Alternative Thought

A collection of essays for contemplation. Science, philosophy, and the counter culture. Question everything. All content original.

[kiderratus]

Touch nature and sometimes it will touch you back.

[themediafix]

Breaking news: The D.C. Appeals Court just killed Net Neutrality. This could be the end of the Internet as we know it. But it doesn’t have to be.  Tell the FCC to restore Net Neutrality: http://bit.ly/1iOOjoe

[autbucky-remade]

they want to make the internet like tv. with channels and paying to get to specific websites and things. net neutrality = not doing that

[fyeahwhovians]

This impacts every internet user. Please signal boost the hell out of this and sign the petition if you are American

[artofcarmen]

I do not reblog things like this very often, but this affects me both personally and my business as a freelance artist.

In the economy here; cash is already strapped as it is. You bet your ass companies would suck the ever living life out of misc. art sites.

I don’t want it to ever come down to me choosing between groceries or purchasing a new tier package via comcast to be able to access tumblr or DeviantArt (let alone not guaranteeing I’ll even be seen by my customer base since they may not want to pay out their asses either). It doesn’t seem important to most, but I do 90% of my business online entirely.

Please sign up, fight for this and share it with your followers/friends/family and urge them to give them hell as well.

[slitheringink]

Not writing related, but this is incredibly important. While we pay for service via ISPs, the internet has been a relatively free space where everyone, no matter their income level, is able to connect, access a wealth of information, and express themselves. The Internet has become a major part of our culture as human beings and the notion that ISPs might be able to limit what sites I can access unless I pay them more is utterly sickening. A lot of us are cash strapped as is, and I’d rather not be limited even more by someone else’s greed. Net Neutrality is essential and I hope you guys will understand why it needs to remain.

-Morgan

P.S. Signal boost this if you’re able.

[blackwoolncrown]

“ limit what sites I can access unless I pay them more”

 limit what sites I can access unless I pay them more

 limit what sites I can access unless I pay them more

 limit what sites I can access unless I pay them more

 limit what sites I can access unless I pay them more

DO YOU WANT THIS? NO?? CLICK THE LINK. REBLOG.

[drtanner-dickery]

As I understand this ruling, it means that businesses now have to pay extra to ISPs to have access to their websites through that ISP provided at a reasonable speed. If you don’t pay, users’ access to your website will be slowed to a crawl - so independent people and small businesses can forget about getting onto that high speed access tier. 

This means that the American internet is going to be firmly under the control of those who have the most money. You’ll only get to see the content of those who can pay the ISPs to provide access at a reasonable speed. This means that you can expect to see skewed representation of just about everything, with those bigger businesses who can afford to pay ISPs a premium for access deciding what you can and cannot read, view and consume on the internet.

This is not something that we have in the UK. Our ISPs compete with each other to provide higher speeds, better services and lower prices, but because there’s a monopoly in the US of a few ISPs who provide services, they can afford to do this to you. You can’t go anywhere else, after all.

Everyone in the US needs to sign that petition, call their representatives, write angry letters and do whatever you can to tell your government that this ruling is Not Okay.

[kiderratus]

The Buddha once said: “The One contains the many, and the many contain the One”. The leaf contains the tree, which contains the roots, which contains the soil, which contains the earth, the air, the sun, and so on. If we can comprehend this, we will see that we cannot understand anything in isolation from its environment. How could we know the leaf without knowing the branch from which it stems? Likewise, we cannot know ourselves without understanding our environment, and the role it plays in the shaping of us. I want you to think for a moment about yourselves. Play with the idea of yourself in a different environment. What if you were raised in a third world country? How would you value the necessities of life then? What if you were born and raised in Spain, what language would you speak? If you had been born in Nazi Germany, what values do you think you would hold? Now, it is true that genes play a role in the makeup of us. However, if you study the field of sociology, you will see that environment plays the dominant role in the “nature vs nurture” debate. There is no self that is separate from the environment. Even before the influence of society, early humans were influenced by the stars above their heads. This is where our preconceived ideas of religion came from.

Technically speaking, and sadly so, not a soul on this Earth is the true meaning of Original. None of our thoughts hold any originality, for the idea of Originality loses its meaning when we understand the connectedness of all life on earth. To use my own words against me, none of these thoughts you are reading right now are originally mine. I was born in a country where I was taught to use this language in order to convey my thoughts. And these thoughts were influenced by the scientists and philosophers before me and the life experiences I have endured. Speaking of which…

I once had the pleasure of conversing with 100-year-old “social engineer” and futurist, Jacque Fresco, on the topic of sociology. He revealed to me the true essence of creativity. To quote Jacque: “Creativity is taking all known elements and putting them together in unique ways.” He explained to me that ideas do not pop into our heads simply from nothing, to which I agreed. As I said, how could one arrive something from nothing? Could a blind man paint a mural without having seen colors? He went on to explain that we humans never truly invented anything on our own and that everything we know is shown to us through nature and society. He insisted that even the invention of stairs was shown to us. I was given an example of early humans walking up hills and valleys. He demonstrated humans learning to look for flat spots because these were the areas that would enable them to plant a solid foot and ascend. Eureka, the precursor of stairs! This, he explained, is where innovation and ingenuity originate.

This changed the entire way I perceived creativity, ability, and what it meant to possess intelligence. In fact, this one experience in itself is exactly what I am speaking off; A man influenced the way I perceived myself and the world around me.

It’s apparent to me that most of us think of creativity, talent, or innovation as qualities that a person is more or less born with. Most in American culture would have you believe that success is based on innate ability. As if we humans are simply born with a set of genes, invariable, and unable to be changed. They implant the notion in our heads that say if we are not what people call a “natural”, then our efforts will be fruitless. Or, if we have hurt someone in the past, we are invariably evil. This belief of fixed human characteristics is what psychologist Carol Dweck deemed a “fixed mindset”. This mindset is the held notion that out abilities are predetermined. It is believing that our capabilities as humans are bound by genetics. However, this view is quite silly when taking a look at the achievements of humanity. If we look at the history of Albert Einstien’s academic failures or Nikola Tesla’s life struggles, we can then know that failure is nothing more than experience. Those who are afraid to fail will never gain anything. 

