Thought you'd like that. That squat little creature with her tits down to her knees is almost the spitting image of myself. At my age I need hydraulics just to keep my tits up barely past my knees. That's why I saved the article ... for the picture; it was just too funny.abcrystcats wrote:Hah!! You guys (and gals, no sexism meant!) are GREAT!
Deb:
LOL!!! That look exactly like my ex-neighbors!! I'm cracking up!
It's not technology - it's what we humans do with it. Like guns - guns by themselves do nothing; but put a gun in the hand of human: and then guns in the hands of various humans brings a mulitude of different responses: [a gun in the hand of trained military person, a nervous 16 year old, a pacifist etc.]abcrystcats wrote: We are already starting to suffer from the effects of technology. We've become less able to relate to each other. We don't need our legs, either. I use my arms and hands a lot more than my legs these days.
It's in our nature to create things like this, be this way; and it's also in our nature to recognize this! And we do. So technology - in the hands humans is used to both kill more efficiently; us well as heal more efficiently.
It's also in our nature to get ourselves into these things; and then have to work like hell to get ourselves out of them again; and it's also in our nature to get out of things as well.
Nature is funny - because when someone says 'nature' what do you think of?
Most people tend to think natural; and healthy; warm sunshine in flowery fields watching bunny rabbits and butterflies frolic. But anyone who actual lives with nature respects it because the recognize that nature is one dangerous son-of-a-bitch. Nature is called cruel for good reasons; in nature - it's kill or be killed; nature is where everything alive lives because it's consuming something else that's alive ... all the way down to the cellular level of every thing [Every Thing - no exception]; it's about consuming energy or die. And when humans first evolved unto the scene we were prey animals for the larger predators and we bred like 'rabbits' because essentially that's what were: easy kills/fast food like what rabbits and mice are today for our current predators.
That's our true nature; that's our healthy nature way of life/living - consume some other living thing, or die - PHYSICALLY. And I'm currently staying in response to your musing at the physical level because that's what you're musing over/about . (For now away, things do have a spiritual side. There is a physical side and a spiritual side to things)
Agreed. The splitting is happening along social/economic (educational) lines - not physical.abcrystcats wrote: I don't think humans will voluntarily select, genetically, for the strongest and fittest and it takes great imagination for me to believe that we will split along physical lines the way we already are starting to, intellectually.
I sure like it!abcrystcats wrote: Sex is still an overwhelming interest ...
You're making perfect sense.abcrystcats wrote: ...and keeps attracting new but intellectually challenged blood into the fold. I think we will stay physically the same. I don't think physical and intellectual superiority correlate in any way, anyhow. Lots of smart people are really weird, physically. LOL, I am not making sense, so go for the flaws in this!
abcrystcats wrote: As for your other post -- I am just going with my gut here. I don't expect a "cataclysmic" event to wipe us out. I expect a lot of climate changes mostly caused by carbon monoxide emissions, crop failures and epidemics. I think that some bug will come along and wipe us out, ultimately.
Yes, that is ahead of us - created in large part by an overpopulation of "unchecked" humans. When you think about it, what keeps nature in balance - predators. What's humanities predator? Ourselves. So what's going to stop us from over running this world? Our own predatory nature, our own selves; and part of that is warring with other humans "different" than our own kind.
My hope comes from the way things happen/tend to work out. Recently they found the 'hobbit' people; who time dating shows lived at the same time as "modern" humans - but we didn't know about it.abcrystcats wrote:...We will set the stage for all this and then it will just happen. It will happen eventually -- probably sooner than later. We kind of all know this stuff is going to happen, but we have high hopes that some members of the human species will survive it. Where are we getting this hope? Movies? I am not saying it's impossible that some people could survive, but right now we are witnessing the destruction of many, many species. How many tigers left in the WORLD? How many wolves left in the WORLD? And these are cool, sophisticated predators. Very resilient survivors. If not them, how hard is it to imagine that one day WE will be gone from the face of the Earth?
Things like that give me assurance that we don't know everything, that we can't know. And that unknown, unknowable areas give me comfort.
As we catalogue the animals and plants that are becoming extinct; we are also cataloguing the animals and plants we are only NOW discovering.
We don’t know it all, and we can’t know it all – and for whatever reason things like that give me peace.
