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Author Topic:   The Next Rung on the Evolutionary Ladder
HeliosphericMan
Inactive Member


Message 1 of 5 (11174)
06-08-2002 4:48 AM


It has come to my attention after observing the ways in which science and technology are progressing in the world today and in the recent past that we have now approached a crossroads where we must make important decisions that will ultimately decide what our future will look like. We have been climbing the evolutionary ladder for some time now and the next rung is awaiting us, but first we must want to grab for it. We must be willing to progress ever farther.
Let me elaborate; a few weeks ago I saw a film, made in 1936, based off one of H.G. Wells novels called Things to come. During the movie it shows how, in the past, war had been used as a stimulus for progress. There wasn’t any war for a long while, but then there is a World War that lasts for over 35 years (yes I know it’s a little fake), at any rate there are these so-called wings over the world people that have kept out of the war and have preserved technology and science. While the rest of the world goes back to using sticks and stones as fighting weapons, these preservers have advanced quite a ways into the future. When these people meet up with the barbarians they use peace gas to neutralize the situation and then go about radically changing the state of things until the populous is not only stable but technologically advanced themselves. Some 60 years into the future after the preservers have brought them (the barbarians) technology, there is a part of the movie that is most memorable and which brings us up to the present day and the point of this explanation.
It seems that everyone is happy and has everything they could ever need; in most ways they have a perfect utopia. However, there is one man who hates all of the progress and technological wonders. He plots with a few others of like mind to publicly broadcast his sentiments onto a large screen in the mall area, which everyone can see. He demands an end to the progress saying; this progress must stop not surprisingly the people start immediately to revolt, everything runs downhill and they begin to ruin their accomplishments.
Now, how does this story relate to today? Well, I sorry if I’m going to sound a little harsh but the truth must be said and I can’t help but lash out at the system. Are we really that advanced? Are we really making progress? You decide. When we have over 50% of our population that is grossly overweight, when we have brainless pop culture teaching the youth nothing of value, worth or science, when we have had no new nuclear power plants built since the 1970’s due to overzealous eco freaks, when we have the shutdown of our infrastructure, when we haven’t left low earth orbit since 1972, when you can’t make a high speed train in California because the environmental impact study would cost several billion dollars, when all the government does is scheme up more ways to pay people not to work (welfare), when anti-military soccer moms talk on cell phones without realizing that the military pioneered that very technology, when politicians would rather give money to illegal immigrants then fund a mission to Pluto, when schoolchildren are taught how to use a condom instead of a chemistry set, when NASA won’t encourage space tourism, when everyone drives oil burning SUV’s instead of driving cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells.
Well, I could go on and on but you get the point. If we do not stand up for science and space we are only asking for those like the disgruntled man from the movie to ruin and eradicate the precious data and knowledge of countless generations. Indeed, we must protect from this modern day assault that amounts to a sort of new lets burn the Library of Alexandria mentality. What’s the best way to go about this?
As sure as I sit here in front of this computer, only a manned Mars mission can recapture, rejuvenate and stimulate the people of this nation and the world as a whole. And not just the mission but the following colonization and subsequent technologically innovations that will no doubt come about as a direct result of the migration outward from the third rock held in the gravitational grasp of the Sun.
Our going to Mars will signal a new step, a new rung, a new challenge surmounted, a new pace, a new dawn and a better understanding of our place in the cosmos. Furthermore, it will not be the end but just the beginning, onward and outward we shall traverse, first the mining of the asteroids, then the moons of Jupiter and Saturn and on and on until we reach the Kuiper belt itself. Just as scientists discovered and released the power of the atom at Los Alamos, so too will the manned exploration of space unlock the mysteries of the solar system and the universe.
If God or evolution put the solar system in place, then it is not only our birthright but also our destiny that we reach out to study, comprehend and occupy the myriad of asteroids, moons, planets, and comets that have waited for us, patiently, for countless millennia. It has been said not to keep all of your eggs in one basket, but currently all humanity resides on one small fragile blue sphere, susceptible to a comic impact. Is this wise? Certainly not, for it only stands to reason that civilization as a whole will benefit from spreading out among the bodies of our solar system.
Yet here on Earth humanity still stands, still lingers, still delays, our ultimate desire to embark on further voyages into space. But must it be so? Not if we are willing to become conscious of that next rung, that next inevitable step if we so will it to be. Are we ready for the next rung of the evolutionary ladder? Or are we too consumed by the trivial matters of this Earth that we cannot even raise our heads and minds to the stars?

