Category Archives: VALUES

THE BEADY EYE SAYS: THE CORONA VIRUS IS SHINING A LIGHT ON WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD AND IT IS SPREADING FAST.

21 Saturday Mar 2020

Posted by in #whatif.com, 2020: The year we need to change., CORONA VIRUS., COVID-19, Denial of Death., Disconnection., Environment, Evolution, Fourth Industrial Revolution., HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Human values., Humanity., Inequality, Life., Modern day life., Our Common Values., Post - truth politics., Reality., Refugees., Survival., Sustaniability, Technology v Humanity, Telling the truth., The common good., The essence of our humanity., The Obvious., The state of the World., The world to day., Truth, Unanswered Questions., VALUES, WHAT IS TRUTH, What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Leaders, World Organisations., World Politics

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(Ten-minute read) 


AS IF WE DID NOT KNOW it is posing that fundamental profound question once more.

Are we going to care of the Earth so it can care for us?  

It is impossible to say which way the disease will go however there is no doubt that it is creating the biggest restriction of civil liberties “in peacetime”. 

We know that we all tracked by Google.  Behind all the restrictions governments will adopt powers that they will loath to relinquish when the crises are over. 

There is every like hood that the pandemic will strengthen the state and reinforce nationalism.  What won’t change is the inequality and greed, rather it will create a less open, less prosperous and less free world. 

Of course, it did not have to be like this but it will be the straw that brakes the camel’s back of globalization and it will probably result in uncontrolled Co2 emissions.

In the short term, with decoupling and rivalry coming to the forefront driven by a cascading sense of vulnerability there will be a race to return to full production.

However the Pandemic is proof of our interdependence but we are not or are we heading for a poorer, meaner, and smaller world.

If the Pandemic shocks us into recognizing our real interests in cooperating multilaterally on the big global issues facing us all it will have served a useful purpose. 

We all know that it is not enough to think of one nation’s power over another when it comes to climate change. The key is learning the importance that we have all to act together and Covid -19 is going to show that we are failing to adjust our strategy on many fronts to this new world. 

Either way, this crisis will reshuffle the international power structure in the way we can only begin to imagine. 

If we don’t support each other the result will be instability and widespread conflict within and across nations. 

We know that there is a dramatic new stage in global capitalism on the horizon with supply chains be brought closer to home.  We are going to see failed states with billions of economic refugees on the move. 

We are going to see the USA no longer as an international leader. 

To date, international collaboration has been woefully insufficient. 

What is needed it targeted assistance that provides hope that men and woman can prevail in response to this extraordinary challenge.  

If it gets Airborne the white full personal-protection suits that presently strike fear into the hearts of us all will be worthless.

AS IF EARTH DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH PROBLEMS THE NEXT NASA PROJECT TO MARS IS SCHEDULED TO LAUNCH IN JULY. 

NASA’s 2020 Mars rover. 

The rover will collect and cache promising samples for eventual return to Earth.

The first pristine pieces of Mars won’t be coming down to Earth for at least another decade, but the time to start preparing society for the epic arrival is now. 

This is an extremely grave point.

On the one hand, we can argue that Martian organisms cannot cause any serious problems to terrestrial organisms, because there has been no biological contact for 4.5 billion years between Martian and terrestrial organisms. On the other hand, we can argue equally well that terrestrial organisms have evolved no defences against potential Martian pathogens, precisely because there has been no such contact for 4.5 billion years. The chance of such an infection may be very small, but the hazards, if it occurs, are certainly very high.

Martian rock that has already arrived on earth contained structures resembled the fossilized remains of bacteria-like lifeforms.

What if such samples turned out to be dangerous, and contagiously so?

Are there some Mars-oriented lessons to be learned from COVID-19. 

Here on earth, it is gruelling and potentially lethal work to identify a virus never mind virus from other planets. 

