NationStates Jolt Archive

http://video.ap.org/v/default.aspx?mk=en-ap&g=acc7998d-da25-4318-84b6-06e1a1cd9c0f&p=ENAPus_ENAPus&f=201264&t=s1179980883147fg=tool

After watching that, its hard to believe that humanity will not kill itself off. Wow, strange and effed up people in this world.

So what do you think. Will humanity kill itself off? And how?

Also, feel free to be horrified by the video. :)

There can be only one, McCleod - it's the time of the Gathering.

Before I saw the video I was ready to add "oh yeah, and some nutter hacked a guy's head off on a bus"

...but really, crazy people only make up a certain % of the population. I don't think that random acts of violence are going to do us in. It's the sane, methodical acts of violence that are the problem.

have you ever ridden a Grey hound? they're full of weirdos. This certainly isn't "humanity is doomed" worthy. Hell, all the stuff actually peddled by people as such doesn't need half that consideration.

have you ever ridden a Grey hound? they're full of weirdos. This certainly isn't "humanity is doomed" worthy. Hell, all the stuff actually peddled by people as such doesn't need half that consideration.

What about groups in Africa who go through and chop the hands off everyone in a certain other group so they'll be unable to work and all this? What about workers being exploited in sweatshops to make overpriced sneakers and hardly anyone cares where they come from? What about genocides nobody cares about, hate crimes that go ignored and let's not forget about plain old ignorance... are these things that can let us worry about the future of humanity?

No, but downward spirals make for entertaining rides. :)

I have much hope for humanity. Specifically, I hope that its final explosion will be suitably impressive and devastating (extra points for getting rid of the damn roaches!).

Is there any hope for humanity?

Nah, we're pretty much fucked.

These monkeys are at once the ugliest and the most beautiful creatures on the planet. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a15KgyXBX24)

You obviously haven't been on the internet for long.


But that is just screwed...

Before I saw the video I was ready to add "oh yeah, and some nutter hacked a guy's head off on a bus"

...but really, crazy people only make up a certain % of the population. I don't think that random acts of violence are going to do us in. It's the sane, methodical acts of violence that are the problem.

I think that eventually some power hungry belligerent group is going to attempt to apply technology to one of their schemes but then at the last minute said technology ends up producing an unwanted effect thus bringing on the apocalypse. Does that count?

We are doomed, and I know how it will happen.



One day, we decide those Chinese sons-of-a-bitches are going down, so we launch a nuke at China...

these Monkeys Are At Once The Ugliest And The Most Beautiful Creatures On The Planet. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a15kgyxbx24)

Win :d

These monkeys are at once the ugliest and the most beautiful creatures on the planet. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a15KgyXBX24)

Nevermind

Not under bourgeois property.

Not under bourgeois property.

Can you ever make a post that doesn't sound like you're Marx's fanboy?

I mean I am a huge Libertarian, but you don't see me making a post on every topic somehow relate back to Libertarianism.

Not under bourgeois property.

Funny, we lasted 10000 years as a civilization without Communism. And I suppose its meaningless coincidence that all of the most powerful, most peaceful, most secure nations with the highest life expectancy and best education are non-communist?

Can you ever make a post that doesn't sound like you're Marx's fanboy?

I mean I am a huge Libertarian, but you don't see me making a post on every topic somehow relate back to Libertarianism.

Um, Andaras is a Marx fanboy.;)

Funny, we lasted 10000 years as a civilization without Communism. And I suppose its meaningless coincidence that all of the most powerful, most peaceful, most secure nations with the highest life expectancy and best education are non-communist?
Please, keep talking, you continue to prove your own ludicrous ineptitude and sheer ignorance of everything you attempt to speak about.

Capitalism has only lasted some 300 years since industrialization, so your 10,000 years is a ridiculous non-materialist historical falsehood which makes no sense at all.

slavery-feudalism-capitalism-socialism-communism

So whinge and whine all you like, socialism and the abolition of class relations is a historical inevitability, and nothing insignificant little pissy liberals like you say can change the economic development of history toward socialist production.

Please, keep talking, you continue to prove your own ludicrous ineptitude and sheer ignorance of everything you attempt to speak about.

