Evolution and Consciousness: The Scourge of Man

Evolution is simply change from one form to another. Generally, it must by definition tend towards an upward or forward motion. Those new ideas that don't work are weeded out, but those that do continue and prosper. In this way evolution is a good thing for the species, but as you'll see, not always good for the individual.

There are different kinds of evolution, insofar as we can group together its various forms into an undetermined number of subgroups based solely on one's perception of the change taking place. The evolution of love or friendship, for example, is perceptibly different than the evolution of the sizes of dinosaur species from the Jurassic Period to the Triassic Period. However, the same general concept of a pattern of change still exists.

Now let's take our dinosaur example. At a time there existed the large hulking masses of the sauropods. Food was plentiful, so they could individually support their sizes. They multiply and their species dominate. But many million years pass and the sauropod's environment changes. Whole climates change and what types of food (plants) which once thrived and fed the equally thriving sauropods are becoming more scarce. As, therefore, are the sauropods.

With a changing climate and less food dinosaurs that don't eat as much (i.e. that are smaller) prosper and the sauropods... go the way of the dinosaurs. For dinosaurs as a whole, this change to smaller sizes promises their continued prosperity while part of the group which was in a different climate very strong, the sauropods are now reaching extinction.

The same process occurs countless other times, even in man. But, unlike other species (to the best of our knowledge) mankind is the only species that can understand what is going on, if still unable to stop it at all.

Luckily, man doesn't take millions of years to evolve ideologically for instance. Each generation brings its perception of its own collective experiences and creates an ideology which individually and as a group is best suited, in their opinions, to their survival.

With each new generation looking to conquer the challenges of their world, older ideologies are replaced. It is safe to say that the average person will at one point in their lives be on the forefront, the middle, and part of a tired, ill-fitting ideology. Granted there will always be some who are only the 1st or 3rd.

The problem with our evolutions is that we are conscious of them and when we became outdated we tend to blame new ideologies. In this we are correctly naming the source of our ill-fate but incorrectly so in placing blame. Each generation has battles to win and ironically the price of success is to be destined to fight against further evolution. The hunter becomes the hunted. In this way it is hypercritical to blame evolution for our ill-fates. Blame our own individual consciousnesses if you must. After all, though losers in the end, large dinosaurs undoubtedly lived happier without knowing they were steadily becoming outdated.

One of the Most Amazing Sarah Palin Spoofs I've Seen

Fighting for Health Coverage in America

Spread this near and far to every person who will listen.


"The Cause of My Life"
by Senator Kennedy
July 18th 2009

In 1964, I was flying with several companions to the Massachusetts Democratic Convention when our small plane crashed and burned short of the runway. My friend and colleague in the Senate, Birch Bayh, risked his life to pull me from the wreckage. Our pilot, Edwin Zimny, and my administrative assistant, Ed Moss, didn't survive. With crushed vertebrae, broken ribs, and a collapsed lung, I spent months in New England Baptist Hospital in Boston. To prevent paralysis, I was strapped into a special bed that immobilizes a patient between two canvas slings. Nurses would regularly turn me over so my lungs didn't fill with fluid. I knew the care was expensive, but I didn't have to worry about that. I needed the care and I got it.

Now I face another medical challenge. Last year, I was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Surgeons at Duke University Medical Center removed part of the tumor, and I had proton-beam radiation at Massachusetts General Hospital. I've undergone many rounds of chemotherapy and continue to receive treatment. Again, I have enjoyed the best medical care money (and a good insurance policy) can buy.

But quality care shouldn't depend on your financial resources, or the type of job you have, or the medical condition you face. Every American should be able to get the same treatment that U.S. senators are entitled to.

This is the cause of my life. It is a key reason that I defied my illness last summer to speak at the Democratic convention in Denver—to support Barack Obama, but also to make sure, as I said, "that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American…will have decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not just a privilege." For four decades I have carried this cause—from the floor of the United States Senate to every part of this country. It has never been merely a question of policy; it goes to the heart of my belief in a just society. Now the issue has more meaning for me—and more urgency—than ever before. But it's always been deeply personal, because the importance of health care has been a recurrent lesson throughout most of my 77 years....

Read on at: http://www.newsweek.com/id/207406/page/1

Life Lessons...

1. Believe in yourself at least twice as much as you do now.

2. Sometimes it helps to pretend to be happy. You might forget why you're not for a bit and actually feel better.

3. Your successes are dependent largely on your outlook.

4. If you want something enough you can achieve it (short of resurrection of course).

5. If you aren't getting what you want, maybe you're looking in the wrong places. Maybe you don't really know what you want.

6. If you can't answer why you need something, then you don't really need it. You may need something else.

7. The biggest social handicap is worrying too much about others reactions to what you do. Just do it (legally of course) and worry less about possible negative outcomes.

8. Some relationships are fixable. But many times we misunderstand which are and which aren't.

9. Don't ever change who you are for another person.

10. You think you can do better than the person that you're with but you're afraid that you'll never find something better. Simply solution... LEAVE. You can and will do better.

11. If you're nervous talk things out to yourself. If you can't talk them out, they're not going to go right anyways.

12. Always, always be honest with yourself. Especially if you don't want to.

13. Don't take things personally. But learn to take constructive criticism.

14. Learn to work with those you don't like.

15. And finally, always ask for help. There are those who have dealt with the same things you do. But remember, they don't necessarily have the right answers any more than you. Get many opinions, but in the end make sure to trust yourself too.