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Pastimes : Don't Ask Rambi -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: E who wrote (41862)	11/16/1999 12:34:00 AM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 71178

Excellent, and cogent, points, E. I suspect that Nihil, that old curmudgeon, agrees with you 100%, but I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he breaks something heavy over my head, instead. That's ok, my skull bone is at least an inch thick.

To: E who wrote (41862)	11/16/1999 8:54:00 AM
From: nihil	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 71178

All IMO, of course, which has no particular value. My view is that only nonhuman purpose of man is to understand the universe. My guess is the universe has no idea of what it is doing -- no consciousness. Man at least has moments of consciousness in which it wonders what life and thought are all about. Human purpose is to wonder why everything is. No other natural force seems involved in doing this until we contact some other intelligent creature. Except for this scientific venture mankind's internal stuff is useful almost exclusively to mankind itself. It is IMO no more significant than dogkind's internal ruminations (of which we know next to nothing -- but I think it has to do with imaginary hunting small mobile creatures). We give ourselves much too much credit. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel means no more to the universe than a particularly outstanding eagle nest or termite hill. If you watch carefully what science (genomics) is up to, you will see that we are shortly to start producing thousands of new varieties of human beings with startlingly different powers, strengths and weaknesses. The future is stranger than anyone can imagine. And the door is scientific knowledge. Of course, many will try to stop this discovery, but it cannot be stopped. Biological hackers are on the loose. It isn't going to be any fun for most of us, but it is going to be amazing.