Ignorance Is The Root Of All Evil

[Guest vijun]

I am a twenty-three year old male that is currently living in Montreal. I would describe myself as an eccentric self loathing, depressed human being. I dropped out of high school when I was sixteen. I never had a job. I only leave my apartment when I have to. I am currently on medication for depression and social anxiety disorder. Fortunately I was able to make a substantial amount of money from selling things on EBay and making some wise investment decisions. Unfortunately I spent most of the money that I made in a futile attempt to find happiness. I have reached a point where for the first time in my life I am having real financial difficulties. I think the money that I was making in the past was the only thing that stopped me from killing myself. I don’t know how much longer I am going to be alive; therefore I decided to post this letter on this website. I would like to communicate with individuals that have something in common with me. I would also like to educate or influence the people that are reading this; especially teenagers in high school.What you see below are some of my opinions on four different topics.

 

EMBRACING THE IGNORANCE OF HUMANITY

 

TRADITIONS- For some reason human beings love irrational traditions. People are still engaging in traditions that are thousands of years old. We love to live like cavemen. I am talking about things like male and female circumcision. Female circumcision may be much worse, but the idea of cutting of a peace of a boy’s penis as a part of some five thousand year old tradition just sounds stupid to me. Unfortunately I had a Jewish pediatrician that convinced my parents that it would reduce the chances of me getting penile cancer; therefore I will never be able to experience sexual pleasure the way an uncircumcised man would experience it.

 

Another irrational tradition that human beings love is monogamy. I am not going to say much about monogamy because I am sure that most of you have already heard about the 50+ percent divorce rate in different countries around the world therefore I only have two things to say. If you are in a monogamous relationship and your partner cheats on you, you deserve exactly what you get. In my opinion the happiest couples in the world are people that are in committed open relationships.

 

GOOD AND EVIL- In my opinion the concept of good and evil are just products of evolution. It all depends on which side you are on and what rank you have society. We are no different than a pack of wolves or a group of monkeys. Dominant males and females have the privilege to commit more acts of violence than the lower ranking individuals. In other words the violence is justified. Whenever I watch the news and I see the U.S.A fighting Al Qaeda or the Palestine’s fighting the Israelis I don’t see good on one side and evil on the other side. I see ignorance and stupidity on both sides. Some people like to think of good and evil as a positive force and a negative force or good karma and bad karma. I see it as logical and illogical behavior that is passed on in your genetic code and your culture from generation to generation. Let me explain what I mean. Imagine that an illogical act was committed over a thousand years ago in a small village in Africa, Asia, or Europe. Perhaps someone was raped or murdered. That single illogical act can cause a chain reaction that could lead to the misery and deaths of millions of people. Stress, malnutrition, and a lack of knowledge can impair the health of parents and their children. This information is then past on in their genes in the form of genetic flaws like cancer, diabetes, and even asymmetrical faces which can reduce the chances of having a good sex life. That is why I believe that everyone deserves exactly what they get. People are suffering today because of the mistakes that people made in the past. And the people of tomorrow will suffer because of the mistakes that we make in the present, unless we are willing to change the way we think and live.

 

GODS- I also believe that the concept of god is a product of evolution. I call it the triangle philosophy. The dominant person is at the top of the triangle with the lower ranking people at the bottom. Sometimes I wonder how much people on this planet have been killed in the name of a god. Some Muslims love to kill people for Allah. In the past Christians killed people for the Lord Jesus Christ. If you go back even further you will find people that sacrificed humans to make their gods happy so their crops would grow. I just can’t believe that we are living in a world where educated individuals believe that there is a god in the sky. People are actually still teaching creation in schools all around the world. The argument that many religious scientist make is that human beings could never have evolved from single celled organisms, even though the evidence of evolution is all around us. Some scientists that do believe in evolution prefer to go back even further to the big bang. Who or what created the big bang? How can something be created from nothing? It must be god. My answer to that is it does not matter how much we have evolved or how much we will learn in the future. There will always be things that we will not know. My philosophy is, if I can’t see it, taste it, hear it, smell it, or touch then it does not exist. In the twenty- three years that I have been alive I still haven’t heard a word from a god. If people need something to believe in they should focus on Buddhism, extraterrestrials or string theory.

 

 

MEDICAL SCIENCE

 

Medical science has come along way during the past hundred years. Unfortunately it has not come far enough because of capitalism and religious and ethical reasons. In this topic I will focus neuroscience and genetics.

