There are some who call me… Tim?

So after visiting the Kennedy Space Center today, I have a few words I would like to say about NASA, Constellation (plan to go to the Moon, then to Mars) and the ISS (International Space Station)

I have heard a lot of people justify cutting NASA’s budget because we should be worrying “about cleaning up our planet before we go screw up other planets.”

Too true, Too true. I cannot agree more. In fact, Screw NASA, there are some serious matters we need to attend to! We should be spending that money:

Researching Cures for Cancer

Researching Cures of AIDS

Researching Ways to make Planes Safer for Passengers

Improving Highway design to Increase Traction During Wet Seasons

Improving the Efficiency of Combustion

Research Protein Growth to Improve Effectiveness of Medications and Therapies

Research Solar Panels (since, lets be honest, its the next big thing in the Southern States)

Research Efficient Computing and Put Engineers to Work thinking of Ways to Save Energy

Research Lighter, Stronger Alloys with better long-term Durability for Implants

Research Weather Patterns and Create An Early Warning System so people know when to get out when a storm is coming

Research Protective Gear to Keep Firefighters and Other Humans who have to Work in Hostile Environments Safe

Research Conservation of Resources and How to Reduce Waste

Figure out how to Reduce Pesky Air Travel Delays

Create Highly Effective Emergency Blankets for War-Torn or Disaster Torn Areas

Improve our Sleep

Improve Agricultural Output

and, Most Importantly, Promote Peaceful Partnership of Countries and People Worldwide.

Oh, Wait..

Thanks NASA. We all owe you one.

The Whole World Mourns the Astronauts and Cosmonauts - Human Beings - who have lost their Lives Promoting Peace, Unity, and Exploration.

Jumble, End Post.

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(Thanks to Futurama for the quote. Cpt. Zapp Brannigan. A real inspiration for the Children. (Also thanks to Futurama, one of Hermes Conrad’s line concerning the Jamaican bobsled team))

In either case! While it stands that I still cannot play Soulstorm thanks to homework build up (What a lame review site!), I have another thing to entertain you for 50, maybe 60 seconds.

After wandering upon a video on something called “The ‘Humans’ Project” on youtube (all links at bottom), I decided to take a peek at what the responses were. Most of them were extremely disappointing, which I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised about. They had a bad tendency to define what it means to be a human in a free, democratic society. That is to say, they said that what it is to be human is to make the choices you want and do what you want with your life, to become what you want, to know, think, understand etc. Sadly, that excludes all people who:

a) live in a “unfree” or non-democratic society (Sucks to be you guys, apparently)

b) live in a financial situation that limits the choices they can make the choices (Power to the rich!)

c) live with discrimination that may directly or indirectly limit their choices (Racism and Sexism!)

d) live in poverty or are simply uneducated (sorry, apparently their not human either)

Since, much to my dismay, most of the world lives under one of those 4 categories, according to most of these responses (though I’m sure the people who made them had good intentions). The second most common response was that humans are the only species that kills for politics or can’t stop killing each other, or can’t “put aside their differences.” This simply isn’t true, for two reasons (yay! More lists!):

1) There are several animal species that kill for ‘political’ reasons (Alphas in wolf packs will occasionally kill pups that are most likely to threaten their power), kill for killings sake (the Worg: Serial killer of the Canine world), or can’t “put aside their differences” (Wolves of different packs will rarely work together)

2) That doesn’t actually answer the question they were asking (which could also be said about the first set, however, I like do things in a way that builds to a point)

(Take a moment at this point to look at the link to FionaShizz’s response)

She, in a round about way, notes one trap while falling head over heels into another. She is right, the question should be “what defines humanity.” In the end, thats the question that needs answering. “What defines being human” is an answer that could be given by any introductory biology textbook. She did fall into the other trap though. Her final solution is to be human is to have the following: a greatest fear of isolation, and a greatest desire for love.

While on the surface, both of those seem like they make sense. They are not consistently true for all people (I use people instead of humans because humanity relates to the philosophical state of being a human rather than the biological state), the obvious counter-example being hermits. They seek isolation and don’t care whether or not they are loved. Yet they are human, since the only other alternative is that they are nothing more than animals (in the societally excepted way, meaning to say they are nothing. I do not intend to imply that humans are not animals, cause we are) .

Finally, a conclusion. After poking through a few more, I ran across this one:

(use this space to watch LoveLittleMissMunich’s response)

Something actually makes sense how. Here (if you will allow me to put words in another’s mouth), LoveLittleMissMunich is pointing out that humans are not naturally smart, or evil, or good; they have an unnatural potential. What sets humans apart from other animals is our intellectual potential that, when stimulated, can be brought to nearly any end. If not, we are little more intelligent or capable of comprehension of the other animals with which we used to share the forest.

And that is my conclusion. Humanity is a potential. Like all power, it is neutral, but can be brought forth in support of both good and evil, for creation or destruction.

Thank you for sticking with me. Feel free to comment (refutes welcome!)

Links:

The “Humans” Project

FionaShizz’s Response

LoveLittleMissMunich’s Response

Thank you to those who’s responses I borrowed. I appreciate your responses, certainly brightened my day.

Jumble, End Post.

Comments(4)

This following text is framed by the video found at:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/etc/view.html

A note for this video: its related very heavily to race and discrimination. In its demonstration, it is very intense and very scary, not in a “Boo!” way, either.

I found it strange how quickly the children fell into believing this division exists, and how easy it was for Mrs. Elliot to convince the 3rd graders that one group was better than the other. I think it offers a very strange look into not only racial discrimination, but into how easily power can be given to a single race. In Nazi Germany (everyone’s favorite example) we noticed a quick rise to power by the aryans and the loss of power of everyone else. Not only did the non-aryans not fight back, they did worse on academic tests than the aryan “control” group. The children of Mrs. Elliot’s 3rd grade class show a microcasm of this same sort of thing.

First: One group is given power by an authoritarian group. Initially, people are combative of the segregation, but a few quick, harsh, and pointed comments by (in this case) Mrs. Elliot was enough to secure the division of power. How is it they were so quick to accept that old friends were inferior and were no longer completely human?

Second: With the power divided in the minds of the students, they began to use it themselves. This can be seen on the playground of the school when one of the students called another student “Brown-Eyes”. I found it interesting how it was mentioned so explicitly in the film that violence did not solve anything, which is true. Violence rarely fixes things, and it rarely makes us feel genuinely better.

Third: Finally, “convinced” of their inferiority, or perhaps falling into the social role they are now expected to fulfill, the “lower class” suddenly performs worse at tasks. Meanwhile, the “upper class” suddenly begins to perform better than ever. How is this possible? Are they simply applying themselves more?  Raises some interesting questions in and of itself.

Honestly, I found this film alarming. Not only does it scare the hell out of me when it comes to racial discrimination, and the implications it suggests may be perpetuating horrible stereotypes, but it offers a look into how quickly American youth will fall into a segregational belief structure.

If anyone finds anything similar to this done in other countries, please let me know. I am very interested to know if this is a global phenomenon true for humans in general, or whether it is local to the United States, at least to this degree.

Jumble, end post.

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