Our challenge as a civilization is to....

find out how we can IMPROVE the condition of Earth for those who will live in it for generations on, while also exploring all potential threats to the human race (asteroids, supernova's, black holes, the sun's eventual transformation, etc) and figuring out ways that we can keep living in spite of those threats.

And once those two problems are tackled, I think the focus is on exploring space in general. Seeing what else is out there.

Yet for some reason everyone gets preoccupied with this boring ferguson shit. Some cop kills a black thug and the propaganda driven media reports on it over and over again until it's all that the public sheep want to talk and worry about. People are so concerned about gas prices and other consumerist things, with no regard for how much CO2 we are pumping into the atmosphere (the last time there was this much CO2 in the atmosphere, humans weren't even present on Earth yet).

It's a shame that billions of years of evolution has lead to this shit. A way overpopulated earth with a bunch of materialistic ****tards.

Our challenge as a civilization is figuring out how to live with ****tards like you

[QUOTE=KyrieTheFuture]Our challenge as a civilization is figuring out how to live with ****tards like you[/QUOTE]

I should be the least of your worries, son.

get out of the way.

The earth's ecosystem will screw us millions of years before space screw us.

[QUOTE=Pushxx]The earth's ecosystem will screw us millions of years before space screw us.[/QUOTE]

not if we do something about it first.

Do you smoke crack? You seem like you smoke crack.

[QUOTE=KyrieTheFuture]Our challenge as a civilization is figuring out how to live with ****tards like you[/QUOTE]

you're a retard

[QUOTE=sweggeh]Do you smoke crack? You seem like you smoke crack.[/QUOTE]

no.

1. Find (or admit) there is alien life. Contact with advance civilizations can push our civilation millions of years ahead in technological advances, religion, and culture, which can probably solve all of our problems today.

2. Colonize Mars.

Earth will be fine; it's just a scare tactic to advocate population control. Earth's real problem is just having too many damn people, which we are controlling by preventing births, lowering the life expectancy, and fighting more wars.

[QUOTE=sweggeh]Do you smoke crack? You seem like you smoke crack.[/QUOTE]
If he smoked crack he would make 10 threads about how cool he was for it like he does whenever he drinks or smokes pot. He's a typical 15 year old

politics is moving too slowly to respond to the climate change problem, so if civilisation as we know it is going to last even a decade or so more, some technology to pull CO2 (and possibly methane) out of the atmosphere very rapidly will need to be invented.

there's also a tonne of other man-made problems that will have to be solved, while creating a minimum of new ones (good luck with that).

actually an even more immediate problem than GCC is figuring out how to keep the world's financial markets stable, which includes keeping most economies solvent. china, japan and russia (and others) are all on shaky ground for a variety of reasons, and the precariousness is getting worse overall it seems to me. unfortunately the leadership of most of the key countries is doing an underwhelming job of addressing this stuff. GCC is only going to make all of this harder because it's going to mean more weather disasters, meaning more govt and citizen costs, lesser food yields, etc.

i do think there is a way to address most of this stuff, but it involves a grassroots-level awareness that turns in to a generational awareness, which ultimately creates a political and market awareness. unfortunately there are so many ways for the individual to ignore all of this and/or hope someone else takes care of it that i don't see that critical mass happening until its far too late to do anything. because it requires citizens having to sacrifice living the high life and force fundamental political change. it simply doesn't work to keep living the high life, vote for a candidate, and expect them to take care of all these problems. that's pretty much the #1 delusion i see the average citizen having even today. very related to the concept-- how you spend your money IS how you effectively vote.

see, if you don't understand that you live in the most privileged time in human history (one which is also creating terrible problems just ahead), then you will probably tend to think that all of these perks, buying power and gadgets are normal... something you have a right to... and will therefore be resistant to changing your life. okay, so that might work out pretty well for you for a while, but in a world of such people it will surely lead to collapse on a scale not seen for millions of years. you can see this kind of thing happening all across life and nature, from the micro to the macro, all across the known universe. in fact, i suspect this is what normally happens in a techno-civilisation such as ours when there is intelligent life.

yes, everything pretty much has a built-in expiration date due to a variety of complex factors, and civilisation is no different IMO. as a race you have to be DAMN good if you want to alter those parameters, but unfortunately most of our amazing human innovation has gone towards improving our personal power and technology rather than improving our sustainability. that just doesn't work in the long run, and some problems you just can't let get out of control. you may think god, aliens or the illuminati will keep everything nicely under control, but the laws of nature have their own rules. guess which one actually runs the show?

we're not remotely so special or unique that willful ignorance or belief in deity of choice is going to save us. the more you understand nature the more you realise how absurd that idea is. unless there is a whole lotta consciousness change in the coming years, expect civilisation to fall apart disturbingly fast one of these days. at first it will seem like a recession, then a depression...

