Global doom and gloom.

[Hendre]

Jeesh, thanks for not reporting me! But i'm pretty sure the "eye in the sky" were aware of what i'd put before you even saw it.

I meant well starting this thread but in hindsight it was fraught with danger. We can't really discuss topics like global warming without delving into the darker side of it, which of course we try to keep away from, and quite rightly so.

Mods, feel free to freeze this thread, or even better delete it.

And jjohnwm , just for the record, you always cheer me up with your ramblings

Best not discuss any politics with names. Thank you for editing your comment. No more dragging any names through the mud. There has been lots of conversation stirred in the world by various figures, that's not for the forum though. I am going to clean the thread out quickly, let's keep it on topic and within the TOS.

 

[jjohnwm]

Hello; Had I written such a statement it may well get me banned. I do strongly disagree with you but do not have the privilege to make counter statements. I do not plane to report you as that will likely get this thread closed. May I suggest you keep such to your self or start a PM.

Very nice. Don't message him in private; don't merely comment; rather, quote his hasty comment so that it is preserved even after he reconsiders and edits his post. Innocent, effective...such Machiavellian genius...

 

[skjl47]

The combination of intelligence, aggressiveness, curiosity, adaptability and fecundity that has resulted in the planet being coated with an increasingly-thicker layer of people not only allows us to create a civilization; it demands it. And once we create it, it can't stagnate; it must either continue to grow, or die.

Hello; I especially like this statement. Made me consider things from a slightly different point of view. I have often heard of economies having to grow or collapse. (By collapse i guess that includes recessions and depressions.) Thinking of this concept from a biology point of view has my remaining functioning brain cells doing a reevaluation of sorts.
Back in the 80's there was a numbers description going around. It went something like this. At that time it was thought there were more people currently alive in the moment than than had lived and died through out all the previous human history. I may have worded it slightly wrong but the idea being with the advance of modern machine agraculture and delivery capacity the human population has exploded. Somehow your concept ought to fit in with that. I am trying think if the concept fits in with some of the more specific problems humans face.

A discussion of things like global warming ought not to be taboo. For me however global warming is small potatoes level of things to worry about. There are a few other things that seem much more pressing. Also that boat has also sailed pretty much in the sense no matter what we try to do about it now there is already locked in a certain level that cannot be changed. One analogy I think of is from an old first series Star Trek episode. A large asteroid is going to crash into a planet. When it is really far away the Enterprise can easily deflect it to a new course with a small nudge. Well something happens and the Enterprise is damaged and cannot nudge the asteroid. So they race to the planet to try to warn the people and find a old machine and Kirk hits his head and forgets who he is. Of course at the last right before the asteroid about to hit he remembers how to open the machine . The machine is powerful enough to deflect the asteroid and all is saved.

Well we do not have a powerful machine that can undo the current global warming at a stroke and it is already upon us. So a bit too late. My take is if we decided to enact every one of the plans so far proposed to reduce greenhouse gasses, that all these plans together would only reduce future emissions by a very small fraction. Meaning we are going to have to endure the effects of the substantial greenhouse effect already in place. These plans are so very drastic that the implementation of them might be as bad or worse to our civilization than the greenhouse effects themselves. ( this sounds familiar; oh yeah. The side effects of the current covid19 lockdowns compared to the damage from the virus itself)( sorry for the digression)

Maybe in future posts I will tell what I think is more pressing than global warming. Before I close let me throw out a sci-fi notion that may in a twisted way be a positive. That notion is we very intelligent organic beings are a step in the overall progression of sentience in the universe. That we are building AI type beings that at some point will be in ways more fit than we are. The step from organic evolution to AI evolution.
Being old and year by year increasingly more frail, I want to be a Waldo. That is a human brain and nervous system incorporated into a mechanical body. Maybe also called a cyborg. There are days when my knees hurt and it would be neat to bolt in new parts. I quit for now.

 

[celebrist]

Miramani!

 

[skjl47]

Miramani!

Hello; had to look that up. Good catch. She was the beautiful tribal priestess Kirk married when he lost his memory.

 

[jjohnwm]

Ah, Jeez...nothing worse than old Trekkies...

...or at least that's what my wife tells me. She's married to one.

 

[esoxlucius]

Ah, Jeez...nothing worse than old Trekkies...

...or at least that's what my wife tells me. She's married to one.

I must admit I used to love watching the original star treks when I was a kid, those and space 1999, remember that?

But my first love, as you may have noticed, are Laurel and Hardy. It's quite apt actually being a Laurel and Hardy nut and being in this hobby, because i'm always getting myself into a right fine mess with it! Lol.

 

[jjohnwm]

Oh, yes, I remember the excitement of my discovery of the original Star Trek. I was watching Lost In Space religiously...it started out as a serious sci-fi series, before descending into campiness...and a schoolmate recommended this new series that I might like. I watched it and was hooked! At that point, Space 1999 (which I never warmed up to...) was about a decade in the future. The other "thinking man's" sci-fi series, already a few years old at that time, was The Outer Limits; to this day, one of the most imaginative and visionary TV sci-fi series ever made.

Yes, I liked Laurel and Hardy as well...at least, when I couldn't find an old Abbott and Costello movie on the tube...

 

[celebrist]

Star trek tos touched on so many social issues, subtle writing you had to think about

Also the first syndicated inter racial kiss,

re: "Plato's Children "

 

[jjohnwm]

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.