"@Rachel: Realizing I have only one life to live also encourages me to live a happier and fuller life, as well as invest in a future I know I will not be around to appreciate. It seems only logical to me.
@Dennis: I've always wondered what it…"
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From Humanism to Cosmism
Humanism taken to its logical conclusion leads to a spiritual mankind. As long as humans live within the confines of the Prime Directive the species is just a peculiar ape infested by meme complexes. .
Here's an excerpt from Mirror Reversal that proposes the possibility:
Here's an excerpt from Mirror Reversal that proposes the possibility:
“It took a half a billion years to evolve a primordial bacterium. Another two billion
to evolve a cell with a localized nucleus. A billion more to evolve
complex animals. How long should it take to evolve an omniscient
God? But just as the biosphere is the total of life on our precious
planet, the noosphere is the total knowledge and wisdom -- and
growing exponentially. What an irony of cosmic proportions that
people believe humanity was created in the image of God. But we were
the nascent God all the time.”
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by James Croft on -
One organization which dedicates itself to consideration of the long-term future of the human species is the "Long Now Foundation". Their amazing website is here:
http://longnow.org/ -
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Permalink Reply by Richard Goscicki on -
James, thanks for the info. I've been very medicated on pain killers and haven't been writing very much. I'm facing a dangerous hip surgery, June 18, and I just want to stay high until then.
I'll get back to my militant anti-religion activism as soon as the surgery is over.
Dig this: In 2004 in Mirror Reversal, I wrote, "the government, religion and Big Business are leading humanity into an abyss." Now the Gulf of Mexico is doomed.
Siesta Beach is five minutes from my house.
I'll write some last thoughts before I go in the hospital. When I wrote my book, I wanted to warn humanity about the danger of religion. The despoilment of the Gulf of Mexico shouldn't be happening.
Tethys, the primordial ocean, is the mother of life, not Eve from that stupid book.
Looking forward to getting into Long Now. -
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Permalink Reply by Mike Harvison on -
Humanism taken to its logical conclusion leads to a spiritual mankind.
I am quite interested in this statement. Can you lay out your thinking on this? I agree that it is possible, but would like for you to expound on this subject when you recover.
Thanks and good luck. -
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Permalink Reply by Richard Goscicki on
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Thanks, Mike. The Prime Directive governs all life on the planet. It is what Star Wars calls "the force." In brief, there's nothing miraculous or sublime about it, the PD is self preservation and reproduction as much as possible.
If we look at life in terms of the PD humans are just another animal. We are growing on the planet like bacteria on an apple. There is nothing spiritual about humanity other than intelligence. But if we can control reproduction we'll be the first species to contravene the laws of nature.
Humanism places mankind at the top of the Darwinian tree, our phylogeny. Once people learn that there's nothing higher (no gods, ghosts or spirits) we'll be able to understand our situation and start to live in harmony with nature.
The oil slick in the Gulf shows humans aren't living right, that's for sure. We have to start realizing that we are it; there's nothing higher that's going to save us. The universe is indifferent to what happens here. -
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Permalink Reply by Mike Harvison on
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I guess the spirituality comes in when we drop our contrived 'separateness' from the rest of the universe and realize that we are part of that oil spill and the oil spill is part of us.
To paraphrase @HowardSDunn How can we say the universe is not conscious when we are an integral part of the universe? The universe has risen to consciousness through us. -
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Permalink Reply by Richard Goscicki on
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Right on.
Rich -
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Permalink Reply by Ruth Anthony-Gardner on -
I'd never seen "noosphere" used to mean "the total knowledge and wisdom". If "wisdom" means the total information content of of our civilization, making hate websites and stilettos count, this is a far cry from the woo interpretation of "noosphere" I'd previously encountered. This definition fits inside physics. It's something that I can deal with.
It should be pointed out that we are not in charge of the noosphere since we're coevolving with memes. Memes are part of "wisdom" too.
Thanks for explaining what you mean here by the Prime Directive, since I'm a Trekkie. And if spiritualism means "drop our contrived 'separateness' from the rest of the universe" instead of woo, then I am on board here. -
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