being-human

I have long thought that our view of the "soul" is seriously flawed.
If there is a soul, then what is it ?
Many people say its the subconscious, and many people use this to say
that we are different from animals.
Actually, first, let me address this point, we are different from animalsin a couple of ways.
The most obvious to me, is that we are tool makers
(not just tool users, other animals use tools).
Next, we are the only animals that can visualize a different reality.
Now, i picked my words carefully here, because, well, any other way to say it can be mis-interpreted.

Visualizing a different reality
This can mean dreaming, but really, its unclear as to what animals dream,
and i think they do dream, my dog often appears to have nightmares!
I could also have said we are the only animals to "Mock Ourselves"
But, animals often do this as well.
Animals do not bury their dead, nor do they eat with spoons, so there are some that i could have included, but seem to be pointless, and are just part of a larger point.

Lets look at the 2 examples above.
Eating with spoons...
This is part of the mechanics of having 2 hands free (sine we walk upright) and also having an opposable thumb. But it also has to do with culture, and a societal structure.
Apes DO have societies, though they dont eat with spoons, listen to Chaupin, or drive cars,
they do have emotion, and society.
To me, there is no inherent difference here, only a matter of degree.
Burying the dead.
Now this one is a bit different. It means that we think there may be an afterlife.
There is actually the possibility that it came from habit of not wanting other animals to eat the carcass, then it just worked its way into culture from there. But even then, there is still the question of afterlife.
Or is there ?
We cant actually ask a dog if he thinks about afterlife, but if we could i would think that they do not.
The reason for this is that thier brains are not developed as ours.
Again, to me, this is just a matter of degree, no real inherent difference.

Now we know that there is a part of the brain that developed because man started walking upright, that would not have developed otherwise.
(i think the cortex?)
Anyway, walking upright gave us advantages of radiating heat (to cool us off)
The brain got bigger, and the center of the brain started being used.

Now, interestingly, the brain is the only part of the body that does not regenerate itself.
All other organs cells do.
This brings me back to my original point that we are not the
"SAME persons that we were many years ago.
Not only do we learn, and gather experience, and make more connections in the brains tissue, but our actual cells are not the ones we were born with.
SO , in looking at a SOUL, we have to ask is this really our subconscious ?
Do we have a SOUL when we are babies ?
How about when we are in prenatal development ?
When the cells are still dividing ? When it is just one cell ?

SO, even though there may be hierarchical differences between man and ape,
like Visualizing a different reality, i still believe that the only differences between man and ape are that of degrees

the colors of the flag

With all the talk about Obama, his reverend and race,
i have to give my opinion as a white liberal from the South
(New Orleans)

While a lot of new commentators (OK if you actually call Bill O'Rielly NEWS?)...
While some of these people are not ouright racist, and are carefull what they say,
they have absolutely no IDEA of how big the problem, is, or even what it is.

Here in the big easy, i work with all kings of people on a regular basis,
and have had friends of all backgrounds.
I think that is a bit more common here than it is up north.

What REALLY gets my goat is that Barak Obama gave one of the most inspirational
and important speaches about race in our time,
and not only has it not been recognised as such, but it is being uncriticized
and most of the media has totally missed the point.

What the problem is, is that its OK to hear, but until it actually comes down to actually DOING something, people WONT.
It takes work, and tolerance,
It doesnt take that much, but you have to put one foot in front of the other
to actually take a step in the right direction.

As Obama said, blacks and whites both have some reasons to be angry,
and to have an honest discussion, we must realize this.

Whites think that blacks have too many babies and take advantage of social security,
are lazy, etc... etc...

Blacks think that whites own and run everything, and dont give them a chance
to move up. This includes schools, jobs etc...

It takes work and understanding to realize this and be sympathetic to the other side.

Looking at most of the news commentary, we see NONE of this understanding,
all we see is more division. Many are totally missing the point, and if we dont get it soon,
it will lead to the downfall of this country.

