by *lost* 73 Replies latest social current
And do you think all of the things you know will eventually turn out to be false?
my point is your just making generic remarks on something you apparently only have the most basic understanding off. I wonder if you apply the same logic to your own beliefs
And do you think all of the things you know will eventually turn out to be false?
I think true and false are often unhelpful distinctions. But I know how to use the terms when they are useful.
Check out Rorty, my hero.
SBF
The earth, nature and animals are all finely intertwined and tuned in with each other.
everything that exists on the earth, provides a service, it has a job to do, we may not understand all of it, which is why I love science,
it explains to me, about all of these wonderful things I see on the Earth.
Everything has been, at some stage, set in place as a system, and everything works in harmony and balance, it is when the balance is shifted and goes of at a skelter, we have problems. which is why we are taught, you cannot get involved in nature, it is what it is, and it is such a way for a reason.
The earth is a self cleaning self adjusting mechanism. Everything in harmony.
Just look at how many different varieties of grasses alone there are, just in one country (eco-system) never mind the whole world.
Our 'weeds' are actually natures herbs and medicinal cupboard, they keep the balance.
if we wipe out the weed's, we affect the balance. It's all a knock on effect.
Science is often driven by corporate greed. And the complete inability to work WITH nature as opposed to manipulating it to do what they want it to do is pure ignorance and arrogance on their part. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.
The problem with science is the same problem we see when church and state combine...but this time it is science and corporations. Corporations use their 'science' to manipulate and control. THAT is bad science. They only care about profit and shareholders but claim the moral high ground as though they are saving the planet while they may be doing irreparable damage.
***** sweeping generalizations alert ******
I don't think nature is inherently a balanced system. It is a complete disaster from start to finish. There are temporary periods of respite between utter desolations. The idea that nature is a perfectly balanced system which mankind spoils is ideological nonsense as Zizek explains.
So..if a scientist creates a plant that supposedly reduces the need for pesticide spraying...but then discovers down the track that the insect has developed a resistance to this chemical because of over use...what do you call that? Working with Nature?...comprehending how evolution works? Or ignoring evolution and Nature to make a quick buck? Experience has shown us that overuse of chemicals (eg antibiotics) has created super bugs. They are now ignoring this information (nature/evolutionary process) and creating new problems with super weeds and super insects. And why? Money.
THAT is what I refer to as ignoring nature...and how it works.
I think nature is balanced to the extent that it will self correct or adjust...with or without humans. And not necessarily how humans would like it. More species have become extinct than exist today...nature carries on regardless of what we do or don't do, species come and they go. We just think we are so important we can do better and manipulate it with no consequences. I have no doubt that the world will continue long after the human species has become extinct and there will be new species. And the way we are going with the aid of corporate greed...that may be sooner rather than later.
I don't have some airy fairy idea that the earth is peace and love and harmony...natural disasters attest to that. But if we attempt to work against nature...I suspect in the end, we will lose. It was here long before us...and it will be here long after we have gone.
Just look at what this nut job Bill gates is proposing to do about climate change....What will be the long term consequences of this action if it is approved. This could be irreversable.
A small group of leading climate scientists, financially supported by billionaires including Bill Gates, are lobbying governments and international bodies to back experiments into manipulating the climate on a global scale to avoid catastrophic climate change.
The scientists, who advocate geoengineering methods such as spraying millions of tonnes of reflective particles of sulphur dioxide 30 miles above earth, argue that a "plan B" for climate change will be needed if the UN and politicians cannot agree to making the necessary cuts in greenhouse gases, and say the US government and others should pay for a major programme of international research.
Solar geoengineering techniques are highly controversial: while some climate scientists believe they may prove a quick and relatively cheap way to slow global warming, others fear that when conducted in the upper atmosphere, they could irrevocably alter rainfall patterns and interfere with the earth's climate.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/06/bill-gates-climate-scientists-geoengineering
everything that exists on the earth, provides a service, it has a job to do,
Yep - those wonderful retro-viruses do such a great job!
Science is like anything: it can be used for good or bad or just because. Read Hitler's Scientists. Most of them weren't actually in league with Hitler, but his regime allowed them to do the sort of experimentation on humans (Jews and other people considered expendable) that no other regime would have. As a result, they were driven by pure fact-hunting, and did not care about the people they killed to get the results. Ethics got left out because the scientists had an unprecedented opportunity. Other scientists were under pressure from Hitler to build better and more effective weapons, and of course the race was on with the USA to make nuclear weapons.
So of course science can be hijacked for ill use, just like literature, art, engineering...or just lose its sense of ethics as in the case with the human experimentation.
I think you would only believe everything on earth is beneficial to humans and supporting human life if you believe a god created it all. Otherwise...Its just nature. Nature is neither kind nor loving. We just happen to have been very prosperous because we adapted well.
But everything does seem to have a job to do, even if its just surviving...I'm not sure what the job is of mosquitos though