[QUOTE=gigantes]politics is moving too slowly to respond to the climate change problem, so if civilisation as we know it is going to last even a decade or so more, some technology to pull CO2 (and possibly methane) out of the atmosphere very rapidly will need to be invented.

there's also a tonne of other man-made problems that will have to be solved, while creating a minimum of new ones (good luck with that).

actually an even more immediate problem than GCC is figuring out how to keep the world's financial markets stable, which includes keeping most economies solvent. china, japan and russia (and others) are all on shaky ground for a variety of reasons, and the precariousness is getting worse overall it seems to me. unfortunately the leadership of most of the key countries is doing an underwhelming job of addressing this stuff. GCC is only going to make all of this harder because it's going to mean more weather disasters, meaning more govt and citizen costs, lesser food yields, etc.

i do think there is a way to address most of this stuff, but it involves a grassroots-level awareness that turns in to a generational awareness, which ultimately creates a political and market awareness. unfortunately there are so many ways for the individual to ignore all of this and/or hope someone else takes care of it that i don't see that critical mass happening until its far too late to do anything. because it requires citizens having to sacrifice living the high life and force fundamental political change. it simply doesn't work to keep living the high life, vote for a candidate, and expect them to take care of all these problems. that's pretty much the #1 delusion i see the average citizen having even today. very related to the concept-- how you spend your money IS how you effectively vote.

see, if you don't understand that you live in the most privileged time in human history (one which is also creating terrible problems just ahead), then you will probably tend to think that all of these perks, buying power and gadgets are normal... something you have a right to... and will therefore be resistant to changing your life. okay, so that might work out pretty well for you for a while, but in a world of such people it will surely lead to collapse on a scale not seen for millions of years. you can see this kind of thing happening all across life and nature, from the micro to the macro, all across the known universe. in fact, i suspect this is what normally happens in a techno-civilisation such as ours when there is intelligent life.

yes, everything pretty much has a built-in expiration date due to a variety of complex factors, and civilisation is no different IMO. as a race you have to be DAMN good if you want to alter those parameters, but unfortunately most of our amazing human innovation has gone towards improving our personal power and technology rather than improving our sustainability. that just doesn't work in the long run, and some problems you just can't let get out of control. you may think god, aliens or the illuminati will keep everything nicely under control, but the laws of nature have their own rules. guess which one actually runs the show?

we're not remotely so special or unique that willful ignorance or belief in deity of choice is going to save us. the more you understand nature the more you realise how absurd that idea is. unless there is a whole lotta consciousness change in the coming years, expect civilisation to fall apart disturbingly fast one of these days. at first it will seem like a recession, then a depression...[/QUOTE]
The reality is that modern technology and luxury makes people more entitled, lazy, unimaginative, thoughtless, dependent, hedonistic, demanding, greedy, and even lonely. It is not good for us as a species as human beings improve themselves through trial and effort, not docility and comfort.

Constant stimulation and gratification (where our emphasis on scientific utilitarianism has led) does not make people 'happier' it only makes them completely dependent on these things, and has them constantly demanding more.

We are inherently self-destructive, as it is our nature to want more and never to be satisfied (which is why we've been so successful). Perhaps life itself is self-destructive, then (once it passes a certain intelligence threshold, its culture and technology evolves too fast for biological evolution to adapt). This is generally why i don't value charity or pity or sympathy, as they all lead to the multiplication of weakness, and as you say, if the human species (or life) is to survive, then it most certainly cannot be weak and infirm. If we are going to invent new technologies, then it is incredibly important we develop a system that is focused on finding and cultivating the brightest intellects in the country; rather than this egalitarian piss-up we presently call 'education', that rewards box-tickers, and usually fills intelligent individuals with a life-long disdain for formal education. Then we need to invest in these people and burden them with as little administrative and bureaucratic rubbish as possible. These species-saving technologies certainly aren't going to come from throwing money down the well, to be spent on necessities in Africa, or some other poverty-stricken region.

Looked at objectively, and over the long-run, these expenditures are a complete waste of money and time, and could be better utilised in other ways (sorry if this offends anyone, but it's just true). Why bother with philanthropy and preserving life in Africa, when our lack of sustainability is destroying it anyway? That money would better benefit Africa by being spent on attempts to make ourselves more sustainable, surely?

As your 3rd-to-last paragraph shows, to change awareness would require a complete overhaul of our political system, a complete devolution of centralised power, a renewed emphasis on municipal and community spirit, and on active political involvement: this would compel people to take a real interest in politics, to develop more responsibilities and duties, tend towards a less docile and self-obsessed lifestyle. But to me, things are only trending in the opposite direction to this, so i have little hope.

I used to have faith (because it is faith) that people could change their mindset or 'awareness' as you put it, but not any more: change always comes from and always has come from above, and never from some kind of ground route mass-enlightenment.

Overcome the detriment that is wish thinking :coughreligioncough: :confusedshrug:

[QUOTE=Nowitness]Overcome the detriment that is wish thinking :coughreligioncough: :confusedshrug:[/QUOTE]
There's a whole lot more wishful thinking among humanity than simple religion my friend. Religion is just a symptom of the greater disease (the search for transcendence and purpose in a purposeless world - the inherent absurdity of the human condition).