless things like whose religion is the best. We are nothing but destructive parasites, stuck on a tiny prison planet.
If an alien life form showed up from outer space and evaluated the situation, I wonder if they would see any redeeming value in us at all.
Jeesh dude, lay off the media for awhile and take a bong hit or something.
To your point, yes, humans are a cancer upon this planet. It will one day shake us off like a dog does fleas. Until then be the best human YOU can be. I know you will. You are a smart dude.
Are we having an existential crisis, Marty?
(06-12-2022, 08:46 AM)homebiscuit Wrote: [ -> ]Are we having an existential crisis, Marty?
Hmmm... Maybe I am...
Good point.
See what happens when you start listening to Mikesez?
(06-12-2022, 08:57 AM)The Real Marty Wrote: [ -> ] (06-12-2022, 08:46 AM)homebiscuit Wrote: [ -> ]Are we having an existential crisis, Marty?
Hmmm... Maybe I am...
Good point.
It’s easy to become focused on the negative aspects of humanity because it is easily exploited for a variety of reasons such as social causes or media ratings. What isn’t promoted as much as it should be are the stunning advances in medicine, science and engineering. We take these things for granted because they improve our lives indirectly while the negative are more in the forefront, which gives the illusion of a great imbalance. It is not in the nature, or benefit, of mankind to create more bad than good. Regardless of the illusion, we are always moving forward.
I can't answer these questions without violating the CoC but Jagwired's advice is basically right. Though drugs aren't necessary.
Treat your fellow humans and your planet as well as you know how and try not to worry about the rest.
(06-12-2022, 09:19 AM)homebiscuit Wrote: [ -> ] (06-12-2022, 08:57 AM)The Real Marty Wrote: [ -> ]Hmmm... Maybe I am...
Good point.
It’s easy to become focused on the negative aspects of humanity because it is easily exploited for a variety of reasons such as social causes or media ratings. What isn’t promoted as much as it should be are the stunning advances in medicine, science and engineering. We take these things for granted because they improve our lives indirectly while the negative are more in the forefront, which gives the illusion of a great imbalance. It is not in the nature, or benefit, of mankind to create more bad than good. Regardless of the illusion, we are always moving forward.
There's good everywhere, it's just quiet compared to the noise of the bad.
(06-12-2022, 09:19 AM)homebiscuit Wrote: [ -> ] (06-12-2022, 08:57 AM)The Real Marty Wrote: [ -> ]Hmmm... Maybe I am...
Good point.
It’s easy to become focused on the negative aspects of humanity because it is easily exploited for a variety of reasons such as social causes or media ratings. What isn’t promoted as much as it should be are the stunning advances in medicine, science and engineering. We take these things for granted because they improve our lives indirectly while the negative are more in the forefront, which gives the illusion of a great imbalance. It is not in the nature, or benefit, of mankind to create more bad than good. Regardless of the illusion, we are always moving forward.
I agree with you but there are two sides of that coin. Good things can have evil effects. Jonathan Swift lamented infant mortality among the Irish in 1729. When many Irish farmers learned to grow the potato in the early 1800s, it seemed like a godsend. Infant mortality went down, population went up. We know the rest of the story.
It was hundreds of thousands of farmers who did a good thing and changed their traditions to adopt the best food crop at the time. You can't blame any human for the blight that killed the crops later. Then it was just 500 or so English members of Parliament who voted to keep Irish ports open, allowing English industrial workers to outbid the Irish for the remaining food grown on the island.
The story is similar when you look at other historical catastrophes. People don't do the worst things. Systems of government and economy do. And the worst things happen when people aren't allowed to have a vote or a stake in decisions about their future. The Irish in the 1840s, the American Indian from 1776 to 1924, the Jews of Europe from 1795 to 1945, etc.
The more power people have to create their own future the better the future is.
(06-12-2022, 08:57 AM)The Real Marty Wrote: [ -> ] (06-12-2022, 08:46 AM)homebiscuit Wrote: [ -> ]Are we having an existential crisis, Marty?
