True, blastinggas, humanity could be alot better of it didn't consist soley of humans.

I just came upon a thought. How do we know that there wasn't a more advanced civalization on earth long before us and there's just no trace of it? Maybe millions of years ago there was a civilization just like ours and it was killed off one way or another. And given enough time the conditions became suitable for life once again and here we are. I guess this would simply contradict what we know about the history of the universe.

How do we know that pigs aren't in fact more intelligent than we are and have an underground civilization and that the pigs that we keep on farms are merely a fanatical group of pig ninjas willing to die for their pig overlords that spy on us to make sure that we never become more advanced than them?

Of course I would get a dumb answer like that. Anytime you mention something tju isn't scientifically proven you get some stupid sarcastic comparison like that. So I guess what youre telling me is that we don't know anymore about pigs than we know about the history of the universe? As mysterious as the origin of the universe is, we somehow don't know anymore more abou ****in pigs.

No, you're missing the point about how practical logic works. You can't prove something doesn't exist; hence why we don't have our courts function in this way, if we were to say "prove you didn't ever rape a kiddie", everyone would be in jail.

:P

No, I get the point. Just don't get the stupid comparisons. Just because two things can't be proven beyond a doubt, they're equally as irrational? I think not. And I'm not just talking about the examples mentioned above.

Well, you're wrong.

I think the people of the future will be more homogenous as our genes are spread more even across the human genome. In the future, I'm thinking my distant descendants won't have this pale Scandinavian complexion that I have, but will be darker skinned. I think people will only become better at living in societies and will become f.ex more lawful as I think genes that promote cooperation among people are the ones with the highest fitness in modern societies .. So, that in a sense would be an effect of natural selection.

(I think if modern society is allowed to grow and develop, morals will also develop in what one might call a positive direction.)

As for how things will fare with diseases caused by or factored by genetics and whether or not most f.ex women will be able to survive natural birth without medical help and so on it's quite hard to tell. The way things are going, advances in medicine and technology means selection pressures are almost gone in many such cases. Either that pressure comes back in force because we lose the modern day privileges that currently keep them at bay or perhaps we come up with some gene therapies that somehow allow us to get rid of bad genes and keep good genes without breeding or culling which obviously is morally difficult.

Who knows what the future will bring? :)

It is you who is wrong.

Ok, is there anymore evidence existing for your hypothesis than batlords?

:laughing:

I never said it was true. I clearly said that it contradicts our understanding of the universe.

I actually made the post after playin Assassins Creed, Which is why the idea came to mind.

You're missing the point. Of course your random scenario is more likely than super intelligent pigs living in underground civilizations. The point is that they are both completely arbitrary and there is no reason to believe in either of them. I was just using an extreme example to illustrate a point.

I guess if there was a highly developed civilization before we came along, then remains of this civilization and its people, fossilized or otherwise, would have been found.

It's a funny idea, though.

In the same vein, I don't think it's unreasonable to postulate the rise and fall, and perhaps even continued existence of intelligent societies elsewhere in the universe.

I don't think it's unreasonable to think there must an unfathomable amount of planets out there with life on them so the number of intelligent civilizations must number somewhere up in the many many billions.

One would number up in hundreds of billions in fact even if there were only one intelligent civilization per galaxy.

I wonder if there are any planetary neighbors who co-evolved side by side and now share their civilizations with each other.

I wish we had neighbors :(

If we did, we'd probably waste our money trying to build a bigger moonbase than the Johnsonians.

Well since there is no proof that there are other intelligent lifeforms out there we might as well compare it to a society of underground pigs.

:laughing:

Unfortunately, I don't think that it'll ever be possible to prove or disprove this, the one massive obstacle being distance.

the future will be a world ruled by the Patriarch - me

embrace your Patriarch now

Considering how big the universe is, there's at least a fair chance that alien life exists. In fact, I'd say it'd be like believing in underground pig societies to think there wasn't alien life. Oh, and don't be a crybaby.

Well, to paraphrase my hero and close personal victim of stalking Michio Kaku, once we reach a type 3 civilization that spans multiple planets, humanity will have vast amounts of time to dedicate to research on closing the cosmic gap between us and our nearest intelligent neighbors.

There are multiple theories on how species evolve. One that has gained a lot of popularity is the idea that huge leaps in evolution (like speciation) occur rapidly and are interspersed by periods of virtually no evolution. What Conan said actually makes sense in this context... Currently we have reached a plateau of evolution in our species. We evolved self awareness through a time period when our ancestors were presented with a time of plentiful food and had the opportunity to basically just "sit and think about stuff" rather than focus on survival. That brought us to where we are today, so the next step would be to have a time when we didn't have to worry about the fate of the planet or each other. In essence, we could all just sit and think again (or do research).