 

Neuroscience- I am impressed with the progress that neuroscientist have made during the past twenty-five years especially in the fields of neurophysiology and cognitive neuroscience. In my opinion the only field of neuroscience that has not progressed that much is psychiatry. I won’t even waste my time writing about the good old days when people were being electrocuted and lobotomized for no reason. I am not satisfied with the way most psychiatrist are trying to treat depression. One problem that I have is the amount of people in North America that are on antidepressants. Writing a prescription for someone that is depressed is the first thing that most psychiatrist do. In my opinion antidepressants should only be used as a last resort.

 

The second problem that I have with psychiatry is psychotherapy. The physical act of handing over a hundred dollars or more for an hour of a doctors time made me even more depressed than I was before I went into the office. There is nothing that a psychiatrist or a psychologist can tell me that I can’t learn from a book. Another thing that people need to know is, if there is something that you want to remain confidential keep it to yourself or get someone to sign a confidentiality contract. I had a friend that was a psychiatrist. He is now deceased. He told me everything about his patients. We would have long discussions about the different disorders and problems that his patients were living with. Some people are good at keeping secrets and some people are not. So I would advise people to be careful the next time that you go into a doctor’s office to bare your soul to someone that you have never met before in your life. However, I will admit that psychotherapy can be a good alternative to taking antidepressants if you can find the right doctor.

 

The third problem that I have with psychiatry is doctors that are focused on keeping suicidal individuals alive instead of giving them some pleasure or trying to give them a reason to want to live. I think psychiatrist need to teach their patients more about neurophysiology and neurochemistry. They also need to develop new techniques for treating their patients. I also believe that an assisted suicide should be a part of psychiatry. It would involve putting a patient in a comfortable environment, and giving them an injection of heroin or some other narcotic to give them pleasure. The second step would involve giving them a sedative to put them to sleep. And finally dose potassium chloride to stop the heart.

 

GENETICS- I don’t have much to say about genetics other than the fact that people have to stop using the word race to describe what they are. And geneticists have to stop thinking that eugenics is a bad thing. It is time for us to start creating better human beings. We can no longer depend on symmetry and healthy skin to decide if a person has good genes or not.

 

 

 

VIRTUAL REALITY

 

Virtual reality is the most important topic in this letter to me, because what I desire more than anything else is to escape reality. I hate this world and I hate my body. To me virtual reality represents an escape from my body and the ignorance of humanity. My obsession with virtual reality began when I was a teenager in high school. Back in 1994 I can remember computer scientists all around the talking and writing about the virtual reality that we would get to experience in the year 2000 and beyond. Back in the mid 90’s computer programmers were designing video games that were more realistic for consoles like the 3DO. They were not the best video games ever made but they were different than the mass produced juvenile crap that is being made today. I can remember playing realistic full motion video games in the past and enjoying the feeling of getting lost in a virtual world even though the games were not in 3D. By 1999 I realized that the virtual world that I was hoping for was only a dream in my head. That is when I slipped into a deep depression. Movies like the Matrix and Vanilla sky only made things worse for me. It made me feel like the computer programmers around the world were teasing me. I watched as companies like Microvision developed head mounted displays that have incredible resolution. Between 1999 and 2002 I spent at least $50,000 on hardware and software in a futile attempt to get a realistic virtual experience. I get so angry whenever I read or watch television and I see all of the incredible technology that is being developed for the U.S military. Why can’t someone use the technology that is out there to give people a peaceful or fun virtual experience? It would not be so bad if I could at least go to an IMAX theater and watch a good movie on a dome screen. I would be willing to pay $100 or more to see a movie like The Cell or Requiem For A Dream in IMAX 3D. For some reason most people can’t see the possibilities of virtual reality. I am going to write a small list of things that I believe should exist now and in the near future.

