First Turning "purge"

[Bill the Piper]

(10-29-2018, 06:59 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: We must create a successful civilization here. THAT is the challenge, which we are a long, long way off from achieving. According to my cosmic calendar, expansion into space will not be a major factor until the 25th century. By then, the myth as you call it below will be a routine reality.

True. It's better to eradicate the barbarian elements from our culture before they spread into space. Noone wants al-Qaeda creating its space colonies.

Quote:Orion's Arm is an obscure website culture. I don't remember if my statement is a response to it.

True. But I believe its core values will become more popular. This cosmic perspective is by no means unique to this website culture. It probably started with Giordano Bruno. The reason I reference OA because I'm familiar with their concepts, which are interesting thought experiments (like all good fiction). I also referenced Stapledon's and Tsiolkovsky's philosophical writings,. Some people are fans of obscure writers and learn important things from their books.

Quote:My impression is that you don't appreciate enough the unique value and place in the cosmos of the Earth. That is something which I champion by pointing out these facts.

So many people have been visited and abducted already by aliens, that I feel that by the 25th century this contact will have become well entrenched. If we humans someday can venture out into other planets and star systems, as you assert, then there can be little doubt that other civilizations have already arisen and developed the ability to visit us. Our star system is a 4 billion year old wonder in a 13 billion-year old universe. I doubt we are the first.

I agree that there almost certainly are other civilizations in the Universe. Have they visited us? "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence". I find none. The main reason I dismiss UFO stories is that the aliens are always depicted as humanoid. Poverty of imagination, nothing else.

Quote:Addiction to smart phones and gadgets is a chief millennial trait. It is not genetic, and I am completely skeptical of those kinds of fixes. I think it will only be the next 2T that awakens some of them, and succeeding generations, to wake up from this virtual matrix.

The vulnerability to addiction is certainly a genetic flaw in human nature. But the type of addiction is certainly related to the generational cycle. Faceborg and Instaslag are two civic obsessions united: community and technology (Instagram adds sex as well, that's why I use this nickname). Other generations had other temptations: gen X played with gadgets less, but used more hard drugs like amphetamine or cocaine. Boomers smoked weed and used hallucinogens. Maybe the Silent look best in that respect.

I agree that next 2T will involve rebellion against social media and other form of techno-addiction, in fact I hope for that. The emphasis will move to improving our minds, perhaps using biotechnology in addition to more traditional methods such as meditation.

Quote:mystical aspects are numinous experiences of spirit as reality, within ourselves or in larger beings. The purpose of art is first of all to be a handmaiden to religion in its expression of revelation, and the most genuine revelations are not from religious authorities, but personal experiences of the beyond within.

Well, you'd love the Middle Ages!