A place unknown in existence
a hidden fortress in the cosmos
Two death forms meet
from entirely different regions
together they lament their lives
They each progress to that again
on the home of their short-lived companion
6 November 2011
26 October 2011
Propaganda, politicians, media, power
They are an unfortunate blight upon us.
Here is a reasonable summing up of the situation in Libya:
From http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23474 by David Rothscum:
Here is a reasonable summing up of the situation in Libya:
From http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23474 by David Rothscum:
How was Libya doing under the rule of Gadaffi? How bad did the people have it? Were they oppressed as we now commonly accept as fact? Let us look at the facts for a moment.
Before the chaos erupted, Libya had a lower incarceration rate than the Czech republic. It ranked 61st. Libya had the lowest infant mortality rate of all of Africa. Libya had the highest life expectancy of all of Africa. Less than 5% of the population was undernourished. In response to the rising food prices around the world, the government of Libya abolished ALL taxes on food.
People in Libya were rich. Libya had the highest gross domestic product (GDP) at purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita of all of Africa. The government took care to ensure that everyone in the country shared in the wealth. Libya had the highest Human Development Index of any country on the continent. The wealth was distributed equally. In Libya, a lower percentage of people lived below the poverty line than in the Netherlands.
How does Libya get so rich? The answer is oil. The country has a lot of oil, and does not allow foreign corporations to steal the resources while the population starves, unlike countries like Nigeria, a country that is basically run by Shell.
Like any country, Libya suffers from a government with corrupt bureaucrats that try to gain a bigger portion of the pie at the cost of everyone else. In response to this, Kadaffi called for the oil revenue to be distributed directly to the people, because in his opinion, the government was failing the people. However, unlike the article claims, Kadaffi is not the president of Libya. In fact he holds no official position in the government. This is the big mistake that people make. They claim that Kadaffi rules over Libya when in fact he doesn't, his position is more or less ceremonial. He should be compared to a founding father.
The true leader of Libya is an indirectly elected prime-minister. The current prime-minister is Baghdadi Mahmudi. Calling Khadaffi the leader of Libya is comparable to calling Akihito the leader of Japan. Contrary to what your media is sketching, opinions in Libya vary. Some people support Gadaffi but want Mahmudi out. Others want both out. Many just want to live their life in peace. However, effort is taken to sketch the appearance of a popular revolt against the supposed leader of Libya, Gadaffi, when in fact he is just the architect of Libya's current political system, a mixture of pan-Arabism, socialism, and Islamic government.
Videos of Pro-Gaddafi protests are disappearing from Youtube as we speak. "Pro Gaddafi Anti Baghdadi Mahmudi demonstrations in" youtube.com/watch?v=Ce5fLGNg0sk is gone. "Pro Gaddafi protests in front of Libyan embassy London" youtube.com/watch?v=pRwv0Ac8qbc Is gone. Youtube deletes any video containing gore normally, except when it's from Libya. Apparently more traumatizing to it's viewers than chopped up bodies are Libyans who do not jump on the bandwagon and enter the streets to force Gadaffi out.
Are the protesters in Libya comparable to the protesters in Egypt and Tunisia? Not at all. The governments reaction is more violent, and obviously excessive violence is being used. However let us look for a moment at the actions of the protesters. The building of the the general people's congress, the parliament of Libya, was put on fire by angry protestors. This is comparable to protesters putting the United States Capitol on fire. Do you think that for even a moment the US government would sit idly by as protesters put the US capitol on fire?
The riots erupting now are not secular youth desiring change, or anything like we saw in Egypt and Tunisia. A group calling itself "Islamic Emirate of Barka", the former name of the North-Western part of Libya, has taken numerous hostages, and killed two policemen. This is not a recent development. On Friday, the 18th of February, the group stole 70 military vehicles after attacking a port and killing four soldiers. Unfortunately, a military colonel has joined the group and provided them with further weapons. The uprising started in the eastern city of Benghazi. The Italian foreign minister has raised his fears of an Islamic Emirate of Benghazi declaring itself independent.