 

1. In the present- A virtual reality entertainment center in some large North American cities where people can go to watch real movies on IMAX dome screens and play high quality 3D video games in a private room on dome screens that are about 60% to 75% smaller than your average dome screen. I also believe that people should be able to make money from playing video games. Imagine walking into a room and seeing a large dome screen and a formula 1 racing car. You proceed by sitting down in the car and selecting an option that is appearing on a small screen on the steering wheel of the car. You then proceed to chose to race nine people that are doing the same thing that you are doing. Each person pays a fee to play the game and they all decide to wager $100 on the race. The prize structure would be 1st place $500, 2nd place $300 and 3rd place $200. That is just one example of the many possibilities of wagering money on video games. It would be much healthier than gambling in a casino or playing video lottery machines in a bar because each wager would be based on skill not luck. And the players that are making bets would get the same rush of dopamine that most gamblers get without having to deal with the ridiculous odds in casinos. You would be able to play games that involve strength, speed, timing, and intelligence. For example, imagine playing a game like track and field that involves pushing one button to build up speed. If the best human beings can push a button ten times in a second. How many times do you think a person would be able to push a button in 9.79 seconds? (The world record for the hundred meter dash) Wining or losing money would all depend on your physical or mental abilities.

 

2. In the present- High-tech luxury apartments in some large North American cities that would include the same smaller versions of the IMAX dome screens that I wrote about above. Imagine watching 3D television and performing most of the activities that I wrote about above. These apartments would be very expensive. They would probably cost $100,000 a month or more but I would be willing to spend that much if I could afford it.

 

3. In the near future- A computer program that can be your friend, teacher, or sexual partner.

 

4. In the near future- A computer program called that is called What Do Desire? Imagine a computer program that is as realistic as the matrix. You simply have to tell the computer what you want to experience and you can live out almost any scenario that you can imagine.

 

5. In the near future- I also believe that virtual reality could be used to reduce deviant desires like pedophilia. (Real pedophilia not cultural pedophilia)

 

 

 

THE SOLUTION TO ALL OF OUR PROBLEMS

 

Existence is information and perception. Information in the form of energy, subatomic particles, atoms, molecules, planets, stars, and carbon based life forms like us. Perception in the form of programmed reactions to the information that we receive through our five senses. You might have heard the phrase one rotten apple destroys the whole pack. Imagine that the world is a bag with five good apples in it and one rotten apple in it. The rotten apple is a representation of all of our cultural problems and our genetic problems. You can’t remove a small piece of the rotten apple and not expect the bacteria to spread. That is the problem with the world. We are not willing to do what it takes to get rid of the whole apple. Your problems are my problems and my problems are your problems. We are all connected. I am convinced that there is a way for human beings to coexist in peace. I can imagine living in world were the only misery that people would feel is the misery that they choose to feel. A lot of people are doing things to try to make the world a better place but they are not doing enough. Medical doctors have to realize is that a panacea is not going to come in the form of a pill or a serum. That is what the pharmaceutical companies out there would like doctors to believe. Unfortunately the solution to the problem is much more complex than that. Intelligent rational human beings have to get together and start a movement. Neuroscientists have to work together with computer scientists to improve our cognitive abilities and gain better control over our amygdales. (Read The Age Of Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurzweil to understand what I am talking about) Geneticists have stop worrying about ethics and do what ever it takes to make life better for human beings. Liberal open minded politicians in every democratic country around the world have to work together to give people more privileges and to help scientists speed up the process of evolution. People around the world also have to be willing to make a slow process from capitalism to socialism. People have to be willing to abandon most of their old traditions.

 

I believe that I have the right ideology to solve most of mankind’s problems, but what I believe is irrelevant because I don’t have masters’ degree or a PhD. And I don’t have the money or the motivation to change the world. All I can say is that we have to stop being controlled by our emotions. The universe has blessed us with a large prefrontal cortex but very few people actually use it the way they should. Especially the orbitofrontal region and the dorsolateral region. I can only hope that a few people out there will be influenced by what I wrote.

[Ophiolite]

I don't know if you plan to revisit the board for reactions to your post. I hope so. A lot of what you said resonated with me, but not all. I'd like to discuss some of your points, if you are interested.

The conclusions you reached in the first three sections seem to me causes for hope rather than despair. For if some can reach these conclusions, then eventually all can, and then act accordingly.

Progress is painful and slow, but it is progress. We can all make a contribution, we all should make a contribution. As you say we are all connected.

[JaKiri]

This post will be fair, factual, but it also may contain things that people may find mean or distasteful.

 

I never had a job... I have reached a point where for the first time in my life I am having real financial difficulties.

 

You think those two statements may be linked?

 

I think the money that I was making in the past was the only thing that stopped me from killing myself.

 

That's a fairly shallow outlook on life; if you have to work, life won't be worth living? (I know that is, to some extent, a trivialisation, but the fact of the matter remains)

 

I am talking about things like male and female circumcision. Female circumcision may be much worse, but the idea of cutting of a peace of a boy?s penis as a part of some five thousand year old tradition just sounds stupid to me.