The world is getting much smaller.
With technology and communications, the borders between races are getting smaller,
we are coming closer whether we like it or not.
We HAVE to learn to work together, or we will be at eah others throats.

Such is the case with this administration.
THis admin adding to that, people like Bill Orielly, and other rioght wing commentators are driving a knive between the races and cultures.
The Christian right has all but called every arab an Islamic radical
Al-Qaeda sympathizer.







I think the media has totally overblown the "Obama reverend" story.

Gas to $10 a gallon ?

Gas prices $10 ?

Every time I talk about this, I get the same response,
they (OPEC) would not do it.

But lets look closely at this...
If GAS increases to $10 a gallon, sure OPEC would not sell as much oil,
but they wont have to at that price.
What if they sell %40 of what they were ?
They are still making money overall.

With a reduction in output, there is less they have to...
produce, refine, and ship.
They are still making a huge profit.
They will still have oil to sell in the future.
(when ALL of the oil is used up, they stop making money)


With a reduction in output,
the can only use the wells that produce easy to get, cheap oil.
It then, is much more cost effective for them.

Think about it,
if you had 100 widgets, and you had already sold 60 of them,
and they were in high demand, how much would you raise the price ?


FACT: Saudi Arabia has a large % of world oil.

FACT: A new US President will be elected soon.

FACT: The new Pres will most likely do something to
make the US less dependent on foreign oil.

FACT: The Saudi's and other oil rich countries
are watching this unfold VERY closely.


If YOU were Saudi Arabia, would you WAIT until alternative energies
are being produced by your competitors before raising prices ?

Add to this that some oil producing countries like Venezuela and Russia dont like this USA much right now, and woulnt mind seeing world power shift a bit more to their liking.

China and India are both growing fast, especially their need for oil.


What would happen....
Well, right off the bat, about %15 of people in the USA
would be unemployed within a couple of months.
Prices for many goods and food would triple.
(although they would slowly move up over a year or 2)

Within 1 year, about %40 of people in the USA (that have jobs) would loose them.
Government spending would go up, we are using a huge amount of oil and gas
with the war in Iraq, not to mention the rest of the military here and overseas.

It would look very similar to the great depression.
Soup kitchens, no jobs, inflation, etc...
It may in fact be much worse.
With the current population we (the US Gov) couldnt feed that many people,
couldnt get to the suburbs, old people couldnt get medicine,
kids couldnt go to school...
There would be martial law.
The Gov would have to control all the fuel,
so that they had enough for police, military etc...
At some point, a large percent of the populous
would not be able to pay of electric and water services .
Only the rich would be living comfortable.
All HELL would break loose !


Is it possible ?
Instead, lets ask what is stopping them?
There is no real need to keep oil over $100 a barrel now,
but it is. Oil companies can do just fine if they sold it at $85, but they arent.

So is this a test ?
Are the oil companies raising prices just to see how far they can push ?
Even if this isnt the sole reason, believe me, they are looking at EXACTLY how much we
(especially the USA) are curbing our appetite now.

They KNOW that we have no other choice in the short term,
and it wold be many years before we can significantly lower our dependence on oil.
They would see it coming, and are watching that very closely.

We are walking a fine line
This scenario doesnt even have to be malicious.
All that has to happen is 1 or 2 large refineries in Saudi Arabia,
be it terror attacks, or just accidents.
A combination of a hurricane hitting a few wells /refineries in the USA,
and a couple of accidents at the same time in Saudi Arabia could light this fuse.

We NEED to get off oil NOW, we are much to late to do it "without pain".
If we act NOW, we can minimize the damage, but there needs to be a VERY aggressive solution,
and we are already too late to implement it without at least some

Now, we can look at TRENDS, but like i said, if you have 100 widgets,
and 60 of them are already gone, then you may want to re-think not just the price,
but the future of the company.

