This theme is why I won't go next year

Share your views on the policies, philosophies, and spirit of Burning Man.
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theCryptofishist
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Post by theCryptofishist » Mon Oct 22, 2007 9:24 pm

Yeah, but I kinda gotta ask what the end result will be in terms o f a livable earth. There's a possible event horizon that I don't want to live past...
The Lady with a Lamprey

"The powerful are exploiting people, art and ideas, and this leads to us plebes debating how to best ration ice.
Man, no wonder they always win....." Lonesomebri

spectabillis
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Post by spectabillis » Mon Oct 22, 2007 9:53 pm

strangely enough despite my overall pessimistic attitude, i have more faith in humans than to think we will ever reach an apocalyptic moment that would destroy ourselves. mad (mutually assured destruction) through nuclear weapons, climate change, energy shortfalls, overpopulation, marginalizing our ecosystem for farming.. there will continue to be problems and challenges but we're like fucking cockroaches, nothing will kill us.

besides, there's always the possibility of terraforming other planets and raiding astroids of resources. but not during my lifetime, otherwise i would be screaming to get off this rock and away from everyone.

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mdmf007
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Post by mdmf007 » Tue Oct 23, 2007 12:15 am

good list -

I also fear Virus', germ warfare, viricide laden soaps making germs stronger, asteroids, Patriot act, chinas growth and appetite.

I could go on an on about these fears and why - they deserve their own thread.

Barbie
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Post by Barbie » Wed Oct 24, 2007 1:05 am

...and the Second Sun Rising...
If I were to wish ANYTHING I'd wish I were ME!!

Draguin
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Post by Draguin » Tue Oct 30, 2007 11:29 am

I agree that the human race will probably never kill itself off completely. But I do see it being highly probable that large numbers of our population will die do to our actions. We're running out of oil (with nothing ready to take over for it) and fresh water. The ecosystem is being destroyed, and it’s only going to get worse as more and more countries start to industrialize.

If the US economy ever took a nose dive the vast majority of people would have no idea at first on how to cope. The majority of our workforce are paper pushers with no background or knowledge of manual labor. In the 1950s our culture prided itself on being self sufficient, a man that couldn't do at least minor work on his house, car, toaster, etc. wasn't a man at all. Now our society would be much happier to pay someone else to do those things for them. Or we just throw the broken things away and buy new. How many people would be completely lost without our current technology?

I recently read a study that as countries start to industrialize their suicide rates start to rise. In the last 20 years the number of people that place themselves 'below middleclass' when asked has doubled, whether they are statistically in that bracket or not. I blame both of these on our extreme fascination with the rich and famous. We're constantly reminded of all of the high priced crap we don't have, and we all hope and dream about the one day when we'll strike it rich and be able to buy it. It's not practical, not everyone is going to become a highly-paid executive, movie/music star, or have a father that owns hotels.

Luckily the counterculture is growing as well; we just need to stop isolating ourselves from society and start actively recruiting more people. Spread knowledge at all costs.

Stryder
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Post by Stryder » Thu Nov 08, 2007 3:22 pm

Like somebody posted somewhere else in the forum, Burning Man IS my American Dream.
See ya there!
"Look, good against remotes is one thing. Good against the living, that's something else."

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skygod
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Post by skygod » Thu Nov 08, 2007 6:47 pm

spectabillis wrote:despite my overall pessimistic attitude, i have more faith in humans than to think we will ever reach an apocalyptic moment that would destroy ourselves.
What is the difference between us and all the other forms of life that have extinguished themselves on Earth?
"It will seem difficult in the beginning. But everything seems difficult in the beginning."- Musashi

Toolmaker
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Post by Toolmaker » Fri Nov 09, 2007 7:57 am

skygod wrote:
spectabillis wrote:despite my overall pessimistic attitude, i have more faith in humans than to think we will ever reach an apocalyptic moment that would destroy ourselves.
What is the difference between us and all the other forms of life that have extinguished themselves on Earth?

We're gonna do it with style.
This account has been closed as demanded by Wedeliver.

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Ugly Dougly
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Post by Ugly Dougly » Fri Nov 09, 2007 10:57 am

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

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skygod
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Post by skygod » Fri Nov 09, 2007 6:10 pm

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." -HPLovecraft,
"It will seem difficult in the beginning. But everything seems difficult in the beginning."- Musashi

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