Monday, May 06, 2002

Less Than Perfect, More Than Machine We humans are creatures of our technology. We are Time-binders and the mark of human power is everywhere. When knowledge is incorporated into matter-energy, it becomes a tool. As Andrew J. Galambos explained: “Humans develop evermore powerful knowledge and therefore evermore powerful tools. When tools are used to harm other humans they are called weapons. Since human knowledge can grow without limit then tools themselves can be made without limit. And limitless tools can will produce limitless weapons.” ... This morning Elisabet Sartouris writes: While the mechanical worldview and the explosion of technological progress it led to are historically Western innovations, their consequences in science, technology, economics, and politics have by now shaped the course of all humanity. Our invention and use of machines has become the guiding force of our species' evolution -- we are now, for better or worse, technological creatures. (05/06/02) Dust Bowl Returns to US The soil is on the move again in the High Plains, drifting over a swath of the American midsection calcified by drought. For some, it is reviving memories of a time when the world seemed to blow away. There have been serious droughts here before, some as fierce as the dry spells of the 1930's. But this drought is among the worst, and in some counties, particularly in the northern plains, it is the most devastating in more than a century. ...  According to the latest assessment by federal officials, half of Montana, all of Wyoming, nearly two-thirds of Colorado, half of Kansas, a third of Texas and most of New Mexico are in the midst of a drought labeled severe to extreme. Wildfires are racing through the eastern front of Colorado. With 280 fires already this year, Colorado has had four times as many fires as normal. (05/06/02) And, We Thought We Were Tough From the Guardian Unlimited: Bacteria reproduce by dividing. This can happen every 15 minutes. In a day and a half, with sufficient food, one microbe's progeny could outweigh the Earth. Around 20bn E coli grow in the intestine of every human being every day. The total number of bacteria on Earth is estimated to exceed 5m trillion trillion. Certain species are able to withstand fierce radiation, flourish in boiling water, survive at sub-zero temperatures, multiply in acid or alkali, and eat concrete. Bacteria have been found underneath polar ice, in stratospheric clouds, and in rocks far below the ocean floor. Antibiotic resistance is now a worldwide problem. Strains of three life-threatening microbe are now resistant to more than 100 antibiotics. (05/06/02) Strategies available to a Crash Prevention Team Daan Joubert writes: Politicians in particular get highly upset when they find themselves with the fall-out of a Market Crash, which is how Bubbles end, in the form of a Depression. We saw that both parties - the one in power and the other who gets in because of the Depression - have their noses out of joint. Which means that those people who were mandated to Stop the Crash at All Costs, but failed to do so, will have to wait many, many years before they have another chance of an Appointment. If ever. ... One problem in trying to hold the Bubble aloft is that the weight of funds in the market in a mature Bubble is enormous. Like any real weight, the funds have inertia - when a trend has set in, it takes a lot of brute force to bring it a halt and perhaps even reverse it. It so happens that such a force is absent the market. Even if one found the required resources somewhere to halt a threatening descent into the abyss, their employment would have to be so blatant that it attracts attention and triggers some awkward questions. This will not be a Good Thing. Questions are to be avoided at all costs; people may get to enjoy the habit and begin to ask questions about all kinds of things, such as why is the money supply growing so rapidly. No, preventing a Crash has to be done surreptitiously; with delicate finesse, not brute force. (05/06/02) Humans Insist They Are Not Dumber Than Rice San Diego, Calif. (SatireWire.com) — According to the research just published, each rice cell contains somewhere in the region of 40,000 to 60,000 genes, while each human cell has only about 30,000 to 40,000 genes.  Word that genetic researchers have discovered a cell of rice contains more genes than a human cell has caused widespread outrage as people across the globe attempt to prove that humans are easily as smart as a grain of rice. (05/05/02) How Bad Is It ? ARGENTINA: According to official government statistics released this week, unemployment now stands at 30%. In this, one of the world's premier agricultural producers, it is now the case that 40% of the population cannot afford to meet basic nutritional needs. Children are fainting in school due to lack of food. Fainting occurs most frequently on Mondays, following the weekend,  when children obviously don't eat at home for two days. Of 10 million children under the age of 14 in the country, 6 million live below the poverty line. ... Last December, the average wage was $623 monthly; today it is $207.  (05/05/02) Right Wing Wacko Newsletter Terence R. Wilken writes: Even with the markets going down, the price to earnings ratio is still in the range of 40-60 in the Nasdaq.  