I believe telepathy is a form of being able to anticipate what someone else is thinking and feeling. Speech liberates.
On Wed, Oct 3, 2012 at 1:16 PM, rigsy03 <[email protected]> wrote: > "Speech has been given to man to hide his thoughts." R.P. Malagrida > > On Oct 1, 12:02 pm, gabbydott <[email protected]> wrote: >> Hello Bill, I noticed that your screen name on the group website is rather >> long. It reads: William L. Houts William L. Houts Lukaeon William L. Houts. >> I was wondering if this was your intention. >> >> Maybe yes. Just so much, I do differentiate between heaven and afterlifeand >> their individual usability for corruption. Both terms are somehow >> related to the future, but the access is different. Sorry, I forgot to >> introduce myself. My name is Gabby (short for Gabriele), I am a Protestant, >> my first language is German, and I believe in God. I like to listen to >> other people's stories which is why I have learned to keep my own very >> short. Nice meeting you. :) >> >> On Friday, September 28, 2012 7:17:08 AM UTC+2, William L. Houts William L. >> Houts Lukaeon William L. Houts wrote: >> >> >> >> >> >> > I wonder if humans do dream of uncorrupted worlds, in general. You'd >> > think that would be universal, and it does seem to be borne out by >> > Western mythologies, with some exceptions. For instance, the Greeks had >> > Olympus, but except for Heracles no one got to go there; everyone else >> > went to Hades, which was gloomy and boring if you were lucky enough to >> > land there in general population, and terrifying if the gods put you in >> > Tartarus. And the Romans didn't seem to place faith in any sort of >> > afterlife at all, which is one of the main reasons whyChristianity sold >> > like hotcakes. Eastern religions such as Buddhism had various hells and >> > heavens, but they were sort of besides the point: your karma is / was >> > supposed to boil down to nothing and liberate you from the Wheel of >> > Rebirth, which was supposed to put you in Nirvana, which was less a >> > Heaven than it was a Nowhere. And Taoism doesn't have much to say about >> > heavenly afterworlds; its whole point is to make this world more just >> > and balanced and leaves heavens to the individual to figure out. >> >> > But as to your question of whether humans long for uncorrupted worlds, I >> > think that besides the Abrahamic religions noone takes them very >> > seriously. And I think they've got a point: I mean, if you're taking >> > your present existence at all seriously, then just what is an afterlife >> > supposed to be about? Are we supposed to be eating bonbons all day and >> > living in some version of American luxury? I'd like to believe in >> > Heaven --which for me looks like a kind of liberal college town, with >> > libraries and funky old cinema houses-- but all of that seems kind of >> > empty if there's no gravitas, no seriousness. Without death, without a >> > final marker which howls at us, Do what you must do NOW and die knowing >> > that you've used your life well--without that, I think heaven would >> > become kind of slouchy and boring, or worse. Unless, of course, what's >> > waiting for us on the other side is something superrational but >> > beautiful, like being absorbed into the godhead, if such there be. >> >> > So in answer to your question, I think we do dream of uncorrupt worlds, >> > but if we examine them too closely, they tend to be bustable soap >> > bubbles. And maybe I lack imagination, but I wonder, how could it be any >> > other way? Frankly, I'd like to be told how. I sound sensible about all >> > of this if a little pessimistic, but in reality I'm a scared ex-Catholic >> > who is terrified of death and wants to solve the Big Question before >> > they're performing Last Rites on his sorry ass. >> >> > --Bill >> >> > On 9/27/2012 7:20 PM, rigsy03 wrote: >> > > I wonder where you put the mythological and religious other-worldlies- >> > > from gods to guardian angels, etc.? Or the construct of Dante's >> > > "Divine Comedy", for instance. Do humans long for uncorrupted worlds? >> >> > > On Sep 27, 6:23 pm, William L Houts <[email protected]> wrote: >> > >> I'm with the pragmatists on the question of intelligent alien species. >> > >> Many scientists who speculate on this sort of thing --though there >> > >> really aren't that many of them-- say that such species wouldn't >> > >> resemble anything so comforting as a humanoid physiology, but I think >> > >> they're partly mistaken. Surely there would be surprises in the way >> > >> nature cooks up life on other planets with radically different >> > >> chemistries than our dear old Mama Earth. But I think there's reason >> > to >> > >> suppose that many alien species would resemble us. After all, any >> > >> species we might imagine has to cope with gravity as it evolves. So >> > >> they're much more likely to evolve some form of locomotion which >> > >> involves two, four or six pedal extremities (as Fats Waller calls >> > them) >> > >> rather than three or five: even-numbered legs are less wobbly and >> > more >> > >> amenable to balanced movement which consumes fewer calories. . Also, >> > >> sense organs like eyes and ears are