Future Hope?

Social Forums Non-Philosophical Chat
1

Sometimes you enter an altruistic ‘phase’ in your youth in which you forget, momentarily, about being overly preoccupied with your own life (and whether it is on/off course) so as to learn a little bit more about the fate of the world and the tentative direction in which things are headed.

Venturing outside of the tracks and away from your usual haunts, you come to realise that the world is full of newfangled issues (environmental, technological, ethical, you name it) yet to be grappled with by the public, except in science fiction movies that end altogether out of sorts with logic by blundering through a great big turnaround from cataclysm to happily ever after all in the space of a couple of hours.

Quite frankly put, the whole thing makes you nervous. Movie X says global warming will set off a series of disasters that leaves most of the world uninhabitable but conveniently leaves bits and pieces of the Earth free from harm. Movie Y releasing this year at the cinemas under the name of AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH (Please see trailer) stars Al Gore who comes with the proviso that we have till 2015 to change our ways so that global warming is stemmed otherwise we reach a critical point at which all things start rolling down hill.

So is there still hope? Maybe technology can offer us an alternative future: of wise machines surpassing humans: Oh, I get it, so that the future is out of our hands and we can no longer be or cause problems? PLEASE READ THIS: Why We Can Be Confident of Turing Test Capability Within A Quarter Century by Ray Kurzweil. Or on a bleaker note, maybe the advent of technology has only ever meant that we can look forward to bigger, more powerful weapons in the grips of humans with even more slippery hands and illogical mindsets. (How can there be a war on terror, in which you fight terror with war, if war is terror and terror causes war and war causes terror?)

Nowadays, few of those who we (misguidedly?) elect to lead, to represent us and to make decisions for us seem to care for engaging in an earnest discussion on the current path along which the world is headed. A solution to a foreseen problem never seems to be sought feverously enough by the reigning authority prior to catastrophy onset. From my forays into caring, I have learnt that it takes an event to set in motion the wheels of action amongst people. But what if that primary event wipes everything out? Or what if the event is so gradual that nobody notices the subtle changes that spell out T-H-E_E-N-D. (apologise for that stunt)

P.S. I think I am in need of some help in finding a more optimistic perspective. Anyone care to share theirs?

2

I know it sounds very simple ekanta , but why worry about it ?

With bigger weapons will come better quality of life for some of us . Technology is not all bad . And if your atheist , and believe we have no purpose as such , even more reason not to worry about things .

You may sometimes feel for others in areas of the world who suffer , but then try to forget about it , do what you can , but enjoy the freedom you have , and the gadgets which make your life easier that those in the third world would love to have . What do you say ?

O

3

Teach, grow and learn, While DL is being sarcastic, DL is right about worry. If all you do is worry then you are part of the problem, If you learn and help to improve then there is a positive hope. All things are possible, one little ant can disrupt an entire picnic.

4

I was,nt being sarcastic

5

You were serious? :astonished:

6

Why would that be a problem ?

7

thank you,ekanta,for i see another thinking person that will not be another of america’s toy soldiers.

you are right not to be complacent about the world’s problems.however,i feel that people on this forum would not listen to my solution. so be it.

a friend of mine preaches truth(not religious) on a couple forums. he did not report even 1 listening or taking an interest in his truths. he only said they kept regurgitating what the media peddled to them,and ignoring the factual links he put up.

so be it,i’ll reply if someone asks me something.

8

Why worry? Because I think we suffer from a lack of worry. Who cares if your life is as good as it gets at this moment? A wise person shows concern for the general state of things. Wisdom comes from knowing what you are to face and meeting that knowledge head on with the best possible solution. What kind of race shows itself to be stupid enough to be capable of self-destruction? Humans. What kind of race has the capacity to fix the situation? Humans. We choose which way to go.

9

I think we suffer from too much worry

Me , and mostly everyone else I know that lives in the developed world . Some might deny it , but these are usually the same people that would complain if they did,nt get to eat for a few days , have their coffee houses , cinemas , T.Vs and radios , book stores , foriegn film , theatres , sports centres , and freedom to travel round the world

Thats what Im doing . wisdom ? I think its unwise to be ungrateful of what we have when so many have to go without

.

10

Your being a bit naeive I think . Of course war creates terror , but sometimes this is necessary . Not nice , but necessary . You have two ways of looking at it , war in a godless universe ? selfish gene , human nature what it is , is it necessary ? Yes , because of our nature , and it probably wont change much .

War in a universe with God ? God has started wars , even has names for himself throughout the world which suggest war . The old testament tells us how “jehovah” { god of armies in hebrew} commanded the israelites against their foes , to trash and burn , and utterly defeat them , slaughter them greatly .

Then there is muhabbarat , Arjunas struggle and the like . Either way , war is part of the world , and being soft about it wont change anything , protests have done nothing . The biggest protest ever staged in the Uk a few years back was when America and Britain invaded Iraq . What did it achieve ? Nothing ?

All in all , war has been necessary , and always will be until we change our hearts and minds around

Until the philosophy which hold one race superior
And another
Inferior
Is finally
And permanently
Discredited
And abandoned -
Everywhere is war -
I say war.

That until there no longer
First class and second class citizens of any nation
Until the colour of a man’s skin
Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes -
I say war.

That until the basic human rights
Are equally guaranteed to all,
Without regard to race -
Dis a war.

That until that day
The dream of lasting peace,
World citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion to be pursued,
But never attained -
Now everywhere is war - war.

And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes
that hold our brothers in Angola,
In Mozambique,
South Africa
Sub-human bondage
Have been toppled,
Utterly destroyed -
Well, everywhere is war -
I say war.

War in the east,
War in the west,
War up north,
War down south -
War - war -
Rumours of war.
And until that day,
The African continent
Will not know peace,
We Africans will fight - we find it necessary -
And we know we shall win
As we are confident
In the victory

Of good over evil -

.

11

America’s ‘war on terror’ is nothing but oil wars in the middle east.

you want war on terror?war against the corrupt governments of the world!how? do not the governments declare war?who can declare war on governmental corruption!?

you are saying war is inevitable. are you saying war is necessary?

yep,the evil in the world must be removed.it will be war. but no man can kill human corruption.

12

ekanta - there is a difference between being upset about what we are upset about and being upset that we are upset. Pessimism results from the latter condition - the latter decision.

Al Gore has reasons beyond Immutable Truth to say what he says. Instead of worrying about what one man says about the future, read history. You may find that many dire predictions by credible sources have not held. Read the history of environmentalism, if this is an important concern of yours.

Oh, and make sure you are living neither in the murky past or the misty future.

Or not. What the hell do I know, right?

Misery loves comapny, and also loves itself.

13

Yes .

Buddha would disagree with you there , as would any saint , mystic or sage worth the title

Start with yourself , live a life which allows you to say you do as much as you can to stop funding their schisms , then you will be justified in having an opinion about where we should go , why certain goverments are wrong

o

14

#1 nothing to say here
#2 i’d really like to hear about these guys killing human corruption. and then if they can stop it in the willing AND the unwilling.
#3 how would you respond if i were to say i was apolitical,payed my taxes,absolutly refused to go to war or support war in any way,and only supported a non-human government?

P.S. speaking of

,where the hell is future man?

while i digged his critique,i was always skeptical that it would accomplish anything besides amusing ILP.i mean,who on ILP even listened to him?

peter croptkin(i really apologize for the spelling of your last name,peter) seems to do this as well,and i’m not sure who’s listened to him or how it’s benifited him. maybe if he(or they) stumble across this thread they(or he) could tell us?