What that means is that if you invest $40 in a stock that has a P/E ratio of 40, it will take 40 years for the Company to earn back what you just invested.  Of course, the talking heads will tell you that it is the forward looking earnings that you want to look at.  The Company will make more in the future.  What they forgot to tell you is that this will only be the case if we all continue spending.  Is that in the cards?  I for one have made a decision to quit all spending except for what I really need.  We have all spent more that we should have, and it is time to stop. It has been a long time dream of every Company to be the biggest in their market.  All Companies must grow!  They must sell more wigets that the last year.  If there are three Companies that sell wigets, than it is important to pick up market share to grow, and to create a larger demand for wigets.  We all must have more. It is time for this to stop.  If you have been reading the articles on this site, you would know that we have now reached the peak of our energy supply, and that if we keep using it at the current rate, our grandchildren will not have the same standard of living that we have today.  Of course we have been taught by our government that this is the proper way to live.  Look at the social security program if you must.  The ponzi scheme cannot go on forever.  Some day the money will run out, and there will be no more. (05/05/02) Thinking Outloud It is my privilege and pleasure to introduce this second essay by new contributing editor Don Steehler. He happened on to the SynEARTH.network in early April and has quickly identified with the worldview of synergic science. Since then, he has read Korzybski's Manhood of Humanity and quickly understood the power of the metaphors "space-binding" and "time-binding". In this morning's essay, he integrates his new knowledge of Korzybski's work with his own knowlege base. Enjoy!  (05/04/02) The 'Why" of Market Bubbles Contributing Editor Daan Jourbert forwards this tongue in cheek look at understanding the stock market and the forces behind it: Market bubbles develop when a bull market lasts too long and develops an immortality complex. As a rule, bull markets are a very good thing. They are good for the economy and for investors and for consumers. Bull markets on Wall Street are particularly loved by the Politicians, who see their chances for re-election improving the more the bull snorts. Bubbles are bull markets in stampede - out of control and potentially very damaging. At first, a bubble is very good for investors and even better for Politicians; it may even seem for some time that it is good for everyone, except those unfortunates who have missed the boat. But a real bubble not so good for the economy. All kinds of less obvious imbalances develop that selectively might be good subject material for speeches by Important People, who look on the bright side of the balance and say, "See, things have never been better." But sooner or later these imbalances are really very bad for the economy. (05/04/02) Saving the Earth from Humanity The amount of time and money that has been spent by environmentalists, corporations and governments on fighting each other on environmental issues is incalculable. That's why a movement called Pro-Degradation is gaining popularity in Northern California as it spreads the message that it's OK to act like human beings. Once we accept that we are the most productive and destructive species ever created, that we have no choice but to mess up our playpen, we will be able to complete the logical progress of human beings towards extinction, without guilt. The message of the Pro-Degradation movement is that we should all speed up this progress, make life untenable for the human race before we have time to figure out a way to survive. The target is to remove human presence on the Earth within three generations. Since we have no choice but to ruin the world for ourselves, we should get it over and done with as soon as possible, in order to spare the rest of the world's species. We'll take plenty with us, no doubt, but the longer we delay the inevitable, the more species will disappear. ... Environmentalists will get behind Pro-Deg, too. If they truly want to save the planet, not just force it to put up with us for a couple more centuries, this is the only way to go. They can also take a much-needed rest, quit worrying so much and find out what it's like to be a true citizen of the Western world. Trade in the Volvo-buy a Ford Expedition! Buy two!  (05/03/02) Changing Worldviews Elisabet Sahtouris continues her lessons on understanding humanity and the evolution of our beliefs about ourselves and the Earth: God created the world as a paradise for humans, setting the first two people into its perfection. They were expelled after Eve disobeyed God's law by tempting Adam to join her in the sin of eating fruit from the tree of knowledge, thus bringing disorder and strife into the world forever after. Still, paradise could be regained after death, in a heavenly world, if people became perfect in God's eyes again, and this perfection could be accomplished by seeking forgiveness and obeying God's law. ... The rich heritage of ancient Greek scientific discoveries -- that the Earth moved around the Sun, that nature was alive and evolving, that humans were descended from