 

Female circumcision no longer goes on in the western world, and it is unbelieveably oversimplistic to believe that only Jewish people get circumcised. I know of people in this country (England) who are circumcised, who aren't jewish. Another counter-example is the United States; doctors regularly perform circumcision, yet the majority of doctors aren't jewish, and neither are the majority of the patients.

 

There's also some discussion over the cause of the Jewish tradition of circumcision; it has proven health benefits, and Judaism may have implemented it for those reasons. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely to have this conjecture proved or refuted.

 

Another irrational tradition that human beings love is monogamy. I am not going to say much about monogamy because I am sure that most of you have already heard about the 50+ percent divorce rate in different countries around the world

 

That's a fatally flawed argument. Just because it's something that many people fail at, or ignore, doesn't mean it's any more irrational than other emotional interactions. The high divorce rate can show two things: that some people are inherently unsuited to monogamy, or that some partnerships haven't had the underlying mental or physical sacrifices required for a relationship of that kind. There are enormous numbers of successful monogamous partnerships, and your decrying of this situation as 'irrational' is unjustified at best.

 

If you are in a monogamous relationship and your partner cheats on you, you deserve exactly what you get. In my opinion the happiest couples in the world are people that are in committed open relationships.

 

A rather overreactive backlash, there. Why do people in monogamous relationships deserve their partner cheating on them? Are you saying that we should not trust anyone (for this is obviously a question of trust) and, if any person proves to be unreliable, following on from or despite previous evidence, it is the truster's fault for giving them responsability in the first place? That is no way to run a society.

 

Furthermore, 'In my opinion' is terrible justification for an argument. I can say that I believe that open relationships are bad because everyone in them goes around hitting llamas with sticks. That doesn't make it true, and, if there is anecdotal evidence for this, the sample size is so small as to make the statement invalid in any case.

 

Whenever I watch the news and I see the U.S.A fighting Al Qaeda or the Palestine?s fighting the Israelis I don?t see good on one side and evil on the other side. I see ignorance and stupidity on both sides.

 

There is ignorance and stupidity everywhere, that much is certain. However, it seems strange to base a system of morality upon this premise, and, indeed, make good and evil mutually exclusive with the aforementioned traits.

 

It is fairly clear that there is no absolute morality; however, going by the basis of most moral codes (the rights of the individual) it is fairly easy to say that, for the majority of major moral codes, the actions of x group or individual disobey those codes.

 

Stress, malnutrition, and a lack of knowledge can impair the health of parents and their children. This information is then past on in their genes in the form of genetic flaws like cancer, diabetes, and even asymmetrical faces which can reduce the chances of having a good sex life. That is why I believe that everyone deserves exactly what they get. People are suffering today because of the mistakes that people made in the past. And the people of tomorrow will suffer because of the mistakes that we make in the present, unless we are willing to change the way we think and live.

 

You're describing a system of Lamarckist evolution, which has been proven not to take place. Furthermore, your argument appears immensely shallow; on the grand scheme of things, especially from the point of view of the species as a whole, noone cares about the sex life of the individual.

 

You're also proposing a system referred to as 'Sins of the Father'; why should an individual deserve to suffer for actions which they had no say in? Whilst it is clearly the case that men are not created equal, it should be a duty of society to reduce the impact of the differences as much as it can, by means such as a national health service, or social security.

 

I also believe that the concept of god is a product of evolution.

 

A meaningless statement; either everything is the product of evolution or nothing is.

 

I call it the triangle philosophy. The dominant person is at the top of the triangle with the lower ranking people at the bottom. Sometimes I wonder how much people on this planet have been killed in the name of a god. Some Muslims love to kill people for Allah. In the past Christians killed people for the Lord Jesus Christ. If you go back even further you will find people that sacrificed humans to make their gods happy so their crops would grow.

 

And today people kill for other things; I'd argue that Christianity itself didn't per se have anything to do with, say, the Spanish Inquisition; the Old and New Testament lie down very clear rules on killing (Vengence is mine, sayeth the lord. Mine, not yours.) and yet they are continually disobeyed; the religious wars were, by and large, political, rather than religious; the Crusades was political, the wars in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries were political.