So where does this sudden uprising come from? The answer is that the same groups the US has been funding for decades are now taking their chance to gain control over the nation. A group recently arrested in Libya consisted of dozens of foreign nationals that were involved in numerous acts of looting and sabotage. The Libyan government could not rule out links to Israel.
Great Britain funded an Al Qaeda cell in Libya, in an attempt to assassinate Gadaffi. The main opposition group in Libya now is the National Front for the Salvation of Libya. This opposition group is being funded by Saudi Arabia, the CIA, and French Intelligence. This group unified itself with other opposition groups, to become the National Conference for the Libyan Opposition. It was this organization that called for the "Day of Rage" that plunged Libya into chaos on February 17 of this year.
It did this in Benghazi, a conservative city that has always been opposed to Gadaffi's rule. It should be noted that the National Front for the Salvation of Libya is well armed. In 1996 the group tried to unleash a revolution in the eastern part of Libya before. It used the Libyan National Army, the armed division of the NFSL to begin this failed uprising.
Why is the United States so opposed to Gadaffi? He is the main threat to US hegemony in Africa, because he attempts to unite the continent against the United States. This concept is called the United States of Africa. In fact, Gadaffi holds all sorts of ideas that are contrary to US interests. The man blames the United States government for the creation of HIV. He claims that Israel is behind the assasination of Martin Luther King and president John. F. Kennedy. He says that the 9/11 hijackers were trained in the US. He also urged Libyans to donate blood to Americans after 9/11. Khadaffi is also the last of a generation of moderate socialist pan-Arab revolutionaries that is still in power, after Nasser and Hussein have been eliminated, and Syria has aligned itself with Iran.
The United States and Israel however have no interest in a strong Arab world. In fact it seems that elementary to the plan is bringing Libya to its knees through chaos and anarchy. In late 2010, the United Kingdom was still propping up the Libyan government through lucrative arms sales. Nothing is a better guarantee to destroy Libya than a bloody civil war. The tribal system that is still strong in Libya is useful to exploit to generate such a war since Libya has historically been divided into various tribal groups.
This is also why the Libyan government responds by importing mercenaries. Tribal allegiances go before allegiance to the government, especially in Benghazi, and thus the central government has no control over the eastern part of the country anymore. The alternative to mercenaries is a conflict between the various ethnic groups. Gadaffi has tried for 41 years to make the country more homogeneous, but opposition groups funded by outside forced will take little more than a few days to put the country back into the 19th century, before the region was conquered and unified by Europeans. The violence is indeed excessive, but everyone seems to forget that the situation is not the same as in Tunis and Egypt. Tribal ties play a far greater role, and thus the conflict will unfortunately be bloodier.
Please remember at all times that the violent Libyan civil war unfolding now is not comparable to the revolutions seen in Tunisia and Egypt. Both of these revolutions involved peaceful protesters suffering from poverty, in opposition to their corrupt governments. The chaos in Libyan consists of a mixture of tribal conflicts, conflict over oil revenue (since most oil is in the east of the country), radical Islamists opposed to Gadaffi's system of government, and outside destabilization by Western funded exile groups.
Gadaffi took control in a bloodless coup from a sick monarch away for medical treatment 41 years ago. His ideology is based on unification and he attempted to peacefully merge his country with Egypt and Syria. It would take a miracle for the violence unfolding now to lead to a single stable democratic government in Libya, with full control over the entire country. The country is more than twice the size of Pakistan, but with 6 million inhabitants. Endless deserts divide many of the cities in the nation. If anything we should ask ourselves how many more nations will be shattered into pieces in the coming months, as the world cheers.
Before the chaos erupted, Libya had a lower incarceration rate than the Czech republic. It ranked 61st. Libya had the lowest infant mortality rate of all of Africa. Libya had the highest life expectancy of all of Africa. Less than 5% of the population was undernourished. In response to the rising food prices around the world, the government of Libya abolished ALL taxes on food.
People in Libya were rich. Libya had the highest gross domestic product (GDP) at purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita of all of Africa. The government took care to ensure that everyone in the country shared in the wealth. Libya had the highest Human Development Index of any country on the continent. The wealth was distributed equally. In Libya, a lower percentage of people lived below the poverty line than in the Netherlands.
