Blinky2004

I completely agree Raven.
Good points. [righton]

Raven

Reality..... \:]

Nothing gives "reality" meaning like being a parent.... it changes one's perspective on a lot of things, it is truly mind expanding...a real wake up call.


Look into any child's eyes and you will find "reality," and a purpose for existence. B7


Science can do good things...but some caution with it is also wise, imo = what about genetic engineering of food crops to create sterile grains? Weather manipulation? Pollution/ global warming? Deforestation? Increasing pesticide/chemicals uses finding its way into our food? The politics and big $$ greed that in part drives it?

I'm afraid just ignoring it all or saying it's an illusion/or a different reality of some sort, isn't going to help us or our kids deal with it.

This is our experience "here," we are stuck with it, so we can choose to act on it or not, or stick our heads in the sand.....but you can't escape the fact these situations exist...

So what should we do? Do we need more technology to bail ourselves out with? How about a time machine to erase history? Perhaps we could just start over then..... [innocent]

Just my musings for the evening....

Bacardi

Ever read John Brunner's "The sheep look up" ?
A most interesting book indeed.

When poor Pandora's vase was opened out of curiosity, hope was also found inside.
A daily dose of negativity, psychologically adjusted for maximal effect, is given to everybody so that we even more become part of a consuming mass without hope and dreams, following the leader down well-throdden corridors into the valley of steel.

Well, you know best what you really stand for in the face of danger.
Let's live dangerously and follow our own hearts and dreams.

Raven: imo, it's not being a parent that gives the sense of reality, but the fact that, amongst others when being a parent, we open up and see that life is more that my life alone. (to see a world in a grain of sand, remember?)

Blinky2004

Thanks for the book suggestion Erik. Sounds interesting. [honesty]

Hey, i've been thinking that since the 70s. [bustagut] We wish!

Raven

I am familiar with Brunner's book -- I'm familiar with a few things at the age of 48. I've been concerned about all of this here since I really became aware of the processes going on at around the age of 9 or 10 years of age when it really started to sink in. I've struggled with all those issues these years, and more as a parent also (my son is now 25 years old), and yes, I do see that life is more than my life alone.

Are you a parent Erik? Thinking you know about it is not the same as living it.

Hope is a nice thing to keep alive, and I've always got plenty of hope. I'm not trying to kill off hope and dreams by suggesting caution with new technology, or the encouragement that people wake up and take notice of what's going on. There's more than plenty of denial going on, however, and those more than willing to assist in keeping our heads in the sand....but we can do more than just hope for things to get better. We can be involved and take action.

P.S. I will add that I also don't look at Brunner's writings as evidence that we are just locked into a never ending cycle of repeated stupidity with no hope of ever changing or advancing beyond the pattern...the "so why bother" philosophy. I realize some just look at such writing as prophesy, so then that becomes a self-fulfilling one for them, but if you subscribe to those views then you really have no hope of changing anything. Those just aren't my views. You can believe the things you do are all preplanned and you have no free will, that it's all an illusion -- or you can have the courage to think differently.