I was lucky ....... Very lucky - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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Pollution, global warming, urbanisation etc.
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#15140024
I am 76 years old. When I was born there were maybe 2 billion humans on the planet. Today? Approaching 7 billion. A topic that arises from time to time between myself and friends in my age group is how lucky we were to have been born when we were born. We had the "good years" …… and didn't know it at the time. I graduated from college with no debt and got a good job on my first try. "Global warming" was unheard of. Politics had divisions and arguments but was not dominated by hatred and division as it seems now. Folks generally respected each other's right to have differing opinions :eek: .

IMO global warming is the primary issue presently facing the human race. Compared to the 1950's - 1970's period ,the human race is presently occupying is a considerably more difficult place to live in. The downward spiral appears to be quickening as illustrated by one prognosis on global warming: the world in 2050 could be a hot-house hell, with wars over limited resources, collapsing civilisation, failing agriculture, rising seas, melting glaciers, starvation, droughts, floods, mudslides and widespread devastation.

Once again, IMO, the foundation of our current mess is rampart breeding and over population. Simply having fewer babies would be a great start but, Mother Nature has designed us physically and emotionally to breed, breed and breed. Perhaps, in the big scale of things, the human race is simply a blip and it's extinction normal and predictable.
#15140032
Perhaps, in the big scale of things, the human race is simply a blip and it's extinction normal and predictable.

Of course the human race is simply a blip and its extinction normal and predictable. This is true for every species which has ever existed on Earth. 99% of which are now extinct, by the way. There are only two questions: how long have we got, and what quality of life will we have? Pretty much the same questions individual humans ask themselves, eh? ;)

Given out track record so far, it's not looking promising.... :hmm:
#15140034
jimjam wrote: Perhaps, in the big scale of things, the human race is simply a blip and it's extinction normal and predictable.


Perhaps in the big scale of things, you haven't yet reached full understanding of things? That perhaps human life both individual and collective is not just random matter in motion, a brief parenthesis between Nothing and Nothing, but has value because it is Sacred, being made in the Image and Likeness of Rational Being Himself?
#15140061
annatar1914 wrote:you haven't yet reached full understanding of things?


I know I haven't. You, it seems, have. How can you be certain and are not simply fulfilling wishful thinking?
#15140062
jimjam wrote:I know I haven't. You, it seems, have. How can you be certain and are not simply fulfilling wishful thinking?


@jimjam

I don't know everything for sure, so I don't let my finite intelligence and wisdom fool itself into thinking I can know everything. I just have tried to learn to trust in God. Such trust, as with any personal relationship, comes from experience in humility, being humbled and knowing that I have not always done as the conscience God has given me, has shown me to do or not do, learning that i'm not the center of the cosmos. ''Wishful thinking'' is natural to fallen mankind, as we all know deep down, and actually tries to have us avoid a personal relationship with our merciful and good Creator. But the door is always open, no matter who we are or what we've done or failed to do.
#15140063
Potemkin wrote:Of course the human race is simply a blip and its extinction normal and predictable. This is true for every species which has ever existed on Earth. 99% of which are now extinct, by the way. There are only two questions: how long have we got, and what quality of life will we have? Pretty much the same questions individual humans ask themselves, eh? ;)

Given out track record so far, it's not looking promising.... :hmm:


I wonder if you would like for me to go extinct Potemkin? Hmmm.

You need to care deeply about the human race.



If I didn't care more than words could say, come on darling...sing the tune.
#15140068
Potemkin wrote:There are only two questions: how long have we got, and what quality of life will we have? Pretty much the same questions individual humans ask themselves, eh?


I agree ….. each individual human is a microcosm of the entire race. Now look at what happens to us as we travel through life: birth, grow to maturity, reproduce, decline, die. This, IMO, is what is happening to the human race. I have observed that the decline and die segment speeds up toward the end. I believe this speeding up of the decline is now happening to the human race. Hence my observation that I was very lucky to have maxed out on the better times as we now seem to have entered the rapid decline portion for the human race.
#15140073
jimjam wrote:I am 76 years old. When I was born there were maybe 2 billion humans on the planet. Today? Approaching 7 billion. A topic that arises from time to time between myself and friends in my age group is how lucky we were to have been born when we were born. We had the "good years" …… and didn't know it at the time. I graduated from college with no debt and got a good job on my first try. "Global warming" was unheard of. Politics had divisions and arguments but was not dominated by hatred and division as it seems now. Folks generally respected each other's right to have differing opinions :eek: .

