Question about mankind.

[LiquidMidnight]

Meh, you get used to it. We WERE required to shower, you HAD to get naked and at least stand in the shower area. Our city had only segregated the schools a few years before so much of the shower room banter revolved around curious "gear comparison". One of those times I was really glad to be part Italian.

*cue jokes about Italian sausage.

 

[hbarcat]

Douglas Adams was a giant of a man. A phenomenally intellectual yet deeply humble man, who had such a beautiful way of using the gift of language to engage people in thought about the universe and our place in it.

His humour was gut-crunchingly funny, and his ability to phrase the most ridiculous of ideas was utterly peerless.

He may be dead, but his work had - and still has - a profound effect on me.

+ 1,000,000

I often explain to others that the HHGTTG series of books (and the BBC adaptations) are so much more than the zany humor they appear to be at first. They truly contain some very profound insight into, not just human nature, but also into the nature of the universe itself. I believe that he was one of the rare individuals who "gets" what it all really means. He understood the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything.

I can honestly say that his work has significantly shaped my intellectual viewpoint in ways that no other (far more famous) philosophers have.

 

[nukes_da_bass]

Los Angeles unified school district made us do mandatory showers after P.E.
When my mom moved us back east, to a cushy town- I never took another group shower again.

 

[Darth Handsome]

All right, enough is enough. Looks like it's time to merge this 'group shower" bit with the Nail Polish thread.

 

[edpal]

All right, enough is enough. Looks like it's time to merge this 'group shower" bit with the Nail Polish thread.

Kill-joy!! We hadn't got to discussing co-educational showering situations yet.

 

[Munjibunga]

Yeah, we have to travel below the equator to rinse.

Just thought I would break up the heaviness occurring in the clouds above.

Munji - I'm looking down on ya bro....870 +/- above sea level. They don't call it Highland just because I live here. Actually named by Scottish immigrants who thought it reminded them of the old country:...they raised a lot of sheep here. Then they imported some women.

I think mankind needs start to abandon the lower-lying areas; alternately, those who stay there need to take on the burden of the risk themselves.

But I'm only 3 miles from the ocean. I might have beachfront property by the end of the century.

 

[FilterFunk]

I believe that he was one of the rare individuals who "gets" what it all really means. He understood the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything.

An individual who "gets" what it all really means, and "understood the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything." I guess the rest of us might as well stop all this silly, pointless searching, wondering, speculating, debating and philosophizing, then.

 

[Darth Handsome]

Hey! I "get" it too! The answer to the ultimate question yadda yadda yadda is Black freaking Sabbath. Y'all heard it here first.

 

[ChrisB2]

An individual who "gets" what it all really means, and "understood the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything." I guess the rest of us might as well stop all this silly, pointless searching, wondering, speculating, debating and philosophizing, then.

I was wondering about that too: if he understood it ALL why not tell the rest of us!!?? SPILL IT MAN!!!

 

[edpal]

...why has nature spawned a being that can do what we do in the first place?

Was this an accident of nature? Is it just un natural? Is there a larger plan by mother nature? What are your feelings and insights into this topic?

[Seriously]I don't think it was a "mistake" of nature because calling it a mistake would be placing powers of thought and planned direction on nature. I think we are part of "nature" and evolution has been the mere repetition and continuance of whatever is working in the relative short term. Burning fossil fuels, stripping mineral deposits from the soil, overcropping land until it can't grow anything without our assistance - those all work great in the short term. Those things are all extremely economical since the vast majority of the resource is provided at very little comparative effort from us - compared to the alternatives that is. The natural world has those things available for us to plunder, in the short term. We're basically a lazy and self-centered life-form, we don't want to do hard work to create food,warmth or comfort. Those are inconvenient. As an intelligent life-form with a relatively short life span we are doing what is easiest in light of our great intellect. The challenge to not do that would be to turn away from the abject gain available in the immediate to stretching thing out to the sustainable. We don't do that. We are actually very vulnerable in the natural world except for our great intellects and "processing power", so we take the easier path. Yes, we unfortunately as a collective whole don't give a ^%&* about those coming behind us. We're too afraid for our own little selves. To have systems where we considered the whole both present and future would require courage few of us have. We are the smartest animal on the planet - and we suck, we're cowards in deference to nature's uncontrollable nature. And that is my thoughts and opinion on the subject.

 

[hbarcat]

An individual who "gets" what it all really means, and "understood the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything." I guess the rest of us might as well stop all this silly, pointless searching, wondering, speculating, debating and philosophizing, then.

I was wondering about that too: if he understood it ALL why not tell the rest of us!!?? SPILL IT MAN!!!

