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Mauna Kea, the Sacred
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02-25-2011, 05:50 PM
quote: What is the matter with people in Puna being "individualistic"? That is what is so great about Puna.
02-25-2011, 08:10 PM
"We have been dreaming that technology will make our lives better but with close examination we find technology has only made itself better."
Science is the single most successful agent in making our lives better. Nothing else has come close. Maybe you think life still isn't great but it sure was a heck of a lot worse. maybe one day it will reach your standards, but only by more science and technology. What alternatives are you thinking of? Back to nature? Are you sure you've picked the right word? I don't know many people against being individualistic, besides totalitarian dictators, which I assume you're not. Are you residing somewhere else that's less individualistic? 
02-25-2011, 08:49 PM
I've spent the last several hours wondering if my loved one would be alive tomorrow or not. Thanks to science, she'll live. Thanks to science, I'm able to communicate with the people caring for her. And most of all, she's alive today thanks to a technology invented by astrophysics - you know, those war-mongering infidels who want to explore the universe.
Just over five years ago I almost lost my eyesight. A brilliant surgeon in Honolulu saved my eyes, something I will be forever grateful for. He was a kid in Hilo that got an internship at the telescope I now run. This resulted in him winning the state science fair and then going onto Harvard. He eventually returned to the islands and is making people see again. This is a small example of what the observatories do. It's not something you will see immediately, it's what they do to improve everyone's lives in the long term by inspiring people to explore our planet, the universe and science. And make people live longer and happier lives. As for people being too individualistic, I'm not even sure I know what that means, but have you ever watched Terry Gilliam's "Brazil"? Is that the life you'd prefer? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xNnRBksvOU (Sorry, youtube video, don't bother if you're on dialup!) Tom http://apacificview.blogspot.com/
02-25-2011, 08:52 PM
quote:Thank you so much for making me laugh tonight! http://apacificview.blogspot.com/
02-25-2011, 08:58 PM
That's what happens when you have insomnia. The only people to talk to are astronomers. Have a wonderful evening Tom. Hope your family member is doing well.
Jim PS. I suddenly have a craving for an apple and don't know why.
02-26-2011, 02:35 AM
quote: I think one of the marks of someone who is following a meme without much thought is when they say something is better without providing a definition of what "better" means to them. Always focusing on the benefits, but never the costs. Is it better to have an oil rig spew billions of gallons of crude in an ocean that is now leaving dolphins washing up dead on the gulf coast? Was it better to have Bophal, Chernobyl, or Hiroshima? Is it better to have Meth, thalidamide, and BPA? Is it better that I cannot walk to a creek and drink the water? Is it better that millions of people work in sweat shops in Asia? Is mountain top mining better? Is it better to save a man from cancer so he can work at a mind numbing job for the rest of his life? But again, it is hard to see this when you are individualistic. You see how it it benefits you personally and give it much more weight on your scale than the immensity of how it damages the whole. Yes, maybe individualistic is the wrong word, maybe selfish? Greedy? Sociopathic? And you say that it was a lot worse in the past, but who told you that story? The myth of technology is that it saved us, but no one can say from what and for how much. But the myth is part of the propoganda of technology. I offer no alternatives, that would be more tinkering with things that do not need to be fixed. Everything finds its own balance. We will be fixed of technology in time. I am just looking for others who understand this and wish to soften the ride down. And as Harry Tuttle said in the movie Brazil "We are all in this together kid."
02-26-2011, 03:29 AM
Someone is looking through the wrong end of the telescope. I really do want my ride down to be soft. Gotta go. My droid is saying "Look at me!!! LOOK... AT... ME!!". Entrancing red eye....robotic voice....can't break free...need Punaweb App..........must get back to the garden where the wild centipedes frolic...
02-26-2011, 03:42 AM
quote: Brazil was an interesting movie choice. It really did not portray machines and technology in a very good light. And Buttle worked for the "Ministry of Information". Information is at the heart of science, yes? Collecting data while having others run around a room trying to organizie the information with the lead researcher stands above you all telling you all what to do. Much like the clip you just sent. No, living like Sam in "Brazil" is not what I prefer. What shocks me is that you do not see that it is how we are living right now. Both the left and the right have said that this movie protrays the other side. But they are both right and both wrong. Totalitarian does not depend on capitalism or socialism, it only uses them for control. Both state communism and state capitalism are totalitariian and we should not fall for their game of "divide and conquer". And it is science that brings control, and provides the illusion of control, so it is made the hero of totalitarian societies. Brazil is a movie is a movie about anarchism. Note that you are never really clear whether Central Services is a government or a corporation. And there are terrorist bombings (propoganda by the deed). I am really confused hy someone who wishes to promnote science would use an anti-tech film like "Brazil" to plead their case. You have a notion that you are better off with your eyesight, but that is an assumption, yes? Isn't it implicit in your statement that blind people are not as good as you? That there is something "wrong" with them? It would change your life if you were blind, of course, by why do you have the assumption that it would be worse? You see, there is the totalitarian in you; nothing must change, change is bad, change is unplannable. It is like Sam's mother in the movie, constantly getting plastic surgey, science enables her to deny that change, it offers her the illusion of control. And the assumption that there is something wrong with a loved one dying; It hurts, I can tell you from experience, but is it wrong? Is death a mistake of nature that we need to fix? And if we cure death, how do we solve the food problem with the never decreasing population? Sounding more and more like the duct work in the movie. And I want to finish with one of my favorite lines in "Brazil'. Harry Tuttle; "Listen, kid, we're all in it together." Oh, and another one; Sam Lowry: Can you fix it? Harry Tuttle: No, I can't. But, I can bypass it. Here is the entire Brazil script. Maybe reading it will make a different impression: http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/brazil.html More regarding Gilliam; "Regarding Gilliam's theme of modernity's struggle between spirituality and rationality whereas the individual may become dominated by a tyrannical, soulless machinery of disenchanted society, film critic James Keith Hamel observed a specific affinity of Gilliam's movies with the writings of economic historian Arnold Toynbee and sociologist Max Weber, specifically the latter's concept of the Iron cage of modern rationality.[9]" On Max Weber http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Weber Hope your loved one is well.
02-26-2011, 03:44 AM
quote: Ah, yes, I have found that to be the american way, looking out instead of in. |
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