The BIG Question

[Zen]

Here at the MASM Forum, we consist of an elite group of highly-evolved, well-educated, intelligent, sophistcated people of varied interests, and advanced abilities...and fully capable of spectacularly creative and original thinking (with a few glaring exceptions,...).
...And,...I've seen some hard fought battles here over a great variety of socially and political important subjects.

So,...my BIG question to all of you is:
What do you think are the most serious problems facing humanity for the remainder of this century ???
And,...are these situations resolvable ??? Will civilization survive ??? Are we doomed to extinction ???

Yeah,...a whole bunch of BIG questions,...

[jj2007]

Everything is just fine. Sleep well 8)

[Ryan]

Is the U.S. too big to fail?  Our government's debt is $15.8 trillion and rising.  At what point does the world say that they will cut us off?  Will the debt simply be absolved?  Things will become very interesting when we reach that point.

[hutch--]

 

> What do you think are the most serious problems facing humanity for the remainder of this century ???

A. the remainder of this century.

> Will civilization survive ??? Are we doomed to extinction ???

The bugs will inherit the Earth. After the age of the dinosaurs we are still a flash in the pan, modern research says T-Rex was much smarter than many have thought, perhaps the bugs will evolve into a new breed of lizard that will be even more successful than the dinosaurs. None the less I would not join a doomsday sect any time soon, you may end up disappointed.  :P

[Zen]

We're DOOMED !!!
I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE !!!

[K_F]

42

[Adamanteus]

Answer : to be prorock is hard work, and question that You are asking by legends is answered in "Fortune book". As I am not sure that it at all was, better to look around youself attentevly, and you'll find all answers to questions of you own - nobody is to whom of cost to beleve as to youself 

[Gunther]

The trouble is: there are unfortunately more questions than answers and all that glitters isn't gold.

Gunther

[Vortex]

Probably, the  panorama is not very bright as this is the world of masters and slaves.

[hutch--]

There is some humour in the idea that asking a question implies that there is an answer to that question. For a question to have content, it has what you call an ontological commitment which translates into English as assuming that the framework it is stated in is in fact correct and excludes other frameworks that may not be compatible with it.

Do little green men from Mars have 2 or 3 antenni ? Unless you can produce some evidence that there are little green men on Mars, the question fails in that it has an ontological commitment that has no evidence to support it.

Thus there are questions and there are questions, what you assume or in fact can demonstrate renders the question into the scrapheap, the too hard basket (we don't know) or just occasionally a question that is subject to an answer that makes sense and fits the facts.

[xanatose]

Empires come and go. Usually because of corruption and the rise of another empire.

Humanity will survive.However, will it be a renaissance type of survival or a dark ages type of survival. That is the question.

Facism (where corporations and the state conspire against the best interest of the people) is seen on every country in the world.

IMBO, the only thing capable of ending this trend are small companies cooperatives (where small companies team up to have a fighting chance against big companies. Otherwise, It will go worse, until nano technology is able to control the minds of people (just as queen ants use chemicals to control the will of other ants).  Of course, they will sell it as the nano machines will be cleaning your arteries and make you stronger (which they will) without mentioning that they will also be used for control.

[dedndave]

from what i have seen, there are more answers than there are questions....
....and most of them are incorrect

[Gunther]

Hi dedndave,

that situation would be very comfortable.  :lol: But nothing is definite yet.

Gunther

[bf2]

Billions of people before you have died - often the most violent and brutal deaths - often the slowest and most agonising deaths. There have been countless famines, epidemic, wars and rapes before you came to the world, and there will be countless after you are long gone.

Every day countless stars and animals are dying.

You and I and everyone else don't matter much in the grand scheme of things.

You don't matter, neither do I.

[Zen]

...Now I know where all the lyrics for my favorite old Led Zeppelin songs came from,...

My answer to the BIG question is to move way up into the mountains,...slap some duct tape over my navel,...and meditate.
Yeah. It's boring. But,...the tranquility is endless,...and, I never have those wild-eyed ex-FBI interrogators at my door at 3 AM,...with their latest conspiracy theory,...