7 reasons why Humanity will go extinct: #1.
SEVEN Reasons why Humanity will likely become extinct. #1 is Minds capacity for imagination.
1. Human imagination.
In examining almost any human, national or global problem today and then listening to the proposed solutions from various political viewpoints any thoughtful person will quickly acknowledge a most troubling human truth/reality.
Our most unique and useful skill as human beings is also our most destructive. It is our brains genetically endowed capacity to believe anything.
“Humans are capable of a unique trick, creating realities by first imagining them, by experiencing them in their minds. …As soon as we sense the possibility of a more desirable world, we begin behaving differently, as though that world is starting to come into existence, as though, in our mind’s eye, we are already there. The dream becomes an invisible force which pulls us forward. By this process it begins to come true. The act of imagining somehow makes it real… And what is possible in art becomes thinkable in life”. Brian Eno
But, this mind enabled power to change things also allows humans to imagine possibilities that never were or never can be a reality. It is within this unique mental capacity of all humans that humanity’s survival on this plant is now most endangered or most enabled to overcome the threats we inherent share living in this thin and fragile biosphere covering our tiny and remote planet we call earth.
"I know that most men -- not only those considered clever, but even those who are very clever and capable of understanding most difficult scientific, mathematical, or philosophic, problems -- can seldom discern even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as obliges them to admit the falsity of conclusions they have formed, perhaps with much difficulty -- conclusions of which they are proud, which they have taught to others, and on which they have built their lives."
-- Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoi (1828-1910) Russian writer, philosopher and social activist. Source: What is Art? (1896).
One of the most positive powerful uses of this innate human talent was exhibited by the Founding Fathers of the United States of America over 200 years ago. Their work was not perfect but they used their education, logic, experience and imaging capacity in bringing forth a nation dedicated to certain universal principles. The imagined the unity of individual states that would be most empowered for expressing and sustaining the idea that all people are created equal and endowed by their creator with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. To this day most Americans are still willing to “pledge allegiance ” to a government “with liberty and justice for all”.
At this time in human history our greatest weakness as a nation is our inability to imagine this very ideal translated to the global level in the form of a world federation government with democratically made and enforced laws, applied equally to all, and protective of a certain set of inalienable human rights (see Universal Declaration of Human Rights).
The most convincing rational for the creation of such a wise global vision and unifying democratic international institution can be found in reading the original ‘The Federalist Papers’ within this context.
From any comprehensive look at the destructive forces all people and all nations face, from war, terrorism, genocide, WMD, pandemics, climate change, crime or economic instability it becomes unmistakably clear that the only means of maximizing both our freedom and our security, is accepting our global interdependence and creating a federal government that enables us to effectively reduce or prevent such threats and to more effectively deal with those threats that we cannot prevent.
EXAMPLES: If one still doubts the human brains capacity to believe anything, the following examples should persuade them.
Not long after the mass murder of Americans on September 11, 2001 a survey of Muslims in the middle east indicated that nearly 70% believed that Israel played some role in planning and execution of that infamous murderous ‘airliner turned WMD’ attack.
Then, within two years a survey of U.S. citizens indicated that over 70% of Americans believed Saddam Hussein had something to do with the planning and execution of that same attack. Even today it is far to easy to find thoughtful intelligent people from a wide political spectrum who believe 9-11 was a ‘false fag’ attack, planned and/or allowed by the Bush Administration. As any politically astute person will acknowledge there is no shortage of conspiracy theories wherever you find ‘thoughtful’ people.
Understanding the threat of terrorism and particularly the growing threat of biological WMD is essential to protecting our freedoms, our national security, our prosperity and even our collective civilization or human existence. Ignorance and false beliefs regarding biological weapons capacities are rampant on all sides of the political spectrum.
In January 2005, former heart surgeon and US Senate Majority leader Bill Frist told an audience at the World Economic Forum,"The greatest existential threat we have in the world today is biological." Then Heather Wokusch, author of The Progressives' Handbook writes “What nonsense.” Then quotes what Milton Leitenberg, senior research scholar at the University of Maryland, observed in a February 2006 Los Angeles Times article, "Is bioterrorism a greater existential threat than global climate change, global poverty levels, wars and conflicts, nuclear proliferation, ocean-quality deterioration, deforestation, desertification, depletion of freshwater aquifiers or the balancing of population growth and food production? Is it likely to kill more people than the more mundane scourges of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, measles and cholera, which kill more than 11 million people each year?”
It sounds entirely unlikely that neither Ms. Wokusch or Mr. Leitenberg, understand the capacity of weaponized smallpox that was genetically engineered by the Soviets to kill over 90% of those infected. Nuture’s version of smallpox is only about three of every hundred people it infects yet had the capacity to kill more people in the last century than all the wars, revolutions, murders and genocides combined.