Sadly, I once held the fixed mindset notion. But it was my environment that taught me to be afraid of failure. It took years of constant struggle and misplaced blame on others until I finally realized what it took to broaden my horizons. The fixed mindset is dangerous, and it couldn’t be further from the truth. For the first time in my life, I am starting to realize what I am capable of. And now, I can’t help but think how tragic it is that most of us never realize our full potential. We must embrace failure. Failure is nothing more than experience. A smooth sea has never made a skilled sailor.

So I now ask the questions: What is creativity? Where does inspiration come from? How does one expand or develop the mind? Simply put: Exposure. To everything and anything, you must expose yourself. As I said, our environment is us, so if we are conscious of that fact, why not change our environments? We must travel, not just internally, but physically and externally. We need to walk outside the boundaries of our comfort zone, metaphorically and literally. How will we ever know ourselves if we never leave ourselves? We need exposure to other ways of life to reflect on our own. How does a musician develop? Certainly, they need to hear an array of music and sounds. How does the visual artist develop? They need visual stimulation for inspiration. How does the martial artist develop? Engaging fully in combat. You see, the individual possesses the tools to be whatever they wish to be. However, if these natural human curiosities and dreams aren’t nurtured, they will surely wither away until they atrophy. It’s quite simple: If you want your child to be a genius, expose them to every sight, smell, taste, sound, and feeling you can. Teach them about the ways other people live. Teach them about life different from their own. Teach them how to think, rather than what to think. The canvas starts blank, we just need to find the right paint.

Speaking first on behalf of internal travel, I can not stress the importance of reading. Works of writing are the ticket to travel within. If you have a hunger for truth, literature is how you feed it. “Read like the wolf eats”. Read the books they never told you about in school. Read the works that challenge your beliefs. And if in your search you find that no book fulfills you, then write your own. Try to imagine, just for a moment, how oppressive it was for slaves to be forbidden the right to read. These oppressors knew the power of knowledge. In a modernized comparison, the elites of our time today are aware that the key to enslaving us is to keep us illiterate. If we neglect this precious ability to read and write, not only do we stunt our growth, we allow psychopaths to control the fate of our lives.

Now, on the topic of external travel, it is by far one of the most mind-opening experiences to be had. When you see landscapes so vast and delicately beautiful, you can’t help but feel inspired to try and save the world, or in my case, save yourself. In the summer of 2015, I drove a 2000 Nissan Altima 13,000 miles across the United States. I quit all my jobs and I held no regret. Starting from the capital of New York, I hit every major national park, city, and place worth visiting from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. From cold mountain tops to flat deserts to mystical forests, I was awestruck. When I first dreamt of doing this, the daunting task of acquiring funds was always the issue on my mind. It wasn’t until I became a minimalist that I realized how tangible this dream was. They give us the notion that it can’t be done. But there is always a way. You just have to be willing to sacrifice comfort. Live homeless for one full month and you will get a new perspective on what it is you really need to live. Comfort is nice, but it is also a barrier to growth.

What I am trying to do here is inspire you to do things you never thought possible. I want to inspire you to quit your job. I want to inspire you to take a leap. You may not be ready now, but when you are at your ropes end, don’t tie a noose. Use it to pull yourself up. Do not underestimate yourself. Leave to see places foreign and unknown. What’s the worst that could happen? Think about your life expectancy. It is no more than a flicker of light in astronomical terms. The average life expectancy is approximately 80 years. How many of those years will you have to truly enjoy yourself outside of the mundane tasks you comply to? The majority of us will spend a third our time sleeping, more than a third of that working, and most of what’s left staring at a screen. Do you have thoughts of saving for old age? Do you honestly think you can retire and then see the world? Is your tomorrow promised?

There is no future. There is only now. Go taste all the flavors of life, especially the bitter ones. You will see things in a new light. You will also encounter resistance on the way. The world is still not ready for those who dare to be a wild orchid in an ugly swamp. But everything worthwhile comes with its price. And we must not forget that we are all on a strict death schedule. 

Travel is the eye of truth. I hope you leave. When you do, you will come back to the place you first left and you will know it for the first time. I myself may not know where I am headed, but I know I am on my way.

[kiderratus]

There are over 7 billion people on this planet and I can’t seem to find my niche within them. I’ve run through numerous factions of counter-culture, explored and adapted to unorthodox ways of living, met people from all backgrounds and places, yet I still feel like a sore thumb. Perhaps I’m asking for too much out of relationships. Perhaps I’m too harsh and my expectations for change are too high. Perhaps my negativity bias is overly dominant. Or perhaps it’s because I often view myself as a cancer cell in this human growth. I suppose that of all things could put a damper on my relationships. Even so, I just want to relate on the most sincere level. Of course, I then ask myself if I will live this life feeling entirely alone. But I’m unsure of what that even means.

Now, I love being left with only myself. At times, it can feel quite empowering. For me, it’s a time for contemplation about anything and everything. I use my time in isolation for nature, reading, writing, the arts, or self-reflection, which I feel is necessary for personal growth. Certainly, these times in isolation are what shape the entire being of who I am. How could one develop a mind capable of critical thinking without some form of solidarity or without time away from influences? Society taints the mind. I need regular time to give myself a cerebral enema from the shit that is constantly pushed into my head. I can also say from experience that being engaged in human interaction continuously can attenuate the experience. Especially for the mentally sensitive like myself, these alone times are essential for the rejuvenation of human interaction. When you’re alone, you don’t need to accommodate mental space for others. There is no chore of forcing an interaction. The mentally sensitive know that small talk is a psychological silent killer. In a sense, isolation is freedom. So, with all of this being said, these types of moments are not what gives me a feeling of lonely. To quote Charles Bukowski: “Real loneliness is not necessarily limited to when you are alone”.