It is estimated that there are 1.6 million unknown viruses in birds and mammals. Of these, it is thought between 600,000 and 800,000 are zoonotic, meaning they have the potential to jump from animals to people. 

Virulence, contacts and the length of time for which people are infectious are the three factors that determine what is called ‘the basic reproductive rate’ – how far and fast the epidemic will spread. 

There may be a staggering 3,200 different types of coronavirus harboured in bats alone.


As with historical infectious disease epidemics, the coronavirus that’s spreading currently is another example of why it’s so important to understand the consequences of interacting with environments humans rarely contact and then distributing widely whatever [they] picked up.

If one looks at the outbreak in Africa, of Ebola and the HIV/Aids pandemic – which to date has killed 35 million and infected 70 million – started about a century ago in Cameroon when a chimpanzee virus was transmitted to a human who almost certainly killed, butchered or consumed it.

Markets were closed during both outbreak, but they are now once more doing a roaring trade selling tropical game including monkeys, chimpanzees, cane rats, bats and snakes. Bushmeat is entrenched in local culture and is often a vital form of subsistence, hence why the authorities are unwilling or unable to announce an outright ban.

Last, with or without artificial intelligence we continue at our collective peril to make imbalance’s in the ecosystem.

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THE BEADY EYE SAY’S: THIS CORONA VIRUS IS ASKING ALL OF US WHAT TYPE OF WORLD DO WE WANT?

19 Thursday Mar 2020

Posted by in #whatif.com, 2020: The year we need to change., CORONA VIRUS., COVID-19, Disasters., Disconnection., Evolution, Honesty., HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Human values., Humanity., Inequality, Life., Modern day life., Natural World Disasters, Our Common Values., Poverty, Reality., Refugees., Religious Beliefs., Survival., Sustaniability, Technology v Humanity, Telling the truth., The common good., The current state of our oceans., The essence of our humanity., The Future, THE FUTURE OF OUR OCEANS/SEAS, The Obvious., The Refugees, The state of the World., The world to day., Truth, Truthfulness., Unanswered Questions., VALUES, War., WHAT IS TRUTH, What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Leaders, World Organisations., World Politics

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(Seven-minute read) 

I know that humans are the only type of species that are suitable to manage the earth but it does not make them the right species!

Apparently not.

Did we ever think that we would be living in a world where it is life-threatening to go our side and I am not talking about terrorists or any other Hollywood science fiction movie scenario?

There’s a lot of bad news out there but this is not a death sentence. 

 It’s time to save the world. ” We can use it as we wish”

No one owns the earth. No one has the right to do whatever they want.

We’re not the only thing that lives here, nor are we more important in any way.

We cannot use the world as we please as our actions are endangering not just us but other species. 

Our Earth was meant to be lived on in union with its Ecosystems and we cannot allow that to be broken.

The Coronavirus ( Covid  19 ) is illuminating what is wrong with our world. 

So our most crucial life questions are: 

What Kind of World Do We Want to Leave to Our Children?

Whatever your interest — whether it’s the environment, health care, poverty, or education — there are simple steps each of us can take to make life better not just for someone in our own community. 

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” now needs an Earth Declaration. 

Here are the top six of my non-legal binding the goals.  

Use Global Warming to Solve Global Warming.

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts to protect, restore, and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss.

Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development.

Sustainable Development Goals which will take years for a critical mass of governments to actually rally behind. 

The allocation of resources to fight climate change and other environmental issues over the next decade can be achieved by making a profit for profit sake pay. ( See the previous post on a 0.05% World Aid Commission. How it could be implemented so the costs are spread fairly) 

End poverty in all its forms everywhere.

Global poverty. Reduce inequality within and among countries. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

Expand access to clean drinking water, green energy.

Artificial Intelligence and Automation. 

The 2020s sounds like such a radical futuristic decade however to strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development requires a coherent and plausible conception of social justice. A basic income, a periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means-test or work requirement.