Well you have no proof, so there is no basis for that belief other than it sounding reasonable to you. I do agree that it is likely, however. You can say whatever, but until you don't have proof You're just going off of whatever sounds right to you, and there is no real scientific credibility to that.

There is far more scientific credibility in mathematical probability than there is in speculation based on imagination... If one is given an argument whereupon one side presents no proof, but does present a mathematical likelihood to support the theory, versus an argument that presents no proof, but does present a fun idea to support the theory... I don't think it's very difficult to decide (for most reasonable people) which idea to prefer over the other, even if neither of them offers any actual proof.

I guess there would be, technically speaking, a mathematical probability for anything. But I'd say the probability for any form of life existing on another planet is undeniably higher than the probability of underground pig societies (in the conventional sense that such a label conveys).

i am Homo Superior

women are attracted to my evolutionary radiation

which was my point to begin with when my post was compared to a society of underground pigs. Just because two thing aren't scientifically proven doesn't mean they're equally illogical, which was close my exact words a few posts ago.

Just to nitpick a bit.

In theory, nothing can ultimately be proven because there's always a chance we're wrong about everything we think we know, but one hypothesis can be supported by more evidence than another. So one hypothesis (ex. there is life on other planets) can be more credible than another (there are advanced underground societies of pigs).

i can dig that

You can't be Homo Superior AND the Patriarch.

That's cheating and I shall gather together a band of rebels to overthrow you, made up mostly of Readers Digest subscribers and guys I promised a couple of beers to if they tagged along.

I'm going to answer Lisnaholics post from the "Spill your guts thread" in here, so as not to get off the main objective of that thread.

That being said Lisnaholic, you made very valid points in your response to my opinion. All of them are respectable charactoristics. Of course the cancer comparison is a circumstance of which I agree with you. So maybe in that essence I live by a double standard to some degree because I would not have the heart in that situation to say those things either...I dont think. A multitude of things develop a persons attitude and train of thought. Sympathy for adults of sound mind and body is not one of my strong points. Part of this is due in part to up bringing and just overall life experiences that I wont elaborate on. The older I get the less time I have for beating around the bush to make a point to people. I think people are babied way to much and have way to thin of skin now days. For example, if a woman asks me if a pair of jeans make her butt look big and the truth is that they do...I'm going to tell her that. I'm not going to go along with the unspoken rule is that you say "no honey those look great on you" just to be considerate. I would expect nothing less in return and hold no ill feelings if it were me. In fact if i write a song and play it for someone, I dont want nice answers I want the truth. If it sucks then it sucks and if my singing is off key and lacks in a certain area then tell me. If my guitar playing is not up to par for that particular song, then tell me. Im not going to whine sniffle and cry my way home like a 3 year old, cause more than likely your going to say what you really think to someone else when I'm not around so just come on out and tell me. Sadly its been my experience that people for whatever reason do not like to hear the truth and would just rather people sugar coat things for them so they can maintain some level of security or confidence in themselves. I dont know how many times I've seen the best of friends talk about the other one in a very critical judgmental way when they are not around the other. Only to turn around and pretend to be the best of friends again when around each other. This type of behavior is nothing less than shady, pretentious, hypocritical im scared to say anything to your face cause I'm scared of confrontation b.s imo. And I can not conform my train of thought to this way of thinking and behavior. Again i'm not trying to win people over to the way I view things cause thats obviously an impossible feat. I just dont know why people are so sensitive about truths being spoken and why every little thing thats said in todays society has to be under a micrscope for fear of being offensive. But thats just my opinion and counts for nothing really. Also im not implying that some of the things I've mentioned above is how you yourself are, but it the way the vast majority of people are that I've observed in my time.

Example

^ Nice video clip !

You make some good points too, Bloozcrooz. With the woman in jeans and the song that sucks, perhaps the straight truth is the best response. That`s why we have the saying, "You have to be cruel to be kind." And like you, I don`t care too much for the type of person who is all smiles to your face, but who then runs you down later.

Is today`s society becoming over sensitive the way you suggest ? I`m really not sure one way or the other TBH.

In terms of personal conduct, it`s pretty difficult to make any flat-out rules because so much depends on the people, the circumstance and, as you mention, our own personal experience. How does this sound for a rule though:-
If someone asks your opinion, try to be honest, while still being polite.
If someone doesn`t ask your opinion, try to be polite, while still being honest.

Well, I have to go away, have lunch and think about this some more. If I am inspired later, I`ll let you know, Blooz !

Well I think "computers" (artificial intelligence) will play a big part in evolution in the future. Think if we bred an entire new species, father of all aliens.

I dont know LOL

Glad you could contribute something insightful to the discussion.

His "LOL" spoke volumes, didn't it?
I understood this:
better than I understood that: