Comments on: Destructive Perpetual Motion?

By: Grace

Grace — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 23:46:49 +0000

Since we’re on the subject, Apparently, Eve was Adam’s second wife. His first was Lillith who was created as an equal of Adam. He kept wanting to subjugate her and have her submit to him, but Lillith rejected this idea and left the garden of Eden to go be on her own. Adam complained of his loneliness to God who then created Eve from one of Adams ribs. Finally a woman who was not his equal and that he could control! And so it came to be. Amen.

By: Ursula

Ursula — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 20:55:18 +0000

Once the guys understand that sterilization doesn’t mean castration and doesn’t affect their sex life….well humanity would have a real chance here. Let men have 2 children, if they want, and then finito! It’s cheap too. And that’s one of the reasons why it isn’t widely propagated: the pharma giants make billions with the pills they sell to the women…..

It is so amazing how Bible-infested western culture still is, David! The latin for apple is “malus” which means “bad” and the name seems in fact to have its origin in the story of Eve. Though in the original text it says nothing of apple-tree, just “fruit-tree”.

Hey David, I thought that Adam was undone there…..;-) But my interpretation of the Bible might be a bit dubious…

By: David G

David G — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 07:15:46 +0000

Ursula, that’s the real answer: sterilize all men! And beware of apple trees. That where Eve was undone, wasn’t it?

By: Ursula

Ursula — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 23:21:15 +0000

There have been many attempts in the 20th century to tackle the problem of overpopulation.
I’d like to mention two interesting cases: the Chinese and the Iranian.

The Chinese implemented the “one-child-policy” which sounds very sane but seen from close was and is very violent and cruel. Due to this family planning program an estimated 5 million girls were either aborted (forced abortions) or killed right after birth or by neglect. It also produced a very bad sex-ratio imbalance.

A surprisingly successfull program I came across (as a journalist) is Iran. They managed to bring down the number of children per woman from 7 to 2 within one generation (after the Islamic revolution!). This is an incredible achievement. It’s due mainly to 2 factors: women’s education and full support of the Mullahs and of the people for all kinds of family planning programs, including the sterilization of men. The population is still growing because it takes some time to change course but they are on the right track.

And I have just planted 2 little apple trees….Won’t save the world, I’m afraid, but it’s a great joy! Cheers to everybody….

By: David G

David G — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 21:52:56 +0000

John, perhaps human waste is less vulgar than the word you’ve chosen. Keep up the good work!

EShallcross, you have made some good points. It is a mindless cycle breeding people to consume and die in wars!

Grace, humans have interfered too much in nature. We forget sometimes that we are only semi-intelligent animals and the forces which govern all life also govern us!

By: Grace

Grace — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 15:45:51 +0000

Timely topic and great comments. I don’t like it when I get too busy to write all the things that are on my mind. One thing, I noticed the birds have nests in our front yard, but those nests are for their yearly nesting/sitting on eggs. I guess it is safer being near the humans for that purpose. Once the babes are born, they fly off to the more wild areas. They do come back regularly to party at the waterhole though. I love nature and when I lived in a redwood forest, I decided that all humans need a certain amount of trees around them to stay sane. I am in the process of turning our yard into a food producing natural ecosphere. I am spending this year just observing and seeing where things naturally want to be and then by next year we will have grey water ponds, so no water will be wasted. My goal is to grow enough food for several families. There are far too many food challenged people and alot judgement and shame in that the only places to get free food are churches that make you listen to a God speech. It breaks my heart to see kids that are hungry. They look to me as they would their mother with eyes that say, “feed me.” It is even sadder when their parents DONT KNOW HOW to feed them! Unloved rejects who have kids to experience that unconditional love. All is great til they have to feed them. I understand the argument about how nature culls the excess and it will happen naturally if we don’t have an alternate plan. That said, if you ever look a hungry kid in the eye and say, starve you must, it is nature’s way? I don’t think many here could. it strengthens my resolve to get the garden going. Peace on Earth, good will, all.

