Deep Thoughts

[Tina Branford]

No civilization no matter how advanced can ever hope to see the farthest reaches of the universe. The known observable universe is 43.5 billion light years which equates to 93 billion light years in total diameter(unseen.) However, the expanding universe theory states that the universe is in a constant state of accelerated expansion. As thus it's expanding faster than light travels, growing in diameter by lightyears every second. Nothing then can ever fully understand and observe the entirety of existence. There will always and forever remain more unanswered questions than answered.

 

[axletramp]

No civilization no matter how advanced can ever hope to see the farthest reaches of the universe.

Probably best. They'd only ruin it and sell advertising all over the place. Also, most of it is incredibly cold and full of radiation, so until that changes, I'm sticking to beaches within a light year's bus ride.

 

[Tina Branford]

Probably best. They'd only ruin it and sell advertising all over the place. Also, most of it is incredibly cold and full of radiation, so until that changes, I'm sticking to beaches within a light year's bus ride.

I wonder if advanced alien civilizations even use advertising like we do or a money system. They'd probably be above needing such systems.

 

[W3H5]

I wonder if advanced alien civilizations even use advertising like we do or a money system. They'd probably be above needing such systems.

Not even aliens. I’m pretty sure Star Trek ships have no use for currency because they have those replicator thingys.

 

[Danoff]

I wonder if advanced alien civilizations even use advertising like we do or a money system. They'd probably be above needing such systems.

If you can create value, and want to exchange it, money gets created. I can see scenarios where civilizations don't do those things, but you have to be beyond a point where you can create anything that anyone else wants, and nobody wants to exchange with you. So for example, if each member of the civilization were in their own equivalent of the matrix, and created their entire reality, and perhaps interacted with people from the civilization but could not really offer any of the others anything to exchange (no goods, services, creativity, or anything of value), then money would be irrelevant.

You need to do away with all material needs, all entertainment needs, and all forms of labor.

 

[Danoff]

Bit rich for my blood but, sure. Sounds nice.

"A bit rich for my blood" is really a reference to a caste system is it not? I believe (and I can't prove this after having done a tiny bit of research) that this notion stems from the idea that certain breeding or genetics, or ancestral lineage determines your particular station in life. So what this effectively refers to is that something is above your genetic line.

It's kindof a distasteful thing to say. Anyway I've probably said it in the past, and it's a common phrase that nobody really thinks about. It's just this particular instance that got me thinking.

 

[TexRex]

"A bit rich for my blood" is really a reference to a caste system is it not? I believe (and I can't prove this after having done a tiny bit of research) that this notion stems from the idea that certain breeding or genetics, or ancestral lineage determines your particular station in life. So what this effectively refers to is that something is above your genetic line.

It's kindof a distasteful thing to say. Anyway I've probably said it in the past, and it's a common phrase that nobody really thinks about. It's just this particular instance that got me thinking.

Kind of funny that it coincides with other active forum discussion(s).

I re-watched Boondock Saints recently and there's a bit during the title sequence revolving a similar phrase that's been adopted widely despite its uncouth origins..."rule of thumb".

 

[Danoff]

I wonder how much our vision is designed around the notion that it's very important to see blood (red) vividly compared to other colors.

 

[W3H5]

"A bit rich for my blood" is really a reference to a caste system is it not? I believe (and I can't prove this after having done a tiny bit of research) that this notion stems from the idea that certain breeding or genetics, or ancestral lineage determines your particular station in life. So what this effectively refers to is that something is above your genetic line.

It's kindof a distasteful thing to say. Anyway I've probably said it in the past, and it's a common phrase that nobody really thinks about. It's just this particular instance that got me thinking.

Mmm...what I probably meant to say was “taste” rather than blood but didn’t give it enough thought to apply the correct word. It was just a throwaway comment really.

 

[Danoff]

The word "belle" literally means beauty. So if the title of a movie were to be "Belle and the Beast" it would literally translate to "Beauty and the Beast" and how on Earth is the first time I've realized that.

 

[W3H5]

The word "belle" literally means beauty. So if the title of a movie were to be "Belle and the Beast" it would literally translate to "Beauty and the Beast" and how on Earth is the first time I've realized that.

Too busy ogling Belle to spend much time thinking about her name?

For a cartoon, she is hot.