Stop the sale of arms. 

The estimate of the total value of the global arms trade in 2017 was at least $95 billion.* However, the true figure is likely to be higher. On any given day at any given moment in your life, there are at least 15 wars and armed conflicts actively going on all around the world — even if you’re only hearing about a few of them on the news.

There are an estimated 11-12 million refugees in the world today with between 12-24 million Internally Displaced Persons.

Electoral Reform with Citizens’ Assemblies. 

These aren’t just focus groups or consultations though but for the members to engage in serious, informed reflection on important policy matters with people they may never normally meet.

As Hubert Reeves ( Canadian-French Astrophysicist) say’s, ” Man is the most insane species. He worships an invisible God and Destroys a Visible Nature. Unaware that this Nature he’s destroying is this God he’s worshipping “

Feel free to have idea sex between your ideas and mine so we can come up with even better ideas. It’s a way of saying: “We agree that these are the world’s top priorities right now.”

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THE BEADY EYE LOOKS AT THE CRISES FACING THE WORLD.

08 Sunday Mar 2020

Posted by in 2020: The year we need to change., Artificial Intelligence., Capitalism, Disasters., Environment, HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Human values., Inequality, Life., Modern day life., Natural World Disasters, Our Common Values., Poverty, Survival., Sustaniability, Technology, Technology v Humanity, The common good., The essence of our humanity., The Obvious., The state of the World., The world to day., Unanswered Questions., VALUES, War, WHAT IS TRUTH, What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Leaders, World Organisations., World Politics

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Five minute read.

With all aspects of our life made into a form of viewing entertainment. We live in a world that has become desensitized. 

The result is that most if not all of us pay little attention to the state of Earth.

The drawn-out nature of many crises now facing us all underscores the importance of coming together to urgently resolve the root causes of a humanitarian crisis.

It is unlikely the situation will improve. 

 Where do you even start? Which issues are the most urgent?

 

So this post is not intended to be an exhaustive list. Rather, it serves as an overview of some of the major issues all global citizens should be aware of.

Sometimes it can seem as though there are too many – from climate change to inequality around the world, too many people living without access to medical care its not worth knowing. 

But just in case here is why we are in such a mess. 

12.9% of the world is undernourished, about 30% of the adult population is overweight.

Conflict continues to drive displacement and food insecurity but communicable diseases are still responsible for 71% of deaths.

The international community, and in particular wealthy nations, are failing to meaningfully share the responsibility for protecting people who have fled their homes in search of safety. 

  • 25.9 million refugees globally — the highest level ever recorded
  • Half of the world’s refugees are children
  • A third of refugees — 6.7 million people — is hosted by the world’s poorest countries
A mother rocks her sick child in a camp in Afghanistan's Badghis' Muqur district, where the IRC supports displaced families.

Driven by nearly two decades of conflict and political instability; 9.4 million Afghans (25 per cent of the population) need humanitarian assistance. There are almost 2.5 million registered Afghan refugees living outside the country.

4.6 million Venezuelans have fled the country as of November 2019. 

There are over 2 million displaced Nigerians.

Eleven million Syrians (65 per cent of the population) are in need of humanitarian assistance.

The Democratic Republic of Congo 15.9 million people require humanitarian assistance. 

Over 24 million Yemenis (80 per cent of the population) are in need of humanitarian assistance,

South Sudan 7.5 million people need humanitarian assistance. 

600 million children are not mastering basic mathematics and literacy while at school.

Forests are key to producing the air we breathe, yet these are being depleted at a rate of 26 million hectares every year.

Extinctions are happening at what scientists estimate to be about 1,000 times the normal pace. Not only are we losing flora and fauna, but we are also damaging our ecosystems, and throwing them out of balance

Our oceans are under threat.  

Sand and gravel are now the most-extracted materials in the world, exceeding fossil fuels and biomass.

Climate change is another issue.

There is actually not enough fresh water for each person currently living on the planet. 