How does Libya get so rich? The answer is oil. The country has a lot of oil, and does not allow foreign corporations to steal the resources while the population starves, unlike countries like Nigeria, a country that is basically run by Shell.
Like any country, Libya suffers from a government with corrupt bureaucrats that try to gain a bigger portion of the pie at the cost of everyone else. In response to this, Kadaffi called for the oil revenue to be distributed directly to the people, because in his opinion, the government was failing the people. However, unlike the article claims, Kadaffi is not the president of Libya. In fact he holds no official position in the government. This is the big mistake that people make. They claim that Kadaffi rules over Libya when in fact he doesn't, his position is more or less ceremonial. He should be compared to a founding father.
The true leader of Libya is an indirectly elected prime-minister. The current prime-minister is Baghdadi Mahmudi. Calling Khadaffi the leader of Libya is comparable to calling Akihito the leader of Japan. Contrary to what your media is sketching, opinions in Libya vary. Some people support Gadaffi but want Mahmudi out. Others want both out. Many just want to live their life in peace. However, effort is taken to sketch the appearance of a popular revolt against the supposed leader of Libya, Gadaffi, when in fact he is just the architect of Libya's current political system, a mixture of pan-Arabism, socialism, and Islamic government.
Videos of Pro-Gaddafi protests are disappearing from Youtube as we speak. "Pro Gaddafi Anti Baghdadi Mahmudi demonstrations in" youtube.com/watch?v=Ce5fLGNg0sk is gone. "Pro Gaddafi protests in front of Libyan embassy London" youtube.com/watch?v=pRwv0Ac8qbc Is gone. Youtube deletes any video containing gore normally, except when it's from Libya. Apparently more traumatizing to it's viewers than chopped up bodies are Libyans who do not jump on the bandwagon and enter the streets to force Gadaffi out.
Are the protesters in Libya comparable to the protesters in Egypt and Tunisia? Not at all. The governments reaction is more violent, and obviously excessive violence is being used. However let us look for a moment at the actions of the protesters. The building of the the general people's congress, the parliament of Libya, was put on fire by angry protestors. This is comparable to protesters putting the United States Capitol on fire. Do you think that for even a moment the US government would sit idly by as protesters put the US capitol on fire?
The riots erupting now are not secular youth desiring change, or anything like we saw in Egypt and Tunisia. A group calling itself "Islamic Emirate of Barka", the former name of the North-Western part of Libya, has taken numerous hostages, and killed two policemen. This is not a recent development. On Friday, the 18th of February, the group stole 70 military vehicles after attacking a port and killing four soldiers. Unfortunately, a military colonel has joined the group and provided them with further weapons. The uprising started in the eastern city of Benghazi. The Italian foreign minister has raised his fears of an Islamic Emirate of Benghazi declaring itself independent.
So where does this sudden uprising come from? The answer is that the same groups the US has been funding for decades are now taking their chance to gain control over the nation. A group recently arrested in Libya consisted of dozens of foreign nationals that were involved in numerous acts of looting and sabotage. The Libyan government could not rule out links to Israel.
Great Britain funded an Al Qaeda cell in Libya, in an attempt to assassinate Gadaffi. The main opposition group in Libya now is the National Front for the Salvation of Libya. This opposition group is being funded by Saudi Arabia, the CIA, and French Intelligence. This group unified itself with other opposition groups, to become the National Conference for the Libyan Opposition. It was this organization that called for the "Day of Rage" that plunged Libya into chaos on February 17 of this year.
It did this in Benghazi, a conservative city that has always been opposed to Gadaffi's rule. It should be noted that the National Front for the Salvation of Libya is well armed. In 1996 the group tried to unleash a revolution in the eastern part of Libya before. It used the Libyan National Army, the armed division of the NFSL to begin this failed uprising.
Why is the United States so opposed to Gadaffi? He is the main threat to US hegemony in Africa, because he attempts to unite the continent against the United States. This concept is called the United States of Africa. In fact, Gadaffi holds all sorts of ideas that are contrary to US interests. The man blames the United States government for the creation of HIV. He claims that Israel is behind the assasination of Martin Luther King and president John. F. Kennedy. He says that the 9/11 hijackers were trained in the US. He also urged Libyans to donate blood to Americans after 9/11. Khadaffi is also the last of a generation of moderate socialist pan-Arab revolutionaries that is still in power, after Nasser and Hussein have been eliminated, and Syria has aligned itself with Iran.