likely to be located in or close >> > to >> > >> a head, as there is survival value in having sense organs located >> > close >> > >> to a brain, or whatever such species might use for brains. Finally, >> > >> everyone in the cosmos requires energy to get going, so they're either >> > >> going to evolve photosynthesis and take their energy directly from >> > their >> > >> sun or suns, or they're going to take their sunbeams indirectly by >> > >> consuming something lower in the food chain. I'm sure there are lots >> > of >> > >> evolution pathways I'm leaving out, seeing as I'm a curious poetrather >> > >> than a serious scientist type of guy, but I think these notions are, >> > as >> > >> Allan named other ideas of mine, sensible provisos. >> >> > >> PS. I left out centipedes and millipedes with their scores of legs, >> > but >> > >> I think y'all's get what I'm saying here. >> >> > >> --Bill >> >> > >> On 9/27/2012 3:57 PM, archytas wrote: >> >> > >>> I haven't seen any UFOs and tend not to be much interested in people >> > >>> who claim to have - at least without Bill's sensible provisos. The >> > >>> speed of thought as a brain process is slower than light-speed - but >> > >>> then I'm basically a tropical fish realist. I'd have a bet that no >> > >>> one in this group would really have much of a definition of light- >> > >>> speed and the Ricel curvature tensor, Euler Langrangian and the rest >> > >>> of Einstein's field equations. I mean no offence and don't do much >> > of >> > >>> this science myself. >> > >>> If you point out to a physicist that the people from the future who >> > >>> have invented the time machine are in extraordinarily short supply in >> > >>> our present he may come up with some mathematical guff on the shape >> > of >> > >>> the universe that explains this or makes time travel only possible to >> > >>> the future. I have seen demons - plodding back to camp after a >> > week's >> > >>> endurance exercise with no food for two days I was visually convinced >> > >>> the sentries were vampires but still asked them where the Naffi was. >> > >>> My guess is that we travel through space as primitive life-forms with >> > >>> evolution built-in and waiting to unfold. We may thus have come from >> > >>> a much more advanced civilisation than ours bound by the speed of >> > >>> light, capable of the biological engineering but not space-flightmuch >> > >>> more advanced than our own. Calculations give 28 years as the time to >> > >>> reach the edge of the known universe - but this is the time insidethe >> > >>> ship accelerating to near light speed fairly slowly. Space is not >> > >>> friction free and it's doubtful we or our instruments could take the >> > >>> radiation of light-speed flight. >> > >>> I rather hope there are some nice, genuinely civilised aliens >> > thinking >> > >>> of coming here. In my speculation, intelligent life tends to worry >> > >>> about food chains led by apes as these have been notoriously war-like. >> >> > >>> I'm into bees and ants rather than UFOs at the moment. Bees use >> > >>> 'pharma' to combat fungal infections. Ants take slaves - killing the >> > >>> adults of another species and taking the larvae. These slaves then >> > >>> raise the slaver brood. Interestingly, the ant slaves rebel and kill >> > >>> the pupae of their masters - an act that does not favour the >> > >>> individuals a they will die, but does seem to be altruistic in favour >> > >>> of other colonies of the enslaved species. I mention this to suggest >> > >>> science is not a human invention, just something in evolution we are >> > >>> expanding. >> > >>> UFOs remind me of religion generally - people seem to bond around >> > >>> ludic claims about golden salamanders and what cannot be proved. I >> > >>> guess we will find life or past life-sign on Mars. Salvation may >> > come >> > >>> from a mother-ship, but my own feeling is that our inability to >> > >>> develop science as we could is a more important thought experiment. >> > >>> In respect of this problem I recommend 'Bad Pharma' by Ben >> > >>> Goldacre, He finds a �600 billion industry in which more money >> > is >> > >>> spent on marketing than on research and development, where the >> > results >> > >>> of clinical trials of new drugs are massaged, and in which regulators >> > >>> fail to regulate. Papers supposedly by respected academics are >> > >>> ghostwritten by drug companies, and patients' pressure groups are >> > >>> covertly sponsored by pill manufacturers. >> > >>> I can't for the life of me work out why we aren't directing our >> > >>> collective towards tapping into the asteroid belt and beyond instead >> > >>> of ADMASS. >> > >>> On 24 Sep, 20:15, William L Houts <[email protected]> wrote: >> > >>>> I'm placing my bet on thoughtspeed. It's a great concept and it's a >> > >>>> great word. How could I do any better than that? >> > >>>> --Bill >> > >>>> On 9/24/2012 7:17 AM, Don Johnson wrote: >> > >>>>> I agree with Allan the distance challenge is daunting. In an endless >> > >>>>> universe there's also no doubt in my mind there are other >> > inhabitable >> >> ... >> >> read more »- Hide quoted text - >> >> - Show quoted text - > > -- > > > --
