interesting link on addiction

[neophyte]

imo the fact we have races is just more evidence of evolution being the source of humans e.g. black people are black because they evolved to have more melanin in more sunny areas. as for religion, imo its garbage made up by humans who use it to explain whats unexplainable, and in our day in age they fall victim to it because they don't think for themselves or are scared of their being nothing after death, i realise this may upset some people. to me its so obviously made up.

[StuckinLA]

"You bought the ticket, now it's time to take the ride." ~ Hunter S. Thompson

[anne1232]

Enjoying this thread. It's rolling like how I imagine a discussion in Stuck's classroom might. BTW, while we have you, Stuck; what did you think of the DFW film? (short answer ok). Anyway, I never got that Hunter quote. What ticket did I 'buy?' I didn't ask to be born, especially to the lunatics that were supposed to be giving me care...waaaaah!! What lessons are we needing to learn as individuals thrust into this chaos..? Definitely detachment in the buddhist sense, thanks Kuya. One thing's for certain- can't learn nothing on alcohol. That is without question

[StuckinLA]

Thank you for digging up the rest of that quote, kuya. I can never remember it correctly, or even where it's from (Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas?)

I've always taken it to mean drugs - like once you drop the acid or whatever, you simply have no choice but to ride it out. And I've also taken it to mean an ironic comment on life, because none of us, of course, chose to be here. Yet here is precisely where we find ourselves. So we go on, before better or worse, or we don't. I remember Thompson also saying, somewhere, that life would have been intolerable for him were suicide not an option. This is in no way advocating that most horrific of options - but it is interesting to think of it as an option that makes living more bearable, more of a conscious choice.

Because when we are making more conscious choices, we seem to do better, no?

Whoa, deep. Ok, so the DFW movie: I liked it, overall. I've read Infinite Jest & the interview book the movie is based on, & most of his other writing. I think they did a good job - a great job, considering the task of presenting a highly cerebral writer to a mainstream movie-going public.

Guess that's about it from me tonight. Gotta finish this cigarette and head back inside, finish this letter I'm writing to my gf. She's pissed at me again and I'm sleeping on the futon again, because I let the entire afternoon slip away at the bar and got drunk. And now here it is, 3am, and I'm having trouble staying asleep and I have to teach 2 brand new classes in the morning.

Ok, good night all around.

[Spiritfree]

imo the fact we have races is just more evidence of evolution being the source of humans e.g. black people are black because they evolved to have more melanin in more sunny areas. as for religion, imo its garbage made up by humans who use it to explain whats unexplainable, and in our day in age they fall victim to it because they don't think for themselves or are scared of their being nothing after death, i realise this may upset some people. to me its so obviously made up.

“The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal God and avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity. Albert Einstein"

Neo -IMHO, religions initially existed as forms of government and people control (and still do to this day). Religions offer the masses a place to belong and to feel "a part of". In a way, some religions are a good thing, and in other ways they are very negative thing (institution). My primary problem with most all religions is that I simply have no way to understand nor believe what they are preaching -so to speak; their theories just do not compute. I do have my own theory about religions and alcoholics; many alcoholics feel isolated from their communities because they are also unable to believe what they are told they need to believe and feel no sense of belonging nor direction. Eventually, some alcoholics (current/former) come to place in their own lives where they realize that they do not have to fit into the religious molds nor do they feel the need to criticize those stuck in the mold.

Neo -there is one absolute fact that exist: "We humans do not know how we got here, we do not know why we are here, and we do not know where we are going. --sf--" (lol, but true)

If we knew the answers to these questions, life would probably be boring and truly meaningless.

[NoSugar]

I've been reading on this website recently and one of his posts seems to relate to this conversation: http://www.iawwai.com/UnificationOfReligion.htm

[Spiritfree]

I've been reading on this website recently and one of his posts seems to relate to this conversation: http://www.iawwai.com/UnificationOfReligion.htm

NS -Great article -thanks for the link. I have never read this theory/belief before today, but this is certainly what I believe. Most everyone has always been taught to look for their God 'outside' of themselves.

[Spiritfree]

Funnily enough Stuck the option I have to check out also makes me realise I am making a conscious choice to stay in the game and that makes it better somehow.

Kuya-Stuck ---- interesting thoughts and thank you for posting them.

Kuya, human beings are the only animal species that can literally choose to kill itself when the pain is great enough and the brain is in true and complete disorder. The reality is that most humans do not kill themselves because they do not know where they are going and how much pain that they might undergo in leaving. In other words, for most humans who do not have a serious brain disorder, there really does not exist the choice of killing oneself off -the fear of doing so is just too overwhelming.

[Otter]

Kuya-Stuck ---- interesting thoughts and you for posting them.

Kuya, human beings are the only animal species that can literally choose to kill itself when the pain is great enough and the brain is in true and complete disorder. The reality is that most humans do not kill themselves because they do not know where they are going and how much pain that they might undergo in leaving. In other words, for most humans who do not have a serious brain disorder, there really does not exist the choice of killing oneself off -the fear of doing so is just too overwhelming.

First of all, it's not the case that humans are the only species which commit suicide. I googled it and read the Wiki article about animal suicide and there are examples of pets and other creatures committing suicide and you can't say, because you're not a depressed dog whether this is intentional.

Changes in skin colour and hair colour occurs through a process called Pleiotropy, not because people evolve to suit the weather. That idea is akin to Lysenkoism which suggested that farm crops could be genetically modified by growing plants in certain conditions. It contributed to the decline of Soviet farming because they tried to plant crops in cold weather and the crops just did not survive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiotropy

What happens with selective breeding over time, the type we get with humans over years of "class" and "social" breeding is that while people chose partners for certain reasons, such as looks, height, intelligence, or because they are more sociable and friendly this has the side effect of causing some other completely unrelated effect, like changing skin colour or hair colour. In a Russian experiment they found that selective breading of red foxes for sociability made their hair curly... They also became more infantile so that their eye colour changed to blue. Or something like that.

[terryk]

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