Individuality And The Power Struggle

Ever since the start of high school I've noticed something about individuality...no one has it. I went to a catholic grade school where everyone was required to wear strict uniforms, walk in straight lines from here to there, follow strict schedules, etc. This whole system was designed to suppress us. Of course growing up in this environment and having no knowledge of anything outside of this subservience system, I was surprised when I arrived at high school.

I went to a public high school which means no uniforms and more relaxed guidelines. That's not to say that high school didn't also have it's own strict schedules and rules, but it was something new that I hadn't experienced before. I saw so many different people and they expressed themselves with the clothes they wore and they seemed so much more "out there." Over the course of the next four years in high school I worked my way towards finding who I was and what I was really interested in. I had never been interested in music during grade school because I was literally afraid of expressing myself. In high school, however, I felt more freedom to express myself and be whatever I wanted to be.

I began exploring the world of music. I began (as all do) by listening to the radio. However, I did something more after that that a majority of people don't bother with...I researched into different music that wasn't just on the radio. I used my individuality to think for myself and decide for myself what I found interesting to listen to. Now I sit here a good five or six years later listening to 1970s progressive rock from Italy while everyone else is still listening to Linkin Park or Green Day on our local radio stations.

I suppose the whole point of this is to teach you a lesson on what is true freedom and perhaps happiness. If not happiness, then at least what is right and what should be. Freedom is individuality and individuality is making your own choices and expressing yourself and how you are different from others. If you take pride in calling yourself average, then you are directly calling yourself a servant to others that may create what is average. We are all just animals on this rock in space (yes, humans are animals too) and we need to stop this power struggle. The average man gives into whatever the high power puts on his television/radio/newspaper/school/everything-everywhere and doesn't bother to peek outside of this artificial reality. So, please, if you enjoy something, don't settle with what is given to you. Go find more or make more yourself.

Why PC > Consoles

My Prediction of the Future

I'm trying to think of a good way to organize this and I think I'll just make a list according to years into the future:

10 years:
-"Smart" power lines - allowing for a more efficient electricity grid.
-The beginnings of a networked highway system - allowing automatic-driving cars
-Increased Solar/Wind/Nuclear power...maybe Fusion Power?
-More online usage, perhaps increasing independent thinking
-Possible religious war in Iraq (may lead to more atheism). North Korea could be involved.

20 years:
-More efficient networked highway/road system
-Fusion Power more likely possiblity
-Global government in the making, perhaps online voting type system. I don't suspect there will be a single "world leader."
-Possible religious war
-First stable/livable Moon or Mars base

50 years:
-Perfect network of roads. All cars everywhere drive themselves
-Robots almost completely replace all human workforce in factories, etc.
-With almost all jobs replaced by robots, mostly unemployed people - I suspect there will be more high-end NASA researching, Artists, Corporate Biz. Stupid people unable to compete against robots will either be aided by the government or die out if the republicans have their way.
-More cyborgs (half-human/half-machine)
-Cyborg discrimination
-Hopefully religions are left with crazy nutjobs preaching in the alleyways

100 years:
-Wars and discrimination don't exist
-Advanced space exploration with Mars and the Moon being settled on.
-Possible human exploration of other far off gas giants and their moons (Probably not settled though).
-Evidence of life found on Mars or Jupiter's moon Io
-Fusion Power is a reality and widely used
-Possible virtual worlds where people actually live inside the computer via cyber brains

I'll probably add more possibilities and 200 years, 300 years, etc. later.

The Future of The Human Mind

Edit: I've done more research into this and it's not likely we'll be making cyberbrains very soon as I originally thought. Also, computer technology does not necessarily double "every year." It's more like 18 months.

"The Blue Brain Project is the first comprehensive attempt to reverse-engineer the mammalian brain, in order to understand brain function and dysfunction through detailed simulations." -Blue Brain Project

With computer technology doubling its capabilities every year, we will actually soon be able to simulate a human brain with a computer. This is incredible! We would be able to upload our minds into a computer system. And my guess is that computer technology will continue to double, so eventually cyber brains may become even more powerful than the biological brain.

Artificial Brain Ten Years Away From Reality

There are so many advantages to this, however, I know someone out there is thinking this is a horrible, immoral thing. Would a computer capable of thinking exactly as a human be equivalent to a living thing? And what about human emotions and sensations. Surely you wouldn't want to abandon your ability to taste and feel...

