Re: Goblins of the world unite!!!

On Sep 14, 6:22 pm, Joseph Humming <jos...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
What is essential and enduring - and unique - about humans is the sum
of their capabilities, both
emotional and intellectual.

I wonder what the numerous bacteria colonizing our guts and skin think
about our vanity.

Human history bears witness to the gradual discovery of these
capabilties and the gradual construction of an infrastructure to
foster and faciliate them; to wit, the accumulation of knowledge, the
colonisation of the planet, the discovery of "agriculture", the
advance of technology, the development of transport and communication.
Together, these constitute the parameters of Humanisation, that time
on earth when human beings have finally surmounted the challenges of
ignorance and convergence and come to recognise their place in
nature.

People tend to think our place in nature is on a pedestal, well above
the other creatures.

The jewels in the human crown, religion, morality etc, are no more
than constructs to tide us over until knowledge was sufficient in
itself. All other creatures are sufficiently "moral" not to slaughter
each other.

Ever hear of infanticide amongst animals? Parasitic wasps? Nature is
hardly a bastion of morality. Morality and ethics are human
constructs, part of the thin veneer of culture.

Life - the life we know on this planet - is so successful
that morality is built in to it.

Politics is, of course, necessary.

A necessary evil. Politicians require power and power corrupts.

We need to learn together to live
in endlessly changing circumstances. Our history tho, included much
construction of the obscenity of
servitude and now the excitement of freedom. We seem to think freedom
is the culmination of human existence. In reality, it is - or should
be -,only the beginning of our intelligent time on earth.

Freedom is a relative term. The rich or wannabe rich like to bloviate
about freedoms, while being served by the less well off for dirt
wages. It's the invisible hand inaction. And the victims themselves
buy into the BS. Yet when the well-off look at their taxes that supply
revenue to pay for schools, cops, firefighters, and wars fought on
false pretenses that they still believe in so that future generations
might get educated in a safe environment and not get overburdened with
an unpaid bill, you'd think they were the ones put in shackles, not
the minimum wage workers staffing their business operations that
haven't been outsourced yet.

We are entering a time of global crisis. Climate, food, fuel,
migration, water etc etc will exercise huge sway. Now, more than ever
we need to recognise our situation and draw emotional and
intellectual guidance and coherence from it. Once that is done - if it
is done -
we can go on to discover and act upon our unique position in nature
and
possibly in the universe.

Think globally...act locally.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Goblins of the world unite!!!
    ... I wonder what the numerous bacteria colonizing our guts and skin think ... capabilties and the gradual construction of an infrastructure to ... People tend to think our place in nature is on a pedestal, ... servitude and now the excitement of freedom. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: (OT) WW III?
    ... The assertion of individal freedom as a natural right, ... supported by appeal to nature, and human nature, hence ... proposition that human beings are born with the right to be free. ... Because there is a huge amount of empirical data to support this ...
    (rec.gambling.poker)
  • Re: Mr. Castro and John Lennon
    ... Its thier job and you know what? ... the nature of this thing, is it friend or foe and being in the business ... meaning and purpose. ... Freedom to be as much as we can be, ...
    (soc.culture.cuba)
  • Re: Hell be Weighing Brains Next
    ... The warning that nature provides is that our morality cannot ... I did argue that morality remains independent of natural law so we always ... group selection has never been observed in nature despite Hamilton's ...
    (sci.bio.evolution)