Cosmic Consciousness

The consciousness of a dead person could live on in the consciousness of others and I don't mean as a memory. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_consciousness

I remember reading something about how some neuro science suggests that the last conscious moment experienced by the brain persists for eternity from the perspective of the brain. If it's true, it's unsettlingly terrifying. I think the implication was that the brain is the arbiter of the passing of time, and the last snap of consciousness persists for eternity, because there's no next snap, from the perspective of the brain, not drawing infinite energy from within the universe or anything like that.  The brain surely runs down. The mind could contain some other energy source, the soul could be capable of anything.  So that's a good enough loophole for anything to happen after death. So until we figure out the mind/body problem, the question of material braindeath is secondary.

How do you define conscious? I just define it as having a sense of existing.

No one knows what causes consciousness. For all we know EVERYTHING might be conscious (have a subjective 'sense of self') and it just might be our novel arrangement that leads to our particular variety of consciousness. Why would only the human brain allow for subjective experience? It doesnt quite make sense. The earth for example has electrical impulses, it moves, it adapts. The earth could be conscious. The sun could be as well. Its likely EVERYTHING in the universe is conscious (read: Has a subjective SENSE of existing) but its our novel arrangement that gives rise to our particular variety.

How does the mind relate to the body? Was there consciousness before birth or conception? Does a week old fetus have consciousness? On the subject of fun theories, what if the infinite multiverse theory if true, and dreams are you glimpsing into one of your alternate lives?

We are living in the greatest time in the history of humanity. Why are we so miserable? (Part I)

We have the best technology, the best medicine, convenience up the ass. I could pull up any kind of information I want in seconds. I can communicate with people across the world effortlessly. And that is the tip of the iceborg. We live in an age where time is measured in seconds and minutes. Whereas before, a lot of the simple shit we do every day would take hours, days, months, or even years. 

Technological innovation is not similiar to enjoyable lifestyle, overwhelming modernization, online addiction, and depersonalization does not make for a good era. Because we are still bound by instincts we must attempt to control in order to live in society, and no amount of technology can ever change that.

We just moved up a slot on maslow's hierarchy of needs, we don't have to worry about acquiring food anymore, so now we wring our hands about how no one loves us. I wonder what humanity's like when we reach the top of the pyramid and we decide to become a part of something bigger than us. and yet, we're just a single mistake away from collapse. If we could only reciprocate that for every country in the world, and have no immigration/intermarriage anywhere, we would be living in a utopia.

People who follow the news feel like this every day

In a world of animals it's only the most ruthless who survive. It's been proven time and time again. The repercussions for those who don't fight is a hollow existence. I have read the articles about animals using simple tools to make their tasks easier. I realize that all animals have the ability to reason; at least to some degree. Humans are the only animals that can reason to such a degree; in the same way that cheetahs are the fastest runners, and that giraffes can reach higher than any other.

The sad truth is, that those of our ancestor, that weren't violent aren't really our ancestors because they were killed by the violent ones. So it's human nature (all of the animal's world actually) to kill and exploit the other guy. There's little we can do about it. My dream is to find an occupation that enables me to live away from it all and not follow the media. The only point I was trying to make is that we have developed technologies due to our incredibly superior intellectual abilities and capacities. I realize the aggression and emotional, psychological displays are observed often in other species, but no other species has the capability to understand calculus, no matter how we tried to have them understand.

Humans and animals have the same biological demands, but the difference between humans and animals is the fact that we have the capacity to demolish mountains, destroy the world by pressing a single button, bend our genetic code, alter the biological functions of our bodies originally intended by nature, and more. No other animal is capable of this. Do you see cows building guns? Do you see chimps erecting skyscrapers?

At the end of the day when I looked at things like rape or genocide up close they never lacked humanity; on the other hand, they were usually tremendously human acts that revealed the depth of the connections between people and their human agency, and no matter how much I think about it, there's nothing more meaningful than that spark of agency, that will and intent perhaps more animal than human yet something I'd throw away my humanity for in a second.

If we are, it's because people sit around pissing and moaning about how terrible things are without doing anything. The world doesn't change overnight, so don't expect to wake up one day to rainbows shooting out of people's asses. If you want to make the world a better place then find one problem that you as an individual can actually help with and apply yourself. You don't demand the world's problems be fixed, you go out and offer to help fix them.

Humanity is not all but lost

Steven Pinker: A brief history of violence

Humans are thrill seekers, they always crave for news about death, destruction and inhumane cruelty. These shocking images get stuck in our memory and we begin to generalize the whole human race as evil murderous bastards. Even though that is absolutely not true. This is not a good trait, because when you are pessimistic about human morality all the time, you'll become bitter, hateful and even become the very murderous bastards that you loath once. You practically duped yourself into becoming one of the "bad guys" without realizing that everyone around you is actually a lot kinder and rational.

Go out, meet more people, talk to them, you will know that most of them are not the closet murderer, rapist, madmen that you imagined them to be.

Humanity is not all but lost, we are making tremendous progress in coexistence, morality and the quality of a good, cruelty free life. Don't let a few bad apples and the media's portrayal of human nature dictate your lives and turn you into the very monsters that you hated.

(Remembering 9/ 11/ 2001)