Many people "get it". I'm simply contrasting this with the number of people who freely admit that they don't have a clue what the universe is about and who spend much of their time agonizing over it.

I did't realize that pointing out that there actually is a difference between people who are content in their beliefs and people who are not would touch such a raw nerve. After all, it has everything to do with the topic of this thread. Civilized man has the luxury of making himself emotionally uncomfortable just thinking abstract ideas like "What is the purpose of mankind?". Our ape ancestors didn't have time for this kind of nonsense - they were too busy surviving.

 

[fnordlyone]

I never said that global warming isn't happening or that we haven't contributed to it or that we shouldn't reduce our carbon footprint and other excesses. I said my personal opinion is that we've passed the tipping point. I also suggested moving to higher ground. I'm at 248 MSL, so I think I'm good until I die.

I'm just about 60 miles from the deep brackish water. Can't wait until the rice fields become my "sportsman's paradise," probably take up fishing full time. Eh, can't wait that long, I'll just tie off a house boat somewhere in the Atchafalaya.

Seriously, folks, just because the mass of human wealth is invested in carbon releasing energy production and consumption… doesn't mean that the ol' human primate cannot and should not do better. It is defeatist and against my instinct. Usually, one hears: oh well, if the earth is unfit for humanity in the future-- I won't be here!" It is a human problem; the planet will rotate around the sun without us. Is this the cosmic shrug off of human primates to life itself? Are we a race bent on suicide? Do we think death is a real escape? Or does the cycle of energy that cannot be created nor destroyed flow into new and varied consciousness?

fnord!

 

[ChrisB2]

Many people "get it". I'm simply contrasting this with the number of people who freely admit that they don't have a clue what the universe is about and who spend much of their time agonizing over it.

I did't realize that pointing out that there actually is a difference between people who are content in their beliefs and people who are not would touch such a raw nerve. After all, it has everything to do with the topic of this thread. Civilized man has the luxury of making himself emotionally uncomfortable just thinking abstract ideas like "What is the purpose of mankind?". Our ape ancestors didn't have time for this kind of nonsense - they were too busy surviving.

Okay, you said that already: you, Doug, and "many people" have "the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and EVERYTHING."

So why not just tell the rest of us already??

With your last sentence, are you implying that we would be better off if we had the mind of an ape? Isn't the ability to reason, ponder, and agonize over abstract concepts the singular defining difference between man and all other species? I'm perfectly fine with being a member of the human race and not a lower form, even if it causes a little mental agony, but that's just me...

 

[experimental bassist]

"So long, and thanks for all the fish."

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Don't forget your towel!

 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

I'm subject to Bistromath on a regular basis. It's a real pain.

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Could be worse, could be Vogon poetry!

 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

That's only the third worst, though.

 

[will33]

Show me all of the"evolutionary" parts that have been added in the last hundred years. All you will find is subtraction for the most part. This goes against the "pond scum to ape" religion that you believe. Genetiscists tell us now that according to latest research we only have 69% similar dna to an ape, humorously the same as a banana.
My daddy wasnt a banana mate.

Not sure what this is in refernce to? Figured it fairly obvious I'm on the Creator end of things....althogh I was really drunk at the time so it's entirely possible all that rambling didn't make a whole lot of sense.

Being religious doesn't mean you have to eschew science...things obviously evolve and adapt to their environment. Aborgman's single celled algae example is one that they made happen fast enough to a simple enough life form we could observe the change inside of our own lifespan. We humans have been "enhancing" evolution through the domestication of animals for thousands of years though we may not have known it at the time. Without a pheasant, there wouldn't be a chicken...without a wolf, there wouldn't be a dog. One thing evolved into another thing and we helped it along.

Using science doesn't mean one has to eschew a creator. Doesn't matter if you call the beginning a singularity or just say the concept of time and space didn't exist as a way of explaining it...it all comes back to "how'd that get there?". Something had to be there, something had to effect something else, something had to blow up or expand or whatever to get where we are now. It all comes back to believing that whatever it was, was always "just there"..

 

[Bloodhammer]

Okay, you said that already: you, Doug, and "many people" have "the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and EVERYTHING."

So why not just tell the rest of us already??

With your last sentence, are you implying that we would be better off if we had the mind of an ape? Isn't the ability to reason, ponder, and agonize over abstract concepts the singular defining difference between man and all other species? I'm perfectly fine with being a member of the human race and not a lower form, even if it causes a little mental agony, but that's just me...

I think he meant the term "getting it" philosophically, rather than pedantically. As for the ape comment, I think he means that abstract thought is a luxury of ours that can be a curse if we use it to agonize over what can't be helped. At least that's what I got from his statements.

Also, why is it so dang important for a person to know everything if they don't ascribe certain things to supernatural causes? Just wondering.