Chefelf.com Night Life: Revolution Eight - Chefelf.com Night Life

Jump to content

Page 1 of 1

Revolution Eight Revision B [public beta]

#1 User is offline   Chris Icon

  • Mini Boss
  • PipPip
  • Group: Junior Members
  • Posts: 107
  • Joined: 16-March 04

Posted 22 October 2004 - 06:43 PM

You've touched on an interesting point I was musing on recently there... what is there a person can do that has a real effect beyond "keeping the machine going"?

I consider anything whose eventual goal is "survival" to be keeping the machine going. I fix computers, which helps people at the water company work better, and so deliver water better, and so keep people from dying of thirst. Infinite numbers of jobs are dedicated to keeping money moving around so the global economy doesn't go into a downward spiral and so people have enough money to keep themselves.... alive.

So basically no better than your basic tribe striving for survival.

But of course there are exceptions which produce real results unrelated to survival... ones I could think of:

* Scientists (knowledge for its own sake -- obviously applied science has survival offshoots too eg. microwave ovens, energy-efficient lighting, and so forth, but pure knowledge eg. quantum physics emerges too)

* Artists -- creativity for its own sake, including all creative arts eg. literature, filmmaking...

...

Anything else? Anything else at all that serves purpose beyond perpetuating the human race?
0

#2 User is offline   freeroamer Icon

  • New Cop
  • Group: Junior Members
  • Posts: 2
  • Joined: 22-October 04
  • Country:Germany

Posted 22 October 2004 - 08:47 PM

Well, basically, it's ALL just basic tribal struggle for survival... gone totally batshit fucking loco and way off scale, but essentially, just that.
And that includes artists and scientists.
Think artists. Creating art, any form of cultural exp​ression, is deeply rooted in us as a species. There's a strong need for artistic exp​ression, both in creating and in consuming, in every culture. Tribal dances. Folklore. Giant Stadium-Rock-Concerts. We NEED that shit.
The artists need it, well, coz they're crazy motherfuckers who'd go completely crazy if they wouldn't do whatever it is they're doing.
And everyone else needs it... well, to let them have a good time, if nothing else. To occupy their minds for a while. To take comfort in. I don't know. To know that they are human. Because this cultural stuff is what makes us who we are.

And scientists? Same here, basically. The urge to explore, to research, to study, is just as deeply rooted in our behaviur as creating art. or having to crap, for that matter. When man began being man, science played an essential part. Man discovered ways to master fire (more or less...). Man began to take an interest in medicine. Science secured man's survival. We could have settled with that. We didn't. It's in our nature to explore. And just as an artist feels that irresistable urge to create art, the poor suckers who have heard the call of science more or less have no choice in the matter, I guess.
You say yourself that some science is used to preserve life. Well, who knows, mabe, in a couple of decades, quantum physics may save us all. Or be used to create a better tomato. Whatever.

In some crazy way, even the internet, and perhaps even this very forum, contribute their petite share to the survival of the species...
0

#3 User is offline   DarkKnight01 Icon

  • New Cop
  • Group: Junior Members
  • Posts: 26
  • Joined: 16-October 04

Posted 23 October 2004 - 06:22 AM

All liveing creatures are drones.
The goal for everything living is the same.
Survive.
0

#4 User is offline   Chyld Icon

  • Ancient Monstrosity
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Group: Crappy News Team
  • Posts: 5,770
  • Joined: 04-March 04
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Not Alaska
  • Country:United Kingdom

Posted 23 October 2004 - 08:53 AM

Art and Science, definatly. Art more so. Without the outputs provided by anything from me painting little plastic men, to the guy downstairs playing his guitar, to Yahtzee writing cynical whoknowswhat about games about eggs, we'd all be fucking mindless robots long ago.

Science does help, expanding the boundries of what defines humanity. Obviously, we don't count the smacktards designing new types of nappies every five minutes, but those developing new and revolutionary stuff. Phones were an example, mobile phones another, beyond that, not really. The Internet, yes, the free porn, no. Etcetera.
When you lose your calm, you feed your anger.

Less Is More v4
Now resigned to a readership of me, my cat and some fish
0

#5 User is offline   Jane Sherwood Icon

  • Hello Master
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Group: Members
  • Posts: 5,605
  • Joined: 05-March 04
  • Gender:Female
  • Location:Lake Charles, Louisiana
  • Interests:Far too many to list in this tiny space...
  • Country:United States

Posted 23 October 2004 - 03:29 PM

As much as I'm loath to admit it, religion also plays a large part in humankind's past and existence. I don't like this idea, since I've developed a special feeling of deep mistrust and hatred toward religion over the past several years, but I can't help but recognize the truth behind it.