You may want to raise the price dramatically to get the absolute MOST
out of the 40 widgets you have left.

I know there lots of oil left, but its not ALL oil that we can look at,
its only the oil that can be gotten out of the ground at a reasonable expense.
Much of the reserves are hard to get to, and very costly.

Keep in mind that in the coming years, maybe by 2010
that it will be much more costly to extract oil.

Many projections show oil at $1000 a barrel by 2020
If you saw that coming with your widgets, wouldnt you start acting NOW?

China and India's needs for oil are increasing VERY fast,
and if the US uses less it will benefit them.

The dollar would be worth less which would benefit many countries besides the US

We have PISSED OFF all of the Arab nations which means they wouldn't mind seeing the US go down the tubes either.



============================


Oil consumption and production in China, 1990-2025 (thousand bd)

http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/documentos/226.asp


$1000 a barrel ?











===========



http://wolf.readinglitho.co.uk/mainpages/consumption.html

The results of the oil shocks was worldwide double-figure inflation and a stagnant economy.

The charts below show how the sudden increases in oil prices in the 70s and 80s were reflected by unemployment, inflation and growth in the UK.

C2. Oil Prices	C3. Unemployment (UK)
C4. Inflation (UK)	C5. Growth (UK)

The results of the oil rises to come will be worse since there will be no hope of the resumption of cheap oil.

Future Consumption

The problems of oil consumption in the future revolve around two factors: population and the increasing use from developing countries. A chart of the US Census Bureau’s world population shows that population is expected to increase steadily over the first half of the this century. (What it doesn’t show is any drop in population that might be caused by oil decline – from wars, recessions, famine, etc).

More people means more demands for fuel, energy, plastics and food – all highly dependent on oil. In the ten years from 2002 to 2012, the world population is expected to rise from 6.23 billion to 6.96 billion, an extra 12% to be fed, supplied and energised. Along with population, the other factor is the increasing use of oil in developing countries – countries which, up to now, had been contributing little to consumption. Compare these charts of oil consumption from selected countries and regions.

C6. Consumption (USA and South/Central America) **

C7. Consumption (Europe/Eurasia and UK) **

The first two show the ‘developed’ countries/regions of USA, Europe, UK and South/Central America. Although the consumption is high (as far as the USA and Europe is concerned), the trend is either gentle or actually in reverse (note how the oil shocks of the 70s and 80s are reflected again). The percentage changes from 1965 to 2005 range from 20% for the UK, to 180% for South/Central America with Europe and USA sitting between (see Chart C10). This compares with overall world consumption which grew by 164%.

But when we look at the charts for Pacific Asia and China, we see a very different view. Chart C8 uses the same scale as Chart C6 and Chart C7, and you can see how the whole of Asia Pacific has already surpassed the levels of the USA and Europe and at a much steeper curve (a change since 1965 of 636%. China’s rise seems more gentle because of the scale: if you isolate China and bring the scale down to fit (Chart C9), the frightening rise in that country’s oil consumption is clear. The percentage change over the 40 years is a whopping 3118%.

C8. Consumption (Asia Pacific & China) **

C9. Consumption (China) **

Below (C10) is a chart of those percentage changes and it shows the dramatic difference between the developed and the developing world.

C10. Consumption (Change since 1965) **

C11. Population (China)

The clear omen from this is that oil consumption in Asia is going to increase dramatically in the next few decades and this will outweigh any decrease from Europe and the US. The population of China, even with birth control measures, is still expected to rise. This is the trend. In reality, consumption will slow and decline as oil production decreases and recessions bite, but the exact figures for that are impossible to calculate. What is clear is that, if the world continues as it presently is doing, oil consumption will continue to rise.

This is the worrying chart for oil consumption, a dramatic rise of over seven times (636%) in Asia over the four decades as populations grew and the countries demanded a standard of living closer to the West's. From a 1965 total of 1.19 Gb to 8.74 Gb, from 10.4% of the world's consumption to 29%. China's rise seemed gentler but it actually shows an increase of 3,118%, from 1.7% of the world to 8.5%. The rise is clearer in chart C9.