Capitalism has only lasted some 300 years since industrialization, so your 10,000 years is a ridiculous non-materialist historical falsehood which makes no sense at all.

slavery-feudalism-capitalism-socialism-communism

So whinge and whine all you like, socialism and the abolition of class relations is a historical inevitability, and nothing insignificant little pissy liberals like you say can change the economic development of history toward socialist production.

Ye-es, I fe-eel your anger, I shall call you...Darth Andaras.

Not under bourgeois property.

I love how you complain about capitalism while using cushy capitalist technology(computer and internet) to do so. The irony. It burns.

Back on topic, yes there is hope for us. We maybe the most sadistic, violent species on the planet. But most of us understand certain actions aren't worth losing what we have. So life goes on.

I love how you complain about capitalism while using cushy capitalist technology(computer and internet) to do so. The irony. It burns.

You are a petty-little whingy liberal, so I wouldn't expect anymore of you than this kinda petty immature rants and point-scoring.

You are a petty-little whingy liberal, so I wouldn't expect anymore of you than this kinda petty immature rants and point-scoring.

Do what must be done Darth Andaras, we must expel these whiny Jedi liberals from the universe.

You are a petty-little whingy liberal, so I wouldn't expect anymore of you than this kinda petty immature rants and point-scoring.

You can call me names all you like. It doesn't change the fact you have seen benefits of capitalism and to a point understand that. If not you would have started a little revolution by now or something.

Please, keep talking, you continue to prove your own ludicrous ineptitude and sheer ignorance of everything you attempt to speak about.

Capitalism has only lasted some 300 years since industrialization, so your 10,000 years is a ridiculous non-materialist historical falsehood which makes no sense at all.

slavery-feudalism-capitalism-socialism-communism

So whinge and whine all you like, socialism and the abolition of class relations is a historical inevitability, and nothing insignificant little pissy liberals like you say can change the economic development of history toward socialist production.

You're mixing up terms. Socialism and Communism are very different philosophies. Socialism allows for the abolition of inequalities through legal democratic means. Communism, or at least Marxism, explicitely calls for and mandates violent revolution.

Furthermore, I never claimed that Capitalism has lasted for 10000 years. As your little time line so clearly pointed out, there have been a lot of economic systems which were neither modern Communism nor modern Capitalism. You grossly misrepresented my post. Was this the result of deliberate dishonesty, stupidity, or simply intellectual laziness?

In any case, thank you for refuting your own argument. However, your sequence of events is still overly simplistic. Not all, if any of human societies have followed such a simple progression. You cannot prove that Communism is any more an inevitable development of society than that a humanoid form is the inevitable end result of evolution. People try different systems, and depending on the conditions at the time, and the intelligence of the individuals involved, they meet with varying degrees of success. However, it is rare indeed to find a society which even attempts the abolition of property, and practically unheard of to find one that has succeeded, unless on a very small scale.

Oh, and you never refuted my second sentence. Since it dealt with actual historical examples, however, I can see how refuting it would be quite difficult for you.

I have little time for such unintelligent blind slaves of bourgeois property, property you most likely do not even own.

The only language to have with such reactionaries forces as yourself is that of the gun.

Are you seriously threatening to shoot me?

Are you seriously threatening to shoot me?

Not specifically, but ultimately and at the end of the day violence is only real tool against the Ruling Class. Has any class in it's history voluntarily departed from power without a fight? I don't think so. If you seek to stand in the way of the old decaying system being thrown down, then yes that will surely be your fate, as it is the inevitable fate of all reactionaries.

Not specifically, but ultimately and at the end of the day violence is only real tool against the Ruling Class. Has any class in it's history voluntarily departed from power without a fight? I don't think so. If you seek to stand in the way of the old decaying system being thrown down, then yes that will surely be your fate, as it is the inevitable fate of all reactionaries.

The people standing in the way of the "decaying system" have better tanks, guns, and planes(thanks to capitalism) than those who wish to see the system disappear. It would seem this end is more likely your fate than mine. Funny that.

The people standing in the way of the "decaying system" have better tanks, guns, and planes(thanks to capitalism) than those who wish to see the system disappear. It would seem this end is more likely your fate than mine. Funny that.
How is that? Did not the Great October Socialist Revolution succeed because the soldiers went to the side of the alliance of peasants and workers?

