Most of the stars you see when you look up at night formed in the same way our Sun was formed. All the asteroids, comets, moons, and planets in our solar system are leftovers of the formation of the Sun. This tells us that it isn't farfetched to imagine that other stars have planets as well, in fact we discovered the first planet orbiting another star in 1995 and have discovered others as well. It's starting to seem like most stars in our galaxy have at least one planet orbiting them.
People often think that humans are special, or that the Earth is special. But the more we learn about the universe the more it seems like life is abundant out there. Whether life spreads in the universe through Panspermia or if it's just an inevitable consequences of certain conditions found in star systems, life happens without a doubt since we are living proof of it, as is every other living organism on this planet.
So we know life exists in the universe - us. It isn't farfetched to imagine that there is more life out there, even in our own Milky Way galaxy where there are billions of stars and possibly billions of planets.
"If life is so abundant, where is it?" some ask. Well, there are a few things to understand. Considering stars eventually die out, any life in a star system who's star has 'died' may have also died with it - unless it managed to evolve technologically, escape into space, and colonize other places on other stars. Life has existed on Earth for billions of years and only fairly recently has a species like us evolved into existence. Just because a planet has the conditions to support life, it may not necessarily mean that life will exist. Or if life does end up existing, it doesn't mean that it will evolve into such capable species as humans. And even if a species as capable as us has come into existence somewhere in the Milky Way, maybe they didn't live on their planet responsibly (something humans should start doing) and became extinct. Intelligent life that has found a way to survive in space, without the need to be on their home planet, is probably the rarest kind and possibly why we haven't been visited yet.
Some claim that, when looking for life in the universe, we must be careful since we do not know if aliens are hostile, and that contacting them may cause wars between us. This is a valid concern, but one that shouldn't worry us too much. Wars are commonly due to resources, territory expansion, and even religious beliefs. But if an extraterrestrial civilization has managed to travel the vast distances between our planet and theirs, it is highly doubtful that they came all the way here just for Earth's resources. As was stated before, there is nothing too special about Earth. What do the aliens want, food? Space travel, as we know it, takes an enormous amounts of time. It would take 80,000 years to travel to the nearest star (Proxima Centauri) at the speed of the Voyager spacecraft (37,000 miles/hour). With that distance between us, and taking so long to reach us, they would already have had to figure out a way to produce food and recycle dirty water into clean water for survival. If they did happen to run out of water and came to our splendid solar system for a refill, Europa (one of Jupiter's moons) has plenty. And Ceres (a dwarf-planet orbiting between Mars and Jupiter) seems to have a lot of water as well. Both of these objects mentioned are much smaller than Earth, so it even seems like it would be less of a hassle to get out of their orbit when compared to Earth. Do they need metals? Mining Asteroids would do the trick. Realizing this, we shouldn't have to be too concerned about hostile aliens invading us for our planet's resources.
By understanding that many alien civilizations may have failed before humans even existed, one may begin to wonder what the fate of our species will be. Will we become just another civilization that came, had a moment of existence, but due to political or economical reasons never managed to align itself with the natural flow of its planet? Or will we become one of the rarer kind of civilizations, the kind that manages to move past cultural differences and managed to live a sustainable lifestyle? Only time will tell, but the odds remain in favor that we are not alone in our galaxy, let alone in the universe, and we shouldn't wait around for aliens to come show us how to properly live on our planet (or to destroy us) - after all, the information and technology which would allow all human to live better lives is already available to us, it just isn't applied due to barriers inherent in the current established social system.
Monday, 8 September 2014
Friday, 5 September 2014
Concerning Money
According to some, money is
an amazing tool. Claims are made stating that: money facilitates trade; money helps
organize where the demand for certain things are; money motivates people and
speeds technological and medical advancements. But are these true?
Money facilitates trade:
Yes, that seems true. In the type of society we live in, if I want shoes or a
car, instead of trading it for gum or soda, money facilitates the transaction.
However, this is worth nothing for people who have nothing to trade, whether
it’s money, some other object, service to engage in trade, or for people
who do not even enjoy engaging in the act of trade. Money becomes something
people are forced to use, rather than a voluntary act, as some will claim.
Money organizes where the demand for certain things are: To a limited degree. If something sold out really fast at a local shopping mall, maybe there is a demand for more of that product, so more would be ordered to meet demand. But in locations where poverty reigns, people cannot afford buying much, so even if they have a demand for essential things like healthy food and drinkable water, it will not be sent to them because it would not be profitable. In those cases, humanitarian efforts may be necessary to meet their requirements for survival.
