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Author Topic: Evolution... embrace it? teach it? laugh at it?  (Read 2501 times)

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Mogul

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Re: Evolution... embrace it? teach it? laugh at it?
« Reply #4 on: Sat, Aug 13, 2005, 07:15 »

Yes-yes, evil people, ugly world... *sigh*...  ;D What do you want, boy? Many people have nothing to eat or drink and must sleep outside in the cold, not to mention the absence of a bath tube and a shampoo. Pick up the pieces and open your eyes for the good things - there are some! In my old soviet times the usual punishment for the young over-educated philosophers was pretty simple - send them to a kolchose and let them care for potato plants, cows and chickens for a month or so - this can make wonders, believe in me! You will never complain about your live in the city again! ;D ;D ;D

Take care and be smart,

Vicky

P.S. Empires come and go, the peasants stay. Mr. Bush is also only a human, though a misleaded one and not of extraordinary intelligence. But he was democratically elected and is legally ruling the country - this says something about the situation in the US, though. It's unbelievable, but many of your fellow citizens apparently regard the war as a kind of computer game - as long as the war is not in their homes.
"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right!" Salvor Hardin

Solo

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Re: Evolution... embrace it? teach it? laugh at it?
« Reply #3 on: Sat, Aug 13, 2005, 05:58 »

An interesting thought, the "pow-wow" once we've exhausted the world's resources, but there are a lot of things that you've overlooked.  President Bush knew that there was a threat of terrorism, prior to September 11th.  I wouldn't be surprised if he allowed it to happen, so he could launch his war.  He supported his actions assuring the world Iraq had nuclear weapons, but none have been found.  I have no doubt as resources become more and more scarce, the United States of America will find a reason to involve themselves in the lives of whomever has the monopoly on any whatever it is that America needs. 

My whole REAL issue with this is...  I've over it.  I just want to get to Australia and be alive, possibly find some ease to life, then wait for a nation to realize this planet is nutty and they legalize euthanasia, just as I construct a bomb to destroy the planet.   ;)  In my fantasy, my life (and everyone else's) gets to end on an ironic note.   :D
Solo, the one and only.

"I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart."-- Anne Frank (1929-45), German Jewish refugee, diarist, captured and sent to concentration camp.

Mogul

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Re: Evolution... embrace it? teach it? laugh at it?
« Reply #2 on: Sat, Aug 13, 2005, 04:15 »

Hm, you may ask questions, honey... I'm a rather poor solicitor for any psychologic problems, as I'm a typical representant of people devoted to natural sciences. Just one of those kids who can exactly explain you the molecular mechanisms of that lung cancer your pipe-smoking grandmother is suffering from, but absolutely helpless when she actually dies and you cannot stop crying.  :( Therefore I will keep only on natural science, OK?

As far as the evolution is concerned, the newer research is mostly dealing with population genetics. All the staff we have learned from Darwin is true, but it works statistically. This means, a specific gene may not necessarily bring some direct advantage or disadvantage to the specific individual. At the end, an especially usefull gene can be found more often in a population until majority (not all!) of individuals have it. But most of our genes have no special purpose, they are not especially good or bad for the individual or the population. Indeed, most of our DNA is trash, an absolutely useless ballast, deactivated by molekular locks, just like the mass of an old computer programm code, modified over and over again for the last 25 years.

So I would not put any of our little or big diseases or "disorders" to a podest of an evolutionary achievement... Each of us has his own cross to bear -  be it a predisposition for the Parkinson desease, Alzheimer, cancer, AIDS, epilepsy or shizophrenia, or whatever. We are paticipants in this big experiment called "Life on Earth" and, unfortunately, we are the laboratory rats. There is no escape and no mercy, one just has to go his way through this life with dignity end enjoy the good things one encounters and be gratefull for meeting reasonable fellow creatures. It's true as well, that some people are more sensitive than others and suffer their existence harder than others - without any obvious additional reasons. It's sad but you should not look for any guilt at your place - this is just life.

All this suffering and the cruelties of the life (think on the "nutrition pyramide") strenghten my belief that no sensible "God" can be made responsible for the result of the evolution. It just came this way. Just make small experiment in your aquarium: put some worms, some small fishes and a couple of piranhas together and look 1 h later inside - hmmm, about the same result as we can generally see on this planet. 

However, one cannot deny that initially, religions were very important elements of human civilisatory developement - they taught people what is right and what is wrong, explained the way the world is functioning and provided certain spiritual relief for all the frightened ones. These natural religious vere dynamic - the elders and shamans modified the particular regulations depending on new circumstances, so they still could serve the needs of society. As time went by, new religions emerged and have found tremendous spread with the rise of states and empires - mostly the sword and fire were used as the method of choice for reluctant ones. Now, as we know pretty well, how the world is functioning, the use of religions is overcome and the civilization on this planet should make a step forward - towards new ethics based on knowledge and philosophy. It's too convenient to adopt one's moral and ethics from a single book without thinking, but it requires a little bit more intellectual constraints to develope one's own, funded ethics.

On one point I have to agree to you - our societies, in general, are not sufficiently developed from the social point of view. We learn maths but no psychology; we learn to repair bycicles but not how to deal with emotional problems of our fellow creatures. However, I'm positive on this specific topic in future: once we have burned all the oil, digged all the metalls out and extinguished most of the forests, we will come back to a non-industrial society... Then we'll have nothing else to do but talk... about our priblems!

Regards, and - always look at the bright side of life.

Vicky
« Last Edit: Sat, Aug 13, 2005, 04:37 by Mogul »
"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right!" Salvor Hardin

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Evolution... embrace it? teach it? laugh at it?
« Reply #1 on: Fri, Aug 12, 2005, 01:35 »

As a man living with varying degrees of schizophrenia (it's not as bad as you may think, if you're not aware of the mechanics involved with a person having it), I have a fortunate advantage that most folks do not, so I never view it as a disability or disorder.  It can prove to be difficult, at times, and challenging... but more often than not I find comfort in the unique perspectives it allows me.  For instance, where most people stop drawing associations to ideas that can be tied together through commonality, I go a bit further with these connections.  Now, as an atheist that believes firmly in evolution, I have to wonder...  Is Schizophrenia, and many other psychological and neurological disorders/challenges an evolutionary result from...  religion?

If you frequently invest a significant portion of your life into prayer, which is essentially talking to yourself...  a fabricated persona...  are you laying the foundatoin for evolutionary structuring and direction that may be resulting in forms of mental impediments/advancements?  I'm quite bright.  Smarter than most, as are my siblings.  An advantage I've attributed to my parents - as a result of hybridization.  My parents are from geographically-opposite points on this planet, but they are by no means of the same caliber of intelligence as displayed in their offspring.  What is the con to this pro?  We, three, are total nut jobs.  I am a total freak of nature, with which I've never had a serious problem, but my siblings' mental states concern me. 

My sister is a basket case at family fucntions and will just start to cry without apparent reason.  It's not common; not that I wish for her to be "normal" because I love her just the way she is, but I can't help but think that perhaps whatever gene-mutation/gene-progression that I evaded the brunt of which allowed this trait to remain dormant or even recessive within me has asserted itself with this sibling.  For example, I'm quite perceptive in character assessment and I have my degree in Abnormal Psychology (a poor choice in my attempt to better understand myself).  She has a degree in medicine, but her proven natural ability in racial profiling (aiding the San Francisco Police Department) and insight to criminology (contributing to the American Society of Criminology's efforts at their request)  is impressive, to say the least.  My pride for my sister is exactly what fuels my agony for her and her insight. 

I suspect when she's around the family, she knows the pains they all suppress - as it is a cultural practice to grin and bear it.  She knows them all, their insecurities, the excessive joking and jabs that hurt (and my family is spiteful), for which all indications are covered up.  Being a big girl at the mercy of a bunch of $#!t talking, fat, old Samoan cows and heifers with plenty of comments about her faggot brother, I'm sure, along with commentaries on the rest of the family probably played a part in her relocation to Colorado.  She wanted to get away from everyone, where she could wear big coats and cool weather apparel to "cover up" and what is sad is, she's not fat.  She just thinks she is, as many in my family are quite athletic having very fit bodies and she's spent her life being compared to my cousins.  Beautiful they may be, they are nothing and have accomplished nothing when put into proper context.  And then...  Sometimes, I think it's just me - the reason for her tears.

Asked, time and time again, for what reason is she crying... and she just shakes her head and simply won't answer.  She always recovers after I leave and I can't help but to wonder if it's me.  For someone who is *SO* aware of her environment and the people all around her, she just can't seem to figure out how to insulate herself from these episodes.  And though I know it is nothing I am doing intently, I cannot help but to think my presence is a major factor in her sadness.  Speculation also leads me back to this conclusion. 

So...  I ask you:  Evolution.  Do you embrace it?  Allow your children to learn it?  Laugh at it?  Continue to pursue silly, self-defeating, primitive practices that seem to be leading us on a course of self-destruction?  Check out my past posts, people.  You know where I stand on this topic.  It takes no effort to be as kind and genuinely compassionate as I am...  but for as kind, good and loving as I am, I am as equally evil, malevolent and violent.  You see?  This is a tip of my iceberg, in my ocean, in my world.  Varying degrees (aforementioned), remember?  Schizotypal.  And I've shifted into my seventh distinct... state of mind, in this post. 

I'd appreciate it if criticisms for this particular post were not too scathing, as I've really opened up and revealed a deeply personal part of myself in the hopes that just one of you will grasp this concept and the consequences of what President Bush is proposing.  Until more studies can be conducted to conclusively validate (or even give a hint of validity to) this theory of mine, I'm hoping to find it has been theorized by someone else before me, SOMEWHERE on the internet.  No such luck, as of yet... 

Solo, the one and only.

"I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart."-- Anne Frank (1929-45), German Jewish refugee, diarist, captured and sent to concentration camp.
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