I have little time for such unintelligent blind slaves of bourgeois property, property you most likely do not even own.

The only language to have with such reactionaries forces as yourself is that of the gun.

You far better fit the description of "reactionary forces" than I do. Fortuanately for you, us "pissy liberals" don't pull out a gun and blow the head off of everyone we don't like.

You'll probably be banned as soon as a moderator sees this. Personally I regret it, both as an advocate of free speech, and specifically because one of the most effective ways to deal with people like you is to give you more rope to hang yourselves with.

How is that? Did not the Great October Socialist Revolution succeed because the soldiers went to the side of the alliance of peasants and workers?

The political circumstances are completely different than they are now. The revolution happened, and now it is dead. People like you need to accept that you've lost, and start looking at the world as it really is, not as you've been taught to want it to be.

The political circumstances are completely different than they are now. The revolution happened, and now it is dead. People like you need to accept that you've lost, and start looking at the world as it really is, not as you've been taught to want it to be.
As long as the working class exists capitalism will exist, and therefore the revolution is inevitable. As we speak capitalism is breaking down.

You'll probably be banned as soon as a moderator sees this. Personally I regret it, both as an advocate of free speech, and specifically because one of the most effective ways to deal with people like you is to give you more rope to hang yourselves with.
Just because the pro-bourgeois moderation get all pissy and afraid when they see advocation of class warfare, that is not my fault.

People! People! Must you really turn me from the amusing jester to the voice of reason here?! Its not communism or capitalism we should be fighting its the NWO, the cigarette smoking man and all their evil alien-ARRRGH LET GO OF MY THROAT!

Not everyone is an insane psychopathic killer

Uhm, kinda creepy. I was reading the article, coincidentally, of my own accord as i was waiting .... waiting ... WAITING .... for this thread to load.

http://video.ap.org/v/default.aspx?mk=en-ap&g=acc7998d-da25-4318-84b6-06e1a1cd9c0f&p=ENAPus_ENAPus&f=201264&t=s1179980883147fg=tool

After watching that, its hard to believe that humanity will not kill itself off. Wow, strange and effed up people in this world.

So what do you think. Will humanity kill itself off? And how?

Also, feel free to be horrified by the video. :)

I used to be negative like you. Then I discovered Bob Ross.

http://popculturewilleatitself.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/bob-ross.jpg

I used to be negative like you. Then I discovered Bob Ross.

http://popculturewilleatitself.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/bob-ross.jpgHe is as close to God as any human has come. :o

He is as close to God as any human has come. :o

Thus in truth. :tongue:

I used to be negative like you. Then I discovered Bob Ross.

http://popculturewilleatitself.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/bob-ross.jpg

Which is why I'm a member of Facebook's "Bob Ross can paint the shit out of some motherfucking trees." group.

The title alone was enough for me to join this group. :D

Which is why I'm a member of Facebook's "Bob Ross can paint the shit out of some motherfucking trees." group.

The title alone was enough for me to join this group. :D

Ooooooooooh, I'll have to join!

http://video.ap.org/v/default.aspx?mk=en-ap&g=acc7998d-da25-4318-84b6-06e1a1cd9c0f&p=ENAPus_ENAPus&f=201264&t=s1179980883147fg=tool

After watching that, its hard to believe that humanity will not kill itself off. Wow, strange and effed up people in this world.

So what do you think. Will humanity kill itself off? And how?

Also, feel free to be horrified by the video. :)

With about 6.6 billion people in this world, anything that can happen within human capability must happen. Since it really doesn't take that many people to destroy the habitable earth anymore, combining that with the exponentially increasing sample size, and the increasing amounts of WMD, it is really just a matter of time.

But then again, there's probably a higher chance of me getting hit by a car in my lifetime than seeing the end of the world.

With about 6.6 billion people in this world, anything that can happen within human capability must happen. Since it really doesn't take that many people to destroy the habitable earth anymore, combining that with the exponentially increasing sample size, and the increasing amounts of WMD, it is really just a matter of time.

But then again, there's probably a higher chance of me getting hit by a car in my lifetime than seeing the end of the world.

I'm surprised we haven't already seen it.

However if we do see a Nuclear winter, I'd think it'd start somewhere in the Middle East. Either between Iran and Israel, or Pakistan and India.

