bopuc/weblog

it'll all work itself out eventually ... and we will be just another blip. humanoids have been around for 1 million years, civilization for 10k ... which represents 0.00025% of the total time since the universe started.

my favourite factoid is that the wildlife around chernobyl is doing wonderfully - since no humans will go near, all is peachy. makes you think.

it makes me think we are a parasite on this organism. A parasite who's sole purpose is to wire th planet up for it's own eventual self-awareness... ;)

yeeeeehaaaaa!

or hey... here's a thought... why not try birth control?

well parasitism is in the belly of the beholder, as they say. and i'd say not so much "purpose" but "function" ... semantics, but relevant if one believes there is no sense in saying that humans are more important than, anything else, say, mushrooms, except to themselves.

eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die

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Unlike Boris, though, I don't believe that 'Humanity is unsustainable; designed for extinction.' [...] I believe that the problem isn't inherent in humans, but in the structures we seek to build and the order we strive to create. Our systems are designed for extinction, but our chaotic nature could [...] perhaps someday find a way to sustain itself and ourselves.

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humans build structures. structures are unsustainable.
your someday is more than likely, sadly, far beyond the event horizon of mass extinctions.

and while I use the term extinction, I don't necessarily think it'll go that far. But we'll likely see mass culling of the herd, possibly even in our lifetimes.

;)

@anders: contraception requires education. good luck. ;)

@hugh: humanism is indeed the epitome of human egotism.

@ella: I don't like the connotation of that saying with "don't give a shit about anything and just get drunk." i'd much rather: "in the meantime, be good to yourelf and those around you." which, by teh way is the basis of all human belief systems before they get co-opted into societal control structures. ;)

You said:

humanism is indeed the epitome of human egotism.

, but right after, you add:

in the meantime, be good to yourelf and those around you

That's the foundation of humanism right there.

Or do you include 'all living organisms' in 'those around you'? If so, then that probably means you shouldn't be eating them.

I don't think that wanting to improve living conditions for other life forms of the same species has anything to do with ego.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanism
;)

the idea that we are somehow special or better or worthy of salvation or sparing from natural processes and phenomenon is what I consider egotistical. Being good to oneself and to others is just recognition that we do have the capacity to do and be so. yeah that's special in some ways but not to the point where we should believe we are gods or something.

Eating other living creatures does not figure in this whatsoever, as eating is (should be) a requirement for survival. (Having effectively placed ourselves at the end of the food chain has made as terribly arrogant, hasn't it? The reversal of that is all this absolutely silly "moralism" about eating living organisms. The vegan buddhist at least smiles as the tiger is about devour him.)

yada yada. ;)

baby back ribs for lunch tomorrow Steven?

Contraception doesn't solve the growing number of old people. Contraception without "killing the old people" makes the problem worse in fact. or somehow accelerate the process of civilization extinction.

I tend to believe that there will be mass extinction of human beings for different reasons: pan-epidemic diseases, food (too much, not enough, self destroying [monsanto]), and global warming. The cocktail of 3 should lead to bad scenarios.

I don't think all humans will disappear except for something larger on scale that will touch other species (comet for example), but the decay will be huge and I guess the "dark ages" will be back. We will loose a lot of knowledge. "unplug" all electric devices around you, and see not only how much inconvenient it is for practical side (cooking, winter, night, etc.) but for culture. Many many things are only produced electronically now without any wide distributed backup (paper book).

And yes we could start to see the beginning of it in our lifetime, with a few wars associated to mass migrations. (next 40 years.)

We can't really save the ecosystem which is necessary for our life now. But I guess we can try to preserve some islands here and there.

Ah and the most important. We will not kill earth and nature. Destroy large part of it, sure. But not kill it. When doing ecology, it has nothing to do with saving the planet, but all about keeping an ecosystem in which we are able to live. Ecology is human targeted.

monkeys
'nuff said.

"dark ages" ... yeah ok, but...

After the Bronze Age in the Mediterranean there was a "Dark Age" period succeeded by the flowering of the Greek civilization, when the Mesopotamian discoveries of the previous era were rediscovered.

The mud-caked (and rather sombre) Medieval period in Europe changed dramatically under the impetus of Islamic scholars, who helped rekindle the knowledge of the Classical era, eventually leading to the Renaissance.

Then there's the whole 'Age of Enlightenment,' blah, blah...

There will always be dark ages. Perhaps one is not long in coming. However, somehow folks always find a way.

I for one remain an optimist.