The United States and Israel however have no interest in a strong Arab world. In fact it seems that elementary to the plan is bringing Libya to its knees through chaos and anarchy. In late 2010, the United Kingdom was still propping up the Libyan government through lucrative arms sales. Nothing is a better guarantee to destroy Libya than a bloody civil war. The tribal system that is still strong in Libya is useful to exploit to generate such a war since Libya has historically been divided into various tribal groups.
This is also why the Libyan government responds by importing mercenaries. Tribal allegiances go before allegiance to the government, especially in Benghazi, and thus the central government has no control over the eastern part of the country anymore. The alternative to mercenaries is a conflict between the various ethnic groups. Gadaffi has tried for 41 years to make the country more homogeneous, but opposition groups funded by outside forced will take little more than a few days to put the country back into the 19th century, before the region was conquered and unified by Europeans. The violence is indeed excessive, but everyone seems to forget that the situation is not the same as in Tunis and Egypt. Tribal ties play a far greater role, and thus the conflict will unfortunately be bloodier.
Please remember at all times that the violent Libyan civil war unfolding now is not comparable to the revolutions seen in Tunisia and Egypt. Both of these revolutions involved peaceful protesters suffering from poverty, in opposition to their corrupt governments. The chaos in Libyan consists of a mixture of tribal conflicts, conflict over oil revenue (since most oil is in the east of the country), radical Islamists opposed to Gadaffi's system of government, and outside destabilization by Western funded exile groups.
Gadaffi took control in a bloodless coup from a sick monarch away for medical treatment 41 years ago. His ideology is based on unification and he attempted to peacefully merge his country with Egypt and Syria. It would take a miracle for the violence unfolding now to lead to a single stable democratic government in Libya, with full control over the entire country. The country is more than twice the size of Pakistan, but with 6 million inhabitants. Endless deserts divide many of the cities in the nation. If anything we should ask ourselves how many more nations will be shattered into pieces in the coming months, as the world cheers.
That was the situation.
Now Muammar Gaddafi has died at the hands of a bloodthirsty lynch mob of militant Islamists who now control the country, put in power by foreign leaders with oil interests. They plan to in their own words rollback any laws introduced by Gaddafi which were 'contrary to Islam' and impose full Sharia law upon the people of Libya.
See also, another objective source: http://blogs.dailyrecord.co.uk/georgegalloway/2011/10/well-pay-a-high-price-for-meddling-in-libya.html
OSBORNE, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is of course the supreme money-changer in the land and I thought of him as the gruesome killing of the Gaddafis was playing endlessly on the news.
A few years ago in Corfu, a remarkable party took place hosted by the Rothschild bankers - who could buy and sell the likes of Osborne.
During the weekend celebrations, guests included Osborne and the Lord Peter Mandelson.
There was also a dinner to celebrate the birthday of one of Rupert Murdoch's children.
Saif al-Islam al Ghaddafi, the favoured son of the Libyan dictator, has also enjoyed the Rothschild hospitality on Corfu.
Yet when the Gaddafi family were being slaughtered like butcher meat, not a cheep emerged from Saif's dancing partners.
And, of course, to no doubt great relief all round, there will conveniently never be a cheep again from the deceased about their sense of betrayal by those whose pockets they filled.
No trial in which the truth of the Lockerbie massacre can be ascertained.
No cross-examination about Mr Blair's role in the release of Al-Megrahi from Greenock jail, about his alleged consultancy to the Colonel's Sovereign Wealth Fund (actually Libya's Fund but, same thing), which he denies, about his mysterious visits to kiss the Colonel in secret in the tent at Sirte (now destroyed, the city that is not the tent).
There will be no release - neither will the papers be found in a burning building in Tripoli - of the Dear Muammar, would like to buy some more...? letters the British government were sending the old brute just days before the Libyan revolution.
