Discuss: Tending the Garden of Technology

From Peter: “...we live at the expense of other life forms…”

Yes, we do. And we need to ensure that we, too, are players by being more generous with them, by minimizing our take and ponying up more of ourselves—better designs that slow entropy and improve fertility all around and reinforce the recognition that there really is no “us”, no “them”...just “we.”

How’s that for a close, Peter?

Thanks to you and Janet, Lance and Dave…and many of the young people who commented here. Been thought- and feeling-provoking.
Leigh

Leigh writes:
> And you can grow food in the wild; in fact, such places are more calorically productive than ag lands.

Leigh, I first read Euell Gibbons’ “Stalking The Wild Asparagus” in high school. I ate wild foods before it was cool. I became a beekeeper, sold honey for a living for many years.

I have no quarrel with what you say. I have simply gone on to another sort of life than that. My occupation now involves switching genes off and on in living animals.

This is not to say that what I do will have earthshaking consequences one way or another. I am excited to be part of the exploration of what is essentially another world.

It’s the world of nature, same as the woods behind my house. There is much to be learned everywhere you look. Some things maybe we shouldn’t do. I am no longer certain where the lines should be drawn.

It’s a conversation we could have had, but I confess have run out of steam on this one, need to move on. Anyone who has interest in discussing this further, is welcome to email me.

Pete

What is Galileo doing tonight? My hope would be that the great man is resting in peace and that his head is not spinning in his grave.

How, now, can Galileo possibly find peace when so few leaders and experts speak out clearly and loudly regarding whatsoever they believe to be true about the distinctly human-driven predicament that could soon be confronted by the family of humanity which results directly from the unbridled overproduction, overconsumption and overpopulation activities of the human species now overspreading the Earth and threatening to ravage the planetary home God has blessed us to inhabit? Many too many leaders and a predominant coterie of experts are choosing to remain silent.

Where are the leaders and experts who are willing to openly support science that is being presented in solid scientific evidence and validated empirical data? Look at the dismaying disarray in which we find ourselves now and how far we have to travel in a short time to move the human community away from precipitating some unimaginable sort of global ecological wreckage.

What would the world we inhabit look like if scientists like Galileo had chosen to adopt a code of silence? In such circumstances, Galileo as well as scientists today would speak only about scientific evidence which was deemed by the super-rich and powerful to be politically convenient, religiously tolerable, economically expedient, socially correct and culturally prescribed. Galileo and modern-day scientists would effectively breach their duty to science and humanity to tell the truth as they see it, as best they can report it. If science does not overcome silence, then everything the human community believes we are preserving and protecting could be ruined.

Perhaps there is something in the good reports of scientific evidence by members of the Orion community regarding what could somehow be real about the world we inhabit that will give Galileo a moment of peace.

where is the poetic, the contemplative aspects of reality.  technology cannot create love, respect, and compassion/empathy between peoples. so where does that leave us?

Paul,

The poetic, the contemplative aspects of reality are everywhere in nature. I really appreciate hearing your train of thought; it’s exactly what we need more of.

I have this hunch that humans are to be cured of ‘technology’ and our addiction to it. Technological advances, with all of it’s detrimental effects, do also continue to expose the miracles of life on the planet we live on, depend on for our very sustenance.

When the industrialized portion of man can have love, respect, and have compassion/empathy between not only people, but an animate earth and all her inhabitants, then we are headed for a very positive future.

The first step is contained in the essence of your thought.

Janet

technology cannot create love, respect, and compassion/empathy between peoples. so where does that leave us

Dear Friends,

If it turns out that your path to knowledge is NOT somehow on the correct track, then I fear all we claim to be protecting and preserving will be lost. Yes, I believe you are right in noticing humanity’s desperate need for a more adequate, mutually shared understanding of reality.

Sincerely,

Steve

The idea that techies would like to get in on the juice that spirituality has today in some circles reminds me of the complaints some native american elders have voiced that the white man having stolen their land and most of what they had, now want to steal there sacred culture too.  The idea that “high tech” and its priesthood (one of them claims God is a great super computer) want to be given spiritual status would be laughable if it were not so sick and totally predictable.  When egos reach a certain size, they feel they can now swallow the universe.

Maybe Kelly feels we should worship him and his techie buddies for upgrading the images on the wall of Plato’s cave to HD and 3D?