To me, true loneliness is being surrounded by people. True feelings of loneliness are felt when you are surrounded by individuals who are incapable of connecting with you. The ones who can’t feel what you feel. The ones who can’t understand where you came from. Lonely is being surrounded by the walking dead. It’s that feeling I get when I’m riding the J train in New York, surrounded by countless apathetic faces, continuously coming and going. Lonely is living in a country of suppressed people where almost all have lost their tenacity for taking a stand. Lonely is trying to surround yourself with “conscious” individuals who are nothing but pseudoscientific, new-age, spiritual gurus that lack a real scientific education. Lonely are the days when I’m inspired to change the world when my friends just want to drown on their phones in a digital sea.

I ask myself if it was always like this. Did anyone ever have a grip on reality? Taking a quick look at human history, I don’t like the answer I’m getting. So perhaps it’s never been that way. With each book I read, or day spent alone contemplating life, I appear to become further alienated. Sometimes it feels as if I’ve sharpened my mind to have it stab me in the head. I am so obsessed with reality to the point where my relationships suffer. I even feel that my significant other ultimately left me over this. I can’t help my thoughts. Blissfully ignorant is just not who I am.

Often, when I people-watch, I catch myself wondering what it is like for them. What trauma was bestowed upon them? When did they lose their childhood dreams? You know; the apathetic retail worker, or the poverty-stricken who roam the streets collecting cans, or the bourgeois types who dedicate their entire lives to accumulating worthless paper and status. What brought them to this exact moment in their lives? Some of what I’m asking here is rhetorical. I understand the fucked up paradigm we all are forced to live in. I understand that naturally all human beings want approval. Being accepted by the pack is an evolutionary trait that helped our species survive. However, living in our current state of society, we then face a dilemma. Trying to gain a shallow approval for what we do instead of who we are will never truly fulfill us. What an individual does to survive in capitalism does not define who they are. When we hold ourselves to the standards of society, it leads us to a feeling of emptiness. This dilemma, also accompanied with financial stress, gives no room for anyone to see the true reality in which they live. Nobody is given the room to contemplate the wonders of life or discover who they really are inside. So of course, it’s hard for anyone to be passionate about understanding or changing the world or themselves when their own emotional and financial needs aren’t met. I can understand the temptation for inebriation when life becomes unbearable. What options are given to a person in society? Most either take the route of substance abuse or they conform to society’s standard of self-worth and climb the rickety ladder of financial success. But even for those winning the financial battle, what have they really won? Money can’t buy the things in life that matter most, and money can’t buy away loneliness. All too often do we confuse money with real wealth. Real wealth is something that can’t be bought. But almost all have taken one of the two routes in life and I honestly can’t blame them. These conditions in society are enough to make the most revolutionary individual break. Nobody is enabled to change the world. Nobody has time to save the world when they have to work the next day. Nobody is enabled to experience the most honest of connections and changes. And, in turn, this leaves me unable to connect with this world. But I do understand now what I didn’t then. It is the conditions in society that cause a person to choose drugs, selfishly pursue monetary gain, or slit their wrists in a warm bath. These people aren’t necessarily deranged, they are just severely influenced by a society that is inconsistent with their human needs. They feel as if they have no other options. It’s sad to say, even with my understanding of all of this, I feel more alone than when I was unaware of it.

I try to be compassionate when I cross paths. I try my hardest to relate where I can, but most of the time there is just no common dominator. Especially within my age group, I am left unfulfilled. I know that I have a tendency to be a pessimist. But it’s not that I am bitter and can’t feel anymore. It’s actually quite the opposite. I feel too much. I just have no more room for the superficial and mindless things my peers can relate to. I don’t attain anything from gossip, discussing world problems in half-assed ways, or reading what some celebrity mogul said on Twitter. Most seem to consider the most superficial things as deep, and I question if they are even shallow. I’m not sure there is any depth in the conversations among my peers, let alone modern society. With so many awe striking things to talk to about in life, it sickens me that these topics are what I have been reduced to when interacting with other human beings.

I would have expected this generation to be a little more evolved than this. My peers are preoccupied with the superficial, stuck in their comfort zones, or just entirely unaware. They pay attention to the little insignificant details of life and pay no mind to the big picture. They’re subdued by phones, material and ostensible goals, their own false images and dogmas, with no understanding of the real physical world around them; with no understanding of their true selves. Most haven’t got a clue about how the natural world works; who and why they are. And if they do seek the truth, it’s in places of substance abuse, moguls, or pseudoscience. Most of their beliefs are completely arbitrary. Nobody can explain why they believe in anything. They don’t have a system for deciphering fact from fiction. It baffles me what my peers consider as definitive proof for their beliefs. Science illiteracy is surely at an all-time high. Most of all, there is no self-awareness about any of these matters which would be the key component for change.

You would think social media in 2016 could help any person relate. For me, it’s mostly a swing and a miss. Instagram is a place for insecure vanity. Facebook is a place for misinformed political propagandists. Twitter is a place for praising ignorant celebrity quotations. And this site I am currently writing on is the best I could do. I wish I connected more through it. Life has become a horrific sci-fi film with the way in which we use social media. I sit watching as everybody bows their head in silence to their palm pets, plugged into alternate realities, completely oblivious of the oppression around them. My peers have actually accepted this form of technological use as normal. They use this apparatus as the only means of interaction without ever having to exchange a single word in person. We have exchanged warm faces for cold screens. Sitting at a table of phone-dwelling friends where attention spans are withering away and the status quo continues to reign supreme; Truly, this is lonely. As if one wall wasn’t enough. It may take a lifetime to break down the mask that a person models just to get a glimpse of their true self. But on top of that, I have to sort through an endless mirage of social media carried facades in which there is no telling the true essence of anyone! How do I connect?

