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14-08-2015 Somewhat off topic, though it relates to being "happy" just temporarily avoiding physical discomfort, or in a situation such as being a prostitute and all of the societal baggage that entails, but really no different than most workers.but I saw the temps in Kiev for the week and they would be considered the perfect day here in Texas, 76 degrees F. :0The past two weeks here at my house has been 103 F, you feel sick and dizzy after more than 30 minutes outside, and many people do not have cooling at all, especially the poor. The ground has cracks that you can put your arm into. I have a little window unit for the entire house, but with the trees I planted years ago it can be in the 80s or 90s, better than nothing, but somewhat uncomfortable. So the rosey approach is to say, hey, it could be worse!, which somehow justifies the suffering, which of course makes no sense and is an attitude I despise, since it is usually stated by someone who is *not* doing the suffering or has something to gain from your suffering. |
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15-08-2015
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They argue we were like bonobos, not chimps. And bonobos are very laid back and horny Or elephants: |
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19-08-2015
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Just a quick off-topic side note, something that crossed my mind as I read this. The reasons which lead to the Neolithic Revolution are still a baffling mystery, because the lifestyle change towards settlement and agriculture had many disadvantages: Significant drop in life expectancy, rapidly spreading diseases, sex inequality (as you mentioned it), new social problems and warfare… There are many theories out there, which suggest that various environmental pressures lead to the dawn of civilisation. But I think most of them make don’t make much sense or simply don’t add up. As I see it, the real reason that lead to settlement: The occurrence of organized religion (See The Birth of Religion) What lead to the formation of organized religion then? My speculation is, that there must have been some kind of event, a natural disaster or a quick dramatic climate change which may have resulted in some kind of collective traumatization. This collective PTSD may have caused a change in our consciousness, which created a demand various ideologies of salvation (religion). People who think that �civilization is fundamentally insane’ are pretty much correct: Civilization itself may be the result of collective psychopathology. |
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20-08-2015
hey, thanks for registering, theMeme) There's so much to read, I haven't tapproached the topic of the birth of religion yet. Are you recommending the book called "The Birth of Religion"? re "collective traumatization". Isn't life a continous tramatization as it is? Just as soon as a more sophisticated consciousness is developed it becomes so much more traumatizing. I don't think there was a need for some extreme event to take place. Hurt, absurdity, randomness and helplessness are all around, that's enough to be wishing for some hidden meaning and purpose, for protection from a powerful parent, for a better life in another, unseen world. |
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20-08-2015 Uh, sorry I must have forgotten the link: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/gobekli-tepe/mann-text . It’s about a theory that suggests that religion gave rise to civilisation and not the other way around. So if that’s true, one might wonder, what gave rise to organized religion then? For at least 90 percent we successfully practiced a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, worshiping nature at best. Then suddenly, out of the blue, 12 000 years ago, our ancestors turned to organized religion? That’s hard to believe. That’s why I think that something must have happened, which made us insane…I don’t even think that our self-conscious (or a certain mode of it) that we are so proud of, is natural to our species. The conscious of the modern civilized man seems to be 'wrong’ and delusional in many ways. So I think, that it may be possible that our everyday mode of conscious is the result of a culturally transmitted trauma. Trough Memes and behavioural patterns one generation brainwashes the next one into insanity…a mode of conscious that makes us suffer in 'unnatural’ ways. Most people consider modern human conscious as sophisticated or 'more advanced’, to me it appears to be pathological and disastrous. --- > Edited 20-08-2015 02:23:07 |
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20-08-2015
For at least 90 percent we successfully practiced a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, worshiping nature at best. Then suddenly, out of the blue, 12 000 years ago, our ancestors turned to organized religion? That’s hard to believe. Ok, interesting. I might look into some youtube lectures or documentaries on the topic. I only know how Christianity was started on my land, in Kiev Rus. By force. Before that - nature worship. Guess the rulers of the countries or tribes found organized religion useful for herding 'sheep'. We certainly suffer from having such consciousness and we're certainly full of cognitive biases that distort our thinking and being held hostage by emotions that drive our thinking. But it is actually 'healthy', because our brain only tries to process as much reality as needed in order to survive and enjoy life, so it will block hurtful stuff and believe in magic and so on. That's actually sane because it helps an organism survive. |
