Questions about the future

[bluiev 0]

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Do you believe in fate?

I believe things happen for a reason. A cause and effect factor. The cause might have been a long time ago, or it might have been recent. The effects may take place years from now, or at this moment. Some may call that fate, but it all stems from a catalyst somewhere that happened some time. Those whose cause and effects are 'instantaneous' we might have no way of changing. Long term effects, can likely be changed if resources were available and detection early.

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Is the future immutable or changeable? Clearly the past is unchangeable. Do you believe we're traveling along an inevitable and single line through time or one that infinitely branches in front of us?

So, I say infinite branches until decisions are made. Each action causes a different effect. Either to amplify or nullify previous causes, and eventually future effects.

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Some say the world will end a certain way. Some say that will happen in 2012.

The world will end when it ends. Far enough in the future, man may have resources to stop 'certain ways' the world might end... maybe not.

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If you thought the ultimate future of the planet was heading down a certain path, toward ultimate destruction in 2012, then how would that reshape your thoughts about your life and the rest of the people on the planet?

If the world will end in 2012, without question or doubt, my actions will most likely be defined by how the world and the people close to me reacts. Lifestyles will change. I'd say I'd still want to live my life normally, but that wont happen because most everyone else will be doing what they want to do when they think the world is going to end.

-b

[Gene03 0]

This is just "boot camp".
The real challenges will come later.

“The only fool bigger than the person who knows it all is the person who argues with him.

Stanislaw Jerzy Lec quotes (Polish writer, poet and satirist 1906-1966)

[quade 3]

Damn. I didn't want to have to move this to SC just to continue this discussion, but I think I might almost have to. There is a religious aspect here I think I need to explore.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[quade 3]

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As for who is doing this "scripting" for the future, I suppose some god could be doing that, just toying with the human race for his own amusement. But I think even the religious people believe that god gave humans free will to determine their own destiny.

Ok, so let's explore that for a second.

If the idea of 2012 being the end of the world is bunk, then what about the Book of Revelations in the Bible?

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Gene03 0]

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As for who is doing this "scripting" for the future, I suppose some god could be doing that, just toying with the human race for his own amusement. But I think even the religious people believe that god gave humans free will to determine their own destiny.

Ok, so let's explore that for a second.

If the idea of 2012 being the end of the world is bunk, then what about the Book of Revelations in the Bible?

MY.......BRAINS......HURTS........

Sorry Quade, had to fuck with you and John.
Good thread though.
Answers? If I knew I wouldn't be hanging around here.

“The only fool bigger than the person who knows it all is the person who argues with him.

Stanislaw Jerzy Lec quotes (Polish writer, poet and satirist 1906-1966)

[shropshire 0]

Fate - nope.

The future has not happened yet by some future events/outcomes can be deduced....

Drop a ball now and you can 'know' it's furture.... Most of the rest is poppy-cock.... psuedo-science (A.K.A Crap)

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[pirana 0]

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p.s. (i want the earth to be flat again... that way you shouldn't be able to end up where you started.)

Unless you walk in circles.

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

[Pendejo 0]

Do you believe in fate?

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In short, no.

The long version is this. I think this is a difficult question to answer. I believe that control is an illusion. Most people think they are in control, but if you ask anyone who has been in a car accident were the other person hit them from out of no where, I think they will agree that they were not in control. There are lots of examples of our perception of control and how that perception is flawed, but thats the first one that came to mind.

On the other side of the coin, I agree that in that situation, our lack of control was due to a choice that someone else made. It’s the choice that made the difference, not some mystical view of things being set in stone.

*** Is the future immutable or changeable? Clearly the past is unchangeable. Do you believe we're traveling along an inevitable and single line through time or one that infinitely branches in front of us?

This is in line with the second paragraph of my response to your first question. If a person believes that their fate is in their own hands to a certain extent, then the future must be changeable.

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If you thought the ultimate future of the planet was heading down a certain path, toward ultimate destruction in 2012, then how would that reshape your thoughts about your life and the rest of the people on the planet?

A line from a move comes to mind. I shall finish the game. In other words, I would like to think that I would remain the same person that I am today. I would have the same values and desires as I do today. This is not to imply that I currently live my life like today is the last day, but I have been in the position where it was possible that I would have a limited time to live.

I found that this knowledge didn’t change me as much as I originally thought it would. I had always expected to want to spend all of my remaining time on earth with family and friends, kind of like the person who said they would go take their family on a 3 year road trip (very admirable by the way). But in reality, I found that I still got up and went to work, I still loved my family, and, I still felt the same way I did the day before about most things in my life.

I also agree with others who have said that the choices of those around us will greatly affect how we would live those last 3 years (it’s the reason I gave the movie quote I did).

Pendejo

He who swoops the ditch and does not get out buys the BEER!!

[MikeJD 0]

[Ian McCulloch voice]
Fate
Up against your will
Through the thick and thin
He will wait until
You give yourself to him.
[/Ian McCulloch voice]

Don't believe in fate, no - but I guess it depends on your definition. Presumably you mean it in the sense that everything that will happen is predetermined and cannot be changed (which is what makes 'to tempt fate' such a contradictory expression!)

To argue that the future is changeable supposes that it exists in a 'default' form in the first place. In reality neither the future nor the past exist, but the difference is that future events will still be influenced by things happening in the present.

To bring it back to the emotional angle, we can't affect the future (even our own) as much as we'd like to think we can, and we can't change the past at all, in the sense of what actually happened - which is why we shouldn't dwell on painful memories.

I guess one of the reasons we do revisit the past is that we change our perception of what happened, often subconsciously. Reworking our memories is part of human nature, I think. And if the past doesn't exist, and there's no evidence to contradict our version of it, then you could say our version is as valid as any other. So we long for control over both the past and the future.

Now karma - there's something that I wish I could believe in. Sadly there's too little evidence of any kind of natural justice at work in the world.