What about groups in Africa who go through and chop the hands off everyone in a certain other group so they'll be unable to work and all this? What about workers being exploited in sweatshops to make overpriced sneakers and hardly anyone cares where they come from? What about genocides nobody cares about, hate crimes that go ignored and let's not forget about plain old ignorance... are these things that can let us worry about the future of humanity?

nope obligatory lengthening of post..

This thread has been officially hijacked by orthodox Marxism. Behold the glory of historical dialectism!

Uhm, kinda creepy. I was reading the article, coincidentally, of my own accord as i was waiting .... waiting ... WAITING .... for this thread to load.

-Decapitates-

-Decapitates-
You missed. All you got was a botched circumcision.

No, but downward spirals make for entertaining rides. :)

I like your avatar LG.:D (Go Calvin!)

I like your avatar LG.:D (Go Calvin!)

I actually had browsed for a while last week for some animated avatars in case they went active. Then when I tried to load them today, I couldn't. No animated avatars. :mad:

These were my choices:

http://www.boomspeed.com/looonatic/escape.gif

http://www.boomspeed.com/looonatic/gatespie.gif

http://www.boomspeed.com/looonatic/hopscotch.gif

http://www.boomspeed.com/looonatic/matrixorigamivy0.gif

I actually had browsed for a while last week for some animated avatars in case they went active. Then when I tried to load them today, I couldn't. No animated avatars. :mad:

These were my choices:

http://www.boomspeed.com/looonatic/escape.gif

http://www.boomspeed.com/looonatic/gatespie.gif

http://www.boomspeed.com/looonatic/hopscotch.gif

http://www.boomspeed.com/looonatic/matrixorigamivy0.gif

I like the Matrix one.:wink:

We have one hope, and one hope alone.

God bless Zombie Reagan.

We have one hope, and one hope alone.

God bless Zombie Reagan.Are pix not allowed? I have one of him hanging over my boudoir.
http://www.zombiereagan.com/street/portrait.jpg

Well for humanity to survive and repopulate we only need a few survivers. Sure the worlds population may drop to a million but it will only be time before they conque the world again

That looks more like Silver Clown Reagan, Straughn. Also it looks like Self-sacrifice has no problems with the prospect of humanity degenerating to a ragged ensemble of inbreds.

Nope, there´s no hope for humanity.

That looks more like Silver Clown Reagan, Straughn.I can't think of a better setting, but you're right.
Also it looks like Self-sacrifice has no problems with the prospect of humanity degenerating to a ragged ensemble of inbreds.Why not? How you gonna keep 'em on the farm after they've seen Paris?

And for what's got to be my first post on the origional topic, I believe that hope is not gone until we collectively surrender to the inevitable.

Many of us humans need to come to two difficult realizations:

First, that we are probably screwed.

Second, that we have a duty to keep trying anyway.

With about 6.6 billion people in this world, anything that can happen within human capability must happen. Since it really doesn't take that many people to destroy the habitable earth anymore, combining that with the exponentially increasing sample size, and the increasing amounts of WMD, it is really just a matter of time.

But then again, there's probably a higher chance of me getting hit by a car in my lifetime than seeing the end of the world.

Nuclear War of some sort is probably an inevitability given enough time. It need not, however, be the end of human society. The myth that a nuclear war would wipe out all of humanity may have been a useful one, as it has bolstered the strength of the movement opposing such weapons. But it is simply false, and the concept that nuclear war is inevitable, nuclear war would nessissarily kill us all, and therefor our extinction is inevitable is a seductively lazy and defeatist view of the world. If there is a nuclear war in my lifetime, I intend to survive it, and yes that is a completely serious statement.

If, however, one wished to lessen the chances of humanity being wiped out by one or more catastrophies rendering the Earth uninhabitable, that is an excellent reason to support self-sufficient colonies on other worlds. Which is one of many ways of bolstering our collective odds of survival. All species die out eventually. One day, this entire ecosystem will die, if only due to the cold, dead remnants of the universe being sucked into a massive black hole. But their is no reason that we or our desendents are doomed to die out any sooner than any one else. all we need is the vision to make long-term plans, the empathy to care about our desendents and our fellows as much as ourselves, and the balls not to curl up in a ball and wait for the end.

