Let's face it - in general we're pretty much screwed, if we look at the bigger picture. There are still men with crazy ideas with hands on very dangerous weaponry, nature worldwide is being treated like a piece of crap, global economy is in a crisis, there are 1.5 billions of people without basic needs et cetera.
People thief, steal, murder, fight, argue, they are lazy, cowardly, selfish, egoistic, most of them care about money at first and all other things maybe later. Tolerance is an anachronism, we'd rather shouldn't talk about respect to the old folks or how the current euro-american social system is definitely NOT-user friendly to new young families and education in general.
The list could go on, but my suggestion today is to have a different look at the things.
Where are We?
Imagine you lived one thousand years ago. If you weren't a king or a high nobleman, your level of living would be slightly different from today's average in the western society. I am sure that even persons immune to sarcasm like Dr. Sheldon Cooper are aware what does the word "slightly" means in this context.
So, what do we have today? Electricity, telephones, mass transport. Hell, you can name any technological advancement you want. It may seem pretty common, but the fact is it's not. It is a topic of many sci-fi or fantasy movies, how persons from different eras mix up together in a comic movie.
Life is Great!
Despite all the hard tasks ahead of us, let's be clear - we have a great life. Or better said, we have great possibilities how to live our lives and even contribute to the world. It's not like someone owes our lives, we can't be killed if our master is in a bad mood, and above all, it's more usual to die because of a natural cause and not by sword.
Take a deep breath and enjoy the modern age, it's going to get better and better - if we want to.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
Vastness of the Universe
At first I must warn you. If you are afraid of long journeys, read no further. Because this time, we are going to take our minds and unleash them on a big playground.
Universe is infinite. That's a term you've probably heard in school or somewhere else and people in general just accept it as a common fact. I stress the world accept - in this article, we will try to understand it, not just take it as it lies.
Curious People, Raise Your Hands!
Let's begin with an example. Some of you might be familiar with the TV series Stargate Universe. Basically, a bunch of people get stuck on a very old spaceship with no way of getting back home. The only thing they can do is to explore.
Ok, no big deal and perhaps not so original either. It's just in a TV you might say. I agree. But think this through - In our hearts, we are all explorers. Curiosity and exploration, ingeniuty and determination, these qualities have pulled mankind forward from caves to the state of civilization we are now.
Imagine you could leave the planet Earth, pick a random spot in the universe and begin exploring. Hundreds of billions stars, many of them have planets, on any of those planets could evolve a life similar to ours. Seriously, wouldn't you be interested in knowing if we are alone in an infinite space?
Night Sky Is... Humbling
Let me give you a piece of advice. When it's summer and the sky is clear, go outside after the night covers your hemisphere and look up. You will be able to see many stars. Do you realize what a star is? To keep it simple, any star is a very, very powerful thing, capable of miraculous gifts of life or destruction beyond anything humans have ever achieved.
Each of these stars could swallow the entire mankind in a blink of an eye. No Bill Gates, no Mahatma Gandhi, no homeless from Belgium, no just born infant could stop it. In one second there could be planet Earth as it is now, alive, flourishing, full of conscious, intelligent beings, animal and plant life... Gone.
What Went Wrong?
In face of these facts and thoughts, can you tell me why the hell are we facing such stupid problems? Famine, not enough water, not enough education and conscious, ruthless hunt for profit, smoking, intolerance, religious or atheistic fanaticism, selfish destruction of our surroundings and many, many others...?
Come on, there is an infinite Universe waiting for us to be explored. New resources, new worlds, new stars, new lifeforms, damn, it's an entirely new age! Don't tell me it's impossible and Utopia to go to space - that's bullshit.
Why? Because everything is possible, the word "impossible" was invented by people not determined enough to achieve their goals.
And My Point Is...
Stop arguing with your neighboor about who has a better grasscutter. Everyone, please, let's grow up and start performing the task that we are really best at - Exploring.
Universe is infinite. That's a term you've probably heard in school or somewhere else and people in general just accept it as a common fact. I stress the world accept - in this article, we will try to understand it, not just take it as it lies.
Curious People, Raise Your Hands!
Let's begin with an example. Some of you might be familiar with the TV series Stargate Universe. Basically, a bunch of people get stuck on a very old spaceship with no way of getting back home. The only thing they can do is to explore.
Ok, no big deal and perhaps not so original either. It's just in a TV you might say. I agree. But think this through - In our hearts, we are all explorers. Curiosity and exploration, ingeniuty and determination, these qualities have pulled mankind forward from caves to the state of civilization we are now.
Imagine you could leave the planet Earth, pick a random spot in the universe and begin exploring. Hundreds of billions stars, many of them have planets, on any of those planets could evolve a life similar to ours. Seriously, wouldn't you be interested in knowing if we are alone in an infinite space?
