Two Topics

[WeedIsFree]

So first, I was thinking perception of life is a bit weird. For years I just thought of animals as animals, plants as plants, so on and so on. Not that I didn't like or care about those things but in my mind they were totally different to humans. I now consider these things on an equal playing field as such based on the following thought, what if every living thing has the same 'life source', by this I mean, you and I were born human and gradually learnt how to control and use our body and mind, if we were born a cat say, you would essentially still be you but you would only have the mind capacity and body abilities of a cat. Does that make sense? to make it simpler, it's like prior to this life we are all the same and for some reason we choose or are made to pick a 'vehicle' for whatever reason, so I've got a human 'car, my cat is a 'car' for someone else, but the driver's are the same. Bit weird I know but I was imagining what it's like to be a cat and that occured to me.

Secondly, I'm sick and tired of hearing end time predictions for a few reason's. Firstly it's a pretty egotistical idea to think that Earth is grand central of the universe and human's are the star of the show, half of these theories say 'end time's, biblical prohecies etc fucking etc' when ironically it would be just that,the end of the 'world', the end of this planet still leaves billions of other planets out there so I'm not too gutted. Also unless the whole planet blows up it's not the end of the wolrd in my eye's, there's still something left and give it a few million years and something will be knocking about again. Just wish they'd find a more positive way of looking at things, seem's madness to try predict your own kind's death when most of them say it's inevitable, I'd rather not know and just live life to the full until the last minute.

Oh well, that's life

[Boojum]

So first, I was thinking perception of life is a bit weird. For years I just thought of animals as animals, plants as plants, so on and so on. Not that I didn't like or care about those things but in my mind they were totally different to humans. I now consider these things on an equal playing field

Sorry for just focussing on this bit, but I think it's a pretty big thing in itself. Some view it as having its roots in religion - the perception that humans are different from the rest of the natural world because a deity created us as separate, to be masters of all nature. But it's not just a religious view, even non-religious people can perceive the world in that way, using evolution instead of creation - the perception that we are the 'most evolved' and thus the pinnacle of life - that the whole of evolution happened merely to create us. That is, of course, a nonsense - we are not the end of evolution, we are just another step in the unending dance of the genes, evolution is still happening and while there is life it will continue to happen. We are no more important than any other part of the complex web that is evolution, and we are only here because of a series of events, any of which had they happened slightly differently would have resulted in us never coming down from the trees, or our extinction at a very early point in our development as a species separate from the apes - we are the product of dumb luck, nothing more, and if more people realised that perhaps we wouldn't treat the rest of nature in the way we do.

[Arnold Layne]

Top post Boojum, as ever!

[WeedIsFree]

So first, I was thinking perception of life is a bit weird. For years I just thought of animals as animals, plants as plants, so on and so on. Not that I didn't like or care about those things but in my mind they were totally different to humans. I now consider these things on an equal playing field

Sorry for just focussing on this bit, but I think it's a pretty big thing in itself. Some view it as having its roots in religion - the perception that humans are different from the rest of the natural world because a deity created us as separate, to be masters of all nature. But it's not just a religious view, even non-religious people can perceive the world in that way, using evolution instead of creation - the perception that we are the 'most evolved' and thus the pinnacle of life - that the whole of evolution happened merely to create us. That is, of course, a nonsense - we are not the end of evolution, we are just another step in the unending dance of the genes, evolution is still happening and while there is life it will continue to happen. We are no more important than any other part of the complex web that is evolution, and we are only here because of a series of events, any of which had they happened slightly differently would have resulted in us never coming down from the trees, or our extinction at a very early point in our development as a species separate from the apes - we are the product of dumb luck, nothing more, and if more people realised that perhaps we wouldn't treat the rest of nature in the way we do.

Totally agree there, that's like dolphins and whales ( I think) actually have a more complex language than any human language. Not saying having the most complex language makes them the most intelligent, but then again?

Looking for the link, ignore the 'alien' headline(it actually says non-human intellgence in the article, nothing to do with aliens)

I liked this 'They may serve as an indication that high intelligence is not always, or even often, accompanied by a significant level of technology

www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/D/dolphins.html

[WeedIsFree]

Just had to say about the old judgement day shite, why would one generation have to witness that because of what happened with other people? Just seem's to me if there is a SUPREME being it would be a bit odd if it was a thick bugger who liked planning a game of 'Risk' out and sat watching the calamity. But other's are entitled to their beliefs, just find it really annoying when something that should essentially be the most important subject anywhere (what the fuck are we doing here?) is approached with as much logic as the mighty boosh. If anything I reckon the Bible and the whole 'Revelation' thing are more likely to be a personal experience that everyone has at some point in their life, everyone is gonna die anyway, they'll be 'judged' there and then. So why have one day set aside for obliteration of a few billion people?

[Hostile]

So first, I was thinking perception of life is a bit weird. For years I just thought of animals as animals, plants as plants, so on and so on. Not that I didn't like or care about those things but in my mind they were totally different to humans. I now consider these things on an equal playing field as such based on the following thought, what if every living thing has the same 'life source', by this I mean, you and I were born human and gradually learnt how to control and use our body and mind, if we were born a cat say, you would essentially still be you but you would only have the mind capacity and body abilities of a cat. Does that make sense? to make it simpler, it's like prior to this life we are all the same and for some reason we choose or are made to pick a 'vehicle' for whatever reason, so I've got a human 'car, my cat is a 'car' for someone else, but the driver's are the same. Bit weird I know but I was imagining what it's like to be a cat and that occured to me.

Something tells me this wasn't a sober brain-wave... no offence, I just think it's normally a certain type of person who finds themselves thinking "man, I wonder what it's like to be a cat?"...

The idea of you and me consciously choosing the human vehicle relies on the concept of permanent consciousness, which I think is romantic but very difficult to theorise around, since the human brain can't conceive it's way beyond the horizon of death. There's really no rational reason to assume that consciousness is anything more than what happens when a human brain develops in a womb and starts to fire up, a process which ends when the brain dies, sort of like sunrise and sunset... I've heard some people say that consciousness is permanent because energy is permanent (or at least we can't create or destroy it), but I'd say that energy most certainly can be allowed to dissipate, and once energy dissipates out of the human brain there's no reason to assume that the essence of consciousness continues in any form.

Then again Bill Hicks said consciousness was infinite and he did LSD so what the fuck do I know... ultimately death is a horizon and for all we know there could be anything from dragons to giant turtles to a broadway production of Cats! waiting for us.

I'm with you on the end times thing: people say that the earth will die if we continue to abuse it, but that's nonsense since the earth is just rock, the clue's in the name. Organic life will die, but that's only our environment. The earth will be fine and dandy until another planet collides with it. So yeah I'm totally down with not knowing whether or not Yellowstone is going to blow up and fill the entire atmosphere with toxic fumes, exterminating all life outside the ocean. I kinda just want to have fun and hope for the best.

... reading back all that, I'm thinking perhaps alcohol isn't conducive to the philosophising process.