2 through 7 will soon follow.
1. Human imagination.
In examining almost any human, national or global problem today and then listening to the proposed solutions from various political viewpoints any thoughtful person will quickly acknowledge a most troubling human truth/reality.
Our most unique and useful skill as human beings is also our most destructive. It is our brains genetically endowed capacity to believe anything.
“Humans are capable of a unique trick, creating realities by first imagining them, by experiencing them in their minds. …As soon as we sense the possibility of a more desirable world, we begin behaving differently, as though that world is starting to come into existence, as though, in our mind’s eye, we are already there. The dream becomes an invisible force which pulls us forward. By this process it begins to come true. The act of imagining somehow makes it real… And what is possible in art becomes thinkable in life”. Brian Eno
But, this mind enabled power to change things also allows humans to imagine possibilities that never were or never can be a reality. It is within this unique mental capacity of all humans that humanity’s survival on this plant is now most endangered or most enabled to overcome the threats we inherent share living in this thin and fragile biosphere covering our tiny and remote planet we call earth.
"I know that most men -- not only those considered clever, but even those who are very clever and capable of understanding most difficult scientific, mathematical, or philosophic, problems -- can seldom discern even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as obliges them to admit the falsity of conclusions they have formed, perhaps with much difficulty -- conclusions of which they are proud, which they have taught to others, and on which they have built their lives."
-- Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoi (1828-1910) Russian writer, philosopher and social activist. Source: What is Art? (1896).
One of the most positive powerful uses of this innate human talent was exhibited by the Founding Fathers of the United States of America over 200 years ago. Their work was not perfect but they used their education, logic, experience and imaging capacity in bringing forth a nation dedicated to certain universal principles. The imagined the unity of individual states that would be most empowered for expressing and sustaining the idea that all people are created equal and endowed by their creator with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. To this day most Americans are still willing to “pledge allegiance ” to a government “with liberty and justice for all”.
At this time in human history our greatest weakness as a nation is our inability to imagine this very ideal translated to the global level in the form of a world federation government with democratically made and enforced laws, applied equally to all, and protective of a certain set of inalienable human rights (see Universal Declaration of Human Rights).
The most convincing rational for the creation of such a wise global vision and unifying democratic international institution can be found in reading the original ‘The Federalist Papers’ within this context.
From any comprehensive look at the destructive forces all people and all nations face, from war, terrorism, genocide, WMD, pandemics, climate change, crime or economic instability it becomes unmistakably clear that the only means of maximizing both our freedom and our security, is accepting our global interdependence and creating a federal government that enables us to effectively reduce or prevent such threats and to more effectively deal with those threats that we cannot prevent.
EXAMPLES: If one still doubts the human brains capacity to believe anything, the following examples should persuade them.
Not long after the mass murder of Americans on September 11, 2001 a survey of Muslims in the middle east indicated that nearly 70% believed that Israel played some role in planning and execution of that infamous murderous ‘airliner turned WMD’ attack.
Then, within two years a survey of U.S. citizens indicated that over 70% of Americans believed Saddam Hussein had something to do with the planning and execution of that same attack. Even today it is far to easy to find thoughtful intelligent people from a wide political spectrum who believe 9-11 was a ‘false fag’ attack, planned and/or allowed by the Bush Administration. As any politically astute person will acknowledge there is no shortage of conspiracy theories wherever you find ‘thoughtful’ people.
Understanding the threat of terrorism and particularly the growing threat of biological WMD is essential to protecting our freedoms, our national security, our prosperity and even our collective civilization or human existence. Ignorance and false beliefs regarding biological weapons capacities are rampant on all sides of the political spectrum.
In January 2005, former heart surgeon and US Senate Majority leader Bill Frist told an audience at the World Economic Forum,"The greatest existential threat we have in the world today is biological." Then Heather Wokusch, author of The Progressives' Handbook writes “What nonsense.” Then quotes what Milton Leitenberg, senior research scholar at the University of Maryland, observed in a February 2006 Los Angeles Times article, "Is bioterrorism a greater existential threat than global climate change, global poverty levels, wars and conflicts, nuclear proliferation, ocean-quality deterioration, deforestation, desertification, depletion of freshwater aquifiers or the balancing of population growth and food production? Is it likely to kill more people than the more mundane scourges of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, measles and cholera, which kill more than 11 million people each year?”
It sounds entirely unlikely that neither Ms. Wokusch or Mr. Leitenberg, understand the capacity of weaponized smallpox that was genetically engineered by the Soviets to kill over 90% of those infected. Nuture’s version of smallpox is only about three of every hundred people it infects yet had the capacity to kill more people in the last century than all the wars, revolutions, murders and genocides combined.
2 through 7 will soon follow.
posted by Chuck Woolery at 4:58 PM
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