Jul 14, 2008

Let's get started...there's a long way to go


Everyone wants to feel revolutionary. We all want to feel like we are someone important, or part of something important. Politicians and preachers often say things like "Now, more than ever..." to make it sound like some new movement is taking place and they are the messiah that will carry us through it all. History does repeat itself, but it also unfolds in new ways and I think we can honestly say that there are choices for the human race to make today that will have an impact on our survival and progress. The technology and communications revolution has opened another evolutionary Pandora's Box and we have to take a long, hard look at ourselves to make sure it's all moving in the right direction.
The industrial revolution did wonders for comforts and all, but it also has created problems in the educational system that are not being addressed. Math and sciences were important during the Cold War and "space race," but now that we have achieved incredible exponential growth in the tools at our disposal, we don't know what to do with it. Several countries have the capability of manufacturing chemical and atomic weapons powerful enough to start an apocalyptic chain of events. The internet is creating bridges between virtually everyone and any idea. Almost anything is possible now, after two centuries of asking "how can we..." The problems we face today come from the fact that we don't ask what should we do and why.

In a way that resembles great works like Frankenstein and Jurrassic Park, the nations that have grown into world powers through technology and wealth are now creating monsters within themselves and others. Too much effort has been invested in creating the beast, and almost no consideration has gone into the ramifications. The only way to "fight the man" today is to become an educated, rational individual. Democracy only works when the participants are individuals, not members of a radical political or religious ideology.

My goal is to make some sense of all this propoganda flying around and I encourage you to read along. If I'm not sophisticated, logical, or even religiously skewed enough for you, there are plenty of middle-aged men out there who devote their lives to this stuff. What I do is watch and read what these old guys are saying and doing, and make objective observations. We don't need to follow people who grew up in a different world, who are set in their ways, to lead the way...


...What are you looking at?

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