Night Sky Is... Humbling
Let me give you a piece of advice. When it's summer and the sky is clear, go outside after the night covers your hemisphere and look up. You will be able to see many stars. Do you realize what a star is? To keep it simple, any star is a very, very powerful thing, capable of miraculous gifts of life or destruction beyond anything humans have ever achieved.
Each of these stars could swallow the entire mankind in a blink of an eye. No Bill Gates, no Mahatma Gandhi, no homeless from Belgium, no just born infant could stop it. In one second there could be planet Earth as it is now, alive, flourishing, full of conscious, intelligent beings, animal and plant life... Gone.
What Went Wrong?
In face of these facts and thoughts, can you tell me why the hell are we facing such stupid problems? Famine, not enough water, not enough education and conscious, ruthless hunt for profit, smoking, intolerance, religious or atheistic fanaticism, selfish destruction of our surroundings and many, many others...?
Come on, there is an infinite Universe waiting for us to be explored. New resources, new worlds, new stars, new lifeforms, damn, it's an entirely new age! Don't tell me it's impossible and Utopia to go to space - that's bullshit.
Why? Because everything is possible, the word "impossible" was invented by people not determined enough to achieve their goals.
And My Point Is...
Stop arguing with your neighboor about who has a better grasscutter. Everyone, please, let's grow up and start performing the task that we are really best at - Exploring.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Can You Admit You May Be Wrong?
Let's begin with a simple question - what is the most important quality out there? Well, I might be wrong in describing this task as "simple". Each of you can have a different opinion; is it love? Or perhaps peace? What about respect or humour? There are indeed more than enough candidates. Today, we are going to talk about self-reflection.
"What a Dumbass"
In my country there is a saying: "Nothing is worse than running into a dumbass". Obviously, there is a major catch. Only a handful of people are willing to admit that they might be the worse partner in this meeting, not the other way around. Seriously, how many times in your life have you walked away from a discussion or with thoughts like "Oh my, I hope my stupidity didn't annoy him/her too much"?
There are so many things we can be wrong about that compiling a full list could probably take my whole life. I'm not planning to do so, let's name only a few topics:
Religion.
Origin of the Universe.
How did your neighboor get so freaking hot girlfriend.
Did Atlantis exist?
Et cetera.
Where's the Truth
It's hard to say. If we don't stick to a topic with solid and general proofs like science, truth itself is often deformed and affected by personal opinions and views of the world. For example, is it true that 2+2 = 4? No doubt.
Here's another one: is it true that Megan Fox is a hot model? She is a supermodel, so the answer is probably yes, but I'd bet $10 of my father's money that there are quite a few poeple who would say she sucks.
Last question I'm about to ask you - is it true that we are the only intelligent life form in the Universe? Woops. It's a dead end. There is no evidence, no proof, only stories and wishes. On this day, 11th March 2010, no person on Earth can declare this statement either true or false. We can argue all we want, we can point fingers all we want, but in the end, somebody will be inevitably wrong.
Hate is for... Nothing!
To be honest, I am freaking sick of people who based their lifes on several facts and they are not willing to change that at any costs. Put forth all the evidence you can, they'll just deny it and tell their own story again and again. There is another saying: "You must be man enough to admit a mistake."
Do not hesitate to explore the world around you. There is so many information that even if someone dedicated his entire lifetime to learning, he'd not covered it all. You can not avoid being wrong many times in your life. This is a fact, equal to the one that everyone must die.
Take a step back and give it a thought. Having an open mind is a great asset to the society as a whole, because with open mind, there is progress; with progress, there is evolution and to tell you the truth, evolution is all that life is about. Would you like to be stuck in the same hut all your life, get up early in the morning and work the whole day on a field for someone who physically owns your life? No?
My point.
"What a Dumbass"
In my country there is a saying: "Nothing is worse than running into a dumbass". Obviously, there is a major catch. Only a handful of people are willing to admit that they might be the worse partner in this meeting, not the other way around. Seriously, how many times in your life have you walked away from a discussion or with thoughts like "Oh my, I hope my stupidity didn't annoy him/her too much"?
There are so many things we can be wrong about that compiling a full list could probably take my whole life. I'm not planning to do so, let's name only a few topics:
Religion.
Origin of the Universe.
How did your neighboor get so freaking hot girlfriend.
Did Atlantis exist?
Et cetera.
Where's the Truth
It's hard to say. If we don't stick to a topic with solid and general proofs like science, truth itself is often deformed and affected by personal opinions and views of the world. For example, is it true that 2+2 = 4? No doubt.
Here's another one: is it true that Megan Fox is a hot model? She is a supermodel, so the answer is probably yes, but I'd bet $10 of my father's money that there are quite a few poeple who would say she sucks.
Last question I'm about to ask you - is it true that we are the only intelligent life form in the Universe? Woops. It's a dead end. There is no evidence, no proof, only stories and wishes. On this day, 11th March 2010, no person on Earth can declare this statement either true or false. We can argue all we want, we can point fingers all we want, but in the end, somebody will be inevitably wrong.
