Isn't being alive weird?

[Steve of Bloomington]

I have farming connections. The commune is halfway there.

[Keith Whitener]

One thing I find odd is that despite all people being people, so many still focus on that which separates them from others rather than that which brings them together. What Kickthebobo said, for example, is a big part of what it means to be alive today in a society/culture such as our own, and yet tremendous amounts of people are still lacking in compassion and care for others. The absence of awe puzzles me. In a shopping center, I don't hear anyone saying, "Holy shit! This orange came from Florida! A truck drove it here! That truck was assembled from many parts that were flown in from all over the world! People made all of this happen!" That is amazing. It's the sort of thing that in the past would prompt someone to clasp a stranger by the arm and exclaim, "Wow!" while jumping with joy. We don't need to go to the moon to feel this sort of exhilaration and camaraderie.

Maybe more people just need to speak up.

I guess I've gots to get me a megaphone and start talking about oranges.

[Regular Joe]

A society that constantly marveled over how oranges got to their mouths would probably never even get off their asses, let alone travel to the moon. In fact, I'd posit that it is exactly our propensity towards boredom that drives us to advance at all. If we weren't able to take things for granted, nothing would come next!

[Steve of Bloomington]

Yet still, most of the really and truly awesome advances are in video games and in gadgets that facilitate communication between douchebags.

I would really like to see more progress on the robots front.

[KickTheBobo]

I would really like to see more progress on the robots front.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYMSXV8eT0w[/youtube]

[Steve of Bloomington]

I would really like to see more progress on the robots front.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYMSXV8eT0w[/youtube]

This is the sort of project that would benefit from some International collaboration, specifically with the U.S. Hip-Hop industry.

[Keith Whitener]

If we weren't able to take things for granted, nothing would come next!

This is true, but what people very often take for granted is each other. And it makes me wonder: where else is our effort better spent if not helping other people? It seems to me like our progress has not taken us very far. Sure, we might slowly be eradicating extreme poverty (and condoning sweatshop labor in the process), but it seems like there's problems in our own towns that are going unaddressed. We're all divided when it comes to where our effort goes. We could even have ostensibly the same system we have now, but with augmentations so that our efforts are more other directed as opposed to self directed. The difference I see, for example, is that right now we are all trying to lift individual heavy stones instead of building a machine that allows us to lift all our stones at once as a team.

But, also odd to me, is that people don't often talk about the weights they're shouldering.

[Steve of Bloomington]

Partially that is the quarter-to-quarter mentality of the corporate world. Also, the financial bubble led to a bubble in people, with most of the best and brightest across the spectrum of smartness devoting their mental horsepower to devising new and creative ways of making really bad investments look like good ones. At least that's been reversed. I am hopeful about the future.

[hugman]

I would really like to see more progress on the robots front.

HAVEN'T YOU SEEN BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA???

By the way, can someone explain the last episode of that stupid show?

[Lothar_Brightblade]

They found our earth and then they had a robot dance party.

I would really like to see more progress on the robots front.

HAVEN'T YOU SEEN BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA???

By the way, can someone explain the last episode of that stupid show?

[Steve of Bloomington]

I would really like to see more progress on the robots front.

HAVEN'T YOU SEEN BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA???

By the way, can someone explain the last episode of that stupid show?

I bailed out after the Season finale where they revealed Drunk McCain and those other people were secret Cylons.

[fonpr]

A society that constantly marveled over how oranges got to their mouths would probably never even get off their asses, let alone travel to the moon. In fact, I'd posit that it is exactly our propensity towards boredom that drives us to advance at all. If we weren't able to take things for granted, nothing would come next!

The key word is probably, Joseph.

Regarding the moon: seems we're headed in the wrong direction.

[hugman]

I would really like to see more progress on the robots front.

HAVEN'T YOU SEEN BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA???

By the way, can someone explain the last episode of that stupid show?

I bailed out after the Season finale where they revealed Drunk McCain and those other people were secret Cylons.

spoiler alert!

[JonFromMaplewood]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYMSXV8eT0w[/youtube]

Your future boss, sheeple.

[Keith Whitener]

the financial bubble led to a bubble in people, with most of the best and brightest across the spectrum of smartness devoting their mental horsepower to devising new and creative ways of making really bad investments look like good ones.

You are thinking my thoughts! Except I imagine a scientist who says, "The brain is really amazing. My job is to make as authentic smelling fake poo as possible. The key is to make it look real so that the appearance makes it feel like it smells worse! The brain is really amazing. I use mine to make fake poo." WEEPS

Ya'll got fake poo!

What do you mean quarter-to-quarter mentality of corporate world? You mean the ease with which others are taken for granted? If so, what can be done to combat this? I am of the opinion that regulation can only do so much and that the mechanisms that lead to this "taking for granted" must be themselves addressed. I.E. dehumanization/devaluation of the other and the encouragement there of.

Also, what makes you think that it's reversed or the "best and brightest" are putting there efforts elsewhere now?