Global doom and gloom.
- Thread starter esoxlucius
- Start date
For me Laurel and Hardy will always be number one but oh my word, the three stooges absolutely run them damn close. When they start slapping each other about in that beautifully choreographed way I just lose it. Its funny this should come up because it was only the other night I was looking at box sets of their stuff.Absolutely. Plenty of soon-to-be famous sci-fi authors did scripts for the show as well. I will still occasionally turn on the old series if I stumble across it while watching TV; if it's one of the truly classic episodes like "City on the Edge of Forever" or "The Trouble with Tribbles" I giggle like a teenage girl and settle in for an hour of nostalgic enjoyment.
The thing about that show that astonishes me is that, in my mid-60's, I am not much of a TV watcher. There are virtually no shows that I follow closely enough to even know when they are on; I think the last such was Vikings...probably also Rick And Morty, if I'm being honest.
But I saw every episode of the original Star Trek so many times that I can still identify virtually any episode within about 5-10 seconds of turning it on. I can quote whole lines of dialogue, even complete scenes; name all the characters, including guests; often know the name of the writer. The fact that I actually remember the names of the episodes I mentioned above is phenomenal, to me. No, not the best TV series ever...but I seriously doubt that there is another one that had anywhere near as much impact on my mind as a youngster.
My wife questions if it was a good impact or a bad one; she just doesn't get it...but she also can't understand my near-worship of that ultimate pinnacle of film comedy: The Three Stooges.
That is the very judgmental Nazi attitude that you recently told me you hate.
There are billions of people in the world but you have decided that your judgement is the one that counts.
Being that sure of your self is a ticket to the ship of fools.
The fear of human extinction is so great that it can distract peoples thoughts from rational notions, and burden them with irrational worries. This is one of the big secrets of mind control: Give people an unresolvable mental burden.
Like rampant disease.
Or Chicxulub-2.
Or The Madness of King George.
Big things which are beyond human control.
In my day it was the threat of imminent global Thermonuclear War. That one doesn’t seem to work on people nowadays, so they’ve invented new these fears.
What do I tell people who were worried about the doom of the whole earth?
“Ultimately, these things are always out of our control.”
Therefore such thoughts are 100% counterproductive to a healthy mind.
You must only worry about things you can improve. Stress literally hurts you. Worry hurts you; and therefore, worrying about things you cannot improve is simple masochism. You will uselessly drive yourself mad.
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How many ancient cities lie at the bottom of the ocean? Our cities are no different and we will end up building new ones as the old ones crumble or are subsumed by the planet.
Or maybe some hopeless generation will just decide to burn all the cities down and live in a tent (as they moan about the burning of the fabled Amazon and light another sacred plywood sheet on fire. )
They can travel around slowly, fighting with each other and burning down each other’s lives, until the next Ice Age consumes them all. Or not. It won’t be my business.
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One of the signs of a healthy mind is the desire for positive change, because improvement is always needed in a world of limited resources and uncertain circumstances.
One of the signs of mental illness is the desire for anarchy. A world of unpredictable chaos and dangerous disorder, wished into being by the insane.
Clearly, the biggest problem facing our world is not the eventual astroid or global warming, but the real, dangerous, and immediate problem of directed mass insanity.
You wind up a mob of crazy people and point them at a target. We seem to have a huge supply of both.
A common cause of insanity is unresolved cognitive dissonance. People can’t believe what’s happening before their eyes, so they invent more believable stories in their own mind to preserve their inner view of the world.
When people become convinced by what they see and hear that the danger to themselves is terrible and unavoidable, then the illness that results from the knowledge can resolve itself in violence and destruction.
Or, people can choose to believe that with determination and effort things can be continually improved. That our world will be made better and better as time progresses.
That they may never be perfect Is no excuse for anarchy.
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It did very little good when people of the worlds most literate society decided it was a bad idea for them to have children, because the world could get overpopulated.
Meanwhile the world did get over populated, by the poor and uneducated, who breed whenever possible.
See, our job was not to stop breeding.
Our job was to breed the generations which would go out and educate the entire world to control itself.
It’s not too late but it will take a lot more effort now.
Like rampant disease.
Or Chicxulub-2.
Or The Madness of King George.
Big things which are beyond human control.
In my day it was the threat of imminent global Thermonuclear War. That one doesn’t seem to work on people nowadays, so they’ve invented new these fears.
What do I tell people who were worried about the doom of the whole earth?