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20-08-2015 I do think peopleВґs consciousness is pathological, and definitely causes an extreme amount of suffering. Lately I have been thinking that most people, perhaps because of societal memes, suffer from what I call ВЁclinical elationВЁ, being irrational feelings of hope and happiness.What Is Major or Clinical Elation? Most people feel happy or high at some point in their lives. But clinical elation is marked by an elevated mood most of the day, particularly in the morning, and an excessive amount in normal activities and relationships -- symptoms that are present every day for at least 2 weeks. In addition, you may have other symptoms with major elation. Those symptoms might include: Energetic mood almost every day Feelings of importance or deservedness almost every day Focused concentration, decisiveness in spite of actual pointlessness of particular activity Satisfactory sleep due to denial of reality of lifeВґs predicaments Markedly increased interest or pleasure in almost all activities nearly every day Dismissive attitude toward thoughts of death or suicide Significant weight loss or gain (a change of more than 5% of body weight in a month) --- > Edited 20-08-2015 08:26:25 --- > Edited 20-08-2015 08:27:13 |
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20-08-2015
LOL I'm imagining and ad on tv: 'Are you clinically elate? Ask your doctor about a punch in the face. A good punch in the face may help you accept reality of vulnerability, pain and inevitable demise that's waiting for you in the end of your futile insignificant life' |
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23-08-2015 @Kirk "Clinical Elation" reminds me of this skit from The Onion "FDA Approves Depressant Drug For The Annoyingly Cheerful" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd4tugPM83c |
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24-08-2015 I could write for these people, this is the way I have seen everything in life since I can remember! Hilarious! When I was teaching school I had to work daily to avoid sarcasm, it is a huge no-no in Texas public schools because it goes over the student's and parent's heads… My favorite quote on the blackboard for day 1 Physics II was "Always remember, you are UNIQUE, just like everyone else!". |
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24-08-2015 Hehe, me too, it would be my dream job to write for The Onion. Now I'm reminded of one of their articles, "Newborn Loses Faith In Humanity After Record 6 Days" http://www.theonion.com/article/newborn-loses-faith-in-humanity-after-record-6-day-29588I live one state away from you, still in the bible belt, and most people don't appreciate my sarcasm either. It's kind of nice though, I can insult their bible thumping bullshit all I want and they never catch on. See? There's always a silver lining. lol |
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24-08-2015 That is great, so true, really! I got a basic handle on it when I was four and my mom pregnant with number 3, and it has been a real challenge to keep up the facade of living through my life. The only thing that makes sense to me about something that seems so obviously the caring and loving thing to do (being childfree) is that evolution obviously rewards those who breed with that type of mindset, as those who see the truth breed themselves out!Besides the question of whether we even can make choices (freewill) of which I am not yet decided because the results seem very much the same either way, how to spread a self-eliminating meme is a top question for me. If I remember correctly, for instance, the Shakers were an organization that de-emphasized breeding back in early American history. Met any Shakers lately? |
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24-08-2015 @Kirk: It's certainly sad and soul-crushing, seeing people suffering from such an condition. Seeing them, as they they loose touch with reality, locked in their own delusional world, is surely no fun. In serve cases such a condition might be incurable, as some affected persons are pretty treatment-resistant. Yet, clinical elation might be manageable through the help of an Frontier Psychiatrist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLrnkK2YEcE !@Irinia: I speculate that deity-worshiping originated as a form of trauma-management. Helplessly facing the destructive forces of nature, worshiping higher powers, gave them a sense of control. But whatever it exactly was, that lead to religion and civilization, i feel that the whole whole settlement and agriculture-thing was a pretty bad move from our ancestors. Interestingly, the Neolithic Revolution, despite all of its drawbacks, lead to to an population explosion (from about 6 million to about 80 million 4000 BC). Furthermore, I believe that not only religions thinking, but also the step towards settlement itself, had an damaging effect onto our minds. As a wild animal will become nuts if locked it into a small cache, so our ancestors became bonkers when locked onto a place with an 'unnatural' huge tribe! Of course, I do enjoy the cultural and technological advances that the step towards civilization brought upon us. But was it worth all the struggling and suffering? I'd say: NO! So, shame on you, dear ancestors! But, ok, there is no point in agonizing over past mistakes. So I just say "Mistakes have been made", like politicians when the are diplomatic, and leave it at that. --- > Edited 24-08-2015 19:49:57 |
