The End of the World!

[Scottydoo]

Obviously it will be zombies, and the only solution is shotguns

Scottydoo Reviewed by Scottydoo on 04-07-2007. The End of the World! I'm convinced that when the world ends, no matter what form of apocalypse takes, stoners will manage to survive in incredibly high numbers. The secret to our success? We've already thought through each of the scenarios multiple times with friends, usually while passing a bong. What will it be? Flood? Zombies? The Rapture? And how will you deal with it? Rating: 5

[Oneironaut]

Well the end of the world will happen in 2012.:thumbsup: Not because of what gatekeeper said but i'm pretty sure there is a guy that predicted a whole lot of shit like hundreds of years ago he even predicted 9/11 and he said the world would end in 2012

"Pretty sure" there was some guy who could actually see the future? I'm gonna need to see a little evidence before I'll swallow that one. If he clearly predicted the events of 9/11, how come nobody used his writings to warn us about it? Fitting historical events into vaguely worded earlier predictions is not very hard if you use a little imagination. Predictions should be able to predict things before they happen, not after. I highly doubt a prediction was made, for example, that specified a group of Muslim hijackers would destroy two towers in New York City and one government office in Washington on the 11th of September, 2001. Supposed psychics never get things that accurate. It's always so vaguely worded that eventually some event will happen that could be fit into the prediction, or else the prediction is just ignored and never brought up again.

The world is most likely not going to end in 2012. This meme comes from the myth that the ancient Mayan calendar ends on December 21, 2012, which it does not. (see Mesoamerican Long Count calendar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) And then it was further spread through the mystical rantings of Timothy Leary and other New-Agey types.

But i'm surprised no one has talked about us making robots and then they becoming to smart and controlling us like in I robot. Hey but if that did happen then they would legalize weed because there so smart and not stupid like many of the governments around the world. But then again that wouldn't exactly be the end of the world just the end of the human race being on the top of the food chain.

Robot takeover doesn't seem too likely to me. We're not going to build superintelligent robots overnight. It's going to take a long time, and I'm sure we humans can find out ways to program them to not harm humans or to destroy themselves if they start to think about harming humans. Even if some crazy psychopath programs some robots that do decide to harm people, the rest of us can program even more robots to take out their robots. The smartest of our current robots, as Michio Kaku explains, have the intelligence of a retarded cockroach, and those robots are not going to do any harm to us considering they're currently exploring the surface of Mars. We have a lot of time to figure these programming issues out as we gradually make more and more complex robots.

Morality is pretty deeply programmed into our own brains, and when somebody's brain starts making immoral decisions, the rest of us can use our morality to enact justice. I don't think computer programmers working on AI will leave morality out of the picture once these things start to gain the power to potentially do harm. Morality seems to be essential for a successful robot design that won't be destroyed by humans or other robots, just like morality was essential for a successful human brain design in the gene pool.

[LIP]

Well, when you think about how complex humans are - i mean, we're made up of cells that all live, all need oxugen and so forth - is it possible to make a robot that's smarter than us? I dont think so.

[Oneironaut]

Well, not something based upon the same principles of human biology. That took billions of years to evolve, and we don't have that kind of time in the laboratory. But the computational theory of mind is making great advances, and our computing technology is increasing exponentially. I don't think it's inconceivable that in the next century or two we will be able to create a computer that replicates the functions of the human brain with more accuracy and efficiency.

Even if the brain were too complex to understand (I don't think it is; its design is actually based on a small number of genes, whose instructions are repeated over and over again to give us a lot of neurons in comparison to our body size, which is where our intelligence comes from), it would not be inconceivable to use computing technology in conjunction with human brains to create cyborg brains that are way more powerful than regular human brains.

Definitely check out Ray Kurzweil on TED Talks. He has a lot of mind-blowing ideas about where our technology is going to be heading us in the near future, based on extrapolating current technological trends.

[LIP]

Oh no! I was so very wrong! We're all going to die! Run! Ahhhh.

No i'm kidding, but that pretty interesting - although i dont like the idea - we've managed for all these years without them, i bet if we made them that'd be the end.

[halfassedjediknight]

"Pretty sure" there was some guy who could actually see the future? I'm gonna need to see a little evidence before I'll swallow that one.

i think hes talkin about nostradamus

edit: then again you could be talking about how obscure that guy is too. he wrote all crazy and loony like.

[Oneironaut]

i think hes talkin about nostradamus

edit: then again you could be talking about how obscure that guy is too. he wrote all crazy and loony like.

Nostradamus was a crazy, loony poet, and the thing about him predicting 9/11 is just not true. It's a hoax, and the verses used to support this idea were made up by people on the Internet and are nowhere to be found in his original works.
Did Nostradamus Predict the 9-11 Attacks?

In reality, he did not make any accurate predictions that are just unexplainable without prior knowledge of events. He always worded his poems so vaguely that lots of things in history can be retrofitted into them (Nostradamians argue all the time over what events are predicted by what verses), and the predictions that don't work for them are conveniently ignored. Notice how all the Nostradamians who used his verses to predict the end of the world in 1999 have all changed their interpretations. When Nostradamus' works are used to accurately predict an unlikely future event, I'll change my mind, but as long as people are using his vague words to explain things that have already happened, I won't be convinced.