IMO global warming is the primary issue presently facing the human race. Compared to the 1950's - 1970's period ,the human race is presently occupying is a considerably more difficult place to live in. The downward spiral appears to be quickening as illustrated by one prognosis on global warming: the world in 2050 could be a hot-house hell, with wars over limited resources, collapsing civilisation, failing agriculture, rising seas, melting glaciers, starvation, droughts, floods, mudslides and widespread devastation.

Once again, IMO, the foundation of our current mess is rampart breeding and over population. Simply having fewer babies would be a great start but, Mother Nature has designed us physically and emotionally to breed, breed and breed. Perhaps, in the big scale of things, the human race is simply a blip and it's extinction normal and predictable.


You are only a little older than my father. He looks back at his younger days with a smile on his face.

I enjoy watching the old films from the 50s and 60s with the bobby socks, the knee length skirts, greased up hair, the car designs...those were the "happy days." How I love that era!

No one said that an aging world would age gracefully. It seems like the older this world gets, the worse it gets. The deforestation, the air pollution, the overhunting, extinction of species, the racism, the hate, the obesity rate...scary scary!
#15140077
jimjam wrote:Once again, IMO, the foundation of our current mess is rampart breeding and over population. Simply having fewer babies would be a great start but, Mother Nature has designed us physically and emotionally to breed, breed and breed. Perhaps, in the big scale of things, the human race is simply a blip and it's extinction normal and predictable.

The West's reproduction rate is below replacement levels, in all western countries as far as I'm aware of. Asia and Africa are another story. For whatever reason Westerners don't want to breed, and have the technology to prevent it, which is good for the planet.

When you were born was good for you, but not good for other people. I'm sure many LGBT and women and black people would much rather be born today than 70 years ago.
#15140080
jimjam wrote:I agree ….. each individual human is a microcosm of the entire race. Now look at what happens to us as we travel through life: birth, grow to maturity, reproduce, decline, die. This, IMO, is what is happening to the human race. I have observed that the decline and die segment speeds up toward the end. I believe this speeding up of the decline is now happening to the human race. Hence my observation that I was very lucky to have maxed out on the better times as we now seem to have entered the rapid decline portion for the human race.

I think you're being unduly pessimistic. The human race is still a ridiculously young species. In its present form, it's only about a quarter of a million years old. Most species last about ten million years or so (give or take, judging by the fossil record). We still have a few million years left in us yet. Our industrial civilisation, on the other hand, is another matter. I can't see that lasting more than another few centuries. I believe our fate will be comparable to that of the Maya - we'll still be around, but shorn of our hubristic civilisation. Industrial-technological civilisation will likely turn out to have been merely a brief blip in our long, long existence as a species; merely a youthful indiscretion, as it were. Lol.
#15140083
Potemkin wrote: The human race is still a ridiculously young species. In its present form, it's only about a quarter of a million years old.


And behavioral modernity emerged much later, probably not before 100,000 BP.
#15140084
Potemkin wrote:I think you're being unduly pessimistic

I hope so but we are dealing with two very large issues that are growing exponentially and feed off of each other: global warming/destruction of our habitat and the population bomb. As our population increases with increasing rapidity, our environment is being degraded with increasing rapidity. It is quite possible that we will be able to deal successfully with these issues and survive as a species but ……… even so, I see much suffering, fast upheaval and death coming before too long. Perhaps increasing frequency of deadly epidemics will come to our "rescue" :eek: but just the same we have entered a period of rapidly escalating danger and difficulty. Throw into this mix the wild card of greed to feed the flames and …………………..

However it shakes out, I see myself as being lucky …….. very lucky.

annatar1914 wrote: I just have tried to learn to trust in God. Such trust, as with any personal relationship, comes from experience in humility, being humbled and knowing that I have not always done as the conscience God has given me, has shown me to do or not do, learning that i'm not the center of the cosmos.


