Comments on: Captain April’s April’s Fool’s Day Article [UPDATED]

By: Garovorkin

Garovorkin — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 03:26:30 +0000

#70 You’ll forgive me if i have a slight issue with the moral Cowardice definition,that does not apply me thank you very much and no I am not finding fault with your optimism, believe me im not. Giving up? No that would to easy. Things are getting worse, not better and I just cannot see light at the end of this tunnel for any of us. Sebastian I would loved to wrong here.

By: Sebastian

Sebastian — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 23:20:24 +0000

#68, 69 But you DO have the right to find fault with my optimism? I don’t believe the future (as we’re heading thus far) will be sunshine and roses, but I think giving up is tragic. Yes, I am familiar with Love Canal, and Chernobyl. Disaster and disease will always be with us(I lost my best friend from high school to AIDS, by the way); if we simply surrender to these conditions, then why go on? Why have children? Why get up in the morning? Why take care of oneself? Because of hope. Having hope and optimism in dire times to me is not naive, it’s necessary. And it takes courage! I’m done with this topic. Moving on…

By: Garovorkin

Garovorkin — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 03:56:51 +0000

#67 Sebastion one further point there is nothing wrong with being an optimist its just most of the rest of us aren’t, and you don’t have the right to fault us for that.

By: Garovorkin

Garovorkin — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 03:26:22 +0000

#67 Reality Sebastian the Kyoto Accords which you mention will never be ratified by the United States for economic reasons and they exempt countries like India and China , Russia and other developing countries emition reductions, In other words they can keep on polluting and environmental concerns are not the highest prioty here so what good are the accords? Brazil,Equadore and other south american countires are going continue hacking down the rain forests because there is money to made and the homesteading is a way of getting the poor out of the cities. The only way thats going to stop is when the forest is gone, and top off with the fact that we are systematicaly driving whole animal specaies into extinction Also we have pretty well poisoned the this planet with all our industrail and nuclear wastes, im sure you’ve heard of Love Cannal,Nyanza Chemical in Ashland Mass Chernoble and god know what other industial pollution horrors have yest to come to light. Then there is Aids and the emergence of drug resistance diseases. To many problems with no easy or apparent solutions. To many and not enough time and minimal progress will not cut it. I am of course willing to conceed that i might be wrong, but i don’t think so.

By: Sebastian

Sebastian — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 02:34:22 +0000

The more people make themselves believe they can do nothing, the more they will consciously CHOOSE to do….nothing. That’s defeatism. With that mentality, humanity would never have crossed the oceans. Forgive me, but I think defeatism is equivalent to moral cowardice. Soylent Green is a possibility, if we allow it to happen. Humanity has altered its ways before, sometimes for good effect. Slavery, an accepted institution for thousands of years, is virtually gone. In my own lifetime, the proliferation of the personal computer has brought boundless information to one’s fingertips. Many corporations and nations (the Kyoto Accords, for example) are slowly awakening to the dangers the world is facing. We may not see change fast enough in our lifetimes, but if we give up now, all progress (minimal though it may seem) will be undone. That cannot be the legacy of this generation. Do not accept defeatism because it is easier; live for a better world, have a little vision. Be brave enough to embrace change. Star Trek may be just a TV show, but it had some pretty good lessons about the choices we make for the future. May the future live long and may we choose to prosper in it!

By: Garovorkin

Garovorkin — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 01:11:56 +0000

#63 Sebastian we may not survive to reach the stars anyways, There is nothing to be done about global warming because even if a solution is possible it would require sacrifices to our life styles which very few of us are will to make.The vast majority of us either because complaceny, denial or despair will not take steps of any kind. Few politicians are really going to stick their necks out for global warming or their environmental causes, other then maybe campaign lip service to the voters There is also the issue that there are over 6 billion people on this globe which if current trends continue will ultimately out strip our food supplies and our resources. How useful will space travel be in the short term not very, We would need to be able to transport vast amounts of people and then where are we going to put them what would could we possibly reach, ,we wont be able to solve all of these problems soon enough to doe ourselves any kind of good. Our future is looking more and more like the movie Soylent Green.

By: Sebastian

Sebastian — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:43:11 +0000

#64……Uh, I was not quoting Dr. McCoy. FYI, I said, “As a Vulcan MIGHT say.” It was a hypothetical remark.

By: AJ

AJ — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 05:26:28 +0000

63: The public does not realize it. We’re stuck in traffic half the time, or watching “American Idol” or taking the kids to soccer practice.

Fossil fuels create billions in profits for a small group of corporations whose absolute power actually allows our leaders to ask for “healthy debate” on the issue of warming rather than call for drastic action.

In light of this, it’s difficult to focus on the future of humanity.

BTW, that’s a quote from Dr. McCoy, not a Vulcan ;-)

By: Sebastian

Sebastian — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 03:41:38 +0000

61: Again, I reiterate: How is so much of this information flooded to us? With the assistance of satellite/space technology. Greenhouse effects and global warming were more acutely diagnosed with observation of sister worlds such as Venus and Mars as alternative models. Whether the public acknowledges it or even realizes it, space exploration is so much more than a pride or prestige issue. Ultimately it is gathering information toward the ensured survival of our species. We get so caught up in wars and social ills that is very easy to take our eyes off the big prize. Our over-dependence on fossil fuels is an example. We use them extensively; knowing the supply is not only finite, but polluting the very air we need to breathe. As a Vulcan might say, “Where’s the logic in that?” I agree, AJ, that nations do vanish in importance when you see the earth in space. Earth is the cradle of all humanity. But, to paraphrase Tsiolkovsky, we cannot stay in the cradle forever; humanity’s survival and growth as a species depends on it.

By: Captain Robert April

Captain Robert April — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 01:45:04 +0000

For the record, I had nothing to do with this thread, regardless of the title.