No exposure of how it came to pass that (to take just one example) Abdel Hakim Belhaj was subjected, he says, to illegal "rendition" by British agents and delivered via Guantanamo Bay to Gaddafi's torture tables in Tripoli.
How the same man became the military leader of the revolutionaries in Tripoli, being helped into power by the same people who'd kidnapped him and delivered him to Gaddafi for electric shocks.
Shocked? You shouldn't be. There's more, much more.
Like the fact that the key members of the new "democratic" government in Libya (the one whose fighters, chanting the name of God, dragged a 69-year-old captive naked through the streets of Sirte, before placing his corpse on show in a shopping centre so that people could crouch beside the cadaver and take pictures of themselves grinning beside it on their mobile phones) are almost all men who were Gaddafi's murdering, torturing, thieving ministers.
Until of course, the revolution broke out, or are self-confessed agents of the British or American intelligence agencies.
Remember that you heard it here, dear readers.
IThis Libyan story is not at an end.
and This is merely the end of the beginning.
The day will come when, like in Afghanistan, people will wonder why we did what we did and for whom? I was right about the X Factor, trust me, I'm right about this too.
'To great relief there will never be a cheep again from the deceased about their betrayal by those whose pockets they filled'
During the weekend celebrations, guests included Osborne and the Lord Peter Mandelson.
There was also a dinner to celebrate the birthday of one of Rupert Murdoch's children.
Saif al-Islam al Ghaddafi, the favoured son of the Libyan dictator, has also enjoyed the Rothschild hospitality on Corfu.
Yet when the Gaddafi family were being slaughtered like butcher meat, not a cheep emerged from Saif's dancing partners.
And, of course, to no doubt great relief all round, there will conveniently never be a cheep again from the deceased about their sense of betrayal by those whose pockets they filled.
No trial in which the truth of the Lockerbie massacre can be ascertained.
No cross-examination about Mr Blair's role in the release of Al-Megrahi from Greenock jail, about his alleged consultancy to the Colonel's Sovereign Wealth Fund (actually Libya's Fund but, same thing), which he denies, about his mysterious visits to kiss the Colonel in secret in the tent at Sirte (now destroyed, the city that is not the tent).
There will be no release - neither will the papers be found in a burning building in Tripoli - of the Dear Muammar, would like to buy some more...? letters the British government were sending the old brute just days before the Libyan revolution.
No exposure of how it came to pass that (to take just one example) Abdel Hakim Belhaj was subjected, he says, to illegal "rendition" by British agents and delivered via Guantanamo Bay to Gaddafi's torture tables in Tripoli.
How the same man became the military leader of the revolutionaries in Tripoli, being helped into power by the same people who'd kidnapped him and delivered him to Gaddafi for electric shocks.
Shocked? You shouldn't be. There's more, much more.
Like the fact that the key members of the new "democratic" government in Libya (the one whose fighters, chanting the name of God, dragged a 69-year-old captive naked through the streets of Sirte, before placing his corpse on show in a shopping centre so that people could crouch beside the cadaver and take pictures of themselves grinning beside it on their mobile phones) are almost all men who were Gaddafi's murdering, torturing, thieving ministers.
Until of course, the revolution broke out, or are self-confessed agents of the British or American intelligence agencies.
Remember that you heard it here, dear readers.
IThis Libyan story is not at an end.
and This is merely the end of the beginning.
The day will come when, like in Afghanistan, people will wonder why we did what we did and for whom? I was right about the X Factor, trust me, I'm right about this too.
'To great relief there will never be a cheep again from the deceased about their betrayal by those whose pockets they filled'
My outlook upon the current state world is bleak. It's a sad state of affairs. Fuck the system, fuck the power hungry corrupt ogliarchs, oil companies, weapons companies. Fuck the politicians who enable all of this. I hope they meet a deserved fate.
The nature of 'death' - fearing it, like anything, is irrational
Time destroys everything its path.
The universe is vast, time is eternal. Existence is infinite, that encompasses our own universe, that which is outside it, everything.
All space, all time. Life, biological life as we know it, probably happens in billions of locations through and outwith the known cosmos, and billions of times and points in time.