Money motivates people: In limited areas this may be the case, but if everyone had access to the things we need for survival a lot of people would still do the things they love even if they didn’t get compensated for it with money. Artists would keep making art, sport players would keep playing sports, and people who love teaching would continue to be teachers. Here’s an insightful video about “The surprising truth about what motivates us.”
Money speeds technological and medical advancements: What was just said can be applied to here as well. If we all had access to the things we need to survive, people who love technology would be able to participate in helping it advance (the same can be said about medicine). The fact that money is something that everyone needs makes it more of an act of violence, forcing people to make technological advancements - or else you get fired. What is better still is that more people could participate if money was no concern because there wouldn’t be a limited amount of available positions in each job sector, so anyone who wants to help advance technology, medicine, space exploration, and just about anything else, could do it without the pressures of needing money to survive or competing against everyone else to be the best to ensure they don’t get fired (this would also drastically reduce stress, improving mental and physical health).
The problem about money, it seems, is that even though it may have been useful at some point in time (and in certain areas), it doesn’t seem like it permanently solves human problems. Money itself starts to become a cumbersome thing to deal with in society, and seems more like it becomes a method of control and divides societies’ members based on income. Imagine how much larger the gap between the wealthy and the poor will become over time as technology takes over human jobs. Here is an interesting discussion about "robots, unemployment, and basic income".
Money organizes where the demand for certain things are: To a limited degree. If something sold out really fast at a local shopping mall, maybe there is a demand for more of that product, so more would be ordered to meet demand. But in locations where poverty reigns, people cannot afford buying much, so even if they have a demand for essential things like healthy food and drinkable water, it will not be sent to them because it would not be profitable. In those cases, humanitarian efforts may be necessary to meet their requirements for survival.
Money motivates people: In limited areas this may be the case, but if everyone had access to the things we need for survival a lot of people would still do the things they love even if they didn’t get compensated for it with money. Artists would keep making art, sport players would keep playing sports, and people who love teaching would continue to be teachers. Here’s an insightful video about “The surprising truth about what motivates us.”
Money speeds technological and medical advancements: What was just said can be applied to here as well. If we all had access to the things we need to survive, people who love technology would be able to participate in helping it advance (the same can be said about medicine). The fact that money is something that everyone needs makes it more of an act of violence, forcing people to make technological advancements - or else you get fired. What is better still is that more people could participate if money was no concern because there wouldn’t be a limited amount of available positions in each job sector, so anyone who wants to help advance technology, medicine, space exploration, and just about anything else, could do it without the pressures of needing money to survive or competing against everyone else to be the best to ensure they don’t get fired (this would also drastically reduce stress, improving mental and physical health).
The problem about money, it seems, is that even though it may have been useful at some point in time (and in certain areas), it doesn’t seem like it permanently solves human problems. Money itself starts to become a cumbersome thing to deal with in society, and seems more like it becomes a method of control and divides societies’ members based on income. Imagine how much larger the gap between the wealthy and the poor will become over time as technology takes over human jobs. Here is an interesting discussion about "robots, unemployment, and basic income".
These days, discussions of guaranteed/basic income come up from time to time – essentially never from
political leaders, however. This seems like a good idea, but would ideally be
only a temporary patch to the root problem – being that we all have needs
and they need to be addressed if we want a healthy, safe, and educated society.
If money is still embedded in the fabric of society it still leaves the richer
with more than what those with limited income have, continuing a class division
that would still encourage certain crimes, after all even the rich commit
crimes.
The idea of having a world without money may seem “utopian,” but definitely requires work to get there, and even if it is ever achieved it may be unrealistic to think problems would never emerge.
As it stands, based on the increase of our efficiency and technology, it does not seem unrealistic to think that we could live together as a civilized society which works together, for each other, rather than competing on a daily basis for personal gain. And if we are only concerned with taking care of our individual needs, then we are just encouraging more of the same problems we have seen over the last few thousand years – classism, poverty, mental health problems, famine, corruption, and much, much more.
The idea of having a world without money may seem “utopian,” but definitely requires work to get there, and even if it is ever achieved it may be unrealistic to think problems would never emerge.
As it stands, based on the increase of our efficiency and technology, it does not seem unrealistic to think that we could live together as a civilized society which works together, for each other, rather than competing on a daily basis for personal gain. And if we are only concerned with taking care of our individual needs, then we are just encouraging more of the same problems we have seen over the last few thousand years – classism, poverty, mental health problems, famine, corruption, and much, much more.
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