Population growth. The number of people on the planet is set to rise to 9.7 billion in 2050 with 2 billion aged over 60.

More than 61 million jobs have been lost since the start of the global economic crisis in 2008, leaving more than 200 million people unemployed globally.

With 43% of the world’s population connected to the internet, regulatory frameworks are unable to keep up.

In this complex moment in history, in which so many are suffering and the Earth itself is in peril

The cloud of nuclear destruction hangs over each of our days.

But the question remains what kind of society do we want to have?

The reasons behind current trends are many and complex.

The detail of the information that we are beginning to capture about our world is mind-blowing. The granularity of the data we are beginning to collect through advances in technology. While improving our lives through cleaner energy sources, personalized nanomedicine and nano-engineered materials.

In all of these areas, progress will undoubtedly lead to a reduction in conventional jobs and inequality on a global scale not seen before.

But technology alone can not break the self-reinforcing mechanism that causes poverty to persist. 

As highly innovative products emerging will, however, promote inequality if only a few have access to this new technology and the knowledge to master it.

Education is probably the single most important tool for turning technology into an engine for opportunities for all.

Public policies, which are currently mainly focused on fostering economic growth, should focus on providing further opportunities, less inequality and a more sustainable economic, social and environmental future.

Technology is not the solution but it is, for sure, a powerful tool towards achieving this ambitious objective.

Whether it’s turning promises on climate change into action, rebuilding trust in the financial system, or connecting the world to the internet there is an overall lack of long-term investment, which has serious implications for global growth.

But the most astonishing canvas is right in front of us if only we would listen with our ear to the earth we might see the light we cannot see.

In short, the world urgently needs a new, global plan based on genuine international cooperation and a meaningful and fair sharing of responsibilities. 

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https://youtu.be/dnxRCHVLGRo

THE BEADY EYE LOOK’S AT SURVIVAL: FOR VAST EXISTENCE OF HUMANS THE CORONA VIRUS IS THE FIRST TIME THAT THERE LIVES ARE A RISK.

04 Wednesday Mar 2020

Posted by in CORONA VIRUS., Denial of Death., Evolution, Human values., Humanity., Life., Modern day life., Natural selection., Our Common Values., Reality., Survival., Sustaniability, Telling the truth., The common good., The essence of our humanity., The Obvious., The world to day., Unanswered Questions., VALUES, WHAT IS TRUTH, What Needs to change in the World

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Ten minutes read. 

Our thoughts and actions are triggered by neurological processes we don’t

control.  Paradoxically, the more we integrate mindfulness with our daily

lives we realise that the only reality we have is the present moment, the more

life may seem somewhat pointless – because we are living as if this is all

there is.

Richard Dawkins, “life has no higher purpose than to perpetuate the survival of  DNA…life has no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference”

As per his perspective of a human being, we are born, we grow old and older and die.

Survival is just a part of your life.

Other words after I am gone, there is no world because there is no ‘me’ to behold it.

So, my purpose of life should be to enjoy and stay happy in those 100 years instead of worrying to make the world “a better place.”

However, I say the last thing you want to do is die and realise you haven’t truly lived.

We might not be able to help live our lives in denial of death like a flower that dies and is blooming next spring.  

Of course, the Theory of Evolution does not explain the origins of life.

 It explains how life, once created, changes over time. Although origins of life are related to evolution.  It is an accessory topic and area of study on a planet that will come of age when it works out the reason for its own existence.

As it appears with the present virus Corona that is affecting the old and weak, sparing the young and strong there are many different ways that evolution can happen in a population, including both artificial selection and natural selection.

The realisation that we are technically on autopilot and without free will, adds another new dimension to the question – What is the point of life if not survival?

Members of the public might be able to describe natural selection as survival of the fittest but pressed for further explanation of the term, however, most answer incorrectly.