Source: BP

This chart summarises changes shown in charts C6 to C9. The huge increases in Asia and China over the last four decades are very clear.

http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/commodities/energyprices.html

If milk prices had increased at the same rate as U.S. natural gas prices, a gallon
of milk would cost $11 today.

http://www.checkgasprice.info/

Supply, Demand & Price: The Economics 101 of Peak Oil

the speed of the universe

i just watched a show about dark matter and dark energy
i think dark matter is really gravity
We dont really know what medium gravity uses.
light uses photons that we once thought to be waves, then particles
then both.
I read that at least one guy thinks the universe isnt expanding,
but everything in it is just getting smaller
(no thats not a joke)
I think its entirely possible that the universe is not really expanding,
but that we just think it is, its an illusion.

Think about the speed of anything....
to determine speed, one needs a reference point.
But what if that reference is moving ?
Then the speed can ONLY be used in relation to the reference,
and NOT the rest of the universe.

Since the earth rotates around its axis,
and the earth revolves around the sun
and the sun revolves around the galaxy
and a galaxy cluster.... etc...etc...


So what if all these come together ?
is there an addition of speed ?





Lets say the earth rotates on its axis (clockwise)
near the equator that would be about 1000 mph
I have no idea on how fast the earth revolves around the sun,
or the sun around the galaxy etc...

but lets say we add all of these together....
lets say it comes to just under the speed of light
say, 500mph less
Then we launch a rocket off the earth at 600mph

Are we then really going faster than the speed of light ?


Also, heres my new search tool
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This verifies that GOD does not exist

This verifies that GOD does not exist
at hi5.com

This has become a big thread at HI5
it has a lot to do with evolution, the big bang, religion, and the beginning of life.

Here is the first post...

Everyone could say that god is infinitely love, if something is infinite there is impossible their opposite,We all know that hate is present in the world, So god could not be infinitely love because there is hate. Then god, like infinite "be", does not exists.\

//All who state that the universe came into existence from nothing violate the first law of thermodynamics//

actually, supposedly matter can not be created or destroyed.
BUT, it can.
In very small amounts, in a thermonuclear process
(like the sun, etc...) it can be destroyed.
Some physicists also believe that in the void of space matter can be created in very small quantities.

All this is really besides the point.
Just because we havent found the right formula yet doesnt mean that something isnt real.
Not so very long ago everyone thought the world was flat.

i never accepted the big bang, i have always been a proponent of the steady state theory.
Most physicists think im a crackpot, but some of them are starting to eat their words now.
Recently they found that they made some big mistakes on the "red shift" which is what they used to tell the distance (and age) of stars.

"also, the theory is the big bang came from a singularity, not from nothing.
The singularity is everything in an infinitely small area.
physics as we understand it did not apply."

Brad,
still rise the question who/what puts that everything in this small area?? and then have it exploded into a fantastically running universe, with planets and moons not crashing, exactly running in orbit etc. quite a lot of faith you have to muster up to belief that it just come and out from nowhere, nothing and nobody.

Reply

Posted by Seri

still rise the question who/what puts that everything in this small area?? and then have it exploded into a fantastically running universe, with planets and moons not crashing, exactly running in orbit etc. quite a lot of faith you have to muster up to belief that it just come and out from nowhere, nothing and nobody.
--------

why must someone/something have "put" everything in that area????

Its possible that there was no beginning or end.
That its a never ending loop with no creator.

just because we cant comprehend that concept,
doesnt mean that it has to be discounted.

This is the main flaw in the theory of "GOD".

and i will say ONE MORE TIME hoping that someone gets it this time....

JUST BECAUSE WE DONT UNDERSTAND SOMETHING
DOESNT MEAN IT CANT BE.

Reply

Posted by brad