“Ultimately, these things are always out of our control.”
Therefore such thoughts are 100% counterproductive to a healthy mind.
You must only worry about things you can improve. Stress literally hurts you. Worry hurts you; and therefore, worrying about things you cannot improve is simple masochism. You will uselessly drive yourself mad.
.
.
.
How many ancient cities lie at the bottom of the ocean? Our cities are no different and we will end up building new ones as the old ones crumble or are subsumed by the planet.
Or maybe some hopeless generation will just decide to burn all the cities down and live in a tent (as they moan about the burning of the fabled Amazon and light another sacred plywood sheet on fire. )
They can travel around slowly, fighting with each other and burning down each other’s lives, until the next Ice Age consumes them all. Or not. It won’t be my business.
.
.
.
One of the signs of a healthy mind is the desire for positive change, because improvement is always needed in a world of limited resources and uncertain circumstances.
One of the signs of mental illness is the desire for anarchy. A world of unpredictable chaos and dangerous disorder, wished into being by the insane.
Clearly, the biggest problem facing our world is not the eventual astroid or global warming, but the real, dangerous, and immediate problem of directed mass insanity.
You wind up a mob of crazy people and point them at a target. We seem to have a huge supply of both.
A common cause of insanity is unresolved cognitive dissonance. People can’t believe what’s happening before their eyes, so they invent more believable stories in their own mind to preserve their inner view of the world.
When people become convinced by what they see and hear that the danger to themselves is terrible and unavoidable, then the illness that results from the knowledge can resolve itself in violence and destruction.
Or, people can choose to believe that with determination and effort things can be continually improved. That our world will be made better and better as time progresses.
That they may never be perfect Is no excuse for anarchy.
.
.
.
It did very little good when people of the worlds most literate society decided it was a bad idea for them to have children, because the world could get overpopulated.
Meanwhile the world did get over populated, by the poor and uneducated, who breed whenever possible.
See, our job was not to stop breeding.
Our job was to breed the generations which would go out and educate the entire world to control itself.
It’s not too late but it will take a lot more effort now.
For 40 years I collected discs and tapes of all the great old comedies. Maybe my great-grandkids will still like them too.
Laurel and Hardy, The Stooges, Abbott & Costello, The Little Rascals, and many others are there, but my favorites are the Marx Bros.
I only have a few comedies from the silent film era. Maybe all the stuff will be online in the future and maybe not.
It is predicted that these formats will degrade in time and will turn out to be useless in the future, but I think that with careful handling DVDs could last well over 150 years. I have 25-year-old discs that still play fine, But there’s no guarantee.
And magnetic media will turn out to be the most fragile of all of course.
Good point on global insanity. It has even come through a lot recently, through the Karens, 5G towers cause coronavirus theories, masks suffocate you, antivaxx and all of that. I guess it is all because of facebook groups, and internet. Allowing anyone to voice their opinions causes groups of these types and people who want attention or to be special just get drawn to them instantaneously. An unfortunate side effect.
As for the original post, there is always depressing stuff out there. We are unfortunately attacking Nature but it happens in uneducated countries where people don't know any better- we cant blame them. The best we can do is spread the message and help countries get educated on this. This comes through from charities and everything. The problem is the people who do know better and still do it. And, unfortunately, they often have much power.Everything stems from power and money- get any of these and you can make a change.Like pewdiepie and Elon musk donating to charities.
Hello; Two of the more pressing things have a common application. One is the reduction of good topsoil. Modern farming machinery does not always fit in with soil conservation. While things may have changed about this since the 80's and 90's, I have seen nothing to suggest it. As small farms have gone away and mega farms run by big corporations have been taking their place, the use of mega machinery has become commonplace. Back in my youth there were agaraculture practices such as contour plowing which could reduce soil erosion. The big machines in use now do not always lend them selves to such practices so they tend to run them in the way that suits the machine and less the way that is best for soil conservation. Regardless of the reasons it was my understanding we were losing topsoil at a much faster rate than it could be replaced. The example I used in the past was it might take 500 years for natural processes to build up an inch of good topsoil while our modern methods can and did at the time reduce topsoil by as much as a half inch a year in places. Not a sustainable way to farm. We in the USA were blessed with many feet of topsoil on the great plains. Those feet of soil have been reduced over time. Again my information may be dated, but I do not think so.
Side note1- It is my understanding there is a huge dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of the Mississippi River. I have been led to think some of the runoff that helps create that zone is from farming.