And for what's got to be my first post on the origional topic, I believe that hope is not gone until we collectively surrender to the inevitable.

Many of us humans need to come to two difficult realizations:

First, that we are probably screwed.

Second, that we have a duty to keep trying anyway.That's pretty much what i mean when i say, regularly, that *we're doomed*, though i'm no hypomaniac.

...but really, crazy people only make up a certain % of the population. I don't think that random acts of violence are going to do us in. It's the sane, methodical acts of violence that are the problem.

Interestingly, the crime (and specifically murder) rate by those traditionally considered insane* is pretty much constant throughout societies... and incredibly low. Of course when such crimes do happen they receive significant amounts of attention, but compared to the amount of people killed for "rational" reasons (e.g. drugs, greed, crimes of passion etc) it's infinitesimally small. And we've always had to deal with these, throughout history. Every generation has had it's insane mass murderers, if anything the chances of it happening are reduced in recent years since we are getting better a picking up people liable to go of the rails and get them help (e.g. anti-psychotic medication) or sectioned early.

* Please note: Psychopaths aren't included in this, since they aren't insane as such, just completely lacking in empathy. And in this case, I'm afraid, America has significantly more of them than Europe and we still have no idea how to treat them. So it's not all positive.

Interestingly, the crime (and specifically murder) rate by those traditionally considered insane* is pretty much constant throughout societies... and incredibly low. Of course when such crimes do happen they receive significant amounts of attention, but compared to the amount of people killed for "rational" reasons (e.g. drugs, greed, crimes of passion etc) it's infinitesimally small. And we've always had to deal with these, throughout history. Every generation has had it's insane mass murderers, if anything the chances of it happening are reduced in recent years since we are getting better a picking up people liable to go of the rails and get them help (e.g. anti-psychotic medication) or sectioned early.

* Please note: Psychopaths aren't included in this, since they aren't insane as such, just completely lacking in empathy. And in this case, I'm afraid, America has significantly more of them than Europe and we still have no idea how to treat them. So it's not all positive.

That sounds right to me.

We are so horrified by senseless murder. It fascinates us. The "rational" killing for money or other passions, killing in wars, or death in natural disasters isn't so interesting because it isn't an act of inscrutable will ... just widely-distributed negligence.

It's "tut tut, someone should have prevented that" rather than "OMG, how could someone do that?"

Can you ever make a post that doesn't sound like you're Marx's fanboy?

I mean I am a huge Libertarian, but you don't see me making a post on every topic somehow relate back to Libertarianism.

Can you link to EVEN ONE post where you have seriously put a Libertarian position?

I've heard this "I'm a huuuuuge Libertarian" line from you a few times. It goes about as deep as "I know nothing about politics and need an easy out from arguments."

Libertarian Fanboy.

Please, keep talking, you continue to prove your own ludicrous ineptitude and sheer ignorance of everything you attempt to speak about.

Capitalism has only lasted some 300 years since industrialization, so your 10,000 years is a ridiculous non-materialist historical falsehood which makes no sense at all.

slavery-feudalism-capitalism-socialism-communism

I'd like to take this point up, if I may. Wine-drinking, silk-wearing, lisping bourgeois fop that I am.

You see, comrade Andaras, you have always spoken of "socialism" as "appeasement" ... as a tactic of the ruling class to stave off revolution.

Yet here you seem to credit "socialism" as a legitimate stage in the evolution of property relations?

I would agree with that, actually. I see prosperity as the cumulative benefit of generations of people's work -- unless it is squandered in wars or squandered by those who don't understand its worth (not having worked for it themselves ... ie exploiters or invaders.) I do not subscribe to the idea that all work is equally worthwhile, of course. An hour digging an irrigation channel with the bare hands does not produce as good a channel as an hour digging with a spade. Work should be conscious, it should be directed towards an end the worker believes in, not just be undertaken as a virtue in itself.

Perhaps you and I would agree that work spent in the glorification of God is work wasted.

But work is the source of prosperity. Quibble about the distribution of wealth, but the fact is that if we all sit on our butts, we all end up poor. Starving, even.

When prosperity is geographically widespread enough (ie safe from invaders,) and sufficiently evenly distributed (ie safe from crime or revolution) ... as is the case with the larger countries with developed economies now ... then socialism is simply the best system.

