What are the challenges for us Humans of this Modern Age?

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   jonnycomelatelyposted 12 years ago

   In reply to the suggestion that I am expecting the Apocalypse to come about
   
   Ok, so let's look at the realities.
   
   The human population of the planet is grow at an enormous rate.   When our population expands it means the population of other species must contract.   Can we change this?
   
   With an increased human population, and increasing densities in the larger urban areas, comes social upheaval, discord, antagonism, economic difficulties, public health issues, etc.   All these areas, and more, require lots of scientific knowledge and technical prowess to overcome the problems which inevitably arise.  Are we working to achieve this?   Are we down-to-earth in our education of young people so that they will have the skills to come up with answers?   
   
   Our minds are constantly reminded in the mass-media that we must avoid death, disablement and disease at all costs.   We must build up in ourselves, or have built up for us, fear, fear, fear.   With such fears and anxiety in our brains, we react in such ways as to defend ourselves and, in so doing, we exploit and abuse massive resources throughout the world which should, I suggest, last us sustainably for thousands of years..... if we were level headed and used our brains to better effect.
   
   We have been extremely clever in preventing death and disease.   We have enabled births to out-number deaths in many countries.   We have provided sanitation and health services that increase our chances of living to extended age limits.... at least in the so-called developed countries.  The quandary is that these countries are also the nations which can and do use up more resources than the other "developing" nations.   We waste more too!   
   
   It is now big business to provide immunisation and pharmaceuticals to those developing countries where childhood and adult death rates have hitherto helped to keep the population relatively low.   When the death rate is severely reduced, how do you provide the extra food and water for those surviving?   Do you design even more unsustainable technologies so that agriculture will for ever more be divorced from natural ecosystems?   Do we push other species further out to the periphery and make us humans ever more dominant?   
   
   More relevant to the particular Hub about Mike Huckabee and what is taught in schools, does a concentration on esoteric, "spiritual," religious teaching (of whatever persuasion) in schools foster practical solutions for the world's problems?  Or...... does such education perpetuate a head-in-the-sand attitude?

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      Deepes Mindposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'm not sure that we can necessarily "change' This, but with the new discoveries of cloning, I think people actually believe they are finding an answer..As technology continues to advance there is a possibility that this might provide an answer of some sort (thought I'm not sure it will be the right one)
      
      
      
      The answer to these questions is not as much as we should be. The truth of this is revealed in the social and economic separation between rich and poor as well as with the races. It may more subtle today as opposed to the past, But racism, sexism, and classism still exist on enough of a scale that companies and schools have changed their processed to purposefully exclude people from advancing yet still stay within the law..   
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      Unfortunately, religious teaching (especially organized religious teaching) is not fostering a practical solution for the world problems because the bible is being taught mostly the same way it has always been taught.. Mostly with a lot of cherry picking to drive home one specific point. It is this exclusion of certain verses in context that has actually fostered a laziness and totally dependent spirit in people that shouldn't be there in the first place. Actually, the bible teaches us that we have some things we have to do for ourselve

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      A Troubled Manposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, but not with our current state of affairs.
      
      
      
      Not at all, far from it. Religions have always been at the forefront of suppressing science and understanding of the world around us when they believe it begins to encroach on their belief system and threatening or jeopardizing their God given rights.
      
      When billions of young minds across the planet are continuously bombarded with religious indoctrination, children have little hope of developing them and gain those necessary skills.
      
      
      
      Yes, we are still at the mercy of the irrational and illogical, the billions of minds still undeveloped whose only real interest is that which is supposed to occur after death. Why should anyone care about the planet when all they care about is what happens when they don't need it anymore.
      
      
      
      Notice how much of a struggle science and scientists have had over the years trying to make that happen?
      
      
      
      The oil industry alone commands trillions of dollars and global decision making input, hence to change to more efficient, cheaper and environmentally friendly transportation methods would have monumental effects around the world, crumbling economies and mass unemployment.
      
      The auto industry might survive such a change if they manage to adapt, but they too would take a huge hit, some of them falling to wayside in the process. That doesn't even include the commercial airline, shipping and rail systems. Spin-offs from these industries to others would be catastrophic.
      
      And, all we wanted to do was find a better transportation system and wind up driving the worlds economies into the ground as a result.
      
      I wonder how many folks would risk losing their jobs, their savings, their homes, their entire lives to make such a change, even though they all know it's good for them in the long term?
      