[smokeblunts3]

"Pretty sure" there was some guy who could actually see the future? I'm gonna need to see a little evidence before I'll swallow that one. If he clearly predicted the events of 9/11, how come nobody used his writings to warn us about it? Fitting historical events into vaguely worded earlier predictions is not very hard if you use a little imagination. Predictions should be able to predict things before they happen, not after. I highly doubt a prediction was made, for example, that specified a group of Muslim hijackers would destroy two towers in New York City and one government office in Washington on the 11th of September, 2001. Supposed psychics never get things that accurate. It's always so vaguely worded that eventually some event will happen that could be fit into the prediction, or else the prediction is just ignored and never brought up again.

The world is most likely not going to end in 2012. This meme comes from the myth that the ancient Mayan calendar ends on December 21, 2012, which it does not. (see Mesoamerican Long Count calendar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) And then it was further spread through the mystical rantings of Timothy Leary and other New-Agey types.

Robot takeover doesn't seem too likely to me. We're not going to build superintelligent robots overnight. It's going to take a long time, and I'm sure we humans can find out ways to program them to not harm humans or to destroy themselves if they start to think about harming humans. Even if some crazy psychopath programs some robots that do decide to harm people, the rest of us can program even more robots to take out their robots. The smartest of our current robots, as Michio Kaku explains, have the intelligence of a retarded cockroach, and those robots are not going to do any harm to us considering they're currently exploring the surface of Mars. We have a lot of time to figure these programming issues out as we gradually make more and more complex robots.

Morality is pretty deeply programmed into our own brains, and when somebody's brain starts making immoral decisions, the rest of us can use our morality to enact justice. I don't think computer programmers working on AI will leave morality out of the picture once these things start to gain the power to potentially do harm. Morality seems to be essential for a successful robot design that won't be destroyed by humans or other robots, just like morality was essential for a successful human brain design in the gene pool.

Yeah i think halfassedjediknight is right i think that was nostradamus who said that shit. I don't know the predictions or anything i've just heard about them. Like i said i'm "pretty sure" there was someone that predicted that stuff never said it was true and he was all knowing or some shit. But hey if he said the world would end in 2012 lets just see if hes right i doubt he is unless that thing gatekeeper was talking about is true. If his not right then that will make those guys that are supposed to be able to figure his shit out look like even bigger jackasses. And the US government basicly knew we were gonna get attacked but they didn't do shit what makes you think they would use hes predictions even if they were creditable.

I never said they would harm us just control us. If you've seen I robot then you would know what i'm talking about. The 3 laws or w.e they can't let humans be harmed and humans were harming humans so they decided the best way to keep them safe is keep them from fighting each other and control everything we do. I never said it was gonna happen anytime soon didn't have anything to do with the 2012 thing just surprised it didn't come up as another weird way the world might end. I don't see you writing how unlogical the idea about zombie's is...

[Oneironaut]

And the US government basicly knew we were gonna get attacked but they didn't do shit what makes you think they would use hes predictions even if they were creditable.

I don't really believe there's any good evidence that the government had enough prior knowledge to have been able to prevent the attacks, but that's totally missing the point. My point is that nobody, anywhere, read these supposed verses and say "Hey, there's going to be a terrorist attack in New York soon! Watch out!" This is because Nostradamus didn't even write the verses in question, and even as far as his real verses go, Nostradamians have not successfully used them to accurately predict unlikely events. All anybody has ever done is to fit historical events into the predictions after they happen.

I never said they would harm us just control us. If you've seen I robot then you would know what i'm talking about. The 3 laws or w.e they can't let humans be harmed and humans were harming humans so they decided the best way to keep them safe is keep them from fighting each other and control everything we do. I never said it was gonna happen anytime soon didn't have anything to do with the 2012 thing just surprised it didn't come up as another weird way the world might end. I don't see you writing how unlogical the idea about zombie's is...

Well, nobody takes zombies seriously. Robot takeover is something that is actually possible, and it's something that we should actually take some effort to avoid. I'm fairly confident that we will, but not completely certain.

[smokeblunts3]

[quote=Oneironaut]I don't really believe there's any good evidence that the government had enough prior knowledge to have been able to prevent the attacks, but that's totally missing the point. My point is that nobody, anywhere, read these supposed verses and say "Hey, there's going to be a terrorist attack in New York soon! Watch out!" This is because Nostradamus didn't even write the verses in question, and even as far as his real verses go, Nostradamians have not successfully used them to accurately predict unlikely events. All anybody has ever done is to fit historical events into the predictions after they happen.QUOTE]

Have you seen that special on the History Channel on the shit that led up to 9/11? I mean sure we didn't know how they were gonna attack or when but we had enough knowledge to know that the WTC'S were a big target they did try to blow it up in the early 90's with a bomb so i think that's a sign they might try again. I think i was told that his prediction was something like the 2 great towers will be burned down or some shit i dunno i bet its just bullshit anyway. What i find freaky is that $20 dollar bill thing(the old ones) when you fold it like a plane and it looks like the twin towers burnin on one side(the places were the smoke is is almost like the real thing)and the other looks like the pentagon burning. If you've done it before you know what i'm talking about.