John Michael Greer wrote:Man, the conqueror of Nature, died Monday night of a petroleum overdose, the medical examiner’s office confirmed this morning. The abstract representation of the human race was 408 years old. The official announcement has done nothing to quell the rumors of suicide and substance abuse that have swirled around the death scene since the first announcement yesterday morning, adding new legal wrinkles to the struggle already under way over Man’s inheritance.
Man’s closest associates disagree about what happened. His longtime friend and confidant Technology thinks it was suicide. “Sure, Man liked to have a good time,” he said at a press conference Tuesday evening, “and he was a pretty heavy user, but it wasn’t like he was out of control or anything. No, I’m sure he did it on purpose. Just a couple of weeks ago we were hanging out at his place, looking up at the moon and talking about the trips we made out there, and he turned to me and said, ‘You know, Tech, that was a good time—a really good time. I wonder if I’ll ever do anything like that again.’ He got into moods like that more and more often in the last few years. I tried to cheer him up, talking about going to Mars or what have you, and he’d go along with it but you could tell his heart wasn’t in it.”
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools - Douglas Adams.
Yes: Ralph (the real one) posted a link to it here.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
He was born in the household of Sir Francis Bacon, remember, and brought up by some of the best minds of seventeenth-century Europe;
Or perhaps it's written in the near future?
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
RenewableCandy wrote:Why 408 years? Wh'appen in 1605??
1606 was the patent for using a steam engine powered water pump for draining inundated mines... arguably the enabling technology for the industrial revolution. This one technology represented a dramatic resource to reserves mobilisation allowing access below the water table.
Odin's Raven said...
Is it the publication of Sir Francis Bacon's The Advancement of Learning, in 1605, that you regard as the birth certificate of Man?
Which I haven't read, so I don't know what the exact reason is, but wasn't Bacon generally about interrogating nature and so on?
Peter.
Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the seconds to hours?
Lentil and tomato is one of my favourite soups and pigs are among my favourite animals.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
woodburner wrote:I like pigs too, especially dry cured, green streaky
You obviously don't like them as much as I do, then.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
woodburner wrote:I like pigs too, especially dry cured, green streaky
You obviously don't like them as much as I do, then.
Oh yes he does!! Just in a different way.
I've kept pigs in the past and will do so again and like them very much. The sows and small pigs are lovely animals but hoards of six to nine month old pigs are like a gang of unruly, adolescent teenagers. I'm quite happy to see the back of them as they disappear down the corridor at the abattoir. And when the appear at the other end as meat about a week later they are transformed into the loveliest creatures on earth!!
woodburner wrote:I like pigs too, especially dry cured, green streaky
You obviously don't like them as much as I do, then.
Oh yes he does!! Just in a different way.
Heh heh. Enjoy the unecessary and excess cholesterol, saturated fat etc etc etc and so on.
Last edited by emordnilap on 11 Dec 2013, 14:33, edited 1 time in total.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
emordnilap wrote:Heh heh. Enjoy the cholesterol, saturated fat etc etc etc and so on.
Hmmm, you think there is something wrong with saturated fat?
Saturated Fat Does NOT Promote Heart Disease
The avoidance of saturated fat actually promotes poor health in a number of ways, compounding the health risks of following this completely outdated and dangerous advice. As stated by the author, Aseem Malhotra, an interventional cardiology specialist registrar at Croydon University Hospital in London:
“The mantra that saturated fat must be removed to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease has dominated dietary advice and guidelines for almost four decades. Yet scientific evidence shows that this advice has, paradoxically, increased our cardiovascular risks....
The aspect of dietary saturated fat that is believed to have the greatest influence on cardiovascular risk is elevated concentrations of low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.
Yet the reduction in LDL cholesterol from reducing saturated fat intake seems to be specific to large, buoyant (type A) LDL particles, when in fact it is the small, dense (type B) particles (responsive to carbohydrate intake) that are implicated in cardiovascular disease.
Indeed, recent prospective cohort studies have not supported any significant association between saturated fat intake and cardiovascular risk Instead, saturated fat has been found to be protective.” [Emphasis mine]
Carbohydrates/Sugar, Not Fat, is the Root of Heart Disease
Unfortunately, many doctors and health officials alike are still trying to assure you that you can safely indulge in sweet treats, provided it’s in moderation. This line of reasoning completely falls apart however, if you eat a diet consisting primarily of processed foods, because virtually ALL of them are loaded with processed carbohydrates and fructose.