      And, the longer we wait, the worse it will be when we're forced to make the change.

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         Deepes Mindposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I am in complete agreement with this statement

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      pennyofheavenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Stop fearing so much and starting loving lots. Might be a good place to start?

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         gmwilliamsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         The first thing is education.  Studies have substantiated that there is a strict correlation between the level of education and the use of contraceptioni.   Many people in developing nations and some poorer women in the United States and in developed countries have more children than they can support socioeconomically.    Studies further confirm that there is a relatoin between poverty and large families.   When people are educated, they see the detriment of large families and begin seeing the benefits of small families.   
         
         Furthermore as people become more socioeconomically affluent, they have a quality of life and seek to provide that to their children.   They realize that the larger the family, the poorer the socioeconomic quality of life for all concerned.    So the main component in controlling the human population is education regarding the benefits of contraception and just plain education period. 
         
         People must be taught the concept of becoming more empowered and to be self-determining.  Again, education plays a key regarding this also.   Seldom will outsiders have the interests of those in develop countries.   A revolution of consciousness have to began from within.    There has to be a grassroots leader who had the interests of the people at heart.   He/she must devise programs to effectively educated people and to teach them the benefits of a higher quality of living.   So many so-called leaders in developing nations exploit the populace for their benefits, they do not care about the people at all.   The key is to elevate and to be of service for the betterment of the society at hand.

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            pennyofheavenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            What is a quality of life if there is no love? One does not need an education to love or be loved. One does not need material comforts either. Where there is love there is kindness and compassion. Where there is love there is gentleness and unity. Where there is unity, any solutions then will come about with little or no effort because all those involved are working toward achieving a higher understanding of what really is needed. If education is it then it will be understood.
            
            In some cases what we might think others need is not what they actually need. Conflicts then arise and a division occurs and not much progress is made.

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               A Troubled Manposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Quality of life, an education and material comforts have nothing to do with love. Of course, Christianity has diminished the entire concept of love to something complete different, that is, the need to tell others about their beliefs and get them on board.
               
               
               
               Sorry, but that completely ignores reality, especially within Christianity, which has used love to create conflict and wars.
               
               
               
               Funny that you say that, Christians will not stop assuming what others need and will continue to create conflict and division in the process.
               
               Why can't you all just stop?

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                  Jeramiposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  We ALL need to be mindful of the things which we hate, cause it is SOooo easy to become just like OR worse than those things.
                       
                  ATM   it seems as though you have become equal to those things which you choose to battle.   
                  We will never win until we discover the ONLY battle worth fighting is the one we fight from within.

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                     A Troubled Manposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     More gibberish, Jerami.

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                        Soul Man Dancingposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        More gibberish, lady.

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                        Jeramiposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        You see what you see which has nothing to do with what is really there.

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                        jonnycomelatelyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        No, ATM, not the way I see it.   I think Jerami has spoken it down-to-earth and true.
                        
                        I can understand where you can be angry and anti- her sentiments.   There is a lot of agro- in the world, and the softly-gently-lovey sort of approach does not ring true in real life, I grant you.  Many of the real, lasting solutions, do come after considerable conflict...... and it seems the journey of the conflict, working through it and arriving at some kind of consensus is more beneficial in the end.

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      psycheskinnerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      In countries with the highest wealth and education, birth rates are so low the population is aging rapidly. In many cases the national population would be shrinking if it was not for immigration.
      
      Education and financial security are correlated with low, non-replacement (population shrinkage), levels of birth.  So instead of letting babies die of disease, we should put people in a position where they simply choose not to have them.

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         jonnycomelatelyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Are we, the human species, here to save the world?   Could we morally "leave other people to sort their own lives out?"

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      Silverspeederposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      The answer is not to continue to make the same mistakes over and over again.
      
      Insanity
      : Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
      Albert Einstein

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   moonfrothposted 12 years ago

   Jonny--I love ya baby!  I really do--and I almost always get into your mind-benders up to my intellectual arm-pits (hmm), but I don't know if I'll book onto this one at all.  It's so huge (the question) that i see myself writing massive responses to no constructive end at all.

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      jonnycomelatelyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      S.M.I.L.E.S   the longest word in the world...... a mile between the first and last letters!  Can you keep your answers shorter than that?

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   prettydarkhorseposted 12 years ago

   Coping with social changes that are brought about by technological advancement

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