CompuServe Messages

Gayle, With all your positive influences and your predisposition to the positive influences and psychology of "Trekkies" I am saddened by your pessimism. All your points are well made on both accounts, your positive projection on the potential on the one had and your well founded realisations about "humanity" on the other. Obviously I can't prove of disprove your conclusions. I will tell you a little about myself as a point of reference. I grew up with a father who was a covert cold warrior. I was born in 1956 en route to Taiwan at the height of the cold war. At that time the intelligence community believed that nuclear war was immeninent. My father confidentially told my mother this. I spent the better part of my youth dealing with the threat of nuclear annihilation and Communism. It was a very pessimitic upbringing. Out of self preservation and a certain amount of luck, ie: skill, talent, brains etc. I realised that in spite of all the pessimism in the world, that people do change things and that they can make a difference. My father while being a total pessimist was also fond of quoting the story of Horatio at the Bridge. Well my father along with many other cold warriors never would have believed that Sovite Union would collapse the way it did. Communism is not dead but has been delt a severe blow. Even in China it has had to re-orient its economy to make "communism" work. I attribute this to the indominable spirit in all mankind, even with as structured and orderly people as the Chinese. Sure humanity has a maddness, it always has, back to the time of the Spartans who would kill their own babies if they appeared weak and sick. And yet we have evolved beyond that to the point that we appreciate the wonderful contributions of Stephen Hawking, who, had Spartan philosophy pervaded would never have had a chance to make the contributions he has. And those contributions are elementary to the exploration of space travel and what the human potential may achieve. I am neither an optimist nor a pessimist but I realise that its the optimists against all odds that achieve the most. A blind trust in what is possible, ignoring the conventions or wisdom of the time. Some of whom put thier lives on the line, only to be proven correct many years later. I have no children, but for mankind there has to be hope. I realise that man has an innate disposition to violence and atrocities, but its a bridled disposition. What kind of reckless courage allows a man or a woman to strap themselves down to a Saturn 5 to explore the outer limits of our atmosphere? The same kind I suspect that allows a mother to rush into a burning house to rescue her children. That is the positive side. The negative side results from a poor sense of self worth, "I have no value so nothing else has value." Or the primal instinct to kill to attain, or to kill for the sake of killing, which must be a powerful drug, as so many wars have been fought. I recall one writer, who in search of the reason men fight wars finally concluded that its because they like to. Not very encouraging to be sure. But there is a powerful strength hidden behind this brutal exterior. A willingness to take a chance even when all odds are against it. Men and women have been able to achieve remarkable things at great personal sacrifice. Where does this sense of self sacrifice come from? On the one hand we are very self preservation oriented, but on the other willingness to go into battle for a cause we believe in. So as a result we must conclude that not only do we have a strong sense of self preservation but also a self destructive tendency. The Yin and the Yang. <g> The problems arises when the self destructive tendency overtakes the sense of self preservation. This often results from a lack of self esteem. The argument is in your favor. As the world becomes more populated, human value becomes more diminished, as human value becomes more diminished, people suffer less self esteem. Less self esteem breeds violence. But! Have you noticed that in Communist China that just when the ID had all been but totally smashed, there was a small awakening with a small group of elites and their realisation caused a revolution which is totally changing the nature and complexion of China, for the better of the individual as a whole. Yes its relative, but it is unleashing a powerful force driven by the individuals ability to create a better life for him/herself. The indominable human spirit. Whether Asian, African, European et al each are having their own quiet and not so quiet revolutions. Yes there is pain and suffering along the route, but look also at what is happening. South Africa has just had a democratically elected Black for the first time in history, Israel and the Palenstinians are reaching an agreement after several thousand years of war and terrorism. The Soviet Union is trying to rebuild, East and West Germany are restructuring their economies. All these things nobody would have believed possible 15 years ago. So now you think I'm an optimist. <g> Not really. I just don't discount mankind's fight for survival which on the surface appears different than in the grande scheme of things it is. Mankind will make it to the stars. He has no choice, he will do so or die trying, its in his soul to do so. As far back as man's recorded history he has had a fascination with what is out there and as he explored the great oceans, he will explore the stars. (You can add "He" to equal "he/she". ) BTW I didn't make an anthropocentric case that alien life would even resemble our own. I did make a case however that certain things would have to be handled in the way of challenges for a species to evolve to a point that they could travel the stars. Without a mastery of fire, a common "element", tools could not be forged, and without a mastery of nuclear power, space ships could not be fueled. This could be debated as liquid hydrogen is also in much abundance but the weight to thrust ratio would be prohibitive for all but travelling in ones own solar system. And as stars are nuclear powered it is a fairly safe assumption that any life forms that plans to achieve intergalactic travel with have to deal with the nuclear issue in some fashion to enable the technology to travel the stars. Of course this discounts 4th dimension and mind travel; not having enough scientific evidence to substantiate, which for the time being has to be put on hold as a possibility. <g> -JE