Replies to this message:
 Message 2 by John, posted 06-08-2002 12:52 PM HeliosphericMan has not replied

  
John
Inactive Member


Message 2 of 5 (11181)
06-08-2002 12:52 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by HeliosphericMan
06-08-2002 4:48 AM


There is no next rung. Stop with this next rung crap. There is only change, not progression from bad to better. This is a moralistic perspective, a fantasy. Nature is indifferent to our moralities. Nature isn't even capable of having the sentiment of indifference. Nature isn't even a THING in any real sense.
OUTBURST TERMINATED:
This "next rung" idea.... It gets in the way of the point you are trying to make, which is, I think, that we really need to think carefully about where we are going. Your horrible abuse of the theory of evolution simply diffuses any impact this post could have had.
Of course, I don't see why you would post to this forum if you didn't actually believe that this was about evolution.....
------------------
www.hells-handmaiden.com

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by HeliosphericMan, posted 06-08-2002 4:48 AM HeliosphericMan has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 3 by Philip, posted 06-09-2002 6:44 PM John has replied

  
Philip
Member (Idle past 4723 days)
Posts: 656
From: Albertville, AL, USA
Joined: 03-10-2002


Message 3 of 5 (11220)
06-09-2002 6:44 PM
Reply to: Message 2 by John
06-08-2002 12:52 PM


quote:
Originally posted by John:
There is no next rung. Stop with this next rung crap. There is only change, not progression from bad to better. This is a moralistic perspective, a fantasy. Nature is indifferent to our moralities. Nature isn't even capable of having the sentiment of indifference. Nature isn't even a THING in any real sense.
This "next rung" idea.... It gets in the way of the point you are trying to make, which is, I think, that we really need to think carefully about where we are going. Your horrible abuse of the theory of evolution simply diffuses any impact this post could have had.

--Thanks John, you’ve always been a considerate and loyal opponent.
--Quetzel, Shraf, care to help out this endangered progenitor, Saganistic HeliosphericMan?
--HeliosphericMan, allow me (a misapprehended YEC). John's thundering fundamentalist sermon (peradventure a recent conversion-event) only proves to us, parsimoniously, that switching camps, fence-straddling, and occasional meandering into enemy mines, never harms the hoax of evolutionism. (I.e., his bark is worse than his bite) You're welcome to debate any of my posts.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 2 by John, posted 06-08-2002 12:52 PM John has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 4 by John, posted 06-10-2002 1:25 AM Philip has not replied
 Message 5 by John, posted 06-10-2002 7:39 AM Philip has not replied

  
John
Inactive Member


Message 4 of 5 (11232)
06-10-2002 1:25 AM
Reply to: Message 3 by Philip
06-09-2002 6:44 PM


quote:
--HeliosphericMan, allow me (a misapprehended YEC). John's thundering fundamentalist sermon (peradventure a recent conversion-event) only proves to us, parsimoniously, that switching camps, fence-straddling, and occasional meandering into enemy mines, never harms the hoax of evolutionism. (I.e., his bark is worse than his bite) You're welcome to debate any of my posts.
Excuse me?
Conversion event? Switching camps? Fence straddling?
Bad science is bad science. It doesn't matter which side the bad science falls on.
The objection is to portraying evolution as a progression "up" from one state to a better state. That bit is subjective-- a judgement call.
------------------
www.hells-handmaiden.com

This message is a reply to:
 Message 3 by Philip, posted 06-09-2002 6:44 PM Philip has not replied

  
John
Inactive Member


Message 5 of 5 (11243)
06-10-2002 7:39 AM
Reply to: Message 3 by Philip
06-09-2002 6:44 PM



This message is a reply to:
 Message 3 by Philip, posted 06-09-2002 6:44 PM Philip has not replied

  
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