Hmmm... Maybe I am...
Good point.
Don't worry; you'll feel better once the Jags win their first Super Bowl. On the other hand....
Per alien evaluation, I figure that Tim Burton has that one covered already in the movie "Mars Attacks".
(06-12-2022, 08:46 AM)homebiscuit Wrote: [ -> ]Are we having an existential crisis, Marty?
Existential or extraterrestrial?
We've been fighting, killing and murdering each other since the dawn of man.. It's just on a much more grander scale because of technology and over population.
More people equals more ideologies and differences. Lots of people can't handle different opinons and different ideologies, which causes fear, which can lead to violence.
Look at China.. Billions of people with mostly all the same ideologies and thinking. I'm sure there's always the criminal element there, just not as common as here.
We're a melting pot here, yes I said melting pot.. I know some of the people in this country are offended by that term, but oh well, go cry about it. We have all different kinds of cultures, races and now (genders lololol)
So naturally, some people can't accept the differences between us and they wake up and choose violence.
Not saying it's right, just saying..
My two cents..
The thing that depresses me about humanity is how we know there are all these habitable planets out there, and we could conceivably build ships that will reach them, but, multiple generations of people would have to be born and die on such ships. The distance between planets is too great, the speed of light is too slow, and human lifespans are too short.
And there would be no point in sending an unmanned probe to such a place. Think about how hard it has been to simply detect the light these planets reflect from their suns. How will we ever detect radio waves emitted by a much smaller object that we've sent to orbit them? No. The only way to communicate anything would be for the probe or ship to have the energy to send itself back into radio range of our our solar system, which of course takes twice as long.
We will probably never send out such ships or probes. Obviously the cost per mass of launching things into orbit is going down, but it would probably never go down enough for humanity to attempt such a thing.
But, there are probably other planets out there that can host life and are easier to launch from. And the intelligent creatures on those planets might have lifespans that are many centuries long, making interstellar travel much less taxing on their minds and societies. If such a species ever encountered ours, we would be mere toys and playthings to them.
Even then, I would still say we deserve to live.
Tune the 24 hour a day tv news out. Catch up on the major headlines every so often so as to not be completely out of the loop. Disconnect emotionally as much as you can when absorbing the news of the day. Partisan news sources are trying to rile you up on both sides. Don’t let them. Focus on your friends and family and your social life. Those are the things that actually matter and that you have some control over. Vote when it’s time. No need to burden yourself with too much negativity (if any at all) between election cycles.
(06-12-2022, 01:00 PM)Jaguarmeister Wrote: [ -> ]Tune the 24 hour a day tv news out. Catch up on the major headlines every so often so as to not be completely out of the loop. Disconnect emotionally as much as you can when absorbing the news of the day. Partisan news sources are trying to rile you up on both sides. Don’t let them. Focus on your friends and family and your social life. Those are the things that actually matter and that you have some control over. Vote when it’s time. No need to burden yourself with too much negativity (if any at all) between election cycles.
Great advice.
We don't deserve anything. Or so it seems by the way we act. The last 2 years have definitely shown me how jacked up people are, how jacked society is and how much we need to focus less on the opinions of others (media, social media, politicians, etc.) and more on what we have to be thankful for. Family, friends, hobbies; that we are employed; relatively healthy; that we have food to eat, clothes to wear and a place to live.
Everything is designed to focus on problems and division. It's in our face on the interwebs, at work, in sports, on TV shows (especially those made since 2020), in the news, etc. The only way we control any of it is to decide to turn off the news, change the channel, decide to not visit websites that push division. We decide how much of it we consume, not them.
I have always been a "there is no glass, why limit yourself" kind of person in the glass half full/half empty discussion. I'm more cynical now than I was in 2019. More cynical about everything.
What are the odds you remember conservatives talking about the Great reset and the moderates and liberals saying it was a conspiracy?