I went searching for beauty today and found an alligator, spiders, birds and more birds ...
http://www.flickr.com/...
These photographs constitute my argument for humankind to live at peace with Nature and each other as we all should spend our time appreciating the beauty and astonishing diversity of the living world. Life is too short of violence, warfare, competition and capitalism.
Recently someone complained that I had antagonized the atheists with a previous post of mine regarding atheism's infinite regression. I am not inclined to shed a tear for the sorrows of the atheists. I lost all sympathy for atheism during the final five years of the George W. Bush presidency as plenty of atheists aligned with Christian fundamentalists as they sought to spread prejudice, bigotry, irrational fear and violent wishes against the Muslims.
It is remarkable how many atheists were in favor of warfare, torture, crimes against humanity and some very nearly became proponents of genocide against the Muslims. Christopher Hitchens in particular was an outspoken defender of George W. Bush, warmongers and torturers. He wasn't alone either as any casual reading of the atheist literature published since 9/11 contains many explicit and implict wishes to exterminate an entire religion either passively or actively, either by conversion or by warfare.
So, no, I have no sympathy whatsoever for the atheists. If they have become upset by something which I have said ... let them stay upset. (Has anyone ever met a happy atheist? I haven't and I have searched for several decades.)
***
Comments I made about the end of human space exploration provoked a person to suggest I read:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Which suggests, among other things, that NASA do the following ...
Shuttle Extension - this program would include an extension of ISS through 2020, and would eliminate the purchase of Soyuz flights by extending Shuttle through 2015.
Which, I have to say, is just unfortunate. You are wishing for an impossibility.
Yet the goal of humans exploring space is still lost:
The following options utilize what is called Flexible option - this is a plan that would get you into lunar orbit, let you visit Near Earth Objects (NEO aka asteroids), points called Lagrange points, and potentially even Mars orbit.
Initially the goal is NOT to actually land on Luna, or Mars.
Well, if your plan doesn't lead to astronauts landing on the moon or Mars it seems like we are more in agreement than disagreement. There's no need to plan for these eventualities because they aren't ever going to happen.
Humankind will have an entirely new set of priorities by 2015 and technological civilization will be well on the path to absolute collapse by 2030.
There's no future for humankind in space. There's no future for humankind on Mars. There's no future for humankind on the moon.
Nor is there any future for humankind on the Earth. Humans have chosen a dead-end path leading to extinction and nothing else.
Humans really should have lived differently but our species never was peaceful and could never choose peace over self-destruction.
David Mathews
http://www.flickr.com/...