Now, I have adapted and come to expect a shallow world. What it is that really kills me is being incapable of relating where it means the most. As a homo sapiens, I inherently have a deep desire to feel connected to others. As I have said, our species survival is dependent upon human connection. But even the ones that mean the most to me don’t seem to understand the things I try to convey. I try to share my true feelings, but I don’t receive appreciation for my well intentions. Usually, my loved ones take it offensively as some sort of attack to their identity and decide to take a stab at me. I honestly don’t mean any harm. I’m not ungrateful for those around me. I just want to open eyes, share hidden truths and challenge our own views. Over anything, I just want to express myself and be taken for who I truly am, as anyone does. What I also find worrisome, is my progressive friends leaning toward an elitist attitude when it comes to new progressive ways of life. They don’t apply a light touch and are unable to see the negative consequences in how they convey their ideas. They have not yet studied the behavioral sciences and condemn people for their ways of life different from their own. I want to be sympathetic toward humanity rather than shaming them. I know it is our society that has unconsciously shaped us. I understand why my friends respond in such a hostile way when I contest to their statements. They are still conditioned to an extent, as we all are. Even so, I refuse to expose myself to any dogmatic elitist any longer. For the ones I have cut contact with, may the bridges I burn light the way.

To help keep my patience, I play with this idea: I view life parallel to walking through the halls of a mental asylum. I realize that it would be foolish to get upset at something a conditioned person would say. Just as it would be foolish to become upset at something mentally ill people say in an asylum. I view these city streets as hospital wings. We are all sick patients in this society and we all need some form of rehabilitation.

If there is a lesson to be learned here, it is this: The few people that do genuinely understand and appreciate my thoughts make all the difference in my world. I dance between optimism and pessimism, but I must remember that it is better to be softened by life than hardened. If I build myself a shell, it will only perpetuate my loneliness. I can’t always sacrifice my human relations for peace of mind. I feel as they feel. I must remember that they are me and I am them. I am all of them.

[kiderratus]

hey, I really enjoy your blog! I was wondering where you reside, or if you wander in any specific place it's always been my dream to see the world and meet the people from countries different, and much greater than ours

Thank you, kindly. I am currently residing in Albany, NY and Brooklyn NYC. I wander everywhere. If you’re looking to travel the U.S. I can share with you the best route and method. I visited almost all states in one month’s time on less than $1000 last summer. I would happily share the info.

[kiderratus]

A self portrait of broken dreams.

[kiderratus]

If your hate could be turned into electricity, it would light up the whole world.

Nikola Tesla

[kiderratus]

Adam and Eve; quite an imaginative story. A man and woman deceived by a talking, upright walking snake. Or at least, that’s what they told me. When I grew old enough to reflect on these stories, I started to question the credibility of them. How could this all be? What sets apart the supernatural holiday figures like Saint Nick from Jesus Christ? Looking back now, it’s easy to see how the obvious can become obscured by the indoctrination done in a child’s youth. With so many people barking their belief systems in my direction, it became difficult for my young mind to decipher fact from fiction. What separated these stories from that of the modern day folklore of monsters, ghosts, aliens, and the like? And so began my journey for evidence of the truth. 

After a some time of serious (or not-so-serious) contemplation over the years with abundant scientific literature, an interest in astronomy, and a variety of life experience, I feel it is completely unnecessary to further contemplate the contradictive, hypocritically moral, not to mention far-fetched, stories offered by most religions. But for the sake of this post, I will attempt it. For those who do read any scripture, it would be most wise if these writings were taken in a metaphorical form and with a grain of salt. When people accept them as the literal truth or make scientific claims based off of them, that is where they do their damage.

In our world, the dominating force is Christianity, so I will face the main giant. When people ask me whether or not I believe in “God”, my first response is to ask which one. There are thousands of them; millions if you count Hinduism’s take on them. These are considerably large figures to be so sure of just one Christian deity. I find it odd that the religious are so quick to see themselves as separate from me on this topic when I only believe in one less God than I do. From this perspective, Christians are almost as close to being an atheist as I am. If only they took the time to understand why they dismiss all other gods, perhaps then they would understand why it is that I dismiss theirs.

Nevertheless, it never ceases to amaze me how the professed religious can read these stories with such credulity. Now, as someone with rationale, I want to know… How did this serpent’s tongue pronounce human words? Where did he learn to speak? Why did this all-knowing, always-watching, powerful God allow this couple to eat from a forbidden tree if he was aware of it in the first place? If God is all-powerful, why doesn’t he just cast out all evil? I can’t seem to get even a few sentences deep without multiple questions arising. He’s all loving and all forgiving, but will banish you to eternal hellfire? He loves all except the homosexuals? What about the transgender? Why is slavery or the slaughter of animals acceptable to an all-loving God? He so loved the world that he gave his only son? Well, if Jesus died and joined God in heaven, then where’s the sacrifice in that? Moreover, how did Noah fit two of every animal onto a boat and live amongst them for a full year? How did he stop the lions from eating the other animals? Who cleaned all the shit out of that boat? These are serious questions we need to ask ourselves (Related: Bill Nye on Noah’s Ark). If you conduct some simple calculations, you will find that there is nowhere near enough water on earth to cause a flood such as the one described in the bible. Also, if Eve was created from Adam’s rib, wouldn’t Eve have the same (XY) chromosomes? I’d like to hear an explanation for a female created only from male DNA. I stand in awe at the silliness and extensive contradictions purported by these stories. They are not consistent when it comes to the sciences (biology, chemistry, physics, etc.) They are not consistent with our everyday reality.