Side note 2 - One of the big export items of the USA has been food stuffs such as corn. Think of it this way. The corn kernel itself is made up of the most useful bits of the soil it is grown in. There is in effect a removal of the local topsoil when corn is exported.
The second thing I find pressing is the depletion of underground water reserves formed by natural process over thousands of years. Some of the best food producing areas of the USA rely on center pivot irrigation. That is where a well is drilled deep into the water table and pumps powered by v-8 engines pump out the ground water to be spread out in large circles. This ground water is known to be being depleted very much faster than it can be replaced.
These two things were a part of what I was referring to about modern farming. The collapse of either method will lead to a food supply shortage for the world. For example back a decade or so there was an issue with very high crude oil prices. One questionable move made was to allow up to 10% of ethanol to be blended into gasoline at the pump. There were some problems with this both in terms of being practical and the effect on world food supply. The impractical bit hinged on the fact that at the time it took almost as much petroleum based fuel to make a gallon of ethanol. The food impact was that the ethanol was being made from grains, mainly corn. That corn was removed from the food supply and made an impact on hunger.
So...we set up an aquarium. Being modern advanced humans (Homo gimmegimmegimmeus) we use all sorts of technological tricks to cram as many fish as possible into this tank; no way we can settle for the paltry few that a given tank size would support without all the "help". We filter, we skim, we aerate, we circulate, we coddle bacteria to do our bidding, we dump tons of money and effort and chemicals into the tank and it thrives for a time. Most of us accept that the water requires renewal and replacement on a regular basis; a few others figure that the answer to this drudgery is still more technology, as if we actually understand and can control all the natural systems that are functioning in the tank. Some of us take "better" care of it than others, and others, through laziness/vanity/ignorance/whatever, allow it to slide more rapidly towards collapse. Many times we invent an excuse to absolve ourselves of responsibility in case of tank failure. "Things happen that are beyond our control" or "just bad luck" or "It's not anyone's fault" are bandied about. There's even a name that's been coined for it: Old Tank Syndrome...that's the short form for "I'm too lazy or cheap...or I think I'm too smart...to change water!"
But this is a microcosm, a system closed to all external influences except those we exert upon it, a tiny particle of nature that exists in our living rooms or basements solely because we have brought it inside...so, therefore, by definition, we are indeed responsible...dare I say "to blame"...for everything that happens in and to that microcosm, whether we are willing to admit it or not.
Now let's look at the planet. We have always looked upon it as infinite...we talk about "the whole world" as though it were
everything. Well...it's not. It's just a bigger microcosm, a sealed system which is susceptible to both external and internal influences which will move it's evolution in various directions. In this microcosm, we are no longer the sole influencers; a nice center-punch by an asteroid, a blast of cosmic radiation, even the relatively slow degradation of our sun through time, all can and do change our planet. But we are like a particularly hardy aquarium fish in that we survive, we breed faster than we can eat each other, and we inevitably overpopulate. As we labour towards "the good of all", nobody seems to notice that the best thing for this planet's natural development would be if all of us vanished overnight. We talk about making this a "better" world; what is usually meant by that is a world where there is no war or famine or disease, where everybody gets to grow old and fat and happy, with a nice house and a family and a comfortable retirement. Except...there's nobody who is going to "change our water", so to speak. There's too many of us...there's more every day...and the bulk of us can't see beyond the tips of our noses. We are up to our asses in the global version of Old Tank Syndrome...and the Utopian goal we strive towards inevitably worsens that situation rather than lessening it.
But wait...there's more! And it's actually good news! Human nature itself attempts to keep us in check; as much as we insist on breeding and consuming, we also have a mean streak that kicks in periodically to kill off fairly large chunks of the population, slowing the global collapse a wee bit. Other natural checks appear from time to time...the pandemic we are in now is one...which will slow the rate at which we continue to coat the planet with a nice thick layer of people, all of whom apparently "deserve" a long wonderful life. If the planet is lucky, a combination of viruses, asteroids, zombies and good old-fashioned homicidal tendencies will erase humanity and give the next contender a shot at running (or over-running) the planet. It might be a nice clean wipe-out leaving the rest of the world unscathed; picture empty cities and cracked highways overgrown with greenery. Or it might be a full-on apocalypse, total devastation leaving only a desert crawling with cockroaches and rats. Either way, it's the inevitable conclusion of Old Civilization Syndrome. And once we are gone, so are our arbitrary and biased ideas about "good" and "bad". It'll be bad for humanity, but it'll be good for cockroaches...and why are they any less worthy than we are?
