On 11/29/2012 2:39 PM, Joe wrote:
I put no stock in prophecy.
Nor do I ... until it comes true/is revealed to be scientifically valid, whereupon I take an interest in the Way that enabled that revelation.
Projecting from trends, *maybe*.
As I said, extant scientific data is sufficient to predict a population crash.
Those Indians could know nothing about global warming, fresh-water shortages, raging population growth, sea-level rise, massive and escalating species extinctions, etc.
That is the whole point: a prediction that does not rely on things they knew by conventional means, logic or trend projection etc..., but 'comes true' in the distant (our imminent) future attracts my attention to the Way that enabled it.
Just sayin' ... This comes back to my view that I have no responsibility to persuade people of my view; no duty to 'save' them from the consequences of their collective actions, even if I believed that were possible, which I do not. As I wrote, I do not see the human future as 'open', but rather to be constrained; not fixed, I grant you (which is why I bother to speak/write at all) but highly constrained, hence predictable.
RAF