I was once told that humans have an instinctual need to follow something, to worship, and to believe in something greater than themselves, and I've come to feel that this is true, whether the object in question be some god or divine power, a member of the opposite sex, some kind of hero, or just simple material possessions. But as far as religion goes, even if you're atheist or agnostic (like myself), you have to admit that without it, things such as art, theatre, and architecture would not be where they are today. Probably the best example I can think of are the ancient Greeks, just look at what they did! All of their achievements, the wonders they created, the stories they told! I don't think I could competently cover even a fraction of the things they did.

I know what this may all sound like, but think for a minute, if there had never been any form of religion or belief in some divine power or evil in this world, even taking into account the horrors and corruption that have been caused on behalf of it, would we be where we are today? Would we have the ancient beauties or timeless stories we have today?

(Also, please don't bring up the fact that it's also been the cause of countless acts of censorship, banning, and destruction of such precious art, I'm well aware of this, but I'm seriously trying to focus on the good things right now, for sanity's sake...)
Check out my crappy drawings!

Chyld is an ignorant slut.

QUOTE
"I don't have to conform to the vagaries of time and space; I'm a loony, for God's sake!"
- Campbell Bean (David Tennant), Takin' Over the Asylum, 1994
XD
0

#6 User is offline   DarkKnight01 Icon

  • New Cop
  • Group: Junior Members
  • Posts: 26
  • Joined: 16-October 04

Posted 23 October 2004 - 05:30 PM

This forum is full of such open minded people :-)
You got MSN Jane?
0

#7 User is offline   Frimkron Icon

  • New Cop
  • Group: Junior Members
  • Posts: 27
  • Joined: 25-October 04
  • Location:Manchester, uk
  • Country:United Kingdom

Posted 26 October 2004 - 03:33 AM

QUOTE
I was once told that humans have an instinctual need to follow something, to worship, and to believe in something greater than themselves, and I've come to feel that this is true


I once saw a documentary about some scientists that were exploring Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (I think it was), some sufferers of which experience powerful, overwhelming religious hallucinations even though they might not actually believe in any religion. One guy for example, who was in no way religious, had one of these seizures and fully believed he was litterally in hell for its duration.

Anyway, the program went on to suggest that this phenomenon may be evidence that religion is a genetic thing - defined by our genes through evolution - hard-wired, if you will. Or at least our level of need for believing in something. It could explain why some people are more inclined to follow a religion than others.

Or it could all be bollocks.

Hello, I'm new by the way.
0

#8 User is offline   SimeSublime Icon

  • Monkey Proof
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Group: Moderators
  • Posts: 6,619
  • Joined: 06-May 04
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Perth, Western Australia
  • Country:Australia

Posted 26 October 2004 - 05:18 AM

Welcome. I seem to remember something or other about religous experiences being triggered my magentic fields, but the article itself eludes me for the moment.
The Green Knight, SimeSublime the Puffinesque, liker of chips and hunter of gnomes.
JM's official press secretary, scientific advisor, diplomat and apparent antagonist?
0

#9 User is offline   Chris Icon

  • Mini Boss
  • PipPip
  • Group: Junior Members
  • Posts: 107
  • Joined: 16-March 04

Posted 26 October 2004 - 07:23 AM

There was also a Horizon about it -- they asked volunteers to put helmets on containing electromagnetic coils near their temporal lobes, and found that it triggered hallucinations, often religious or spiritual, much more often than a group wearing "placebo helmets" with lead weights rather than coils.

They also presented a case study of a girl who suffered powerful nightmares which, it appeared, could be attributed to the fact that her alarm clock was apparently wired by alien invaders, and was strobing her brain with powerful EM radiation, presumably inducing a current in her neurons and triggering the experiences. However, since she was told "this alarm clock is the source of your troubles," it's entirely possible that we're seeing an example of the placebo effect and not true electromagnetic induction in the brain.
0

#10 User is offline   Frimkron Icon

  • New Cop
  • Group: Junior Members
  • Posts: 27
  • Joined: 25-October 04
  • Location:Manchester, uk
  • Country:United Kingdom

Posted 26 October 2004 - 08:43 AM

Horizon - yes that was what I saw, I think.

Ah the placebo effect! Now that one really fascinates me - it explains so much. Like why things like Reiki or Homeopathy "work"
0

Page 1 of 1


Fast Reply

  • Decrease editor size
  • Increase editor size