Idiocracy was a documentary... of the future!!

>>You know, I don't worry. I trust the evolutionary process to balance things out as it always has.<<

At this point the evolutionary process would likely balance things out by making the planet unlivable for people. Global warming will likely take care of a bunch of the population with weather related catastrophe's effecting our ability to produce food and the ability of the atmosphere ot filter out the most harmful parts of the suns rays. I think we do have a chance to turn this around but not a very lengthy window to get the turn around started.

I also think there are too many bodies but my take on it is that anyone who wants to have kids and reproduces more then one child per parent (two per couple) is putting a selfish drain on the resources that we all need to share. Zero population growth seems to be a no brainer necessity at this point, and folks who are cutting back our numbers by producing one offspring per two adults are an even bigger help. I'm all for those who don't want kids of their own regardless of their reason to contribute by going with their gut feeling there.

Most religious philosophies that discourage birth control and encourage huge families are proving their foolishness everyday, but I figure that foolishness is already on record just by their belief in the all powerful invisible being in the sky.

Really, the earth doesn't need people at all. I'm happy for people when they die. Not happy for the earth, happy for the people. I don't think death is as bad as a lot of people make it out to be, and it's probably fantastic. Why do you assume I'd feel bad? I do feel bad for the people who feel bad about not being able to see them anymore, but I'm sure the people who went are fine and I feel relief for them.

I think, no matter what, there are too many people now, and quite soon there are going to be exponentially more than that. First need is a severe pruning of the population; second need a severe pruning of consumption. Still no guarantees of survival.

At the same time I feel the reality of each life, the striving, the soul aspect of it (not just humans, all beings I can perceive), and I feel love for that idea and only rarely feel: here is a person we'd all be better off without. Although there are plenty of such people.

I feel that humans as a species are rapidly deteriorating both mentally and physically across the planet for many reasons, particularly intellectually - what this means for future decisions and actions? Bad news.

So it's possible to feel two contradictory things at once, and I do. Yes, it'd be better for the planet if we were wiped out completely or almost completely. Yes, that is a sad prospect, to me. I don't mourn when large groups go, as is happening constantly now - I've been expecting it and I can't prevent it or help them. For those struggling to survive and hang on until help can reach them, I pray that that help does reach them. Both things at once. Heart feels one thing, head knows another quite different thing, and in this situation, head wins. I do not enjoy knowing I'm a parasite and hurting so many beings just by living. The fact is that humans are spectacularly ill-equipped to live on their own, self-contained, in any but the most favorable climates. We are the most dependent on other species of all species. And apparently designed that way. Because of this we simply can't live without these other species, animal and plant, no matter how much we kid ourselves about this. We don't even understand just how the web of dependence that supports us works. And we're wiping these other species out.

I have to be the Devil's advocate and ask... not that I am encouraging such behavior... but, if it's such a point of contention and a concern, why aren't there movements of mass suicides going on to reduce our numbers? Wouldn't that be the ultimate statement of commitment to this idea?

What does everyone really mean by "too many bodies"? I think that would be a good definition to explore for clarity's sake. I would think we'll know for sure when there's too many when we all start dropping like flies due to some shift... like a crazy microbe that we cannot subdue fast enough.

<<the environmental impact of a woman giving birth to just one child in the U.S. is equivalent to a women in India giving birth to 35 children; in Bangladesh it's 140 children; in Haiti it's 280 children. >>

To me this only further supports the notion that simply reducing our numbers isn't the real issue because it isn't over population on our part that is the real problem. The real problem is waste. We need to all start living in ways that produce less waste. We need to reduce our environmental impact.

Sure I will miss George Carlin. Not for his carbon based waterbag but for what he had brought to the table. Will I be sad and grieve? Probably not and when I read the story my major thought was "Well that sucks" and went on with my day.

As a person becomes closer to you then issues arise. When my apprentice was murdered earlier this year it fucked me the hell up. My grandmother dying a few weeks ago fucked me up. But these are 2 individuals that were real to me not an abstract concept of a person. I mean how many folks are fucked up over this weekends tragic and violent death of Scott Kalitta. I would bank that almost no one knows who this is. But the racing world was in shock over the loss.
blogs.courant.com/autoracin...t-kal.html
<Note there is video available online of the wreck and interviews afterward. I am not going to post the link on that because it is a simply terrifying bit of video>

I also tend to feel bad when someone I know loses someone. Not because I care about the person that died but rather because I care about what someone is feeling concerning that person.

Does it change my basic feelings about death and those that die... No But I don't grieve the loss of someone I don't know even if I note their passing in a moment of introspection.

JSin