simpler creatures, that many of their ills were curable by medicines and surgery -- was destroyed, forgotten, or denied as the new worldview took over. The great library at Alexandria was repeatedly sacked and burned by Romans, Christians, and Muslims; nearly a million book-scrolls of human knowledge and culture were lost. (05/03/02) Will Natural Gas Save Us ? As readers of CommUnity of Minds know, one of humanity's biggest problems is our approaching depetion of the Earth's fossil fuels. Recently some have argued that even if we run out of oil, there is so much natural gas that we will be OK for a century or more. This is simply not true. (05/02/02) Changing Our Minds Human fate results not so much from who we are, but rather from who we think we are. Our worldview determines our behavior. This morning Elisabet Sahtouris explores the evolution of our human beliefs about ourselves and about our place in Universe. She writes: We can safely assume that paleolithic peoples took all nature to be as alive as they themselves were, and that they felt themselves to be part of, or the children of, this great mother. Even today, peoples who live in natural settings without changing them significantly tend not to divide nature into living and nonliving parts as our dominant culture does. Their only concept of non-living is of something dead that has been alive. (05/02/02) Progress + Warfare = Human extinction In the 1983 movie WARGAMES, NORAD’s computer codenamed Joshua makes a discovery after playing out all possible outcomes for Global Thermonuclear War. His conclusion, “A strange game, the only winning move is not to play.” (05/01/02) Time to Grow Up David Korten writes: Two universally shared images are now deeply embedded in the collective consciousness of our species. One is the image of the living earth — a vibrant gem as seen from the darkness of space — that has become the icon of humanity's emerging planetary consciousness — a symbol of peace and the wonder and oneness of life. On September 11 a second image was seared into our collective consciousness — the image of two gigantic World Trade Center towers collapsing into a pile of rubble and ending the lives of those many human beings trapped inside — a symbol of the fear, hatred, and violence that divide us in a deeply troubled world — a terrifying symbol of the ease with which those so alienated from life that they find meaning only in death, can transform the technological instruments of our power over the world into instruments of our vulnerability to the world. The juxtaposition of these two images — one, the living jewel of life — the other, the collapsing towers of death — provides a defining reference point for humanity.  (05/01/02) Releasing the Genius Within N. Arthur Coulter explains: It took a billion or more years of evolution to make you what you are—an evolutionary process that is itself unique. Moreover, you are a being of incredible complexity—the design of the human ear or the human eye, for example, is simply magnificent. As for the human brain, it is a supercomputer whose intricacies and powers are far, far in advance of any of the artificial computers, which simply imitate and expand the simplest of those powers. The fact that a computer can do arithmetic much faster than a human brain may be of interest, but the really remarkable fact is that human brains invented arithmetic and designed computers to do it. All this implies that each human being has a unique potential and that it is simply outrageous that everything possible is not done to permit that potential to develop. Yet every society on this planet not only does not do this, but is full of barriers and pressures to prevent it! (05/01/02) Time to Choose David Korten writes: Our economic system features long supply-lines, concentrated supplies of volatile fuels, toxic chemicals, and radioactive materials, disposable workers subject to instant dismissal in a moment of disruption, core industries such as air travel subject to extreme swings of consumer confidence, and an unstable financial system built on debt and speculation. It is a disaster waiting to happen. We become less vulnerable to the extent we favor local production and procurement to shorten supply lines. Replace volatile with nonvolatile fuels, such as hydrogen. Reduce or eliminate the use of toxic chemicals and radioactive materials. Increase employee rights and encourage stable employment relations. Orient the economy toward meeting real, enduring needs that generate stable demand. Bring integrity to the financial system by limiting speculation and the pyramiding of debt. Take appropriate measures to increase environmental security by reducing the human burden on nature. (04/30/02) So You've Decided to be Evil! Well you're going to need a plan ... Did You Know ? That Executive Pay Increased 571% from 1990 to 2000 -- The average salary for production workers was $24,668 in 2000. If the average salary for production workers had increased at the same rate as executive pay, it would be $120,491. The minimum wage was $5.15/hour in 2000. If the minimum wage had increased at same rate as executive pay, it would be $25.50/hour. CEOs at 50 companies that cut 1,000 or more workers in 2000 earned on average 80% more than other CEOs. (04/30/02) 6:20:48 AM

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