New Year's Eve
Dec. 31st, 2004 10:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
farlaSince it's New Year's, I feel I should make a last post of the year.
So everyone:
Some good things. Science is marching happily onward - it's absolutely amazing at times. Did you know they're making a sort of handheld DNA scanner that can identify any animal's species based on a single gene? Yep, like Star Trek. It's far from complete right now, but it's already done some cool stuff - like shown that a species of butterfly is actually at least ten different mimicking species. Cloning is growing by leaps and bounds. Give it a few years and, government policies or no, they're going to have it down. I hope to get my cat cloned in a few years. We're able to identify defective genes and even change them, and we can actually engineer mosquitos to vaccinate people for diseases. On the hardware front, they're working on a completely new kind of computer, nanotubes that would be capable of creating a building that almost has 'nerves', and some incredibly hard and resilient metals (they've made a form of copper several times harder than normal steel. This sort of metal can be cast in molds like plastic, and doesn't warp the way metal does normally.) We've got hybrid and electric cars pretty much down, and we've found alternative sources of fuel - such as cars that can run solely on the waste grease of restaurants. The earth's population growth is slowing down and we're learning better ways of managing it all.
Some bad things. The ocean's about to collapse, we're using four barrels of oil for every one we find, and we passed the earth's carrying capacity about a mile back. The American government favors subsidizing the larger SUVs over hybrid or electric cars and spits in the face of alternative fuels. Most of the animals on the planet are going extinct. The polar ice caps are melting. Zooplankton is dying. New evidence shows that government regulations for pollutants aren't accurate and that there are no safe levels for many of these things. Topsoil is washing into the sea. The coral reefs are almost dead, but because that's not happening fast enough, companies are currently selling ground-up coral as a calcium supplement. Did I mention the ocean's about to collapse? Because it is, and what do you think is currently feeding the world's population? We're currently fishing at levels which would be overfishing if the fish population was at normal (did you know that breeding-age fish for many species no longer exist? As in, they're all dead? As in, no new fish?) Oh, and that topsoil I mentioned is creating a huge dead zone in the gulf of Mexico, where the water is devoid of oxygen. Animals not killed by this either a) attempt to leave and are sucked up by boats which circle the edge or b) stay in, going sterile in the process. Most big cats are going to go extinct, and only cheetahs are actually able to live moderately unprotected in the environment. And cheetahs have the genetic diversity of clones - you can graft skin from one onto another without rejection. Which is all very well and good when it comes to organ transplants, but very very bad when it comes to that new form of SARS that hit the big cats in a Chinese zoo a little while back. Speaking of which, do you know that most antibiotics don't work anymore? You don't even want to know the percentage of Americans that think Creationism's right. And in case you think the next generation's any better, let's get it clear - it's not. Do you know that the world is so complex most people don't know anything that's going on and we are no longer capable of filtering out truthful information from lies? There are so many issues it's impossible to focus on any one of them. The global mind has schizophrenia.
^^ Happy New Year. Enjoy it while it lasts.
So everyone:
Some good things. Science is marching happily onward - it's absolutely amazing at times. Did you know they're making a sort of handheld DNA scanner that can identify any animal's species based on a single gene? Yep, like Star Trek. It's far from complete right now, but it's already done some cool stuff - like shown that a species of butterfly is actually at least ten different mimicking species. Cloning is growing by leaps and bounds. Give it a few years and, government policies or no, they're going to have it down. I hope to get my cat cloned in a few years. We're able to identify defective genes and even change them, and we can actually engineer mosquitos to vaccinate people for diseases. On the hardware front, they're working on a completely new kind of computer, nanotubes that would be capable of creating a building that almost has 'nerves', and some incredibly hard and resilient metals (they've made a form of copper several times harder than normal steel. This sort of metal can be cast in molds like plastic, and doesn't warp the way metal does normally.) We've got hybrid and electric cars pretty much down, and we've found alternative sources of fuel - such as cars that can run solely on the waste grease of restaurants. The earth's population growth is slowing down and we're learning better ways of managing it all.