I find it absurd that people can take what verse from the scripture they want and mold it to their lives while completely ignoring the genocide, slavery, rape, and other viscous acts condoned in them. Even if these stories are just metaphoric, as these arbitrary pick-and-choose Christians will argue, all of these words are still subject to interpretation. The people will make of them as they wish. This is why you see so many factions of the same type of religion. It seems a bit ironic that these people force their own will onto something that is supposed to be “God’s” will. Furthermore, humanity seems to have imposed their own will onto this universe instead of viewing the universe as it truly is, with an understanding for human fallibility. Just because we want an afterlife and an everlasting eternity in heaven, doesn’t make it so. If we want heaven, we need to create it here on Earth. The universe is indifferent toward our wishful thinking.

George Carlin had a few great key points he’s made in his comedy. If God did have a will, then what is the point in praying? What’s the point in God having a divine plan if anyone can come along, say 50 Hail Marys or so, and just change it like that? If there is a plan, to what extent do we have free will then? Also, the people who claim that all of this is in God’s plan fail to realize how cruel this statement can be. Is there a plan in the innocent children who die? How about the billion people now starving on Earth? Saying that God had a reason for rescuing a certain individual is, by contrast, the same as saying that God had a plan in mercilessly letting small children die painfully from cancer. This doesn’t appear to be a well thought out plan for a supreme being.

How could people love a God who is just as flawed as we? Remember now, he created us in his image. By this nature, wouldn’t God be capable of all human emotions including the destructive ones? How is he “perfect” when perfection is subjective? This all appears to be inconsistent. Doesn’t it seem a little rash that God would flood the Earth when his own creation that couldn’t be controlled turned their backs? How could we love a God like this? How could we love a God whose arms discriminate? The fact is, if you look at the track record, religion has spawned more hate and death than love. Also, the Christians who cry “extremism” on other forms of faith are entirely ignorant to the history of their own. 

All religion, to me, appears to be a limited construct, stuck in the confines of its ways, never to grow, evolve, or at least refine. Science, on the other hand, is constantly evolving and is able to answer all of my questions about life in a never-ending updating manner while we continue our discovery of the universe and ourselves. Now, you tell me which practice is more humble: the one who refuses to change their view on anything in the name of faith, or the one who is always accepting toward change in the face of new evidence? The arguments of religion fall apart the moment they claim to know something concretely. They fail to see the only one constant in our species; change. Why would a God give us the common sense and tools to understand the universe if it didn’t correspond with his word? You don’t have to listen to me, just ask the questions and the truth will reveal itself.

Now, knowing all of this, we live in a world that is completely dependent on science and technology. Since the dawn of man, our survival has not relied on a mystical deity, superstition, or a doctrine, but in understanding the natural world and its laws; utilizing science. Hunter-gatherers would observe the soil in order to track their prey. Farmers would observe the sky in order to predict the rains. Every little step we have taken to further humanity’s progress is completely reliant on the practice of science!

Simply put, having faith means believing in the absence of evidence. Knowing that our species completely depends on science and technology, one could make the argument that faith is counterproductive to the survival of our species by its absurd thought process. I will give a few examples:

Belief in good and evil: This is inconsistent with the field of epigenetics and everything we have come to discover about what makes up a person. People aren’t born “evil”. They’re taught their morals and values. Do you think Nazi children were aware of what they were supporting? No, that was normal to their culture. Believing that a person is inherently evil completely dismisses them as having any capacity for ethical growth. This is exactly the kind of mindset that grants nations the excuse to drop bombs on their fellow human.

Belief that Earth is 6000 years old: If an individual can’t take the time to understand and interpret the proof for a 4.6 billion-year-old Earth, then clearly they can’t have a real understanding of how natural laws work in our reality. Carbon dating, rock formations, fossils, the speed of light, etc. The people who dismiss the mountain of evidence in the name of faith are the same type of people who dismiss the evidence for climate change. And, as 97% of climate change scientists will tell you, we are running out of time to even have the privilege of debating religion or ethics. There won’t be an Earth that is habitable if the faithful refuse to become scientifically literate.

Referring to God as “He”: This is sexist and encourages women to accept the idea of being inferior. All types of prejudice continue to hold back humanity.

One explanation for everything not yet understood: Religion teaches people to be willfully ignorant and to not seek the answers. By nature, we humans are curious creatures. When the answer to all of life’s greatest questions is chalked up to one mystical explanation, it leaves no room for wonder and scientific discovery. 

It becomes hard to tolerate something that is destroying the world. Faith doesn’t have to be lethal, but it has proven itself to be in recent times. It is not my wish to hurt those who have been trying to live a righteous life. However, it is the duty of the religious to test their faith. If anything that I have said interests any one person who is reading this, or makes them feel uncomfortable, I highly suggest you put your faith to the test. How else will it be validated? (Some helpful figures: Richard Dawkins, Carl Sagan, Niel Degrasse Tyson, Stephen Hawking) Now, this isn’t to say that science completely dismisses all the possibilities of religious claims. However, with no real evidence, it is simply a waste of time to contemplate the claims. We are doing our minds a disservice by choosing to believe in the absence of evidence while failing to realize how dangerous it can be to our species. True science will reserve judgment until evidence arises. Unfortunately for many, in the case of most religious claims, all the evidence that we do have points in the opposite direction. 

I can no longer contend with the religious. I have personally spoken countless hours with cherished childhood friends and family on this subject and I have found it to be fruitless. One man was able to make sense of this in one quote:

“You can’t convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it’s based on a deep seated need to believe”. - Carl Sagan (The Demon-Haunted World)

The Gods we pray to continue to turn their deaf ears as if we were the ones who didn’t exist. Who couldn’t see the irony in this? This must be the biggest cosmic joke man has faced. I encourage everyone to cast out the old ways. I encourage you all to eat from the forbidden tree of the fruit of knowledge.