Agreed, but I don't think we are ignorant of this any longer. Some are still ignorant yes; but not all. It's a matter of percentages and I don't know what the percentage ratio currently is and I doubt if anyone else does because most researchers haven't gotten to that place yet to organized enough to ask that question; yet with the masses – people themselves are asking this question internally and responding to it ... that's that grass roots level that always exists and is in operation; (doing things in new [many time anti-socially approved] ways on a local level) way before it can ever becomes “Publicized” as the “mainstream” on the global level.abcrystcats wrote: We are too arrogant about ourselves. We are more vulnerable to our own depredations than we think.
It is mainstreamed – just not known that it is because most people tend to keep their most personally feelings (whys and actions) to themselves first.
abcrystcats wrote: Who said this?much human
behavior really rests in the limbic system and not in the
cortex—things like competition, male/male rivalry,
aggression, all sorts of things that may, in fact, lie at the
base of national conflicts and war and other undesirable
things. Is this something we should be looking at?
you are right, but what do we do about it? We are prewired for aggression. I think we are losing the race to conquer ourselves in this area. We may end up being the ultimate victims of our limbic systems ....
We may be the "most adaptable" but that does not make us infallible, or not subject to extinction.
I still think we are getting dangerously close.
Or am I taught to think this way? I remember the Cold War era. Everyone lived in fear of The Bomb ....
I know the weather, and I know the behavior of my fellow humans ....
Yes, you are taught to fear the unknown. Yes, fearing the unknown is part of our limbic responses.
Yes, we are close to wiping ourselves out.
But - we always are! We do that to ourselves daily. My most current example: Eric has begun driving lessons. Every time he takes a lesson with the instructor he's put his life and his instructors life in danger. With his lack of experience he could more easily wipe himself and others out than myself and my husband can behind the wheel – but even that’s not certain.
And I don't know for a 'fact' that he won't, or that we won’t. I also don't know for a fact that he will ... or we will … but I do know for a fact that it will happen to some; because it does.
And yet … I drive; others drive; and I’m allowing my son to learn now as well.
Risk is a part of living; and avoiding certain risks can stump growth and maturity - and it’s because I can remind myself that facing risk IS a NATURAL part of like – that I have peace and hope. Knowing that I don’t know the outcome; can’t know the outcome; facing my fear of the unknown, the outcome(s) brings hope. At least for me it does.
And yes - our limbic system predisposition has impact; some things to do with our actions - but not all. Our cortex parts of our brain have the most control and it’s our cortex part of ourselves that CAN BE retrained. In fact the Buddhists and their effective mediation techniques as studied by scientists have proved that to be precisely so.
It’s because it’s been proven that we can master our base emotions, ourselves, and then respond in positive ways – that we can do this in our own lives for ourselves (and then do so); that I also have hope humanity.
Lastly; it’s because people can and do change; and then things slowly get different from those changes that makes me think the humanity has a chance.
If our final out come [our collective destination] is to be wiped out because we’ve become ‘too destructive for this world.’ What happens to this outcome then, when we realize this and begin making adjustments by stopping our own destructive natures, working in our own daily lives - and collectively?
Well – the answer is Rocket Science (believe it or not): The trajectory of a rockets impact at it’s destination can (and is) created with minuscule adjustments in it’s launch calculations.
Each time I don’t respond in an old, predatory way; each time I take a moment and readjust before doing … anything … by thinking out side my boxes; thinking beyond myself – beyond greed – beyond it all … I’ve changed the outcome. And how many of us are doing exactly that in our lives on a daily basis? Small changes can have big results. Collective small changes and have even bigger ones.
Now does that mean that our past actions won’t have any impact at all – No; we’ve got an impact ahead. But our do believe that our impact has been – and continues to be lessened by everything we’ve done to create that then – and continue to do now. And that also gives me hope for humanity.
So – those are the things I’ve based my hopes on: Others have called my hopefulness ‘ungrounded’ ‘romantic’ and ‘idealistic’ ~shrug~ I don’t know … I don’t agree, but I really don’t know. Any more than I know the outcome of Eric’s driving lesson today as he’s taking it … but will know, when it’s complete.
Sorry for the long reply (for being so long winded); this question seems to bring out the lengthy postings in me.