 

[Danoff]

Too busy ogling Belle to spend much time thinking about her name?

For a cartoon, she is hot.

If I'm ogling a cartoon Disney Princess, it's gotta be Ariel.

 

[W3H5]

If I'm ogling a cartoon Disney Princess, it's gotta be Ariel.

Mulan wins my heart, with Belle and Jasmine a tied second.

I do have a thing for Asian chicks though.

Edit: completely forgot about Elsa. She’s pretty tasty.

 

[Danoff]

Mulan wins my heart, with Belle and Jasmine a tied second.

"Genderfluid", impressive.

 

[W3H5]

"Genderfluid", impressive.

She’s even attractive when pretending to be a dude.

 

[Danoff]

She’s even attractive when pretending to be a dude.

View attachment 813882

You should probably be very careful if you ever travel to Thailand.

 

[W3H5]

You should probably be very careful if you ever travel to Thailand.

...



I’m assuming you know where I live, right?

 

[TexRex]

I wanted to bring something up completely removed from debate (not that it can't spark debate), and as such not in support of a particular argument.

@Danoff brought up elsewhere those in a vegetative state, and I wonder if there's actually a life there to be terminated or spared. Is it a life because it possesses a point or two of commonality with what we usually associate with human life? Is it a life because it once possessed far more points of commonality with what we usually associate with human life? Is it a life because of the possibility (as dictated by belief, however misguided) that it may once again possess far more points of commonality with what we usually associate with human life?

Is it a life if it isn't lived? What is living? Does an individual who spends their day executing menial tasks and goes home to an empty studio apartment to eat a frozen dinner and sleep on a mattress on the floor so that they can do the same the following day actually live their life? Maybe it's a means to something better in the future.

The ability to reproduce is often cited as being a characteristic of a living thing, but surely interest is a part of ability. What of those who have no interest in reproduction or even copulation? Okay, so...it's still possible to reproduce without interest in doing so given that there are those out there who are a product of forced copulation. But what of a defect, be it genetic or the result of external forces, that renders an individual unable to reproduce even though they have a strong desire to do so?

Edit:

Also...

 

[W3H5]

Does an individual who spends their day executing menial tasks and goes home to an empty studio apartment to eat a frozen dinner and sleep on a mattress on the floor so that they can do the same the following day actually live their life?

Aside from the empty studio apartment that is generally my life and I really like frozen meals and floor mattresses.

I think the whole definition of living is similar to that of success in that it’s so subjective that, like in your example, it would be seen as dull and the “living” is just really existing but my personal take is that I find the routine builds my life and therefore I actively seek it so that I may continue living, normally in some regard, and not spiral into disorganisation which would take most of the living of out my life and put me in a full situation.

I might be overthinking it...

 

[TexRex]

Aside from the empty studio apartment that is generally my life and I really like frozen meals and floor mattresses.

I think the whole definition of living is similar to that of success in that it’s so subjective that, like in your example, it would be seen as dull and the “living” is just really existing but my personal take is that I find the routine builds my life and therefore I actively seek it so that I may continue living, normally in some regard, and not spiral into disorganisation which would take most of the living of out my life and put me in a full situation.

I might be overthinking it...

I don't think you're overthinking it at all, and I can appreciate that take on it. I think the desire for and the ability to seek out consistency in life is a way of living it.

And just know that I wasn't trying to denigrate anything by suggesting it isn't "living" (whatever that means...which was the whole point of the thought), rather I was simply spitballing.

 

[Danoff]

Parents sometimes worry that the property they leave behind to their children will be squandered. They often want to leave money behind, but only to financially responsible children. The irony of this is that when they're presented with financially responsible children, those children often don't need inherited property. And so their gift to subsequent generations is either unworthy of the next generation, or un(der)appreciated.

 

[W3H5]

Parents sometimes worry that the property they leave behind to their children will be squandered. They often want to leave money behind, but only to financially responsible children. The irony of this is that when they're presented with financially responsible children, those children often don't need inherited property. And so their gift to subsequent generations is either unworthy of the next generation, or un(der)appreciated.

The beauty of equity release; parents can gift their money and still be around to watch/ monitor it being spent.

 

[Danoff]

What do you think happens to procreation when we're able to download our consciousness into computers?