[kiderratus]

Patiently awaiting your next post.

I’m sorry for the inconsistency. You should see my drafts, it’s a mess. The next piece will be posted next week. Thanks for reading anonymous!

[kiderratus]

There is nothing more humbling to me than the field of astronomy. As far as philosophy is concerned, the cosmos undoubtedly has its place. I am but 1 human out of 7,000,000,000, on 1 planet out of 8, in 1 solar system out of 100,000,000,000 solar systems, in 1 galaxy out of 100,000,000,000 galaxies. The odds of you or me even existing is nothing short of a profound mathematical feat. And I feel that the odds of people coming to a full understanding of this truth may be even more of a feat.

If we are aware of this cosmic view, the ultimate truth as I call it, it becomes easy to put everything into perspective. Our lives are only a blink of an eye in astronomical terms. Our little blue planet is just a speck of dust in the cosmic sea. This brief moment we share under the stars should be lived to its fullest potential. Ask yourself: Are you really content with what you are doing, right here and now, in this life? Are you okay with work dictating the majority of your time? Are you content with not contemplating the greatest questions of life? Do you live vicariously through your Netflix account? Are you happy staring at a backlit screen for mental stimulation? Are these the decided choices of our finite time?

What would be the shift in consciousness if we all took out a few seconds of our time every day to contemplate the mere awe of our existence? Try it this instant. We are the product of billions of years of cosmic evolution. We are made from the guts of exploding stars. We aren’t just in the universe, we are the universe. We are the universe interpreting itself! There are so many mind-blowing things to ponder, question, and discover in our lifetimes. We are the only species on earth with the gift of being able to question and yet we have stopped asking the greatest questions of life.

There are eons of nothingness before and after our existence and we are right here, right now, in between them. What are we to do?

[kiderratus]

How does one change the world? This is a question I have asked myself since I was old enough to contemplate my existence. It was very clear to my adolescent self that something was exceptionally wrong with this world. I was given a variety of different answers to this question my entire life through school, counseling, or whichever social institution I was forced to be a part of at that time. Not one of these answers ever made sense to that young me. They were vague, unrealistic, and looking back now, perhaps insane. I was told to run for president, to be a detective, you know, the usual elementary answers. The positions that actually perpetuate the same conditions and only alleviate symptoms slightly, if at all. The young me would have been better off striving to become a useless superhero that fought petty crime. Confusing me even further, the adult figures in my life appeared to be saying one thing and then doing the exact opposite. They would tell me not to smoke, drink, fight, and so on. With a cigarette in one hand and a beer in the other, they would try to articulate (poorly, I’ll add) why it was wrong and their plans to quit. They always spoke of fixing their problems but never got that far. What prevented them from change? Why were they unable to see what is so clear to me now? Why would my mother drive around with a M.A.D.D. (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) bumper sticker on the back of her car while drunk?

They, like most of society, try to solve their problems with the same worn out ways of thinking. No new approach, no innovation, no alternative ventures. Just a hotbed of failure and confusion. Society is more or less scientifically illiterate, and furthermore, it hasn’t much common sense. We are still stuck thinking inside the box.

So again, how does one change the world? Let’s first take a look at the only option given to an individual who wants to pursue this feat. I’m sure you know what it is. It’s always the same thing. “Stay in school!” We have this phrase drilled into our heads since birth. We strive to become lawyers, professors, politicians, and so on. A constant college revolving door of kids who go in one way and come out one way, with the same thinking, stuck inside the box. We are parallel with the Rubik’s Cube; a bunch of squares put together.

If there is a nonstop production of people who are pursuing these professions, then why has there been no significant positive impact on this planet in any way? In fact, it would appear to be the opposite! I’m not at all surprised and I think I have found the culprit.

It would appear that everything we do in society is just patchwork. We play by the rules of the game thinking we can change the game itself. We haven’t noticed yet that the game is fixed. Do you honestly believe police can stop crime? Or that prisons can cure violent behavior? Or that any law can prevent global warming? From a different perspective, it is easy to see that we have it all wrong. Allow me to give you a few examples of what we do in society to “solve” our problems. Hopefully, these few will spark some thought:

We create laws that prohibit drug use in conjunction with incarcerating addicts, expecting the use of drugs to subside. Statistics will show that this approach has no positive impact. Instead, what if we evaluated the reasons why individuals turn to drug abuse in the first place? Why not change their environment? What if we tried an approach like Norway’s?

We pose a fine for drivers who don’t abide by traffic law, expecting automobile fatalities to subside. Regardless, 300,000 people still die every year from fatal accidents no matter what laws come into existence. Instead, why not have all vehicles be completely automated (or at least have all seatbelts automatic)? Why not redesign the entire transportation system? Why not designs a system of roads where cars automatically stop at intersections, with no room for human error? These ideas are by no means hard to accomplish.

We continue to conjure up new forms of medication to treat disease and illness, endlessly scrambling to find a way to treat one ail at a time. Why not change the foundation of our health? Change what ingredients are acceptable in foods? Change the quality of our water and air?

We (not actually us, but just keep following me here) fine corporations for the destruction of the planet, in a display of showing that “we” care. When it is obvious that these fines, as large as they may seem to us poor individuals, are not even a days profit for these entities. Why not instead come to the realization that we cannot breathe without trees, or live without an atmosphere, and halt the destruction for the sake of our lives?

I will now break down the four examples I just presented:

Prisons are owned by private corporations. They profit off of every individual that is housed. Slave labor is big business. Image the amount of profit gained by paying your “employees” only cents for full days work. There’s a reason why 25% of the country’s population is imprisoned. This system doesn’t call for the course correction of lives. It calls for more laws for more incarceration for more profit. 