Someone not familiar with what natural selection really is might take “fittest” to mean the best physical specimen of the species and that only those in the best shape and best health will survive in nature.

That isn’t always the case.

By that definition, then, the survival of the fittest might not be the best way to describe natural selection as it applies to evolution.

Now that this idea is stuck in our lexicon, there isn’t much that can be done to help others understand the actual meaning of the phrase beyond explaining the intended definition of the word “fittest” and the context in which it was said.

It follows that individuals with favourable adaptations will live long enough to pass their genes to their offspring.

I can take full control of my life right this second. I can act in full awareness of a particular thought of my choice. I can seize this moment to take action.

I’m not fully in control of my actions in this one; then truly, what is the point to all this doing, competing, struggling, striving, working, accumulating, etc.

Both impart that our species can adapt and change in order to survive.

On the face of it survival seems like the most unanswerable question there is, a question that nags our existence from start to finish. However natural selection will “select” the trait that is more beneficial for the species’ survival.

That’s the only answer we have available.

None of us will be travelling to any distant planets so its time we started to share what is left of this one.

It is not that there’s nothing to hope for in the future; because it doesn’t exist, but everything to perceive in the now.

The Coronavirus is one of those circumstances that can drive divergent evolution include natural disasters like volcanoes, weather phenomena, the spread of disease, or an overall climate change in an area in which the species lives.

Divergent evolution becomes necessary for survival in a changing environment.

After we die what is truly reminiscent of our existence- our progeny.

I hope my guide will enlighten you because survival is not the purpose of life, it is only a necessity!

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THE BEADY EYE LOOK’S AT THE TRUTH: ARE WE BECOMING MORE THAN COMPLACENT WHEN IT COMES TO HONESTY.

03 Tuesday Mar 2020

Posted by in 2020: The year we need to change., CORONA VIRUS., Dehumanization., Digital age., Disconnection., Fake News., Honesty., Human values., Humanity., Inequality, Life., Modern day life., Political Trust, Post - truth politics., Reality., Social Media., Technology v Humanity, Telling the truth., The essence of our humanity., The Obvious., The state of the World., The world to day., Truthfulness., Unanswered Questions., VALUES, WHAT IS TRUTH, What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage.

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Seventeen minutes read.

We must reclaim reality if not reality will reclaim us.

In a profound and globally interconnected world all our actions and in-actions matter. Nothing on this planet happens in a bubble.

Honesty is truth and the truth sets us free.

To be honest, everything you do directly affects everyone around you and everyone on the planet; and not just what you do, but also what you think, say, feel and believe.

We must all become completely responsible for ourselves and the global society we live in, and especially for all the problems that our global society has created and perpetuated. We don’t solve the problems of the world by blaming others, punishing them or shifting responsibility on to them or others who appear to be in charge, including governments, countries, religions, political systems, economic systems or anything else.

Perhaps with the Corona Virus, we are just beginning to learn this long and hard lesson.

What does it take to be honest?

To be free from deceit.

William Shakespeare ” No legacy is so rich as honesty”

Although often invoked, the concept of honesty is quite tricky to characterize in a world that is driven by inequality, inflicted by false news-Social media, plundered by unregulated profit-seeking algorithms, torn apart by wars, facing mass climate immigration, undermined by world institutions that are out of date.

George Grant, the Canadian philosopher, said ” “values language is an obscuring language for morality, used when the idea of purpose has been destroyed.”

The German philosopher Nietzsche saw all this last century but in all disciplines and at all levels (judges in law, ethics professors in medicine, university professors in a host of disciplines, politicians in all parties and, alas, religious leaders in all traditions) have not realized this point and continue to speak about “values” when they often seem to be discussing something they believe is true.

What is interesting is, these things are not simply, “you have yours, I have mine.” They are not values. They are a world away from “values.” We cannot say, “you have your courage and I have mine.”

I say we “cannot have a meaningful notion of “tolerance” “respect” or “dignity” or “honesty” based on an incoherent base of “values.”