 

Furthermore, it seems likely that the peoples delving into human sacrifice (as it were) were merely practicing their own, small, brand of science; they had no way of measuring things such as air pressure, or following cloud formations by satellite; it seemed logical to them that, in the same way that they control their microenvironment, some larger power controls the metaenvironment. If human sacrifice has worked in the past, who is to say that it won't work again?

 

There's the obvious logical flaw of post hoc ergo propter hoc, of course, but we're on the outside looking in, with much more knowledge.

 

I just can?t believe that we are living in a world where educated individuals believe that there is a god in the sky. People are actually still teaching creation in schools all around the world.

 

People still believe a lot of things. It requires less thought to believe in a god, than to comprehend the more advanced scientific theories, and the evidence and philosophy that gave rise to them. Better education would surely be the answer, were the populations of most democratic states not religious themselves. To deny religion is to lose the almighty vote.

 

The argument that many religious scientist make is that human beings could never have evolved from single celled organisms, even though the evidence of evolution is all around us.

 

Really? The argument I've heard more often (in non-localised discussions) is that god was the impetus behind evolution, not that it is to be denied. To deny evolution is to deny the empiric method, to deny science itself.

 

My answer to that is it does not matter how much we have evolved or how much we will learn in the future. There will always be things that we will not know.

 

Again, you're being contradictory; the application of religion to the discoveries of science are as an attempt to offer an explanation, so if you decry this you must also decry other investigative attempts; this is utterly contradicted by your initial statements on tradition, and your ones in this section on the subject of an ill-educated society.

 

My philosophy is, if I can?t see it, taste it, hear it, smell it, or touch then it does not exist. In the twenty- three years that I have been alive I still haven?t heard a word from a god. If people need something to believe in they should focus on Buddhism, extraterrestrials or string theory.

 

This is amazingly contradictory; on the one hand you discard god because you cannot directly experience god, but then you support assertions with the same problems. Noone has experienced life from off this planet, Buddhism has as much evidence for it as the religions you have chosen to decry, and string theory...

 

Can you see an atom? Can you see Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, or its results? Can you see the disagreement between the standard model of quantum physics and general relativity?

 

Of course you can't; you can attempt to derive explanations to phenomena you have observed experimentally, but this kind of experimental empiricism remains bound by its apparatus; the only reason we know atoms to exist is that we postulated for the solution to a problem, in much the same way as many people find religion.

 

One problem that I have is the amount of people in North America that are on antidepressants. Writing a prescription for someone that is depressed is the first thing that most psychiatrist do. In my opinion antidepressants should only be used as a last resort.

 

Partially this is due to the target group wanting a 'quick fix'; social factors cause this to be endemic on both sides of the doctor/patient divide, unfortunately.

 

The second problem that I have with psychiatry is psychotherapy. The physical act of handing over a hundred dollars or more for an hour of a doctors time made me even more depressed than I was before I went into the office. There is nothing that a psychiatrist or a psychologist can tell me that I can?t learn from a book.

 

I'd go even further than that; most psychoanalytical knowledge (especially that based of Freud) is just plain wrong. Of course, the reason that they can charge so much is generally a social one; never underestimate the hypocondria of society (particularly, american society) and, as before, the desire for a quick fix. The american dream isn't all it's cracked up to be.

 

The third problem that I have with psychiatry is doctors that are focused on keeping suicidal individuals alive instead of giving them some pleasure or trying to give them a reason to want to live.

 

That's mainly a question of efficiency. The amount of time and effort required to do the latter course of action, although better, is judged to be not worth it. This of course varies from doctor to doctor; it has to be remembered that doctors aren't superhuman, they have varying levels of motivation and interest, just like the rest of us. Sad, but true.

 

I also believe that an assisted suicide should be a part of psychiatry.

 

I both agree and disagree. Morally, a person should have the right to take their own life. However, it's fairly obvious that a person with some sort of psychiatric disorder is not acting rationally; I know a fellow who has bi-polar disorder, and, whilst he can feel suicidal fairly regularly, he always regrets it afterwards.

 

I don?t have much to say about genetics other than the fact that people have to stop using the word race to describe what they are.

 

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here.

 

And geneticists have to stop thinking that eugenics is a bad thing.

 

Geneticists, on the whole, don't think eugenics is a bad idea. It's the general populace being biased with its association with national socialism.

 

Of course, eugenics has gone on for centuries; less so in people, but definitely in livestock and crops.

 

It is time for us to start creating better human beings. We can no longer depend on symmetry and healthy skin to decide if a person has good genes or not.

 

However, this I disagree with. Morally, there is no difference between a buffoon and a genius, and, whilst one is intellectually preferable, there is no essential difference between them.

 

Back in 1994 I can remember computer scientists all around the talking and writing about the virtual reality that we would get to experience in the year 2000 and beyond.

 

Some said that, of course, I won't deny that, but, like most predictiors, they were wrong. They only got publicity because of the outlandish nature of their claims; noone wants to hear from the silent majority. This is true in all things; the dot com bubble, going to jupiter by 2001... We have advanced in leaps and bounds, but in unexpected directions.

 

Back in the mid 90?s computer programmers were designing video games that were more realistic for consoles like the 3DO. They were not the best video games ever made but they were different than the mass produced juvenile crap that is being made today.

 

Absolute tosh. Every single aspect of computer games has improved in the last decade. Graphics have improved. Game play has become more intricate, more based in reality. Immersivity and story telling have both gained some excellent champions. How can you call Half Life 2 juevenile crap? Planescape: Torment? Rise of Nations?

 

Of course, these are all PC games, but PC games have ALWAYS tended to be more intricate, more 'adult'. This was true a decade ago as it is now; Civilization was released in 1991 for the PC; what console game of the time had its complexity, its depth?

 

That's not to say console games are entirely lacking in these features; for example, I hear good things about Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem on the Nintendo Gamecube.

 

Every generation of video game players has had people longing for the golden days of yesteryear, but that's an extremely rose-tinted view. Every system had multitudes of forgotten failures. I can probably name 100 truly excellent NES games; what I don't remember are the thousands of terrible or mediocre ones that were released alongside them.

 

I can remember playing realistic full motion video games in the past and enjoying the feeling of getting lost in a virtual world even though the games were not in 3D. By 1999 I realized that the virtual world that I was hoping for was only a dream in my head.

 

FMV 'games' are one of the least immersive things I can think of; where's the realism of such a limited amount of interactivity? If you want a 'realistic virtual world', try something like Half Life 2, or, if you desire something less linear, an RPG such as Morrowind or Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines. Have you heard of these games? Have you played them?

 

Movies like the Matrix and Vanilla sky only made things worse for me.

 

Yeah, The Matrix made me feel depressed too.

 

It made me feel like the computer programmers around the world were teasing me. I watched as companies like Microvision developed head mounted displays that have incredible resolution. Between 1999 and 2002 I spent at least $50,000 on hardware and software in a futile attempt to get a realistic virtual experience.

 

Sweet Jesus. I haven't spent that much money in my life.

 

I get so angry whenever I read or watch television and I see all of the incredible technology that is being developed for the U.S military. Why can?t someone use the technology that is out there to give people a peaceful or fun virtual experience?

 

Because it's in development. Assuming the technology isn't limited in a multitude of ways (like all the things they are using at the moment are), as soon as the technology becomes available, it will be used.

 

It would not be so bad if I could at least go to an IMAX theater and watch a good movie on a dome screen. I would be willing to pay $100 or more to see a movie like The Cell or Requiem For A Dream in IMAX 3D.

 

YOU might. Not many others would, so we're lacking economic impetus.

 

I also believe that people should be able to make money from playing video games.

 

They can, but in small numbers; remember the technology is still EXCEPTIONALLY young, and that's ignoring other problems; computer games, even the successful ones, are by and large fractured affairs; 'action' can happen all over the place, and there isn't a single focus for the game, like there is in football, say.

 

As for the rest of that example: where's the economic impetus? It's outrageously expensive for little guaranteed return.

 

2. In the present- High-tech luxury apartments in some large North American cities that would include the same smaller versions of the IMAX dome screens that I wrote about above. Imagine watching 3D television and performing most of the activities that I wrote about above. These apartments would be very expensive. They would probably cost $100,000 a month or more but I would be willing to spend that much if I could afford it.

 

YOU would. Again, the economics are all out of wack.

 

3. In the near future- A computer program that can be your friend, teacher, or sexual partner.

 

Ignoring the impossibility of a computer program being per se a 'sexual partner' (something you have mentioned twice now without any real reason), this is either extremely unlikely or already happening. If you mean the limited response style thangs that tend to come out of Japan, then you're set.

 

If you mean True AI, then no chance. No chance at all.

 

4. In the near future- A computer program called that is called What Do Desire? Imagine a computer program that is as realistic as the matrix. You simply have to tell the computer what you want to experience and you can live out almost any scenario that you can imagine.

