Thread: Won't get fooled again?

I'm always interested in what our new age culture has thrown up.
So there was a time when I believed that aliens must exist only to be talked out of it, by James Lovelock and others.
Then I read The Mirage Men and it became quite clear that it suits the military for us to believe in this stuff.

Same applies to god I suppose. At school I could not even question his existence.
If I can find no evidence for god it doesn't mean he doesn't exist, yet it's frustrating that I just can't prove it.

Browsing in a 2nd hand bookshop I found 'The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari." about a disillusioned lawyer who shaved his head and went to India and Tibet.
After a few pages there was a feeling of being there before.
Shambhala (Shangri-la) had become Sivana where both are populated by sages who had found wisdom and the secret of eternal youth.
Can this place be pinpointed? Of course not. It would become like a commercialised spa town.

Looking for any similar experiences please.

Originally Posted by ox

Looking for any similar experiences please.

Was born and raised catholic and was forced to attend church every sunday, and the other stuff. Couldn't get out of it. When I turned 13, was allowed to go by myself, and immediately went to a friend's house where we played games, instead of eating the body of christ.

He had some great books on astronomy, with pictures of many galaxies. These books said our galaxy has billions of stars, and the other galaxies did too. And that there were billions of galaxies.

When I started to look at the pictures, the thought of someone creating and controlling all this came to mind from the sermons, and I immediately discarded such notions as impossible.

It was a true revelation to me that the Universe was so large and filled with all those galaxies, and that no god could have devised it all. Just not possible. The Universe seemed bigger than anything but itself.

Just a short story on one conversion to atheism. Perhaps not what you were looking for, but it was a profound experience for me.

Originally Posted by Double Helix

Was born and raised catholic and was forced to attend church every sunday, and the other stuff. Couldn't get out of it. When I turned 13, was allowed to go by myself, and immediately went to a friend's house where we played games, instead of eating the body of christ.

Proof that our behaviour and psychology might be controlled from a very early age.
It changes according to the times. At school I was told that we all needed to fear god. Nothing like today where to get bums on seats we are told all about god's love for us.
If the bread and wine was actually turned into body and blood then all Catholics are cannibals.

He had some great books on astronomy, with pictures of many galaxies. These books said our galaxy has billions of stars, and the other galaxies did too. And that there were billions of galaxies.

God must have had his work cut out as 2 trillion galaxies is the latest estimate. To create something so complex, god must be even more complex.
Is the whole universe quantum entangled? Probably.
'God is quantum entanglement! shouts the preacher. 'It proves that god is everywhere!'
But hold on. We now suspect that our own galaxy is made of many smaller ones, and we are on a collision course with a bigger galaxy also made of smaller ones.
Why would god not just merge them from the beginning?

Originally Posted by ox

At school I was told that we all needed to fear god.

This is still the mantra from the bible thumpers - fear of god. It is clearly contradictory - the children of a loving god should have no fear if faithful, only if they don't believe in him. But it is only one of many contradictions in all those christian beliefs.

Originally Posted by ox

We now suspect that our own galaxy is made of many smaller ones, and we are on a collision course with a bigger galaxy also made of smaller ones.
Why would god not just merge them from the beginning?

Once again we must quote from the ultimate dodge : "The lord works in mysterious ways."

Happily, science is determining that those ways are not so mysterious, but difficult to determine. Only evolution could produce a brain which both invents gods, and then provides the intelligence to deny them.

Originally Posted by Double Helix

The lord works in mysterious ways."

But there are things that only god knows!

Why do humans love mythology when they know it's never true.
We all need our heroes.

There are also myths about myths.
Like did the Axial ages ever exist?
Do we need to adjust history to suit the present?

What will the post new age look like?
I feel sure, sadly it will still be based on mythology.







Did

Originally Posted by ox

What will the post new age look like?

It will depend entirely on the survival of any creatures that have visual organs required to look at it.

There is no guarantee, based on the ongoing mass extinction, that will with occur.

It may be that any post new age will require millions of years of evolution for the reappearance of such advanced organisms, making it a post-post-post etc. new age.

Only time will tell..........

Will the cyborgs be fooled like we've been?

https://futurism.com/six-of-todays-m...l-life-cyborgs

Originally Posted by ox

Will the cyborgs be fooled like we've been?

https://futurism.com/six-of-todays-m...l-life-cyborgs

It certainly seems that cyborgs of some form are in our future. And it could be an amazing one. While the advantages for prosthetics is highly desirable, augmentation of human capacities has enormous potential.

But there is also extreme risk of dependence on a technology that may become difficult to functionally maintain, for whatever reason. And complex tech like this is very costly.

Or an even bigger risk in the potential loss of humans as a " singularity" of ourselves. We would begin to take part in a collective of two, and there are more levels to move to if you become two.

Worst of all is the escape of a master machine which rules us all from a network we are all plugged into.

You have opened yet another can of worms on this one :


"Artificial intelligence: ‘We’re like children playing with a bomb’"

* https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...igence-machine

Originally Posted by Double Helix

"Artificial intelligence: ‘We’re like children playing with a bomb’"

* https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...igence-machine

Seems quite an article. We need to defeat climate change and the rise of the machines.
Machines will be resistant to climate change.

Originally Posted by ox

We need to defeat climate change and the rise of the machines.
Machines will be resistant to climate change.

Despite their use by humans, it is the machines which are driving climate change.

Seems rather suspicious. Could it be the machines are already at war with humans, and this is their way of dominating a world they can exist in, without all the requirements of biological systems.

Looks grim.