Evolution of Mankind

With television sets, we are getting very close.

It always bothers me when the news people say "We'll see you tomorrow night". Can they really do that?

True about TV, the mind control machine. You are force-fed the video and audio of a story selected by someone, and then it's on to something else before there is time to think critically about it. And it seems that journalism schools must have quit teaching the difference between news and editorial about 50 years ago. JMHO.

IMHO, when the news people are interviewing each other, it's usually commentary or editorial, not news reporting.

We already have that, it's called social media.

I'm still not convinced that mankind has evolved at all lately. I'm not referring to Charles Darwin's seminal work, "The Evolution of the Species". I'm referring to the implied idea that our technology and wits have improved or degraded what we are. We still stride to improve our tribe to the detriment of others. Looking at our anthropological records, the same has been true for millenia.

As for technology "enhanced" people, when this technology allows the disabled to recover what someone lost then I'm all for it. That is if that person desires the new technology. As for able bodied people taking an unfair advantage with technology I despise such people. (I would not be upset if the Houston Astros owners were forced to sell at some point.) At the same time, unscrupulous cheating in a professional sport is exactly a symptom of the tribalism I mentioned earlier.

In regards to cheating in sporting events, I have heard it said that if you are not cheating, you are not trying hard enough.

(I'm not condoning such actions . . . )

I didn't say everyone would go along willingly.It will happen gradually.Look how much freedom has deteriorated in the last 20 years,with the internet giving anyone the ability to track just about anyone else.

And even if you think you are on a secure website,it is only an illusion to make you feel secure.Simply place an "S" after the http and people feel much better.

The Onion router is simply a delay for determined hackers or governments.

Messages can be tracked by exact time(down to the nanosecond) leaving and arriving at a website,a cell tower or any other enabled device.

Even an air gap is not 100% secure,unless you live inside of a Faraday cage with a charged grid inside.

Kids on the social media spill all of their personal information all over the world without a care.They have thousands of "friends".

The evolution I speak of will not happen overnight,but little by little, parts of it will be accepted as the norm.

After a few generations,even the concept of privacy will be totally lost.

The types of people and organizations that run the world today will still be run it in the future,so the plight of the common man will not necessarily get better.

It will probably get worse.

The human governments will evolve or perish.

Humans have only been around a blink of time.

Look at insects for a sustainable society:

Individuals have no value,only the colony matters.

Sad by today's standards,but it will not matter in a couple of hundred years.

In a recent CBC radio program, a techno-enthusiast was interviewed about some of these emerging technologies - a contact lens capable of projecting an image directly on to the retina, chip implants, neural implants and the like. I think it's scary. If the contact lens is also operational with one's eyes closed, the implications are even more frightening - big business and government would have a direct feed into our brains for subliminal advertising and ideological programming. The first step is to get people to use these devices voluntarily, "for their convenience". The next step is to gradually make it inconvenient for anyone who doesn't use them (phase out old formats). The final step is to make their use mandatory (eg: no one can buy or sell without the approved implants compatible with commercial scanners).

When I first purchased a home computer, an acquaintance warned me, "Be careful what you watch, because once you see an image it is impossible to get it out of your head - and it changes you." I have taken his advice seriously. I don't walk down dark alleys, either in reality or in virtual reality. A contact lens that projects an image feed directly onto my retina - that image feed being controlled by others - is a nightmare scenario. It brings to mind the movie "A Clockwork Orange", in which the character played by Malcom McDowell is strapped into a chair, his head immobilized, his eyes clamped open with specula, while he is re-educated via images projected on a screen in front of him, from which it is impossible for him to turn away. As Samuel Goldwyn said, "Include me out!"

This story immediately came to mind:

https://nypost.com/2012/04/22/reality-or-fraud-truth-behind-subliminal-ads/

When I was growing up, this was urban legend before the term even existed.

There are definitely things of which the mind is aware that does not register as a visual input.

I recall a study of people with a certain type of injury that left them blind,but all of the optic nerves were undamaged.

Technically,they were blind,but when asked to do something,like turn on a lamp,they knew exactly where the lamp was,and where to turn it on.

However,they reported they could not see the lamp.

Check out these paintings by a man blind from birth:

Esref Armagan paintings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fG0CDpy_0c

It has been here for many years. Its called an optalrectomy.

This is off topic but for an in depth study of subliminal advertising check out the 4 part series on u tube called "The Century of the Self". Very informative and a bit scary. It starts here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnPmg0R1M04&t=102s .

It describes how, starting with Freud, psychology was used to manipulate our buying habits and tracks how that psychology changed as the culture changed to in order to continue to sell us tons of stuff, including politics, that we don't actually need at all.

It is definitely not "evolution" as postulated by Darwin whereby mindless forces select advantageous random mutations. This is purposeful, creative, and forward-thinking minds at work to hopefully benefit mankind.

I don't want anyone from the government knowing what I am thinking.

"Intergalactic travel?Sure. FTL,no problem. Time travel? Why not."

Sorry, this technology will not change the laws of physics.

The laws of physics are not completely written...yet...and probably never will be.

There will always be things to discover.

There may be loopholes in our current understanding of physics.

We still have much to learn,and the combined minds of billions of people will create and discover more than we can imagine.

By the turn of the century,there will be about 430 Billion years of total human experience.Population will have stabilized at about 10 billion.

If we can just learn how to work together it will be great.

If not,we may go the way of the dinosaur.

Ah, you're an optimist.

To the optimist the glass is half full;

to the pessimist the glass is half empty;

to the engineer the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

I am an optimistic engineer.

That is not water in the glass,it is Johnnie Walker Blue,and I am almost finished.

Ahh, Johnnie Walker Blue. Had a glass of this and woke up in Germany the next day. Of course I was already in Germany at the time.

If the glass was filled originally and half was taken out, then the glass is half full and half empty. If the glass was only half filled, then the glass is half filled. There is no pessimist and optimist there. Probably the daftest statement ever, that only creates confusion to the best English speakers.

To the engineer, the labour did not do his work to the fullest and went home early. In Africa it is called staying employed and finish the job tomorrow and get two days wages.