As you know, traffic tickets are not only unnecessary, they are absurd. A ticket for an air freshener on your mirror? You think anyone gives a shit about what you’re looking at when you drive? Ask the countless billboards that cover the horizon if anybody cares. That ticket isn’t for your safety. It’s revenue for the state. They need this constant income from poor suckers like you. Why do you think police have ticket and arrest quotas? Think about this.

Sick and dying people are necessary for the healthcare system. There isn’t money in a cure, only in dependable medication. If people weren’t kept in poor health, dependent on temporary treatments, this field wouldn’t be booming. From an economic standpoint, the heart disease and obesity epidemic is great! Also, think of how many jobs are created in order to “solve” this particular problem. 

Put simply, corporations are only able to exist by the destruction of the planet. They profit off of it’s resources and by the control of them. It has gotten to the point where the profit from animal agriculture and oil is more important than having a planet that is habitable for the future. Their motto is “growth”. They don’t understand that nonstop growth is the motto of the cancer cell. 

We never seek the root cause. Nothing is ever put into perspective. Sure, our actions in these “patchwork” fields may have an impact on the life that is directly affected. However, again, it only alleviates symptoms. It doesn’t get to the bottom of the suffering and what it’s caused by. Why don’t we address the elephant in the room here? I am tired of people applying band-aids to gunshot wounds.

Okay, if you have followed this so far, you may now be asking yourself “What’s the root cause?” Let me tell you from a lifetime of research and life experience what I find to be the truth. We live in a “capitalist system”. You may be familiar with the words “Cash Rules Everything Around Me” by Wu-Tang Clan. They’re right. Put simply, this system depends on a constant flow of money. It doesn’t care if the planet runs out of resources or if we blow ourselves up. The cogs keep on turning. I’ll go further and say this system depends on taking your money. As long as there is profit to be earned in temporary fixes, as long as there is no profit to be made in a permanent solution, these problems will persist.

How do we change the world? I don’t have an applicable solution yet. Einstien once said: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them”. So, I have now focused my energy on changing myself. The way I interact with people, the way I eat, the way I spend my time, the way I live entirely is constantly being adjusted. I fail all the time. I am not even close to where I want to be. But I continue to try. Even if this is alI I can do, I would rather die actively resisting than to go back to thinking inside the box.

Stop patching the box. The box is the problem. 

[kiderratus]

When I was born, Earth was not natural heritage to me, as it should be for every human. It may never be my natural heritage. I was born into a prison and completely unaware of it; condemned forever to a “nation” of some of the most cynical humans the world has to offer. And there doesn’t seem to be much I can do about it. We are all tied to our places of birth. Without our agreement or even a basic understanding, we all inherit our nation’s past history, patriotism, and world views. How absurd the idea of man’s national borders. Do these nations actually believe they own the Earth? Nature would show that it’s the other way around. We didn’t come into this world, we came out of it. We are owned by the Earth.

From a scientific perspective, we can easily recognize the earth as a single organism. We only have one home and we are all the same species. The differences in skin tone can only account for migrations from long ago. In fact, all of us can be traced back to an ancestry from Africa. In this view, there are not any Asian problems, Islamic problems, Mexican problems, or even woman’s problems. There are only human problems. And I think revolution will begin when we lose these abstract, false ideas of borders for both humans and Earth.

They tell us we have to be weary of “terrorists”. They tell us that the Mexicans destroy our wages. They tell us that land is scarce and anything else to justify their propaganda. But every person on earth, 7,000,000,000 in whole, could fit into the city of Los Angeles, shoulder width apart. There is obviously more than enough land (and resources) for all of humankind (for now). The idea of any border is asinine and counter-productive to the progression of the human species.

Again, the Earth is a single organism. And as biology knows, an organism at war with itself is doomed. Which is what we are: a species constantly at war with itself. We need to start changing the way we view ourselves here on the blue marble. We need to scrap these old ideas of being proud of our ethnic heritage, which is only brought on by mathematical chance, and not an accomplishment. If there were any view to take, it should be one of unity. Something along the lines of the “Overview Effect” that astronauts feel when viewing the Earth from space. One planet, one home, one people all floating through the vast eternity of space on a single rock.

“Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.” - Albert Einstein

I am not an American. I refuse to pledge allegiance to any flag. I am a human being, a citizen of the Earth. 

[kiderratus]

[kiderratus]

Advertisement. Everywhere I turn, I am assaulted by an onslaught of endless rubbish. Barrages of subtle stabs and patronizing insults strategically placed to exploit peoples’ insecurities. Displays of stupefying claims through visual pollution; always barking at us through the television like the goddamn dogs they are. They loom like a New York City mugger. They jump out, hit you with a sucker punch, and take your money.

When I browse the web, when I hear the radio, when I use an app on my phone, when I take the bus, when I take the train, when I drive, when I piss in a urinal, they’re always present. Even when I sit in a jail cell, an ad for a “SmartPay” sign can be spotted (who knew posting bail could be so easy). They are relentless. So you have to ask the questions: What exactly are they doing? Why do they focus so much energy on advertising? And why are they so intrusive?

The truth is that before you and I could even walk they were marketing to us. They insinuate themselves into the fabric of our childhoods, trying to build a brand status in us with an emotional attachment as if they were an intimate part of our lives. You can see this in the obese Mexicans who drink Coca-Cola, especially on the Dia de los Muertos holiday. That life reducing soft drink is now as much a part of their culture as the holiday itself. It has even gotten to the point where this acid throat-wash they call “soda” is more prevalent than clean drinking water in some parts of the world. But it doesn’t stop there. Depressed? There’s an array of feel-good pills they can market to you for that. Lonely? Call the number at the bottom of the screen. Trouble pleasing your significant other? Maybe you should purchase this particular brand of condom… 

The extent of their campaigns go well beyond anything I consider offensive. Is there any part of our lives that can’t be targeted?

Here’s a thought: How many people in the general public know the faces of Nikola Tesla, Carl Sagan, or Charles Darwin? Now, how many know the faces of Nike, Pepsi, Apple, Exxon, Walmart and the like? What does that say about society?