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24-08-2015 @kirk "I was four and my mom pregnant with number 3, and it has been a real challenge to keep up the facade of living through my life..."It's been a real challenge for me too, living in such a conservative area. wow, three kids, do you get along with your siblings? Do they know your stance on breeding? I'm an only child, I got lucky. "Besides the question of whether we even can make choices (freewill) of which I am not yet decided because the results seem very much the same either way, how to spread a self-eliminating meme is a top question for me." There's no question about freewill, in my mind. We live in a cause and effect universe, so how could we have free will? It does matter, in a sense. Letting people hang on to their free will delusion further enables their "magical" thinking about life. If people acknowledged that we're basically computers running complex programs, I think that would take away some of the awe people have about existence. Hmmm maybe I should make a youtube video on free will, I'm already making one on decriminalizing prostitution. Might as well add free will to the list. How to spread the philosophy is a big question for me as well. Somehow, we need to convince people that being AN is "cool." If I remember correctly, for instance, the Shakers were an organization that de-emphasized breeding back in early American history. Met any Shakers lately? smiley lol nope, no shakers. But then, I'm not the most sociable person either so there probably are some here that I just haven't met. I don't think I've met an atheist in real life either, come to think. |
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25-08-2015 My youngest brother eventually married in mid-life and along with her came two children with a problematic father. He adopted them and raised them, with none of his own, so an honorable thing to do, IMO. My other brother has two children, we see less eye to eye, obviously. I haven't talked with my aging parents in years nor with my brothers, there really isn't much to say.The problem I have with the free will view, or lack thereof, is that somewhat similar to the Einsteinian vs. Newtonian view in physics, it turns out that looking at the world as a set of billiard balls hitting dominoes will *not* get you the answers you may want to build things such as cell phones, satellites, spacecraft, etc. They will not function if Newtonian physics is used, which works great for large objects moving slowly, but not for small objects moving fast, and other things. I think with free will the either something is caused or it is completely acausal may be a false choice, like in Newtonian mechanics. It turns out there are more complications to nature that required a man like Einstein to conceptualize and then a host of scientists and thinkers over 100 years to do the math and execute the applications. I am not insightful enough to originate a non-causal chain of events that posits "free will", whatever that may be, but I do think we need to learn more about consciousness to possibly figure it out. I think, perhaps unfortunately, that we are on the cusp of artificial intelligence in robots, and when someone can create a thinking machine that is fundamentally indistinguishable from a sentient being, we may want to ask it if it thinks it has free will! The answer may be enlightening. The other argument I have against automatically accepting a deterministic nature to our thoughts is that if it is true, what would actually change? If someone decides to believe they have free will, they can't believe otherwise! If I decide to think about free will, I can't have done otherwise, either. I mentioned this before somewhere on Irina's blog, new or old, but I'll mention it again and that is of a little train that used to be on a show called Gumby. The train, being claymation, would move around with just enough track in front of it. When I was young, I knew that trains followed tracks, not the other way around. But when I started thinking about Gumby's train, I wondered if it moved where the track decided to be, or was the train laying the track just in time on its own to move where it wanted to! My first introduction to the free will dilemma, I believe… So, really, "convincing" someone in a deterministic world doesn't really jibe, does it? Saying we have choices, but they are just predetermined, is like saying something is free, once you pay for it. I think it is a little bit silly. But I will say I don't currently have a model for free will, so I have to defer the answer until later, for me. I can't help but wait, I guess. Most of my friends are atheists, but many don't advertise it for various reasons, whether to get along with family, or to keep their jobs, etc. My first teaching job required me to sign a paper stating I believed in a supreme being, so no talking about god on that campus! It was a Texas public school, by the way. |
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