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Recently I read the news that NASA has landed another rover on mars.
I have always been a NASA fan and have a keen interest in Astronomy/Astrophysics. In contrast, faith in human race is not something I have a lot of.
Neither denying the existence of other intelligence when we have never landed a foot further than the moon, nor the invention of nuclear bombs that are capable of destroying the earth way before an escape plan could even be conceived has given any credit to this race who has claimed themselves to be of such a superior intelligence.
Not to mention until today there is still nothing that would help us to escape the earth if this planet is to be destroyed completely.
I always suspect that human are generally design to be not very bright. That is why well educated, highly intelligent people tend to breed much less than their ignorant or dumber counterparts.
The cockroaches would be a more successful specie if there is to be a nuclear war. And if the earth is hit by an asteroid one tenth the size of the moon then the only species likely to survive are the likes of viruses.
If human are so intellectually superior, why have we not even landed on another earth like planet yet? IMO before that happens, human really have no advantage over any other specie on the face of earth.
So forget about working hard, raising children. Before we could device an escape plan, none of that is of any importance.
Why would we work eight hours a day? Job, is important for most people anyways. But even animals do not spend 8 hours a day working. If we are intelligent as we are always told ourselves to be, What have we created, what have we build, what have we achieved in the past 5000 years now we have achieved a population of nearly 7 billion people?
One might cite sky scrapers or maybe the inventions of automobiles, electricity and the internet to be some of the humans of ‘extraordinary deeds’. But ants have built ant-hills million times of their size and some animals have learnt to take a free ride on other animals to save their own energy tens of millions years ago. And yes, the discovery of electricity and internet is amazing. But those are of the few major inventions we have come up with in the past few thousand years with such a vast population.
So what other things have we created? Games, social networks and useless professions – just to absorb all the free time we might have created because of the increased productivity. Instead of collecting those free time and build something that can help us to explore the universe, that can allow us to spend less time working and more time doing things we like to do and change the world for the better for all creatures on this planet.
Human superiority to other animals, to me, is not intelligence, but ability to share information. Between two places, from past to present, no animal has ever achieved this on a scale that we have achieved.
But sharing information is of no use if we do not act on them. Internet/software might be a part of the solution. For the moment, and maybe the next 10 to 20 years, they will probably dominate technology because only if we can allow information to be efficiently and effectively shared amongst us, could we act more easily upon something useful to better the world.
Once information technology has been developed to certain level, I expect the advance of more tangible technology to take over. Will we be able to find the technology to built something and help us escape from this planet in time before a deadly celestial object hit the earth, or maybe before we all perish in a nuclear war? Or are we doomed because it does not look like there is much progress so far?
From Slave society to Feudalism, from Capitalism to the edge of socialism, In the past human society has generally moved away from more hierarchical to less hierarchical structures. To me, the reason is simple, because there are more and more resources to ensure the survival of a greater proportion of people. This trend will most likely to continue with increasing productivity.
Is the emergence of internet a tool for even less hierarchy?
Internet is a place where information is shared by the mass. Information, unfortunately , is best present when there is anarchy. Why do I say this? Because if there is an authority, then there will be some kind of control on what can and what cannot be presented to the people. To maximize our collective intelligence, all information should be available to all people. One might argue that some info are best stay unknown to the public, but who should have the authority to decide and how do we know the right decisions have been made.
I am not an expert on disasters, but all along my tertiary education and work I had to work with statistics. The theory is, the longer we exist, the higher chance human race will be annulated from the face of earth and eventually this chance becomes certainty.
Nobody knows how long that is going to take because with current technology there is no way to find out.
However the question becomes whether human possess the essential quality to succeed or are we built just as another specie that doomed to be no different to any other animals, and thus when time comes we will be wiped out like the dinosaurs.
Are we made to be a part of the herd? Craving for affection is built within us, thus spending time with family and friends become an essential part of one’s life. We submit to society’s norms and rules which are bestowed upon us by family friends and everyone around us. Individual who questions and go against norms which they disagree with are ostracised. This is great for the harmony within the specie but it also discourage innovation, new ideas because they are not the norm. Despite the fact innovation and creativity have always been shine a positive light, people who can think differently are labelled as weirdos because most of the others are not used to new ideas be they wrong or right.
The other issue with innovation in technology is that people would like to create apps/software/web services that they think other people want, but the problem with that is if that thing does not exist and truly innovative, then there is a higher risk involved in developing it. Not only with technical issues but also with how to get people to notice and use this product since most people resist changes. The success of a startup is measured by dollar values not how useful an innovation really is, and there is a popular philosophy that you must follow successful people to become successful. The fundamentals in the capitalist society actually discourage true innovation.
That is not to say there will not be any true innovation, but begs the question whether research and development should rest in the hands of public or with well-funded government organizations.
If we are going to survive, as a specie in the long run, personally I think a better model for the society is needed. I do not believe in communism, but I do believe in the idea of ample supply of resources can produce better moral and less work which free human to more interesting tasks.
Let’s hope communism did not work because it mistaken human nature for something else but we will survive as a specie even after the earth cease to exist because we are made to succeed. That we are not working ants who are busy but aimless, and with a better social model we can succeed.
Why do I have this faith? Because I must, the same belief that if you were a young person in your 20s you would stay alive and well for the next 50 years.