This is probably not the first time you have been a conscious being. It is not the last. Time is infinite. We never stop experiencing life, regardless of how long the death is in between. When you die, you will return to what you were before you were conceived to this existence. Just as you were conceived now, you have been, and will be an infinite number of times into eternity.
That is the nature of the universe, that is the nature of life, the nature of death. It is as certain as the stars.
The universe is vast, time is eternal. Existence is infinite, that encompasses our own universe, that which is outside it, everything.
All space, all time. Life, biological life as we know it, probably happens in billions of locations through and outwith the known cosmos, and billions of times and points in time.
This is probably not the first time you have been a conscious being. It is not the last. Time is infinite. We never stop experiencing life, regardless of how long the death is in between. When you die, you will return to what you were before you were conceived to this existence. Just as you were conceived now, you have been, and will be an infinite number of times into eternity.
That is the nature of the universe, that is the nature of life, the nature of death. It is as certain as the stars.
9 March 2011
Existence? Progress of our species? What is going to happen?
Thanks to somewherein72 who originally posted this image on flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/somewherein72/1184637118/#/
Time is infinite. An infinity before us, an infinity after us. Even when (and if) our own universe ceases to exist, the cycle never stops. There may well be a number of universes approaching infinity alongside our own. Our whole solar system, huge by our perceptions of size on earth, is but less than a grain of sand in the size of our humongous galaxy. That is less than a grain of sand in the size of the universe. ~5 billion years ago there was hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, phosophorus, sunlight, water on earth. There was thunder and lightning. Reactions created organic molecules - not alive by our definitions, but our ancestors - the very atoms themselves. Over a great many millions of years these organic molecules evolved into bacteria and the cell. Now here we are. I have no doubts just as there is life here there is life at countless locations approaching infinity, in space and time, before and after us. As such I think that when we die, eventually we will exist again. Our consciousness will incarnate again. Memories and such obviously cease to exist with the brain... I hold confidence in reincarnation, as a certainty, a logical and rational one. Don't misinterpret - I don't mean reincarnation as minds on our planet have traditionally thought of it, I mean a statistical inevitability that any given consciousness will reoccur due to the huge scale of existence, the infinity of time, the constant, endless cycle, of everything - As an inevitability because space and time are infinite. I don't assume that this is the first time my conscious mind has existed. Time approaching infinite length has been before this point. Infinite time remains after this point in time. I have existed, I do exist and I will exist. Between death and life time will exist but when there is no conscious one does not experience that 'gap'. As such, we are constantly conscious.
Reincarnation isn't new age bullshit or whacky magic (like for examples the religions created by our ancestors in their powers games/ need to explain our existence). It's a philosophical certain, a scientific and statistical inevitability. 99.999%. Why don't I just jump off of a bridge tomorrow? That other 0.001%. The instincts I have inherited, which we have evolved with - to survive. But I no longer fear death because I'm certain it is not the end, it cannot be - time is infinite.
I continue to exist on this rock in this part of the universe and at this point in time. As so do many of us. I look at existence as a realist. Not a nihilist (although I can't claim to know what the purpose of it all is or if there even is one), not a pessimist or an optimist. I look at the world and do experience melancholy for corporations have much of the power, religious (and other forms of) extremism are rampant as are war and genocide and death and poverty and disease and starvation. The Sumerians had wondrous civilization, agriculture in 5000 BC (Over 7000 years ago). Technology was developing very fast. Their civilization fell to ruin and they were at a stage approaching where we were 1000 years ago. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumer
We could be 5000-6000 years more advanced as a race, more developed.
While I said I am not a nihilist (because I can't claim to know the purpose of everything, the outcome, or even if there is either) I don't know those things. Perhaps we're just more life (evolved from the atoms themselves and just as common as the atoms, having no more impact - ultimately) but I couldn't possibly know that. I don't think anyone on earth could possibly know these things, beyond speculation and theory. We can use our technology to look at things at the subatomic level and even manipulate, we can look out to the stars at distances further than ever before. Yet we have no more answers than our ancestors did thousands of years ago. More educated guesses & theories, more speculation.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/farthest-galaxy.html
1.26.2011
Astronomers have pushed NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to its limits by finding what is likely to be the most distant object ever seen in the universe. The object's light traveled 13.2 billion years to reach Hubble, roughly 150 million years longer than the previous record holder. The age of the universe is approximately 13.7 billion years.