 

A fair enough pipe dream, but utterly implausable at current levels of technology. It would require, simultaneously, a much greater level of processing power, engineering and understanding of the workings of the brain that we current have. MUCH greater.

 

5. In the near future- I also believe that virtual reality could be used to reduce deviant desires like pedophilia. (Real pedophilia not cultural pedophilia)

 

I'm not sure where this came from, or if it would work; that's not really something we can examine at the current time.

 

You can?t remove a small piece of the rotten apple and not expect the bacteria to spread. That is the problem with the world. We are not willing to do what it takes to get rid of the whole apple.

 

I think this is an oversimplification, because, ignoring everything else, there are some problems we simply cannot solve.

 

I can imagine living in world were the only misery that people would feel is the misery that they choose to feel.

 

That's contradictory with your last statement; if we're all connected, then why is 'misery' the only thing that's isolated to the individual?

 

A lot of people are doing things to try to make the world a better place but they are not doing enough. Medical doctors have to realize is that a panacea is not going to come in the form of a pill or a serum. That is what the pharmaceutical companies out there would like doctors to believe.

 

Most medical doctors DO realise that biological or chemical treatment is inferior to a more holistic medicine, but we come back again to the problem of economics; there simply aren't enough doctors to provide this.

 

Of course, that's ignoring that, for many things, there is a pill or a serum which can cure the ill; it is true for diseases and infections, and, believe it or not, it can be true for depression and the like; frequently, true sufferers from depression do not have their deepest problems sparked off by some catastrophic event, but something so otherwise insignificant that it seems an impossible cause for such a great reaction in a person. As the problem is neural chemistry, it's something we can treat with our tiny agents of change.

 

Geneticists have stop worrying about ethics and do what ever it takes to make life better for human beings.

 

Again, with the contradictory statements. Nigh on all ethical systems are based around making life better for human beings (in whatever fashion).

 

Liberal open minded politicians in every democratic country around the world have to work together to give people more privileges and to help scientists speed up the process of evolution.

 

Nice words, but meaningless. 'Speed up the process of evolution'? This shows either a basic misunderstanding of how evolution operates or a desire for style over substance in writing.

 

Evolution is not a change to a more advanced creature, but a tendency to change to one which can exist more efficiently in its situation. This could mean an increase in brain power, or a decrease. It depends on the change in circumstances.

 

I believe that I have the right ideology to solve most of mankind?s problems

 

What ideology is this?

 

All I can say is that we have to stop being controlled by our emotions. The universe has blessed us with a large prefrontal cortex but very few people actually use it the way they should. Especially the orbitofrontal region and the dorsolateral region. I can only hope that a few people out there will be influenced by what I wrote.

 

Assuming no problems with the freedom of other individuals, no way of living is per se worse or better than another, just as the way one uses one's brain is cannot per se be wrong. Emotions are also what drive us to greater things; to remove them is to remove the impetus for improvement.

[YT2095]

Chin up chap

 

when you`re down, the only place left to go is UP again

[iglak]

i have some comments/questions on your title's philosophy/psychology.

"Ignorance is the Root of All Evil"

how can that be true?

there are hundreds of millions of people around the world that don't have a clue about anything that's happening in other places, but are extremely nice and do nothing but help their communities or family/friends when asked.

 

i'm very ignorant myself on quite a lot of things, such as politics, but me being ignorant doesn't somehow cause evil, or even enhance it.

 

although i agree that in evil hands, ignorance doesn't help, neither does knowledge.

[ecoli]

You should spend more times at singles bars.

 

(btw, I hope your not trolling us)

[coquina]

I have been where you are. My God, I think I have been everywhere and done eveything in the over 50 years I have lived on earth.

 

Listen to me - read what I write...

 

I too thought my life was hopeless... I O'D'd and survived. My God - I am so glad I did. I cannot begin to tell you the wonderful things that happened after that. Every time one happened, I remembered to say to myself "Aren't you glad you weren't successful in killing yourself, you would have missed this?"

 

Vijun - I'm going to be out for awhile, but I will check when I get back.

 

I am facing the holidays alone too. All of my family are now dead. If you want to talk, PM me and I will give you a way to contact me.

 

Do not give up! I know you don't believe it now, but there is a wonderful, magnificent world out there, waiting for you to discover it. I know - I have been to hell and back, including waking up to find my husband of 31 years dead beside me in bed.

