The media had fun, as it periodically does, when a fundamentalist preacher declares the end of the world. But there was a jittery feeling, too, because for the first time since the end of the Cold War, when the world might have ended in nuclear winter, global warming makes secular people feel doomed. There's a slender hope that climate change may not be as catastrophic as some scientists believe. Yet on the whole nobody denies the buildup of greenhouse gases, while at the same time no one remotely has a viable solution.
How can doom be replaced with a more productive feeling? When I first began posting in 1995, I found myself addressing four global problems that seemed insoluble: over-population, pollution from fossil fuels, pandemic diseases, and refugeeism. Each of these four had their own trajectory, but they seemed equally unstoppable. I didn't put terrorism on the same level, although many observers might, because there have been waves of terrorist activity that rise and fall. Eventually the iPod would win out over the mullahs. A younger generation of Arabs would want to join the modern world, and by being connected to modernity through cell phones, Facebook, and shared music files, they would prevail over reactionaries in their society. Perhaps the Arab spring indicates that this victory is closer than anyone ever supposed.
But the underlying reason that terrorism is outclassed by the other problems is that it cannot bring the world to an end, whereas these other global problems can. A planet that cannot sustain enough people, that suffocates on oil and coal fumes, that is decimated by disease or made unstable by refugees fleeing from oppression won't literally end in the sense of Armageddon. But in some way human evolution would move backward. The world has always been caught between progressive and destructive forces -- that duality is built into our nature -- yet until now most people would agree that progress had the upper hand. Looking into the future, it takes a die-hard optimist to make such a statement today.
The reality is that a world is coming to an end, but not the world. I'm thinking of a world where a tiny minority of people, mostly white and Christian, live off the fat of the planet while billions more are dispossessed. That world is ending with the sudden explosive rise of China and India. The same world consumed fossil fuels without restraint. We are just beginning to face the possibility that this appetite must be curbed. Other trends testify to the end of America's unrivaled power on the world stage, the dominance of the dollar, the ability of the U.S. to use military means without check, and the acceptance of Anglo-Saxon moral values everywhere. In a recent visit to Britain, President Obama spoke of how much the world needed those values. But in reality the moral values that are rising quickly consist of narrow tribalism, crude nationalism (especially evident in Asia), and religious intolerance.
When this world comes to an end, another will replace it. We cannot foresee what that world will look like, just as a colonial officer in India in 1910 could not have foreseen a world without British imperialism. The secret to ending one world is to help the next one be born. Obama has been acting as midwife on many fronts: renewable energy, the end of conflict with the Muslim world, investment in future technologies, and shared military responsibility with allies. Pulling against this are those who dread and hate the end of their world. We run the risk of imploding as reactionary forces, fueling an undercurrent of fear, promoting a fantasy of America as a perfect society where privilege is a birthright and the rest of the world exists on a plane almost beneath notice.
No one can tell how this conflict will play out. If you parse each problem, even reaching an adult agreement over raising the debt ceiling or fixing Medicare seems impossible. And it may prove to be impossible, in which case the world will still come to an end, but when it does, Americans will be left depleted and left behind by history. We should all be working to make sure that our doomed feelings don't turn into actual doom, because they don't have to.
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Complexes where you work, live, and shop. Get a car (which you rarely need) from a pool that's a job perk or condo amenity. Farms side by side with these multipurpose 'plexes. Parks everywhere. Clean air and water, local food, all electric, and quiet!
Leave most of the planet unpopulated by humans... let it revert to the 'wild', where access is extremely limited, to protect Earth's other inhabitants.
Then poor people are so focused on finding food and water they cannot even think about the earth suffering.
Then those inbetween the rich and poor are so busy trying to hold on to their jobs and trying to decide what bill can wait for another two weeks to be paid,can't decide what to do with themselves and only point fingers.
Meanwhile the earth suffers. When the tornados hit, the floods innundate, the earthquake erupts, tsunamis swallow, the ocean dies, the rainforests are eradicated, the diseases multiply, don't complain, just say; 'it's a cycle, it will go away." Humans are deluded.
We are already past the point where we can reverse the injury visited upon planet earth and if I may just say this: "we have not seen anything yet!." Man was created to be ruled by God since they cannot direct their own steps and so they cannot guide others as Jeremiah 10:23 so plainly states it: "I know, LORD, that we humans are not in control of our own lives."
Humans are arrogant and disagreeable to the point where there can be no consensus even to take care of the earth, the foundation of man's existence.
I am convinced though that the earth will never be destroyed by humans. God will intervene in man's affairs as Revelation 11:18 gives humans this clear hope: "The nations were enraged, but your wrath came. The time came for the dead to be judged; The time came to reward your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth."
(Read parts 1 to 5):
If our human civilization is moving towards self destruction, will our God come to our rescue? Indeed some (rather many) people think so, but I`m afraid that’s wishful thinking in the extreme. It’s we who have to do something and create probabilities to ensure that the nuclear buttons remain in the `Unpressed` mode forever. It’s a foregone conclusion that God is not a Classical level, miracle performing, Newton`s law breaking, Rewarding and punishing God. It will do no harm to anyone`s religion to believe that God is a mind, an Omni present mind, in everybody`s mind. At best he is a Quantum level God, in which case consider the statement:
``Probabilities do not arise at the minute quantum level of particles, atoms, or molecules, these evolve deterministically, but seemingly, via some mysterious larger-scale action connected with the emergence of a classical world that we can consciously perceive``.
