M.I. Lastman's Blog, page 10
May 20, 2015
Aforementioned: aphorisms and questions for 2015
Every living entity is naturally compelled to succeed. Coupled with evolved intelligence that compulsion reaches tragic extremes. 
All these pictures depict the tragic consequence of some misguided project for intelligent human success; draining the Aral sea to irrigate cotton fields; cutting Amazon forests for human agriculture; expanding human population indifferent to the resources to support it; dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima because we could and thought that we should to succeed.
All these pictures depict the tragic consequence of some misguided project for intelligent human success; draining the Aral sea to irrigate cotton fields; cutting Amazon forests for human agriculture; expanding human population indifferent to the resources to support it; dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima because we could and thought that we should to succeed.
May 18, 2015
Aforementioned: aphorisms and questions for 2015
Carbon emissions mirror our craving for cheap energy. As it grows, carbon emissions will too, despite carbon taxes. 
Canadian economist, Jeff Rubin, has written a new book The Carbon Bubble. In it he predicts that the carbon economy is about to implode like the South Sea Bubble. Not bloody likely! So long as more and more of us want to do more and more, big carbon will have no trouble selling its wares. Carbon taxes will get passed along, and we will burn more and more of it as the planet warms up. Wind farms, solar arrays, and hybrid cars are just pissing in the wind; they throw things at the symptoms and miss completely the disease, the plague of homo sapiens.
Canadian economist, Jeff Rubin, has written a new book The Carbon Bubble. In it he predicts that the carbon economy is about to implode like the South Sea Bubble. Not bloody likely! So long as more and more of us want to do more and more, big carbon will have no trouble selling its wares. Carbon taxes will get passed along, and we will burn more and more of it as the planet warms up. Wind farms, solar arrays, and hybrid cars are just pissing in the wind; they throw things at the symptoms and miss completely the disease, the plague of homo sapiens.Aforementioned: aphorisms and questions for 2015
Credulity, the enabler of avoidance, has never been as rampant as in the age of science.
Avoidance of death has been the biggest motivator of credulity in the past. That is the only sum of much traditional religion. Now science offers even more potent and destructive avenues for avoidance. Here are a few examples among countless: technology to enable us to consume energy without concern for the consequences; efficient farming to feed the plague of homo sapiens (pohs); plans to colonize beyond earth; medical technology to postpone death - eventually indefinitely.
Avoidance of death has been the biggest motivator of credulity in the past. That is the only sum of much traditional religion. Now science offers even more potent and destructive avenues for avoidance. Here are a few examples among countless: technology to enable us to consume energy without concern for the consequences; efficient farming to feed the plague of homo sapiens (pohs); plans to colonize beyond earth; medical technology to postpone death - eventually indefinitely.
May 17, 2015
Aforementioned: aphorisms and questions for 2015
Credulity is a function of intelligence. Humans are the only species to practice credulity. 
Credulous faith in metaphysics, credulous faith in economics, credulous faith in science and technology, credulous faith in political leadership. CREDULITY IS PROFOUNDLY DANGEROUS.
Credulous faith in metaphysics, credulous faith in economics, credulous faith in science and technology, credulous faith in political leadership. CREDULITY IS PROFOUNDLY DANGEROUS.
May 16, 2015
Aforementioned: aphorisms and questions for 2015
Stupidity is a function of intelligence. Humans are the only species to practice stupidity. 
Perhaps the aphorism should have read: Tragedy is a function of intelligence; only humans practice tragedy.
Perhaps the aphorism should have read: Tragedy is a function of intelligence; only humans practice tragedy.
May 15, 2015
Aforementioned: aphorisms and questions for 2015
Danger naturally lies in extremes.Human intelligence, the extreme of evolutionary refinement, is extremely dangerous. 
The large Hadron collider is not in itself dangerous. However, it symbolizes the compulsion of intelligence to seek out new knowledge as fast as possible. Nothing is more dangerous. That compulsion is enabling the destruction of the biosphere.
The large Hadron collider is not in itself dangerous. However, it symbolizes the compulsion of intelligence to seek out new knowledge as fast as possible. Nothing is more dangerous. That compulsion is enabling the destruction of the biosphere.
May 14, 2015
Aforementioned: aphorisms and questions for 2015
Which is worse: the plague of homo sapiens or climate change? Are they one and the same?
A new expression to conjure with: Plague of Homo Sapiens (PoHS)
A new expression to conjure with: Plague of Homo Sapiens (PoHS)
May 13, 2015
Aforementioned: aphorisms and questions for 2015
Homo sapiens: the makers of the great ugliness and as beautiful as anything in nature. 
This is another obvious blog, but nonetheless important for all that. Why do we insist on such terrible extremes?
This is another obvious blog, but nonetheless important for all that. Why do we insist on such terrible extremes?
May 11, 2015
Aforementioned: aphorisms and questions for 2015
What should we do? Unwind inert mechanical complexity; restore living complexity. 
Such a long way back!
Such a long way back!
May 10, 2015
Aforementioned: aphorisms and questions for 2015
What should we do? Give all woman control over their natural sexual rights. Ask them to find the humane solution to the population bomb.
The important thing here is: no more than two children per fertile woman. Of course, it is only one part of the solution to the global climate crisis, but it is by a wide margin the most important. That penny has yet to drop.
The important thing here is: no more than two children per fertile woman. Of course, it is only one part of the solution to the global climate crisis, but it is by a wide margin the most important. That penny has yet to drop.