By: EShallcross

EShallcross — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 06:56:32 +0000

Important: The more educated women are the more likey they are to remain child-free (hence the references to poor/uneducted/state-sponsored families). Rich women who have kids and then hire other women to raise them?! Glorification of ‘parenthood’– (they don’t REALLY want them…. but that is just what ‘we do’ . … Silly ….

By: EShallcross

EShallcross — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 06:53:43 +0000

Wow- Perhaps there IS hope for the world… but I will not hold my breath. The irony that human beings are supposedly the only species capable of cognition & genuine deep thought…. yet, we are the only species that creates war, religion and utterly destroys our only home… AND we keep making more of ourselves. Because we are so intelligent we SHOULD be getting to the point of “just because we can (reporduce) doesn’t mean we should”. Amazing isn’t it? We cannot figure it out. I say, as sad as it would be, let nature take over. Remove social safety nets (you cannot feed your baby- then….) OR The state (the one who pays the bills) has a say in how they are raised and fed– most would be taken away as to not perpetuate the cycle— Both are alternatives for what we have now– Feed them just enough so they can keep making more- to fight wars, to become consumers etc, to make more, so they can make more—- And so the cyle goes.

By: John LJ

John LJ — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:05:08 +0000

Very interesting stuff, on this thread ! thanks David and all other.

May be I just have to make a little more account for , to those who doubt, concerning my yearly [½ m3] waterconsumption, if some (fairly enough) doubt this can be true.

Explanation:
Beyond the [delivering from the public water system] I harness rain(ing water. which I do not know, how much is – maybe the same, app. 1m3.

I have always thought that rinsing shit out in (the) water is a bad thing to do.
(water is the habitat/invironment for innumerable species)

What I do now (with this ‘shit’) – is, what’s doing the real difference, for this sparse to be possible, is that I’ve stopped using the toilet with it’s rinsing water system to rins (the/my) shit – out (in water) which takes average, for one person, approximately teen to thirty liter, a day. ? – or what do you think ? more or less.

IT IS POSSIBLE:
In the future, I think, we have to seperate shit from pee. Pee should be spread directly on the fields for agriculturing and shit should be dryed, for use of e.g. peat (energy source) or manure etc.

[I do not know if ' shit' is the right word to use in this connexion ? or maybe poo-poo? is more right]

By: Late Revolution

Late Revolution — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 03:57:28 +0000

The fact of the matter is, overpopulation is a big problem…and for more than just the whole “not enough food” thing. There are other issues concerning the overpopulation of Earth by humans that make life pretty shitty. For one thing, jobs. I live in the northeastern United States, which is one of the four most densely populated areas on the planet. Even in the “rural” parts, like upstate New York where I have the misfortune to call my habitat, you’re literally spitting distance to the next person at any given moment. As a result, unemployment in any of the dozen or so northeastern states is pretty high. Too many ding-a-lings walking around equals not enough jobs to go around. And those who are employed have little job security, crappy pay and almost zero appreciation from their employers because those same employers know that if they fire someone or they quit, there’ll be a mile-long line of desperate people waiting to replace them. So thanks to too much competition stemming from too many people, everyone can expect to be treated like garbage and paid shit, screwed out of overtime and so on. As employers around here are fond of saying, “Either deal with it or live on welfare.” It also means long waiting lists for day care, after-school programs and the like. And then of course there’s just the plain old general irritation and unending annoyance which comes from too many people around, particularly if you’re a member of the questioning minority and not one of the sheeple majority. There was a time in this country when you didn’t have to be rich to walk out your door and see a tree. Maybe even a patch of grass here and there. Now, no matter where you move, the scenery you take in every day will most likely be a parking lot. This is the consequence of an overpopulated world. We’re removing ourselves from the possibility of being able to basically enjoy life for its own sake. Natural beauty and the relief of stress it engenders is something only wild animals can appreciate any more. We’ve abandoned it so we can keep producing the “nuclea” family with the 2.2 kids and the dog named Fido, then spend our days sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic to wait in line for half an hour for a Big Mac. And life has been this way for so long now, people can’t imagine it any other way.