By Roger Penrose…. ``The Emperor`s new mind``
No doubt the God called mind creates the laws of Science (that create us) such as the Anthropic Principle and the Law of Probability, but having created them he cannot violate them himself. He can only throw the dice and fix probabilities. He himself does not know the future interactions and whether we will survive the next few centuries and escape from self destruction.
(To be continued)
An example to clarify Roger Penrose`s statement in Part 6:
Consider a road leading towards a tee junction. If you turn left at the tee junction you are proceeding towards a 50000 capacity Cricket Stadium where a Twenty Twenty International is about to start and a capacity crowd expected to see the match. On the other hand if you turn right at the tee junction you are proceeding towards a 10000 Capacity Auditorium where a Rock Concert is due to start at about the same time as the Cricket match and a capacity crowd is anticipated here also. For someone who is looking from high above in a helicopter or something, he sees a huge crowd moving towards the tee junction, he cannot say for sure if a particular individual in the crowd is going to turn left or turn right, but he can very well calculate that the probability of the individual turning left is 5/6, and that of his turning right is 1/6.This is how quantum entities behave. We cannot say what they are going to do but can only fix probabilities. In short, by organizing a cricket match at the stadium, and a rock concert in the auditorium, both starting at the same time, we have created probabilities for 60000 people to proceed towards the tee junction, a 5/6 probability for an individual to turn left and a 1/6 probability for the individual to turn right.
( To be continued)
(Read parts 1 to 7):
What than is the solution?
Plain and simple:
WE MUST ACT TO CREATE PROBABILITIES FOR:
1) Convergence of Science and religion to understand God, including life and the Universe.
2) Convergence of all religions into one religion `TO LIVE AND LET LIVE`.
3) Resolution of conflicts between nations.
4) The creation of a `United states of India and Pakistan`, We were friends once, we have lived together for ages, we look alike, we speak the same language, we watch the same movies, we sing the same songs (we have the same nostalgia for Ghazals), we have the same passion for Cricket, etc etc. Why should millions of us be deprived of this friendship just because a few leaders (of the Army) have a substantial low quotient `Qy` of `To live and let live`.
5) The creation of a `United states of Korea (North and South)`.
6) The creation of a `United states of the Middle East`.
7) Removal of `Single digit leaderships of countries particularly those having a low quotient `Qy`` and replacing with Democracies with good ideologies stressing on a high `Qy`.
(To be continued)
Of course there's still time, but the clock's ticking.
Btw, Mr. Chopra.. may I make a suggestion? Perhaps if you and the other Theists out there would stop building temples, you might be able to save the human race by putting that money toward research for things like: Space flight! Orbital farming! Solar power! Space colonization! "Annnnnnd many, many more! Buy now!" There is literally a price tag on the survival of the human race as a civilized being. Else.. we are gonna need a new nursery rhyme, cause "ring around the rosy" just won't be hardcore anymore.
This time around, there will be no such "save" (or catastrophe, depending on your POV). The poor and middle class will see their standard of living drop even further as we refuse to acknowledge that we simply don't have enough for even a fair percentage of people to do (a trend which will be even more accelerated by the advent of Peak Oil and the massive downscaling of production of goods it will necessitate), and that, therefore, we need to decouple "jobs" and "work" (the concepts of which are going to have to change drastically anyway) from having the means (currently "money") to obtain the goods necessary for survival.
The elite, after doing everything possible to block any sort of transformation of business-as-usual, will, I'm sure, jet off to their private islands. Hopefully the islands they pick will be overtaken by rising seas not long after their arrival, but beyond that I really don't see much hope that they are going to pay at all.
http://www.palibandaily.com/2010/04/06/deepak-chopra-claim-he-caused-baja-quake-by-meditating/
Based on what we understand so far, life as we know it needs a specific set of circumstances to develop - a planet whose composition, mass and orbital distance all fall within a certain range, and whose sun is much like our own. If we, our planet and our sun are not unique then neither is the accelerated technological advance of the past century that has taken place between destructive solar events.
My sense is that countless worlds and civilizations have been here before. Those that survive are the ones who learned their limitations and were forced to reassess their priorities by a universe they could not control. Viewed from that perspective, our best (and most likely ONLY) hope is the same factor that put us at the top of this planet's food chain to begin with - our instinct of community. Those who believe "America" is some kind of ultimate destination are entitled to their feelings, but they would be well advised to get out of the way before history - and evolution - runs them over.
I don't like the future I am looking at one bit.
I consider everything you have said about the current American government correct.
Remember, things can go REALLY bad before they go total bat****. I'd prefer my gen to get off its buttocks and get to muscling out the older stupids, or at least dragging them to the comp and showing them what they vote for but.. ah well. It all comes down to: Do We Have The Time?