can we carry on living this pace of life or will we have to slow down a bit i think that if we keep this up we will finish befor we understand where we have gone. Take some time to look at what you are and where you are going .look around and see what we have created befor runing of ahead, blindly without understanding or even considering what we realy have .its all great till the next time but how meny next times can ther be befor we arrive.at the end.
I agree, Gabrial, that it seems to me that everything in life as we know it is running and changing more quickly than ever before; it is almost as if the planet itself has some sort of manifested urgency....a quickening of its vibration...we are beings being pushed and shoved naked into another time, another place...technology is far beyond our wildest imaginations at this very minute! There is more advancement of which we are totally unaware at this point in time.....what we perceive as new is nothing more than an illusion of outdated material revealed to us, the general public! Indeed, these are bizarre times....who among us is able to stop and regroup and reassess the true meaning of our existence on this planet?
There are overwhelming indications that the pace of technology development is increasing and not slowing down. Strange times? Yes, and much much stranger times to come I suspect. Sit back and enjoy the ride. Cris
enjoyment is relative ahhhh cris! you say to sit back and enjoy the ride; this is a ride that can end in disaster for us all....there is alot more out there then we know...and not all will be used for the common good of humanity...enjoyment of what is to come is rooted only in our amazement...we cannot wait to see what is next! if that were the extent of it, i would have no qualms....my concern is that the indiscriminate use of the new technology will not be for the betterment of humanity.....and if the average person really knew what is already known, but not yet revealed, panic would run rampant when the probable implications of such technology were discovered! I for one wish i could regress in time and stay in one spot until my time is over, and i am on my way to the next dimension.......
Hey, hang in there. I seem to remember a saying, something to the effect of "stop and smell the roses". If you don't who will? The frantic pace of today's society will drive anyone who dwells on it bananas. The trick is find your own space or thing. You're not going to slow it down. So either take a ride on it or go visit Alice In Wonderland. Either way will be a trip. I guarantee!
the ride I am reminded here of an old George Carlin bit (mid-1980s) in which he discussed human tragedy. He began with an appeal to the audience that he needed to get something off his chest that was serious, as compared to a joke; this, of course, set the audience tittering. Carlin went on to describe an amusement park disaster in South America. (At the mention of South America, for some reason--cocaine?--the audience cracked up.) It seems that a roller coaster had, that very week, derailed and plunged from its highest crest through the roof of the Hall of Mirrors below. Bearing Carlin's timing in mind ... after he finally got angry enough to get the audience to take him seriously, he laid in the punchline, "Yeah, but can you imagine being the poor f---er in the funhouse?" In a religious debate, the idea of creating black holes in a laboratory came up; yes this is theoretically possible, and it creates an odd condition whereby humanity would be capable--by their failures or by their will--to affect the course of the Universe. Can you imagine an explosion wiping out everything from Venus to the asteroid belt? Certainly the ride can end in disaster. That's why it's important to keep hands, feet, head, and all objects inside the car while tracking up and plunging down along the rail. In this sense, just as much as progress itself is our human duty, so also does our duty include safe progress. It's all well and fine to blow yourself up trying to make better methamphetamine, for instance, but what happens if you take out the neighbor's house, too? It's well and fine to split nuclei for energy, but Chernobyl, at least, shows us what happens if we don't offer safe stewardship of progress. On a basic level, one of the problems with technology is that people don't understand its use. As a functional example, I know a good many people who remember their first office PC: sure, we can do three times the work, so why are you giving us five times the workload? Furthermore, there is this need for technology to pay for itself; that is, your exceedingly high price for a prescription drug also pays for all of the failed attempts; your high price for an MRI covers not only electricity, labor, insurance, and product value, but also other research factored into the pricing. The same with computers; prices plunge, and companies put out new products to pull prices back up. The problem here is a running quality issue. Chips are getting super-fast, but I still don't have complete faith in Intel's chips, though that could be as Microsoft-related as any other complaint I might foster of the PC. The point being, of course, that if the chip manufacturers would set a consumer quality standard to achieve, we would see a slower increase in processor speed and impeccable data-transfer security. However, the prices would fall, and research would not continue at its normal pace. Thus I say, detach progress from profit. The profit of progress is the progress itself. If increasing profit margins is the primary motivation of technological progress, we will continue to see shoddy product quality across the board. Sure, they say the chip can run 1.7 gigs, but is it secure? Sure, they say the drug can do this or that, but what are the long-term side effects (oh ... that's right, you got FDA fast-track). Sure they can fix your eyes with a laser, but how come my dad just had to have his third session under the light in order to do it right? (The last doctor noted that the physical work itself was quite refined, but either didn't hold or wasn't enough of an adjustment.) The chase for profit means we're devoting more time, energy, and labor to a woman's foundation makeup than to solving breast cancer. The chase for profit means that a clean-running car engine won't come (the 1997 California standard was scrapped after the auto industry refused to meet it, as I recall). The chase for profit means that customers feeling cheated must combat the "economic necessity"--and therefore the right of the manufacturer--of lower QC standards. You'll notice we haven't gone back to the moon lately. Conspiracy theorists notwithstanding, I would venture to say we'll get back there as soon as the real estate lobby shows a pressing need for more high-value land. Space exploration will, in the long run, piggyback on the mining interests. "Conquest of the Universe" is a fine term, in this sense, because it means we won't go out just to see, unless we can take and claim and own it. Religionists point out the "lack of evidence" supporting non-creationist theories. In this case, and to remain relevant, I point out that the best seafloor research is usually done in search of A) lost treasure, B) medicine, and C) ...and this is the big one... petrol companies and other mineral interests. Too few people are scouring the seafloor for answers to questions about life, the Universe, and everything. I'm on my soapbox, I see ... for that I apologize; I had intended to reserve this to a half-penny or so worth of comment, but .... I leave you, then, with this quote, from Huxley: Orgie-porgie, Ford and fun, kiss the girls and make them One. 'Tis a brave, new, world, indeed, with many slings and arrows. I agree that we should sit back and enjoy the ride, but it's fair to yell at the helmsman if he's taking the ship too far astray. thanx, Tiassa Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Strange times indeed but are these strange times a precursor to a more dark existence on the horizon? We are all born into a huge well of pretense and ineptitude, can it ever be reversed? My answer is no, it can't. And as George Carlin also stated (I was very privileged to see him live at the Paramount Theatre in NY back in '92) THE EARTH DOESN'T NEED US, WE NEED THE EARTH. Our measley existence will be but a speck on the ass-cheek of Gia.
strange times? Ecclesiastes 3:15 That which is has been long ago, and that which is to be has been long ago: and God seeks again that which is passed away. (The World English Bible) strange times?
"I am poor and naked, but I am the chief of the nation. We do not want riches but we do want to train our children right. Riches would do us no good. We could not take them with us to the other world. We do not want riches. We want peace and love." Chief Red Cloud
save the wolves Those with fewer chances in life have much more to lose with every chance they bobble. That refers to all the species we humans think we are "superior" to. We have the most chances to survive this. We're in better shape than the wolves....or the chimps (possibly not the cockroaches)...... Therein lies the moral imperative to save ourselves by saving the rest of the planet from the actions of some of us.:itold:
Humans are pretty adaptive. However with the increased spinning of this momentum you speak of, I'm sure there'll be a much higher suicide rate. Look at Japan.
can we beat global warming / cooling ? thats the question. Everything we are dependant on is a fragile eco-system dependant on temperatures that dont differ seasonally by 1degree. I think only the rain can tell us whats next...