Hate is for... Nothing!
To be honest, I am freaking sick of people who based their lifes on several facts and they are not willing to change that at any costs. Put forth all the evidence you can, they'll just deny it and tell their own story again and again. There is another saying: "You must be man enough to admit a mistake."
Do not hesitate to explore the world around you. There is so many information that even if someone dedicated his entire lifetime to learning, he'd not covered it all. You can not avoid being wrong many times in your life. This is a fact, equal to the one that everyone must die.
Take a step back and give it a thought. Having an open mind is a great asset to the society as a whole, because with open mind, there is progress; with progress, there is evolution and to tell you the truth, evolution is all that life is about. Would you like to be stuck in the same hut all your life, get up early in the morning and work the whole day on a field for someone who physically owns your life? No?
My point.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
George Orwell's 1984: Not Fiction After All?
I am not going to talk about the ingenious writer George Orwell, you can look him up on the Wikipedia if you want to learn something about him. Purpose of this post is to investigate an intriguing analogy to the world today.
At first, let's briefly describe what is 1984 about.
Novel Summary
As the name suggests, its roughly the year 1984. World is split into three great nations - Oceania, Euroasia and Eastasia. These countries wage war against each other and because of this war, there is a major lack of supplies and living level in general is very poor.
Winston Smith, a member of the so called Outer Party in Oceania, takes part in the most dictatorial, unfree and absurd oppresion that you can imagine. Winston himself works at the Ministry of Truth, whose job is to consistently adapt and alter every record of history in order to correct wrong predictions from the past. Our major figure eventually gets fed up, finds a secret love, gets cought, beaten, persuaded and he is shot.
Implications
I am sure that none of you who haven't read the book and also a very few of those who did are unable to realize and comprehend the true horror of the picture described in this novel. Imagine a world where freedom doesn't exist. Your every step is watched, your level of living is horrible, everyone is pushed hard towards Big Brother's propaganda and if you step out of line, you are immediately brought to "Justice" by the feared Ideopolice.
You can't do anything. The world around has gone crazy and if you don't go crazy with them, you shall be punished for it. Only one thing remains - your head, your brain, your thoughts. Would you like to find a boy/girlfriend that you like? Take him/her out for a walk in a sunny day to the forest, make love under the trees, invite your partner to a dinner, just enjoy yourselves?
On a different but not unrelated topic, do you want to choose your proffesion, have the possibility to move freely, spend your money as you like...
To sum up: Do you like freedom?
Well, you'd say that freedom is a common aspect in our lives, so common that we are beginning to forget how it would be if we hadn't it. Let me give you a little heads up:
North Korea is an opposite of freedom.
China still shoots its political opponents.
United States of America passed the Patriot Act.
Women in Islamic countries are denied basic human rights.
Just these four cases include approximately 2,5 billions people.
Every third person on our planet is not as free as he/she should be.
Without freedom, there is no life. I can only suggest to read the novel and realize what's at stake these days. Stand up and call for freedom before it's too late.
At first, let's briefly describe what is 1984 about.
Novel Summary
As the name suggests, its roughly the year 1984. World is split into three great nations - Oceania, Euroasia and Eastasia. These countries wage war against each other and because of this war, there is a major lack of supplies and living level in general is very poor.
Winston Smith, a member of the so called Outer Party in Oceania, takes part in the most dictatorial, unfree and absurd oppresion that you can imagine. Winston himself works at the Ministry of Truth, whose job is to consistently adapt and alter every record of history in order to correct wrong predictions from the past. Our major figure eventually gets fed up, finds a secret love, gets cought, beaten, persuaded and he is shot.
Implications
I am sure that none of you who haven't read the book and also a very few of those who did are unable to realize and comprehend the true horror of the picture described in this novel. Imagine a world where freedom doesn't exist. Your every step is watched, your level of living is horrible, everyone is pushed hard towards Big Brother's propaganda and if you step out of line, you are immediately brought to "Justice" by the feared Ideopolice.
You can't do anything. The world around has gone crazy and if you don't go crazy with them, you shall be punished for it. Only one thing remains - your head, your brain, your thoughts. Would you like to find a boy/girlfriend that you like? Take him/her out for a walk in a sunny day to the forest, make love under the trees, invite your partner to a dinner, just enjoy yourselves?
On a different but not unrelated topic, do you want to choose your proffesion, have the possibility to move freely, spend your money as you like...
To sum up: Do you like freedom?
Well, you'd say that freedom is a common aspect in our lives, so common that we are beginning to forget how it would be if we hadn't it. Let me give you a little heads up:
North Korea is an opposite of freedom.
China still shoots its political opponents.
United States of America passed the Patriot Act.
Women in Islamic countries are denied basic human rights.
Just these four cases include approximately 2,5 billions people.
Every third person on our planet is not as free as he/she should be.
Without freedom, there is no life. I can only suggest to read the novel and realize what's at stake these days. Stand up and call for freedom before it's too late.
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