If our forms of Democracy cannot provide Socialism, then our forms must be reformed. There is no question in my mind, that a society which provides the essentials of life as a Right while allowing greater wealth for those who contribute more than their share, is in the interest of us all.

Communism (which I adore in principle -- valuing people above things as it does) will not come about by an act of rebellious destruction against the conditions which made the people what they are.

It will only come about by mutual agreement between gentle and merciful people. It will only come about after centuries of growing socialism. At best we are half-way.

You may call me a defeatist for not demanding the perfect society in my own lifetime. To which I say: Marx went and died a while ago, and where is the classless society HE dreamed of?

You're wasting your time. Andaras was banned.

You're wasting your time. Andaras was banned.

That wouldn't surprise me. I can't see any banning though ... was it handed down in Moderation ?

See you on Mars, astronut. :rolleyes:

Andaras, banned?! Bah, I am undone! No one else on these forums could make me laugh quite as hard as he could.

I love how you complain about capitalism while using cushy capitalist technology(computer and internet) to do so. The irony. It burns.

*does not notice irony*

You're wasting your time. Andaras was banned.Really?

Andaras (whether you be banned or not): I present the Carpenter's Maxim: "measure twice, cut once."

Cut too short is foolishness. You have mastered this.

Cut too long is wasteful of your own time. Yet it can be made right.

Cut too long, then save time with cuts instead of abrasions, is the foolishness of masters. This is you.

The lesson you must learn is to abrade. To work upon the piece, to make it better even if it never has the pure perfection of what was cut once. To frantically cut the piece, to scar and insult it, is the work of child rebelling against ter own skill rather than rebelling against the medium which so ill expresses ter message.

If I read you right, and your investment in the Communist ideology will shape your whole life as it did mine: please, leave the work to other hands. Your calling is Artist, not Artisan.

The Artist struggles with the medium, with the tools. Te speaks through them nonetheless. Te speaks to their comrades with the broken words they have not mastered. The message transcends the medium. Te struggles to give all that is ters to give, all that outrageous fate has blessed ter with yet deprived others of.

Such is the Communist spirit. To share, to hold in common, all arbitrary things. All inanimate things. All the "means of production" if you will ... but more widely, all tools.

A tool is nothing, without the worker. People should not be cast in the role of "tool." This is the essence of my Communism.

Elate the individual! Not by their "possessions" nor even by their achievements. By the content of their character. By the good they do other people. To measure their worth (to live or die! as you have often said) by what they make, or even by what they say, is hardly better than slavery. No, it's worse: to live as a slave I would choose over dying for what I don't believe in.

I can accept Joseph Stalin as a "Comrade." His responsibilities were onerous, he made terrible mistakes and yet he strived with his difficult materials, he rebelled against his own peasant qualities. He did what he could, took the power he could. He never fell asleep at the wheel.

Yet. That such power could fall into the hands of one leader ... Communism had failed already.

As our Marx would surely say it must. The Party vanguard, well-read soft-handed ambitious individuals are not the stuff of a Dictatorship of the Proletariat. The Leader should come from the Shop Floor, elevated by ter peers and never taking a step but that they step beside ter.

I have surely offended thee by now.

Dare ye not to call me "bourgeois." Lest I call YOU by your proper name.

That wouldn't surprise me. I can't see any banning though ... was it handed down in Moderation ?

See you on Mars, astronut. :rolleyes:

I take it from the sarcastic smile that your one of those short-sighted people who thinks space exploration is stupid? Well, this isn't the thread to debate that. But yes, Andaras was banned. It saw it in that thread on the Russian author who just died, when Andaras saw fit to pollute the thread by rejoicing over the man's death.

I heard that we'll all die in two days when that LHC super accelerator is activated in Europe-one black hole can ruin your whole day...:p

yes i do belive the people is this world will destroy themself we are all crazy in some way no escaping it we are surronded by sick crazy demented people who call themself sane ha ha ha we live in hell have you not relized this peoplelook around you murder killings for fun drugs in every corner wake up open your eyes

I'd have a little more hope for the world if some people learned the basic rudiments of punctuation.

And the fact that some people sell drugs or kill for fun does not condemn the entire of humanity. There have always been jackasses. There will always be jackasses. Life goes on.