 

I am not feeding you a trite line of bull shit. Please trust me.

[JaKiri]

btw, I hope your not trolling us

 

If he tried, he's a failure.

[Verusamore]

Coquina ,Vijun

Aren't you glad you weren't successful in killing yourself

I was glad I didn't succeed in killing myself , afterwards I thought how much more stupid I felt having to fail at this ,so I thought next time I should grow a brain before I would try again but then I would come to relize what would the point of killing myself , it would be a waste of a life & time for others who've cared and would be a selfish thing to do to throw it away .

[ecoli]

it would be a waste of a life & time for others who've cared and would be a selfish thing to do to throw it away .

 

I've always thought the most selfish thing you can do is commit suicide. One rarely thinks of suicide as a way to fix your own problems, and rarely considers it's effect on other people.

[galaxygirl]

When a person is suicidal the last thing on their mind is how it will effect people. Very often they think that no one cares about them, and that people would be better off without them living. I witnessed this too many times with my mother- she would try to kill herself in front of me and my sister because she really believed that we didn't care about her, and that we didn't need her anymore. Obviously we did care a lot about her but she had trouble seeing that because of her depression.

 

Please understand Vijun, that everyone around you wants you to stay alive. Sometimes it may seem like you're all alone and that nobody cares, but that's not true. The people in your life care, as well as everyone in this forum.

 

If you or anyone else ever wants someone to talk to, feel free to e-mail me at galaxygirl23@gmail.com

[Sayonara]

Ignorance is clearly not the root of all evil, so I see no need to read the o/p. MrL's rebuttals look fun though.

[slickinfinit]

I see a very ugly cruel world where children are killed and old men get rich off slave labour and one third of the world is in conflict and seeing people harm others, I to have been depressed and felt nothing was worth anything and that it didnt matter if I was here or that noone would care and I almost killed myself with drugs, crime and just being unable to get clean. The most important thing u can do is learn to love yourself, it sounds cheesy but trust me its true if u form a a negetive self-opinion others will see u as u see yourself. I am upset that u are a fellow countrymen who feels this way we have many things in our great north land which can help u get back to a normal life I dont expect a cure to make u happy forever, u will feel sad and angry an all the other things us humans feel from time to time but suicide should never enter your mind, I dont want u to die and I have never met u but I know we all have the right to live and plz just try to think positive. Also bein poor is not fun I know from having to eat canned food for the better part of 15 years and not knowing hot water ran indors til I was on my own that having little was not fun in anyway but we live in a place of opprotunity and a little hard work goes a long way. Man u live in Montreal to bro plz go to the bars a few times I seen so many attractive women in your city it made me cry, sittin alone will only make things worse trust me on that one I know. I offer a ear to listen and advice from someone who has felt the same way. my email- slickinfinity@hotmail.com remember we all in this world together!

[JaKiri]

Slickinfinit:

[sepultallica]

I am a twenty-three year old male that is currently living in Montreal. I would describe myself as an eccentric self loathing, depressed human being. I dropped out of high school when I was sixteen. I never had a job. I only leave my apartment when I have to. I am currently on medication for depression and social anxiety disorder.

 

i was watching a tv show once that i think i should quote for you. "Some turds sink to the bottom and some float to the top. but in the end, they all get flushed."

 

id like to think that this means almost everyone has a decent chance to live a meaningful life. most of that time we can find meaning and comfort in other people. but we'll never find that comfort if we isolate ourselves from the world. it doesnt matter if someone is 600lbs, deformed, or severely scarred, there are many ways to interact. and we can do it through a computer but ultimately, human contact and interaction cannot be replaced by a computer. you dont have a job? well do you want one? asre you willing to work for a living? if not then you'll probably have a hard time. but through employment you can interact with people.

 

and if you cant find anything in canada, just come to the US. we're nothing but a bunch of ugly people that hate everyone anyways. you'de probably fit in. and apperantly, hiring aliens is a big trend. im sure youde find work.

 

i also noticed that you pllaced an emphasis on virtual reality gaming/industry. it seems that you had enough funds to buy some high tech stuff but ultimately you got robbed. with that much money, you could have jumped in and contributed to the research and advancement. that's alot of money that could have gotten your foot in the door.

 

also, you hate this world so much, why not create your own world? become a writer. many people find joy in that. you can sit at home and write.

 

remember, we all get flushed eventually, it's how many flushes it takes to flush you that everyone remembers.