That is why we no longer have any confidence that there are any shared purposes for human life.

spiritual materialism

To tell the truth is one thing, but the whole truth requires far more detail and doesn’t allow for the omission of anything, including the thought process associated with action or conclusion.

Despite its centrality in ordinary life as well as ethics and philosophy of psychology, honesty is not a major trend of research in the contemporary philosophical debate.

We have become so complacent that the conduct of elected governments is questionable.

Telling the truth — the whole truth — is, at times, practically and theoretically impossible as well as morally not required or even wrong.

 

Hypocrisy and intellectual dishonesty are character traits so deeply embedded in our Political worlds that we no longer even take notice.

But honesty means more than not lying it is the language of values.

Integrity, Honour, Virtue, Morality, Fidelity, Probity, Rectitude, Veracity, Faithfulness, Truthfulness, Trustworthiness, Straightness, Incorruptibility, Scrupulousness, Uprighttness, Reputability, Plain speaking, Frankness.

It is not “imposing values” but “teaching in truth”

These day’s honesty is on an entirely different level.

As we have seen with Julian Assange revealing what is actually happening can be less than ideal to the ego-mind.

If honesty is not telling the whole truth, what is it?

That is indeed a major question, who in this world of false news is to say which particulars are relevant?

What we need is a TRANSPARENT society, where all the values and virtues of democracy and the free market are really at the service of all of us.

This is what democracy is supposed to be.

But this concept is so far from reality, even in the perceptions of the people in the most consolidated political democracies, that we really need to question what is wrong with our society.

Not just changing this single moment in time but rather gifting all future generations to come.

We Are Living in “The Time of Great Awakening!”

What will our descendants in 200 years say about us?

That our lives were terrible because our cars could not fly, our computers had no protobio-chips and so could not think like humans, our planes could not fly around the planet in 30 minutes?

I think not.

The honest truth is that it is too complicated.

All the virtues are shared as objectively true but they are personal in how they apply to us as persons.

Does it even make sense to say that most of us are not honest and also not dishonest?

We assume, that most of us go through our day with the best intention of being truthful. All our conduct, in a sense, hinges on justice, wisdom/prudence, temperance/moderation, and courage/fortitude.

Only those who can face themselves, in all their own peculiarity, seem to be capable of developing a persona that is true to the self — hence, authentic if not honest.

It appears that much of our learning and education is to learn what the word means.

It is not simply or at all a question of “you have yours, I have mine”?

The day we will be able to push our evolution towards a point to achieve these goals, these values, that day and only that day, we can ask ourselves again:  “Is our world we live in really better?”

To be honest, as this world goes its one truth at a time at the point of a gun that

makes honesty into a disposition?

Consequently, we cannot order any human action towards an end, because all means are related to ends.

Is honesty genetic?

Honesty comes with a different lens, and it has a knack of revealing certain truths and they come with different levels of discomfort attached to them. So there comes a point at which honesty becomes something else.

That something else is survival.

The kind of world we are living in, there are economic/social benefits of dishonesty. Given this, and the concept of natural selection, will the truth gene(s), gradually become extinct?

It may take years of science to discover.

As the man-made “lie-gene” is still blessed by every government in every nation.

WE’VE LONG BEEN TOLD OUR GENES ARE OUR DESTINY AND THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS THE GENETIC CODE CAN BE ALTERED.

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Our egos are the parts of our identities created by external influences to boost their own sense of self.

 

posting about it all over social media. which closes us off from the world  

It’s pandering to a market the world seems to want right now. 

Were sold algorithms that only add to the materialism.

An honest action is that with no intent of harm.

One primary reason is the influence of social media despise the truth from  life,

can’t get away with lying

There are a few ways to tell if you’ve fallen victim to this superficial, materialistic spirituality. We’re told we need stuff in order to be the best, but no one tells us there is no best.