Despite all of this around us many humans on our rock seem to think that their own personal power and gain matters. They hold our whole species back from development to fill their pockets. What will that have been worth when they die, when they cease to exist? Time is linear and the chemicals in our brain giving us pleasure are a delusion. If anything an intelligent person would seek to advance our species as a whole. That extends with the linearity of time, to whatever lies in the future of our planet, the future of our species or that which we will evolve into. Everything else is temporary - experience, memories, sensations...
I know my own existence is temporary, I know I'm insignificant and I wonder what's coming next for me. I do experience these temporary things of life - desire, emotion, sensations... As much as I wish to. Death is the only enlightenment from these things... Onto the next existence of consciousness, almost certainly...
I am curious to see what becomes of this little rock but of course the next incarnation of my conscious mind could be anywhere in space or time (perhaps even in existence outside those, we can't know). I will only see what happens here in this incarnation of my conscious mind. The next incarnation probably onto one of an infinite number of life inhabited planets in the universe/s (or even other forms of existence, which we can't know exist or do not). Fear of death is primitive, emotional. Emotions are chemical baggage we have evolved with, delusions. Partly to will our instinct to survive, to procreate, to develop.
The earliest TV broadcasts didn’t have enough energy to pass through our planets ionosphere (a layer of charged particles, high in the atmosphere). Radio signals would face a similar problem, since they are the same thing - low frequency electromagnetic radiation. One of the earliest TV broadcasts with enough energy to be detectable from an extraterrestrial location was the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. It may be that pictures of Hitler are one of the earliest things life in other parts of our galaxy are seeing of us. With 1936 as our beginning, radio signals will have been moving out through space at the speed of light since then. Light travels at about 300,000 km/s - 18,000,000 km/min, 1,080,000,000 km/hr - 25,920,000,000 km/day - 9,467,280,000,000 km/year. During the 72 years since the Berlin 1936 Olympics the signal has travelled around 681,644,160,000,000 km (or 423,554,044,000,000 miles or 72 light years). This is far enough to have reached some of the closest stars including many stars that have solar systems around them. As the signals spread out their energy spreads out. Think of ripples in a huge pond – they will be big at the source - that which causes the ripples then as they spread out the height and length of the ripples gets smaller and smaller. For aliens to detect our signals they would have to be relatively very close - or have very much more sensitive equipment and technology than we currently have available on Earth. If alien life was to detect these signals and send a message back, it would take just as long for the reply to reach us. For example, if a message was detected 50 light years away (very small distance in comparison to the size of the galaxy), then the signal would have taken 50 years to get there and the reply would take another 50 to return, giving a round-trip time of 100 years. Century long conversations...
Does anyone have anything to add? Your own rational thoughts and speculations, processes of logic... What do you think?
1 February 2011
Our significance, uniqueness of consciousnesses
The universe is a humongous sea of molecules. All bashing around and against each other. Why do we consider ourselves so individual and so unique? Are we any more significant than a random fly one of us swats or some bacteria we destroy when wiping a table? Just about all life on earth (with the exception of a strain of bacteria NASA found that had evolved differently) has the EXACT same DNA. The same building blocks and ingredients. We're all made of the same thing. Our 'consciousnesses' stem from all this. Sure, our personalities and thoughts will be shaped by genetics, circumstances, body chemicals/ hormones, environmental factors. With that, ultimately we're all the exact same when it comes down to our very consciousness. Just like a million ants all think the same thoughts and do the same things, humans all have the same basic consciousnesses. Those other factors give variety and individuality. But the very essence that makes us intelligent and self aware is our consciousness and our ability to think deeply, to question things. And that is not the chemicals in our body or our environmental/ circumstantial factors (which every other living thing has). This seems to be logical and also makes you think more about death, is it actually the end of an individual or just the end of the physical body and brain with all the substance - while the consciousness of that 'individual' happened to end every other 'individual' on earth possibly has the very same consciousness.
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