Some bad things. The ocean's about to collapse, we're using four barrels of oil for every one we find, and we passed the earth's carrying capacity about a mile back. The American government favors subsidizing the larger SUVs over hybrid or electric cars and spits in the face of alternative fuels. Most of the animals on the planet are going extinct. The polar ice caps are melting. Zooplankton is dying. New evidence shows that government regulations for pollutants aren't accurate and that there are no safe levels for many of these things. Topsoil is washing into the sea. The coral reefs are almost dead, but because that's not happening fast enough, companies are currently selling ground-up coral as a calcium supplement. Did I mention the ocean's about to collapse? Because it is, and what do you think is currently feeding the world's population? We're currently fishing at levels which would be overfishing if the fish population was at normal (did you know that breeding-age fish for many species no longer exist? As in, they're all dead? As in, no new fish?) Oh, and that topsoil I mentioned is creating a huge dead zone in the gulf of Mexico, where the water is devoid of oxygen. Animals not killed by this either a) attempt to leave and are sucked up by boats which circle the edge or b) stay in, going sterile in the process. Most big cats are going to go extinct, and only cheetahs are actually able to live moderately unprotected in the environment. And cheetahs have the genetic diversity of clones - you can graft skin from one onto another without rejection. Which is all very well and good when it comes to organ transplants, but very very bad when it comes to that new form of SARS that hit the big cats in a Chinese zoo a little while back. Speaking of which, do you know that most antibiotics don't work anymore? You don't even want to know the percentage of Americans that think Creationism's right. And in case you think the next generation's any better, let's get it clear - it's not. Do you know that the world is so complex most people don't know anything that's going on and we are no longer capable of filtering out truthful information from lies? There are so many issues it's impossible to focus on any one of them. The global mind has schizophrenia.
^^ Happy New Year. Enjoy it while it lasts.
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Alex Warlorn
Date: 2005-01-01 04:50 am (UTC)We humans have endured so far, and we'll continue to endure because: we humans beings want to continue too badly for us not to pull out at the dive at the last possible seconds.
Re: Alex Warlorn
Date: 2005-01-01 05:19 am (UTC)And oh, of course humans will survive. Some of them, anyway. Similarly, some animals will survive, like cockroaches and hamsters. Some of us just find the concept of killing off ninety percent of the animals a trifle bad, you know?
Re: Alex Warlorn
Date: 2005-01-02 01:53 am (UTC)HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! ^_^
no subject
Date: 2005-01-01 05:10 am (UTC)I'm hoping that people will wake up soon. Or maybe there'll be an epidemic that kills everyone with an IQ under 110. Either's good.
no subject
Date: 2005-01-01 05:33 am (UTC)Screw IQ. If I'm wishing, I want a virus that can detect your common sense and kill you based on that. Also, anyone who thinks it's okay to screw with the environment because the world's going to end should be turned into a pillar of salt. Oh, and also I want a talking immortal corgi, which is just as good and about as likely.
no subject
Date: 2005-01-04 03:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-02 04:23 pm (UTC)Common sense... meh. We'd wipe out half the planet with that virus.
Alex Warlorn
Date: 2005-01-02 05:34 pm (UTC)It was against the laws of common sense a couple hundred years back to think humans would EVER land on the moon OR invent a workable flying machine.
Re: Alex Warlorn
Date: 2005-01-02 07:20 pm (UTC)Re: Alex Warlorn
Date: 2005-01-03 01:26 am (UTC)Re: Alex Warlorn
Date: 2005-01-04 03:11 am (UTC)"as someone else once said"? Produce and attribute the quote; please note that the gunk your undertaxed brain occasionally expels does not count as quotable wisdom.
Re: Alex Warlorn
Date: 2005-01-04 03:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-04 12:01 am (UTC)This worked great until we figured out that wild and farm salmon have a completely different set of genes and that the farm salmon have about the same survival ability as a chicken.
MWAHAHA
Date: 2005-01-03 11:52 pm (UTC)I LOVE IT!! Cheetahs are the best big cat, although we got some black panthers here in Wilmington, it's unlikely they'll make a comeback.
Epidemic you say? It would be really embarassing if it was based on IQ and all the smart people died...but anybody who thinks that the World is for their own enjoyment and that it doesnt matter as long as the bad stuff happens after they die should break out in boils and go through the evil cycles of a female 12 times before dying!
That said, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Re: MWAHAHA
Date: 2005-01-04 12:06 am (UTC)I suppose if only stupid people were left it'd actually work too...stupid people can't affect too much of the world without smart people.
Re: MWAHAHA
Date: 2005-01-05 02:28 am (UTC)