My thinking in this area is not as conclusive as yours seems to be. But ……. I have noticed that there are far too many coincidences for this all to be a coincidence. And the simple concept of infinity is positively mind numbing and, perhaps, proof in itself of God. Something is going on here annatar and I am not sure what it is.
#15140085
Sivad wrote:And behavioral modernity emerged much later, probably not before 100,000 BP.

Indeed. Far from being senescent, the human race is still in its wild and reckless teenage years. Hence most of the problems we are currently experiencing. Lol.
#15140086
Potemkin wrote:Indeed. Far from being senescent, the human race is still in its wild and reckless teenage years. Hence most of the problems we are currently experiencing. Lol.

The human race has always had problems to solve and currently is no exception, and we'll always have problems, just like any species. If there's no problems to solve there's no reason for existence.
#15140088
Unthinking Majority wrote:The human race has always had problems to solve and currently is no exception, and we'll always have problems, just like any species. If there's no problems to solve there's no reason for existence.

Indeed, and that's true for individual humans too. My point is that the type of problems we face are problems of immaturity, not senescence.
#15140089
I see this topic has taken some serious and interesting tangents. My only premise was that in the span of time that I have lived I have seen general quality of life deteriorate and comparing today's realities with the realities that myself and my friends have experienced in the past 50 years or so, it looks like we got the long end of the popsicle.

I'll take Woodstock 1969 to a Trump rally any day ……. :lol:
#15140090
jimjam wrote:


My thinking in this area is not as conclusive as yours seems to be. But ……. I have noticed that there are far too many coincidences for this all to be a coincidence. And the simple concept of infinity is positively mind numbing and, perhaps, proof in itself of God. Something is going on here annatar and I am not sure what it is.


Well, God bless you JJ; even a little bit of that ''something'' can move mountains I think. People of good will can feel it, and it brings us together as the One Family of One Father that we truly are.
#15140091
@Potemkin @MistyTiger @jimjam

Potemkin wrote:There are only two questions: how long have we got, and what quality of life will we have? Pretty much the same questions individual humans ask themselves, eh? ;)

Given out track record so far, it's not looking promising....


Yup, the human race is not special. We like to think we occupy a privileged place in the universe but NOPE we SURE DON'T. WE ARE NOT SPECIAL. The most important thing anybody can remember and mankind must remember is that none of us, including mankind itself as a whole, are special. None of us really occupy a privileged position at all. NOT AT ALL.

@Potemkin I would say if man kind becomes a space faring species that will add some years to our species before we go extinct. This is one of several reasons why the space program and space exploration is important. It increases our time and our odds to survive for a longer period of time as a species before we finally go extinct. There is a lot of wisdom in being humble as a person and as a species (humans, mankind).
Last edited by Politics_Observer on 29 Nov 2020 05:59, edited 1 time in total.
#15140092
Potemkin wrote:Indeed. Far from being senescent, the human race is still in its wild and reckless teenage years. Hence most of the problems we are currently experiencing. Lol.


I'll agree in the sense that our ''Evolution'' (if I may be so bold as to use that term) is not so much in our beginnings, but has come in just a couple thousand years. It'll culminate ''soon'' someday, I believe.
#15140094
Politics_Observer wrote:@Potemkin @MistyTiger @jimjam



Yup, the human race is not special. We like to think we occupy a privileged place in the universe but NOPE we SURE DON'T. WE ARE NOT SPECIAL. The most important thing anybody can remember and mankind must remember is that none of us, including mankind itself as a whole, are special. None of us really occupy a privileged position at all. NOT AT ALL.

@Potemkin I would say if man kind becomes a space faring species that will add some years to our species before we go extinct. This is one of several reasons why the space program and space exploration is important. It increases our time and our odds to survive for a longer period of time as a species before we finally go extinct.


My question to the future of the human race? Are we going to be speaking English in space only? Because there are a lot of people in my neighborhood here in Merida that think living in space should be in Spanish and Mayan. The true space like language....

Uxmal it does look space-like:



Build the ancient buildings in other planets. It is all good. :D

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