Since you say that the riddle is difficult, even though it seems not to be, I will go with something is tricky in the wording. Perhaps the question I ask "did you roll at least one 6?" is poorly worded because it does not specify in which roll, you could have rolled a 6 playing monopoly with friends a year ago and answered yes to the question.
Well don't you believe we are what we are because of what we went through. Historical events are what shaped us into what we are now, and is that not a process of evolution?
You're focusing on intermittent, short periods of great breakdown in social morality. If you look at the overall trend of history, you'll see that the rights of man have come a long, long way in the past 10,000 years.
This is exactly my point, the reason we are progressing as mankind is because we are progressing morally, sure we had some downs.
Anatomically we are no different from the men that lived in caves, but yet look how far we are from them. I would not attribute this feat solely to time, but rather to our progress in cooperation with each other.
So logically in order to progress at a faster rate we would need to streamline our differences and cooperate even more.
Of course the definition of morality plays an extremely important part. For me the pinnacle of morality is the realization that you are one with everything and therefore self-interests cease to exist.
Nope. Some of the biggest monsters of history were also the smartest.
Again, I'd suggest "Babyeating aliens". Much of our morality is shaped by evolution, then we use logic to justify it. In that story, the aliens evolved with the consumption of their young as necessary to survival. Their entire morality/society/philosophy/theology hinged around this.
Just because you're from earth doesn't mean were the same. We are not a hive mind. Our moralities may be different.
I'd say that's a pretty dangerous line of thought. Our own history shows that culture clash exists.
Interesting read, although I only had enough time to read the chapter you linked so far. But ultimately the "Babyeating aliens" advanced because they aligned their morality and became one.
Our history is our evolution, culture clashes taught us.
Meanwhile, Nazi scientists were sought after during the aftermath of World War II.
One's scientific knowledge is no indicator of how good or how wise a person is.
You are correct. Let me rephrase.
Look where the lack of an understanding of morality got the Nazis. Intellect alone is not enough to advance, it goes hand in hand with morality.
So is morality not as much a prerequisite for advancement as intellect?
@dcartist: In your response you heavily emphasize how we do things, (how we view cows, how we view other tribes, how we would view other species). But we view things the way we do because we are not very developed in terms of morality or ethics. Scratch everything, start from a clean slate, would you really base ethics on how mankind does right now?
"Ultimately aliens vlaue alien life over human life. And if you believe in evolution and determinism, and understand game theory at all, why would a species evolve to feel empathy for a species from another planet? Encountering "the other" should result in exploitation of "the other" for maximum utility."
But that is exactly my point, by universal ethics I mean, the realization of universal equality; disregard of differences in specie, and thereby achieving maximum utility as a whole. You feel as much empathy towards everyone as you do towards yourself.
Assumption: An extraterrestrial specie, obviously far superior in intellect, engages Earth.
Question: Do you believe that there is a correlation between intellect and philosophical (and in this case more importantly for the human race) ethical awareness? And not only awareness but also following of these advanced principles.
I believe that without impeccable understanding of right and wrong, of ethics and morality, and most importantly unity a race will not be able to achieve a technological capacity to travel light-years, because it will continue to war within itself and stagnate to indecision.
The human race is a perfect example of this, we are all the same yet we cower in fear of our neighbors. The idea of nations is extremely old-fashioned, we are all citizens of the world, but yet we are defined by our location of birth. How can we progress together when do not know how to live together? Apart from being good small talk I am tired of answering the same question every-time I meet someone; I am from Earth just like you my friend.
Continuing with the assumption: Due to the belief I stated I would not be threatened in anyway by a visiting species, because I would be confidant that their advanced moral codes would not allow them to do anything bad to the human race. "With power comes responsibility." Where knowledge is power and responsibility is morality.
EDIT: A "beloved" character is set to die in the finale, so be prepared. I doubt that they'd kill off Walter, but possibly Astrid. I'd be sad to see her go...
Dammit, why would you say that...\
Very interesting to see who wrote the instructions to the machine and why pick Sam Weisse.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/death-star-petition-white-house-site-signed-17-000-article-1.1217817?localLinksEnabled=false
Common guys we have one day left and only need 8,000 more votes!:D Scrap that we have 25,000 votes!
This will be money well spent if it happens!
http://www.youtubedocumentaries.com/documentaries.cfm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7HftL35AFQ
and thought it was great! Nice find.
http://www.wizards.com/sideboard/article.asp?sb19990803a
Well don't you believe we are what we are because of what we went through. Historical events are what shaped us into what we are now, and is that not a process of evolution?
This is exactly my point, the reason we are progressing as mankind is because we are progressing morally, sure we had some downs.
Anatomically we are no different from the men that lived in caves, but yet look how far we are from them. I would not attribute this feat solely to time, but rather to our progress in cooperation with each other.
So logically in order to progress at a faster rate we would need to streamline our differences and cooperate even more.
Of course the definition of morality plays an extremely important part. For me the pinnacle of morality is the realization that you are one with everything and therefore self-interests cease to exist.
Interesting read, although I only had enough time to read the chapter you linked so far. But ultimately the "Babyeating aliens" advanced because they aligned their morality and became one.
Our history is our evolution, culture clashes taught us.
You are correct. Let me rephrase.
Look where the lack of an understanding of morality got the Nazis. Intellect alone is not enough to advance, it goes hand in hand with morality.
So is morality not as much a prerequisite for advancement as intellect?
@dcartist: In your response you heavily emphasize how we do things, (how we view cows, how we view other tribes, how we would view other species). But we view things the way we do because we are not very developed in terms of morality or ethics. Scratch everything, start from a clean slate, would you really base ethics on how mankind does right now?
"Ultimately aliens vlaue alien life over human life. And if you believe in evolution and determinism, and understand game theory at all, why would a species evolve to feel empathy for a species from another planet? Encountering "the other" should result in exploitation of "the other" for maximum utility."
But that is exactly my point, by universal ethics I mean, the realization of universal equality; disregard of differences in specie, and thereby achieving maximum utility as a whole. You feel as much empathy towards everyone as you do towards yourself.
Question: Do you believe that there is a correlation between intellect and philosophical (and in this case more importantly for the human race) ethical awareness? And not only awareness but also following of these advanced principles.
I believe that without impeccable understanding of right and wrong, of ethics and morality, and most importantly unity a race will not be able to achieve a technological capacity to travel light-years, because it will continue to war within itself and stagnate to indecision.
The human race is a perfect example of this, we are all the same yet we cower in fear of our neighbors. The idea of nations is extremely old-fashioned, we are all citizens of the world, but yet we are defined by our location of birth. How can we progress together when do not know how to live together? Apart from being good small talk I am tired of answering the same question every-time I meet someone; I am from Earth just like you my friend.
Continuing with the assumption: Due to the belief I stated I would not be threatened in anyway by a visiting species, because I would be confidant that their advanced moral codes would not allow them to do anything bad to the human race. "With power comes responsibility." Where knowledge is power and responsibility is morality.
I want to cast Tarmogoyf, how much mana should I tap, 4 or 5?
http://www.ted.com/talks/eythor_bender_demos_human_exoskeletons.html
Not jaw-dropping, but looks like progress nonetheless.
BTW I encourage everybody to go on youtube and watch the rest of the videos from TED, they are very insightful.
Dammit, why would you say that...\
Very interesting to see who wrote the instructions to the machine and why pick Sam Weisse.