who are WE ?!?

Fact:

• The average density of the universe is equal to ONE (very lonely) hydrogen atom per every cubic meter. (source)

• Without COUNTING, a human being can only recognize up to 4 objects. (source) This was true in the Neolithic age and is true for us today.

• We can ONLY hold about 12-16 objects in our mind at a time. (source)
  

• Light travels 299,792.5 kilometers per SECOND. (source)

• That's 9,460,730,472,580.8 km per year, about 9 and a half TRILLION.

• The universe is 156 billion LIGHT-YEARS wide/long/big. (source)

• Although we cannot comprehend it, that is 1,475,873,953,722,605,000,000,000 kilometers. In words: 1.4 SEPTILLION. (source)

• If when we look at objects we have to count them if there is more than 4, if we still see war and asserting dominance as a worthwhile pursuit, if we cannot figure ourselves out; we must ask:

Do we deserve to explore the universe, do we deserve to understand it?
and more important: Does it deserve us?

-consider and discover
torwch

Evolving Prize - A Poem

We rose out of a
prokaryotic stew.
We were so fragile,
yet grew and grew.

The gods looked
down, with fear
and shock, as
civilization grew ever near.

Our heads took on
a greater size.
Inside sat our
evolving prize.

We surged through
art, history, and math.
Pondered evil;
the darker path.

We rose from a
stew of stuff.
Our gods soon
had had enough.

The tried to stop us,
but we rebelled.
We stood our ground,
turned and yelled:

"We claim this world,
to be our own.
You don't exist,
let it be known."

Chuckling, the
great gods replied:
"Without us you have
no purpose or guide."

With a flash,
they were gone.
Leaving us to
struggle on.

Now we are searching
for what we cannot find.
A message that we hope
the gods left behind.

-torwch

to think about....

What made us human? What lets me say ME? Why am I self aware? At what point, at what evolutionary step did I become sentient? Was non-existent in one generation, then suddenly appeared in the next? Or did it come slowly, did we learn it, like the apes in 2001: A Space Odyssey? Was this just evolution running its course? Are we a step up, a "better being," for example... Is consciousness good, or was it a mistake?

It was a mistake.

It is not a good thing. At all.

What has sentience, or the ability to be self aware, done for us? Nothing but war, religion, and death. You might say, "Well thats not true, we have cars, planes, the internet... Surely those are not bad things?" Sadly, those did not arise out of our consciousness. Self awareness brings about feeling like guilt, sadness, and jealousy. Without those traits the world would be a far more peaceful place. No one would argue, there would be NO war, we would truly rule the earth. The stuff we take for granted, the "modern toys" would have arisen regardless of our ability to feel guilt... Just keep reading:

Picture an advanced race, maybe on another planet. Or planets. They build, create, and prosper all without being conscious. They don't need to be. They follow logic paths in their heads. Evolving, growing, conquering. Every part of their species, every one does exactly what is best for them all. They do not fear death, if it will save the lives of others. They do not feel compassion or sympathy. Their only goal is to expand, much like any other self-replicating thing we call life. They are cold, cool, efficient beings, far superior to ourselves. If our two societies were to ever clash, I have no doubt who would emerge victorious. They have nothing holding them back, they would be unstoppable. We would get powned.

This race is not as unreal as you might think, in fact, WE may be the rare ones. It is far more likely that consciousness a weakness, that other far more driven beings would trample us.

Evolution is not kind, our foes will not be either. So why in gods name should we be?

Am I Really Here?

This is the second post in my Questions series. I will try to keep this one a little shorter than the last, which sort of ran on... And by the way, this one is not about eyes.

Is what I see real? Am I really here? Do I matter? Am I just a self-replicating piece of stuff? Is my only purpose in this small world to pass along my DNA? Is there a way out of this? Out to what?

Are we really here? This problem has NOT been thought of much before the modern age. Most people then had to work hard and live in the present, they couldn't ask silly questions that didn't make any sense and really make no difference in our lives. Fortunately, I can. I am fully prepared to delve into the most irrelevant things. Don't thank me, someone has got to do it.

Back to the question. Now there is no way to really know if what we see is real. We don't know of any ways to test it. Most people will say that what they can feel, touch, hear, smell, or taste has to be real, its just there. But we are human, we question, we explore, we crawled outside the non-sentient box. We are the figurehead, we are the captain, we are the leaders of Earth. So its our job to speculate.

And speculate we shall... What could be out there? Sorry, not "there" but something closer to "outside"... Outside the bubble, what is there? Hopefully not some Matrix post-apocalyptic horror. Maybe someday I will wake up gasping in a vat of nutrients. But I hope not. The "outside" as I will call it, is more of a concept to be shaped as we see fit. It should not be a PLACE so much as it should be a higher LEVEL. This is akin to god or some other mythical "better" being. It is a place we should strive for, set our sights on the sky. It is a place we should want, it should be our dreams, our hopes, our most precious thoughts. We will make a new bubble, one for every person. We can rebel, we can burst the old and inflate anew. Tear down the "higher beings," let us make our own world, shape it as you see fit.

I urge you to do this. Please, what makes you happy, what drives you? Shape your world around these, bind it tight. It is YOURS, keep it so, open it to those you hold dear. Run with your passion, be your passion, SHAPE YOUR WORLD TO BE YOUR PASSION!

Never ever forget that...

-With a gust of wind, the torwch is out...