Whaddaya say,
esoxlucius
? Have I cheered you up enough yet?
But this is a microcosm, a system closed to all external influences except those we exert upon it, a tiny particle of nature that exists in our living rooms or basements solely because we have brought it inside...so, therefore, by definition, we are indeed responsible...dare I say "to blame"...for everything that happens in and to that microcosm, whether we are willing to admit it or not.
Now let's look at the planet. We have always looked upon it as infinite...we talk about "the whole world" as though it were
everything. Well...it's not. It's just a bigger microcosm, a sealed system which is susceptible to both external and internal influences which will move it's evolution in various directions. In this microcosm, we are no longer the sole influencers; a nice center-punch by an asteroid, a blast of cosmic radiation, even the relatively slow degradation of our sun through time, all can and do change our planet. But we are like a particularly hardy aquarium fish in that we survive, we breed faster than we can eat each other, and we inevitably overpopulate. As we labour towards "the good of all", nobody seems to notice that the best thing for this planet's natural development would be if all of us vanished overnight. We talk about making this a "better" world; what is usually meant by that is a world where there is no war or famine or disease, where everybody gets to grow old and fat and happy, with a nice house and a family and a comfortable retirement. Except...there's nobody who is going to "change our water", so to speak. There's too many of us...there's more every day...and the bulk of us can't see beyond the tips of our noses. We are up to our asses in the global version of Old Tank Syndrome...and the Utopian goal we strive towards inevitably worsens that situation rather than lessening it.
But wait...there's more! And it's actually good news! Human nature itself attempts to keep us in check; as much as we insist on breeding and consuming, we also have a mean streak that kicks in periodically to kill off fairly large chunks of the population, slowing the global collapse a wee bit. Other natural checks appear from time to time...the pandemic we are in now is one...which will slow the rate at which we continue to coat the planet with a nice thick layer of people, all of whom apparently "deserve" a long wonderful life. If the planet is lucky, a combination of viruses, asteroids, zombies and good old-fashioned homicidal tendencies will erase humanity and give the next contender a shot at running (or over-running) the planet. It might be a nice clean wipe-out leaving the rest of the world unscathed; picture empty cities and cracked highways overgrown with greenery. Or it might be a full-on apocalypse, total devastation leaving only a desert crawling with cockroaches and rats. Either way, it's the inevitable conclusion of Old Civilization Syndrome. And once we are gone, so are our arbitrary and biased ideas about "good" and "bad". It'll be bad for humanity, but it'll be good for cockroaches...and why are they any less worthy than we are?
Whaddaya say,
esoxlucius
? Have I cheered you up enough yet?
I love your analogy comparing an aquarium to the world. The billions of beneficial bacteria in an aquarium actually work their little arses off to keep said aquarium healthy though.
However, if you consider the human race to be the "beneficial" bacteria on the face of the planet then that's where the comparison abruptly ends!
Lol, we need to start talking about Laurel and Hardy and The Three Stooges again.
However, if you consider the human race to be the "beneficial" bacteria on the face of the planet then that's where the comparison abruptly ends!
Lol, we need to start talking about Laurel and Hardy and The Three Stooges again.
Hello; Sometimes I can recall only part of a concept as is happening now. There have been folks in the associated sciences studying earth history. One of the things I seem to recall is a notion derived from these studies implying that for some reason the records show the rise of a family of species to success followed by eventual decline and often to extinction. Not the cataclysmic result of an asteroid strike or an ice age sort of event. More of a decline without the overt causes that can be ascribed to some of the cataclysmic sort. What I am trying to think of has to do with genetics. An idea along the line that after some number of generations a species wears out its genetic code so to speak. That is a poor way to express the idea but the details are a bit vague for me right now. Something like as each generation replaces the last some sort of built in countdown among the genes is taking place. Perhaps like the rattle of a rattlesnake builds up as it sheds it skin. Sorry about this distraction, I get that this sort of thing is not likely what you have in mind.
Modern humans have not been in our current form for very long compared to some other species. We have gotten well along with the task of damaging our environment already. Not due to our physical qualities but due to the technology resulting from our intelligence.
Hello; I can only come up with that I am a human and not a roach. The forces of nature including the evolutionary sort do not seem to care at all if we are successful.