Well, considering these processes are all done with your mind then it's reasonable to assume you would still be able to taste and feel with a computer simulation. However, it wouldn't be real. So the real problem is a cyber brains capability of determining fact from fiction. Also, there's an issue with hacking and the possibility of having your mind literally taken control of. These may be large set backs but there's always a solution and I believe the profits outweigh the costs.

All of these concepts are well described in the Ghost In The Shell anime series and the sequel SAC: 2nd Gig.


The Matrix Trilogy also addresses this possibility of artificial brains in some ways with the programs such as the Oracle and the Architect that pretty much think and act exactly as people do.


I personally look forward to the day I can upload my brain into a computer and acquire immortality, superior intellect, and greater understanding. We'll finally be able to cheat death.

Reality and What is Outside of It

As an atheist and a naturalist, I believe that the only things that can be confirmed to exist are what we can see and provide evidence for in our universe. However, an argument I often hear is that "god" lies outside of our universe and is thus incapable of being proved because it is impossible to provide evidence for it.

This is actually a fairly good defense for those that believe in some sort of higher power. Although this is not a very logical belief, considering that nothing can be proved outside the boundaries of our reality, then it leaves everything to your imagination. According to this logic, it would be okay to believe that outside our universe there are unicorns and fairies.

It may be possible that there are multiple "universes" (the multiverse theory). And if there was a multiverse then it may be possible that it goes on for infinity. In that case...unicorns and anything imaginable would eventually exist. It's a pretty incredible thought to try to conceive fully.

If a multiverse didn't go on for infinity, then it would have to have some beginning. But then, how would it be created? Why would it be created?
These are the same kind of questions we've asked about our single universe and have for the most part answered how until a point.

Also, if our universe or a multiverse truly did not have anything at all before its existance, then how would absolutely nothing become something. Maybe because outside the universe anything is possible and there it is possible for nothing to become something.

So I think there are at least two answers to this problem.
1. Everything goes on for infinity, the universe, the multiverse, maybe even multiple multiverses, and so on.
OR..
2. Nothing can create something in the void outside of reality.

Either way, this does not prove a god's creation because a god is not nothing and thus must have a beginning as well.

Google is better than god

I thought about calling this Google is god, but actually Google is probably better. For one, they're both pretty similar, all-knowing and very powerful. But with god you have to think about Google before 1996 (Its year of creation) because although they are very similar, god does not exist and neither did Google at this time. (I wonder if you explained Google to the people in 1995 if they would think of it as a godly machine...)

What makes Google better though? It exists...and we can use it effectively. It also does not demand we follow certain rules like we can use no other search-engine and we cannot worship false search-engines. And when Google gets angry at how the world is, it doesn't "bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish." -Genesis 6:17

So, I think Google > God

Men are animals

How life began is still unknown, but my guess is that (abiogenesis) through the mixture of organic materials and the addition of energy, eventually the first building blocks for life were created. Bacteria evolved into multi-celled tissues, like planaria and jellyfish. Those creatures evolved into fish, etc. The opportunity for land-living was open for those desperate to escape their predators and eventually land-based creatures evolved. Etc. Etc.

The dinosaurs died out and mammals dominated. Apes evolved and one species would evolve larger brains than the others. They weren't alone at first though. Homo Erectus lived along side the early Homo Sapiens for a time until eventually only one would go one. It's believed that Erectus died out due to a less capable vocal tract and was therefore less capable of communication. So due to the Homo Sapien brain size, ability of communication, and overall adaptability, we survived long enough to get to where we are today.

A lot of people do not understand this completely, or they're in complete denial, or they simply don't care about their origins. I'm greatly ashamed of our society and government for allowing this to happen. At what point did our world change from intellectuals trying to learn the mysteries of the universe (as in the renaissance) into a bunch of couch-potato morons that only care about what Miley Cyrus did last week. I admit, I like sitting on my ass watching tv and playing games all day, but these things are meant to distract us from what is truly important, THOUGHT.

People don't think anymore. I don't know if they forgot how to think or if they just don't bother to think anymore, but I'm horribly disappointed. I'm not sure exactly what needs to be changed or what needs to be done, but I'm making this a warning to everyone that if you don't start thinking and using your brains in a logical and reasonable way then the human race is going to return to the stone age and maybe even worse. Read a book, write a book, play a song, paint a picture, sew a quilt, for the love of (your) god do something requiring thought or imagination.