02 MAR 2019 by ideonexus
Cultural Change in Technology
As our modern dinosaurs crash down around us, I sometimes wonder what kind of humans will eventually walk out of this epic transformation. Trump and the populism that’s rampaging around the world today, marked by xenophobia, racism, sexism, and rising inequality, is greatly amplified by the forces the GDE has unleashed. For someone like me who saw the power of connection build a vibrant, technologically meshed ecosystem distinguished by peace, love, and understanding, the polarization and h... 1 
notes
notes24 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
Resistance to World Government
The case for World Government as Hamilton and Einstein presented it is logically compelling. Fortunately or unfortunately, World Government has a fatal defect. Nobody wants it. At the time when Einstein preached World Government most seriously, he was bitterly attacked by Soviet scientific colleagues as well as by patriotic American politicians. "By the irony of fate," the Soviet scientists proclaimed, "Einstein has virtually become a supporter of the schemes and ambitions of the bitterest fo... 1 notes
notes09 AUG 2013 by ideonexus
War is an Alien Threat
More than a century ago a young Frenchman, Alexis de Tocqueville, visited America. After that visit he predicted that the two great powers of the future world would be, on one hand, the United States, which would be built, as he said, ``by the plowshare,'' and, on the other, Russia, which would go forward, again, as he said, ``by the sword.'' Yet need it be so? Cannot swords be turned to plowshares? Can we and all nations not live in peace? In our obsession with antagonisms of the moment, we ... 1 notes
notesRonald Reagan suggests we would put aside our differences if threatened by extraterrestrials, but then notes that war is an alien threat--alien to how we desire to live.
06 FEB 2013 by ideonexus
Desiderata
Go placidly amidst the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your...
1 Also known as "Spock Thoughts."
19 JAN 2013 by ideonexus
Isaiah 2:4
He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore.A passage arguing for peace, where "swords to plowshares" comes from.
11 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Science Reveals the Wonder of a Mundane World
Where the untrained eye will see nothing but mire and dirt, Science will often reveal exquisite possibilities. The mud we tread under our feet in the street is a grimy mixture of clay and sand, soot and water. Separate the sand, however, as Ruskinn observes—let the atoms arrange themselves in peace according to their nature—and you have the opal. Separate the clay, and it becomes a white earth, fit for the finest porcelain; or if it still further purifies itself, you have a sapphire. Take...Turning mud into wonder.
13 APR 2012 by ideonexus
Sit down before fact as a little child
Science seems to me to teach in the highest and strongest manner the great truth which is embodied in the Christian conception of entire surrender to the will of God. Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and to whatever abysses nature leads, or you shall learn nothing. I have only begun to learn content and peace of mind since I have resolved at all risks to do this.Folksonomies: religion spirituality
Folksonomies: religion spirituality
1 notes
notesAdvice from Thomas Henry Huxley on emulating Christian behavior of surrender to god.
15 DEC 2011 by ideonexus
Mary Baine on Comforting Patients
One cannot help a man to come to accept his impending death if he remains in severe pain, one cannot give spiritual counsel to a woman who is vomiting, or help a wife and children say their goodbyes to a father who is so drugged that he cannot respond. 1 notes
notesPatients cannot have peace of mind while they are in distress. (From: 'Principles of Symptom Control')
12 APR 2011 by ideonexus
On the Nature of Things...
No single thing abides; but all things flow.
Fragment to fragment clings-the things thus grow
Until we know and name them. By degrees
They melt, and are no more the things we know.
Globed from the atoms falling slow or swift
I see the suns, I see the systems lift
Their forms; and even the systems and the suns
Shall go back slowly to the eternal drift.
You too, oh earth-your empires, lands, and seas -
Least with your stars, of all the galaxies,
Globed from the drift like these, like these you ...An ancient poem on the nature of reality and science as the guiding light.
10 JAN 2011 by TGAW
Sarajevo and the Importance of Trees
Do whatever you can to stop the killing, to bring about peace, and then bring us trees.Folksonomies: trees
Folksonomies: trees
1 notes
notesIn 1992, the city of Sarajevo had 26,111 trees. Three years of war later, only 6,117 remained. Kemal Kurspahic, the editor in chief of a Sarajevo newspaper, articulated the importance of trees in the city. His first wish was for peace. The second thing on his list-- trees.
