started?
yeah. this planet might very well be reaching the end of a cycle of life-giving ability, for all we know (this happens periodically). and There in the beautiful desert of the middle east, an oasis, Israel-- a land, which given all of the land-shifts recently, and given its nice little position sandwiched between two giant fucking landmasses is the saddest story in the fucking world. brothers killing brothers. my brothers. brothers who need to be sharing their resources with the brothers whom they've somewhat empathizably, though very complexly and painfully (and pretty fucking unethically) displaced and partially imprisoned, in order to solve this problem (and the problem of forced displacement due to imperial bullshit)-- this problem of how and why we think. why? because not only could Israel go, at any moment, but we could ALL be forced to abandon the earth for a whole shitload of reasons. you can't stay underground when the ground isn't stable. in order to sustain life floating around in space(which we must, at least, have the ability to do, given our technological abilities), we need VERY intelligent systems. systems, which can maintain plants and animals in order to feed us, systems that can gather these plants and animals for the families living inside them, systems which can learn to maintain themselves. we need a great deal of intelligence if we have any hope of surviving. we know that periodically the earth becomes unlivable, yet we do nothing to prevent our extinction. perhaps this is related to the fact that I have met ONE single individual at the university of Illinois, one of the top Engineering schools in the country, who was interested in exploring psychology and Electrical eng/ comp sci. one person who was self-motivated to study the most fundamental problems of life. how fucking sad. I've tried to motivate a few. Perhaps with mild success. what has our society become that spawns such dullards. these are the major philosophical questions, my friends. Socrates facepalm. and I can barely find anyone who can even enjoy hypothesizing about them with me for more than a few minutes. jesus christ.
speaking of whom, I ask you to think about the definition of a god. especially in the personal sense. in the judeo-christian world, god is an extremely removed character (at least 2000 years) unless you count crazy people prophets, with which even if he or she was communicating, would still put him or her in a very removed position, a position of supreme dominance, and an extreme form of dominance, at that, given he or she created all living things(what are the ramifications of a father leaving a family for even one year or two years, I ask you). A god to me, is someone who has created something worth dominating, something worth watching develop-- something which contains desire. The judeo christian god is confusing, to say the least, which is why I feel it is a manifestion of the ethical responsibility we all have inside of us. In case there is a god, assuming you'd like to favor well in his or her omnipotent eyes, how should you conduct yourselves most effectively, given general ethical guidelines. Hell, the christians even say that the holy spirit lives in each of us. This is kinda what makes christianity so scary-- some sects have made “accepting jesus into your life” into saying a few words and basically blaming all your wrongdoings on the poor guy. What it should mean is study what we have saved. The stories about him and his buddies. Take them with a grain of salt. People exaggerate because telling stories, being creative, is fun( Biologically rewarded behavior!). Bring the fun and creativity back to learning, heads of universities. Encourage asking the big questions. Our major universities were founded in order to prove god's existence. I think that's pretty fucking noble compared to the shallow and money driven shit we dwell in currently; and if god is something which has created something worth dominating, these lovable bags of parasites, worth watching, worth getting enjoyment from, and learning about the nature of his or her own energy from, that sounds fun as fuck. I have tried my best to give you the tools here to become your own god. the best part about this problem of animal motivation is that we have all the answers firmly planted in our heads, working away every second of every day, systematically killing itself by thinking, by laughing, by enjoying life. Systematically killing itself in a largely unpredictable game of life, an impossible puzzle, which seems, for very logical reasons, to be very solvable-- the impossible puzzle of staying on.
Read Slower. Look Deeper. Love Harder.
David Atlas
question everything
ReplyDeleteA tale of science fiction
ReplyDeleteLet's say, for kicks, that we are not the most advanced beings in the universe and that many galaxies yield a relatively safe place in which life can develop. There are clearly a few holes in our knowledge of the space-time continuum, so one of these more technologically advanced might, through luck or trial and error, have made traveling “long” distances through space, within a reasonable fraction of one's lifetime, a non-issue. Sounds like fun! Seeing as to how these journeys could potentially be not only extremely educational, but also crazy awesome adventures, where would you go first? And how quickly would your adventures be turned into ethical journeys, given the space-travel laws that would most likely be in place with such power? Perhaps certain chemical compositions of exploding galaxies could give valuable information about the type of galaxy it was and whether or not it could possible harbor life. Let's say you can travel to any galaxy and any planet AND pick at what stage in development you wish to visit this planet. How would you go about this ethically, seeing as to contact with otherworldly beings can almost certainly be assumed to be a bit frightful to the inhabitants of any planet, even if they look similar to you? You couldn't go very late in development, when information about the impending doom of their galaxy would be of most use, as they would most likely use their technology against you; and your own safety, is obviously the most important thing here, when dealing with this distant planet. You also, if you wanted to be helpful, could not go too early in their development because trying to teach monkeys the math required to calculate the end of their known world, let alone the concept of a planet or a galaxy would be a bit too time consuming. You'd have to go at a stage in this planet's life, when its most advanced beings could easily store and manipulate abstract variables. It would still be time consuming, but given how interesting it would be, couldn't you see making a fun ethical journey out of it, if you weren't particularly tied to your planet or its inhabitants?
So, your parents died. And your siblings are all drug addicts who refuse to speak to you because you don't have drugs for them, and you've saved up enough money for this neat little space-bending ship. And off you go. It seems logical that given the violent (dominance) tendencies of animals, even if you could impart your mathematical end-of-the-known-world calculating system extremely well (and some sort of ethics, based on your knowledge of advanced beings), this information might not necessarily be passed on successfully to the generation that has the proper technology to protect themselves. If you, with your powerful technology, could leave some markers of your journey, in some lasting way (which is hard given the tumultuous, entropic nature of nature and time), it could at least give them a fighting chance. It turns into a sort of ethical game for the planet—if they can bring themselves to learn about and respect the traditions of old, the traditions which still have inexplicably (given the size of the the humans back then) enormous, complex, and lasting mineral (stone) artifacts. You've learned; you've taught; you've given them a hope of survival. Perhaps you'll check back every now and then, but for the most part, you've done your job and now it's sort of like watching an intergalactic sitcom, from which you can get vast entertainment, without feeling any ethical anxiety over the outcome. Sounds like a very fun game to me : )