I am nature... ?

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Originally Posted by CityBoyGoneCountry

If man is a product of nature, then doesn't it follow that whatever man makes is also a product of nature?

When a beaver builds a dam we call it an act of nature. When a man builds a dam we call it interfering with nature. But both the beaver and the man are themselves creations of nature, and both are merely doing what they evolved to do.

Is it possible that we were chosen to have intelligence for a reason? Is it possible that we have a greater role to play in the future of our world than any of us can yet predict?

Science, like everything else we do, involves a learning process. There is always a period of time when mistakes are made because we are still learning. To not make any mistakes is to not learn anything. But once we have it figured out, incredible things start to happen.

Is it better to pause evolution for fear of making a mistake, or is it better to keep moving forward knowing it's going to hurt from time to time?

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I have said this forever. Just like a spider's web is natural, so is anything man furnishes his life with.

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Originally Posted by delusionsofNORMALity

well Lmom, at least humanity has your vote. however, your optimism is, i fear, sorely misplaced.

those great intellects you put such faith in are more concerned with control than solutions. billions are spent to support those efforts and those billions are coming from the very people who profit most from the suffering. any answers they may find only serve to strengthen the few. each new discovery is patented, cataloged and passed on to the masses for a price.

yes, a quantum leap. that's what it would take, but where have civilization's leaps and bounds taken us to date? rome, with its violent conquest of the known world and its eventual spiral into oblivion? jerusalem, supposed birthplace of the religion of peace and its eventual degradation into just another means to control the masses? perhaps we should look to los alamos, home to one of the greatest "leaps" of the modern age and we all know what was born there. our leaps all seem to be in the same direction, straight toward the edge of the cliff.

ah, communication. the free exchange of ideas should allow us to solve a few of our many problems, but have you noticed what kind of information we are spreading. everything is for sale, hatred is rampant, misinformation passes for truth, and behind it all we are watched. the cutting edge of society is more concerned with porn than any ivory tower ideals, predator and prey play merrily in an electronic landscape filled with mankind's petty conceits.

i know, i know, i'm just a cynical little man hiding under the ice, but i am also a realist. i opted out decades ago and i've been watching too, studying the players as well as the game. when a true visionary pops up he is quickly crushed, nothing upsets the status quo. power is accrued by the powerful and then used to destroy those too weak or slow to get out of the way. violence and cruelty are our past, present and future.

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It's funny how the cynical always claim to be realists. To me you sound defeated and sad. Nihilism in isolation can also be considered cowardice, or "nausea," or bitterness, or simply a symptom of depression. Where you are feels safe for you. Fortunately, there will still be some of us willing to raise the children and encourage them to have dreams. I hope something happens in your life to make you have them again too.

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Originally Posted by liberiamom

It's funny how .....

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what can i say except "it was a bad night"

but i'm feelin' better about the world today

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Originally Posted by delusionsofNORMALity

what can i say except "it was a bad night"

but i'm feelin' better about the world today

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I understand- I've had many of those- So did Gerard Manley Hopkins. As long as it isn't every day. Enjoy today honey!

so true :)

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Originally Posted by delusionsofNORMALity

quite possibly our self-extinction is just another twist on the inevitable demise of all evolutionary dead-ends. the species has proven itself incapable of peacefully coexisting with other creatures, even with itself. our great intellects have given us the capacity to destroy ourselves (along with a significant portion of the rest of the world) in numerous ways and yet we are incapable of finding solutions for our most basic problems. famine and disease run rampant all over the world and yet we expend more energy to make sure grandpa can get it up than we do eradicating the poverty we are surrounded by every day.

our fatal flaw is our tendency toward cruelty and there may be no fix for it.

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interesting read...

I tend to think greed is our fatal flaw and cruelty is a byproduct...

People always point out our wars and stuff. How come no one ever points out the stuff about how we save lives with our medicines and our technologies? The population is over 6 billion and still growing. More people are being born than are being killed.

Some people do good, some people do bad, and some people don't do much at all.

Hehehe I always find it humorous if not sad when people try to think about life void of God. Smoke another one buddy and then one for me.:glugglug:

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Originally Posted by bavet

Hehehe I always find it humorous if not sad when people try to think about life void of God.

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That's fine. I feel the same way when people cannot think about life void of God.

prettymuch every medicine we make causes another problem,,,we need to stop destroying people with medicine...