The problems of abundance of natural resources, aging, pain, etc. all seem to go away if you can live in a virtual environment. You could live in a world that is impossibly large, with anything you wanted at your fingertips, existing permanently in a utopia as mingled or not mingled with the rest of humanity as you desire - never aging, never wanting.

So how many people do you think would exist then? Would we keep making people as fast as we could? Filling up the virtual world? Would we stop? Because who needs the next generation for survival at that point? Would we have a quota? Presumably nobody is dying anymore. I wonder what the dynamics would even look like. If you can live forever, how many children would you want to raise? Do we even let people raise children anymore?

 

[W3H5]

Probably not that deep, but aren't all website and e-mail addresses backwards for Arabic speakers?

 

[Rallywagon]

What do you think happens to procreation when we're able to download our consciousness into computers?

The problems of abundance of natural resources, aging, pain, etc. all seem to go away if you can live in a virtual environment. You could live in a world that is impossibly large, with anything you wanted at your fingertips, existing permanently in a utopia as mingled or not mingled with the rest of humanity as you desire - never aging, never wanting.

So how many people do you think would exist then? Would we keep making people as fast as we could? Filling up the virtual world? Would we stop? Because who needs the next generation for survival at that point? Would we have a quota? Presumably nobody is dying anymore. I wonder what the dynamics would even look like. If you can live forever, how many children would you want to raise? Do we even let people raise children anymore?

If you havent, insuggets picking up a copy of the sci-fi novel Endeavour. One of the over arching themes becomes the different ways that humans have seeked immortality. The main theme though, it covers exactly your proposition and is used as the reason for the Fermi Paradox.

Spoiler: Dont wanna ruin the book

The gist is that there were to other races in the universe that seemed to have hit a certain technological level then disappeared. One was discovered in a planet comprised almost entirely of diamond that was turned into a giant computer/storage array. They transferred their consciousness to this array and lived their infinite lives in simulations.

 

[Danoff]

I reach these moments in my life where some event will shape the course of the future in a significant way. As I approach it, I become acutely aware of how the list of possible futures bifurcates from my present course. It is especially jarring when there is no outcome which is consistent with my present course - so that life as usual cannot continue. As I approach this dead end, I see all of the possible routes that I'll take, without knowing which one it will be.

From far away, those timelines might not look so different. The big-picture might look pretty similar, such that the tendrils of possibilities may be distinct but are parallel or closely related. But as I approach the bifurcation, my view focuses inward more and more until they look impossibly different. How is it that I am so uncertain what life will be like this afternoon, or tomorrow?

I think everyone is familiar with this. A final exam score looms, a job interview outcome is unknown, an offer on a house is being considered...

I realize that the reality is that my normal operation is the real illusion. That I don't know the future of my life to the certainty that I pretend. And so these events are only special because I know they are coming. But I tend to view the world from the perspective of my own actions determining the course I take over the landscape of external forces. So when those external unpredictable events do arise, I consider them to be a revealed topography that my life's trajectory simply must traverse.

Anyway, I face one of those moments now. Wondering which direction my life takes from the deadline that I've reached. At this moment the future appears quantum, I'm waiting for the waveform to collapse.

 

[MatskiMonk]

@Danoff, is this the existential crisis you go through when trying to decide on first or second gear in slow-moving traffic?




I am joking of course, I hope the waveform collapses in the most beneficial way!

 

[kolio]

Somebody told me the other day that we do not benefit from plant and tree life as much as they benefit from us. Or more inline to say that they win in the end.

We use them for the oxygen they supply as much as they use us for the carbon dioxide. But in the end, they outlive us, and we are ultimately - for the most part, literally and metaphorically - buried and consumed right in their lap at the end of our lives.

 

[Rallywagon]

Somebody told me the other day that we do not benefit from plant and tree life as much as they benefit from us. Or more inline to say that they win in the end.

We use them for the oxygen they supply as much as they use us for the carbon dioxide. But in the end, they outlive us, and we are ultimately - for the most part, literally and metaphorically - buried and consumed right in their lap at the end of our lives.

To be fair, I eat their children and sit on their corpses, so I think it all works out in the end right?

 

[kolio]

To be fair, I eat their children and sit on their corpses, so I think it all works out in the end right?

It's a little give and take I suppose

I certainly cremate their ancestors every fall, so I won't feel too bad when the weeds sit on me in sixty years.