~~~~.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.~~~
Reposted from my own blog: http://www.telkitty.com/MyViewBlog/wordpress/
I have always been a NASA fan and have a keen interest in Astronomy/Astrophysics. In contrast, faith in human race is not something I have a lot of.
Neither denying the existence of other intelligence when we have never landed a foot further than the moon, nor the invention of nuclear bombs that are capable of destroying the earth way before an escape plan could even be conceived has given any credit to this race who has claimed themselves to be of such a superior intelligence.
Not to mention until today there is still nothing that would help us to escape the earth if this planet is to be destroyed completely.
I always suspect that human are generally design to be not very bright. That is why well educated, highly intelligent people tend to breed much less than their ignorant or dumber counterparts.
The cockroaches would be a more successful specie if there is to be a nuclear war. And if the earth is hit by an asteroid one tenth the size of the moon then the only species likely to survive are the likes of viruses.
If human are so intellectually superior, why have we not even landed on another earth like planet yet? IMO before that happens, human really have no advantage over any other specie on the face of earth.
So forget about working hard, raising children. Before we could device an escape plan, none of that is of any importance.
Why would we work eight hours a day? Job, is important for most people anyways. But even animals do not spend 8 hours a day working. If we are intelligent as we are always told ourselves to be, What have we created, what have we build, what have we achieved in the past 5000 years now we have achieved a population of nearly 7 billion people?
One might cite sky scrapers or maybe the inventions of automobiles, electricity and the internet to be some of the humans of ‘extraordinary deeds’. But ants have built ant-hills million times of their size and some animals have learnt to take a free ride on other animals to save their own energy tens of millions years ago. And yes, the discovery of electricity and internet is amazing. But those are of the few major inventions we have come up with in the past few thousand years with such a vast population.
So what other things have we created? Games, social networks and useless professions – just to absorb all the free time we might have created because of the increased productivity. Instead of collecting those free time and build something that can help us to explore the universe, that can allow us to spend less time working and more time doing things we like to do and change the world for the better for all creatures on this planet.
Human superiority to other animals, to me, is not intelligence, but ability to share information. Between two places, from past to present, no animal has ever achieved this on a scale that we have achieved.
But sharing information is of no use if we do not act on them. Internet/software might be a part of the solution. For the moment, and maybe the next 10 to 20 years, they will probably dominate technology because only if we can allow information to be efficiently and effectively shared amongst us, could we act more easily upon something useful to better the world.
Once information technology has been developed to certain level, I expect the advance of more tangible technology to take over. Will we be able to find the technology to built something and help us escape from this planet in time before a deadly celestial object hit the earth, or maybe before we all perish in a nuclear war? Or are we doomed because it does not look like there is much progress so far?
From Slave society to Feudalism, from Capitalism to the edge of socialism, In the past human society has generally moved away from more hierarchical to less hierarchical structures. To me, the reason is simple, because there are more and more resources to ensure the survival of a greater proportion of people. This trend will most likely to continue with increasing productivity.
Is the emergence of internet a tool for even less hierarchy?
Internet is a place where information is shared by the mass. Information, unfortunately , is best present when there is anarchy. Why do I say this? Because if there is an authority, then there will be some kind of control on what can and what cannot be presented to the people. To maximize our collective intelligence, all information should be available to all people. One might argue that some info are best stay unknown to the public, but who should have the authority to decide and how do we know the right decisions have been made.
I am not an expert on disasters, but all along my tertiary education and work I had to work with statistics. The theory is, the longer we exist, the higher chance human race will be annulated from the face of earth and eventually this chance becomes certainty.
Nobody knows how long that is going to take because with current technology there is no way to find out.
However the question becomes whether human possess the essential quality to succeed or are we built just as another specie that doomed to be no different to any other animals, and thus when time comes we will be wiped out like the dinosaurs.
Are we made to be a part of the herd? Craving for affection is built within us, thus spending time with family and friends become an essential part of one’s life. We submit to society’s norms and rules which are bestowed upon us by family friends and everyone around us. Individual who questions and go against norms which they disagree with are ostracised. This is great for the harmony within the specie but it also discourage innovation, new ideas because they are not the norm. Despite the fact innovation and creativity have always been shine a positive light, people who can think differently are labelled as weirdos because most of the others are not used to new ideas be they wrong or right.
The other issue with innovation in technology is that people would like to create apps/software/web services that they think other people want, but the problem with that is if that thing does not exist and truly innovative, then there is a higher risk involved in developing it. Not only with technical issues but also with how to get people to notice and use this product since most people resist changes. The success of a startup is measured by dollar values not how useful an innovation really is, and there is a popular philosophy that you must follow successful people to become successful. The fundamentals in the capitalist society actually discourage true innovation.
That is not to say there will not be any true innovation, but begs the question whether research and development should rest in the hands of public or with well-funded government organizations.
If we are going to survive, as a specie in the long run, personally I think a better model for the society is needed. I do not believe in communism, but I do believe in the idea of ample supply of resources can produce better moral and less work which free human to more interesting tasks.
Let’s hope communism did not work because it mistaken human nature for something else but we will survive as a specie even after the earth cease to exist because we are made to succeed. That we are not working ants who are busy but aimless, and with a better social model we can succeed.
Why do I have this faith? Because I must, the same belief that if you were a young person in your 20s you would stay alive and well for the next 50 years.
~~~~.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.~~~
Reposted from my own blog: http://www.telkitty.com/MyViewBlog/wordpress/
:gossip:
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