Corporations may be made up of people, but they are not anything akin to that. Corporations don’t feel. They couldn’t unless they wanted to sacrifice profit. Empathy makes for a terrible business model and any good businessman knows that.  According to recent studies, stockbrokers share many of the same characteristics as criminal psychopaths, so it is obvious what kind of person it takes to climb the financial ladder of success.

This makes for a very superficial world and an even more depressing view. I understand that humans need access to the necessities of life that these entities offer. However, I think it would be wise to always question the integrity of what it is that they are trying to sell you and by what means. Another word of advice: Take from corporations what you will. I mean physically take from them. They have stolen more from us than we will ever be able to take back in this lifetime.

[kiderratus]

The next time somebody tells you that America is number one, tell them that they are right. 

#1 in:

- Incarceration rate and prison population

- Teen pregnancy rate

- Divorce rate

- Credit card, mortgage, and student loan debt

- Military spending

- Most laws (Most absurd ones, at that)

- Abuse of prescription drugs

- Money spent on advertising for prescription drugs 

- Genetically modified food crops

- Soda consumed yearly 

- Television watched daily

- Obesity (Okay, so we’re actually #2 in this one now. Mexico just took the lead. But I have a hunch that it has something to do with America’s corporate soft drink and fast food entities.)

This land is not ours. It never was and the natives that inhabited this piece of earth were aware of that fact. The result was the rape and slaughter of their people in the name of manifest destiny. How can the men who signed the Declaration of Independence pronounce that “All men are equal” while owning a stolen piece of land and slaves? The foundation of this nation is laid in bricks of denial. 

Wake up from the American Dream. This isn’t the greatest country on earth. That statement everyone will spew today isn’t even based on an accurate personal survey. Have they been to every country on earth? I think not. They just repeat what’s been pounded into their heads since birth. When they wave those flags high today, everyone will see the pride of the nation. All I will see is Chinese manufacturing. 

[kiderratus]

I live in a world that values the few over the whole. Where 1% of the population owns half of The Earth. Where police who swear an oath to serve and protect can commit mass genocide without consequence. Where government agencies track our every movement and violate our rights. Where we, the people, willingly give up those rights. Where you can be arrested for feeding the homeless. Where you can be fined for collecting rain water. Where there are more vacant homes in America than homeless people. Where the US military budget for this year is more than NASA’s entire lifetime budget thus far. Where the Earth as a whole produces enough food each year to feed 2x the current world population, yet a billion people starve as I write this. Where I can’t receive adequate psychological care, and so I subsist with this writing as a coping method. Still, I’m not even scratching the surface...

Above all, I live in a world that is controlled by an imaginary idea. An idea that destroys human values and the fragile system of all life on earth. Not a law of nature or of the universe, but digits in an account and rectangular pieces of paper. An imaginary idea that keeps us oppressed, given power by mindless sheep who all accept it in conjunction. And as a result, I have dead presidents on worthless paper that control my every movement through life. There is nothing more violent than poverty. 

If you’re even remotely scientifically literate and able to critically think, you soon become aware how absurd this world is. Humans are the only species that have to pay to live on Earth. With the state of humanity’s technology, it’s unacceptable that every basic human need is not met. The earth is abundant in all resources (the distribution, however, controlled by an elite). If you were to devise a way to put into context just how abundant the earth is, your head would spin. There are people who have crunched the numbers already and provide alternatives to the dysfunctional system we willingly continue to live in. Other ways of life you never even pondered. When will we say enough? (Relevant: https://www.thevenusproject.com/en/)

Furthermore, the vast majority don’t understand how fragile this pale blue dot floating through space that we all inhabit actually is. I grow tired of the same old story. Green destroyed for green, and blood red dollar signs painted on everything. The human race sets the stage for its own extinction and the only thing I can seem to do is watch in aversion. Lately, I try to find comfort in laughing at all the antics. This world can be quite comical at times, but I know the ultimate joke is on mankind.

I’m not sure what the future of humanity is going to look like. It would appear at this rate that there is no future for us. I suppose the masses don’t have time to contemplate the fate of humanity when they’re grinding a 9 to 5 death sentence or trying to figure out if the dress in the photo is blue or gold. They stay safely plugged into their alternate realities, with no close observation or wonder, like the scene of some fucked up sci-fi film. All small insignificant details and no big picture. The stupidity, like the universe, appears to be infinite.

As George Carlin put it: “When you’re born into this world, you’re given a ticket to the freak show. If you’re born in America you get a front row seat.”

[kiderratus]

January 1st, 2015. It's the first day of the new year. The more this invention of time goes on, the more I don't understand the obsession with it (excluding scientific importance). Even the fact that we call this year “2015″ is a little absurd. The Earth formed more than 4 billion years ago. Early life sprouted around 3.6 billion years ago. Yet we live out these years never asking why thst even is. Leave it to Christian notations...

Whatever time may be, I grow tired of living by it. I don't control time anymore. In society, time controls me. When I sleep and for how long, when I eat, when I'm productive, or when I relax are no longer randomly sprung events, but instead just dull fixed happenings. The same holidays, birthdays, parties, year after year. The same mundane tasks and events, same gatherings of when and where we spend the days of our lives. What even is a day? Just an imperfect rotation on the Earth's axis? What even is a year? An imperfect orbit around the sun? Clock time is just a human invention and I'm tired of its chains on my life. I was not meant to be bound by it.

Lately, I’m just having alternative thoughts. It would appear that this modern day life is an illusion, down to the year in which we live in . The game is rigged and it’s about time somebody starts calling it out. So this is the first piece of my open-ended collection of thoughts and images, left here on the vast realm of infinite cyberspace, for any one person who cares, for anyone trying to make sense of it all, for any kid who has no name in society like me.