2003-10-15 - 10:21 p.m.
I have decided that the world is in enough danger that it is necessary for me to try and save it. I do not have high hopes of my ability to do this, but I can see no harm in trying. I do not have to do it alone though, I've got friends who not only believe in me, but will do there best in support of the same cause. Though the very magnitued of the task is formidable, the real task lies in identifying the problem, and from there, deducing the solution.
The horror stories of the possibilities of huge totalitarian governments oppressing the world seem less and less like fantasy every day. I'd seen so many movies about the advent of machine consciousness, yet I never believed anyone would actually be stupid enough to allow machines the means to kill humans. Programmers, like myself, are given contests by military departments to design more efficient pattern recognition programs, programs that learn and evolve, programs that can perform complex physical operations, such as navigating a rough terrain. While they do it for the challenge, or the award and the recognition, the actual ends that their work may come to are far from honorable. I am not against smarter machines, but they must be given limits to their capabilities, and using them in the military... I shudder to think. This is only one problem we face though.
What is the real problem? Is there any one underlying cause for the dismal things I can see in the future? The military seems like a good possibility, but what is responsible for it. Fear, tradition, competition... there is so much wrong, I wonder if the world can ever be righted. Certainly there is no true utopia awaiting us, but surely there must be a way to avert the approaching crisis?
I believe the answer right now is unification, a dissolving of all nations, so that we might be simply humans, rather than Americans, Russians, and Frenchmen. But is it possible? So much stands in the way. Asides from the nations unwillingness to lose power to form a greater authority, every single difference between people, from sex, to color, to religion and language, make it more difficult for us to unite. We must be able to look past our differences though, how can we not? Never in my life have I been taught the status quo of discrimination. I've learned nothing but acceptance of people during my life and education. So why does it continue to persist generation after generation? Has it just not been given enough time? Is it simply human nature to behave this way.
My worst fear is that people will not be able to unite because of the fear of losing their identity. They want to be different, to be individuals, cliques, communites, states, nations. For, when I say I am American, it means that I am not a Englishman, not a Frenchman, not Japanese, etc. However, as one country, I may say I'm human, but what purpose does the distinction provide without something outside it to compare? Do we need this type of comparison to establish our identity?
There is too much I still do not know of the world to come up with any sort of a plan, or even a decent guess at one. I will strive to expand my experiences, knowledge, friends, and resources though, and perhaps eventually. For now, premoting the Unitarian Universalists seems like a worthy cause. Please take a moment to consider it if you will.
Organized religion has been a major bane to society over the past centuries. True, it has accomplished much good, but it has also been the impetus for several atrocities, and the same good it has created could be reached by a different means. Unitarian Universalism is an organized religion, but is unlike any other in the world. It has no doctrine, its only required beliefs are that requiring the respect of other people's rights, and the acceptance of others' beliefs. Unitarians strive to learn more about the world and the spiritual, but must decide for themselves what they believe. Thus, any major religion can be encompassed by Unitarianism, as the individual beliefs are what are most important about the religions.
Personally, even the orginization of the Unitarians is not appealing, but people have a need of such a community, and I could not see any other body serve the function better than it. Unitarians do not tend to do missionary work, or to try and spread the religion though, which I think is unfortunate. While other churches need to find new members often irritates me, this is mostly because they are looking to enforce their beliefs on its members. The only values the Unitarians enforce are ones that seem to me to be universal. Imagine if it spread throughout the world. Everybody able to seek out spiritual fulfillment, discover their relationship with God (or that there is no God), at the same time having respect for everyone elses ability to do so.
I have been harsh to organized religions again, and I am sorry to anyone that I have offended. However, someday I hope not to be. The emphasis on religion over beliefs saddens me greatly, and I think it to be one of the true evils of the world. People are looking at the world backwards, taught to from their youth, until they perpetuate it when they have kids. Consider Emerson's words: "The whole world holds on to formal Religion, and nobody teaches the essential truth, the heart of religion. ... Instead of making Religion the vehicle of truth, [they] make truth only a horse for Religion." (I have substituted the word religion in for Christianity, as I think this suits my point better). If only I could put it in such elegant terms. This worship of the intermediate between yourself and truth distracts you from your worship of truth, what I think anyone would agree is of real worth. I am so convinced of this that it borders on being closed minded, but I cannot very well see how it could be otherwise. What arguments could one possibly raise against such sentiment? If you can imagine one, please, enlighten me as I do not wish to be ignorant. I say this in all seriousness, speak up, if I error.
